Reply to The Star article: Residents want to meet MP more often

WELL NO ONE IS STOPPING YOU FROM LOOKING HIM UP!



What a biased piece of news. That was the headline in The Star Newspaper today on M8. I would seriously advise those people if you want to see him, look for him every Wednesday at the service center. Don't give bulls*&t that he's hard to find and never on the ground.



We just saw him last week. Damn it these people PISS ME OFF!



And the part about him only blogging feedback, well I don't know what this Lim Cheng Hock fella is doing or who he is, I don't really care honestly, at least we're getting feedback! Or would you rather have a Houdini MP like Yew Teong Look who I've never heard of lest seen before the 12th general elections. Actually this reminds me of the Chipsmore commercial, now you see me now you don't kind of attitude.



Yeah and I'm a stupid brat who's immature and ignorant, but how come if Yew Teong Look was the MP for the past 4 years I've never heard of any kind of contribution by him? Now he's giving RM2 for rat catching? And whoopie we are going to have a community center and a Chinese school. In the name of politics, how low can you go?



My opinion is, why not fix the current schools?



What is the obsession with chinese schools? Yeah yeah, catering for the chinese community and yadda yadda yadda, but why can't we instead carry out chinese classes in the current Sekolah Kebangsaan's we have? That's what they do in most PJ schools. This would also give a chance for non-chinese who want to pick up the language.



Make no mistake, I'm chinese and personally I'm not against the chinese school system but what is the point of having schools physically but they are not delivering? How are we to create national unity and generations of people to lead the world?



When are we to put away the mindset of I am chinese, my kids have to go to chinese schools, they must not lose their roots and culture. Well I don't know about you guys, but I am Malaysian! Not Chinanese(if there's such a word)



Besides, Wangsa Maju's demographic is mixed, how appropriate is it to have a Chinese school just so we can accommodate the few. Jinjang, Kepong is one of the largest Chinese communities in Malaysia, both their High Schools are Sekolah Kebangsaan, but with Chinese language as one of the subjects. Isn't that a more viable alternative?



And what about fixing the current schools? Let me remind you what we are facing; gangsterism, bullying, discrimination (by teachers) causing unequal opportunities, lack of quality of education , these are all caused by an inept education system which continuously churns out pathetic high-school graduates who either struggle when they go to uni and realize they're not up to par and drop out, or struggle through uni and are unemployed because they're not up to par.



So what about fixing current schools before building more schools which will only be adequate in form but not in substance?

Yew Teong Look's latest project in Wangsa Maju

This piece of news was picked up by huey mei. Interesting. If I had know earlier I would have brought mouse traps to Section 2 Wangsa Maju to earn some extra cash. Thanks huey mei.

Swearing in of Wangsa Maju MP

Snatched this from the Wee Choo Keong blogsite.



Pics of Wee Choo Keong in Parliament can be found here.

What the...? Eat less rice?!

The Star today reports that the Malaysian Government is taking 'holistic' steps in dealing with the food shortage; this is followed by the Agriculture and Agro-Based Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed's statement of urging the Malaysian citizens to consume less rice. What the...?

I don't think eating less rice is the solution to this. We are a facing a Global Food Crunch and on the brink of a world famine- and now we are told to eat less rice? What about the flour price increase? There's no cheaper substitute to rice unless we turn to tapioca- yup, it's back to the Japanese Occupation days (WWII).

Yes, there's talk about allocating RM1.3 billion into increasing food production- hence Badawi can you work on it quickly and not just talk only. Increase the food production from the present 70% to a 100% or more. The Government's call for eating less rice reminds me of Badawi's announcement of the petrol price hike in February 2006- the PM told us to 'adjust our lifestyles...' instead of brainstorming some alternate measures to ease inflation.

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'Allah' is patented in Malaysia

Hishammuddin says sorry for wielding keris

Year 2005- '...let the keris soak in their blood...'

Year 2006- Do it again, this time with a lame duck CM







Year 2007- '...we will use the keris again...'













































Year 2008- '...Sorry..'

Excerpt from The Star

Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has admitted that his raising of the keris was among the causes of the Barisan Nasional’s poor performance in the general election.

