| From the Middle East to the streets of London and cities across the US there is a discontent with the status quo. Whether it is with the iron grip of entrenched governments or the widening economic divide between the rich and those struggling to get by. But where are those so hungry for change heading? How profound is their long-term vision to transform society? Slovenian-born philosopher Slavoj Zizek, whose critical examination of both capitalism and socialism has made him an internationally recognised intellectual, speaks to Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman about the momentous changes taking place in the global financial and political system. In his distinct and colourful manner, he analyses the Arab Spring, the eurozone crisis, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and the rise of China. Concerned about the future of the existing western democratic capitalism Zizek believes that the current "system has lost its self-evidence, its automatic legitimacy, and now the field is open."
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The affluent people, private entrepreneurs and political looters of the people's wealth who do not have priorities set for their "matribhumi" definitely deserve to be condemned. But, somewhere down the line, we ourselves are responsible for allowing and being taken for a ride by these people, aren’t we? . In our daily life, most of us must have been a witness to or a victim of the corruption thriving in some or the other part of the country. It could be in the form of a taxi-driver manipulating the meter to jack-up the reading or a government officer taking bribery to promptly transfer your file to the next department or even yourself offering bribe to a traffic police on breaking a signal. An average Malaysian citizen is hard working and diligent, but it is the people in charge of the system, that act as a cancer spreading the venom, slowing down the progress that a tax-payer actually realizes the heartburn of being cheated from his valued contribution of funds towards the development and well-being of the nation. But, that’s what a scam is, be it big or small.
BY THE TAXIDRIVER Misgovernance: a fish rots from the head down When you’ve dug yourself into a deep hole using a pickaxe, it’s tough to dig yourself out using a toothpick. That, in essence, is the UPA government’s predicament: the harder it tries to extricate itself from the quicksand of the 2G spectrum
Read moreMAHATHIR’S CRONY ANANDA KRISHNAN VS NAJIBROSMA’S CRONY K.K. ESWARAN
Prime Minister Najib Razak is busy doing everything and anything except what Malaysia really needs to have done. At a time when the economy is poised to suffer the global impact of the financial crisis swamping America and Europe, vain Najib prefers to looking at the mirror to spruce up his battered image. But as PAS vice president Salahuddin Ayub has gently reminded, no amount of foreign consultancy can turn a frog into a Prince!
Still, it would be too much to expect the 58-year-old Malaysian PM to immediately give up prepping up his image despite the dose of good advise and even though his makeover endeavours have so far yielded disastrous results, and worse of all, left Malaysians stuck with a sky-high bill. Really, the time has come for Najib to stop fritterring away the people's hard-earned money.
Help from Blair's man?
Alastair Campbell, the man once called Tony Blair’s “unelected spin doctor”, has denied news reports that he was appointed Najib's adviser to help him win the 13th general elections, widely expected to be held within the next 6 months. Campbell, who was the former British PM’s powerful director of strategy and communications, said on Twitter that he has not even been to Malaysia, let alone visit Najib to advise him on his image.
“I see I have been spotted in Malaysia. Therefore I must be advising the government. Must have a double. Not been. Not advising. Fin d’histoire (Sic)(end of story),” he had writted on his Twitter account @campbellclaret.
But that is to be expected. From Tony Blair - First World - all the way down to Najib Razak - of the Altantuya and Scorpene submarines notoriety - is not something to be proud of. It is rather insulting in fact, although fees are fees and it is not clear yet if Campbell is indirectly linked to any firm that may be advising Najib now that another UK firm, FBC Media, is out of the picture, and on the verge of bankruptcy after undertaking a similar sort of public relations job for the Malaysian leader.
The fallout at the FBC had rocked the media world. Revelations that Najib and another scandal-tainted Malaysian leader, the Chief Minister of Sarawak Taib Mahmud had both paid handsome sums for glowing accounts of their achievements to be packaged and sold as 'news' programs to overseas broadcasters such as BBC, CNN and CNBC are appalling, and have dented Malaysia's image. The country is tainted because the PM was caught red-handed trying to lie to world about himself and his administration.
According to The Independent, a British newspaper, the London-based firm and its parent company FBC Group has gone into administration — a legal term that allows a company facing bankruptcy to carry on business — following reports it accepted £17million (RM85 million) from Putrajaya to burnish the Najib administration’s image on global broadcast networks. This is how taxpayers' money is being spent in Malaysia!
Meanwhile, oblivious to the scandal, Najib has already moved onto to his next 'image' - he is now trying to be 'Mr Cool'. Malaysians have already received a taste of this revamped image, with Najib spouting words like 'awesome', 'cool' and inviting youths to his official residence to watch the recent football finals.
