Got shares, you want?

Wah so good ler.....I want I want I want...this PM very good to people

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/29/nation/4615417&sec=nation

RM100mil in Amanah Saham units to ease hardcore poverty

By SIRA HABIBU

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham shares worth RM100mil will be given to the hardcore poor in urban areas to help them make ends meet, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said the Government was compiling a list of those eligible for the shares.

“Poverty is not restricted to rural areas only. The poor in urban areas also need assistance,” Najib said before breaking fast with the people at the Al-Bukhary Mosque here yesterday.

_______________________________________________________________


I am a firm believer of what I remember being taught as "Mixed Economy" - not "Free Economy/laissez faire" (nothing is free anyway) or "Controlled Economy" (look what shambles the Mainland Chinese present after decades of lashing up one of the most money minded people in the world - poisoned milk, total disregard of copy rights, unequal distribution of income, trampled workers' right blah blah blah)

In a Mixed Economy, the government is suppose to regulate economic activities, collect taxes and re-distribute income so the gap between the haves and have nots are not that wide. I also believe that the responsibility of a government, democratically elected or otherwise, is to ensure its people live with dignity and a sense of security.

A Brunei citizen can tell you he or she feels happy because the monarch really do spoil them.

A Singaporean would bitch (their unofficial national past time after shopping, perhaps) but tell you he or she can trust the various government institutions despite being flogged on as work horses but they would never come anywhere near enough to envisage being abandoned in abyss of total destitution and despair. Their government pays dividends to its citizens once a year.

An Australian need not worry about their children's tertiary education cost and when old, are also cared for by the state, if I am not wrong.

The French paid hell lot of taxes but enjoy free first class medical care. Go watch that Michael Moore documentary abou healthcare.

If the government I am paying taxes to (and at a very high rate too) and re-distribute responsibly into proper, efficient and effective public services such as health care and education, welfare for the old, sick, disabled, orphaned, retired and unemployed, quality public amenities, effective security and justice systems then I am more than happy to pay my income tax, quit rent and assessments, service and sales taxes, custom duties for the imported good and services, sin taxes (I am a teetotaler but just for argument's sake I am an abject drinker and smoker here) etc.

However, when a government tells the poor to get their aid from the share market, it is an act of abandoneng its responsibilty to manage the above taxes collected. And where would the money go?

Investment in equity or any other derivative markets carries risk. For the poor, they need a stable and liquid source of income. How many of the rural or even the urban poor can manage the shares properly? They may not have the means or knowledge to manage the investments, monitor the price movement, some even do not have a bank account to bank in their proceeds. I bet most of the poor would cash in the moment they are allowed to and that would be that.

There is no way of providing a system or a structure for them to gain economic independence, acquisition of relevant marketable technical skill or access into employment opportunities.

Not unlike those droppings of little bits and pieces here and there during by-elections but the only difference is instead of coming from taxes collected, somebody in the share market is paying for "satu lagi projek kerajaan Barisan Nasional" (and this time, no one died).

Ask anyone who bought a unit in Berjaya Times Square whether they are happy that Vincent Tan, instead of paying late delivery compensation with cash, paid them in Berjaya shares.

In the meantime, all Malaysians are still paying their range of taxes.

To all my muslim brothers and sisters, Selamat Berpuasa!

Chua Soi Lek sacked from MCA

The news are here, here and here. Sleaze-filled party worse than a 1980's soap-opera. A continuous reminder on why not to vote for them.

What do you think of the MCA?

Dear Mr. Roh......

Rohaizat saddened by unfulfilled vows of Chinese support

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/36026-rohaizat-saddened-by-unfulfilled-vows-of-chinese-support-


Take 2 after the DPM's "ungrateful Chinese" comment, now there is a new label "renegade on promises"?

"...hinted that one of the factors that could have caused his defeat was the “failure of the Chinese community to fulfill their promises of support...."

ok, as a campaigning politicians, you should know that voters are not bind to verbal promises after you met them as chances are your opponents will come in later to charm them as well.


