Pak Lah and Protocol

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said her suggestion that the media and the people should stop addressing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by his pet name "Pak Lah" has been misunderstood.

Malay Mail reported that Many of the people interviewed by the newspaper said there was absolutely nothing wrong in calling the Prime Minister "Pak Lah" as Malaysians see it as a term of endearment that reflects the Prime Minister's place in the hearts of his people.

Rafidah, however, said closeness or endearment has its place because when it involved the country's No 1 leader, protocol must be taken into consideration.

There is totally nothing wrong calling our Prime Minister, Pak Lah. Pak is the shorter and more friendly term of Bapa (or Bapak), meaning father or someone elder, wiser and respectable. We used to call our uncle or our elders, Pak Mat, Pak Ali, Pak Ngah or Pak Long.

No one could deny the fact that Pak Lah is well respected. By calling him Pak Lah does not reduce the respect the people have for him or in any way lower his status as the country’s number leader. A man like our Prime Minister, does not need long titles (with due respect to the title awarding parties) to boost his dignity, respect and honour. His actions shine better.

Protocol is the sequence of addressing, seating arrangements and how one shows his or her respect. Name alone doesn’t mean much in this aspect. It is the actual act of respecting that counts. The PM’s wife when interviewed by media addressed herself as Kak Endon instead of Datin Seri or Datin.

Our beloved PM and his wife, who always have the people at their hearts, have set a very humble and noble example. We should all change our name seeking culture and follow what is more acceptable by the general public.

Only individuals who crave for fame, titles and status are particular about how they should be address. These are the people who make complaints when they are not uttered the word Datuk. These are the people who corrected their friends, colleagues and relatives when their titles are not mentioned. These are the people who are willing to pay for the titles. Since they have paid for it, they want others to know and to mention it, to make their money worth. Here goes again the stories of commercial datuks.

Kak, Rafidah, thank you. We would prefer to call our PM Pak Lah, unless he personally says no, which we doubt he would.

With a few Tan Sri Dato’ Seri or Datuk Seri Panglima in the same function, how much time each speaker spent just to address their title. Take for example, calling Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Lajim Haji Okin is equivalent to address Pak Lah 7 times!!!

Muzimei in Sabah!!!

Shenzhen Daily on November 18, 2003 reported the following:

More than 160,000 netizens had logged on to Blogcn.com to read a woman journalist's online sex diaries by last Tuesday and the number grew by 6,000 daily, Monday's Yangcheng Evening News reported.

"I record my life faithfully, despite disturbances and men's repulsion," 25-year-old Li Li wrote in her diary Monday. The links to her diary have been shut down twice after thousands of netizens insulted her on the Net.

A columnist with the Guangzhou-based City Pictorial magazine, Li began publishing her online diaries under the pen name Muzimei on June 19. The diaries revealed the details of her one-night stands with different men. She did not become a hot click until she disclosed in August her affair with Wang Lei, one of the most popular rock-and-roll singers in South China who also has a bar in Guangzhou.

Some 87 percent of subjects thought she was exposing her privacy to become well-known, as revealed by a survey on Netease. Some people, however, said she had the right to choose her own lifestyle and her existence was proof that Chinese society became more tolerant. Most people criticized her as irresponsible, possibly harming children and the men involved with her.

Excerpts of Muzimei’s encounter with Wang Lei

多P不一定是几男几女在一个空间里大汗淋漓。
周五夜，还是枕木（它一定痛恨我赋予它的淫窝形象，又如何）。
我闲坐吧台，后面一桌有个认识的家伙，是与非门乐队的。1999年他在蓝调共和弹贝司时，就认识了当时狂爱弹吉他的郭炎的我。这么多年过去了，还在酒吧混啊，都一样啊没出息。所以我们连招呼都没打。
有人过来搭话，哦，是王磊。开场白真没创意：“这么孤独，跟我们一起坐吧。”
“都有谁？”
他说了2个名字，一个是已离开《南方体育》的家伙，一个是拖拖拉拉一直没跟我做爱的水瓶座设计师。
“要是今晚你们搞淫乱派对，我就去。”
“要是你叫多一个女的，我们就搞。”
“靠。”
凌晨2点不到，王磊说走，一起走？一起走。
“去哪啊？”
“回家。”
“回你家还是回我家。”
“你家在哪？
“中大旁边。”　
“有点远，不如去我家。”
“你家更远，从东圃回来得大半天。”
“从你家回我家也一样。” 唠叨了一阵，我说王磊，不如就地解决吧，做爱这么简单的事。
就地，就在枕木附近的阴暗角落。
他掀起我的白裙子时，我说穿裙子真方便啊！
他说把屁股翘起来，把腰下下去。
这样的Dogy式很多人爱用，但在户外操作总有些不着边际。
很快就爽完了。王磊说环境不太好，也没有音乐。
我说王磊你身体也不太好，不然我们一路走，走到哪干到哪。
1998年，我还为了王磊的“不插电”午夜狂奔，却见结业招牌。
1999年，我还听王磊的《一切从爱情开始》，崇 拜得不得了。
2000年，我看画报做的王磊一个采访，王磊说喜欢大屁股的女人，我还想我屁股小，王磊肯定不搞。
2001年，我在王磊的“碟瓦”，听他唱歌听得掉眼泪，却只跟王磊他哥套上近乎。
一定不要觉得一个男人太牛逼，不然有天他跟你一样弱小。
几个月前的淫乱聚会，王磊降到了70分，就地解决后的王磊只剩50分。
真替他不值，沦落到被我出卖的地步……


Muzimei might, to certain people, set a bad example to others. But we should also question those who have done far worse than her but do not have their stories published. Just because their stories do not make it to the front page of the papers doesn't mean these people are right. Some paid to cover their ugly sides from being exposed.

Muzimei can't clap without another hand from the men who was thinking of free lunch. Egoistic men, blame yourself first before condemning Muzimei.

Muzimei's story should send a strong signal to all the rich and famous, ministers, YBs, politicians and Datuks (both genuine and commercial), BEWARE! There might be a similar Muzimei in Sabah to record all her sexual encounters with these people. Not only vivid details would be revealed. Photographs taken might be posted as well.

If you do not want the world to know, behave fast before it is too late.

Datukship and Zero Corruption

There are a lot of interesting stories about the datuks, especially those who received their datukships through backdoor. Besides paying and lobbying for datukships by all means, they also buy news coverage to be appeared in local dailies for a simple function like fullmoon or birthday for children. Some even compete in newspapers for the number of congratulations messages. One particular datuk has more security guards than the Prime Minister. It is not difficult for the public to guess what this datuk is doing, or what he wish to be protected from.

Such childish acts of these bunch of undeserving datuks has finally caught the attention of the general public. People are starting to voice out their objections, opinions and suggestions to avoid the society been flooded with commercial datuks. The people could tolerate no more with datuks who do not know how to behave, who with their arrogance and ignorance have tarnished the good name of the Sultans and TYT who have awarded them with such titles. They do not know how to pay respect even to the title they have longed for.

It is certainly a good sign that people are starting to openly question the rationale of awarding datukships to undeserving individuals. After the blogger brought up the issues of datukships in Sabah could be bought and lobbied, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Dato’ Rais Yatim said 10 states in Malaysia recorded instances of datukships been offered for sale. Awang Selamat in his Utusan Malaysia Bisik-Bisik column also talk about similar issues. Jeffrey Ooi in his Screenshot blog highlighted the same issues.

The world has changed and is very much different from the days went through by our parents or grand parents. A datuk or even a village head is almost like a king in his own society. He is so powerful that he could do anything he likes. But gone were the days where people pay respect blindly to those who carry certain titles. Even respect for the royal family members is filtered. Respect, honour and dignity, like we always know, can never be bought. It has to be earned. Respect, honour and dignity come from the heart, not from the mouth or a mere bow. Sincere respect comes with praises and well wishes.

With the advancement of technologies, improper acts of those riding hide on the social status are always been observed, evaluated and scrutinized. Words might not be enough to convince but these days whatever one does could always be openly or secretly recorded using a digital camera or even mobile phone with camera features. The public eyes are even brighter with the help of modern technologies. So beware, datuk, if there are claims, there are more than enough proofs to substantiate. When the time comes, all these evidence will be disclosed, not only to the local community, but to the world.

There have been enough examples of misbehaviour of the rich and famous which affect the ordinary folks (not that these datuks are extra-ordinary). The public is not busybody or jealous as long as their rights and intelligence are not challenged. If they keep ridiculing the public, abusing their status then they are pushing the public to the limits.

What has been exposed so far on the “commercial datukship” is only an edge of the iceberg. More shocking news are expected. These exposure have resulted many angry reactions from those undeserving datuks, heads of state and politicians involved. The more they cry foul, the more truth will reveal. “Siapa maka lada dia rasa pedas”.

In line with the Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s call for achieving zero corruption, all these questionable datuks should be thoroughly investigated. A webpage should be set up for the public to feed such information. Give the general public opportunity to supply valuable information on who and how so and so gets his or her datukship. Let the public inform the authorities on what these individuals have done in the past and are doing in present. Let also the public chance to reveal the extent of abusing of power and status by these datuks.

