SHAHRIZAT... LIWAT... COW-WAT

RULE OF THUMB: NEVER MESS WITH AN AUDITOR.

Cow dung is flying around…!

Honestly, we all expected the results of the Auditor-General’s Report. Year in year out, government agencies pay with our hard earned money exorbitant prices for goods purchased. Money that could have been saved and put to much better use.

WALIOW Moments (2006 – 2010):

- Technical books for RM10,700 (RRP: RM417)

- 2-tonne car jack for RM5,741 (RRP: RM50)

- Digital Camera for RM8k (RRP: RM3k)

- Set of screwdrivers for RM224 (RRP: RM40)

- 3 plastic vases for RM42 (RRP: RM5.20)

- 2 laptops for RM85k

- Computer software for RM2.08mil (which was never used)

- RM15mil for new car + car maintenance

- Night Vision Marine Binoculars for RM56k (RRP:RM2k)

- Elba Oven for RM2k (RRP: RM419)

- 1,000 Pamphlet Racks for RM1.95MILLION

And NOW… it’s about COWS!

Apart from being pissed about the wastage of public funds, I am more pissed at the fact that Shahrizat and team seems so oblivious to the word CRONYISM.

First up is Noh. “There is no conflict of interest. It is just a COINCIDENCE. The government INVITED several companies to table their proposals in 2006. Only six companies tabled their proposals,”¹

And then we have Shahrizat. “They (her family) don’t deserve the things said by the Opposition because they work very hard.”³

Summary of the COW STORY is this… Cow project --> Invitation --> Shahrizat’s family members COINCIDENTLY got the deal --> They work hard --> but have not BRED the cows they promise but instead have BROUGHT in cows instead as defense!

Auditor says: National Feedlot Centre (NFC) set up in 2008 in Gemas, Negri Sembilan failed to hit its target of BREEDING 8,000 cattle last year.²

Noh says: “the total number of cattle BROUGHT into the farm was 8,016 between 2008 and 2010.”¹

Everyday, each one of us (Malay, Indian, Chinese, Kadazan, Dayak, Dusun…) as a citizen of Malaysia study and works darn hard to ensure that we achieve a certain level of wealth to live comfortably. I personally have no issue with the NEP just as long as it promises to serve its purpose to equalize the differences in wealth in the country. Fair enough.

When we are at schools, there’s the quota system. I might score higher than a fellow Bumiputra friend but placed in a lower class. My results in my SPM/STPM might be pretty awesome but yet denied the chance to enter a public university while they got to enter and even be paid to study overseas (all expenses paid). As an adult, I pay more for houses, am not able to invest in Amanah Saham, and govt link companies are definitely hard to get in. 

All these so called “inequalities” never bothered me because in the lower class I was in, the private college that I was enrolled in, the work place I am now in, there were always Bumiputras around and I have no problem getting along with them and neither do I have any ill-feeling for the extra privileges they enjoy. To me, in the quest for equality, there needs to be an attitude of give and take.

But the problem is this. We all get LIWAT (sodomized) at the end of the day! The opportunities given to them, the sacrifices I needed to make all meant NOTHING! ZIT! NADA! Because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you got to enter a better class, university, better job opportunities… you actually needed to KNOW SOMEBODY to get rich!!!

AND THAT’S THE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH THE NEP – CRONYISM!

CRONYISM destroys all the dreams and sacrifices we all make as Malaysians and pretty much puts us back at zero while the rich just continue to get richer.

We are pretty much left to feel like bulls pitted against one another. My Bumiputra friends continue to strive for a disillusioned promise of wealth while other races are left sacrificing till doomsday comes.

And now that we have seen how oblivious or immune our fellow minister can be, we can be pretty much be guaranteed that we would continue to be pitted against each other for their benefit. [Pause….]

