Bung Mokhtar , Polygamy & Porsche

The ever high profile UMNO MP  Bung Mokhtar has shown rakyat of very bad example by  committing polygamy when the news strike the headline this morning......ai yo yo.......

Not only that guess what car he drove to the court ?

Porsche Cayenne........   

Guess how much is the car ? you can google it and make sure that your eye will not pop out!!!!!!!    

That's why a lot people in Malaysia dreaming to become MP especially UMNO MP!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bung Mokhtar pleads guilty to polygamy without consent

KUALA LUMPUR: Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin pleaded guilty Tuesday at the Gombak Timur Lower Syariah court to committing polygamy without the court’s consent.
His second wife Zizie Ezette A Samad also pleaded guilty to marrying without the consent of the marriage registrar.
Both were released on an oral bail of RM500 each in one surety.
Five other men, Zizie’s three brothers also pleaded guilty at the same court to abetting Bung.
Zizie and Bung were married on Dec 16 last year in Taman Melati.
Both were represented by counsel Amli Embong.
The duo came to court as early as 8.20pm in good spirits and chatted with the journalists there.
They later left together in a black Porsche Cayenne at about 11.15am. ( The Star)

Malaysia Gutter Politics -----Do you want to teach your children like this?

We Malaysian are pround with our sopan santun .....Neverthelss some parties supporter have shown us the ruthless behaviour that surprisingly condoned by the party leaders as they never openly condemned the "Kurang Ajar Act"

  What say you Najib and Muhyydin?

Malaysia Gutter Politics -----Zaid Ibrahim " Kaki Botol" Doctored Photo

When Utusan Malaysia announced that two pro UMNO bloggers namely  Gerakan Anti-PKR and Pisau.net they are going to  publish the  photo by 12.00 pm  to proof that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is the " Kaki Botol", guess this is what we get when the clock strikes........... 

The Doctored photo originally taken  from the Nut Graph website where Datuk Zaid was interviewed by the editor.....

We Malaysian really shame on you the two asshole Umno Bloggers and Utusan Malaysia


I can only say that this country will fare without hope if the gutter politics still applied by the so-called  "Islamic Party or Islamic people"  who only good at smearing and  character assasination.....

Until today, we have not seen any concrete motto and vision for the people in Hulu Selangor by Umno or BN....

  p/s: Photo courtersy of Malaysiakini....

 

World bank Warns Malaysia......But Does Umno Care?

Look at the way Malaysian government pays Apco, submarine commission ......you know that something is wrong.....  

World Bank warns of rising debt burden without reform

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — The country faces a rising debt burden and risks damage to its economic growth potential unless it implements tough reforms and tackles its subsidy regimes, the World Bank warned today.

The bank forecast in a report presented in Kuala Lumpur that Malaysia could grow by as much as 5.7 per cent this year but said that rate could fall back to as little as 4.2 per cent annually if reforms were not implemented.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has pledged to restructure subsidies, introduce new taxes and tackle the country’s race-based system of economic preferences, but the government recently backed off some key tax and subsidy reforms.

“A stalling of the reform momentum would however cause an incremental loss in competitiveness, translating into slower growth of 4.2 per cent in the medium term and adding upward pressure on the government debt-to-GDP ratio,” the bank said.

Although Malaysia’s ability to finance its public sector deficit is not in doubt due to the country’s strong domestic bond market, the bank warned that government debt would continue to rise.

The World Bank’s baseline forecast shows that government debt will rise to close to 60 percent of gross domestic product, but warned that it could go higher without strong economic growth and the implementation of reforms such as cuts to subsidies and a new goods and services tax.

Subsidies cost Malaysia RM24.5 billion in 2009 out of total operating spending of RM160.2 billion.

Plans to cut subsidies on fuel have recently been deferred, causing investors to fret that Najib, whose government is politically weak, will not follow through on reforms.

