WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

WISHING ALL MY READERS A HAPPY AND VERY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Dr. M's Nobel Prize nomination boggles the mind.

During his 22 years tenure as prime Ministerof Malaysia,Mahathir's legacy has been his propensity to spend lavishly on mega projects.It would have been a tribute to his legacy if only what he spent extravagantly was useful to the citizen of this country.But this was not to be.
His Multi-media corridor project was a flop and the country's investment in a state of the art information technology ended in a loss of a few hundred million dollars when the foreigner entrusted with the task channelled investment funds to his private account in America.
Putrajaya is half completed and its future is in limbo.The Petronas Twin Tower is only sparsely tennanted.KLIA which cost nearly $9 billion is under utilised.The Maltrade building which was contracted out for $160 million ended up costing $230million.Mahathir's forage in the foreign exchange in the 80's according to Anwar Ibrahim ended in a $31billion loss.
His Human rights record was abysmal.He used theISA to incarcerate his opposition whenever there was a threat to his position.He used the judiciary to act in accordance with his whims and fancy and when they refused to comply he set up a tribunal to remove them.Even his Deputy was not spared his conniving ways. He manufactured trump up charges of corruption and sodomy to imprison his deputy when he perceived there was a threat to dethrone him.
As for his foreign policy, there was little difference from his predeccessor and his current successor.Malaysia's foreign policy has always been predicated on religion.That is the primary reason why we have not recognised Israel, a country which has not offended us in any way.And Mahathir's moral support for the muslim insurgents in Southern Thailand has caused considerable anger in Bangkok.
Therefore when we see the war crimes tribunal being conceived by Mahahthir we begin to suspect that his agenda was to support the muslim insurgents inIraq and the muslim Palestinians in Palestine.As for the perpetuator of 9/11? In Mahathir's book they dont deserved to feature in the war crimes tribunal.This alone negate any credibilty Mahathir may have in attempting to legitimise the war crimes Tribunal.What really boggles the mind is what did he do to deserve the nomination of the Nobel prize?

Hypocrisy in Davos

How could our P.M speak with such hypocritical conviction when he spoke in Davos, Switzerland 'thatMalaysia shares Switzerland concern that countries should not practise double standards .'?
A supposedly religious man with pious leanings to utter such lies in front of a world wide audience is not only shamefully embarrassing but reveals the hypocrisy of his character.
What is the point of professing to the world his religiousity, his complete belief in his faith when in the same breath he can cast aside all his beliefs and instead practice and administer a policy of brazen discrimination of its citizens.
The P.M is not young anymore.Its only a matter of time when he will face his maker and he will have to explain why he was been unjust to his citizens of other faith.His religion forbids him to be unjust to the people he governs and yet he did it with impunity.
The P.M can continue to lie to the world but he cannot lie to his own conscience.The footprints he leaves behind in this world will follow him to the hereafter and he will have to answer for his follies.

Scandals, Corruption not so easy to hide now.

