THIS QUOTE IS APT
CURRENTLY
CONSIDERING THAT
“STATUTORY RAPE”
WAS ADJUDGED
NOT CRIMINAL
AND THE COMPLAINANTS
WERE PUNISHED!
+++++
I read some many years ago on how an eastern European community punished a town rapist*. After ravaging the teen orphan he killed her. The town council kept the body of the victim in the morgue until the rapist was apprehended. He was after a week. He was strapped to a pole in a nearby forest. The ravaged victim was tied to him face to face. He died raving mad probably when decomposition set in and his cries jarred the still nights for two weeks. When the night cries ceased, the village elders went to the scene they found the murdered rape victim still in her funeral clothes curiously unblemished and no signs of decomposition. They buried her but left the rapist still tied to the pole. Months later the village elders went to the execution site but found no signs of skeletal parts except pieces of clothing. Months later some town folks found skeletal parts scattered over a vast area of the forest….probably the work of night scavenging carrions. Never again did a rape occur in that township. Lessons unlearned are lessons repeated. Lessons can be learned, yah?
Najib, wife become butt of joke
Malaysia’s First Lady Rosmah Mansor has not got into trouble in the alternative media yet. Fresh tales of her misdeeds and over-the-top lifestyle have slowed as her worst enemies soften their pace and stop leaking all her secrets to a curious press. No doubt, they will pick up their shot-guns when it is timely and pellet her again, but for now - all is quiet on the ‘Rosmah front’.
In the past month, the stories about her that regaled the nation included a gargantuan RM24.4 million diamond ring, her in-laws from Kazakhstan with dark links to the Mafia, a super-duper New York penthouse, and exorbitant trips overseas with large entourages all on public expense. In hindsight, it was an amazing month, but then July was a very busy month for the Najibs. Not only did they travel to Europe but their daughter got engaged to the scion of a very wealthy Kazakh family.
Obviously, their absence from the country provided a most opportune time for their enemies to lift the veil on how Malaysia’s first family lived and loved. And mind you, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s darkest enemies come not from the Pakatan Rakyat political opposition, but from within his own UMNO party.
Whether a truce has been called remains to be seen but the breathing space has allowed a pollster, whom some say is trying to ‘improve’ the first couple’s image after their recent bashing in the press, to postulate that Rosmah may not be a liability to her husband after all.
“A lot of stuff is said about Rosmah. The mainstream media paint her as a very caring, concerned person, and she is being covered in the media on a frequent basis. But the media not aligned to the government paint her as a very negative person. It depends on what part of the news reaches the voters,” Malaysiakini reported Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian as saying.
A rollicking last laugh, and why not
But with all due respect, many Malaysians beg to differ. To her critics, even if the government-controlled media portrayed her as deserving of a wand and a pair of wings, most people would say a tail and two horns might be more fitting.“If it was true that the newspapers can turn her into an angel beyond compare, then the crowds at the by-elections would mob her each time she comes into town. But it is quite well known that the people try to avoid her. Even the village women, they just look and smile nervouslyl. But one thing is true and this itself says a lot – everyone is afraid to step on her toes,” Eddie Wong, a Pakatan Rakyat stalwart and active party campaigner, told Malaysia ChronicleNonetheless, according to Ibrahim, it is Rosmah who may well have the last laugh. And what a shrill one it would be, considering the amount of grief the opposition has heaped on her the past two years.It would be an exaggeration to say Putrajaya would quake or the Straits of Malacca would boil over, but for sure the cacophony would drown out many a nearby conversation.“It all depends on how well the media is engaged. But, at the end of the day, it could very well backfire for the opposition as well, if whatever they are saying is untrue. If this happens, this may strike a blow at the credibility of her detractors instead,” warned IbrahimThis must be one of the man showing his butt in front of Ambiga house....padan muka Najib, Rosmah & EC boss. U get what yr men preaches! Why double standard now? No action taken on butts men....Rape a minor is not a crime , show butt to butt heads photos ...a grievous crime !related the story regarding the number two in the Special Branch of the Military Intelligence, Lt. Kol. Azmi Zainal Abidin, meeting Ku Li to inform Ku Li about the night that Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered. Bul said that Lt. Kol. Azmi told Ku Li that the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife, Rosmah Mansor; and Rosmah’s ADC, Lt. Kol. Norhayati Hassan; and Lt. Kol. Norhayati’s husband, Lt. Kol. Aziz Buyong; were all present (all three of them) at the scene of Altantuya’s murder the night she was murdered and blown up with C4 explosives....The documents are in the form of a confidential report by the Military Intelligence that confirms Rosmah, Lt. Kol. Nothayati and Lt. Kol. Aziz were all at the scene of Altantuya’s murder the night she was murdered. This report is the same report that was given to the Prime Minister Badawi and the Agong. Any validated truth to the above SD story? Sounds intriguing.Is this what the police meant when they said they will investigate later ? It looks like planted incidents and BN bloggers were ready with video cameras even before the incident happened. Try attending one of these type of rallies and see whether it is easy to capture unique and absurd incidents. Maria Chin has rightfully condemned this incident. I hope UMNO is not trying to use this to instigate or get sympathy votes.They should ask the butt experts that shamed themselves at Ambiga's house. UMNO has been empolying gangsters and Mat Rempits (as confessed by Hisham) so they should start there for their investigations.