Apologising to all Malaysians for his action, he said: “If it affected anyone, I cannot run away from the reality of it. I apologise to the non-Malays and the Malays.

“To the non-Malays because of the fear to a symbol which was not my intention. And to the Malays for not being able to uphold their symbol of heritage.”

Describing it as a “sad lesson”, he said as a leader, he must be gracious and accept the consequences because the party came first.

The wielding of the keris was introduced at the Umno Youth assembly in 2005 to symbolise Malay tradition. At the start of the assembly, a procession carrying the keris would proceed to the hall to hand it to the Youth chief, who would then unsheathe and kiss it.

In the 2006 assembly, there was uneasiness among non-Malays when some speakers made racially slanted remarks about using the keris. Things were made worse as the proceedings of the assembly were telecast live.

MCA and several other Barisan component party leaders criticised the use of the keris in such a manner.

However, Hishammuddin had then defended his action, saying the keris was a symbol of Malay culture.

Hishammuddin, who is the Education Minister, however did not want to say if the tradition of kissing the keris would be stopped at future Umno Youth assemblies.

What a racist dickhead we have for an Education Minister. I accept his apology, but I have also got to thank him for opening our eyes. It was divine intervention and not Hisham's act alone. The keris incident made me realized that the 'social contract' between UMNO, MCA, MIC and other component parties was a pact with the devil, not an agreement for hope, peace and harmony. The first episode took place on November 2005; and subsequently a year later, both at UMNO AGMs. By the second time time Hisham wielded his keris in public, many Malaysian citizens had made up their minds for the year 2008 Elections.



Update:

To balance the tone of this blog posting, please check out Rocky's Bru and Hard-T's view point on keris waving.

A meeting with YB

I went for the soft launch of the service center in Wangsa Maju. It was a modest event, no opera shows, or karaoke singers, which was good because that's just a whole waste of resources.



However, the first day of launching, and the service center has started what it was meant to do... hear out grievances of the local community, and seek to help the local residents. I was fortunate enough to meet the YB, Wee Choo Keong, alongside other people who gave their services that night, not excluding my fellow blogger RWM and another seasoned blogger; I am a Malaysian.



What struck me the most, was that our MP's are human, just like us. The fact is being under BN control for so long, I've never had a chance to meet any MP's or anyone involved in the system because they were never available, and if they were available, it was merely to shake hands and have photo ops with the press. Come to think of it, I don't even know where the previous service center was(under Yew Teong Look) forgive my ignorance.



Anyway, it was an eye-opener to see a proper MP meeting the people and speaking to them personally. No such thing as 'you can talk to my assistant or secretary' when he's around. This shows true integrity I think, as an MP to be able to meet his constituents and never ever get detached from their wants, needs and concerns.



When we started this blog, rwm had the vision that good governance begins at the community level, when our community voices out and the MP understands what is happening, only he is able to voice it out in parliament, where bills get debated and passed.



Why did the previous MP's fail? Why did the government get beaten down? Because they lost touch with the people and community. Therefore, never ever lose touch with the people. It seems that YB Wee has started on the right foot, let us give him our support in building not just a better Wangsa Maju, but also a better Malaysia.



(by the way i have some photos but am not able to load it up due to some technicalities)

Room For Rent

I promised someone to put this up.

Room available for rent in Section 2, Block A2

If you wish to express interest please leave you name and number by posting a comment on this post.

Different browser, different view

This is how this blog looks like in Mozilla Firefox 2.0:



This is how it looks like in Internet Explorer 6; what a mess. Looks like heavily modifying Blogspot templates has its price, hehe.

Bullet Train project cancelled

Hot from the press- the bullet train project's cancelled despite Francis Yeoh of YTL's earlier announcement that the project had full Government support and that it would go on. The project, being around RM8 million, aims to reduce travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to 90 minutes.



It's a cost factor. This project should have never been in the pipeline in the first place- tourist industry receipts is only RM40-plus million per year and if you compare this with the RM8 billion project cost it doesn't make sense. How can the costs be recouped? By high ticket prices? And how is this beneficial to the people? Anyhow- RM8 billion is going to take generations to recoup. We can't afford this right now- oil prices are at USD117, pushing the country towards steep inflation. The Government should concentrate on food production issues and inflation checks in place so that the situation does not deteriorate.



