Whither Race Relations?

Many people have much to say in blogs that usually reflects pretty much what’s on everyone’s minds. So I usually keep my observations to myself. But two unconnected events took place on two unrelated discussion groups that have driven me to put my thoughts down on paper. The first event involves a Chinese guy in his late 40s, born before 13th May 1969 but growing up in a society colored by the fallout of that fateful event in our history. He had the good fortune to go to a school where he was able to mix with all races but, when he got into the employment rat-race, he had no godfather to turn to. He struggled to cope in a world where connections meant more than qualifications. He learnt bitter lessons and arrived at the conclusion that “Malays could not be trusted.” His response upon reading Abu Bakar Sulaiman’s article “Cry my beloved Malay soul” was, “Find me a Malay I can really trust and I will show you he's a product of mixed marriage.” My concern is that he is not alone. There are many more like him who were not insulated in the government service or in multinational employment, who had to cope on a day-to-day basis with business interactions. If he could deal entirely with persons of his own ethnicity, his frustrations would be different. But, being forced to deal with officialdom and business monopolies, and faced with blatant corruption, favoritism and poor delivery on promises, his bias and bitterness have set in firmly. This is not going to end here. The children of people such as this will also bear these scars. For some, the anger and hurt may just be passed down, but for many more, the injuries will be first-hand. Those who don’t get to enjoy stigma-free racial interaction in their youth and only suffer the indignities and unfairness of race-based policies cannot develop any cross-racial empathy. The second event involves a Malay girl in her 20s, a product of our racially polarized education system and a victim of the daily brainwashing by the mainstream media. She took exception to the movement to abolish the ISA. Her position was that this nation “would only be free of the British influence when the other races admitted that this land is the Malay home”. She refused to examine history and understand why the ISA was established by the British. She was convinced that if the ISA were to be abolished, “our peaceful Malaysia would become a war of races”. I don’t blame her. That’s what she has been taught. And she has been schooled not to find out facts by herself or to think on her own. She has been programmed to swallow wholesale whatever she is told by the proper authorities, no matter how illogical or unlikely. And this is what is of concern to me – our youth have been separated by an artificial barrier created for the purpose of perpetuating political power. Bridging the divide of minds such as I have illustrated above will be a daunting task. If today, UMNO is pushed aside and PR is allowed to take power, if the NEP is swept aside and a race-independent, poverty-based affirmative action put in place, how long do you think it will take for race relations to return to what they were pre-May 13? Some of those who grew up pre-May 13 may be quicker to embrace those of other races. But those below 40 would have a different world view and are unlikely to tread upon unfamiliar turf. Those who are under 10 today and who will get to go to "race-equalized" secondary schools would still be taught by teachers with the old mindset. The indoctrination may be less blatant but, at home and in school, the race message will carry on in subtle ways. Their children, who will start school some 30 years from today, may have a fair chance of encountering an environment similar to what the pre-May 13 generation enjoyed. The children of those children may enjoy a really race-equalized society. This is what could happen if the NEP is set aside today and the affirmative action is aimed at poverty instead of race. But only the Malay people can set aside the NEP. If they truly desire a peaceful land, this is what they have to do. It is understandable that even some of the moderate Malays are hesitant about the abolishing of the NEP and the equalizing of all races. There would be a sense of dread over what may happen. Malays have to ask themselves – what has the NEP really done for the Malay people as a whole? Go to some of the low-cost flats in the cities and see how some Malay families are struggling to survive. Go to some of the poorer parts of these cities and take a look at some of the Malay enclaves that are almost slums. Look at the poverty still choking some of the rural Malays. Look at the Malay students in schools and colleges, poorly motivated to perform and being spoon-fed simply to maintain passing quotas. Then look at the fresh Malay graduates being employed to meet quotas and then given meaningless tasks just to keep them busy. And ask yourself, do your people still need a 10% discount on bungalows and semi-detached houses? Do your people really benefit because UMNO cronies are being awarded plumb projects. Are your people improving in any way while they remain in a protective cocoon? The future of this nation lies in the hands and the votes of the Malay people. They have to wake up from the intoxication imposed upon them by the UMNO spin-masters. They have to see for themselves what 5 decades of race-based politics has done to this fair nation. They have to see for themselves that only an equitable system can truly set them free. Do they have what it takes? Silent Observer

