“I don’t want to engage Wong Ho Leng”?! Wake up, Anwar!!

"Within the three parties in the coalition, PKR wants to be the master and only what its leader says or instructs are valid. DAP suggest a merger with SNAP and without giving it a second thought was immediately rejected by PKR, the master."
-Malaysia for All, "Poll: Is PKR an Umno Clone?"

*********************************

"The Master" has spoken - so is has been said, so it shall be done!"

All one can say is WOW!!
So now, all you second-class members of the Pakatan Rakyat had better take heed of what "the Master" says.
He also went on to say, “Let them go to Ba’kalalan and look at the terrain there, what people read”.

Nobody said that things would be easy- especially when you're the "Johnny come lately" in Sarawak. We know you wanted to show that you could do it for the long run- that's fine.
When DAP wanted more seats, you refused to concede- even though you knew that it could mean weakening the opposition as a whole. Maybe it was brave, maybe visionary, maybe strategic, maybe bodoh-sombong ....
With your resources stretched thin and all the court cases hampering your progress/focus, you knew you'd lose most seats, and yet you persevered- that's courageous & good. So we went along.
So, isn't that what you bargained for?

Why then are you being sour grapes about being in the minority of the Opposition, Anwar? Why can't you engage with your own ally, just because you failed miserably with your bodoh-sombong strategy, and you're now a minority?
Suddenly Umno's supremacist sectarian/race politics is more important than good-governance and forward planning?

Is it your "Ketuanan Melayu/Bumi" sentiments which is stopping you- just like how you destroyed PR unity in Sabah, by insisting on a Muslim leadership? Looks like the all powerful primitive Umno instinct has overpowered your reasoning capacities, mate.
After all that talk about "Ketuanan Rakyat" .... SHAME ON YOU!!

Some call the act of repeating the same mistakes and hoping for positive outcome, lunacy. Others call it- Stupidity.
Remember this, Anwar- as far as the people are concerned, everybody is dispensible. Stop behaving like a sore loser- and that goes for all other PKR members!!
The struggle for freedom, accountability, democracy, good governance and justice will go on- with or without you!!

PS
I'm truly disappointed with Baru Bian's submission to Anwar & his refusal to work with DAP on the shadow cabinet in the interest of Sarawakians ...

****************************

"I think it’s high time you guys decide whether your party is a multi-racial one, as you've often claimed, or in fact a two-tier 1Bumi 9Non political organization, not unlike the two-tier BN of 1UMNO 9Others."
-KTemoc Konsiders, "A letter to PKR"

“Burden or catalyst?” By Dr Fong Chan Onn

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Ministers Car Without Airbags !
By Syed Akbar Ali

There is a well thought article by economist Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn in yesterday’s Star about APs and our car industry. You can (and should) read the full article here :

.

It is titled “Burden or catalyst?” By Dr Fong Chan Onn

.

I have truncated the article here but it is an injustice because the piece is so full of facts. My comments follow.

.

AP system a burden to Malaysians
Hinders automobile industry from ..global trends.
(AP) for imported cars at 10% of car sales, 4% for franchise holders.
In..1970s automotive industry seen as forerunner ..to industrialise.
licensing procedures, high tariffs ..enabled Saga to capture 80% of market share.
consumers penalised if they buy Non National Car models
Honda City (1500cc) at RM85,480 is 41% higher than Proton Gen2 (1600cc).
Perodua Myvi in Britain for RM36,792 - home price RM46,400.
no written policy on the AP system... hybrid or alternative-fuel cars require APs
currently 76 Open APs and 37 Franchise AP holders. ..issued 51,559 in 2004, decreasing to 27,838 in 2007. 2008 it spiked to 40,886 down to 20,000 in 2009.
.. no transparent guidelines on selection of (AP) holders
Datuk Seri Nazir Razak ..reiterated the AP system .. should be abolished immediately.
Government pledged in 2006.. to phase out AP system by Dec 31, 2010.
lobbying by AP holders .. extended deadlines to 2015 for Open APs and 2020 for franchise APs.
Under prolonged protection, car manufacturers neither incentives nor urgency to innovate ..
25 years.. Proton still manufacturing conventional cars, replication of other manufacturers'.
.. not up to world benchmarks in ..quality and safety.. Proton cars used by Cabinet Ministers not even equipped with air bags.
trend worldwide ..electric, hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicles.
Brazil leading nation flexible-fuel vehicles. US world leader in hybrid cars .. natural-gas cars, Pakistan is a world leader.. Thailand and China .. manufacturing hybrid cars.
Malaysia, totally out of sync. . hybrid cars not being assembled or manufactured locally, Malaysian consumers have to get AP first before they can buy such cars.
to support alternative-fuel cars, we need ..fuel (e.g. natural gas). For electric or hybrid cars, we need ..convenient charging of the batteries on highways
..not specified strategies to develop these supporting infrastructures.
..protective AP system is a burden to Malaysian car owners, it hinders automobile industry's connection with the global trends
the Government must take bold steps to reform the automotive industry .. same way electrical and electronics (E&E) sector has since 1970s.
..Malaysian consumers have been paying far too much to sustain the livelihood of (AP holders)
..to wait until 2015 and 2020 is a huge burden, particularly for youths with first jobs who are seeking to buy their first cars.
. global excess manufacturing capacity of 20 million units of conventional cars, we should also be less ambitious with our automotive industry.
..huge expenditure on R&D, many countries are far ahead in new automotive trends.
..we cannot afford giving our car manufacturers another 20 years protection.

Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn was Prof of Applied Economics and Dean of Faculty of Economics and Administration, Universiti Malaya. He served in the Government as Deputy Minister of Education (1990-1999) and as Minister of Human Resources (1999-2008). Currently, he is the MP for Alor Gajah.

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I agree completely with Tan Sri Dr Fong Chan Onn's analysis of the car industry. We spearheaded the car industry to quick start our industrialization process. In the 80s this was a good move. But not anymore. Technology has changed.

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In the 19th century, steam engines spearheaded the rapid industrialization of Britain, including the huge steam ship building industry. Then steam gave way to the internal combustion engine. Steam ships died. Then airplanes were invented and the ship building industry died almost completely in Britain. Technology changed. Shipbuilding is no more a spearhead for industrialization in Britain.

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Shipbuilding has moved to China, Korea and other places. The same with the car industry. Building a car with an engine, four tyres and a steering wheel is now rustbucket technology.

.

Here are some technologies that are not produced in a car factory : electric battery technology, fuel cell technology, hybrid technology, alternative fuels, new metal alloys, new materials, miniature electronics, on board computers, low intensity radar technology have nothing to do with a car factory. Yet these are the technologies that are already going into the manufacture of cars. The technology has changed.

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These are the technologies that are going to create jobs, going to create industrialization and wealth in the future. We do not have these technologies. We are not focused on these new technologies.

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Instead we are using up very limited resources to prolong our “black and white tv” type thinking – still producing conventional ‘museum piece’ cars with an engine, four tyres and steering wheel.The technology has changed but we are insisting on sticking our ground. This is making us poor. Kita jadi miskin dulu.

.

Here is another danger : as the technology is changing rapidly, more conventional car manufacturers around the world are going to have even more unsold cars. They will suffer excess capacity. So they will be dumping their old cars and old manufacturing technologies.

.

An example of an old car technology that has been recently got rid of by the Japanese is the 9THGENERATION Mitsubishi Lancer (about 10 years old in Japan). Now this 9TH GENERATION Mitsubishi Lancer has been rebadged and reborn as the Proton Inspira in Malaysia.

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Then we prolong all these barriers (APs, duties etc) to inflate the prices of higher quality and higher technology imported cars.

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We thus deprive our middle income people of better safety, better fuel consumption and better quality cars. (Forget about the poor people ok, tak payah sebut pun nasib depa. Biaq pi kat golongan berpendapatan rendah. Siapa suruh hangpa jadi miskin?)

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Then we continue to impoverish all Malaysians by insisting that Malaysians pay higher for all cars, including the local cars. And the irony is the Perodua Myvi is sold for a much cheaper price in the UK - RM9,608 less in the UK. In Malaysia RM 46,400 versus RM 36,792 in UK. Cium lagi b*ntot Mat Salleh !

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And now the APs will be extended until 2015 and 2020. Malaysians are being asked to suffer higher car prices so that the cronies who have the monopoly on the APs can continue to enjoy a fake lifestyle as millionaires and billionaires.

