Don't tell me markets down due to Zionist conspiracy

Cancelled celebration of Israel's victorious 6 day war in 1967 planned in Melaka

Third Force lent a hand to promote the previous posting before Hari Raya and the message with their own posting, PH is taking the economy on a downward spiral.

At least, there are bloggers concerned with the development in the market and implication on the country.

Few FB comments expressed concerned with words uttered by Tun Dr Mahathir and Lim Guan Eng as not helping the economy. In addition to repeated mentioning of RM1 trillion debt political hoax, there was the technically deficient earlier remark of Guan Eng on government bailing our 1MDB.

Enough of picking on Guan Eng. Azmin's remark is far more damaging. FT.com quoted his, "Economy is in a mess" remark here.

And, there have been many developments over the weekend and Hari Raya holidays. Comments on foreigners streaming out of the stock market have gone viral. There is also rising awareness on the important agriculture product of Malaysia, palm oil and potential of ringgit.

The instinct is it could be a stormy Monday by the indication of increased amount of foreigners' selling last Thursday.

It is strange that everything is falling into place since the selling two days before polling on May 9th. No ... no ... please not another Zionist conspiracy.

Moody debunked Hari Raya wishes

Today is the last day of Ramadhan and tomorrow begins the celebration of Aidil Fitri.

Be careful on the road to ensure a Selamat Hari Raya. Was just told a nephew had a road mishap yesterday that caused the life of his wife and child with himself badly injured. Al fatihah 

This blog made a premonition of an upcoming market black hole two weeks ago.  A commentator dispute us and confidently claimed we will be proven wrong. It would be most welcome.

The intention to be the prophet of doom is to forewarn the new Malaysia Baru government, which remained drowned in euphoria, Mahathir's vengeance, and DAP's impatience to undertake revolutionary change.

It is unthinkable but they seemed unaware of the current happenings and implication of their actions to the stock, capital, currency and commodity market as well as the country's economy at large.

They can't deliver on their manifesto but resorted to cooking up bankruptcy and 1 trillion debt lies [read here, here and here] to the detriment of economic confidence on Malaysia.

Shedding into Japanese snakeskin to deny bankruptcy

The big buzz on Tun Dr Mahathir's trip to Japan on the social media is him admitting that it is not easy to arrest, charge and imprison Dato Najib.

It is not be done in haste as failure to do so will result in people questionimg all the remarks and accusations made against him.

This is no more swings and roundabout but practically an about turn. Its also the snake shedding a new skin acceptable to the intellect of the un-uneducated Japanese and global audience.

Mahathir also said Malaysia will not slide into bankruptcy as there are “huge savings” from several government institutions, which can be used to help the economy recover in the event of crisis.

“I don’t think ... the country will slide into bankruptcy,” he said in a news conference broadcast live from Tokyo, Japan where he is attending the Future of Asia conference hosted by Nikkei.

The Malay Mail reported:

Swings of bankruptcy to the roundabout on debt

Swings and roundabout is a British idiom to mean "losses, setbacks, or negative aspects of a certain situation are cancelled out or balanced by equally advantageous or positive elements (or vice versa)".

The election is over and PH has won. The advantage or positive outcome from the use of the bankruptcy - truly or falsely, has worn out.

The attempt of Lim Guan Eng to continue with the same propaganda line to claim country's debt as RM1 trillion could cancel out the advantage they have gain.

This blog have been calling the propaganda or fake news or such political drama as wayang. Coincidently, a commentator with nicname, Anti Wayang viral the following comment.

An academic exercise on blame

A friend, whose organisation almost got chopped recently by the Malaysia Baru new government, sent an interesting message.

Her message was refreshing and current. It was something we had delved into since our late teens and wrote of it in this blog many years ago.

It is purely an academic exercise but thought its worthy for pondering, thus shared it below:

I think it's important that we acknowledge and frame the issues that Malaysia faces. 

While the sense of outrage is absolutely natural, let's recognize that what happened here is a story as old as time.

Ghost of past crisis to restrain market

Last night was the the night of the 23rd of Ramadhan. It is touted as possibly the night of a thousand night or Lailatul Qadr. 

It is the night one's prayers and wishes are fulfilled. There maybe Muslim investors or major shareholders of public-listed companies praying for a revival of the stock market.

According to a message viralling on social media and reports in the media, RM7 billion was taken out from Bursa by foreigners since GE14.

Despite the modest stock market gains on Bursa over the past 3 days, foreigners have pulled out money for 23 consecutive days - the longest streak since 2008.

New AG has an opinion on 1MDB before investigation completed

Tommy Thomas is confirmed as the new Attorney General.

The lawyer suggested by DAP, represented Anwar in one of his many cases and agreed by the various parties in PH fits Mahathir's purpose to prosecute Najib for 1MDB and related to 1MDB offenses.

Tommy Thomas expressed his view on 1MDB in Malaysiakini back in 2016.

Please no talk of bias or prejudice as PH supporters will argue and justify it is not.

In 2007, Tommy said Agong can reject his appointment

Upon swearing in, one of the first of many immediate actions by PH’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir towards avenging his shame of losing out in UMNO and imprisoning former Prime Minister, Dato Najib Tun Abdul Razak, was to attempt the sacking of Attorney General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali.

It was his first step towards proving he is right in his cause celebre, 1MDB (and related to 1MDB) to seek removal of Najib.

