Finally ......

Today, we found out in The Star that, after all this time, it was Ahmad Fairuz, former Chief Justice of Malaysia who was the person spoken to on the phone with prominent lawyer V.K. Lingam. Now after all this time since the video tape first surfaced in 2007 it took no less than a year or so, and umpteen dollars for the person to be identified. The government of Malaysia has financed two commission of inquiries to determine whether the tape is genuine and to identify the person spoken to by V.K. Lingam. 

The first commission comprising Lee Lam Thye and two others was a waste time and money since nothing came out of it after inquiring or investigating for 2 to 3 months. The government then came out with a Royal Commission of Inquiry comprising a few retired judges which finally produced a report about now, after more time and money had expended.

What I cannot simply understand is why this fellow Ahmad Fairuz did not admit, in the first place, that he was the one spoken to by V.K. Lingam. And why not this Lingam say that it was to Ahmad Fairuz that he was speaking ? Mind you Ahmad Fairuz was a Chief Justice then, and truth, honesty, integrity, justice are what are expected of him in any circumstances. So was V.K. Lingam who was a prominent lawyer whose very livelihood depends on truth, justice and integrity, honesty. Yet these two individuals didn't have the decency to own up. If they had done so, then the taxpayers need not have spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ringgit just to know the truth.

If these 2 members of the Bench an the Bar are typical of the characteristics of people in the profession, then I shudder to think what kind of justice awaits us if we are hauled up in court.

What kind of people are running Myanmar ...

22,000 people have died while 44,000 are listed as missing. Some embassies say that more than 100,000 have died and millions are homeless. Yet, the Myanmar government are taking it easy in helping their  own people. The government are raising all sorts of obstacles to prevent food and medicines, desperately needed by their people, to arrive as quickly as practically possible. 

Are those in the government, especially those bedecked in beautiful uniforms and military medals, afraid of help from western countries ? By accepting help say from the USA, are these people afraid that American agents might try to politically influence the Myanmar people. Those countries, even the USA, are only interested in helping humanity, those poor, starving and injured Myanmarese who unfortunately were victims of typhoon Nargis. Do the military junta that rule Myanmar think that their country have secret military installations that have to be kept away from the prying eyes of their neighbours ?

What's so important about Myanmar that the government fear that the country is valuable. The country has got nothing but rice, opium plantations, unexploited minerals, and poor and starving peasants. I would not visit the country even on a free trip. Who wants to stay in a rotten hotel, walk on muddy streets, eat in restaurants serving unhygienic foods, and communicate with dirty Myanmarese. 

The Military Government of Myanmar wants to look good in their people's eye. They don't like to see foreign aid being distributed by foreigners; they want to be seen that they are the ones that distribute the foods, not the Thais, the Red Cross, or the Americans. That's why they are not inclined to grant visas to the foreigners. They don't care if their 1.5 million people starve while waiting for aid as long as aid seem to come from the Military. The Military are a heartless bunch of unthinking individuals I have ever read about. Are there any young Military generals in the Myanmar Army who are brave enough to kick out the elderly Military generals who obviously are the stubborn group that try to slow down aid coming from other nations ?

Don't trust the unit trusts ...

I may have misunderstood this snippet I read from the Malay Mail today about Canadians hoarding cash. The snippet says that Canadians are sitting on USD 34 billion in cash instead of investing their money on the stock markets say. I presume that these Canadians are putting their money in fixed deposits where risks are negligible. To me, what they are doing is wise for, why should they listen to those investment groups like the CIBC World Markets who say that these Canadians are losing opportunities to make billions by hoarding their money.

I am sure these hoarders are not simply hoarding their cash under the pillows or in piggy banks. The fixed deposits, though yielding low returns, are their best investment instruments, rather than investing in, say, unit trusts or the stock markets which the CIBC seems to suggest that they ought to do.

Looks like a big improvement ...

Malaysian Central Bank just announced that its IFR for 30th April 2008 has reached RM 396.7 (USD 124.1) billion. Its best showing after sometime was on 15th Feb. 2008 when the IFR stood at RM 366 (USD 110) billion. The current reserve is able to sustain 9.7 months of Malaysia's imports and 7.8 times its short-term external debts.

Mind you, Singapore's IFR is considerably higher than Malaysia's but to what extent it is higher, I don't know. With the unprecendented high price of oil, USD 123.80 per barrel today, I like to see Malaysia' IFR catching up fast to Singapore's. By the way, Singapore's IFR as at end of April 2008 is USD 176 billion.