And this is where traces of the Alastair Campbell touch were spotted. Whoever is now steering Najib's new team has obviously 'borrowed' from him. The similarities and approaches taken by Tony Blair and now being mimicked by Najib are too similar not to notice, hence the doubt over Campbell’s denial. Few are convinced that there are no ties - direct or indirect - between the former British prime minister and the current Malaysian prime minister.
Kazakh millstone for Najib
Blair's controversial and well-known association world-famous oil despot Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan adds another point of contact between three men. The fact that Najib is connected via the marriage of his daughter into the Nazarbayev family gives him plausible access to Blair's 'consultancy services'. Another coincidence that is too glaring to brush aside.
But no matter how much Najib spends on PR and imagery, his days as a first-tier politician are numbered. Even if he wins GE-13, he will lose the Umno presidency and have to make way for his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin. Chances are higher that their BN coalition will be wiped out by the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Maybe this is why he is turning on the tap to the maximum. After all, it is is not his personal money. All of Najib’s activities to polish his image has so far been funded by Malaysian tax-payers, but of what benefit is it to them? Seriously, what benefit does the man on the street get with a polished image of Najib Razak?
How then can Najib have the cheek to stand before the Malaysian people and try to sound all cosy and nice when he has just spent tons of their money to create the very image that he is falsely parading to them? Incredibly thick-skinned may be one explanation, another would be a sheer lack of conscience.
Repatriation. It's a word many schoolchildren probably haven't yet learned to define or even seen very often outside of spelling bees. But when it comes to corporate taxes, repatriation is the cornerstone of an idea that has the potential to severely hurt millions of children and parents and widen the already historic and unconscionable gap between the rich and the poor.
In its simplest definition, repatriation is bringing something back to its country of origin—returning it back home. One of the solutions to the jobs crisis being proposed by some of our Congressional leaders and lobbied for aggressively by some of the country's richest corporations is a rehash of an old experiment: enacting a repatriation tax holiday that would temporarily allow U.S.-based multinational companies to bring home profits they currently hold overseas at a 5.25 percent tax rate, instead of the usual 35 percent corporate tax rate. Under current tax law, multinational companies generally pay no U.S. corporate taxes on foreign income until those profits are brought back to the U.S. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) explains, “This effectively allows such firms to defer payment of the U.S. corporate income tax on their overseas profitsindefinitely, even though they may obtain an immediate tax deduction for many expenses incurred in supporting the same overseas investments. This can produce a negative U.S. corporate income tax—that is, a net government subsidy—for overseas operations. In addition to causing the federal government to lose tax revenue, this structure gives multinationals a significant incentive to shift economic activity—as well as their reported profits—overseas.”
The argument for the repatriation holiday is that giving corporations a huge incentive to bring profits back right now—in the form of an enormous tax break—would bring billions of dollars back to the U.S. economy that would be reinvested and provide a big stimulus to our economy. Corporate proponents and their Congressional allies argue this will create desperately needed jobs.
But the last time this was tried, under a 2004 Bush Administration plan, it didn't work out that way. Instead, as CBPP points out, “The evidence shows that firms mostly used the repatriated earnings not to invest in U.S. jobs or growth but for purposes that Congress sought to prohibit, such as repurchasing their own stock and paying bigger dividends to their shareholders. Moreover, many firms actually laid off large numbers of U.S. workers even as they reaped multi-billion-dollar benefits from the tax holiday and passed them on to shareholders.” Many economists and scholars believe that if corporations get their way and get another repatriation holiday, history will repeat itself—and once again the corporations and their shareholders, not American workers, families, and children, will be the only winners.
The nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated the holiday would cost the federal government about $80 billion over ten years in lost revenue. The Economic Policy Institute's Andrew Fieldhouse puts it this way: “While there are numerous job creation proposals that would meaningfully lower unemployment, some lawmakers are pushing counterproductive policies disguised as job creation packages. The proposed repeat of the corporate tax repatriation holiday is one such wolf in sheep's clothing.” When the nation is already facing a jobs crisis and many Congressional leaders are threatening to slash nutrition, child care, and other safety net programs children and families rely on as a means of balancing the budget, revisiting a failed idea instead of coming up with real solutions and real jobs is a threat children and families and our country cannot afford. As the Occupy Wall Street protestors are shouting, let's “just say no to corporate greed” and to Congresspeople who continue to raid from the poor and children to curry favor and campaign contributions from the rich.
Recently,shocked to watch the Bloomberg interview with Francis Yeoh where it was revealed by Haslinda Amin that Francis Yeoh has benefitted so much from “his friend in powerful places” that today “more than 70% of YTL profits come from the power plants”.
Francis also made a gaffe when he said that it was ok working with the former Prime Minister because all Mahathir did was to take 30%. It was more than a Freudian slip as Francis specifically said “HE taxes 30%” and not that it was taxed by the government.