Thus far, Najib is not yet imprisoned as promise by Dato Mukhriz in his campaign trail. Claims Najib should be charged does not seem so as new MACC Chief claim he need few more statements. Former AG Tan Sri Abu Talib said need more than 100 days to investigate.

Be it himself or any other parties – local or abroad, including US Department of Justice - all claims on 1MDB remained unproven allegations.

Wherefore art thou politics in this heedless time

Opposition message embraced by UMNO members led to BN's fall

After 15 years of active involvement and many more decades in various minor and insignificant roles from keen observer to complimentary support, it is time to take stock of our involvement in politics. If there is a purpose to stay on, the new role need to be redefine.

Currently it is rather confusing and national politics look rather heedless or the Arab word best described the condition as Ghaflah (pronounced closer to Ghoflah). From Islamic context, it is negligence and heedlessness in forgetting Allah, and our divine purpose. The political context is closer in meaning to aimlessness.

Politics relate to governance, debate between political parties, and activities relating to secure power through political positions. The acquisition of power comes with it a sense of responsibility and purpose for a greater good for the nation, and its people.

As we see it, politics in Malaysia is moving towards a state of aimlessness and it looks to be moving towards the state of heedlessness (Ghaflah) at its extreme. So it is challenging to justify continuous active involvement and purposeful role.

In the first place, it was unthinkable to got involved given the in-fighting, suspicion and envy by certain influential character among Najib people. Maybe time to take few steps back to observe from afar.

Goebbels-esque RM1 trillion national debt lie

Circulating in Whass App groups today is an expose of the Gobbels-esque lie being spread by Tun Dr Mahathir government ...

Is the RM1 trillion "national debt" propaganda?

Firstly, Finance Minister LGE has confirmed that the official Federal government debt is RM686.8 billion, or 50.8% of GDP - which was what was reported by the previous BN Govt. This figure is exactly how the whole world measures its debt.

Secondly, LGE adds on Government guarantees of RM199.1 billion, or 14.6% of GDP

He says this comprises of Danainfra Nasional Bhd (RM42.2 billion), Govco Holdings Bhd (RM8.8 billion), Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (RM26.6 billion), Malaysia Rail-link Sdn Bhd (RM14.5 billion) as well as an estimated RM38 billion for 1MDB.

Let's take a closer look.

No Nathan Rothchild could avoid a market black hole

Election is over, so do not quite care of politics. Everything is confusing, directionless and at the extreme, it is heedless.

Kedah, Perak and Sabah is still in a turmoil. Conspiracy theory say the days of Tun Mahathir is numbered the moment Agong suddenly pardoned Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The government with a ruling party with 125 seats and opposition BN with 79 and PAS 18 is not a stable country. The underlying reason Malaysia attracted investments from abroad over the many decades of BN rule is due to political stability and continuity of the ruling party.  

With that changed, foreign investors should look at the transition. Foreign financial media painted a rosy picture of a BN win.

The macro picture that won their heart for Malaysia is expected to change but it could not be done with Tun Dr Mahathir’s loud mouth.

The new Pakatan Harapan government came out from the win with a rather reckless disposition to change everything within a short time and Mahathir could not hold back on executing his revenge towards Dato Najib swiftly.

Lessons to and from India

A former Indian MP turned writer, Sashi Tahoor claimed Malaysian opposition learned from India's experience in bringing down the post-Independent dominant ruling government, the Congress party in bringing down Barisan Nasional.

It is the same phenomenon that saw the end of the dominant Golkar in Indonesia, LDP in Japan and Kuomintang in Taiwan. So it is not for certain that the Indian experience was considered.

And, it is not for certain that the post victory possibility for Malaysia could be any different from India.

Its too early to call as the dynamics is not an exact science determined by macro factors but also filled with the intrigues of individuals and micro factors in the art of politics.

Investors short market in reaction to foul mouth new government

A market player was lamenting yesterday of foreigners not only sold their stock market holdings but went short.

What actually happened is more startling than the report by The Star here of foreign investors selling-off RM2.48 billion worth of shares caused the biggest fall to the Bursa since August 2013.

Singapore's Business Times here reported all the foreign inflow into the stock market for 2018 outflowed within days after the general election.

Prior to the election, foreign analysts forecasted BN to win and were generally supportive of the macroeconomic policies of former Prime Minister, Dato Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

The BN loss was not taken well by foreign investors who views the unconventional policies by the new government not to their liking and would be disruptive to the Malaysian economy.

Words coming out from the new government leaders does not indicate any intention to win back their confidence.

Watching events unfold

Tun Dr Mahathir was repeatedly defeated by Dato Najib in few battles but he did not give up and took his fight to new boundaries.

The consummate politician and dictator won another political war. Admittedly, we lost.

Though still believe it was a justified decision to leave him and stayed to defend the institution of UMNO and government, it is better to refrain from doing a post mortem.

There is a long list of concerns that came out from election result. The concerns are political, legal, economic and national in nature, but it will have to hold first.

Putting the dictator's campaign of "dendam" and obsession in the right perspective

Lim Sian See's FB posted a message that incapculate the gist of this general election.

A UK based news portal column by Sholto Brnes expanded LSS's message further.

The writer described the poll as more of twist and turn more than a Shakespearean play to topple the government than any substantive policy differences.

The column by The National below:

Even former CJ cynical of Mahathir's political antics

We received a WA of a pdf statement of former Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

Quite familiar with his writing. The language seemed to be him. More so, the sender is a credible political analyst. It is considered to have come from reliable source.

