Come on, MCA. Do it, that is if you man enough!

An Umno division has called on MCA to leave Barisan Nasional following its failure to deliver the Chinese votes in the recently-concluded Hulu Selangor by-election.

Paya Besar Umno division chief Ahmad Tajuddin Sulaiman told MCA to stop making “silly excuses.”

He said MCA should leave the ruling coalition for not mustering Chinese support for the BN candidate.

As a result, he claimed that BN managed to retake the seat by a slim majority.

Ahmad Tajuddin said MCA’s best option was to withdraw from the coalition, and not continue to be a burden on BN.

“Leave BN to prevent yourselves from becoming a burden to the other component parties. Don’t point fingers at others for your own failure.

“They (MCA leaders) should admit their mistakes and not blame others,” he said, in referrence to their recent comments blaming Perkasa for the loss of Chinese support.

'Covering up their own failures'

The Umno leader said MCA’s allegations are merely to cover up their own failure to secure the support of the Chinese.

“To me this is an irresponsible action. MCA has failed to convince the Chinese community to support the BN candidate (P Kamalanathan) from MIC.

“If Umno could convince the Malay candidates to support the MIC candidate, why couldn’t MCA? Don’t create silly excuses to cover your mistakes,” he said.

Ahmad Tajuddin said MCA must admit that the party no longer holds the trust of the Chinese community.

“It not only happened in Hulu Selangor but also in the 2008 general election,” he said.

In the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat by-election, Kamalanathan beat PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim by a 1,725 vote majority.

The Chinese community’s vote went to PKR.

First, it was Ibrahim Ali who asked Chua Soi Lek to resign because he considers the latter to be an immoral person and leader. Now we have these UMNO fellas from the Paya Besar Division telling MCA to quit the BN. So what are you fellas in MCA planning to do? If I were you, take up the challenge, leave the BN and don't look back. You are a party heading for oblivionville and there is no point whipping a dead horse anymore. Pull the plug, man. Pull the plug. You still have one more saving grace and that is the face saving dignity to walk out with your head held high. The Chinese community will respect you even more rather than to see you treated like dirt.

Something for us to ponder over

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to
get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a
gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a
smile that lit up her entire being..

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give
you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me
a giant squeeze..

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.

She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a
couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking
on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she
told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate
milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave
class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to
this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me..

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made
friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the
attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet.
I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the
podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by
five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply
said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is
killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what
I know.'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing
because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving
success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a
dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one
productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years
old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody! Can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is
to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things
we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets..'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily
lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all
those months ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the
wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you
can possibly be.


These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.

GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.

We make a Living by what we get.

We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Kiss hand, shake hand??

I still can't get over the kissing of Muhyiddin's hand by Kamalanathan. Notice the body language of the two of them as shown in the now infamous photo below. One kissing the hand which truly reflects his party's way of kowtowing to the tai-koh. Then look at the way Muhyiddin lord over poor Kamal with his hand on his hip and "looking down" on the latter. Subsequently, the two of them brought out contradictory statements. Kamalanathan denied that such a thing happened. This photo was immediately splashed all over blogosphere. Muhyiddin said Kamal understands Malay culture.

Now look at the photo below. Heck, even UMNO members don't kiss the boss' hands or is it a Malay culture just to shake hands? So which is which?

With this, Kamal will have to support UMNO's policies even if they meant acting contrary to the interests of the Indian community. Remember all the temple demolitions? Can he look straight into Muhyiddin's face then to express his displeasure? If he does that, I bet you the next thing, Kamal will find himself in "Siberia" just like Soninathan. So Kamal's option would be, hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, and he will survive.

What I learned from Hulu Selangor buy-election

This is what blogger Art Harun has to say in the after-math of the recent concluded Hulu Selangor buy-election.

Okay guys. The by-erection is over.

As many of you might notice, I am a history freak. I just love history. I don't know why. But one thing for sure, I like to look at how people behaved or acted before so that I could learn a lesson or two from them in order to enable me to predict how people will behave in the future. I think that's part of the reason why I love history.

What can I learn from the Hulu Selangor buy-election?

