nude squat to snoop squad

malaysia will be a nation forever divided and sanctioned in the constitution. the bumiputra policies, with its well intention to protect the rights of the malays, will divide the country along racial lines. ain't this bad enough? now the more serious and dangerous threat to further divide the country is the sanctioned of islam as a parallel institution to the national courts of justice. article 121(1A) rules that the national courts have no jurisdiction over the religious courts. the nation thus has two judicial systems of equal status. does it mean that if the religious court sentenced a thief to have his hands chop off, the national court has no right to intervene? what about citizens who are muslims and are also from other races, and the issue is grey or controversial? can the accused choose to be judged by a national court? the body case is a good example. the family has no say and neither has the national court any say even to dispute whether moorthy actually became a muslim. and as much as he is a muslim and belongs to islam, he is also a husband and a father and belongs to the family and his indian community. but the religious court is supreme. with racial and religion as the two swords that divide the nation, and with a religion that has no qualms about interfering into the private affairs of its believers and non believers, the stage is set for more confrontation. malaysia can be set on fire any day.

catherine lim, i agree with you

catherine lim wrote a long article today in the straits times on the perennial issue of freedom of speech. i must say i fully agree with her. just recall the white elephants at buangkok and the sale of white elephant t-shirt issues are enough to tell a very enlightening story. i buy you kopi, catherine.

world bank/imf conference: 300 to be caned!

fast forward to the worldbank/imf conference and the big demonstration. then imagine 300 demonstrators from usa, australia, uk, south korea, japan, hk etc got arrested for violence. then all sentenced to be caned. wow, can be a tourist attraction. and another guinness world record.

no pay for the presidency

the stringent criteria for the presidency has limited the pool of candidates to a very few very rich and well established individuals. it is no longer a position for the not so affordable people. people who are qualified to run for presidency literally do not need the money. they are well established, well accomplished, and well advanced in age. the presidency is the highest position in the state and its value cannot be measured by a salary. let's not insult the presidency by giving it a money value. also they don't really need the money. make the presidency an honour position. it is an honour to serve as the president of the nation. people seeking presidency shall not be seeking money. the thought is degrading. in this light, i would suggest that the president be paid an honorarium and not a salary. and the honorarium can be in the region to $200k or $300k per annum. more than enough. too much for such dignitaries who have achieved a lot in life. let them serve with honour than with money in their mind. let them be above money and need not have to pray how much they should get for bonus at the end of the year. remove the money factor from the minds of the people and let it not be an issue of ridicule.

gst: let's play with numbers

numbers are very interesting especially in percentage terms. let's apply it to the gst and see how funny it becomes. imagine a jobless man who happens to earn only $100 in a year as he was unemployed most of the time. his annual income is $100. and he pays no income tax. can't be? but what about indirect tax through gst? he pays in everyway as he consumes goods and services. bus fares, food, conservancy fees, etc. let's say all this adds up to $100 gst. he pays 100% tax!!! true. no joke. an unemployed can pay 100% or more in tax because of gst. what about those who earn no income and still pay gst? what kind of percentage? then apply the gst to those who earn a million and pay $10,000 in gst. in percentage terms, the rich pays very little gst compares to the very poor. this is number game.