He likes to shoot his mouth off ....

Once in a while, for no rhyme or reason, Lee Kuan Yew shoots his mouth off when it comes to dealing with Malaysia and the Malays. Not so long ago, for no apparent reason, he stated that the Chinese people in Malaysia were marginalised by the Malaysian government, to wit, the Malay government. What he meant was that the Chinese people here were treated as though they were second class citizens, that they had no chance to make it big, and that, of course, they were not as successful as the Chinese people in Singapore, that they had less opportunities than the Malays. He made the "marginalised" statements when speaking to foreign jounalists or in a forum of foreign people sometime ago.

Prior to making such statements that angered Malaysians, he was never provoked by Malaysians. But Lee Kuan Yew, being what he is when speaking to foreigners in the West, tend to belittle Malaysia, always comparing how wealthy is Singapore compared to Malaysia, how good his government is compared to the others. Remember, his book From Third to First i.e. how he moulded Singapore from the status of a third world developing country to a first world developed country.

Now he is saying that that the way he handles the problems of the multi-racial diversity in Singapore is far superior to how Malaysia handles the situation. After 53 years of independence, he states that Malaysia is still struggling with racial problems while Singapore has more or less eradicated them. The way Lee Kuan Yew handles racial or political dissensions is simple. He simply jailed all the dissidents. While Malaysia also does the same through the application of the ISA, Lee Kuan Yew takes it a little bit further by not giving dissenters, actual or potential, never a chance to fight back.

Lee Kuan Yew claims that the Malays in Singapore are better off than the Malays in Malaysia. Look at the Singaporean Malays average income he says and compare that of the Malaysian Malays' average income. He is right if you compare a Malay driver (he's usually referred to as Ahmad) in Singapore with a salary of S$ 1,000/= and a Malay driver in Malaysia with a salary of RM 1,000/=. Lee Kuan Yew would brag that , look, the driver gets RM 2,350/= when his counterpart in Malaysia gets a paltry RM 1,000/=. Hence, the Malay here is 2.35 times better off than the Malay in Malaysia. So Lee Kuan Yew tells the world that he manages his country better than a Malaysian leader does his country.

Whenever I visit Singapore, I am usually on the lookout for Malays that seem to be prosperous. Those Malays that are seen driving cars are invariably cars with Malaysian plates. Never do I see Malays that look like executives. The well dressed local Malays in Singapore working in the shopping complexes are all merely salesmen in the electronic shops. Malays that drive big cars are all drivers (Ahmads) usually waiting for their Chinese bosses to finish their lunches in restaurants or in the big hotels. Never have I seen a real Singapore Malay driving say a Volvo, never mind a Mercedez or a BMW, and shopping in Singapore. Most of the Malays there are either working as security guards, hotel staffs or parking attendants. Sure they get more than their counterparts in Malaysia. The exchange rate will make sure of that.

Now the last time I was in Singapore was some 3 or 4 years ago. That was the time when I took the family to the Singapore Zoo, Sentosa Island, and a few other places, just before Singapore started constructing the casinos. We went there by the Airliner bus.

Sometime ago, in fact well before the F1 track in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew became worried that Singapore was not getting as many tourists as she had before. In fact, a lot of tourists went to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Singapore prospers because of tourism. She had nothing to offer except duty-free goods. Lee Kuan Yew knows that tourist dollars are easier to get than dollars of profits from selling goods because there's no cost in tourism except the cost of promoting it. To get dollars from goods means she has to make the goods and this involves cost.

And therefore, back to tourism. The more tourists visiting Singapore, the more foreign exchange Singapore stands to make. There's nothing wrong with this policy. The Thais have been doing it for years promoting sex disguised as tourism activities and attracting tourists not only from the region but especially from the West. [Come to think of it Thailand is one big brothel with the women as prostitutes and the men as pimps. Ever experience being solicited by men at the airport or in a taxi or in a hotel when one is asked whether one needs a lady ?] Thailand made loads and loads of money from tourism. With this in mind, Lee Kuan Yew finally agreed to have casinos in Singapore and the influx of tourists since the opening of the 2 casinos proves that he is right in bringing back the tourists in droves to Singapore especially those from newly prosperous Chinese from China.

Of course, he doesn't expect tourists from the West to visit Singapore for the casinos because, for one thing, the West has casinos in abundance especially in America and for another, western tourist are mostly stingy. [When one visits Singapore one doesn't see western tourists carrying shopping bags. Only the regional tourists buy goods in Singapore]. Nor does Lee Kuan Yew wants to follow Thailand's style. He tried to promote sex in style by having the Crazy Horse Saloon type of nightlife but it failed miserably. I hear Crazy Horse has since closed down. The local and regional tourists are simply not attracted to this type of nightlife, preferring to the sleazy kinds that they get in Bangkok or in Manila or even Jakarta.

All the while Lee Kuan Yew never likes Malaysia to be better than Singapore. He is the ultimate kiasu. If Malaysia has an F1 track, he also must have one. If Malaysia has a casino, Singapore also must have one or even 2.