Good move to cancel this project- we don't need it for now.

DBKL and the Ministry of FT are politicians- the only thing is the people running them aren't voted politicians

I was in Jalan Pudu this afternoon and had the chance to speak to a local petty trader. He lamented the fact that DBKL was there the whole morning till 1pm to thwart unlicensed petty traders. This is double standards- DBKL clamps down on local traders but takes no action on illegal immigrant traders. The reason given by DBKL that Jalan Petaling is a tourist area is not a good reason as DBKL need not always execute operations in a harsh manner- they can be more subtle if they want to.



Ministry of FT have no business commenting on the Thank You banners as it was not part of the discussion agenda. Saravanan, this is not a pre-election ceramah- cut the crap on whether DAP logos should be in the banners and start focusing on the real issues at hand. Where are the answers to our problems? Meanwhile my trash is still not collected yet.



The Ministry of FT and DBKL is missing the big picture- being failed to address properly structured straightforward questions from the KL rakyat; diverting to trivial matters such as Thank You banner design and personal attacks on MP. They do not know the meaning of election and the meaning of people power- we disagreed to a placecard protest because we thought our city-issues could be addressed in a more formal way but they are not. Out of the 12 questions Saravanan was most pricked on the immigrant-trader issue at Jalan Petaling. The rest of our questions remain unanswered satisfactorily or otherwise. The reason is obvious why DBKL could not take action on the matter. People aren't saying it out loud, but traders and hawkers know the DBKL code of conduct on the streets.

This posting appears as a comment in Wee Choo Keong's blog.

Racism and its impact on Malaysia

It's right to say Ketuanan Rakyat in lieu of Ketuanan Melayu. I'm referring to Anwar's very recent speech at Kampung Baru on the eve of the expiry of his ban from Malaysian politics. The term Ketuanan Melayu is deeply entrenched in racism- a slogan concocted by Umno politicians to acquire buy-in from the Malay masses. Ketuanan Melayu depicts the scenario whereby the Malay race is 'boss' to other ethnic groups in Malaysia, albeit reluctance acceptance from other non-Malay ethnic groups but due to the social contract set out in Section 153 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. This of course, has helped Barisan Nasional win elections (national and party elections)… till the year 2008 that is.



The Umno administration has been singing the same tune until the cows came home- though on the surface accepted by all races in Malaysia, the Ketuanan Melayu concept did not get us anywhere but served only to create more brain drain. Malaysia's population is roughly cut up by the following composition- Malay (above 50%), Chinese (above 23%), Indian (above 7%) and Others (20%). I was internet- researching on migration statistics of people moving out of Malaysia when I stumbled upon some astounding facts- there are about 5.3 million ethnic Chinese in Malaysia but this figure is overshadowed by 6.2 million Malaysian Chinese staying out of Malaysia. I could not find statistics on Indian race migration from Malaysia though. Economics-wise, in terms of GDP growth in 2007, Malaysia (5.9%) ranks after China (10.7%), India (9.2%), Vietnam (8.2%), Singapore (7.9%) and Hong Kong (6.8%). The sub-6% growth is still 'okay' by the sleeping PM and Bank Negara standards eventhough we have slipped, overtaken by Vietnam, India and on a few occasions Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. In terms of growth Vietnam was already 6% back in the year 2003.



Malaysia is not doing too bad in terms of GDP per capita- in 2007, seeing an increase from prior years- it is ahead of Thailand ($9.2K), Indonesia ($3.9K), India ($3.8K), Vietnam ($3.1) and Burma ($1.8K); but behind Hong Kong ($37.3), Australia ($33.33) and Singapore ($31.4K). But at $12.9K, Malaysia is about 41% (nearly half!) of its neighbor Singapore in terms of citizen wealth.



The Ketuanan Melayu concept is an enclosed apartheid concept- it fails to view nation building in a holistic perspective by shutting off other ethnic groups from full participation. The irked and irritated non-Malays leave Malaysia gradually bringing along their valuable skill sets and ideas to other countries thus draining Malaysia of a very scarce resource- brain power.

