Lulu Not Sure If You've Realised That The Circus HAS Arrived

Did you know that the Royal London Circus had set up camp in Puchong Utama?

Per the report from the Star, they were supposed to be performing from Aug 8 to Sep 30 in Taman Puchong Utama.
Then a few weeks later, Lulu read that the performance was suddenly cut short.
"Bad planning", "Gross mismanagement" "apa-lah ni?" was some of the grouses that Lulu heard from people who were planning to go.

Then yesterday, Lulu learnt the truth behind the kena potong.

from the Sun 26Sept pg 9
"MPSJ Banning Circuses During Ramadan"
PAS Secretary General Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar says the Subang Jaya Municipal Council is denying non-Muslims the right to watch circus performances by banning them during the month of Ramadan.
snip-snip
... he told Oriental Daily News when asked to comment on the council's move to stop a circus from showing in Puchong Utama with the reason that all entertainment activities must stop during Ramadan.

and from a discussion in lowyat.net,

It's not the management's fault. Blame it to MPSJ-- we cannot perform till the 30th of September because by next week, Puasa period will start.
Yeah, what a lame excuse. What happened to the "multi-racial" country, this country is claiming about?
If they have to be strict about it, then they have to be fair; they must also close ALL the entertainment business in lieu of the Puasa period.
Let's take for example the cinema, aracades, pubs, videokes, etc., etc., . Albeit, they are open during Puasa.
The Royal London Circus, has never experienced this, only until now here in Puchong. Which infact, we had operated during Puasa period even to the most conservative/traditional Muslim area like Kuantan.
Besides, the license we applied for was originally dated 12 July to 12 September and only almost a month after they allowed us to perform. We could have started earlier and avoid performing during Puasa.
We are endorsed by the Tourism -- The Royal London Circus has not only brought entertainment to people but it has also garnered tourists overseas thus, helping the Tourism especially during the 50th Merdeka.

To ban the circus during Ramadan because it is a form of entertainment?
Why stop there?
The TV stations should go blink the whole month. or maybe just air Quran readings and nasyid singing.
Newspapers should do away with their Hiburan section.
and whilst we are at it, Zam should stop talking this whole month because many of us consider what he says as pure entertainment.
Absolute LUDICROUS!
When will they understand that a desire for God and to do His will starts with your heart? It is not in the pious deeds that you do and the wicked that you dont do. And you could put a wicked man in the most sanitised environment, and if his heart is wicked, he will remain wicked.

yes siree....! The circus has arrived, and Lulu's not talking about the Royal London Circus. Islam-as-i-say-tion is here, it is run by the little mullahs who do as they please, and subject you to their whims and fancies.
You are now paying for it, and if it is not stopped, your children will have to pay a heavier price.
Remember this : Because the non-Muslim partners do not / will not treat the problem at the root, the fella from BN you voted has now to fight with the symptoms. And even so, they are unsuccessful. Are you sure you want to vote them back in again?

Lulu Wasnt There, But They Were

yup, the posts are beginning to pour in from those who were there

Jeff Ooi Bar Council buses barred from entering Putrajaya; Memos submitted, pressing for Royal Commission.
Rocky We Are Marching
Shanghai Stephen The Penguin Walk Begins
Elviza The Walk Of Justice
Eli Wong Long Walk To Freedom
Patrick Teoh A Walk For Justice
X-Eyed Jules Today I Behaved Like The Opposition
Malay Women Walk Of Justice Was A Success
Siber Party Of Malaysia Justice In The PMs Office
Li Tsin I Marched All 8 Kilomoters of It :)
Weng San Lawyers March - Photos and Videos (he has 5 video clips attached)
Haris Ibrahim A Walk For Justice
Tricia Yeoh Walk To Justice
Mahaguru Malaysian Bar Council's Walk For Justice
Nat Tan The New Faces Of Justice
Bernard Khoo Today I Salute Our Malaysian Lawyers
Nuraina Walk For Justice
Tony Yew Justice We Want Justice
Raja Petra Lawyers March To The PM's Office
Khoo Kay Peng Walk For Justice
Sivin Kit United For A Demand For Justice
Shar101 I was there

Others who were there but whose blog is not updated yet include
Malik Imtiaz
Tony Pua
Teresa Kok
Chin Tong

and does anyone know if Father OC Lim has a blog? Heard he was there too.

The Malaysian Bar Walk for Justice: "When lawyers walk, something must be very wrong"

Videos are available at Malaysiakini, Malaysiakini & Malaysiakini and [believe it or not] The Star

Lulu Learn From The Star

some people out quite clever. They are asking their readers to send in photos of whats happening in Myanmar instead of sending their own people in or buying photos from the news agencies.
Lulu thought, that's quite a smart cut-cost win-win [i let you glamour, you gimme your photos free] deal.

Hey... lulu should also try that for her blog.
so, here goes
remember, you can mail your photos to lulu at whatalulu@gmail.com

In the meantime, Lulu share with you pictures taken by Merdekareview and Malaysiakini

Lulu Thinks You Probably Know This, But Wanted To Post This Anyway

According to eyewitnesses, Putrajaya police chief Supt Abdul Razak Abdul Majid told the protest organisers - the Bar Council - that the march could not proceed due to security reasons

yup, this group was perceived as a threat.
(pix from Malaysiakini)
pray tell lulu then, how would you describe this group?


okay, considering the heat and rain and walk and non-billing hours the lawyers had to endure, Lulu'll be kind, not leave you in suspense, and tell you whall they're called.
They're called UMNOputeras

Lulu Wonders If The Bosses Battled Over Allowing This Online

Lulu Anxious For The Putrajaya Protestors

Malaysiakini update at 10:44am

Protesters barred from entering Putrajaya
Sep 26, 07 10:44am

The police have barred seven buses packed with lawyers and members of the public from entering Putrajaya this morning. The buses were headed towards the Palace of Justice in the administrative capital where the passengers were to take part in a protest march calling for a royal commission of inquiry into judicial integrity.
Malaysiakini learnt that some private vehicles too have been stopped from entering Putrajaya.
Those stranded - numbering about 200 - are now walking to the Palace of Justice, which is located about five kilometres away from where they have been stopped.

A friend who is there told Lulu that the busses were turned away, and they got down the bus and walked 5km to get into Putrajaya. There are more than a thousand protestors there, from the legal fraternity and civil society. There are more streaming in.
Lulu keeps reminding her friends, "take picture! take picture!", like as if they were tourists.
But, rest assured, there will be loads and loads of photographs and videos to mark this historical march.

The march itself to the PM's department has not started as the roads are blocked there too.

Lulu is praying that this march will send a chill down Badawi and company's spine.
oh... and i guess, no loya buruk jokes for a month. Thanks guys, for marching and standing up for us!

2nd update 11:51am
Police block protest march in Putrajaya

About 1,000 protesters who have gathered at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya have been denied permission by the police to march the three kilometres to the Prime Minister’s Department to submit a memorandum on saving the judiciary. According to eyewitnesses, Putrajaya police chief Supt Abdul Razak Abdul Majid told the protest organisers - the Bar Council - that the march could not proceed due to security reasons. Bar Council vice-chairperson Ragunath Kesavan confirmed this to Malaysiakini. He also added that they would proceed with the march.

March begins despite police order
The protesters then heard a short speech from Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan before starting their march at 12 noon.
“We walk peacefully and with dignity,” said Ambiga, who added that she was overwhelmed and proud of the good turnout today.
She said that the march was a “walk for justice” as “we deserve a first class judiciary”.
“When lawyers walk, that means there is something wrong. We want changes in the judiciary,” she said.

Protesters handing over memo

Having defied a police order not to march, protesters are now at the Prime Minister's Department where their representatives are handing over a memorandum to an official.
The protesters took about 30 minutes to reach the building. A four-member delegation led by Ambiga is currently in the building.
Those waiting outside are braving a heavy downpour that started about 12.45pm.

Walk for justice ends with memo submission

A peaceful ‘Walk for Justice’ organised by the Bar Council ended with the submission of a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Department calling for the establishment of a royal commission of inquiry to stem the slide in the judiciary.
A four-member delegation from the Bar Council submitted the memorandum to an official from the PM’s Department. The premier is currently in New York.
They chanted "We want justice" as they marched, holding placards stating "Judiciary has gone to the dogs" and "Judiciary has gone (down) the drain".

Rocky is reporting from the ground We Are Marching

Lulu Hopes They'll Pick A Few Good Men of Intergrity

they need to,
they really need to.

for the sake of the integrity of the judiciary,
if there is rot, it needs to be cleansed
for the sake of the innocent
if the two most quoted names are innocent, good men on the panel will clear their name. shoddy men will only provide more fuel for the fire
for the sake of the coming General elections
if they want to boast they did something good, this is their moment to shine.

A few good men on integrity.
Lulu hopes they dont blow their chance

Lulu Feeling Dejavu-ish

Do you remember how you felt when you first heard Darth Vader say, "I am your father"?

Vader's revelation to Luke that he is his father is one of the most famous movie plot twists of all time.
Totally unexpected, it totally blew Lulu away.
Totally, totally shocked.
How could it be?
What happened?
What's going on?
Aren't they supposed to be on contrasting ends? Why are they suddenly related?

Kinda dejavu.... kinda like how the rakyat felt when they heard Nazri announce "I am HIS minister"
Totally unexpected, it totally blew Lulu away.
Totally, totally shocked.
How could it be?
What happened?
What's going on?
Aren't they supposed to be on contrasting ends? Why are they suddenly related?

yes, Lulu is still in shock. Still not gotten over it. Maybe some things, you never get over.

At least with Darth Vader, he was a fictional character revealing the truth in the show, but with Nazri, he's real and alive and talking nonsense which no one in government is refuting/correcting.
And that's scary.

