Thursday, December 29, 2022

In the midst of quantitative tightening, is the world dumping the dollar?

The rest of the world is catching on to the easy monetary policy of the West. The BRICS nations are developing a new reserve currency that is likely to be backed by commodities and possibly gold. If this BRICS currency emerges, this is bad news for the West and the U.S. dollar, says Alasdair Macleod, head of research at Gold Money.

Read Macleod's writing: https://www.goldmoney.com/research

Three months ago ...

Monday, December 26, 2022

Can the elasticity for chicken supply and demand be modified?

Taken from Tik Tok 

According to the economic definition: 

"The price elasticity of demand is the percentage change in the quantity demanded of a good or service divided by the percentage change in the price. The price elasticity of supply is the percentage change in quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in price."

Economic Minister, Rafizi Ramli denied asking people to stop buying chicken but diverting the subject to the elasticity of supply and demand for chicken is the same thing. 

Rubber chickens are elastic but not the live ones. Basic food items are usually inelastic. The supply and demand is not sensitive to prices to a certain extent. 

The days yours truly was growing up, fish was the cheapest and most easily available source of protein. Chicken was considered a luxury consumed during kenduri, weddings and Hari Raya festivities. 

It has since replaced fish.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

(Whoever wins) it will not be easy


Nungsari Radhi / The Edge Malaysia

November 21, 2022 11:30 am +08

When this essay is published, it would be the eve of voting day for the 15th general election. While we are uncertain at this point as to who the winners will be, one thing is for sure: governing Malaysia in the coming five years will not be easy. How the government performs will be crucial in determining whether we continue on this gradual downward slide or make the turn for the better.

A crisis, any crisis, is part of a journey, whether for an individual or a nation. That is quite normal. It is how we handle a crisis that is crucial in determining whether the path onwards is better or worse. Whether we are made better or worse by the crisis. 

That experience has been somewhat worrying for the Malaysian economy. We have recovered from economic crises before, but lost some vigour afterwards. This was quite clear after the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis where growth rates since then have never come up to where they were before the crisis. It was as if the wind was taken out of our sails.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Thanks Fahmi for lifting ban


The World Cup is over. The vote of confidence for new government was formally passed uninamously passed yesterday. And this blog is long overdue for an update. 

Despite being blocked by MCMC since May over a posting already taken down, it is still updated for readers abroad and with Internet able to by-pass the block. Usually it would be updating the mirror blog, Thick as a Brick than replicated on this blog.  

To this blogger's surprise, the blog could be easily read by the public at this Starbuck cafe. If so, thank you Fahmi Fadzil for lifting the 7-month ban.  

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Balancing for a Government

There is a lot to write on the 15th general election (GE15) but nothing was extraordinary worthy to write of. Its the same ole same ole. 

Coincidently, Dr Nungsari told BFM radio yesterday that all parties were offering goodies than mentioning the elephant in the room of an impending recession and tight fiscal situation. A similar view expressed in the earlier posting

The resolution to the no clear majority by any political block is interesting. Despite its disappointing showing, BN could not sit out of government to be opposition and was dragged in to the role of kingmaker. 

Without their 30 seats, no side has the majority to form a government. Its in a bargaining position that PH is willing to have UMNO lead the coalition government in the states of Perak and Pahang. How will Agong resolve it for the federal government?

Saturday, November 12, 2022

GE15 campaign lacking depth that Zahid be made into an issue


PKR have been campaigning that it is Anwar’s turn to be Prime Minister (PM). They have been peddling his once dubbed the best Finance Minister.  Yet creating the fear that a vote for BN is vote for Zahid as PM.  
  
So shallow is the narrative of the campaign that it imply Barisan Nasional (BN) Vice President, Dato Seri Ismail Sabri’s leadership has put the nation in the right track in addressing the post-pandemic economic crisis worsened by the war in Europe. 

BN should be given a new mandate to continue the effort with a full-fledge team of more experienced and competent Ministers from BN and their former coalition members. The Perikatan Nasional (PN) misfits have proven to be inadequate, incompetent, and just filling up the number, thus rightfuly replaced. 

