Tag: BN

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Taking Voters On A Free Ride


It seems giving things away for free is DAP’s way of making fools out if some voters.

Among the things promised to Sarawakians is to provide free transportation to school.

This reminds me of the same thing DAP promised to Penangites in 2011:


Penangites were delighted. Penang became the first state to provide free transportation for workers on both sides of the Penang Channel. Every single pro-Pakatan blog showered Lim Guan Eng’s administration with praises. DAP won Penang for a second term in 2013.

A mere four years later, came the crunch:


Now that the poorer Penangites no longer occupy the island because of rising costs of living, Lim Guan Eng could do as he pleases, just as he did with the land at Taman Manggis allocated for housing the poor. The BEST FIZ service he gave to voters to win the 2013 elections…well, fizzled. You can read more about it HERE.

It would be interesting to see how DAP plans to give free transportation say for example in this remote village in Sarawak I visited earlier this month:


The distance from the farthest village to the school is about seven kilometers. Perhaps DAP people see Sarawak as a flat land as in the in-flight magazine’s map while flying to Sarawak.

DAP only has the urban voters in mind where a very small portion of the Sarawak Bumiputra would benefit from this.  And as Violet Yong, the DAP rep for Pending (a suburban area of Kuching) said in 2013, it is the voice for one race.

I would go with Adenan Satem’s manifesto for BN for being more people friendly, realistic and holistic – encompassing all races! So much for calling BN a racist party.

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Bat Journalism

“As blind as a bat.”

That is how I would describe most journalists today. They never understand not a scintilla of what they write but they write them anyway. Corrections can be made later no matter if the damage has been done and is irreversible.

The latest intentional or unintentional faux pas is about the PLUS highway concession, quoting Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sirlin in her answer to a supplemental question from Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Zahari (BN – Setiawangsa). One portal reported:

  
The report above is as if the decision for a toll hike every whatever the number of years set in the agreement. What the portals have not mentioned is that it is up to the government to allow any toll hike after all concerns have been weighed. 

Of course you have opportunistic baboons such as Tony Puaka to further add to the confusion:

  
The actual answer by the Deputy Minister is as follows:

1.​Lebuhraya Utara Selatan (PLUS) telah mula dibina pada tahun 1989 dan siap pada tahun 1994 dengan kos sebanyak RM5.9 bilion. Kos projek ini ditanggung sepenuhnya oleh syarikat konsesi PLUS, kecuali kos pengambilan tanah yang ditanggung oleh Kerajaan. Berdasarkan perjanjian konsesi tambahan terkini (2011), tempoh konsesi Lebuhraya PLUS akan tamat pada 31 Disember 2038. Setakat ini Kerajaan tidak ada perancangan untuk melanjutkan lagi tempoh konsesi tersebut.

 

2.​Dalam tahun 2011, PLUS telah melaksanakan pengstruktaran semula dimana PLUS terpaksa membuat pinjaman sejumlah RM30.6 billion melalui penerbitan bon. Bayaran balik faedah pinjaman telah mula pada tahun 2012 manakala bayaran pokok hanya akan bermula pada tahun 2017 sehingga 2038.

 

3.​Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, syarikat PLUS merupakan pemegang konsesi bagi 6 lebuh raya iaitu:

 

• Lebuhraya Utara Selatan

• Lebuhraya Lingkaran Tengah ELITE

• Lebuhraya LINKEDUA

• Jambatan Pulau Pinang

• Lebuhraya Butterworth Kulim

• Lebuhraya Seremban Port Dickson

 

4.​Melalui penstrukturan semula pada tahun 2011, hasil keuntungan terkumpul pemegang konsesi Lebuhraya PLUS sehingga 2014 adalah RM26 juta. Secara puratanya, 50% daripada hasil keuntungan adalah digunakan untuk membayar balik faedah pinjaman. Syarikat PLUS telah membuat pinjaman melalui penerbitan bon berjumlah RM30.6 bilion. Pinjaman ini dibuat pada tahun 2011 semasa penstrukuturan PLUS Berhad.

