What we all ought to do for Malaysia

My Dear Friends,

The current oil and food price hikes had prompted me to ponder and dig a little deeper into ways and means of how our limited resources can be further consolidated and utilised for the benefits to our country.

Our country is so blessed with a wealth of raw materials, both on land and from the sea. We have a very rich oil reserve that has yet to be fully tapped. We are also still one of the world's largest producers of natural rubber. Our palm oil production is also one of the biggest in the world. By right Malaysia should stand proud on the world map. Petroleum is somehow our greatest life saver, without which this country had long gone bankrupt. We should be grateful to Allah for this. What Petronas should be doing now is to fully develop downstream activities relating to this oil production industry.

University Petronas, funded by Petronas, should play a more proactive role to develop and produce quality petroleum engineers that can benefit the petroleum industry through their professional knowledge and R&D. Currently, there is no such thing taking place, the University Petronas is just churning out ordinary general Engineering graduates, just like other local universities.

Oil exploration should be concentrated locally. Foreign joint ventures should be put on hold. We have many oil reserves that have yet to be explored and developed. We need not worry about the future of Malaysia without oil. By then nuclear energy would have become a common household phenomena. Current oil crisis must be addressed by current means. We should do so right now. Petronas's claim that exploration costs are prohibitive is baseless. Petronas must develop the local petroleum industry to the fullest before going overseas. Use our local expertise to help them gain the much needed experience. Malaysia can set to be the next economic giant of Asia if the mind set of Petronas's top management can be tuned towards more progressive and inovative change. I'm not suggesting that the top man of Petronas needs to be removed to make way for new blood but the sentiment is there.

We must not just strive to be the worlds largest producer of natural rubber or palm oil. We should by now try to become the world's largest producer of rubber products such as tyres, construction materials, domestic and industrial items, and food products such as palm oil-based cooking materials that can help reduce our foreign exchange and dependence on imports. We may not be the world's largest producer of petroleum but certainly we can start becoming a significant producer of lubricating oil, oil and fuel additives, oil-based construction materials etc. In other words, Malaysia must strive to work harder towards becoming an industrialised country without compromising on food production. Japan and Korea are two good regional examples that we can proudly emulate. Time is running out for Malaysia. Natural oil will not last forever, neither palm oil or natural rubber. We cannot be too dependent on other countries to plant our rubber or palm oil trees as their policies may change.

Fishing is anothere area that Malaysia must not overlook. Malaysia is surrounded by a vast coast line. Our waters are very rich in fish. Why are we still importing fish from Thailand? We should be exporting fish and related sea products to other countries, like what Japan is doing. Why spend millions on the Fishery Department and the newly established Coastguard when the rights of our fishermen cannot be fully protected? Many cases of piracies and abductions of our fishermen still go unsolved until today. These agencies must go all out to justify their existence to ensure our fishing industry is protected and not robbed by foreigners.

I would like to advise the present government to buck up and stop all the political rhetorics and start implementing all the necessary policies to make Malaysia self sustaining economically. We must produce not only for own consumption and exports, but also to flood the local market whenever there is a shortage and this can help bring down the prices. This is so where current rice issues are concerned. We have ample land for rice growing but not enough incentives for the farmers. The Agricultural Ministry is too lethargic and not seen as progressive enough. There is too much rhetorics by the politicians with very little output. Take a drive along the many highways of Malaysia and you would see vast empty lands stretching for miles beyond. A major portion of Malaysia has yet to be developed agriculturally. Developing new townships and building rows of shoplots cannot help feed the people. They only help to make the developers richer. Tq.

Smart handling of fuel, food price hikes by government

Dear beloved Malaysians,

Last night (4 Jun 08) I went through a most unforgetable experience of joining thousands of other car owners nationwide in a queue for cheap petrol before new price hike took effect at midnite. I could not help feeling concerned that after all these years, after taking for granted the easy access to all the benefits and priviledges that Malaysia has offered, I was finally joining the ranks of millions of other people around the world who have to face the never ending crisis, be it relating to fuel rationing due to shortages, demonstrations due to fuel price hikes and food shortages, political unrest, war, natural catastrophes etc. While waiting for my petrol tank to be filled up I somehow came back to my rational senses that this fuel price hike problem is not that bad after all, Malaysia is still a peaceful and free country, the economy is booming, foreign investors relocating their investments from other neignboring countries to come to Malaysia, no food shortages, no demonstrations, no lay-offs, everything is fine and of course the petrol price hike is nothing as compared to our neighbors'. A quick mental arithmetic quickly made me realised that with the rebate of RM625 per year to be given by the government (i.e RM52 per month), I would only be spending from my salary about RM100 a month on petrol based on a monthly average usage of RM150. Now, with better economic usage of the car I can further save on fuel costs. This is even better than pre-subsidy days when on average I spent RM150 of my salary per month on petrol, without any rebates. As for the manner to disburse this rebate I would suggest that the government use the same mechanism as in the issuance of traffic summons whereby the traffic police sends the summons directly by post to the registered owner of vehicle. In this case the MOF through the RTD should send the Money Order to the vehicle's registered owner, as road tax renewals are often done by another party such as renewal agencies, other than the registered owner themselves.