The present looting, plundering and corruption by our politicians we are witnessing now did not begin in 2005 or 2006 when the present P.M Abdullah Badawi took over the leadership from Dr. Mahathir.In fact this frequent accepted practice by the ruling Barisan National party has been going on for the last 50 years,ever since the formation of the Alliance party to the present day dacing of the Barisan national.
To a great extent technological advancement play a vital role in disemminating information to the general public and the availabilty of internet access even accelerated the free flow of information.The accessibilty of the internet enabled information of scandals and corruption to travel on the information super highway at such a rapid pace then in a shortperiod of time the news is common knowledge to the public.
Previously, in the last 48 years information or news of any scandals were kept hidden and conveniently concealed from public view.As a result corruption and any scandals were not published by the main stream media which for the most part was owned by the ruling party.
With the present day availabilty of internet access the main stream media no longer have virtual monopoly of everyday news.Good or bad news will be reported and published in the internet and censorship is virtually impossible.
Just to illustrate the point that corruption has been ever present in the govt ministry of Defence some 20 years ago when the Defence Minister ordered a fleet of fighter aircraft form U.S.A.When the aircraft was handed to the govt the condition of the aircraft was so poor that it could not take to the air.
The fleet of aircraft was eventually put to shelter in a rented hangar somewhere in the Nevada desert. Until this day no one knows the fate of the aircraft.Fast forward to today, the Defence Minister purchase submarines and Russian fighter aircrafts and commission is paid to an agent in Malaysia who ostensibly act on behalf of some defence Ministry officials.
Yes the practice is still continuing except the method is more sophisticated and the money changing hands is in the millions.
If the elements and principle used as a yardstick to convict former DPM in 1998 was used today, all the the current ministers including the P.M and DPM would be convicted and thrown in prison.The fact that corrupt practices and scandals did not surfaced prior to Badawi's era does not preclude its non existence.
The more probable reason was because it was cleverly concealed by the main stream media and information was not freely available to the public then.

Escalating Iraq war is correct decision..

The article 'Escalating Iraq war height of folly'by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar represent his personal view which is devoid of any basis or truth.How could the writer be so presumptious as to conclude that'The majority of Iraqis are opposed to his plan'.He even went further to say that the Arab Sunnis community and the Shites leader under Prime Minister Nuri Al- Maliki 'had misgivings about the injection of 21,000 additional American troops in Iraq.'
Dr. Chandra's argument is not only fallacious but also shabby and amaeturish.In an interview conducted by CNN regarding the additional troops, majority of the miniority Sunnis were supportive of the move for the simple reason that American presence would at least prevent a massacre of the miniority Sunnis should sectarian conflict take place.For many years Miniority Sunnis had enjoyed unprecedented priveleges under Saddam Hussein's rule.The over throw of Saddam has now reversed the role and Shites at the helm would not hesitate to engage in a sectarian blood bath against the miniority Sunnis which had oppressed the Shites under Saddam.The Sadr militia was responsiblefor many of the sectarian killings of Sunnis whichtook place in Baghdad.Under such circumstance Chandra's assertion does not hold water.The additional American troops contrary to Chandra's view would afford more protection to the Sunnis.
As for the Shites under P.M Nur al-Maliki,the latter made a special sojourn to the White House to plead to the Americans not to cut and run and leave Iraq.Instead of being displease, the Shites P.M should be even more grateful for America's commitment to stay and provide additional troops.So where does that leaveChandra's assertion that the Shite leadership wanted the Americans to leave?
As an analyst making comments in Iraq ,Chandra seem to lack basic knowledge with the repercussion of an early departure of American troops.Earlier lesson in Afganistan have shown that a hasty departure without securing control and establishing a stable govt would be disastrous.An early departure now byAmerican forces in Iraq would create a vacuum which would be infiltrated by Syrian and Iran ideology and radical islamic terrorists group like the Talibans and the al- Queda.Before that , the country would immediately be mired in sectarian violence and anarchy as the fledgeling Iraq security and army would not be able to quell any potential insurgencies.
I find the rest of Chandra's criticism ofAmerican occupation totally flawed and illogical.Which country would like to see their soldiers die daily in order to secure Law and order for Iraq?Given the choice President Bush would defintely want a quick exit.But the choice of a quick exit could have serious ramification and would have grave consequences for its future foreign policies and its fight against terrorist regimes.

TNB record Bonus for its workers.

