Political Grasshoppers

What is the hottest drama in the local political scene these days? Party-hopping leading to a state-governmental change! How else could it be more dramatic?

What a way to grace my blog after a 2-month hiatus. I guess my personal life will never get that dramatic to motivate myself penning it down. That's simply because my home state Perak has never gotten such grandiour media attention for decades (or even for centuries I bet!) Imagine, the work Perak appearing on the cover page headlines of ALL the national newspapers, for consecutively one week! As a Perakian, should I be proud of all these sudden attention that my home state is receiving? Certainly NOT!

I shall not pain myself by writing down the dreadful details of the process of this political shift in the state government of Perak, even though it is not materialised just yet at the time of my blog entry. In a matter of hours, a new Menteri Besar will be sworn in, representing the new formed Barisan National-led state government, replacing the previous Pakatan Rakyat formation. But believe me, the matter will not be put at rest as the previous state government will retaliate till their last breath. Who would give up so easily when they are just warming up their state assembly seats and the leather seats of their Toyota Camry cars are still new!

We must thank the creators of the drama for enabling us to witness such historical joke in our politic scene, i.e. the 4 grasshoppers who hopped on to the weighing scale that is anything BUT balanced! (They claimed that they would remain independent of any alliances for the time being but had expressed their support to BN)

This "Grasshopper Strategy" is nothing new as Pakatan Rakyat had explicitly expressed that they would implement this strategy to trash the current government time and again since last September, although their attempts proved futile. I guess they could not have imagined this ingenious strategy of theirs would work against them, causing them to lose a quarter of their foothold in Malaysia.

So to the geniuses who are planning to put their legal know-how into practice and weaving their way through the judicial system, good luck thrashing the royal ruler's decision and getting your dissolution of state assembly. I'm sure the voters will be faithful still in the next state election, if there would be any. Funny thing that the most popular profession in DAP is likely to be lawyer!

To those who managed to convince the grasshoppers to hop by, your actions are deemed "highly moral" because there is no law exists to go against that. But I am already hearing voices to suggest passing an Anti-Hopping Law.

For those who are just simply enjoying all these antics by our highly intelligent politicians, please sit back and relax as I'm sure there are more to come!

Bangkok Dangerous

Things havent been great recently. The economy downturn. The Mumbai Massacre. The Bangkok Emergency State. My credit crunch. Among other things.

The negativity around is so prevalent that it numbed myself to spur any thoughts in response to the recent happenings. Exam is coming but I barely touched my book. At the same time, I'm counting down my days left with my current employer. A concoction of weird emotions, thoughts and feelings is always brewing in my head, that the effects of such negates any sensation. I'm numbed to the core. Soul-less.

Then came along a surprise MSN session with a net pal. He is one of the poor souls who got stranded in Bangkok since the airports there were force to closed down due to demonstration. Gosh! It never occurred to me that I could be the one who got stucked in a foreign land when all I want is to go home! (of coure, being blasted off in a Mumbai street would be far worse than this!) It suddenly hit me that things are really BAD these days that I should start noticing them, attentively.

So there he went, having this unwanted extended version of his BKK holiday with his brothers. They have no where to go, but to stay in their hotel, where food and room are paid by the government (well, they should have!). They have nothing to do, but to make calls to the airline and their embassy, getting updates on their flight info and the status of the airport and the city (and of course, occasional MSN chats). Poor thing! Unlucky bunch! I couldn't imagine myself facing similar situation, for someone who doesn't even take down the embassy address or number before I travel out of the country! (but then again, who really does that?)

On another note, imagine the economic adversity that this incident could spin off. Endless compensation by the government and the airlines. People turning away from the city. Airlines cease to generate revenue due to flight suspensions. And the list goes on. Are these people out of their minds?

Anyways, my heart goes out to you, Hori. May you be safe and be able to leave the country ASAP.

Is this an act of JUSTICE?

In times of political instability and economic turmoil, they had to do this.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamarudin, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) here and in Penang.

The first person to be picked up was Raja Petra, 58, from his house in Sungai Buloh near here, followed by Tan, 32, who was arrested from her house in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Teresa, 43, was detained at 11.20pm as she was on her way home in a car.

All of them were arrested under Section 73(1) of the ISA for allegedly being a threat to security, peace and public order.

A team of police officers from Bukit Aman arrived at Raja Petra’s house at 1.10pm and led him away 40 minutes later.

The team also took some 15 VCDs on ceramah held by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as well as 16 books.

Last week, the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) and several Muslim bodies lodged a police report against Raja Petra, who is already facing criminal defamation charges for allegedly insulting the Malays, Muslims and Islam.

In a statement, Deputy Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said Raja Petra was arrested based on surveillance that showed that he was involved in activities that could cause unrest among the multi-racial and multi-religious society of the country.

Tan, who was picked up at 8.40pm, was taken from her house in Taman Seri Rambai in Bukit Mertajam to the state police headquarters on the island.

Tan, 32, reported former Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail’s racist remarks while campaigning for the Permatang Pauh by-election.

Lee Kelvin from Guang Ming and Tan Ming Xao from Nanyang Siang Pau, who had vouched for the accuracy of Tan’s report had gone into hiding.

Kok, 43, who is also state assemblyman for Kinrara and the senior Selangor state executive councillor, was picked up over an alleged involvement with a resident’s petition over a mosque.

Acting Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar confirmed the arrests of Tan and Kok.

Under the Section, police are empowered to detain the trio for a period of 60 days after which the Home Minister can decide on further detention.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar admitted that the decision to detain people and issue show cause letters would be unpopular and would be criticised but it had to be done.

“While we may want to be popular, freedom without responsibilities has ramifications.

“We have to take action to protect the wishes of the majority,” he said.

Syed Hamid also said Raja Petra had been warned on many occasions in the last two years.

“Now, with so much public uneasiness, we do not want anything that can threaten peace in the country.

“The police looked at all aspects and, under present circumstances, the actions were necessary,” he added.
Source: The Star, 13 September 2008.
Click here

What can I say. Hope you don't worry too much about your aunt, Tweety.

Well, I shall not say much here. ISA is looming over.

Happy 51th Birthday, Malaysia!

She just made it to the second half of a century.

She must be aching all over inside soon, with all the internal power struggle going on. Yeah, Permatang Pauh is just the beginning.

Her immune system is getting weaker as days go by, with her inhabitants' long hidden disposals seem to resurface and overflow in her body, even after prescribed with the "ACA" pills.

In addition, she seems to be getting poorer these days. No, her Budget 2009 doesn't fabricate that well!

Despite all that, I still wish her Happy Birthday.

Preview: Budget 2009

The buzz of the announcement of Budget 2008 earlier today had made me suddenly realise one thing -- Shucks! I'm eligible to be a taxpayer starting from next year!

Each year I saw the budget being announced but I couldn't careless. However, starting from this year, it's gonna be affecting me greatly!

Is the increase of personal tax deduction from RM350 to RM400 gonna do me enough good? (My taxable income falls in that category, fortunately) How is Self Assessent being done? What are the deductible source of income? GOSH, I am so embarassed for the fact that I had actually studied all that before! (Sorry Miss Jen, all the knowledge went down the drain!)

Gotta search for that "Tax Bible" written by the infamous Chong Kwai Fatt.

Oh no, it's in my hometown!

Shall ask my sis then, at least I could rely on another accountant.

Oh shoot! Someone just told me through msn that one pays tax only when their monthly salary reaches RM3000......

Hmmm, I've decided to get hold of a copy of The Star tomorrow to read about Budget 2009 in detail.

P/S: I shall also confirm from reliable sources whether or not I'm eligible to pay tax next year.