As for reason of lack of Chinese support, the wise words are a bit more restrained...

“It's premature for me to give any reasons now,” he added."

"BN have tried to depict their election rival PAS as a threat to the Chinese by using sensitive issues like the pig abbatoir closure in Kedah and beer sale issue in Selangor against the Islamist party."


Let me offer my speak at the turn answer for the above. 2 names : Teoh Beng Hock and Awang Selamat (interchangeably with Utusan Malaysia). No further words needed.

Blogger poll

 

Was what he said seditious?

Dear Dr., you mean like this?

This is what the dear Dr. had to say,

Mahathir says Chinese papers should be in Malay

Posted by admin

Saturday, 22 August 2009 01:44

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, The Malaysian Insider

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested today that Chinese and other vernacular newspapers be translated into the national language to avoid any misunderstanding and to promote better race relations.

In addressing the issue of the recent heightened race rhetoric in various print media, the former prime minister said racial issues occurred because there was a lack of understanding in the medium of languages, specifically in Chinese newspapers.

“While Chinese people understand Malay language newspapers, most Malays don’t understand the Chinese press. Sometimes when the Chinese press say something harmful, people will not get the idea because of the lack of understanding,” said Mahathir.

He was referring to a recent public outcry concerning racial remarks in Utusan Malaysia and Chinese newspapers Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily.

However, the tone has become sharply provocative in the case of the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia who have embarked on a campaign to reclaim the Muslim-Malay ground by branding segments of the community aligned with the opposition as traitors to the race and Islam.

Analysts note that this is a strategy to lure back Malays who abandoned Umno in the last election and force sections within PAS to question their allegiance to Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

The upcoming by-election is also a catalyst to Utusan’s growing racial slants.

Dear Dr., for your information, Oriental Daily has a fabulous daily column that translates editorials from Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian.

I once read Utusan Malaysia back in the 1980s so that I could prepare for my SPM but stopped reading Utusan Malaysia after 3 days as I vomited after reading those lop-sided opinion. I switched to Bacaria and those lovely articles like "...aku meronta-ronta namun tenaga kegadisanku tak dapat menahan kemaraannya...: Mind you, I scored very well in my BM paper.

As a read of Chinese newspapers for decades, I can vouch that any articles in Chinese daily that carries view points from a racial perspective, which is not that many but inevitable since we racialise everything in Malaysia, are considerably more rational and objective.

It is suicidal for any Chinese newspaper in Malaysia to be aggressively, emotionally and illogically voicing out in a racist and irresponsible manner. Don't worry, the Chinese readers themselves would give negative feedback to the Chinese pres if this sort of stupidity ever happens. Given the Chinamen's main concern is peace, harmony and make money, this is entirely comprehensible.

Dear Dr., in order to promote "better racial relations" it is more important to stress on what is written, rather than what language it is written in. I am sure good old Awang Selamat thinks a lot about us non-Malay when he pens his article that is widely read in Malaysia.

However, it will be nice also for Malays to be able to read correctly translated Chinese newspapers as Utusan sometimes can miss out on noteworthy incidents:
http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/07/pemuda-umno-melarang-aktiviti.html
http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/08/fate-of-3-helpful-witnesses.html

Lee Kuan Yew on Racial Matters in Singapore

Check out The NST's (Singapore) publication of LKY's speech at the Singapore Parliament recently. The link is here. Mentor Minister Lee gives a very down-to-earth and realistic viewpoint on race relations, which is radically different and from what led to the Malaysia-Singapore separation in 1965. Also please checkout diverse readers' comments on the same article, here. The readers strike a good point on the difference between 'fair' and being 'equal'.

Check out the You Tube videos here and here.

Sheer bravado and hard work for nation-building? I think this is one element that's missing from the typical Malaysian who spends his or her time mostly worrying about racial 'fairness' or 'equality'.

Every Malaysian should look at themselves in the mirror every morning and ask what they can do for their country and not ask what the country can do for them (phrase from John F. Kennedy).