 

5.​20-25% digunakan untuk membiayai kos operasi dan penyenggaraan, ini termasuk lebih kurang 25% jajaran yang tidak dikenakan tol.

 

6.​15-20% adalah untuk kerja-kerja upgrading, termasuk pembinaan persimpangan bertingkat Sungai Buaya, Bukit Gambir, Kuala Kangsar, Ainsdale dan kerja-kerja naiktaraf Lorong Keempat Lebuhraya Utara Selatan.

 

7.​Baki 10% adalah untuk bayaran balik kepada pemegang saham yang terdiri daripada KWSP (49%) dan Khazanah (51%).

 

8.​Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat juga, perjanjian konsesi PLUS telah mengalami penstrukutran semula kadar tol sebanyak 4 kali iaitu pada tahun 1999, 2002, 2005 dan 2011 di mana kadar tolnya telah mengalami beberapa perubahan daripada penggunaan Consumer Price Index (CPI), 26% setiap 5 tahun pada tahun 1999 dan kepada 10% setiap 3 tahun pada tahun 2005 dan akhir sekali pada tahun 2011 di mana kenaikan kadar tol diselaraskan kepada 5% setiap 3 tahun.

 

9.​Kadar tol PLUS tidak dinaikkan sejak tahun 2005. Dalam penstrukturan semula kadar tol tahun 2011, tiada kenaikan tol sehingga 2015. Manifesto PRU 13 BN menetapkan pengurangan kadar tol secara berperingkat lebuh raya Antara Bandar. Sehubungan dengan itu, Kerajaan akan berunding dengan syarikat konsesi bagi memenuhi akujanji manifesto tersebut.

 

10.​Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat juga, jajaran Lebuhraya Utara Selatan bermula dari Bukit Kayu Hitam hingga ke Johor adalah sepanjang 848km. Lain-lain lebuhraya ELITE (63km), BKE (17km), SPDH (23km), JPP (13.5km).

 

11.​Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, jumlah keuntungan selepas cukai PLUS Berhad bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Disember 2014 ialah sebanyak RM8.4 juta, iaitu mengambikira PLUS Berhad sebagai entiti korporat tunggal yang mengendalikan 5 lebuhraya selepas pengstrukturan semula PLUS mulai bulan November 2011

PLUS operates six highways with a total distance of 964.5km. PLUS has not had a toll increase since 2005. As a result of a restructuring exercise in 2011, PLUS has had to raise RM30.6 billion through bonds issuance. 50 percent of its profit since then has gone to the payment of loan interest while 20 to 25 percent has been allocated for the operations and maintenance of the highways, 15 to 20 percent to upgrading works, while the balance of 10 percent has gone to the payments to the shareholders i.e KWSP and Khazanah.

The above profit was at RM26 million (2014).

What we must also remember, because the toll concession agreements are all legacies of a certain former Prime Minister, the original agreement allowed for a hike of 10 percent every three years. The current Prime Minister initiated for the takeover and has had the agreement renegotiated in 2011 to a hike of 5 percent every three years. However, there has been no hike since 2005.

And if I understand the statement correctly there will not be any automatic hike and that the government is committed in reducing intercity toll rates until 2018.

Blind dingbats who call themselves journalists should act more responsibly when reporting. Sensationalism sells, but that only goes to prove that you are just another opportunistic baboon like Tony Puaka.

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Traitor In The Midst

   
 
The two photos above were taken at the Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 Roundtable Discussion attended by key office holders of the DAP, PKR and Mat Sabu’s yet to be officially-named bastardised version of PAS.

Seated in the back are the observers from the various Pakatan-friendly NGOs. If you look carefully in the photos you would see UMNO’s thorn-in-the-rear Saifuddin Abdullah.

This was what Saifuddin Abdullah had tweeted earlier:

  I wonder what substantive matters and strategies does UMNO have that should be shared with its political enemies? Perhaps Saifuddin is trying to find ways to remain relevant after those whom he had nurtured to speak against the government have lost badly in the recent university elections.

I also wonder when are the sissies sitting in UMNO’s Disciplinary Board going to take action against Saifuddin Abdullah ever?

Grow some balls, UMNO! For once!

