Some of our corporate boys forget that people have ears. The other day, in Bangsar, a journalist happened to be drinking well within hearing range from some of the boys from Scomi.
They were happily talking about a revamp of the Kuala Lumpur public transport. Under the plan, they will manage and take care of bus and LRT mainenance. It seems, according to this journalist, Scomi is looking at the Singapore (pronounced as Sing-grr-pore) model, a totally card-based system.
Under Scomi's grand plan, the government will buy KL Monorail also. The same system will be used in Penang and JB in future phases.
Since the Singapore model is going to be used, Scomi is likely to have to ('have to' here does not suggest that it is being forced to do so) import expertise from the island.
In the spirit of the current state of bilateral intercourse, we will not rule out equity participation from Singapore parties, Temasik included.
Perhaps our government should look at giving incentives to encourage more Singaporean investors to pump in their hard and strong currency into our system?
The quicksand and the tightrope
ReplyDeletePatent ambiguity
Uncertainty of meaning created by the obscure or ambiguous language appearing on the face of a written instrument.
-- Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary
The continuing expose of Singapore’s sinister penetration into the Malaysian politico-corporate firewall is both a blessing and curse.
On one hand, we want Singapore to continue investing in Malaysia (no different from exhorting the Japanese, Americans, British, Taiwanese or Australians to dump their money here) but on the other hand, the subtle invasion – the buying over of our national assets without a mewl of a protest and the indirect control of the Abdullah administration and the media through a callow cabal that converges on Kalimullah Hassan is a stiff mule kick on our collective guts.
I’d like to re-focus our sights to what Dr Mahathir Mohamad had been provoking recently when he launched his one-man Rambo assault on our political status quo and consciousness. It’s not as easy and clear as it looks.
Patent ambiguity is to be concluded from the analysis of plaudits and brickbats heaped upon Dr Mahathir that leached into the toxic dump that is Rocky’s Bru in the months since he converted his VSS idleness into muckraking energy.
From where I stand, I could actually empathise with the pros and cons in defending or excoriating the elderly statesman.
So, it wasn’t surprising that while I could side with him in his quest to unravel the sordid sell-outs to Singapore and the deconstruction of his brainchildren and ultimately his legacy, I squirmed at the baggage he left unattended and the ruination that it unbundled.
Hard as I tried, I was unable to adopt an unyielding, partisan stand for Dr Mahathir; or rather, his powerplay and neither could I criticise him unapologetically: my high regard commingles with incredulity, faith with scepticism, affection with iciness, and support with apathy. I suspect many Malaysian journalists unconstrained by Umnoputra ideologue sustain such anomalous sentiments for Dr Mahathir.
But he is knee-deep in a political quicksand (or rather that many sympathisers think he is strained by this organic black hole) in which the sucking sound you hear is the battle cry of a good, righteous fight, even if the backdrop is of compunction, the endgame as clear as Joyce’s weighty Ulysses and the symbolisms need a Jungian interpretation.
In a sense, Dr Mahathir has it easy: he’s not battling some nightmarish Orwellian entity, or a bloodthirsty Stalinist totalitarianism, or a satanic Nazi absolutism. If he had, we would be writing reams of eulogies (if we could in the first place) or he would be rotting away in some morbid, claustrophobic two-by-four and we would have no way of knowing how and where.
Instead, this is Malaysia, not some tinpot police state although the gadflies in DAP, Pas and Keadilan would spring like a toad to seriously croak to differ. So, Dr Mahathir, with the solid weight of democracy (Version 2006) steadying his strut on the tightrope, is merely fighting a sinister Singapore-kissing, bumbling, nervous cabal stringing a hapless, wheedle-prone Prime Minister.
Hmmm, that’s two contrasting metaphors characterising Dr Mahathir – the quicksand and the tightrope – but that’s how ambiguous he plays the game, taking an adversarial approach but yet exposing himself – buffeted like a heaving punch-drunk prize fighter and yet again concealing a handful of aces to win poker game after poker game with nothing more than a couple of measly pairs. The man’s is as good a bluffer as he is a deliverer.
In a nutshell, Dr Mahathir the orator and writer are crystal clear in what he assails but enigmatic in what he actually wants to achieve because there’s no consensus on a straight answer.
That being the case, the theme that I sense and the one that I will back is this: abet Dr Mahathir in his one-man mission, even if you hate his guts.
