If MB Kedah is to be changed, hopefully it be ...[updated]

Have not commented on the Mukhriz coup and will not.

Only thing we are will say is Dato Mukhriz knew it was coming. If we could see from afar several of his wrong initial moves and remedial actions that need done but was not done, how come his staff, or inner circle or advisers or elders could not see and advise him?

Many are blaming Dato Ahmad Bashah for organising the coup. Well .. before this there were several attempts already. If it is not Bashah, it would have been anyone. The unhappiness have percolate to the ground for quite awhile.   

All the arguments put forward by pro-mukhriz and protun people in conversation and debate on the coup have been purely academic and mere formality.

The reality is he does not have the majority support from UMNO Kedah, BN ADUNs and his own appointed exco members. As far as our sources claimed, he does not have the support of KCS and Istana too.

The situation is untenable for him to lead the state.

Geng Loceng diberi wisel

Did anyone realised that parking attendants shows a greater sense of pride and dedication to their work when provided with uniform that comes with a tie and equipped with whistles than those plainly dressed?

Not only did we realise that, we also realised that providing such attire is most effective at getting the best out of the sons of Kelinga parking attendants.

One can see these Keling parking attendants standing proudly as they take charge to direct moving vehicles and present themselves most authoritatively to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Do take it positively and not be offended. Maybe what the Loceng Geng needs is a whistle to be truly effective in their whistleblowing. Bukanlah dok kelentong dan putarbelit merata macam keling gelecek bola.

Geng Loceng's tactical or panic retreat?

Clang! Clang! Clang!

If the Geng Loceng had call for an emergency retreat to regroup following new revelation from Attorney General that the RM2.6 billion donation was given to Dato Najib by Saudi royal, it would have sounded like that.

The term Geng Loceng was introduced by Rocky Bru to describe a group of anti-Najib bloggers in his posting yesterday.

Wonder why he did not use kompang instead of loceng to describe their modus operandi to create noises of rumours and spins on cyberspace. However, it is not too difficult to guess who are the members.

Not sure if they had a meeting but retreat they did as OutSyed the Box is running for cover as he cowardly restrict his blog to only approved members. Prior to this, he would take off any postings made by the next day. Yesterday, he withdrew a posting within a few hours.

He may seemed panicky but the other members seemed to do a tactical retreat.

"Horror! No sharpener ..."

That was Najib's reaction when we told him we couldn't find a sharpener. In preparation for his visit to our home, we had ready papers, pencils, pencil colours and drawing board for him to sketch, but it was a less than perfect situation for him without a sharpener around.

We are talking about our nephew, Najib and not the Prime Minister. Najib is an autistic child or in politically correct term, a child with autism. The negative term is put after the children instead of before.

Children with autism maybe less than perfect, though not physical handicap, but they have keen eye for perfection. In Najib's case, his natural ability is in the arts. The image of his drawing of a city skyline with its fine details is an example.

Wikipedia described autism as "a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life".

Be firm on latest "bank run" attempt on LUTH

Last Friday, an unnamed black blog appeared to make allegations that Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (LUTH) is unable to make dividend payment due to some financial constraint faced.

No specifics were given till a later posting revealed two letters from Bank Negara Malaysia's Governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz to Minister, Dato Jamil Khir and another to LUTH Chairman, Dato Azeez Raheem with cc to CEO Tan Sri Ismee Ismail.

Judging from the letter produced, it looks to be a usual Bank Negara cautionary letter to LUTH Minister in charge and management. The letter will not be reproduced for fear of breaking BAFIA. Proceed to Outsyed the Box if the postings still not taken off. [The explanatory reply from MyKMU is here].

In what looks like a collaboration to release the sensitive letter in the black blog and subsequently being given publicity and commentary by Dato Abdul Kadir Jasin and Syed Akbar in their blogs, the modus operandi is similar to the blietzkrieg against LUTH on the TRX land many months ago.

"Keling" concern for Batu Caves cable car

On Saturday, the Mrs and her sister made a visit to the neighbourhood pet clinic to attend to one of their ill cats. Her sister started small talk with the Keling Hindu vet, "Will you be praying at Batu Caves on Thaipusam day?"

"I already did yesterday. Doesn't have to be on Thaipusam Day," he said. "I'm worried if anything happen. More so, if all of us go (referring to another Keling vet), who will attend the clinic and the sickly animals coming in and already at the clinic."

Such thoughtful and kind-hearted Keling.

These vets really loved animals. One can see just by the gentle and loving manner they handled the animals. Even problematic animals just melt into their hands. Vet learn and trained to handle all animals.