Najib’s powerful speech eradicates corruption in UMNO

Posted by admin    Wednesday, 25 March 2009 18:07 Someone e-mailed me this item, which came out today in http://nose4news.wordpress.com/. I thought it was funny enough for me to share it with you. The trouble is: many Malaysians do not have a sense of humour and good sarcasm is wasted on Malaysians. Anyway, here goes. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin If there was one thing all observers could agree on about Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s opening speech at the UMNO General Assembly for its Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings last night, it was how incredibly moving it was. So powerful was Najib’s oratory delivery that corruption — referred to as ‘money politics’ in UMNO circles — was effectively neutralised and eradicated from the organisation. “I actually saw corruption dissipate from the hall, it was unbelievable,” said Roziman Musa, a delegate from Perak at the main PWTC assembly hall. “Before Datuk Seri Najib’s speech, money politics and vote-buying were evident in the faces of many of my fellow delegates. But as the DPM began his verbal assault on the corruption within UMNO, everyone was cleansed. Detoxified!” A casual walk amongst the delegates revealed a cleaner, purer sense of being and an overall spirit of absolute harmony. “I’m a man reborn,” said Jaafar Hussin, a delegate and senior UMNO member from Pahang. “I, like many of my friends, didn’t think twice about accepting money or contracts in exchange for votes before, but now I am free. I feel the wonderful void which all the corrupt thoughts have left behind. I am at peace with the universe." “Thank you for the rousing speech, Datuk Seri!” he said, before running barefooted around the hall, throwing flower petals onto the appreciative crowd. The sense of well-being was shared by every UMNO member nationwide, from top leaders to young members. “We’re returning all our ill-gotten wealth to the community,” said Datuk Seman Azizuddin, a Terengganu branch chief and businessman when met at a hotel nearby. “My friends and I, who had amassed hundreds of millions of ringgit from our close ties to the administration, will now denounce our corrupt ways and live the life of clean, honest people, thanks to last night’s speech. What Datuk Seri Najib said resonated with the child within our souls, and released us from the clutches of our greed for money and power. We shall now embrace purity, selflessness and spirituality." “Our crony days are over. Thank God!” Puteri UMNO member from Lembah Keramat, Nina Badariah Ahmad, said that she now was more inspired to put her life into the party. “Before this, I didn’t quite know why I joined, maybe because I subscribed to some of the ideals of the party, but mainly because I was intrigued by the power and potential wealth I could get my hands on,” said Nina. “But Datuk Seri Najib’s fiery speech has sifted all the impure and immoral reasons from the pure. He has killed all that is bad in the party. I am now in UMNO only for the good of the rakyat. Go UMNO!” Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, responding to this latest news, indicated that Najib’s speech ‘had rendered the purpose of the Pakatan Rakyat null and void’. “Oh dear. I guess this is the end of PR,” he said over the phone solemnly. “We went out to the people on the promise of transparency, equality and justice, but now that UMNO is living all those qualities, with absolutely zero corruption, we’re pretty much dead in the water.” “I mean, I guess you can’t win ‘em all. Even I was inspired by his speech; it brought tears to my eyes,” said Anwar, hinting that he’ll be calling for the dissolution of all opposition parties and a mass entry into UMNO, as soon as he can. In addition to talking about choosing ‘clean and able leaders’ to take the organisation out of its current doldrums, Najib also spoke of UMNO being more IT-friendly and giving more attention to new media. Early reports have indicated that all mainstream printed media would abandon paper and offer their services online and for mobile exclusively, in effect saving trees and making the world a far, far better place for all our children. Graphics Courtesy Stephff

Sick Of Being A Malay?

Source : Kickdefella

Many Young Malays nowadays are too shy to acknowledge themselves as Malay. Please don’t slam them as lacking of ‘jatidiri’ or ’tak sedar diri’ before we understand where all this problem came from.

“When we die, god will not ask whether we are a Malay, Chinese or Indian,” The MB of Kelantan once told me.