AND SO FINALLY IT IS OUT IN THE OPEN…..
Given his taste in hats maybe he was really something else first.Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin has finally saidwhat a lot of Malaysians have believed or suspected of him. That he considered himself a “Malay first,” and then only a Malaysian.
In Parliament today Muhyiddin also said, “I am Malay first! But being Malay does not mean you are not Malaysian. It is not a race issue. It’s an understanding of the term gagasan.”
HUH???!!!
Niamah!!!
Niamah!!!
crossposted by taxidriver
FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH
Eat shit but don’t talk shit okay?The flavour of the month in Malaysia seems to be SHIT!
First, Perkasa’s mouthpiece, Ibrahim Ali’s now famous outburst on
Al Jazeera……….
Al Jazeera……….
And then, speaking at a forum entitled “Government in the Age of Social Media”,
Khairy Jamaluddin was quoted by The Malaysian Insider as saying,
“It’s not about communicating when your product is shit. If it’s a shit product, it’s a shit product, whether in politics or the kaki lima.”
This is good shit!
Niamah!!!Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim flayed the BN for the latest round of sexual allegations, this time against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s teenage son, urging the people to reject Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government for its constant use of gutter politicking.
He said the ploy reflected the low level of intelligence of the BN politicians, who have always hatched sex-based conspiracies to discredit their enemies.
“It is a very dangerous move if BN is allowed another round of governance because what we see today shows that they cannot differentiate between what is morally correct and what is morally wrong when it comes to politics,” said Anwar.
Sodomy I, Sodomy II, Datuk T sex tape – what’s next, Umno?
The 64-year-old de-facto head of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition has himself been the victim of numerious sexual accusations, beginning with the 1998 sodomy charges pressed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Anwar was thrown in jail, where spent 6 years before the federal court found the courage to overturn the manifestly fabricated charges in 2004, shortly after Mahathir’s retirement.
In 2008, soon after announcing his plans to return to active politics, Anwar was again slapped with fresh sodomy charges – this time by current prime minister Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor. Anwar has denied he latest charges and accused the first couple of rehashing Mahathir’s script to derail his political career. Despite being called up to be witnesses, the forst couple who had met complainant Saiful Bukhari Azlan before he lodged the police complaint, had chickened out – fearing to face Anwar in a court of law.
Earlier this year, the BN and the mainstream media that it controls struck up a fresh sex scandal to further tar Anwar ahead of the April 16 Sarawak state election. The scandal, tagged the Datuk T sex video, saw a blatant collusion by all institutions of the BN government, from the Attorney General to the judiciary right up to the police.
Encouraged by Muhyiddin
But despite incurring public anger, Umno blogs have not stopped their incessant gutter politicking due in no small part to the encouragement from the likes of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
To his shame, Muhyiddin ignored the denails of UK chess champion Anya Corke, whom the Umno blogs accused Guan Eng’s son of having molested, the principal of the school attended by Guan Eng’s son and the Penang Education Director.
Neither he nor Najib had the class to apologize for the blogs, pundits lamented. MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai has attempted to defend the PM and DPM, questioning why was Pakatan so keen to blame BN. Yet one of the blogs was run by Umno Bukit Gelugor division chief Novandri Hasan.