Years from now, when the Malay population moves up from 50% to say 95%, there will be very little difference in terms of Bumiputera rights between Ali and his neighbor because the vast majority by then would all have special rights. If everyone has special rights what's so special about it then. If all that is left are tuan (bosses), where are the workers then?

Think big picture. Abolish all racial discrimination.

GDP- the total dollar amount of goods and services produced in a country.

GDP growth rate- an important indicator of economic health- the growth rate is the percentage increase or decrease of GDP from the previous measurement cycle.

GDP Growth % of selected countries

r

Source: CIA World Factbook
GDP growth %	2003	rank	2004	rank	2005	rank	2006	rank	2007	rank
Australia	3.6	6	3	9	3.5	10	2.7	11	2.7	11
Burma	3.3	8	-0.5	11	-1.3	11	5.2	7	3	10
China	8	1	9.1	1	9.1	1	10.2	1	10.7	1
Hong Kong	-3	11	3.3	7	7.9	3	7.3	4	6.8	5
India	4.3	4	8.3	2	6.2	6	8.4	3	9.2	2
Indonesia	3.5	7	4.1	6	4.9	8	5.6	6	5.5	7
Malaysia	4.2	5	5.2	5	7.1	5	5.2	7	5.9	6
Singapore	2.2	10	1.1	10	8.1	2	6.4	5	7.9	4
Thailand	5.2	3	6.7	4	6.1	7	4.5	9	4.8	8
USA	2.45	9	3.1	8	4.4	9	3.2	10	3.2	9
Vietnam	6	2	7.2	3	7.7	4	8.5	2	8.2	3

GDP per capita of selected countries

,

Source: CIA World Factbook
per capita	2003	rank	2004	rank	2005	rank	2006	rank	2007	rank
Australia	$27,000	2	$29,000	2	$30,700	3	$31,600	3	$33,300	3
Burma	$1,660	11	$1,800	11	$1,700	11	$1,700	11	$1,800	10
China	$4,400	7	$5,000	7	$5,600	7	$6,800	7	0	11
Hong Kong	$26,000	3	$28,800	3	$34,200	2	$34,000	2	$37,300	2
India	$2,540	9	$2,900	9	$3,100	9	$3,400	9	$3,800	8
Indonesia	$3,100	8	$3,200	8	$3,500	8	$3,600	8	$3,900	7
Malaysia	$9,300	5	$9,000	5	$9,700	5	$12,000	5	$12,900	5
Singapore	$24,000	4	$23,700	4	$27,800	4	$28,600	4	$31,400	4
Thailand	$6,900	6	$7,400	6	$8,100	6	$8,600	6	$9,200	6
USA	$37,600	1	$37,800	1	$40,100	1	$41,600	1	$44,000	1
Vietnam	$2,250	10	$2,500	10	$2,700	10	$2,800	10	$3,100	9

Youths not patriotic?

I totally disagree with Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob's statement in The Star today that Malaysia youths' patriotism is declining. I think patriotism has increased; youths and other ages alike, are watching and contributing to nation building. This of course does not fall under Barisan Nasional's definition of 'patriotism' .The youth today has a voice, unlike yesteryears- they not suscribe to Barisan Nasional's decadent policies and practices.

Badawi plans to hand over?

It's been reported in a few major blogs and mainstream press today- Badawi is planning for a transition of power to Najib- but only after December.



The links are here:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/12/content_7964890.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/12/malaysia.government.ap/

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ixetauvxvnU0Xj_b2D-Bq5yJiziQ

http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-other-words-resign-please.html



Actually the news is no excitement to me- I mean if Badawi plans to step down say tomorrow or the day after I'll hold a party at my place and invite all my neighbors over.



Don't talk too much, Badawi just resign.

I am Malaysian

I've added I am Malaysian to the blog link here. Great knowing you, Ewoon!