No easy task to flush illegal immigrants

Almost every other person seemed agreeable to the previous posting against taking in 1.5 million Bangla Deshi immigrant workers and profiteering activities to bring in this workers. This ties together with the pressing need to curb the number of illegals already inside the country.

In 2011, government had embarked on a cleansing program dubbed in Malay as 6 P as part of the process leading to flush out illegal workers.

It represented the 6 process to register (pendaftaran), cleanse (pemutihan), forgive (pengampunan), monitoring (pemantauan), enforcement (penguatkuasaan) and eviction (pengusiran). [See Information Department website here.]

More than 500,000 were successfully registered and it was found that about some 350,000 workers will end their contract in 2014 and 2015. Home Affairs Ministry realised that employers still unable to change business process to lesser labour dependence.

Remember what we wrote of employers lazy to transform their businesses?

Is it Constitutional or "Koliang" problem?

Sorry for the use of Minangkabau accent. "Koliang" is Minangkabau for the Malay word "Keling".

Calling anyone Keling should not be perceived as derogatory or racist. It is the Malay word to describe Indian. It is usually referred to Tamil, due to their larger presence in Malaya, but it could be expanded to other races from the Indian sub-continent.

The word Keling may have been derived from the Tamil word "Kalinga." It was an early Indian empire, so nothing derogatory but something historical to be proud of there.

Sometime last month, this blog highlighted that Mamak may not be constitutionally Malays. Since some Mamak are not culturally and constitutionally Malay, the Mamak and Islam converted Keling should not involve in UMNO politics.

Bigdog followed up with something positive as he cited an NST report of Prof Shamsul Amri's paper at a conference. The kedai mamak was complimented for helping "cultivate the nature of bringing multi-ethnic Malaysians together.”

FMT published an article by one Fa Abdul entitled, "Yes, I am Keling. So what?" It expressed a sense of confidence in their identity as Keling or Mamak. More the reason to butt out from "subsidy-seeking" UMNO.

Confident they may but unfortunately the Keling and Mamak does not seemed to be able to amicably resolve family issue without quarreling. There is another conversion of children to Islam in the public sphere.

Again, why the need to change the country's Constitution to resolve family issue?

Was told royal not the "jerung" this time

From the days of Tengku Wong exploit of timber in Pahang in the 1980s, we have been prejudicial of the Pahang royalties in the exploitation of natural resource to Chinese taukeh who shows no concern for the environment and public life and health. [read RPK here]

When it was heard a member of the Pahang royal member was involved in the mishap in Cameron Highland that was as a result of environmental neglect, it came as a no surprise to us and in fact, we expect it to be so.

The rumour was Tengku Asmawi was involved. There have been no denial on this widespread rumour. And there have been neither any result of investigation made known nor any action thus far. So figure out yourself.

We were passing through Kuantan several months ago, when the red dust in the air, on the roadside and surrounding oil palm plantation were beginning to be noticeable, it dawn on us as to why no action was taken despite the visible pollution.

It is a far cry from the condition today but the immediate prejudicial assumption made then was the possible involvement of the palace or royal family. 

Malaysia does not need 1.5 million Bangla

Compared to other immigrant workers, the Bangla Deshi has not been as problematic as compared to other immigrant workers. The current wave of Bangla Deshi worker is not as problematic as the first wave.

They are quick to pick the Malay language and within months are able to speak. Sometimes it is to the embarassment of certain races whose been citizen for few generations.

However, the plan to bring in 1.5 million into Malaysia is unnecessary. Even though it has yet to be decided on and some explanation given is that it is not 1.5 million one go but replacement of existing immigrant workers.

Till it is explained clearer, the idea of bringing in mass number of immigrant workers is not in-sync with the economic plan for high income economy.

There exist a Ministry "Gula & Tepong"

Do not be surprise if we are to tell you that there exist a Ministry that is empowered only to regulate and control the price of sugar and flour.

In the midst of rising prices for local food, transportation, and other daily need in the economic environment of a global downturn, you will be disappointed to know that the Ministry everyone expect to regulate prices in the market is only empowered to regulate and control the prices of sugar and flour only!

This is not to say that the Ministry KPDNKK is not carrying out their duty to address profiteering as per the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (PCAP) Act 2011. The pressure from media and consumers generally complaining and blaming them for not strict in their enforcement did not allow them to be in a state of slumber.

Managing the growing economic pessimism

Anyone heard of a market saying: Bullish at the top, Bearish at bottom? That is the typical herd mentality market psychology that happens all the time.

Everyone is worried about the economy these days.

Houses can't sell, business already bad, and hot weather making fish at market expensive to add to the perennial problem of rising prices.

There is graduate unemployment. If that is not bad enough, Harian Metro made a sensational but ridiculous story of University students having no money to buy food.