“Umno doesn’t have the class to apologize. They are getting their stooges to come out and speak on their behalf now. As for Liow, he must be feeling giddy. Is he trying to say Novandri is not Umno or that Umno is not BN. The lies that BN now dares to tell the people through their media is out of control,” PKR vice president Tian Chua toldMalaysia Chronicle.
I met my second husband when I was teaching an Extension course on writing at a local college. It was my first day teaching at night, and I was worried about walking back to my car alone in the dark. He offered to walk with me; it was only when we were on our way that I wondered if he was the campus rapist, and this was his modus operandi. He wasn’t. We went out for coffee, and saw each other every day thereafter. I felt as if he was looking into my soul as he stared into my blue eyes with his brown ones. We couldn’t stop talking. He had gone to the same high school in New York City as my ex-husband. We had both worked in ‘creative’ fields our entire adult lives. We were both divorced. We both had teen-age daughters, though I had two, and he only one. I had dated a little bit, but no one worth a second date. To fall in love again was totally unexpected, and kind of scary. It was also marvelous, exciting, and something I hadn’t even let myself think was possible for me. When he met me he was seeing several women, but knew if he asked me out he would have to give them all up. Still, he asked. As he told me months later: he was ready to be known.
NAJIB PLEASE CLICK TO TAKE THE SURVEY
I slept with him more quickly than I had ever slept with anyone in my life, and worried the entire night that he would tell the woman who ran the Extension program and I would lose my job. He thought that was hilarious. Within six months we were talking about marriage, both of us shocked that we were using that word. One divorce had been plenty: why court danger? I suppose we were old-fashioned and both believed that if you felt the way we did, you made that life-long commitment. His daughter was delighted he had someone to fill his life, and told me he seemed happier and more content than he had in years. My daughters were both crazy about him – he attended all their soccer games – and were happy as well.
Our life together went swimmingly for over four years. Then I began to notice his behavior in the evenings, after he had had a drink or two, along with half a bottle or more of wine. In the beginning, I would hesitatingly tell him that he was drinking more, and he would cut back; over time he became annoyed when I said anything. He yelled at me more, and often reeked of booze when we went to bed. A friend of his suggested he might have a ‘drinking problem’. We saw a therapist who told me to go to Alanon, although she refused to let us discuss the drinking. The twelve-step program and the folks I met there saved my life. I worked very hard at setting boundaries; i.e., if you smell at night, I’ll sleep in the guest room. This was way harder to do than it may sound. We even tried a geographic, moving to a different state. It didn’t help.
When our new doctor in our new city told me that my blood pressure was through the roof, I told her what was going on. Instead of blood pressure medication, she put me on an anti-anxiety drug. The blood pressure became normal, though I clearly was not. I still loved him, though I often found his behavior despicable. I knew I could not continue to live this way. Though both my daughters were in college, they still needed me. If not for my own health, I realized I had to leave him for their sake. My friends were wonderfully supportive. They had found it harder and harder to spend time with us, since he became looped earlier and earlier. They hated seeing me so anxious, even with the pills. I rarely talked about anything else.
Looking back, I know that love is often not enough. That still makes me sad. But I had learned to love myself. My health mattered. How I spent my days mattered. Being present for my kids mattered. And so I left. It was the most difficult choice I’ve ever made. The grieving went on for over five years. But it lessened, and in time I began to feel a spark of happiness. These days life is good. Love has returned, but I have done a lot of personal work, so it is calmer, with a ‘you,’ a ‘me’ and an ‘us.’ I wish the lessons had come easier.
The most recent act by UMNO to try and kill off Anwar with a lowly sex video moved me to write this article.Because it increasingly feels like we are living in a country run by GANGSTERS.
What characterizes gangsters?
Is there any difference between what GANGSTERS do and what UMNO is doing?
Use of force, fear, bribes, threats, violence, deceit, unchallengeable positions, indulgence, and parasitic existence and not worrying about appearances would be a reasonable answer to the first question.
To answer the second question “Is there any difference?”
I will examine how UMNO performs in many of these dimensions to answer that question.
- Force –The Police, the Attorney General’s office, the Courts (I will call them the Unholy Trio from now on) are the instruments of force of UMNO.
You see them figuring prominently in all occasions where UMNO’s lawlessness are questioned.