INI BUDAYA SIAPA?!

Presiden Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou mengadakan dua sidang akhbar untuk memohon maaf kepada semua rakyat Taiwan kerana pihak pentadbirannya telah terdapat kelemahan dalam usaha kerajaan menyelamatkan mangsa Typhoon Morakot.




Menurut beliau lagi, akibat gangguan cuaca, kerja penyelamatan telah dilambatkan dan menyebabkan para mangsa menganggap terdapat keculasan dalam usaha memberi bantuan kepada mangsa. Beliau telah menyuruh pihak eksekutifnya membuat siasatan teliti dan jika terdapat kelemahan, tindakan akan diambil terhadap pihak yang bertanggungjawab. Laporan terperinci akan diumumkan pada bulan September selepas redanya kerja penyelamatan.


Berbanding dengan "apology" daripada Dato Seri Hishammuddin mengenai peristiwa keris itu di mana beliau telah mempertahankan dan mengulangi perbuatan tersebut, tetapi selepas pengajaran Pilihanraya Umum ke-12 baru beliau sudi memohon maaf "jika terdapat pihak yang tersinggung".


Pada hemat anda sekalian, peristiwa yang manakah yang lebih menampakkan keikhlasan serta fahaman bahawa Wakil Rakyat adalah Yang Berkhidmat dan bukan sahaja Yang Berhormat sahaja?


Bagaimana pula dengan tindak balas pihak berkuasa yang berkenaan semasa krises dan bencana melandai Malaysia? Bagaimanakah keupayaan dan budaya kerja yang diberi kepada mangsa dan pembayar cukai sewaktu peristiwa Highland Towers, tanah runtuh Bukit Antarabangsa, kebakaran feri ke Pulau Tioman, wabak H1N1 dan JE, tsunami (bukan March 8 2008 itu) dan sebagainya.


Sebaik-baiknya, para Wakil Rakyat di Malaysia yang berpendapatan agak baik harus menghayati fahaman bahawa peranan utama mereka adalah berkhidmat untuk rakyat dan rakyatlah yang merupakan tuan kepada mereka dan bukan sebaliknya.

Undoing the Internet

The decision to censor the internet in Malaysia has been on and then off; but is it really off? Let's checkout a few Ministers' Press statements of late:

 "...internal threats in the form of comments via blogs are becoming more dangerous than external elements, as they sow the seeds of restlessness among the various races...", Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen- MCA Vice President. The Star Aug 14, 2009.

"We want to look at how parents react to the extreme display of child pornography in the Net, Internet gambling and postings that can encourage terrorism...", Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister. Bernama Aug 13, 2009.

"But it's got nothing to do with censorship...", Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister. Bernama Aug 13, 2009.

Censorship or not, it depends how lawmakers in the country want to define the words 'censorship', 'terrorism', 'dangerous blogs' and so on. Worse still, political blogging against the Malaysian Government could be well labeled as cyber-terrrorism if there's any chance that the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 or Internal Security Act 1960 is 'revamped'. Yes, political blogging can become an outlawed activity in the future if 'non-BN' bloggers are seen to be terrorists. The stakes are high in the political arena when it comes to press freedom and dissemination of information on the internet- the 2008 General Election results was an example of this.

Looking at the table below, can anyone notice any similarities between Malaysia with any of the countries listed down here:



And today, the guy who hid behind the keris (guess who) says:
“We are not clamping or censoring the Internet. But when it comes to issues involving race, religion and our royalty, the Internet cannot be allowed to go on to de-stabilise the country and do whatever they like...”.

Thanks to the keris-raising scene by the person above 2 years back (a 'salivating' threat to the extinction of a percentage of the population in the country) which will be immortalized in pictures and video for generations to come, there was a raise in political awareness amongst citizens whom were sitting on the fence because the scene scared the crap out of them. Now, he's talking about the internet being a destabilizing factor? Indeed I find Malaysia quite near to either one or all of the political systems depicted in the table above.

