‘Usno and Berjaya govts took better care of poor’

Source

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP has conceded that the previous Usno and Berjaya state governments had better and more effective policies which helped alleviate poverty and improve the economic status of the natives in the state.

Placing credit where it’s due, state party chief Jimmy Wong said the “Usno and Berjaya governments had done something unique and interesting”.

“For example, the low-cost housing started by Usno involving only six posts was laughed at by many (at that time) but today these six-post houses are sitting on premium lands and have become expensive properties.

“We can at least praise Usno for lifting the economic status of the people.

“As for the Berjaya (governemnt), it started giving away 15 acres of land for every Sabahan.

“This was a brilliant policy and today those people who received, retained and planted oil palm on these lands are much better off than many people working in the city and towns.

Sabah PKR hot seat a poisoned chalice?

Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: If the gasp of surprise is any indication, newly-appointed Sabah PKR top man Pajudin Nordin has jumped into a hot seat and bets are on as to whether he will last long in the post.

The stakes are high and the expectations even higher given that even PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim didn’t last more than a few months as Sabah state chief before he relinquished it to Azmin Ali, who in turn lasted for only a few weeks before handing the reins to Ahmad Thamrin Jaini.

Thamrin was heavily criticised for “non-performance” or failing to come up to the expectations of his peers, a charge that he disagrees with.

“Qualified” people, such as former PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan, a Harvard scholar, were sidelined as they were believed to be not good enough to head PKR in the second-biggest state in Malaysia.

Now Pajudin, 42, not even a divisional head, has been entrusted with the task of leading the state by party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Perhaps, a more pertinent question is whether Pajudin will be able to perform better than all his predecessors, including recent leaders like Thamrin and Ansari Abdullah.

Good tips for Excellent Health..

Answer the phone by LEFT ear . 

Do not drink coffee TWICE a day. 

Do not take pills with COOL water . 

Do not have HUGE meals after 5pm. 

Reduce the amount of OILY food you consume. 

Drink more WATER in the morning, less at night. 

Keep your distance from hand phone CHARGERS . 

Do not use headphones/earphone for LONG period of time. 

Best sleeping time is from 10pm at night to 6am in the morning. 

Do not lie down immediately after taking medicine before sleeping. 

When battery is down to the LAST grid/bar, do not answer the phone as the radiation is 1000 times. 

Ansari's proxy, 'ustaz" Pajudin Nordin of Tuaran is Sabah PKR new head

By Ezra Haganez
KOTA KINABALU: Little-known Pajudin Nordin, 42, of Tuaran is Sabah PKR's new chief, replacing the heavily-criticised for under-performance Ahmad Thamrin Jaini.

The Arab-speaking Pajudin, who is fondly addressed as "ustaz" among his friends here, was announced to the post by PKR President Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in Kuala Lumpur Sunday.

Pajudin, a trained teacher, graduated in "tahfiz wal qiraat" at Saudi Arabia's Maahad Syubro. He has held the posts of deputy principal imam of the state mosque in Kota Kinabalu as well as a deputy registrar at the Jabatan Hal-Ehwal Agama Islam Negeri Sabah (JHEAINS).  

Also announced Monday was the state PKR's new Woman Chief, Lukia Indan, the party former candidate for Kadamaian state constituency in Kota Belud in the 2008 general election. She replaced Shaukinah Yusof.

Imagining a nation? Not in Sarawak

The student of politics naturally assumes that the nation state is the most natural and the most logical destination in the journey of a group of people with a shared past and a common destiny. By and large, the nation state is deemed as a rational development in the politics of a people struggling for legitimacy.

This is not always the case. In Malaysia, the idea of a people united by a common history, language and a shaped destiny has come under severe strain from the linguistic, racial and religious tensions of a divided people.

The situation is even more confusing in Sarawak, because of the diverse historical and ethnic composition of the people. There have been many pre-existing, ready-made divisions within Sarawak society, and the preoccupation with the politics of race has muddied Sarawak's political waters even further.

In his monumental work entitled 'Nations and Nationalism', famed scholar Benedict Anderson has proposed that the most basic impulse of nation-building is one centred around the imagining of 'a people', based on the people's national roots. Very often, a common language is an anchor of such an ethnic project.