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What I see as more devastating is that these AP cronies (and the entire car industry) have become vegetables. Now they cannot even breathe without the crutches. Our policies have made perfectly able and capable people become vegetables. If not sooner then definitely a little after, this entire AP, duties and tariff barrier regime will collapse. The car industry will collapse too. Then what will happen to all these people?

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Bila dah tak boleh cari makan, they will revolt. All the videos of the Arab rebellion – don’t delete them yet.

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p.s. Here are some afterthoughts


1. If the Ministers' cars dont have airbags, how then do we contain their hot air?

2. If the Minister's car has a serious accident, where do we bury the survivors? At sea, with Bin Ladin?

3. If the Minister is already an old airbag, then do they still need new airbags?

4. If the Minister carries a handbag, can "she" put air in it?

5. What happens if the Ministers' air their bags? Should we cover our noses? Should TV3 be ready?

It must be the pulut and rendang this morning. I best go burn it off.
Posted by Syed Akbar Ali at 11:12:00 AM

Pimping the Penal Code ....

********************************
We often think of the word “shame” in a negative light.
However, the very reason we feel shame
is because we believe in right and wrong.
But what happens to a society when there is no shame?

********************************

There is a tale that Aesop tells of a fox who lost his tail in a trap. He was overwhelmed with the shame of having to go about without a bushy tail like the other foxes. Then he hit on a plan: He would counsel the other foxes that being tailless had numerous advantages and actually looked better. If all foxes had no tail, he reasoned, then he would no longer feel his shame.

Could that be what is afoot?

In a bizarre turn of political events, Mixing sex with religion, Malaysian-style - Malaysiakini has taken a truly revolutionary "Boleh" spirit.....
It appears to herald the greater aspirations of a 1-Malaysia Government, scrambling for ideas on how to divert the attention of the people, and to justify the corruption, plunder, and decadence which permeates every facet of the political hierarchy.
It was truly a landmark 1-Malaysia moment in the administration of justice towards preserving law & order.

After declaring that a video depicting sexual acts are documentaries- and that it is okay to watch it with "proper intent" (i.e. if it is to ascertain the actors), they have taken it one step further.
Someone apparently swore on the Quran, so that the people will believe him in the Carcosa sex video (even if the law prohibits from showing it) - that he was in a sex video (apparently proudly shown on TV3 for all Malaysians- young & old- to see), facilitating a sexual act between a prostitute (and someone that looks quite like himself).

*****************************

Act 574, 372. (1) (f) Whoever— acts as an intermediary on behalf of another
or exercises control or influence over the movements of another
in such a manner as to show that the person
is aiding or abetting or controlling the prostitution of that order,

shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fifteen years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to a fine.
**************************

The fact remains, though- that it all doesn't matter to the Government or the Attorney General's Chambers. But of course- Najib says that Umno and Government not involved in oath-taking.
I suppose he believes that the man should be running around free, after having a Porn Show for the press at Carcosa Seri Negara. Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr Najib- the portfolio belongs to Nazri, and the Attorney General's office is still waiting for "investigation papers" from the police ... but that can wait- it's an "educational documentary ", right?

In the Aesop's fable (above), a wiser fox exposes the ruse of the tailless one.
But in the Umno-led administration, they have all been convinced to go tailless- and are now trying to convince the public of the same .....

**********************************
Never make a country your home that denies you respect,
that offers no means of livelihood,
that does not give you a family and Friends
and a country that has no education system.
Do not live a place for a single day where there are rich people ,
no king, no scholar, no river and no physician.
Do not live in a society which is devoid of employment opportunities,
fear, shame, cleverness and spirit of sacrifice.
-Sri Chanakya Neetishastra (The Political Ethics of Chanakya), 1:8-10
******************************

The rise of Perkasa/Rela Stormtroopers?

FLASHBACK Pre- WW II ..... Germany:-



The SA was founded in Munich by Hitler in 1921 out of various roughneck elements that had attached themselves to the fledgling Nazi movement. In the Nazi rise to power, a key role was played by the Nazi storm troopers - the SA.
Sturmabteilung- The SA was the first Nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. The SA ranks were adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief amongst them the SS, itself originally a branch of the SA. Brown-coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform ......
This was a paramilitary organization designed for defense of Nazi Party meetings, and attacks on its political opponents. It formed the workforce for Nazi political activity in the lead up to the takeover of power in 1933.
It was later superseded by the SS- their offshoot.