Written in Malay, the former CJ is cynical in the manner Tun Dr Mahathir ran his campaign and his campaign message and his campaign.

If it was yours truly, some would brush it off as one sided, pro-Najib leaning, and makan dedak.

However, this is coming from one of the two Federal Court judges that favoured the release of Anwar Ibrahim for his first sodomy charge in a judicial review.

Namewee whack Mahathir too ..

This video came out two hours ago and already has more than 32,000 views.

One could only expect Namewee to be critical of government. The interesting part of this video is he is also did a satirical whack of Tun Dr Mahathir.

Equal opportunity critic? He he he ...

Daim "diam" on Tajuddin video, but doing a roadshow

If that was the only response from Tun Daim Zainuddin to video revelation of Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli being forced to but MAS at the pricey RM8 per share thus, require a buyback option at RM8 per share, it is meek one.

It only tells of a person meeting his Prime Minister to contribute his views, perhaps attempt to establish ties which is in-sync with government policy, and perhaps none of the above but mere friendly courtesy call.

For Daim to response to Dato Abdul Kadir Jasin, it does not add credibility. Kadir seriously  compromised on his journalism integrity with his outright lies, spin and manipulative writings to be part of Tun Dr Mahathir's yet another overthrow the country's leadership.

Nevertheless, such possibility could not be excluded because Kadir would have tried to contact Tajuddin and Daim's son, Wira was at one time trying to get hold of someone's son-in-law.

Still, it is as meek a response by both Daim and Kadir as their silence to revelation by Anina Saabudin of money from Realmild deal going into Mahathir's personal account instead of party account. It opens the possibility that UMNO, Tajuddin and country was rampantly robbed, looted and plundered.

Daim cannot be keeping quiet and not response when he has begun his roadshow.

Explosive Tajuddin Ramli video emerged

On the night of nomination, an explosive video of an anonymous person making comments on Tun Dr Mahathir viral in Langkawi.

It looks, it sounds like, and probably is former MAS Chairman and extraordinaire Malay entrepreneur, Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli:

The above video reached our handphone from anonymous source. Strange ... we do not vote in Langkawi.

There were more videos to come the following nights.

Musical interlude: You raise me up

This GE 14 is for the future of our children and subsequent generations. This is to correct for rakyat neglected for decades. It is about appreciating the sacrifices today needed to prepare and build for a greater nation.

And, not conceding to the revenge of a corrupted despot, venting misunderstood anger, and presumptions without thoughts.

Revelation after last night's late ceramahs at KRT of Taman Setia 2 and PDM of Kampung Lubuk Kawah, Mukim Naga at  Jitra Kedah.

Nervous for perfection

Tun Dr Mahathir landed at the airport and claimed there was sabotage on his private jet. He said he could have arrived Friday but only arrived yesterday.

Transport Minister has instructed investigation. They should also detain the private jet.

Frankly, it is all a farce like the warning to the security folks that he will be murdered, the bankrupt Loaf is not his, Bangla immigrants voters, etc.

It is his ploy to play victim. He will resort to crying on stage as though he sincerely want to save Malaysia. Their side already viral such video.

Market rally taking attention away from politics

The picture above came from NST but despite touching on investors confidence, strong corporate earnings and economic background, and foreign fund inflow, their report headline was rather hesitant and subdued yesterday: Malaysian stock market remains attractive to foreign investors

Malaysia Digest hit a better note with the headline: Malaysia Stocks At An All-Time High Ahead Of Elections. They highlighted on the big fuzz over the US threat of a trade war against China, extract below:

Economic growth of 5.9 per cent last year, which was the fastest pace since 2014, was also achieved through the strengthening of private and government investments.

“We’ve got an election coming up and actually the economic data for Malaysia has been quite good recently. Things like exports have been strong and relatively insulated from a potential trade war.

“Five years ago it was like a dirty word but now there’s more investor interest,” Jim McCafferty, head of Asia excluding Japan equity research at Nomura Holdings Inc. said in an interview in Hong Kong.

Bloomberg, whose been hinting of foreign investor interest on April 10th, is now practically screaming rally: Malaysia Stocks Hit Record as Foreigners Buy Ahead of Elections.

Before any shallow pro-Tun claim Bloomberg taking dedak, some are already making claims it is on on expectation of the return of Mahathir and his bevy of big wig market riggers. Then it is not dedak but carrot.

Underground talk is saying his backers of gambling taukehs are trying to sway Chinese voters using illegal gambling. Quite sure, no names need mentioning as it is as easy as ABC to figure it out.

With Equinimity seizure invalid, what now, Tun M?

That's the only possible reaction from pentaksub and PH's cybertrooper.

Yesterday, Singapore's Straits Times here reported that US and Indonesian police seizure of the superyatch Equinimity is illegal.

Taking an extract from Malaysia Today here:

Indonesia Court Rules Yacht Seizure In 1MDB Case Invalid...."Indonesian court on Tuesday (April 17) ruled that the seizure of a luxury yacht linked to a US investigation into scandal-ridden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was invalid and without legal basis....citing an on-going investigation, said Mr Low never worked for 1MDB and he did not make any business decision for the company(1MDB)

Allow some bragging rights for this blog. We wrote in early March: Equinimity seizure is still far from anything significant.

Was Equinimity the 1MDB bomb Tun Dr Mahathir wanted to explode for this general election?

Was the Loaf into tax evasion or money laundering for politics?

The Loaf announced it closed down last week.

