Farewell to the Storyteller

I had heard with much dismay about her collapse on Friday. I was away on Saturday with no access to the internet and only learned about her passing this evening. This is indeed a sad loss for Malaysia. She was known for her works of art having produced the award winning movies Sepet, Gubra and most recently Talentime. She was also the Creative Executive Director of advertising firm Leo Burnett and was renowned for her groundbreaking Petronas advertisements which taught us Malaysians, the value of our unique Malaysian culture. Most of all , she was known for her controversial if not radical views that challenged the conventions of everyday Malaysians. Her basic philosophy was to believe in the strength of the human spirit and believing in love above all else. Her stories cut across the racial divide and exuded with true Malaysian culture and spirit. She was brave in her subject matter, choosing to deal artfully yet realistically with tough and current issues.

I met her once while having lunch (she was at a nearby table) and could not resist getting up to congratulate her on her art (Sepet and Gubra at that time) and trying to find out the basis for the ending of Gubra (after the credits....) I got my answer from her with a frankness and true optimism that is her hallmark. I will leave her contact in my rolodex despite knowing that she is no longer with us.

Yasmin, your loss will be truly felt and I hope that there will be other Malaysians out there who will continue your legacy of true artistry and your honest insights into the lives of us ordinary Malaysians. You will continue to live through your works of art!

Article from the New York Times - 9 July

Odette's commentary :

Once more, Malaysia has some adverse publicity in the foreign press. However, to be fair the journalist has misrepresented the facts in stating that it is an English ban, which is not the case.

English is an important medium of instruction for maths and science. Full stop. Anyone who disputes this is living in a state of denial choosing not to face the reality that English is essential for progress and advancement, especially in these fields. Proficiency in English is particularly important (try reading medical journals and you will understand what I mean)

It is sad that the BN government in Malaysia has allowed themselves to succumb to political pressures for an issue as important as this. Even more so, it demonstrates a lack of foresight , political will and weakness in policy making.

_____________________________________________________

In Malaysia, English Ban Raises Fears for Future

Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

By LIZ GOOCH
Published: July 9, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR — P.S. Han, a teacher in Kuala Lumpur, has been using English to teach math and physics to 17-year-olds for the past six years.
From 2012, he will be forced to return to using the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, after the government decided to abandon English for the two subjects in a decision some consider to be motivated by politics rather than education.
“English has been used as the language of science for 300 years,” said Mr. Han, a teacher at St. John’s Institution. “You cannot really convey the scientific concepts to the students in Bahasa Malaysia at a very high level.”
“We have to face the fact that science knowledge is in English.”
The announcement on Wednesday, which came after months of lobbying by Malay nationalists, has raised concerns about whether English standards in the former British colony will slide and whether Malaysia’s competitiveness as a destination for multinational companies may suffer.
English has been the language of instruction for math and science in Malaysia since 2003, when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad introduced the policy amid concerns that poor English skills were hindering students’ job opportunities.
Mr. Mahathir expressed sadness over the decision to revert to Bahasa Malaysia, saying that the decision would adversely affect children and make it difficult for them to keep abreast of scientific developments, the national news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.
The government cited a decline in students’ math and science grades, particularly in rural areas, as one of the reasons behind the switch.
However, Khoo Kay Kim, emeritus professor of Malaysian history at the University of Malaysia, said that teachers had not been adequately trained before the policy was introduced.
He described Malaysia’s English standards as “pathetic.”
“Fewer and fewer of our professors can now write in English,” he said. “We used to lead Asia in terms of English, and now we have allowed ourselves to slip below other Asian countries.”
Mr. Khoo said it was a “national shame” that the country’s oldest university, the University of Malaysia, had fallen behind other Asian universities in international rankings, a trend he attributed to declining English standards.
He also raised concerns that poor English standards may affect Malaysia’s international competitiveness, saying that multinational companies may struggle to find graduates with good English.
“If less and less Malaysians know English, how are multinational companies going to come into this country?” he said. “If we don’t have the workforce who can fit into multinational companies, how are they going to come here?”
Malaysia’s business community has long been concerned about the reported decline in English standards in schools. “The business community feels that English is imperative for Malaysia’s international competitiveness,” said Michael Yeoh, chief executive the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, an independent research organization.
Mr. Yeoh said that more needed to be done to improve English standards, but questions remained over whether teaching science and math in English was the best method.
“We don’t really know exactly how this could impede on the study of English,” he said.
The Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the government’s decision to increase the number of English teachers and teaching hours.
Its executive director, Stewart Forbes, said that the need to emphasize English must continue to be part of the government’s policy.
“Private sector companies in Malaysia continue to complain about graduates’ communication skills in general, and English skills in particular, and the government’s efforts to raise the level of English expertise are very worthwhile,” he said.
Some educators from Malaysia’s two largest minority groups, the Chinese and Indian communities, welcomed the decision to revert to using Chinese and Tamil for science and math in vernacular schools, local media reported.
However, many parents and the National Union of the Teaching Profession have expressed concern over the decision to scrap English.
Shazlin Aidani, a mother of three, said she wanted her children to learn math and science in English.
“When they graduate and go to work everything will be in English, not Bahasa,” she said.