“Malaysia’s competitive position in the global market place is expected to slip and growth could fall to levels averaging at 4.2 per cent over the projection horizon. As a result, the debt level would accelerate to close to 70 per cent of GDP in 2015,” the bank said. — Reuters

Malaysia's submarine scandal erupts in France

 

SPECIAL REPORTS

 

Murky arms deal linked to international pattern of kickbacks

Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year.

Written by John Berthelsen, Asia Sentinel

A potentially explosive scandal in Malaysia over the billion-dollar purchase of French submarines, a deal engineered by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak, has broken out of the domestic arena with the filing of a request to investigate bribery and kickbacks from the deal in a Paris court.

Although the case has been contained for eight years in the cozy confines of Malaysia's courts and parliament, which are dominated by the ruling National Coalition, French lawyers William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham put an end to that when they filed it with Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-government causes.

Judges in the Paris Prosecution Office have been probing a wide range of corruption charges involving similar submarine sales and the possibility of bribery and kickbacks to top officials in France, Pakistan and other countries. The Malaysian piece of the puzzle was added in two filings, on Dec. 4, 2009 and Feb. 23 this year.

For two years, Parisian prosecutors, led by investigating judges Francoise Besset Francoise Besset and Jean-Christophe Hullin, have been gingerly investigating allegations involving senior French political figures and the sales of submarines and other weaponry to governments all over the world. French news reports have said the prosecutors have backed away from some of the most serious charges out of concern for the political fallout.

The allegations relate to one of France's biggest defense conglomerates, the state-owned shipbuilder DCN, which merged with the French electronics company Thales in 2005 to become a dominant force in the European defense industry. DCN's subsidiary Armaris is the manufacturer of Scorpene-class diesel submarines sold to India, Pakistan and Malaysia among other countries.

All of the contracts, according to the lawyers acting for Suaram, a Malaysian human rights NGO, are said to be suspect.

With Najib having moved on from the defense portfolio he held when the deal was put together in 2002 to become prime minister and head of the country's largest political party, the mess has the potential to become a major liability for the government and the United Malays National Organisation. Given the power of UMNO, it is unlikely the scandal would ever get a complete airing in a Malaysian court, which is presumably why Suaram reached out to French prosecutors.

"The filings are very recent and have so far prompted a preliminary police inquiry on the financial aspects of the deal," said Philippe Vasset, the editor in chief of a Paris-based military intelligence website. "There isn't a formal investigation yet. The investigation will most likely use documents seized at DCN in the course of another investigation, focusing on bribes paid by DCN in Pakistan."

Vasset said police have confined their inquiry to bribery allegations so far and have not looked into the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman in Malaysia who was a translator on the deal for Najib and his friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, during a visit to Paris.

There have been numerous deaths involving DCN defense sales in Taiwan and Pakistan. Prosecutors are suspicious that 11 French submarine engineers who were murdered in a 2002 bomb blast in Karachi – first thought to have been the work of Al Qaeda – were actually killed in retaliation for the fact that the French had reneged on millions of dollars in kickbacks to Pakistani military officers.

The Malaysian allegations revolve around the payment of €114 million to a Malaysia-based company called Perimekar, for support services surrounding the sale of the submarines. Perimekar was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was controlled by Najib's best friend, Razak Baginda, whose wife Mazalinda, a lawyer and former magistrate, was the principal shareholder, according to the French lawyers.

"Over the past years, serious cases have been investigated in France by judges involving DCN," lawyer Renaud Semerdjian told Asia Sentinel in a telephone interview. "This is not the first case of this kind that is being investigated. There are others in Pakistan and there are some issues about India. To a certain extent, every time weapons of any kind have been provided, suspicion of violation of the law may be very high."

As defense minister from 2000 to 2008, Najib commissioned a huge military buildup to upgrade Malaysia's armed forces, including two submarines from Armaris and the lease of a third, a retired French Navy Agosta-class boat. There were also Sukhoi supersonic fighter jets from Russia and millions of dollars spent on coastal patrol boats. All have come under suspicion by opposition leaders in Malaysia's parliament but UMNO has stifled any investigation. Asked personally about the cases, Najib has responded angrily and refused to reply.