Surely Tan Sri Muhyiddin would disagree as he uttered the word “gagal” (fail) towards Ismail. The political animal Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim would naturally concur. And, so would Tun Dr Mahathir despite his party or coalition is brushed off by all as insignificant. 

Why then is the obsession by all parties in their GE15 campaign to deviate from the real concern besieging this nation for a concerted effort to slander UMNO President, Dato Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi?   

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

PH's shifting cultivation strategy


This evening BN will be announcing their much awaited candidate list. 

It is known that BN is on a rejuvenation mode to put up 70% new and young faces, the proven formula for their success at the Melaka and Johor by-election.  

Few renown veterans have been dropped. The surprised, unhappy reactions and opposition is only expected. Usually it will last for few days before campaign resume as usual. 

The strategy behind the candidate list for DAP, Amanah and particularly PKR is most interesting. 

It is a massive make or break exercise to emulate Lim Kit Siang's proven, for lack of a better term, "shifting cultivation" strategy. 

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Seremban to Ipoh: Coming out of the block

The break taken since August is long enough. It's time to come out of the block and start churning for the General Election. 

It is not for lack of material to write or the absence of angle to approach the subject. There have been several attempts but lacked the motivation to get over the part writer's block and part exhaustion. 

Taking a writing break was needed for the mind to rest and re-energise. It was the Saturday class of '73 to '77 reunion in Seremban for a trip down the memory lane of adolescence that revive the youthful enthusiasm in us. 

Too bad there was an important meeting the next morning to be followed by an important trip to Ipoh. We would have stayed through the weekend. 

Nevertheless it was sufficient to get us back in the mood again.     

Monday, September 26, 2022

Hitting the brick wall ...


Writer’s Block: 10 Ways to Defeat a Writer’s Worst Enemy

By Reedsyblog

What is writer’s block? 

Writer’s block is the creative slump that authors face when they don’t know what to write. It affects writers in all stages of their career — and if left unchecked, it can impede your writing for days, weeks, or even months.

The good news is there are plenty of concrete ways to combat writer’s block! If you feel like you’ve hit a brick wall with your writing, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll reveal 10 ways to break through that wall and soundly defeat your writer’s block.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Of broken chain of evidence and judicial process in doubt

The prosecution witness for Najib's first day court appearance for the 1MDB-Tanore case since started his sentence on Wednesday was Siti Zauyah Mohd Desa, the Deputy Secretary-General. 

She admitted not knowing the accuracy and authenticity of her statement as it was prepared. Its typical heresay rampantly used as evidence by the prosecution in the SRC case and believed it was used by Nazlan in his judgement together with his presumptions like no thank you note. Commonly allowed to be  heard in court are claims as such as "I assumed the order was from Najib", "XXX told me that Najib said this", etc.

Ironically, the Federal Court accepted the argument new evidence to be forwarded by Najib as heresay or after thought without flicking their ear flab to give a listen.

There is a mountain of doubts of minute details. For one, why is only Najib is being charged when tthose clearly revealed to be implicated are not charged or even protected by the Federal Court.

That is the optic seen by the non-prejudicial and off course, the pro-Najib side. The judicial discrepancy is too apparent to any casual observer that a social media commentator described as Constitutional crisis.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Travesty of Justice: First time in history ...



Lim Sian See
22 Ogos jam 9:26 PG

Twelve incredible "first time in history" events in the SRC trial.

1. First time ever in history of Malaysia that a former PM is charged for corruption.

This is not surprising as this is the core campaign platform of PH to win power in GE14. For good measure, Najib was charged by the PH and PN governments with 5 separate criminal corruption cases (SRC 1, SRC 2, 1MDB-Tanore, 1MDB-IPIC, 1MDB audit) and also 5 separate civil cases (forfeiture of RM114m, forfeiture of goods, RM1.7b tax claim/bankruptcy, SRC civil damages claim of RM5.8 billion and 1MDB civil damages claim of RM35.8 billion).

In fact, given the 9 other cases that are running concurrently and to allow for multiple delays in two years of Covid, the very complicated SRC trial has actually moved very fast - much faster than Anwar's much simpler Sodomy II trial which took 6 years.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Romen Bose on SRC Federal Court appeal

The weekend before the Federal Court final appeal began, Romen Bose; the former AFP reporter, former PMO and writer of the book Final Reckoning, he posted a status on his Facebook entitled: "Is this really justice?