If you have time, read Maybe Lulu Watch Too Many Foreign Movies

Lulu Feels SO Embarassed for Dr Sheikh Muszaphar

i really do.

Thanks to Aisehman, Lulu checked out the NASA website and learnt that this flight is Expedition16.

And in this entry dated Sept 6th [time stamp is on the bottom right corner], Lulu learnt that the crew consists of
Commander Peggy A. Whitson Whitson
Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko
Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani
Flight Engineer Léopold Eyharts
Flight Engineer Garrett E. Reisman
and our glorious
Spaceflight Participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor

everyone has a glorious write-up. In fact, there's so much to say about them, there a "+Biography".
Our glorious "Spaceflight Participant" pula, you know what they have to say about his participation? Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will launch with Expedition 16 and land with Expedition 15.

Aiyoh... Lulu feels SO embarassed for him. At least they didnt put "Got a free ticket thanks to the purchase of 10 Sukhoi Su-30 MKN jet fighters from Russia".
But Lulu guess, the way the Malaysian government and the media play it up, the jaguh kampung would probably still reign in the kampung. The government is probably going to send millions for the PM, his Mrs, and all the other freeloaders to see the "spaceflight participant" blast off from Kazakhstan. Pity they couldnt spare a dime for the participants of the Special Olympics.

Wonder what his blog entry on this would be like? You think it would be anything like lulu's?

Maybe Lulu Watch Too Many Foreign Movies

Lulu always thought that Malaysia practices a separation of power between state and legistlative.
Lulu's quite sure there were these diagrams in her Pengajian Am book. There were separate boxes for the the executive, legislature and judiciary.

Executive power is vested in the cabinet led by the prime minister.
Legislative authority is the power to make laws and also the power to raise taxes and authorize expenditure. These are your MPs and State Assemblymen.
The judiciary are the courts and her judges.

and the next bit, which i got from [of all places!] the Malaysia tourism website states,
In order to execute its judiciary functions without being partial in any way, the Judiciary is independent of the Legislative Authority and Executive Authority. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia is also providing safeguards to ensure that judges can carry out their duties as judiciary without any influence from the desires and wishes of either the Legislative or Executive Authority.

if that is what this tourism site is telling our foreign visitors, then it must be true.
and that Lulu is remembering it correctly, not that she's been watching too many foreign movies with all these anasir buruk which propogate human rights.

so, why is it that Lulu is reading this in Malaysiakini?

Lulu Plays "Spot The Holes In The Story"

aka Lulu Thinks, With Cops Like These, Who Needs Robbers

Exciting things were happening at the Apollo market yesterday.
The Sun reports that a commotion occured between the police and a crowd of about 200 people at the Apollo market on Jalan Raja Uda during a raid on an illegal VCD stall yesterday.

The People's Version

They said a man dressed in a tee-shirt and shorts had approached, drawn a
firearm and hit a man who was taking care of the VCD stall with a pistol butt.
That was when those who were there surrounded him until the other policemen came.

This was what the shoppers and hawkers saw, and their conviction about what had happened was so strong, they actually went to the police station to lodge a report on the incident as they saw it.

The Police Version (the Sun)

The police claimed it was a misunderstanding because the policement involved were in civilian clothes.
The shoppers and the hawkers claimed a man with a pistol had staged a "robbery".
According to Seberang Prai Utara district police chief, ACP Wan Abdullah Tengku Said, police had received information about VCD peddlers selling pronographic VCDs at the market at about 11am.
"Two policement, who lived in the community, were sent to the scene to investigate, but they went in civilian clothes, and while one waited outside the market, the other went in."
He said when the VCD peddlar, a Chinese woman, believed to be from mainland China, saw the policeman approaching, she ran away"
"While the policeman was collecting the VCDs, someone in the crowd shouted ompak and more than 200 shoppers and hawkers surrounded him.
"He then produced his authority card to show proof that he was a policeman. At the same time, Butterworth OCS Chief Insp Zamri Shariff arrived and managed to calm
the situation"

additional Police Version (The Star)

An undercover operation “backfired” when 200 people confronted two policemen in Jalan Raja Uda, mistaking them for robbers.
The policemen, in plainclothes, had gone to an open-air market at about 11am following a tip-off that porn VCDs were being openly sold.
The duo were said to have flashed their authority cards, following which two VCD peddlers made a getaway. The policemen then went on to seize the VCDs that were placed on a table.
The crowd, suspecting something amiss, surrounded the shabbily-dressed olicemen. Someone then shouted rompak, rompak! (robbery!).
During the commotion, four men carted away the seized VCDs. The standoff with the police lasted about an hour. A man was brought back to the Butterworth police station for questioning and released later.
North Seberang Prai OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said, who said the incident arose due to a “misunderstanding”, added that both policemen maintained that they had shown their authority cards.
“My men said they identified themselves but several witnesses said they did not do that,” he told a press conference at the Butterworth police contingent headquarters.
He said the two policemen, who sensed trouble after seeing the crowd swell, radioed for assistance.
ACP Wan Abdullah said policemen in patrol cars hurried to the scene.
He said police would investigate claims that one of the policemen had a scuffle with a man and brandished a pistol at him.

The holes that Lulu has spotted
1. Fair enough, they can wear plain clothes. BUT, if it was an operation, why were two cops who were at home, dressed casually, sent to carry out the ops. It was not like there were no policement around cos when they got ino trouble, were able to summon to help, and backup hurried to the scene.

2. Was it one cop at the booth sapu-ing, or two cops? Is there no code such that you never work alone? How could he have gone in alone, whilst the other "kept watch" outside the market?

3. Were there two VCD peddlars or one, who is conveiniently described as a woman, believed to be from mainland China.

4. Why would the VCD peddlar run away when she saw the policeman approaching? He was dressed shabbily, not in policeman attire. How would she know him from the average Joe.... unless a> she does not exist b> he was swinging his gun

Lulu's sure you can spot a lot more holes in this story.

And if Lulu understands the psyche of the Chinese traders correctly, unless they firmly believe in what they saw as the truth, they would not court trouble from the police. No way they would go to the police station to lodge their report. You get what I mean?

Lulu Continues To Wonder If The Star Is Getting Careless

Lulu [maybe like the Star editor] didnt notice it. A very intelligent friend pointed it out.

So now Lulu wondering,
did the Star editor get careless (again!) or there is a Joceline Yap in the Star who gives insights to Joceline Tan's column?
hmmm.....

Other than the wondering about this petty issue, the article was quite a good read. If you have not read it yet, you can read it here http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2007/9/23/columnists/joceline/18936513&sec=Joceline

Lulu THinks Something Is Grossly Wrong With The Laws of This Country

When Section 33 of the Child Act 2001, which states that
parents or guardians found guilty of leaving their child, can be fined a maximum of RM5,000 or jailed no more than two years or both
can be used to charge the grieving parents of Nurin,

why where there no laws to charge
Senator Datuk Muhammad Abdul Ghani when it was discovered that cloned APs came from the senator's company.
One-eyed Jasin who wanted customs officials to "close one eye" in regards to his timber import shenanigans
State Assemblyman Zakaria Md Deros who built a palace without a building plan on land which he bought at his "privileged" price.

Is there something grossly lacking with the laws of the country?
or
Is there something grossly wrong with the implimentation and execution of our laws?

Lulu doesnt know which it is. Maybe one or the other, or worse still, both.
Whichever it is, there is something grossly wrong with this country.

Lulu Was Wondering Where All The Youth and Sports Ministry Money Went To

It really saddened Lulu's heart to read that the Special Olympics Malaysia squad could not find local sponsors to help ease the burden in the event.

Special Olympics Malaysia chairman Joseph Lau Tee Sun said was deeply disappointed that no state or federal agency he approached was willing to sponsor even a “fraction” of the expenses. Even Malaysia Airlines turned down his request for assistance.
The total expenses for the trip works out to RM150,000, including food, accommodation, training and sports attire. Eight coaches and two officials will accompany the athletes.

“Since early this year, I couriered and faxed letters to the Youth and Sports Ministry, the Education Ministry and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry,” he said, adding that only the Youth and Sports Ministry sent a letter dated Aug 8 stating that it had no funds.

sigh... at first, Lulu was wondering, where all the money could have gone.

Then, a lightbulb flashed!


ah....
Sad, isn't it?

A Lulu Quiz

can you tell me, without searching it online, from the top of your head,
How many universities are there in Malaysia?

Do you know how many there are today? Lulu looked it up Direktori IPTS.
Let Lulu shock you with the list.

Public Universities
1.Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia (UDM)
2. Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM)
3. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
4. Universiti Malaya (UM)
5. Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK)
6. Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)
7. Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
8. Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
9. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
10. Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)
11. Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI)
12. Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM)
13. Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
14. Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia(USIM)
15. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
16. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)
17. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
18. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
19, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia(UTHM)
20. Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)

I'm sure by now, you're wondering, what's Lulu's problem in all this.
Please be patient as Lulu explains.

Lulu's currently reading Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat.
TF gave very high marks to India for setting up the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Lulu's going to pick up some bits from his book.

"The IITs became islands of excellence by not allowing the general debasement of the Indian system to lower their exacting standards," noted the Wall Street Journal (April 16, 2003).
"You couldn't bribe your way to get into an IIT... Candidates are accepted only if they pass a grueling entrance exam. The government does not interfere with the curriculum and the workload is demanding." pg127
and when the Y2K bug needed a fix,This computer remediation work was a huge, tedious job. Who in the world had enough software engineers to do it all?
Answer : India, with all the techies from all those IITs and private technical colleges and computer schools. pg 131

Look at India today in terms of IT advancement. They're such a great success. Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India has 10,000 individual dollar millionaires.
It's not like Malaysia did not foresee the future of IT. We build a whole township called Cyberjaya to cater to this need.