Despite efforts to bury it, the case achieved considerably notoriety after the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator and Razak Baginda's jilted lover, who participated in negotiations over the purchase of the submarines. By her own admission in a letter found after her death, she was attempting to blackmail Razak Baginda for US$500,000.

She was shot in October 2006 and her body was blown up with military explosives by two bodyguards attached to Najib's office after Razak Baginda, went to Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, for help in keeping her away from him. Not long after being acquitted in November 2008 under questionable circumstances of participating in her murder, Razak Baginda left the country for England. The bodyguards were convicted but no motive was ever established for their actions.

The submarine deal was never brought up in court during a months-long murder trial that was marked by prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge working studiously to keep Najib's name out of the proceedings. A private detective hired by Razak Baginda to protect him from the furious Altantuya filed a statutory declaration after the trial indicating that Najib had actually been the victim's lover and had passed her on to Razak Baginda.

The detective, P. Balasubramaniam, said later that he was unceremoniously run out of Kuala Lumpur. He eventually emerged from hiding in India to say he had been offered RM5 million (US$1.57 million) by a businessman close to Najib's wife to shut up and get out of town. He also said he had met Nazim Razak, Najib's younger brother, and was told to recant his testimony.

In the current complaint in Paris, the issue revolves around what, if anything, Razak Baginda's Perimekar company did to deserve €114 million. Zainal Abidin, the deputy defense minister at the time of the sale, told parliament that Perimekar had received the amount – 11 percent of the sale price of the submarines – for "coordination and support services." The Paris filing alleges that there were neither support nor services.

Perimekar was registered in 2001, a few months before the signing of the contracts for the sale, the Paris complaint states. The company, it said flatly, "did not have the financial resources to complete the contract." A review of the accounts in 2001 and 2002, the complaint said, "makes it an obvious fact that this corporation had absolutely no capacity, or legal means or financial ability and/or expertise to support such a contract."

"None of the directors and shareholders of Perimekar have the slightest experience in the construction, maintenance or submarine logistics," the complaint adds. "Under the terms of the contract, €114 million were related to the different stages of construction of the submarines." The apparent consideration, supposedly on the part of Perimekar, "would be per diem and Malaysian crews and accommodation costs during their training. There is therefore no link between billing steps and stages of completion of the consideration."

As Asia Sentinel reported on April 1, services for the subs are being performed by a well-connected firm called Boustead DCNS, a joint venture between BHIC Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of publicly-listed Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, and DCNS SA, a subsidiary of DCN. Boustead's Heavy Industries Division now includes Perimekar as an "associate of the Group. PSB is involved in the marketing, upgrading, maintenance and related services for the Malaysian maritime defence industry," according to Boustead's annual report.

Originally Boustead told the Malaysian Stock Exchange that the service contract was for RM600 million (US$184.1 million) for six years, or US$30.68 million annually. However, the contract later ballooned to RM270 million per year. Boustead Holdings is partly owned by the government and has close connections with UMNO.

"There are good grounds to believe that [Perimekar] was created with a single objective: arrange payment of the commission and allocate the amount between different beneficiaries including Malaysian public officials and or Malaysian or foreign intermediaries," the complaint states.

What will come of Hulu Selangor?

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — The Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election on April 25 could provide an early verdict on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s economic reform pledges after a year in office.
The stakes are high for Pakatan Rakyat as well, which has named Datuk Zaid Ibahim o run in the vacant seat and who is seen as one of the potential successors to its leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Najib is trying to woo foreign and domestic investment and revive an ailing ruling coalition that was hit by record election losses in 2008.
The government has lost seven of nine parliamentary and state by-elections since the 2008 polls. Ethno-religious tensions are up sharply in the mainly Muslim country amid a row over the use of the word “Allah” by minority Christians.
Political uncertainty in Malaysia since Election 2008 has helped dent foreign investment — net portfolio and direct investment outflows reached US$61 billion (RM195.2 billion) in 2008 and 2009, according to official data.
Analysts are closely watching the by-election, which Citigroup in an April 8 research note described as a “barometer of the current administration”, and which could point to electoral trends ahead.
The following scenarios may unfold:

Recent U-turns have cast doubt on Najib’s resolve. — Reuters pic

Najib gains traction but continues to play it safe
Hulu Selangor is one in a series of “warm-up” polls in which the government hopes to rebuild its confidence before the next general election.
Another parliamentary by-election will follow in Sarawak, before the timber- and oil-rich state on Borneo island heads to statewide polls expected by the end of the year.
Strong wins added to booming economic growth this year could buoy Najib’s confidence enough to call a snap general election as early as next year, although it isn’t due until 2013.
Najib has rolled back parts of a four-decade-old affirmative policy favouring the majority ethnic Malays and introduced its successor, the New Economic Model, to woo investment that has fallen behind neighbours such as Indonesia.
But recent government U-turns on fuel subsidy rollbacks to tackle a 7.4 per cent 2009 budget deficit, and the implementation of a goods and services tax have fuelled doubts over Najib’s willingness to risk a voter backlash.
Analysts say he would be willing to push such reforms, which would hurt poorer Malays who make up 55 per cent of the 28 million population, only if he gets a general election mandate.
Strong wins in Hulu Selangor and the Sarawak state by-election could give him enough confidence to forge ahead with reforms, but Najib has a long track record as a cautious administrator.
Major reforms, therefore, are unlikely until after the next general election, regardless of how the government fares in the months ahead. Markets, which barely reacted to Najib’s announcement of the New Economic Model, would probably take a neutral view of this.

Opposition holds ground, tensions rise
An opposition win in Hulu Selangor would be huge for the Pakatan Rakyat, but would possibly increase political tensions with race and religion becoming triggers.
Najib promised more inclusiveness to woo minorities, who fled to the opposition in the 2008 polls, with a policy known as “1 Malaysia”. But many in his United Malays National Organisation (Umno) are going the other way, playing up their race and religious credentials to pander to majority Malays.
A government loss in Hulu Selangor could embolden conservative elements in Umno. Many support Malay groups who are pushing for the preservation of Malay economic privileges which Najib is trying to dilute.
This could spook investors, further alienate non-Malays who make up about 40 per cent of the population and increase pressure on Najib to hit the brakes on economic reforms.
This could prompt a negative outlook for the markets.

Victory in Hulu Selangor could generate momentum for PR towards next general election. — Reuters pic

Opposition gains momentum for general election
A win in Hulu Selangor could give the opposition fresh momentum heading into the next general election.
“If they do well in the by-election and also in Sarawak, then a takeover at the next general election will begin to turn into a possibility,” said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng.
Market reaction to by-elections will be muted. The stock market barely reacts to relatively minor political developments, with over 50 per cent of market capitalisation held by government-owned funds.
But since Malaysia has seen continuous rule by Barisan Nasional since Merdeka in 1957, a general election victory by an opposition with no record of governing nationally would likely lead to an initial sell-off.

Anwar convicted
An opposition win in Hulu Selangor would widen the options for its leader Anwar Ibrahim. The candidate, former law minster Zaid, is seen as one of a small number of possible successors who could take over if Anwar is convicted of sodomy in a trial due to end in late August.
Anwar says the case is a political conspiracy against him, and a conviction will likely anger his supporters, who could take to the streets in a repeat of demonstrations that shook the capital after his sacking as deputy prime minister in 1998.
Markets could react negatively to an Anwar conviction due to the heightened risk of political uncertainty.

Narrow general election win, neither side prevails
Malaysia has a long record of political stability due to an often commanding majority of seats the government has in parliament.
A worst-case scenario would be a general election outcome where the victor holds a very narrow majority in the 222-seat House of Representatives.
Whoever was in opposition would be sorely tempted to engineer defections to bring down the government in a parliamentary vote of confidence, leading to prolonged political and market instability.
This has been a recent feature of politics in Malaysia. Anwar tried to wrest power by trying to lure over government MPs in September 2008, and the defections of opposition legislators led to the fall of the northern Perak state government last year. — Reuters

Why they are not coming

By John Doe

Complain, complain. Is this all you can do? Tourists do not and will not want to come to Malaysia.