Yes we concur with Khairy.

Political in-denial of UK's national debt problem

In a speech in Cardiff last Thursday, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborn expressed concern that the recent heightened tension in the Middle East, sluggish growth in emerging markets, low oil prices and volatility in China could drag back the British economy

In addition, he expressed concern with the possible recurring of a long term phenomenon of the 1930s described by economist as secular stagflation [speech in full here in IBT]. His main concern will be the austerity drive he dubbed as long term economic plan will not be sufficient to turn the economy around.

A column in The Guardian the next day [read here] criticised his plan as merely political and is not addressing the real national issue of debt. He didn't raise these threats in last year's autumn statement.

It is almost similar to some critics to the plan to adjust the Malaysian 2016 budget.

Not only Malaysia, Saudi too is reviewing financials

Too much cheap politics going around these days. The latest being accusations made on the budget adjustment for 2016 to imply bad economic management on the part of government.

During the 1999-2000 financial and political crisis, Tun Dr Mahathir administration too re-look at the budget. Anwar introduced severe austerity measures that affected business and economy. Subsequently, Mahathir had to "intervene" and the rest is history.

Anyway, that is water under the bridge. The point is that it is not only prudent but an honest government to readjust the budget in view of changing economic variables and should it be necessary, bite the bullet.

Proof showed Clare had direct dealing with Anwar

The link between Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim and George Soros is known from the expose on Soros funding of Malaysiakini, Bersih, media NGO, etc. Ex-PKR, now Dato Lokman Noor Adam and Dato Ezam Md Nor exposed his funding of Parti Keadilan Nasional and  movement to free Anwar.    

So when Soros name was traced as behind the NGO funding for early days Sarawak Report, it was presumed that Clare Rewcastle has links to Anwar. SR target then was Pehin Seri Taib Mahmud and the attack indirectly served PKR's objective to make in-road into Sarawak.

In fact in August, MyNation revealed the close link between Clare Brown's brother-in-law, former British PM, Gordon Brown with Soros and Anwar.

Never was it known that Clare had direct dealing with Anwar on matters of SR. The blog Open Source Investigation (OSI) revealed proofs of their dealing.

Presumed "Guilty"

In the movie, Presumed Innocent, Deputy Prosecutor, "Rusty" Sabich (played by Harrison Ford) was chosen to lead the investigation into the rape and murder of a female colleague, Carolyn Polhemus (played by Greta Scacchi).

As Rusty digs deeply into the case, he found Carolyn and the newly elected District Attorney, Nico Della Guardia were linked involved to a bribe to throw out a case. There is politics involved as Nico avoid from being the shortest serving District Attorney.

The legal drama could be titled as Presumed "Guilty" because Rusty had an affair with Carolyn and this led Nico to frame him for the murder. It ends with a court room cliff hanging escape for Rusty. [Watch it online here].

In the real life legal drama, Malaysian version of Harrison Ford, Attorney General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali is being presumed guilty by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir. There is also political motivation but a different Nico character.

The scenes are still unfolding but still not the end yet.

Facing up to rising prices

It is the first day at school. The usual crowd and commotion can only be expected as parents gather at schools to accompany the first time schoolers and settle any payment due.

Over the past few days, shopping complexes was packed with parents getting new school uniforms, shoes, stationaries and various schooling paraphenalia for their children. Grumbling can be heard of the rising cost. Parents with many children can be heard moaning of the accumulated bill this year.

"Some item still not bought but RM2,000 already spent," lamented a parent is with 5 schooling kids yesterday. He insisted last year's uniform can still be worn.

Rising cost is a real concern and pressure on public daily life.

Malaysian politics to do a "Dallas" in 2016

2015 came and ended quickly.

It felt only recently that Arul Kanda joined 1MDB as CEO when in fact, it is almost a year since he joined in mid January 2015.

The planned rationalisation of 1MDB's debt he was assigned is already in the works. Announced are IPIC's debt for asset swap, sales of Edra, and announced at the buzzer yesterday the 60% sales of Bandar Malaysia to a consortium led by IWH Berhad and partner China Engineering for RM12.35 billion.

That almost cleared the RM42 billion debt in the 2014 accounts. with some asset to go by and work completed. The year has truly ended. To use the latin term used by Queen Elizabeth, it has been an annus horribilis for 2015. A difficult political decision had to be made.

For 2016, The Mole had written this blogger's comment here. Mentioned is "public losing interest in the 1MDB issue, which had troubled the prime minister throughout this year". Not mention is the belief that politics in Malaysia could turn into a Dallas.

Not "Debbie does Dallas" type but the primetime soap opera, Dallas of the late 70s.

Happy New Year 2016