Najib and the Australian Financisal Review

Although this news is a wee bit old, but nonetheless reflects what our friends from Down Under think of Najib. Following is an article from the Australian Financial Review.

[Click on the image to enlarge ]

The Bala Intervieew - Part 3 of 3

For some of you who wish to re-visit the first SD, please click here.

Selangor moves to stop UMNO's BTN 'brainwashing' to create hatred among Malaysians

Selangor moved today to ban its civil servants, employees of state subsidiaries and students at state-owned education institutions from attending any Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses with immediate effect.

Dr Halimah Ali announced the decision today after the weekly state executive council meeting.

Halimah, a state executive council member whose portfolio includes education, described BTN programmes as “indoctrination by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government”.

"The courses promote racism and my own children who have attended BTN have been given booklets that encourage hate towards the opposition,” said Halimah.

"The programmes are not positive to young minds, and are a waste of money which could have used to foster real unity."

BTN courses have been running for years, and are intended to instil nationalistic values and patriotism, but are now seen as more of a propaganda unit. The courses are for university students on public scholarships and civil servants. BTN is under the Prime Minister’s Department.

Under the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration's new directives, students at Selangor government-owned institutions of higher learning including Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel), Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor and Inpens Selangor will no longer be required to go for BTN courses.

Last week, a group of young PR elected representatives urged the Selangor government to stop allowing students to be sent for what they called “brainwashing propaganda” programmes by BTN.

The group of seven PR lawmakers had also said BTN courses — compulsory for local university students and civil servants — taught students to hate and were contrary to their original purpose as well as the Constitution.

Seri Setia state lawmaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, speaking from his own experience, said they were told that PKR members were Jewish agents, that DAP was a Singapore party, while PAS was labelled a deviant movement.

Batu Caves lawmaker Amirudin Shari said a big part of the programme had nothing to do with nation building or education but was an Umno and BN race-based programme where participants are indoctrinated with propaganda about “Ketuanan Melayu”.

It is understood that the BN federal government plans to overhaul the BTN courses in response to growing criticisms.

The Malaysian Insider had reported last week that the proposal to revamp BTN courses is part of initiatives being pushed by Datuk Seri Idris Jala and a task force set up to promote 1 Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak's concept announced when he took the top job on April 3.

1 Malaysia is one of several laboratories set up to push through ideas on Key Performance Index (KPI) and National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) that Najib knows will be the tipping point in the next general election.

His ruling BN coalition was badly beaten in Election 2008 under the leadership of former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when it lost four more states and 82 federal seats to give up its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority.

Those attended the five-day training courses revealed that Barisan Nasional was using such activities to indoctrinate the younger generation aged between 23 and 30 with ideas that could create racial uneasiness.

They were given brochures that had highlighted issues that sowed the seeds of hatred among races

It was felt the BTN needed a complete makeover to promote inclusiveness.

Lawyer : Najib "linked' to Bala's disappearance

Any reasonable person would draw the conclusion that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is somehow linked to the disappearance of P Balasubramaniam, according to the private investigator's lawyer.

"The facts seem to point to the possibility that they wanted him out of the way and delegated this job to others close to them to execute," said Americk Singh Sidhu (left) in an interview withMalaysiakini.

"As matters stand, I am concerned about the involvement of Nazim (Razak), Najib's younger brother. The question is why would he have an interest in Bala's disappearance if it were not to protect his brother?" asked Americk.

Balasubramaniam recently emerged from hiding to reveal that he had met Nazim, an architect, the night before he made a dramatic reversal and recanted his first statutory declaration in which he alleged that Najib had close ties with murdered Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Balasubramaniam also claimed that he was offered RM5 million by one Deepak, a businessman close to Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, to retract his first statutory declaration.

Najib had repeatedly denied speculations that he was behind Balasubramaniam's retraction.

In the interview, Americk recounted how he was introduced to Balasubramaniam, on his reaction to the retraction of Balasubramaniam's first statutory declaration and his subsequent meeting with the former police officer after he emerged from hiding a year later.

The lawyer also revealed that the video recording of his interview with Balasubramaniam three months ago was secretly taken as an "insurance in the event he was apprehended by the parties involved in his departure from this country over a year ago".

"He did not know he was being filmed at that time but we did inform him of this later and he understood why we did it," said Americk.