1. First and foremost, this buy-erection teaches me the sure fire way on how to get something done in my constituency. Let's say there are pot holes everywhere on the roads leading to my house. Or there is an old abandoned school project (there are everywhere, aren't they?) which stands like a sore thumb in my housing area which has also doubled up as a drug haunt.
   
   Let's say my kids need a laptop each. And the old folks near my house need some help with their monthly expenditures to make ends meet. Or I need some road humps near my house because there are bloody idiots who drive 80kph on roads in housing estates in their Cayenne or whatever behemoth they drive. And I have been writing countless time to my MP to help. But there isn't anything done.
   
   The trick is to ask my MP to resign. Or to pray that he or she would kick the proverbial bucket.
   
   Then a buy-erection would be declared. And oh my God wouldn't all my prayers be answered instantly! The abandoned school project will immediately be revived. All the pot holes will instantly disappear. My kids will get new laptop. The road humps will suddenly grow on the road in front of my house. Like wow wow.
   
   And I tell you what. If Barisan Nasional wins, I could even get to go to Putrajaya to see the Prime Minister who will see to it that a sum of RM3 million or whatever will be allocated for my mosque, Chinese school or whatever. Fooh...like tawdally simply happenin'.
   
   
2. I also learned from this buy-election that many Malays do not know the difference between a "gift" (for which they should be thankful or grateful) and something which they are already entitled to.
   
   Yes. I am talking about the RM50000.00 each paid to 100 FELDA settlers. That money was not a gift from the government. Nor was it a contribution of any sort from the government. That money belonged to the settlers in the first place because their lands have been taken away more than 10 years ago. That money was long due to them. So there was nothing to be thankful to the government for paying it.
   
   I mean, should I thank you if you had taken my Porsche GT3 (note: this is just an example. I do not have a Porsche GT3 or any Porsche for that matter) about 4 years ago and now you pay me 500 bucks for it?
   
   Yes. But the FELDA settlers could not differentiate between the two. They are owed about a million each for their lands. They are now paid 50000 bucks and they thought it was a gift.
   
   What to do?
   
   
3. I also learned that the Chinese people don't give two hoots to the Barisan Nasional or MCA. To them, the BN or MCA can do or say what they like and they just could not care bloody less. If Pakatan Rakyat had put a chimpanzee as a candidate, the majority of the Chinese people would vote for that chimpanzee. Even if Chua Soi Lek was the challenger.
   
   
4. Then I learned that the majority of Indians in Hulu Selangor however are a predictable lot. They would follow whatever the Barisan Nasional say. Even if UMNO rejected their own party's preferred candidate, the Indians would still support BN. MIC had wanted Palanivel. Local UMNO boys preferred Mugilan. UMNO head honchos put in he-whose-name-is-truly-1Malaysia. And they still supported him.
   
   
5. The next thing I learned is the fact that HINDRAF is now more complicated and dynamic than middle-east politics. They have right winged HINDRAF. Then the left. Then the right-leftist and also the left-rightist. Then they have the true HINDRAF. Also the true right, left, right-leftist as well as the leftist-right. Which makes all the other HINDRAF, whether right, left, rightist-right and leftist-right untrue. Then they have the extreme right, which in other word is known as right-right HINDRAF. As well as left-left HINDRAF.
   
   I don't even know who they support. Or whom they are against. I think they should change their party's name to HUH?DRAF instead.
   
   
6. This buy-election has also taught me that Ibrahim Ali is, at the very least, mildly schizophrenic. One minute he wears an Independent MP hat. In this mode, he is an independent MP who is not aligned to anybody or any party. The next minute, he is the PERKASA leader. In this mode, he fights for the Malay rights, kiss his short Keris in public and wave it about town.
   
   Sometime he fights for Islam, or so he says. Of course he forgets that under Islam, human beings are all equal and the only thing which differentiates people in the eyes of God is piety and how he or she adheres to His wishes.
   