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Spilling The Beans

  
“A barking dog never bites” they say.

Two hours after he was spotted in discussion with a Caucasian man, Mr Botox was held by the police. (Updated) The police has received a 6-day remand order to question him.

The same people who passed me the photos of that discussion said that he is now starting to spill the beans trying to drag as many people down with him as the ship begins to sink – so much for not being afraid of being arrested.

He reportedly has named a few key people including bloggers paid to discredit the Najib administration. I hope to get more details on this.

At about the same timelast night, owners of the Daddy Anak Party, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng met up with eight prominent businessmen at a high-end restaurant located jn an office building in Damansara Heights. One of them is the Chairman and Group CEO of the company which building houses the restaurant. What also transpired during this meeting is also unknown but among the attendees include people in the aviation and real estate business while another is the CEO of an investment bank.

This has been an interesting week and will get even more interesting soon.

p.s:- anyway the photo above is meant for you to lose your appetite and to spoil your long weekend

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Bila Yang Tak Sedar Diri Bercakap

I am opposed to any form of rally in open public places but it was freedom of speech and assembly and within the constitutional rights guaranteed to each citizen when BERSIH 4, the supposedly DAP-defined apolitical movement called for a 34-hour rally to last until the stroke of midnight on the 31st Augusr 2015, on Malaysia’s independence celebration day.

The rally was made up by 90 percent Chinese participants when PAS refused to participate. But it was held where very few, if any, Chinese businesses are run.

When a rally by an opposing party was organised by a largely Malay group, to be held on Malaysia Day in largely Chinese business area, this was what Lim Guan Eng, co-driver of BERSIH 4, had to say:

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Loose Talks Sink Ships

  

A friend wrote this to me:

“I disagree with Sanusi Junid that Najib is the person that made UMNO weak.
Mahathir is the root cause of UMNO weakening. But he did make UMNO strong once during the past 16 years.
Statistics don’t lie.
1999 GE, Mahathir made UMNO lose a staggering 24% of their seas – down 22 seats from 93.
2004.- Mahathir made UMNO strong by retiring from politics, no longer contesting and keeping quiet and letting his replacement do his work. 
Immediately, UMNO won 53% more seats and jumped from 71 seats to 109 – in the best results ever for UMNO and BN.
2008: Mahathir made UMNO weak again by continuously attacking and treasonously attacking his own party over years – which made UMNO weak again by losing 38% seats.
In 2013, Najib won 9 more seats for UMNO – hence strengthening UMNO.. Mahathir was also relatively quiet this period.
Najib inherited an UMNO that already has partners that have been rendered weak. UMNO with the remnants of supporters of its partners not only have to fend off attacks from the Opposition but also now from those who cling onto Mahathir for meagre amount of morsels to remain relevant in their dreams. It is these attacks that further divided UMNO into the circus it is now. Lest we forget the younger and opportunistic vultures who help pick the flesh off others.

Thus, this is indisputable proof where we can draw two conclusions:
1) Mahathir is the main cause of UMNO weakening. 
2) If you want UMNO to be strong, ask Mahathir to shut-up.”

I have said this again and again. STFU and let the authorities do their work. The more you feed fuel to fire, the bigger it will burn.

But not everyone has the brain power to understand simple logic such as that.

If you go back to the early 1980s, it was Mahathir who prodded Sulaiman Palestine to mount a challenge against Tun Hussein Onn. Then urged Ku Li to take on Musa Hitam. Those in their 30s wouldn’t remember how UMNO split into Team A and Team B after Ku Li in turn challenged Mahathir and UMNO was declared illegal soon after. And because of the Team A and Team B spat, Mahathir changed the UMNO constitution into the form it is now and changed how an UMNO President is elected. Oh! How can we forget that because of the Team A and Team B thing Mahathir fired several ministers as well – Pak Lah, the late Ajib Ahmad and a few others.

Then Mahathir also lost Kelantan in 1990 to PAS. That was the biggest blow to BN that time, only to be outdone again during his time in 1999. Who remembers the Wan Mokhtar-Yusuf Noor spat and why it happened?