"FLASH-FORWARD" Mahathirist Malaysia:-



PERKASA-
The manifestation of all that went wrong during the Mahathirist era of piracy- an off-shoot of a nationalist party, [as with Nationalist Party (Nazi) of pre-war Germany] whose membership consist of mindless nincompoops who have their own "Der Fuhrer" themselves as their godhead. With the failure of a certain gangster element of the nationalist party which has today been deemed as a failure, they have endeavoured to form a new group of troublemakers. As they "come of age", they now decide to recruit members from a certain uniformed mercenary "para-military" corp - apparently with the blessings of the Home Ministry.
(Please visit the following link for more info)

MeRELAkan PERKASA : MemPERKASAkan RELA

Bertempat di Pejabat RELA Negeri Selangor di Shah Alam pagi tadi, 18 Disember 2010 telah berlangsung malis penyerahan senarai kumpulan pertama ahli PERKASA Daerah Gombak dan Daerah Kelang yang telah didaftarkan menganggotai RELA. Senarai telah diserahkan kepada Pengarah RELA Negeri oleh Setiausaha Kehurmat PERKASA Negeri Selangor.

Sempena majlis tersebut juga Pengarah RELA Negeri En.Mohd Khairi Alwee telah menyerahkan 500 pasang baju T beserta seluar trek pasukan RELA kepada Sdr.Zambri Zahari SUK PERKASA Selangor, untuk disampaikan kepada anggota-anggota baru RELA dari PERKASA.

Majlis hari ini adalah kollaborasi antara dua pertubuhan yang telah dilancarkan baru-baru ini oleh Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri Datuk Sri Mahmood Adam dan YDP PERKASA Negeri Selangor Sdr. Abdullah Mansor baru-baru ini.

PERKASA bersama-sama RELA akan turun kesetiap PERKASA Daerah diseluruh Selangor bermula hari ini hingga ke bulan Februari 2011 bagi mendaftar ahli kedua-dua pertubuhan.

Yayyyy!! Now it is POS Malaysia?

"Heard that POS Express (or is it Pos Laju?) &
Pos Malaysia are two different entities!! I really wonder if they slow down the "Laju"
so that the Expres appears faster than normal ....
Someone told me recently, that if I were to post a letter from TTDI to Bangsar,
the letters would first go to Shal Alam (for "centralized collection" and to be stamped)
and only then distributed to Bangsar (which is essentially, 10 minutes away).
Geniuses, aren't they?
And all the while I thought we were paying exorbitant postal rates for efficiency!"
OH yes- take note that SYED MOKHTAR (DRB Hicom)
IS BUYING UP POS Malaysia too
(Read:- "Be prepared for a price hike, just like sugar & Rice earlier")!!

==============================

"The selling pressure in POS’s share price is due to investors waiting details on DRB Hicom’s business plans and the unlocking of the postal operators’ valuable landbank. However the plans are depend on amendments to the Federal Land Act. ......
It was unclear if the company would leverage on DRBHicom’s financial and property expertise through JV and tie-ups, or an internal reorganization exercise. The selling pressure was also due partly to disappointment with DRBHicom’s buy in price of rm3.60 per share and anticipation that the latter will not make a GO to POS’s minority shareholders.
If POS were to acquire Bank Muamalat or sell its land bank to DRBHicom, the valuation of these assets would be important for minority shareholders of POS ....
POS’s most valuable land is the 3.1 acre postmen’s quarter located behind the site of the Pudu Jail redevelopment site in KL to be undertaken by UDA Holdings. POS also holds 2.7 acres of land near KL Sentral and smaller plots in Westport, Port Klang, Bkt Raja in Klang and Bdr Baru Bangi."
- KCK, Remisier, Kenanga Investment Bank, "What's NEXT For POS Malaysia ....."

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Pos Malaysia : worth the fuss to privatise?

By Lee Wee Tak

When Pos Malaysia was listed as a public limited company, it baffled me. Why bother privatising a monopoly? Remove the profit element and instill healthy working culture, and Malaysians can be spared the profiteering increase of postage from RM0.30 to RM0.70.

