RM30 million wheel. That's RM30 million well spent compared with the RM30 million splashed on a yacht and the ignorant pleasure of one man.
Yes, many people have asked me if I consider the Cobra Sultan issue closed [since I was the one responsible for translating and posting the Hurriyet's report of Dec 17 here]. I tell tell them nobody should consider the issue resolved. The Hurriyet, has not apologised to our PM; in fact, the Malaysian government has not demanded for an apology for the "lies" the Turkish daily published about the man.
The Hurriyet has published another article on Abdullah Badawi and Ananda Krishnan but it's not an apology. I believe you'll be reading it here soon.
Back on the Eye on Malaysia, TV Smith was kept waiting along with thousands of others. A conversation he overheard:
Little Girl: Papa, why so late never start?
Dad: I think The VIP overslept again!
I'm no fan of ferris wheels, but the pictures here and here are a feast for the eye.
Rocky!
ReplyDeleteAs I said, my journalist friend in Istanbul called her friend in Hurriyet to enquire whether the story about Dollah Badawi and his boat was true, she replied a couple of days later saying the story was probably true, and canot be a made up story, since Hurriyet and its reporters are stickler for truth and details. My friend also said not to mention this reporters name since she does not want to get embroiled in a lawsuit if there were one. I have the copies of the e-mail still in my system! Personally I believe the story is true!
p.s. Rocky can you also write something about the serialisation of Tun Dr Ismail's biography which appeared in the NST so I can comment on something very pertinent to it, it will be very interesting!
Pasquale,
ReplyDeleteAny chance your friend who knows his/her friend who works in Hurriyet knows another friend who can update us with photos of 'Cobra Sultan' as it is being built.
Would be great if the photos can be published here at Rocky's bru, subject to verification, of course.
yeah, bring out more truths, folks,
ReplyDeleteit is time we teach them a lesson.
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly not the page to comment on what I have been wanting to write for long, but I hope you create a page on this issue, which is how the Star newpaper is treating its non-Chinese reportersnd open the eyes of all bloggers.
Let me recap.
While bloggers and yourself have been bashing the NST management out of shape, I think you should seriously look at what is happening in the Star and open the readers to what sort of rascism it is practising. At least the NST is heads up on this.
1. The Star management is very anti-non Chinese, as can be seen in a series of events there, some of which I pen below.
VK Chin and Ng Poh Tip (who both retired from the Star) were given extended contractual employment with fat salaries, but this has been not the case of Datuk Wong Sulong, who was unceremoniously dumped when he retired.
Nobody knew of this until the company dinner, when the MD announced his retirement and thanked him for his services to the Star.
Everyone was shockd as they had expected him to be re-employed just as the other two Chinese editors. After all he was one of the trickling Bumi editors left.
This has now led two two camps fighting for power - one led by "Yes Man" and toothless Wong Chun Wai, who cried when Wong Sulong was made his boss, and another camp dying for power, led by Wong Sai Wan.
Both are going for the No 1 post and creating camps in the Star.
2.While the NST does not discriminate that bad against colour, the Star does very clearly:
a) There is an unwritten policy in the Star that Chinese reporters be given bylines over the non-Chinese so as to reflect its MCA ownership.
Page leads are normally bylined with Chinese reporters stories, while good ones by nons are without bylines.
b) All the main editorial posts are held by the Chinese, be it on the newsdesk, business desk, Star Two, Metro or senior management.
The Indians and few Bumis are left on the Crime Desk or the Metro desk, where thye will not be a threat to the Chinese.
A clear example recently has been that of K Parkaran. He has been waiting for ages on the newsdesk to be promoted.
Star found a stumbling block to the supremacy of one race there, and found an excuse to dump him - by asking him to head the Brickfields office - which is basically a classified and circulation office.
They fixed him there for good, to literally look at the traffic along Jalan Tun Sambanthan from his office.
Frustrated, he resigned and joined Aljazeera on Jan 1, 2007 This is how Star got him out as they did not want to promote a non Chinese to the top
Now, not a single Indian of Bumi is on the desk. Megawati has been sent to Putrajaya, just to show the govt that they have Bumi reporters.