Lastly, if you have noticed, the phrase "..we will not censor the internet..." appears many times in the Ministers' press statements, followed by other conditions. If you get my drift, this is how 'no censorship' of the internet is defined in Malaysia.

The fate of 3 helpful witnesses

My friend recently got in a cab in KLIA and had the misfortune to catch a 70 year old cabbie in a foul mood. What he told my friend that got to me can be unprintable but he did mention a point that I find pertinent.

"When we read newspapers" he said, "read many stories and try to link them together to see what's developing."

Can't disagree with him. I got off my lazy ass, plow through some newspaper and decided to look at the fate of 3 helpful Malaysians in aid of the Malaysian legal process.

The first chap is Mr. Teoh Beng Hock. MACC officially declared that he is or was a witness in their probe and it is not of MACC's interest that he is dead. Well dead he is and he died in MACC premises. If this is how MACC treats helpful witness, then they are literally killing off their sources of information.

The second chap is Mr. Wong Chuan How, PA to YB Ronnie Liu. According to reports in Chinese newspapers, Mr. Wong received request for evidence from MACC. He duly prepared the relevant documents and waited at his service centre yesterday (Friday).

MACC officers arrive at 9am (bravo, a bunch of motivated civil servants for a change). 5 officers (a number considered necessary in MACC's SOP to confront one 50 year old man, I suppose?) went up to the office and requested Mr. Wong to follow them back to Putrajaya. Mr. Wong decided to follow Selangor Menteri Besar's instruction to get his lawyer to accompany him to the MACC office and in this case, it was YB Cha Kee Chin, ADUN for Bukit Kepayang.

In YB Cha's words, "Wong was very co-operative, had all the documents prepared and waited 'respectfully' in the location and at the time as instructed by MACC."

Mr. Wong wanted to lodge a report at Sungai Pelek Police Station before going to Putrajaya. A bit tedious but given what happen to Mr. Teoh and MB's advice, it sounds prudent and orderly to me. Anyway the MACC officers agreed with this.

Unfortunately, when Mr. Wong walked out of the office, the 3 officers who waited outside his office proceeded to grab him and in the ensuing struggle, injured Mr. Wong.

Here are some photos that Utusan Malaysia missed out:



We all know the value of co-workers communicating properly at work but the above is just SNAFU (Situation Normal All F...... Up)

I suppose if you are in the wrong you apologise but what did MACC do? Instead of fruit basket and flowers to hospitals, they upgrade Mr. Wong's status from being a witness to a suspect as according to the Star today, "MACC director of investigation Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull confirmed Mr. Wong's arrest".

Er...pardon my ignorance, a suspect would run when he sees the law, and not prepare evidence to incriminate himself, right?


The third chap is a certain Dr. Khairul. He is so certain and helpful in offering his professional judgement and conclusion that he voluntarily demonstrated in THAT inquiry how a sleepy Teoh Beng Hock could have opened up a window, wiggled and squeezed himself out out a window so that he could kill himself over RM2,400 on the day before his marriage registration.




However, the ever helpful doctor did acknowledge that there were no finger prints or shoe marks at the window where Teoh, who may have issues with committement as lamented in so many female magazine artles about men and committement, probably decided death was preferable to changing diapers and hearing the same woman nagging for decades to come.

I have 1 conclusion. I remember there was a talk about having a Witness Protection Act to be enacted. I suppose given the inconsistency with the 3 stories above, WPA is certain relevant and reliable. Cornerstone to a just society is built on many things such as sound laws being enacted, consistent, fair and swfit application of law as well as safety of witness who willingly come forward at their expense to make Malaysia a better and safer place to live in.

It is time we respect willing witnesses, guarantee them safety and dignity to work towards what Islam also advocates, Justice.

Gutter level cyber warfare

The internet has a brief and interesting history in Malaysian politics. Prior to 12th GE, the BN administration dismissed it as not creditable, irrelevant and of insignificance. An ex-minister famously dismissed bloggers as "consist of 70% unemployed women".

The nasty surprise in GE-12 has caused the BN camp to re-evaluate the role that bloggers have on Malaysian politics.