Najib Must Deal with Corruption

Odette's commentary :

Visionary and well summarized. My worry is that corruption is already too entrenched in the current system that good intentions alone will not be enough to make any difference. Too many warlords defending their turf and holding each other at ransom. Arrogance and pursuit of self interests will eventually lead to the the decline of this country unless the problem is arrested. I'm not sure if anyone has the political clout to achieve this realistically........



_____________________________________________________________

Article By Tunku Abdul Aziz MySinchew
PRIME MINISTER Najib Abdul Razak has done it again. His high income vision for Malaysia, following so closely on the heels of his yet to be fully charted 1Malaysia has caught the nation off guard.
Najib, while remaining largely uninspiring as a leader, is at least aspirational. Nothing wrong with indulging in a little fantasy from time to time, but Najib has to learn to control his propensity for grandstanding. I don’t suppose it is too rude to ask Najib to spell out in the clearest possible terms what precisely he has in mind when he talks about 1Malaysia. Is it fair to ask us to support a concept that he has difficulty in articulating to our satisfaction?
Najib cannot be so naïve that he cannot see what the inherent problems are in the way of turning Malaysia into a high income nation. For starters, a country such as ours which has been so mismanaged these last thirty years in all the important areas of governance is a most unlikely candidate for the High Income Country Stake.
That does not mean that we have not the potential; indeed we have but, I am afraid we have squandered it beyond belief by putting in place investment, trade and industrialisation policies that have tended towards excessive, crippling control rather than encouragement to compete globally.As long as the spirit of the New Economic Policy is kept alive, competitiveness, the key to growing the economic cake, will remain on the back burner.
Najib and his UMNO colleagues may be dismissive of the debilitating effects of corruption on economic growth that will turn a middle income country such as Malaysia into a high income one. Let us look at countries at the top of the economic league table – countries that enjoy high income status. Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and closer to home Singapore, Hong Kong. Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Australia are among the least corrupt countries in the world.
The message is clear. Corrupt countries like Malaysia may continue to dream: the reality is that if they are happy to bed down with corruption, there is no hope in hell or heaven, take your pick, that they will ever achieve high income status. Corruption is the antithesis of best practices, and as we have seen time and time again, all over the world, they are mutually exclusive.
Najib needs to fully understand the prerequisites for economic sustainability. The government under his stewardship must adopt rules, and values, based policies underpinned by systems of checks and balances as a minimum citizens’ charter. Key institutions such as the judiciary, the office of the attorney-general, the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission have to be revamped to ensure that they perform their duties and functions in accordance with the law.
An incorruptible independent judiciary goes a long way in generating confidence within the business community. It says a lot about the reputation of the judges in our country when disputing parties prefer to seek arbitration elsewhere if they can help it. We need to clean up our act quickly as this is the only way we can show the world that we mean business, and that we have the best justice system that money cannot buy.
While it is necessary to rebuild our institutions at the earliest possible opportunity, more to the point is the need to put men and women of integrity in charge. Integrity is not restricted to any one race in our multi-racial Malaysia. A point often ignored is that if we put crooks and scoundrels in charge, we are putting the future of our country at very considerable risk, and yet the record of government management remains one of unbridled corrupt excesses because the government apparently is more at home with the crooks. The records speak for themselves.
A few years ago, at an anti-corruption conference in Cambodia, I had the honour of sharing the rostrum with Jim Wolfensohn, the President of the World Bank. It was his last overseas appearance before stepping down after a long and distinguished career at the WB. He was asked by a reporter what three bits of advice he had for Cambodia in its search for sustainable economic development. He said advice number one, fight corruption; advice number two, fight corruption, and advice number three, fight corruption!
So, Najib, the solution is staring you in the face, and all that is required of you is unadulterated political will. When as a result of systemic corruption government projects are conservatively estimated to cost 30% more than in a non-corrupt country, then is it any wonder foreign contractors concerned about ethical business bypass our country? We need a complete review of our systems of governance because there is much that has gone wrong with the way we manage our affairs. Of course, the tragedy is that there is none so blind as will not see.
In summary, therefore, a high income status is about competitiveness, open and accountable policies. It is also about sustainable economic and social development, equality of opportunity, respect for cultural diversity, human rights and public duty in the public interest. Is Najib up to it?

