NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4b )

Let's get the Internet cowboys to talk facts.

In the case of fake NatGeo photographer (picture left) who was allowed to roam free with his false claims on PhotoMalaysia web forum since June 2005, and the website co-founder and administrator (picture right) who aggregates such content online, and endorses the fraudster in off-line activities he sits as an advisor - it might well be wise to own up while it's not too late to do so.

Let me start with Fact #6.

FACT SIX: August 27, 2005: Contrary to what Koh Kho King had stated (see FACTS 1 - 5, below), EvanStudio a.k.a. Evangeliss YH Hwong did not leave Kids Klick and PhotoMalaysia to absolve both entities from controversy and fraud.

Where's the beef?

The fact is, Evangeliss was seated next to a PhotoMalaysia moderator (far right, picture below) in the August 27 event at Muzium Negara in a project PhotoMalaysia and Koh Kho King both endorsed.

Mr. Koh Kho King, can you please specify that ( 1 ) despite the fact you are aware of the grave concern expressed to you over the Evangeliss-related fraud, you did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to the corporate organisation solicited to sponsor the community project you endosed; that ( 2 ) you did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth pertaining to the Evan-related fraud to Mr Mohamed Shah Bin Tan Sri Abdul Kadir, Managing Director of Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd, also known as McDonald's Malaysia)?

The video clip will be more revealing. Watch this space.

Click MORE! to read FACT ONE to FACT FIVE.

FACT ONE: July 14, 2005

This is the project PhotoMalaysia administrator Koh Kho King acted as the advisor. Look through the screencapture, you will find EvanStudio a.k.a. Evangeliss YH Hwong undisputedly defined as the project manager.

FACT TWO: August 21, 2005:

This is the mass email from Koh Kho King to PhotoMalaysia members who were concerned over the Evan fraud - I was a recipient right from the start. Koh said, inter alia: "Kids Klick will be an independent project apart from PM.com, so the decision of KK will be in Maxby's hand..."

This is the header to the email above:

X-Gmail-Received: 596c6cbb4477c892e1eb326d549a83848e418c98
Delivered-To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Received: by 10.54.56.12 with SMTP id e12cs31518wra;
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 02:21:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.5.43 with SMTP id 43mr887048wre;
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 02:21:06 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.123.1 with HTTP; Sun, 21 Aug 2005 02:21:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <7b6597fa05082102212b6a1bbb@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:21:06 +0800
From: Koh Kho King
To: Alan Ang
Subject: Re: Read and enjoy !!
Cc: [ HIDDEN BY JEFF OOI, WILL BE REVEALED IF NEEDS BE IN THE FUTURE ]
In-Reply-To:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
References: <8a66136105081920101c7bcc05@mail.gmail.com>
<65ce01d05082009292640751f@mail.gmail.com>
<8a661361050820100334704220@mail.gmail.com>
<3ae2b1d805082011152380b5dc@mail.gmail.com>

<3ae2b1d8050820211352456846@mail.gmail.com>

<8a661361050820223478088c@mail.gmail.com>
<3ae2b1d80508202241269b2746@mail.gmail.com>

FACT THREE: August 22, 2005:

This is the update from Koh Kho King stating the revised version of the intricate relationship between PhotoMalaysia and Kids Klick. Within 24 hours, the fundamentals have differed from his August 21 version.

This is the header to the above email:

-Gmail-Received: ee4f36c321f726afe71fb3c0a14355fcb5aef089
Delivered-To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Received: by 10.54.56.12 with SMTP id e12cs36307wra;
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:52:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.71.7 with SMTP id t7mr1231280wra;
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:52:36 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.123.1 with HTTP; Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:52:35 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <7b6597fa050821205247e81a4@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:52:36 -0700
From: Koh Kho King
To: Jeff Ooi
Subject: Re: Read and enjoy !!
Cc: [ HIDDEN BY JEFF OOI, BUT WILL BE REVEALED IN FULL IN THE FUTURE IF NEEDS BE ]

In-Reply-To:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
References: <8a66136105081920101c7bcc05@mail.gmail.com>
<8a661361050820100334704220@mail.gmail.com>
<3ae2b1d805082011152380b5dc@mail.gmail.com>

<3ae2b1d8050820211352456846@mail.gmail.com>
<65ce01d05082118236d550465@mail.gmail.com>
<637bb0d005082119234eedf2a1@mail.gmail.com>

FACT FOUR: August 22, 2005:

This is the "False Claim of Identity" announced by Koh in PhotoMalaysia but was taken down two-and-half-days later:

FACT FIVE: August 26, 2005:

This is the group email from Koh Kho King who said "Evan has agreed to leave KK's project and PM.com."

This is the header to email above:

X-Gmail-Received: ab1476745c722f7ed2b249f71c726421fd1ace35
Delivered-To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Received: by 10.54.56.12 with SMTP id e12cs10368wra;
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:26:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.33.54 with SMTP id g54mr2614502wrg;
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:26:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.54.123.1 with HTTP; Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:26:18 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <7b6597fa05082516266dc4e2e8@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 07:26:18 +0800
From: Koh Kho King
To: Jeff Ooi
Subject: Re: PM moderates my posting!
Cc: [HIDDEN BY JEFF OOI, WILL REVEAL IF NEEDS BE IN THE FUTURE]

In-Reply-To:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
References: <9D413AA7CA8AD5119FBE00D0B7828EE8075CB8A2@zmy02exm02.ap.freescale.net>

<65ce01d05082419475788650c@mail.gmail.com>


<7b6597fa0508250747426390e4@mail.gmail.com>

<7b6597fa05082508093e53bbb1@mail.gmail.com>

In the end, Kids Klick was successfully launched.

What people have omitted is that Koh has taken too lightly on his very promise to many from the collective that Evan would leave Kids Klick which Koh and PhotoMalaysia both endorsed. But no, Evan didn't leave up till Kids Klick's launch on August 27.

And now the ghost has cometh to haunt because Koh had not only taken many forum members for a ride, he had also allowed many whistle-blowers to be vilified. That is gross unacceptable in the name of Internet governance for the website admins.

More seriously, we want to know if the relevant corporate sponsors have been appropriately briefed of the controversy? We will find that out shortly.

Perhaps, you should now go back to read FACT 6 as we will take it from there if the questions are unanswered. Just click here to get there.

BIG ISSUE: Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 3 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4a )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4b )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 5 ) COMING SOON!

MAS: More media speculations on local MD

We need local heroes after all, and horse-trading has started among the power brokers.

Utusan Malaysia today cites unnamed sources and speculates that Ahmad Farid Ridzuan, the CEO of Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd (TV3) and former Leo Burnett staffer, is one of three short-listed candidates for the managing director's position at Malaysia Airline System Bhd.

The other candidates Utusan speculates are Bashir Ahmad, the MD of Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd. (MAHB), and Tengku Azmil Zahruddin Raja Abdul Aziz, executive director of Malaysia Airlines.

UPDATE: The news was picked up by AFX this morning. (Thanks YW Loke of BeritaMalaysia for the pointer.

The last round, when Berita Harian's Fauziah Ismail speculated on August 27 that foreigners would be hired to helm Malaysia Airlines, her bluff - speculating such names like British Airways CEO Rod Eddington; Qantas Executive GM Qantas John Borghetti and director-general of Asia Pacific Aviation Association, Andrew Herdman - it didn't survive beyond the first 24 hours.

I was told blogger MackZul received a tip-off from Australia, and hunted down a Sydney Morning Herald link that says it was all hogwash in Jalan Riong.

* * *

UPDATE: MackZul was warned of 'jangan kacau periuk nasi orang' for pointing out Fauziah's bluff. The blogger has been advised to write to her editor instead. But I wonder, what if her editor is equally dumbed?

Meanwhile, Mack said he was told that another major newspaper had actually gotten wind of the same story like Berita Harian's. However, the newspaper had to have the story "canned" after they failed to get "solid facts which can be confirmed from sources within MAS, and from the candidates mentioned".

Hello... Mack, you mean another berita hairankah, that the journalists and editors didn't verify their facts and went straight to print? But, fart it, I too was vilified by the same paper in October last year, remember? Frontpage lead empat hari berturut-turut, kawan!

NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4a )

To Internet cowboys who think it's okay to create and aggregate online content that is false in character, and easy to get away with it repeatedly, I still have a lot more for them to chew on.

In the case of fake NatGeo photographer (picture left) who was allowed to roam free with his false claims on PhotoMalaysia web forum since June 2005, and the website co-founder and administrator (picture right) who aggregates such content online, and endorses the fraudster in off-line activities he sits as an advisor - it might well be wise to own up while it's not too late to do so.

Early this week, I received from a group of Little Birds who had sent me multimedia material evidence that confirms PhotoMalaysia administrator Koh Kho King had, consciously or otherwise, allowed the frauster to continue representing a project in which Koh personally acted as its advisor.

To be exact, the event took place as recent as last Saturday, August 27 - after Koh was already given the proof of the fraud prior to his eyeballs-to-eyeballs meet up with a group of concerned and perturbed PhotoMalaysia members in Subang Jaya on August 20.

These members had recapped the talking points in numerous email exchanges to which Koh gave his assurance that starkly contradicted with subsequent events that had come to pass. And I am pleased to announce that the crown witnesses, who met up with Koh in that particular Saturday night meeting, are people in their youthful years, and they are still alive and kicking as at today. I do not detect Parkinson disease in anyone of them.

Let the truth prevail

As we used to say, talk is cheap. Coming back to the multimedia material I received last week, it should be put to good use. So, let's allow the videoclip do the talking and tell the truth. Evidence won't rant, will it?

I am in the process of converting the multimedia material into mpeg file for easy web downloads - making it Google search-able. The mpeg version will be uploaded in Screenshots when the time comes.

Whether the videoclip will finally make it to mass transmission via emails the way viral marketeers practise their trade, it's entirely left to the power of Internet to determine.

Meanwhile, the original mastertape has been placed in the custody of a legal practitioner so that it could be tendered in the court of law alongside other evidences, and made available to the digital forensics experts, if needs be.

In this case, as in all cases involving fraud, time is the essence of things.

With all the chronology of events clearly documented, and the video and circumstantial evidence recorded, we have pieced together the trails that Koh Koh King, in his capacity as the administrator of PhotoMalaysia, who has been pre-notified of the fraudulent claims in his web forum, had chosen to continue condoning and endorsing the fraud and the fraudster.

Hence, the rule-of-thumb question to ask is: When Koh put up the False Claims of Identity thread to announce the Evangeliss fraud - we noted the thread was later moved into obscurity by PhotoMalaysia moderators - why DIDN'T Koh summararily disassociate himself and PhotoMalaysia from the fraudster and, instead, continued to endorse Evangeliss as the project manager in a community initiative PhotoMalaysia had deemed meaningful to sponsor? Where's the beef?

No amount of ad hominem will allow Koh to walk away scot-free in this fraud.

As a follow-up, we will get to the very bottom of the issue and to determine whether a corporate organisation, and its senior officer, had been told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth pertaining to the fraud.

I can't guarantee whether the corporate figure aforementioned reads this blog, but the Internet cowboys who don't own up fast, I believe the price is gonna be hefty.

I remember I said this once: As far as the Malaysian cyberlaws go, website owners and administrators are of the lowest realm in the Internet food-chain.

The fact hadn't, and won't change overnight. Nevertheless, 'talk is always cheap' shall remain as salient as the sun rises in the east.

That, will vindicate MZA, volvoc304, Alan Ang - and all past whistle-blowers in PhotoMalaysia who were subject to ad hominem ridicules exacerbated by Koh's Internet cowboys comprising his moderators and idolisers.

BIG ISSUE: Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 3 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4a )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 4b ) - Coming soon!

NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 3 )

Original time-stamp: August 30, 05:41hr. Re-post for top thread prominence.

BIG ISSUE: Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 3 )

As far as the Malaysian cyberlaws go, website owners and administrators are of the lowest realm in the Internet food-chain.

The price could be hefty if you are not being careful.

In the case of fake NatGeo photographer (picture left) who was allowed to roam free with his false claims on PhotoMalaysia web forum since June 2005, and the website co-founder and administrator (picture right) who aggregates such content online, and endorses the fraudster in off-line activities he sits as an advisor - it might well be wise to own up to some prevailing laws that govern the cyberspace in Malaysia.

They must realise that the online environment is not a legal vacuum. In general, if something is illegal "off-line", it will also be illegal "on-line". In this matter, the law clearly says, the relevant existing laws apply.

This is not hogwash, but facts are well laid out in no uncertain terms in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (or CMA 1998), and the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Content Code.

Please get both copies for your bedside reading. Pleading ignorance is no longer a valid excuse as the former has come into force in 1998, and the latter in September 2004.

Here are excerpts of the relevant portions that govern law and order in the domain of online content.

Communications and Multimedia Act 1998

In CMA 1998, PART 9 - SOCIAL REGULATION, CHAPTER 2 - CONTENT REQUIREMENTS, it is stated that:

Section 211. Prohibition on provision of offensive content

(1) No content applications service provider, or other person using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both and shall also be liable to a further fine of one thousand ringgit for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued after conviction.

Specifically, I have underscored the word 'false' with relevance to content.

Next question: Which body is responsible for this Part of CMA 1998? The answer lies in Section 212: Content forum.

It says: "The Commission may designate an industry body to be a content forum for the purposes of this Part."

Next question: What are provisions for the Content Forum to take responsibility of CMA 1998, Part 9?

The answer lies in Section 213: Content Code, which says:

(1) A content code prepared by the content forum or the Commission shall include model procedures for dealing with offensive or indecent content.

(2) The matters which the code may address may include, but are not limited to-

(a) the restrictions on the provision of unsuitable content;
(b) the methods of classifying content;
(c) the procedures for handling public complaints and for reporting information about complaints to the Commission;
(d) the representation of Malaysian culture and national identity;
(e) public information and education regarding content regulation and technologies for the end user control of content; and
(f) other matters of concern to the community.

The salient point is, the Content Code - which must be is read together with CMA 1998 - was registered with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on September 1, 2004, and implemented with effect on the same date.

Content Code

The entire document for Content Code can be downloaded from the Content Forum's website, cmcf.org.my, which carries a prominent link to the Online Content Code.

Prominently, Part 5 Section 3.5 of the Content Code states that,

The Online environment is not a legal vacuum. In general, if something is illegal "off-line", it will also be illegal "on-line". In this matter, the relevant existing laws apply.

The above provision sets the perspective for all website and forum administrators to take a closer look at the portions pertinent to the behaviour of Internet cowboys vis-a-vis the false claims made by the fake NatGeo photog and his content aggregator. Here is the gist of the code:

1. General Principles: Under Section 2.0 - General Principles, sub-section 2.3 states that: "The principle of ensuring that Content shall not be indecent obscene, false, menacing or offensive shall be observed."

   Again, I have underscored the word 'false'.

2. Compliance: Sub-section 6.2 says compliance with the Content Code shall be voluntary; however, Sub-section 6.3 also states that: "Compliance with this Code shall be a defence against any prosecution, action or proceeding of any nature, whether in court or otherwise as stated under Section 98 (2) of the Act."

Click MORE! and read on...

Let's move on to other portions relevant to False Content stated under Section 7.0 (enhancement in bold is mine):

7.0 - False Content

• 7.1 Content, which contains false material and is likely to mislead, due amongst others to incomplete information is to be avoided. Content providers must observe measures outlined in specific parts of this Code to limit the likelihood of perpetuating untruths via the communication of false content.
• 7.2 Content is false where prior to communications reasonable measures to verify its truth have not been adopted or taken.
• 7.3 Content which is false, is expressly prohibited except in any of the following circumstances:

  (a) satire and parody;
  (b) where it is clear to an ordinary user that the content is fiction.