Musa was too smart for Mahathir. Everyone knew this. The MM (Mahathir-Musa) partnership was more a “don’t step on my toes and I don’t step on yours” relationship. In the end, Mahathir used the mishandling of the Memali incident to oust Musa Hitam. He did not stop at that. He had Ghafar Baba as his deputy, but his real sight was on Anwar.

Ghafar was that pleasant and docile deputy everyone would have loved to have, but not as a successor. Anwar had a lot of following especially from his former organisation, ABIM. Mahathir used the late Rahim King’s organisation, Kelab Bekas Komando Malaysia, to pave the way for Anwar’s rise and to remove any opposition to Anwar. In the end, Ghafar, a true UMNO loyalist, was dropped in a disgraceful manner helped by hidden hands.

UMNO was weak. Members were tired of Mahathir who had by then overstayed his welcome. The onybreason they were still supporting him was because of his choice for deputy – Anwar Ibrahim. Finally, UMNO had found a young and energetic character to be able to replace Mahathir and everyone waited for that day.

Of course, unbeknownst to both Mahathir and the Special Branch then, Anwar was engaging in unhealthy activities that the DAP had known since 1984 but brought it to the surface in 1997 by the late Karpal Singh, and subsequently given the title “Sheikh al-Anwar al-Juburi” by some people’s new hope: Mat Sabu.

Naturally when Mahathir fired Anwar and sacked the latter from UMNO, the party weakened even further. In the 1999 elections even Sanusi fell victim to the people’s wrath against Mahathir. Members of the Actors Studio were seen taking to the streets in support of the “Reformasi” movement giving ad hoc interviews to Maria Ressa from CNN then saying “We are tired of Mahathir! He must go!”

Mahathir’s move against Najib has also gained support from the member of a certain state’s royal family. The irony is in 1983 it was this royal family member’s late grandfather whom Mahathir was trying to prevent from becoming the Yang DiPertuan Agong. Almost weekly a Nuri helicopter would fly the then-Prime Minister to Kuala Kangsar to convince the late Sultan Idris, who also happened to be the maternal grandfather to this member of the Royal family, to become the Yang DiPertuan Agong instead. Fate had it that Sultan Idris passed on in early 1984 and Sultan Iskandar ascended the throne of the Yang DiPertuan Agong in April of 1984.

It was during this seemingly invisible interference by Mahathir that had caused a constitutional crisis that almost saw the civilian government being overthrown by the military. The only problem the military had was its lack of contact with the general population and needed a bridge in the form of the police. Although the police supported the idea but they thought it was not the right time for a coup and it failed. The constitutional crisis did not rear its head again until 1993 when the powers of the Rulers Institution was greatly reduced.

So, UMNO gets blamed for everything when it was all done by Mahathir for himself, or for those close to him. And as mentioned, Pak Lah inherited a weak UMNO from Mahathir. All the previous UMNO proxies were not allowed to help finance BN after Mahathir stepped down. Mahathir left taking all the UMNO proxies with him. UMNO was left not only weak, it was also left poor, save for whatever was handed to Pak Lah.

The government now has Revenue Recovery Committee to recover lost government revenue, it is time that UMNO has one too.

As confidence in Malaysia continues to weaken helped by with no thanks to Mahathir and his hanger-ons who keep burning the party on the pretext of saving it, both UMNO and PAS now suffers from trust deficit and the likely winner in all this would be DAP and the Gerakan Harapan Baru.

And by Mahathir’s logic, only Najib should shoulder the blame when it is his loose talks that helped sink the ship.

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Gone Over The Edge

  
I love the way people reacted to my previous post. I made no mention of who’s who at the meetings, and I was merely writing about what I was told. The reactions, or over-reactions have been priceless. It wasn’t me who stalked them. They should be more aware of their surroundings. Furthermore not one of the above are a leader of any of the opposition-held states. Unless, as the Malays would say: PERASAN.

The police should also investigate the alledged Pemuda UMNO Whatsapp messages that went flying around recently. Messages can be deleted, but the Whatsapp server still stores them. All that is needed is a number or two, and the whole trail of messages can be retrieved.