Last night, he updated with "The Silence is Defeaning."

For many years, he saw from inside the Prime Minister's Office the events, including the deceipts and betrayals, leading to the fall of the BN government in his book.

We are now witnessing the long anticipated endgame to imprison Najib Tun Razak, which would indirectly shame and the great legacy of his father Tun Abdul Razak bin Dato Hussein.

Al Fatihah. May Allah guide us all back to the straight and rightful path.

Monday, August 22, 2022

Najib imprisonment the edge Mahathir need to win GE - Indian portal

Depriving Najib Razak of fair trial may have ramifications for Malaysia 

With the general elections imminent, Mahathir Mohamad and his compatriots firmly believe that Najib’s incarceration would give them the political edge that they desperately need 

Anand Murgun, Firstpost  

August 20, 2022 19:46:42 IST 


For nine years prior to this watershed moment, Malaysia, under the administration of Najib Razak, witnessed some of the most progressive reforms since independence. The abolishment of the draconian Internal Security Act was at the forefront of these reforms. Malaysia further restructured it fiscal base by introducing the GST. The nation experienced steady, uninterrupted GDP growth and witnessed the longest bull-run in its stock exchange driven by strong foreign direct investments (FDI) and domestic direct investments (DDI).

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Privasia's fishy Hospital Information System contract

Launch of IJN's hospital information system 

Actually, the fishy happening at Ministry of Health (MOH) does not involve only the Hospital Information System (HIS). 

There were too many fishy happenings since PH tookover. They bull over plan to introduce health reform but none took off except changing vendors from Bumiputera with pro-PH non-Bumiputera. 

Fast forward, then the fishy vaccine supply. The procurement became subject of speculation due the non-disclosure clause in the supply agreement. Maybe not so and its more logical to suspect the supply chain put together by Zaki Zahid. Its the one public was not scrutinising. 

Then came MySejahtera. The speculated cost of RM388 million claimed as too pricey and long term maintainance run into billion. There is the worry that rampant private data leakages could happen and confidential data commercialised. Shareholding of companies involved suspected to be linked to Khairy and Muhyiddin.

The recent generational endgame (GEG) policy on cigarette hit a snag and passing of the law postphoned. It was uncovered circulating on social media that the hurry to pass was to rush the App development to Khairy's circle of friends

The latest fishy happening involved Privasia and the HIS.

Sunday, August 14, 2022

What happened to the great Civil Service?


On June 14th, Tun Arshad Ayub passed away. Yours truly was able to attend and participate in the jenazah prayers ritual to bid farewell to this great man.

The Star reported it as the passing of an education icon. While NST honoured him as a revered educationist. Looking at his resume at ITM (later upgraded to UiTM), UM, Inti College and likely other educational institutions, he more than deserve such accolades. 

Arshad's tenure as ITM's first Director (1965- 75) was short. Despite being strict and unorthodox in his approach, students endeared themselves to him and appreciated his intention. They protested when he was transferred out by then Education Minister, Dr Mahathir to Bank Negara following the Baling protest of 1974. It was intended to curb student activism and pave the way for the introduction of AUKU. 

Arshad was a member of the Malaysian Civil Service (MCS). He had a poor start in his first initial attempt for university education. Despite not academically up to the mark by the standard of universities today - not hold a doctoral degree, the administrator left an indelible mark on the life of students and the educational institutions he served. 

Civil servant such as Arshad implimented the task laid upon them despite the insurmountable limitations at the time. On a smaller scale, the first Principal of the expansive 50-year old MRSM system, Dato Dr Jamaluddin Abdul Hamid is no lesser but another version of Arshad. 

Monday, August 8, 2022

LCS: Navy vs Navy? Politician vs Politician?

"What matter is the the country loses. The navy, ATM loses. Today we're sending our young sailors facing potential adversary at sea - who are just waiting for orders from their government to push the button; naked and defenseless."

This is a quote from one Navy officer. His concern is genuine and agreeable. We emphatise.

Who then to blame?  

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Nazlan and Azimah as last beacon of hope?


N Shanmugam must be kidding. 