• 7.4 Code Subjects must take all necessary steps outlined in the specific parts of this Code to limit the likelihood of provision of false Content.

It is to be highlighted that, Code Subjects here refer to MCMC licensees. Under Part 5: Specific Online Guidelines, Section 1: Scope and Coverage, there are subsections that refer to Online Content Aggregators; and Link Providers.

Under sub-section of Part 5, the word "online" has been further defined as follows:

"Online" is defined as a networked environment available via a connection to a network service whereby Content is accessible to or by the public whether for a fee or otherwise and which originated from Malaysia.

There are, however, several exemptions for Content as has been defined in the CMA 1998. Please read it on your own.

Web Forum as an Online Content Aggregator

In many ways, content created via web forum is aggregated via the multiple channels and transmittedthrough the main URL. Pertaining to this, the Content Code has a section on Content Aggregator. Part 5 Section 8.1 defines that (again, enhancement in bold are mine):

A Content Aggregator being a person who aggregates and/or purchases Content shall incorporate terms and conditions in the contracts and legal notices as to terms of use with users, subscribers and content providers of their services. This shall include the following terms:

• a) Users, subscribers and Content providers will comply with the requirements of Malaysian law including, but not limited to, the Code and shall not provide prohibited Content nor any Content in contravention of Malaysian law; and


• b) The Content Aggregator will have the right to remove such prohibited Content where a user, subscriber or Content provider contravenes the preceding (a) above provided the removal of such prohibited Content is in accordance with the complaints procedure contained in the Code.

This is where PhotoMalaysia administrators could have acted upon being shown proof of the false content created by Evangeliss, but, unfortunately, didn't.

It's pertinent to repeat that the penalty may be dauting for website and forum administrators who fail in observing this.

Huge stinger and admin vulnerability

Though there are groups of independent wesite and forum owners and administrators who may not be MCMC licensees, otherwise known as Code Subjects, there is a huge stinger that makes all of us vulnerable when false content is aggregated on our website and the admins took no action.

It is generally understood that website owners normally enter into contract with their Internet Service Providers (ISP) to host their content either via virtual hosting or server co-location. Will the ISP defend the offensive content of websites they host if non-compliance complaints were lodged against them that would jeopardise their licenses as Code Subjects?

This is the big stick and the huge stinger is defined under Part 5, Section 2.0 - Concept of Innocent Carrier. which says:

Code Subjects providing access to any Content but have neither control over the composition of such Content nor any knowledge of such Content is deemed an innocent carrier for the purposes of this Code. An innocent carrier is not responsible for the Content provided. Nonetheless, this does not exempt such access providers from adhering to the General measures as outlined in Part 6.0 of this Part where it expressly applies to them.

With this blanket indemnity given to the ISPs (or to be exact, Code Subjects under the categories of Internet Access Service Providers, Internet Content Hosts, Online Content Developers, Online Content Aggregators, and Link Providers), the individual website and forum owners are left entirely to their own defence.

The truth is that the ISPs, under Malaysian cyberlaws, have been indemnified from taking the liablility over the zero's and one's (bits and bytes) that flow through their pipes and networks - meaning website owners and administrators are left entirely on their own, legally speaking.

What's Koh Kho King's vulnerability?

I am saying this out of concern for the wellbeing of PhotoMalaysia co-founder and administrator, Mr. Koh Kho King and the wellbeing of fellow website owners out there. We do not need a bad precedent of non-compliance to be created.

I have intimated to him via numerous private exchanges involving a group of concerned PhotoMalaysia forum members of the potential ramifications if he didn't act fast on the fraud - now the correct term vis-a-vis CMA 1998 is 'false content' - aggregated by Evangeliss Hwong in the website he administers. But, unfortunately again, to avail.

Being a Malaysia holding a Malaysian citizenship and a Malaysian passport makes him vulnerable. Being a government servant, notably a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer, and taking no heed of the existing Malaysian cyberlaws makes him even more vulnerable.

Here are the why's.

ONE: The Malaysian cyberlaws have their teeth on Malaysians and entities operating in Malaysia as they can assert jurisdiction only over law subjects of the country.

According to a whois search, PhotoMalaysia.com was created via Tucows Inc on July 06, 2002. The registrant of the domain name on record is one Brian Webb Photography.

The Administrative Contact, who assumes absolute ownership of the domain name, is one Brian Webb whose address is recorded at 107 Min Sheng East Road, Fl.2, Section 5, Taipei, Taipei County 02, Taiwan. The telephone contact is +886 2 2753-4824.

The Technical Contact was recorded as Technical, Host Europe, Portland Street, Beeston, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG9 2LP, UK.
The telephone contact is +44 115 9170000 with a Fax number at +44 115 9170442.

The Registration Service Provider was recorded as PIPEX Communications Hosting Ltd, which carries a telephone contact at +44.115-917-0000 and a website at www.123-reg.co.uk.

The Domain Servers, NS1 and NS2, are traced to estyleasia.com at IP address 216.32.87.122, which belongs to Layered Technologies in Dallas, Texas, USA.

As it is, the arms of Malaysian cyberlaws can't reach PhotoMalaysia.com as their jurisdiction is limited to within Malaysian waters. The Malaysian authority, the CMA 1998 and the Content Code may have no effect on PhotoMalaysia as its aggregated content, including false claims made by Evangeliss Hwong, is generated out of Malaysia.

Secondly, PhotoMalaysia does not host with any Malaysian ISPs, so to the furthest extent, it can choose to be an Internet outlaw if it wanted to.

We do not know if the domain name registrant, Brian Webb, is a Malaysian - only Koh Kho King can tell. If he isn't, despite owning a Malaysian community website, he is out of the claws of Malaysian cyberlaws.

That, unfortunately, exposes Koh as the biggest bearer of liabilities as he has inadvertently stuck his neck out in the open when he allows his name to be used on PhotoMalaysia:

It is also perilous for the web admin to place an "all rights reserved" claims as it may be construed as having assumed all responsibility for the content it aggregates and publishes.

On the other hand, in howsoever way his co-founder Brian Webb has acted on the forum, should a non-compliance of the CMA 1998 and Content Code be filed against PhotoMalaysia for aggregating false content and condoning it after the false claim has been notified (link here, see image below).

Fact of the matter is Koh had made himself the sitting target - He was notified of the fraud but he continued to act as advisor to a project managed by the fraudster!

Screenshots has also received perspectives which say his employment status as a government servant may not help him much in mitigating the case, but only aggravating it.

On the sideline, Foreword of the Content Code says:

Such a (Content) Forum and its processes are not novel to Malaysia. Previous arrangements relied heavily on industry-based advisory committees and the consultative process. The Act (CMA 1998) formalises these processes to put more emphasis on greater industry self-regulation and self-discipline.

Whether Koh, as a government servant, wanted to help the online content industry to place more emphasis on self-regulation and self-discipline, or otherwise, the choice is entirely his.

In a country of law and order such as Malaysia, he is entitled to even challenge the law if he so insists. Just be sure of the consequences.

Watch out for Part 4.

Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 3 )

Dear YB DS OKT

Dr Goh Ban Lee's open letter couldn't have come at a worse time when the Minister is licking his wounds from a miscarriage of 200 votes meant for CKC.

MAS CEO: Local or Import?

UPDATED VERSION. The first cry came from Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein. He objected to any move by Malaysia Airlines to hire a foreigner as CEO.

He likened such an appointment of a foreigner to the top position at MAS to allowing the country to be recolonised in a new manner. theSun quotes him in the editorial today:

"Don't look at it purely from the commercial aspect but also the bigger agenda, that is the Malay Agenda."

In an if-y statement on Sunday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he wanted a Malaysian to head the airline but was willing to consider a foreigner as a temporary measure if there were no capable Malaysians who could be found in the meantime.

Responses start to come in from the usual suspects.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister:

Perhaps, all the national companies should be allowed tobe run by a foreigner. Then, I think we should have a different definition of national.

Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader:

The appointment of the new MAS CEO is a test case whether Abdullah can 'walk the talk' to entrust the most qualified Malaysians, regardless of race or gender, to propel a Malaysian agenda and not Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban or Kadazan agenda as the national formula to face the economic challenges of globalisation.

Interestingly, theSun editorial criticises Hishammuddin for putting unnecessary pressure on the national carrier and the government at a time when clear and rational thinking is needed:

the priority is not the nationality, race or sex of the CEO. We must simply pick the right person for the job, a person who, for the sake of Malaysian taxpayers, can help set MAS on a course of sustained profitability. If it is a Malaysian, good. If it is a foreigner, so be it.

Didn't they realise T. Ananda Krishnan had had foreigner COO's for Maxis and ASTRO for years?

* * *

BERITA HAIRAN: August 27, Berita Harian said foreigners woild be hired to helm Malaysia Airlines as the managing director. Among the mat salleh named were British Airways CEO Rod Eddington; Qantas Executive GM Qantas John Borghetti and director-general of Asia Pacific Aviation Association, Andrew Herdman.

Blogger MackZul received a tip-off from Australia, and hunted down a Sydney Morning Herald link that says it was all hogwash in Jalan Riong.

Dr M confirms Chun Wai's story

Wong Chun Wai's scoop is verified.

According to Bernama, Dr Mahathir Mohamad today confirmed he has returned all seven cars Proton gave him for test-drive as, he said, he has finished using them.

He said those cars "are not properly documented".

Asked if his returning of the cars was a rebuff on issues surrounding Proton, Dr Mahathir said: "They can see it in what way they like. The thing is they (the cars) don't belong to me and I have returned them to the owner."

In The Star today, Chun Wai quoted sources as saying Dr Mahathir was "deeply hurt" by developments in Proton which included the departure of its chief executive officer Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff and the Approved Permit (AP) issue.

Looks like Rafidah Aziz's nightmare will sustain in the coming Parliament sitting scheduled for September.

NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )

There is a far bigger question to the fraudulent claims made by Natgeo photographer wannabe.

The integrity of photography website PhotoMalaysia.com, which allows the fraudster prominent visibility in its online space and on-ground activities distinctively related to it, is now severely in question!

This is a live story of how a popular web forum has been found to condone a fraud, and despite the fact that its administrators have been notified of questionable claims made in their website, had chosen to endorse the fraudster.

With help from numerous concerned PhotoMalaysia members,Screenshots has pieced the dots together.

National Geographic (NatGeo) headquarters confirmed with Screenshots last week that Evangeliss HY Hwong (picture left, see earlier blog dated August 26 for context) was never in their database of employed photographers.

Leanne S. Macel, Vice President, Associate General Counsel for the National Geographic Society emailed Screenshots to acknowledge that the Society has been made aware of the activities of Evangeliss Hwong. She said the case has been forwarded to the Society's legal representatives and appropriate legal steps are being taken.

On the other hand, Basil Chua, Senior Marketing Manager of National Geographic Channel Asia (Singapore) has also confirmed with Screenshots that hos office has received similar reports of Evangeliss Hwong's activities using its brandname. He reaffirmed that Evangeliss was not found in NatGeo's database of photographers and advised the public to refrain from conducting any business with the person.

He also confirmed with Screenshots that the contact number used in Evangeliss' NatGeo namecard was indeed his direct line. He did not mention Evangeliss has obtained his authorisation ot prior consent for using his phone number.

Meanwhile, the integrity of photography website PhotoMalaysia.com is being questioned as its administors have been rapped for condoning false claims made by Evangeliss, who is also known as a.k.a. Evanstudio in PhotoMalaysia. Evanstudio was seen to have participated in the website's forum since November 2004. The nick has been highly visible as Evanstudio has uploaded over 500 postings by mid August, 2005.

PhotoMalaysia looked the other way

Screenshots was made to understand that PhotoMalaysia was notified of the fraud as early as June. However, the website admins chose to ignore insistent queries from its members and went ahead to publicise Evangeliss as the project manager for a private-run community project it endorsed.

Inquisitive forum members

The inaction of PhotoMalaysia in condoning fraud later aroused the discomfort among some serious photographers who populate its forum.

The first salvo came from Mohamed Zain Abdullah (MZA), who is Co-Editor for Assignments & Opinion Sections of a highly-respected photography website, Photography in Malaysia.

June 9 12:00hr, MZA asked Evanstudio the following in this PhotoMalaysia thread:

I would like to see those pix published by Geographic....if there is any. Everybody can claim anything without any proof

Evangeliss was swift in his reply, which was posted on PhotoMalaysia at 13:15hr the same day. He replied MZA, inter alia, with the following:

See me at work and u'll see... My works are published in the NatGeo Culture and Lifestyle edition under NatGeo Traveler and Adventure magazines US Editions.

However, not only the admins at PhotoMalaysia took no action to verify the claims and continued to allow Evangeliss to roam free on its forum, the person who asked the question became the target of vilification, as can be seen in this thread in its entirety. For the inaction of the forum admins, its moderators all looked the other side as if nothing has happened.

Screenshots was informed that, as early July early as April 2005*, forum member Frank H.P. Lim leveraged his trip to Johor Baru to personally show Koh Kho King (picture at bottom of page), co-founder of PhotoMalaysia, a namecard he received from Evangeliss.

(UPDATE: Frank Lim emailed this blogger at 11:41hr today stating the actual date of his informing Koh of Evangeliss' NatGeo namecard was April 2, 2005 and not as earlier stated. This means Koh has been pre-informed of the fraud TWO months earlier than the time MZA had asked on the first instance, in June.)

Apparently, Evangeliss had had with him more than one version of the fake NatGeo namecard. The one obtained by Screenshots was black with reverse white text. The one that Frank had was white:

Glaringly, despite having the privy information, Koh, the PhotoMalaysia admin cum co-founder who lectures at the Skudai campus of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, also chose to take no action.

Later, in early August, another inquisitive forum member, Alan Ang, questly wrote to NatGeo Washington to seek confirmation of Evangeliss' claims. He got this reply from Lisa T. Walker, Research Correspondence at the National Geographic Society:

From: lwalker@NGS.ORG
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 10:46 PM
To: alan ang
Subject: NG photographer

Dear Alan Ang:

Thank you for contacting the National Geographic Society.

I have been unable to find any record of Evangeliss YH Hwong in our files, or any listing of his photographs appearing in any of our publications. It is possible, however, that his work has not yet been published in our magazine.

I suggest you contact him again and ask him what article for National Geographic Traveler magazine he is working on, and when it will be published. If he can give you this information, we can check with Traveler magazine and verify this. If he cannot supply you with these details, I would suspect he is not being honest with you.

Best wishes,

Lisa T. Walker
Research Correspondence
National Geographic Society

Following the trail, Screenshots sent separate emails to NatGeo offices in Singapore and Washington to obtain independent verification of the alleged fraudulent claims by Evangeliss.

The first reply came from Basil Chua, Senior Marketing Manager, National Geographic Channel Asia (Singapore):

From: Basil Chua (basilc@ngcasia.com)
To: Jeff Ooi jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Cc: askngs@nationalgeographic.com, lwalker@ngs.org, Carmen Mak (carmenm@ngcasia.com), Angie Tan (angiet@ngcasia.com)
Date: Aug 19, 2005 6:43 PM
Subject: RE: Evangeliss Hwong Yu Hua of NatGeo

Hello Jeff

We are grateful for your email. In the past few days, we have received similar feedbacks from other members of the public in Malaysia.

The address found on Evangeliss Hwang's business card refers to the local office of National Geographic Channel Asia (Singapore), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Geographic Channels International. And you are right, the office telephone found on this card goes to me.

We like to clarify that - "Evangeliss Hwang" is NOT an employee, an affiliate or have been in any way been associated with National Geographic in the past or present. He is not an authorized representative of National Geographic and hence his representation is fraudulent. Please DO NOT CONDUCT BUSINESS with him in any way. We are presently looking at actions to address this issue.