Taken from : The Star 

A common misconception, is that “...if the Ad looks good, the customers will come.” A bigger error is, “...if the product is good, then no ads are even necessary. At best, maybe a lousy looking one.”

Well, Puan Minister of Tourism, Ads alone do not guarantee Visitors. Worse, if previous Ministers have yet to resolve “Vaporised Funds”, or “Proxy Korean Companies”, which seems to defy accountability or investigation.

You said, “Something must be terribly wrong if Malaysia, which is among the cheapest tourists destinations in the world, sees a drastic fall in tourist arrivals.” Well, you mean you don't know what's happening? Don't you read the Newspapers? Tourists are just afraid of Burning Churches, or being hit by flying Pig Heads. Maybe they are afraid of the khalwat-team knocking on their doors while they are bonking their spouse, or accidentally being caned for drinking Beer. What if they accidentally mentioned the word “Allah”? Would they fly out of the 14th floor? Mongolians certainly won't be visiting Malaysia, no matter if it even becomes the TOP country Destination in the world!! And death by Jellyfish is a very valid reason. How about Malaysia being ranked very low because of “Political instability”? 

Thailand is much, much cheaper than Malaysia. But who on earth would dream of visiting it now? I dare you to wear a red T-Shirt in Bangkok. Even better, I dare you to wear a Yellow T-shirt, and walk around Bangkok, with or without your bodyguards. So, would you go to Bangkok if Hotels only cost US$1? You see, cheap is not everything.

So, where does that leave Malaysia? It is less Exotic than Thailand, more expensive than Indonesia, and less advanced than Singapore.

Puan Minister. You want the truth? Can you handle the truth?

As a Westerner, this is what I want to see (and have visited)

http://filer.livinginperu.com/isabel/machu_picchu5.jpg

http://travelswithmycamera.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/angkor_wat.jpg

http://blog.ratestogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/venice-5-mins-later.jpg

http://www.ouchh.com/KrystalWorld/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/jellyfish.jpg

http://www.onlinetravelvietnam.com/uploads/Image/Halong_Bay.bmp

http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/egypt.jpg

http://www.carboncommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Maldives2.jpg

http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/ts/en/hotels/MLEHICI/media/images/photos/MLEHICI_Conrad_Maldives_restaurant_ithaa.jpg

http://kerinburford.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/2.jpg

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/photo/2008/12/08/PH2008120802446.jpg

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/ga/china_great-wall-jinshanling.jpg

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Science/Images/Content/endless-grand-canyon-651123-ga.jpg

http://www.kateschelter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/bagan-myanmar-burma-buddhism-ballooning-David-Haberlah1.jpg

http://www.kateschelter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Calle-Brasil-Habana-Vieja-by-Jim-Skea-.jpg

You see, Puan Minister, in the global Arena, there is no Ketuanan. Ketuanan is really useless when Malaysia is compared to all these other destinations. You want something which no one else has?

Here, go promote Lembah Bujang. Tell the entire world that all the great temples of Borobudor, and Angkor had their roots in Malaysia. Here's the Timeline, in case you don't know:

2nd Century Lembah Bujang, Malaysia

2nd Century My Son, Vietnam

6th Century Borobudor, Indonesia

8th Century Angkor Watt

Ketuanan India had already arrived in Malaysia, and set up shop since the 2nd Century. Why aren't they Bumiputras? In the same breath, why aren't the Babas and Nyonyas Bumiputra? When UMNO stops masturbating their Ketuanan, Malaysia might have some hope to bring in some real tourists. But until then ....