All attempts or conspiracies to remove the Prime Minister should be investigated. Not because I am protecting Najib Razak, but the institution of the Prime Minister. The last thing Malaysia needs is a vicious cycle of removals and appointments of Prime Ministers that would totally erode the confidence others still have in this country.

On the economic fundamentals of this country, this is what Abdul Wahid Omar had to say:

Back in 1997/98, Malaysia had international reserves below USD30b sufficient to cover 3.2mths of retained imports. We had trade deficit & corporates were highly geared with many borrowing in USD when their income/assets were in MYR. Now even after the recent outflows, our international reserves is more than 3 times larger at USD96.7b as at 31 July 2015 sufficient to cover 7.6 mths of retained imports. 

Our trade surplus reached RM41b for 1st half 2015 notwithstanding the lower oil & commodity prices. And corporates’ balance sheets are much healthier. Our labour market conditions are stable with low unemployment rate of 3%. 

Our banks are well capitalised with core Tier1 capital ratios of 12.5%, liquid & with good asset quality where net impaired loans ratio is at a low of 1.2%. Banks & financial system are well regulated & supervised by BNM. Our fiscal position continues to improve with budget deficit reducing from 3.4% of GDP in 2014 to a target of 3.2% in 2015. We are still on track to achieve GDP growth of between 4.5% to 5.5% this year. That’s what I meant by strong economic fundamentals. 

Rgds. AWO.

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Living On The Edge

I don’t talk much about who I am. Only BigDog actually sent me a private message on Twitter about four years ago asking if I am who he thought I am. I just said yes. Being who I am also means I do not have to rely on The Edge to know of some things. On that same note even Rahman Dahlan could dig up more information on things, better than a certain person who had to rely on The Edge ever did. 

Being who I am also means I still have strong links with my father’s former contemporaries. These once junior officers are now very senior ranking officers, and loyal to their profession and to the institution of the force.  I had dinner with a couple of them tonight and of course the discussion that ensued ranged from the old days to the current political circus. Much was revealed about the things that have been happening in the background.

And what a revelation it was.

It seems that a certain former senior minister had met up with the head of an opposition-led state government with thirty other MPs to discuss the formation of a coalition government to replace the current one.  Of course PAS was not invited, not the incumbents of course. There was also another similar meeting held at the KLGCC where around fifteen people attended. When the lead “guest” arrived, they changed the venue to a larger meeting room.

This seems to tally with the recent raids by the police on the MACC. Of course The Edge would not tell you that the raid is about leaking information pertaining to the investigation so everyone could be led on to believe that this is all a conspiracy to cover up. And this coming from the same people who complain about criminals going scott free due to leaks.

And being the person I am also means I know three other things: first, that the recent meeting with the Sultan of Johor by the former Deputy Prime Minister was not at the request of His Highness. Rather, it was arranged by a certain businessman who did not get to execute a project when Pak Lah was the Prime Minister. Second, that the former Attorney-General has to go for three dialysis sessions per week that takes up a whole work day each session. Third, the MACC head has been hospitalised to remove a growth near his spine. It is operable but has to be done quickly, and the good Tan Sri will be out of action for about a month.

Of course, you would not be able to read the above on The Edge. Therefore I felt that I’d have to pre-empt any talk of conspiracies.

Anyway, yesterday too there was a “guerrilla movement” (as described by the message originator) by a group of UMNO people, inviting non-UMNO party of the BN coalition members to join them in pressuring the Prime Minister to step down. When I asked my dinner companions, they just smiled and said, “Wait for it. We know.”

And know they do, as do I.

And we never knew this from The Edge.

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So DAP Is Opposed To Regulating Political Funding

From Miss Lim Sian See at https://www.facebook.com/lim.siansee/posts/1704208903131230

Terence Gomez of Transparency International confirms what Najib and Rahman Dahlan said as he was part of the team to regulate political funding.