Once again, we like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. Meanwhile, if you need further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us directly at my contact details below.

Best wishes

Basil Chua
Senior Marketing Manager
National Geographic Channel Asia (Singapore)

Direct: +65 6325 3848
Mobile: +65 9760 5655
Email: basilc@ngcasia.com

The second reply came from Leanne S. Macel Vice President, Associate General Counsel, National Geographic Society:

From: LMacel@ngs.org (LMacel@ngs.org)
To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Date: Aug 24, 2005 3:19 AM

Dear Mr. Ooi:

I am in-house counsel for the National Geographic Society. Thank you for your email messages to the Society informing us of the activities of Mr. Evangeliss Hwong. Your email messages have been forwarded to the Society's legal representatives and appropriate legal steps are being taken.

We appreciate your communications to us regarding this matter.

Very truly yours,

Leanne S. Macel
Vice President, Associate General Counsel
National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

To authenticate the two replies from NatGeo offices, the respective email headers are published at the end of this blog entry.

Responses from professional photographers

The expose of the Evangeliss fraud in Screenshots last week has attracted the attention of professional photographers in the region.

Sabah-based Louis Pang, a celebrated professional photog, and co-founder and moderator of AsianPhotographers, has started a thread on the issue. Linking to PhotoMalaysia, Louis says:

"the damage is done... any intervention was too little too late".

Louise also highlighted on August 27 that PhotoMalaysia's official statement on EvanStudio's flase claims had been pulled off the site.

Louise's co-founder in AsianPhotogs, Associated Press photo editor Vincent Thian remarked August 27, albeit jokingly, that...

"this is not the first time PhotoMalaysia site members claim themselves as PRO".

The same day, August 27, former Agencie France Presse (AFP) photojournalist Jimin Lai wrote a comment in Screenshots:

It's really sad to see people pretending to be someone they are not. Especially fooling around with something as big as NG. May god have mercy on him.

August 29, Louis uploaded a comment:

So here, the mods have to be vigilant. If we sense something unusual we should alert other mods. With so many working in the press, it's not easy to fool everyone. Someone said, "You can fool someone some of the time. But you cannot fool everyone everytime." So the key is alerting other mods when we feel fishy about something.

While this community serves primarily press photographers, non-press or working photographers are welcomed to share, post and visit too. Our intention is very clear -- to promote photojournalism, to help other PJs or working photogs and of course when the occasion arise, show off our work la!

'Before you leave for Japan...'

Apparently, PhotoMalaysia co-founder and admin, Koh Kho King (picture left), can't run off to Japan for his further studies without first giving his Malaysia-based moderators a refresher course on upholding the self-esteem of serious and budding photographers, and to understand Internet governance applicable to web forum content.

Or else, the reputation of the serious photographers in general, and the overall integrity of community-of-practice websites -- of which the photographers' is one -- may be put in jeopardy.

Screenshots shot an email to Koh last week, asking him to verify the nationality of his co-founder and co-administrator said to be currently based in Taiwan. Koh did not respond.

Meanwhile, whistle-blowers at PhotoMalaysia, namely Mohamed Zain Abdullah and Alan Ang, have been vilified by the ignoramus in PhotoMalaysia, often times abetted by its own forum moderators.

Ang, an avid photographer who used to be a financial donor to the PhotoMalaysia maintenance fund, has decided to stop further donation to the kitty.

So, can you fault the photographers' community in Singapore for having one entertaining lunch too many, of late?

Watch out for the third instalment.

Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )

Header of Basil Chua's email to Screesnhots:

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To: "'Jeff Ooi'"
Cc: , ,
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Subject: RE: Evangeliss Hwong Yu Hua of NatGeo
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Header of Leanne S. Macel's email to Screenshots:

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NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )

You must have seen this photo in the National Geographic and international media for umpteen times, haven't you? You can even buy the poster online.

SOURCE: National Geographic Online Store

The haunting green eyes of the Afghan Girl. The image first appeared on the cover of National Geographic (NatGeo) in 1985, and it has become one of the most iconic photographs in the last century. The image was taken by NatGeo photographer, Steve McCurry, who visited Kuala Lumpur on a product endorsement trip recently.

For close to two decades since the Afghan Girl image was published, McCurry became a celebrity not only among his peers, but to budding feature photographers around the world. Truthfully, photographers commissioned by NatGeo are a measure of professional standard that feature photogs, including those from Malaysia, look up to. If you shoot for NatGeo, you must be among photography's zen masters - or so many people think.

So much so, we were made to believe through the press and Internet, that we have produced our very own NatGeo photographer, who goes by the name of Evangeliss Yu Hua Hwong (picture below) a.k.a. Evangeliss YH Hwong, a.k.a. Internet nick of Evanstudio.

SOURCE: An anonymous Screenshots reader.
Photo credit will be given if the photographer identifies himself

The well-kept secret was first reported by The Star (see third party archive here, and picture below), and then widely publicised, but hotly debated - in local photography website, PhotoMalaysia.com.

SOURCE: FRANK H.P. LIM

However, Screenshots received a tip-off from a group of photography enthusiasts on this so-called home-bred photog extraordinaire, pointing to certain discrepancies in facts and claims. Subsequently, after exchanging numerous correspondence with NatGeo Singapore, NatGeo HQ and the legal counsel's office at NatGeo Washington - with the help of insiders - Screenshots managed to unearth yet another well-kept secret!

The secret that many did not already know; and for those who knew, some chose to look the other way, and worse, some chose to condone a fraud - a big fraud - for as long as they could.

Read all in the series:
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 1 )
- NatGeo photographer(s) in Malaysia... ( 2 )

Watch this space!

Penang Bridge: Kit Siang is right

The concession holder for the Penang Bridge, Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd (PBSB), has proposed a toll hike from RM7 to RM8.50.

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang first raised the issue August 16. Works Minister, S. Samy Vellu, who oversees all tolls in Malaysia, has remained silent in the last nine days.

Race policy: Small town, big press

Malaysia's 35-year-old race policy has its ramification felt even in a town as small as Lenggeng.

That's what Reuters' regional correspendent Jalil Hamid wired to the world - one week before Malaysia's national day - and picked up by city newspapers as big and as far-fetched as Boston Globe, of the New York Times stable.

URGENT! Streamyx calling bloggers for dialogue

This is a piece of corporate governance news I'm pleased to blog about.

Subsequent to the blog titled: Meeting Streamyx Boss, I counter-proposed to TM Net/Streamyx to consider extending the August 30 meet-up with its senior management in Subang Jaya to a larger sphere beyond this blogger and Screenshots readers.

The wish has been granted as TM Net PR unit replied:

Dear Mr Jeff,

Sorry for the late reply, we were finalizing a few things on this session. Yes, you may bring a handful of Streamyx users who have posted their comments on tmnet streamyx. As of now, the details for the dialogue session is as follows:

Date: 30th August 2005 (Tuesday)
Time: 8.00pm - 10.30 pm
Venue: Subang Jaya, Selangor *

* I have hidden the full information for venue to ensure a focussed discussion among a manageable group.

Kindly forward the details of the bloggers who will be joining the dialogue session to enable us to communicate with them directly on the dialogue session and compile an attendance list. The details required are as such:

1. Full name of blogger
2. Blogger's id
3. Blog URL/ website address that comments are posted
4. Hand phone number of blogger
5. E-mail address of blogger

Thank You.

Calling fellow bloggers, especially those from the Klang Valley, I seek your indulgence to email me your details by August 26 so that I can compile teh participant list.

To those who have emailed me their Streamyx issues in private, thank you. You may have to resend - complete with your Streamyx username and ADSL/fixed line number - if you need your case to be resolved on a case-by-case basis.

To help me manage the influx of emails, please use "Streamyx Issue for Individual Attention" as the subject. Your deadline is also this Friday, August 26.

U-turn... Its Tobacco County!

A 10:25hr Star SMS Alert says:

Cabinet has decided to allow the sale of cigarette packs of 14 and below to be sold in the market until 2010.

Bravo Dr Chua Soi Lek! Where LimKokWing has failed, Kelana Jaya Dragon can take over. Don't think the restless Tun will object.

Another headless GLC

UPDATED VERSION. After Proton, Malaysisa Airlines becomes the next Government-linked company that is without a managing director. In his place, similar to the case of Proton, an executive committee has been formed to run the company until the vacancy is filled.

Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS)'s MD Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan has retired, following which, the board will search for a new managing director.

Ahmad Fuaad's exit was announced by Company chairman Munir Majid when MAS released today a pre-tax loss of RM274.83 million in its first quarter results which ended June 30.

Ahamd Fuaad, 55, tendered his resignation last week and his retirement begins today. He survived only 18 months of his 3-year service contract.

Bernama has a story on the aviation news section.

Thanks reader Izni Idris for the pointer.

* * *

UPDATE: Malaysia Airlines chairman Munir Majid was quoted in Asian Wall Street Journal as saying that the problems at MAS ran deeper than just high fuel prices.

"Fuel is not the only reason for the losses," he said. "We have not been profitable in operating the airline business." He noted that profits in recent years have come from "one-off gains", an apparent reference to non-recurring earnings such as aircraft sales.

But AWSJ correspondent Leslie Lopez thinks otherwise. he quotes investment analysts tracking the company as saying that MAS remains a laggard among Southeast Asian airlines because it is heavily overstaffed and is often required by the government to operate non-profitable routes as part of its role as a national airline.

"Unless MAS is allowed to operate 100% as a commercial enterprise, a management change won't do much good," a fund manager said.

Dr M targets corruption among intellectuals

Apparently, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is more worried with the "Big Fish" that caused major-scale corruption and abuse of power in the country - the intellectuals.

He has singled out the intellectuals and those who hold high positions in the government and the private sector as the main culprits. Quote:

"Ada yang kata apa salah terima sedikit. Yang jadi masalah ialah apabila menjadi budaya. Yang sedikit jadi bertambah.

"Kita akan ditekan dengan keperluan yang sepatutnya tidak ada, hinggakan nak dapat tempat di kubur pun kena bayar. Ini berlaku di negara lain," katanya.

More headache for Pak Lah who is reminded of a Cabinet reshuffle before the puasa month. Already, Joceline Tan has heard hummings of a September rhapsody in minor and major.

Read Utusan Malaysia today.

Bumi tycoons etc

Those fighting for the 30% solution to solve Malaysian socio-economic woes may want to grab a copy of Malaysian Business.

The August 16 edition runs a 32-page pullout featuring Bumiputera chief executives and managing directors in Malaysia today. Shortly, Berita Publishing will bring out Bumi CEO 2005 with a more comprehensive directory that, I am speculating, may include the AP Kings.

In the cover story, Malaysian Business takes a look at the 2004 remuneration figures for Malaysia's top executives. Three things revealed:

1. Fewer directors earned more than RM300,000 in 2004 compared to 2003.

   Are companies starting to base executive payouts on performance?

2. Some loss-making companies actually increased remenuration to their directors.

Financial group RHB Bhd's top executives got a huge pay rise - from RM4.3 million in 2003 to RM13.5 million in 2004.

If companies don't base executive payouts on performance, what then is the criteria?

3. Disclosure standards of directors' remuneration have deteriorated.

   ( 1 ) Tenaga Nasional Bhd, which used to disclose the exact salary of its top executive the last two years, has decided to provide only a salary band in 2004.

   ( 2 ) Proton Holdings Bhd disclosed the minimum salary band of its top executives in 2003 but in 2004 discarded it, preferring to only state that its top executive earned 'more than RM600,000'.

   ( 3 ) Even Bursa Malaysia, the equity market regulator, which was demutualised and listed on its own bourse last year, making it the rightful taiko in the disclosure game - did not reveal the exact amount paid to its top executive, instead stick to the minimum band requirement of RM50,000. Bursa paid between RM1.3 million and RM1.35 million. Can we safely say they have gone to the CEO, Yusli Mohamed Yusoff?

Why are company directors soundly remunerated? A seasoned director of listed companies in Malaysia quoted by Malaysian Business says:

It's not what you pay directors but what you get out of them that matters. A good executive can be bringing the company a pot of gold, with the right strategies and execution.

Is that what folks like drop-out politician Lee Lam Thye, just to name one, does? Any comment, you minority shareholders?

* * *

My i-Witness column in the same issue is titled: Has Internet changed? It's a recap of my recent trip to the Silicon Valley.

Meeting Streamyx boss

It seams that the TM Net management under new CEO Michael Lai is taking heed of articles published in this blog pertaining to various problems that plagued Streamyx.

The company has invited this blogger for a private meeting at 8pm August 30 in Subang Jaya. I understand that its senior management will be present.

If there are interested parties among Screenshots readers who would like to attend, I can accommodate two persons. Firstly, I don't want to be overly biased - whether it's pro or contra - and secondly, I'd like to see Streamyx problems faced in areas out of Subang Jaya attended to as well.

The other alternative is to have you feedback in this blog topic and I shall compile the relevant ones to be discussed during the meeting. As I don't like long-winded meetings, I would like to focus on strategic issues first, and if I have time, I will attend to the individual cases - you can send me document files separately and I will pass them over to the Streamyx management.

Interested? Please email or SMS. I will reveal the meeting place in private.

Social Contract: How the controversy was killed off

This is how Utusan Malaysia's attempt to flare up racial tension through manipulative reporting has been killed off.

Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik, the Parti Gerakan president who became the target of Utusan's venom, had an eyeball-to-eyeball talk with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before the cabinet meeting yesterday to brief him the head-and-tail of the Utusan-triggered controversy.

During the cabinet meeting, the original text of speech he delivered at the Anak Malaysia Convention August 13 - a copy of which was obtained by this blogger and published verbatim in Screenshots - was circulated to all the ministers. The cabinet took the decision to put a stop to further debates on the controversy.

After the cabinet meeting, journalists from Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian - Umno's foremost mouthpieces - were called in for a special session with Keng Yaik, in which the minister conveyed his wishes that the media respect the cabinet decision and do not repeatedly create any untoward perception relating to the issue. Utusan Malaysia carries a story on this today.

Keng Yaik also reiterated to the Malay media reporters that he did not have the intention to question or change the social contract formula that has been agreed upon by the races when the country achieved independence.

August 15, Keng Yaik accused Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia, of misinterpreting his statement delivered in English at the August 13 function.

In his speech, Keng Yaik talked about his party's proposition of Bangsa Malaysia, his assessment of how we can go about making a true Bangsa Malaysia, and how to harmonise Bangsa Malaysia with the New National Agenda. His conclusion:

Keng Yaik concluded his speech by saying it is time that we examine how far we have travelled on the road to nation building, and the direction we are taking after almost 50 years of independence.

To help the journalists understand him better, yesterday he spoke to them in plain Bahasa Malaysia:

"Ucapan saya adalah 'cetusan pemikiran' supaya semua kaum di Malaysia mula berfikir sebagai Bangsa Malaysia dan mewujudkan satu Bangsa Malaysia.

"Saya meminta maaf sekiranya timbul persepsi kurang tepat hasil cetusan pemikirannya itu.

"Saya berada dalam Barisan Nasional dan percaya terhadap perkongsian kuasa, maka tidak pernah mempersoalkannya."

After the manipulative story was flared up in Mingguan, Utusan Malaysia followed up by obtaining a response from Pemuda Umno deputy Khairy Jamaluddin, who accused Keng Yaik of speaking against the Federal Constitution.

Finally, it was Khairy's father-in-law, the Prime Minister, who has to make a related statement later yesterday. He urged all races in the country to preserve the cooperative agreement forged between them as a national legacy.

ASTRO Advertising campaign

This is an issue about how mass media shape Malaysia's culture and values system.