   Then he went to Hulu Selangor and campaigned for Kamalanathan, whom, the last time I checked was not a Malay. On this, Ibrahim Ali said he was in Hulu Selangor not as PERKASA leader but as an independent. Now, if he was an independent who is not aligned to anybody or any party, why was he campaigning for the Barisan Nasional's candidate? Didn't that make him aligned to the BN?
   
   
7. Apart from Ibrahim Ali, I also learned that Kamalanathan is also probably a schizo or a very forgetful boy. When Nasir Safar made some statements which he (Kamal boy) deemed racist, he shouted and screamed on his blog that "the authorities should take the strongest possible steps by charging him with sedition."
   
   However, during the bye-erection, he refused comment when asked about Nasir Safar. Not only that, he mentioned that PERKASA's fights for Malay rights is a-okay by him. And this coming from an Indian, who, in the eye of PERKASA, is "second class citizen." Classicus confuse-ious.
   
   In the same blog entry, he also proclaimed that "I think I am more Malaysian than he is." But when he was asked whether he is an Indian first or Malaysian first, if I remember correctly, he refused to answer. (I stand corrected on this as I am writing this purely from memory).
   
   
8. Be that as it may, I am really proud that YB Kamalanathan has mastered and in fact practised one of the scared act in the Malay culture. That is the act of respecting our leaders and elderly persons by kissing his or her hand. YB, I am proud to call you a brahder Bro. And you speak Bahasa Melayu well too. Even better than Zaid Ibrahim. If we ever meet YB, I expect you to kiss my hand okay. After all I am older than you.
   
   
9. Hulu Selangor bai-elecsyen had also given me a peek into the Malay Muslim psyche. Alhamdulillah. And that is, alcohol is a big no no. Yea. Nope. Alcohol consumption is a sin. A very big sin. And repentance is not enough to wash you off that sin. Because alcohol consumption my friend, is drunkenly sinful.
   
   You can plunder the country. Commit adultery with children. Commit murder. Commit breach of trust. Have sex with some sex worker from China or where ever. Marry a nice trophy wife without telling your first wife. Lie to your wife. Be a hypocrite all the way.
   
   Yes. But drink alcohol? Wooooo, that's sinful Bro. It is sinful unless you did it when you are in Barisan Nasional. HUaHAHaHAHAHaHa... kayu!
   
   
10. The next thing I learned is that Mirzan Mahathir is very clever. All the board members of San whatever parent company had wanted to diversify into some other business rather than concentrate in the business of manufacturing and selling beer (although why they would want to do so is beyond my comprehension when they earn a hell lot of pesos doing so) but they did not know how to do so or what to do.
    They then brought in Mirzan to help them to diversify.
    
    Perhaps they had wanted to diversify into car manufacturing la kot. That's why. But then again, Mirzan must have been one of the smartest diversification strategist around. Caya lu la Bro. You make me stand proud as a Malaysian.
    
    
11. The most important thing that I learn from the Hulu Selangor be-elektion is that the Chinese would get to see the Prime Minister and demand 3 million clams only if the Barisan wins.
    
    
12. Hmmm..."Saiful whatever" is better than the whole Chinese community in Hulu Selangor then.
    Why?
    
    Because he got to see the Prime Minister in his house and there wasn't even a bi-erection. (careful, careful, no pun intended, okay...LOL!!!) Oh sorry, I mean, by-election, not erection.

UMNO won the Hulu Selangor by-election

Yes, the official results are out with BN 24997 PKR 23272 with a majority win of 1,725 votes to BN. Quite frankly, from the word "Go!", it was never a contest between BN and PKR. It was more like UMNO taking the stand instead of MIC. What's more with Najib hopping all over the place, it appeared as though he was the candidate and not Kamalanathan.

Still despite all the dirty tactics applied by UMNO and only to win by a small margin of 1,725 votes, I must say is real pathetic. Muhyiddin stressed that MIC must win by a 6,000 margin as this is the KPI for Kamalanathan. Well, he achieved far less than the target given to him. In a corporate appraisal, Kamalanathan's performance must be rated as "Very Poor".

Although UMNO drew first blood in its slandering campaign against Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, he and the rest of Pakatan Rakyat leaders were better people not to retaliate with the same MO. They stood the course and to be able to gardner a respectable 23,272 votes is a remarkable feat indeed.