Where-o-where did we fail?
Look how the IITs were run. Ours ran totally contrary of what the IITs did. We took in, and are still taking in candidates who got there based on a "helping the weaker race" policy, who are so weak, we "help" them by offering kelas tambahan, we "help" them again by moving the grading curve, we "help" them graduate out of university, and they graduate, and they are basically unemployable because of they were helped all the way. I wish the story ended here, but the government "helps" them (again!) by employing them, hence inflating our emolument expenses.
Can you see how we have failed to produce choice employees in this era of globalisation?
Our jaguh kampungs can barely stand in the local arena, how are we, this nation, going to take advantage of this borderless world?

Our politicians are too busy churning our graduates to be able to boast that "The number of Malay graduatess has increased many-many fold (so we need to preserve the NEP)". Alas, tese young ones come out posessing nothing other than that piece of paper with little education or thinking skills with them.
Our politicians are too busy promising universities to "borderline" states. When they build them, we wonder how much was siphoned out of the kononnya "cost". We wonder who will staff these universities. But we dont wonder where they will find the students from.
Our politicians are too busy main-ing politik with the universities. The best man did not get the job. If you are of the right race and not vocal about the ruling party, probably. If you are of the of the right race and has shown to be a very willing with the ruling party, definetly.

We seriously need to produce quality graduates. Churning out graduates is not enough for a flat world.

Thomas Friedman is an excellent and relevant writer on the topic of globalisation.
You can follow his column on the New York Times
oh... if you're not smart like Lulu, Lulu advises you to read more and let the writings of the smarter person make you sound a bit smarter. So, if you think our PM not so smart, could you please offer this piece of advise to him. Lulu would do it herself, but she tak kenal him.

SIM KWANG YANG contemplates this issue at Failing Malaysian varsities

Lulu Thinks The Anti-Corruption Sandiwara Has Begun

Maybe the PM realised that there are some Malaysians out there who remember his anti-corruption pledge, and decides to offer some sacrifices to appease his voters.

The first to go are three cops.

PUTRAJAYA: Three senior police officers found it did not pay to break the rules when two of them were sacked and another demoted.
The punishment meted out against the trio was announced by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday
-NST For marrying again, senior police officer sacked and another demoted

oo-wow-wee. The PM makes this very important announcement.
oo-wow-wee. Action is taken. It doesnt pay to break the rules in the Malaysia civil service.
oo-wow-wee... if you think Lulu's impressed, then, errhhh, you must be one of those who voted for BN in the last GE.

But Lulu definetly thinks the sandiwara has begun.
If you're some mid-level corrupt fool, Lulu warns you to be careful. You may be next on the sacrificial table.

Will the CJ be on the list?
Lulu don't know, and can only guess that it depends on the PM's popularity index. If need be, the CJ will be sacrificed. Afterall, the lingam tapes were in the M era. Not Badawi's "fault".

Lulu's Wondering What's With The IGP

Lulu has no doubt he made the silly statement with such insensitive timing, but Lulu's wondering, was he fed the question?

Did he just get korbankan-ed to be the silly man of the month to distract us from other problems?

like the Port Klang "loan"

the Lingam tapes

the everything naik harga season

What do you think?

don't let the media do a Danae on you!

Lulu Loves Her Comics!

ever since Lulu signed up a Facebook account and added the comics application, Lulu's getting her daily dose of her favourite comics. Thought I'd share with you two of today's strips

We have heard many times how the government says they are fair and believe in equality.

Yup! Looks like we are getting it, Zoe style!

Danae hit the X on how Malaysian crisis are averted.
distractions! distractions! and more distractions!

Lulu Grieves

There must be some things we can do to make it a safer place for our children

Lulu's Brilliant Idea To Stem Corruption

basing on the government's brilliant idea to combat illegal logging, why don't we do that to combat the sick disease called corruption which has penetrated all levels of society?

What is the government's brilliant plan?

To combat illegal logging, the Government will shift the burden of proof to buyers of timber.
An amendment to the National Forestry Act, to be made in the next few months, will see those suspected of carrying out illegal logging having to prove that the commodity was obtained legally.
Failing this, they will be deemed to have acquired the timber illegally.
-The Star

Fed up of the extremely low success rate in prosecuting illegal loggers, the National Forestry Council has decided to amend the law to shift the burden to loggers to prove that their logs are legally felled.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who chaired the 21st Council meeting today, said:
"The council agreed to review and amend the National Forestry Act 1984 to incorporate the principle that the burden of proof is transferred to the party that is found to be in possession of timber.
"This means those found in possession of timber must furnish proof from where the trees were cut. If they cannot show proof, it means they have committed an offence. If they can produce proof as to the source of the timber it, it means the logs are from a legitimate source."
He said the amendments would incorporate tighter provisions and stiffer penalties on errant loggers, to show the government's firmness and seriousness in dealing with the problem.
-The Sun

Najib's remarks come after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi pledged last month not to indiscriminately approve logging licences, amid mounting concern that clearances are threatening endangered species and tribal communities.
- Malaysiakini

Lulu's brilliant idea heeds PM's pledge during the 04 elections to fight corruption. So, Lulu's proposal is not anti-kerajaan, but to membantu kerajaan.

In the same spirit as what is being done with the logs, lets shift the burden of proof to the corrupt! for starters, lets go after those in public service whose lifestlye seems way too extravagant for the salary they are getting. Tun Haniff himself wrote that "40% of the senior officers could be arrested without further investigations – strictly on the basis of their lifestyles".
Sounds good, doesn't it? Tempting...
BUT
it goes totally against the spirit of justice, that you are innocent until proven guilty.

The National Forestry Council and the AG Chambers needs to study the current loopholes and come up with better enforcement and prosecution rather than take this lazy way out.

What Would Lulu Do?

if you had met up with your boss to ask for a pay rise as
1. the rise you ask for is fair market value
2. your current pay is not enough to meet your expenses
3. there is a spike in demand for your skill set
4. there is also a dearth in the alternative skill set which may have covered for the shortage in your skill set

but your boss turns you down and tells you no without explaining why.

your guess is that
1. he wants to meet his kpi and not increase department expenditure
2. he wants to be a hero at your expense
3. he thinks YOU should do national service and put service ahead of self whilst he goes around in his luxury cars and returns to his very expensive bungalow.

would you leave your company and take your skill set somewhere else where you will be better paid and better rewarded?
what would you do?

The chicken farmers had met with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to protest against the lower ceiling price of RM5.60 imposed for chicken last week.
This is a reduction from the pre-puasa ceiliing price of RM6.00 and will be effective from will be effective from Sept 13 to Oct 20 for Hari Raya Aidilfitri, and from Nov 1 to 15 for Deepavali.

The previous ceiling price of RM6.00 took effect on Oct 1, 2004 and had not been reviewed since in spite of the rise in prices of chicken feed ingredients like soya bean and crude palm oil over the past year. The cost of corn, which constitutes a large part of chicken feed, shot up by 50% over the last six months.
Lulu would also like to add that in that period, the government has allowed the price of petrol, electricity and water[if you stay in Selangor] to go up, up and away, so, don't tell Lulu that the government is helping us keep the price of chicken low because they love us and are prihatin terhadap kehendak rakyat.

Demand for chicken has gone up due to the festive season. It does not help that the Malacca government insist on getting rid of, by any means required, 100,000 pigs in their state, prompting a shortage in supply of a meat alternative.

In a recent "holier than thou" price check in the city led by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal, 47 traders had their goods seized while more than 100 were issued summonses. Most of them were booked on the count of selling chicken above the ceiling price.

And now with Singapore lifting the ban on Selangor poultry products, if you were a poulty breeder, wouldnt you choose to sell your chicken to that little island nation who will pay you fair price, rather than locally in a suppresed, rugi wang market?

Remember how Lulu started by asking you what would you do if you asked your boss for a pay rise with valid reasons? You would take your skill set elsewhere, wouldnt you?
In light of that, don't be so fast to "boo sama poultry farmers" who take their chicken to Singapore to sell.

btw,
with regards to sellnig chicken above ceiling prices, Lulu's not advocating that you break the law, but please, the people are crying.
"It's a matter of survival for us"
"No one will want to do a business which makes losses,"
"We cannot possibly survive based on the ceiling price set by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry,"
"Currently, there is a shortage of some 20% chickens in the market,"
"It is difficult as the earnings are not enough to cover costs."

For further reading,
8 SeptFarmers: Poultry prices too low
9 Sept Dealers say difficult to sell chicken at ceiling price
15 Sept Summonses for 100 traders
15 Sept Production costs have increased
15 Sept To avoid action, retailers need to produce proof of wholesale price
17 Sept Singapore lifts ban on Selangor poultry
6 Sept Send the swine elsewhere or they'll be culled

Lulu cannot help but think

that this is the kind of mentality/attitude that UMNO is trying to perpetuate with the NEP/DEB/whateveritiscallednow



Sad, isn't it?

Lulu Thinks, With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies

On Sunday, Lulu saluted the young and the fearless. Yee Yang Yang of UPM had the support of his friends when he went the the student affairs office to reclaim his "confiscated" items. Even though the officers there got nasty, his friends stood by him.

MCA however, DOES NOT have friends like Yang Yang does.
When push comes to shove, this is what their closest partner tells them.

Najib tells MCA: Explain yourself to voters

If the Chinese Malaysian community perceives that the MCA is under-performing, it is because the political party has not adequately explained its efforts to protect their interests. This was Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s take on why the MCA, a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party, has fallen in the estimation of its constituents.
In an interview published today by Sin Chew Daily, Najib said the MCA has been told to go all out to correct such sentiments, especially with the anticipation that there will be a swing in Chinese support to opposition parties in the next general election.
Najib, who is also the BN deputy chairperson, was asked to comment on the community’s anger with the MCA and the party’s possible loss of political support.
There is also a widely-held sentiment among MCA leaders that - while they are busy ‘fire fighting’ - other BN leaders are setting fires and stirring up the community’s feelings on numerous issues that affect its interests.
Najib appeared to differ with the view but told the MCA that its challenge is to explain various government policies to the community.

