Land Acquisition Act

Mahathir thought he could squeeze Singapore's balls by letting the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to rot and be the eyesore in the heart of Singapore's business district. He forgot that the govt could throw the Land Acquisition Act on it and take it back with a little compensation like what it had done to acquire land for HDB flats and other infrastructure projects. If it was done, what Malaysia could get, going by the going rates for land acquisition will be peanuts. Of course nothing was mentioned on this option while we were still dependent on the water supply and water collection plants in Skudai. Now that this is no longer a trump card, and we could do without, using the Land Acquisition Act could be a matter of time. For good bilateral relations, it is good that we don't have to come to that and create more bitterness and animosities. Now we have a good ending to a fairy tale and they live happily ever after.

The dynamic duo of Ah Huay and Ah Lian

I can still recalled the infamous maiden speech of Ah Lian in Parliament about digging jamban and pangsai. If I am not mistaken it was to tell the opposition that this govt is not one that would wait for people queuing up to pangsai then start digging jambans. This is a highly strung govt of super talents, far sighted, proactive and always planning ahead, to anticipate problems before they appear. I would like Ah Lian to propose that Ah Huay make that speech again to remind everyone that this govt is still the same govt that would not dig jambans frantically only after people screaming to pangsai. And Ah Lian should also suggest that the speech be framed and hung on the walls of Parliament to remind everyone what this govt stands for. The combination of Ah Huay and Ah Lian can be a powerful act to make sure that nobody falls asleep in his job.

Magic Najib , awesome!

No one would believe that Najib was able to pull the Malayan Railway relocation project off so easily and quickly. For him to reach an agreement with Hsien Loong is like David Copperfield performing his majic and his audience staring in disbelief. The Malayan Railway was Mahathir’s pet subject in how to skin Singapore. Mahathir knew how badly Singapore wanted that piece of land for redevelopment and irritatingly refused to come to any agreement no matter what. It was simply no go. Najib has only been a PM for less than a year. And on the home front he has made many overtures and decisions that would give Mahathir a big nightmare. With Mahathir breathing down his neck and watching him like a hawk, and with a team of ultras in his cabinet waiting to pounce on him to prove that they are bluer than blue, any PM would be walking on trip wires. The agreement with Singapore, no matter how attractive and beneficial, is bound to come under attack before the ink is dry. For Najib to be able to walk away with it and smilingly is a sign that he is in control, whether by persuasion or sheer leadership, he must have his cabinet behind him. The agreement can be the most attractive and favourable to Malaysia in many counts, but if the cabinet is not behind him, it will never be accepted. If the cabinet is still stuck with the baggages of Mahathir, no Najib magic will work. I am still in a state of shock and disbelief that it is happening. And this bodes well for bilateral ties and economic cooperation between the two countries. It is a gigantic step forward and both sides can only benefit with more cooperations and joint ventures, bilateral or springing into the international arena. When both sides are willing to put aside the historical baggages and look ahead, there will be many more magical moments to come. There will be no need for any formal loose federation when the spirit of cooperation is there. Many of the unnecessary barriers could be lowered or remove to facilitate mutually beneficial activities. In Najib there is a new vibrancy in Malaysia. His mind is set on moving ahead rationally, for economic growth and development instead of fighting the shadows of past animosities. The unfruitful and unproductive politicking of the past is history. He has many tasks ahead and is wasting no time to kick start Malaysia into another economic powerhouse. If he is successful, he will easily outdo what Mahathir had done in the last 30 years in a fraction of that time. Now that the agreement has been signed, Najib is going home to face his doomsayers and the recalcitrants who would be pulling all the plugs under him. Would he be strong enough to stand on his feet and carry his dreams forward, intact?

From missionary to mercenary

Historically we have seen many beans answering to a calling to become missionaries. Many stayed that way throughout their lives, living frugally and accepting whatever that was provided for them. The monks lived off the alms while the priests lived off the parish or the church. These are devout believers with a heard of gold. Modern days have changed many things. Even monks who took vows to abstain from material comfort and wealth could defend their lavish lifestyles on grounds that things have changed, values have changed. Modern living and the pursuit of material well beings are compatible with monks and missionaries. Men and women with hearts of gold easily succumbed to modern lifestyles and became men and women with minds for gold. Charitable organisations, religious or secular, are not spared. The missionaries could not resist the temptation of greed and turn themselves into very rich mercenaries, and still claiming to be to a calling. They still wear their robes and badges of honour like the early missionaries who toiled for a cause without asking for more. Indeed time has changed, people have changed, moral and ethics have also shifted to new grounds. Hearts of gold are now minds full of gold.

Intelligence Report: US authorised sinking - By Freeman Cain

A classified independent intelligence analysis of a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship concludes that the US authorised the torpedo assault, according to senior officials who cautioned that the assessment was based on their sense of the political dynamics there rather than hard evidence. The officials said they were increasingly convinced the US ordered the corvette Cheonan sunk to help secure the continued presence of American soldiers in South Korea and their bases in Okinawa. An official involved in the assessment said: 'There is very little doubt, based on what we know about the current state of the American leadership and the military.' Both the conclusion and the timing of the assessment could be useful to the US as it rallies world support against Pyongyang....Another WMD justification in the making. So far, the US and South Korean leaders have been careful never to link Mr Kim in public to the attack, which killed 46 crews. Officials said that was partly due to the absence of hard evidence, but also largely to avoid playing into America's hands by casting one of the worst attacks since the 1953 armistice as another piece of lore about the Kim family taking on South Korean and the West to justify the American presence. The American's propaganda surrounding that imagery has been used to sustain two generations of American military presence in South Korea and Japan, and the leading theory in the independent intelligence community is that the Cheonan's sinking was part of an effort to extend the American military presence. North Korea has denied involvement despite the presentation of forensic evidence last Thursday - including parts of a torpedo found in the wreckage - that experts from three countries said established the torpedo was launched from a North Korean submarine. Although officials would say little about what led them to conclude the US was directly involved, one factor appeard to be intelligence that Hilary Clinton was in Japan on a closed door discussion with the Japanese on the sinking. Both have vested interests to raise the tension in the Korean peninsula to justify the continued semi colonisation of South Korea. PS: The above article is an adulterated version of an article by David E Sanger in NYT and reprinted in the mypaper today. I just replaced words like North Korea and Kim Jong Il to the US, Americans and Clinton. How could an intelligence report coming out at this time and based on nothing but gut feel deserved such a prominent exposure and to be read by the gullible readers? _________________