According to him, while Balasubramaniam may have committed an offence under the Statutory Declarations Act 1960 for giving conflicting statutory declarations, he could nevertheless defend himself against the charge as it "would appear he was coerced, intimidated and/or forced to sign the second statutory declaration under duress".

But those who allegedly instigated the swearing of the false second statutory declaration - Deepak, one ASP Suresh and lawyer M Arunampalam - are also liable to criminal charges for abetment and conspiracy, added Americk.

"In so far as Nazim is concerned, he was involved in criminal intimidation of Bala besides a possibility of being roped into the abetment/conspiracy charges arising from the creation of the second false statutory declaration."

The following is the first of a two-part interview:

Malaysiakini: When did you first meet Bala?

Americk: I first met Bala sometime in April or May 2008. I was having some early evening drinks with several lawyer friends of mine at 'Fogles', which is a delicatessen/bar at Plaza Damas. We were later joined by ASP Suresh and Bala.

One of the lawyers I was with, M Puravalen, introduced me to them. I had no idea who they were before that. I had not been following the Altantuya case very closely so I had not realised that Abdul Razak Baginda had a private investigator assisting him and this was Bala.

I then started enquiring about this whole saga out of curiosity.

Puravalen had been involved in the Altantuya case as he was the first counsel Abdul Razak Baginda had engaged before he was discharged and a new counsel engaged, and so he enlightened me as regards the more salient facts.

I am not sure how ASP Suresh featured in all this but he appeared to be a good friend of Bala's and appeared to have his interests at heart.

Eventually some of the other lawyers left and the restaurant started closing so we decided to move on to 'The Backyard' pub in Sri Hartamas, which is only a short distance away from Plaza Damas. There were four of us ... Bala, myself, ASP Suresh and Valen.

We were drinking and still discussing the whole Altantuya murder case as I found it fascinating. Sometime later (Subang MP and lawyer) Sivarasa Rasiah walked in. I know Siva as he is also a friend, but we are not very close. We asked him to join us. He also listened to what Bala had to say and after that suggested Bala get someone to record everything.

Somehow I was chosen to do this as everyone felt I was the one lawyer who did not have an agenda in this matter as I was someone neutral. I agreed and that was when I made an appointment for Bala to come to my office so that I could record all he had to say.

The recordings occurred about two or three times over a period of about two months and lasted a few hours each time.

How did you feel when Bala came out with the second statutory declaration? Did you attempt to contact him?

I received a call from a member of the press at about 9.30am on July 4, 2008 asking me why my client, Bala, had called a press conference for 11am that morning at the Prince hotel.

I was a little surprised as I had no idea what this was about so I proceeded to call Bala, who did not answer his phone. I then proceeded to make further enquiries only to find out that Bala had purportedly been represented by another lawyer, one Arunampalam who had spoken to the press at that press conference on behalf of Bala and had said that Bala was retracting the contents of his first SD as he had been forced to sign it under duress.

When I came to know of this press conference and what transpired thereat, I was absolutely flabbergasted. Bala and I had spent two months and many hours over the first SD to ensure it was absolutely correct and for him to deny the contents in the space of 24 hours did seem incredible to me.

Bala had anticipated that he would be arrested by the police after releasing the first statutory declaration and he told me so. This is why he had handed over his mobile phone to me for safe keeping before he left my office the evening before as he did not want the police to download information from it.

We were therefore preparing for his arrest and then to go to the police station he was being held at to represent him. I never expected him to have been 'hijacked' by the personalities involved, and I am sure, neither did he.

It is also worth mentioning here that this lawyer, Arunampalam, was not engaged by Bala to represent him at the press conference at the Prince hotel despite the fact that Arunampalam has said Bala called him and asked him to do so. This is a blatant lie.

Bala does not know this man and had never met him prior to that press conference. In fact, it is well-known that Arunampalam does legal work for Deepak and this can be substantiated quite easily.

There is no doubt in my mind that Bala was forced, coerced, threatened and intimidated into signing the second statutory declaration.

Bala subsequently disappeared for one year. When did you meet him next?

Bala called me around July 19, 2009. I was at that time in a little village called Llanwarne on the Welsh border staying with some friends of mine. My wife was also with me. I was surprised to hear his voice as I hadn't heard from him since he left my office with ASP Suresh in the early evening of July 3, 2008.