Being involved with Hindraf Makkal Sakthi, I can tell you that, without batting an eyelid– our people are constantly threatened with detention under ISA, or with charges of sedition, or are charged with being involved in an illegal organization after UMNO unconstitutionally and unlawfully outlawed Hindraf.
The form of force used and the way it is administered may vary in specifics between the gangsters and UMNO but in essence they are the same – UMNO and the gangsters equally resort to force because that is the sole source of their power.
UMNO has lost its moral legitimacy in its claim for power and hangs on to power only because of the control of the instruments of force – the Unholy Trio being the prime instruments.
The gangsters never had moral or legitimate basis for claims to power, their claim to power hinges only on one thing – the use of raw and brutal force.
- Fear – UMNO so readily instills fear just like the local gangsters.
UMNO uses the Unholy Trio along with the Media, and when necessary the underworld members to achieve this. The Police have a special unit the Special Branch just for this – the Malaysian Gestapo.
Every so often we see battalions of the Light Strike Force or the Federal Reserve Units to disallow, to disrupt, to frighten off citizen’s gatherings.
You should have seen the hundreds at the anti –Interlok forums throughout the country and the thousands at KLCC for Hindraf’s Solidarity March against UMNO’s racism.
This is exactly what the local gang boss. Putting in the fear of god they say.What the gang boss does is what UMNO is doing. - Threats – The laws enacted by UMNO – ISA, Publishing and Printing Presses Act, Official Secrets Act, Seditions Act, Police Act and even the MACC are all actually devices crafted by UMNO that threaten all those that dare cross the line.
This is the primary purpose of these acts and organizations, though more noble intentions are proffered to legitimize them. But the true intentions of these are to act as a sword over the heads of any that dare.
The Media for its part carries statements from time to time from the Ministers, from the IGP, from the Attorney General,from UMNO stalwarts, from Right wing Perkasa or carries images and reports of the Police overpowering any attempts to challenge them or of right wing demonstrations threatening the rest.
But the purpose is one – to pre-empt potential trouble makers.
The gang bosses just use outright threats, they do not need these more sophisticated devices.
As the saying goes, cut the throat of one chicken in front of all the monkeys so the monkeys will behave themselves. In that sense the devices of threatening may be different but both UMNO and Gangsters use threats to remain in power. - Violence – What happened in Kampung Medan in 2005 is a clear example of the workings of the Unholy Trio, the Media and the underworld in the meting out violence whenever they see a need.
A little further back we had the May 13th riots and May 13th is still a keyword for violence . Hundreds of police killing and maiming continue till today in UMNO’s Police Stations.
The Police in the fore and the Armed Forces at the back are nothing more than UMNO’s killing machines.
The threat of violence that UMNO can unleash, should it decide to, is what holds much of the opposition back. Violence is the bread and butter of gangsters and it is the bread and butter of UMNO.
UMNO and the gangsters understand this very well. - Bribes – When expediency requires and it is wiser, then UMNO bribes to clear their way of trouble makers.
They buy up leaders of groups outside their circle of influence. They make “mafia offers”. They use skeletons in cupboards to assist them, as we see regularly happening in buying up of the opposition members of the legislature. Other forms of bribe, we see at election times.
There is a free flow of gifts, goodies and promises. These are tidbits used to corrupt and remove obstacles or create perceptions while UMNO walks away with the loot – to UMNO these bribes are nothing more than the cost of doing business.
Gangsters for their part use bribes to share their bounty when attempting to get at very large bounties. It is a cost of doing business for them too. - Unchallengeable positions – UMNO’s positions on issues are unchallengeable, just like it is with the local gangster. You challenge at the risk of losing everything.
When you challenge they fight tooth and nail so you do not get what you seek, on the contrary they make you lose further with intense vindictiveness. Case in point is the Interlok novel. The book remains in the curriculum and the rest who voiced dissatisfaction get beaten up and charged in courts for speaking up, but the book remains in the curriculum.
Another clear case in point is what UMNO is doing to Anwar Ibrahim. He gets all kinds of s*** thrown at him and with increasing frequency just because he dares to challenge the UMNOPutras.
Challenge at great personal risk – they will ruin you if they can. Their position must not be challenged. This is very clearly the ways of gangsters too.