I wonder whatever happens to Scomi's Sri Lankan business associate who is accused of using Scomi to trade in nuclear equipment. It looks like the poor bugger is a real pawn in the game.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what bargain our country is forced to enter to save Scomi's number one owner and number one son of the PM from an international scandal. So not only Singapore can demand a role in future KL public transport, but the UAS as well.
That's the reason we have to pay more for petrol, diesel and cooking gas. The subsidy, which is our own money, will not be used to enrich Scomi. Under Mahathir, Penang rejected monorail. Now under Pak Lah, Penang says ok. In return Penang gets 2nd bridge that lands at Patrick Lim's Batu Kawan property.
Who will get the contracts? It's all a big rip off game bro. This is the land grab Malaysian way. Talk about transparency.
Tiger Woods,
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure bro...I am surely getting used to not having the PM around. Maybe we don't need him at all.
What do you think about our (NSTP)GEIC's column in Berita Minggu today, 9th July, 2006. He wrote about past, present and future of Harian Metro...To me he should write about Tajuddin-MAS's issue or something to the effect and issues related commentary which is more importance to our society.
ReplyDeleteGredB
gredB,
ReplyDeletekita ada geic, yek? saya tak perasan kita ada seorang ketua pengarang kumpulan yang menulis di berita harian!! alhamdulillah. syukur sebab: 1/ dia tak tulis pasal tajudin (pasal kalau dia tulis tentu semua orang tak paham sebab geic ni pun tak paham pasal isu tajudin dan mas 2/ dia tak tulis pasal mawi ataupun siti&dtk k (pasal tentu dia melencong tulis pasal datuk k kesayangannya, datuk kalimullah!) dan 3/ dia tak menulis pasal piala dunia (pasal tentulah sampai dua muka surat sebab sukan saja yang dia tahu!
dan syukurlah awak dah gredB. saya masih kat c. reporter cabok.
ni yang pasai singapore ni, bahaya bunyinye. tajudin ramli terlibat ke?
Gred B,
ReplyDeleteWhat is there to be surprised of with your GEIC writing about HM past, present and future. Even RTM discussed on the issues surrounded Mawi calling off his engagement, in one of its entertainment talkshow last week hosted by Raja Azura. Mawi, a product of a reality tv show with lame talent, becomes the subject of heavy discussion in all Malay newspaper and tv programme! Please wake up Datuk Zam and Datuk Zahid...
Anyway, I cant recall reading a good analysis article on current issues by your GEIC. Either he just cant do it or he is afraid of his shadow boss.
Rocky!
ReplyDeleteJoke aside. Here is a little story, actually many books have been written about this subject. The story may sound boring if it were to be repeated again and again, the story is about foreign countries using non-official cover(NOCs) agents, especially those who are citizens of the country to be spied upon. To be specific "Malaysians spying for Singapore" for example.
Twenty or thirty years before Israel became a state for the Jewish people, the Zionist spies have infiltrated majority of the surrounding Arab countries. Zionist spies have taken to look like Arabs from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and even as far north as Algeria and Morocco. They behave speak, eat, sip tea, burp like Arabs, they even marry Arab women bear Arab children, and even speak impeccable Arab language.
When the time came for them to don their uniforms they were Colonels, Majors, and other ranks of the underground Jewish Haganah or the Stern Gang. In a jiffy, they sprung like a true nationalist to secure big, very big chunk of Palestine to be turned into Israel today.
to us, and I dont want to mention or name this country to save Rocky Bru from being slighted. A country very close to us are doing the same thing. They sent their NOCs or agents to infiltrate and to be familiar with the country they are assigned to spy on. One was sent to Indonesai, actually more than one, work for a local paper, become a PR hack, speak the language, or even marry locals. They are of Chinese descents, and their job is two prongs, one is to gather information to be sent to the country they are working for and to infltrate government agencies or to be put in a position where he will be trusted by the host country's targets.
We do know that Malaysia has been actively a target for the last 30 years to be where we are today vis-a-vis this foreign country that is now comfortably influencing Malaysia. Indonesia is another country going through the same process, Brunei is a gone case, although the Philippine is another kettle of fish, but Sabah is a dead target for this particular foreign country. Thailand tried to be bought by this particular foreign country and to be infiltrated with the help of its Chinese-ethnic Prime Minister Thaksin. Thaksin sold Thailand biggest telecomminication company to this foreign country company.
