The 2009 candy bar

Budget 2009 was tabled this evening as usual, after the stock market closes.

And as expected, it was chock full of sweets that before you know it, Malaysians will be flocking to doctors for diabetes management.

Anyway, the man himself couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the Opposition, slamming them as being populist.

I don’t know, this budget is pretty populist to me. The Government is throwing money at nearly everyone!

Here are things that will affect me:

Households which incur monthly electricity bills of RM20 or less, will not have to pay for electricity, for the period from 1 October 2008 to end of 2009.

* The current tax rebate of RM350 per person be increased to RM400 for those with taxable income of RM35,000 and below.

* All interest income from savings for individuals be tax exempt.

* Reduce import duties on various consumer durables from between 10% and 60% to between 5% and 30%. These include blender, rice cooker, microwave oven and electric kettle.

Full import duty exemption on several food items, which currently attract import duties of between 2% and 20%. These include vermicelli, biscuits, fruit juices and canned sweet corn.

* Reduce the road tax on private passenger vehicles with diesel engines to be the same as those with petrol engines, effective 1 September 2008.

I WON’T HAVE TO PAY (maybe a minimum sum of RM3 lah) FOR MY ELECTRICITY USAGE as I consume < RM 20 every month. Coupled with a meagre RM4 of water, I effectively don’t need to pay for utilities. Ah…the perverse joy of living in Malaysia.

I have been planning to get a blender and microwave oven. This means that over time, probably next year, these things should get cheaper.

It’s nice to know that comfort food should be cheaper tomorrow. Ah..now I can buy Chipsmore without feeling too guilty.

Now by some perverse reasoning, I don’t want Anwar to take over!! Then I need to pay for electricity But wait, Anwar promises cheap petrol, and since I’m planning to get a car sometime next year….hmmmm

A big yawn.

Anticlimatic.

That’s how I would describe today.

Some may wonder why I haven’t been blogging much about the state of affairs in Malaysia lately. Well, the reason is because when the police claim to have thwarted a ‘planned’ protest rally in anticipation of the motion of no confidence debate in parliament when none was conceived in the first place, what’s there to blog about?

All they did was to piss of commuters and city folk.

In the end, the Speaker disallowed the motion, on a mere technicality. But of course, everyone would have anticipated it-lar.

This sandiwara is getting boring. Seriously, boring.

Doctor 007

I remember mentioning to a friend that election rallies were like carnivals.

” With party banners and clowns?” she asked.

If clowns are politicians, then yes.

And my, my does our Deputy Health Minister know how to make a clown out of himself.

Mr Abdul Latiff’s comment was made in response to a question in Parliament about the quality of the country’s medical services.

He said, ‘The doctors have a license to heal and license to kill so we (the ministry) have to ensure that our doctors are well-trained so that we can safely receive treatment from them.’

Of course I understand you lar, Latiff…tapi mengapa hendak digunakan frasa ” License to Kill” untuk merujuk kepada kecuaian sesetengah doktor?

(Why is there a need to use the phrase ” License to Kill” to refer to negligence?)

He must have watched too many Bond movies the night before. Eh, minister you know rite, Quantum of Solace, November 2008.

Or maybe, just maybe by a Freudian slip, he is actually a closet supporter of Doctor Jack Kevorkian.

But in any case, here is my advice to the (deputy) minister. APOLOGIZE!

* * *

On the other hand, it is refreshing to note the response to this incident. It seems to me that Malaysians in general still view life as something precious and worth saving, rather than something that is owed and discarded when I grow tired of it.

Newton’s third law of motion

Just says that for every reaction

Abdullah Badawi wants AG to investigate 6 including former PM, Tun Mahathir implicated in the Lingam tape scandal

There is a equal and opposite reaction

Tun Mahathir quits UMNO!

That’s Wesak Day enlightenment for you

* * *

Watched Narnia: Prince Caspian yesterday. It’s quite good. I really like the ending credits song written by songwriter/singer Regina Spektor.

Getting the message across

I had originally wanted to blog about the bus hold up at the checkpoint. But this article in the StraitsTimes perked my interest instead.

A NEW school of thought is emerging on what a country needs to grow economically.

And leading it is China, which will use the upcoming Olympics Games as a platform to get across its message on growth, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

And I thought to myself, “Precisely!”

During the Spielberg resignation, the People’s Republic crackdown on Tibet and the anti-Chinese protests that followed the Olympic torch relay every other news commentary and letters-to-the-editor in the Singapore media was along the lines of don’t-politicise-the-Olympic-games vein.

But you know, I guess is not really about the Games and being apolitical, but about whose politics gets to ride on with the Games. I guess since it is China’s Games, it should be China’s politics and political ideology to permeate the Olympics. And that is what Old Harry is telling us with that statement.

So if it’s Western values of freedom, democracy and basic respect for human dignity, the Olympics should BE APOLITICAL. But when it is about economic growth, peace and stability, it becomes A PLATFORM. That is deconstruction in real life for you.