But the fact is there are practically none.
At least the NST has Joan Lau (head of Life and Times), Joseph Soosai (Sunday Times), Tony E (Crime), Vijesh (Sports), Norman (Supplements), and KP Waran and Kathiresen as Number Three and Four.
I think you should highlight these facts. And more recently, apparently the Home Ministry has asked the Star mgmt to give a breakdown on non Chinese, esp Bumi participation, in the Star.
MMB
Tak pa la Tuan Rocky. Bagi la can kat PM kita. RM30 juta murah untuk hibur hati Pak Lah.
ReplyDeleteDia dok teringat sarkas masa dia kecik kot. Teringin nak naik benda pusin-pusin.
La ni asai Pak Lah suka dan gembira, kita kenalah rela.
Tak lama lagi Pak Lah nak menikah pula. Betui ka kata dengan perempuan Cina?
Kabarnya adik seorang bintang filim Holiwood.
Tuan Rocky tulung cek tengok!
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteWhile you and the millions of others watched the live telecast over RTM1 in your humble homes (so I presume), let me give you an insight of what you've not seen prior, during and after the event.
1. The construction was rushed and it was so obvious as the contractors made driving and jogging around the area almost impossible. Parents of students from neighbouring schools (SK Jln Kuantan 1&2, SMK Titiwangsa and SMK Puteri Titiwangsa) are sure glad the bad traffic during the first three days of school are over. Or is it....hmm.
2. The traffic from Setapak heading towards Bulatan Pahang (along Jalan Genting Klang and Jalan Pahang) was at a crawl. A 10 minutes drive turned out to be a more than 1 hour drive, despite having traffic policemen manning the situation. Jalan Tun Razak, right at the turning into Titiwangsa (next to Istana Budaya) was messed up even till midnight.
3. The amazing amount of fireworks used certainly caught many by surprised- from calling the display brilliant to later wondering how much of tax payers money were wasted for a mere three hours.
4. The next morning, the whole place look like a storm had just passed by and curious on-lookers weren't really impressed with what they saw (excluding the giant wheel of course). Houses around the area are certainly unimpressed with the hurried works carried out which caused a bad jam including hap hazard parking around their houses.
This is in no way criticising the project. It was a good idea bringing it to Titiwangsa but it could have done in a more systematic manner instead of a hurried attitude. Well, goes to show Malaysia Boleh eh. Hmmmm...
Read no papers these days. Too much of Kalliullah (read spin). Who paid for the KL spinning wheel? Not another Monsoon Cup rip-off, I hope.
ReplyDeleteSebe tula baga chu nga pala songka, la PM Badawi?
ReplyDeleteMacam macam boleh...
ReplyDeleteIf you're a staff of The Star, you should know that what you said is old news. With no disrespect to you, it is a FACT that THE STAR keep the non-chinese shut by giving them 'good' pay and 'fat' bonus (the pay scale and bonus is done in comparision with other media establishments).
50 years of Merdeka and we're all still racists. SIGH!
One question to Macam macam boleh regarding his charges on the anti-non-Chinese policy of the Star.
ReplyDeleteIs Datuk Wong Sulong a non-Chinese?
As far as I know he is a Chinese.
No need to bring up racist issues - its what we do best in Malaysia. If we must, then look no further than the policies of the government.
ReplyDeleteEye on Malaysia well spent?? I don't think so...What a rip-off from the London Eye. 10 times more hideous and I don't think it should be something that we should be proud of. No identity and no originality. Why bother about having the tourist going on the wheel?? I bet they are more curious to know something more original and exotic about the country (i.e. things that you will never experience elsewhere)...Not another copy of the london eye..Seriously, things should change!!!
ReplyDeleteTo monsterball,
ReplyDeleteFor somebody who criticizers other peoples english, i notice your english is pretty half-past six too.
And btw I'd rather listen to Pasquale's moronic sourcers than AAB's or your own gibberish and fibbing.