To Pakatan Rakyat, you may have lost the battle, but you have not lost the war. Remember Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and Ijok. He lost the Ijok state seat in a by election but won it back in the 12GE.

We salute all those who participated one way or other to make this event a memorable one. Now if UMNO does not deliver, the people who voted for Kamal deserves the MP they voted in.

Good night!

Hulu Selangor By-election - a pictorial account

For those who are following the Hulu Selangor by-election, click here to see the colourful event contributed by Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

All the best to the two candidates.

Final Pakatan rally packs them in, and what a show!

Thousands thronged the Kuala Kubu Bahru min-stadium in Hulu Selangor tonight both in a show of support and to hear Pakatan Rakyat's final pitch before polling begins at 8 am tomorrow for the parliamentary constituency.

While the Pakatan event was held at the Kuala Kubu Bahru mini-stadium, there was nothing 'mini' about the crowd with some 1,000 flooding the venue even before the start time of 9pm.

Just one hour later, the audience was estimated to have risen to over 5,000 reach 8,000 about half-an-hour later. At this juncture, people were seen crowding outside the stadium gates, peering in. The bulk of the crowd comprised of non-locals.

It was a colourful multiracial crowd comprising families and young children amidst the raised PKR and DAP flags. Amongst the first Pakatan leaders to arrive were PKR vice-president Azmin Ali, deputy president Syed Husin Ali and info chief Tian Chua. Those who arrived later included DAP veteran Karpal Singh.

Also seen on stage was former MIC vice-president and ex- Hulu Selangor MP SS Subramaniam who had joined PKR last year. This follows last night's appearance of Tamrin Ghafar, son of the late deputy prime minister Ghafar Baba, on stage with PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim.

'Last-minute deceptions'

Tian Chua was the first to take the microphone and greeted the crowd in three languages.

He then warned party supporters not to be too confident and be wary of what he said would be last-minute deceptions.

The PKR candidate himself Zaid Ibrahim arrived at 9.35pm to the spirited chants 'Reformasi' 'Hidup Keadilan' and 'Undi Zaid Ibrahim'.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar then took the mike and claimed that information was relayed to him that 35 busloads of 'phantom' voters would be coming into Kuala Lumpur via Tanjung Malim tonight.

Azmin then took the podium and told the enthusiastic crowd that the BN candidate for the crucial by-election, P Kamalanathan, would not be a representative for the Indians would instead be a tool of Umno.

Veteran politician and senior counsel Karpal was next to address the crowd who greeted him with thunderous applause. Just at that moment, a police helicopter flew low over the stadium and Karpal had the crowd in stitches when he quipped: "Don't worry, it is not the police, it is Rosmah." (Mansor, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife).

At around 11pm, the three Pakatan menteri besar, Lim Guan Eng of Penang, Khalid Ibrahim of Selangor and Nik Aziz Nik Mat of Kelantan arrive at the stadium to thunderous applause of the now 10,000 strong crowd.

Tok Guru Nik Aziz was clearly a favorite with those present.

'PM must resign'

Guan Eng was the first to take the microphone and took the opportunity to plug for Pakatan at the federal level. He promised to allocate RM1,000 each to all senior citizens and provide free Wi-Fi services nationwide for youth if Pakatan Rakyat assume federal leadership.

Khalid then announced that Zaid had been appointed to head a working committee to assist Felda settlers assume ownership of their land.

Zaid then took the stand and noted that if PM Najib classified tomorrow's by-election as a referendum, then both he and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin should resign immediately should BN lose tomorrow.

A visibly tired Nik Aziz was next to speak and a hush fell over the packed stadium. In the midst of his speech, Pakatan supremo, Anwar Ibrahim made a quiet entrance.

At 11.51pm -nine minutes to midnight - Anwar, as the last speaker, takes the podium and asked supporters to make sure every vote went to Zaid. "Let them be proud and arrogant; we will spring a surprise tomorrow," he said to wild cheers and claps.