With such information gathered from the public, it won’t be difficult for the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) to act, unless, of course there are individuals who wish to protect other individuals. If transparency were to be practised (with due respect to the Sultans and TYT), corruption in datukship dealings could be avoided.

In order to achieve the zero corruption objectives, there must not be any double standard in handling the matter. No one should be spared the investigation or review. Such will help to clear the deserving datuks their good names and regain the confident and respect of the people. We rather have few, but respectable datuks.

Commercial datukship is the breading source of corruption. When a datuk (grand father) rots, the anak (son), cucu (grand children), cicik (great grand children) and cicik (great great grand children) are rot down the line.

If one could use corrupted practices to obtain a datukship, there is no reason why he would not use his titles to corrupt others for bigger and better benefits and advantages.

Speeches Must Be Short, Precise and Interesting

Many of us have experienced boring speeches given by ministers. Some are long winded, beating around the bush. Some speeches are given without theme and objective, let alone not relevant to the function the speaker is attending.

Therefore, it is not surprising that at most functions, the only one listening to the speeches is the young inexperience reporter. The senior ones would get the speaker’s text at the end of the speech. The rest of the audience are either dozing off, reading unrelated materials or playing with SMS.

VIPs who are invited to speak during functions are normally annoyed and irritated by the attitude of his or her audience for not paying attention. The organiser might be blamed for not telling the audience to behave themselves. True, being the guest, they might have the right to feel disappointed but they too, must find out the reasons why.

Most audience does not pay attention during speeches is due to the problem caused by the speakers themselves. Speakers make a lot of mistakes which put their audience to sleep. The common practice is to start off a speech with a long list of greetings and salutations. By the time he finishes his greeting list, almost half of the time allocated has been used up. Imagine if there were 5 speakers and 6 with the master of ceremony, and each one make a long list of greetings, how bored could one get into?

We should only specifically greet the guest of honour and the chairman or organiser before starting a speech. The rest of the audience, be they datuk or whatsoever, should only be greeted generally. The best way would be “ladies and gentlemen”. Unless those datuks feel that they are not gentlemen, they should be happy to be greeted that way.

Even though some datuks are very sensitive when their presence is not specifically acknowledged, the society must not let this practice been continued. Genuine datuks are normally humble and understanding. Only those ‘title-cazy’ datuks are sensitive. These bunch of datuks, are the one where their datukships are questionable. There is no reason why the society should pay respect to these commercial datuks.

Some ridiculous people even have three four titles attached to their name and expect all their titles to be mentioned. If we have a few of these people in a single function, how much more longer the time is needed to acknowledge them before a speech could begin?

In line with the call of Prime Minister to cut red-tape in government department, it is right to also give short greetings and go straight on to the content of the speech. This will surely improve on efficiency, save time and avoid being branded as a boring speaker.

Of course, speakers themselves, especially ministers and VIPs, must learn to give short, precise and interesting speeches. Being a minister or someone important, or even having the authority doesn’t necessary mean having automatic power to capture the audience’s attention. Attention during speeches, is like respect. It ought to be earned and not force upon. If a speech is read like a primary school student, then the speaker (reader) must be prepared more audience falling asleep.

A good speaker interacts with his audience, speaks with sincerity, keeps to its objective and delivers with good intonation.

Datuk Boleh Dijual Beli

Utusan Malaysia melaporkan dua berita berkenaan dengan penjualan Datuk.


1. Ada penerima anugerah Datuk beri habuan wang - Rais
Oleh: ZULKIFLI JALIL

PULAU PINANG 11 Nov. - Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim mendedahkan terdapat sebahagian penerima anugerah Datuk memperoleh darjah kebesaran itu setelah memberi habuan wang ringgit menerusi `kaki' atau ejen masing-masing.

Tegasnya, perbuatan itu dilakukan dengan alasan menerusi gelaran tersebut, mereka berupaya membuka peluang perniagaan yang lebih besar dan berada dalam `kelas perniagaan' yang tersendiri.

Sambil menyifatkan ia sebagai serius, beliau meminta Menteri-Menteri Besar supaya segera mengatasi gejala itu dengan menyekat kebanjiran penerima anugerah tersebut seperti yang berlaku sekarang.

Katanya, Menteri Besar sebenarnya boleh berperanan menasihati Sultan supaya mengutamakan nilai dan standard penerima menerusi penapisan yang ketat berlandaskan merit perkhidmatan, jasa dan sahsiah tanpa tertakluk kepada `jual-beli'.

``Saya dapat maklumat jelas bahawa dalam kebanyakan kes, anugerah Datuk ini diperoleh setelah diletakkan wang ringgit.

``Ini rasuah sebenarnya, dan kalau dituruti pandangan Perdana Menteri (yang mahukan rasuah dibanteras), amatlah wajar jika ia diberi perhatian oleh Menteri Besar.

``Sungguhpun anugerah Datuk ini diberi oleh Sultan, Menteri-Menteri Besar sebenarnya berhak menasihati Sultan supaya bilangannya (anugerah) tidak dikeluarkan (secara berlebihan) dari apa yang dianggap munasabah serta mencerminkan penapisan yang teliti,'' katanya ketika dihubungi hari ini.

Beliau mengulas laporan Utusan Malaysia mengenai kebanjiran penerima anugerah kebesaran terutama Datuk yang tidak bernilai dan dilihat sebagai fenomena biasa jika diberikan secara sewenang-wenangnya.

Berdasarkan rekod, pada tahun lepas sahaja, seramai 6,314 orang menerima bintang kebesaran serta pingat daripada 13 negeri dalam Persekutuan Malaysia.

Daripada jumlah itu, 531 orang mendapat bintang kebesaran membawa gelaran Datuk dan ia tidak termasuk yang diberikan oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Rais berkata, beliau kadang kala hairan kerana ada kalangan penerima anugerah Datuk didapati tidak ada kena mengena dengan negeri berkenaan malahan ada juga sesetengah penerima terlalu muda serta belum membuktikan jasanya kepada negara.

``Tetapi oleh kerana `sumbangan' wang ringgit dan habuan tertentu, seseorang itu diberikan gelaran.

``Saya khuatir lama kelamaan rosaklah budaya Melayu sebab yang memberikan anugerah inipun adalah pihak berkuasa Melayu,'' katanya.

Rais berkata, gejala dalam pemberian anugerah Datuk juga turut berjangkit kepada mereka yang dikurniakan pingat Jaksa Pendamai (JP).

Katanya, beliau yang dipertanggungjawabkan untuk mengendalikan pemilihan lebih 3,000 JP di seluruh negara untuk beberapa pelantikan sebagai Majistret Kelas Kedua mendapati sebahagian besar penyandang jawatan itu tidak memenuhi kriteria yang ditetapkan.

Rais berkata, beliau menyedari pendedahan yang dibangkitkannya mungkin sensitif kepada orang lain, namun ia adalah soal budaya dan nilai yang perlu dihadapi dan difikirkan secara bersama.

Tegas beliau: ``Sebenarnya tidak ada undang-undang yang boleh mengehadkan (jumlah penerima Datuk) kecuali di peringkat Persekutuan yang boleh dihadkan mengikut budi bicara Perdana Menteri.

``Perdana Menteri diyakini akan menyelaraskan penganugerahan ini selaras dengan dasar menghapuskan rasuah yang diamalkan oleh beliau,'' katanya.

2. 10 negeri dikait `jual' Datuk -- Pulau Pinang, Selangor, Johor difahamkan tidak terlibat - Rais
Oleh: ROZILAN SALLEH

KUALA LUMPUR 12 Nov. - Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim berkata, hanya tiga buah negeri sahaja iaitu Johor, Pulau Pinang dan Selangor difahamkan tidak terlibat dengan `penjualan' darjah kebesaran termasuk yang membawa gelaran Datuk.

Rais berkata, perkara itu diperoleh berdasarkan maklumat yang diserahkan kepadanya.

Bagi 10 lagi negeri, beliau menjelaskan perkara itu diketahui berlaku.

``Yang lain-lain, walaupun tidak semua tetapi diketahui ada terlibat dan telah menjadi pengetahuan umum,'' katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Rais diminta mengulas lanjut pendedahannya semalam bahawa terdapat sebahagian penerima anugerah Datuk memberi habuan wang ringgit menerusi `kaki' atau ejen masing-masing.

Menurut Rais, beliau mengetahui bahawa jumlah `yang agak besar' dibayar oleh segelintir pihak untuk mendapatkan anugerah berkenaan.

Bagaimanapun beliau enggan menyatakan secara terperinci jumlah yang dibayar kepada `kaki' atau ejen berkenaan kerana menurutnya tidak mahu `menjadi punca berita'.

``Ini bukan soal setimpal atau tidak bayaran itu tetapi untuk mendapatkan gelaran itu tidak sewajarnya dengan cara bayaran,'' ujarnya.

Dalam pendedahannya semalam, beliau menegaskan perbuatan itu dilakukan dengan alasan menerusi gelaran berkenaan, mereka berupaya membuka peluang perniagaan yang lebih besar dan berada dalam `kelas perniagaan' yang tersendiri.