The Edge contributing editor wrote a piece in this week's edition entitled: "Alternative view: The judiciary is our last beacon of hope". High Court Judges, Dato Azimah Omar and (now Court of Appeal), Dato Nazlan Ghazali highlighted as exemplaries.

This morning a politician forwarded the link to yours truly. Seeing the faces, it is obvious he is not quite up-to-date on the development in the court. And, it reflects badly on his intellectual ability to understand happenings beyond the convenient political headlines and simplistic soundbytes. 

Alas, he will be returning into Tun Dr Mahathir's fold thus compromising himself in his late age to be willing complicit to corruption, abuse of power and inhuman cruelty (zulm). May Allah save his soul from the sin of destruction for succumbing to political expediency. 

The hand behind the Judges this politician seemed proud of is destroying the Malaysian legal system with India-adopted basic structure doctrine, which is a manipulation of the law for personal agenda and against his raison d'etre.

[Paste the link https://anotherbrickinwall.blogspot.com/2022/05/foresaking-malaysia-for-indian.html on the proxy site here].  

The Judges highlighted are conflicted and conduct ethically questionable. The judiciary Shanmugam put his hope have been a basket case for decades.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

SRC case: Justice hurried is justice buried


That is the title to an article by G Mahendran, a Bar Council legal practitioner in The Sun in 2009 as taken from Bar Council website here.  

Dato Najib's appointed a new legal team on July 25th for his SRC appeal at the Federal Court. MMO reported the next day that Zaid Ibrahim will lead the new team to replace Shafee Abdullah. Another key member is renown criminal lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik.  

The immediate reaction next day are prejudicial vews accusing the move as delay tactic. Few months ago, someone close to Najib said Najib had no such plan and is sticking to Shafee. 

Najib explained the change was to give a fresh perspective to the case. The interpretation is Shafee and his team may have started on the wrong foot. Cool heads maybe needed to lower the temperature and to focus on the legal court over court of public opinion. 

Zaid Ibrahim was reported by FMT on July 26th to seek postphonement. Hearing date was earlier set for August 15 to 26th. Only fair to allow the new team to prepare for the case. He mentioned seeking for case management date on July 29th. Presumably application was submitted. 

Alas without allowing for the new team to present the request to the court, NST reported on July 29th around 5 PM of Federal Court rejection and was told no adjournment will be allowed. Presumably the letter was issued a day earlier and received by the lawyers next day on July 29th. 

Was the letter suspiciously leaked by some court official to the press? 

Monday, August 1, 2022

Khalid Ibrahim passing: PAS, DAP and PKR need not pretend


Late night message received informing the passing of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. In his Facebook, the Admin informed he died at 11:08 PM at the Hospital Cardiac Vascular Sentral. 

When picture of him looking thin and frill first circulated on social media, someone close to him informed he has been on dialysis for few years. 

The former PNB CEO turned politician was given the honour as former MB of Selangor to have his remain buried at the Royal Mausoleum of Selangor today.  

Though representing an opposing party and this blog picked on him during his tenure as MB, he proved not a corrupt politician and prudent in spending rakyat money. He accumulated reserve only to be spend at will by his successors. 

This blog attest to his honesty in the Ijok land scandal. 

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Tommy Thomas admit mistake in letter


Tommy Thomas finally came out from silence to explain himself. Several mainstream media and news portal published Tommy's attempt to explan. (See The Edge here)

The opposition led by PKR's Rafizi created a media blitz to blame Dato Najib for stopping payment to the Suluk using weak legitimacy reasons. Prior and after the Lahad Datu incursion, PKR leaders were accused of covertly collaborating and supporting Suluk claim. PH has interest to redirect blame.      

While Najib, in one of his endless FB status on the Suluk issue, highlighted his main blame to the letter issued by Tommy to the Sulu party that ended being repeatedly used 10 times at the Madrid arbitration to justify their claim and ultimately a US$14.92 billion claim on Petronas. 

Shafie Apdal is vociferously demanding a debate in Parliament but as Chief Minister, he was accused by Anifah Aman for sending unprepared state legal officer to Madrid to participate and gave legitimacy to the arbitration. 