He started off the conversation by apologising to me for any trouble he had caused. He said he was returning to Malaysia on July 28 and wanted to see me. I informed him I was only returning to Kuala Lumpur on Aug 2 and landing in the early hours of the morning. He gave me a contact number to call and I said I would call him after I landed to arrange a meeting.

At approximately 9am on Aug 2, 2009, I called the number Bala had given me and we arranged to meet in about two days' time. We left the exact time and place to be decided later.

On Aug 4, we finally arranged to meet at my apartment in Ampang Hilir at about 1pm the next day. As Bala wanted to tell me everything that had happened to him since I saw him last, I thought it would be best to have some witnesses present and so I called my counsel, Manjeet Singh Dhillon and another lawyer, Amarjit Singh Sidhu. They both turned up at about 12pm and we waited for Bala to arrive.

Bala eventually turned up a little later than expected as he was having difficulty locating my apartment. He arrived with two other Indian gentlemen who were introduced to us but I cannot recall their names.

He then spent about three hours telling us exactly what had happened to him. During this time he was constantly questioned by myself, Manjeet and Amarjit.

We had arranged for a concealed audio visual device to record this conversation as we felt Bala may have needed some insurance in the event he was apprehended by the parties involved in his departure from this country over a year ago. He did not know he was being filmed at that time but we did inform him of this later and he understood why we did it.

Were you convinced by Bala's story? What documentary evidence did you have?

After approximately three hours of conversation, we were more than convinced that what he was telling us was the truth. It took quite a long time to unravel the details as Bala was recalling events which had taken place over a year ago coupled with the fact that there were so many details.

At that stage, Bala did not reveal any documentary evidence as he was still very apprehensive of the entire situation but he did tell us details of all the evidence he had from bank account statements, passports, flight tickets and photocopied cheques paid to him.

We therefore asked him to produce this evidence and he assured us he would.

What was your advice to Bala at the meeting? Was there a follow-up meeting after that?

After digesting everything we were told, we felt it was necessary to record the events which had taken place in a suitable, chronological and coherent format as we were concerned the matter was rather serious.

We advised Bala to hand over all documents to us to enable us to further verify his story. He promised us he would but said he would have to go to his wife's bank (EON) to get her statements for the past year and that other documents were still in India. He did however have copies of his family's passports and copies of the cheques Deepak had signed. He eventually produced these documents to me by hand, by post and by fax.

We advised Bala to behave normally with Deepak and ASP Suresh and not to let them know he had seen us. He told us he would be returning to India shortly and would contact us again. From then on, all contact with Bala was by phone and email.

As a lawyer, do you think Bala has committed any offences?

Technically, he may have committed an offence under the Statutory Declarations Act 1960 by swearing a false declaration. By this I mean the second SD, not the first SD. However under the circumstances, he would have a good defence to a charge of that nature as it would appear he was coerced, intimidated and/or forced to sign the second SD under duress.

Making a false second SD technically exposes Bala to criminal prosecution. It would equally make the ones who instigated the swearing of the false second SD [Deepak/ Arunampalam/Suresh], liable to criminal charges for abetment and conspiracy.

If we refer to section 3 of the SD Act 1960, this states that SDs made under the Act are such declarations as are referred to in sections 199 and 200 of the Penal Code, and where false would be punishable under that Act.

Section 199 of the Penal Code reads:

"Whoever, in any declaration made or subscribed by him, which declaration any court, or any public servant or other person, is bound or authorised by law to receive as evidence of any fact, makes any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, touching any point material to the object for which the declaration is made or used, shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave false evidence."

This provision is then followed by Section 200 of the Penal Code which states that whoever corruptly uses or attempts to use as true any such declaration knowing the same to be false in any material point, shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave false evidence.

Even if we limit ourselves to these provisions alone, offences are clearly shown to have been committed by Deepak, Suresh and Arunampalam. Bala may well have a defense of duress but that would be a matter of evidence.

In so far as Nazim (Razak) is concerned, he was involved in criminal intimidation of Bala besides a possibility of being roped into the abetment/conspiracy charges arising from the creation of the second false SD.