Malaysia must always remember that money can be made in which ever way we can. But this does not mean that we have to prostitute ourselves for monetary gain. Time for us to open our eyes and lets do a bit of spring cleaning with this beautiful villa called Malaysia. Lets get rid of pest, traitors, charlatans, and evil people and let us do it now! Before it is too late! Cheers!
NB: My apology to rehman rashid for assumimng that he is bandit just that it is like his style.
Dear gred B and NE Balai Berita,
ReplyDeleteMengapa you all tak habis-habis kutuk GEIC Dato Hishamudin? You all sepatutnya ucap tahniah pada dia. Bukan semua orang dalam NST boleh naik jadi GEIC walaupun you mungkin ada kemahiran dan kebolehan tersendiri. Dalam NST tu, kalau you nak naik U mesti pandai kipas boss U. Kalau U tak percaya, U tunggu aje bila Editor Ekonomi Azizi (bekas wakil BH di London) akan naik pangkat mengenepikan editor lain yg lebih senior darinya. Dato Manja pun tak boleh senang sangat. Kalau si Azizi boleh buat januan karaoke untuk boss dia, Manja pun kena buat gitu juga! Apa U risaukan GEIC U! Kalau dia tak komen fasal MAS, Tajudin Ramli atau Gerbang Perdana minta gantirugi berjuta ringgi dari kerajaan, itu adalah hak dia sebagai Pengarang. I tanya U - mahukah U menulis tentang sesuatu yang U tak arif? Tentu tidak bukan! Sama juga dengan GEIC U - takkan dia nak tulis tentang sesuatu yg dia tak pasti. Itu hak dia. Lagipun, kalau nak tulis dia kena dapat lampu hijau dari boss dia - timbalan pengerusi NSTP.lainlah kalau Brendan Prera. Anak didik Singapura ni tak perlukan kelulusan dari sesiapapun kerana dia orang kepercayaan banyak pihak! Buat masa ini, Brendan ialah sacred cow orang2 atasan!
Rileks lah Gred B! Biar GEIC U buat kerja. Walaupun dia tak bijak sepertimana U inginkan, dia ada peranan tertentu dalam perkiraan pihak atas NSTP.
Hey Bandit, I'm with you dude! Let the old boy continue stirring up the hornet's nest; it'd be fun to watch those who try to silence him get viciously stung. He may have destroyed the country with his grand designs and wasteful schemes, but at least he's man enough to defend his delusions of grandeur, which one can't say for whoever is at the helm of the rudderless ship right now.
ReplyDeleteAs for the self-seeking mandarins plotting to auction off the assets of our country to foreign devils through Machiavellian machinations, they are deluded fools if they think they can get away with hoodwinking the hoi polloi. Those who operate under the mulishly misguided belief that the masses are morons will have to wise up to the fact that, in the end, there's always hell to pay.
Indeed, they won't know it when the shit finally hits them. And if they think they'll go down in history as saviours of this nation, they've got more shit coming their way: folks are gonna brand 'em flashes in the pan... no, make that flushes in the toilet bowl!
"Some of our corporate boys forget that people have ears. The other day, in Bangsar, a journalist happened to be drinking well within hearing range from some of the boys from Scomi"
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that the boys from Scomi are Malay. I will also assume that they were drinking orange juice. Alcohol being haram and all....
Anyway, I say let Singapore come in. What's the big deal? You tried to manufacture Bumi businessmen from the kampungs, Tajuddin Ramli et al, and failed. In general, I dont see any Bumi entrepreneurs other than the Ramli burger chaps...oh,hang on, they might have got MARA loans too...
Who cares who owns the business? End of the day, its based in Malaysia, paying Malaysian taxes and hiring Malaysian workers.
As a Malaysian, who is in business, and has been frustrated by red tape, stupidity, general "tidak apa" attitude, "Towering Malays" and "Close One Eye", I say: let someone else come in and run the show.
What is sinister about this idea of public transport revamp under Scomi is not the technology but rather the fact that Scomi has no experience managing a public transport system. Could it be that Scomi is using Singapore-link credentials to win the project i.e., promising Singapore efficiency for the project?