A good summary of the PKFZ debacle - from Yahoo Asia News

Q+A-Why is Malaysia Port Klang scandal important?
Reuters - Thursday, May 28

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 - Malaysia's government is to unveil later on Thursday an independent auditors report into the construction of a free trade zone in Port Klang, a project aimed at boosting capacity in the port.
What started off as a 1.8 billion Malaysian ringgit ($516.2 million) project has ballooned into one which could cost more than 10 billion ringgit following an acrimonious pullout by the project's Dubai-based international partner.
The issue raises the question of risk foreign investors face when doing business in Malaysia. It has been used to attack the integrity of the government by the opposition at a time when Malaysia's new prime minister is still reeling from losses in the 2008 general election.
The port authority is due to release the auditor's report at 3.30pm . Some members of the ruling coalition have been pressing for disclosure to prevent the project from tarnishing the government's image.
Transparency in the way Malaysia does business will be a major factor in whether it can attract much-needed foreign direct investment.
WHAT IS PKFZ? The Port Klang Free Trade Zone started as a joint venture between the Port Klang Authority and the promoters of the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone in 1999 to attract foreign investment and promote Malaysia's main ports situated near Kuala Lumpur.
HOW DID THE SCANDAL UNFOLD?
Land for the project was acquired by a company, Kuala Dimensi, whose shareholders include senior politicians from the ruling United Malays National Organisation , the lead party in the National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years, as well as politicians from other Front component parties.
The port authority reportedly ignored advice from the government chief legal adviser and bought the land from the company in 2002 for 1 billion ringgit, or about 25 ringgit per square foot, compared with the 3 ringgit per square foot which the company acquired the land for.
The company was later awarded sole rights to develop the zone without competitive bidding. Kuala Dimensi later raised funds through the issuance of bonds backed by the Transport Ministry.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was later called in by the Port Klang Autrhority to prepare a report amid mounting public anger.
PKFZ came under public scrutiny due to its escalating cost. Previously, the government had said the project would not cost more than 4.6 billion ringgit.
On 5 May, MPs briefed by the authority told reporters that the cost of the project could exceed 10 billion ringgit.
WHY DID THE FOREIGN PARTNER PULL OUT?
Jebel Ali Free Zone Internation , the Dubai-based company appointed to managed PKFZ terminated its 15 year-contract, withdrew from the project in July 2007, citing "strategic purposes".
A newspaper report on Jafza's pullout, which cited documents relating to the project, said the separation was acrimonious and due among others to interference by politicians and others with vested interests.
BOND LIABILITIES
The Port Klang Authority paid RM1.09 billion for the land to be settled over 15 years in a deal that was backed by a government guarantee and Kuala Dimensi sold bonds worth 1.3 billion ringgit. Kuala Dimensi sold 1.4 billion ringgit of bonds, again backed by a government guarantee to develop the site.
Two more tranches of bonds with a total face value of more than one billion ringgit were then sold.
POLITICAL DIMENSION
The heads of the PKA have all been senior leaders from the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second largest party in the National Front coalition.
Among its board members, Kuala Dimensi has Azim Zabidi, who was a one-time treasurer of UMNO. Tiong King Sing is director of Kuala Dimensi and treasurer of the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, another member of the coalition.
Also involved in the project are a former UMNO youth leader from Selangor state, Faizal Abdullah, whose father-in-law, Onn Ismail, is another influential figure in Selangor UMNO, was a former chairman of the cooperative that sold the land to Kuala Dimensi.

A good read....

Tunku Aziz, one of the prime movers in setting up Transparency International Malaysia, in happier times was regarded by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as "one man (who) was able to harness his personal passion and deep commitment to the values of ethics and integrity, give it a larger purpose and meaning, and turn it into a force to transform society for the better." Why then was he left out of the MACC Advisory Group? He is regarded as being too outspoken for comfort and, therefore, difficult to handle.