If privatisation is to provide more efficient service then the excellent article below spelt out the less than ideal situation beneath the exciting images portrayed by Pos Malaysia for the past few years.


In addition to the crippling Transmile Group scandal which whacked RM200-RM300 million off the profits of Pos Malaysia, the article also highlighted that its chairman and managing director had resigned over irregularities in land sales and award of contracts.

http://business.feedfury.com/content/17725759-pos-malaysia-new-scandal-after-transmile-irregularities.html

The fact that the chairman and managing director (bumiputras, no less) could only resign* in protest suggested that there were higher powers at work that frustrated & probably prevented capable and honest professionals from taking the necessary corrective action.

This kind of working environment will deter high calibre overseas based Malaysians from coming back. This is more important than the 15% income tax abruptly announced by Najib of which the details have yet to be worked out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
*foot note:

Very recently, the chairman took Pos Malaysia and Khazanah to court for breach of chairmanship contract.

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=60169

In the first suit, Adam is suing the Minister of Finance, the government and Pos Malaysia Bhd. In the second suit, which was filed separately, he named Khazanah Nasional Berhad managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar as the defendant.

Adam told Bernama that his suit against Pos Malaysia had been settled amicably after he withdrew his legal action against it about three months ago.

- perhaps Pos Malaysia has to make peace knowing court action may not be advisable for them?

In the suit against Azman filed on Nov 4 last year, Adam alleged that due to unlawful interference by Azman, the government decided to terminate his contract through two letters signed by the Minister of Finance dated May 23 and May 26, 2008 whereas his appointment was supposed to end only on Feb 28, 2009.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yeah sure those are old stories dated 2008 but let's look at the audited accounts for 2010:

Pos Malaysia invested RM7.6 million into 3 associated companies, of which are all wiped out as useless investment, worth RM 0.00. Of the 3, Elpos Print Sdn Bhd earned a revenue of RM12.5 million, but as its liabilities greater than its assets and even whole year's revenue, something is wrong. (Imagine you owe loans and debts which exceed your whole year salary...that is terrifying or down right stupid financial management)

Read more at: http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2011/04/pos-malaysia-worth-fuss-to-privatise.html

First they try to cheat ....

"Amarjit, Marina and I are convinced that this whole business of attending
at the embassy to give his statement was a hare-brained scheme
by idiots back home to lure RPK onto ‘Malaysian soil’
as a first step to repatriation back to Kamunting,
whether through means foul or fair."
-Haris Ibrahim

How RPK was almost lured into little Malaysia in Thailand and then to…

April 24, 2011

Update 2 : Marina, RPK and I waited at the hotel lobby from 5 – 5.30pm. No cops. We’re off to dinner.

_______________________________________

Update : Amarjit has been receiving sms’s from Hamid of the Malaysian embassy to say that the cops are still waiting to take RPK’s statement at the embassy.

At 1.26pm Bangkok time today, I sent the following sms to Hamid : Salam. Engku n i will be at the lobby of siam city hotel at 5pm to give his statement to ACP Aziz. Tq

___________________________________________

Yesterday evening, RPK and I spoke at an event organised at the Florida Hotel in Bangkok by some Malaysians who now reside in Thailand.

The objective : to see if the seed of the Thailand or Bangkok chapter of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement might not be planted.

In the audience, however, was an individual who, as events that unfolded later suggest, was there for a very different agenda.

Just before the talk kicked off at 6pm Bangkok time, I was introduced to one Encik Abdul Hamid bin Bulat of the Malaysian Embassy here in Bangkok. I was to find out a little later that he had earlier spoken to RPK to say that police from Bukit Aman were waiting at the embassy to take his statement, and that he was there to ferry RPK to the embassy immediately after the talk. As to what the statement related to, upon my discussion with RPK, Marina and Amarjit later, was also a matter of some contradiction.

It seems that when Hamid spoke to RPK, he had said that the statement sought by the police was in relation to the statutory declaration made by RPK in 2008. Yet, when Amarjit inquired as to the matter under investigation for which the statement was sought, Hamid replied that he did not know the details.

This, we only discovered much later in the wee hours of this morning.

Amarjit and I were most uncomfortable with the idea of RPK going to the embassy to give his statement.