But one thing that Lee Kuan Yew has so far never been able to beat Malaysia is getting tourists from the middle east. He has tried to attract them by promoting that Singapore has the best health care facilities in the region. Middle-east tourist or rather simply Arab tourists usually visit Malaysia in families, staying for days or even weeks, and spending money like nobody's business. Large number of Arab tourists usually come to Malaysia within the month of June and September. They like it here even if to experience greenery and the jungle. Above all, Malaysian foods are acceptable to them. Why they don't visit Singapore is because they just simply cannot find halal foods. Every type of food from the stall kinds to the ones found in 5- star hotels is somehow contaminated with pork and pork products. Lee Kuan Yew, in spite of being surrounded by Muslims, is just too proud to have halal foods. It's good for Malaysia that he maintains this attitude as far as Arab tourists are concerned. And for another, Lee Kuan Yew is well known for his very pro-Israeli stance. And you know, how the Arabs feel about Israel.

In a year or two, Lee Kuan Yew will once again open his big mouth to western media how he derogatively feels about Malaysia when we Malaysians don't even speak bad about Singapore or Singaporeans. And just another thing. We never said Singapore is one dot on the world map. It was Indonesian Habibie who created the phrase when somehow he got chagrined with Singapore's attitude.

Though what follows sounds as though I am pro BN which I am not, I would like now to remind the present Malaysian government on Penang. Today's news describes how Karpal Singh (a DAP stalwart) boasts that he is determined for PKR (or DAP) to win all the 40 seats in Penang whose state assembly now comprises 29 PKR (or DAP) and 11 UMNO. Karpal knows that Gerakan supporters are now turning to DAP while what little Malay population there is of no help to UMNO or BN even if all of them vote for BN or UMNO. Remember that not a little while ago, Lee Kuan Yew visited Penang when Lim Guan Eng became the DAP chief minister. What the two discussed in secret, we will never know. But I venture a guess that Lee Kuan Yew will offer Singapore's help (or rather PAP's help) to ensure that Penang was forever in control of DAP. For what is DAP after all but a Malaysian PAP. Najib, the Malaysian PM, must be cognizant of this vital fact.

Will Sosilawati's family get justice ...

When the disappearance of Sosilawati burst upon me from the local Malay paper Utusan Malaysia just a few days into September, I was astonished that such a thing would happen during the month of Ramadan. Story has it that Sosilawati has made it good in the world of cosmetics, becoming rich in the process and that, together with her driver, a banker, and a lawyer, she was on her way to Banting to conduct a land deal. She was apparently carrying a large sum of money.

When her family discovered that after a few days she didn't turn up at home, they made a police report of her apparent disappearance. She had disappeared since 30th August. Utusan Malaysia had reported that her car was found in Subang Jaya and that her lawyer's car was found near the Subang Jaya Dorsett hotel. Both cars were BMWs. I had suspected that she and the three others had been kidnapped and kept in communicado by the perpetrators and that the reason for her kidnap must have something to do with business. Perhaps, she was owing people a lot of money and that she was not willing to pay her debts. Or, perhaps during the course of her business, she had double-crossed her partners and that her partners were exacting revenge on her. The fact that the other three were kidnapped were because they were witnesses.

On the second day of Hari Raya, Utusan Malaysia reported that Sosilawati and her three associates had been brutally killed. They were in fact killed and burnt and that their ashes had been scattered in the Banting river. I suspected then that the killers must have been Indians for who would have killed them brutally and burnt their bodies in the manner that they did. True enough, today (13th September) the local media were carrying news of Indian lawyers and a few others were responsible for the the murder of Sosilawati. Only their bones were found and, according to the 4 people that carried out the despicable deed, their ashes were scatted in the river.

In all, 8 people were apprehended including a couple of lawyer brothers. The case of the missing millionaire has apparently been solved. Congratulations to the Police for solving from the 2nd of September to the 12th of September. It took the Police just a matter of 10 days to resolve a very high profile case.

Now, what would happen next. The suspects have been apprehended, four of whom have confessed to murder and burn the bodies, and it is a clear-cut murder case perpetrated by an Indian lawyer in Banting who was somehow involved in a similar murder of 4 people some years ago but was never apprehended.

My take is that, Malaysia being what it is, the murderers would get away with it when the case becomes political. Samivellu and all the Malaysian Indians would come to their defense and somehow create doubts that the murderers were not there when Sosilawati and her associates were murdered and burnt. A coterie of Indian lawyers would endlessly use their arguments to influence the judge. I would not be surprised that a high court judge would one day say that there was no prima facie case and that the eight murderers would get away scot-free. Such had been the judgment in the past high profile cases in Malaysia, be they murder cases or drug-related cases. Remember, the killers of Badrul Hisham who got away with murder, and so were the killers of the boy from China. Remember the case of a bunch of Indians who killed a bunch of Malays whom they caught for stealing cows and selling them. The Indian killers killed them and burnt them in a car. Apparently the killers got away with light punishment. As for drug cases, a precious number of the cases were dismissed for lack of evidence, even though the criminals were carrying kilos of drugs, and as usual there had been no prima facie cases. These are some of the cases that somehow justice was not served properly.