Nik Aziz, has never failed to surprise me with the depth of his thinking. When I interviewed him a month ago, he shoot this to me, “When the Chinese (in Malaysia) has the Chinese medium school, nobody made a noise, there is TV news in Chinese, nobody make any noise, there is newspaper in Chinese, nobody demonstrate against it, but when they wanted to put a road sign in Chinese, people jump sky high! Lagu mano ni?

“The problem with us is that our thinking is too shallow, we think the way we wanted ourselves to think, not the manner God wanted us to us our brain…”

“This is the problem with UMNO (and many of the Malays).”

“I pray to god (to open the heart of the Malaysian) to elect to office more non Muslim Malaysian who are more Islamic friendly to replace the Malays leaders who are Muslim but afraid to fight for the sake of Islam”.

My exclusive interview with Tok Guru is in the latest Qiadah, published during the Chinese New Year.

The sickness that Malaysia is suffering now is due of over dosage of Malay-ism. This is a long time game plan by a shrinking brain of UMNO politician. UMNO wants us to keep remembering that the Malays owe them for what the Malays are today.

What is the Malay today? Do our children still enjoy the benefits of being a Malay like we and our father enjoy decades ago?

What happen today is only selected few Malays are enjoying the benefit of being a Malay. While some quarters are rubbing shoulders with the selected few hoping to get some lose change from them, the rest of the Malay are just getting what other races are getting.

So why should the rest of the Malay subscribe to the Malay Supremacy ideology if only it was mend for those selected few like the Kings and Sultans and the UMNO elites?

Why not we all not just equal like all Malaysian at least we are not being cheated neither are we cheating our own self.

During the old Malay Nationalists time in UMNO, those Malay leaders whom were decorated with power as Ministers, fights for the Malays through series of policies that benefits the Malay but at the same time did not discriminate other races. This method basically died a natural death slowly after Tengku Razaleigh lost to Tun Dr. Mahathir in 1997.

Since then UMNO has never been the same pillar of strength for the Malays. UMNO radically subscribe to a different ball game altogether. Everything turns to dollar and cents.

Instead for fighting for the Malays, most of the UMNO elites found that it is more important for them to fight for their survival in UMNO. Instead of paving changes through government policies, the leaders in UMNO wants only status quo while forcing the Malays to accept them through series of organised bribery.

If the Malays really love UMNO then they must willing to let go of UMNO for as long as UMNO still receive their support, they will never change. The Malay will only get worst.

Can the Malay imagine how their future will look like when the future of UMNO today lies in the hand of those people like Ahmad Ismail, Neena Merican and Azeez UMNOPUTRAS, not to mention those UMNO ‘dignitaries’ like Hishamuddin, Khairy, Khir Toyo and even Mat Taib?

For those who question the land deals in Perak and the manner the PR government given it to the Chinese, I wish to ask them, hasn’t the Chinese has given so much to the state. If you understand the history of Perak, then you will understand that the Chinese has played such an important role to make it what it is today.

I felt very uncomfortable to describe this beautiful Malaysia by mentioning the races name, I feel much more lighten up to just think of us as Malaysians. We have been segregated by races differences to long and it has brought us more harm than glory. Let us celebrate those differences and think of us as only Malaysians.

It should be easy for the Malays as most of them are Muslim. Didn’t Islam teaches us to accept the differences in all of us as the sign of how magnificent our creator is. So in each languages, each skin tones and each physical differences is the sign of how great the Al Mighty is. Furthermore Islam also teaches that none of us is greater than the other, none of us is special then the other and none of us should claim this land is ours, for we are only His slaves.

For this reason, I found more and more non-Malays are finding comfort in PAS then in UMNO. Me too feel the same.

And for the young Malays, most of those in the private higher learning institution, all the embarrassment does not mean that they has become traitor but because for many years they have been betrayed by the brand behind the Malay name.

The brand that they see in Najib Razak, Mat Taib, Rahim Thamby Chik, Hishamuddin Rais, Khairy Jamaluddin and lots more. There is nothing wrong with them, but a whole lot of ‘wrong’ in those who shouted ‘ketuanan Melayu’.

Nazri, who is the “small boy” in the PM’s Department?

A glance at Nazri’s track record (out of which a few examples have been give above) shows a trail of evidence that Nazri is nothing but a loudmouth, loose cannon and a lowdown Umnoputra in Parliament! He is laughable!  

