A Quiet Return, And A Far Quiter End?

KD Sri Indera Sakti Leading A Convoy During Ops Fajar

Well I was a bit surprised to read in the new Malay version of KL Security Review that Ops Fajar Operational Vessel KD Sri Indera Sakti had arrived home at Lumut Port without much fanfare on Friday 27 February 2009. After checking all the mainstream newspaper websites, not one seems to have recorded this historical fact, the ending of our first purely naval overseas deployment. Even the Royal Malaysian Navy website sadly did not publish this fact. Even though the second deployment in the Gulf of Aden did not have any showy success with the rescue of our national sailors nor ships other than the mundane, albeit not so newsworthy tasks of convoy escorts, the KD Indera Sakti did manage to get herself involved in the rescue missions of other nations' vessels that deservingly received thanks from those grateful nations. Too bad such gratefulness was not exhibited at home with some even questioning the cost of the whole operations by shortmindedly saying that it should be purely a commercial trade matter rather than a national security matter. Can they not think that if we do not protect our own lines of communications and the ships and sailors that manned these lines, what happens if these ships and sailors refuse to serve and thus causing disruptions to our national and international trade. Look beyond such speculative, vengeful and politically motivated thoughts and look sensibly at the quantitive and qualitative cost and benefits of the operation to the nation. Not to be vain as otherwise why would other nations suddenly jump on the bandwagon of either joining the Combined Task Force 150 in the Gulf or emulating our own independent operations if there is no benefits to their own national interests. As it is, there is no official announcement if this operation will be extended further even after it officially has ended.Let it not be only when another crisis strikes would our naval vessels return to operations in the Gulf, as for want of money or undue criticism of the operation exposes our sailors and ships to the dangers that are clearly present still in the waters of the Gulf. In any case, Bravo Two Zero to the men of KD Inderasakti for job well done!

Men of the KD SRI INDERA SAKTI safely returned to their base in Lumut on 27 Februari 2009. They were welcomed home by the RMN senior officers and family members.（Markas Armada TLDM）

A Movie Malaysians Can Be Proud Of !

Well after almost sixteen days in the theaters, my family finally caught the movie "Geng Pengembaraan Bermula" featuring Upin & Ipin and I must say that it was a satisfying experience. How good it was can be determined by the lack of children crying or running up and down the hallways, as they were all mostly glued to the screen enjoying the antics of the characters. Those who go to family movies knows that this is a rare occurrence, as only a very good movie can attract the short attention span of a kid. So it does speaks a lot of good for this movie when it manages does that.

Speaking about the plot, it does bring back the feel of a rural village updated with a dash of sci-fi when it tells a story of the prodigal grandson and his friend returning to his village to investigate reports of a ghostly creature terrorising the villagers' durian orchards. There they meet up with the village characters popularised in the short cartoon clip series "Upin & Ipin" and some new characters rounding up the multi racial look to the village. I like the parts on how the urban outlook is contrasted with the old but not necessarily the village ways, a bit of a homage to Lat's Kampong Boy, and there are actually a lot of nods to other things in the movie, like the alien creature taking on a Digimon-like transformation among others. I must say however that some scenes may terrify the smaller kids in the audience as it was quite realistic, kudos to the team who showed how good they are in making the 3D effects natural especially in a jungle and cave setting. However there may be some jarring in the continuity of the movie, as I read before in the production notes that the original two hour duration needed to edited to a more audience friendly time span by the financing authorities. I hope a director's cut version will be made available once this goes to DVD, as then the story flow may play out more smoothly.