Response to Wee Choo Keong's question of the week

I think by now you would all have caught the Wangsa Maju's MP question of the week (posted every Friday):



Since DBKL is very inefficient and complacent, should the rakyat of Kuala Lumpur hold a peaceful protest in front of DBKL building at Jalan Raja Laut to give the Datuk Bandar as well as his shadow Datuk Bandar, the FT Minister, a wake up call that they are there to serve the rakyat and not behave as little napoleons?



My response posted on his blog:



All protests are peaceful until the water cannons start firing. Besides street protests- can we come up with other different forms of protest as well?



I know a protest right in front of the DBKL will be a good push to lobby for changes in law (Federal Capital Act 1960) and administration (abolish that Minister of FT post) relevant to DBKL. Look what Hinraf has contributed to the GE. Before we all 'contribute' let's wait and see... and take a step back to analyze the current facts and what's to come. As we all know the next 15th April marks the political freedom of Anwar. I'm confident the administration of this country will change as well and hence the DBKL.



Meanwhile I am not paying rates to DBKL- parking fines, assessment, etc. Let's squeeze out the DBKL coffers for starters. They can drag me to court but if you guys join in they can't drag over 1 million KL folk to court can they.

Tourism Minister terminates MOUs with Opposition-led states

The Star

3 April 2008



KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism memorandums of understanding with Opposition-ruled state governments will be terminated given the change in leadership, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

She said this was in line with the termination of Tourism Action Councils in the states which were previously chaired by Barisan Nasional’s state executive councillors in charge of tourism in each state.

“Normally, the council works together with the state executive council and local authorities.

“But now that the leadership in the state governments have changed, we have to terminate the MoUs and the councils,” she told a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday.

Perak, Penang, Selangor and Kedah fell to the Opposition in last month's general election.

Azalina said that a committee would instead be set up, with members appointed by the Federal Government similar to the format implemented in PAS-held Kelantan.

“We will appoint committee members from the tourism community to help develop tourism in these states,” she said.

Azalina said some tourism events, such as the Penang Music Festival (in May) and the Langkawi Water Festival (this weekend), would go ahead and contracts with state contractors would be honoured.

“However, we will re-evaluate plans for other events if they have not started or if the contractors have not been appointed.

“Maybe we have to look at other venues or options. But there is no total boycott in tourism. We have to play it by ear and see what these state governments do,” she added.

Azalina said industry players she met recently, including hoteliers and travel agencies, had expressed concern over tourism in Opposition-held states, given the players’ huge investments, especially in Penang and Kedah.

“They hope there will not be any negative policies in these states that will affect tourism,” she added.

On PKR, DAP and PAS’ decision to form Pakatan Rakyat, Azalina said it would not last long given their different policies, unlike Barisan which had the same manifesto for all.

“Politics is a marriage of convenience. Politicians can say anything they want to gain the people’s support.

“Maybe Pakatan Rakyat will work for a month or a year but it will break up in the end as they are too different,” she added.

Live Parliament coverage

From April 30 onwards Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said there would be live coverage from 10 to 10.30am. The live telecast will be mainly on the Q&A segment of the Parliament session. So far, the Minister has promised the telecast to be censorship free.

A little self-indulgence

Upon reading this post by Raja Petra;

Throwing the baby out with the bath water

http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/5432/84/



It reminded me of my dilemma not too long ago. Back in 2003 I graduated high school and was torn between the idea of either pursuing a degree overseas or doing it locally. The problem was because of the nature of my dad's job I have never felt really secure in the sense that our life was a turbulent one in terms of finances. There were times when we were doing well and there were times when we were at wits end trying to make ends meet. This was in no way anyone's fault least of all my dad. He was involved in construction, mainly earthworks and heavy machinery. Being a one man show, and no political affiliation projects do not come by easily, and even if they do sub-contractors usually get the bad end of the bargain.



In 2003 our circumstances were average; my dad could afford to send me overseas and even offered to do so. But i knew that if I took up that offer, my parents would have to struggle after my first year. So I took the prudent option, knowing that if i were to enter Form 6 and try to gain entry into one of the local universities, my chances of doing what I wanted would be one in a thousand.