Utusan Malaysia melaporkan kebanjiran penerima anugerah kebesaran terutama Datuk yang tidak bernilai dan dilihat sebagai fenomena biasa jika diberikan sewenang-wenangnya.

Berdasarkan rekod, pada tahun lepas sahaja, 6,314 orang menerima bintang kebesaran serta pingat daripada 13 negeri dalam Persekutuan Malaysia.

Daripada jumlah itu, 531 orang mendapat bintang kebesaran membawa gelaran Datuk, tidak termasuk yang diberikan oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Rais juga mengakui mungkin ada pihak yang tidak senang dengan kenyataan kerasnya berhubung isu itu.

Katanya, terdapat pihak yang menghubunginya melalui telefon dan meminta tidak memperbesar-besarkan isu itu yang menurut mereka adalah kuasa kerajaan negeri.

Namun, tegasnya, perkara itu perlu didedahkan bagi memelihara institusi raja-raja daripada lumpuh dan tidak disegani lagi pada masa akan datang.

Katanya, kerajaan negeri dan raja-raja Melayu mempunyai kuasa dalam menentukan pengurniaan anugerah kepada mana-mana pihak menurut undang-undang, namun perkara itu perlu mengikut garis panduan.

Menurutnya, walaupun tidak disentuh pada mesyuarat Kabinet hari ini tetapi kemungkinan beliau akan membangkitkan perkara itu pada masa akan datang.

Langkah itu bagi membolehkan satu garis panduan berhubung penganugerahan darjah kebesaran diperkenalkan di peringkat Persekutuan sebelum diikuti negeri-negeri, jelasnya.

Beliau memberitahu, soal bukti berhubung pendedahan itu tidak perlu dibangkitkan memandangkan isu berkenaan membabitkan soal kemasyarakatan dan nilai hidup yang perlu dipertahankan untuk menjamin nilai darjah kebesaran berkenaan.

``Kalau perkara ini berleluasa, kita akan bertindak ikut undang-undang,'' katanya.

Beliau turut menyatakan rasa gembiranya dengan kesediaan Kerajaan Kedah untuk mengkaji dan memperkemaskan peraturan pengurniaan anugerah kerajaan negeri seperti yang diumumkan oleh Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Syed Razak Syed Zain.

Scrutinise Nomination Of Candidates For Awards, Says Abdullah

Realising the seriousness of state awards being abused, PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called on those responsible for nominating candidates for state honours to scrutinise the process to ensure that the recipients are really qualified.

The prime minister, however, acknowledged that the award of state honours is the prerogative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the rulers.

"We must ensure that those we propose to the Agong or the rulers are those who have really contributed their service, have done something good for which they should be honoured," he told a news conference here.

Asked to comment on a report on the abundance of award recipients of awards, especially the datuks, he said: "Those making the recommendations must scrutinise when considering the matter."

He also criticised individuals who lobbied for state awards when they had not done anything for any state.

"That's what makes it difficult sometimes," he said.

MASSA, a sister publication of Mingguan Malaysia, which tallied that a total of 6,314 titles were given away by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the 13 states in Malaysia last year, out of which 531 were Datuks.

Drilling down, Pahang was most generous in dishing out datukship (93), followed by Melaka (79), Pulau Pinang (56), Perak (53) and Sabah (51). Johor was the least with new Datuks, only two were award in 2002.

If we are all serious about protecting the awards from being given to undeserving individuals, probably the time has come to review on all the existing Datuks. Check the past and present records, activities and background to determine if they are realy qualify, or still qualify, for those titles.

Datukship must never be a permanent title once it is awarded to any individual. If the Selangor state government could withdraw the titles from two datuks, the other states should also review their datuks.

The public has a choice as which datuk to be respected. We will not pay respect to crooks, gangsters, thieves, robbers, drugs pushers and others who were involved in illegal activities but given the titles. If certain people thought that they could fool the general public or to hide their illegal activities behind those state titles and awards, they are making a big mistake. Some titles are only 'money recognition' because they are bought. They will never get the recognition of the public, who see better.

If these titles are not reviewed and mass production of datuks continues, do not surprise that one day no one will appreciate these awards and no one will show any respect. No one would even lobby or pay for it anymore!

Musa Denied Datukships in Sabah Could be Bought

Bernama quoted Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman as saying Sabah's datukship is only for those who deserve it based on their contributions to the state or country.

"We will ensure only those who deserve will get the award," he told reporters after officiating the Nadwah Nuzul Quran here Wednesday.

He was commenting on the statement made by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim Tuesday of some people having allegedly paid money for their datukship.

"So, there is no question of buying datukship, especially in Sabah," he said.

Asked whether it happened in the past, Musa who took over the chief ministership on March 27 this year, said, "That, no comment."

For Musa to make such a statement, he is either

1. misled by his men
2. out of the Sabah and does not know the reality that is happening
3. has something to hide and trying to protect those unqualified Datuks

If it is not a secret that datukships could be bought and lobbied in Sabah, Musa's statement came as a big joke.

Malaysia Cocoa Festival 2003 Far From Reaching The Standard

The five days Malaysia Cocoa Festival 2003 was concluded last night with a colourful closing. State Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail declared the festival closed on behalf of the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Although the festival has been upgraded from Sabah Cocoa Fest to Malaysia Cocoa Fest, nothing much has been upgraded nor improved. In fact it was downgraded due to the last minute withdrawal of Malaysia Cocoa Board. Even though MCB's withdrawal did not have much impact on the event but it left many people wonder what was the real motive behind.

Another interesting point to note is that, the former Chief Minister Datuk Chong Kah Kiat, who was scheduled to speak during the opening did not turn up. Chong instead sent his assistant, Datuk Karim Bujang. Even the present CM, Datuk Musa Aman who was supposed to perform the closing ceremony, sent his representative, Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail.

One wonders whether the absence of the two former and present Chief Ministers has anything to do with the withdrawal of MCB. If they are both being supportive of Tawau being the place for one big national event, they should show their presence. Could it be a mere coincident or it has been planned that way and telling the people that the state was not in favour of the Malaysia Cocoa Festival to be held during fasting month?

Datuk Musa must have forgotten that he talked about upgrading the agriculture sector the improve on state avenue. He said the state could not rely on timber anymore as it is a sunset business. If he has been sincere in what he said during the tabling of 2004 budget, Musa should personally attend the closing ceremony.

Nevetheless, the head of state, Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Ahmadsyah Abdullah was sporting enough to officate the festival and spent more than an hour touring the exhibition booths. He did not seem bothered with the lame excuses given by MCB that the reason for their withdrawal was due to their request for postponing the function to after the fasting month was rejected.

The general public was sympathetic towards the organisers due to the 'sabotage' at the last minute. However, the organisers did not perform up to their expectations of producing a national level event. Almost all the programmes were recycled from last year's Sabah Cocoa Fest. There was nothing new and some even took for granted while carrying out their duties which caused some delays and hiccups.

There were thousands of people packing the Tawau Community Hall to watch the finale programmes. However when they realised that the programme lined up were nothing new from the previous year, they left even in the middle of Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail's boring speech. There were less than half of the audience left during the last performance which was supposed to be the strongest attraction.

Talking about speeches, it seems that both Abdul Rahim Ismail and Karim Bujang, gave long winded, boring and monotonous speeches. They were practically reading like school children. Another minus point for the organiser for inviting unmotivated speakers and VIP.

Even though the organisers claimed to have spent more than half a million for the event, to most people it did not reach the national standard. Probably the organisers should, in future, widen their scope of inviting more experience and more innovative people to form their committee. Without including new blood, and keep forcing outdated ideas and presumption, Malaysia Cocoa Festival will go no where.

One very interesting point to add is that the organiser found an very competent master of ceremony, Lee Chye Ewe. He is fluent in many languages and handled both opening and closing ceremony well. He easily beats many radio and television broadcasters. It was no wonder that more praises went to the MC instead of the performances.

Abduction In Kunak, Another Setback For Sabah

November 05, 2003 10:03 AM
By Newmond Tibin

LAHAD DATU, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Fisherman Mohamad Jumlie, 40, of Kampung Panji, near here is no greenhorn.

Years of experience in navigating the waters off Sabah's east coast especially Lahad Datu, Kunak and Semporna has made him knowledgeable about the area, which is rich in marine resources.

He knows when it is a good time to go out to sea, find shoals of fish and take shelter during adverse weather.

Even then, when met by Bernama recently, he admitted that he still did not know all the estuaries in the area.

This includes the Sungai Sabahan in Kunak, which caused a scare early last month following the abduction of six workers of the Borneo Paradise Resort.

"I've heard of the river but I don't know which one is its estuary. I didn't know that a resort is there. I knew about it when I read the newspaper about the abduction...I was shocked. How could such a thing happen," said Mohamad.

Only one of the six workers managed to escape his abductors while the fate of the others is still unknown although unverified reports said they were killed in a shooting incident outside the town of Languyan on Tawi-Tawi island last Oct 27.

The fact that they were brought to southern Philippines seemed to confirm the suspicion of former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Norian Mai of local criminals being in cahoots with outsiders.