Martin Jalleh 

Who is small the boy in the Prime Minister’s Department who treats and turns parliament into his personal playground where he proudly leaves a trail of his political pooh behind?

Who is the small boy who tries to act tough, talks big and throws his weight around and wants everybody to think that he is the PM and that he knows everything?

Who is the small boy who childishly threatens and taunts those who stand up to him, and refuse to tolerate his temper, tantrums and theatrics?

Who is the small boy who cannot take criticisms and goes into a fit or a foul frolic or flaunts his foolishness according to his whim and fancy?

Who is the small boy who said he would advise the Cabinet to replace the then ACA Investigations Director with whom he had a war of words with!

Who is the small boy who told Parliament that former Lord President Salleh Abas and other senior judges involved in the judicial crisis 20 years ago were not “sacked”?

Who is the small boy who shouted in parliament like some street bully “racist and “bloody racist” at DAP MP M Kula Segaran – 41 times in a space of five to 10 minutes?

Who is the small boy, who, without any sense and sensitivity, told wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh in parliament: “You are just jealous because I am standing!”?

Who is the small boy whom a then member to the ruling coalition in Sabah told to “shut up” because of his “ignorance” of the social, security and economic problems in the state?

Who is the small boy whose colleague Bernard Dompok said was taking a “cheap shot” when he responded to Dompok’s resignation as chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee?

Who is the small boy who said that two MPs who had made sexist remarks following MP Fong Po Kuan’s observations of leaks in the Parliament building should not apologise to Fong?

Who is that small boy who said “ Singapore is not a real country” (and whose inference of larger countries being more prone to corruption was absolutely wrong)?

Who is that small boy who called Lim Kit Siang (LKS) “Stupid, stupid, stupid…!” countless of times during a debate and got off scot free  with his “stupid” salvoes grinning like a school bully?

Who is the small boy who looked so “stupid” when LKS produced a taped transcript of the then CJ  advocating the abolition of Common Law, and on whose behalf the small boy had denied?

Who is the small boy who was speechless when Karpal Singh revealed the name of a Federal Court judge who had not written judgments in as many as 35 cases?

Who is the small boy who when explaining why he had issued a denial on behalf of the then CJ in connection with the Lingam video scandal, had very proudly declared: “I am his Minister”?

Who is the small boy who said that whistleblowers in the Lingam Tape scandal could be protected under a tabled Witness Protection Bill and later admitted there was no such bill?

Minister in the PM’s Department Nazri Abd Aziz has labelled Perak State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar a “boy speaker”. He says the Speaker “does not know what he is doing. He is not fit to be given such a heavy responsibility.”

Alas, who has been acting like a boy? Of course, the small boy in the PM’s department! A glance at Nazri’s track record (out of which a few examples have been give above) shows a trail of evidence that Nazri is nothing but a loudmouth, loose cannon and a lowdown Umnoputra in Parliament! He is  laughable!

As a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the de facto law minister Nazri Abd Aziz is blind to the truth, biased, beholden to the Umno-dominated Government and begs and bends backwards to do its bidding. The boy Minister bulls, boasts, barks and brays, brazenly blunders, goes berserk and bullies…

In sharp contrast is Speaker V. Sivakumar – a man who has displayed such exemplary boldness and bravery. He has refused to be bribed, bought over or bullied and is ready to face the possible consequences in standing up to the powers-that-be.

Nazri has said that “the whole episode in Perak is a comedy”. It is the people of Perak who will have the last laugh!

Nazri has also called the fiasco in Perak a “mockery”. Was he referring to the jaundiced judgments delivered by the judicial commissioner who has chosen to remain cloistered enough in his chambers so as not to notice a clear “conflict of interest” in the matter?