Fearing his detractors would say he could not run even a kedai roti to succesed, let alone his endless list of past failed ventures that accumulated to hundreds of billions at today's value, Tun Dr Mahathir's first reaction was to deny it was his.

A lie like that could never go far. Not with much fanfare to launch Mahathir's Japanese bread venture. There are just too many news reports of the bread outlet that was first launched at Telaga Harbour Langkawi.

There is always Mahathir at every other launch of new outlets. And, it is impossible to deny the ROC documents below:

Macho-talking DAP chickening out in Johor?

It was a party pooper when Hannah Yeoh and Wong Tuan Tat was announced to run in Segambut and Bentong, respectively. Then Dyana Sofea commented on the challenge of running again against Dato Mah Siew Kong in Telok Intan.

In Johor: PH on-slaught or DAP slaugher house?, this blog was sure Hannah Yeoh will get sent off to some difficult seat and Tony Pua to Bentong to MCA President Liew. It didn't happen because both turned around and kow tow to suck Terowong Tokong knee caps.

While Dyana's comment only indicate the loud talking Foochow, Nga Kor Meng chicken out from confronting Mah. It is possible nice guy Mah and Liew are not as easy a meat as DAP thought.

Apparently, DAP seemed to have chicken out from Johor, wrote Joceline Tan below:

Only a Penasihat could mess up fixed deposit Sabah!

UMNO Secretary General, Dato Tengku Adnan Mansor had just issued a stern warning that reminded members to abide to the party's code of ethics. Those not selected as candidates should support the selected candidate and not sabotage the party.

This warning came about following announcement that the selected candidate for a Federal Territory seat is from MCA. Based on past track record, he has a better chance than an UMNO Division Head, who lost by more than 5,000 votes in GE13.

He is unlikely to turn around that deficit and let alone to turn it into a majority. However, he insisted to be selected. Just because he served the Prime Minister before, he should not be given special path and self interest should not be above the party interest.

Winning the general election should not be diverted by other factors of lesser priorities. And, words going around that there was intensive lobbying to change well selected candidates.

In Sabah, BN is making progress in areas not rated white and manage to turn the likes of Semporna and Kota Kinabalu into a 50:50 situation, at least almost.

Sabah has 26 Parliamentary seats (including Labuan) and is expected to win 23. If PM is persuaded to consider less relevant factors, it may cost BN several precious seats already in the bag.

TMJ's generosity returned by Prebet Adam's family

The Aeon Tebrau City was reported to be in a state of shambles after his Highness Crown Prince of Johor made an unexpected appearance to announce offering to pay up to RM3,000 per customer and RM1million to all shoppers present.

What motivated his highness to impulsively be generous is not sure. Only few days ago, he defended himself on FB for his statement that was intended for Tun Dr Mahathir. His highness denied he was not on anyone side but merely giving his personal opinion and advise for the betterment of Johor.

Thus one could assume that the impulsive generosity came out of  his highness's sincere concern for the betterment of Johor, even though it is for those who happen to be present at Aeon Tebrau City when he made that surprise.

Thought that was the only surprise for yesterday, but no ... his highness generous gesture was returned with appreciation by the family of Private Adam mentioned in his highness statement for clearing their family's name.

More analysts bullish for a BN win

Continuing this morning posting HERE on bullish prediction on the stock market following an expected BN win, Oxxford Economics also predicted a comfortable BN win. Read HERE.

Earlier CIMB expected a BN win and viewed it as positive for the market. Read HERE.

Malaysia Digest HERE  reviewed Bloomberg news as Najib is bad news for Mahathir.

In case, pro-PH supporters are calling all these as fake news, HSBC too is predicting a BN win.

Stock market to rise on expectation of a BN win

Except for the tired but unproven perception play on Dato Najib's guilt in the 1MDB affair and twisted propaganda pandering on emotion than sound economic argument on the economic transformation, the ingredients are there for a BN win.

The manifesto is solid manifesto with the fundamental sound and at the same time, major voter segments covered.

PH manifesto was duplicating BN's already done effort, lack of specifics and impossible to execute with the pledge to remove GST. Within 17 days, Tun Dr Mahathir already U-turn on some of the pledges and back to his old outdated thought.

Unless BN shoot their own feet as it could usually happen, the political ingredients are there - fundamentally and operationally for BN.

By May 13, let it be for soul purification

When Dato Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi mentioned of election could be during Ramadhan, it was not a bad idea.

Ramadhan is the month of glory and spiritual elevation. Muslim abstain from eating and drinking from daybreak to sunset.

It is the month to surrenders one self wholly to Allah, observing the same abstention throughout the whole month in his thoughts, his speech, his behavior, his every act.

And the non-Muslims will indirectly observe the same by respecting the abstaining Muslims.

As witnessed during the by-election at Kuala Besut, Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar, election campaign was exemplary. The big crowd that came to hear Mahathir at Kuala Kangsar did not vote Amanah.

Election campaign time was limited so campaigners used the oppurtunity to sensibly deliver their campaign message without the nasty words and behaviour.

Be fair to Rosmah

Its tiring to hear the same old wild accusation being thrown at Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

If they have anything against her, they should get their facts right.

For instance, how could the PM's wife be so powerful?

She is not the one with authority or position, thus if she actually could direct people, then those with the authority by virtue of their position are plain dumb to take her orders.

If the decision made was wrong, the one with responsibility and fiduciary duty will be accountable. And if force upon and fearing it would be detrimental to the nation, they should have refuse as a matter of principle or resign in protest.