Mailbag
From: AstralLiquid
To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com
Date: Aug 18, 2005 12:20 AM
Subject: On ASTRO Advertsiment campaign

Hi Jeff,

This is my first time writing to you. Have been reading your blog a long time and very good job you have done.

I just wrote a mail to Letters to the Editor of the Star my second time all my 30 years. Not a very outspoken person myself. I wrote to them just now because of something I feel deeply. It's about ASTRO's advertising campaign.

I hope someone can stop the current TV & radio advertisement about a little fat boy complaining about his father of not loving him and goes on to tell the world why everybody should go for paid TV.

If you want to lodge a complaint, please drop it into the mailbox of ASTRO's top officer who is in charge of overall operations, namely its Chief Operating Officer David Butorac. Perhaps this foreigner-on-contract should learn a thing or two about Malaysian culture and our values system. Email him: david.butorac@astro.com.my.

The reader's letter continues...

I am not a father myself but I have been brought up by my late father who taught me in life you cannot always expect to have what your friends have and never compare yourself with others.

This advertisement about a poor father working hard to give the best to his family while his little kid complains about the lack of love for him until his father bought a monthly subscription to the paid
channel is just plain stupid and undermine a father's ability to make the best decision for his children.

If you were to make an ad campaign to tell the world knowledge is good for children, there are thousand ways do to it. The current campaign is definitely not the way as it sends out the message to fathers from poor families that you should feel guilty because you
cannot afford even to buy RM100 insurance and yet you have to fork out RM100 monthly for a paid TV for your kid because he keeps telling you his best friend has it.

What is the role of Malaysia's free channel like RTM1,RTM2 TV3, NTV7, TV8 then?

Please give a second thought the next time whoever comes out with some ads like this in the future. You sounded desperate to woo subscriptions, by making people feel guilty for being poor.

astralliquid

Haze & Super CEO

Journalists at business desk are as busy as their general desk counterpart as news flew in from Indonesia implicating Malaysian companies being the culprits for open burning in Riau that caused thehaze crisis in Malaysia.

StarBiz's Sidek Kamiso found out to his dismay that some of these Malaysian plantation companies were equally shrouded in haze when it comes to crisis management and handling the press.

Not only did he fail to get the comments of the highest possible authority in some of the companies, he also encountered some stumbling blocks that reflect the indifference in corporate Malaysia to good public relations.

Let's zero in on one particular CEO. Quote:

The first thing I did to confirm the report was to send a message to the chief executive officer (CEO) of one of the companies implicated for the fires in Sumatra last Friday.

My message read: "I understand that you were in Sumatra recently. Can you comment on the latest developments, especially when your company is implicated?"

In my experience, such questions would usually get an immediate response, but strangely I did not.

Then, in good faith, I sent another message with an update: "Pak Lah has mentioned two Malaysian companies that are implicated for the fires in Sumatra. Everyone I spoke to is pointing his finger at your company. Hope that's not true."

Again there was no reply to that message.

With my deadline looming and more information at hand, I sent the CEO another message: "Just want to confirm whether there is fire at land belonging to your company's unit, [I named the company]."

Again, this drew a blank response.

I believe I was not the only journalist with such queries, but the CEO's treatment of the urgent messages was not appropriate and could be detrimental to the company concerned.

Later, I found out that this CEO got the messages, but instead of replying to me directly, he asked his PR officer to give a statement to my colleague.

That is OK, but unfortunately, his comment made no reference at all to the crisis at hand.

What's the implication to corporate governance, the brand equity and the shareholders' expection?

The implication is this, according to Sidek: "Although the company was not officially named in all the news reports that appeared that day, the company's silence could have dire consequences for it, particularly when the public would find out who the real culprits behind the recent haze were."

True enough.

Now, the public, shareholders and other stakeholders, have to face the reality as the company's name (Don't ask me who!) has finally surfaced. The company will be viewed negatively no matter how hard it tried to do crisis control from the PR front. Too little too late.

Up till today, says Sidek, the company has yet to do this. Where's the corporate transparency, especially when the company is a listed entity?

Now, we are not here to defame him, but let's see how low this Super CEO wants his profile to be kept.

For context, read this blog.

Social Contract: Keng Yaik's original speech

Screenshots has obtained a copy of Gerakan President Dr Lim Keng Yaik's speech which had been spun into an unwarranted controversy by Utusan/Mingguan Malaysia. (Context here and here.)

In his speech, Keng Yaik talked about his party's proposition of Bangsa Malaysia, his assessment of how we can go about making a true Bangsa Malaysia, and how to harmonise Bangsa Malaysia with the New National Agenda. His conclusion:

Gerakan is not pioneering a new movement or creating a new community of ‘Bangsa Malaysia’. We believe that intrinsically, deep down the heart of all Malaysians, they cannot find any explicit reason to reject this proposition. A journey of a thousand miles must start with a first grand step. It is time that we examine how far we have travelled and the direction we are taking after almost 50 years of independence.

With that perspective, I think Malaysians should be allowed to judge the merits of his thoughts, and to evaluate how they have been spin-doctored into potential racial tension by the Umno mouthpiece - some 15 days running up to the 48th anniversary of Hari Kebangsaan.

I have posted the entire text of Keng Yaik's speech on Screenshots so that it becomes Google-searchable. You may also want to download his speech in Doc file so that you can email it to your friends.

The bottom line is that we shouldn't allow the strangling of the Bangsa Malaysia embryo until it becomes a still born.

Introduction

I am grateful for being invited to speak at this Anak Malaysia Convention jointly organised by Gerakan Youth, Sedar Institute and Friedrich Naumann Stiftung. I congratulate the organisers for a job well done. My warmest regards to all distinguished guests, speakers, participants and members of Parti Gerakan.

Ladies and gentlemen, this convention is timely because there is a serious need to rethink and review our nation-building project. It is only through a sincere and open review that we are able to identify and measure its success and failure, issues and challenges in order to help us achieve the desired national unity.

National unity should not be interpreted as a communitarian ideology. The discourse of national unity entrapped within the sole purpose of breeding homogeneity or conformity does not reflect a clear understanding of the social landscape of our modern society. In turn, I urge you to consider our proposition of looking at national unity using a pair of multicultural and multiracial lenses. Consequently, the dynamics that help to foster national unity are essentially diverse and different. But within this diversity, we can find a true synergy and strength which is far stronger than homogeneity.
Our nation-building project is supposed to create such positive outcome of national unity. However, a sense of national unity cannot be fostered through mere rhetoric or symbolism. Singing patriotic songs is good but singing them as an act of ritual is useless and meaningless. A sense of commitment to the nation and to the society must come intrinsically from within one’s heart and soul. This is what I called a sense of belonging and a sense of shared common identity to the country and to the society.

Gerakan’s Proposition of Bangsa Malaysia

Today, we would like to make you a proposition to consider coming together to foster a sense of belonging and a sense of shared common identity. At Gerakan, we call this proposition the creation of a truly ‘Bangsa Malaysia’. For this proposition to become a reality, we believe that our youths or our ‘Anak-anak Malaysia’ play a key role. Our younger generation should be taught to appreciate and respect the country’s rich cultural diversity and that it is essential for them to work together to face multifarious challenges of global scale. These diverse cultural values are our wealth and not a liability. The foundation of a society should be built from its diverse cultural values in order to shape its shared common destiny and identity.

Moreover, I truly believe that for Malaysia and its people to come together as a nation, we need to learn to understand, accept and celebrate our pluralistic nature. Pluralism, I believe is an essentialist element of a Bangsa Malaysia. We should not deny our shared cultural heritage. Over the years, each and every community in Malaysia has absorbed and assimilated elements from other communities into their language, art, music, lifestyle, food and others.

Is Bangsa Malaysia a reality or myth? The answer lies in the decision you make today. A nation-building project is never an easy one. Many countries took centuries to build a nation and a society. A great number of these societies were broken down and torn apart by unscrupulous conflicts masked by racial or religious overtones. Hence, different actors in the society must always be mindful of their action and interaction. We ought to practice self-discipline and to observe respect for our fellow countrymen of other races or faiths.

We need to build our society or a truly Malaysian race not by getting overly obsessed with a few racial or religious conflicts but to build on our centuries of inter-ethnic relations, understanding, goodwill and cooperation.

Moving forward, I urge you to conduct a critical assessment of our nation-building project. After almost 50 years of independence, do we have a general consensus on the concept of Bangsa Malaysia? Are we ready to embrace this concept? What are the characteristics of a Bangsa Malaysia? These are several pertinent questions to get today’s discussion on the ball.

The Making of a Truly Bangsa Malaysia

In my own assessment, there are several challenges and obstacles to our nation-building project and the creation of a Bangsa Malaysia. First, the project is faced with a ‘historical burden’ which must be removed. It stemmed from a politically motivated view of interpreting our historical past. For example, the dominant historical narration of our struggles for national independence and the formulation of the social contract between the main races often take a very narrow communal slant. An often repeated reminder to the Chinese and Indian community in this country is that the government did them a great favour by granting them citizenship to stay in this country. Hence, they should be grateful and beholden to the state.

The making of statehood cannot be based on a static interpretation of history. How can we ask these communities to sacrifice and devote their energy, resources and time to help in nation-building if they are often demoralised by such statement? An objective narration and documentation of history is a dynamic process.

Our society has gone through together horrid time of the cruelty of colonialism, imperialism and other challenges. We have survived and thrived as a society. Perhaps, it is timely that the future narration of history can reflect more on our join struggles and collaborations. We cannot achieve much as a society and as a nation – with a first-world ambition – if we continue to deprive our younger generation of a true reflection of history.

Second, I find that our sense of ethnicity or religiosity is stronger than our sense of nationhood and citizenship. I am worried that this way we are promoting and expanding our existing racial and religious silos. Most of the policy debates, social discussions or societal dialogues are exclusively race or religious centric. There are not many Malaysian centric dialogues or discussions. I can only generalise that the idea of a shared common destiny and a shared common identity has not sink into the mainstream thinking yet. We still put race and religion first, and society and nation second. Thus far, our national unity efforts are polemical, ritualistic and artificial at best. Henceforth, I would be interested to listen to suggestions from our speakers on how to reverse the current mindset.

Third, we need a political paradigm shift. Our model of power sharing is not premised on a zero-sum game. I would like to urge all politicians and aspiring politicians to look inside-out instead of outside-in. We have to be externally focused and forward looking. Remember, narrow communal assertion, slogan and chest-beating will only create more racist reactions. We need to re-examine the relevance and impact of populist race-centric political approach. We need to find if this approach is detrimental to our nation-building project and national unity agenda.

Fourth, I would like to warn Malaysians of a culture of exclusivity which is breeding in our society. This culture is trying to create exclusive groups within our society. What this culture is saying is if you are not one of us, you should mind your own business. Inevitably, this culture is limiting inter-civilisation dialogue and discussion. Another trajectory from this culture is the establishment of extremist groups which promote dangerous ideology and belief. The government has taken serious actions against any form of extremism and all kinds of extremist bantering. Fortunately, Barisan Nasional leaders are mindful that we need to protect our pluralistic nature.

The most challenging task is identifying a set of shared common values which all Malaysians can embrace and adopt as a collective value system. Perhaps, this forum could make an attempt to identify some of these shared common values and norms.

Harmonise Bangsa Malaysia with the New National Agenda

Nearly 50 years since independence, evidently our nation is searching for a new agenda. Over the past few weeks, our political scene is buzzing with a new proposal to adopt and implement a “New National Agenda”. In the era of globalisation characterises by constant change, we need a new agenda or a development strategy to ensure that we are keeping up with these changes. In this regard, our nation-building project should be harmonised with this new national agenda.

To construct an inclusive and conclusive national agenda, promoters of this agenda should understand the current realities faced by the nation. The agenda must be able to withstand rigorous public scrutiny. The essential elements in the agenda must be able to address current challenges faced by the society. The agenda must also be broad enough to accommodate the aspirations of all Malaysians, and not just any particular community alone.

We cannot resurrect something old and outdated from the past and call it ‘new’. This act is similar to pouring old sour wine into a new bottle. If we are not willing to embark upon a paradigm shift, this new national agenda will be an effort in futility.

Conclusion

Gerakan is not pioneering a new movement or creating a new community of ‘Bangsa Malaysia’. We believe that intrinsically, deep down the heart of all Malaysians, they cannot find any explicit reason to reject this proposition. A journey of a thousand miles must start with a first grand step. It is time that we examine how far we have travelled and the direction we are taking after almost 50 years of independence.

Finally, I hope you will this convention meaningful and worthwhile.

Thank you.

Dato’ Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik,
President,
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia.

Riau fire: 8 Malaysian companies involved

At last, Minister Peter Chin got what he has been asking for: the names of Malaysian plantation companies involved in opening burning in Riau that caused much of the haze disaster imported from Indonesia.

Utusan Malaysia makes it frontpage lead today: there are eight culprits in all, namely:

1. PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation


2. PT Langgam Inti Hibrida


3. PT Udaya Loh Jinawe


4. PT Agri Plantation


5. PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa


6. PT Multi Gambut Industri


7. PT Bumi Reksa Nusa Sejati


8. PT Mustika Agro Lestari

Indonesia's Forest Minister M.S Kaban is reported to be in the midst of handing over the list to his Malaysian counterpart.

He said, of the ten companies implicated in the "slash-and-burn" activities, eight are Malaysian-owned covering some 200,000ha of oil palm plantations. The would be prosecuted alongside the Indonesian-owned culprits.

Minister Chin, could you take a look at our GLCs? Is their reputation, and our corporate governance, severely at stake?

Social Contract: 'Utusan got the context wrong'

The NST should extend its Read New Straits Times Adoption Programme to Utusan Malaysia because the Malay paper's reporters and editors seem to have a lousy command of English.

Yesterday, Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik accused Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia, of misinterpreting his statement delivered in English two days ago. Read the full context in Screenshots.

Keng Yaik said he will meet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today to give his side of the story on the social contract controversy sparked by a front-page article of Mingguan Malaysia, reports Bernama. (Read the Utusan Malaysia version here.)

On the other hand, Umno Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussein, warned all factions against raising or questioning the issue of social contract between the races, which he said was agreed upon when Malaysia achieved its independence. "Don't bring up the issue again as it has been agreed upon, appreciated, understood and endorsed by the Constitution," he said in a Bernama story. (Also read the Utusan Malaysia version.)

Meanwhile, Richard Yeoh, Executive Director of Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) gives a historical perspective to the so-called 'social contract' and why politicians and their spin-doctors had to flog the dead horse repeatedly.

Richard's article may shed light on how much Khairy Jamaluddin, who accused Keng Yaik of speaking against the Federal Constitution, understands an important chapter of Malaysian history before he was born.

Mailbag From: Richard Yeoh To: Jeff Ooi Date: Aug 15, 2005 4:26 PM Subject: The Malaysian Social Contract

The debate on the Malaysian Social Contract is on again.

Less the debate goes on a tangent again, I submit that any rational debate should focus on the founding basis of the Malayan nation that came into being on 31st August 1957 (followed by the Malaysian nation in 1963) namely the "Social Contract" of 1957 that gave birth to the "Merdeka" Constitution of 1957.

I will not argue the case against the misinterpretation and distortion of the Social Contract for vested political and economic advantages on the part of the ruling elites as this was previously argued by Kim Quek in his article Unveiling the truth of Malay ‘Special Rights’ in an article dated Dec 04 2005.

If we wish to debate the principles of the Social Contract amongst the various communities that led to Independence of the new nation, we must refer to the Report of the Federation of Malaya Constitutional Commission 1957 (commonly referred to as "The Reid Commission Report") as this Report was the result of the representations, discussions, compromises and agreements amongst the various communities and groups that form our nation.