Note also that under section 10[b] of the ACA 1997, it is an offence to corruptly give to any person an inducement in such circumstances as those in which Bala was induced to make the false second SD. Deepak, Suresh and Nazim could well be prosecuted under these provisions.

With the evidence that you and the other lawyers have seen from Bala and based on Bala's own explanation, do you think the PM (Najib Abdul Razak) and his wife (Rosmah) are personally involved in this (matter)? Or was it done on their behalf by someone?

If you mean Bala's disappearance, then the facts seem to point to the possibility that they wanted him out of the way and delegated this job to others close to them to execute.

As matters stand, I am concerned about the involvement of Nazim, Najib's younger brother. The question is why would he have an interest in Bala's disappearance if it were not to protect his brother?

I think this is the conclusion any reasonable person would come to.

[Source: Malaysiakini]

Geronimo's Take : The noose is slowly tightening. I guess at the end of the day, Bala's conscience got the better of him.

The Bala Interview - Part 2 of 3

Oh Deepak, where art thou?

I was wondering, Deepak, how’s the carpet business been doing of late? Well, with the economic contraction especially since 4^th July 2008, which of course happened to be when the PI Bala disappeared from the public eye, I suppose it must be tough for an average “carpet” dealer such as youself.

Deepak, Deepak, Deepak. What’s going on brother? One would think that given the explosive (no pun intended) revelations made by Bala on what transpired after he left his lawyer Americk Sidhu’s office the day of his first statutory declaration that you, Dinesh and perhaps the rest of your network of “carpet” dealers might be falling over each other to call for your own news conferences and would be conducting your own interviews (perhaps even on the mainstream media, eh?), to clear up the stains on an episode that now reeks like a deeply stained and dirty rug.

Oh, and by the way, I think there’s even a lawyer out there; one Mr. Arunampalam, whom might be able to help you if you want to come out with your own SD. As a matter of fact, I think he’s quite experienced with SDs. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?

In case you have not heard of him, he was the one who “represented” Bala when the latter made his second SD on 4^th July retracting his SD from the previous day, remember? Does it ring any bells? Besides, I have a strange feeling you and Dinesh won’t be looking to Americk Sidhu or Manjeet Singh Dhillon to represent you.

Ya la, what’s the point of having some high-powered law firm to take up this matter for you? Given how rough the economic situation is these days, I’m guessing the carpet business must be quite hard hit too, ya? And as you can imagine, lawyers are not cheap! Well, not that this Arunampalam chap comes at a bargain, but perhaps someone you know might just have his mobile number handy, you know. And since he probably never really was Bala’s lawyer to begin with, there couldn’t be any conflict of interest here involved on his part, right? Well, perhaps you better think this one through carefully.

I wonder…maybe you have some really good clients from Putrajaya who love your carpets and who would be willing to advise you on what you and Dinesh ought to do! Now, how about that! Why didn’t I think about this sooner? For all I know, business might have even been brisk since last July! Indeed, it’s always possible that the carpet business has not been as hard hit by the economic woes. After all, you might have even been lucky enough to have benefited from Najib’s “economic stimulus” package. Well, I can tell you not all of us have been so fortunate. Why, I would venture to guess most of us have not had much relief. But then most of us are not in the “carpet” business and not so special as you are.

Anyway, this is all very interesting but I’m sure we’ll hear from you soon, right? And by the way, maybe we’ll run into each other at a bah kut teh place one of these days.

[Source : G Krishnan}

Geronimo's Take : I am just wondering whether Hollywood would be interested in turning this Najib/Rosmah/Razak/Bala story into a movie. It has all the ingredients of a suspense thriller. If Alfred Hitchcock is alive today, this could be his block buster Right now, I can only think of either Ang Lee or John Woo helming the project, wakakaka

With the intervention of the DPM, has MCA become a Malay Controlled Association?

By now, just about every Malaysian has watched the most-lampooned political video on YouTube since VK Lingam's "correct, correct, correct"-- a full-grown deputy minister crying uncontrollably because he was left out of a weekly meeting of top MCA leaders.

Ignore the fact that this just shows how bottomless the self-esteem of MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong is. Or the fact that many of the videos on YouTube are tagged as "comedy" and have been used to elicit laughter on patients suffering from depression. Let's forget the fact that the skillful execution of political theatrics was blown when the "producers" even placed a blue box of "Premier" tissue in front of Wee before the press conference commenced (can verify this from the various YouTube videos).