Immediately after the GE, some coverage was given to bloggers and some were even engaged by the until then skeptical and dismissive BN officials.

I am an avid political blog reader and commentator since 2004. I can feel the following transformation stages:

1) before GE-12, opposition leaders and anti-establishment bloggers are the predominant users. most of the posts written then, albeit with political agenda, are generally well supported by logical arguments; but

2) after GE-12, some BN leaders started to use blogs themselves. Ali Rustam, however, had so many negative comments that he had to declare his blog site "got hacked" and had to close it down. I also notice a lot more emotion andthe level of unsubstantiated sensationalisation has risen tremendously.

Poison letter, meanwhile, is a age old weapon used by irresponsible cowards to discredit some one. The "50 dalil" series is the classic example.

Sad to say it is human nature to believe more in scandalous allegations spread by anonymous cowards rather than believe someone who has the guts to put his head on the chopping block and speak the truth. The former fits the islamic description of "fitnah", right? If so, why so many defenders of religious integrity choose to rally to it blindly?

That's why I am disgusted by this recent gutter level cyber poison letter scheme:

http://rockybru.com.my/2009/08/loke-siew-fook-did-you-write-that-about.html

"This time, it is about allegations made over the weekend by some blogs that Loke, who is also MP for Rasah, had called the Sultan of Perak and son Raja Nazrin by some unsavoury names in a posting dated Aug 6 on the blog The Might of the Pen.

The blog has since been deleted. "

As Rocky himself mentioned, the blog has been deleted. I think there is a Malay proverb that spoke of throwing the stone and quickly hiding the hands behind the back. If the allegation is indeed true then why remove it?

Pretty obvious that someone is losing the battle and war in articulating about truth, justice and good governance, that someone has to fall back on what they know best. It is far easier to spread messages of hate and anger compared to messages of commonsense, compassion, reason and sound principles. Mind The NS state assembly is about a week or so away.

I wonder the commentators in that blog postings are hired cybertroopers or even the blogger himself or his friends.

I have spoken to YB Loke before and I have every confidence in him. To be frank, he is someone BN would fear - young, articulate, good command of Bahasa Malaysia, up and coming etc.

Base on this post below, which was sometime ago, would you believe YB Loke is a racist and lunatic?

http://lokesiewfook.blogspot.com/2009/01/bantuan-pendidikan.html

By the way, I really liked the post when I first read it and that's why I went looking for this piece the moment my blood started to boil. It is a small little gesture, something that most of us overlook and yet we all get lusty, excited and jumping on the bandwagon when there is nude photo, sexual acts taped, beers and pigs.

Malaysians love dirty linen, rumour mongering and scandalous untruth. This is the mentality that result in Malaysians being easily hookwinked by unscrupulous politicians and having our mindsets colonised by irrelevant "revealations" while the real issues get unnoticed.

We demand our MPs to fix drains, put up light poles and give handouts, which is not exactly their job. When YB Loke does that, hardly anyone gives a crap but when a cyber poison letter is out, everyone suddenly became a world class commentator so darn concern about him.

Also, look at the sequence....the 2 ex-Pakatan reps in Perak, accusations against Teresa Kok, Ronnie Liu and Khalid Ibrahim, invasion of privacy of Elizabeth Wong, the fishing trip in 7 offices...I will go to the bookstore and hang around the fiction session then for ideas....

p.s.

YAB Prime Minister promised us BN will change for the better to reclaim lost election ground. Well, ok. Let's benchmark this one. Last time out, someone(until now not accounted for and dealt with) issued a fitnah about Teresa Kok and loudspeakers. Despite the denial of officials of the masjid, the open refute by YB herself, S Hamid still ISAed her but released her after "investigation" - a laughable justification of reversed procedures.

o.k. YAB, show this tax payer some improvement this round, ok?