ReplyDeleteSingapore efficiency with its public transport system is actually a very complex. The truth is Singapore cannot achieve its efficiency standards if not for a very coordinated public servant and its GLC. From designing the road system, to housing projects to increasing fares where necessary, a lot of coordination is done to get the level of efficiency.
If Scomi hopes to take the Singapore experience to create a efficient public transport system, then its pulling the wool over our eyes. Our road system, our housing system, etc are all uncoordinated and poorly planned, driven by corruption more often than not.
There is no way somone like Scomi can pull off running a efficient public transport system in KL.
In addition, the biggest robbery of public transport system is already taking place in terms of th bus system where the government owns the bus but its run by cronies. This idea came from leaseback arrangement of MAS which we have seen is no panache. Buses are NOT planes. The shorter life of buses and the less regulated standards of a bus means that leasing buses can only be profitable at a very high interest rate which is not being charged. What we end up here is basically the government is subsidizing the companies running the management bus companies.
Running payment system is not runnign a public transport system. You can make a lot of money running a payment system and yet have a poor public transport system. This is just another clever financing scheme to take advantage of the goverment without having to deliver the public goods promised.
Looks like Guna is now making fun of Dr M. Read his Ya Yang Dulu Yang Amat Berhormat in the latest issue of The Edge.
ReplyDeleteOf course we all don't mind one bit Guna and his now untouchable friends having a jolly good laugh even all the way to the World Bank.
Laugh if they will. This is Malaysia, universally famous for its Malays Tak Apaland.
Indeed we all fancy having Guna, Malaysia's best export in many years, now with an instant celeberity status in that ruthlessly efficient Island Republic, writing something similar on Dr M's equivalent in The Edge Singapore.
Keep on launging Guna!!!
bru, what's surprising? Scomi is already an exclusive contractor to Petronas and its contractors. Billions of USD worth. Scomi in paid in USD from accounts in Houston and London/Amsterdam. Scomi keeps one of the largest foreign accounts among Malaysian companies.
ReplyDeleteWhat we now save by sacrifing oil subsidy to the rakyat, will be given to Scomi by way of transportation contracts. Even the banktupt KTM has given a RM50-million maintenance contract to Scomi.
The PM is creating among the biggest family monopolies in history. Bru, you check AirAsia, Asmara Air, EcmLibra-Ecm, Brahim and a string of other investments. Sales to Singapore is just a ruse, a cover-up.
From 80's Singapore ST are head by Singapore secret police.They send a woman intelligence agent as a correpondent in Jakarta.They put another woman agent Irene Ho in ST.Are Malaysianstupid enough to aware that they also send a Malaysia as their agent? You can find him in NST.
ReplyDeleteThey use him to pre emptive strike against any unfavour news about singapore..It's one of their phsycology war. By the way Malaysian intelligence is 5 years behind in term of spotting the mole.
The world has become more and more sophisticated by the day.
ReplyDeleteBut how can we, especially under the new regime, have become so naive to believe without a tinge of suspicion, that Singapore's commercial and corporate moves are not closely intertwined with their security concerns and proactive regional, nay global, domination?
Dear God, what has befallen this extremely accommodative nation of tak apelahs?
Has the combined valour of our freedom fighters over the ages suddenly gone asunder?
Show us the path.
Help us get our act together now before we become another Bosnia or Palestine. Amen.
Cik Suria Kencana, I beg to differ. Guna cannot continue to poke fun at Mahathir. For whatever he is worth, he's a Melayu. Comparing to many Melayu leaders past and present, the Melayu Mahathir is above the cut. Cik Suria Kencana, if you are yourself a Melayu, you mustn't say this Tanah Melayu a.k.a Malaysia is a Malay Tak Apaland. Some of us Melayu still care and do tell Guna and his lot that Melayus like us took full responsibility for the word "amok" getting into the the English dictionary. Bru, I dare you to publish this entry. If others think Guna and the Edge are a hero, I don't. Please let them know. I beg you. Jangan menghina Melayu!
ReplyDeleteLearson!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. It's actually http://www.adelaideinstitute.org/Think/collins_piper.htm
Amazing stuff, man!
Bru, may I ask Ex BT Reporter to a search on Scomi. I was told it was a bankrupt motor company in Subang that went by some fancy name like Subang Commercial Motor Industry.
