“Who Wants to Be a BILLIONAIRE?!?!?” – Ghostline Edition

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan,

Welcome to this week’s edition of ‘Who Wants to be a BILLIONAIRE?!?!?!”, with our guest contestant Tan Sri Datuk UMNO bin Barisan.

Welcome back to the show, Tan Sri Datuk. Listen carefully. This week’s billion-ringgit question is:

“In Malaysia; when your house is on fire, what is the CORRECT thing to do? Do you…”

A. risk your life to rescue the banknotes you hid under your mattress;
B. set fire to your neighbour’s house;
C. shoot the person who tried to wake up the kampung by shouting “Api! Api!”; OR
D. all of the above.

This is a very special question, Tan Sri. ALL the answers are correct. But only ONE answer is correct correct correct!

For ONE… BILLION… RINGGIT… What is your answer?

Excerpt from the Malaysian Insider, full article is at:

http://themalaysianinsider.com/mni/media-on-the-mat-for-leaking-out-report.html

Media on the mat for leaking out reportKUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — The fallout from the Royal Commission report on the V.K. Lingam video scandal has claimed its first victim – the press.

Police reports were today lodged against the Berita Harian, New Straits Times and The Star by the Prime Minister’s Department for breaching the Official Secrets Act and publishing excerpts of the report before the Cabinet ruled that it could be made public.

The Malaysian Insider has learnt that commission members, ministers and Umno politicians have been upset with several newspapers for breaking the embargo on the explosive report which confirmed what Malaysians long suspected – that the appointment of judges during the Mahathir era was manipulated by individuals close to the then prime minister.

…

(with apologies to Comedy Court)

Merry Kerismas! Samy Gets a Big Cheer

Below: the Seminator ain’t gettin’ the love this Christmas but he did get his own reality TV show on live ASTRO broadcast at the Aatam 100 Vagai talent show in Penang on Sunday night (23 Dec). A salute to the audience who finally decided they’d had enough, and told Samy to vamoose in no uncertain (and I hear, some unprintable) terms.

So much for continuing to fool the people regarding the real status of MIC. I’m guessing it’s no presents for Minister for Misinformation Lord Zam Zam Alakazam bin Maidin either, because this is one he didn’t see coming and it was live.

1 down, 196 more BN MP’s to go.

Police to Block Solidarity Vigil for ISA Detainees, Again

Malaysiakini reports that the police are cordoning off Dataran Merdeka and have issued warnings to prevent citizens from attending the above silent, peaceful candlelight vigil for the 5 HINDRAF leaders now under ISA detention. The vigil is scheduled for tonight, at 8 pm.

The UMNO-BN government’s response was to be expected, of course.
Well, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, this is what I have to say. Make sure you pass the message to your attack dog Musa Hassan and your lapdog Johari Baharom.

It is our fundamental and inalienable RIGHT as free citizens to peaceably assemble and to voice our concerns without interference from the state. We as citizens have never relinquished the right to public assembly; instead, the state has illegally misappropriated our right by ‘giving’ the police the power to ‘approve’ public assembly.

Listen well, Abdullah.

I do not recognise the authority of the police or the state in this respect. And neither do an increasing number of citizens in Malaysia.

In every single one of the previous civil protests, the violence was instigated and initiated by the police, not the citizens who participated in the protest. In fact, I am glad to see how disciplined the civil protestors have been, whether they be from HINDRAF, BERSIH, the Bar Council or otherwise. It is the PDRM that has proven to be lacking in discipline and professionalism, shirking their professional code to act as the thugs and enforcers of your shoddy regime.

And now you send your attack dogs in uniform to once again bar the people from peacefully assembling in solidarity with the HINDRAF leaders you unjustly detained under the ISA, an obsolete and draconian law that should have been expunged from the Constitution decades ago.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I have no respect whatsoever left for you. To address you by your birth name is a courtesy I do not intend to maintain much longer.

You are a failed leader of a failed government, trying desperately to protect a festering mess of failed policies.

I no longer recognise you as the Prime Minister of Malaysia. You are not fit hold the post. Nor do I recognise your Cabinet of fools, imbeciles and bigots.

You forget, Abdullah, that *I* am your boss. I am one of the rakyat, and the rakyat are very angry.

(click for larger version)

[ some components of the poster above were sourced from The People’s Parliament. ]

NEW! Naval-Grade Scandal-Whitening Toothpaste from PAC

[ Another Dodgy(TM) PACkaged* product, proudly brought to you by Ghostline Industries Tidak Berhad ]

(*thanks to reader ‘Xylogue’ for the term)

Fresh from whitewashing the RM4.6 bil Port Klang Free Zone scandal (previous post HERE), the energetic Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has moved on to its next job: removing the stubborn stains left by the RM 6.75 bil Navy OPV (offshore patrol boat) procurement scandal.

Again, after making a good show of ‘investigating’, PAC Chair Shahrir ‘Peroxide’ Abdul Samad has announced that a number of crucial financial records pertaining to the procurement of several offshore patrol vessels (OPV’s) for the Royal Malaysian Navy are not available because the records ‘have been destroyed’. No files = no case? ‘Case closed’ then, I presume?

How… convenient.

Procurement documents have been ‘destroyed’? No problem, Shahrir, follow the money — there is always a paper trail somewhere. Bank statements — records of transactions, accounts of the principals and wives/mistresses, unusual company/ministry expenditures; while you’re at it, go squeeze PSC Naval Dockyards’ (now Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd) Amin Shah Omar Shah’s balls till he squeals.