Some early in the morning thoughts

1. With friends like your buddy who gives this kind of advise, who proclaims on a whim and fancy that we are an Islamic state, who suka-suka, waves the sword, who needs enemies? As it is, UMNO is doing a fantastic job.

2. Ha!Ha! Time for another roadshow to explain "various government policies" to the community? Haiyo.... is MCA sure they want to go around further proving the "running dog" theory? Lulu has ngam-ngam cham-cham about OKT's claim that MCA is the voice of the Chinese here.

3. MCA chose to go to bed with UMNO. There are personal beneficiaries of course, afterall, how many MCA State Assemblymen and MPs do you know who drive humble cars? MOB illustrates their position aptly in the poster below.

Lulu Wonders Why We Allow Some Bad Cops To Stay And Tarnish The Good Name of The Whole Force

Tun Hanif Omar in his column in the Star last month wrote

I briefed the Royal Commission that police corruption was so extensive that a very senior ACA officer had confided in me and another top retired police officer that 40% of the senior officers could be arrested without further investigations – strictly on the basis of their lifestyles. One state police chief had a net worth of RM18mil. My friend and I had watched the force getting deeper and deeper into the morass of corruption.

In these past few days, Lulu has seen more news on bad cops.
Some of these news really break Lulu's heart. To read the full report, click on the picture for the embedded link.

There are good cops left in the force. There must be. It can't be all bad.
And it is because of them that we must see to the implementation of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
The good cops have done a good job, and they should not be bundled with the bad cops.

Some things you may want to know about the IPCMC

2. What is IPCMC?
• The IPCMC is an independent, external oversight body, whose principal function is to receive and investigate complaints about the PDRM and its personnel.
• The IPCMC will drastically change the present situation. It will make PDRM much more accountable and will help restore and sustain public confidence in PDRM.

3. Who will sit on the IPCMC?
• The IPCMC will be made up of seven Commissioners appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, on the advice of the Prime Minister, for a three-year term.
• The IPCMC is expected to (generally) conduct public hearings. It will be accountable to Parliament.

4. What kind of issues can the IPCMC address?
• The IPCMC will be empowered to investigate police corruption, the commission of criminal offences by the police, and other misconduct.
• The IPCMC can investigate the actions of a police officer even if he or she is not on duty or outside the country.

If you want to know more about the IPCMC, read more about it on Aliran's website, An indispensable part of police reform

Lulu Thoughts 1.Why Are The Editors At The Star Getting Careless 2. SS3 repavements

Encik Ahmad Bakri of Petaling Jaya wrote a letter to The Star Metro highlighting the road conditions in his area, particularly road 34, which if his memory serves him correctly, has only been retarred once in this three decades.
All over the letter is SS1, SS1, SS1/34, SS1/34, SS1/34,
why then, Lulu ask, is the letter headlined as
Roads in SS3 need upgrading

as it is, Lulu is gravely concerned about the credibility of the news reported in the Star, now Lulu also wondering if the editors are also getting careless and/or lazy.

and this brings Lulu to her next grouse,

SS3, unlike SS1, has been overblessed with constant road resurfacing. If you are wondering why we're so blessed, it's because the oyster part of the oyster fried meehun stays in SS3.
Now, now, don't be envious. The problem is that the contractors who have been hired take the shortcut instead of doing what they have been contracted to do. When you repave a road, you are supposed to dig out the old road, then pave over that. But these contractors cut corners by laying over the current road.
As a result, a lot of houses in SS3 are now below road level.
But these sial contractors also know how to pretend. If you go to SS3/46, you will not encounter this problem. You will find the houses level with the road. As you all know, the one known as noodle aunty stays in Aman Suria, so, no prizes for guessing who stays there.

Lulu Salutes The Young and The Fearless

One of these student's friends was "visited" by the Hal-Ehwal Pelajar of his university and his laptop, handphone, MP4 player, 2 pendrives, leaflets and personal documents were confiscated without giving written acknowledgment of the items confiscated.

His friends stood by him and walked with him in his pursuit for justice.

It makes Lulu think, how many of us would stand by our friends and walk with them? This walk is no walk in the park. There would probably be consequences.
Are we willing to do the right thing, especially when it will cost us something?

Read more about the incident at Mainstream politics and criminal intimidation in campus elections?

It Used To Be That SomeTimes, Lulu Don't Understand The Star

now, it's like quite often, Lulu doesn't understand The Star.

Looks at how the MPS meeting was covered by the other papers.

This is what Malaysiakini wrote

At this juncture, one resident committee representative known only as Rashid, allegedly lunged at Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Association (Roar) president N Surendran with Anthony caught in the middle.

“I’m on a wheelchair. I can’t run. I cannot protect myself. I was very scared,” said Anthony, who runs Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive).

Surendran said that although he was unhurt in the incident, he was certain that he would have been assaulted by Rashid had the latter not been restrained by others.

The two said Rashid had followed the group to the lobby of the MPS headquarters and that the latter’s antics didn’t stop there.

Animal lover Lim Ann Nee (right), who was taking video footage of the scene at the lobby was allegedly hit on one arm several times with a booklet by Rashid.

“I told him at least seven times ‘Don’t touch me!’. But he was chasing us away,” she said.

maybe you're thinking, "aiyah... that's Malaysiakini."
well, NST also reports a scuffle.


but the Star.... o the Star....
There was 2 coverage on it, one under nation, and the other in metro
Selayang dog-catching competition scrapped - no mention of any scuffles whatsoever
MPS scraps contest - even better.

As Tang was seated at the conference room on the ninth floor, SPCA representative N. Suren-dran, who is also Malaysian Animals Rights and Welfare Society (Roar) pro-tem committee president, demanded that the dog-catching competition be scrapped.
Tang asked him to calm down and said the issue had to be discussed rationally.
Surendran together with Petpositive president Anthony Thanasayan and Malaysian Association for Responsible Pet Ownership president Dr John Satyamoorthy then left in a huff.

hmm.... notice the gap?

ayoyo... ini Star....

Lulu Thought Chan Kong Choy Ask e-Kesihatan to Stop Cheating

When Lulu saw the headline , Lulu though that the 'medical check-up" that he had in Australia knocked some sense into him. Maybe he saw his mortality and realised his accountability, that kinda thing. Wow! So Bold!
Yup! Yup! eKesihatan has to stop cheating!

Please understand, people do support the need to do a check-up on drivers to weed out those who are unfit, have drug or alcohol problems, that kinda thing. We have seen too many unnecessary deaths causing much grief to many families.

But the manner that is planned for implementation leaves much to be desired.

The Wilayah Persekutuan Taxi Owners and Drivers Association, the Kuala Lumpur Taxi Workers Association and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Radio Taxi Association, which together represent about 3,000 cabbies, slammed the RTD’s eKesihatan scheme for placing yet another financial burden on taxi drivers.

Taxi drivers want to know why they have to pay RM80 for a medical check-up at a panel clinic, when they can get the same examination for RM1 at a government hospital.

Why pay RM80 for a RM1 check?

The medical fraternity have their questions too.

They question the need of a middle man who adds no value to the chain, but earns RM35 from every test and RM100 for doctor registration

They question the cost, and they have offered alternatives

It's also pathetic that this scheme was cooked up in a short time without consultation.

Docs give thumbs down to JPJ scheme

But sad to say, when Chan Kong Choy was headlined as saying "eKesihatan to stop cheating, says Kong Choy", he meant

KUALA LUMPUR: The new eKesihatan scheme was introduced to plug loopholes in the current system, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said.
He said the system, which would be phased out by the end of this month, had many leakages including chits being falsified.
“A lot of commercial vehicle drivers, including express bus drivers, are unfit to drive and even drug addicts are able to drive due to weaknesses in the current system,” he said.
On the negative reaction from various parties on the scheme, Chan said the Road Transport Department (JPJ) has been asked to hold dialogues and meetings with those involved.
Asked why JPJ wanted the doctors involved in the scheme to register with a private company, Chan said: “I don’t think they are registering the doctors.”
He said what was required was for clinics to become part of the panel.
On the third party company being given the right to operate the new system, Chan said: “I don’t have the details.”

Lulu is disappointed with Chan Kong Choy.
disappointed, disappointed, terribly disappointed.
Lulu is wondering when will Malaysia ever get out of this fake money making schemes.

Lulu's Name Is On The Petition

if you go to the page, you'd find my name there, somewhere in the midst of the many thousand names.
is yours there yet?
http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/Announcements.php?itemid=8121

why does Lulu think you should sign it?
Please take time to read the official petition at http://www.malaysia-today.net/petisyen_rakyat.html

The concerns are all close to my heart.
but

9) Pilihan raya dipermainkan oleh alat Kerajaan. Pilihan raya kecil mendedahkan penyalahgunaan harta Kerajaan untuk membantu parti politik yang berkuasa. Isu pengundi hantu masih berleluasa sewaktu pilihan raya. Kita perlu memperbaiki sistem pilihan raya yang masih diperalatkan dengan begitu mudah oleh parti memerintah. Rakyat tidak lagi mempunyai tempat untuk mengadu.

is extra special.

Electoral reforms need to be done. Only when the government is elected on level playing field [or at least, close one eye, slightly skewed in their favour] will our nation move in the right direction.

If you are worried that the authorities will persecute you for signing the petition, Lulu says dont worry. With 10,000 [and still growing] names on the list, it's highly unlikely they will pick on you. If you can't get over the worry barrier, put in your surname and your initials.
Worry more for the future of your children if the rot does not stop.
Stand up and be counted

Do You Wonder, Like Lulu Did, If Jesus Was Political?

