Kalimullah "Riong Kali" Masheerul Hassan aka Singapore Snitch This morning,  Datuk Ahirudin "Rocky's Bru" Attan case brought by the suit by then Dark Lord of NST Kalimullah "Riong Kali" Masheerul Hassan  and three others exactly five years ago came to an amicable end.  Rocky apologised "For the considerable distress, embarrassment and inconvenience caused to the plaintiffs" as a result of some of the things I'd written about them on my blog". Former NST journo who was ostracised during Dark Lord Riong Kali's tenure had his analysis on the out of court settlement this morning, which actually resulted from the latter's apology to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the lies on his News Sunday Times article "And, really, who is demonizing whom?" on 11 June 2006 . That lie brought the articles by posted Rocky and another blogger Jeff Ooi, who is now DAP MP for Jelutong calling Riong Kali a 'Li...

January 31, 2012 The Fault, dear Najib, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves by Terence Netto@ www.malaysiakini.com COMMENT Really, there appears to be no such thing as a good time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to call for snap polls. By 'a good time', it meant conditions where positive factors outweigh negative ones for the re-election of the UMNO-BN government. Najib has been trying to formulate and implement policies for this excess of positives over negatives since taking charge in April 2009. But every time he feels he has a surplus of good vibes over bad ones, his government is upset by gremlins that have the effect of stalling the recourse to a new mandate as every new PM who desires validity for his reforms is impelled to. The latest instance of this imp of misfortune dogging him is the attorney-general's filing of intent to appeal the High Court's January 9 decision to acquit Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on a charge of sodomy. Najib had begun cap...

An attempt to hand over a memo demanding the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) to account for its credit card expenses of RM600,000 was refused at the door today at its office in Kuala Lumpur. A delegation of about 10 members of the PKR-linked NGO Jingga 13 were met by the NFC's corporate communications manager Khaidir Jamal outside its office, but he refused to accept the memorandum. He said the company's executive chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail ( left ) had given instructions not to accept the memo as he did not want to affect the ongoing police investigations. Khaidir asked the group to voice their concerns to the police instead. Speaking to reporters later, Jingga 13 coordinator Fariz Musa, who led the delegation, expressed disappointment over the refusal. "We want transparency because it involves public funds. Therefore we are disappointed that we couldn't hand over the memo," he said. Fariz was also baffled by Khaidir's excuse because the NF...

As I said earlier, the government that is going to plan Malaysia's future beyond 2020 is not about a popularity contest between two people. It is about what do we do about Malaysia's aging population? Would we just dump them into old folks' homes and let the Rotary Club or Lions Club worry about them? Or are we going to come out with a good policy to support them? NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin Last week, I wrote an article called  Are we having a popularity contest? ' Basically, my argument was that we need a good education system, a good healthcare system, and food (meaning a good agriculture policy so that Malaysia can feed its growing population without depending on imports: like it now does and has been from the very beginning). Read the article here:  http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/46760-are-we-having-a-popularity-contest . Today, there is another issue I want to talk about: and that is about Malaysia's aging populat...

January 31, 2012 The Fault, dear Najib, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves by Terence Netto@ www.malaysiakini.com COMMENT Really, there appears to be no such thing as a good time for Prime Minister Najib Razak to call for snap polls. By 'a good time', it meant conditions where positive factors outweigh negative ones for the re-election of the UMNO-BN government. Najib has been trying to formulate and implement policies for this excess of positives over negatives since taking charge in April 2009. But every time he feels he has a surplus of good vibes over bad ones, his government is upset by gremlins that have the effect of stalling the recourse to a new mandate as every new PM who desires validity for his reforms is impelled to. The latest instance of this imp of misfortune dogging him is the attorney-general's filing of intent to appeal the High Court's January 9 decision to acquit Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on a charge of sodomy. Najib had begun ca...