[ My Stand: There are both poor bumiputras and non-bumiputras and the only reason I believe the NEP should be scrapped is due to the misuse of it and I feel that focus should not only be centered at bringing up one race but Malaysians as a whole. Fair opportunities should be given to all and especially to capable smaller companies regardless of race. ]

[Continue…] It really perplexes me how Noh is able to use the word coincidence in the same line as invited. When you invite somebody, you’re pretty much certain that these set of people would be getting the job and I am pretty sure the invitation was not based on the competency of the companies but rather connected people companies. If it was to be really fair, it should have been an open tender from the start and not by invitation. So there’s no coincidence in your so called coincidence!

And Shahrizat, we all work darn hard everyday even though we don’t get RM73m govt projects. You got the project, messed it up, stripped naked now for all to see so don’t start going round the bush trying to blindside us with your whimpy story of how your family work so darn hard! It is sure as hell your family got the job cause of you so please at least have the decency to admit and make right the wrong.

But I guess it’s a bit too late. Another cow dung has hit the fan. RM10m (of the allocated RM73m) went to a purchase of a luxury One Menerung condo⁴. Guess you’re into producing wahyu beef now eh..

To my dear readers, have the conscience to boycott the following places/brand for this very simple point – WE DO NOT CONDONE CRONYISM!
 

Location: Solaris, Mont Kiara (Msia); Citta Mall (Msia); ION Orchad (Spore)	Location: Marina Bay (Spore)
Location: Clark Quay (Singapore)

Reference 1
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Reference 4

Things NOT to do in Bali, Indonesia

I just got back from Bali and it was truly an enjoyable trip. However, instead of starting off with the goods about Bali, thought I would start off by sharing about what NOT to do (hopefully can save you from some unnecessary ordeal..)

1. Never EAT seafood at JIMBARAN – SHADOW “TIOK” Technique

As much as Jimbaran offers a magnificent view of watching sunset while having dinner, it is also the one place they employ the Shadow “TIOK” technique.

At 1^st the price seems pretty reasonable… but then when you receive the bill… the weight of the food seems a lot heavier… check the comparison between our seafood dinner at Jimbaran and Kuta.

Seafood at Jimbaran (“The Cuisine”)	Seafood at Kartika Plaza - Kuta (“Segara”)
Weight: 400g Price p/kg: IDR 75k	Weight: 300g Price p/kg: IDR 100k
- 4 clams at “The Cuisine” weighs 400g while 12 clams at “Segara” weighs only 300g
Weight: 200k Price p/kg: IDR 315k	Weight: 300g Price p/kg: IDR  290k
- 2 King Prawn at “The Cuisine” weighs 200g while 7 prawns at “Segara” weighs only 300g
Pathetic small fish that weighs 800g! Guess it was weight with the water it swam in.	The menu from Segara
Proof for seafood at Jimbaran	Proof for seafood at Kuta

2. Visit Uluwatu Temple

If you’ve watched “Planet of the Apes” this is one place you get to experience it for real. Monkeys here are super hostile and have no qualms about grabbing things from you and to make matters worse, the population of monkeys here seems to be equal if not more than the humans. Special items on their list grab list are slippers, sun glasses, spectacles, water bottles, plastic bags holding items.

Wife was walking up the temple stairs when a fat monkey dashed at my wife feet to try to strip her of her slippers. Even when my wife screamed, the monkey was as adamant as a rock to get the slippers off my wife which it did at last… it then bit off the flower on the top of the slippers and we had to pay some guys selling monkey food IDR10k to throw some food at it to get it off the slippers.

By now, you’re pretty much freaked out at the monkeys but guess what… you have to continue walking through a battalion of monkeys all around to see the whole temple. Due to the shock and the super heighten state your mind is on to kung-fu fight any monkeys that approaches, I pretty much don’t remember anything at the temple except for the beautiful scenery overlooking the ocean. It doesn’t help too when you constantly hear ppl screaming when attacked by the monkeys. What was in the temple…? I seriously don’t remember. There was an hour left to spare before the famous Kechak dance was to start but we decided to just leave just in case a war between human and apes really did happen.