MAY 7 – I never for a moment thought I should live to see the day when a traditional hereditary ruler of a Malay State has taken such a rapid slide in his people’s estimation, approbation and adulation as has the Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak. It took one unfortunate, ill-conceived and ill-considered decision over a petition by the Pakatan Rakyat Mentri Besar Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin, to dissolve the Perak State Assembly that has turned Perak into a politically difficult and dangerous situation.
His Highness Sultan Azlan Shah is no ordinary ruler. As a former Lord President and head of the Malaysian judiciary, he ascended the throne of Perak as someone well-qualified by education and training for what, for all practical purposes, is a largely ceremonial sinecure. Be that as it may, the position carries a heavy constitutional responsibility.
It has become quite apparent that while his legal knowledge may be assumed to be extensive, his training more than adequate, his wisdom in dealing with a delicate and important political matter of public concern, on reflection, has in my humble opinion, turned out to be questionable. A great deficiency in a ruler who showed so much early promise of being a wise, liberal minded and benevolent leader.
When the final chapter of the Perak constitutional fiasco comes to be written, the country, and the world, will be able revisit and understand better the magnitude of the debilitating effects of the royal decision on the Malaysian body politic. Malaysians, in particular, will view with horror the ugly scars left on their nation’s nascent democracy, and they will be constantly reminded how one hasty error of judgement was enough to trigger a political tragedy of the worst imaginable kind. A Greek tragedy pales by comparison.
The saddest part of all is that the resultant unseemly legal wrangling could have been avoided. The fact that the flawed decision was not reversed, within a day or two when it became abundantly clear that the decision not to dissolve the Assembly and call for fresh elections was manifestly unfair and unethical, was nothing if not sheer carelessness, in all the circumstances. I maintain that even now it is not too late to reverse that politically fatal decision and bring to an end this disgraceful episode in the history of participatory representative government in our country.
There is no disgrace or humiliation in coming to terms with one’s honest mistake. No one, even the wisest among us, is infallible. If the Sultan believes, as we know he does passionately, that his royal duty is to serve the public interest, then NOW is the time to give that commitment practical effect.
The Perak fiasco is not about to run out of steam. We must accept that the situation will get worse before it gets better. I saw the images from the State Assembly “sitting” on national television at lunch time today (7 May 2009) with a sense of unbounded revulsion. The scene of warring politicians shouting invective was not a joy to behold.
To use a medical analogy, the Perak affair will be a running sore. Only the Sultan of Perak can provide an effective cure. To ignore what is obviously an untenable constitutional position is an act of grave irresponsibility, and while the Prime Minister thinks it is a great idea for him to give the impression that he is above it all, I should like to remind him that he is not blameless, far from it. It was his active act of muddying the Perak political waters that brought about this current crisis in the first place.
He now has a chance to show that he is not a partisan prime minister, but a national statesman who is prepared to intervene decisively to put matters right in fairness and equity.
Looking back, it was not such a clever personal coup after all. His machination was so abysmally repugnant even judged by the consistently low ethical and moral political standards of UMNO/BN that I find myself wondering whether I could trust him enough to buy my next second-hand car from him; this is the same man trying to persuade us to buy his 1 Malaysia. What a man! (With apologies to G.B.Shaw)

Systematic Problem for taxi licenses in the country

It was interesting to read in The Star today about the plight of taxi drivers in the city.....

It brings to mind an interesting discourse I had last year with a like minded cabbie in Penang.....

Travelling for business throughout Malaysia, I like spending some time chatting with cabbies on the way to and from various destinations – it surprised me particularly in Penang that taxi fares were ridiculously high. One had to pay RM10 – RM15 for a short journey of less than 1.5 km in many instances.

I hence enquired with the cabbie driver remarking that fares in Penang seemed higher than fares in other parts of the country. I was then treated to a long discourse by the cabbie on why this was the case. I was informed that taxi licenses are not granted to individual taxi drivers in Penang (and also throughout the country) . Rather, these licenses to operate commercial taxi vehicles are often granted to political cronies and connected parties allowing them to operate a fleet of taxies and dictating the terms and conditions for hire of such vehicles including, rental charges, maintenance charges and ownership of the vehicle in due course. The ultimate license holder enjoyed the benefits of control over the prices , up front monies and generally got a pretty good deal through the whole “arrangement”.