Wisma Putra's position had all along ignored any attempt by the Suluk for engagement on any claim on Sabah. They took the Phillipines' official position that the Suluk has no sovereign right and the locus standi to do so.

Talk in Sabah is that Tan Sri Richard Malanjum had a role in advising Shafie.  

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Serbadk's Nusantara mystery

This blog was alerted by Nuclearbursaman's posting, "Serba Dinamik: There is more than the eye can see". 

Though aware of the Edge's report 3 days ago of "Creditors vote in favour of Serba Dinamik's scheme of arrangement", too overwhelmed by other prevailing issues and focused on research for articles on food security on rice and BNM's monetary policy reactions to the prevailing economic condition to ponder. 

Cannot helped to be overwhelmed by NBM's comment: 

ITS one thing massaging your accounts to pull the wool over the public eye, but it's a whole new different ball game trying to fool suspicious hard nose bankers the second time around.

Its mysterious enough for "Misteri Nusantara", a Malay TV program once shown on RTM thus worthy of a snapshot comment. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Sad to have ended this way for Green Packet's CC Puan

From the end of 2020 till early January 2021, this blog ABITW was aggresively campaigning for Khazanah Nasional to sell Silterra to DNex. Initially, the challenge was to get the foreign bidders out of the way. 

Having succeeded, the next challenge was to take on the local competitor as in outsmart CC Puan and Green Packet's aggressive bid. CC Puan was truly a worthy competitor so to speak with their creative packaging of proposal, focused lobbying and public relation exercise

Green Packet was aggressively pursued to convince the public (if not the decisionmakers) that DNex was the more genuine, technically and financially sound company for consideration. 

Since then CC Puan have not been on the radar till a friend alerted of a Sabahkini article here on the bankruptcy of CC Puan. He quipped, "Sampai muflis bro kerjakan dia. Haha..

Monday, July 25, 2022

Food security crisis: opportunities in adversity

Do those in charge have foresight to see and exploit these chances?

Salahuddin Hisham
The Vibe

Updated 8 hours ago · Published on 25 Jul 2022 10:43AM · 0 Comments

THERE is a Chinese saying, “A crisis is an opportunity riding a dangerous wind”. Despite the current bleak outlook of the global economy and food shortage crisis, all is not lost.

The Malaysian government should take advantage of the current malaise to reverse the chicken export ban policy, address food security concerns, and turn chicken farming into a major export-driven industry.

The current global economic concern is the anticipated recession that is happening in the midst of the rising US dollar, a hike in key interest rates, and high inflation. The anticipated post-pandemic reopening of the economy was stunted by the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Major regions considered global engines of growth are slipping into recession.

The bleak global economic condition came with widespread shortages and a rise in food prices. Indonesia, India and even Malaysia recently resorted to halting food exports.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Toxic Rafizi doing Mahathir's bidding with Suluk stunt


RAFIZI PROLONGING MAHATHIR'S NAJIB NAJIB NAJIB ... CHANT ON BEHALF OF DAIM 

Rafizi is creating a political illusion because Atoq fear Najib will be acquited due to Nazlan Ghazali debacle and embarassingly faulty judgement of Nazlan and COA. 

The optic surrounding the SRC case too overwhelming. If the put side to ignore the revealed e-mail and leaked MACC IP of Nazlan, judges in Malaysia will be looked upon as pariah. 

A mistrial will invite unprecedented public outcry and scrutiny, and internationally, put into question the integrity of the whole system of law enforcement and justice albeit downgrade Bar Council to level of garbage collecting Town Council.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Is PM holding back UMNO's ROS approval letter?


According to a high position holder in UMNO, July 16th is the deadline given for ROS to make a decision to approve the amendment to the party's constitution and postphone party election after GE15  made at the recent EGM. 

Legally, UMNO has complied with the spirit and words of the party's constitution. The official said UMNO have fully complied with the ROS requirements. 

It is believed a retired ROS official assisted  to checklist the documentations. A staff from PWTC have been going back and forth daily to liaise with ROS and meeting up with their every request. 

Feedback has been positive. Unless the conspiracy circulating in PASleak alleged report turned out true, ROS has approved. Lawyer and former officer to a previous Pahang MB, Shamsuddin Nawawi claimed the same in his FB yesterday morning. According to news portal MalaysiaPost, Ismail Sabri have been notified. 