Meanwhile, even before the talk began, both Amarjit and I were receiving calls and sms’s from people back home saying that there was already media news that RPK was to be questioned at the embassy. There were also rumours flying around that he had been, or would be, arrested.

Both Amarjit and I tried to dissuade RPK from going to the embassy, suggesting that the police could come to the hotel to take his statement where we would both also be present.

We voiced our concerns that the embassy, in international law deemed as Malaysian soil, we feared that this whole business of taking his statement there was a ruse to get him in there, effect an arrest and then, with or without the aid of the local authorities, have him repatriated back to Kamunting.

RPK, seemingly believing that the statement sought was in the furtherance of investigations into the individual or individuals named in his recent interview aired over TV3, was quite determined to attend at the embassy to give his statement.

During Q&A, one of those in attendance also urged RPK not to attend at the embassy.

“If you go there, they will arrest you,” , he said.

After the talk, as we were adjourning to dinner with those who had attended the talk, a heated argument broke out between RPK, on the one side, and Marina, amarjit and I on the other.

We did not want him to go to the embassy. He was being his usual, stubborn self.

The argument carried into the dining hall and was clearly noticed by quite a few of the 40 or so who had attended the talk and the dinner.

To these folk, I apologise.

Amarjit threatened that if he insisted on going to the embassy, he would have nothing more to do with RPK.

Marina said if he was going, she was booking her flight out of Bangkok that very night.

Finally, RPK relented.

The four of us went up to Hamid and. RPK told him that he was ready to go to the embassy but Marina, Amarjit and I were not agreeable to this and he left it to Hamid to persuade us otherwise. I told Hamid that nothing he could say would persuade us away from our stand. I informed him that Amarjit and I had advised RPK and that he had acceded to our advice not to attend at the embassy. We said that RPK would give his full co-operation and his statement to the police at the hotel where he and Marina were staying.

Hamid said he would head back to the embassy and bring the police officers to the hotel.

With that, RPK, Marina, Amarjit and I headed back to the hotel.

Round about 10.15pm, Hamid, ACP Aziz and another officer who introduced himself as Tony were at the hotel. Tony, I was informed later, is a police officer attached with the embassy.

RPK, Amarjit and I met them in the hotel lobby.

The police were trying to persuade that the statement be given at the embassy. They raised questions about the inadmissibility in court if the statement were not taken in the embassy. I responded that we would undertake to not take such objection and the same could be included in the statement to be given.

Both Aziz and Hamid gave assurances that RPK would be released after the statement was taken. Amarjit and I said we were not comforted by their assurances and were not persuaded to advise RPK to attend at the embassy to give his statement.

I inquired of Aziz as to the nature of the offence being investigated for which a statement was sought from RPK.

He replied that it was for an offence under section 203 of the Penal Code.

I asked what that was.

He started to get sassy and said surely we as lawyers knew what that was.

I said I did not know what it was.

Aziz then said it was in relation to a false statement.

I inquired whether this related to a statement made in the course of the TV3 interview or the statutory declaration made by RPK in 2008.

At this point, officer Tony made some remark about ungentlemanly conduct.

There was a harsh exchange.

Amarjit then asked to see the police report made on which the current investigation was premised.

Aziz offered to show us the report at the embassy if we would all headed out there.

Both Amarjit and I immediately accepted the offer, but stipulated that RPK would remain behind at the hotel whilst the 2 of us would go to the embassy to view the contents of the police report.

Aziz now tried to do a u-turn.

We pressed to see the police report to enable us to advise RPK if it was safe to attend at the embassy.

Finally, Aziz relented.

I sent RPK up to his room and told him that he was under house arrest and that Mother Superior Marina was not going to let him out of her sight.

We got to the embassy a little after 11pm.

It was here that we were informed that Aziz did not have a copy of the police report and that was awaiting a copy to be faxed from KL.

This was the first serious confirmation for both Amarjit and I that the this whole business of wanting to take RPK’s statement at the embassy was a ruse to facilitate some other agenda.

Why would the investigating officer come all the way to Bangkok to question a witness to a possible crime and not have a copy of the police report with him?

The whole thing stank.

About an hour later, both Amarjit and I were shown the police report.