What is the rational for TNB to pay an averageof 2.7 months bonus to its 27,000 workers nationwide?The performance of this GLC has deteriorated ever since it was privatised and its service to consumers have been abysmal to put it mildly.Although its net profit surged to a record 82 per cent to $736.4 million for its fourth quarter ending August 2006,this was nevertheless bolstered by the recent tariff hike.
The President and CEO Datuk Seri Khalib Mohamad Noh admitted that the tariff hike contributed Rm$400 million to its earnings last year.(nst 20th Jan,2007). Since the increased in Profit was entirely due to the tariff hike and not due to better productivity or its improved services why should TNB reward its workers nationwide?To pay bonus based on mediocre performance is to reward incompetence.To seek a hike in tariffs and use the profit derived from this hike to pay its workers an average of 2.7 months of bonus is the height of irresponsibilty.
How could the CEO justify to the average consumer for a price hike in order to pay exorbitant bonus to its workers?Without the profit derived from the hike,TNB's profit would be a meagre $336.4 million. When compared to its huge capital outlay, such a performance would be gauged as below par.
The average citizen have a right to demand an explanation why the CEO and its board deemed it appropriate to pay such extravagant bonus when its workers' performance have deteriorated.The frequent breakdown and outages, the poor response for repairs,the hassle in making payments at TNB counters and the overall quality of services certainly do not merit any bonus at all.

The Spoilt Malay Businessman

The present govt policy of helping the bumiputras have created a generation of lazy malay businessman whose only goal is to make as much money as possible with the minumum of effort.Instead of teaching them basic business fundamentals they are taught to obtain lucrative contracts which are then farmed out to third parties.Skimming profits from inflated contracts is of course an easy way to make money and you do not need to have any business acumen to make a profit.All you need is political connection.
Instead of teaching the malays to fish for food the govt has simply put fish on their plates.What happens when there is no more fish on the plate?By then it will be too late because they wont know how to fish.
Handing out lucrative contracts like security labelling of cigarettes need no expertise in business.It is akin to a licence to print money.Every packet of cigarettes with a security label is taxed a certain amount.The beneficiary of this concession just collect an annual amount of $70-$100 million doing nothing.
Similarly, pharmaceutical products are also labelled and the beneficiary of this concession stand to collect a cool $150- $200 million per annum.
Then what about contracts given for the supply of equipment and spareparts?Bumiputra companies given such contracts merely add a percentage of profit and charge the goods at an inflated price.
The recent fiasco in the transportation of National trainees to their respective camps was another typical example of giving lucrative transportation contracts to agents who were not even familiar with the transporting system.Instead of an open tender to award to the most experienced and cost effective transporter the concession was given to retired army officers and agents who were not familiar with the organisational aspect of the transport system.
Giving few thousand A.Ps monthly to a few bumiputras is not training them to be good automobile dealers.Just because they become rich because of such practice does not vindicate such a policy.Any ten year old kid without any business knowledge can be filthy rich if given 1000 A.P's monthly.
What about mega projects like the 2nd Penang bridge which was awarded to an UMNO connected company.?The contract price given to UEM bhd was $3billion and the contract was subsequently sub-contracted to a China company for $2.3Billion.UEM stand to make $700 million for just getting the initial contract.
Such a practice of awarding contracts and concession means that in the long run it will cost more to do business here.We not only lose our competitiveness but consumers will have to pay more for road tolls and all consumer products.
In the final analysis, such a system of awarding lucrative contracts to malay businessman will not produce a generation of competent malay businessman able to face the challenges of a globalised world but instead will produce a generation of lazy malays waiting for easy hand-outs.