It is the question of dignity for the people of Hulu Selangor. Let us not because of RM200 sell of dignity. Tomorrow is the day to regain our dignity [...] no one can take it from us," he added.

On the Apco issue, Anwar said it wasn't about Jews or anti-Semitism but about the BN government engaging Israeli spies. "I am willing to take the matter to court," he said.

'A new chapter'

Referring to the doctored posters of Zaid Ibrahim clutching a whiskey bottle which had made it rounds over the past week in Hulu Selangor, Anwar said that his Pakatan counterpart Lim Kit Siang had challenged PM, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to stand up and admit if they didn't drink. "But all of them remained quiet," Anwar noted.

At 12.10am, the de facto Pakatan leader ended his speech with a parting request to the crowd which by now had swelled to over 13,000.

"The majority of the Malays, Chinese, Indians and Orang Asli must reject Umno and BN. Let this be the beginning of a new chapter in the history of heading towards Putrajaya."

The event drew to a close as the Pakatan leaders came down from the stage and the crowd taking the opportunity to shake their hands and snap photographs as they slowly made their way to the main exit.

[Source: Malaysiakini]

These pictures say it all ....

More pictures can be seen here.

The questionable Maika shares

"Maika share sale an election gimmick?"

It might help voters see straight at HS. Thank you.

"I refer to the Malaysakini report New firm takes over Maika Holdings.

The salient facts about G Gnanalingam's recent offer to buy out all Maika shareholders are as follows:

1. Maika's paid up share capital - RM125 million.

2. Gnanalingam's offer price - RM106 million or RM0.85 per share.

3. Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd's (Ocab) paid up share capital is RM100 million and as at Dec 31, 2008 it's audited NTA was about RM103 million.

4. Maika's investment in Ocab's share capital is 74.165% or 74,174,640 shares, ie, Maika is Ocab's holding company as it has both more than 51% equity shares and control in Ocab. Maika's CEO Vell Paari a/l Samy Velu also sits on the board of directors of Ocab.

5. Prior to Gnanalingam's buyout proposal, there were two other offers to Maika as follows:

a. RM129 million or $1.75 per share by Salcon

b. RM149 million or $ 2.01 per share by Usaha Tegas, the holding company of tycoon Ananda Krishnan.

The Salcon offer was frozen by a court order taken out by Nesa Cooperative, Maika's single largest shareholder who had objected on the grounds that Maika's 74% investment in Ocab had not been independently valued.

Nesa had recommended the investment in Ocab be sold by open tender. Nesa also revealed there were two other parties interested in acquiring Ocab's shares, one from Europe and another from Australia.

As to the RM149 million offer by Usaha Tegas, apparently Maika rejected this offer as it could not accept certain pre-conditions insisted upon by Usaha Tegas. What these pre-conditions were have not been revealed by Maika's directors.

In the light of the above, I demand the board of directors of Maika explain:

1. Why do they think Gnanalingam's offer of RM106 million is suddenly acceptable to them when they unequivocally know there are local market players in the insurance business and foreign parties who are willing to pay more?

2. Why are they unwilling to offer the Maika or Ocab shares for sale by open tender with a reserve price of say, RM150 million, given the Usaga Tegas offer? If as Gnanalingam says, Maika's debts are RM30 million, the net minimum proceeds of RM120 million would be a fair and handsome reward to Maika's shareholders who for some 20 years have received no dividends while there was a period when their CEO was paid a remuneration of RM15,000 per month.

As to Gnanalingam being quoted as saying he's doing 'national service', he contradicts it by saying he will need six months to find another financier which suggests he is looking at flipping the Maika/Ocab shares for a quick gain. So much for national service.

Financiers may do charity work and make sizeable donations from their profits and gains, but their natural predatory instincts mean they will always squeeze out the juicy bits of the best deals for themselves.

It seems clear to me, and for the matter any sane person, that the Maika/Ocab shares are worth a hell of a lot more than Gnanalingam's RM106 million offer.

The RM64,000 question is why Samy Vellu, Vel Paari and the Maika board of directors appear to be not interested in maximising returns to their long-suffering shareholders which include themselves by supporting the lowest offer?

Is there a deal behind the deal?"