Sources believed the approval letter was prepared and signed by the authorised ROS official, but awaiting approval from a superior before being handed to UMNO headquarter.

ROS approval

Despite the common believe within UMNO, it is unlikely of Hamzah Zainuddin to intervene and reject. It could perpetually block his option to return to UMNO. More importantly, the seconder of the motion to amend the constitution is no less than the PM himself. 

Rejecting it will put both PM and Putrajaya Camp in a bad light. It will obliterate any chance for Ismail Sabri to secure from infuriated grassroot members' vote should he attempt to run for UMNO Presidency before GE15. Asyraf Wajidi has indirectly pointed this out by his awkward intended statement that PM is above ROS official

Utusan Malaysia reported no announcement of the approval from ROS as at Friday July 16th. Pro-Anwar Facebooker, Shahbudin Hussin made the conclusion no letter means it was rejected, no early GE15 and party election soon

Former reporter and Muhyiddin supporting Facebooker Azizi Safar have been pre-empting UMNO election will be immediate with justification approval for MCA amendment took effect at subsequent term.   

If the ROS letter did not reach PWTC by Monday morning, UMNO will apply a Mandamus writ to the court, similar to the application made by MUDA to secure their party approval. 

This will certainly put a bad light on ROS to be ordered by the court to do their work. It could be the precedent for more Mandamus application on other pen pushing Government Departments. 

However, the comment from FB and writers known as Ismail Sabri's cybertroopers have been mixed. One preempted with ROS approval as proof of Ismail's loyalty to UMNO

Tajuddin stunt no impact

On the other hand, they seemed to chorus Nazri Aziz's campaign for Ismail's Presidency with the tired line of Zahid Hamidi agreed for Anwar to be Prime Ministership. 

Anwar repeated at his PKR party convention that he received UMNO support but churned out a new narrative that he refused to be working with corruption. Rafizi Ramli refused to buy that and explicitly rejected any idea of large canopy. 

Tajuddin Rahman was a signatory and active participant but has distanced himself. His expose proves he failed to understand the ploy of his own initiative. The power to appoint PM lies with Agong. 

And, it is speculated he may have invoke dismay and caused postphonement of his conferment as Ambassador.

Nevertheless, the Tajuddin stunt did not create quite the reaction of UMNO grassroot. 

Memorandum of Agreement 

However the revelation by Raja Petra last week did.

He disclosed the front and back of a written agreement or legally worded as Memorandum of Agreement between Ismail Sabri and Muhyiddin.

A reporter hinted and few other talked about it, but generally, no one knew of it. It surprised all levels of the UMNO echelon

The agreement was prepared by Takiyuddin Hasan but even Haji Hadi Awang and PAS leaders were not aware. It was witnessed by the other members of the Publika gang, namely sacked UMNO Secretary General, Annuar Musa and Hamzah Zainuddin.  

The agreement is in contravention with the declaration made by Ismail to Agong and Dewan Rakyat that the support he received in order to be appointed PM in August last year came with no condition. 

He could be the first PM to be reprimanded by the Parliamentary Select Committee. And his relation with Agong may not be the same from hereon. 

The agreement issue started when PPBM insisted on Zuraidah Kamaruddin, who left PPBM for PB, be removed and her to be replaced with other PPBM leader. Ismail was reluctant to make a decision as it means he could lose his majority in Parliament should Zuraidah withdraw support. 

Subsequently, Muhyiddin pushed the issue to demand PPBM to be appointed DPM as per an agreement. Wan Saiful then revealed Annuar Musa knows of the agreement and a supporter of Annuar posted on his FB as why not as long it is not Azmin. 

It eventually led to the alarming revelation by Raja Petra. Cybertroopers seen as defenders of Ismail and carrying Annuar's narrative blamed Lokman Nor Adam as collaborator. It is all to see that RPK's narrative lately have been favouring Ismail Sabri since his expose of Mohamad Hasan over an investigation nearing two decade ago and long cleared.

Zahid issued a face saving conciliatory statement to claim he knows of the agreement and understand the situation. It was immediately exploited by FBer Azizi to spin to the effect he was a party to it. It is possible that Zahid know but believed Ismail only revealed after the event. 