The Great EPF Scandal

Of late the management of EPF has thrown caution to the wind and involved itself in some of the most ludicrous investment ever seen.Most of its recent ventures would not be considered prudent and yet EPF which is suppose to zealously and wisely invest employees contributed funds has ploughed their money in such absurd investment like purchasing a stake in the Healthcare company of Columbia Asia.This is an area of investment that it has no history of any knowledge and yet it was prepared to put employees hard earned savings in purchasing an equity in the company.Why was such an investment decision made and who made them?The whole deal stinks to the core and yet the management went through with the deal.
Last month EPF made a deal with an UMNO connected company, MRCB to purchase property worth $80million.If it was such a good deal surely EPF would be the last to benefit because MRCB is not known for its generosity in giving EPF a leg up for the investment.The ulgly truth is that MRCB found that EPF was a convenient cash rich vehicle to absorb its unsaleable assets.Without proper due diligence I would not be surprised that the properties were sold at highly inflated values.
Records obtained from the public domain indicate EPF have investments in the following companies:
1. Bank Islam
2. Bank Pertanian
3. MAS
4.RHB bank
5.MBSB
The above lists are not meant to be exhaustive but was deliberately highlighted because it share a common thread.All of them suffered losses.There are other losses which I may have excluded for lack of knowledge.
Since most EPF contributors are from the private sectors and govt servants do not contribute because of their pension schemes, it would be fair to say that90% of all contributors are derived from non malays.If that is the case why no non malays are appointed to the board and why no non malay CEO is appointed to manage EPF.?
For so long now the govt have treated EPF as a GLC and have appointed its cronies to manage EPF funds.Many of its dealings have been shady and non transparent and majority of the dubious investments have ended in losses.If a due diligence assignment were to be taken now there is no doubt that EPF would be insolvent.Its investment in the property company of MBSB alone in the 80s brought losses of nearly $1billion.How many of EPF's profitable investment would be required to offset this loss?
There need to be an investigation by an impartial body to determine why EPF have now become so irresponsible.Employees hard earned savings should rightly be invested in gilt-edged shares and govt securities and bonds which have a secure albeit lower rate of return.The guardian of EPF have no right to be adventurous and invest in speculative and risky ventures where there is a risk of failure no matter how miniscule.Now that it has taken the risky route and the investment have ended in losses may we ask who is going to be responsible?.
The govt cannot continue this present lackadiscal course and hope to recover its present losses from future investments.At some point in time we may want to find out how EPF is goingto pay its divdends when the majority of its investments have ended in losses.Most GLC are not professionally managed and as a result most of them have suffered substantial losses.The govt should not treat EPF as a GLC.It should appoint professionals to manage EPF in a transparent manner devoid of any speculative and risky venture.To do so would be at their own peril because the livelihoods and future well being of millions of contributors may very well depend on the success of EPF's investment strategy.

Saddam Hussein's Lasting Legacy.

For almost three decades Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist.History would not judge him fairly if it did not mention that during his reign there was none of this sectarian conflict that plagued the present day elected Iraqi regime.However, it must be said that his colourful reign did include a long protracted war with Iran and a brief disastrous invasion of Kuwait
Despite the absence of sectarian conflict therewas sporadic resistance to his rule and a few assasination attempts on his and his son's life.It wasi n Dujail, a predominantly Shias area where a failed attempt on his life took place and for which he was tried for he massacre of 148 men, and children.It was specifically for the killing of the 148 Shia men that Saddam went on trial charged for the crimes against humanity.And it was for this trial that he was found guilty and sentenced to hanged.
No matter what failings he had as a ruthless dictator, credit must be given to him for his ability to rule Iraq's diverse racial and religious origins that saw none of the present day sectarian conflict.This success alone put to shame what America with its superior arsenal of weapons could not accomplish what Saddam was able to do in three decades of his rule.If history was to judge Saddam fairly, it would be his ability to rule Iraq without the present day turmoil. That would be his lasting legacy.