The abduction led to various speculations among the local population but, one thing is sure, they want an end to it.

The abduction carried out by 10 gunmen on the night of Oct 5 was the third incident of its kind to have occurred in the east coast of Sabah.

Two earlier incidents involved the abduction of 21 people including nine Malaysians from Pulau Sipadan in April 2000 and three Malaysians from Pulau Pandanan in September the same year.

So far, no one knows who is behind the latest abduction although there were reports linking it to a group of kidnappers operating in southern Philippines, including the Abu Sayyaf group.

The incident highlights the fact that criminals will always act when there is an opportunity to carry out their evil scheme.

The long and porous border make patrolling difficult while the criminals only need one to three hours to escape into international waters from any of the small islands dotting the waters of the Sabah's east coast.

If there is truth of a link between local criminals and their foreign counterparts, then the challenge for the authorities is not just to patrol the coastal waters to prevent intrusion but also to severe the link.

Social activist Patrick Sindu said that "our defence could be as formidable as Mount Kinabalu" but it makes no difference if the locals were helping outsiders to commit crimes.

"The incidents at Sipadan, Pandanan and Kunak are lessons for us to unite and work together with the security forces to ensure such incidents would not be repeated," he said.

Patrick also urged the authorities to be firm against any quarters found harbouring illegal immigrants.

Resort owners should also stop the practice of employing foreigners as security guards and instead to recruit the locals, he said.

The local population feel the security patrols along the Sabah's coast should be more than enough to ensure safety.

But things do happen.

The abduction will not end if there are still armed groups who believe that they can make money from such activities.

The third abduction can still be dismissed as an isolated case but it is another breach of our waters of marine rich resources.

-- BERNAMA

Sad Stories In Schools

School term for the year 2003 is almost coming to an end. In fact some of the secondary schools have already closed to give way to the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolah Malaysia (STPM) examinations.

Students and teachers are the happiest when school holidays approaching. They can finally take a long rest after about 10 months of hardwork. Teachers who are posted far away from their hometowns have already left for home. Others are planning for the vacations.

However, there are thousands of students who have to sit for their examinations and teachers who have been assigned to invigilate the examninations. They might need to be a little patient until their examinations over.

Some parents are relieved that they can now rest for a while for not having to juggle between work and school, sending children for tuitions and art lessons. Some mothers have been full time drivers sending and picking children from school. Then later part of the day sending them out again for tuitions, computer class, art lessons, dancing and a lot more. To them they too can take a rest during the school holidays.

Some parents, on the other hand, are having problem for not knowing what to do with their children during the two month holidays. Working parents especially, might have problem not being able to spend time with their children during school holidays. They are worried to leave their children at home alone, but what choice do they have?

These are the yearly scenario of students, teachers and parents. We are all very familiar with these year in year out. There are, however, more to this cycle which affect all of us.

School text books, reference books, and workbooks publishers are rushing to push out their products to all corners of the country. For text books they have spent a lot of money hiring well known authors to write for them then getting them approved by the Ministry of Education. If their text books are approved, they are sure to have a lot of money rolling into their bank accounts for at least 5 years before the books are reviewed.

The process might look normal, but a lot of the text books written by 'big names' are found to have lots of mistakes, irrelavant and contradicting facts, which are both misleading and humiliating. Unless the teachers using those books are very careful, knowledgable and responsible, they might just impart the wrong facts to their students. Some mistakes were never noticed even until the books expired.

This is the case when textbooks are written purely for commercial purpose. The contents are not that important. The most important issue is whether the book is accepted by the Education Ministry. If the approved textbooks are found to have so many mistakes, written for unsuitable level, it is not difficult for the public to guess the hanky panky things happening during the process of approval. If anyone would like to challenge to this, then make the approval of text books transparent or better let the public too take part in reviewing the books before approval.

For the reference books and workbook, no approval is needed from the Ministry of Education. What is needed is only the endorsement of the the headmasters or teachers concerned. That is why teachers and their superiors in school have been very popular during this time. They are most wanted by the book salesmen.

In order to get the school using their reference books and workbooks, salesmen, when failed to convince the teachers, offer many perks, such as commissions, computers, furniture, holiday package and many more depending on the negotiation. Some schools or teachers openly accepted the offer (bribe to be exact) but some receive it quietly outside.

The schools and teachers concerned are most likely to be influenced by the perks that they are offered when making decision on which workbooks and reference books to use. Their decision is less likely basing on the contents, quality of the book and the suitability for their students. That is the why many parents complained about too many homework, too many books for a single subject, heavy school bags. Some parents even complained that the textbooks are hardly touched by the teachers. The reason is, the teacher's noble profession has been compromised, commercialised and enterprised.

The poor students and parents have no choice but to follow whatever the school or teachers decide. Once the school makes it compulsory for the students to buy certain books, their parents have to fork out all the money with protest. Here is how registration fees during the new school term is ever increasing. Imagine how much parents who have many school going children have to pay at each beginning of the year. Bonuses, if any, will never be enough for their children's books, let alone to enjoy.

The story does not end there. Enterprising teachers openly look for students for tuition in class. Some show favourtism towards their tuition students. During tuition, they would intentionally or otherwise concentrate on questions which they would set during the school tests or examninations. Thus making their tuition students score high marks in order to impress their parents. It also helps to advertise and promote for the teachers to have more tuition students.

With the increasing number of workbooks and reference used, both in primary and secondary schools, most school based examination questions are taken directly from these books. With the advancement of photocopy machines and computers, teachers take the easiest way out by replacing heading with the name of the school on top of the sample examination papers taken from reference books. Gone are the days where teachers set their own question paper to really test the students' understanding and achievement.

Unfortunately, when teachers fails to teach but been taught by others for personal interests and benefits, we could expect what will happen to the younger generations. If we do nothing about it, we too are responsible for all these.

No one would deny that there are still good teachers around, but sadly the number is decreasing. If there is anything the Ministry of Education wants to improve, then look into this unhealthy culture both within the ministry and schools. Education officers should visit the schools more and not just practicing arm-chair planning. Stop talking about any upgrading courses for teachers, or implementation of new policies without first bring back the noble way of teaching. Stop pushing the teachers with administrative and unimportant surveys and blue prints but let them go back to their chore business, teaching.

Terima Kasih Tun Dr Mahathir

Selama 22 tahun
engkau memimpin kami
membimbing kami
melindungi kami
bersama-sama kami
kami ucapkan terima kasih

Atas wawasanmu
yang membawa kami
pada apa yang ada pada kami hari ini
menjadi model kepada dunia
sebuah negera yang kita sama-sama
merasa bangga
kami ucapkan terima kasih

Atas kesabaranmu
dan kemaafanmu
menerima kami semua
tanpa sebarang diskriminasi
atau pilih kasih
kami ucapkan terima kasih

Atas segala yang telah engkau lakukan
barangkali ada yang kami kurang faham
atau telah salah faham
tetapi kami tahu
lambat laun kita akan ketahui jua
tujuan murnimu
semuanya untuk kami
untuk kita semua
kami ucapkan terima kasih
Tun Dr Mahathir

Thank You Tun Dr Mahathir

For the 22 years
your have led us
guided us
protected us
be with us
we thank you

For your vision
that brought us all
to where we are today
the model of the world
a country we could all
be so proud of
we thank you

For all your patience
and your forgiveness
to accept us all
with no discrimination
and favouritism
we thank you

For all that you have done
that we might not understand
and have misunderstood you
but we now know
sooner we will come to know
your reasons for doing so
it is for us
all of us
we thank you,
Tun Dr Mahathir

Musa Aman Must Make A Turn

Datuk Musa Aman became the latest Chief Minister of Sabah in March 2003 after Datuk Chong Kah Kiat’s term expired. He is filling in the Muslim Bumiputera quota in the rotation system for Sabah Chief Ministership.

Sabah politics has been very different from the rest of states in Malaysia. It is also not similar to its neighbouring state of Sarawak. The first party to rule the state after Sabah joined Malaysia was USNO which was lead by the late Tun Datu Mustapha. USNo stayed in power for 9 years before falling to BERJAYA which was lead by Datuk Harris Salleh.

Datuk Harris was too powerful at one time and arrogant offended many people. One of them was Datuk Pairin Kitinggan. He quit BERJAYA and contested as a independent candidates and defeated Datuk Harris’ man. Out of anger, Datuk Harris withdrew the district status of Tambunan which was represented by Datuk Pairin.

His action angered the locals especially the Kadazans. An election was called in 1985 and saw the downfall of Datuk Harris. He himself was defeated by a nobody in politics, Datuk Kadoh Agundong. Even though there were series of by elections and general state elections due to party hopping and camp switching but eventually PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) formed the first Kadazan-Dusun lead government. BERJAYA fell after 9 years. Datuk Harris tried many times to make a political come back but failed.

