SALCRA Pays It Participants With Dividend RM124 Per Hectare/Month For Year 2010

Kuching
Tuesday, 30th Nov 2010

SALCRA's Participants: This is Where Your Dividend Gone To

SALCRA : After 34 Years Of Being Established Only Manage to Pay It Participants RM124 Per Hectare/Month For Year 2010 Dividend

Alfred Jabu today has made an announcement that Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) is to pay the biggest dividend ever next year, and it will be disbursed in two phases.

Jabu who is also the SALCRA Chairman proudly told the reporters that SALCRA participants or landowners who run 18 estates will receive a total sum of RM 74.26 million. According to him the 2010 payout is a marked increase by more than RM37 million compared with 2009, where only RM37 million was paid out. But 2009 divident was lesser than year 2008, where the divident was paid at RM52 million.

Is the Dividend Pay-Out Significant  To The Participants/Landowners?

The RM 74.26 Million may be sound big but if we divide it by 50000 hectares which is the size of lands being developed by SALCRA, we will find that each hectare is only paid with RM 1485.20 per year or RM 124.00 of dividend per month. The amount still doesn't enough to uplift the standard of  living of the participants to surpass the "below poverty line", but is very much better than the advance dividend paid to the land owner that participate in the JV with PELITA and private company (Please see HERE for the amount of the Advance Dividends that were paid per hectare/per year and month to the NCR land owners ).

Historically, SALCRA was established on 1st May 1976, as a Government Statutory Body under the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority Ordinance, 1976. The main purpose of establishing SALCRA was to enable and assist the State Government in achieving the objectives of the New Economic Policy (NEP), particularly concerning the eradication of poverty.

In Sarawak, a person is considered as living under the poverty line if his/her income is below RM 765 per month. There are 20,000 participants or landowner that participated with SALCRA oil palm plantation. Based on this figure, each participant will be paid an average of RM 310 dividend per month. Has it surpassed   Malaysian's "under the poverty line" ?

After 34 Years SALCRA Still Fails To Eradicate Poverty Among the Iban

After 34 Years SALCRA Still Failes To Achieve Its Mission: Not surprised because some Ibans have been acting as Running Dog for Taib Mahmud...Anyone look familiar?

The main mission for SALCRA when it was first established in year 1976 was to eradicate poverty especially among the rural Sarawakians. But until now SALCRA still failed to achieve it mission.

The amount of divident declared by SALCRA yesterday was far below the amount which will uplift the income of the participants to the RM 765 level.

I am not writting this article today just to blatantly condemn Jabu or SALCRA. My aim is to tell them that they still need to do a lot in order to uplift the living standard of the participants away from the poverty line. Jabu must also sincere to the participants and stop mislead them. They have to be told until SALCRA can pay them the monthly dividend of RM 765 per month until then SALCRA's is still fail in achieving its mission.

Lesson Learn to The Land Owner So As Not To Enter JV With Pelita and Private Company

Eventhought SALCRA after 34 years of its establishment it  still cannot achieved their mission that is to eradicate poverty but their terms and agreements with land owners are much better than the JV, such as ; SALCRA land lease is only 25 years and beyond that the land owners can decide whether to continue or  to discontinue the lease, and the last point, the land owners are the participants themselves.

But for the JV with Pelita and Private company, the term of agreement is totally differents from SALCRA such as :-  

(1) Land lease for 60 years ( Once the land owner enter into JV, in summary the land has been sold to the company)
(2) Share equity : 60% company, 30% land owner and 10 % Pelita ( The moment the JV is signed, the land owner had already lost 70% of the value of the land.
(3)Management of the estate : Land owners  have  no part to play ( The landowners will have to recieve the same pay with immigrant Indonesian workers )
(3) Divident : RM 150 per hectare per year or RM 12.50 per month

If We Had Already Enter Into JV What Choice  Do We Still Have

 In one of the land dispute between the NCR Landowners and the company, the police had been used by the company in robbing  their lands. Did anyone heard Jabu and Masing ever condemned the police for their brutality against the land owners who were all the Iban?

One of the land owner from Empaling, Sg Tenggang who had enter into the JV with Tetangga Akrab  has one day asked Bukittunggal  whether he still can withdraw from the JV? My answer to him was "None"  as we had already "surrender" or probate our NCR lands to the company.

But this was not the end I told him as we still have hope. And our only hope is through Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Yes, if we want to get back our NCR lands from the company our only hope is with the Pakatan Rakyat. Saudara Baru Bian, the Sarawak PKR's Chief promised that if Pakatan Rakyat successfully wresting  Petra Jaya from Barisan Nasional in the coming state election, the land Commission will be set-up to handle all matters related to NCR lands. And if this is happen, many of the Ibans will become the instant millionaire!

So the owner of the NCR lands if you want to take back your NCR land from the private company, and become instant millionaire, our only hope is through PR therefore we MUST  VOTE FOR PAKATAN RAKYAT.

Mupok Aku

Revelation By Sarawak Report : Taib Mahmud The Main Shareholder of Mulu Resort

Kuching
Friday, 26th Nov 2010

Sarawak Report today reveals that Sarawak Chief Minister's , Abdul Taib Mahmud, has a major personal shareholding in Sarawak’s highly controversial Royal Mulu Resort, a project that has received huge injections of cash from the State. This means that, as both Chief Minister and Finance Minister, Taib has authorised the diversion of large sums of public money straight into his own pocket.

According to the report, as State Resources and Planning Minister, Taib was also responsible for the forced acquisition of a large area of Native Customary Lands from the indigenous Berawan tribe to build the resort, for which the tribespeople received virtually no compensation. Their evidence therefore further exposes him for having authorised this land-snatch for his own direct benefit.

His shareholding is in a company that was incorporated as recently as November 2007, Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd. This in turn has a 50% shareholding of the Taib/Mahmud family company Kenyalang Cergas, one of the main shareholders of Borsamulu Resorts Bhd (BRSB). BRSB was handed the ownership and lucrative management contract for what was once a state-owned National Park, thanks to a series of decisions by Taib’s own government starting in 1991. The management contract is paid for by the taxpayer!

The other major beneficiaries and shareholders of the Royal Mulu Resort are members of his family, including his sister Raziah, her third husband Robert Geneid and the family of his late brother Arip Mahmud. Taib Mahmud has personally accused the Berawan people of being “greedy” for refusing to hand over their lands for ‘development’. Their peaceful protests in the 1990s were brutally put down by army and police and their leaders were imprisoned. Deprived of their territories, these communities are now impoverished and hungry and few people, apart from the Mahmud family, will have difficulty in discerning where the true greed lies.

This time it’s on record

The significance of this official confirmation of the Chief Minister’s own shareholding lies in the fact that Taib has normally sought to disguise his acquisitions and shareholdings in an attempt to avoid widespread allegations of corruption. He habitually uses members of his own family to hold shares on his behalf. Thus, the names of his many brothers and sisters, his late wife, his four children, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws are prominent as key shareholders in most of Sarawak’s important businesses.

Insiders have also told Sarawak Report that the elderly Chief Minister has employed a number of other devious methods to keep control of such companies until he is able to extract his wealth and invest it secretly abroad. These methods include forcing his nominees to sign undated resignation letters and share transfer forms, which he can use at any time to force their removal and employ somebody else as his front man or ‘nominee’!

Likewise, Sarawak Report has copies of US documents showing that shares which were publicly registered as belonging to family members were in fact secretly ‘held in trust’ for the Chief Minister himself.

In black and white - Chief Minister Taib Mahmud declares his interest!

Mesti Bersatu Sdn Bhd therefore forms a notable exception, in that Taib declares his financial interest in black and white in Malaysia’s Company Register. It is likely to have been an oversight on his part and a sign of his growing confidence that he can do what he likes in Sarawak and get away with it.

He is registered both as a Director and a Shareholder of Mesti Bersatu and holds 400,000 shares out of the 2,300,000 total shares issued for the company. The other shareholders are his late brother Arif’s three wives (condoned under the Muslim faith) and two grown up daughters. At RM 1.00 per share, Taib’s shareholding represents an outlay of 400,000 ringgit.

The company is registered as having ‘No Operation’ at it’s Kuching address, but in fact owns half the shares in Kenyalang Cergas Bhd, which was set up in 1992 as a direct Shareholder of the Royal Mulu resort. The other Directors and Shareholders of Kenyalang Cergas are Taib’s sister Raziah and her current husband Robert Geneid, who were behind the original development of the resort and act as the main directors of the company. Crony timber tycoons the Yaw family, the owners of Samling, have also put money into the project, along with the architect from Singapore. Crucially the Sarawak State Government has also taken up an interest in the venture and has usefully pumped in large sums of life-saving injections of cash from the taxpayer over the years. That involvement was of course thanks to Taib Mahmud.

All thanks to Taib!

Raziah and Robert Geneid reportedly came up with the plan to develop Mulu, which is famous for its caves, in the early 90s, when Raziah was still married to her 2nd husband. In 1991, thanks to Taib Mahmud the Chief Minister, a decision was made by the Sarawak State Government to alienate land acquired in the National Park for a pitiful sum of RM 80 per acre from a local headman to their new family company the Royal Mulu Resort. The Geneids had no money or hotel experience, but Taib’s brother Arip, who had made money from another family venture Achipeligo Shipping (which has now developed into a separate major scandal over the allegations of billions made in timber kickbacks) invested in the venture.

Berawan land - who cares?

Given that the Chief Minister had alienated profitable state land into the hands of his unqualified sister and brother, the project was from the start corrupt. Even more corrupt has been the continuing support by the state of Sarawak, through the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation, of what has turned out to be a lamentably unprofitable venture. In the name of ‘developing tourism’ the SEDC has been paying what appear to be astronomical ‘management fees’ to the Geneids and their co-shareholders for running their own hotel investment!

This generosity has turned what would have been a disastrous investment and a failed venture into a major money-spinner for Raziah and Robert (the son of an Australian fruit-vendor) who appear to have turned the resort into something of a family forest playground, judging from family facebook sites. Indeed few actual tourists go there and most tourist guides warn visitors that the small sized National Park has long since been stripped of its wildlife by the effects of Taib’s logging activities in all the surrounding areas.

It is also, of course, thanks to Taib that awkward complaints by the local population have been so firmly suppressed by the full force of the state and police. Thus, while the Geneids party in luxury (arriving at their holiday hideaway via a specially-built airstrip that involved blowing off the top of a sacred mountain and taking more of the land that belonged to the natives), the local people have received none of the benefits of the much-trumpeted ’progress and development’.

The Berawan tribe have now returned to court to fight the company’s forced acquisition (thanks to Taib’s government) of yet more of the NCR lands for a second extension of the resort as part of a deal to develop it further, in collaboration with the US-owned Marriott Hotel chain. So far they have received no compensation or recognition of their claims from Taib, despite the fact that previous governments did recognise their ownership of the land.

The Marriott Hotel chain appears to have no shame in participating in this deal, having already collaborated with Raziah Mahmud in developing the Marriott in Miri, again thanks to favours and land alienated by the government of Abdul Taib Mahmud.

However, Unesco which attributed World Heritage status to the site in 2000 has already signalled its own deep concern about the situation at Mulu. Its 2008 report into the management of World Heritage Sites states that the Chief Minister’s plan to flood great areas of Sarawak with dams will also affect Mulu and the report further raises concerns about reports that ” the benefits of tourism and World Heritage designation are not available to the indigenous groups. If these reports were confirmed” the report states “this lack of engagement of local communities could threaten the effectiveness of management and impact the integrity of the property”. The UNESCO report requires reassurances by 2010, which can hardly have been forthcoming.

Furthermore, UNESCO, which in 2000 listed Mulu as a World Heritage site has already raised the management of the park as an issue of concern. In its 2008 report into the management of World Heritage Sites it states that the Chief Minister’s plan to flood great areas of Sarawak with dams could impact on the site and further states that the “lack of engagement of local communities could …impact the integrity of the property”. The report requires reassurances by 2010, which can hardly have been forthcoming.

Local poor are dependent on tourist tips

Despite the usual bragging about ‘progress’ from AbdulTaib Mahmud, the ‘development’ of Mulu has predictably provided no compensation and little in the way of jobs for the local people. The Berawan are apparently banned from being guides in the park they know so well. In return these people have lost their lands and livelihoods and no longer have their hunting grounds. The Geneids and their government partners have therefore provided virtually nothing for the people who they have displaced, many of whom are starving hungry.

Progress and development at Royal Mulu - for the natives that is.

The once nomadic Penan of the area have likewise lost their hunting grounds, due to Taib-sponsored logging all around the actual park (which is on high ground and therefore does not have very interesting trees) and they are now living in shanty settlements on the fringes of the Berawan lands. Far from enjoying the fruits of modernisation they survive from making baskets for the few tourists who come to look at them from the resort hotel. So poor was the standard of housing provided by the Geneids in this ‘progress and development’ scheme that one such tourist himself put up the money to pay for the removal of mosquito-breeding swamps from beneath the settlement’s main longhouse, which had been a major discomfort and health hazard.

So how much has the Sarawak State paid to the Taib family to run Mulu?

Nevertheless, the taxpayer is still being forced to pay substantial sums to the Geneids in the name of ‘developing tourism’, for managing their own venture! The big question is exactly how much has Sarawak invested in this project that is now being taken up by the Marriott? Sarawak Report has ascertained that in 2007, the same year that Taib Mahmud openly acquired his shares in the company, a new contract was drawn up whereby the State was to pay even larger sums into the Borsamulu Resort Company, of which he was now publicly an owner.

Sarawak Report has been informed from reliable sources that the agreement was for Borsamulu’s management subsidiary to be paid RM 50 million a year for 50 years by the state. This means that the State of Sarawak has agreed to pay the Geneids and indeed the Chief Minister himself, RM 50 million a year to manage their own investment until the day they die! We therefore ask the Government of Sarawak if they will please confirm this figure and explain on what grounds they think they can condone such corruption?

Clearly these figures should be made public as it is the right of the people of Sarawak to be informed of the total sum of public money that has been poured into the Geneid’s forest playground since its inception in 1993 and they should also know how much more it is committed to spend.

Marriott Hotel

Sarawak Repot would also like to enquire of the Marriott Hotel Chain whether this continuing support by the Sarawak taxpayer forms part of their ’incentive’ for taking up a joint venture with the Geneids at Borsamulu Resort and also whether the company holds any ethical standards regarding human rights and the environmental impact of their activities? If so, how does their involvement in Borsamulu equate with these standards?

Marriott’s new business partners in their joint venture with Borsamulu Resort include the Chief Minister of Sarawak and his family, the State Government of Sarawak and the logging giant, Samling, recently condemned in an investigation into illegal logging by the Norwegian Government. Since Marriott are re-launching the resort under the auspices of eco-tourism and the Chief Minister and his family can only be described as one of the worst environmental menaces alive on this planet, we would like to ask Marriott how they are planning to deal with this contradictory arrangement?

'Eco-tourism' - a Geneid pal contributes to the destruction of the Mulu homeland of the Berawan Tribe

We would also like to enquire if Marriott can reveal the true identity of another of the major shareholders of Borsamulu, Widervale Assets Limited? We assume that in the course of doing their due diligence into the joint venture eco-tourism project they have identified the owner of this company, however in an instance of extreme irregularity it is not registered on the Malaysian Company Register, despite such a significant holding in a prominent state government-backed concern!

Given that Marriott Hotel Group’s promotional material regarding their planned acquisition of Mulu in 2011 claims confidence in the “eco-tourism potential” of the Royal Mulu Resort, Sarawak Report would finally like to ask on what criteria the Marriott Hotel Group judges ‘eco-tourism’? Their new business-partner, the Chief Minister of Sarawak, has sponsored the destruction of a huge segment of the Borneo rainforest, destroying the landscape of the whole of Sarawak. He authorised the logging of thousands of square miles of virgin rainforest surrounding the tiny Mulu National Park, eradicating most of the wild-life of the region, including inside the Park itself. In the process the local people and native forest tribes have been nearly starved into extinction and left to rot without a shred of compensation. Their protests have been put down by armed police.

We would therefore like to ask the Marriott Hotel Group how they intend to explain and justify these circumstance to their visiting ‘eco-tourists’ and indeed to concerned onlookers at UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission?

To Read More Here

Another Police Brutality : Hope It Happens to Malaysia No 1 Family Members One Day

Kuching
Thursday, 25th Nov 2010

With this latest police shooting spree, Malaysian is confirmed as no longer safe country for night goers!

Malaysian Government Will Only Take Action Against The Lawless Policemen If  This Happen to their family members!

The family of noodle seller Ho Chei Hang is crying out for justice as he lies in hospital with wounds in his back that were caused by police bullets.

Police plan to charge him for drug possession and attempted murder, but the family swears that he is an upright citizen.

“It’s the police who should be charged for attempted murder,” said his lawyer, Keppy Wong, at a press conference this morning.

Ho, 32, was shot in the back four times while he was driving his car in a residential area in Kepong at dusk last Tuesday.

Police said two plainclothes officers opened fire because Ho tried to attack them by ramming his car into them. They said they suspected that he was carrying illegal drugs.

According to Wong, Ho was in the area to chat with a friend about car accessories. He was driving home when the two officers starting chasing him on foot and shouting at him. Not knowing that they were policemen, he drove off. The two opened fire several times.

"After he was shot, he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the brick wall of a house, not because he was trying to ram into the police,” said Wong. “The car door opened and he fell into a monsoon drain."

Wong said police told him they found 45 sleeping pills and no weapons in the car.

"The sleeping pills were for his mother, who has difficulty sleeping,” he added. “Those are not illegal."

He said the policemen neither identified themselves nor fired a warning shot.

"Furthermore, why didn't they shoot at the tires? Why should they open fire so many times until he was shot four times?"

'He's a good man'

Wong described Ho’s survival as a miracle. An ambulance took one hour to arrive at the scene, he said.

Doctors at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital have extracted three bullets from Ho’s back. They said they were waiting until he got stronger before removing another slug, which is lodged in a shoulder.

"He was handcuffed to the bed even though he could barely speak and move,” Wong said. “That's violating his human rights."

The family has lodged a police report about the shooting and plans to complain to Suhakam.

"My husband is innocent,” said Ho's wife, Tan Chsiew Yong, a 29-year-old medical student. “Why did they have to shoot him?

"I was told they shot more than four times. They shot wildly. It was a public place. What if they had hit someone else? There's even a kindergarten there."

Tan wept as she spoke.

"My husband has no prior records, he is a good man. The only vice he has is smoking. We go out for supper sometimes, just the two of us. He doesn't have any other outside activities. When he has time, he makes fishballs at home.

"When I saw him, I thought he was going to die. He had all these pipes all over his body.

“We just want some justice.”

Ketamine in the car

Sentul district police chief ACP Zakaria Pagan said police had received information about two cars driven by suspicious individuals in the area and had tried to stop the two men for checks.

"However, police were forced to react when one of the cars tried to ram into the officers," he said, adding that the other car, a white Nissan Fairlady, drove off.

"We cannot take things for granted when we believe it is a drug related offence as the suspects may have a weapon."

He said police was treating the case as attempted murder and drug possession.

They found the drug Ketamine in the car, he added.

NCR Land Owners Warn Pelita and Kim Loong To Return their NCR Lands or Else

Kuching
Sunday, 21st November 2010

Note: Bukit Tunggal is  at the background of the photo.... 

On 3rd September 2004 the land owners from several longhouses namely Munggu Ubah, Tekuyong, Empaling,Isu and Gayau were misled by the BN representatives for Bukit Bengunan and Sri Aman to sign the JV for oil palm plantation with Pelita and Tetangga Akrab Sendirian Berhad.

Today after of  more than six years the JV had been signed, the land owners were only  been paid with the advance bonus for less than RM 1000 per hectare. This is equivalent to less than RM 170 per hectare per year.

Today as I went back to kampong Empaling, one of the longhouse that participates in the JV, almost all the land owners indicated that they were not happy with the JV.

One of the land owner John Ade (photo left)  told Bukittunggal that if he did not participate with the JV, with rubber current price he believed that his 1.3 hectares  rubber plantation could produce more than RM 1000 per month, meaning that he had lost about RM 72000 in six years.
But he is not the only NCR land owner that losing substantial income as a result of the JV. Bukittunggal family also losing more than RM1K per month as a result of the JV. 

But where are the BN YBs that had persuaded and influenced  them to sign the JV? They cannot just simply wash their hands. 

Other than losing substantial income from their small rubber estates the JV also split the longhouses. The land dispute amongst member of the family is something normal nowadays especially the lands that involved in the JV.

Most of the NCR land owners felt betrayed by the BN representatives. There was a talk amongst the land owners that they intended to  withdraw from the JV if by the end of this year that they still do not get a reasonable dividend from Kim Loong. Some of them even informed  Bukittunggal that they will take their lands by illegal means such as sit in or through proper legal process if they still do not pay with dividend at the end of the year.

To the BN's YBs,  they must be responsible with what they had started. Their job should not be accomplished  after receiving their "kang-tow" from the developer. And if they are not willing to take responsibilities on what they had done, the land owners through their  voting rights must show these BN Representatives the way out by VOTING THEM OUT in the coming state election.

Mupok Aku

PDRM : Are they the Peacekeeper or Citizen murderer?

Kuching
Saturday, 20th Nov 2010

The latest incident of the the shooting of "the suspect criminal" by the police is not the first incident involving the Malaysian Police.

On the morning of 26 April 2010, a 14-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, after a short car chased in Section 11 in Shah Alam, was brutally shot by Kpl Jenain Subi, 48 years old.

According to the cop, he allegedly tried to reverse and ram the car he was driving into one of the policemen. But this was denied by his friend who was in the car with him when they were pursued by police insisted there was never a situation where they tried to ram down a policeman.

According to Azamuddin Omar, 15, he and Aminulrasyid were running away from a gang of motorcyclists when they overtook a police car.

"The police started shooting at us but they drove on be cause Aminulrasyid wanted to get home. After a bullet hit Aminul rasyid’s head, the car crashed into a wall", said Azamuddin.

Police Brutality Against Its Citizen

On early morning of 13th November 2010 three youths, Mohd Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, and Mohd Hanafi Omar, 22, were shot dead by the police after a reported high-speed car chase  in Glenmarie, Shah Alam. They were shot dead by the police  after being suspected of robbing a petrol station.

But the acting Selangor police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan  defended the actions by his officers’ by describing the three suspected robbers as “seasoned criminals” who were allegedly involved in at least three armed robberies in Selangor last week.

He reiterated that the police shot the suspects in self-defence as they had allegedly rushed to attack the policemen with machetes after a car chase.

However the human rights lawyer Surendran, dismissed such claims as lies.

“This is a lie by the police,” he said.

He further added that based on the families’ observations of the bodies, Shamil, Hairul and Hanafi each sported two gunshot wounds on their heads and chests, that showed that a the shots were fired at close range, which was inconsistent (with police claims) that the shots were fired in self-defence.

The Police Make This Country Not Safe

If we look back at the high profile cases in Malaysia most of its involved the Malaysian police. From Alantuya case to Kugan  until Aminulrashid,  and the latest the shooting of the suspects criminal youths that used the machete. I doubt with the police who claimed  that the three youth were charging at them. By logic , were they brave enough to charge at the police who were equipped with the guns? They were not Kanang anak Langkau nor they were late PW2 Lenggu. They were just a 16 to 20 years old youth who were only equipped with small machete. 

I am agree with Surendran opinion that most of the victims were kneeling and begging to surrender to the police but the policemen brutally shot them on the forehead and chest at point blank.

Police have no right to prosecute the citizens no matter what crimes that they committed. And they are not above the law, therefore in order to instill people trust toward our police force, the offenders in this case should be charged in court.

For Peace and Freedom Malaysia!

The Jokes About Top Barisan Nasional Politicians Part I

Kuching
Thursday, 18th November 2010

Jokes About Sammy Vellu, Mahathir Mohamed, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak and Pak Lah

1. Najib, Pak Lah, and Old man Mahathir were patrolling in a helicopter.

Old Man Mahathir: "If I drop a piece of RM1000 note from here,the person that picks it up must be very happy."
Pak Lah: "If I throw two pieces of RM500 notes down, it will make 2 persons happy."
Najib: "If I drop TEN pieces of RM100 notes, there will be 10 happy people."

The pilot murmuring to himself: "Why don't all of you just jump down from here, that will make 27 million people happy."

2. Samy Vellu wished to enhance his reputation by publishing a series of stamps with his portraits. 1 month after the launch, Samy surveys its sales.

Post Office Chief: "Not bad... but we got quite a number of complaints that the glue is not strong enough."
Samy: : "Really...?"
He spits at the back of the stamp and sticks the stamp on an envelope: "The glue seems ok.

Post Office Chief:: "Yes, but every one spits on the front of the stamp ...."

3. Midnight, Najib went for supper and bumped into a robber.
Robber: "Give me all your money!!"
Najib was very angry: "I am the honorable Prime Minister!"

Robber: "Well, then ... return all my money."

4. One fine day, Najib, Muyhiddin and parliament members were on the way to a meeting where they all crashed in an accident and was rushed to the hospital.
The reporters were at the hospital, the doctor shook his head "We have done our best to rescue the PM but ..."
Reporters:"How about Muyhiddin?"
Doctor:"We were unable to rescue him either ..."
Reporters:"Who have you saved?"

The doctor was excited:"Malaysia is now saved!"

5. Samy Vellu visited the psychiatric hospital. All the patients hurray for him but there is one patient who ignored Samy.
Samy: "Why does he not welcome me?"

Doc: "He is normal today (not insane)."

6. Election campaign time -- car load of politicians were involved in a car accident.
A farmer saw and rushed to the scene but all the passengers were dead.He buried all the passengers.
Few days later, the police in charge found the farmer and asked where all the politicians were and was told that they had all been buried.
Police: "Did they all die?"
Farmer: "Hmmm, Samy was screaming that he is still alive when I buried him".
Police: "Then why did you bury him anyway?"

Farmer: "You know, Samy never tells the truth."

That all folks..Hope everyone Enjoy the jokes!

Aung San Suu Kyi Calls All Myanmar for a "Non-violent Revolution"

Kuching
Tuesday, 16th November 2010

Newly freed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi called on Monday for a "non-violent revolution" in Myanmar as she knuckled down to the task of rebuilding her weakened opposition movement.

Speaking at her party headquarters in Yangon, where she met with senior regional members for the first time in years, she told the BBC she was sure democracy would eventually come to her country, although she did not know when.

"I think we also have to try to make this thing happen... Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let's put it that way," the 65-year-old said.

Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest on Saturday,13th November 2010, less than a week after a controversial election that cemented the junta's decades-long grip on power but was widely criticised by democracy activists and Western leaders as a sham.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been locked up by Myanmar's regime for 15 of the past 21 years, gave her first political speech in seven years on Sunday, appealing to thousands of her jubilant supporters for unity.

She said in her latest interview, published on the BBC website, that she would take any opportunity for talks with the ruling military junta, which she wanted to change rather than fall.

"I don't want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism," she said.

"I think it's quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom."

When asked whether a letter would be sent to Than Shwe to request a meeting, Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) said: "I don't know."

"We have asked since the beginning for dialogue. She is always ready for dialogue," he told AFP on Monday.

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

After having only limited contact with the outside world for most of the past two decades, Suu Kyi's telephone line at her crumbling lakeside mansion will be restored "soon", an unnamed Myanmar official told AFP.

Nyan Win said the mother-of-two is also hoping that her youngest son Kim Aris will be able travel to Yangon and join her on a visit to Shwedagon Pagoda, the site of Suu Kyi's first political speech in 1988.

Kim Aris, who lives in Britain, travelled to the Thai capital ahead of his mother's release but it remained unclear whether he had received a visa that would grant him entrance to Myanmar.

On the political front, attention is now focused on whether Suu Kyi can unite the country's deeply divided opposition and bring change to the impoverished nation.

"I want to work with all democratic forces," she told her supporters on Sunday, saying she wanted to "hear the voice of the people" before deciding her course of action.

The daughter of the nation's assassinated independence hero Aung San carries a weight of expectation among her followers for a better future after almost half a century of military dictatorship.

Analysis: Suu Kyi faces long struggle to help Mynamar people

There was a new air of optimism on the streets of Yangon but some observers have warned that the dissident is no "miracle worker".

"She has always voluntarily tested the military authorities, has always wanted to push the red line drawn by the regime," said Renaud Egreteau, a Myanmar expert at the University of Hong Kong.

But with a powerful junta watching her every move, the situation "might make her avoid a direct confrontation for the time being", he added.

Suu Kyi's party boycotted the November 7 vote, a decision that deeply split the opposition. Some former members of her party left to stand in the poll, prompting accusations of betrayal from some of her closest associates.

The opposition leader swept the NLD to victory in a 1990 election, but it was never allowed to take power.

Her struggle for her country has come at a high personal cost: her British husband died in 1999, and in the final stages of his battle with cancer the junta refused him a visa to see his wife. She has never met her grandchildren.

Australia was the latest country to offer support to Suu Kyi on Monday, with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd saying he had spoken with her and promised that his country would continue to be her "reliable friend" in the future-AFP

Facebook launches New Online Messaging Services in Apparent Reason to Compete with Google Yahoo and Microsoft

Kuching
Tuesday, 16th November 2010

Facebook launched a next-generation online messaging service on Monday that includes facebook.com email addresses in a move seen as a shot across the bow of Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled what he called a "convergent" modern messaging system that "handles messages seamlessly across all the ways you want to communicate."

The messaging service blends online chat, text messages and other real-time conversation tools with traditional email, which Zuckerberg said had lost favor for being too slow for young Internet users.

"It is true that people will be able to have facebook.com email addresses, but this is not email," Zuckerberg said at an event in downtown San Francisco. "It handles email."

Zuckerberg dismissed reports referring to the messaging system as a "Gmail killer" aimed at the heart of free Web-based email services from Google and similar services from Yahoo! and Microsoft.

"We don't expect anyone to wake up tomorrow and say 'I'm going to shut down my Yahoo Mail or Gmail account,'" Zuckerberg said.

But, he added: "Maybe one day six months, a year, two years out people will start to say this is how the future should work.

"Maybe email won't be as important a part as it was before and we can push people toward real-time conversations," he said.

The Facebook messaging service was intended to turn online exchanges into ongoing conversations as opposed to intermittent back-and-forth email missives, according to Facebook director of engineering Andrew Bosworth.

"The system is definitely not email," Bosworth said. "We modeled it more after chat.

"I'm very jealous of the next generation that will have all this access to all these things," he said.

Facebook's messaging system, referred to inside the California-base firm as "Titan," will be slowly rolled out in the coming months and adapted based on feedback from users, according to Bosworth.

Approximately 350 million of Facebook's more than 500 million members fire off messages at the service, with more than four billion digital missives sent daily, according to Zuckerberg.

With such a large user base, a free personalized facebook.com email service lays down a powerful challenge to the established email giants -- Microsoft's Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Google's Gmail.

Hotmail currently has the most users, 361.7 million as of September, according to online tracking firm comScore, followed by Yahoo! with 273.1 million and Gmail with 193.3 million.

Facebook's new messaging service comes amid a recent bout of sparring with Google over data sharing.

Google earlier this month blocked Facebook from importing Gmail contact information over the Palo Alto, California-based social network's refusal to reciprocate and share data about its users-AFP

Myanmar Military Junta Released Aung San Suu Kyi

Kuching
Monday, 15th Nov 2010


On 14th November 2010, after 7 years under home arrest the Myanmar junta released the democratic icon and the Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi .
YANGON - Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi walked free Saturday after seven years as a prisoner in her own home, calling on a sea of jubilant supporters to unite in the face of repression.

Waving and smiling, the Nobel Peace Prize winner appeared outside the crumbling lakeside mansion where she had been locked up by the military rulers, to huge cheers and clapping from the waiting crowds.

"We must work together in unison," she told thousands of waiting people, suggesting she has no intention of giving up her long fight for democracy in what is one of the world's oldest dictatorships.

Many people hugged each other with joy at the sight of the 65-year-old dissident, known in Myanmar simply as "The Lady". She wore a pale purple top and appeared in good health after her latest stretch of detention.

"I'm so glad to see her in person, but she looks older than before. The last time I saw her was in 2002," said one supporter, Htein Win.

Suu Kyi asked the crowd to come to her party's headquarters at noon on Sunday to hear her speak after she struggled to make herself heard over the roar of cheers, then went back inside her home as the crowds lingered outside.

World leaders were quick to welcome her release, with US President Barack Obama hailing her as "a hero of mine" and said it was time for the Myanmar junta to free all political prisoners.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said her release was "long overdue", while French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned any restrictions on her freedom would "constitute a new unacceptable denial of her rights".

Although she has been sidelined and silenced by the junta -- occasionally released briefly only to be put back in confinement -- for many in the impoverished nation she still embodies hope of a better future.

"I think of her as my mother and also my sister and grandmother because she's the daughter of our independence leader General Aung San," said 45-year-old Naing Naing Win. "She has her father's blood."

Despite the risks of opposing the military regime in a country with more than 2,200 political prisoners, many supporters wore T-shirts bearing her image and the words: "We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi."

Undercover police were photographing and filming the crowds.

Myanmar's most famous dissident has been under house arrest since 2003 -- just one of several stretches of detention at the hands of the ruling generals.

Her sentence was extended last year over a bizarre incident in which an American swam uninvited to her lakeside home, sparking international condemnation and keeping her off the scene for the first election in 20 years.

The democracy icon swept her party to victory in elections two decades ago, but it was never allowed to take power.

Her release comes just days after the first vote in the country since 1990, which was boycotted by Suu Kyi's party and was widely decried in the West as a sham.

When last released in 2002 she drew huge crowds wherever she went -- a reminder that years of detention had not dimmed her immense popularity.

Some fear that junta chief Than Shwe will continue to put restrictions on the freedom of his number one enemy.

But her lawyer Nyan Win has suggested she would refuse to accept any conditions on her release, as in the past when she tried in vain to leave Yangon in defiance of the regime's orders.

Her struggle for her country has come at a high personal cost: her husband, British academic Michael Aris, died in 1999, and in the final stages of his battle with cancer the junta refused him a visa to see his wife.

She has not seen her two sons for about a decade and has never met her grandchildren.

Her youngest son Kim Aris, 33, arrived in Bangkok ahead of her release but it was unclear whether he would be allowed to visit his mother.

Suu Kyi's freedom is seen by observers as an effort by the regime to tame international criticism of Sunday's election, the first since the 1990 vote.

Western nations and pro-democracy activists have blasted the poll as anything but free and fair following widespread reports of intimidation and fraud.

The NLD's decision not to participate in the election deeply split Myanmar's opposition and Suu Kyi's party has been disbanded, leaving her future role uncertain.

Mupok Aku

Congratulations to Sabahan For Winning Malaysia's Poorest State Status

Kuching
Friday, 12th November 2010

Personally I would like to congratulate the people of Sabah for making a right choice by voted for BN and as a result their state has won the Most Poorest State competition.

According to the study by the World bank, although Sabah which is rule by Barisan Nasionan (BN) has only 10 percent of Malaysia's population, it has 40 percent of the poverty-stricken.

In contrast, Selangor which is rule by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) which has nearly a quarter of the country's population, has less than 10 per cent of the poor.

Sabahan should now realized how they had been cheated by the BN Regime. They should not blame others for their predictiment . They had been given the opportunity to change their conditions but they chosed to vote for BN. This was prooven during the previous Batu Sapi by-election when BN's candidate Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin won a three-cornered fight with a majority of 6,359 votes. In the by-election, Tsen a part time music teacher who is also the widow of the late MP Datuk Edmund Chong Ket, of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), defeated her arch-rival Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee and Ansari Abdullah of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). Tsen polled 9,773 votes against Ansari's 3,414 and Yong's 2,031.

Sabahans just like the people of Sarawak are the intelligent people but easily manipulated by their leaders. If the Iban of Sarawak have Jabu and Masing to manipulate them and throw their supports to corrupted Taib Mahmud, for Sabahans  they have Pairin Kitingan as their paramount chief or the "Hoguan Siou" that influenced them to vote for another corrupted BN Chief Minister, Musa Aman.

Please see the report by World bank here.

THE World Bank (WB) in Washington has confirmed through a new study that Sabah is not only the poorest state in Malaysia but it's likely to stay that way for a considerable length of time given current efforts in poverty eradication.

The bottom line is that Malaysia's economic planning in Sabah so far, has not been for inclusive growth. The study is part of the World Bank's 2010 Malaysia Economic Monitor (MEM), the third in its series. It was handed over last night to the state government by the WB's Human Development Sector Director (East Asia and Pacific Region) Emmanuel Jimenez.
The state government was represented by Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Department, Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur, at the handing over of the report, themed Inclusive Growth, to the State Economic Planning Unit (EPU) at the Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort in Kota Kinabalu.
"Although efforts by the government have somewhat lessened poverty, it's still not enough," said Jimenez. "The MEM shows that Sabahans continue to struggle to make ends meet. This is more evident in the outskirts of the towns."
He was speaking with the media after the handing-over ceremony which was also witnessed by senior WB economist Philip Schellekens and EPU director Ismail Abdullah.

Most poor in rural areas

The deep levels of poverty in Sabah, according to Jimenez, could be seen from the fact that although the state has only 10 percent of Malaysia's population, it has 40 percent of the poverty-stricken.
In contrast, Selangor, which has nearly a quarter of the country's population, has less than 10 per cent of the poor.
The WB has also identified that most of the poor in Sabah can be found in the rural areas mainly among the Rungus in the north and Orang Sungai in the east, both Kadazandusun groups, the latter generally Muslim; and the Suluks in the east who are a Muslim group from the Philippines from the days of the Sulu ultanate.
There are also poor among all other communities including in the urban areas among the Chinese.Nasrun praised the WB for accurately identifying poverty and regional disparity as the main critical issues concerning Sabah.
He disclosed that the MEM was put together with input from Sabah which was visited by a WB team several months ago.
"We are fortunate to have access to the WB's vast expertise in addressing issues of poverty, regional disparity and inclusive growth," said Nasrun. "They can advise us in taking a holistic approach towards addressing these challenges."
He lamented that compared with the states in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah is very much far behind in both hard and soft infrastructure. Some of the areas of deep concern, he added, were health, education, social facilities and services and human resource development. "Deep pockets of poverty exist in certain socio-economic groups as well as in certain areas of the state where the poor have the least access to services and employment opportunities."

Principle of inclusiveness

On a brighter note, Nasrun hopes that the principle of inclusiveness as spelt out in the New Economic Model will bring relief to Sabah. He particularly cited the National Economic Transformation Programme and the National Key Result Areas which pledged improvements in the supply of water and electricity and rural roads, among others.
Ranau MP Siringan Gubat isn't surprised that Sabah has been listed as the poorest state. He feels that the federal government should accept the fact that it needs to change in accordance to what the people want.
"At present, it is merely using Sabah as an economic resource," said Gubat who is also United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko) vice president. "If the federal government goes in the same direction as the state government, there's no reason why Sabah cannot progress and prosper."
Besides considerable oil and gas reserves, Sabah also has vast areas under timber, oil palm, rubber, cocoa and other commodities. He wants to know where these commodities go and who actually benefits from them "since it doesn't seem to be the people".
Kota Kinabalu-based social activist, human rights lawyer and newspaper columnist Nilakrisna Isnarti James commented that Sabah's current status was the very fear that drove her grandfather and famed Kadazan nationalist O.K.K. Sedomon Gunsanad (1894-1996) of Keningau, to oppose the idea of the state agreeing to help form the federation of Malaysia. James Ongkili recorded this fact in his book on the formation of Malaysia, she added. "If Malaysia was formed in equality and partnership between Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, why is that we are the poorest after almost 50 years? she asked rhetorically. "On top of that we are being increasingly disenfranchised and may end as internally displaced persons or refugees in our own land."
Nilakrisna called upon the federal government to demonstrate sincerity and pledge itself towards greater equity in dealing with the rich resources of Sabah and addressing the welfare and concerns of the people.
"The WB report confirms what we have been saying all along," said Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMA) deputy chair Daniel John Jambun. "The poverty rate in Sabah and Sarawak is not as low as that made out by the federal government. The evidence is all around us."
He intends to propose that CigMA, an ad hoc apolitical movement, call for a workshop soon to debate the WB report in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.

 Sabahan have two choices to choose. The first choice is to remain as the poorest state, and secondly to change the situation. If Sabahan prefer the first choice, they dont have to do anything, just follow what their Hoguan Siou has to say and vote for BN, but if they want a CHANGE from being the poorest state in Malaysia, they should change current BN government with Pakatan Rakyat. To all the Sabahans, the message from World Bank  is sound and clear. If  you still proud and want to Maintain the Poorest State status..Go ahead and VOTE FOR BN!  

Mupok Aku

"Dr." Fazley : Rosmah Mansor Son In-Law With Bogus Degrees

Kuching
Friday, 12th November 2010

Rosmah Mansor's Son In-Law with Bogus Degrees

Singer Fazley Yaakob who is also Rosmah Mansor's son in-law, has resigned from his post as executive director of Fazley International College (FIC) last night due to uncertainties by University of Wales pertaining to the singer's academic qualifications, including two bogus degrees.

The singer told press : "I have resigned with immediate effect based on the advise of the board of directors of FIC and also my own legal advisors to safeguard the relationship between the FIC and University of Wales."

Fazley had earlier shrugged off a BBC report on the University of Wales having suspended relations with the Fazley International College (FIC), pending an inquiry. In an interview with The Paper That Cares regarding the action — said to be related to the controversy over the personal academic qualifications of Fazley himself, who is executive director of FIC — he had initially chosen to remain mum on the matter as it involved other parties.

Stating a better understanding of the situation was needed, he said: “It is premature to comment on the matter as the University of Wales has not disputed the fact that FIC is qualified to run the said programmes. “This was further enhanced by their statement that all our enrolled students are not affected by their administrative process to review and arbitrate.”

On Saturday, the BBC aired a report naming the FIC as the college in question. It is one of three education institutions the University of Wales collaborates with in Malaysia. An agreement in 2007 allowed students to its validated courses the following year — having gained provisional approval from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.

The report also stated the university will not recognise additional admissions to its BA (Hons) in Business Administration and MBA courses until concerns about the principal's qualifications have been investigated. The Welsh university said the 35 students now attending courses would not be affected.The BBC Wales Week In Week Out programme broadcast yesterday had a report naming Fazley as “a Malaysian pop star with a bogus doctorate” being the man behind FIC.

The programme said Fazley claimed to have a masters, degree and a doctorate in business administration, but both had been proven bogus as these originated from the European Business School (Cambridge) — an offshoot of the Irish International University, which was exposed as a sham by the BBC in 2008.

A Professor Nigel Palastanga was, however, quoted as saying there were no concerns about academic standards at the college. In his response, Fazley said: “We appreciate the public concern on this matter. We have confidence the speculative nature of this magnitude will stop once the understanding of the whole matter is available for perusal.” Fazley does not lecture on the courses and has publicly stopped using reference to his academic qualifications. He also stated all will be made clear in due time.

Mupok Aku

Poor Iban and Taib's Family Members Luxury Lifestyle

Kuching
Thursday, 11th November 2010

After almost 30 years of ruling Sarawak, Taib Mahmud has gathered more than enough wealth for his family members!

While majority of Iban still living under poverty line but Taib's family, on the expensed of their NCR lands have been living luxuriously and extravagantly.
Please see some photos of Taib's  family members here. Hopefully by showing their photo here, the Iban in the long house will be able to see by themselves the true colours of Taib's family members, therefore will be able to make rational decision whether to vote for BN in the coming state election.

 ‘Sexy lighting’ – Ladies in Red

Playboy collection – Ani Ta Tufail (by day she acts as a company director) and friends are the ‘women in red’

Elia Geneid (niece of Taib) gets flirty

 Taib niece, Elia Geneid – with a house this big I will dress as I want to

Glamour 

 Smooching up to my brother – niece Anita Tufail

Elia Geneid – all on show for her funky male friends

Harem – Taib’s daughter Jamilah (second right) is Director and Shareholder of many of Taib’s huge foreign property interests abroad, while (far right) neice Anita Tufail inserted herself into the Board of a major timber company straight after college to profit from the proceeds of logging

Busts and baubbles – low cut dresses for Taib sister Raziah and daughters to show off the main attraction (the wealth around their necks)

Old and young – Taib’s sister, Zaleh Mahmud with the next generation, posing for the boys and getting through husbands like old dresses.

Bad influence? – dressing sexy

For sale? – pouring out onto the street

Give it tongue – Clearly the menfolk approve!

Hey don’t forget the Key Man who made it all happen! – Taib at the Monaco ‘Islamic Fashion Show’ with his son, brother in law – and some suckers who paid?