Can Christians be political without getting involved in party politics?
What is the role of Christians on public issues and the related public policy dialogue?
Are we an Islamic State?
Can we evolve a Bangsa Malaysia?
Who will fight corruption and for integrity?
Whose responsibility is it to ensure the application of universal values, ethics and morality in the public spaces of life in Malaysia?
In the light of many challenges facing Malaysia, what is our role as Christians in Malaysia to continue to be the salt and light of the Gospel on these issues and concerns?

maybe we'd find an answer here

OHMSI, the hearts and mind "think-and-act" tank will be officially launched on the 15th of September 2007 at the PJ Gospel Hall Jalan Gasing, PJ from 10.00am to 12.00noon.

In conjunction with the launch a forum “Was Jesus Political?” will be held.
Moderator: Rev Dr Hwa Yung
Speakers
Dr Lim Kar Yong, New testament Scholar, STM.
Dr K.J.John, Executive Director, OHMSI.
Commentators
Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, General Secretary, CCM and CFM.
Dr Beth Baikan, Catholic Scholar from Stella Maris Parsih, SabahBrother
Goh Keat Peng, Executive Secretary, MCCBCHST
Brother Steven CM Wong, Chairman, NECF Research Commission
Sister Tricia Yeoh, Senior Policy Analyst, CPPS

For more details, contact
K.J.John, PhD, Executive Director,Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI)
Email: kjjohn@ohmsi.net

Lulu ALMOST Missed Roald Dahl Day

Today, Sept13, is Roald Dahl.
Roald Dahl is one of Lulu's favourite-est authors.
Lulu loves his books, the kiddy ones and the adult ones too.
His short stories are absolutely brilliant.
His children stories made you cheer along with the kids.
Your heart would go dum-dum-dum along with Charlie as he nervously tore open the chocolate wrapper.
Matilda was so alone in the world, not loved by her parents at home, and picked on at school. When Miss Honey came, you knew somehow, things would brighten up for Matilda.
The love story in EsioTrot showed Lulu how sweet love can be, even when you're old and grey.
After reading Revolting Rhymes, Lulu never looked at her "happily ever after" characters in the same way again.
And My Uncle Oswald, his adult book, was adult in such a clinical yet hilarious way.
Lulu would continue gushing about Roald Dahl, but... Lulu's got other stuff pending to do.

Lulu hopes that if you have not heard of Roald Dahl would go check him out. Really, his books are so sweet and charming and fun. Introduce your kids to Roald Dahl too. My nephews enjoyed his books when they were young.
a list of his books can be found here

Since Lulu Opened Up A Discussion on GST

so, Lulu should share with you all how the industry suspects GST will be implemented.

Actually, no one knows as the government
a. has been tight lipped about it
b. is still totally clueless about it
If you ask your friends in the accounting houses, they'd probably tell you that in the early days, they were invited for some consultations where some of the paling basic, dungu-est questions were asked. And the pace practically went to zero after the postponment was announced.
btw, Lulu did hear just recently that a delegation went to NZ to study their system, you know, one of those "Lawatan Sambil Belajar" things.
This is how the industry guesses the calculations and payment will be done.

for example, if today, you pay RM1.00 for a can of cola from your local grocer, when GST is implemented, [assuming gst is 5%], you would be paying RM1.00+RM0.05 to the local grocer.
but before the local grocer had sold the can to you, a series of events had happened in the chain supply.
We'll start with what happens at the cola factory.

ColaFactory would have paid their supplier RM0.525 for the raw material to make that drink. Out of that RM0.525, RM0.50 went to the supplier, and the other RM0.025 the supplier has to pay the government for GST.
The raw goods are processed and made into a can of coke. ColaFactory does their costing, taking into account the material cost, the labour, expenses and profit, marks it up to RM0.85 to sell to your local grocer. ColaFactory would invoice the grocer at RM0.8925 [=RM0.85+RM0.0425] and that is the amount your grocer would pay ColaFactory. ColaFactory, just like their supplier pockets the RM0.85, and pays the government RM0.0425-RM0.025 = RM0.0175.

The GST will be incurred at every level of the chain.
BUT
the amount paid by the each level is paid back to them via the invoice to the next guy on the chain, and ultimately, paid by you the consumer.
Yup! You're the one who's actually paying for the RM0.025+RM0.0175+RM0.0075 even though it was collected at every level.
Why every level? It is believed that the government wants to ensure minimal escapees.

Some comments mentioned sales tax. It is believed that the sales tax will be abolished then.

As Lulu mentioned earlier, no one really knows. We will have to wait for the elections to be over to know for sure.

GST - everybody gets to pay!

Lulu Adds Yet Another Word To Your Vocabulary

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
e·mol·u·ment
- noun
profit, salary, or fees from office or employment; compensation for services: Tips are an emolument in addition to wages.

from the AG Report, pg 20

Emolument - why couldn't they just put the simple term "penggajian" like what is in our income tax form?

Emolument is represented by the pink [apologies. i earlier posted it as dark blue]bar.
Tony Pua, in the DAP forum last night pointed out the rise from Y2002 to Y2006. Take note that Y2006 was pre-civil servant's increment. Even then, it went from RM20million, to RM28million in 5 years. That's an incremental value of 40%!
Did the civil servants get an annual increment of 18% every year from Y2002 up till Y2006? That is what you would need for your salary in 2006 to be 40% more than what you got in 2002.
If you had a 10% annual increment, then your 2006 salary would have been 21% more than in 2002. Even that, Lulu doubts if there are any takers.

So, how did the wage bill get bloated 40%?
if you were at the forum, Tony would have pointed you to the right direction.
Else, look up Lulu's post Now That The Government Servants Fatt Tatt, Lulu Hopes They Take Into Account How Real the Fatt Tatt Is

the AG's report can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.audit.gov.my/Federal/LA%20KAN%202006%20AKAUN%20AWAM.pdf

Lulu's Reading The Budget (6)

Note the contrasts between #29 and #31

29. To encourage the development of the fund management industry, the following measures will be implemented:
First: Foreign ownership on fund management companies and REITs management companies will be allowed up to 70%. The minimum Bumiputera ownership requirement will remain at 30%; and
Second: The SC will facilitate the licensing process as well as all dealings with other Government agencies to expedite the approval process for the establishment of fund management businesses in Malaysia.

31. In line with the objective of Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC), the Government will introduce several measures, as follows:
First: Islamic fund management companies will be allowed to be wholly owned by foreigners;
Second: A sum of RM7 billion fund will be channelled by EPF to be managed by Islamic fund management companies;
Third: Islamic fund management companies will be allowed to invest all their assets
abroad; and
Fourth: Fund management companies will be given income tax
exemption on all fees received in respect of Islamic fund management activities,
until year of assessment 2016.

In #31, you can see that the government recognises that if you want to attract foreign investors, you have to give up forcing them to "share" their returns with people who add no value to their investment other than the race category on their MyKad.
Sad to say, it's apparent that the government wants to attract only a certain kind of investors. The rest, as far the government's attitude as shown in the budget, can invest their money elsewhere.

Lulu dunno about you but it doesn't look like the government's agenda is to add to the Bumi content in Malaysia. Looking at this #31, the government is switching to adding to the Islamic content, regardless whether you're local or foreign, in Malaysia.

Lulu, The Tax Payer, Could Also Have Told You That

The tax expert version

The year 2009 a realistic and dynamic time to implement the goods and service tax (GST) as people will be more prepared, says a tax expert.
“I am more inclined to say 2009 if you looking at our current economic situation. We need to give people sufficient time to get prepared, at least between 12 and 18 months,” PricewaterhouseCoopers’ tax services executive director Steve Chia said today.

The tax payer version

The year 2009 is a realistic to implement the goods and service tax (GST) as people will have voted the Barisan back into power.
“I am more inclined to say 2009 if you looking at our current political situation. BN needs to give the voters sufficient feel-good illusion to ensure a win in the current General Elections” blogosphere taxpayer Lulu Whatalulu said today.

Do you know that something like only 1.2million out of the 26million Malaysians pay taxes?
With the introduction of GST, ALL Malaysians will have the opportunity to pay taxes. To put it ala AirAsia, "Now everyone can pay."
Assuming that GST is charged at 5%,
Your clerk who earns about RM1,000 who used to earn too little to pay taxes will have to pay 5% tax on everything he buys.
Your daughter who is still schooling with have the opportunity to pay this 5% tax on everything she buys.
Your parents who spent all their lifes paying taxes will have to pay this 5% for everything they buy.

We dont know if GST will come with a 5% drop in income tax. Lulu, the tax payer, wouldnt bet on it, considering the looming end of petrol money and how well prepared we are to face it.
But Lulu does think that consumption will rise in Y2008 as there will be "panic buy" to stock up before GST is imposed.
On Lulu's shopping list - probably a new car.

Lulu Supports The Peoples’ Petition To The Agong

Raja Petra would like to bring up at least 11 issues on the incompetency of the present lah-lah administration which is so blah to the attention of the Yang Dipertuan Agong.

1) The recent shooting of two people in Kuala Terengganu.
2) The reported gang clashes in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johore over the 50th Merdeka celebration holiday that resulted in a few deaths.
3) The Auditor-General’s report that revealed gross and blatant abuses and transgressions in the management of the peoples’ money involving billions of Ringgit.
4) The state of affairs in the Royal Malaysian Police where even the former IGP Tun Hanif Omar admitted that corruption is a serious problem.
5) The state of affairs in the judiciary where senior judges have been bypassed in many promotion exercises in favour of candidates with blemished records.
6) The breakdown of law and order and allegations by serving police officers, who have signed Statutory Declarations or Affidavits, that the organised crime syndicate is running the police force.
7) The dangerous and alarming racial and religious divide.
8) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s implication in the Oil-for Food scandal.
9) The need for electoral reforms as proven by the incidences of gerrymandering and phantom voters in the many general elections before this and which will continue and prevail in the next general election.
If you support this Peoples’ Petition, please sign it at http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/Announcements.php?itemid=8121. Those not registered in Malaysia Today but would like to sign the petition just send RPK an e-mail at raja.petra.kamarudin@gmail.com with the message "Signed" and your name

Terengganu police chief SAC I Ayub Yaakob Is Confusing Lulu

one bullets?
four bullets?
does he know the difference?
Lulu thinks someone better give him the worksheet to gauge whether he knows the difference or not.