After reading it, I asked Aziz again whether the alleged false statement the subject-matter of the investigation was in the TV3 interview or the statutory declaration.

Aziz started raving and ranting about ‘giving and inch and now asking for a whole mile’.

I told him that we would go back to the hotel, discuss with RPK and inform Hamid as to RPK’s decision.

Back at the hotel just before 1am, Amarjit and I discussed the contents of the police report and advised RPK and Marina accordingly.

I called Hamid who passed the phone to Aziz.

I informed Aziz that RPK was ready to give his statement to the police and that we would be happy to meet him at the hotel in the morning at 11am.

“Erm, tak payahlah”, was his response.

The call ended.

Now RPK called and spoke to Aziz and reiterated what i had said earlier.

Same response, save and except that Aziz now blamed what was a most unproductive conclusion to his trip to Thailand to two good for nothing lawyers.

Strange that an officer of PDRM should travel all the way to Thailand to take a statement, not from the accused but a witness, and one willing to give the same, but now refused to do so unless the witness was willing to step into little Malaysia.

Was it a statement from the witness that was sought, or the presence of the witness on ‘Malaysian soil’ in Thailand?

Amarjit, Marina and I are convinced that this whole business of attending at the embassy to give his statement was a hare-brained scheme by idiots back home to lure RPK onto ‘Malaysian soil’ as a first step to repatriation back to Kamunting, whether through means foul or fair.

I half suspect that RPK, now, sees it too.

And then, they lied ....

RPK drama: Press lies, police bullying, as Khalid tries to be a hero

Sunday 24 Apr 2011 MYT 18:37:19

tags: press ethics, press freedom

by uppercaise

Standoff: The police still want RPK at the embassy, RPK offers to wait for them at the hotel. And the press lied.

by uppercaise
The newly-appointed deputy inspector-general of police, Khalid Abu Bakar, seems to be trying to elbow aside his boss and to make an instant hero of himself in the eyes of Umno and government leaders by trying to trap Raja Petra Kamarudin in Bangkok and taking action to prop up Najib Razak.

There has been a curious coincidence of events since Raja Petra appeared on TV3 in a two-month-old interview, broadcast last week, just before the Sarawak election. There has also been a curious coincidence of events surrounding Khalid Abu Bakar, who has been in the spotlight since 2009 for making one lie after another and who on Saturday seems to have fed the press a pack of lies about what was going on in Bangkok.

One year since Aminulrasyid was shot in the head at 2am

Khalid Abu Bakar, to refresh memories, was Selangor chief police officer when Shah Alam schoolboy Aminulrasyid Amza was shot dead by police last year. On Tuesday, it will be exactly a year since Aminulrasyid died. He was shot in the head at 2am on April 26 by police who chased after him when he was on a joyride in his sister’s car.

Khalid Abu Bakar claimed that Aminul was a criminal, a thug, because he supposedly had a parang in his car. He claimed that Aminul tried to reverse the car and ram the policemen. But Aminul’s schoolmate in the car said Aminul died in his lap, still at the wheel, and the car rammed into a retaining wall.

Khalid Abu Bakar evidently lied.

A year earlier, in January 2009, the death in police custody took place of A Kugan. Khalid Abu Bakar said Kugan had taken a glass of water and died of breathing difficulties. He asked the public not to speculate about the death. After a huge public outcry the Attorney-General classified the case as one of murder: Kugan had been tortured and murdered.

Khalid Abu Bakar evidently lied.

Other notable events during Khalid Abu Bakar’s time as Selangor CPO: the death of Teoh Beng Hock in custody of anti-corruption officers, and the parading and desecration of a cow’s head by Muslim activists.

But on Oct 13 that year, six months after Aminul’s death, Khalid Abu Bakar was promoted, to director of internal security and public order at federal police headquarters. Higher-ups were to remark on police “success in lowering the crime rate” in Selangor (that means fewer people bothered to lodge police reports).

And this month, six months after being promoted, Khalid Abu Bakar was promoted again, just as RPK hits the headlines.

On April 13, an interview with Raja Petra is aired over TV3′s primetime Buletin Utama: as a result, RPK is accused in a vicious media campaign of a sellout, of having been turned over, of making a U-turn.

The next day, April 14, the police announce that Khalid Abu Bakar was promoted as deputy inspector-general of police, effective the following day.