If the strength of the Malaysian Ringgit has anything to do with BNM's IFR, among other things, then it makes perfect sense for  BNM to improve its reserve as quickly as possible. Look at China and Japan, their reserves are in the trillions of USD and their currencies are strengthening almost every day.

Malaysia is no place for Karpal ..

After making a monkey of himself in Parliament the other day, Karpal Singh is now making rude remarks on both the Sultan of Perak and the King of Malaysia. By making the remarks in Parliament, Karpal thinks that he's untouchable, since when has anybody been indicted for making statements in a House where laws are enacted. He's mistaken in the fact that the King is above Parliament and hence above the law. The King can, with impunity, take out his pistol and shoot to kill Karpal even in the House of Parliament in front of the MPs and the public, and there's no law in the country to indict him for murder.

Of course, the King will not do that; but he can get people to do that for him in the name of the King. And what can Karpal's family and DAP do !

For years, Karpal Singh has been in and out of prison under various provisos of the Internal Security Act. He tends to insult the Malays especially by emphasizing that he and many non- Malays have as much right to be citizens of the country as the Malays. He forgot that he's a Singh, that he is from Punjab, India, that he became a citizen on the generosity of the Malay people. If the Malays can help him in getting his Malaysian citizenship, then the Malays can help him in removing his citizenship.

People like him like to live in Australia, New Zealand or Canada where true democracies are practised. To him, Malaysia is a feudal country with archaic feudal laws. People like him prefer to socialise with the anglo-saxon types where he's welcome in their clubs because he thinks that he'll be treated equally while in Malaysia there's no such thing. When the anglo-saxon types commit crimes in this country, he's the first to defend them in the name of justice.

I urge the Malaysian government to get rid of this despicable man whose existence is to insult the country in which he earns his livelihood. Don't compromise with whatever he comes out with in his defense of his rights to be in this country. He has shown many a time of his dislike for the natives, for their customs and religion, institutions and traditions and Royalty. We should just boot him out of the country. Let him go and live in Australia where he thinks he will be treated like a Mat Salleh.

Remember sometime ago, an uncouth European smeared pictures of the Thai King. What the Thais did was to incarcerate the perpetrator in jail. We Malaysians should take similar action against this Karpal Singh. People like him have insulted the Malay institution many times before without any action being taken by our government. Its time that the Malay people act upon such transgression.

Serve the Danes right ...

I read somewhere ( Israel International News ) that a Danish food company, Danish Aria Foods Company, has sufferred losses of about USD 372 million caused by a Muslim boycott of Danish products, following the blasphemous cartoons of prophet Muhammad originally published in the Danish media in 2006, and republished in 2008.

A Danish Foreign Minister goes on to say that if the Danish media continues to publish for a third time, the food company would face serious financial difficulties. Good !

I urge all Muslims to boycott all products from Denmark and that Muslim countries should not do business with this porno producing Danes. Let their economy suffer.

Danish Aria Food Company is the biggest exporter of food products to Saudi Arabia. No wonder the company is feeling the pinch. Other products that I know which are from Denmark and sold in Malaysia  are the Danish Butter Cookies that are sold in short cylindrical cans, Tuborg/Carlberg beers, Lego toys. I will make it a point to tell my friends to stop buying or consuming these items.

No hope for a black man ...

As I said before, Barack Obama was not going to be the Democrat's presidential candidate. He has faltered in Texas, and in Pennsylvania and only made a slight gain in Guam. By contrast, Hillary has made strong rallies in spite of still trailing behind Obama. While most Blacks and Asians are behind Barack Obama, the Hispanics seem to be more pro Hillary. There's no way for Barack Obama to win against Hillary Clinton. The bigots that are white Americans will make sure that no black is going to be president. They would rather go for a white Hillary Clinton. 

Even if Barack Obama somehow manages to win the nomination over Hillary Clinton, the bigots in America will vote for old man McCain to be president. The KKK streak runs deep in the whites of America.  

On another note, I am forecasting that Chelsea will win the EPL Championship in 2008. Manchester United are the favourites of most Malaysians for a long time since the days of Sir Matt Busby while its only recently that Chelsea have dominated English football by the backing of Russian billionaire, Abrahamovic. Both teams are level on points. Both teams have only one game each to play. If both teams respectively draw or win their games, then the EPL Championship goes Man U because of superior goal difference.

I am forecasting that Chelsea will win while Man U will draw making Chelsea the winner. 

Cheers to Chelsea ! !