The Lembah sari scandal

In 2003 the govt. despite objections from cigarette companies proceeded to award the $70-$100million lucrative contract of security-labelling packaging for locally-made cigarettes to an obscure,unknown company called Kod Efisien. For obvious reason the award of this money making concession was couched in secrecy and the actual beneficiary was not made known. However in august this year the concessionpreviously granted to Kod Efisien was transferred to alittle known $2 company called Lembah Sari.The transfer of this money making concession was naturally made without fanfare, transparency and accountabilty.
According to company's record,one of itsshareholder and chairman is Mr.Haris, the youngest sonof Hussein Onn and the brother of the country'sEducation minister, Hishamuddin Hussein.
From the train of events it has become obvious that the initial beneficiary was concealed in 2003 for fear of public protest.However in 2006, when there was no public outcry(because the award was made by the custom Dept in utmost secrecy)the beneficiary has now feel safe to reveal its identity.
Many questions regarding the award of the lucrative concession to a relative of the Minister should be made public.Why did the govt deem fit to award a contract worth $70-$100 million to an individual?If it was awarded to the brother of a serving Minister is that not blatant corruption?Why did the govt not undertake the security labelling and accrue the revenue to the Federal Treasury?Why was there no transparency and accountabilty in the award of the lucrative concession?
In the governance of the country's resources, our leaders has a fiduciary duty to its citizens to ensure a proper and transparent administration of its duties entrusted to them.Any lack of transparency and integrity in their administration would constitute an indictment of their tenure and governance.

National Schools Need to Change.

When a sick man visits a doctor it is important that he diagnose the patient and makes the right prognosis.Based on his diagnosis, the doctorwill prescribe the right medication for his ailment.If this prognosis is correct the patient will recover fromthe prescibed medication and if his diagnosis is wrong the patient will not recover and the situation could even worsen.This analogy is similar to what our leaders are attempting to solve in the dearth of nonmalays in National schools.
Our leaders, P.M included doesn't have aclue why chinese parents opt to send their children to vernacular schools.In this case they think that by introducing Chinese and Tamil language classes nonmalay parents will send their children to National schools.If that is their prescription for National schools then they are in for a big surprise because it will fail even before they implement it.
In order for National schools to be accepted as schools of choice for all malaysians the whole structure of National schools have to be changed.National schools in its present form will simply not be acceptable by non malays.Briefly some of the structural changes that need to be addressed are as follows:
1.Leave religion at home or in the mosques.Religion of any form should not be part of any curriculum.If teachers need to say their morning prayers do it at home and not in schools.We respect your religious practice so respect ours too.
2.Composition of teachers should change to include more non malays and to allow promotion of them to be headmasters based on merit and not on race.
3. Avoid introducing islamic morals on students and that includes wearing of tudung.
4. School work should be based on meritocracy and not on racial preference.
5.The construction and methodology of school syllabus should be left to academics and not to politicians.
6.Appointment and training of teachers should be based on merit and not race based.
The above are some of the changes that have tobe made if National schools are to be the choice fo rall Malaysians.

Let Us End 50 years of B.N rule.

For the first time in more than fifty years,when the next General Election comes, I am going to abandon the edit that it is better to vote for the devil that I know rather than the devil that I dontKnow.This time round there will be no hesitation.I will like the proverbial saying throw caution to the wind.There will be no turning back.There will be no second thought.
For the last fifty years I have faithfully chosen the safe path. I voted for the race based party that belonged to the Barisan National.I even encouraged and persuaded my relatives to vote along the same racial line to ensure a strong stable govt that will protect the interest of all races.But events of late has proven me wrong.
This govt that I and many others who placed their faith in, is a corrupt,short-sighted,manipulative,racist and incompetent one. After fifty years they have not shown their abiltiy to govern with wisdom.Instead they squandered our nation's coffers,encouraged and perpetuate a corrupt civil service and continue to formulate economic and fiscal policies that will take our country down the road to destruction.
Enough is enough.Our country couldnt be worse off than what it is now.The time has come to vote for a change.After fifty years the present govt is complacent.We need to inject fresh blood with new vision to bring us further into this millenium or suffer and be left behind in this globalised world.The choice to determine our direction and future is in our hands.Let us choose wisely and vote for any one/party that stand against B.N .Even if we cannot win let us deny them the two third majority that they enjoy for the last fifty years.