Unbelievable amounts of money
So much subsidy is being given to the IPPs by way of the special gas prices, and to top it all, Mahathir has forced TNB to buy back the electricity at fixed prices with a sinful margin of profit to Francis (so Mahathir uses a Christian to suck the blood of his own people).
As for Francis, how can such a cheat profess to be a Christian when one of the Ten Commandments clearly states "Thou Shall Not Steal" (in this case, mainly from the poor Malays). Perhaps Francis has a eleventh commandment which says it is alright if you steal for The Mamak.
While the old folks and the needy are all suffering in Malaysia, this 'wonderful' man Francis said that he has taught his children the importance of the language of God. Sometimes, the only language these people know is the language of songlap money.
Fart faces and arrogance?
When the present government loses the next election, we should string them up by their short and curlies to show the world what a bunch of mean, heartless, blood suckers some of them have been. We would love to see them doing The Jailhouse Rock with their billions hanging from their b*lls.
Now that I have seen the pictures of Yeoh's children on Bloomberg, I will know in which direction I will spit at, the next time I bump into them in their Lot 10, Marriot, Ritz Carlton, Vistana and all these ill gotten properties from the IPP rip-off planned by Mahathir, the hypocritical Muslim, carried out by crony Francis whose self-proclaimed commandment seems to be “I shall steal and use God’s name in vain.”
Vote these people out in the next coming election or we will have to continue to stomach their fart face and nonsensical arrogance. We are paying through our noses for higher and higher electricity bills for their extravagant life-styles.
Dr M's buddies
Mahathir's true friends are Daim who denies he raped the nation of billions, Tajudin who refuses to admit he plundered MAS and the nation of more billions, Syed Mokhtar who was practically given control of the nation’s rice bowl to siphon off more easy billions.
And this bunch of idiots are still in the country.
Let’s make the Opposition win the election and throw all these shit bags in jail where they rightly belong.
'For Goreng'
I was told by the CEO of MRxx that Daim has in fact whispered to Mahathir that UMNO needs to use the MyKad to register as voters all the Indonesians and other immigrant Muslims so that they can try to cheat in the coming election. In return, Mahathir has told Francis to use the “YES” network. 4G means “For Goreng” so that they can spy on all the youngs' emails correspondence.
For a start, we say “no” to Francis' 4G so that they cannot spy on what we are emailing or talking through our devices and apps. Just ask ourselves a simple question: Can we believe that Francis the f**k face is a good man and really wants to help Malaysia, or is he a running dog of Mahathir to give him all our hard earned money, and all our private information?” After all, Francis did give the interview in Singapore in the Singapore flyer with Haslinda Amin, and not in Malaysia, both smiling across the Singapore skyline and saying how clever they are and how dumb the Malaysians are.
Having lived abroad myself, I have never encountered such a display of self-glorification when he should know darnn well the biggest reason he is rich is because he sucks up to Mahathir and they both cheat the Rakyat. As lying, stealing, fakes any counts, they should be the first to be thrown into Hell when their day of rekoning comes.
It is all Hussein Onn's fault
A reassessment is needed of Mahathir Mohammad who is nothing more than the worse human being ever brought to this planet earth. The late Hussein Onn made the bloody mistake of choosing this fellow and sidelined Razaleigh, that’s why when in Onn’s later years he chose to join Pakatan Semangat 46.
Najib nearly joined 46 too but as a hen-pecked lalang, what do you expect? Muhyiddin, a racist by definition is nothing more than Syed Mokhtar’s puppet, and by extension Mahathir’s puppet. Zahid has no brains. Hishammuddin, with nothing between his ears, should refrain from using his father’s name or grandfather’s name in vain because why should UMNO benefit these fakes like Francis Yeoh, when there are so many other better and true men in Malaysia! So there you have it, there is no one worth our while in this God forsaken, beer drinking government.
So, the new Ten Commandments for a better Malaysia : -
1. “Bersih bills” - protest with a new round of Bersih your electric bills unless you have no problems giving your hard earned money to Mahathir.
2. Boycott yes 4 Goreng 4G – keep your info private.
3. Cancel your yes 4G if you did not know their true intentions.
4. Boycott all their shopping malls or hotels – do this from today.
5. Tell your best friends about this crook Mahathir Mohamad.
6. Read about San Mirzan and his beer land grabbing plot – tell 50 friends each about this and spread the gospel.
7. Remember that the mamak family drinks beer and not teh tarik when you go to their open house.
8. Tell their children off when you see them – whether mamak’s kids, Francis' kids, or Daim’s kids, and continue to expose these blood suckers. Do not let their children have half a chance to pretend to be able to live like quasi aristocrats when they are children of crooks.
9. Put them in jail, not Anwar.
10. Register now to vote for a new government and a real future for our country.
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