The problem with the monkeys are they are regarded as sacred animals to the temple… some sorta guardian to the temple.. so…

- If you’re a Chinese, you can’t crack open their skulls, pour alcohol into it and devour their divine brains.

- If you’re an animal control dude, you can’t shoot them to reduce their population.

- If you’re a caretaker of Penang Botanical Garden, you can’t chase them away.

- If you’re orang asli, you can’t sumpit them and have them for dinner.

- If you’re Paris Hilton, you can’t skin them off their fur and make a fur coat outta it... though this would be the one time I’ll support the fur industry.

=

3. Walk to the end of Kintamani Volcano/Lake Batur viewing area

Demons exist here. From the moment we arrive (which was at the end of Kintamani viewing area as they have the best view here), while we were changing Athalie’s diapers, a demon lady was pestering us to buy t-shirts from her… “3 t-shirts for 50… 3 t-shirts for 50… 3 t-shirts for 50… please help me… please help me… “ she seemed nice (always remember, demons are always deceitful) and after following us for about 5 minutes, I agreed to buy from her when we’re done sightseeing (I was feeling very generous that time… thought I would do some charity to absolve me of some of my sins).

When we continued toward the end, more and more demons just started to appear… each one blocking your path, pestering you to buy their t-shirts, their Harley Davidson models, their key chains, their hair clips, their arts, their children, their grannys, their dogs… and these demons don’t just disappear when you tell them “No thank you” (or when you do a Hail Mary)… they keep stalking you and stalking you and stalking you and would go into a trance like intra-bargaining mode (bargain with oneself…. Ie. 1^st they’ll tell you 3 for 50… then u keep walking.. they tell u… 4 for 50… u keep walking… 5 for 50… u keep walking… 6 for 50…. u keep walking 7 for 50… u keep walking… FREE!!!!)

The highlight of the trip was when we returned to the “3 t-shirts for 50” demon lady. After picking about 3 t-shirts, I paid her IDR 100k… hoping to receive a change of IDR50k when she said, “Another IDR30k… It’s RINGGIT 50”… We went BERSERK!!! WTH!!! RM50 for 3 super thin see-through t-shirts that you would probably only want to see Pamela Anderson wearing while walking out of the pool!!! We insisted to have our full amount returned or IDR 50k. Demon lady tried to hanky panky and tried to 1^st return IDR20k.. IDR30k… that’s when my wife threw a hail Mary, washed her in holy water, nailed a cross on her forehead, shot her with silver bullets and strangle her with a chain of garlic before she relented and returned IDR50k. I have never seen my wife get so mad… was quite the experience…

In conclusion… if you really have to visit the places, just do the following:

1. Jimbaran - just go to any restaurant, picked the best seat (closes) to the beach, order plain water and buy corn from the vendor and enjoy the sunset. Forget about the seafood.

2. Uluwatu Temple – be dressed accordingly.

3. Kintamani Volcano/Lake Batur viewing area – make sure you bring along the necessities

Fatherhood – The Joy

Honestly speaking, it’s really tough being a daddy and recently my wife just drop a nuclear bomb at me for being easily frustrated with Athalie on a public holiday (which to her was suppose to be a time to spend quality time as a family). The reason for my short-temperedness was of course due to the fact that I had stayed up till 3am the night before caught up with setting up the blog.. :P

“KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES” (Ju Li, 2011)

It’s tough managing my wants and fancies and balancing all of that with the added responsibility of fatherhood apart from the load full of commitment and time sacrifices.