Works Minister Should Come Clean

Works Minister, Samy Vellu defends the steep rise in toll rates on grounds that Malaysia has the' cheapest tolls in the world'.What the Minister fail to add is that other countries dont pay road tax and the import duties and excise duties dont reach100% to 200% depending on the models.
An average popular car like Toyota Vois costU.S$10,000 in America.In Malaysia it cost almost$90,000.Almost twice the value as in America.Naturally motorist in America dont mind paying a higher toll rate since cars are cheaper.But in Malaysia we are hit with a triple whammy.we pay road tax, road toll and pay hefty import and excise duties on cars.
When the American govt build their highways the contract is openly tendered and the whole process is transparent. All contracts, the terms and conditons of the highway agreement are opened for public scrutiny.When a contract of $1 billion is given out for the contract we can safely assume that it is a justifiable cost.On completion of the highway, the operator assume the risk of a normal business venture.There is no such thing as a govt guarantee that the highway toll collected will be profitable.Any loss would have to be borne by the operator and there is no such thing as compensation if the expected profit do not materialise.
Can we say the same practice for our highway construction?Here in Malaysia, Highway contracts are given out without tender.Cost of a $1billion highway project is given away for $3 billion to companies dubiously connected to the ruling politica lparty.Terms and agreement of the Highway contract are so secretive that they come under the purview of the OSA(official Secret Act).Naturally when inflated values are given to the cost of Highways the tendency is that toll rates are calculated based on inflated rates.What should have been a $1 collection becomes $2 because of the inflated cost of the Highway.The most ridiculous part of the whole Highway agreement is that the govt provides the operator with an iron clad guarantee to allow them to increase toll every few years.If toll increase is not given the govt give an undertaking to compensate the operator to the extent of the amount loss in revenue.According to the workMinister an amount of $2.5 billion was given as compensation to the concessionaire.This alone shouldcreate further suspicions whether the whole structureof the Highway agreement was done in a fair and equitable manner.
The Works Minister should desist from comparing our toll rate with other countries especially when allother factors are not similar and equal.First and foremost let us have a look at the Highway concessionaire agreement to see if everything is above board.Then let the public judge whether the toll increase is justifiable.

Who are the beneficiaries of the Plantation Mergers?

What is the rationale for merging three independently profitable enterprise which has strong growth, consistent profits and hence good dividends for its shareholders?If the simple reason is to be big then it is a poor reason. Big corporation need not translate into efficient enterprise. In fact it can be just the contrary.
When three different corporations with three different goals merged the results can be conflicting.Among the three perhaps only Golden Hope and Gurthrie corp.can deem to be similar.But Sime Darby is a different kettle of fish. It is a conglomerate with diversified interest in plantation,distributor of heavy machinery, distributor of cars, assembler of motor cycles and cars and a host of different businesses that varies from one extreme to another.Under such circumstance it would be foolishto assume that any synergistic effect can be derived from such a union.
Then what is the true reason for the proposed merger?.First let us examine the players behind the merger.CIMB which heads the merger is led by NazirAbdul Razak.Permodalan National Bhd which owns majority shares in the three entities is led by our DPM Najib Abdul Razak who sits as one of the trustee on the board of PNB.The fact that one party is the initiator of the proposed merger and the other is a party related to the proposer should create enough suspicion.
In the end game one should just look at theprincipal beneficiary of the merger.What is the obvious motive for taking a path that is going to be messy and full of obstacles.If anything the first beneficary would be CIMB which would perhaps collect acool $150 to $200 million in consultancy fees.And asusual the principal losers would be the shareholders who would see their investment being diluted.
Finally,the million dollar question is who will be the actual mysterious beneficiary of the merger?This will become evident when he merger is completed.

