Wot in Heaven's Name?!

Why the hell does Dr Victor Von Doom go iron glove-to-indestructible-shield when he could have just blasted Cap Steve Rogers America to smithereens and tiny bits and pieces with his, urm, power blasts or something.

Must be the megalomaniac tendencies at work here: the satisfaction of doing one owns handiwork, in this case to pummel, pound and bash (Bah!) puny American icon.

Whatever.

He certainly got balls, this Victor Von Doom. Probably made of iron, too.

Unlike some people we know.


Anyhow, I have never come across this Marvel titles of "Super Villain Team-Up."

Not some lame-O characters ganging up, but super duper ones like Dr Doom and the Red Skull.

Nah.. It's probably a very, very short-lived teaming up as two megalomaniacs won't make it through the courtship.

Adios, folks. Be careless with your postings, okay.


PS:












Nuff' said. Ciao.

Sordid Mayhem

There are some serious allegations against the New Straits Times on the whole Xavier Andre Justo storyline.

You can read this different take on the man formerly with Petrosaudi (1MDB’s one time JV Partner) who was arrested in Thailand recently for alleged blackmail and extortion charges.

Mind you, the picture of the arrest show a full array of uniformed men with automatic weapons. All very Bourne-like in fact.

(The picture is a scene from Bourne Identity, which RTM2 has graciously brought to the idiot box last week or the other. Thank you, guys.)

Anyway, the ever gungho Sarawak Report has cast aspersions on the, urm, reputations of the New Straits Times reporting on Xavier. 

To quote: “NST mentioned pictures on Facebook but instead of showing them claimed they were of a hedonistic lifestyle instead of revealing the pictures of family life.”

The NST piece (read and you’ll understand this use of phrase) state amongst others: “How could such a sorry figure have ignited a major Malaysian political storm?”

Hmm… Haven’t read the NST for a while now but I am quite shock with the style of writing. No byline on the online report though.

Probably the upcoming trial of Mr Justo will be followed closely by all parties interested in this development on Petrosaudi that is one of the many concerns with regards Malaysia’s 1MDB.

It would be interesting to see what sort of information will come out from this trial and if at all, the MSM will accord it ample print page. 

Very sordid affair, this. You'd have to wonder where it will go finally.

Hot, Squirming Grill

Ever listened to BFM’s Business Grill? It’s often done live and sometime you can hear the “grilled” squirming in discomfort.

This morning it was FGV’s group president and CEO Dr Mohammed Emir Mavani Abdullah “appearing” and my God, it was a good grilling.

Of course, it was on no other but FGV’s proposed purchase of plantation assets from Peter Sondakh’s Rajawali Group in Indonesia.

FGV is buying a 37% stake in PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk for US$680mil (RM2.5bil).

Among the questions asked by (I think it was) Huang were:

Why FGV paid an over the top 23% downpayment:

FGV wanted to show its seriousness.

Is FGV overpaying?

Landbank

Is FGV overpaying again having done so in earlier M&A?

Landbank

Rajawali’s landbank is 1/3 planted, while the rest is unplanted nor without permit?

Landbank

Why did EPF sell of its shares to become a minority? Does it not believe in the vision / strategy of FGV?

FGV is a long term investment

I am paraphrasing, of course, and it would be better to wait for the podcast to come out.

The way Emir was answering the questions asked were not exactly suited to the Breakfast grill style.

He was going in a roundabout way of getting to his point of contention and the host had to interject quite frequently in order to get to the crux of his answer.

It sure made him looked “grilled”, really.

Why should we care if FGV is overpaying in its venture?

We should.

There’s just way too much hanky panky going on in this country where our “guardians” are concerned…

 

Why not perah the MBs?

What would be the end game for the whole 1MDB fiasco?

The company’s grossly indebted with iffy revenue generator to service this debt.

Muhyiddin has asked for the Board to be sacked. And then what?

Everything would be fine and dandy?

No, Sir. The debt is still hanging over us.

Yes, US. EPF’s in it. So is KWAP. The government has apparently guaranteed everything good and sundry it seems.