At least he doesnt give a letter of support to his sister in laws company when taking advantage of Iraq's oil for food programme.And he doesnt preach transperancy either while at the same time failing to mention that his sister in law's company was mention in the Volker report as giving kickbacks in the millions ( US dollars) to the Iraqi's in the food for oil scandle.
And btw, his name is link to his sister in law's company.
And before u dismiss Paul Voclker as another Malaysian who's anti AAB, let me tell u that he is not Malaysian. He is the predecessor to Alan Greenspan, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bureau of the USA. ( read: the's Bank Negara Amerika for u Monsterball)
So although we shouldnt take it as bibilical truth, there is alot of credibility to the Volcker report- the man has spent decades to build his reputation.His earn it! In other words, he's got more credibility than most blogs and he puts more though in his report than you do, monsterball- Judging by ur comments at least.
N in the case of Pasquale, at least he does not tacitly support plagiarism either by not condeming or even admiting it.
Monsterball,i'll make this simple for your benifit.
Since y are so anti Mahathir, u must realized that AAB was part of Tun's highest descision body throughout the two decades of DrM's rule.
AAB is part of Mahathir's cabinet.
So if today all that he does, by default and thru subordinates, is imply how bad things were under DR M, doesnt he know that he is actually shooting himself in the foot?
He should have resighn in protest as a sighn that he dosent agree with Mahathir's policies..but he didnt,. Instead he didnt even raise a murmur..officially at least.( of course getting the subsidies that is due a minister, which is euphemism for perks, didnt paly apart in the elegance silence)
So monsterball, u can kick Mahathir all day long but at the same time do remember that AAB is part of the Mahathir regime. And at the highest level no less!
His silence when he was Dr M's minister must be read as at least passive compliance if not active cooperation to the evils of Dr M's administration.
Ur cheap anti- mahathir propaganda would be better served if u remmember to mention that fact.
And to Ou,
How rich is it for u to say that we shouldnt bring up racist issues here, while in the next sentence do exactly that.
U are hypocrite u know that?
BTW The so- called ' racist' policies of the goverment is actually desighn to neutralized, if not all, at least partially, the almsot 100years of RACIST policies that the Malays n Bumis sufferd under the British.
It is not the goverments fault if there are some people who wants to retain their styles and manners,as if they are still foreigners. Try doing that in France or Germany, the so called civilized develope world, where in the former at least, there doesnt even exist differant races on paper- just Frenchmen.
How fair and unracist on paper!
Yet can u imagine Zidane after giving the French one world cup and one European championship, something no Frenchmen has ever done, giving interviews in France in Algerian?
To undersatnd the justification for what u deemed racist goverment policies, do u realize that
during merdeka, the Malaysian economy did not start on a clean slate, tabula rasa?( if we can call it trully Malaysian that is)
In terms of the composition of the economic pie, there was ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERANCE from 30th August 1957 and 1st Semptember 1957.
We inherited a colonial economy built on racist policies with all its attended imperfections and discrimination.
In other words during Merdeka,we had inherited a colonial economy built upon a hundred years of marginalization of the indigenous people.
And just like the what happens in the Star illustrates,in this country, there exist not only policy discrimination but also operational discrimination which due to its insidious nature is even worse.
So ou,
1) Justice and racism in Malaysia can only be understood if one has a proper historical perspective.
2) Or else what one deems as fairness or justice can actually be in reality nothing more than a cloak to perpetuate the evils of racism.
In other words, without understanding the historical context, superficial understanding of justice can be used to achieve the exact opposite.
And back to the topic of the 30million yacht.
I would be more incline to give the benifit of the doubt to the individual who's reputation is currently damaged if 3 things happen:
1) If i here an official complaint by JPM or wisma putra,
2) If i hear a demand for an official appology and a retraction by the paper that publish the report
3)If i hear the indivual who has supposedly been negetively misrepresanted taking legal action to clear up his name. And pls not an empty legal threat like the Nst did to the BBC over the plagiarist issue.
PS- sorry to all u folks out there for instances where i deviant from the blog topic. But i had no choice. some people is this blog have other agendas and sometimes one can get suck into into it.If they stick to the topic in hand i will try my best to do the same.