Time to amend Article 121(1A)

The faces of grief like the Rayappan's family will continue to be repeated in the future for other converts who revert to their religion if our politicalmasters do not attempt to resolve this conflict through the constitution.
When the 1988 Constitution Amendment Bill was enacted in Parliament in March 1988,the govt did not envisage that the enactment of Article 121(1A) would create injustice and bring grief to families like Moorthy and Rayappan.It should be apparent by now that for this lacuna in the constitution to be satisfactorily resolved there need to be an amendment to article 121(1A) of the constitution. Non-muslims who convert and later decide to revert to their original faith cannot expect the govt to step in every time such a crisis of religious identity appears.
For quick and satisfactory resolution of similar incidents, the constitution must provide clear and unambigious guidelines.If the relevant Articles of the constitution is vague and ambigious then there must be an effort to amend the relevant part of the constitution in order to provide a clear path for an equitable resolution. The affected and grieving family should not be forced to endure the uncertainty and tussle of the dead man's body while the religious authorities try to seek brownie points with their Syariah courts.

MAS should not deceive Public with its Financial statement.

I find it highly irresponsible for MAS todeceive the general public with its purported reportof its financial statement that it has made a profitof $204 million for this year.A closer scrutiny of its fine print indicated that $194 million was attributed to the sale of its office building.In normal accounting parlance this is a one off capital gain which is not derived from its operational income.
Further an almost 30% increase in fares recently would have surely contributed to its profits and this increase in profits cannot be attributable to better management but purely due to price increase in ticketing price. So far there is hardly any difference in the management of MAS other than the voluntary retrenchment of its staff.However, one significant change affecting senior citizen was the deprivation ofsenior citizen to fly on a stand-bye basis.Instead they have to book their ticket 8 days in advance before being allowed to fly.This is actually a poor management strategy. On a given day, with the exception of peak traffic, the plane is half or three quarter full.So to fill up the seats by giving senior citizens on a stand-bye basis would logically contribute to additional revenue.If we were to estimate that on a given day for all of MAS domestic flights there are 1000 empty seats on all it flights and if it were to sell it at $100 to senior citizens for each seat, the total for each day of additional revenue would amount to $100,000.This is no small amount when you multiply it for 30 days.By taking away this privelege from senior citizens it is indirectly taking out a significant part of its revenue.

Our spendthrift Leaders.

How do we tell our leaders that money from public funds are not meant to be spent extravagantly.For P.M to lavish $600 million on UMNO division leaders to spend on small rural projects through class F contractors is not only extravagant but smack of corruption.What is the rationale of allocating $3 million of public funds to political leaders to ensure rural projects are carried out?Ifsuch projects have to be carried out why cant they be carried out by govt agencies such as JKR.And if tender need to be carried out why cant it be done in a transparent manner to avoid suspicion of corruption.
Our leaders seem to have lost their moral compass when it comes to spending our public funds.They seem to harbour the view that our nation's coffers is like a bottomless pit where foolish spending will not replete our nation's resources.While countries like Singapore is investing its hard earned currency in good yields investment (through its investment arm, Temasek) we are even plundering our oil wealth ( through oil company Petronas) by unscrupulous bailouts of private enterprise.
Whenever we start to accumulate some wealth,our leaders immediately deem fit to spend it on some dubious projects.Have our leaders spare a thought what will happen when the oil dries up and foreign investments runs out?Our oil reserves will run out in19 years time and foreign investment is already down to a trickle.Have our leaders prepare our country for the future when we cannot depend anymore on oil and foreign FDI's?If not they are in for a surprise when the good times are over.

Concessionaire Toll Agreement with the Govt is one sided.

The recent reminder by Works Minister SamyVellu that road toll will have to be increased soon doesnt make sense.Does the govt toll agreement with the Toll concesinaires provide an iron clad guarantee that they will constantly make consistently good profit over the duration of the toll agreement?
Why is there so much secrecy in the toll agreemnt?To avoid unfair insinuation and aspersion on the govt officials and Minister given the task of making the agreemnt with the Toll concessionaires,would it not be proper and transparent that those agreements be made public so that we can see if everything is above board.
The public perception is that the agreement is one sided and quite rightly so.Why must the govt give a guarantee that compensation will be paid to the concessionaire if toll is not allowed to increase after a period of years?Going by logic, the number of vehicles would increase every year and by that deduction toll would also correspondingly increase.If that be the case then why the necessity for an increase in toll or the need to compensate the concessionaire? The increase in the number of vehicles would have adequately compensated the concessionaire without any increase in the toll.
I doubt the public would accept any toll increase in the absence of any proper disclosure of the reasons for such an increase.