Cry baby Wee and his Wanita counterpart Chew Mei Fun was just putting up a show for Umno. The rabid Chinese media had already reported that just minutes before the November 18 press conference, he was seen laughing heartily when Kelantan Senator Alex Wong cracked a joke about DAP MP Fong Po Kuan's new hairstyle.

Well, the "show" paid off as the delirious Sin Chew group of newspapers went into a tailspin portraying Ong Tee Keat as the worst dictator since Gengis Khan. Immediately, the white-haired Sin Chew senior editor Kuik Cheng Kang alerted the press corp covering DPM in Rome who launched a tirade attacking OTK from several time zones away. The next day, Wee and gang got what they have been yearning for: PM confirmed he's stepping in to resolve the MCA problems.

(As BN chairman, Najib has every right to show his concerns since he's been pressing most of the right buttons to win back support in time for the 13th general election. But some MCA leaders have other devillish ideas.)

Why do MCA's Three Stooges (Liow Tiong Lai, Wee Ka Siong and Chew Mei Fun) want Malay-Umno to step in to Chinese-MCA affairs? That's because that is the only way they could get instant promotion in the MCA. Corrupted greed has possessed the trio who are willing to sell their souls to the Devil for a crest in front of their official Proton Perdana which reads "Menteri" or a door plate which says "MCA President".

The thing is, Wee and gang had wanted to get rid of OTK without dragging in Umno. After the October 10 EGM, Wee (through his puppet Liow) thought they had staged a coup when they got 23 MCA Central Committee members to sign a letter in Nikko Hotel asking OTK to resign. But the number of pro-Wee Ka Siong CC members has, as of last count, dropped to 10 (http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20091118204819/Article/index_html).

That's when WKS asked LTL to lead a delegation of 9 MCA MPs to see the PM and threatened Najib that they would quit to join Pakatan Rakyat unless OTK was removed. They had wanted to harp on OTK not keeping to his words about quitting but realised that they too have not kept to theirs about resigning if the EGM did not favour OTK. Besides, OTK can only be removed if 2/3 of the CC EGM wanted to remove him.The plan to see the PM failed miserably when only four MPs committed, including two siblings.

Caught on a backfoot, WKS decided that the next best thing is to get Umno to come in by playing victim and potraying OTK as the villian who has lost control of the MCA. Hence, the ceaseless calls for Maggi Mee (instant) fresh polls and pushing for the unlawful EGM. Then, Umno has justifications to stick its nose in.

How do you trust a man (WKS) who would resort to using an extra-party (Umno) and unconstitutional (EGM) means to topple a leader after exhausting all legal and internal avenues? Would such a man not be subservient to Umno?

Could anyone even imagine LTL thumbing his nose at Umno if he were handed the MCA presidency on a silver platter? Can such a man stand up and be counted by the Chinese community when he has to rely on his successor in MCA Youth (WKS) to lead him on what to say and how to act? Didin't LTL already agree to the MCA Greater Unity Plan on October 20 but changed his mind after WKS and CMF returned from Geneva?

Vegetarian LTL would even take bak kut teh for a week to preserve his position going by how his balls shrank under interrogation from MACC officers on Nov 11 over the Toyota Alphard bribery case, in his own Health Ministry (not even Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam where Teoh Beng Hock was found dead).

Does Chew Mei Fun who recorded one of BN's biggest electoral defeats in March 8 in terms of voting majority, have the spine for ANYTHING at all besides sucking up to Ong Kah Ting?

Can these people even come near Ong Tee Keat - despite his erratic character - in the way he stood up to the powerful forces in Umno by taking on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal? Could they afford not to seek psychiatric treatment whenever the PM throws dirty glances at them when OTK himself had been censured not once, but twice by the Cabinet in the past (http://www.voiceofmalaysian.com/2008/10/06/i-have-been-yellow-carded-6-times-says-mcas-tee-keat/)?

And speaking of PKFZ, where was the MCA Youth chief when OTK was at the firing range while getting to the bottom of the scandal? Instead of sticking his neck out for OTK - as the Youth wing is expected to - WKS stayed away to protect his cosy relations with Tiong King Sing, who's really backed by powerful quarters in Umno.