PBS’s under Datuk Pairin went through many stages of challenges due to the sour relationship with Kuala Lumpur. Datuk Pairin tried to improve the tie by joining the BN but was accused of back stabbing when they pulled out of the coalition after the nomination day. Thus made the PBS the biggest political enemies of BN. Political frogs culture started and almost all the politicians then were at one time or another has switched party at least once. Top of them all was Datuk Pairin’s own brother Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitinggan. He has been in PBS, PBRS, AKAR, back in PBS and out to PBRS. He tried to join UMNO but was rejected. He might make more jumps later on.

PBS eventually fell after the magical number of 9 years due to big desertion of its state assemblymen and strong ‘fishing’ of political frogs from BN (Barisan Nasional) or to be exact UMNO. The UMNO fishermen was lead by Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim with the helped of Dato’ Kadir Sheik Fadzir and Dato’ Ibrahim Ali.

When BN ruled back Sabah with the support of political frogs, the Prime Minister suggested a rotation system for the post of Chief Minister. His intention was to have all the races especially the Muslim bumiputera, Non-Muslim bumiputera and the Chinese to have a equal chance to lead the state. Each CM would lead the government for two years. It was seems the best solution at that time.

Tun Sakaran Dandai was the first to be sworn in as the Chief Minster but he did not finish his term as he was made the state governor. Datuk Salleh Said Keruak then took over for a term of two years. The chair was a little too comfortable for Salleh. He refused to go when his time was out. He created many issues and wanted to call off the rotation system. He even had a group of supporters shaven bald to protest.

With strong pressure from Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Salleh reluctantly pass the chief ministership to Datuk Yong Teck Lee, the President of SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party). Yong’s road to Chief Minister’s chair was not actually smooth. Even though SAPP which was formed from former Chinese leaders of PBS helped to BN to win the election, Yong was entangled in a court case involving illegal demonstration. After some terms were fulfilled quietly, the charges were dropped.

Since Yong is a Chinese, there was no fuss about abolishing the rotation of Chief Minister. During Yong’s time, the power of Chief Minister was trimmed. Yong then peacefully handed his responsibilities to Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Bernard Dompok was unlucky as he did not manage to complete his two year term. He lost in the state election he lead. Reluctant but no choice, Bernard has to leave and the CM post was taken over by Datuk Osu Sukam.

When Osu took over, the issue of abolishing the rotation system was blown up again. He even ganged up a group politicians to stop his successor, Datuk Chong Kah Kiat from taking over. His reason was that Datuk Chong, President of Liberal Democratic Party was only a minority leader. LDP only has two state representatives in the state. The other one being Datuk Wong Lien Tat from Sandakan. UMNO which has the majority number of representatives should, according to Osu, be given the chance to continue leading the state.

Of course Datuk Osu’s plan was not successful and because of his action he was frozen politically. His political future considered finished unless some miracle would happen.

Datuk Chong Kah Kiat gave a very impressive starting by announcing his plans to wipe off the three sins of Sabah namely timber thief, fish bombing and illegal immigrants. However, besides Ops Nyiah II which sent back thousands of Filipinos and Indonesians who entered the state illegally, the other two sins remain. Chong also got into a lot of trouble because of Kota Kinabalu car park and the re-appointment of mayor. He is currently badly hit by poison pen letters, purportedly distributed by SAPP.

Chong, like Yong, also handed over his duties to Datuk Musa Aman. According to the initial rotation system, Chong was supposed to be succeeded by a non-Muslim bumiputera. However, the system was altered to allow an UMNO to be the Chief Minister after every term of non-Muslim bumiputera or Chinese. The alteration was made mainly due to the call for abolishing of the system.

Before Datuk Musa even warm his chair, there were already cals for the rotation to be abolished. This is of course over politicking created by his followers and those seeking favours. Due to these strong politicking on the issues of rotations, the previous Chief Ministers failed to concentrate on their core business of administer the state. The have always been dragged or willingly get involved in the controversial.

Therefore, if Datuk Musa is sincere in wanting to bring about better future for Sabah, he must never get involved in this issue. He must instead pay his full attention in developing the state and rebuild the economy of Sabah, which he is there for.

Let the people of Sabah judge for themselves on Musa’s performance. Politicians who have run out of issues to apple polishing the CM must be stopped and ignored. They only fooling themselves by bringing up the issues. Everyone is aware of their true colours and intentions.

If Datuk Musa wants a change, he should make a turn from the old tradition. He would then lead well and would be respected as a real leader.

Let the people judge and let the people see if Musa should stay or go. Let us decide if the rotation should stay or go when the time comes. Let us also see who the frogs are and who the fools are.

The Goodman Is Always Wrong

We have a very unhealthy attitude that is blaming others for whatever reasons or excuses we could think of. We refuse to accept our mistake and refuse to admit our wrong doings.

Take for example if we were to be caught pants down doing something which we are not supposed to do, we would quickly and professionally blame it on our partners, if there is any, or our superiors for lack of guidance, or to our subordinates for the wrong advice given, or anything else that comes to our mind at that time. We give all kind of excuses to get protect our guilty and faults. No one, the blogger included, could deny that they have not blamed anyone before in their entire life just to safe their own face.

Journalists or media have always been the targets of blaming for wrong quotation or misleading facts. Even if the journalists could come up proof and recording they sometimes have to swallowed it all. Politicians, especially those who speak without thinking, would always put the blame on the reporters when what they said caused public outcry. That’s why, don’t expect too much from a controlled newspapers because what you read or what you see is not what actually happen. What you read is only what others want you to see and believe.

Readers before the IT era would almost believe everything what the newspapers reported. It is a totally different situation now days. Information, be it right or wrong, is easily available on the internet. So be careful the next time when you are trying to fool the people. You might get yourself fooled. If you are unlucky you might be caught sleeping during assembly and have your pictures or video posted in the internet.

Back to the topic of blaming others, Sabah football fans put the blame on the poor refereeing when Sabah lost to Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya during the last Malaysia Cup. The referee might have at a certain point made a mistake or two but he could not take the blame for the whole defeat. We can’t just give up the game if we find the refereeing is unfair.

Similarly, Sabahans put the blame on illegal immigrants when more and more social problems were reported. We blame them for robbing our employment opportunities. We blame them for dirtying our towns and spreading of diseases. We blame them for bringing in more social ills, prostitution, drug trafficking and crimes. The politicians on the other hand blame the foreigners for being phantom voters and resulted in their defeats in elections.

But who was the one who first allowed them into this state at the first place? We practised double standard and offering foreigner citizenship but made it difficult for locals? Don’t we forget that it was we, the Sabahans, who offered them jobs in the plantations, restaurants and construction industries. It was also we ourselves who were reluctant to work in aquaculture and agriculture sectors, which forced these sectors to look for cheaper labour forces. We created the opportunity for others in the expense of our own wealth, health and security.

It was also our own ‘ali baba’ mentality that we apply for various trading licenses and rent or sell them out to the foreigners to trade in markets and road sides. The politicians and the local government officers were the one who were involved in forging identity cards and birth certificates and made the newly imported foreigners as eligible voters during elections. For the sake of winning, some politicians could buy and sell anything, even their own country, to achieve their selfish dreams. When these foreigners with Malaysian identity cards or even Mycards, due to better offer, voted for someone else during elections, the dissatisfied losers lodged complaints. Aren’t all these are the results of our own selfishness?

We blame the government for not providing enough security for the state. The truth is we are hiring foreigners as our security guards. We spent millions in our investments but employ cheap foreign security guards. What happened in Borneo Paradise in Kunak is one good example. If we were to employ a cat to look after our fish the chances are our fish will be gone sooner or later.

Remember once a foreigner was found to be a town councillor of Tawau Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Tawau)?. He was there for years before he was found to be a foreigner. If he was involved in drafting by-laws concerning foreigners, or involved in enforcement unit going after illegal hawkers, do you think he would do a good job? Certainly not.

Who are we to blame? Blame it to ourselves.

We were talking about illegal logging, smuggling and corruption. We are angry when the guilty got their names cleaned and let free just because there was lack of evidence. Was it true that there was really lack of evident or it was because evident was purposely denied and ignored?

The present system provides no guarantee or adequate security for witness. Not many people would like to be a witness in cases involving smuggling, illegal logging, corruption, murder and drug trafficking. The reason being simple, they fear of their own safety and future more than they want to do justice to the country. The culprits are much too powerful so much so that they could determine the verdict. Heard of judges being threatened and killed? Or the witness family being threatened and harmed?

Remember many years ago when a group of Sabah footballers were banished because they were found guilty of match fixing? How could one fix the game without a bookie. But why no bookies were booked and charged? Why only victimised the players who have been threatened by the powerful people who made millions of Ringgit for every match? Simple, they could not tell the whole truth because too many prominent people were involved as bookies.

Many a times when something controversial was brought up, most people are more interested to know the identity of the person who brought the issue up instead of looking into what has been reviewed. This informer is investigated more than the culprits. If he is found to have had a bad record previously then that would be used to discredit him and weaken his credibility.

When a group of Singaporean mentioned about illegal logging activities in Maliu Basin they were bombarded for making public the issues without first quietly inform the authorities. The then Chief Minister was the once who got extremely furious on the matter. When the Singaporeans apologised, the case was closed. Strange. Aren’t we missing the main point here? The focus has been shifted. It was supposed to be the illegal logging which should be the focus but instead it was diverted. Similarly Daily Express was blamed for reviewing the illegal logging in Benta Wawasan. The general public of course are well aware of the true intention of why focus was diverted.