You are not alone, Pakatan

Recently, Pakatan entertained and bemused us; while BN is more than delighted to highlight the recent spats of disagreement between PR components. From the piggy thingy up north to the intoxicating booze in Shah Alam, disagreement between a few people in Pakatan have been declared as solid evidence of imminent break up in Pakatan Rakyat.

I suppose Malaysians have been long exposed or limited to the "BN formula" - perpetual harmony and agreements between component parties. Sure, easy to achieve if you have a big brother and obedient followers.

Today, in the Sun, these 2 articles make interesting reading....Badawi once coined the term "little Napoleons"...and here is a prime example:

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=36692

DG defends principal's move not to allow PTA meeting

PETALING JAYA (Aug 9, 2009) : Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom today defended the decision by SMK Sri Hartamas not to allow its PTA to hold the EGM.

"A PTA cannot hold an EGM without the permission of the school head," he told theSun when contacted.

"In the case of SMK Sri Hartamas, the principal as the PTA advisor did not encourage the EGM because the agenda of the meeting had nothing to do with educational development.

"The teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) to the new policy named Upholding Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthening English (MBMMBI) is final. is a policy matter which has been decided by the government. It is a non-issue."

"There is no point to discuss it further. It is just a waste of time. The principal’s decision was right and according to procedure," he said

A Tan Sri in charge of educational matters deem that tax payers should not be allowed to talk about policies decided by people paid by them and require their votes in a few years' time. For goodness sake our children are going through all this and we as parents, can't even have a meeting to talk over it?

Yeah right, it is just like a Bursa officer telling off shareholders not to talk about Board of Directors' performance in an Annual General Meeting. Someone I know in the educational line is of the opinion that our children's future is politicalised away.....

So what does the Education Minister Cum Deputy Prime Minister Cum possibel future Prime Minister have to say about this and show his leadership?

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=36673

Meanwhile, commenting on reports that the education department had withdrawn permission for the SMK Sri Hartamas Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to convene an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to voice their opposition to the reversal of the policy to use English as the medium of instruction for science and mathematics, Muhyiddin said the department officers should not have done as such.

"We are quite open. They (the department) should not overreact. I am sorry. I apologize. I think it is not fair (to withdraw the permission)," said Muhyiddin, who expressed the hope that department officials would not do such things in future.

Sorry it won't happen again?

Why not tell the errant officer to apologise to the parents and offer his cozy office to let the parents hold the meeting there?

It seems that the stand is, "yes, even if civil servants are in the wrong, they cannot be held accountable and I hope the same thing won't happen again". As the Education Minister, surely Mister Muhyiddin has more say over the conduct of officers under his department, right?

And compared to pigs and beer, surely educational matters concerning our children and the future of the country is worth deliberating over, right?

And to improve education standard, surely civilsed exchange of ideas would contribute to it, right?

If a civil servant is found guilty of error of judgement and action but no action is taken against him or her, would this not encourage him or her to repeat this behaviour, rather than "hope it won't happen again"?

I rest my case.

1 August 2009 : A jolly fun day out with pepper, water and lots of running

1 August 2009 was a landmark day for me. It is the first time I ever got in up close to ground zero, got a little gas and sampled some invisible black pepper vapour. In a couple of hours, I had a good work out, walking around Daing Wangi, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan TAR area being a keen observer.

I kicked myself for not bringing my camera along as I worried it might get damage and my wife would kill me. There are some unforgettable images....that I wish I had captured in bytes.....

* I saw an old Chinese couple, dressed in black from top to bottom, walking as fast as their aged body allowed them to. The only thing not too black was their hair.

* I saw a young Chinese couple, the girl in a cute blue spaghetti strap and hot pants, joining her boy friend in the march when they looked more like heading to cinema or a mamak stall.

* I spoke to a young Malay man all the way from Kedah, spent time and money so that he could get gassed in KL.

* I heard an old Malay man, cursing at leaders of his own race and exclaiming excitedly, "Kit Siang, Kit Siang!" There goes the voting on race factor alone only.