Undermined the party

Though FBer aligned to Muhyiddin argued that the agreement is between Ismail as PM and Muhyiddin as PPBM President, it was a term to dictate the limitation of Ismail's power as PM and he carries the optic of a BN PM. His action undermines the party.

More so, UMNO has repeatedly and consistently call for returning mandate to the people to stabilise and provide direction for Government administration, whether GE15 favours BN or PH. His constantly delay cool the momentum for BN after the landslide in Melaka and Johor coupled with GPS whitewash of PH in Sarawak. 

Rumours heard that certain Camp Putrajaya members approached Zahid to seek assurance for the candidacy of few hardcores strongly rumoured to be dropped for GE15. No decision was heard to come from Zahid but he reprimanded the messenger for damaging UMNO and allowing enemy to split the party. Will it mean Zahid will be more firm in his actions from now on? 

Whether the incident is related to the delay, it could not be ascertained but sources within PWTC claimed there was a recent private meeting between Zahid and Ismail. 

Ismail was enquired of the ROS approval. He said ROS has not answered but was immediately brushed off by Zahid. The former Home Minister responded to informed Ismail ROS has approved and prepared the letter. It is awaiting for his clearance. To hide his embarassment, Ismail covered his line to ask Zahid what he should do. 

For a PM who barged into Abu Dhabi despite the host reluctance to accept the visit and two diplomats was blamed and dismissed for poor reception by the host, it is certainly a strange question. 

As usual, one can expect a tumoultous political week ahead with the information from sources, rumours and FB opinions will be confirmed. Muhyiddin seemed resigned to leave it to PM to decide on DPM before he reveals another UMNO splitting conniving move.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Rational measures on chicken price better than unsustainable populist moves - The Mole


The way forward is for market player and government to collaborate on a price control mechanism and at the same time, allow industry to adjust itself. The chicken price could be floated with commitment from industry to off load their chicken stockpile to cap price at below RM10.50 per kilo. This way subsidy could be minimised.

The Mole

June 28, 2022  

The technical committee to address food security issues met on Tuesday to discuss the new chicken price ceiling for July to September.

It was jointly chaired by Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI) Minister Datuk Dr Ronald Kiandee, Domestic Trade and Consumers Affair Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta aas well as Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Md Zuki Ali.

The recommendation will be brought forward to the Cabinet and an announcement is due after their weekly meeting Wednesday.

After last week’s flipped announcement by Alexander Nanta to float the price of chicken, the Cabinet flopped back three days later with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob himself announcing the cancellation. All eyes await the Cabinet’s decision tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Another proof Muhyiddin interfered in court matter


At the rate Bar Council is clueless to rile up support to defend Justice Nazlan Ghazali for his bias judgement in the SRC case, the possibility of Dato Najib getting a mistrial is as good as sealed. It will prove that Mahathir, yet again, interfered and manipulated the judiciary. 

It is pointless to repeat the list of issues mentioned too support the view as it has been repeatedly discussed at length. The integrity of judiciary is tarnished whether judgement on Najib remain or mistrial declared. 

Better for Federal Court to acquit and face up temporarily to public critics, but its not as badly damaged that investors lose trust with the Malaysian judicial system.  

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin repeatedly said he does not interfere in the judicial affair and allow 1MDB cases takes its own course. Unfortunately it was never believable because of his vindictive and manipulative politics. 

More so, his own lawyer, Rosli Dahlan was instrumental in the long list of civil suit made by SRC and 1MDB. Initially a long list was named as defendants, but eventually the list was shortened including withdrawing known accomplices of Jo Low that it was too obvious it was targetted at Najib. 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Ledger-gate: Is the real swindler NOT charged?


The ledger-gate case involving Zahid Hamidi and Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) reminded police officer, Joeking Saiful (his FB nicname) as resembling the movie The Untouchable

The infamous Chicago mobster Al Capone was imprisoned due to record evidence of his illegal transactions and the bookkeeper verified 

The books of UKSB had long been a subject of conversation within the political circle. There were many speculations then as to why the company in which known "political Treasurer" for Khairy, Wan Quoris @ Wan Badak is a Director, implicated Zahid. 