There are many more similar examples where we chose to nail down the informer and intentionally forget the big issue he or she brought up. Therefore we always read reports in newspapers that the ACA (Anti Corruption Agency) would not initiate any investigation before there is any former report being lodged. Who would come forward to lodge the report if he would be ridiculed and become the target of threats, humiliation and condemn?

I was just wondering, does a doctor need a patients to be brought to the hospital first before he could treat him and would not see any patients whom he happen to meet during accident or so?

If such blaming attitude was to continue, we will have the same scenario repeating one after another. The society would keep worshiping the wrong hero when thieves and gangsters are rewarded and accorded datukship. The strong and powerful will always rule either by force or money. The poor will always stay poor.

The Goodman will always be wrong and the badman will always be right.

What's Wrong With Chong Kah Kiat?

The poison pen letters seem to resurface again in Sabah after a few years. It is understandable since the general election is coming soon. This is the time for aspiring politicians to lobby for seats and for the potential candidates to kill off their possible rivals in whatever ways they could think of.

Among the Chinese community, the former Chief Minister Datuk Chong Kah Kiat is the target. He is under intense attacked by many groups of people. Some of his so call loyal followers have come out in support of him by giving various press statements hoping the fight off the smear campaign. But these are just puppets who have been instructed to do so.

It is not difficult to understand why Chong Kah Kiat is the target of all poison pen letters. It has a lot to do with his personality and what he has done both to his followers and his political rivals.

Chong is undeniable a very proud person who doesn't mix around with people easily especially those who are not considered as his inner circle friends. He is suspicious about anybody who get close to him. He doesn't even look at the person who shakes his hand. He is not playing cool but he is lack of public relations lessons. This has a lot to do with what he has gone through in his political career.

Chong has never won a single election at the earlier stage when he formed Liberal Democratic Party. People in Kudat where his home town is, preferred other candidates than him. He claimed to be the leader for people in Kudat but people in Kudat think otherwise. He thinks he was betrayed and deceived many times by his own close allies. The facts is he was dumped. This explains why he is always suspicious towards anybody who gets near him.

His political career only changed when he was made a senator and a federal minister. It was an gratitude from the Prime Minister to help him fight his party presidency battle with Datuk Kong Hon Ming. But his vitory against Kong was not easy. He spent a lot of money buying votes from delegates, pampered them with delicious meals and luxury hotels.

To avoid further back stabbing and betrayal from his follower, he practices cronism and favouritism. He made his sister, Naomi Chong, the women head of the party and his brother-in-law, Lee Chuan Wan, one of the vice presidents. His other sister Jenny Chong is one of the central committee member.

He determined all the line up of central committee members. Though it was seen as if the central committee members were elected but their positions were predetermined through a 'menu' distributed to the delegates hours before party elections. Non Yes-man in the party will not get elected because they are never in his 'menu'. That's why during any of the central committee meeting, no one else talk except the president. It was a briefing everytime and never a meeting.

When the rotation of Chief Minster in Sabah was introduced by PM to cool down the intense politicking and power struggle among the various ethnic groups in Sabah, Chong arrogantly said that Chinese is not suitable to be made a Chief Minister. He was trying to undermine the then Chinese CM from his rival party Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

Datuk Chong has openly announced Datuk Yong as his enemy. He blamed Yong for ditching one of his strong and capable Vice President Henry Lee. Henry Lee was then leading a very strong team of quality members in Tawau and has been well accepted by the local people due to his community work. Henry was too strong that Chong feared that he might be overthrown. He therefore trying to clip Henry's wings and ignore him.

Yong meanwhile recognises Henry's capabilities and invited him to join Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) which he leads. Though reluctant but Henry eventually left LDP due to frustration and cold shouder from his president. He later joined SAPP with all his strong supporters. There was a big reception for Henry where all the big guns in SAPP attended the function to welcome Henry. The news was well publicised in all local dailies.

Chong was humiliated by his own action but refused to admit. He claimed that Yong was the invisible hand behind to voo Henry to SAPP. Yong and SAPP of course denied it. The misunderstanding, or rather demonstrated misunderstanding, betwee Yong and Chong deepened. From then one Chong would boycot all functions attended by Yong.

When Chong's turn came to be the CM, he accepted it without saying a word of his previous opinion that Chinese is not suitable to be Sabah CM. Instead of bringing development to the people, he started his political revenge. He announced his strategies to go all out for the 3 sins namely timber thieves, fish bombing and illegal immigrants. It looked promising at the beginning.

He set up a special unit to investigate the illegal logging activities in the state. These unit was efficient initially as there were many cases been brought to the knowledge of the people. Local dailies also helped to expose many such illegal activities. Daily Epress, one of the local dailies even ran a special report on one timber thief being supported by top level politicians.

True colour of Chong eventually surfaced. None of those exposed were booked or brought to court. They were all let off saying that no illegal logging were involved. Chong denied every single illegal logging reported. What's the truth? The truth is, the special unit set up by the CM was Chong's strategies in receiving pay off from the guilties where normally would have gone to the forestry department. In order to get a share of the loot, a special unit which has power above the forestry department was set up.

Therefore the unit was only efficient at investigation level and that's it. These unit of course scored big success when timber thieves in the state who were threatened made generous donations to Chong personally as well as to his party function. Some even joined his party. One such person is Datuk Elbert Lim. He was even made a youth chief for one of the party divisions. Elbert's application to join the party was objected by some of the party members but the president insisted of accepting him. To the public, it was a big slap on the face for Chong when he failed to stop the activities of timber thieves which he vowed but in the contrary accepted a timber thief into his party.

The Ops Nyiah II which sent back illegal immigrants in the state was actually a nation wide exercise and was not Chong's idea. So Chong could claim no credits on that. His other plan to fight fish bombing also failed. This was due to his ignorant. Instead of controlling the supply of explosive for fish bombing and catching fish mongers who buy bombed fish, Chong chosed to send out marine police to patrol on sea. When the supply and demand are not cut off, how could he stop the fish bombing in open sea? Therefore fish bombing activities is still rampant and more corals are destroyed.

Chong also revoked the lopsided agreements on car rental by local councils. On this he has received praises from the public. However he once again stepped on the toes of Yong's followers as the car rental companies were operated by Yong's people.

Chong instead of reducing the number of 4D pundits has added more into the state claiming that more is better for curbing illegal gambling. The truth is, he was giving opportunity for his own followers to own the 4D outlets which is considered as a lucrative business.

To further improve his personal revenue, Chong signed off car parks contract in Kota Kinabalu to his followers namely Datuk Yong Cheong Fah, YC Lau and Leong Kam Ming. The trio formed a company called ikhtisas Wawasan Sdn. Bhd. He teamed up with the Mayor Datuk Abdul Ghani to make his plan successful. Carpark contract is nothing but by pushing up the parking rate skyhigh to make an instant fortune from the poor cityfolks is terrible. He promised to solve the problem during the Likas by-election but kept quiet after the by-election. He was all for his personal interest. That also explains why the Mayor's term was quickly renewed before Chong's term as CM expired.

The ugly side of Chong could go on and on. He just added another chapter in his act of cronism when his sister Naomi was elected a senator.

No further explanation is needed to prove but with facts lying down in the eyes of public, we the public judge better. So, to Datuk Chong, you asked for it and you deserve it.

Who Should Lead Tawau?

With the next general election fast approaching, politicians, old and new, are gearing up to lobby for the chance to represent the Barisan Nasional (BN). Top level leaderships always stressed that only responsible, reliable and hardworking state assemblymen / members of parliament will be retain. However, time and again, these assurance seems to be mere talking and empty promises. We were given too many unsuitable candidates to choose from, or rather, no choice to make at all during the past elections.

Take for example Tawau. The Tawau Parliamentary consists of Sri Tanjung, Merotai and Kalabakan state constituencies. Tawau is represented by Shim Paw Fatt while Samson Chin, Datuk Dr Patawari Patawe and Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh represent Sri Tanjung, Merotai and Kalabakan respectively.

Shim Paw Fatt is a lawyer by profession. A quiet man who doesn't care too much about public relations. Most of his public relationships with either the government departments or the society are done by his assistants. Here is where the problem arises when his assistants went over the limit by assuming Shim's position and acted as if they are the member of parliament.

One of such incidents was when one of his assistants arrogantly instructed the Tawau Branch National Registration Director (Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran) to wait for Shim on one Friday morning. He was reminded to make sure that he is there waiting since Shim is very busy and does not want to wait for this Director. The appointment was fixed by his assistant at 11.00am.

The director felt deeply insulted and humiliate by the way an appointment was arranged. Furthermore, being a Friday morning where the muslims are going for prayers at 11.30am, there is nothing much to discuss in such a short time. The appointment however did not materialise because the director did not bother Shim's assistant. Shim's assistant went round to say that the director was incooperative but unless we know the real situation, we would have believed him. This is only once such out of so many examples where Shim's assistants spoilt all the good name and the good opportunities to solve the people's problem, and to understand the real situation of government department functions.