As the Report is very comprehensive and exhaustive, I shall focus on the main areas of controversy and misinterpretation that dog us to this day, with the intention solely of contributing to informed discussion.

I believe that the Yang DiPertuan Agong should convene a special consultative council comprising all stakeholders in the Malaysian nation to examine the issues rationally and positively so that we may forge a national consensus which must of course be founded upon the principles of democracy and equal citizenship.

The emphasis in bold and clarifications in bold italics are mine.

Citizenship for non-Malays and the Special Position of the Malays:

This was one of the fundamental ‘bargains’. In return for citizenship for all, it was agreed that the Malays’ special position should be safeguarded.

On this the Report had this to say:

Para. 163. Our terms of reference require that provision should be made in the Constitution for the “safeguarding of the special position of the Malays and the legitimate interests of the other Communities”. In addition, we are asked to provide for a common nationality for the whole of the Federation and to ensure that the Constitution shall guarantee a democratic form of Government. In considering these requirements it seemed to us that a common nationality was the basis upon which a united Malayan nation was to be created and that under a democratic form of government it was inherent that all citizens of Malaya, irrespective of race, creed or culture, should enjoy certain fundamental rights including equality before the law. We found it difficult, therefore, to reconcile the terms of reference if the protection of the special position of the Malays signified the granting of special privileges, permanently, to one community only and not to the others.

The difficulty of giving one community a permanent advantage over the others was realised by the Alliance Party (the forerunner of Barisan Nasional), representative of which, led by the Chief Minister, (Tunku Abdul Rahman) submitted that – “in an independent Malaya all nationals should be accorded equal rights, privileges and opportunities and there must not be discrimination on grounds of race and creed...” The same view was expressed by their Highnesses (the Malay Rulers) in their memorandum, in which they said that they “look forward to a time not too remote when it will become possible to eliminate Communalism as a force in the political and economic life of the country”.

Para. 164. When we came to determine what is “the special position of the Malays” we found that as a result of the original treaties with the Malay States, reaffirmed from time to time, the special position of the Malays has always been recognized. This recognition was continued by the provisions of clause 19(I)(d) of the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1948, which made the (British) High Commissioner responsible for safeguarding the special position of the Malays and the legitimate interests of the other communities. We found that there are now four matters with regard to which the special position of the Malays is recognized and safeguarded.

1. In most of the States there are extensive Malay reservations of land, and the system of reserving land for Malays has been in operation for many years. In every State the Ruler-in-Council has the power to permit a non-Malay to acquire a piece of land in a Malay reservation but the power is not used very freely. There have been some extensions of reservations in recent years but we do not know to what extent the proportion of reserved land has been increasing.
2. There are now in operation quotas for admission to the public services. These quotas do not apply to all services, e.g., there is no quota for the police and, indeed, there is difficulty in getting a sufficient proportion of non-Malays to join the police. Until 1953 admission to the Malayan Civil Service was only open to British subjects of European descent and to Malays but since that date there has been provision for one-fifth of the entrants being selected from the other communities. In other services in which a quota exists the rule generally is that not more than one-quarter of new entrants should be non-Malays.
3. There are also now in operation quotas in respect of the issuing of permits or licences for the operation of certain businesses. These are chiefly concerned with road haulage and passenger vehicles for hire. Some of these quotas are of recent introduction. The main reasons for them appear to be that in the past the Malays have lacked capital and have tended to remain on the land and not to take part in business, and that this is one method of encouraging Malays to take a larger part in business enterprises.
4. In many classes of scholarships, bursaries and other forms of aid for educational purpose preference is given to Malays. The reason for this appears to be that in the past higher education of the Malays has tended to fall behind that of the Chinese, partly because the Chinese have been better able to pay for it and partly because it is more difficult to arrange higher education for Malays in the country than Chinese in the towns.

Para. 165. We found little opposition in any quarter to the continuance of the present system for a time, but there was great opposition in some quarters to any increase of the present preferences and to their being continued for any prolonged period. We are of opinion that in present circumstances it is necessary to continue these preferences. The Malays would be at a serious and unfair disadvantage compared with other communities if they were suddenly withdrawn. But, with the integration of the various communities into a common nationality which we trust will gradually come about, the need for these preferences will gradually disappear. Our recommendations are made on the footing that the Malays should be assured that the present position will continue for a substantial period, but that in due course the present preferences should be reduced and should ultimately cease so that there should be no discrimination between races or communities.

Para. 166. With regard to land, we recommend that, subject to two qualifications, there should be no further Malay reservations, but that each state should be left to reduce Malay reservations in that State at an appropriate time. Land is a State matter and we do not recommend giving overriding powers to the Federation in this matter. We do not think that it is possible to lay down in advance any time in when a change should be made because conditions vary greatly from State to State. The two qualifications to the rule that there be no further reservations are: first, that if any land at present reserved ceases to be reserved, an equivalent area may be reserved provided that it is not already occupied by a non-Malay; and, secondly, that if any undeveloped land is opened up, part of it may be reserved provided that an equivalent area is made available to non-Malays.

Para. 167. The effect of our recommendation is that with regard to other preferences to Malays no new quota or other preference could be created. These preferences can only be lawfully created or continued to the extent to which that is specifically authorized by the Constitution. With regard to the existing quotas which we have referred to above we recommend that the Malays ought to have a substantial period during which the continuance of the existing quotas is made obligatory, but that, if in any year there are not enough Malay applicants qualified to fill the their quota of vacancies, the number of appointments should not be reduced and other qualified applicants should be appointed in sufficient numbers to fill the vacancies. We recommend that after 15 years there should be a review of the whole matter and that the procedure should be that the appropriate Government should cause a report to be made and laid before the appropriate legislature; and that legislature should then determine either to retain or to reduce any quota or to discontinue it entirely.

State Religion:

On this the Report had this to say.

Para. 169. We have considered the question whether there should be any statement in the Constitution to the effect that Islam should be the State religion. There was universal agreement that if any provision were inserted it must be made clear that it would not in any way affect the civil rights of non-Muslims. In the memorandum submitted by the Alliance (forerunner of the Barisan Nasional) it was stated-“the religion of Malaysia (sic) shall be Islam. The observance of this principle shall not impose any disability on non-Muslim nationals professing and practicing their own religions and shall not imply that the State is not a secular State.” There is nothing in the draft Constitution to affect the continuance of the present position in the States with regard to the recognition of Islam or to prevent the recognition of Islam in the Federation by legislation or otherwise in any respect which does not prejudice the civil rights of individual non-Muslims. The majority of us think that it is best to leave the matter on this basis, looking to the fact that Counsel for the Rulers said to us –“It is Their Highness’ (the Malays Rulers’) considered view that it would not be desirable to insert some declaration such as has been suggested that the Muslim Faith or Islamic Faith be the established religion of the Federation. Their Highnesses are not in favour of such a declaration being inserted and that is a matter of specific instruction in which I myself have played very little part.” Mr. Justice Abdul Hamid is of the opinion that a declaration should be inserted in the Constitution as suggested by the Alliance and his views are set out in his note appended to this report.

(Note: The Alliance’s proposal was ultimately included in the Merdeka Constitution)

Delimitation of Constituencies:

On this the Report (inter alia) had this to say.

Para. 74. In delimiting constituencies within a State it would be in accord with general practice elsewhere and it is, in our opinion, necessary in the Federation that regard should be had not only to the number of voters in each constituency but also to the total population, the sparsity or density of population, the means of communication, and the distribution of different communities. We recommend that the Commission (i.e. the Election Commission) should be required to have regard to these factors, but, in order to prevent too great weight being given to any one of them, we recommend that the number of voters in any constituency should not be more than 15 percent. above or below the average for the State.

(Note: This limitation was in the Merdeka Constitution but subsequently amended, and then removed altogether by Parliament.

"Walaupun dikatakan telah dijelaskan kesemuanya tetapi ia masih menimbulkan tanda tanya... banyak belum dijelaskan," katanya.

"Buat masa ni saya tak berani cakap sama ada beliau bohong atau tidak tapi setakat ni kita masih ternanti-nanti penjelasan yang memuaskan hati sebab banyak lagi persoalan mengenai AP yang tak terjawab."

He hinted that Rafidah is kurang ajar (uncultured) when he said: "Saya rasa sesetengah perkara yang beliau katakan tak sepatutnya. Saya ingat banyak lagi cara yang lebih beradab dan cara ini saya ingat lebih cepat boleh selesai."

If you have noticed, the 2004 AP recipient list, which Rafidah resisted revealing until Pak Lah gave the 'Publish All' order, indicates that the AP Kings were given far more APs than they received in 2005.

That sets the tone. It's going to be another gruelling week for the Makcik. DPM Najib Abdul Razak said yesterday he expected Rafidah to give a total explanation to Mahathir's latest rebuttal in next week's cabinet meeting.

The indication is most ministers in Abdullah's administration are getting uneasy and embarrassed with the protracted controversy. They want out.

But the rakyat want to know if Rafidah had lied since 1997. She owes us an explanation in the name of transparency and accountability.

Salah masuk, JJ oii...!

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis is saddened by the increasing number of youths being exposed to pornographic materials on the internet and wants to meet internet service providers (ISPs) soon to set a guideline to filter porn.

Good thought, but JJ is nosing into someone else's affairs. He has no business whatsoever in ISPs.

ISPs come under the jurisdiction of Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA 1998), and their licenses were issued by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) empowered through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998. The custodian of the relevant law is the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications.

Besides, in accordance to the provisions of CMA 1998, the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum was set up in 2001 to handle matters related to Internet-delivered multimedia content.

Is JJ a dungu on this?

So, what is MOSTI trying to do when it's not the custodian ministry governing ISPs? Samsudin Osman the KSN should know it and call for decorum at once!

Salah lubanglah, Datuk!

AP-no-MP

Taking facts, or the lack of it, this report from yesterday's NST amused me:

On Dr Mahathir’s claims that Rafidah had not spoken the truth, Abdullah said: "Let Rafidah deal with that by giving all the details that are needed. You are asking me. How am I to know?"

Now, you finally get to explain why our Members of Parliament are dead silent over the AP issue. These MP -- from both Barisan Nasional and Opposition -- have been co-opted into the AP beneficiary list by getting one each - for imported cars!

According to The Star, Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker said the one-AP-one-MP privilege has been in practice since 1995. However, the paper says, it did not come under the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act, and it does not come under Parliament’s purview.

It was actually a "private arrangement" between MPs and the minister concerned. Meaning to say, 'bisa diatur'.

However, none of the MPs admitted they ever sold their APs. You sure, Pak Lah?

* * *

FOOTNOTE: The word 'no' in the headline AP-no-MP is a Japanese word, meaning 'of' as used in 'Aji-no-moto'.

APs are forever

With the release of 2004 and 2005 lists of Approved Permits (APs) recipients, we can now confirm: APs are perpetual for the approved recipients.

APs are renewable perpetually for the recipients so long as ( 1 ) they remain in business, without or without showroom; ( 2 ) there is record of sale, whether by ownself - AP recipients on record - or through third parties.

Only the quantum will vary, depending how fast you dispose the APs - no matter by selling real cars or selling the APs. Quote:

On the criteria for awarding APs, the ministry (of International Trade and Industry) said if a company used 80% or more of the APs it received, for the following year it would be given another 20%.

Those that used 75%-80% of the allocation would have their allocation increased by 10% in the following year. AP holders who used 60%-70% of their allocation would have their allocation increased by 5%.

For those who used less than 60% of the number approved, their allocation for the following year would be based on the number of vehicles they had brought in in the previous year.

According to The Star, the 2004 Approved Permit list shows that the same companies that received the most APs this year were also the biggest beneficiaries.

Again, according to The Star, only 15 companies, including those owned by the "AP kings:, had the number of APs allotted to them slashed this year, with some being reduced by more than half.

Importantly, the latest list shows that 15,079 open APs - don't forget, that's the category discontinued in 1988 - and 66,277 franchise APs were issued last year.

It's thus safe to say the practice has been there for donkey years and the beneficiaries had been minting money since 1970.

Last night, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry admitted that the current policy does not limit the number of franchises a company or individual can secure.

The ministry also denied that it had given national car status to the multipurpose vehicle Naza Ria, saying only Proton and Perodua cars enjoyed this status. Naza Ria only received a "suitable incentive package", MITI said.

Got APs, but angry

Meanwhile, Rafidah Aziz's brother, Tajul Arus Aziz, vented his anger on friends and relatives who had picked on him because his daughter Annie got 199 APs for importing Kleemann cars through Emeritus Equities Sdn Bhd.

He got angry because critics claimed that Annie got the APs because she was the niece of Rafidah.

In the first list that was released on July 18, Emeritus Equities got 199 APs to import Kleemann. For 2004, it was allocated 850 APs.

The other shareholder in the company is Annie’s husband Zulkifli Ishak.

No APs, not hungry

On the other hand, Deputy Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin said he has no interest in the automobile business but he found himself linked to the approved permit (AP) issue.

He dismissed speculation that he had some 500 APs.

"If you go through the list, you will not see my name on it, not by proxy or anything like that nothing," he said.

Don't lose track of core issue

We shall await Dr Mahathir to put the money where his mouth is: Show us the former government offocers whom he said did not qualify for APs but got them by the thousands.

Joceline Tan says the mentor-protégé spat must stop.

She reveals that, shortly after landing at Subang airport on Sunday, Mahathir told a close friend that he had "saved Rafidah three times" in the past. Will he anymore?

Joceline throws more cliff-hangers:

• "It is apparent now that her former mentor will be pursuing the issue to some sort of a conclusion." What sort of conclusion?


• "And if that is not enough, Tengku Mahaleel himself has some stories to tell which he is not telling yet." How would he sing?


• "The spotlight has been on Rafidah and her former boss but the solution may be determined by her present boss." What can Pak Lah do?

In a hard-hitting tone, Awang Selamat says Rafidah Aziz, who has spoken too much, cannot shut up at the wrong time. The columnist says the rakyat deserve to know the truth and her vague expalanation has become more fuzzy after being grilled by Dr Mahathir.

NST's Yushaimi Yahaya, who reports Pak Lah's official visit to South Africa and watchese Rafidah in situ from close proximity, says keeping silent is no longer as option for her.

His collegaue Syed Nadzri says in his Op-Ed piece today:

Rafidah has to untie the knots. It is not appropriate and unfair to say she is leaving it to the Prime Minister, as she said in South Africa yesterday.

It is also inexcusable to say "I don’t care", as she did when asked for her response to the hostile reception at the Umno assembly.

Shit is hitting the fan. Pak Lah's administration will be sorely embarrassed if the controversy becomes protracted.

AP: Loose Tongues win again

So, many Loose Tongues out there should continue to be happy.

PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, not the foreigner, Wednesday directed Rafidah Aziz to publish the full list of Approved Permit (AP) holders to avoid negative perceptions from the public, reports Bernama datelined South Africa.

Excerpts of Abdullah's directive in response to allegations from former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the government did not issue the full list to the public:

"Okay publish all, publish all. There's no need to keep. Why should we keep. If by keeping we create negative perceptions, that's not right, that's wrong."

Abdullah said that he had no intention of not publishing what had already been made public.

"If there's anything that has been left out inadvertently, then we would furnish further. But Rafidah would be in a better position. I have given and published the list on that day," he said.

Rafidah, who was at the press conference, said that she would publish the full list including those owning showrooms.

She told reporters that she was too hurt to reply to Dr Mahathir's allegations.

Proton CEO not a foreigner

On Tengku Mahaleel's successor, Abdullah said that the new CEO would be experienced and one who had served about 12 years with Proton.