The hallmark of a gangleader is one who has overcome all those who have challenged him and anyone who challenges the leader must lose or the leader loses his basis to continue as a leader. Exactly the case with Najib –ala UMNO and UMNO ala the people. - Deceit – “Biji setelor, rio sekampung” as the Malay proverb goes. UMNO throws a tid bit here, a tidbit there and the media steps in and creates perceptions of a totally benevolent and caring UMNO.
UMNO holds the reins of the media tight. UMNO is able to manufacture perceptions in people that are so far removed from the truth that the lies are more real the reality itself. You speak the truth and no one listens to you, for they think you distort, for personal advantage.
UMNO has established monopoly over their minds and UMNO will do with it what they want. They deceive the people and leave the rest of us biting the mud.
UMNO caught between getting the non-Malay votes and increasing their appeal to the Malays use their outsource vehicle,
Perkasa to create a perception of the Malays losing out to the non-Malays because the Malays are split.
The reality is both the Malay And non-Malay people are losing out to the UMNO leaders and their Non-Malay elite accomplices as they use this perception to delude the people and walk off with the loot. No one really listens to this truth, they think it is distorted for personal use. This is a very refined deceit-making machine that we are up against.
On this count UMNO has improved over the gangsters, recognizing they have to operate within a community of nations and have to be seen to be in accord with norms of civilization. They worry about how they will be perceived, they need to legitimize their position, the gangster does not have to.
So, except for this last point there is really not much difference between gangsters running this country and UMNO running this country.
UMNO is nothing short of being dignified gangsters. This truth may look far- fetched, but you think about what I have said, deeply. Just think about it.
If you agree, then do not be the person UMNO, the gangster wants you to be, the meek and powerless person. Look at what is happening in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
When all the people get together, the empire crumbles, because the true sovereign is the people united. We have to move out and into the light, to a future based on competence, not on force.
The people have to get out from the grips of gangsters.
UMNO is nothing short of being dignified gangsters. This truth may look far- fetched, but you think about what I have said, deeply. Just think about it.
If you agree, then do not be the person UMNO, the gangster wants you to be, the meek and powerless person. Look at what is happening in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
When all the people get together, the empire crumbles, because the true sovereign is the people united. We have to move out and into the light, to a future based on competence, not on force.
The people have to get out from the grips of gangsters.
It’s an age-old question, pondered by both moody adolescents and adults in the throes of midlife crises: Am I normal?
THIS IS ANOTHER BIG JOKE OF THE CENTURY. THESE CLOWNS DO NOT FEAR GOD SO WHY WOULD THEY FEAR TAKING AN OATH IN THE MOSQUE?
After all, all their adult life they have spent insulting Islam by doing all the despicable things that they have been and are still doing. So I don’t think anyone really gives a damn that just because you take an oath at the mosque, it means you are telling the truth.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that everybody has the right to perform a sumpah laknat oath but the government will not interfere by encouraging or deterring the act.
The prime minister was referring to the sumpah laknat oath taken by Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah today by swearing in God’s name that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the man featured in a sex video that was recently shown to journalists.
Najib (picture), who is also the Umno president, stressed that individuals and political parties should take the same approach as the government.
He added that it would not matter if Shazryl or Anwar wants to perform the oath because in the end the public will evaluate the sincerity of the individuals.
“This is a personal issue and the matter does not concern Umno or the government. Whoever feels that they want to sumpah laknat then that is up to them. We don’t encourage and we won’t stop them.
“I think everybody must have the same attitude. Political parties should take attitude that this is a personal matter,” he told reporters after chairing Umno supreme council meeting here.
Shazryl, together with former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik and Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim, arrived at Masjid Amru Al-As earlier today amid heavy security.
The three appeared to be wearing bullet-proof vests beneath their traditional baju Melayu.
Shazryl took the oath on behalf of “Datuk T”, the nickname the trio behind the latest sex scandal had adopted.
“I swear today that I and Anwar Ibrahim were in the video on February 21, 2011 and Anwar is the actor (in the video).
“If what I said today is false, then may Allah curse me,” he said to a witnessing imam while holding the Quran.
Najib also criticised PKR supporters that tried to sabotage the oath-taking for disrespecting the sanctity of the mosque.