Shim himself, however, although being a senior lawyer in Tawau, did not do much for the people of Tawau. He has nothing to be proud of after being an MP since 1999. He was only concentrating on petty issues involving rubbish, clogged drains, central market and other minor issues which could be easily solved by any ordinary people.

Being a Member of Parliament of Tawau Shim, (or Simpang Empat as he is known among his frustrated followers since he doesn't know what to do, always at the crossroad) has failed to come out with a long term plan to improve the lifelyhood of the people in Tawau. There wasn't any real development plan ever been drafted or proposed. That's why after almost 5 years being the MP, Shim is still busy visiting clogged drains and smelly rubbish sites.

Sri Tanjung State Assemblyman, Samson Chin is also a lawyer. He is worse compared to Shim. Samson did not even have clogged drains or smelling rubbish sites to visit. Being a Party Bersatu Sabah (PBS) state assemblyman, he has received his 'gaji buta' for so many years until PBS formerly rejoined BN.

Hoping that situation would improve after PBS rejoined BN was a big let down. Samson Chin took an opportunity to throw a birthday party for his mother by inviting more than a thousand people from Tawau. Everyone was expecting the dinner was free since that was the first time ever this stingy politician ever given a party.

Samson once again disappointed the people by asking for ang paw. He also used that function to praise his PBS leaders who turned up in full force. Invited guests were forced to listen to his boring lecture after reluctantly forking out the ang paw. What was his real motives in arranging for such dinner is yet to be known.

Samson Chin who gave zero activities record for being the DAP member of parliament for Tawau is about to pass up yet another zero record for his tenure as the Sri Tanjung state assemblyman. He is too comfortable receving his 'gaji buta'. His reason was simple, since he was in the opposition, there was nothing he could do because there was no fund, no allocation and no assistant from the federal government. Therefore, no action, no effort, no activities, no changes. Now that he has joined BN, he still could not change his attitude. There is no difference in having a YB or not having one.

Datuk Ghapur and Dr Patawari are known political rivals. Most of their time was spent to strengthen their own influence in their constituencies. More time is spent on political issues rather than carrying duties as state assemblymen. Not much effort has been given for the welfare and benefits of the people. With the new delineation of boundaries, Ghapur is expected to be moved away from Kalabakan which is now a Parliamentary seat.

Dr Patawari who is a state assistant minister is relying on his assistant, Mohamad Manuke, to carry out his duties in Merotai while he concentrates on his work in the state capital. Mohamad Manuke is one big crocodile who takes every opportunity to squeeze and manipulate everything.

Ghapur who seems not being in the good book of the Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman is fighting a losing battle to maintain his position. Being an Arab parentage, he makes use of his deputy, Samsul Alang to help gaining support of the Bugis who form the majority Malay in Tawau. Unfortunately, instead of helping the people of Tawau especially the muslims and bumiputeras, Samsul is now operating buses transpoting passengers to and fro Tawau Airport, affecting many taxi drivers. He also grabs all the business opportunities allocated for the bumiputeras.

Another interesting personality to watch is Chua Soon Bui who was the former MP for Tawau before Shim Paw Fatt took over. She is still hoping to make a come back in active political scene. Being the first ever lady MP from Tawau, it was a big hu ha for a lot of people. It was supposed to be a proud moment for the women who believe in equal opportunity for both sexes. However, Chua disappointed them and embarrassed them. Chua has a strong addiction for publicity. She was too much involved in arranging for her publicity that she forgot that she was an MP and not a fashion model.

Chua, during her parliamentary sessions, always has head turns when she made speeches in the Parliament because of her over-dressing and over-body language. She was also emotionally involved with an MCA MP who sits beside her in the Parliament. That explains why she was always missing immediately after any parliamentary meetings.

Chua has a special liking of seeing herself photographed and published in papers. She would grab any opportunity to be in the lime light. People in Tawau are fed-up with her face appearing in newspapers everyday doing nothing important besides attending wedding, open house, school sports day and visiting new born babies in hospital.

How could she made herself appear in newspapers when she attend no important functions? How could the local dailies spam the public with rubbish news? The answer is simple, pay the reporters or write her own news then bribe the editors. She is so much addicted to fame that she insists people on addressing her as YB even though she has been replaced 4 years ago.

These are among the aspiring YBs for the coming election. If the people of Tawau still want the same brand of politicians, doing petty matters for them and allow Tawau to be left behind compared to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan in terms of development, then go ahead and pray that these people are returned and become YBs again. Otherwise, look beyond and look for someone new, not reconditioned politicians, to lead Tawau. Tawau could not take another 5 years to test out another politician with no vision and no passion for his people.

Tawau Otentik Quarry - Only Tragedy Will It Stop

Kampung folks in Tanjung Batu, Tawau have been living in fear for years. Their pleas have never been taken into consideration. Numerous accidents at the quarry which resulted in death of innocent lives from the Otentik Quarry, but no order has ever been issued to stop the quarry from operating.

Otentik Quarry, which operates on a piece of forest reserve of the Kukusan Forest Reserve, is located at the centre of a very populated area of Tanjung Batu in Tawau. There are more than 200 families living at the foot of the mountain or nearby. The distance between the residential area and the quarry is less than 500 metres. The quarry is only a few kilometers away from Tawau town.

Besides having to tolerate with the danger of flying rocks from blasting, the people of Tanjung Batu also have to bear with the high density of dust and noise pollution. The operator went against all laws, disregards the impacts it brought to environment and worst, the danger they created to human lives living nearby.

Fearing for their safety, health and security, the residents have made many complaints to many authorities, local, state and even to the federal levels. A committee was also form to fight for their rights. Sadly, no one listens and no one takes any actions. Politicians approached only gave empty promises, which they are expert in.

To add salt to injury, in May 2003, the status of the 66-hectare Kukusan Forest Reserve has been re-classified from a Class I Protection Forest to a Class II Commercial Forest to enable revenue diversification through non-forest and multi-use forest development.

Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Lajim Ukin who tabled the Forests (Constitution of Forest Reserves and Amendment) (Amendment) Enactment 2003 said the State Government had to re-evaluate the reserve’s status from the geological, flora, fauna and bio-diversity aspects.

“Furthermore, the reserve has become a secondary forest reserve with low density of timber and in some places has been encroached upon by illegal squatter structures and planted with cash crops,” he said.

The changes will also enable the State Government to streamline the regulation of quarry activities for which a licence was issued in 1967.

“The licence and permission to quarry in the area was renewed every five years until 1997,” he said, adding that complications arose when the area was classified as Class I Protected Forest Reserve in 1984.

Therefore, the reclassification into a Commercial Forest and continuation of the quarry activities would benefit the Government as the licence fee gives the State Government RM84,000 as well as job opportunities to the locals.
Apart from that, it would provide for better control and update of the forest administration in terms of legislation and management.

However the minister failed to review the why the timber in a forest reserve would disappear? It is not difficult for him to inform the house of representatives that the quarry operator has illegally chopped and sold the logs to make way for their quarry activities. How could it be called a forest reserve when people could fell timber in broad day light?

The minister also did no review that tons of money have been sent to the Forestry Department and certain ministers in order for the quarry license to be renewed every year. Why not name these people who have benefited more than RM84,000, and not the state government?

He did not mention at all the hardship of the local people, not illegal squatters (since the Ops Nyiah has sent all the foreigners home), who have suffered for so many years because of the existent of the quarry. For RM84,000, the state government chose to sacrifice the welfare of the poor kampong folks.

You might ask why the state government is so insensitive? No, the Government, or rather the interested lots in the government, are actually sensitive, but they are sensitive towards their own interests and benefits.

By amending the law the interested lot ensure their ‘income’ is intact. The quarry is owned by a very wealthy businessman who had helped many politicians during their election campaigns. The quarry also gives free or at a discounted price for supply of stones to the ‘wakil rakyat’ for their rural road projects. These YBs then claimed from the government for full cost.

So it is not difficult to reason out why the so call ‘wakil rakyat’ never took care of the people’s welfare. They themselves are too busy taking care of their own pockets by denying the rights of the people whom they have deceived into voting for them during the general election. Not only that, to further safeguard their interests, they even pressured the various government agencies like the Department of Environment (DOE) and Environment Conservation Department (ECD) from taking any serious action. As such these government agencies are only capable of going after the small fish and letting the big fish at loose.

Such is the situation of how rotten and how corrupted those authorities who were supposed to safeguard the people’s interests and rights but instead help to making illegal fortune for those unscrupulous politicians. These are the people who have actually robbed the people of Sabah their rights, pride and dignity.

Lembaga Koko Malaysia Membunuh Bayi Kandungannya Sendiri

Tidak sampai dua mingggu daripada tarikh sebenar Fiesta Koko Malaysia yang julung-julung kali diadakan, satu satu penganjur utama, Lembaga Koko Malaysia (LKM), mengumumkan penarikan diri daripada acara tersebut. Sedangkan LKM adalah badan yang bertanggungjawab untuk mengkaji, menyelidik, mempromosi dan mengembangkan pasaran koko Malaysia ke serluruh dunia.