It is very telling just what kind of substance Mastermind Crybaby Actor (MCA) is made of if he can shed buckets of tears just because he's been left out of a weekly meeting (actually he could attend as an invited member but he chose to ignore that fact). That being the case, MCA (the political party) and the Chinese community should be the ones crying bucketloads if WKS is elevated. And their tears will be genuine, not like his crocodile ones.

[Source: I Love Malaysia]

Geronimo's Take : Let's face a simple fact. The MCA we see today is no longer the same MCA we knew under Tun Tan Cheng Lock of the 50s where the party worked in concert with UMNO and MIC to gain independence for the country from the British. Leaders were made of sterner staff then but today, we have leaders who are mere softies who can't even take the hard knocks of politics. By weeping infront of the cameras for the whole world to see merely reflects how weak the leaders are to handle the hard knocks of politics and truly, they deserve the interference of UMNO, who by right should not be involved. For the Chinese in MCA, you have lost face.

Namawee is really really PISSed .... with TNB

Dealing with bureacracy is frustrating. One can put up with it, complain in the hope things will improve or as in the case of one person, vent on YouTube.

A young man from Muar who caused a national furore with his rap video Negarakuku in 2007 is taking out his frustration with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) in a very public way.

Wee Meng Chee or Namewee figures you can't get any more public than the worldwide audience of YouTube.

Blowing his top

His outburst followed a blackout in Muar that caused him to lose a new song he was composing on his computer. Wee said his younger brother's revision for an examination the next day was also hampered by the blackout.

The rapper stormed into the Tenaga Nasional branch in Muar and started hurling abusive language at the workers after he was unable to get someone from the utility company to answer his phone calls for the 10th time.

The tirade was made into a short film and put on YouTube. The clip and variations of it have since attracted over 700,000 views.

Ministry to probe incident

Sin Chew Daily quoted Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Ministry’s secretary-general Kamaruddin Siaraf as saying that Tenaga Nasional could take action against Wee if it feels that the film had damaged its image.

He said his ministry was investigating the incident involving Wee at the Muar branch.

[Source : Malaysia Mirror]

Geronimo's Take : What?!?! The authorities may take action against Namawee if they felt that the film had damanged TNB's image? With such frequent blackouts, I wonder what is TNB's image worth, especially in Muar. I don't blame Namawee for behaving the way he did, although it was done with less finesse, but how else can you get the attention of these TNB fellas.

Corruption, the unifying factor

Do you realise that, as Malaysians, it is cool to be corrupt. Don't take it from me. Take it from Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, the head of the Institute of Ethnic Studies.

Malaysians are united despite all the complaints of strained ethnic relations in blogs and the media, says Institute of Ethnic Studies head, Prof Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin.

He describes Malaysians as "tongue wagging" but not "parang wielding"

And corruption is an unusual unifier. He says, "A lot of people don't like me using this example but corruption can only occur if Malay, Chinese and Indians are united, and we are very united in corrupt activities."

Shamsul explains that this is a "positive" negative indicator. "It's immoral but what they are actually doing is bonding. Although it is for the wrong reason, these are the last people who would want to quarrel with each other.

"They just want to make sure their business moves, their stock is not taken away by the council officer, and the council officer is happy because he gets an ang pow and flat screen television. Everyone is happy."

Shamsul said Malaysians should learn how to differentiate between the perception of ethnic relations and its reality.

"In Malaysia, there is a lot of crime but these are not ethnic crimes or ethnic killings. We argue vehemently in the newspapers, in the blogs, everywhere. The discourse gets heated at times and this results in people having the impression that we are at loggerheads all the time, but the reality is no one want to create problems with their neighbours."

[The Sun]

Geronimo's Take: Quite frankly, I didn't quite see it that way about corruption , a'la Malaysia. Anyway, I would rather take Dr Shamsul's comments cynically because like everyone else, corruption is still corruption, not matter how one views it. If it has been a unifying factor, then I am sure that Toyo fella would not mind sharing part of his RM24m estate with the other Malaysians, especially the poor, eh?

Monday Humour

What is the first thing you noticed about this picture?

I knew it. Your eyes were on the obvious, weren't they?