For all you know, maybe the SAC1 really doesn't know how to count. Once the problem is diagnosed, he'd be able to go for treatment.
[btw, mummies & daddies, the sheet is from www.beginningreading.com. There are other free printable worksheets which guides your children on the ABCs and 123s]

Azmi Hussein?
Wan Abdul Aziz?
does he know the difference?
Lulu doesnt have real life photos, and how that the illustration below will help illustrate to you that people do look different.
Could it be one of those strange things in life where they're identical twins separated at birth, hence explaining their look alikeness which led to a mistaken identity? cannot be... one is 24, the other 29.
Or maybe in the battle, their name tags got mixed-up. But cannot be.... , as at least one of them was concious enough to tell the story about how he was protecting women and children.

Is SAC 1 Ayub Yaakob doing the spin or is he getting spinned by someone else?
The incident happened on Saturday. Why did it take him Sunday and Monday to realise his spin was wrong?

And the stories are so twisted and confusing, Lulu's not sure anymore if Konstabel Azmi Hussein is the tokoh berani, A PJK/Datuk-ship Awardee, A Top Cop Material

from Malaysiakini

T'ganu police chief: Constable fired FOUR shots
RK AnandSep 11, 07
6:18pm

The police officer, who discharged his firearm during the clash in Kuala Terengganu over the weekend, had fired a total of four shots. Terengganu police chief SAC I Ayub Yaakob confirmed this when contacted this evening.
He also clarified that the shooter was a 25-year-old general duty police officer and not Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) personnel Azmi Hussein, 29, as reported previously. The police officer, who was said to have opened fire in self-defence after being set upon by an armed mob, was identified as constable Wan Abdul Aziz.
As a result of the incident, two men, Suwandi Abdul Ghani, 37, and Muhamad Azman Aziz, 21, sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and neck respectively.
Both, who have been hospitalised, are reported to be in stable condition. Wan, on the other hand, received several stitches following the attack and is currently on medical leave. He has since filed a police report and the case has been classified as ‘attempted murder’.
The police are also investigating to determine if there was any negligence on the constable’s part.
Meanwhile, Ayub said FRU personnel Azmi is still undergoing treatment for injuries sustained during Saturday’s clash between the police and opposition supporters. Azmi was hurt when the angry crowd pelted police personnel with bottles, stones and other objects. In total, four police officers, including Wan and Azmi, were injured.

Lulu Looks Up the Thesaurus To Find Words Which Expresses What THAT Concessionaire Does

bacteria, barnacle, beat, bloodsucker*, bootlicker*, brownie, brownnose, deadbeat*, dependent, flunky, freeloader*, fungus, gremlin, groupie*, hanger-on*, hose, idler, lackey, laze, leaner, leech, lounge lizard, scrounger, sideman, slave, sponge*, sponger, stooge*, sucker*, sycophant, taker*, yes-man,
antibody, bacteria, bug*, cootie, crud, disease, life, microbe, microorganism, microscopic, parasite, pathogen, plague, virus
cancer, cancroid, excrescence, fibrous tissue, fibrousness, fungus, lump, mole, outgrowth, parasite, swelling, thickening
barnacle, bloodsucker, bootlicker, dependant, flunky*, follower, freeloader*, heeler, lackey*, leech*, lounge lizard, minion, nuisance, parasite, satellite, sponge, sponger*, sycophant, truckler*
adulator, apple polisher, back scratcher, backslapper*, bootlick, bootlicker*, brownie, brownnoser*, crawler, cringer, doormat*, fan, fawner, flatterer, flunky*, footlicker, glad-hander, gofer, groupie*, groveler, handshaker*, hanger-on*, lackey, lap-dog, lickspittle, minion, parasite, politician, puppet, slave, sniveler, spaniel, sponger, stooge, toadeater, toady, truckler, water boy, yes-man

Take your pick when you write your piece on the rentseekers who were awarded the concession by the Transport Ministry to "conduct" drug tests on drivers, attendants and conductors of commercial vehicles.

Read more about it at
Unhealthy practice http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=19295
e-kesihatan - another parasitic rent-seeking monopoly? http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2007/09/11/ekesihatan-another-parasitic-rent-seeking-monopoly/

If Lulu Ever Had To Stand Up And Protest Against An Injustice

Lulu hopes to be brave, and not be easily rattled.

Lulu Spots A Tokoh Berani, A PJK/Datuk-ship Awardee, A Top Cop Material

wow!

Protecting women and children!
WOW!

Lulu wishes she had a picture of this worthy Konstabel Azmi Hussein cos he protected women and children.

They should hold an award ceremony for his valiant noble deed.
Have the women and children he rescued come give thanks to him at the ceremony.
If the state government is not able to do it, let the Wanita UMNO or the Puteri UMNO hold the ceremony.
Afterall, Lulu's sure that those women he rescued are all, what else but, card carrying UMNO members.

And lets not stop there.
Let's hail him as the Mawi version of the knight who protects women and children.
Let's give him a hero's welcome when he balik kampung in an open jeep. He's probably the hottest thing in the kampung and all the makciks want him as their menantu cos he protected women and children.
Let's make sure he gets a PJK at least, if not a Datukship. Afterall, he protected women and children.
Let's get him a spot on the Readers Digest "Heroes" section. "Young Hero Protects Women And Children In A Riot"
Let's make a movie of him, protecting women and children.
Let's have him as the new poster boy of WAO and AWAM cos he protected women and children.
Let's have him run a state seat in Trengganu. He's the new hero, he's protected the women and children.

And after giving him everything, could someone step forward and offer him something to help him sleep at night. Lulu thinks the burden of truth that he carries on his shoulder is a heavy one.
Let's not allow this hero to fade to oblivion and obscurity.
Let us never let him forget his heroic deed, cos he's a hero!

Lulu's Reading the Budget (5)

As you all know, Lulu's been reading the budget.

Zewt, on the other hand, is doing the Math for the budget, and this is what he has noted :
Zewt reminded Lulu that this was done based on a RM5,000 monthly income
50% reduction of stamp duty for property worth not more than RM250,000 = RM2,000
tax relief for education fees to all post-graduate studies of up to RM5,000 = RM400
tax relief for purchases of sports equipment of up to RM300 = RM24
You hear the yippes?

And the guys at DAP pula are organising a forum on the budget.

Who are the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's 2008 Budget?
What is the prospects like for the economy of the country?
What did you receive from Pak Lah's budget?
DAP has also launched our own version of the Malaysian budget - "Malaysian First: Unity Driven Equity, Growth & Innovation" focusing on the challenges of globalisation and the country's reliance on oil and gas revenues.

To understand further on who benefits in the latest Malaysian budget, and to analyse Malaysia's economic prospects, DAP is organising an English forum on the 12th September 2007 at DAP Damansara Branch. The details of the forum are as follows:

Malaysian First: Budget 2008 - Who Benefits?
Date: 12 September 2007(Wednesday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: DAP Damansara Seminar Room(55-1 Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya)

The panel of speakers include:
Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General
Edward Lee, Pro-tem Chairman, All PJ Pro Action Committee*
Khoo Kay Peng, Socio-political Analyst
Jeff Ooi, DAP National E-Campaign Director
Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Sec-Gen
* To be confirmed
For more information, please contact DAP Damansara Hotline at 016-2208867.

Apparently, the seminar room can hold about 100 people. IF there are not enough seats, I hope that the gentlemen would offer their seats to the ladies, and opt to sit on the floor.
The forum, Lulu's confident, will be very insightful.

If you are not familiar with Damansara, Lulu's attached a map. If you get totally, totally lost, call the hotline 016 220 8867

Lulu's Reading the Budget (4)

but did not notice this. Thankfully, Aisehman did, and posted it on his blog.

THIRD STRATEGY : ENSURING THE WELL-BEING OF ALL MALAYSIANS
Inculcating Corporate Social Responsibility
105. The Government had announced in the 2007 Budget that all PLCs are required to disclose CSR activities in their annual financial reports. Beginning financial year 2008, PLCs will be required to disclose their employment composition by race and gender, as well as programmes undertaken to develop domestic and Bumiputera vendors. The private sector should leverage upon the strength of Malaysia’s diversity by employing Malaysians from all ethnic groups.

Why just the Public Listed Complanies, PLCs?
Why not the Government Linked Companies, GLCs?
and also the universities, and schools, the whole Ministry of Education
and
the Health Ministry
and
the Defense Ministry
and the Police force?

Come on PM, don't you want to "Inculcating Corporate Social Responsibility " within those which fall directly under your purview?

Maybe then, we'd find out if this email which has been circulating around for some time now is true or not
(1) Out of all the 5 major banks, only one bank is multi-racial, the rest are controlled by malays
(2) 99% of Petronas directors are malays
(3) 3% of Petronas employees are Chinese
(4) 99% of 2000 Petronas gasoline stations are owned by malays
(5) 100% all contractors working under Petronas projects must be bumis status
(6) 0% of non-malay staffs is legally required in malay companies. But there must be 30% malay staffs in Chinese companies
(7) 5% of all new intake for government army, nurses, polices, is non-malays
(8) 2% is the present Chinese staff in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), drop from 40% in 1960
(9) 2% is the percentage of non-malay government servants in Putrajaya. But malays make up 98%
(10) 7% is the percentage of Chinese government servants in the whole government (in 2004), drop from 30% in 1960
(11) 95% of government contracts are given to malays
(12) 100% all business licensees are controlled by malay government e.g. Approved permits, Taxi permits, etc

Wouldnt it be a great comfort to find out that the email contains lies, lies and more lies and that the government has been fair to all Malaysians, and would like to check and ensure that this fairness is extended to the private sector?