It is plain coward to blame others for their own weakness and childish to bitch behind someone's back

Rosmah contributed to Najib's premiership but it should best not be discussed. But the slander and negative perception against her have been unfair.

Dumb DAP just kissed Johor goodbye

The big event last night was the launch of the BN Manifesto dubbed by Dato Salleh Said Keruak as the best manifesto in history.

Despite a pathetic PH manifesto, in which Tun Dr Mahatahir acknowledged could not fulfill within 17 days after launch and he U-turned several items on their manifesto, one could only expect Lim Kit Siang to fulfill his duty as the ever defiant and subversive opposition leader to oppose for the sake of opposing.

Not to mention, the cynics and nitpickers among opposition's fanatics are spewing rude and vulgar comments on the social media. Nothing unusual of the current phenomenon and its declining  effectiveness as BN's firepower flex their muscle to meet the call of duty of a general election.

Before commenting on the manifesto, the biggest political bomb last night was the remark by his highness the Tengku Mahkota of Johor.

Bigdog gave the manifesto launch a miss and posted Titah Tuanku: Make changes from within.

Johor: PH on-slaught or DAP slaughter house?

Tun Dr Mahathir continued his wave creation with the third mega-ceramah in Pasir Gudang.

It was in Pasir Gudang in 2015 that he was challenged at a Saturday UMNO-linked NGO ceramah to show-up at the Bersih rally gathering in Kuala Lumpur.

To the surprise of his officer, he did appeared upon touchdown at Subang in his private jet that late afternoon and the next day Sunday. That ended any remaining affection yours truly had left for Mahathir after more than 12-year involvement.

Since end of 2014, he and his inner circle had been behaving suspiciously; an officer suspected of regularly meeting Xavier Justo in Thailand and Mahathir secretly met Dato Seri Azmin Ali in London.

They thought it did not go unnoticed.

Feedback received from Pasir Gudang locals claimed majority of the attendee are outsiders from Tebrau, Kota Tinggi, etc. Chinese presence were significant.

Nevertheless, the number of 3,000 that subsequently increase to 4,000 upon arrival of Mahathir could make any armchair supporters ecstatic.

Opposition supporters were psyched into thinking Johor could fall and UMNO’s white area is only 8. Atually, it is the converse. Identified black area for BN is 7 or 8, including 50:50 Indian-seat Segamat.

DAP gave up after failing in all their three Tanjung projects before the unexpected Chinese tsunami of 2008. Can they do on Johor by their 2nd attempt?

What happens in Vegas, (should) stays in Vegas

The late Hugh Hefner said in a playboy "documentary" video, "What happens here, stays here." It was his warning to keep mouths shut on the wild happenings in The Grotto at the Playboy Mansion.

In 2002, the Las Vegas Conventions and Visitors Authority started using the same tagline and it helped the Las Vegas brand become the second-most recognized brand in the US, after Google.

Surely, this posting is not about branding or marketing but a certain happening at Kelab De Vegas in Jalan Imbi, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. What should stay in Vegas, did not remain within Vegas but got known by law enforcement officials.

In a joint operation involving, police, MACC and perhaps other agencies on April 2nd, there was a raid at the karaoke. It became a big story not because an UMNO Ketua Bahagian was caught for something. After all, PAS campaign poster claimed UMNO politicians has biggest number of corruption investigations, fast following DAP and PKR in second and third and PAS zero.

The general election made it a big story that drew international media attention. Read here.

Malay tsunami is die-hard's handjob imagination

The above crowd at a PPBM ceramah in Jerai was bandied around by supporters and Tun Dr Mahathir's fanatic die-hards as 30,000.

Sure ... but why the low and close-up shot. Our credible and reliable source there at Jerai estimated it at just 3,000. It really is ... Read our 2012 posting on estimating crowd numbers here.

Having done work in Jerai before, we know the local could not be that much. The popular Azhar Idrus (refuse to call him Ustaz) could only attract 1,000 during the Sg Limau by-election. It has to be  outsiders brought in from all over Kedah and Penang.

Our source spotted supporters from as far as Taiping. A matter of observing the vehicle license plates.

So our friend, Akramsyah Sanusi should not be too hopeful his Aceh folks in Jerai will come through for him. His relative and UMNO Permanent Chairman, Tan Sri Badruddin is with UMNO. Even a DAP wakil rakyat disgusted with Lim Guan Eng has openly express high regards for Dato Seri Jamil Khir.

These die-hards think Mahathir is a big deal in Kedah. They have no idea what the Kedah Civil Service think of him and his former MB son.

If not 165, is 114-124 safe?

It is bewildering that our former associates in political blogging could consider as psywar strategy to spread message based purely on presumptions.

They presumed all rakyat is angry, life is difficult down there, Najib a thief, country going bankrupt and highly in debt, GST to pay 1MDB debt and the list goes on and on.

Strangely, when they could not defend with facts, figure or even a credible story (despite being former journalist, they may not necessarily be able to), they turn irrational, get angry, curse and swear.

They then continue to churn the same style of fake news again and again. Sadly, former GEICs on the other side are not setting good examples.

Some PPBM MPKT member including former Minister could not even articulate themselves without resorting to bad choices of vocabulory and displaying desperate childish antics.

For MPKT members with hardly LCE certificates and there are few, their way of maintaining their righteousness is the scripted “Wait till election, then you know".

Yeah ... sure. Unless voters are swayed purely on emotion and act without any senses, then they may have a fighting chance.