"We'll see who's going to be the CEO. It will not be a foreigner. Don't start speculating."

Pak Lah is a wise man of good upbringing. He is somebody who will kenang budi - a Malay fine culture - and avoid a confrontation with Mahathir, someone who pronounced to have brought back his detractors into the cabinet and pushed them up the political ladder.

Cellular scams!

Beware! The cellphone companies are no saint. They split revenue with unscrupulous SMS content provider and yet they claim innocence.

This has been going on for so long that, finally, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has to issue an alert on SMS auto download subscription because of tremendous complaints from consumers about being billed for subscriptions they were not aware of.

The statement says:

The MCMC views the matter very seriously and is currently working with the mobile operators and content providers to eliminate such practices. An announcement will be made in early August on the remedial steps to be put into effect in order to protect consumer interests as well as to ensure the healthy growth of the industry.

As a precaution, MCMC advised consumers to check the types of charges that are levied for the service before downloading the content or registering for the service.

Also, consumers were asked to check their bills for any charges to ensure that charges are only for the services they have subscribed for.

This is the dirty hands' modus operandi, according to The Edge FinancialDaily:

Head of corporate communications Adelina Iskandar said, "The unscrupulous acts started when the content provider provides an ‘auto membership’ mechanism where customers who download any content from that content provider will automatically become a member.

"The customers will then be charged a download fee (cheaper than the average download fee) and subsequently levied weekly membership fees such as RM2 to RM 8 per week."

I am please to announce that I am preparing a case against "that famous chocolate company which also sells airtime" on a similar scam, with three victims.

If you have heard them say consumers can use the universal keyword 'STOP' to stop all unsolicited SMS since April 1 - Not True!

They have a simple mechanism to prevent you from unsubscribing what you have never voluntarily subscribed in the first place!

Please bear with me for a little while! I will give you the evidence how Astro SMS and several other SMS providers - sent in collaboration with Maxis - had been pumping SMSes billed in the range of RM1.50 to RM2.50 per message to a 70-year-old lady who doesn't even know to send SMS, let alone subscribing to one!

I want ytou to see how such unsolicited, unscrupulous SMSes had added up to some 25% of her monthly Maxis bill.

On the principle of public interest, I want those who have been similarly victimised to join me in this campaign.

We should let the cellphone companies realise that, when they split and usurp 30% of the revenue generated from the SMS scam with their partners in accomplice, they owe their subscribers a duty of care.

We need to prove that they have been derelict in this duty of care in full consciousness.

And yes, it's also an opportunity to determine whether MCMC has lost its two front teeth.

There is context in this Malay Mail report I attached below.

Context

THE MALAY MAIL

STOP that unwanted SMS
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22:

Maxis subscribers can now cancel all unsolicited SMS (short messaging system) messages using a few simple steps. They just need to 'reply' to the unwanted message by typing STOP.

Maxis Communications Berhad (Maxis) product development and management head Karim Abdul Malik said they had used the universal keyword to stop all unsolicited SMS since April 1.

Karim said subscribers can also typed STOP ALL to cancel all promotions provided by content providers.

On June 1, The Malay Mail reported that a post-paid Maxis customer, Liew Wai Keong, was charged RM1,800 for unsolicited SMS sent from a Singapore-based content provider.

SOURCE:
http://www.mmail.com.my/Current_News/MM/Friday/National/
20050722114921/Article/index_html

Know who? Know how?

I am lost on these counts. Could you please help me with some insights?

From Dr Mahathir's statement, titled "The Proton Problem":

• 12. I have to reveal in full because of the national interest of the industry, not because I did not get APs as alleged by a writer in an English newspaper.

  Who is this "writer in an English newspaper"?

• 18. Although there is no official prohibition against government officers who had just retired (optional) from being given opportunities from the government. However, there are questions why these former officers who did not fulfil conditions were given thousands of APs.

  Who are "these former officers"? Can you name them if there not ghosts, and Mahathir is not senile?

Then, there's the definition of 10% pertaining to AP allocation. Mahathir pointed out that Rafidah's ministry gave varying figures on the total number of APs issued:

"It is said to be 67,000, then 50,000, then 45,000. These are statements from Miti (Ministry of International Trade and Industry). Apparently, they are not very sure themselves.

Besides, what is 10%? The minister sometimes said 10% (of the cars) are assembled in Malaysia, sometimes the minister said there are 10% of imported cars in the market are brought in through APs. So, what actually is 10%? To me, it's still a mystery."

Mystery to you, too?

Mahathir to deal with Rafidah in parts

Proton adviser Dr Mahathir Mohamad is set to rebut Rafidah Aziz's explanations over the AP controversy in revealing parts and instalments.

In Part I, Mahathir says ( 1 ) Rafidah had misled the Umno delegates by making false claims on the AP issue; ( 2 ) Rafidah's letter and attached documents to him, which was previewed by the Cabinet, did not prove the claims made by the minister herself.

He said rafidah was misleading Umno delegates when she said the issuance of APs had increased the number of bumiputras in the automotive industry, "especially when two or three people who had no showrooms got thousands of APs".

He also questioned why former officers of the ministry who were not automotive businessmen and who had no facilities to assemble or sell the imported cars received thousands of APs.

Mahathir admits he may be 80 years old, but "saya belum lagi nyanyuk" (I'm not senile).

Part II will be forthcoming. "A detailed explanation on the correspondence among the various parties will follow to avoid any dispute," says Mahathir.

Reference:
- Bernama story
- Full text of Mahathir's statement

With so many side shows happening, I wish you do not lose track of the core issue at hand: The wellbeing of the national car industry.

Also, look for the verbatim version of the Q&A; session Mahathir had with the Press in tomorrow's papers. My jaw dropped hearing his remarks over TV3's Buletin Utama tonight.

In TV3's edition, Mahathir remarked cynically that "we can even hire foreigners to run our country, including the Prime Minister's post, so long as that foreigner has brain".

Classic Mahathir, but he's not finished with APs yet

UPDATED VERSION. Proton adviser Dr Mahathir Mohamad ended his one-hour presser at 11:30hr - his verbal and body languages say he is bitter, sarcastic, critical and defiant.

Expect a new twist to the AP controversy. Dr Mahathir claims that the list released recently is incomplete.

And now, he wants the 2004 AP allocation to be made public because "people should know the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

Quote from The Star, a stinger for the PM's Office that should vindicate Kit Siang who has been pressing for the pre-2005 lists of AP recipients:

The former Prime Minister said the list released was not complete and questioned why only the list for 2005 was released and not others.

"Once you have released, release everything because people may feel suspicious. I like people to think that the government is transparent as promised, and will give all figures.

"When I was prime minister, and I was accused of giving contracts to cronies, I took out the whole pile showing out all the contracts and put that out unamended," he said in a press conference.

Here's the gist of his talking points at-a-glance:

• Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff's tenure as group CEO of Proton Holdings Bhd was not renewed as he did not agree with the terms of the new two-year contract which he felt were inferior to his own terms, while the Proton board was not willing to consider Mahaleel's views.
• He said he was not surprised by the decision made by the board of the directors of the national car manufacturer.
• Dr Mahathir also said Tengku Mahaleel's ability to run Proton was cramped after he was removed from the chairmanship of major Proton subsidiaries.

  He had been demoted to ordinary director whereas the chairmanship of these subsidiaries were assumed by the chairman of the holding company.

• Dr Mahathir said didn't know whether Mahaleel has failed in Proton, but, according to him, Mahaleel has steered Proton to be profitable with an accumulated cash of over RM4 billion and had even used RM1.8 billion to build the Tanjung Malim plant without outside borrowings and without asking the government for help.
• He said: "I am quite sure that Proton will do better with the new management."
• On the AP controversy, Dr Mahathir said he would "make a written statement for all so that there will be no misinterpretation."
• On the issue of whether he will remain Proton's adviser, his reply: "Well, I will still stay so long as they don't dismiss me."

Mahathir has referred to Tengku Mahaleel as having been 'dismissed' by Proton - as used in Utusan's frontpage headlines today - until reporters pointed out to him that it was actually a non-renewal of Mahaleel's contract.

Not through with AP yet

According to The Star, a fresh controversy is brewing over the issue of Approved Permits (AP) as Dr Mahathir today claims that the list released recently is incomplete.

Dr Mahathir also questioned the basis used to determine the number of APs issued.

He also said that he was not happy with the AP problem as more foreign cars were being easily imported into the country.

Most importantly, he now calls for the 2004 AP allocation to be made public.

God forbids, but we may be in for a surprise whose names will be revealed in the 2004 list. Aisehman has started tracking, here and here.

* * *

Malaysian car maker Proton Holdings Bhd zoomed up 10% today as investors bet Tengku Mahaleel's departure would pave the way for a stake sale to German partner Volkswagen AG.

Tengku Mahaleel had been seen as an obstacle to such a deal.

Volkswagen is now more likely to invest in Proton, owned 42.7% by state investment arm Khazanah, reports Reuters quoting brokerage CIMB Securities.

Ringgit: This is outrageous!

RAM (Ratings Agency Malaysia) chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng was quoted by Sin Chew Daily as saying that, if Malaysia's economic fundamentals remain unchanged, ringgit's value will rise to RM3.00 - yes, three ringgit - within the next six to twelve months.

Let's put RAM on ratings watch. For context, read this blog, where the consensus is RM3.60 to the dollar in six months, and RM3.50 in twelve to 18 months.

Proton: Hear what Mahathir has to say

June 27, Screenshots blogged about PROTON group CEO Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff's parting shots, in which he criticised government policies that he said had hurt PROTON.

It came true yesterday. PROTON's board of directors has decided not to renew his contract, which expires September 30. He has to vacate his office by taking leave till the end of his tenure, with immediate effect.

On the media front, after keeping away from his readers for so long, Wong Sulong finally says he knows what Mahaleel's fatal error was: He doesn't own Proton, the shareholders do.

Secondly, Wong says, the Proton board has built into Mahaleel's new two-year contract that, among the conditions, Mahaleel is required to keep daily notes of what he did for Proton and make these available should the board require them.

Mahathir meets the press today

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir had postponed a press conference which was originally scheduled for yesterday.

Mahathir, who had kicked up a ruckus over the under-declaration of car prices by automobile importers who were issued chunks of APs, returned to Malaysia on Sunday morning after tactically avoiding being in town during the Umno general assembly which concluded Saturday.

He arrived at the Subang RMAF Airforce base at 10:00hr, via a Petronas executive jet.

Media sources said Mahathir had expressed concerns over four points in the letter he received from Minister of International Trade and Industries, Rafidah Aziz.

When approached by the media last night, Mahathir refused to comment on PROTON's decision to remove Tengku Mahaleel. He, however, said he will meet the media today.

Meanwhile, the market is rife with a new spin that says Mahaleel's removal is the quid pro quo to have Rafidah removed from the cabinet - a 'safe-face' measure for Dr Mahathir and a 'win-win' solution to appease both sides of the political divides.

Deja vu for Mahaleel

It's deja vu for Tengku Mahaleel, as it was only yesterday that he donned the wrap-over pages of theSun and China Press to sell Proton SAVVY, the 1.2-litre car that targets young executives.

In the interim, according to PROTON chairman Mohamed Azlan Hashim in a hurriedly called press conference in Shah Alam yesterday, all of Mahaleel's duties and responsibilities as the group CEO will be taken over by a four-member executive committee.

The committee comprises Azlan himself, board member Badrul Feisal Abdul Rahim, director of operations Kisai Rahmat, and PROTON Tanjung Malim CEO Kamarulzaman Darus.

Kisai and Kamarulzaman have also been appointed joint COOs.

Azlan explained: "These changes are not about individuals, they are about progressing PROTON... and that they are the beginning of a series of changes that will take place in PROTON."

Replacement CEO

Azlan announced that an "urgent search" is underway for a new CEO. He did not rule out the possibility of getting someone from outside the group, and even a non-Malaysian.

Interestingly, Azlan said the new CEO may "not necessarily" be someone with engineering expertise, which contradicts what he said in his meeting with Proton adviser Dr Mahathir recently.

Speaking to the press after the meeting with Mahathir, Azlan said "it is important that a company like this be run by somebody with engineering background".

Azlan also said there will be "clearly no impact" on PROTON's upcoming models, despite Tengku Mahaleel's involvement in their development.

As for the fate of PROTON's stakes in MV Agusta and Lotus, Azlan was non-committal, saying that "whatever decision has been made (about these companies) was made properly by management. Going forward, any further decision will be based on circumstances".

Pertaining to the alliance with Volkswagen, the indication is that negotiation is still being pursued, and "will continue to be negotiated".

Azlan revealed that Mahathir has been briefed of the PROTON board's decision but he declined to give the details.

Reading the AP lists again

I thank Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang for pointing out something important that I have missed - miserably - reading into the AP recipient lists that the PM's Office has revealed. Quote:

In 1988, Rafidah (Aziz) froze the issuance of Open APs for nine years until her Ministry introduced the Franchise AP Policy in 1997 to open the automotive market in compliance with the requirements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Rafidah’s explanation raised many questions.

Firstly, she was clearly criticizing her predecessor as Minister for Trade and Industry for the APs mess, or at least her immediate predecessor who was none other than Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was Minister for Trade and Industry for three years from 1984 to 1987, before resigning from the Cabinet after he lost by 43 votes to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his failed bid for the post of UMNO President in the UMNO party elections on April 24, 1987.

Secondly, the list of 76 companies with Open APs released by the Prime Minister’s Office showed that two were given in 1987, 13 in 1988 and one in 1989, and that these 16 companies which were given Open APs when Rafidah was Minister were allocated 7,666 APs, or 43.7% of the 17,526 Open APs issued for 2005.

This is quite a sizable percentage for companies given Open APs in the two years of 1987 and 1988 as compared to companies given Open APs in the previous 17 years from 1970.

Furthermore, how come one company was given Open AP in 1989 when Rafidah said that she had frozen the issuance of Open APs in 1988?

Kit Siang had asked once, on July 24, immediately after the Umno general assembly concluded:

In the 2005 APs list, the four "APs King of Kings" of Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz and Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad took 42.1% or 28,283 of the 67,158 APs.

One of the four "AP King of Kings", Azzuddin, has denied that he has even a single AP, although his name was listed together with Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff under Weststar Motorsport Sdn. Bhd which was allocated 7,603 APs to import Honda cars from Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Japan.

How has Azzuddin’s name appeared in the past four years in MITI records as one of the four "APs King of Kings"?

Rafidah’s silence on Azzuddin’s denial is not a good example of her accountability and transparency.

Nasimuddin was issued 12,524 APs for 2005 – 9,412 Franchise APs through five companies, three of which went as far back as eight years ago in 1997, and 3,112 Open APs through Naza Konsortium Sdn Bhd. UMNO delegates and the Malaysian public are entitled to know how many Open APs had been issued to Naza in the past 17 years since 1988 and the total number of Franchise APs in the past eight years since 1997.

Rafidah’s silence on these matters are again adverse reflections on her commitment to accountability, transparency and good governance.

I am equally baffled. Now, folks, please help me, go over the two lists again, and tell us what you find:

- Open APs
- Franchise APs

AP: Under-declared importers identified

The ills of APs remain unresolved at root, but certain flouters have been exposed.

The Government has decided to come down hard on importers who under-declare the value of imported vehicles, reports The NST.

From today, the Customs and Excise Department is imposing a Profit and General Expenses (PGE) charge of between 30% and 38% on 34 models of six marques which the Government believes had been under-declared in the past.

The six brands are Kia, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Chery, Fiat and Mahindra Scorpio.

The decision was taken by the Finance Ministry and Customs at a meeting chaired by Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop yesterday.