It seemed to me that the ones getting the short end of the stick were the cabbies themselves. Having to pay exorbitant rentals and with escalating fuels costs at that time, it was certainly difficult making ends meet. Any attempts by the cabbies to protest the unfair arrangements, were met with such replies as “if you don’t like it, don’t drive a cab” or were issued veiled threats not to renew the license for a particular taxi. I asked the cabbie if he had attempted to form a union to defend the rights of the cabbies or even to bring this to the attention of the Minister in charge – apparently, this cabbie had made such attempts even sending letters in writing to the policiticans handling that particular portfolio but it looked as though these attempts to raise this issue were merely sidelined or tossed onto the back burner. He looked thoroughly exhausted and defeated when telling me this as though all hope was lost.

Of particular irony when I read the papers today the comment from the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board and STAR reporters regarding the “Decade old fare structure” being the real problem. “After extensive studies, we have submitted a paper to the cabinet.....” JPJ... "If you still can’t earn a living, why not do other jobs? Did someone force them? It is really true that you cannot earn a living?”

To me, this warrants a review of the entire system for the issuance of taxi permits. That is the probably root cause of the whole problem. I am surprised that the reporters in The Star failed to mention this matter. It is unfair to push the blame to the cabbies all the time – they are the ones who have the least vested interests in the situation.

Taken from Bloomberg- Father’s Racial Policy May Be Najib’s Undoing at Malaysian Helm

This article was taken from Bloomberg News :
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By Shamim Adam
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Najib Razak was a teenager when his father, Malaysia’s second prime minister, started a program that gives preferential treatment to the ethnic Malay majority. Days away from becoming leader himself, Najib may find that policy shackles his efforts to revive a faltering economy.
Najib, 55, is running unopposed in elections next week to head the biggest party in the ruling coalition, a sure-fire ticket to the highest office. Business leaders -- including his brother, who runs Malaysia’s second-largest bank -- say the racial program impedes growth just when Najib needs it most.
“He’s got an uphill task ahead of him,” said Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin, an economist at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. “How he handles the economic crisis and political developments will show us if he has the mettle and staying power to be leader.”
Najib, currently deputy premier, will replace Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who failed to serve out his term after presiding over the coalition’s smallest election victory since Malaysia’s independence in 1957. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim won support from Indian and Chinese minorities in the March 2008 elections after pledging to scrap the race policy, open up the awards of government contracts and cut corruption.
Malaysia may be set for its first recession in a decade. Najib, who is also finance minister, predicts the economy will shrink 1 percent this year at worst. As exports and commodity prices tumble, economists at CLSA Asia Pacific Markets in Kuala Lumpur expect a 5 percent contraction. January’s overseas sales fell 28 percent, while oil is down 52 percent in the past year.
Murder Case
Najib is also burdened by allegations from a private investigator, a blogger and an opposition lawmaker that he is linked to the murder of a woman near Kuala Lumpur in 2006.
Last June, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin said in a declaration at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Najib’s wife witnessed the placing of explosives on the victim’s body. Najib called the allegation “garbage” and said he and his wife gave a statement to the police. Najib has denied any connection to the death and declined to comment for this article.
Raja Petra was arrested on Sept. 12 under the country’s Internal Security Act. His wife, Marina Lee Abdullah, said the arrests were for articles that criticized the country’s leadership. He was released from jail on Nov. 7 after a Kuala Lumpur court ruled that his detention was unlawful.
In July, investigator P. Balasubramaniam said at a press conference that Najib had had an affair with the 28-year-old victim. He retracted the allegation a day later and subsequently disappeared, said his lawyer, Americk Sidhu.
Banned From Parliament
This week, lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo was banned from parliament for a year for saying in the chamber that Najib was “involved in a murder case.” Najib’s adviser, Abdul Razak Baginda, was cleared in 2008 of abetting the killing of the woman, with whom the adviser said he had had an affair.
Abdul Razak, Najib’s father, initiated the New Economic Policy in 1971. He was seeking more national wealth for indigenous Bumiputera, the mostly Malay “sons of the soil.” That group, about two-thirds of the population of 28 million, gets cheaper housing as well as priority for college places, government contracts and shares of publicly traded companies.
The 38-year-old policy is a “serious” impediment to competitiveness, and undermines unity and investment, Nazir Razak, Najib’s brother and chief executive officer of Bumiputra- Commerce Holdings Bhd., told reporters last month. The Razaks are ethnic Malays.
Corruption Concerns
Opposition members argue that the affirmative-action program has done more to enrich politicians and their cronies than foster national unity. Sixty-one percent of voters say corruption is the biggest problem for Najib’s United Malays National Organization party, or UMNO, according to a poll last month by the independent Merdeka Center, near Kuala Lumpur.
Najib said in an interview last October that he will gradually remove the program, which aimed to raise Malays’ share of total wealth to 30 percent, and replace it with a needs-based system at an unspecified time. Bumiputeras held 19 percent of corporate equity in 2006, up from 2 percent in the 1970s, according to a government report.
“He might try to buy time claiming that he will scrap the policy once the Bumiputera equity share has been achieved,” said Khoo Kay Peng, an independent political consultant based near Kuala Lumpur. “The main point is the equity share will never be achieved. It is now a political tool and used extensively to grease the gravy train.”
Unemployment Rise
Racial tensions that dogged Abdullah, 69, may escalate on Najib’s watch as unemployment rises in the slowdown, said Azrul at Bank Islam. The government expects the jobless rate in 2009 to increase to 4.5 percent from 3.7 percent last year. The ethnic program forces Chinese and Indians to compete for some jobs after Malay slots are filled.
“People are clamoring for a more level playing field,” Azrul said. “As things get tougher and people lose jobs, that’s a trigger for more social unrest.”
Even as the government spends 67 billion ringgit ($18 billion) on economic stimulus, Lin Yun Ling, managing director of Malaysian builder Gamuda Bhd., told a seminar last month that ethnic quotas may lead Malaysia down a “long and slippery road.” Foreign direct investment may fall 50 percent in 2009, the government forecasts.
About 1 million people emigrated from Malaysia between 1972 and 2007, according to the Democratic Action Party, a member of the opposition coalition.
Come Back Later
“The outflow of the more educated non-Malays has adversely affected Malaysia’s transition to become a more knowledge-based economy,” said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow at the Singapore- based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Lee, a Malaysian who has studied and lived overseas for more than 30 years, plans to return only when he retires.
Anwar, 61, a former UMNO deputy leader, is bidding for power with his multiethnic coalition and courting disaffected Malays. Najib’s National Front coalition lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and control of five of 12 contested states in 2008 elections.
“Dismantling the New Economic Policy could mean losing the last bastion of support,” said Ibrahim Suffian, director of the Merdeka Center.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net