Nonetheless what makes me most proud of this movie is not the fact that without much fanfare and hype it has now gone on to collect more than four million ringgit in takings after fourteen days of screening, and is now still going strong that may even break not only the box-office for a local cartoon movie but also for local feature film, a fact that is possible that the movie hall was still packed as of yesterday even for a cinema in uber cool Pavillion. Not what makes me proud is that without people actually realising it is that for the first time in a local Malay movie, the hero is an Indian kid called Rajoo and not Upin and Ipin as you might expect from all the movie posters that highlight the lovable twins. Rajoo is the guy who leads the movie although he appears only from the second part of the movie, while Upin and Ipin are only the featured characters. Only in unjaundiced youngsters's eyes can this happen and I hope that this fact will no longer be so novel in the future. You might disappointed if you had expected this post to be more of a movie review, but then I say to you don't wait and go see the movie yourself and make your own judgement. This is one Malaysian movie you can be proud of and needs your support if you want to see more homegrown high quality features . As it is the young production house is now working on their second feature, and with the success of this first may they inspire others to also bring our film and animation to higher heights. Syabas Les'Copaque!

Museum Piece?

Do your remember this? I never thought that I will see this conical container for kacang putih again, which was de rigeur when I was growing up, until I was at the National Museum early last month when I saw many people walking around snacking on their kacang putih tit bits from a cone. This piqued my interest and I looked around and found a lady peddler at her table offering various kinds of kacang putih, surrounded by people waiting to buy the popular kacang putih from her. And at her table I spied the familiar cones, just waiting to be filled up with the kacang putih of choice. What an appropriate venue for an old style kacang putih peddler to set up shop, preserving what may have been lost to time in a showcase of our national treasures. I am not sure if the young people who were buying the cones of kacang putih from her understood the significance or otherwise.

These series of photos shows how the kacang putih peddler expertly fills up the cones with the kacang putih requested. unfortunately the cones themselves seem to have been pre-rolled so I cannot show how it is done. The cones nowadays are made from old text book pages instead of old newspaper, so they are sturdier and maybe a little cleaner as you may not get any ink 'contamination'. However I am not sure whether you actually get more in terms of quantity, as although the cones are longer, they are slimmer than before as it used to be short fat cones that are used rather than what the lady is selling now. What I can confirm anyway is that the cones of kacang putih now cost a hundred percent more than what I used to pay in my youth, as they now cost a ringgit per cone instead of 10 cents that I paid a long time ago. Another complaint that I have is that the non nut kacang putih had actually expired past their sell by dates, so you get stale kacang putih in your cones. I hope the lady rectifies this weakness, otherwise I am afraid she too will soon actually become another museum piece on her own.

D Jamel Corner - Again

A coupla weeks ago I posted on how I stumbled onto D Jamel Corner, a warong with aspirations to become a family bistro that is located under a tree built on the sidewalk of a busy factory area street. As I mentioned in that post, they are open on Saturday nights and since today the family was a little busy with the elder's UPSR motivational course that ended later than schedule that my initial plan to try out Yellow Cab Pizza at Kampung Bharu sizzled out, this gave us a chance to try out the place at night. In addition I wanted to satisfy my curiosity as to how the crowd was in such an industrial area at night, and whether the quality of their food was consistent or not. I should not have worried as there was a good crowd of people already there at around eight, with family groups and young couples having started their dinner. Pak Jamel mentioned that they had actually started at eight, so these were the early dinner people and there was actually a constant stream of people coming in, either to dine in or to take away where for this a lounge chair was provided for the comfort of people waiting. Their upper deck seems to be a favourite place for family groups though we did not want to make an extra effort to walk up the hill. When paying the bill, I noticed that they actually had a night menu that is a little bit different than their lunch menu, so no wonder I felt a little strange when I ordered initially. The night menu included snacks like fried samosa and spring rolls, I guess to cater to the supper or karaoke crowd later. We however had a plate of the fried spring rolls and I must say it surprised me that these were freshly made and not of the frozen variety, so I must confess I neglected taking the photo of the three pieces of spring rolls. Simply made with julienned vegetables as the main ingredient, the skin was crispy enough to make the younger ate most of it. If only the chilli sauce it came in was also freshly made instead of out of a bottle, it would have been perfect.