On April 14, the same day as the announcement of Khalid’s promotion, the little-known Malay rights group Jaringan Melayu Malaysia lodges a police report about an Utusan Malaysia article on Raja Petra Kamarudin’s interview with TV3. The JMM demanded an investigation of an alleged to prevent Najib Razak becoming prime minister.

That same day, Najib Razak claims the truth has prevailed. A heavily-twisted Bernama report describes RPK’s statements as a “confession”, and “denying [Najib's] involvement”. Malaysia Chronicle, among others, carries a damning headline: “Raja Petra U-turns for Najib and Rosmah”.

On Wednesday this week, the inspector-general Ismail Omar visited Penang. His visit got big play in the NST on Thursday and smaller treatment in the Star, which instead played up Khalid’s purported surprise at being appointed deputy. Khalid talks about measures to “improve the police force” because of public scepticism about the police. (See » Day of Pigs)

The next day, Friday, Khalid’s boss is taken ill at Bukit Aman’s monthly assembly. He’s taken to hospital and told to rest. Exhaustion, it seems.

The same day, Friday, blogger Din Merican, who was mentioned by Raja Petra in the TV3 interview, is interrogated for three hours at Bukit Aman. Din is one of four named by Jaringan Melayu for police investigation.

Also on Friday, Khalid announces the end of speed-trap ambushes of motorists — big play results in all the media on Saturday, including a front-page in the NST and Star. Khalid spouts some bullshit about how this amounts to police “transparency”.

Then, on Saturday evening, Khalid is back in the spotlight after Malaysia Today flashes a news-break that RPK has been hauled in by policed in Bangkok.

But, instead of “transparency”, what Khalid and the police told the press amounts to a pack of lies.

Khalid says Raja Petra Kamarudin had voluntarily having made a statement to the police in Bangkok. The press duly publishes it. But the accounts by Raja Petra and his lawyer Haris Ibrahim, and the reports published at Malaysia Today, tell a different story.

The Star report on Sunday
The NST report on Sunday

It is a story of police intimidation and double-dealing, of brute force on the ground, covered up by senior officers lying about actions of their junior officers by making bland press statements that supposedly state “facts”.

The police rely on “stenographer journalists” who take down what officials say, and regurgitate it in their reports, even if the officials are lying. What the press reported on Saturday was this:

• A high-ranking official called a press conference
• We the press attended the press conference
• The policeman said this and that.
• We took it all down. Here is what he said.
• (Don’t ask if it was true.) It is a truthful account of someone telling a lie.

The reader is left to piece it together, picking up what he can from rumours, friends or the Internet, and from denials of press reports by those involved, or from politicians (usually opposition ones) picking apart what officials said or did not say.

The press remains aloof of the truth, or the real story. Their hands are clean. We didn’t say it. “They” said it.

Khalid Abu Bakar told the press that:

• Raja Petra Kamarudin had voluntarily given a statement to Malaysian police. He made the statement at his hotel, and cooperated with the police
• It was about a police report by a group, and it was about RPK’s 2008 statutory declaration.

But Raja Petra and his lawyer Haris Ibrahim say that:

• The police officer was insistent that RPK must go to the embassy
• RPK did not make any statement at the hotel
• The policeman, Assistant Commissioner Aziz, was not bothered about coming to the hotel on Sunday morning — “tak payahla”.
• 
  
• Asst Cmsr Aziz almost came to blows with RPK’s lawyers and was evasive about the report
• RPK and his lawyers thought it was about his declaration in 2008, which he had asked repeatedly to be investigated.
• The police were only interested in the Utusan Malaysia report about the TV3 interview and the alleged conspiracy against Najib.

MalaysiaKini had a Bernama report at 8pm on Saturday with Khalid Abu Bakar saying that RPK had given his statement to officers from Bukit Aman. On Sunday and up to Sunday evening, the NST, Star and others continued to say RPK had given his statement the previous night.

Yet RPK and Haris said no statement was made on Saturday, as Malaysian Insider, Free Malaysia Today and Malaysia Today reported. But the story stayed unchanged at NST and Star Online all day, until late on Sunday evening.

Someone was lying. It’s not likely to be RPK and Haris. That leaves only the police, trying to make heroes of themselves. And the press went along for the ride.