Maybe, maybe not.

And yes, supposedly 1MDB assets (paper valuations notwithstanding) is enough to cover the debt.

All hunky dory? The BIG IF is in who 1MDB can offload these assets to.

The “missing billions” factor is the cruncher as this overloads the debt content by having no tangible, umm, collateral to the money pumped in.

To make 1MDB “work”, there is really no choice but to plug these leakages and proceed with the plans it already has in place.

It needs to be sincere in implementing these to the point of being a hermit.

The Board should be worked for free. Basic allowance of nasi lemak and teh tarik ONLY for their meetings and no others. Ikan bilis only. No sambal kerang or jackshit.

Consultants should be discarded. All consultancy worked should be inhouse. Have to do OT without being paid? TOUGH.

Former banker should use his expertise in ensuring all monies are accounted for. And yes, he should also be paid peanuts. Nasi lemak and teh tarik during meetings the only perk he gets.

Najib? He should just cut himself out of 1MDB. His being in the loop corrupts everything by short circuiting governance.

He can have his nasi lemak and teh tarik elsewhere.

Perhaps this could turned 1MDB around.

It would be take bloody many years to pay all its debts, but hey, us layman has been there before.

Lets perah all the MBs for all their smugness while the nation worries.

That would just, I think.

In the meantime, here's to hoping that Nur Jazlan and his merry men (and women) of the PAC do a good job in finding the ones we (as a nation) have perah the hardest.

Fascist Book of Tricks

"It is an old strategy in the fascist book of tricks: to dehumanize the other, to relegate and reduce their individuality into racial labels and to render their hopes, fears and vulnerabilities invisible; in other words, to oppress. What is worse, passages from the holy Quran are evoked in the process for justification."

Ouch… Unless you have a supremely thick hide, to be called a fascist must surely hurt somewhere.

The only fascist I know in my ever so limited knowledge is Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), him who was a leader of one of the three Axis Alliance of World War II.

For an in-depth read on what exactly is fascism, look it up in Wikipedia here. One thing’s for sure, it is not pretty to be called one.

Anyway, the above is a direct copy pasting of a statement by the Islamic Renaissance Front titled: “Lessons from the demonization of DAP”.

This is in the back of two front pages by DAP’s perennial fourth estate foe, Utusan Malaysia, of so-called religious, urm, statement that it is haram (not kosher?) to vote for DAP and any other political parties who are “sekongkol”ing with them as they (DAP, that is) is a kafir harbi kind of party.

As I don’t read Utusan, I neither know head nor tale of the detail story, but even the headline is somewhat silly vis a vis the soon-but-not-that soon to be held 13^th General Election. 

Say, just say for brevity's sake that you do take the issue seriously.

Okay; noted then. No crossing the boxes of DAP candidates, even if they are Malays or Muslims.

No crossing boxes of “sekongkol”ing political parties either; so scratch PSM, PKR and PAS candidates.

Which leaves fellow non partisan Malaysian Muslims with pretty much only the independents IF they wish to NOT vote for the candidates of UMNO and “sekongkol”ing MCA-MIC and the likes.

 

You know, there is such a thing as Syubhah (looks like haram but not quite, so better to keep at arm’s length).

Then again, independents these days are either BN or PR friendly, so you’re stuck there to.

I give up: do you even get to exercise this once every five year basic right then?

Seriously, Utusan Malaysia has played the racial card and now is playing the religious card against DAP with nary a slap on the wrist.

To what ends are the editors looking at with such incendiary headlines?

Let’s face it: as it is, many have made up their made their mind whose butt they want kicked come vote counting time, and stoking such racial and religious lines just jack up the adrenaline levels of only hard core followers.

I seriously doubt it will sway the so called fence sitters with minds of their own.

Democratic Fervor

In Malaysia, voting during the General Elections is NOT something that is mandatory. Hence as an extension of this then it makes sense that automatic registration of voters is also not ON.

Shouldn’t it though?