See Shahrir, your job really isn’t that hard. Unless, of course… you’ve been instructed not to find anything after all the sandiwara, which I rather suspect is the case.

Problem is, we ain’t buying it.

(Antares first alerted me to the defence procurements scandal embroiling DPM Najib Tun Razak – just before it broke in the media several days ago – but have been unable to post about it until now due to breaking events, particularly the violent crackdown in Burma.)

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Article on the OPV procurement scandal, and DAP’s pointed remarks to the PAC. Extracted from Malaysiakini, below: (highlights added by me)

SOLIDARITY: Burma (2); Petronas Money Helps Buy Burmese Bullets

[ UPDATED ] 070928 . 1745

Latest reports: 13 confirmed dead, hundreds injured, hundreds arrested and missing. Casualty figures likely to be higher than official accounts.

[ all photos below sourced from Reuters ]

above : unarmed protestors flee as police and troops open fire and baton-charge them.

above : Burmese troops firing tear gas at the demonstrators.

above : Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai, 50, of APF News Tokyo continues filming even as he lies wounded after being shot by troops. Nagai died shortly after.

2 photos above : 2,000 Burmese protestors demonstrated outside the Burmese Embassy in Jalan Ampang, KL this morning.

[ All photos above from Reuters News Agency, article here ]

9 confirmed dead, hundreds injured, hundreds arrested and missing in the ongoing violent crackdown by the Burmese military junta. But the Burmese people are resisting.

BBC videos of the ongoing violence in Burma/Myanmar: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7017496.stm

Photos and latest reports at the Democratic Voice of Burma website: http://english.dvb.no/

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[ ORIGINAL POST ]

Latest reports from Burma/Myanmar indicate that at least 9 persons have been killed, dozens injured and hundreds summarily arrested in the ongoing bloody crackdown by the Burmese military junta on unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators and Buddhist monks. Latest coverage from the BBC.

ASEAN has predictably remained (elegantly) silent over the bloody crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators and monks in Burma/Myanmar… and Malaysia has been even friendlier than most, with Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar going so far as to reassure the Burmese military junta that it was “business as usual”.

Well surprise, surprise.

But of course the UMNO-BN government sees nothing wrong with the Burmese junta shooting and beating unarmed pro-democracy protestors; we just shot two of our own a couple of weeks ago in Batu Burok! Biasalah. The people are so troublesome, always demanding their rights and marching and protesting and making us leaders look bad. Let’s shoot a few and scare them all. Show them who is boss. Tembak satu dua, yang lain tu kita tembak gas pemedih mata, belasah sikit, ha, barulah mereka faham keadaan.

Besides, there’s all that business to worry about. Industry experts estimated that in 2005, just two foreign oil-and-gas firms (France’s Total and PETRONAS) alone generated about USD 1 bil in revenues (link) for the Burmese military junta. Petronas is a major presence in the Burmese oil industry and works closely with the state run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise for exploration and extraction of oil and gas resources, providing a major source of foreign currency revenue for the cash-strapped military junta which presides over a failed state and economy. In short, Petronas is among a number of companies whose revenues are helping to prop up the regime.

I am sorely tempted to break decorum to spit on ASEAN, possibly one of the most useless and irrelevant regional groups in history. ASEAN’s ‘Non-interventionist policy’ is just a euphemism for “I’ll cover your ass, and you cover mine.” As I mentioned in an earlier reply to a comment, the problem with ASEAN is that almost every single member nation has skeletons in its own closet, and to criticise Myanmar would be to invite unwelcome scrutiny of its own questionable policies and actions.

Dare Malaysia condemn the violence in Myanmar, having just fired on our own unarmed citizens? Dare the Thai military regime — still fresh from their latest coup d’etat and now busily slapping ‘lese majeste’ charges on every dissident in sight — speak harsh words to Myanmar? Even squeaky-clean Singapore has just avoided the problem by simply regulating civil society space virtually out of existence.

The blood of the Burmese people is on ASEAN hands… and Malaysia’s.

Shame on ASEAN. Shame on Malaysia.

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Excerpt from Malaysiakini: (red highlights mine)

“Crisis? What Crisis?”

[ excellent poster by mob1900 ]

Ah, Malaysia’s favourite Nazi and denial artiste is back in top form.

Still got faith in the ‘independent’ inquiry panel? The half-cooked PR effort by the govt to stave off the Royal Commission has been hamstrung even before it starts by its ‘terms of reference’, which is “…to investigate if the Lingam tape is authentic”. No mention on what happens if the tape is (Heaven forbid) found to be genuine.

Extracted from Lim Kit Siang’s blog: (bold highlights mine)

“…In restricting the panel to the question of the authenticity of the Lingam Tape instead of allowing full investigations into all aspects of the allegations of perversion of the course of justice and the compromising of judicial independence, impartiality and integrity raised by the video clip, the government is avoiding the imperative issue of the long-standing rot in the judiciary and the urgent need to restore national and international confidence in the system of justice with a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape would have first to address the issue of the authenticity of the video clip and there is no reason why an independent panel should be formed with the very narrow and restricted focus of deciding whether the video clip is authentic or otherwise, without the further powers of proceeding to further conduct comprehensive investigations into all the allegations of perversion of the course of justice and the compromising with judicial independence, impartiality and integrity.

In short, the government is trying to focus public attention on the technical question about the authenticity of the Lingam Tape and distract and disregard it from the urgent, imperative and substantive issue of the long-standing rot in the system of justice which must be identified and stopped…“

Extracted from Malaysiakini, below: (red highlights mine)