The Truth That Refuses To Surface

Thursday, 05 March 2009 08:34

In my sedition trial, Superintendent Gan Tack Guan just refuses to reply to YB Gobind Singh Deo’s questions as to how and why Altantuya Shaaribuu was killed and whether someone had paid Azilah and Sirul to kill her. Gan also refuses to confirm whether C4 was used to blow up her body after she was killed. Gan, in fact, says it was not C4 and he does not know what type of explosive was used. Today, Malaysia Today will reveal the truth that Gan refuses to reveal in my trial.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Altantuya Shaaribuu’s case: how and why she was killed
Published in the Liberation French newspaper on 5th March 2009

This is the English translation of the Liberation French article:

Shaaribuu Setev is a bitter and disappointed man. Yet, behind the saddened face of this Mongolian lies a fierce determination. Seated in a sofa in the lobby of an Ulaan Baataar hotel rattled by gushes of a freezing wind, this sixty years old man is ready to fight. His face features, hardened by the suffering and the stern climate, and his intense gaze tell all. “My daughter has been murdered by Malaysians on Malaysian territory. And they did not have even offer a word of apology,” states this professor of psychology at the National University of Mongolia.

The assassination of his daughter, Altantuya Shaaribuu, took place in October 2006. This was a murder unlike others in a region where business conflicts or petty politics are often settled with a gun. Everything in this case, which started in 2002 when the French Spanish company Armaris concluded the sale of three submarines to the Malaysian government for the amount of one billion Euros, is out of the ordinary.

The impact of the “Altantuya case” in France, Malaysia and Mongolia has yet to reach its climax. The murder of the 28 year old Mongolian was the result of a “commission” at the price of 114 million Euros by Armaris to its Malaysian counterpart. This “commission,” which was acknowledged by the Malaysian government in front of the Parliament in Kuala Lumpur, has triggered a chain of events that has led to the assassination of Altantuya and the disappearance of several key witnesses in the case.

A report from the Malaysian police, written on 19th november 2006 and which has been kept secret until now (can be read below), reveals dry and precise descriptions as to how this young woman, a member of Asian high society, has been killed. In this document, one of the killers, a policeman of the Malaysian Special Branch named Sirul Omar, replied to the questions of an officer at a police station close to the murder scene. “When the Chinese woman saw that I was taking a gun, she begged me to spare her, saying she was pregnant. Azilah (the commanding officer of Sirul) grabbed her and [threw] her on the ground. I immediately shot the left side of her face. Then Azilah took off her clothes and put them in a black plastic bag. Azilah noticed that her hand was still moving. He ordered me to shoot again, which I did”, said Sirul. This is the first confirmation of Altantuya’s assassins’ identity. “Then we carried her body into the woods. Azilah wrapped the explosives around her legs, her abdomen and her head, and we exploded her.”

The revelation of this report in the French newspaper Liberation is the latest chapter in this colourful and dramatic saga featuring French weapon sellers, Mongolian Shaman, and Malaysian politicians. This case is explosive not only for the Malaysian government, since the deputy Prime minister Najib Razak (who is scheduled to become Prime minister at the end of March) is suspected of having links to the case, but also because it could embarrass the DCNS, this French company specialising in military shipbuilding. The French Spanish company Armaris, which sold two Scorpène and one Agosta submarines to Malaysia in June 2002, was bought by DCNS in 2007.

With her magnetic beauty and sophistication, Altantuya is reminiscent of the troubling image of a Far East Mata Hari. She grew up in Saint Petersburg (Russia), then studied at the Institute of Economic Management in Beijing. Besides speaking English, she is fluent in Russian, Chinese and Korean. The fateful cycle for Altantuya came into gear when she met Abdul Razak Baginda in Hong Kong in 2004. Baginda is a security expert and the director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, a pro-government think-tank. The two quickly became romantically involved. Altantuya, nicknamed Tuya by her friends, proved to be a useful assistant, helping Baginda translate from Russian to English.

Whereas Altantuya is young and beautiful, the rich and alluring Baginda is a well known figure of the Kuala Lumpur’s elite, notably because of his proximity to the Malaysian Deputy Prime minister and minister of Defense Najib Razak (he is also his security affairs adviser). Baginda parades in the most exclusive circles of Kuala Lumpur, sometimes accompanied by his legitimate wife.

In March 2005, Altantuya and Baginda departed for Europe, touring France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in the red Ferrari of Baginda, staying in posh hotels and dining in the finest restaurants of the old Continent. This trip, however, was not only for tourism: the contract for the sale of the submarines had been signed in 2002, but important details had yet to be settled. “We knew that Baginda was used by Deputy Prime minister Najib Razak as an intermediary for weapons systems deals, especially the high level ones,” says a regional security affairs expert.