ReplyDeleteIt went into receivership and was recommended to Kamal and his associates by an investment banker by the name of Wahid, who is now the chief of Telekom Malaysia.
Wajid cleaned up the company and sold it to Kamal. I think that's why Wahid is now a favoured GLC manager.
cucu cicit hang jebat,
ReplyDeleteit's good to see there are still hang jebat's descendants around.
i don't know what others feel. but don't worry abt the write-up on Guna. just my small way of "poking fun at Guna" (sambil angkat dia sikit, maklumlah dah glamer d S'pore) dan yg sewaktu dgnnya. (Imagine he does that to LKY! Even Brownie blogger pun sudah kena gam. lain pd tu ambik peluang "perli" Melayu ckit...why are we still fast asleep?
the fact remains bro, the way I look at it, the Malay's sensitivity when their "rights" or "interets" are at stake, they are no longer what they used to be (banding say, dgn time riot over Natrah's issue in S'pore)
of course we are not saying go out there amok as you wish and "mati katak" (?) like the bros in Afghanistan, Bangladesh etc exploded during the Prophet's (PBUH) caricature controversy.
still, if necessary, the big question is are we willing to die for our race, religion and country?
coming back to Guna and I suspect, many so-called educated and liberal non-Malays in this country. On the one hand, depa ni take full advantage of the benefits of being Malaysian citizens. On the other hand, these people do not want the disbenefits. Of course it sounds rational, but it is damn hypocritical for them to tremendously enjoy to the maximum(despite being non-Malays and non-bumis) the many benefits that people take for granted here, while at the same time do not empathize or sympathize with the (unique) problems that this country has to deal with.
To rub salt to our wound, not only that, people like Guna & Co are also the vary people who deep in their hearts do not subscribe to the Malaysian system.
Isn't it too much to say that their "loyalty" therefore is most probably, somewhere else. On a lesser scale, perhaps "Penang" but on an grander proportion, phew, Singapore.
With clear hint from the current leadership or are they the very people who feed the current controversial leadership, they now happily show their true colour.
Worst, can you imagine not a single protest was uttered (by our so-called leaders and govt apparatus) when Singapore "meddled" in our affairs by circulating Guna's 22 sacred questions?)
i solemnly call upon you bro and all other bros, to jointly do something effectively sensible, to put a stop to this unbridled Gunashit and the axis of evil. marilah kita amok secara moden dan pastikan Allah bersama kita dalam perjuangan bagi menghapuskan musuh-musuh durjana.
they no longer care about what remains of malays's great sense of accommodation, tolerance, goodwill, cultural identity and religion.
geng2x ni dah naik tocang. kasi betis, nak paha. alang-alah mandi, biar basah...
"...geng2x ni dah naik tocang. kasi betis, nak paha..."
ReplyDeleteShall I name them...Guna, Leslie Lopez, Leslie Lau, Brenden Pereira,
Kallimulla a/l Hassan, Ho Kay Tat, the two Wongs...one of whom holds an Australian PR.
dear anak riong,
ReplyDeleteI have known Azizi long enough to know that even kalau he is elevated to take manja's place pun, it will be all due to merit, hard work and patience. You have people like Sufi which all of us say is a bright young man and we have Azizi too in the same category. This guy has got the right attitude, career-wise and social life, and that's what has gotten him to the place he is now.
Dear Anak Riong,
ReplyDeleteI have known Azizi Othman long enough to know that he is not like what you said. Like Sufi Yusof and many more in Balai Berita, he is a smart and bright young man with the right attitude towards life and career. kalau dia nanti naik ganti Manja Ismailpun I think it will be due to his hard work and patience. Please learn to accept and jangan sekali-kali aniaya kawan for what ever reason ... ciao BJ.
Bro,
ReplyDeletedear suria kencana
please try to keep your emotions under control bro.remarks like what you mentioned are very childish and,in the words of pasquale, "moronic".
To make a sweeping statement about all non-malays and non-bumis is indeed uncalled for.Guna and Co are INDIVIDUALS.Try and keep your comments intelligent and mature please. Remember we all have a birth-right to be Malaysians and like you, we all have ancestors from another land.No malice intended here bro. Cheers!
Then Guna should guna his head and mind his own business...hehehe tak guna punya writer asking stupid 22 questions. Cheers .. his moronic questions not appreciated..
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