Stop all these COVER UPS and WHITEWASH!

by Din Merican

On December 30, 2010, I posted Tan Sri Robert Phang's New Year's Press Statement because I share his wishes and hopes for all Malaysians that God's Blessings be upon all of us, that we become a truly 1Malaysia natiostarted, that wish was immediately dashed yesterday when the MACC Corruption Prevention Panel Chairman, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, declared that the MACC Board members and Panel Advisers were satisfied with A-G Gani Patail's explanation of his recent haj pilgrimage to Mecca with Tajuddin's proxy, Shahidan Shafie.

Ramon said that the MACC Board and Panel members were satisfied with A-G Gani Patail's explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations. That is indeed amusing.

Overzealous Ramon Navaratnam should resign

In short, the MACC Board and Panel members had cleared A-G Gani Patail without even investigating the allegations. Ramon's statement and clearing of A-G Gani Patail without an investigation violate the very cardinal function of the MACC as set out under section 7 (b) of the  MACC Act, which is  to detect and investigate:

i) any suspected offence under this Act;
ii) any suspected attempt to commit any offence under this  Act;
iii) any suspect ted conspiracy to commit any offence under this Act.

Save our daughters, sisters, wives from rape

Fifteen years ago when I was arrested and charged with publishing false news for a memorandum send to the government on the abuse, torture and dehumanised treatment of migrant workers in immigration detention centres, one of the charges I faced was the issue of rape of women in the detention centres.

In Indonesia, one of our partners investigated and documented five testimonies of women migrants raped at the camps. They were willing to testify.
Unfortunately and suspiciously, the office of our partner was raided and the files went missing. It was difficult to track the women and I lost my witnesses.

I did not lose hope. Together with one of my very committed lawyers, we went to Bangladesh to interview witnesses.

SNAP joins forces with Jeffrey

KUCHING: Sarawak National Party (SNAP) has thrown its support behind Jeffrey Kitingan’s United Borneo Front (UBF).

Confirming the party’s commitment to the UBF agenda, SNAP president Edwin Dundang said : “Their (UBF) demands are in line with the Malaysia Agreement.

“As far as I understand, one of the things Jeffrey wants to do is establish a conformity agreement with us to ensure that what was agreed to when Malaysia was formed must be followed.”

Admitting to having met Jeffrey, a former PKR vice-president, in Miri recently, Dundang said SNAP was “party to the Malaysia Agreement” in 1963 and it will now “be a boon for Pakatan Rakyat and the two-party system in Malaysia.”

“SNAP was a party to the Malaysia Agreement and I can say proudly that without SNAP there can never be Malaysia at that time.

“SNAP’s peaceful rise will be a boon for Pakatan and the two-party system in Malaysia,” he added.

DAP UPSET THAT UBF IS TAKING AWAY ITS SUPPORT IN BORNEO

The statement by DAP MP Dr Hiew King Cheu published last Tuesday asking Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan to stop confusing the people with his UBF agenda begs a proper response, because I feel it is regrettable that Hiew, being a Ph. D. can make such an error as calling the revelation of the truth as “confusing the people”. The question is, is Dr. Jeffrey really confusing the people?

This popular phrase, “confuse the people” has been used so many times by the Barisan Nasional that its meaning has been twisted, especially in its Malay version, i.e. “mengelirukan rakyat”. First of all, why is the BN so worried about the opposition confusing the people? Is the BN thinking that the people are entitled to only one version of the truth? Is the BN saying that only the ‘truth’ from the BN is true, and that any information and ideology from the opposition is confusing the people, and shouldn’t be accepted? Is the BN rejecting the free flow of information in this country although we have the Ministry of Information. If this ministry rejects alternative information, then it should rightly be called the Ministry of Disinformation.  The government-controlled RTM and TV3 cannot find the guts to tell the truth by showing the different sides the news. And what a loss to the people, because the huge amount of budget given to run the Information Ministry alone is actually money that belongs to the people – and they are denied the truth!

Jokes... of astronauts; indian/chinese/malay mentality

American Spaceman is called Astronaut
Russian Spaceman is called Cosmonaut
Chinese Spaceman is called Taikonaut
Malaysian Spaceman ??? - Can-or-naut
 

Dr. M (The Prime Minister) was thinking about sending somebody into space.
Three potential can-or-nauts were called for an interview.
An Indian, a Malay and a Chinese.
Dr. M interviews the Indian first: "So, Muthu, this is a dangerous mission..
How much do you think you should be paid?"
Muthu replied: "One million ringgit."
"Why so much?" asks Dr. M.