At the end of March 2005 the couple was in Paris, where they met with Najib Razak. A picture shows the threesome in a Parisian private club. “Tuya showed me the pix. She said that one of the men was her boyfriend, Abdul Razak Baginda, and the other the “big boss”, Najib Razak. I asked her if they were brothers because of the names, but she said no, and that Najib Razak was the ‘prime minister’”, said Amy, Altantuya’s best friend (Najib Razak has sworn on the Koran that he has never met Altantuya). According to a private detective, now in hiding in India, the beautiful Tuya was also the occasional mistress of the deputy Prime minister, who was introduced to her by Baginda at the end of 2004.

The story became dramatic when, in October 2006, Altantuya was informed that the commission paid by the French-Spanish company Armaris had arrived on a Kuala Lumpur bank account. It had been paid to Perimekar, a company owned by Baginda. Altantuya rushed to Kuala Lumpur, in order to claim her share of the commission from Baginda ; she said she was entitled to 500,000 dollars. Baginda and Altantuya broke up prior to this. A jealous Rosmah Mansor, the feared businesswoman and wife of Najib Razak, objected any payment to Altantuya. Altantuya arrived in Kuala Lumpur with two other Mongolian women, one of them was a Shaman responsible for putting a spell on Baginda if he refused to pay. For several days, Altantuya harassed her ex-lover.

On the 18th of October, Baginda could no longer tolerate the daily scenes made by Altantuya in front of his house. He contacted the Director of the Special Branch, Musa Safrie, who happened to also be Najib Razak’s aide de camp. On October 19th, 2006, a little before 9 pm, two police officers of the Special Branch, Azilah Hadridan and Sirul Omar, were sent in front of Baginda’s house where Altantuya was gesticulating and shouting. They had the order of “neutralising the Chinese woman.” They kidnapped her, and drove her ten kilometers away and shot her several times. Then, they destroyed her body with C4 explosives, a type which can only be obtained from within the Defense Ministry. Her entry into Malaysia was erased from the immigration records. It would appear that Altantuya had never come to Malaysia, because there is no trace left of her.

There is no perfect crime. The taxi driver hired by Altantuya for the day did not appreciate that his passenger was kidnapped under his eyes without payment for the fare. He took note of the registration plate of the kidnapper’s car and filed a complaint at the local police station. In a few days, the police identified the car and realised that it was a government vehicle.

Events unfolded that even the Deputy Prime minister Najib Razak could not impede. He tried to cover the case. A few hours before the arrest of Baginda, he sent him a SMS: “I will see the Inspector General of Police at 11 am today… The problem will be solved. Be cool”. A few hours after, Baginda was arrested as well as the two police officers of the Special Branch, Azilah and Sirul.

After a trial considered dubious by many observers, Baginda was acquitted with the accusation of having ordered the murder and released in November 2008. Accused of having perpetrated the murder, Azilah and Sirul appeared in front of the Court last month. If convicted, their sentence is death. The verdict is scheduled for the 9th of April.

Thousands of miles from there, in the Mongolian capital city Ulaan Baataar, Shaaribuu Setev, Altantuya’s father, is trying to control his anger. To him and his family, the acquittal and release of Baginda is symbolic of the unfairness of the Malaysian judicial process: “The Malaysian government is not even answering to the letters from the Mongolian Foreign Affairs Ministry,” he says.

When Shaaribuu came to the Malaysian Parliament to meet Najib Razak, the Deputy Prime minister had to escape through a back door in order to avoid an embarrassing encounter. The Altantuya case has become a key element of the Malaysian political game between Najib Razak (who is expected to become Prime Minister after the United Malay Nation Organisation (UMNO) Congress in March) and the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. So far, Najib Razak has navigated around the obstacles, but the murder of the young Mongolian remains a sword suspended over his head.

One of the most obscure aspects of the Altantuya case is the role of the Armaris company. In October 2007, the Malaysian Deputy Defense minister, Zainal Abdidin Zin, acknowledged in front of the Parliament that Armaris had effectively paid 114 million Euros in commission to Perimekar. He maintained that it was not a bribe, but a payment for “support and coordination services.”