BUT

Despite all of the ramblings, complaint, grievance, grumbles, gripes (they all mean the same thing -  just Shift F7)… all of it just disappears when she smiles when she sees me walking up the stairs coming back from work, laugh a hearty laugh when I do stupid faces/actions (which if done in front of my colleagues, I’ll pretty much be labeled a weirdo and placed to sit at a corner right beside the toilet), hugs me when I carry her, obediently listens to our instructions (which she does most of the time), shares her toys with me by trying to put them in my mouth, tries to run away and screams in excitement every time I say “Daddy is chasing Athalie”, falls asleep on my shoulder (only when mummy is not around), lies on my lap while she drinks her milk from her bottle, quietly lies down in the morning when daddy n mummy are still asleep or try to wake daddy n mummy by slapping our faces, kisses me, grasps my hand, rejects being carried by another person and wants to only be carried by me (juz makes me feel really important), points cutely to the things she want or where she wants to go and gives us a big smile when we wake up (as if she has been waiting for a very long time for us to open our eyes)… shares her food with me… gives you the kesian look to pick her up… and hugs u when she’s being carried… it all just melts away all the negativity…

So… life is pretty fair… as much as it really sucks with all these additional commitments and responsibilities and losing a lot of my own private time... life also throws in hand in hand moments that I could never have if I never had Athalie.

To Athalie… a thousand days of hell is all worth just to receive a smile from you…

And to my wife… I sometimes might not seem to appreciate all that you have, are and will be doing (as I can be quite a selfish, self-absorbed man)… I am thankful each day for all the sacrifices that you have, is and will be making and I cannot thank God enough for entrusting to me such a wonderful person. Muah!!!

- SUPERMAN DOES NOT EXIST. ONLY SUPERWOMAN -

Fatherhood – The Ramblingssss…

On weekdays... get back home from work… take a nice quite hot shower… watch uninterrupted series on tv…  and go to sleep in the quietness of the night..

And on weekends… switch on the tv, put up my feet on the table, hold on to a packet of chips and watch dvd like there’s no tomorrow…

ALL OF THAT WAS MY LIFE 1 YEAR AGO.

Now it’s been like a marathon that I’ve been running for the past 1 year and even though people keep telling me that things will get better, the journey to the end of the tunnel seems like a really really really long one.

On weekdays… the moment I get back from work it’s carrying a 10kg baby around the house, wipe her down, change her pampers, put on clothes for her, try my best to keep her occupied while mummy takes a shower and when mummy is done showering, baby suckles to sleep. I go back down to hang her clothes. This is a real nightmare as her clothes are small and there’s always a mountain-ful of it. How come? On a normal day, we as adults change from our pj’s (1 set) to our working clothes (1 set) and back to the same old pj’s (same set). Net net is only 1 set to wash per day (pj’s worn a few days/months). For Athalie, it’s from pj’s (1 set) to morning wear (1 set) to evening wear (1 set) and pj’s again at night (different set). Net net.. 4 SETS OF CLOTHES! And that’s not inclusive of the daily changed towels used to wipe her!

Well… that’s pretty much the end of my day if she sleeps throughout... but of course that doesn’t happen. She sometimes doesn’t want to sleep and want to play... in which we have to play bad cop good cop with her and get her to be desperate enough to sleep by daddy telling her “say bye bye to mummy… mummy’s going out liow…” which would make her cry and decide to sleep. And 1 hr through her sleep while mummy and daddy is having their short lived time together… a wailing is heard from the room. The plan is always for daddy to go to the room 1^st to soothe her (which fails pretty much 90% of the time) and if that fails (which it does 90% of the time)… then mummy would come in and put her back to sleep. I use to be able to put her back to sleep when she’s a lot younger but now… thanks to DHA, AHA, Ganglioside, Olligosaccharide, Immunoforce… she’s gotten smart and the moment she doesn’t smell mummy or feel the “bump on the chest” she starts wailing for mummy. It’s pretty “awesome” to get wailed at every night.