Sosilawati's and her associates' families must watch closely the court proceedings to ensure that justice is served. Else, Sosilawati simply died like a squashed frog.

Update 13/09/2010 2.30 pm: Based on some blogs on the internet, I found out that the main suspect's name is Datuk Patmanaban, aged 41, of law firm, Pathmanalli and Partners, Banting. He owns a small plot of farm land and that 4 of his workers have confessed to the killing of Sosilawati and the 3 others, burning the bodies and scatterring the ashes in the river. He has apparently committed a similar crime a year ago but was never caught. We never know who the people murdered by this same man. After getting away with the past crime, Pathmanaban thought he could get away again. All the people involved are Indians.

Update 14/09/2010 12.20 pm: It is now becoming clearer as to the motive for the murder of Sosilawati and her associates. The reasons reported in the Utusan Malaysia seemed credible to me. [My take is that, apparently, Sosilawati had planned to purchase land perhaps somewhere in Penang. Having been successful in the cosmetics business and had become rich, she planned to speculate on a piece of land, buying it for a low price and then selling it at a much higher price, making a killing in the process. The man who brokered the deal was the lawyer Pathmanaban. She must have been taken in by the lawyer who could have told her that there was this land in Penang that cost some RM 20 million which could easily be sold for RM 200 million. Greed is a powerful motivator. She could have deposited some money, perhaps even a few million Ringgit, with the lawyer who actually had no intention to broker the deal but to keep the money for himself. Realising that the deal didn't go through, perhaps even thinking that it was nothing but a scam perpetrated by Pathmanaban, she of course demanded that the deposit be returned to her. I am sure a lot of phone calls must have been made between Sosilawati and Pathmanaban prior to 30th August 2010. Pathmanaban had absolutely no intention of returning the money which was nicely tucked in his account and wished to resolve the issue by simply doing away with Sosilawati. He therefore made arrangement to get rid of Sosilawati in the same way that he did to an Indian woman and a few others by killing them and getting rid of the bodies. That's why he must have said that he would return the money and invited Sosilawati to come to Banting. Thinking that Sosilawati would come alone or at least with her driver, Pathmanaban was surprised that Sosilawati brought along her lawyer and her banker to Banting. Not that it was a big problem for Pathmanaban, only that he had to use more people. The modus operandi would be the same. Somehow Pathmanaban managed to convince all his four eventual victims to his 1.6 hectare farm land in Tanjung Sepat. Here was perhaps where he and his cronies murdered the four innocent victims, burnt their bodies like in a funeral pyre and scattered their ashes in a nearby river. It was nothing to Pathmanaban and his cronies since they had done this before. While before, the victims were individually killed and their disappearance didn't attract much publicity, this time four people had disappearred at the same time and attracted much media attention, especially since Sosilawati had made it big in the cosmetics business. Credit must be given to the Police for working on a lead given by family members of Sosilawati who had named the person whom she was to meet in Banting, and solving the high profile case within the short period of 10 days. Again, congratulations to the Police. One thing, however, is still not clear to me. How did Sosilawati and her associates go to Banting ? Her BMW X5 had been found in USJ1, while her lawyer's BMW car was parked in front of the Subang Jaya's Dorsett Hotel in SS 12/1 and her banker's car was found in Shah Alam. Who drove them down to Banting ? ]

Update 15/09/2010 17:00 hrs: The mystery of how Sosilawati and associates got to Banting could be unravelled when one of the 8 suspects showed to the Police where he had thrown Sosilawati's car keys in some bushes near an apartment in USJ1. So, Sosilawati and the three others could have gone in their own cars separately to Banting where they met Pathmanaban. After murdering them, Pathmanaban must have instructed his men to drive the 3 cars and park them anywhere in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam. If I am not mistaken, the first 2 cars were located on the 6th of September. Pathmanaban had at least 7-8 days to dispose of the cars.

Update 16/09/2010 15:35 hrs: One newspaper today even suggested that the 2 lawyer brothers were behind some 17 other unsolved murders. There were also a few police reports made against them for frauds in land dealings but no positive action were made against them. If these stories were true, then Pathmanaban would go down in Malaysian history as the biggest mass murderer of all time. The sad thing is that Pathmanaban has a record of unscrupulous conducts but seemed to get away without any problem. They were said to be worth RM 200 million, with assets in India, Hong Kong, Philipines and of course in Malaysia. I hope the Police freeze all the accounts of this man who runs his business like a Mafia godfather.

Showing a picture of a typical seafood restaurant built on stilts, one newspaper reported that the 4 victims were seen at the restaurant with another person who was not even identified as an Indian or a Malay or a Chinese. All 5 were in the restaurant and after 30 minutes, they all left in 2 cars. Meanwhile, Malaysian Police are still looking for clues.

I will never know the full story until of course when the murderers are prosecuted in the high court.