* I saw a tubby Malay boy , who could not have been more than 12 years old, wearing swimming googles and enduring the ordeal and carry on marching. He looked like a handsome Jubba the Hunt though. ;-P

* I briefly spoke to a young Italian lass (pictured below in red) who identified herself as an activist. Before I could interest her in having a date with a not-so dashing foreigner, the trigger fingers started pumping the pepper shots away.


I wonder if a young person from overseas are so concerned about Malaysia, then how come our own people are so unconcerned? Italy and other developed countries are in such a state that their citizens are free to pursue their interests and need not worry about their livelihood. Why can't we Malaysians be free to pursue our hopes and dreams? Who are the neo-colonists that chain us up mentally and physically?


* I spoke to a PAS Unit Amal person who told me that this time, the trigger fingers were lot more brutal than before. They used to fire canister and water jets towards the sky but this time, they shot straight into the masses and this poor fellow got hit 4 times. In his state of distress, a group of Chinese undergraduates came and offered him salt and water....so much for the racial tension propagated by Che Det.




By the way, Raja Niong did a very quick and informed calculation and concluded that businesses there lost RM100 - RM200 millions in the space of 3 hours.

Sogo's food hawkers did damn good business as the braves needed their food before the march. The brave ladies were still ladies as they picked up bargains, stuff into their bags before they started marching and there were still a lot of oblivious, ignorant and don't-care-less who still shopped till they drop. Mind, some of them spent more time in the mall during the lock up time. So business in Sogo could have reached at least equal or even better levels compared to normal days before 2p.m.

When I was having smoke in my eyes, I approached a trader and asked for a bottle of drinking water. He asked for RM3. I walked away, declining to pay 300% inflated price and was happy when the smoke got blew over to his stall.

No damages were done to any properties. As I saw with my own limited vision on the ground, no cars were damaged, no windows were smashed. Football hooligans in Kelantan, UMNO delegates in Seremban and UMNO Bukit Bendera did more physical damages by pushing a bus, throwing chairs in meeting and tearing a certain Gerakan celebrity respectively.

If loss of profits can run up to RM100 million to RM200 million in 3 or 4 hours....what kind of economic down turn are we having?


Let's review Raja Niong's rapidly worked out claim. The GDP for whole of Malaysia for 2007 was USD359 billion

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP.aspx?Symbol=MYR

	Profit claimed as loss RM 200,000,000 Net margin (say) 20% Gross sales in 3 hours RM 1,000,000,000 Gross sales in 1 hours RM 333,333,333 (a) 2007 Malaysia GDP USD 359,000,000,000.00 2008 Malaysia GDP RM @3.5 1,256,500,000,000.00 (b) Total hours of work 3,769.50 (d) = (b) / (a) no of days worked if 12 hours shift 314.13 (d)/12

So base on Raja Niong's claim, if Sogo and part of KL's shops along Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan TAR, Masjid Jamek etc opened 12 hours a day for 314 days then the whole Malaysia's GDP can be earned there....if that's the case, why the hell are we all working like mad all over Malaysia?

Perhaps real damages was done to the whore houses in Jalan Raja Laut....any respectable punters would lose their appetite smelling the pepper and seeing the FRU crowding around their favourite hound.

By the way, did any one see Pewaris around? Before the day, plenty of chest thumping etc....on the BIG day itself, you'll find more stray cats in Pasar Seni than determined and loud Pewaris chaps around. If the Minister says he want to review the Act, you chaps want to defend it so please go and protest against that Minister who wants to review it. Don't waste reporters' time, ok?

Other related links:

http://papillon-liberte.blogspot.com/2009/08/if-it-is-not-show-of-might-then-what-is.html?zx=92474c1cda7bf69d
http://khookhoo.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/teargas-virgin-no-more/#comments
http://shar101.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/ntrs-1police/
http://hawkeyejack.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-isa-more-than-100000-turnout.html
http://melvin-mah.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-isa-crackdown-it-was-hishamuddins.html
http://kaiyet.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-isa-rally-at-sogo.html
http://kaiyet.blogspot.com/2009/08/anti-isa-rally-at-sogo-continued_8316.html