Jackson Ng, Retired Journalist SO, THE Umno-linked Perkasa's insult of giving away "white funeral ang pows" to the Chinese community during the Chinese Lunar Dragon Year has attracted the attention of our 1Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. Finally, after two days of silence, Najib saw the seriousness of the stunt pulled by his Umno-linked Perkasa. However, it was a terrible let down from the premier. All he said were: 1. The use of "white envelope" angpow had nothing to do with the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government; 2. "I think that as long as we can have a better understanding of Chinese culture and promote sensitivity to cultural taboos, such controversial events can be avoided; and 3. "We all know that ang pow means a red envelope, dominated by red rather than other colours," Najib said, adding that the incident can be used as a social experience. Ibrahim "Perkasa" Ali's stunt to insult the Chinese dur...

I was shocked and felt disgusted by the dishing out of 'white packets' to some old Folks at a supposedly Chinese New Year open house organised by the extremist group Perkasa. It is customary for Chinese to give out red packets during Chinese New year. In fact, the term "Any Pow" so commonly used in Malaysia means "red" packet. White packet is taboo in CHinese custom. It is normally reserved for showing condolence during a funeral wake. So to invite some old folks and then giving them white packets is akin to inviting someone to your house just to insult them. Some of the organisers have pleaded ignorance. But that is hardly believeable. Even if the organisers do not know about Chinese custom, it will take a moron not to see that  before and during Chines New Year, every where any person goes in towns and cities, there are red decorations, and many of these decorations are in fact made from red packets. Even if the person is staying in a rural areas, the...

MCA arranged and Perkasa nailed it! Compulsive attention seeker, Ibrahim Ali, and his gang of senseless and at times comical Perkasa members had caused another ruckus. This time, they had forked out almost RM10k only to court another controversy because the money was distributed in white envelopes. Netizens had criticized the act as an insult to the Chinese because the only time a white envelope is used is during bereavement. MCA Seputeh division committee member Collin Tiew, who had arranged for more than 50 people to attend the Perkasa's CNY open house,  claimed  that he was victimized after he was criticized for playing a part in the Perkasa's event. Tiew claimed that he did not know Ibrahim Ali before the event was surprisingly asked to help translate Ibrahim's speech during the event. Tiew said he was upset with the white packet but did nothing to advice or stop Ibrahim Ali from distributing them during the event. Yes, unbelievable! My experience of working with s...

MCA arranged and Perkasa nailed it! Compulsive attention seeker, Ibrahim Ali, and his gang of senseless and at times comical Perkasa members had caused another ruckus. This time, they had forked out almost RM10k only to court another controversy because the money was distributed in white envelopes. Netizens had criticized the act as an insult to the Chinese because the only time a white envelope is used is during bereavement. MCA Seputeh division committee member Collin Tiew, who had arranged for more than 50 people to attend the Perkasa's CNY open house, claimed that he was victimized after he was criticized for playing a part in the Perkasa's event. Tiew claimed that he did not know Ibrahim Ali before the event was surprisingly asked to help translate Ibrahim's speech during the event. Tiew said he was upset with the white packet but did nothing to advice or stop Ibrahim Ali from distributing them during the event. Yes, unbelievable! My experience of working with so man...

Curi-curi Wang Malaysia From 1 of Australia's DAILY NEWSPAPERS again "THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD ( SMH )" does NOT DENY it's report on ROSMAH MANSOR's shopping is TRUE, whereby the FASHION DESIGNER whom she bought all here clothes from admitted that: "It was Kapp who later told PS he visited the $ 20,000 a night penthouse she was staying in, where he met Mr Razak, at the newly opened luxury hotel The Darling." Even the PRIME MINISTER "NAJIB" was THERE lavishly spending our TAX PAYERS MONEY like nobody's business. What KIND of Prime Minister is this? PEOPLE FIRST he says? BULL$ #!T! Would you TRUST a Prime Minister who is a "THIEF" & a "LIAR!"??? -w.i.w.c CLICK TO READ MORE: "IT'S NOT every week PS lands in the centre of an international scandal, but last week's story about Rosmah Mansor (right, with Michelle Obama), the wife of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and her lavish New Yea...