Purchase of Defence Equipment is a Sham

Can our country continue to sustain wanton waste in the purchase of defence equipment which for the most part have little relevance to our national defence?The whole matter of defence equipment purchase seems to be done in an ad hoc manner with no proper due diligence carried out to determine the type and quality necessary for a modern defence system that will not only act as a deterrent but would also provide a sustainable level of defence that will ensure protection of our national sovereignty through the 21st century and beyond.
A few months ago our DPM, and Defence Minister was in U.K to sign an agreement for the purchase of Submarines.Purchasing submarines is the easy part but do we have the manpower, the facilities for such state of the art equipment to be part of our defence arsenal?Many of our previous purchases have ended in the junk yards and hopefully this purchase will not be the next statistic.
Then we had another deal with the Russians for the purchase of fighter planes.The deal was sealed with the addition of a Malaysian astronaut thrown in as an added incentive .Agro- based Industry ministry Parliamentary secretary Rohani Abdul Karim naively went on to say that 'the programme to send a Malaysian into space will not cost a single sen as it is part of an offset arrangement for the purchase of Russian military aircraft'.This of course is not true. It has now been established that it will cost us approximately $95 million to send our astronaut to space so that he can indulge in the children's game of Batu seremban and to experiment the effects of preparing teh tarik in outer space.
Finally, this week we were told that the defence dept has purchased 8 Italian fighter planes for a cost of $410 million.The question is how do we justify the purchase of three different types of defence equipment to blend into our defence strategy?The maintenance of these different types of equipment will pose problems in spare parts and manpower skills in ensuring our fighter planes are in tip top condition.Frankly I am beginning to question the wisdom of purchasing all those equipments which for obvious reason will end up as scrap in the metal junkyard.

End of an Era for B.N

Every one knows that closing the barn door when
the horse has bolted is an exercise in futility.During
the last UMNO General Assembly ,delegates spewed fire
and brimstone at their perceived threats from the
miniority non malays especially the chinese.The
culmination of the disgraceful assertion of malay
supremacy was the unsheathing of the keris by the Head
of the UMNO Youth, Hishamuddin.The words of the
delegate from Malacca probably sum up the racist and
religious sentiments that pervades the assembly."UMNO
is willing to risk lives and bathe in blood to defend
the race and religion."The P.M's closing speech to
assuage the feelings of the non malays who were hurt
by the vitrolics hurl at them did very little to
repair the damage that occurred at the assembly.It was
a classic case of the horse has bolted.
The chinese media reported the UMNO proceedings
in great details and the simmering anger was without
doubt felt by the chinese community.They felt betrayed
by UMNO.It was through their help in the 2000 election
when UMNO was most vulnerable to the PAS threat( when
DPM ANwar was expelled and incarcerated by TDM)that
UMNO was able to retain most of its electoral seats
with a slender majority.At the time when most malays
had abandoned UMNO in support of PAS, the chinese
community gave their full support to UMNO.
UMNO and its leaders may have to ponder their
future without any help from their erstwhile partners
because the damage has been done.Despite damage
control by MCA with its intention of going on a nation
wide roadshow to explain and pacify the chinese
community it is unlikely the olive branch will be
accepted this time round.
It is ironical that after nearly 50 years of
Alliance and then later Barisan National union of UMNO
and MCA this seemingly invincible partner will come to
an ignominous end.There is little hope that the
chinese will continue to render support to the
B.N.From the feedbacks of coffee shops and private
conversations the response is unanimous.They will
throw their support to all independent and opposition
candidates.UMNO and its cohorts will learn a bitter lesson
that there is a price to pay for its betrayal