Off To Miri tonight

Need to fly there tonight and shall be back to KL on Friday 11.50pm. I will help all Muslims friend to observe is there any moon appear in the sky since i will fly above the cloud.

By the time check out from LCCT, then i will celebrate Hari Raya at airport.

Mean while, you will not get me as i will stay DEEP in the jungle where there is nothing but "raining" type of RTM1 & RTM2, Celcom signal with 1 - 2 bars at certain area where i will stay. Then you should understand, why Sarawak always under BN. I will try to watch our 1st Malaysian who fly to space in Miri even though his status still not clear, Space Flight Participant or Cosmonaut.

Try to SMS this number, my colleague HP at 019 - 220 4354. I will try to SMS you back whenever i got the message.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA

17 years on, Penang Indians ‘have nothing’

Athi Veeranggan
Oct 8, 07 12:12pm Malaysiakini

When the standard of living among some sections of Indian Malaysians falls lower than that of foreign workers in the country, tough questions have to be asked.

And community leaders are asking the questions - with plenty of scepticism, too - in the wake of a Penang government pledge to lend a “strong helping hand” to some 150,000 Indian Malaysians in the state.

Last week, Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon said a comprehensive policy would be drawn up to upgrade the standard of living of the community.

But with speculation growing that a snap election could be called by March next year, community leaders wonder if Koh is attempting to make up lost ground and if the decision only amounts to an election gimmick.


United Hindu Religious Council president G Mugunthan said Koh should have kick-started such a policy when he was sworn as the state’s third chief minister 17 years ago - not now.

“Since Gerakan took over the Penang chief ministership after the 1969 general election, Indians have been marginalised, sidelined and discriminated against. They have not reaped the benefits of economic prosperity enjoyed by the state over the past three decades,” he said.

“The community now lagged far behind others, including even foreign workers.”

National Silambam Association Penang branch treasurer L Balasupramaniyam also claimed that migrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia are far better off than the majority of Indian Malaysians in Penang.

He said Koh will not need feedback from Indian grassroots leaders to formulate and execute the policy because “it’s open for all to see that Indians are the most marginalised community in the state and country”.

“It’s shocking that it has taken 17 years for the Penang chief minister to realise this,” he said.

Koh had announced the policy when officiating the People’s Progressive Party state annual general meeting, and had called on local Indian leaders to provide feedback to assist the state government.

This is not the first such announcement. Two years ago, he said the state government would set up a special fund to provide soft loans at a low interest rate to Indians to finance business ventures; further their education at either public or private tertiary institutions or to acquire vocational skills; expand property ownership; and increase their economic stake. The fund has yet to materialise.

Difficulties confirmed

The Penang government has long been aware of the Indian Malaysian community’s difficulties.

In 1997, it commissioned and funded a study on the socio-economic status of Indians. More than RM100, 000 was spent on a survey conducted by the Socio-Economic and Environment Research Institute (Seri).

Between November 1997 and February 1999, it polled 3,100 Penang Indian households in 27 residential areas, focusing on employment and income distribution; participation in the corporate, professional and business sectors; social development; youth and children; housing and community facilities; and education and skills.

The findings of the study told an appalling story of neglect:

• 80,000 or 60 percent were wage earners in the lower income brackets.

• Average monthly income was between RM500 and RM1, 000 per household.

• Seven percent were living in hardcore poverty.

• About 80 percent in the manufacturing industry, Penang’s biggest revenue earning sector, were low-level workers.

• Involvement in the tourism sector, the state’s second highest revenue earner, was virtually non-existent.

• About 50 percent of private companies did not have a single Indian employee.

• The share in paid-up capital investments in the state were a mere 0.2 percent.
• The majority were indulged in traditional businesses due to lack of funds, bureaucratic red tape, racial discrimination and difficulty in securing loan.

• Nearly 30 percent were squatters or living on temporary occupation licence (TOL) land.

• About 75 percent of pupils in 28 Tamil primary schools had failed to achieve the minimum pass-mark of `C’ in all six subjects in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah public examination.

• At secondary level, 80 percent of pupils had stopped schooling after Form Five.

• Many Indians were involved in alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and child abuse.

• Nearly 40 percent of the state’s suicide cases involved Indians.

Publicity stunt?

Although the state government then announced it would use the Seri report as the foundation of a comprehensive policy to upgrade standard of living for the community, there has been no follow-up action.

Mugunthan said the findings were unambiguous that Indians lag far behind other communities because of unequal distribution of state wealth.