LKM meninggalkan dua rakan penganjur bersama, Majlis Perbandaran Tawau dan Teck Guan Group yang telah sama-sama menganjurkan acara tahunan tersebut sejak 8 tahun yang lalu. Ia bermula dengan Pesta Koko Tawau yang kemudiannya dinaikkan taraf ke Pesta Koko Sabah pada tahun lepas (2002) dan tahun ini diberi pengiktirafan menganjurkan Fiesta Koko Malaysia.

Namun, Ketua Pengarah Lembaga Koko Malaysia, Dr Azhar Ismail mengumumkan mereka telah membuat keputusan untuk menarik diri daripada terus menganjurkan acara tersebut kerana permintaan LKM supaya acara tersebut ditunda untuk menghormati bulan Ramadan ditolak oleh dua penganjur bersama yang lain.

Tindakan LKM adalah sama seperti menikan kedua rakan perjuangannya dari belakang. Ia juga menunjukkan rasa tidak tanggungjawab LKM dalam mengendalikan satu acara bertaraf kebangsaan. Ia juga sekaligus menampakkan kebudak-budakan LKM yang merajuk apabila permintaan mereka ditolak.

Akan tetapi, alasan LKM untuk menarik diri sekadar kerana untuk menghormati bulan adalah tidak munasabah. Lembaga Koko Malaysia sebagai salah satu penganjur cukup arif bahawa penentapan tarikh Fiesta Koko Malaysia pada tahun ini jatuh dalam bulan Ramadan. Tarikh tersebut telah ditetapkan pada tahun lepas dan telah dilapor dan dihebahkan melalui iklan pelbagai media sekian lama. Mustahil seorang Ketua Pengarah yang juga seorang Islam begitu alpa untuk menyedarinya pada saat terakhir sebelum acara tersebut dilangsung.

Yang anehnya juga, pada setiap tahun penglibatan LKM dalam penganjuran Pesta Koko ini adalah pada peringkat minimum sahaja. Kebanyakan masa mereka sekadar menghantar wakil untuk menghadiri mesyuarat dan tidak menyumbangkan apa-apa yang signifikan. Malah mereka juga begitu bijak mengelakkan tanggungjawab. Akan tetapi mereka tetap diberi penghormatan sebagai salah penganjur dan Ketua Pengarahnya diberi peluang berucap.

Oleh yang demikian penarikannya daripada barisan penganjur tidak memberikan kesan yang mendalam sebaliknya membuka mata masyarakat umum terhadap sikap mementingkan diri dan rasa tidak tanggungjawa LKM.

Adalah juga satu perkara yang menarik kerana tetamu kehormat pada majlis perasmian Fiesta Koko Malaysia pada tahun ini adalah Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Ahmadshah Abdullah tidak pula menolak jemputan jawatankuasa penganjur. Majlis Perbandaran Tawau (MPT) yang diketuai oleh Datuk Harith Hj M. Yahya tidak pernah mengurangkan sumbangan beliau ke arah kejayaan Fiesta Koko Malaysia yang diadakan di Tawau, Sabah.

Malah Presiden MPT mempersoalkan apakah Dr Azhar mengambil ikhtibar daripada pesanan Perdana Menteri, Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad supaya umat Islam meningkatkan produktiviti pada bulan Ramadan supaya puasa kita lebih diberkati.


Jika Lembaga Koko Malaysia sebagai badan yang diberi amanat untuk memajukan industri koko Malaysia sanggup memboikot dan sabotaj terhadap Fista Koko Malaysia, tidak ada gunakan badan tersebut terus dipimpin oleh golongan yang berkepentingan diri, berpemikiran sempit dan bongkak. Sudah tiba masanya mereka ini diganti dan dipindahkan.

How to Become a Datuk in Sabah

The state assembly agreed to increase the number of Datuks from 850 to 950 giving the new Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Musa Aman, another opportunity to reward his supporters.

It is a known secret that Datukship in Sabah could be easily lobbied or bought through various channels and means. One could get the Chieft Minster to recommend for a datukship after offering certans favours. One could also get close to the Tuan Yang Terutama, state Governor, or his immediate families to be made a Datuk.

Take for instant those who have been awarded datukships, no one knows what these new datuks have contributed to the society. Lee Chuan Wan is the brother-in-law to the former Chief Minister. He has done nothing to the people of Sabah. He could not even contribute to his local community in Kota Kinabalu. Even his political position in Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as a vice president was pre-arranged by the brother-in-law who is also the party President, Datuk Chong Kah Kiat. Hours before last year's party election, delegates were given a 'menu' telling them who to vote and who not to. His name was on the top list.

So if you are a relative of those people in power, you will have a better chance to be called Datuk.

Liew Yun Fah (who name is far longer if all his 'bought over' titles were to be mentioned) has also done nothing to the community of Tawau. Being a businessman dealing with illegal logging. He has business interest with the sons of the then TYT. He also shamelessly, breaking all protocol to 'accompany' the TYT whenever he is in Tawau. He was said to have paid RM500,000 for his datukship. He has also previously paid for his doctor and Mejar titles. People in Tawau knows he is a crook and gangster. He does not even know the basic rule of communication, RESPECT. He has a brother-in-law whose name is equally long, Datuk Lajim. He is now aiming for Justice of Peace (JP) that's why he is following the new TYT.

The second rule, be thick skin, get your name longer to be different.

Thien Kok Poh is an Indonesian who hailed from Tarakan, East Kalimantan. His families are still staying in Tarakan. He is yet another timber businessman who earns his fortune by stealing timber in restricted areas including those in Indonesia. He too has done nothing for anybody except for his own pocket. He is also a big playboy who sleeps around with practically any pretty ladies in town. He was also one of those who rushed to do his blood test when one of his sleeping partners died of HIV. He also bought his datukship through the relationship of palace people. How he got his Malaysian citizenship is still a big question but yet he was awarded datukship.

Doesn't matter where you come from as long as you know how to manipulate your money to your advantage, you will be called a datuk.

YC Lau, who is in the centre of controversial between LDP and SAPP was awarded the datukship this year. It is clearly a reward from the former CM as a gratitude for carrying his balls. People in Kota Kinabalu knows well that he is one of those big thieves who teamed up with the KK Mayor to rob the people through the sky high parking fee.

Next tip, doesn't matter if you rob others but be sure to call others thieves and carry your boss' balls well.

There is another young datuk who is a well know timber thief which Datuk Chong vowed to get rid off. Did Datuk Chong success in doing so? No. Why? Simple, this timber thief, Elbert Lim, joined his party, LDP and became the division youth chief, made generous donation to the party and to the president personally. So he was cleared of any act of stealing timber in Benta Wawasan.

Doesn't matter what the public think about you as long as the leader 'knows' who you are.

Datuk? What datuk? Need the list to continue? No one will ever respect this 'money datuks'. In fact the people are embarrassed to have such people awarded the title of datuk. If Datuk Clearance Bongkos Malakun is sincere in preserving the status of Datuks, stop increasing the number of datuks but instead get rid of those money datuks.

The moral of the story, if you want to be embarrassed, laughed and ridiculed, buy yourself a datukship in Sabah.

Malaysia Cocoa Board Killing its Own Baby

Just barely two weeks away from the first ever Malaysia Cocoa Fest, the body which is responsible to promote cocoa, Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB), shocked everyone by pulling out from the team of organisers.

The event was jointly organised by MCB, Tawau Municipal Council and the Teck Guan Group for the past eight years. MCB was the one who initiated the Tawau Cocoa Fest, then Sabah Cocoa Fest and now Malaysia Cocoa Fest.

MCB Director-General, Datuk Dr Azhar Ismail on Monday said the decision to withdraw was made after the board’s appeal to change the date of the festival was turned down by the organising committee at a meeting recently.

After listening to the excuse given by Datuk Dr Azhar Ismail, no one in their right mind would accept his childish and irresponsible excuse. It is similar to stepping the event from the back.

The dates were decided on long ago after the last cocoa fest which was held last year. It has also been publicised and promoted all over the nation and the whole world. Being a Muslim himself, Dr Azhar should have known it long enough that the dates fall on the holy month of Ramadan.

If he were to request for a different dates, why make it at the last minutes and not before everything was decided and started working on it? Why the last minute? It not for the reason of back stabbing and sabotage, why other motive could one think of?

If Dr Azhar remembers what our beloved Prime Minister has said before when he was asked about the complaint of Muslims about non-muslim eating at public places during fasting month. The PM said, Muslim should not blame others for not being able to perform their responsibilities during fasting month. One cannot just ban others from eating just because we are fasting. If our faith is not truely tested then the fasting itself carries less meaning.

For whatever reasons or excuses that the MCB may come out with, they could not stop the public from assuming that the MCB is irresponsible, selfish and arrogant.

Nevertheless, without MCB the event will be even more successful. The reason is that MCB has been very incooperative all these years. They involvement in the organisation of the event has been very minimum. Some of the top level officials were only know how to talk and complain without knowing what they are talking and complaining.

I think the government should review all the dead wood in MCB and get them retired earlier before the rod the whole board.