Well… that’s not the end of it! When daddy and mummy decide to go to bed (thanks again to DHA, AHA, Ganglioside, Olligosaccharide, Immunoforce)… she would automatically wake up and cry for milk and it always has to be when mummy brushes her teeth and washes up… and daddy... would need to carry a wailing baby around the room until mummy is done washing up.

So after running around the house, getting wailed/screamed at pretty much of the time… I finally get to put my head down to sleep…

Until she cries again in the middle of the night for MILK!!! (which to be fair doesn’t happen a lot unless she suddenly needs a lot more than what is being produced (she is still being breastfed).

All of that is just the daily routine… there are of course other part of my life which is crazy.. I mean every other part of my life…

Eating out is no more the slowly munch you food setting… now... it’s daddy eats as fast as possible while mummy feeds her and occupy her… then once daddy is done... it’s mummy’s time to eat and daddy has to feed and occupy her… All of these needs to be completed in the shortest time possible so baby doesn’t start getting bored… 

Going out now... we constantly look like 24hrs back pack travelers with the huge backpack filled with baby stuff that we have to make sure has all her necessities and carry it around everywhere we go... from wedding dinners to romantic dinners to buffets to chap-chap stalls to tesco... giant.. jusco... 

Life is crazy....

NOTE: I might be rambling about how much I have to do, but my wife definitely goes through a lot lot more than what I have to go through and I am constantly amaze at how she is able to pull through everyday combined with her commitment to her work. She’s the BEST! Also, in general, Athalie is quite an easy baby to handle… juz that daddy sometimes feel overwhelmed with all the new commitments

Lies! Lies! Lies

Click here for the full report.

I couldn’t help but choke, puke, pee, fart, shit & sweat in my underarms  all at the same time when I read the above news article. This must be one time my PM told the most number of lies at once. If his statement is to be taken as truth… then it’s pretty much like calling him a pig when he’s actually human (I think)

Statement 1: “People traffickers do not respect international borders and legal jurisdictions any more than they respect the human rights of their victims, which is why Malaysia and Australia worked together to develop a way of stopping them,”

• Before even we worry about human traffickers, we should be more worried about out law enforcers. Malaysia for one do not mind refugees coming to Malaysia.. Mainly for 2 reason.. 1. Additional source of income for our RELA members when they raid refugee camps and extort money. 2. BN gets to register the bulk of them to force them to vote for BN in the coming elections¹.

•  The below might be a bit lengthy for a read but I suggest you to read to understand the true situation of refugees in Malaysia.

•  “The information collected during the FIDH mission showed that these raids are conducted with unnecessary use of violence. A Rohingya reported this incident to the FIDH mission: during a raid, a RELA volunteer thumb on him various times until his leg was broken. He was then brought to the police station, locked in a detention centre and then deported at the end of the year. Another member of this community told that his motorbike was stolen during a raid after he was beaten on his back. The Burmese community reported the case of a seventeen year old boy who was kicked by members of RELA on his stomach. Several victims of RELA raids and persons arrested by immigration officers and the police met during the mission explained that if you are arrested in the street you should better directly give 50 or 100 Ringgit to the officer. If not, at the police station, another negotiation will be engaged with the migrant community: the price to be released will be fixed around 2000, sometimes 3000 Ringgit by the police.Various interviews confirmed the bribes and extortion, adding that RELA people are stealing inside the house and keeping the wallets, money and passports of the one they arrest. The raids reportedly take place both in the living quarters and in the working places of migrants. E.g., in mid- February 2006, four dead bodies were recovered from a lake in the area of Selayang. The day before, there had been an important RELA raid in this area. This event was reported in the BBC media and a week after, on the Asian Centre for Human Rights website raising the possible link between these deaths and the raid of these untrained volunteer. FIDH believes that a prompt and impartial investigation should be carried out on those deaths.”²

Statement 2: “As the prime minister of a progressive, liberal nation, I’m not prepared to stand by and watch that happen,”

• BBBBBBUUUUULLLLLLL SSSHHHHHIIITTTTT!!!! The fact of the matter is this. You have stood back and watch even when your own country men (the orang asli) are marginalized, harassed, denied access to basic amenities in their own country. What guarantee then do you have as a PM to care for the incoming refugees?