“We must safeguard the sanctity of the mosque. In the mosque, nobody can threaten anybody as long as the mosque management allows it,” he said.
In Malaysia-today’s latest article “Whitest Kid Redneck Christopher Badeaux of New Yor…“,master spinner Raja Petra Kamaruddin says:
There is a book called ‘100 DALIL MENGAPA NAJIB TAK BOLEH JADI PM’ (100 reasons why Najib cannot be PM) that Malaysia Today has received from an anonymous source. Of course, the party that gave us this book wants Malaysia Today to publish it, maybe a dalil a day for 100 days. We are still studying the contents of this book to assess whether the 100 dalils are mere innuendoes and insinuations or are really points of substance. No, contrary to what the government says, Malaysia Today does not publish innuendoes and insinuations.Those close to the Deputy Prime Minister are not being spared either. Malaysia Today was given the name of the ex-Minister who has been accused of molesting the cigar girl in the Havana Club in a five-start hotel in KL Sentral. Malaysia Today’s initial investigation points to a smearing campaign aimed at bringing down all those close to the Deputy Prime Minister and it seems the incident has been denied by the girl concerned.On Sunday, Najib sealed a secret pact with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Yes, Najib has thrown his forces behind Abdullah and has sworn to sink or swim with his boss. This has riled the Team B forces and they now want Najib and his boys brought down as fast as possible so that Abdullah can be isolated and brought down as well in due time. And this is probably the reason for the smear campaign that suddenly intensified the last few days.
Hmm, I am wondering if the postponement of the Altantuya’s case has anything to do with Najib’s sealed secret pact with Abdullah? Since everyone’s spinning, I may as well spin along? Is the Altantuya’s controversy one of the 100 reasons why Najib cannot be PM?
The postponement is to drag Najib further through the mud. If Najib is to be given a smooth transition of power, wouldn’t he be cleared completely of the case? And to be cleared completely of the case, it means that we will by now have a verdict, wouldn’t we? A verdict that would be completely ‘pleasant’ to Najib, whose directly and professionally related to the three accused in the case.
Well, questions and more questions only. But Malaysia-Today, I wouldn’t mind reading one dalil per day. Beats the blues. And while waiting for the Altantuya’s trial to resume (its been postponed again till May), her dad can also kill sometime relishing the ‘inuendoes and insinuations’ purported in the book.
Najib after all has Altantuya’s ’blood’ on his hands, whether figuratively or metaphorically.
Najib defended newspapers for reporting the leaked sex video on broadcasting site Youtube.
“This is not a new matter. News of sex video has been reported way before this. Of course a newspaper has to report when it involves a leader but it has nothing to do with Umno,” he said.
He also ridiculed Anwar for attacking reporters when asked about the Omega watch and hinted that the opposition leader has something to hide.
“The question is why he does not want to answer? The people can conclude the reasons why he does not want to answer,” he said.
places where government priorities and market imperatives create a world so capricious that to help a neighbor is to risk your ability to feed your family, and sometimes even your own liberty, the idea of the mutually supportive poor community is demolished. The poor blame one another for the choices of governments and markets, and we who are not poor are ready to blame the poor just as harshly.
It is easy, from a safe distance, to overlook the fact that in under-cities governed by corruption, where exhausted people vie on scant terrain for very little, it is blisteringly hard to be good. The astonishment is that some people are good, and that many people try to be…
At Acumen, moral imagination is central to all we do. Indeed, we believe the practice of putting one’s self in another’s shoes is one of the most critical characteristics of the kind of moral leadership needed in our interconnected world. Yet it is too rarely taught or even considered in our schools,s from a place of clear-eyed acceptance, showing not a trace of romanticism, pity, disdain or any of the other lenses through which we keep low-income people at a distance. Through the stories of real people, we gain a privileged view of the complex realities of people living in slums struggling mightily to survive, often against all odds.that building companies alone is not enough to solve problems of poverty. Rather, we need to find and support entrepreneurs who are thinking about what it takes to build systems that can truly break the back of poverty.
Making markets work for and with the poor requires serious experimentation and risk-taking. Management talent is hard to find and often must be developed. Even when early innovations start to succeed, it is not uncommon to see growing businesses sabotaged for threatening the status quo. We’ve seen our companies targeted with smear campaigns, threats, extortion and even bombings of their physical infrastructure. Dealing with all of this — and doing it legally — is costly, not just in financial terms but in the most human of terms.