I would however recommend you to order some of the snacks as an appetiser as the main dishes may take some time in coming. The first dish to arrive was the elder's order of fried cockle meehoon or glass noodles. Again the portion was substantial and the dish was fried the chinese way, ie with high fire so the wok hei taste was present to accentuate the taste. The noodles arrived steaming hot because of this and they were generous with their peeled prawns and cockles, though I must say the cockles were not as juicy as expected as I believed they use pre-shucked cockles instead of fresh cockles which would have made this dish so much better. Nonetheless their prawns are still top-notch, and I noticed again that these prawns are actually delicately cooked to preserve their sweetness that some may think they are undercooked. This shows the level of cooking skills the cooks here have and I hope that this style will continue as usually at Malay establishments the prawns served in a noodle dish are usually rubbery overcooked sorry specimens, probably to mask their lack of freshness.

The second dish to arrive was the Cantonese style kway teow, which the wife re-ordered as she wanted to share this with the younger. Nonetheless this time the wife said that although the gravy coating the kway teow was as good as previously, the noodles themselves were a little bit bland and needed an accompaniment of cut chillies in light soya sauce to make it perfect. Luckily for her the younger was more interested to finish off the fried meehon, so she was at liberty to add the soya sauce to enhance the dish to her liking. Anyway the last dish to arrive was my tom yam kung meehoon, and this is as good as at any thai establishment. They really do not stinge with their ingredient here as not only I get a good helping of prawns to make the moniker genuine, there was also sliced celery and button mushrooms in addition to the squid and chicken bits that you expect in a tom yam. And do not let the fiery red soup fool you, the taste was not that hot unless you bite on one of the chilli padis, but the piquant sourness can make you choke if you are not carefull. And again this was definitely cooked with high fire, as the steam clouding the photos stays in the soup until the end.

All in all an enjoyable dinner under the stars, with good music playing in the background courtesy of the open mike set up for those wanting to karaoke the night away, as while waiting for these karaoke fans to step up to the mike the DJ plays mood instrumentals just like a real bistro. But if hearing some wannabe singers croaking the night away is not your idea of fun, leaving early would be a sound move to make I guess.

You Don't Not Even Want To Hear From Your Own?

Ipoh, 5 February 2009 : Hee Yit Foong (DAP)had an audience with the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah and Perak Regent, Raja Nazrin Shah at Istana Kinta where she was interviewed to confirm her intentions to declare support for the BN.

For those of you who are bordering on treason in blaming everybody else but themselves for the fiasco they brought on themselves in Perak, I was surprised reading The Sun this evening that one of their commentators whose views are usually taken as one of their own actually gave a good argument for the Sultan's action. It was even pre-faced by the views of one of the opposition's legal expert on how the Sultan himself has dutifully carried out to the best of his abilities his examination of the situation before coming to a prudent decision. But I guess with the clouding of sensibilities by rage against perceived injustices when losing the state government so spectacularly, such a voice of reason may be lost to these people who have lost their perspective. However if you feel that you have still maintained your rationality and are not in a state of denial, do read the article and make your own judgement. There will be no stuffing of propaganda down another's throat by this blogger at least.

--- Article Information ---

Article's URL: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=29868

In the best interests of the rakyat
By: (Fri, 06 Feb 2009)

"Don’t be too harsh on Sultan. The situation is too fluid. He must verify the facts and interview the defectors to determine if they voluntarily changed parties.

He can only do this if he is alone with them. He must verify the numbers himself. The executive government is still functioning. There is no immediate threat. He will consult his advisers. He will wait for BN to ask him to form new government, verify the facts and decide on MB request to call elections.

The double jumping frog will aid your argument in the end as that a****** has no morals. My personal opinion is that any s*** who jumps party is not fit to serve and has lied to the people if he promised a party manifesto to them and does a U-turn.

If I were the Sultan, I too would wait as the facts are changing too fast to make a wise decision. He is under a duty to independently verify the facts himself."

THIS SMS was sent by lawyer and Petaling Jaya City Councillor Derek Fernandez on Wednesday to several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders on the situation in Perak. Derek, whose consult is often sought by the Selangor government and PR leaders, was giving his educated two sen’s worth to panicky assemblymen and parliamentarians who were witnessing one of their hard-worn states slipping from their grasp.

Several of them had opined that the palace may be lopsided towards Barisan Nasional (BN) forgetting that only on Tuesday did the regent emphasise the need for Rulers to be apolitical. Derek was attempting to put the matter into perspective and ask the politicians to put themselves in the shoes of the Sultan whose only concern is the smooth administration of his state and the welfare of his subjects.

At the time of writing this, Sultan Azlan Shah had not consented to the dissolution of the state assembly while Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin’s resignation as mentri besar had been sought. The Sultan had met the four assemblymen individually to ascertain that they are leaving their respective parties on their own free will, without inducements or coercion.

One should give Sultan Azlan Shah some credit for this. He is, after all, a former lord president. And from what we have learnt, His Royal Highness has been going into overdrive consulting his advisers, government officers, as well as leaders from both sides of the political divide.

But of course, His Royal Highness’s final assessment of the situation and his decision not to consent to the dissolution of the state assembly has raised eyebrows from many quarters, especially PR and its supporters.

One gives the palace the benefit of the doubt and concludes that the decision was made in the best interests of the rakyat, from the Sultan’s standpoint.

But the goings-on in the silver state will not end. The BN has launched a coup and its generals who pulled the rug from under PR’s feet, will undoubtedly become the toast at next month’s Umno general assembly.

And what of PR? Well, apart from licking its wounds, unfortunately, it cannot take the moral high ground here in claiming that the opposition has resorted to "dirty tricks". Although it may be true, PR also does not have the right to claim that the defections which now lead to the formation of a new state government, as a breach of the public trust.

This is because PR drew first blood – not only by enticing and accepting Bota rep, Datuk Nasarudin Hashim (who has since returned to Umno) but also by making overtures towards elected BN reps following last year’s general election.

As the saying goes, if you play with fire you get burnt. In the game of political one-upmanship, BN has a larger mandate and the resources to win the match.

So congratulations to BN. But whoever wins, the losers are the people whose ballots are now worthless.

If a dissolution had been consented to, millions of taxpayers’ money, which could be put to better use in these trying economic times, would have been used to conduct fresh elections. But on a wider scale, the happenings in Perak go to show how a handful of individuals can play games with the people’s trust.

As Derek rightly pointed out, they were elected based on their manifesto and by jumping ship, they had lied to the people. Suffice to say, the four who hopped were elected based on their party colours. Nasarudin, Jamaludin Mohd Radzi, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Hee Yit Fong are no Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad who won their seats on several platforms – the latter as a BN candidate and even as an independent.

It was obvious that the people had voted in the Opposition as a need for more checks and balances to keep an eye on the incumbent. If this was not true, how could Loh Gwo Burne, whose only claim to fame is recording V.K. Lingam’s infamous phone conversation, have trumped MCA powerhouse Datuk Lee Hwa Beng in Kelana Jaya?

Thus, if PR wants to point fingers for losing Perak, it should blame itself. Its lack of quality candidates is apparent now. Some of them do not have principles, nor the backbone to stand by their party and the manifesto on which they had wooed the people. The conduct of these four characters underscore the need for an anti-hopping law.

For the BN, by admitting these individuals into its fold, only demonstrates that it will compromise virtually anything to win the political game.

Two of the "frogs" have a graft charge over their heads; one "frog" jumped twice and another had repeatedly said that she was not going anywhere.

Fortunately for some politicians, people have short memories. So when we go back to the polls in three years, there is a likelihood that this dark episode in Malaysian politics where the people were played with and lied to would be forgotten.

Terence is disappointed that he won’t be covering any elections anytime soon. It’s a lot of fun! He is deputy editor (special reports & investigations) and can be reached at terence@thesundaily.com .

--- end ---

Ipoh, 5 February 2009 : Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering), both from Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Hee Yit Foong (DAP) and Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim (Bota), who joined PKR on Jan 25 and returned to Umno yesterday had an audience with the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, today to declare their support for the BN.

And in case one doubts if the Sultan was not thorough, here is an article that says he was!

2009/02/06
Sultan, Raja Nazrin quiz assemblymen

IPOH: All 31 assemblymen forming a majority for the Barisan Nasional in Perak were interviewed individually by Sultan Azlan Shah and Raja Muda Raja Dr Nazrin Shah yesterday.

Sources said it was a brief audience for 27 BN assemblymen but a longer one for the three independent assemblymen and Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim, who is back with Umno."The sultan wanted to make sure that the independent assemblymen and Nasarudin fully supported BN and would help form a stable state government," a source said.The three independents are Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering), formerly of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, and Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang), formerly of DAP.It is learnt that both an oral and written undertaking of support for the new state government and menteri besar was provided by the three assemblymen.

"The letters of undertaking were signed individually and submitted to the palace on Wednesday night," another source said."Obviously, the sultan is not taking any chances despite the apparently solid front. This will also be fair as the previous Pakatan Rakyat administration was also required to do the same."Nizar's swearing-in as the 10th menteri besar in March last year was postponed twice due to the palace's doubts over whether the three parties -- the DAP, PKR and Pas -- could form a stable majority.

So Is This The People's Rule That You Want?

The Super Rakyats Who Think They Can Do Whatever They Want, Including Stopping The Royal Entourage and those arrested are not even from Perak

Go On! Read all about it on the blogs that are martyrising the dumb people who are protesting the Swearing-in ceremony of the new Perak MB in Bukit Chandan. Are these 2000 odd people so representative of the Perak Rakyat that they can go above bounds and interrupt an official ceremony without being put in line by the authorities. Who do these people think they are, some super rakyat who can do whatever they want while spouting nonsense that what they are doing is right while ignoring legal niceties. You may think what you are doing is right but that does not make you right. And nobody can adjudge something is haram just by hinting at improprieties without proof. Anyway that is god's work! As it is, proof that you will do and say whatever it takes to further your cause is ample enough to be plainly seen. I just pray that God grant you 'intelligent' people the foresight to finally realise that your kingly and godly leaders have wooden feet actually. Mob rule does not equate to a people's courtla! And political rantings does not mean you are powerful! So enough is enough, let go of the MB'ship. Remember, you are the ones who said a vote of no confidence can be called when the Dewan sits in April. So walk the talk or shut the hell up!

It Hurts When The Pendulum Hits You Instead Aaaa

For Bloggers and readers of blogs who has convenient short term memory loss or selective perception, I just want to highlight how some people change their tune when the axe falls on them instead. Just consider these articles to note how things can change over a two week period.

When you think it's right

Published: Monday January 26, 2009 MYT 4:47:00 PMUpdated:
Monday January 26, 2009 MYT 8:18:56 PM
Anwar claims more BN reps to defect
(updated)
By EDWARD RAJENDRA and IVAN LOH
KLANG: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claims his plans are still on track and more Barisan Nasional elected representatives would cross over to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
Saying it would occur on a “bi-weekly basis from next month” onwards, the PKR adviser said people have made up their minds and “it’s only a matter of time.”
Anwar told a crowd at the a Chinese New Year celebration held at the Hokkien Association Hall here that “change was imminent and we will surprise you from time to time.”
“Now the ox has come in, just be patient ... we are working hard just like the ox,” he said at the event that was organised by Selangor information chief Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew, in reference to it being the Lunar Year of the Ox.
After the Opposition’s strong showing in the general election last march, Anwar had promised that he had more than 30 Barisan MPs ready to cross over to the Pakatan Rakyat alliance by Sept 16. None did and since failing to meet his own deadline, the former deputy prime minister’s voice had been relatively muted on the crossover issue until the defection of Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim on Sunday, who quit Umno to join PKR.
In IPOH, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin claimed that three more assemblymen could be crossing over from Umno. He said talks were in progress between Pakatan and the three, who had approached the alliance following Nasarudin’s defection on Sunday. “They came forward to meet us without us inviting them,” Nizar said after attending the Perak DAP Chinese New Year open house here Monday.
He however declined to reveal the identities of the three or which parties they had approached, alleging that they could be threatened.
Asked what the chances were of the three actually joining Pakatan, Nizar said there was a 50-50 chance.

But when the Pendulum swings;

Friday February 6, 2009
Ngeh: It’s an unhealthy democratic process
IPOH:
Pakatan Rakyat has described the formation of a Barisan Nasional state government as a coup and unconstitutional.
Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said it was an unhealthy democratic process and Pakatan was contemplating filing a suit against the formation of an unconstitutional government.
He said the new government would be unstable as Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Jailu and Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi were facing corruption charges and might be disqualified.
“Assuming that they are convicted, they are automatically disqualified. There will be no stable government. There is a lot of uncertainty.
“Having a new government does not solve the problem but prolongs it,” he said when commenting on the Perak palace’s decision to ask Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and his executive councillors to resign and allow Barisan to form the government.
Ngeh has denied that he and his cousin, Pantai Remis assemblyman Nga Kor Ming, caused DAP’s Jelapang assemblyman Hee Yit Foong to quit.
“It is not true. With Hee, it was for personal reasons. She was unhappy that she did not get an exco position.
“She felt deprived. She had also questioned why other exco members got the new Toyota Camrys but she only had the Proton Perdana,” he said.
Tronoh assemblyman V. Siva­kumar insisted that he was still the State Assembly Speaker.
“We must convene the state assembly first. Otherwise I do not know if there is a majority. I have to count the hands (to ascertain a vote of no confidence against the Mentri Besar and executive council),” he said.

And your ficklemindedness does show when the pendulum hits you instead

Wednesday January 28, 2009
Guan Eng lauds Bota rep’s move to PKR
GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng lauded Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim’s defection to PKR, saying the move would strengthen the Pakatan Rakyat government in Perak.
“The situation in Perak is not like Penang where the Pakatan has a big majority.
“With one more assemblyman (for the Pakatan government), we hope their situation will be strengthened and give them a boost to continue striving and working for the people,” Lim said after hosting a state Chinese New Year open house at his residence on Jalan Macalister on Monday.
Pakatan holds 29 out of 40 state seats in Penang while Nasarudin’s defection raises Pakatan’s majority in Perak to five. “Perak Umno is constantly saying that they will soon overthrow the Pakatan state government, but so far, we only see Umno falling,” said Lim.

And yet you say when it happens to you it is unfair and a betrayal

Friday February 6, 2009
Guan Eng asks Jelapang rep to reconsider decision
GEORGE TOWN: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has asked Jelapang assemblyman Hee Yit Foong to reconsider her decision to quit the party and become an Inde-pendent.He said her move to support Perak Barisan Nasional was tantamount to betraying the trust of those who voted her in.
‘‘I believe she is the first DAP assemblyman to cause a (state) government to fall.
“The issue is not about her leaving the party but leaving the people who supported her,’’ the Penang Chief Minister told a press conference at his office here. He accused Hee of making a mockery of the democratic election process, adding that history has shown that there were traitors in all civilisations.
Asked if the engineering of defections in Perak would spread to Penang, Lim said he was confident it would not occur as the Pakatan government held a strong two-thirds majority.
He supported DAP chairman Karpal Singh’s call for a proposal for an amendment to the Federal Consti-tution, seeking to outlaw any form of party hopping or political
defections.

So how? You are now the ones surprised meh and suddenly support anti-hopping laws ka! Such political deviousness and yet there are people falling for it. SO there really is a sucker born every minute though we seem to have more than our fair share nowadays!