Lulu's Reading The Budget (3)

SECOND STRATEGY : STRENGTHENING HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
Human Capital Development in ICT
68. To ensure an adequate supply of high-skilled workers to meet the demand of the ICT industry, a Knowledge Workers Development Institute will be established in Cyberjaya. The MSC Malaysia Digital Animation Centre will be set up in Cyberjaya, to support the development of the digital animation industry as well as increase local expertise in the area.

Haven't we been there, done that?
Malaysia's answer to Hollywood coming soon
we didnt just stop there.
Bailed it
Malaysia's Hollywood project is still on, says MDC,
and failed it
E-Village developer served with eviction notice.

Also read Datuk Jins Samsudin's question in the Dewan Negara here

Minta Menteri Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi menyatakan kerugian yang ditanggung oleh Kerajaan ke atas pembinaan e-village dan apakah yang menyebabkan kegagalan tersebut dan siapakah yang bertanggungjawab.

Dont expext a clear explanation there as the question was answered by a politician.

Instead, take note that the question was asked on 25.07.2006, as in during AAB's era. So, AAB and his chaps should have known the been there, done that, bailed it, failed it.
Lulu hopes AAB's initiative would learn from the previous failure and will not eat up as much money as the predecessor did.

Lulu Hopes Life Aint Taking The Cheap Turn In Malaysia

When you read of how the despots and tyrants of old - brutal iron fists like Pol Pot, Mao, Idi Amin, treated their citizens, worked them to death, imprisoned them, had them shot dead, you get the feeling that in countries like that, life seems so cheap.

Lulu got an SMS today from MsActivist which reads

BERSIH reports that live bullets were used on the audience in a BERSIH event in Kuala Trengganu yesterday by the police in seeking to break up the gathering. There are a number of people in the hospital currently

Lulu didnt know what to believe.
so, Lulu checked out the online reports
From Malaysia-today.net
09/09: 2 cedera parah ditembak polis di Batu Buruk
09/09: Polis ganggu majlis BERSIH
09/09: Kecoh pertembungan FRU dan rakyat Terengganu
There was not much from the blogs, except for Nat's flash: People Shot, Live Bullets Used in Terengganu

A few hours has passed
News have been updated
Mkini Live bullet fired at angry ceramah crowd
NST Police acted against rioters to enforce the law, says Najib

Malaysiakini reports that

Terengganu police chief Ayub Yaakob, in a specially arranged press conference this afternoon, confirmed that one live bullet was fired by one of his officers.
Ayub said the officer, who is from the Federal Reserve Unit, was set upon by a group of men in the vicinity of the ceramah.
"At about 11.45pm last night, the officer Azmi Hussein, 29, was doing his duty near the Permai Inn car park when he was surrounded by 20 men who proceeded to threaten and assault him," Ayub was reported as saying by Bernama.
He said that the FRU personnel was pushed to the ground and attacked by the crowd, leaving the FRU officer with no choice but to draw his weapon and fire a shot to defend himself.
Ayub said that the crowd dispersed soon after the shot was fired, allowing the FRU personnel to escape from the area.

Never mind that "the FRU personnel" was alone, cos FRU personnels aren't supposed to operate alone
or that Najib says, "The police acted against the supporters of opposition political parties who rioted in Terengganu last night in the best interest of enforcing the law.”
Given a choice, Lulu would prefer if the official version was true - that the officer Azmi Hussein let out one shot in self defence.
If not, then we're going the IdiAmin/Mao way, where life of the common people is so cheap.

If you're wondering, the event organiser was BERSIH. It was not an "opposition party" thingy. BERSIH is a joint committee comprising civil society organisations and political parties with the objective of campaigning for free and fair elections in Malaysia.
Only when elections are free and fair, can citizens be real masters of their own destiny and expect holders of public office to act accountably and effectively. As long as citizens do not have the power to ‘throw the rascals out’, the hope for rule of law, human rights protection, good governance and sustainable development will be at the mercy of self-interested politicians. A real prospect of changing the government of the day is the key check and balance against abuses of power.
Read more about them at http://bersih.org/

also read what Malik Imtiaz has to say http://malikimtiaz.blogspot.com/2007/09/of-peaceful-gatherings-freedom-of.html

Just As Lulu Was Wondering How Much The Government Would Pay For The Free Textbooks...

It's tough being in the Auditor-General's deaprtment.
Year in, year out, you report all those disgusting wastages, and year in, year out, no action is taken on the culprits.

Today's Star reports that the Youth and Sports Ministry has been Paying through the nose for tools

Sial! Look at the disgusting amounts paid for the tools!
Lulu's not surprised, but Lulu continues to be disgusted.

All parties involved in this shameless fraud should be charged with treason as they have cheated the nation and her rakyat.
Shame on them!

Lulu's Reading The Budget (2)

SECOND STRATEGY : STRENGTHENING HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
50. I also wish to announce that, beginning the 2008 school session, the Text Book Loan Scheme will be provided to all students, irrespective of their families’ income and with no restrictions on the number of eligible children.
With this, 5.7 million students will benefit from this Scheme compared with 4.5 million students currently. With these measures, schooling in Malaysia is now completely free.

Back when Lulu was in school, Lulu wondered why we need to buy the prescribed text books as we did not use them. Most of my learning came from the workbooks. Lulu thinks that she would have gotten boring average scores in her SPM if she had relied on just the prescribed text books.

As Lulu grew older and wiser in the ways of this nation, Lulu realised that printing textbooks are like printing money. Certain people are given the contract to publish textbooks. Good authors are asked to look for a bumi partner, and so on.

Now that text books will be given free to students, Lulu wonders if the government is buying them at cost, or retail from the publishers.
Lulu hopes that someone is checking for leakages.

Lulu's Reading The Budget (1)

FIRST STRATEGY: ENHANCING THE NATION’S COMPETITIVENESS
29. To encourage the development of the fund management industry, the following measures will be implemented:
First: Foreign ownership on fund management companies and REITs management companies will be allowed up to 70%. The minimum Bumiputera ownership requirement will remain at 30%;
and
Second: The SC will facilitate the licensing process as well as all dealings with other Government agencies to expedite the approval process for the establishment of fund management businesses in Malaysia.

100% - 30% = 70% = foreign ownership
IF the foreign investors are willing to come in, Lulu's sure they'd only give up their minimum Where does that leave the 50%, or whatever the number is, to the expansion of this pie?

And the other sad thing is that the 30% would go to the same few people who are already so disgustingly rich.

so much for Najib's hope to see Independant Bumiputeras
sigh...

Lulu, MPS and ACA

The Star reports that the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) recently decided to hold a dog catching competition to solve the stray dog problem in the area.

The competition will run over a period of 6 months.

A lot of people have spoken up for the dogs.
Lulu would like to speak up for the parents of the kids in that community.

Every dog that you catch will bring you RM20 from the MPS. Lulu is concerned that with the school holidays coming at the end of the year, some entrepreneur-minded school kids may resort to earning extra pocket money by being dog-cernaries. Being young and fearless and in need of pocket money, they would not think too carefully about the risks of a stray dog attacking you in defense of itself.

btw, Like the city monkey problem, how would the MPS know that the stray dog is a "local" dog, and not one imported from Bukit Tunku?

Lulu continued with her out of the box thinking.
hmm...

Council president Zainal Abidin Azim said the competition was introduced as it received about 80 complaints about stray dogs every month.
He said that despite catching about 200 stray dogs every month as part of their animal control management, the problem remained unsolved.

Lulu guesses that this would be the kind of predicament that the ACA is faced with too.


Maybe they'd like to do a "MPS"er

but then again, that may not be a wise thing to suggest for Malaysia.

We don't want a Altantuya type of body disposal of a Jalil Ibrahim discovery

Could Someone, Please-Please, Tell Lulu

cos you all know, Lulu's NOT the brightest spark in the room.
How do you differentiate a city monkey from a kampung monkey?
How do you tell that he's not a monkey from the jungle?

Would a city monkey be toilet trained?
Would he be more proficient in climbing stairs compared to swinging trees?
Does he carry an IPhone?
How is one supposed to differentiate the city monkey from the "dan lain-lain"s?

Lulu doesn't know...
Could someone please-please tell Lulu?

Lulu Finds It Tough Deciding Who To Believe

when the mother of all mainstream medias report this,and the MCA Youth head says this, you can't really blame lesser mortals like Lulu for being confused.

well, does it have to be either/or in this case?
It may be a case of both these bosses parroting what their downline told them without verifying the truth.

btw, did you notice that those sneaky bum-bums began their ops at 2am? No wonder why the farmers were holding their vigilance throughout the night. sial!

Looks Like Lulu Is Stuck WIth Having To Subscribe to Malaysiakini For A Long, Long Time

If Lulu were a Star-only reader, Lulu would not have given this piece of news a second thought.


It almost sounds like a pleasant meeting.
But as most of you already would have guessed, Lulu is a Malaysiakini subscriber.
Malaysiakini paints a more realistic picture of what was happening on the ground in Malacca compared to the sanitised version in the Star.