Typical pre-election gitters

"I don't know and I'm not sure, that's an honest answer for you. I don't decide whether I become candidate or not."

The above quote taken from The Star here is Foreign Affairs Minister and MP for Kimanis, Sabah, Dato Anifah Aman claming unsure to defend the seat he won in the last three General Election at an increasing majority.

Unless he volunteered to withdraw, no sensible political observer would believe the younger brother to Sabah Chief Minister, Tan Sri Musa Aman not be selected.

Though a leader with political influence and strength of his own in Sabah, independent of his brother, Anifah is acknowledging the power to determine candidate to represent the party for the general election lies with the leadership.

Devious fake claim of BN losing Sabah

Five years ago, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim went around psyching the Semenanjong as though BN lost Sabah. The video of Anwar doing it through a song can be found here.

Not only Sabah was not lost 5 years ago, Anwar lost PKR in Sabah as 18 divisions "closed" and left in skeletal existence. This blog alerted readers before it happened.

PKR has absolutely no strength in Sabah. Same with Warisan.

A party with link to Tun Dr Mahathir will not go far. At best, we are predicting only 3 parliament seats for Warisan. Most possible only 1.

But there are those that have been making prediction as though Warisan is relevent and seeking special budget to counter a so-called Sabah for Sabahan political cry.

Election is a game of numbers

General election is definitely around the corner. One can see flags, banners, and posters being put up. Yesterday, PH put in 1MDB pamphlets in our mailbox.

For past few weeks, we have been getting angry messages from friends or maybe now are friends turned political rival spewing threats and nasty words in their casual political campaigning.

One thing noticeable is their winning tone as though momentum is on their side and they are championing the right issue.

If they are so confident and right, why are they not cool when BNM forex loss, Penang tunnel, Ijok land scam, and the long list of misdeeds of opposition-led state governments were raised.

The immaturity in the manner they debate lies in denial of their own misdeeds. It is unlike inside BN side that could explain with some level of legitimacy any allegations and slanders hurled at government.

Being in-denial and not honestly taking stock of their strength and weakness is a sure fire way to lose.

With Sabah safe in the bank, can Mahathir topple Najib?

Once, Dato Seri Azmin Ali tried to create an issue out of his short conversation with Dato Seri Anifah Aman at the airport by putting up a twitter posting to speculate him of being tired and leaving Dato Najib.

Back in 2009, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim created a political game as though he had enough MPs from BN to jump ship to the then Pakatan Rakyat. If Pak Lah had not resign, Anifah and the Sabah MPs would have jump out of UMNO and BN. Dato Raimi Unggi confirmed in 2014 (Read report here).

Contrary to the rumour, they are  not likely to join Anwar. That's water under the bridge. Not something worthy pondering and talking over.

Is Anifah's latest statement indicate him leaving UMNO and BN?

It would have caused premature ejaculation among PPBM and Pakatan Harapan. Forget Pakatan Harapan, it is actually Pakatan DAP. DAP has the solid seats and will come out with majority number of seats. PKR, PPBM and especially PAN cannot make any major decision without getting DAP's consent.

Daily Express reported:

No soul left in DAP

Mahathir destroyed DAP and lost its soul

By Tan Sia Chin

I had been a loyal DAP life member and believed in their strugle since my youth day. Back in my university days in University Malaya, our student movement with reformasi days was about removing the corruption and nepotism if Mahathir Mohamad.

I brave thru ceramah with my umbrela during the rain to listen to Anwar Ibrahim speaking out against the government of the day led by Mahathir and his cronies. Tales of how he enrich his sons and Daim is still fresh in my mind.

At the stage with Anwar was Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng telling their tales of ISA brutality and their time in prison during the days of Operasi Lalang. Hearing this make me cried and wonder what kind of ditactorship our country went through under the rule of Mahathir.

Fast track 19 years later, my heart bled seeing the situation today. Enemis coming together sitting under the same roof calling for a change for the country. It is a commendable effort and I was like this is the way to go. Uniting for the common caused.

But looking deeper events after events, my heart goes into despair. The last straw came when Mahathir latest party called out for donation to his party to fund them for election.

Equinimity seizure is still far from anything significant

It is long anticipated that as we near the general election, Tun Dr Mahathir will revive the 1MDB issue. Raja Petra gave his conspiracy theory on how it will happen here.  And another low down from him here.

The serious doubt is on whether Attorney General, Tan Sri Appendi Ali would do such a thing. It would destroy his credibility.

Sacrificing oneself for Mahathir will not be beneficial. As happened many times, Mahathir does not appreciate such sacrifice for him. He used people and throw them away when they are no more useful. Remember how he treated Dato Hamidah Osman and even the late Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat.

We expect Mahathir would reveal documents irrespective of it being (true or fake) as evidence to prove his accusation that Dato Najib is guilty in the 1MDB debacle.

However, none yet.

Then suddenly, the news Indonesian authorities seized on a yatch named Equinimity claimed to be that of Jho Loh.

Mahathir even wrote a special blog posting. Was it the awaited bomb?

TI Malaysia unashamedly defend CPI's lack of objectivety

The message in our past posting here on TI Malaysia's recent rating for a lower Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for Malaysia that investigation only increase perception of corruption.

Thus the way to lower corruption measure is to allow corruption to flourish and cover-up any possibility of being caught.

The CPI is seriously flawed as a measure of corruption. It runs counter to the unprecedented effort to combat corruption by imtensive investigation by MACC.