Yes, Terence confirms that DAP and opposition were the ones who objected to full transparency of political funding.
This means that Lim Guan Eng was telling a white lie again by saying PM never approached DAP to ask them about regulating political funding. 
Lim Guan Eng conveniently forgot to mention that it was the Transparency International team that led this initiative which they rejected and not PM Najib.
Tokong or Tokong… always telling little white lies.

—

In his letter, published in Malaysia’s leading newspapers on 1 August 2015, Rahman, a minister in Najib’s cabinet – offering his views in his capacity as the BN’s Director of Strategic Communication – drew attention to a meeting held between Transparency International (TI) and members of the opposition parties in Parliament on 1 December 2010.

TI had initiated a project to review the financing of politics and to prepare relevant recommendations to eradicate processes that were hindering the conduct of fair elections. I had been appointed by TI to help implement this project. 
At that time, the president of TI was Paul Low, now a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. Abdul Rahman disclosed, at this meeting with TI, that opposition parliamentarians were not in favour of mandatory full disclosure of all funding sources as this would deter their contributors from financing their parties.
The views held by the opposition, as outlined by Abdul Rahman in his letter, are in my recollection accurate. 
Only one person showed up for this meeting: Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, in his capacity as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
At this meeting, Nazri acknowledged that Malaysia’s general elections were free but not fair as political parties did not have equal access to funds. He asserted that donors to Umno were registered, but some of them preferred to remain anonymous. 
Nazri agreed with some of TI’s recommendations, including direct state funding of parties to reduce, even halt, the latter’s dependence on business for money to run their campaigns; to prohibit ownership of the media by parties; and to institute full disclosure of political donations.
However, Nazri did not agree to all of TI’s recommendations. Nazri’s primary concern was TI’s recommendation that power be devolved to oversight agencies such as the Election Commission (EC), as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Attorney General’s Chambers – but this one is a completely different subject and not related to disclosure of political funding.

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http://www.kinibiz.com/story/opinions/181475/changing-the-way-politics-is-funded.html?utm_source=applet_mkinicom&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=mkinicom

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Is Selangor No Longer Attractive Economically Or Is The State Government All Talk Cock?

  
It is a Ramadan and a bleak Syawal for the former workers of JVC Kenwood at Section 22 Shah Alam as the factory ceases its operations as reported by The Rakyat Post above.  I am sure the decision to cease operations must have been made much earlier than just a few months or a year ago as any plant closure affects production as well as support services.

Many were too quick to blame the Federal Government as according to them investments come under the purview of the Federal Government. Many however forget that investments in a state comes under the purview of the respective states’ economic development council or committee. 

Does the seemingly bleak economy (despite the A- rating by Fitch) have any role in the closure of the plant? Let us examine:

  
Now it seems that TASCO had come into a sales and purchase agreement with JVC Manufacturing Malaysia Sdm Bhd for the purchase of the said property in 2009. This is a year after Pakatan Rakyat took over the state from Barisan Nasional. Six years on, it seems as if the Selangor SEDC had done nothing to persuade JVC to maintain a plant in Selangor. Why so?

It is easy to put the blame on the Federal Government. However, JVC has been cutting back its workforce not just in Malaysia but worldwide.

“They told us that the factory operations were moving to Thailand,” said a worker.

It was reported last year that JVC had cut its workforce globally by 14% to just under 20,000 people and about 90% of production now took place mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Checks on jobstreet.com have shown that JVC is still hiring staff for its Tampoi plant in Johor.

Similarly, a few metres away from the JVC plant, Ansell Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s operations have also ceased and its workers were retrenched yesterday. The Australian company made healthcare protective gear.

A worker on site said: “They are moving their operations to Melaka. They have already told us about this six months ago and compensation was also paid out.”

Therefore, we are seeing a move out of Selangor not just by JVC but also by other foreign companies as well, unless Melaka and Johor are not in Malaysia, or that these states are not affected by the “slowdown” in the Malaysian economy. 

Maybe it is the hard work that Johor’s and Melaka’s SEDC have put in to ensure that foreign companies do not divest, unlike Selangor’s that was not able to or did not talk to JVC when the sales and purchase agreement was made six years ago.

Maybe Selangor has lost the edge it once had when it was still governed by Barisan Nasional.