IJN - To sell or not to sell...

Our DPM announced triumphantly that IJN would be sold to Sime Darby.

Trail of the news can be found here which many thought culminated when DPM announced that it would be sold...

PM says takeover only if poor taken care of. A very caring PM if you asked me but I think he left his brains somewhere. How can you sell off something and hope to influence or retain control on how they are being run?

Then Sime Darby came out with a statement that the fee structure will remain! WOW! What a Stupid statement... are you telling me that it will remain forever? Or was it a deceptive statement to cheat? HERE.

Of course another idiot and apple polisher in the form of current health minister who has been at best disgusting when the whole melamine scare hit dairy products, he needed an "advice" from ex-health minister Mr. Gigolo to tell him to accept Singapore's list to reduce the ministry's tasks as good, and at the moment, he is still unable to tell if 100 deaths from denggi is not enough to kick the butt of his ministry into action. Well, his introduction was a bit long, but this is what he said.. Govt will continue to REGULATE IJN's fees.... err... like how they regulate electricity tariff is it? Or toll concessions? Or payments to IPPs? Even the roti canai seller?

Well, the above news are all just mere whines from me. The crux of the news is here.

NO OBJECTION TO SIME DARBY STAKE IN IJN! Declares Najib.

I commented in Cikgu's blog the other day, that our dear Najib is trying to find more creative means to patch the hole caused by the failure of the EuroCOCKter deal gone sour... for now... or so it seems that the DPM is trying to exert his influence and make a pre-emptive statement ahead of the PM in this matter.

Then the mother of all spin came out...

THE CABINET DEFFERED IJN's SALE

and in a face saving spin, they depict the government as caring and sensitive in that they will have to deliberate it further.. HERE. The thing here is what is Najib trying to say? First sale, then no sale and his excuse is this...

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the study would focus on the interests of the rakyat, especially in guaranteeing that the Government’s social responsibilities towards the people would not be sacrificed.

The deferment, according to Najib, was made due to the negative reaction from the public following the Government’s announcement that it had agreed in principle to the takeover plan.

The statement made his sound as stupid as he looked. As if he did not conduct a comprehensive study and survey before he made the SALE statement. Ooops, I forgot, they are BN.


Now two questions:

1. Why did the DPM made the statement of sale then made a U Turn just a day after making it?
2. If the cabinet is caring and sensitive, the idea should have been dead a buried there and then? Why must it yet to be discussed?

Now, let me try to understand why the statements were made in that order. Najib is DPM and PM in waiting. He would have thought, he commanded the respect or wanted to see who in the cabinet are his YES men and who are not. Making the statement would weed out those who were not so co-operative and if he were to assume the seat next, his task of choosing his cabinet is made much easier. And while it is being deferred, it is being deferred until he assumes office in March 09. The deal will still go through come March 09. Make no mistake about it.

Scenario two takes a small twist. DPM made the statement, trumping his No.1... for want to show power, but when PM made the "caring" statement, he decided to muscle the cabinet into denying his No.2 glory for now. Can we assume that there is an acute power struggle from within? Can it be seen that DPM does not have the sort of absolute support that he seem to have as depicted by the Umno nominations for position of Presidency?

What a week!

Well, its only been about a week since I was gone from the blogging world yet... so much has happened.. and although I was away from rambling about the world and Malaysia in particular, I was never far away from a copy of newspaper or my tiny device that I use to read news... sometimes I feel that am getting old, the fonts seem "blur"... haha..

Now with some breathing space in between now and Christmas, am feeling Christmasy but sadly the events lately shows that we are far from it. Top of my mind was... guys, remember the guy? Nick Leeson? The famous one man that brought down Barings Bank with his rogue trades? What we have heard these few days probably made Leeson's folly to be a kids stuff... Bernard Madoff. I mean, how can one man command USD50billion worth of funds? Maybe his resume is impressive, but while it is understandable that gullible Malaysians will fall prey to "get rich quick" schemes, it is unthinkable for international banks to fall for the same or rather more impressive scheme helmed by the ex-boss of Nasdaq? If the financial market has not suffered enough, one man himself commanding the funds more than enough to save US automotive industry! And considering the fact that Washington is debating for weeks on a USD30+billion rescue package, we then hear of one man squandering USD50billion.

Then while all that has been happening, outgoing President Dodge Bush... dodged a pair of size 10. I bet my bottom dollar that Bush was the star dodge ball player in his days!

Closer to home, we have the MACC and JAC bills that has caused much concern to Malaysians. While I think the MACC was a commendable effort, the JAC reeks of about the same shit in different pail. The executive still holds power in appointments over the judiciary? I rest my case. Many people have talked about it and it sounds stale, so I let the others talk about it while I try bitching about other matters... let me put on my thinking cap to see what else I can bitch on and return later... for now, I just need a break, its been a rollercoaster week and my body is screaming out for a break!!!

Landslides and Tragedies... whose fault is it anyway?

My heart goes out to families whose members perished in the landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa.. anguished by the thoughts of people losing people they loved... also to those whose lives were taken by the terrorists in Mumbai and closer to home some unwarranted deaths on the roads like the one in Tangkak that claimed so many lives.

I just wonder what has the government done to avert all these disasters. Much as I was busy and too busy to write, my heart tells me that I need to write something on all these. News over the past few days really akin to rubbing salt onto the wound. While we see needless deaths due to negligent drivers and ill maintained express busses, we have the authorities telling us that the fourth passenger in the car need not buckle up. And their freaking excuse was only 5%-6% of vehicles carry the 4th passenger. They need not be issued a ticket either.

Try reading between the lines.... the laws should have been black or white... either you break the law or you did not. Right? Now, if the 4th passenger would not be issued a summon, then he/she is not breaking the law.. right? Then why must 3 flers at the back buckle up and the 4th be exempted? Now, do we have the statistics that say that rear passengers who do not buckle up had caused more deaths than the motor cyclists that carry an entire family on their two wheelers? Or deaths to motorcyclists without crash helmets? Are there any statistics to show that vehicles that zipped past traffic lights after it has longed turned red caused more deaths? Or could it be that cyclist or motor cyclist nipping in a one way traffic or riding against the flow of traffic causing more accidents on pedestrians than rear seat passenger do to the two in front? I was at best flabbergasted by the news that came out. It seems that the authorities just wanted to make some money from retrofitting some cars with rear seat belts at best in coming up with such a ruling.

Imagine you are driving... two kids in the rear seat. I think all the more these two would be "brazenly" breaking the rule. Now would the police expect:

1. The driver to be focussed on the road or
2. To be busy looking back reminding their kids to buckle up and be less focussed on the road?

Which is more important?


That aside really, coz I thought it was a big issue.. but not after I read our PM and DPM's oh so holy statement that all hillside developments be STOPPED. I was like wow... "should this not have stopped since Highland Tower tragedy? Isn't this too little too late?" Then... there was this piece of news today which compelled me to write. HERE.

Looting by the authorities and refusal to help buried victims.... and of course the police deny it. No one will know for sure... but if its coming from the victims who were there first hand... who would you believe? I would believe the authorities naturally if they had in the past held the high moral ground and proved themselves blameless and honorable but am afraid, the scars of their past does not allow me to believe them... and with statements coming from CPO Khalid, I am all the more suspicious after his statement on the detention of the candlelight vigil in PJ.

Indeed there are many things to write about... just too busy to do all that at the moment. At the top of my mind too was the Jerit folks who were arrested in Johor and their machines "torched" by arsonists... co-incidence? Arsonists working hand in hand with the police? And I am suppose to believe and trust the police? Gimme a break!