* * *

I had an unpleasant encounter with a totally unprofessional taxi driver. After getting into his cab, he lingered on hoping to pick up OTHER passangers en route to Permas Jaya. I had to tell him off before he finally got going. Sigh…

Tibet and bootlicking

I wonder what Singapore has to gain from sucking up to China?

“Singapore supports the declared policy of the Chinese Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens from violent demonstrators with minimum use of force. We are opposed to the politicisation of the Olympics. We note the comment of Premier Wen Jiabao that China is prepared to hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama based on “One China” and the renunciation of violence, and we are relieved that the situation in Tibet is calming down.”

Link

When on the opposite end of the world, reported in the British papers:

An Associated Press reporter, Charles Hutzler, described one young Buddhist monk who yelled “Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!” and then burst into tears.

Link 

Perhaps it not my place to criticize MFA’s policy.  But this is the second time Singapore has taken a ‘close one eye’ stand with regard to violent suppression of dissent. Remember Myanmar?

Photographs are not the whole truth. But who can deny their immediacy? The accompanying photograph with the TimesOnline article is especially poignant.

A significant speech

One of the best speeches of the presidential race so far. Inspiring, thought provoking and gently rebuking.  Here’s the full transcript on TimesOnline.co.uk

All bark and no bite

See…in the end, Mukhriz got let off the hook.

KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIA’S ruling party says it will not punish former leader Mahathir Mohamad’s son for asking the prime minister to resign.

The United Malays National Organisation said on Tuesday it accepted Mukhriz Mahathir’s explanation that he called on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down in his private capacity.

Of course they ‘accept’ his explanation lar. Anyone can tell that punishing him will just split the youth movement and damn UMNO even further. And of course Mukhriz won’t be trying anymore stunts like that right.

But moving on to more interesting news: Rafidah Aziz is out! Her previous portfolio in MITI has been taken over by Muhyiddin Yassin. One more good thing to come out this election. I’m all smiles.

I believe

I believe that change happens.

I believe evil can never endure.

And I believe that this year’s Elections shows that Malaysians will not be taken in by threats.

I believe.

Musing about election year..

Permas Jaya is basically a battle ground between PAS and UMNO. Basically, we all know that UMNO is expected to win-Johor is a BN stronghold after all.

But if I could vote, I would vote…

…PAS! Just for the sheer audacity of it. But seriously, what is preventing a Christian from voting a Muslim MP? Come to think of it, having separate lines for men and women at the checkout counter is not as ‘bad’ as the mainstream media would insinuate it to be. Nowadays, the younger PAS MPs are not that much more ‘radical’ than your average UMNO MP.

I recall reading members of some PAS youth wing helped keep order during the BERSIH rally last year. They helped control the crowd, watch out for trouble makers and even….pick up the trash. Definately did a better job than the police, thank you very much!

(The younger me would gall at what I’m writing now, but that’s the point, I’m not my younger me anymore.)

I think that statements like,”Chinese will not vote for PAS.” will soon be used in history textbooks and not in tomorrow’s political analysis. If the younger PAS leaders can show that the brand of Islam they believe in can govern a country, votes will come. These are changing times in Malaysia-tomorrow’s Malaysia votes for the party that delivers…actually delivers, and outward trappings-race, religion, secular, liberal, conservative, right or left counts for less.

In many ways we are like America. Cynicism in politics, burdened by cliche’s we cannot seem to go beyond (BN vs Opposition, Republican vs Democrats), crime and leaders who refuse to see their mistakes. (Bush’s war in Iraq compares with Badawi’s war on corruption although arguably, GW Bush seems to have more success.)

You may never know, but 8/3/08 may be history in the making. Much like November is America’s turn to make history.

(I give my predictions for the American presidential elections: Obama will win the Democratic nomination but lose the White House to John McCain. Reason: Policy-wise Clinton and Obama are almost the same, but Obama’s age and charisma give him the final edge. However, Americans generally vote with their heads, not with their emotions. In my reckoning, McCain’s policies may actually be more workable than Obama’s liberal ideals. The fact that he (McCain) has had past clashes with the extreme right shows that he is flexible-a quality not to be confused with complicity. Anyone want to take that bet with me?)

Malaysia leh? BN retains 2/3 majority, DAP retains traditional power bases, PKR and PAS biggest gainers. Kelantan remains with PAS, Kedah and Terengganu falls to PAS. Penang (sorry to say) will still go to BN, and UMNO will make serious inroads there. Biggest losers will be MCA and MIC-which is a good thing actually, they will be forced to evaluate their cosiness with UMNO and hopefully evem consider pulling out of BN.

I’m not too concerned with UMNO solidifying their grip on power. They don’t have the full Malay support they claim to have and since the opposition will gain plenty more seats this time round, they have less chance of bullying their way in Parliament any longer. Although Badawi will still become PM, his influence has been irreversibly damaged. Who cares whether KJ wins in Rembau (it’s safe, and hence insignificant) or not, his father-in-law’s days are numbered. I expect Najib to take over by the next term (2013)-he has been in the papers a lot hasn’t he?

I’m post dating this post 9/3/08 so that it stays on top. Let’s see how accurate my predictions are.