Comment from anonymous on Tony Pua's blog...

I found this comment rather interesting and relevant.....

"let this be a lesson to all the other PR state governments (kedah, penang, selangor). start hunting down all the BN sleepers and appointees in all levels of the state civil service and state GLCs. replace them all with technocrats, headhunted from the market (with the current global economic recession, there are plenty of talented and experienced msians overseas who will be looking for jobs...get them just like what shanghai is trying to do). build them up to be PR's trusted team of technocrats ready to implement policies and ensure they're are executed well.it's not going to be easy, but it sure is infinitely much better than sitting around like a sitting duck and let all these planted BN saboteurs screw you at every available opportunity, scuttle all your policies, and come the next elections PR get booted out because the rakyat wouldn't know nor care that PR's non-performance is due to sabotage."

My questions to Dr M on why he decided to leave UMNO...

Dear Tun, It would appear that the main reason you are doing this is to force our current PM to resign. I have some questions: 1) What alternative do you have planned for UMNO's succession? 2) Will removing the current PM improve the state that UMNO is on now? - ie. Will money politics and corruption cease? 3) Will an independent judiciary be restored? Or is there a hidden agenda behind this? Just one more question : Who would you like to see as the new leader of Malaysia and please justify why? If this person can correct items 2 and 3 above, then maybe you are doing the right thing - if it is to be more of the same thing, Malaysia is doomed.

Toll Hikes - My Foot!

It looks as though the government can't seem to make up it's mind. Why announce a toll hike and then retract it a day later? Seems fishy to me. Surely all this would have been thought about beforehand and a decision made based on careful analysis.... to claim that the retraction is based on public reaction is absurd - any Tom , Dick or Harry would know that the public would be opposed to this in the current economic climate. No- what BN wants to do is show that they are saints and doing this for the people....ironically with two by elections around the corner. Admitedly, hypocritical!