Was there corruption as in the case of the Taiwanese frigates in which the French DCNS was also implicated? DCNS, a private company with public financing, has declined our request for a meeting. “Nobody can comment on this case,” was the sober reply of the DCNS Press relations officer in Paris. A document, which could establish a link between Altantuya and the French company is the guarantee letter written by Abdul Razak Baginda so that his mistress could obtain a visa to enter the Schengen zone (of whom France is a member country). The French embassy could not refuse this service to a man decorated with the Legion d’Honneur. But the role of Altantuya in the submarines negotiations is still not clear. Intelligence agencies find her background intriguing and the Russian FSB (ex-KGB) is following closely the case.

In Ulaan Baataar, Mungunshagai, the eldest son of Altantuya, who is 12 years old, is traumatised by the death of his mother. Altanshagai, the youngest, who is five years old and mentally handicapped, has not understood that he will never see again his mother. “He is asking for her all the time and is staying the whole day prostrated on his chair. Every evening, I bring him sweets and I tell him that his mother gave it to me for him”, says Shaaribuu Setev, the grandfather of the two boys. As for Baginda, he settled down in the United Kingdom with his family. He never uttered a word of regret on the deadly fate of the one who shared his life for two years.

Arnaud Dubus (in Kuala Lumpur, Ulaan Baataar and Paris)

Arnaud did extensive research into this story and travelled the world in search of the truth. I met him in Kuala Lumpur soon after my release from ISA detention after he returned from Mongolia.

This is the original cautioned statement that Sirul Azhar Omar made in the interrogation by the police on 19 November 2006 that confirms not only how and why Altantuya was killed but also that they were hired to kill her:

Source : Malaysia-Today

My son's laptop... your handphone!

It's SMART vs. SMUT.

Chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Ahmad Said Hamdan said the titles of the video clips found in his son’s laptop computer were misleading and not pornographic as charged and fined in Australia.

“I can bet with you that it’s something that you will find on most men’s handphones,” he said in The Star.

Prohibited item in Australia

AdelaideNow.com, a news website owned by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News group, reported February 08 last year that Ahmad's Said's son Ahmad Shauqi, a Malaysia Airlines co-pilot, was handcuffed to the Adelaide Magistrates Court, and convicted and fined for bringing child pornography into the country on his personal computer.

The three videos classified as prohibited import items were titled "Reped (sic) Virgin'', "10-Year Old'' and "High School Students".

Contrary to what the MACC chief had tried to rationalise, that the titles were misleading, Magistrate Simon Smart ruled that "this material is repugnant and abhorrent - any decent minded person would be so affected by it".

Magistrate Smart added that the rape scene featured a crying girl aged under 18 being forced to have sex with an older male. "These are not victimless crimes - for every video that depicts such a scene there is a victim,'' he said.

Ahmad Shauqi was fined A$5000.00 and had his laptop forfeited to the Crown.

Records entered in the South Australian court show Magistrate Smart had told him the videos were cruel and violent and it was a disgrace that the married father of two had brought the material to Australia. Ahmad Shauqi's wife was expecting their third child at that time.

The magistrate further said people like Shauqi encouraged the market for child pornography.

Moral of the story is: Between the Australian Bench and MACC, who is misleading us? You judge.

Oh yes, stop sending anymore SMS that says MACC stands for Malaysian Agency for Car and Cows. Just mind what's is your handphone, please.

Famous last words... What's in your handphone? Soi Lek or the Port Dickson romp?

UMNO begging QC’s help in London – a Mistake Coup?

Ever since the federal government (or rather UMNO) forcefully taken over one of opposition’s states of Perak the de-factor opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim couldn’t afford to smile as much as he used to be. Just like the stock market Anwar was charging like a bull as if the market was experiencing Super Bull-Run after his party PKR together with team-mates of PAS and DAP unexpectedly captured 5 states. For a moment he felt immortal and the reach to the Putrajaya was within sight. However unlike the outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, the PM-in-waiting Najib Razak did not waste much time wrestling Perak state from Anwar. It was not many months ago that Najib via another UMNO warlord Muhyddin Yassin successfully forced Abdullah to agree to resign in Mar 2009.