So I opted for a small private college, not big guns like sunway or taylor's, my parents paid for my A-levels and after that I took a government loan for the remainder of 3 years to complete my degree. In my second year, things started to spiral downwards. I thank my lucky stars that i did not opt for an overseas education because that would mean my parents mortgaging the house or borrowing large sums of money to complete my education, because I know that no matter how hard the circumstances, they would not leave me stranded.



So to ease my parent's burden I started to earn my own living. Although I had working experience throughout my A-levels and first year, it was mainly weekend jobs at a pet store which was my passion;animals. But I knew a RM4.50 an hour job would not be enough to sustain me and help my family.



That's when I put my brains to work, or whatever little of it I had and started tutoring. It was not easy initially, agents require 50-70% of your first months salary, for any job that you get through them. So I took any tutoring job I could find initially, no matter how far it was. I would travel from Wangsa Maju to Sri Petaling for my very first tutoring job. I had to build experience and credibility, if a parent was willing to give me a chance I'm not going to turn it down since I had zero experience.



Eventually, offers started coming in and I was able to sustain myself, give a little to my family and juggle my studies at the same time. There was immense pressure from every angle, I had the fear of failing my exams, or my students failing their exams and at the same time bills to be paid for the family.



I did not slow down when exams approached last year in May/June 2007, this could have turned out to be a fatal mistake. The morning of my Land Law paper Just 3 hours before the exam, I fell sick. Nothing life-threatening, merely a bout of chronic gastritis but painful enough for me to doubt my ability to do the exams. But I was stubborn, I went for the exams anyway because with London external exams there's no such thing as taking the paper on another day.



I remember crying before the exam, writing furiously and in the midst of nausea swallowing my own vomit back down my throat just to continue writing. Finally I could not take it anymore and left the exam hall 1/2 an our early. I cried again after that, not because of the pain but the thought of doing the whole year again if I failed that paper. No it was not embarrassment, it was about paying exam fees and school fees for another year which I could not afford.



Miracles of miracles, when we received our results 3 months later, not only did I pass but I achieved the highest result in my college for that paper which I dreaded failing. I feel thankful I did not give up before, the struggles before have only made it sweeter.



This May I sit for my final exams, it will be a relief after I do, because then I can start a new chapter in my life. No doubt I will still have to face the monster called CLP, but at least with my degree in my hand, I will have better prospects.



The lesson to learn here, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Quitting? Pak Lah denies rumours

Here's something I picked up from a major newspaper. Pak Lah denies that he'll quit but I'm not surprised if he does a 180-degree turnaround decision, judging from his track record of public lies.





PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has brushed aside speculation that he would step down as Prime Minister.



Bernama reported that the Prime Minister reiterated that he would not run away from his responsibilities.



"I am here. I am here. I am here. They make all the speculations that I want to run away, I've resigned. Why should I resign?"



"My Government has got a strong majority (although) not the twothirds (majority), but very strong...that is the stand of support."



"Why I must run away from my entrusted responsibility," he was quoted by Bernama as saying, after meeting Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said at his office here Wednesday.



Speculation on the matter had been rife in the wake of calls by his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that Abdullah should step down for the Barisan Nasional's poor showing in the March 8 general election.



The BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament, winning only 140 of the 222 parliamentary while the Opposition captured 82 seats.



BN also lost control of Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kedah and the majority of seats in the Federal territory besides failing to wrest Kelantan from PAS.

Divorced twice in three minutes

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — When Roslan Ngah took a second wife, he might have wondered if she would get along with his first.

He need not have worried. The two women got on so well they decided to leave him at the same time.

Faced with their united stand, Roslan, a 44-year-old Malaysian Muslim, divorced his two wives, aged 46 and 35, in an Islamic Shariah Court in northeastern Terengganu state on Tuesday, a lawyer said Wednesday.

According to Islamic law, a woman can submit a request to leave her husband, but the pronouncement of divorce must come from the man or a court. Islam allows a man to have four wives.

Salwa Mansor, the second wife's lawyer, said the wives cited irreconcilable differences and other complaints.

The Star daily quoted Roslan as saying that he was aware his two wives had become close over the years.

"They are like good friends but I never imagined that both of them had collectively decided to divorce me," Roslan was quoted him as saying. "I never expected our marriages to end in this manner."