For one, it is known that the company was awarded the contract to handle the overseas visa during Hishamuddin's tenure as Home Minister. And, the rumour mill had long been talking of people linked to Hishamuddin and Khairy been receiving political contribution from Wan Badak. 

So when the 15th witness, Henry Lee Viu Khium testified in court that Zahid been receiving "political contribution" of few hundred thousand Singapore dollar cash monthly and totaled over the years to be more than S$13.5 million, it is taken with a pinch of salt. 

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

U turns making Friday's protest a Walk of Contradiction

Bar Council will be holding a Walk of Justice this Friday, June 17.  That was the decision of its recently held EGM. 

It was intended to protest MACC investigation of Justice Nazlan Ghazali under the pretext of interference on judiciary. However, the outcome of the EGM did not turned out the way Ambiga claimed it to be. 

Former Bar Committee member, Lukman Sheriff revealed there was no resolution passed to that effect. Resolution on the non-constitutionality of the investigation was rejected. There was allegation made against MACC for revealing name of judges but it did not occur. The Bar was desperately grasping for an issue to fault and did a volte-face (U-turn).      

It explained for Dato Mah Weng Kwai's own volte-face two days before MACC announced completed investigation. He called for investigation on Nazlan be made known despite being vocal to protest the  investigation of Nazlan and call on lawyers to support the protest.

Mah is not the only one. Current President Karen Cheah lashed out at critics for not demanding Nazlan to recuse, but yet volte-face on the cause for the protest. 

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Could it be Adlan Tajuddin to replace Izaddin?


The surprise resignation of Izaddin Idris as Axiata Group CEO was initially speculated to be linked to Tune Talk's lawsuit against the transfer of Celcom interest in the MVNO to any merged entity of Celcom-Digi. [Read ABITW here.] 

It was then speculated to be due to Izaddin's resistance to Government's DNB plan and aligning Celcom Axiata with the U Mobile cartel led by Vincent Tan. 

Khazanah is looking for possible successor to Izaddin and it should be one that will not resist the government's DNB plan for the 5G rollout. Rocky Bru here mentioned former Celcom CEO, Shazally Ramli and current CEO Idham Nawawi as possible choices. Adlan Tajuddin is another possible name left out. 

Adlan was appointed edetco group CEO in November 2020 following the sudden resignation of Suresh Siddhu. His experience in leading edetco would be useful for Celcom to play a prominent role in the development of 5G infrastructure with DNB.   

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Reviving the economy: Its back to basic productivity


What Does it Take For The Country To Have A Strong And Healthy Economy?

We should take note that no matter how good the government’s policy on the economy is, if we as individuals are not productive, the country will continue to suffer.

Of late, we have been hearing netizens complaining about the country’s economy not being in good shape. The reason and examples given were aplenty but the most common ones were a weak Ringgit compared to Singapore and US Dollar, inflation and high national debts. 

These are all some of the indicators of a weak economy but not always true. You can refer to the following articles: See here, here and here …

To understand economic growth we have to get back to basics. It works in all aspects and not just economy. Essentially, the four elements of economic growth are natural resources, human resources, capital and institutional factors. And of course the government economic policy on all these is important. 

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Axiata CEO's mysterious resignation


... In the meanwhile, Dato Izzadin Idris has resigned as President and CEO of Axiata Group with immediate effect yesterday. Celcom Axiata together with Digi, Maxis and U Mobile wants a 51% stake in DNB. The telcos agreeable to DNB are YTL and Telekom. 

Apparently, Khazanah owned telcos have diverging view on DNB. Will Izzadin's departure open up Celcom to the possibility of supporting Government's 5G effort?

Edge here reported Ralph Marshall below: 

“Basically if you don’t come in, we just have to open up the market,” Marshall said last week at his office in Kuala Lumpur. “The principle is accelerating the deployment and adoption of 5G in the national interest.”

Izzadin's resignation certainly raised a question. It is not so much the joint temporary CEOs are not Malaysians as the vernacular social media are concern off. 

New blog anthem: Thick as a Brick


Really don't mind if you sit this one out.

My words but a whisper your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can't make you think.
Your sperm's in the gutter your love's in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
You make all your animal deals and
Your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick as a brick.