Now it seems the hunter becomes the hunted and vice-versa. And just like the stock market Anwar feels vulnerable and is crawling like a bear while Najib becomes the bull charging like there’s no tomorrow. Suddenly the view of Putrajaya becomes so far away to Anwar while Najib’s wife, Rosmah, began to taste the power of those who walk in the corridors of power. She must have enjoyed herself to the fullest in her appearance in the government-controlled media during the campaign asking for donations for the Gaza. Like her husband Rosmah can smells the aroma of the number-1 seat currently held by Jeanne Abdullah. The clock is ticking and the vision of her being installed as the most powerful woman come this Mar is enough to make her climax, who wouldn’t right?

Unlike PR (Pakatan Rakyat) who managed to win over Perak state through peoples’ vote, BN (Barisan Nasional) used the back-door (intimidation, bribery and threat) in bringing down the Perak government. The last thing on federal government BN’s menu is a state-level snap election not because BN will fail miserably but because the scale of embarrassment could influence the state of Sarawak to deliver important State and Parliament seats to opposition PR coalition. Hence BN would rather play dirty to win battles than to fight like gentlemen. In fact the current dirty politics adopted by BN makes even the former Prime Minister Mahathir disgusted. When a former dictator felt irritated with the dirtiness it goes to show that the current situation is so pathetic that besides skin-color the future leader is comparable to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe *scary huh?*.

But make no mistake about the current low-standard of leaders who resort to intimidation, barbarian way of take-this-bullet-you-sucker threat, paying top dollars to peeping-tom for nude photos and bribe anyone possible. The PM-in-waiting still has former dictator Mahathir as political-strategy adviser and former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin as economy-strategy adviser as his left and right hand men. Despite the hiccup in Perak where the powerful Speaker role was forgotten during the coup by BN, it appears the advices from PM-in-waiting’s advisers were to continue with the assault to weaken the Selangor (the most developed state captured by opposition) government.

This time the silver bullets were Selangor chief minister’s “Cows and Car” accusation. And the main actor used is none other than Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Ahmad Said Hamdan who went beyond his job scope as the head of an independent body by “declaring” that there was strong evidence that Selangor chief minister misused his powers over the maintenance of his personal car and the distribution of 46 cows worth RM110,400 for slaughter during Aidil Adha celebrations in his parliamentary constituency of Bandar Tun Razak last December. If you do not know Ahmad Said he’s the person whose son, Ahmad Shauqi bin Ahmad Said, a former pilot with Malaysia Airline System (KLSE: MAS, stock-code 3786) who was caught importing child pornography when he arrived at Adelaide Airport early last year.

Boy! It was really one big messy battle – short of army’s tanks and submarine BN is basically mobilizing all resources ranging from the police force, judges, sultan, print and electronic media, supposedly independent anti-corruption commission and election commission, nation’s coffer, jobless Mat Rempits and peeping Tom in their effort to cripple the opposition from taking over the federal government possibly by next general election. Its’ do or die kind of war in this country of less than 30 million population. Amazingly the once proud and arrogant UMNO is now panic and has sent its senior lawyer together with several politicians to London seeking Queen’ Counsel helps to combat the latest constitutional crisis. Huh? still couldn't get enough of colonialism? One wonders what happens to the brightest team of lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Attorney General Gani Patail, Justice S. Augustine Paul and other have-money-will-sell-souls top-brains.

Sure, AG Patail has led his team to the defeat of Pulau Batu Puteh’s sovereignty to Singapore but that was because the International Court of Justice has 16-judges. It wasn't Patail fault that the judges couldn't be "persuaded" to swing the decision in favor of Malaysia. I’m willing to bet all my fortunes that if 3-local-judges led by Augustine Paul were to hear the Perak Constitution Crisis dispute; BN should have an easy victory over the opposition. Heck, I’m sure that Speaker V.Sivakumar would be crying arguing his case when Muhammad Shafee Abdullah opens his mouth in court. We’re talking about top brains here dude so it doesn’t make any sense for the government running helter-skelter booking tickets for the trip to London. You meant those foreign Queens’s Counsel knows better than Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Gani Patail or S. Augustine Paul about the country’s constitution? Simply unbelievable that UMNO is reduced to such a pathetic situation that they’ve chickened away to London and is begging Queen’s Counsel for help!