According to Customs director-general Halil Abdul Mutalib, the PGE for vehicles below 1.6 litres will be 30% of the sales price while for cars above 1.6 litres, it will be 38%.

Meanwhile, Association of Malay Importers and Traders of Motor Vehicles president Abdul Hamid Ibrahim said it would be virtually impossible for the six brands to survive the market if such a hefty charge is imposed.

The AP Kings (L-to-R): Nasimuddin, Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff

Kia is distributed by Naza Kia (Nasimuddin SM Amin), Chevrolet by Auto Pacific Star (Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim and Mohd Haniff Abd Aziz), Hyundai by Hyumal Sime-Darby, Chery by Alado Bumi Automobile, Fiat by Torino Motors Industries and Mahindra Scorpio by DRB-Hicom.

Bite the bullets, folks. Dr Mahathir has been right all along on this count.

Unpeg Day 2: Watching Bank Negara's moves

UPDATED VERSION. Screenshots has trailed how Bank Negara "managed" the trade-bias forex float and tied the ringgit value to a basket of currencies of its main trading partners.

Read this record capture (Words file, 137k) to get a glimpse. Note, Bank Negara had 8 quotes at 9:00am yesterday, then 5, then by noon more, and by end of yesterday, even more.

Bank Negara's forex daily periodical published rates are available here:

www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=12&pg;=138&tpl;_id=167

Thanks Jack for the heads-up.

* * *

As anticipated, the pundits tanked in their predictions of sharp gains in the ringgit vis-a-vis US dollars on suspected central bank intervention.

Bank Nagara is suspected to have mobilised at least RM6 billion to intervene in forex and treasury bills counters yeaterday.

Reuters has been watching Bank Negara's "dirty float" yesterday. Here's a summary of the initial assessment:

• Currency dealers said the Bank Negara spent heavily - at least RM1 billion - on the first day of trading on Friday to keep a lid on speculative buying of ringgit which is viewed as undervalued.


• Derivatives markets offshore that settle only in U.S. dollars are factoring in an 8% rise in the value of the ringgit over the next year.


• Economists say a firmer ringgit can help curb inflation, which hit a 6-year high in June, and keep interest rates low.

There is a warning from Sani Hamid, economist with Singapore's Forecast Private Ltd.:

The fact that the ringgit has appreciated so little from its original rate could attract more speculative inflows as investors bet on continued appreciation in coming weeks.

With a war-chest of US$75.2 billion in foreign currency reserves, Bank Negara is considered well armed to deal with existing speculators. It could offload the greenback it has collected at strategic time - at a cost.

The Edge FinancialDaily quoted a banking analyst as saying that about US$5 billion could have been injected into the Malaysian government Treasury bills (T-bills) yesterday.

The analyst also added that the T-bill yield had subsequently seen a decline from 2.45% to about 1.00%, emphasising that "a fair bit has gone in as intervention".

Bank Negara started the bidding at RM3.795 yesterday morning, said Reuters. The consensus among economists and analysts for the ringgit's fair value is in the region of RM3.50 - RM3.60, representing a 5 to 8% potential appreciation of ringgit over a one-year period.

With Bank Negara's intervention, the ringgit rose a mere 0.6% to trade at 3.7775 as of 19:13hr in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, reports Bloomberg's David Yong.

Reuters also has a interesting piece that eulogises Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and vindicates Anwar Ibrahim. Read here, Pak Non says Pak Lah has unpegged himself from Dr Mahathir.

Unpeg Day 1: Bank Negara intervenes

Currency traders said it appeared that Bank Negara had intervened by buying dollars to prevent a rapid appreciation in the ringgit a day after Malaysia moved to a managed float of the currency, reports Reuters today.

Bank Negara declined to comment on the issue. However, it admitted that offshore trade in the ringgit will remained banned as the ringgit is not internationalised despite the unpeg from US dollar.

As the ringgit will still be non-tradeable overseas, this practically means that all the other capital controls shall remain.

With an intervention-ready position, Goldman Sachs says Malaysia appears to be reverting back to the old system of a "dirty float".

Boring and inaccurate!

How much did Pak Lah pay his researchers and speech writers?

Go to Star Online or Bernama to get a feel of the keynote address. Good materials, solid talking points, but it was presented in a boring, unexciting written language. With this kind of language, Pak Lah can't personalise and verbalise it despite he being an awesome communicator!

In the speech, Pak Lah was made to say:

"And yet another report, by AT Kearney together with Foreign Policy magazine identifies Malaysia as the only Asian country to be included in their list of the 20 most global nations."

Holy cow! That's blespheming the facts!

Go to the Foreign Policy website and look for the AT Kearney study, This is the URL:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_marapr_2004/countrydetail.php

Singapore is listed on the 2nd placing, and Malaysia is the 20th!

Certainly Malaysia can't be the only Asian country if my geography teacher is right!

In fact, thanks Neil for pointing it out, the 2005 placing by AT Kearney had seen Singapore ascending to the Top 1 position, while Malaysia moved to the 19th.

I am curious to know if Khir Toyo had helped in writing the speech too, bringing with him the DIY criteria for Selangor Maju?

I hope my blogger friends from Singapore won't gasak me the way Pemuda Umno ridiculed Rafidah Aziz!

Thanks Vic for the alert.

Car imports: How they cheat

Bernama's Yong Soo Heong exposed how car importers short-changed the government in taxes by the millions of ringgit - with or without APs.

The source, who is associated with a foreign car manufacturer, revealed that some importers had gone to the extent of minimising their exposure on government taxes by splitting their purchase orders twice.

This is how it is done: The importer will send a purchase order for, say, 20 cars, to the exporter or foreign car manufacturer and will include payment for a sum equivalent to only half the price of the cars concerned.

Once the cars are ready to be shipped out, he then makes the balance of the payment.

The source said the exporter would then invoice the importer and the paperwork for Customs declaration would be based on the second payment. In other words, payment is split.

"This means that the so-called selling price to be declared to the Customs would be based on only half of the actual price of the cars," she said.

The invoice used for the Customs declaration would also include fictitious payments purported to have been made by the importer running to several thousands of ringgit per car as the manufacturer is supposed to send personnel to Malaysia to oversee the technical aspects of the after-sales service of the vehicles, the source said.

"Government taxes will thus be based on the discounted price and not on the actual value of the cars and hence the government gets shortchanged through such under-declaration," she explained.

Read the full story for more cheats.

When it's become 'susah nak cari makan'...

Almost all newspapers today carry Rafidah Aziz's crying face in mother-hen sizes.

I purposely parked myself at a Petronas station for some 20 minutes, loitering around the newstand and trying to make eye-contact with strangers who came to pick up the morning papers. I watched attentively their body language, and listen well to what they said after seeing Rafidah's picture. Sort of an unqualified dip-stick survey.

Some of the remarks I heard were rather unsavoury, but the most striking one came from a government servant, recognised instantly from her nametag. I didn't have to teguk sapa as she spoke voluntarily, quipping along the way. Among the many things that she said, I understood Rafidah was her former boss.

Her parting shots to me was this: "Buatlah apa yang betul. Tuhan bagi cash.... Ni, cashlah bagi Rafidah."

I was stunned, speechless. As I drove to work, I kept thinking she must have used cryptic words that carry multiple layers of meaning.

* * *

Browsing through the media reports, and reading the Op-Ed piece by Wong Chun Wai today, I certainly find Rafidah guilty of one thing: While her party wants to maintain subtlety and discreet manoeuvres, that is to avoid ruffling feathers on sensitive issues like the AP controversy at all costs, she had been washing dirty linen in public for far too long.

The Rafidah-Mahathir squabble has been goncang so vigorously that parading the AP recipient list in transparency might not be a one-time practice.

With the spotlight on, everyone will now find it difficult to cari makan using the Franchise AP system, no less a get-rich-quick scheme the way Steven Gan has framed it.

My wild thought is whether, at the end of the Umno general assembly, Rafidah, the spoiler to many corporate cronies' dreams, will be put to the linen lines... to hang?

5-day week for banks?

Have the members of the Association of Banks in Malaysia come to a consensus for a 5-day week?

If the consensus is taken, it will mean only selected branches will open on Saturdays, and there won't be clearing of cheques on Saturdays.

Reading this piece of information, the decision must have been reached by July 14.

Any updates?

'Glocal' alternative to AP system, anyone?

After reading Najib, I am now mulling over theSun's editorial today:

But back to the AP issue. Now that the list is out, what does it tell us and where do we go from here? [...]

But we would like to raise a basic question: Should we have APs in the first place? Why don't we just let anyone who wants to bring in a car do it and just pay the import duty to the government?

To be sure, the AP is a by-product of the New Economic Policy to build a class of bumiputra entrepreneurs in the auto business. But do we still need it after 30 years?

Today, the argument for keeping with the AP system is to control car imports in order to protect the national cars and the local assembly business. We don't think it is justified because over-protection leads to economic distortion and breeds inefficiency.

But if it is an evil we have to live with, then we would suggest that APs to bring in imported cars be sold by the government instead of being issued to individuals who then sell them for a song. Channel the revenue (conservatively estimated at around RM1.0 billion a year) to a National Public Transportation Fund whose mandate is to invest in improving the public transportation system, especially in the major cities. This way, the greater public good will be served, rather than individual interests.

Well, that might be the recipe for a Malaysian automotive industry that is, to quote Najib, "locally strong and able to compete globally".

'Glocal Malays'

Melayu Glokal - It's a term coined by Umno deputy chief Najib Abdul Razak to refer to Malays who are locally strong and able to compete globally.

He said six paradigm shifts were taking place among the Malays.

He also called on Umno members to eliminate political corruption and ensure that the next party election will be the cleanest in Umno history.

Shoot them all!

This is people power! The next time you see a traffic offence being committed, snap it on your cellphone or digital camera and send it to the Hall of Shame section of a newly launched road safety website - PanduCermat.org.my.

Mind you, the invitation comes from the Transport Ministry. It wants the public to help enforcement officers keep an eye on traffic offenders so that action could be taken against them.

Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy said traffic is now under public surveillance.

He has a 'workflow' for the civic society like you and I. Besides posting photos to the website, we should also provide the time, date and location where the traffic offences took place.

According to the Minister, the photos and details will then be re-directed to the Road Transport Department or traffic police to act against the traffic offenders.

For balance, there is also the Hall of Merit for the public to post pictures of exemplary road users to help improve road safety awareness.

Let's shoot them all!

'Selangor Maju' celebrations scaled down?

From a Little Bird:

Just want to alert you that SAIF 2005 will now only be for 17 days from 26th August to 11th September 2005.

This directive came out yesterday due to overwhelming requests from the exhibitors both local and international.

What gives?

AP: Non-denial denial

AP beneficiaries, past and present, start to state their case:

• Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim: "I am not an ex-MITI officer, and..."


• Nasimuddin SM Amin: "Thank you government for helping us"


• Berjaya & Vincent Tan: "We no longer have interest in Hyumal"


• Leo Michael Toyad: "Yes, I own shares in Mega Otomobil, but..."

And today it's Rafidah's turn to shed tears, denying cronyism, swearing on the Quran.

Once again, Ben Bradlee lives!

* * *

Smart journalists must try to find out Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz's close relative who is lurking at the Power Corridor.

* * *

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has done some calculations for the AP-derived money that should have benefitted the Bumiputera rank-and-file in the government's effort to re-distribute wealth, but had gone to the favoured Datuks and Tan Sris instead.

Private think-tank Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) Executive Director Dr Mohamed Ariff Tuesday said it was a mark of good governance for the government to reveal the names of people receiving Approved Permits but urged policy-makers to re-examine the criteria for their award to ensure that there was no abuse of the system.

I also urge you read the Malaysiakini editorial by Steven Gan: APs: Semuanya OK?

'Loose Tongues' win... AP list released

Is there a scandal that's not scandalous?

I don't have an answer for that. But what looks certain is that it's very unlikely that Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be the Loose Tongue numero uno like I had anticipated earlier.

So, I shall now eat my words, and I'll do it very willingly because Pak Lah has done something good for the country.

The fact is, I didn't realise the crescendo to the AP controversy would develop so fast, in fact in less than 12 hours, after I have given it a context yesterday. It must have been a wonderful coincidence.

What actually happened is that, yesterday - July 18, barely three days before the Umno general assembly - the Prime Minister took many by surprise, probably Minister Rafidah Aziz and the regular Putrajaya spin-doctors included, and released the list of AP (Approved Permits) recipients only recently he said would remain confidential.

There are three major flaws in the list, and I shall deal with it later.

The glaring point is that none of the mainstream newspapers, not Jalan Riong and other Umno mouthpieces - not even Leslie Lopez - has got the scoop.

Instead, Pak Lah made use of the Internet and had the list posted on the PMO website late yesterday evening. Subsequently, Bernama ran the story at 19:34hr and an update at 21:18hr last night; Malaysiakini at 20:55hr; The NST ran a terse alert at 21:40hr; The EdgeDaily ran it at 23:49hr.

About-turn

The disclosure of the AP recipient list is an apparent vindication for Dr Mahathir, who had executed a well-time, and well-orchestrated public furore together with Tengku Mahaleel Tengku Ariff, his protege at Proton, saying that the issuance of large numbers of the APs had led to unfair competition against the national car, Proton.

Dr Mahathir, who is the main driving force at Proton, and currently its adviser, is now enjoying his vacation in Europe and, obviously, leaving the messy house-keeping to the power-of-the-day.

You must have noticed by now that Dr Mahathir had made repeated claims in the last three months that many importers were under-declaring prices and selling these cars at a price that was lower than the real price.

He had also questioned how 20 companies were given the bulk of more than 50,000 APs when the government's objective was to assist as many Bumiputera businessmen as possible by spreading out the issuance of such permits.

He then challenged the government to release the full list of the AP recipients, and all the mainstream newspapers, except The Star, were trapped by spinning it the wrong way that resulted in the Prime Minister having to make an about-turn, within two weeks, from the original policy of non-disclosure.

Significantly, the PM gave a subtle indication that the non-disclosure policy is not finite when he was asked for a response to the issue July 7. He said: "... the policy for the time being was not to reveal the recipients" (See The Star, July 8).

On Sunday (July 17), according to The Star, Pak Lah admitted that there are groups that currently hold approved permits to import cars that should not have received them in the first place.

He said there were also some who had received more than what they should have gotten.

"There are things which we need to correct and things which we have to abolish," he said.

The about-turn finally came with yesterday's late evening press release which said the government had decided to make public the names of the AP recipients.

On hindsight, can we assume that Dr Mahathir has ready in his hands the AP recipient list when he decided to open the pandora box?

More APs issued in the last 8 years than 70s and 80s combined

According to the PM's press release, there are two types of APs, the open AP and the franchise AP.

The full list of AP recipients were contained in two separate PDF files.

The first PDF file contains information of the recipients awarded under the Open AP, from 1970 through 1988, whereby the permit holders were allowed to import new and used cars from any sources. However, the issuance of such APs was stopped in 1988.

The second PDF file contains information of the recipients of Franchise APs issued to companies from 1997 through 2005.

Here come the three flaws I mentioned earlier.

1. The was a jarring void of eight years, between 1989 through 1997, as no mention was made whether the awarding of APs were frozen during the 8-year span, or whether there was a slip-up that made the list incomplete.
2. Only the number of APs issued for 2005 was released. There is no information of cumulative figure for the APs issued in previous years.
3. It was admitted in the The PM's press release that company profiles contained in the lists were based on information provided by the AP recipients to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) at the time their applications were submitted.

   Even though it was compulsory for the companies to update the government on any change of equity structure, the PM's Office admitted that not all companies of the AP recipients had complied.

   Hence, the PM's Office admitted, the updated information may vary from information registered with the Commission of Companies Malaysia (CCM), which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

   Because of that, we wouldn't be able to know easily whether the AP recipients have sold their permits for cash.