Looks like this is how "personnel from the Federal Reserve Unit, police, Public Works Department, Malacca City Council and ALor Gajah Municipal Council had gone to the four pig rearing areas to cull the pigs"

Tense stand-off over pig farms eases
Sep 4, 07 3:27pm
Police personnel pulled out of Paya Mengkuang New Village at 4.05pm, easing the worries of pig farmers who had expected to see all their animals forcibly culled today.
It is learnt that as part of a deal struck at a two-hour meeting between state authorities and MCA top leaders, the farmers will now voluntarily relocate at least 1,000 of their pigs to Johor and Selangor within the next few days. This could not be immediately confirmed.
Since this morning, about 100 villagers had faced off 300 enforcement officers in a tense stand-off over action to close their pig farms. The villagers had kept a vigil in the area since last night.
All major roads leading into Paya Mengkuang - about 30 minutes’ drive north of Malacca city - were cordoned off by the police, isolating the village. Numerous media personnel resorted to seeking local knowledge for off-road entrances to the area.

Send the swine elsewhere or they'll be culled
Sep 4, 07 11:07pm
A tense standoff between pig farmers and enforcement authorities in several pig farms in Malacca ended today when a deal was struck between MCA representatives and the state officials.
Abdul Rahman said the state government has set a Sept 21 deadline for the pig farmers to export 92,000 animals to other states.

Its thanks to the half truths in the mainstream media which allows for the existense of the alternative media.

Lulu's Reading Feb's National Geographic in September

The February edition did a feature on Nigerian Oil, Curse Of The Black Gold.
Lulu's been busy-busy-busy, and am only reading it now.

The feature has many warnings which are relevant to us in Malaysia.

Did you know that petroleum related revenue constitutes more than 40% of the Malaysia's overall income?
Last year, nearly 40% or an estimated RM53.7 billion is collected from this industry.
Contribution from Petronas and other oil and gas companies operating in Malaysia has been rising these past few years.
It made up 25% of government revenue in 2004, 30% in 2006 and was budgeted to make up some 46.8% for 2007.
The boss at Petronas has already warned us that Malaysia is expected to become a net oil importer by 2010 assuming a conservative growth of 4% in petroleum products consumption. For the nation's expenditure to be so heavily dependant on petroleum, this is scary news.

Will Budget 2008 reflect good stewards of the Oil and Gas money that we have been so richly blessed with?
OR
Will it show signs of going the Nigeria way?
Stay tuned as we find out together on Friday when the budget is tabled.

The NatGeo article can be found at http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature3/

Lulu Public Service Advice

The other day, one of the kids in Lulu's office came to check with Lulu if she'd be interested in car pooling. Lulu asked him why. He told Lulu, car ownership is costing him more than he had expected.
He's paying RM 560 car loan and RM 300 petrol a month for his second hand Waja. He realised that for someone earning around RM3K, that really eats up a chunk of his salary.

It is common for people, not just youngsters but also some family men, to dive into buying a car without doing a proper calculation on the costs.

When Lulu saw this,

Lulu's first thought was that she'd be able to pick up a cheap Sonata from a repossed car auction some time next year.
They are offering loans to people earning as little as RM2,500/month, giving hope to those who were blacklisted [justly and unjustly] and not requiring a guarantor. You dont even need to put a downpayment. By these kind of standards, sad to say, there will be defaulters.

As the loan stretches to 9 years, buyers will be able to pay a lower amount monthly. But even at the lowest rate, the borrower would be paying back an additional 21.15% on the principal borrowed. In other words, for every RM1 you borrow, at the end of the 9th year, you would have paid back RM1.21 to the finance company.

sigh....
Along with the act of repossesing cars, there will be a lot of hard earned money lost by people who didnt think properly, and even sadder still, cannot really afford to lose that money.

If you have a relative, friend or colleague who meets the minimum criterea, please, sit down with them and do the Math. Help them realise how "good" the deal is.
Dont end up like the young chap in my office - he now has a "fancy" car to pick up chix, but no loose change for a fancy dinner. Kinda O'Henry, isnt it?

Is Lulu Supposed To Say ThankYou?

In the past, when Lulu sees stuff like this happening, Lulu has the "elections coming" kinda tinkering.
But now, reading this,

and thinking a bit more out of the box, Lulu thinks its the contractors who are on the receiving end of this money who should be thanking our Selangor State Assemblymen.

The money declared per The Star's Metro put in the pockets so far
SS2 RM1,064,113
Damansara Utara RM1,062,358
Jalan Emas, Emas 1, Emas 2, SS1/26, SS25/2 and SS25/12 was done in March. No more money to be made there.

Is there still money to be made in
SEKSYEN 17A
DAMANSARA JAYA
SEKSYEN 19
SS 23
SS 24
SS 26
KAMPUNG CEMPAKA
SS 4
and
SEKSYEN 21 BARAT, Lulu wonders?

Elections are coming.

Money is to be spent, AND money is definitly to be made.

Who makes it? Not people like Lulu, that's for sure.

Lulu Thinks That Robbers Are Bad-Bad-Bad

but to rob the poor, especially when you are already filthy rich, that's sick.

Read more about it at Poor's Hope In Maika - The Last Robbery

Lulu On The Way To St Ives

Lulu learnt this rhyme when she was in Std 3.

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Seven wives with seven sacks
Seven sacks with seven cats
Seven cats with seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

Lulu was very thrilled, and being of the pre-calculator age [as in Lulu was too young, not that they weren't invented yet], whipped out a pencil and paper, and did the math.

It is easy, isnt it, to have your attention diverted and confused?

I met a man with seven wives

There are the two MPs who, out of nowhere, made a really stupid sexist remark in Parliament. Coming from those two, I'm sure there would be more, but they were shot to stardom when they made the bocor remarks.

Yes, remember them for being sexist idoits, but do not forget the issue raised in Parliament which caused these two to raise their distractions.

The question was raised in Parliament about the shoddy workmanship [and probably materials too] which caused some government building to leak.

WCW asks, and Lulu echoes him,

Why do these problems keep cropping up and who are these bad contractors?

Were they engaged for these government projects because of their competency or because of their political links?

The contractors were paid to build buildings for the nation, but they did a shoddy job.

Let us not forget them.

These sandiwaras happens quite often in Parliament as the BN are not willing to discuss issues which could hurt their personal rice bowls.

Tell Lulu, how many were going to St Ives?

Seven wives with seven sacks

The fracas at the Maika Holdings AGM.

Maika was established in 1982, purportedly to enable Indian Malaysians to have a share in the country’s economic growth. It raised RM106 million from 66,000 investors. The simple folks whom they were supposed to help showed their support and their hope in Maika by pawning their jewelry, selling their cows and borrowing money. The investment company, however, has been a spectacular failure with many of its business ventures failing to take off, leaving the investors on the lurch. Their money and dreams went down in the drain.

One of the resolutions tabled was to the sale of their golden goose, subsidiary insurance company Oriental Capital Assurance Berhard (OCAB).

There was shouting matches, heckling, roughing up, and even punches thrown.

What happened to those who were genuinely interested in making Maika a success, those who were the poor shareholders taken in by the sweet talk in 1982?

Their voices were drowned. Their concerns ignored.

In the midst of all this, they were forgotten.

Shouting matches, heckling etc... sounds familiar? Think Machap. Think Ijok. They do it everytime when they try to drown out the other side.

Tell Lulu, how many were going to St Ives?

Seven sacks with seven cats

The king of sandiwaras.

KJ baited the Barisan Nasional’s Chinese-based component parties by warning UMNO that the non-Malays would take advantage of ‘Malay disunity’. He contrived this although Chinese parties and organisations, save Matthias Chang who represented himself, had steered clear of The Spat.

Next, and aided by the Penang UMNO Youth, KJ bashed the Gerakan-led government in Penang for ‘marginalizing the Malays’. Again, this was contrivance. Didn’t KJ know that UMNO is more powerful than Gerakan even in the state government? Couldn’t he reason that if Malay economic parity with non-Malays was Penang’s problem, Gerakan had no more failed here than UMNO had in the whole country despite UMNO’s control of the Federal government, state governments and incomparably greater resources?

A sandiwara predictably followed.

Khairy Jamaluddin: A sketch of a young man as a politician

The next time he or Najib's cousin waves a keris, look around what they're trying to distract us from. Most likely, a problem within UMNO or the unhappiness from the Malay community.

Tell Lulu, how many were going to St Ives?

Seven cats with seven kits

We've just celerated our 50th Merdeka. Big grand fireworks display. Marching across the padang. Glorious reports about how we have progressed in the past 50 years. Maybe we have progressed against our governments favourite benchmarks like Nigeria and Burma, but where are we compared to Singapore or Korea?

Let us not forget Daniel Boniface, a 12 year old boy hanged himself when he could not raise the money to pay his school fees. Let us make sure that this nation will never ever lose a young one over this.

Let us not forget the children of the Jahai tribe, an Orang Asli commune of about 100 families living in Kampung Bunga Hilir in the Royal Belum forest reserve in Hulu Perak. The youngsters have not been to any schools. In fact they have never ventured out of their village. They don’t know where Kuala Lumpur is. They don’t know what Putrajaya is. And neither do they know Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In our "progress" let us not forget about them.

Tell Lulu, how many were going to St Ives?

Kits, cats, sacks, wives

There are many more issues which the government would like us to not realise, to forget and to be distracted from.

Let's not be easily distracted, as Lulu makes her way to St Ives.

Lulu's Home

Lulu was recently in Singapore. Whilst Lulu was there, she caught up with some friends from university who have since relocated there.

Some of Lulu's friends asked, "hey, when are you going to move over? join the gang-la"
Lulu smiled.

I guess the Petronas ad echoes Lulu's sentiments very well

Di sini...
Kita dibesarkan
Anak-anak kita dibesarkan
Mengenal diri
Mengenal keturunan
Memupuk keharmonian
Yang berhijrah cuma sementara
Pulangnya penuh gembira
Kerana jiwa kita masih di sini
Di tanah air ini
Ayuh kita bangunkan, peliharakan
Negara yang kita cintai.

This is the country that I love. This is my country. I am here to stay,