Statement 3: “Malaysia has been at the forefront in Southeast Asia of dealing with international problems and pledged to continue working with Australia to find new ways to stop human traffickers.”

• Errr… you mean stop Malaysia from being at the forefront of human trafficking? We are currently placed in Tier 2 Watch List in the 2010 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report.³

• Definition of a Tier 2 Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, AND: a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing; b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or, c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.⁴

• It gets better, the Tier 2 Watch List rating puts us together with countries like Afghanistan, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Lebanon, Swazilan, Africa, Libya, Tunisia, Laos, Kazakhstan, Iraq… etc⁴

Statement 4: “Malaysia is not some repressive, backward nation that persecutes refugees and asylum seekers,”

• Again.. so far from the truth. There are already multiple cases which refugees are extorted in exchange for being able to stay a bit longer in Malaysia until the next raid.

•  “In any case, the mission heard from many people from different refugee groups who alleged that they or persons holding UNHCR documentation have been arrested and detained by RELA, or the police.The mission also received a number of allegations that UNHCR document holders have been beaten or otherwise mistreated in custody when they have produced their documentation.”²

•  If we are so committed to providing fair treatment to refugees (or Malaysian’s definition – asylum seeker as we do not recognized “refugees”) then why on earth haven’t we sign the “1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or to the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Both of the documents are key international instruments relating to the protection of refugees. As a result, Malaysia does not provide any specific formal protection to people who have fled their own country.”²

Statement 5: “He stressed that the majority live freely outside detention centres and are entitled to cheap healthcare, and added that the government is currently working with the UN to allow some refugees to work in the country.” 

• In Malaysia, we have a saying that goes "the frog under a coconut husk" in which it means a person who is oblivious to its surrounding and that's exactly what my beloved PM is. Refugees (especially those from Myanmar) cannot work legally (or if they do, they do so illegally in which they are open to harassment and exploitation without any recourse as any report made would probably end with them being placed in detention centers and deported back to their country)

• “The family is ethnic Chin from Myanmar. With the aid of smugglers, the family got to Malaysia safely. But when Lal Pe Nu's wife and daughters followed a year later they were caught and thrown in detention for seven months. The experience traumatized the entire family and they live in fear of being imprisoned again.”⁵

•  What was it again about refugees being able to roam around freely let alone work...?
  

Conclusion:

It really saddens me when I have a PM who’s literally blind, mostly deaf to the goings around and pretty much mute when it comes to speaking the truth.

We as Malaysians already have problem handling human rights when it come to OUR OWN PEOPLE (as in the case of peaceful protests, death in custody, representation of a lawyer during detention, the indigenous people) and LEGAL WORKERS (as in the case of Indonesian maids and Cambodia maids which both the countries have frozen – they must have a very good reason to deny their people opportunities in this beautiful land of Malaysia)… what makes you so darn sure we are able to guarantee the rights of refugees/asylum seekers? It really baffles me as to what went through your mind when you made those statement.

The peaceful protest of 50k ppl were accused of tarnishing Malaysia’s reputation… but I think the statement from 1 PM is enough to make Malaysia a laughing stock when all the evidence of how we treat refugees is all so clear.

Reference:

1. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/wanita-pkr-claims-6p-illegals-made-to-swear-support-for-bn/

2. http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/MalaisieCONJ489eng.pdf

3. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/142760.htm

4. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/142755.htm

5. http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/92761.html

 

Additional References:

5. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/bar-council-government-action-against-human-trafficking-politically-driven/

6. http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/malaysia

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Malaysia

8. http://www.tenaganita.net/

9. http://www.refintl.org/policy/field-report/malaysia-invest-solutions-refugees