For these reasons, we insist that our early stage debt and equity investments be backed with philanthropy, not with investment dollars. We hold as sacred the ability to take risks based on whether we believe we can help build sustainable companies that benefit the poor, rather than focusing first on investors. Once the companies make it through the breach, if you will, and prove the business model, we can help them look for the next level of capital. Standing with the poor also requires training a corps of talented leaders who understand what it takes to build markets where none have existed. And it requires sharing what we’ve learned – both successes and failures.
Standing with the poor ultimately means deciding to do what is right, not just what is easy. Standing with the poor means walking away from unethical leaders, even when their companies are “succeeding.” It means sometimes spending outsized resources to help turn around companies beleaguered by sabotage or extortion. It means pulling out of deals when co-investors are known to be unethical in their dealings. And the list goes on.
If the emerging field of impact investing loses its way, it will be because investors insist on financial returns above all else. Building healthy markets that serve the poor requires a more expansive set of measures: whether individuals have more choice and opportunity, whether they not only can earn income but have the chance to save and invest it, whether they have affordable, quality healthcare, energy, clean water, safe housing, and education.
If you do not like what people have to say about you, then the only solution is to make your own appraisal. This is precisely what Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak did last Monday, April 2, when he presented a gloating report card to the nation detailing his reforms. His glorified self-assessment was done in style and broadcast live on RTM1, TV3 and Astro Awani.
Only a brash and arrogant person would do that. Then again, this might be Najib’s swansong. If the objectives of BERSIH are met, free and clear access to the media will be granted to all, and the Opposition will make mincemeat of Najib’s exorbitant claims.
When we were at school, didn’t we dread the moment teacher gave us our report card, to show our parents, who then had to acknowledge receipt with their signatures? Some of us had friends who destroyed their report cards before their parents could read them.
Although many won’t take such drastic action, a few are known to have forged their parents’ signatures, or pretended to have lost the report cards and so could not return them to their teachers.
When reading out his self-prepared report card, Najib was full of praise for the achievements under his Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
He mentioned the seven National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) on the cost of living, crime, corruption, living standards of low-income households, rural basic infrastructure, urban public transport and students.
Where are the clean cops?
Let us take just one of these NKRAs – crime control. Najib said that street crime had been reduced by 39% while overall crime had decreased by 11% since 2009. He claimed that the public was very satisfied with Police performance.
A few weeks ago, the IGP claimed that only 1% of his Policemen were corrupt. And yet, the public wonder where these “clean” Policemen are, because they have the misfortune to meet only the 1%.
A few were livid that they are being charged twice to use some public highways; they pay once at the toll booth, and again down the road, when the Policemen flag them down, for an apparent road infraction, like speeding.
Najib mentioned the cooperation between the Police and RELA, the paramilitary volunteer defence corps formed to curb crime. There have been many complaints about the three million RELA volunteers who are badly trained and who allegedly extort money from migrant labourers.
Last week, RELA members beat an alleged Nigerian rapist to death. Perhaps, this is the new modus operandi – beat suspects senseless, ask questions later.
Najib said that to reduce the crime rate, CCTVs would be widely installed, yet he failed to explain why CCTVs continue to malfunction in cases involving the Opposition, or for deaths in Police custody or for those being questioned by the MACC.
There is little point in going over Najib’s so-called achievements. In his report card, he is excellent. Last week, Najib hinted that he intends to “control” the online media. So before he gags the alternative news portals, let us give him and a few members of his Cabinet, their report cards based on this term.
Report cards
Najib Tun Razak: A career politican. Not suitable for public life because he has made little progress in his work and has no experience of real life. Fails to identify with the rakyat. He has only been on a bus once, and that is why he wants to be given the chance to prove himself a man of the people, by sorting out the nation’s abysmal public transport. Incidentally, his first bus ride was in a luxury coach in Ipoh, last year.
He cannot speak simple English but loves to use acronyms as he sees no point in keeping things clear, and relies on statistics, to blind us with numbers.
He lacks the will to tackle difficult subjects. Has an image problem and depends on public relations firms to find out who he really is and what he stands for. Also has a split personality; says one thing but does another. For example, he says that only moderates will be allowed in Malaysia, but he closes one eye when extremists threaten public order. Not as courageous as he claims.