A view of Malaysia from across the Causeway

 

The Lion City, home for so many Malaysians. - Primetravel.com

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
By Sheridan Mahavera

SINGAPORE, April 14 — Alexander Low dives into the files stored in his Blackberry when responding to the question “Do you believe that under the Prime Minister’s 1 Malaysia, non-Malays will be fairly treated?”
“Wait ah, wait ah … Here you go. Paragraph 11, page four of the (GTP) Government Transformation Plan,” Low says showing me the text message.
The message was from a friend and it was sent during a discussion on the “Malay first, Malaysian second” assertion by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last week which created quite a stir.
The passage Low’s friend was referring to was this:
“The goal of 1 Malaysia is to make Malaysia … ultimately a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1 Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society.”
Low draws an obvious conclusion.
“The GTP contradicts what Muhyiddin says about him being Malay first and Malaysian second. So Najib is trying to sell his 1 Malaysia but when his man says something wrong, Najib defends him.
“You tell me. How am I supposed to buy what Najib is saying?”
(The names of those interviewed have been changed as they requested anonymity).
Low’s scepticism is such an unsurprising attitude among Malaysians working and living in Singapore that it’s almost a cliché.
It’s a given that non-Malay Malaysians leave their homeland for the island state because of the exchange rate or because they are sick of not getting an equal place under the Malaysian sun.
And it is this cynicism and a sense of hopelessness that the Najib administration will have to deal with if it wants to attract the nation’s best and brightest back from Singapore.
At the heart of it, for Malaysians in the island state and those working but living in Johor Baru, Singapore has given them what successive Malaysian administrations have not and some say, would not.
For them, the New Economic Model (NEM) and 1 Malaysia are just the latest slogans in a political history littered with them.
But in reality, this is nothing new as the growth and social trajectories of both countries are more similar than their leaders and people care to admit.


Rhetoric vs reality
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak did a respectable job of pitching his plans for Malaysia at a dinner with senior Singaporean media personalities on April 6.
The message that he wanted the audience to take away from the speech and the follow-up question-and-answer session was that he “was deeply committed to transforming Malaysia” socially and economically.
To drive home the point, he told them how he had put his political career on the line as he was up against vested interests that have wide political connections to Umno.
Malaysians in Singapore who read about the speech the next day were not too impressed.
“You can’t judge a leader by what he says but by what he does. To me, he hasn’t done that much. It’s sloganeering.
“What ever happened to ‘Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang,’ ‘Islam Hadhari or ‘Wawasan 2020’?” asks a former Malaysian civil servant who now calls Singapore home.
The main gripe was the disconnect between the stated aims of 1 Malaysia and the actions of the people who champion it.
“You talk about 1 Malaysia yet you put Hindu extremists in ISA. But Muslim extremists who drag a cow’s head through the streets are let off,” says the civil servant.
“You talk about equality but people like (Malay supremacist group) Perkasa are let off.”
Low, who runs his own business, has doubts whether Najib can pull it all off considering the internal resistance he is facing from his own party.
Muhyiddin’s "Malay first, Malaysian second" statement and Najib’s defence of it is a clear example of the huge obstacles he faces, Low reasons.
Another hurdle is dismantling the networks of patronage in Umno that thrives on abusing affirmative action under the New Economic Policy to cement the party’s hold on the Malay business class.
“There is no clear alignment between Umno’s political aspirations and the needs of the economy,” says Low, adding that Umno refuses to allow Malays to compete.
“Competition sharpens people. That’s why the most successful Malay businessmen and professionals are not in Malaysia.”
But not every Malaysian is cynical. Senthil Kumar of Kamala Jewellers was taken in by the pledges to end corruption and cut down crime.
“We are interested in opening a branch in Kuala Lumpur but the crime rate there is worrying.
“If they can reduce the crime rate, definitely more businesses from Singapore will set up shop in Malaysia.”
Historically, the Malaysian government has never made good on its most important pledges — to tackle corruption, stamp out crime and nurture unity — and that is why Malaysians in Singapore refuse to believe Najib, concludes Low.