Balasupramaniyam pointed out that 50 years of independence and capitalism have not done the community any good.

He said the state government has yet to start a comprehensive programme to increase Indian share in the state economic pie and improve academic achievement by investing in physical infrastructure and teaching facilities in Tamil schools.

Discrimination in terms of jobs and salary, especially in the private sector, has affected the livelihood of several generations of Indian Malaysians, he claimed.

“It’s clear that Koh’s recent announcement is only to fish Indian votes. He knows that the majority are disgusted and disillusioned with the Gerakan-led state government,” he said, pointing out that the need is to redress the imbalance instead of carrying out frequent publicity stunts for political mileage.

“Otherwise, the state will soon have a large pool of impoverished people, dominated by Indians. The symptoms are there. This could trigger serious social problems,” he warned

H107 : A103 : R100

Three (3) man battle now for the Driver Championship after Hamilton failed to finish the race at Shanghai and will be decided on last leg of race at Sau Paulo, Brazil on 21 October 2007.

Who will win the title?

Hamilton Win - If he finish P1 or P2.

Alonso Win - If he finish P1 & Hamilton finish P3, both same point at 113 but with Alonso won more race.

Raikkonen Win - If he finish P1, Hamilton finish P6 and above with Alonso P3.

Based on the survey conducted at F1 website, Raikkonen is slightly leading Hamilton. Of course i cast my vote to Raikkonen.

《解构民政神话－－反思国阵执政槟州35年》

This book will be launched on 25th October 2007 by Ng Wei Aik. Get it for RM 15.00. If pre-booking now, RM 10 you can get it! Please support him!!

For more information, click here.

Quote from the Blog:
这本书厚达128页。除了作者本身所撰写的“反思国阵执政槟州35年”大作之外，另外还有附录一些个人作品与专访文章。我还另外邀请民主行动党秘书长林冠英、槟州主席兼丹绒区国会议员曹观友，以及我中学至大学期间的死党丁国亮写序。

本书订价15令吉。扣除成本后，所有收入将充作本人面对来届全国大选的竞选经费。因此，敬请各位善长仁翁、乡亲父老、男女老少给予多多支持。

从即日起，有兴趣者可通过预订方式，用10令吉购得这本书。这种优惠仅限于所有的预订者。

国家大难临头

Prof Madya Din Merican Join PKR at the age of 68. Why at this age? Even a Grandfather also wish for a change, what say you?

TIME TO CHANGE!

"国家大难临头，迫使他这个年龄的人也要站出来改变现状"

汀马立肯表示，他已68岁，有五名孙子，通常这个年纪的人已无需为他人奋斗，只需为自己奋斗；但眼见国难当头，各个领域每况愈下，他选择参政贡献自己的力量。

The BolehLand: The ACA Strike Back

Instead of investigating the lawyer, Judge, Tan Sri, etc., ACA demand PKR to disclose the whistleblowers or face the bloody jail under Anti-Corruption Act 1997 - face two years jail, a fine of RM10,000 or both. PKR's Sivarasa and Sim were served with a notice to provide information under Section 22(1)(c) of the Act.

What is the bloody reason?
ACA justifies it to their need to compile evidence to determine the authenticity of the clip.

What a bloody idiot!!!

But Sivarasa & Sim rather take the panalties in efforts to protect the source. In this Bolehland, everything is Boleh!

反贪污局今天援引《1997年反贪污法令》第22（1）条款，命令向该局举报“律师参与游说任命法官”丑闻的人民公正党副主席西华拉沙及前副首相安华的政治秘书沈志勤透露提供录影短片的消息来源；西华和沈志勤若不在一星期内透露详情，可被起诉，而最高刑罚是罚款马币一万元或监禁两年，或两者兼施。

Now is 999

Back to 999 even for handphone.

"And callers can expect their calls to be answered within 10 seconds or after four rings." ....

Please count next time when you make a call but please don't make prank call. They can track you now, faster.

Hope we all do not need to call that number.

HH in Action again

Is it Super Man? Or Scary Movie? or Dragon Dance?

Maybe all the above is correct. But for me it is more like Dragon Dance with "chiuk-chiuk". Nowadays he got a lot of saliva, all wet his shirt.

Yesterday start calling Poh-Poh, Kong-Kong, Ah Yee, Aunty....... wow. Another word that he is now always speak is "Chiuk-chiuk ah" besides "mum-mum". Time to hide the "chiuk-chiuk" ...... getting addicted to it.