Muhyiddin Yassin: Talks too much. Will have the makings of a good public speaker who does not know his subject matter. On the bright side, he is an optimist, but I am more inclined to say that he suffers from delusions of grandeur. He claims the Malaysian education is one of the best in the world and that the Malaysian government is the most transparent globally. Has an identity crisis, and cannot decide if he is Malay or Malaysian first.
Nazri Abdul Aziz: Another one with verbal diarrhoea. Needs parenting classes as he cannot manage his children and admits that he cannot be responsible for their actions. If he cannot restrain one son, how does he expect to exercise control over the rakyat? Main aim in life is to make a hash of everything he oversees.
Rais Yatim: Suitable in jobs with plenty of scope for dramatic flair. Has a tendency to make the wrong career choice. Good at dishing out wrong advice such as when he warned Malaysians, especially Muslims, about the evil, western influences of Facebook and Twitter. This made the Information, Communication and Culture Minister an overnight global sensation on Twitter. Very creative person but tends to fly off the handle. Must learn more tact. Has problems with domestic staff.
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi: A real plodder but with time, would make some progress. Has an inferiority complex and cannot see women as equals. Has a problem with wearing white gloves.
The BN led government is ceremoniously proclaiming that it is truly caring for the rakyat and so is making its cash handouts to citizens.
In the wake of two realities, namely, the exploding cost of living and the timing of these so-called caring-relief cash handouts, one cannot dismiss suspecting that it is all a vote-buying tactic.
The money that BN is paying out to qualifying citizens is not money from UMNO, MCA or MIC pockets. It is not even money that was earned from the profits of sound business management of the country’s resources.
The handouts that the BN led government is making to the citizens is the citizens own sweat and tears. Can any economist deny this?
Is this gesture of seeming ‘caring government’ not akin to giving a man a fish when what he truly needs is not denying him or her the opportunities to catch his or her own fish everyday?
Little better than beggars but the kids of the elite get mega billion shares
But look at the trappings of the BN leaders and their appointed and sanctified loyalists. Are they not the sole beneficiaries of the wealth of this nation?
Their children get mega-billion ringgit shares in out-of-the-blues companies. They families live a life on the fast lane ranging from driving Porsche to holidaying in the Gold-coast of Australia.
Oversized diamond rings, Birkin bags and fawning GLCs
Look at the way that GLCs and private companies have to spend to cater to the whims and fancies of these VVIPs when they are invited to grace the organisations’ public relations events. Ask any CEO and they will honest-to-God tell you in a guarded whisper that it even puts hell to shame.
Today we are beginning to get glimpses of evidence of the extravagance of our leaders. Today we are beginning to realise that all these stories of wealth creation through privatization sold to the rakyat since the time of Tun Dr Mahathir, has only made the rakyat seek fish and chips whereas the fishing is being done by politicians and their families.
Apology, so what? Where are the corrections?
What is truly needed is higher and better accountability, transparency and integrity in thoughts, words and matched with deeds.
Mind you we have not even got any close to the predicted ‘Great Depression’ of the 2030′s that researchers are busy talking about these days. And we are already turned into beggars who should be happy and grateful taking some seeming cash relief from a caring government.
Wonder what it would be for Malaysians when the world gets gripped with the Great Depression in 2030? And that is not light-years in some dismal future mind you. All the petrol-dollars, all the palm oil gains, all the many resources and bell weather times of the past have been mismanaged.
The huge borrowings, the debt, and white-elephant monuments is what we would be left with. For even without the Great depression the rakyat have to stretch their hands out for fish and chips today.
I think Nazri Aziz‘s has a better taste for girls than his father but to each his own. DON’T FUCK WITH THE this TAXIDRIVER. Why you think Edison Chen left this blog alone? That Edison Chen is a very smart man,READMOREhttp://suarakeadilanmalaysia.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/taxidriver-exposed-edison-chen-with-a-16-year-old-schoolgirl-in-the-leaked-photos-from-her-lost-cell-phone-in-the-taxi/
too bad the politicians in Malaysia are idiots. Pussy loving, whore fucking, secret mistress having rich men but still idiots. Click on pictures to enlarge.
Here are some of the photos of the sons that got the blog blocked:
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