Race still matters
Like Low, Wong was of a generation of non-Malays in the early 90s who grew up disgusted by how they were passed over for university places by schoolmates with worse grades.
“Why should I come home?” he quizzes when asked what he thought of the pledges of equal opportunity under the NEM.
In other words, why should non-Malay Malaysians, especially the Chinese, return when Singapore already gives them the opportunities, acknowledgement and dignity they could not find at home?
The same could be said of Singapore’s crime and corruption rate, its education system and its high tech economy. In a way the pledges in the Government Transformation Plan have already been delivered in Singapore.
Wong, for instance, is not holding his breath for the NEM and is already planning to start a family and settle down in Singapore.
But life in the hyper-developed island republic is not all that peachy.
Saravanan, an executive in Singapore, explains that rent or a mortgage and car ownership can really burn through one’s monthly salary. Though its schools are some of the best in the region, the academic regiment is torturous.
“I want my kids to actually enjoy their childhood. If I put them through a Singaporean school it will take that away from them,” says the father of two who commutes daily to Singapore from Malaysia.
And then there is the unspoken but widely-held perception that non-Malay Malaysians, especially the Chinese, get ahead far more easily in Singapore.
“When I first came to Singapore years ago, they still had job ads in the papers that stated 'non-Chinese need not apply.' It was that clear.
“Even now if you look at the structure of most MNCs and local firms it will be Chinese in senior management and above, Indians in supervisory posts and Malays in administration and clerical.
“There’s a running joke that to get ahead in Singapore you must be either Chinese or you must marry one,” says Saravanan.
Another former Malaysian civil servant, however, argues that though the perception is there, the Singaporean government is more sincere about racial integration than its Malaysian counterpart.
He points to how important government ministries, agencies and government-linked companies nowadays have more non-Chinese in senior posts such as the ministries of Law and Finance.
He admits that Malays are still under-represented but the level of inter-racial integration is better than Malaysia’s civil service.
“In Singapore, if you are good, you go up fast. Not like Malaysia, where they talk of meritocracy and impose ketuanan Melayu,” says the former public sector employee.


The explicit and the implicit
The metaphor that Ashok uses to describe Malaysia and Singapore is that of a divorced couple who have remarried and started new and separate lives. But who still cannot put that first failed marriage behind them.
“On the outside they have moved on but inside they are jealous of each other’s successes. They compete between themselves for the affections of their shared children and always try to show that they are the better parent,” says the former teacher who has taught both in Singapore and Malaysia.
The NEM, he feels, is the latest iteration of that continuous contest to be the best and attract the best on the peninsula. To say that Singapore has so far been winning that contest for the hearts and minds is simplistic.
For example, it is an annual practice for Singaporean colleges and schools to saturate Johor Baru with flyers on scholarships and financial aid when Malaysian kids wait for exams results particularly SPM.
So explicit message is that if you have the grades, want a good tertiary education but can’t really afford it, come to Singapore.
“But everyone knows that the implicit message is that if you’re non-Malay and you’re getting screwed by the Malaysian education system, then we can help.
“It’s the same with the private sector, you see it everywhere. Non-Malays will have it better even though they talk of meritocracy,” says Ashok.
And it is through this prism of distinguishing between what is explicit and implicit that Malaysians in Singapore are using to judge what Najib is promoting. It’s an ability honed in Singapore where the lines between both are often blurred.
So far, the explicit (meritocracy, unity) cannot erase the implicit (race first, nationality second).
“It’s the same product. Different packaging,” declares Saravanan, who has worked in both Malaysian and Singaporean firms for over 20 years.
“And it’s up to the individual to get the best of both worlds, because if you really want to live in one better place, you shouldn’t choose between the two. You have to go beyond Singapore and Malaysia.”

Remember the face of these UMNO Warlord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arrogant, Rough, Silly Politicians.....

One who think that he is  a very big VIP by calling other peoples "SMALL FRIES"

One keep asking another races to "kow tow" to their race..........

One talk like Samseng who deliberately insulting people at the House of August!!!!!!!!!!! 

Please show me where is the future for our country if these asshole still have not waked up!!!!!!!

Stop BN Selangor Takeover Plan.......ha ha ha

Jokes of the year.......

It shows that how stupid BN peoples are when their own BN smart fellows come out with this flag that says 























BN stop BN from taking over Selangor...............kah kah kah.......