Mat Rempit Hurbis,
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to read your piece giving monsterball a good bollocking! He deserved it. He is just a sucker for Lim Kit Siang, Kalimullah, Khairy and Mr I Do not Know. I hope that now monsterball realised that he is just half past six in his English, comments - just like the Mr I Do Not Know's administration.
Monsterball is still unalbe to tell us why Lim Kit Siang, the Opposition Leader dared not speak in Parliament or outside Parliament about Kalimullah - Khariy & ECM Libra sandal, the ECM Libra taken over of Avenue Assets, the remaining corrupted 18 high profile politicians and government officer, one of whom is still a minister seen playing a lot of games with Lim Kit Siang in Parliament and of course, the RM30 million yatch scandal!!
Coming back to the RM30 million yatch scndal. Mr I Do Not Know PM could have overcame this scandal very easily if from the very begining he just said "I DO NOT KNOW" - then we Malaysians would have believed straight away.
Now that some 3 weeks have elapsed and he didn't say that "I Do Not Know", he didn't dare to demand retraction and apology together with proposals to pay compensation to him (my "beloved" PM)for the defamatory story from the Huriyet papers, Huriyet didn't retract the report even after the boat builder came out to deny the story - THE TRUTH OF THE HURIYET STORY IS GAINING STRENGTH BY THE MINUTE.
I would give some credit to Kalimullah on the BBC's report on Brendan, the plagiarist, whre Kalimullah threatened to file a defmatory actions against the BBC. Of course, the BBC stood by their report and I beleive that Kalimullah dare not file any action against the BBC. But at least Kalimullah dare to threaten the BBC. But Mr I Don't Know dare not even threaten Huriyet. Maybe Kalimullah didn't advise him and Khairy may have advised Mr I DO Not Know to capiotalised on his "elegant silence"!
The fact that after some 3 weeks Mr I Don't Know dare not demand for the retraction and an apology for the offending report in the Huriyet pertianing to the RM30 million yatch scnadal, will only lead to the glaring conclusion that the Huriyet report on the RM30 million must be true. As I am told that TRUTH is the best defence to a defamation suit.
After all, is the so-called MR CLEAN (or Mr Bean) that clean after all???????
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteAfter so many weeks of elegant silence on the part of our greatest and cleanest PM, I cannot help but now believe that the RM30 million yatch scandal is TRUE that's why he dare not take legal actions, Kalimullah and Khairy remain very quiet.
The Tingkat Empat boys went to sleep because they knew that their spins no longer work but only works to destroy the the image our cleanest PM of all time!!!
Rocky, all Malaysians hope that you will not let this scandal subside until our cleanest PM owns up and give the nation a satisfactory explanations failing which he should not hesitate to resign for his own sake if not for the country!!!
He had no more credibility!!! What credibility he has got int he first place???
So UMNO boys what the point of keeping him there when he is just a liability - he iwll definitely pull the BN/UMNO down in the coming general elections.
I am no fan of our opposition because they only know who to garner opposing votes. Now with the wind of change, they are still in their comfort cocoon. There is still no effort for a proactive interaction with the three facets of wining politics - the voters, the business communities and the aristocrats.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, LKS attacking AB will only cause a ripple effect of 'let help to defend the meek' reaction. That was where TDM 'under estimated. It is better to let the 'family handle the discontentment'....that is, you the regular voters who ha(-ve or -d) faith in him. This is what democracy is all about. Just cannot allow racial remarks get the better of us.
monsterball
ReplyDeletestop licking balls ok! Just join Tingkat Empat or ECM Libra and the DAP and you will be more than allright!! Kalimullah will reward you for the good job that you have done in this blog - to divert attention on teh relationship between Lim Kit Siang and Kalimullah and our Mr Clean. And also the scandals (recent example the Rm30 million yatch!) involving Mr Clean.
Mosnterball, Rockybru has no room for you. Just write to nst and THe Star and you will be rewarded.
monsterball has to more playground to go to to.
ReplyDeleteHas he been barred from Malaysia-Today? That's where he used to spam.
Ya lah, better for you write to the NST & the Star where you can carry you-know-I-know whose balls & u will be amply rewarded.