TI Malaysia's explanation was political. Dato Dr Akhtar highlighted certain corruption cases that could conveniently be linked to the federal government but not mention bigger cases that are linked to opposition-led states and a certain former Prime Minister.

As Deputy President of Parti Cina Malaysia, Datok Huan Cheng Guan highlighted, its the opposition side that is swarmed with bigger corruption cases.

The quantum of forex trading losses of BNM linked to the former PM but may not be entirely from trading is RM31.5 billion.

State of the economy, personal opinion and playing god

The luxury yatch allegedly belonging to Jho Loh and allegedly bought from ill-gotten gain from the IPIC deal was seized off the Indonesian shore by authorities at request of FBI.

Good that there is finally a development.

Indonesian claimed the seizure does not involved Malaysians. It means the Malaysian authority including 1MDB is not pursuing the allegedly stolen asset. From their official position, their money is accounted for and nothing was stolen.

Suddenly, social media revealed that the yatch is owned by a China fashion billionaire, Do Won Chang. So what will happen? Will there be embarassed red-faced officials, whose been covorting with international media, particularly WSJ as DOJ unofficial spokesman, with these allegations on Jho Loh?

Make no bone that since 2015, this blog is still blaming Jho Loh for the 1MDB debacle or whatever wrongdoings will eventually be proven. But we are still grasping to put our finger on what Jho Loh actually did wrong and where is the right place to deal with his wrongdoing?

The point here is about getting the facts, evidence and then come to a truthful conclusive ending. Otherwise, it is sheer wasteful rhetoric.

TI-Malaysia's latest CPI telling MACC not to investigate corruption

Tranparency International Malaysia announced their latest Corruption Perception Index for 2017.

Despite relentless efforts by MACC to uncover and investigate corruption, power abuse and corruption related money laundering activities, their latest report puts Malaysia 7 points lower than the previous year and rank the country at 72 among 180 countries.

Without any misgiving and reservation, TI-Malaysia President Dr Akhtar Satar said the latest finding should serve as a wake-up call to the government and that recent developments including mentioning the old and buried issue of NFC pushed the country’s ranking further away from the targeted of 30. [Read FMT here].

By mentioning NFC in which Rafizi Ramli's recent appeal for prison sentencing was rejected, it proves that TI's perception based corruption index is seriously faulty. The message from TI-Malaysia finding is that perception on corruption worsen when MACC uncover and investigate high profile corruption cases.

Datok Paul Low proves the point [Read FMT here]. TI-Malaysia index implies that the countries better perceived in term of corruption are those that cover-up big corruption cases and anti-graft agency should do nothing.

Money for Candidacy, Campaign Donation and Political Funding

No wind, yet the tree shake.

Two weeks ago, The Mole reported PPBM Information Chief, Dato Kamaruddin Md Nor denied rumours it is selling their candidacy.

The denial can only be expected as it is a preposterous suggestion for any decent political party to sell their candidacy to the highest bidder. It is in contravention to the party struggle, whatever it is and against the principle of representative democrasy.

Nevertheless, politicians are pragmatic people and the pursuit of power is not entirely rationale.

Mahathir: A mere show which regressed the opposition

Good that Tun Dr Mahathir jumped to the other side. This time around BN is not burdened to defend his past failed policies.

It is also good that he is now leading the opposition. They will now have to defend him in which they seemed reluctant. For every defense they put up for Mahathir, there is always there past position and comment to haunt them back.

It is god-sent that his past could now be scrutinised and compared to the present government of Dato Najib. All along the only political point of Mahathir is only 1MDB to justify his hatred and revenge of Najib for not taking his orders.s

Rise in prices is another favourite point of his but he overdone the issue in the manner of 1MDB's RM42 billion lesap to claim Malaysia is moving towards bankruptcy. The price rise happened during any PM's era, the important part is to contain it within the current constraint of government. That Najib did.

Now that Mahathir is on the other side, one can see the opposition is equally but more corrupt than the allegation they made of BN. To add further, their administration is not as they claim to have the best interest of the rakyat. Mahathir's only concern are his, familiy's and cronies'interest over the rakyat. 

With old and out of time Mahathir on their side, they are regressing.

Forex investigation: Police should probe BNM sales of MAS

Upon reading the news report below, we double checked with a high level police officer on the seriousness of police to investigate the BNM forex loss:

BNM forex scandal: 27 people summoned so far
https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2018/02/335529/bnm-forex-scandal-27-people-summoned-so-far#cxrecs_s

The answer was an affirmative: Yes, bro.

As a former currency dealer and in another career in financial market, suffered from BNM forex loss from massive and reckless position-taking, which led to the 1997 financial crisis, we were elated to hear police is getting down to the bottom of it.

It was obvious from the the RCI proceedings that all those called in collaborated to not speak up and intentionally pretend to #taktau. Also, it proves government is serious and not merely pursuing the RCI for political mileage.

From the report, police is also investigating the sales of TNB, Telekom, MISC and MAS shares done discreetly in 1993 and 1994 to absorb the loss and revive the financial status of BNM.

Of all these, MAS is of special interest.

Najib vs Mahathir is not a Coke vs Pepsi comparison

Zikri Kamarulzaman of Malaysiakini wrote: Dr M or Najib for PM, like choosing Coke or Pepsi. It was basically about there is no difference between BN or PH.

Tun Dr Mahathir's reply was ".. not really" but he merely went philosophical without give a substantive reply. Seemed he lost for words to answer.