Roslan has four children with his first wife and two with his second.

Roslan reportedly said he would marry again, "God willing."

"If my fate says so, I have no qualms and this time I hope that my marriage will last forever," The Star quoted him as saying.

Renew your Touch 'n Go card

Here's what I picked up from the Touch 'n Go website after receiving a mail about the card having a 10-year expiry life. I'm not sure whether it's a rumor or not, but it's definitely official that Touch 'n Go wants you to change your card if it's anywhere near 10 years old:

We would like to inform you that Touch 'n Go cards approaching to 10 years are subject to wear and tear. Kindly renew your card at the nearest Customer Service Counters.

1. Touch 'n Go Hub, Faber Towers

2. Touch 'n Go Hub, KL Sentral

3. PLUS

4. Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd (PBSB)

5. Metramac

6. Expressway Lingkaran Tengah (ELITE)

7. Linkedua

Thank you and we look forward to your continuous support.

Massive tree-cutting at Jalan Genting Kelang

The massive tree-cutting exercise along Jalan Genting Kelang which has been happening the last couple of weeks, looks completed by now. This exercise carried out by DBKL drew concern from many Wangsa Maju residents including Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong. The MP took up the matter against DBKL, and here's his letter to DBKL published at his blogsite:

31hb Mac, 2008

Yg Bhg Dato’ Ab Hakim Bin Borhan

Datuk Bandar Kuala Lumpur

Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur

Tingkat 27, Bangunan DBKL

Jalan Raja Laut

50350 Kuala Lumpur

Yg. Bhg. Dato’

Per: Penebangan Pokok Di Sepanjang Jalan Genting-Kelang

Dengan hormatnya saya merujuk kepada perkara yang tersebut di atas.

Untuk makluman pihak tuan, saya telah menerima banyak aduan daripada penduduk-penduduk Wangsa Maju bahawa sejurus selepas Pilihanraya Umum ke-12 diadakan, banyak pokok-pokok matang di sepanjang Jalan Genting-Kelang telah ditebang tanpa apa-apa notis.

Amatlah dihargai sekiranya pihak tuan dapat memaklumkan kepada saya dengan kadar seberapa segera atas perkara-perkara berikut:-

i) kenapa pokok-pokok matang tersebut ditebang tanpa pemberian notis awam dan ditebang selepas Pilihanraya Umum;

ii) sekiranya pokok-pokok matang tersebut ditebang untuk tujuan sesebuah projek, sila maklumkan secara terperinci berkenaan dengan projek tersebut seperti “nature of project”, syarikat mana yang telah diberikan projek tersebut dan nilai projek tersebut; dan

iii) sama ada pemberian projek tersebut telah diadakan secara tender terbuka dan sekiranya bukan melalui tender terbuka, alasan kenapa tiada tender terbuka dilakukan.

Saya berharap perkara tersebut di atas dapat diperjelaskan dengan seberapa segera supaya saya dapat memaklumkan perkara berkenaan kepada penduduk-penduduk Wangsa Maju sewajarnya.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Yang benar,

Wee Choo Keong

A quick check at Jalan Genting Kelang during last weekend showed what happened:

It's a widespread assumption among local folk that the tree- felling exercise is the part of a road-widening project taking place at Jalan Genting Kelang/ Jalan Setapak. I'll welcome a road project that will ease traffic congestion in this area anytime; however, the town council has the right to inform the residents what's happening!

Ex-Malaysian PM Says Adversaries Trying to Silence Him

By VOA News

28 March 2008

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says there is an attempt to keep him from criticizing his successor, who has been blamed for the ruling party's recent electoral losses.

In a letter published Friday in Malaysia's Sun newspaper, Mr. Mahathir says his detractors are trying to prove he "did worse things" during his 22 years in power in order to threaten him and make him stop talking about Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mr. Mahathir, who left office in 2003, is calling on Mr. Abdullah to resign after the ruling National Front coalition party suffered its worst election defeat in nearly 40 years. The coalition lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority - the level needed to amend the constitution - as well as control of five state legislatures.

The former premier says his successor has destroyed the National Front.