It is one thing to be registered, and another to actually vote. For one, you have to be - theoretically, at least, what’s with allegations of Hantu voters popping up every time the election comes – physically present to do the latter.

Apparently, there is an estimated 3.6 million people who are still unregistered as voters.

Huge concern thus. HUGE.

Thus, looking at the response so far from the Barisan Nasional, urm, fellas (EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, excluded, of course) to the Selangor State government’s “SelangorkuBersih” campaign, you’d be forgiven to scratch your head and go: Huh?

The campaign aims to verify the voters listed and, can along the way help to persuade those who haven't registered to do so.

After all, why wouldn’t the Selangor State Government want to help out in registering the still unregistered 600k or so other Selangorians?

If these 600K non registered ones want to, that is.

Since neither voting nor registering as a voter is mandatory, it is really their choice, no?

But if they do wish to do so; and just don’t have neither the opportunity nor the means or the time to put pen to registration papers, then the “Selangorku Bersih” campaign is just plain haven sent.

 As Selangor has the highest number of unregistered voters, surely the EC will relish all the help it can get, shouldn’t it?

Saves the EC to concentrate its efforts on the other 3 million unregistered ones.

Out of curiosity, how does the EC verify the voters’ particulars and voting constituencies?

Take me, for instance.

I registered God knows how long ago as a voter in the Pandan Parliamentary constituency and except for the 2004 General Election, I have not had the opportunity to vote due to work and locality constraints.

Was I ever, urm, verified throughout the three General Elections including those in 1999 and 2008?

Until but recently when I changed my voting particulars, I was still very much a voter in Pandan.

It does seem that the verification of a voter's particulars is very much up to the individual voter’s own efforts, with the EC, urm, facilitating the data entry.

So, how would the EC verify something like this highlighted instance in suspicion arousing duplicating facts?

After all, outside of the particular locality's locals, how will one know who’s who? Asking for someone’s identity papers is just plain criminal for anyone other than  the authorities.

It could well be a sheer stroke of pure coincidence of which the door to door, house to house, “Selangorku Bersih” campaign could help prove and, without a doubt, VERIFY.

Or not, since the voters – any voter for that matter - could also say: “No, I will not allow myself to be verified”.

Something which the “SelangorkuBersih” campaign detractors seem to be pushing for.

Or not. Perhaps it’s nothing more than the fervor of DEMOCRATIC IDEALS.

Yep. That’s probably IT. 

Clearly Loud

Electoral Fairness and Impartiality.

One Person One Vote.

Or is a proportional system the answer?

Any which, surely they can hear the LOUD voice for changes.

But listening?

Schwinging Excellence

And so it seems that it shouldn’t be the Menteri, whose family got themselves a Gomen project with a RM250m loan (not grant, mind you) at 2% interest for a 30-year contract of something or the other regarding cows, who should answer and / or relinquish her post.

Or something like so as demanded by the ever pesky Opposition.

No Sir. As pointed out vehemently by several Ministers and a non-Minister, all is well with the NFC project.

Nope, it is the Auditor General's team who, sadly, mucked things up.

Imagine visiting a cow farm after a flooding. Of, course the conditions would be atrocious and things seem so, to use the now oft quoted phrase, in a mess.

Go read the multiple news reports – by Bernama to boot; the epitome of reporting correctness – in the Sun today.

See. See. See….. All is okay one.

Even the reported Condo purchase.

Hell, if I have some un-utilised multi million Ringgits stashed somewhere I’d put it to good use by investing in such a, urm, rental scheme which gives you a near 13% yield. Where can you get like good money like that outside of a Skim Cepat Kaya?

A RM30,000 guaranteed monthly rental is darn great especially in this supposedly (alleged?) softening of the luxury property market period.

As to the so called alleged conflict of interest, urm, what conflict; what and whose interests’ conflicts?

As said, the Minister is not INVOLVED at all in the NFC thingy. Not a wee bit. No conflict. See. See.

Aiseyman! Methinks the AG’s team should really do a better job for next year’s AGR.

In the meantime, and as always in this great land of ours, all is forever well.