Dato Salleh Said Keruak criticised the poser itself. He revived an old argument among the opposition  that they should not be BN 2.0 but different and supposedly better. Salleh went on to say their voters and supporters are viewing PH as no better than the criticism they levied on BN. 

Sebastian Loh agreed with Mahathir. It is not really because an honest and logical assessment of Najib and Mahathir will point to Najib as the better choice:

The difference between Najib and Mahathir

by: Sebastian Loh
The Malaysia Impact

It’s tempting to see Najib and Mahathir as a tired choice between Coke and Pepsi.

Lots of decent, thoughtful folk argue there’s no difference between the two men – they’re both irredeemably repulsive. I respectfully disagree. You’ll forgive me for repeating that annoying cliche: It’s an imperfect world, but there is, as they say, a lesser evil.

The key is view Najib’s and Mahathir’s legacies proportionately.

THHE: Old Profesori's conspiracy exposes "client" scam

Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (LUTH) had just announced their annual Hibah and Hibah Haji of 4.75% and 1.75%, respectively. Given the market condition and written off loses for TH Heavy Engineering (THHE), it is considered commendable.

Some yoko and instant financial experts on social media questioned the calculation methodology without understanding the original purpose of the establishment of LUTH. [This was explained well by The Mole here.]

Some old fart Hindu made the preposterous claim that LUTH was operating as the ole Pak Man Telo ponzzi scheme. Not this old fart, though his politically sly writing these days could only indicate he does not understand much.

While, this old Profesori seemed to know much on an alleged scam involving THHE. However, he made a cardinal mistake in his investigative report for not sufficiently knowing the man behind the company before defending the so-called "victim".

It is the same as knowing the background of the Profesori to help predict where he is coming from and where he would take the story to.

Hope he heed LUTH vociferous denial in 2016 to attempts to link the financial performance of THHE to them. It is neither a subsidiary nor a GLC. Get that straight. 

The "victim" could at times be a "predator" himself in the corporate dealmaking. Johoreans has much to tell. And Din Merican should know Yinson and their political link before writing.

He could be shooting his own feet.

In the eye of the Wall Street storm, the air is still calm here

Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday in line with regional recovery to buck the drop on Wall Street on Wednesday.  The Malaysian Reserve reported it touched a 10-year high.

This blog did gave the hint that Bursa been under-performing but to go this high yesterday is a different story all together.

Naturally, there are those follow-the-crowd cautious dealers still holding on to the believe that when Wall Street sneezes, the world catch a cold. It may not be limited to the lower level. The higher executives too have the tendency to fear being proven wrong and is risk averse to express their own gut feel.

It is interesting though to hear there are research houses bold enough to view the global equity sell-off as temporary and no apparent risk to global economic growth. The operative word is apparent but they are not alone.

The Wall Street analysts that made the market correction call few days before last Tuesday's said it would only be only 5%. February is no witching hour like the thin trading condition of the 4th quarter.

However, who would be macho enough to put money where their mouth is? Analysts could only talk cock, but when Wall Street fell by more than 1,000 again last night and Australia caught cold this morning, would dare they put their money where their mouth is?

Expecting a nervous Friday and nervous weekend.

Malay resentment against Najib due to Mahathir's "dedak"?

One could blame the dissatisfaction by segment of the Malays on incitation and fake news propaganda by opposition.

It could happen as a source claimed Tun Dr Mahathir had employed retired Special Branch officers to do covert whispering campaign against the government in Kedah. There is no way to check. How do these SBs look like?

One can only visibly be sure the slight problem Dato Najib is facing with certain segment of Malay voters got nothing to do with Mahathir, but sentiments attributing to rising prices of good.

One could blame it on the poor implementation of GST by Royal Customs, but we are not about to repeat and just say, "I told you so!" It was in the postings on early critics of Pemandu.

However, there have been a change of mind after several personal engagements with Dato Idris Jala. It was his mid-term report on NTP at the new BNM wing that convinced us that it was a bitter pill that had to be swallowed. .

Fake news is one, but which is the segment of Malays and why are they negative on government?

Biggest 1-day Dow drop in history, Oppo to blame Najib

The hope of a Chinese New Year run-up and followed through into a pre-GE rally as corporate confidence for a BN win could be temporarily dashed by a large single day fall on Wall Street.

A call from a stock market investor told us Bursa Malaysia was then down by 55 points.

Can expect the earlier confident forcasters will turn cautious and take a wait and see stance. If market make a downturn, these are the procastinators.

They way we see Bursa has not started its rally. It means this is an oppurunity to shake off weakholders. The rally can begin from the bottom.

In the meanwhile, the bottom fell off Wall Street. CNN report:

Warisan lost it

One would have expected a former Federal Minister and resigned Vice President of UMNO be on top of his game in a political campaign.

Unfortunately, Dato Shafie Apdal fell short of expectation. He lost his hold on matters close to the heart of the people of Sabah for decades.

President Dutarte announced a committee to review their Federal Constitution to include Sabah as the 13th state but no response was forthcoming from Shafie or his fellow party members.

Dato Anifah Aman challenged opposition leaders and even their bloggers to attend an event to debate the Malaysia Agreement 1963 but none turned up.

It is a disappointment of Sabah opposition, particularly the likes of Warisan whose been going about the state repeating a slogan similar an old PBS slogan of "Sabah for Sabahans".

It should be opportunity for them to seize on to show their Sabah political character and state their positions on Sabah sovereignty, and rights under MA 63.