So who's who on the AP recipient list? Before we answer that, let's point out the fact that, the government has issued more APs in the last eight years under the Franchise AP system than the 18 years when the Open AP system was in practice.

There were a total of 49,632 Franchise APs, and the residue of 17,526 Open APs issued for 2005, making a total of 67,158.

Each AP is worth between RM20,000-RM40,000 in the market, The NST says.

It is pertinent to emphasise that, all along, we have been conditioned to accept the rationale that the APs have been issued by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) since 1970, with the objective of providing opportunities for Bumiputra entrepreneurs in the automotive sector.

Take that as the operative statement.

The beneficiaries

The right question to ask is: Who is the AP King?

Four prominent names appear, namely Naza's Nasimuddin SM Amin, Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Mohd Haniff Abd Aziz and Azzuddin Ahmad, who are principals of Weststar Motorsport (Honda), Atlantic Star Auto (Ford), Auto Pacific Star (Chevrolet) and Go Smartstar (SMART).

L-to-R: Nasimuddin, Syed Azman, Mohd Haniff and Azzuddin

From the list released by the PM's Office, Naza's Nasimuddin appears to be the only beneficiary who had started to receive the bulk of APs from 1988 right through present time. He received a total of 12,524 APs for 2005.

Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff, who are both former MITI officers having served under Rafidah Aziz, emerged as the new beneficiaries starting 2002.

The former MITI duo, together with Azzuddin Ahmad, are related to companies which were given a total of 16,214 APs in 2005.

The four people had been given 28,738 APs from a total of 67,158 APs -- or some 43% of the total number of APs issued this year alone.

In contrast, Mokhzani Mahathir, whose name was given a crony's context by Rafidah Aziz that angered Dr Mahathir, was only given 95 APs to bring in Porsche and SAAB cars via Jaseri Automotive Group Sdn Bhd.

Here's an excerpt from Bernama's story:

Nasimuddin first got the AP in 1988 while Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff, both former MITI officers, emerged on the scene in 2002.

Nasimuddin's companies are Naza Kia Sdn, Next Car Sdn Bhd, NZ Wheel (M) Sdn Bhd, Nasim Sdn Bhd and Naza Brabus, which import cars such as Kia, Mercedes Benz, Peugeot, Ferrari, Modena, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Brabus.

Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff import their cars through companies such as Westcar Motorsport Sdn Bhd, Atlantic Star Auto Sdn Bhd, Auto Pacific Star Sdn Bhd, Go Smartstar Sdn Bhd, Global World Trade Sdn Bhd and Territorial Star Sdn Bhd. The other shareholder of Weststar is Azzuddin.

Their companies import cars such as Honda, Ford, Chevrolet, Smart and Suzuki Audi.

Among other major recipients is Hyumal Motor Sdn Bhd owned by Berjaya Group Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd and Tan Sri Vincent Tan which was issued 8,573 APs for Hyundai cars.

Several politicians, and their relatives, are among those who received APs in both open and franchise AP categories over the years. See a snapshot here.

Besides, several personalities with strong political links were also given APs since 1997, each in excess of 11,000 permits.

Rafidah remains combatant

Meanwhile, earlier yesterday, before the PM's Office released the AP list on the web, Minister Rafidah Aziz said the criticisms made against her recently by Dr Mahathir Mohamad about her handling of the car industry were untrue and inaccurate.

According to The EdgeDaily, Rafidah said Mahathir may have "forgotten" about some of the decisions made during his time as PM.

She told reporters that "it's up to Tun (Dr Mahathir whether the issue has been settled), for me the story is closed".

Interestingly, The Star quoted her as saying this: "I hope that with my explanation this issue will not be raised again. It's not right for me to reveal the contents of the letter but basically I don't want people to regard that all Tun said is correct, making me looking really bad."

But does Pak Lah, Rafidah's current boss, think along the same way? Is there a need for Pak Lah to have her restrained to avoid further washing of dirty linen in public?

Knowing that Pak Lah can be indecisive at times, we shall await the outcome with bated breath.

Sizzler on the menu?

Star's Wong Chun Wai may be right after all. A sizzler may be on the card for the Umno general assembly despite the fact that Dr Mahathir will skip it as he is currently on leave and has programmes overseas.

But, rumbling has started to rattle from the lower echelon of the party, with protocol side-stepped.

Already, Rafidah Aziz has been advised to make a public apology to Dr Mahathir by tonight, before the 56th Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur starts tomorrow, July 20.

The public tick-off came from deputy Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin (Zam), a lower-ranking government member and party leader, who said Rafidah has made a "rather discourteous" statement on the AP issue recently.

"Datuk Seri Rafidah was found to have given a reply which had offended Dr Mahathir when the former Prime Minister suggested that the names of those given APs be publicised in detail," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Zam said he was disappointed because Rafidah had disclosed that Dr Mahathir's son himself owned APs to import Porsche cars whereas the minister had explained that the government would not publicise the names of AP holders as it was not government policy and had never been done before.

So, hot it will be on the sideline. But will it be as hot after Saturday? I want to see the "Loose Tongues" wag.

In fact, I am still wondering whether the former ambassador's son has any proxies to help him secure any of the APs.

Thanks readers Hero Ventures, UPM Boleh, Jason and Chongpin for the alerts.

THE NEW STRAITS TIMES
July 19, 2005

Politicians on the AP list

Several politicians are among those who received Approved Permits (APs) in both open and franchise categories over the years.

They include former Sabah Chief Minister and Barisan Nasional MP for Kota Belud Datuk Seri Mohd Salleh Said, who was allocated 120 APs in the open category with several others. Open APs enable the holder to import new and used cars from anywhere.

Others are Tourism Minister Datuk Dr Leo Michael Toyad (103 APs), former Kuala Krai Umno division chief Wan Zaid Wan Abdullah (533) and former Barisan Nasional MP for Limbongan in Kelantan Wan Mohd Najib Wan Mohamad (194).

Kedah Umno politician Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir received franchise APs.

Franchise APs are issued to companies that have signed exclusive agency agreements with foreign car makers.

Former National Unity and Community Development Minister Tan Sri Zaleha Ismail is a shareholder in Naza-Brabus Sdn Bhd which received 192 APs this year.

Also on the list was Datuk Yaakub Muhamad, the former Machang Umno division chief. He is a shareholder in Gapemal Holdings Sdn Bhd, which was given 505 APs.

Kuala Selangor Umno deputy chief Jahaya Ibrahim is a shareholder in KSS Otomobil Sdn Bhd. The company received 109 APs.

Several relatives of serving and former politicians have also received APs. Among them was Ines Maria Reyna De Musa Hitam, former wife of the former deputy prime minister. The list shows that she was allocated 289 APs this year.

SOURCE:
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/20050719074049/Article/indexb_html

THE STAR
July 19, 2005

Other major recipients included:

• HYUMAL Motor Sdn Bhd – owned by Berjaya Group Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd and Tan Sri Vincent Tan – to import Hyundai cars (18,573 APs);
• CARTRADE Sdn Bhd, of which Datuk Ilyas Mohamed and Zahran Ahmad are the shareholders, to bring in BMW and MINI cars (11,237);
• AMAZING Tempo Sdn Bhd, of which Tunku Datuk Zainol Tengku Izham and Ramzia Arshad are shareholders, to import Wald cars from Japan (12,025); and
• ALADO Bumi Automobile Sdn Bhd – of which Datuk Ayob Saad, Tan Sri Cam Soh Thiam Hong and Soh Ah Gong – are shareholders to import Chery vehicles from China (12,496).

SOURCE:
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/7/19/nation/11521812&sec;=nation

Khir Toyo lashes at critics of 'Selangor Maju' status

Menteri besar Dr Khir Toyo insists that he is wearing the emperor's new clothes and you shouldn't see him as being naked.

Read How dumb do they think we are? on CNN. Same vein, different stride.

'Loose Tongue' & Umno AGM

Watch out! Loose tongues will, again, take to the rostrum in conjunction with annual general assemblies of the political parties, the one around the corner being this Thursday.

So, what do we have on the plate? Money politics? Rafidah Aziz, Proton, Naza and APs? Meritocracy discriminatory and works against the Malays? How about Osu Sukam and the casino debts? The notion of the 'Towering Malays'?

Hold your breath. The delegates will look the other way if media pundits got it right:

• Utusan Malaysia says Abdullah Ahmad Badawi faces two major challenges after he became Umno president: to change the Malays' attitide and to eradicate political corruption.



• The NST says delegates to the Umno general assembly later should, instead of getting side-tracked on issues related to the penalty lashed on Umno's No. 3 Mohd Isa for money politics, use the opportunity to state their wish list ahead of the Ninth Malaysia Plan that will be finalised by the end of the year.
• The Star says we should expect a hot Umno AGA with issues like the awarding of approved permits, money politics, meritocracy and the cut in jobs for bumiputra contractors; and party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to focus his presidential speech on the fight against money politics.

One year has gone by. Is the Malay Agenda only an agenda for last year's assembly? Here is an interview with Pak Lah, a tradition of Utusan Malaysia on the eve of the Umno general assembly. He wants change, change and change.

Reading from the same chapter, Joceline Tan writes in Sunday Star, stating that it will be interesting to see how the Umno leadership responds to the populist sentiment that "the day Umno abandons the Malay agenda, it is finished". Excerpts of her thoughts:

The point is there are few Umno politicians who have not enjoyed the benefit of APs at one time or another. Besides, there are also not many who did not partake of the goodies flowing around in last year's party elections.

As a result, there will be criticism but there will also be a limit to the criticism.

Debates at Umno assemblies have grown rather sedate and predictable in the last decade or so.

Those picked to speak on behalf of their states are often referred to as postmen, meaning they are delivering a message on behalf of their state.

They are carefully selected by their state chairmen, some of whom do not want their speakers to be too critical for fear that what is said may implicate them.

So, the stage is set. I expect Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be the Loose Tongue numero uno when the AP issues he so riled up just precipitate into the abyss at Menara Putra this weekend.

Who cares if his revelation extrapolates into RM1 billion revenue loss per annum for the country?

25 years!

Former Worldcom boss Bernard Ebbers leaned forward in his chair and cried, sniffling audibly after the sentence was passed down on him yesterday, Associated Press says in a story picked up by the local newspapers in the US, today.

Judge Barbara Jones of the US District Court in Manhattan has sent him to 25 years in prison.

Even with possible time off for good behaviour, Ebbers would remain locked up until 2027, when he would be 85. While his lawyers are appealing against the sentence, US media say other big bosses are sweating after Ebbers' sentence.

The sentence came four months after Ebbers was convicted of overseeing the US$11 billion Worldcom fraud - much of it a pattern of chalking up expenses as long-term capital expenditures, which are classified as assets. Worldcom filed for bankruptcy in 2002, the largest in US history, but not before reeling its shares from US$60 to mere pennies. As a result, billions of dollars in market value vanished.

So, a three-year-old court case involving the largest corporate fraud in US history has come to an end.

Over in Malaysia, what's the status of the commercial crime report filed by former Malaysia Airlines corporate services senior general manager Dr Mohamadon Abdullah in January 2002?

It's already three years since Mohamadon alleged irregularities in Malaysia Airlines' dealings with German company Advanced Cargo Logistics Gmbh (ACL) to develop a European cargo hub around a former military airbase in Hahn, and another cargo hub in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, that were touted to be part of the MAS "Cargo Spine Network".

Will former chairman Tajuddin Ramli, former MasKargo vice-president Ralph M. Gotz and the airline's former company secretary, Rizana Mohd Daud, be declared free of all allegations mentioned in the local press?

The NST has a story on this.

Multimedia University... what's up?

First, there was talk that MMU trapped its freshies by making the foundation course in Information Technology a re-requisite for B.Sc in Financial Engineering (FE). However, upon acceptance of enrolment, the same student was informed that the foundation course in IT would not lead to the degree in FE. The correct foundation course was Management.

Now, some are said to be unenthused with job offers, while those who weren't, their command of English was found bad by a potential IT company.

For the first case, is it gross megligence or comnplex manipulation?

For the second, is career counselling for the graduates a part of professional grooming culture? What's the VC'sviews on this?

How about graduates from other local universities?

MichaelSoosai.org ver 2.0

You may have seen it - www.msmalaysia.org. More Deep Throat materials.

Meritocracy a form of discrimination?

I rest my case. The AGM is around the corner.

BERNAMA July 09, 2005 22:11 PM

Johor Umno Says Meritocracy A Form Of Discrimination

JOHOR BAHARU, July 9 (Bernama) -- The Johor Umno Liaison Committee Saturday criticised the meritocracy system introduced by the government, saying that it resulted in a fall in the achievement of Malay students and is a form of discrimination and oppression.

Its chairman, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, who is also the Johor Menteri Besar, said it had adversly affected tens of thousands of Bumiputera students in the rural areas who had been denied quality education in view of the "uneven competitive field".

He said this at the opening of the two-day Johor Umno Convention here attended by 579 delegates from 26 divisions in the state.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the Umno president, is expected to close the convention tomorrow.

The system had resulted in a fall in the number of Malay students in medicine, engineering, pharmacy, dentistry and other competitive fields, he said.

Citing the situation at the University of Malaya (UM), he said the number of Bumiputera students who studied medicine, pharmacy, law and buisness had declined.

He said the system had prevented the entry of Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera students into public institutions of higher learning based on the 55:45 ratio as used in the quota system.

"Although there was an increase in the number of Malays in accountancy, architecture, law and other fields from 1970 to 2002, the Bumiputeras account for only 20 percent in accountancy compared to the non-Bumiputeras, medicine and dentistry (36 percent), engineering (26.5 percent) and registered lawyers (35 percent).

Hence, Malay graduates who were jobless or working below their capacity had increased in 2003.

Abdul Ghani also urged the government to make learning at national schools more attractive because Bumiputera students were mostly from these schools.

SOURCE:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/printable.php?id=144240

Developed State: Najib OKs

DPM Najib Abdul Razak says Selangor should be allowed to be declared a developed state ahead of others when it met all the criteria, reports Bernama.

Donald Duck look-alike with Chicken Feet

That, apparently, is the logo DIY-ed to be the 'Testimony of Selangor's Achievement As A Developed State'.

A month-long event has been created, named 'Shah Alam International Fair 2005'.

It is managed by Shah Alam International Secretariat which is located at two places:

( 1 ) 9th Floor, Menara UBSA, Pusat Dagangan UMNO Shah Alam, Persiaran Damai, Seksyen 11, 40100 Shah Alam. No phone lines - just mobile numbers: 012-309 6265 / 012-229 9117.

( 2 ) Suite 1008, 10th Floor, Complex Selangor, Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 30-2070 6911 Fax: 03-2070 6900 Email: travex@maxis.net.my Website: www.asiatravex.com.my

At this critical juncture, we do not know what the PM needs the Selangor 2005 report for, as he himself has been slated to launch the fair.

This is the calendar of events to kick-off the month-long celebration:

And it will be closed by Dr Khir Toyo himself - with a new designation which I have underscored in red.

Business opportunities are available here.

Thanks reader Paul Warren for the alert.

Selangor 2005; Penang 2010. Malaysia 2020?

The prime minister wants Dr Khir Toyo to give him a report that will tell him the index, method and criteria used by the Selangor government to support its DIY declaration of a developed state, theSun says.

In Penang, Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the state has set its goals on becoming a developed state by 2010 but will reassess its progress every year.

Corporate governance?

When I see these names listed on the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs website as direct selling companies that, as at June 16, 2005, have yet to submit their Borang Maklumat (information form) 2004, my jaw dropped.

Some of the big names which I thought shouldn't be there: