Fashion Dress in The Present: Personality
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Showing posts with label Personality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personality. Show all posts

Zarinah should do a Xenophon

Finally. The much maligned former Securities Commission chairman Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar is getting justice done for herself.


 The foreign-funded pro-Pakatan Malaysiakini, which was probably trying to undermine our country's capital market by attacking Zarinah was made to eat humble pie today . You can read it here in Rocky's Bru Page 2



It was however a poorly constructed apology as Malaysiakini, as pointed out by Rocky., didn't even deem it necessary to spell out Zarinah's full name in the content of it's apology. To me, this signify their lack of sincerity and remorse for committing the "error".

It's very unlike the NST's apology to that Australian MP Nicholas Xenophon which I think was excessive. Well, the Aussie, probably instigated by his Malaysian Pakatan friends, is going to sue NST anyway.

I think Zarinah should do a Xenophon too and proceed to sue Malaysiakini despite their apology. which I think was rather insincere. She may clear her name out in open court in the process. Get it done once and for all. Sue them for a couple of hundreds million ringgit. Whatever she won, she can donate it to charitable causes. Zarinah, now no longer in office, got nothing to lose by doing that.

Errr, dear lady....but please don't sue my bloggers friends. Be magnanimous to them, ok? You would made your point already by just suing the good for nothing Malaysiakini leh..

Oh, by the way. Tan Sri, Happy Mother's Day. Hope you enjoy a good weekend with your children.

Will Ismail stay?

It may still be early days to know if there will be a new chief executive at Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda), but talks were already circulating that the current CE Ismail Ibrahim may not have his contract renewed when it expires on Jan 1 next year.


Personally, I hope these talks are not true. Ismail is after all the third CE of Irda in five years when he took over from Harun Johari on Jan 1, 2010. Changing the CE too many times may not be good for Irda and Iskandar Malaysia in the long run.

I know that Ismail's application to renew his contract had been submitted and now at the Johor MB's office. Johor MB and the PM are joint-chairman of Irda. I do wonder when will it go to the PMO for final approval.

With the impending departure of Johor MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman after the next general election, it would be crucial for Ismail to have his contract renewal being confirmed now. A new MB may naturally want his own man to head Irda and steer it according to the soon new ways of things at Kota Iskandar.

To me, Ismail's tenure so far, may not be exceptional but it was not too bad either. But some others think that it has been quite bad and that Irda itself has become irrelevant. And these others are quite powerful people in the State government.

Well, that I think is up for the PM and Johor MB to decide.

Whatever it is, as far as Ismail is concerned, I believe there will always be room for improvements.

For instance, I'm hopeful for Ismail to clean up things which may create doubts about Irda's integrity such as questions on the processes of awarding contracts, which arise from suspicions that there could be some manipulations favouring certain contractors. Let's not wait until an independent audit team need to be sent in to clear up such nonsense.

Really Encik Mail, go and check la on that one and do the right thing. Trust me, you will not regret it.

Another thing which I wish Ismail would do is to trim down the fat at Irda. I am not trying to teach him how to do his job but really la, my personal opinion is that there are too many passengers riding on the Irda gravy train. How many senior vice-presidents in Irda? Some are not even qualified to be there in the first place.  And their big fat salaries were paid using tax payers money. I am writing this with nothing but good  intention. So I rather not elaborate on that. It's up to Ismail to decide. This is just a suggestion to make him look effective as a big boss, ok?

Oh, by the way, please la don't take the easy way out by hiving off those useless free loaders to another outfit and burdening them with crappy officers.  If they are of no use in Irda, how do you expect them to be useful in similar set-ups elsewhere?

And once more, I'm still hoping that Irda would put some effort to be more relevant to the people down here, like being involved with the locals on a more regular basis and engaging the local community leaders so that you people can be clued in to what makes the locals tick.  Have you ever wondered why community leaders simply don't recognise you in a crowd and went looking for the Mayor, YDP, District Officers, even Heads of Government Departments to voice their problems and opinions about the development within Iskandar Malaysia?

Just to remind you that Irda is a regional authority, not a corporate entity.  So Encik Mail, you and your people should make yourselves relevant by emulating the DO and YDP Majlis who can deal with not only government agencies, investors, contractors, and businesses, but also the public.

One last thing, I have been getting some funny emails accusing Irda's management as practicing a "caste system" of some sorts when it comes to treating their employees. I think the word "caste" may be a bit extreme, but it would be good if Ismail can do something to see what's wrong and make the necessary corrections if such accusations were found to be true.

p.s To all commentators, especially Irda staff,  please refrain from making wild personal attacks such as calling your colleagues janda puaka or kungfu panda like last time. Please don't get me in trouble again, ok?

What I like and don't like about Najib

I'm not really in the right frame of mind to write any hard political stuff these past few days. On medication today...a bit drowsy.

So, I think I should just settled with writing about what ever little I know about PM DS Najib Razak. To make it easier, I'm going to put it into the five things I like about him and another five which I don't like about him.Just light stuff, this one.

What I don't like about Najib first lah -

1. He got very soft hands. Try shake his hands and you will know what I'm talking about. I think men should have rough manly hand. Nonetheless, Najib's handshake is very firm which sorts of compensate it.

2. He like to tease his wife in public too much. I have seen this many times. Sometimes in his speech he would joke about how men like to have more than one wife. He will then give his wife, who was on stage a naughty look. Rosmah will then give him the evil eyes of which he will laugh a bit and immediately said of course he is not that type of man. Najib is particularly fond of pulling this stunt whenever he goes making his rounds meeting the orang kampung in Pekan. Datuk, you better don't push your luck, ok? Made me cringed whenever you did that lah.

3. He is too polite. Right after the disastrous 2008 general election, I told one of Najib's close aide that his boss better immediately take charge from Pak Lah. I felt at that time Najib should just tell Pak Lah in the face that he should hand over the premiership or otherwise the country is doomed. The aide said that is not his boss style. Najib is a Pahang nobleman and being one doesn't allow him to kick someone who is already down. Personally at that time I'm inclined to believe that Pak Lah deserved to be kicked for his stupidity. Then again I'm not noble like Najib. It's actually a good character of Najib, but it sometimes leaves me so angry and frustrated.

4. He is too forgiving. After he took over as PM, Najib retained most of Pak Lah's Cabinet. Some of them are quite useless. Some are those who were part of the gang who tried to undermine him when he was the DPM. Some are the kurang ajar ones who spat at Tun M at the height of Pak Lah's rule. I was so dumbstruck when he didn't chop off these people. I was however told that Najib is not a vindictive man. He doesn't punish people based on his whims and fancies. He doesn't do things without looking at the overall pros and cons. OK, fine Datuk, but please la, after the general election get rid la all these eyesore people. Really sakit mata and sakit hati la I watch these people.

5. He is too accommodating. I can't ever remember Najib forcing anyone to do anything. I can't even remember him getting angry. Even Pak Lah used to get angry from time to time when he was PM. I think Najib tries too hard to please everyone. Or is it, it's just him being himself, because he likes to make people happy. I'm not sure about this because I don't really know the PM that well. It's just that I don't think he can please everyone. It's just the way things are in this world. There will always be people who simply love to bitch about this and that. That's why we got satan with crooked penis stirring up trouble in this world.

Ok, now the five things I most like about Najib -

1. The guy is cool. Well, not as cool as Tun M, but cool enough. Still, for one thing Najib never jumped when provoked. I think Najib has been accused of a lot more worse things in his three years in office compared to Tun M's 22 years. Still, did you see him jump? He didn't even bothered to sue anyone. Najib is not like some politicians who go around suing even small time bloggers by the millions. As it goes, those accusations, which include murder just died off once people come to their senses and realize how ridiculous they were. I don't see Najib any bit different than he was three years ago and after all those libels and slanders. He is also cool in the sense that he can hangout with just anybody, young and old of all races. The only thing not so cool about Najib is that for EPL, he supports MU.....support la Cardiff, Datuk.

2. Najib is smart.Well, he would not be a PM if he is not smart isn't he. Even Pak Lah used to be smart, except that he sleeps too much, thus rendering him stupid, I see Najib as smart because he comes out with all those 1Malaysia things and other sorts of improvements to the country over the just past three years. The way he handles the Pakatan people is also smart. No hysterics from the man, just factual explanations to answer whatever criticisms thrown at him and the government. Just compare him to Anwar, who only can talk as if he is so smart; Guan Eng, whose immature tantrum-ridden behavior is akin to a nine-year spoiled brat and Hadi Awang, who can't seems to think for himself.
 
3. Najib is an attentive person. He always goes back to Pekan to check on his constituents. I don't think there are any other better wakil rakyat than him..He used to go back almost every weekends when he was a DPM. Now probably slightly less that he is even more busy as PM. I had seen him going around in Pekan, which is his natural setting. No kompang and bunga manggar there. He could just popped out in a village with a few people in tow and happily chit chatting with the makchik and pakchik. Even the Chinese shopkeepers in the small town would not be shocked if he suddenly turned up near their shop as he always do that whenever he comes back to Pekan. There was once a heart-rendering newspaper report about a bed ridden Orang Asli living somewhere deep in the interior of Pekan. This was about five years ago. That very weekend after the report came out, Najib came down to visit the man and his family who are living in a small hut and handing out whatever necessary help to them. I remember that Najib's visit well because I was told that he didn't flinch as he climbed up the rickety stairs of the hut, fully realizing there was a little baby wild boar kept in a cage under the hut. The little fella was caught in the jungle and was supposed to be eaten by the family later on.

4. Najib is a hard working guy. Even a DAP friend of mine admitted to me once that Najib is more hardworking than most other leaders that she knows. She was comparing the PM with Singapore's Lee Hsein Loong, who despite being a hard working PM is no match compared to Najib. Najib seems to be moving non-stop these days. Try check his itineraries and you will wonder how he keep it up. Keep in mind that the guy is over 60 already.

5. Najib dearly loves his wife....which can't be said of that many men these days. Enough said.



Ok, I am going back to sleep. This cough syrup the doctor gave me is really powerful liao.

DAP's east coast foothold and the blur blur PKR lady

Past midnight and still can't sleep....so I think I write a bit more on Lynas which my past few postings had attracted the interest of some DAP cybertroopers. Kinda fun reading their comments.

Ok, the whole anti-Lynas demo is purely a DAP show. That I'm certain.

PKR seems to have been elbowed out of it. Not much coverage given to them by the pro-Pakatan media.

Not even their Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh who has been making all sorts of nonsensical noises over the issue got that much space in the Chinese newspapers that day.


Even Guan Eng, doing a little jig on the issue in Penang got more publicity than Fuziah and Anwar Ibrahim combined.

Well, can't really blame the Chinese papers, Fuziah and Anwar are not Chinese. Chinese papers are meant for Chinese audience and therefore need a Chinese star. Guan Eng is indeed a Chinese star and the majority of the anti-Lynas crowd are Chinese. These are facts, ok? Nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, I do suspect that many of you do not even realised that Gebeng which is where the Lynas plant is being built is not even in Fuziah's Kuantan parliamentary area.

It's in Indera Mahkota, the only other Pakatan's parliamentary area in Pahang which MP is Azan Ismail. This guy was Pahang PKR no 2 until he resigned from the post in 2010, citing dissatisfaction with the party's management.

Azan has been quiet for so long. I can't even remember when was the last time he was in the news. The last time I met him was just a few days after he won the election in 2008. He was discussing with several other PKR people about how to get some contract jobs in Selangor.

Apparently, Fuziah is now handling PKR's affairs in both areas.

Now, how did these two PKR clowns won in 2008? 

Bear in mind ya that DAP do not have much base in eastern Pahang. Prior to 2008, DAP represented the opposition in the State with their single rep in Triang. Thats in western Pahang. Now they got another one in Tras, also in western Pahang. Pas meanwhile got two State seats in Beserah and Kuala Semantan in 2008.

In 2008, Fuziah beat Fu Ah Kiow of MCA in Kuantan by getting 52 per cent of the votes, while Azan beat Salamon Ali Rizal Abdul Rahman of Umno in Indera Mahkota by getting 51 per cent of the votes.

In another words, they won by a small margin. Do also bear in mind that Beserah was the only State constituency in the two parliamentary areas which fell to Pakatan.

Clearly, Fuziah and Azan won due to protest votes by BN supporters at that time. My reading was that it was mainly the protest votes of MCA members which did the trick for them. MCA was rocked to the core when it dropped several of their highly influential assemblymen such as then Teruntum assemblyman Ti Lian Ker.

Now, with the Lynas demo being considered as a DAP's success, it would not be far fetched to assume for the party to set its sight on either Kuantan or Indera Mahkota. 

Azan is almost certain to lose his seat based on his lack of performance thus far. However, my bet is that, DAP will prefer to take away Fuziah's Kuantan seat and will try to persuade her to instead move over to contest in Indera Mahkota.

If I'm Guan Eng, I will persuade Anwar to agree based on these arguments -
1. DAP need Kuantan as its foothold in the East Coast
2. Kuantan got a large number of Chinese voters who are now more partial to DAP after the anti-Lynas campaign.
3. Fuziah does not stand much chance without the MCA protest votes if she face a Chinese opponent in Kuantan this time around. Indera Mahkota got more Malays who may be sympathetic to her.
4. Since Fuziah is so keen to be the heroine of anti-Lynas, she should be in Indera Mahkota where the plant is actually located.

Knowing that DAP is now the big brother in Pakatan due to its current influence among the majority of Chinese voters, Anwar will agree to the demand....probably in exchange for DAP's help via its Chinese supporters in other places. Knowing Fuziah's blind loyalty to Anwar, she will happily agree too.

So, there you have it. The blur blur Fuziah will not even notice what's going to hit her. She will not stand much chance in Indera Mahkota as the Malay voters there, like elsewhere are now more BN-friendly.

Yup, Fuziah is that blur. Her character is what the Javanese call "ndablaek", which means she has a single tracked mind where the brain is incapable of accepting any other idea except what she had made up her mind to believe. If you don't believe me, try having a conversation with her about something profound for half an hour and you will know what I'm talking about.

BTW, I'm sticking to my stand that Lynas is really a political and not an environmental issue. I am not going to waste my time and energy trying to present environmental arguments on how safe the Lynas plant is, as I'm not in the business of educating idiots like Fuziah. Anyway, those had already been done by the experts and see lah for yourself how it affects people like Fuziah and those like her.

Totally like pouring water on yam leaves (mencurah air didaun keladi....something like that lah). 

A cool lady

I think I am now a fan of Erykah Badu.



Her reaction to the ban of her concert by the Malaysian authorities indicates that she is one cool lady.

Too bad that The Star screwed up her concert.

Here is the story by Associated Press -

Erykah Badu Sad But Not Angry Over Malaysian Ban

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia February 29, 2012, 06:03 am ET
 
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Soul singer Erykah Badu said Wednesday she holds no grudge against Malaysia's government for barring her from performing after a photograph of her body art offended some Muslims.
More than 1,500 people had bought tickets to watch the Grammy-winning American singer at a Kuala Lumpur auditorium Wednesday, but Malaysia's information minister announced on the eve of the concert that it could not proceed because a promotional photo of Badu with the Arabic word for Allah painted on her bare shoulders was "an insult to Islam."
"It's sad, because we traveled a long way," Badu told a news conference. "But I'm totally understanding of (the minister's) protection of the laws and its people. He doesn't want anything to happen. I'm good with that."
The photograph ignited criticism from some politicians and religious groups in Muslim-majority Malaysia after a newspaper published it Monday in a feature to promote Badu's show. The daily has since apologized for what it called an "oversight" that led to the photo's publication.
Badu, 41, said the photo was inspired by images from "The Holy Mountain," a 1973 surrealist movie by Chilean-French filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.
"I think art is often misunderstood in the realm of religion, and it's OK," she said. "In America, it's a lot different. Art is also misunderstood but it is not such a harsh gesture to promote the names of God. I am learning and understanding about Islam in other countries more as we travel."
Information Minister Rais Yatim said Malaysia's Cabinet endorsed the ban Wednesday. Police feared that if the concert went ahead, it could cause "various situations that may lead to social excitement, and quarrels may break out due to religious sensitivities," the national news agency, Bernama, quoted the minister as saying.
Public reaction to the concert ban has been divided. On Twitter, many Malaysians, including Muslims, accused the government of intolerance, but others praised authorities for being firm about defending religious principles.
Badu said she would "absolutely" welcome another chance to perform in Malaysia someday. She is scheduled to sing at a jazz festival this weekend in Jakarta, the capital of neighboring Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.


The untold story of Zulkifli Abdul Khir

First of all, is he really dead?

News reports flashed all over the world said Malaysian terror suspect Zulkifli Abdul Khir @ Marwan is indeed dead after an air strike on Jolo Island, in southern Philippines on Thursday.

But then in the latest rounds of reports, the Philippines Armed Forces announced that they have yet to find any body at the scene of the US-aided strike despite earlier confirming Zulkifli's death along with several high ranking AlQaeda-linked individuals.

How come there was not a single body found while in the earlier reports it was said up to 15 terrorists were killed?

Could it be that the elusive terror suspect had given the long arms of CIA and other security agencies in the world another slip? He after all did just that over 10 years ago when police closed down on his Kumpulan Militan Malaysia.

Who is this guy, actually?


The truth is, little is known about Muar-born Zulkifli Abdul Khir despite him being among the top most wanted terrorist suspects in the world. He actually ranked just a few rungs lower than Osama bin Laden in the US' most wanted list for many years till now.

With USD5 million bounty on his head, what makes this low-profile chap so dangerous? My bet was that because he is a US-trained engineer and a top notch bomb making expert. He is also considered as being highly intelligent and brave.

I did some search on this Johorean fella and other than those you had probably read in the newspapers about him, I discovered some very interesting stuff.

Zulkifli was born into a big family in Kampung Jeram Masjid, Bakri, Muar in 1966.
His growing up years was typical of any kampung kid in any village in Johor.
He did well in his studies and was enrolled at the prestigious boarding school, Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak, Seremban in 1979.

He was a normal teenager, who likes to watch kung fu movies and listened to rock music. He prefer Bruce Lee than Jackie Chan and his favorite rock band was Deep Purple. He was also said to be a very good snooker player. All these were said to have been due to the influence of his elder brothers.

Zulkifli did show some early traits of rebelliousness during his school years. Like the other more adventurous boys, he picked up some bad habits such as smoking and going on excursions of climbing over the school fence for a night out. But all that were just more for fun than anything else. It can't be said that he was the naughtiest boy in the school. His nickname among school friends was "Cheng", which was given by seniors due to his Chinese look.

Zulkifli prays five times a day but was not really involved in any of the school's Islamic association activities. He normally perform his prayers in his dormitory instead of going to the surau. In another words, he didn't grow up being an Islamic fundamentalist.

It was said that Zulkifli was a rather quiet but likable boy. Despite being a rather shy character, Zulkifli did talk about his liking of girls to his school friends . He preferred Chinese girls or those of the same features.

His first experience of holding a firearm was when he joined the Army cadet. It was the only uniformed extra-curricular activity he took part in school. He was the best marksman in his batch of cadets and was said to be extremely good in handling the SLR rifle, being able to disassemble and reassemble the British-made weapon in record time.

The first real indication that Zulkifli would one day be a jihadist was in 1982. Just like Osama bin Laden, it was the Sabra and Shatila massacre during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that year, which first made him hate the US, Israel and their allies. He was said to be very affected by the incident and had kept pictures of the massacred Palestinian civilians which were cut out from the Times magazine.

He did, however, studied very hard in his final year at school and did very well in his SPM to win a scholarship to further his studies in the US.

While studying electrical engineering in the US,  Zulkifli continued with his interest in military training and spend most of his summer holidays at private camps where he got himself acquainted with more types of firearms.

His studies did not however proceeded smoothly, probably because it was believed that during that period he began to have contacts with radicals elements among fellow students from the Middle East.
Zulkifli nonetheless completed his studies to obtain a degree in electrical engineering.

This was in the late 1987 , where in another part of the world, it marked the tail end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Instead of coming home to a good job and comfortable life like most other Malaysian students, Zulkifli decided to join the fight in that war-ravaged country.

He traveled to Pakistan and using his contacts from the Middle East entered Afghanistan and joined a group of Arab fighters, whom later be infamously known as the Al-Qaeda. They were at that time close allies of the Afghan mujaheddin faction led by the hardliner Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. It was, however, not known whether Zulkifli had personally met Osama bin Laden when he was in Afghanistan.

Despite the mujaheddin at that time being on the verge of winning the war, life was still hard and dangerous for Zulkifli and his fellow fighters. They were still heavily outgunned by the Soviet troops.

Zulkifli was attached to a squad of mostly Arab fighters. He became their expert in defusing land mines and unexploded Soviet bombs which were later used against the enemies. He was also their designated cook. It was said that their meal mostly consisted of rice mixed with ghee and the occasional ladies fingers and potatoes. Only once in a while they get supplies of meat.

Zulkifli was also among the best snipers in the squad. His sniping exploits include crawling through land mines armed with an AK-47 to get close to a Soviet position before letting off a single shot at a prized target and enduring the ensuing barrage of mortar fires.

He, however survived the war unscatched despite the extreme danger.

Some times after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, Zulkifli was advised by his "seniors" to return home after her received news of some family problems back in Malaysia.

When he came back, he was at first finding it difficult to secure a steady job and ended up doing odd jobs while staying at a rented house in Shah Alam with some friends, several whom were themselves Afghan veterans.

Surprisingly though, old friends who met him during this time said Zulkifli was still the same shy but likable guy they know many years earlier.

He prays five times a day but still listened to rock music and seems to be cheerful about his then much more mundane life. He hardly talked about Islamic fundamentalism.

There were not much indications about his militancy except for him sometimes telling his old war stories to close friends. Even when telling those stories, he did so in such a way that they sounds quite comical rather than them being a really dangerous experience.

It was around this time that he told friends that his family had arranged for him to get married with a very pretty girl from Kluang, Johor. He was said to be very much in love with the girl from the very first time he was introduced to her by family members.

He was very happy at the prospect of settling down and had vigorously looked for a better job to prepare for a family life. He finally landed a job with Telekom Malaysia sometimes before his wedding. This was in the mid 1990s.

Unknown to most of those close to him, even during this time, Zulkifli was still in contact with his former mujaheddin friends in Malaysia and Afghanistan. This was probably what led him down to the dark path in later years.


The rest of Zulkifli's story had been extensively covered by the newspapers and news agencies across the world.
Here is a bit of those from the Star yesterday -

PETALING JAYA: Zulkifli Abdul Hir, born in Muar in 1966, was a telecommunications engineer trained in the United States.
Zulkifli, whose aliases included Marwan and Musa, was believed to be the head of the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), accused of being a senior member of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and blamed for multiple bomb attacks in the Philippines.
He was a protege of JI bomb expert Dr Azahari Hussin, a Malaysian killed by an Indonesian anti-terrorism unit on Nov 9, 2005.
He was wanted for his role in leading KMM in a Southern Bank robbery in Petaling Jaya in May 2001, and the murder of Lunas assemblyman Dr Joe Fernandez and the bombing of a Hindu temple in Pudu, both in 2000.
He fled to Indonesia where he was believed to be involved in the Bali bombing in 2002, which claimed more than 200 lives. It is thought that he then escaped to Jolo Island in Southern Philippines in 2003.
In the Philippines, he cooperated with Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to attack and bomb several American interests and military bases there.
This led him to being placed in the top 10 list of the world's most wanted terrorists with a US$5mil (M15mil) bounty on his head.
He was also high on the Philippines police's wanted list after two of their personnel were killed in a clash when they attempted to approach his hideout near Manila in August 2006.
Marwan had also been accused of helping to secure funds and weapons for Abu Sayyaf from foreign donors.
In March 2010, the Philippines marines launched an assault against Marwan, killing at least seven al-Qaeda linked militants in a raid at Laminusa Island, off southern Sulu province.
However, he managed to escape.
In October last year, Marwan fled from a military assault by the Philippines, which killed three Abu Sayyaf commanders and two other militants near the Indanan town in southern Sulu province.
His brother-in-law, Taufik Abdul Halim, was caught when he tried to set off a bomb at Plaza Atrium in Jakarta in 2001.
However, he ended up losing part of his right leg when the bomb exploded prematurely.

This report by Star, some how missed the fact that Zulkifli's 48-year-old elder brother who had obtained US citizenship and was living there is currently detained in Guantanamo Bay after suspected of giving him financial assistance and other materials.

A bit on Lim Kang Hoo

As you may noticed by now, KL-based Johorean bloggers A Voice and BigDog have over the past few days been relentless in pursuing the The Ghost of Johor story, which was triggered by a posting by prominent blogger Rocky of Rocky's Bru.

One name, which emerged above all else from those posting is Datuk Lim Kang Hoo.


As Rocky, correctly pointed out, not many people from outside Johor would have known who the hell is this Datuk Lim....well, until these last few days lah. By now the man is probably a household name, I guess.

The Ghost of Johor postings by my senior bloggers, as far as I am concerned, made Lim sounds like some nefarious figure who somehow had gain control of people at the highest level in Johor in his evil grip. That he can do and get whatever he wants at anytime he desires. Some sorts of a super triad godfather.

Well, I don't blame the other bloggers if they have that impression of Lim. The man is indeed very close with people at the highest places in Johor,  he is not very handsome and he has a gang of aides whom I think look very much like some Petaling Street pirated DVD peddlers.

But from the little bit I know of Lim, he is not totally as bad as all that. Well, I guess, I am going to get flamed for saying that but that's my honest opinion of Lim. To those who think I am being paid by Lim for writing this - you got it wrong, period.

Ok, I had met Lim a couple of times and found him to be quite a funny man. He doesn't speak much...well probably that's because his Bahasa Malaysia and English are not too good...a bit like me, actually.

But the man do have quite some sense of humor. He also seems to be a humble guy as he was very comfortable hanging out with a lowly nobody like me. There is completely no airs about the man. If he is not some sorts of a tycoon, Lim would probably be a fishmonger at a wetmarket, and would still be very much at home being that.

Well, Lim, like most other "good" Chinaman businessman, never really talked about his wheeling and dealings, especially not with a blabber mouth like me. Business is business ma, socializing is completely not the time to talk about those, unless of course if the socializing was meant for business purposes.

Ok, this Lim fella, as far as I know is completely apolitical. He only keeps tab of the political happenings because he need to know them due to his business. All that matter to him is his business...and of course his family and a few other things.

If given the choice, he would rather not have to know about politics. Give him a nice dinner, a glass of nice wine and then talk politics with him for five minutes, and the man will be snoring. I am not kidding you. He will really sit there, eyes closed, mouth a bit opened and snore. If not careful he would fall off the chair. Datuk Lim, if you are reading this, don't be angry ar, you are really like that leh.

I did some checking on Lim as I was quite curious about how come he got to get all those sweet deals such as the Danga Bay thingy. What I found out was that the Chinaman is simply a cunning king of gambler.

 He took some huge risks and came out on top. Guess he reads things better than anyone else and placed his chips all on the right bets. He invested in things no one else wanted and he befriended people who initially do not yet have power. Among his crazy investments include buying land under the sea and reviving a failed shopping complex with bad fengshui. All these somehow ended up well for him.

Well, a bit on the Tebrau Teguh issue, which details you all can read at A Voice's blog. My reading is that, the whole thing became extra-sensitive because Lim the Chinaman was involved. If Lim's name is Ali or something like that, things would not have been so bad. I don't want to go into too much details into that as I don't want that issue to have all sorts of versions. Everyone have their own versions, isn't it?

Anyway, what I think about the issue doesn't really matter, I think.

I am posting this just to put it on record what little bit I know about Lim Kang Hoo. Nothing more than that. Oh, also. like Shrek the jolly ogre, Lim also has his Princess Fiona....very charming liao.

Remembering the good old man of Bukit Serene

It is exactly two years today since I found myself shedding tears in front of the Puteri Specialist Hospital, Johor Baru.

I had rushed to the hospital that morning upon hearing that Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail was admitted during the night.

It was not the first time that the sultan was warded at the hospital. Still my anxiety upon hearing the news was real.

The first thing that I was told as I reached there was that the sultan was gravely ill.

I had immediately send several text messages to those I deemed needed to know.

Admittedly, I was emotional at that time. One of the text messages read something like this, "Let's pray the old man survive this. Johor still badly needs him."

When I got the information that MB Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had chartered a flight to immediately return from accompanying PM DS Najib Razak in India, my heart sank. I knew at that point that there was not much hope left.

About 7pm, as Ghani arrived, my fear was confirmed.

Ghani was wearing the songkok with the strip of white cloth around it. He was already in mourning. The good old man of Bukit Serene, as I fondly called the Sultan among friends, was no more. I recited the Al-Fatihah for my beloved Sultan at that moment with tears in my eyes. Yes, I cried, and I'm not exaggerating it.

Some may think I must be some sorts of a royalist for shedding a tear for the Sultan. Well, the truth is, I am not.

I never had any personal engagement with the Sultan, never even got to shake his hand, let alone received anything directly from him.

But I do love Sultan Iskandar as if he was my own grandfather or someone like that. To me he was a good man in his own way and had kept Johor safe during his reign.

True, I had heard a lot of nasty things about him being a garang man. When he was young, he even lost his position as the Tengku Mahkota to his younger brother Tunku Abdul Rahman because of his temper.

But stories I heard from people I trust, made me believe that Sultan Iskandar was actually a kind person even during those time. He sincerely love his subjects and went to great lengths to do the best for them....of course, in his own way.

In an incident, related to me by my father when I was a teenager, Sultan Iskandar, who was then the Raja Muda had landed his helicopter near our home, which was a unit of delipidated laborers barracks. This was in the mid-1970s.

Upon making some inquiries, Sultan Iskandar went to the office of my father's boss and without saying anything, gave the man a tight slap.

After that, Sultan Iskandar told my father's boss that he was slapped because he let his laborers live in homes which were not even fit for animals. The next day, our barrack home got renovated, complete with a fresh coat of paint.

Sultan Iskandar did not go around slapping people for no good reason.

Nonetheless, what I love most about Sultan Iskandar was his principled way as a monarch.

HE NEVER TAKES ANYTHING FROM HIS RAKYAT.

As far as I know, Sultan Iskandar never asked the State government for anything which didn't belong to him. He may seems to be not the most friendly monarch to most people, but it is a fact that he loved his rakyat enough not to burden them with his demands.

Instead, he gave a lot to his rakyat, of which most were unrecorded. Among the few which were reported by the newspapers was when he gave his land in Bakar Batu, JB for the government to build new homes for residents of Bukit Chagar and Lumba Kuda whose home were to be demolished to make way for the new CIQ.



There are not many places or buildings in Johor named after Sultan Iskandar. When he launched the Iskandar Malaysia project in 2006, other than making that famous statement about the need to demolish the Causeway (and left Pak Lah red-faced), he had also suggested that the economic corridor should had been named after Datuk Abdul Rahman Andak, a 19th century Johorean nobelman who was instrumental in modernising the State. Sultan Iskandar, to me, was definitely not a glamour-seeker. Due to the lack of use of the name, Iskandar now symbolises quality and exclusivity in Johor.

And that, brought me to another Johorean man who is also not a glamor-seeker and was close to Sultan Iskandar.

It was well known almost to everyone that Sultan Iskandar treated Datuk Ghani, his longest serving MB like a member of his own family. He snubbed Pak Lah twice, in 2004 and 2008, when the then PM tried to replace Ghani with someone of his choice. That, to me was the most wise decision by Sultan Iskandar, as I suspected that he knew how much the Tingkat Empat boys at that time had greedily eyed Johor and looking for a foothold. By keeping Ghani to keep the wolves at bay, Sultan Iskandar probably prevented Johor from being sucked dry by those leeches. 

The Sultan and his MB shared many common traits. They are men of integrity and honor. Of course Ghani does not slap people even though sometimes I feel that he should when it comes to dealing with some people.

When Sultan Iskandar bestowed Ghani the highest Johor honour, the Darjah Kerabat 1, many had puzzeled over it as the award was rarely given to a commoner. It technically made one a part of the royal household.


The story that I heard was that when Sultan Iskandar was about to undergo an operation in Bangkok in 2003, it was Ghani who actually contributed his own blood for the operation as the sultan's blood type was of a rare type, which is the same as Ghani's.

However, I'm more inclined to believe that Sultan Iskandar appreciated Ghani simply because he was a monarch who was a good judge of character. He always wanted the best for his subjects and as for leadership, he would had wanted someone who is good to lead Johor, instead of someone who would only be good at saying YES to all his whims and fancies.

The last time I saw Sultan Iskandar was at the opening of Kota Iskandar, the new State administrative capital of Johor on March 16, 2009. He looked frail but was in jovial mood. In his speech, he had cracked jokes and pretended to be crossed with the speech he was supposed to read as it contained several "big Malay words". That was a good day, except that it was also the last time I ever saw Sultan Iskandar in person.


I will always miss that good old man of Bukit Serene.

Al-Fatihah.

    
(Note: Dear readers, please be careful not to make any seditious comments)

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