Having said the benefits of this exercise I start to feel sorry for our less fortunate fellow Malaysians who have to use the public transportation, like taxis, buses, ferries, LRTs etc. Certainly, they will not get any direct rebates but will continue to pay an ever increasing price for their tickets. It is hoped that the government will continue to subsidise for this group and also not overlook for possible subsidies on other commodities such as staple food products, building materials, specialised medical care, educational books and materials etc, without which would cause serious detrimental effects on the well being of the ordinary people.

On the political note what the government has done is acceptable, however it must quickly address the ordinary peoples immediate needs. The federal government has again professionally proven itself beyond reasonable doubt to be capable of overcoming this global nagging issue of petrol price hike, without the ordinary people having to resort to time wasting and unbeneficial street demos.

Disappointedly, the PKR- led state government of Selangor has yet to even honor any of its manifestos, all of which were just utter rubbish and cheap sweeteners that unfortunately misguided the shallow minded malays and the majority of non-malays to vote for them during last elections.

The DAP-led government of Penang could not have done better either, obviously due to a serious shortage of their own talents and had to resort to talents from opposing camps to run their show. UMNO talents should never and must never cross camp to help this racist state government. It seems the state government's only significant job now is digging up mistakes of the previous government and without any new significant agenda for the development of Penang as a whole, the island state is doomed to waste. The malays should be more aware and cautious now of the real intentions of the DAP state govenment with regards to NEP. We should take serious note of DAP's anti-malay racist stand that was very clearly shown only just a few days after winning the state. The malays who supported this kind of people are real opportunists and hipocrites who once benefitted tremendously through the NEP, who received practically free education and scholarships through Sekolah Kebangsaan and IPTAs but who bite the hands that gave them hopes in life. These malays are not the type that our future malay generations can rely upon, these are the cheap malays who are willing to sacrifice their arses, and would even cross breed for the sake of friendship with their new friends, for the sake of sharing the seat of power with people who love to rear pigs near malay settlements, people who disregardly contaminate our beautiful rivers with pig shit, people who like to sleep and share pillow with pig eaters but not sharing the same dream. We should however support the malays who preach good islamic values, who advocate for the abolishment of all pig farms near malay settlements, the abolishment of unlicenced massage parlours, brothels, gambling and liquor dens in Malaysia.

Having said my piece I pray to Allah that Malaysia will continue to be strong and stable and never to lose ground on where it stands. Let Pulau Batu Putih be the first and the last. I am willing to die to defend the sovereign rights of this country as I had always been in the armed forces. Let our past stupidity that led to losing part of our sovereignity be a bitter lesson that must never be allowed to recur. God bless all of you. Hidup Malaysia. TQ.

My views on present Malaysia: Post election blues

Dear bloggers,
I have been reading and listening to a lot of comments by many Malaysians on issues relating to governance, economics, education etc that somehow tend to suggest the ruling Malaysian government's weaknesses. Why is it that after losing a few states to the opposition whatever is done by the government seems to look sour? Why is it that the opposition is always looking for the other side's mistakes, even after wresting control of a few states after last elections? Is politics that really bad? I'm also wondering why the ruling government has to bend their own rules to accomodate the opposition demands just to appease some of the rakyat's wishes without actually realising that these 'rakyats' are actually diehards oppositions that have never supported the ruling government no matter whatever good that government has done to the nation as a whole. I must strongly say that the liberalisation of the mass media that includes internet, blogging, newspapers etc has placed the ruling government in a very precarious situation, like having to face the firing squad every day. This is not a good way to govern, neither a good way by the rakyat to treat the government. I have done a lot of soul searching trying to figure out what the government ought to do to win back the confidence or rather the love of the rakyat. I have still not found the answers. Ask any non-government supporter and they will say one thing about the government, and ask any government supporter and they will say likewise about the opposition. An amicable solution benefiting both parties should be sought quickly to prevent further deterioration of good governance and effective opposition. Democratic Malaysia must never be allowed to decay, while maintaining the status quos of delicate issues relating to NEP, allocation of scholarships and the likes, the needs of the minorities must also be amicably addressed. If this cannot be done then I must say that the present top leadership must make way for someone else to quickly take over for a complete makeover exercise of the governing policies. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with the ruling government. It lost many states during last election mainly because of UMNO's, MCA's, MIC's and Gerakan's own doings such as replacing popular and proven effective incumbents with unknowns. Other reasons being the well-timed Hindraf issues that led one thing to another until the whole Indian community of Malaysia was overcome by the so called opposition-planned 'Makkal Sakkti'. The timing could not have been better, but MIC could have been saved if the ruling government was more proactive and sensitive to the issues at hand, and also not to forget its unpopular President. The MCA too was drowned by its own leaders who were too engrossed by scandals. GERAKAN never worked hard enough in Penang, except for the obnoxious out going President's mouth that worked too hard spewing rubbish most of the times. UMNO never lost its ground, it stood fast and held its ground well in most states, losing a few seats perhaps due to internal squables and it really stood by the malays' special rights. I think the component parties of BN must go through serious re-branding process to reach the heart of their former supporters, and perhaps new ones. Pakatan Rakyat's success was just coincidental, I repeat, coincidental. There is nothing special nor a miracle about their sucesses. At the end of the day, DAP will show its real ugly anti-malay racist head, PKR is riding on a high crest but will lose its momentum because it cannot actually address the real needs of one particular ethnic group without compromising the needs of other ethnic group. It could end up like the multi racial GEARKAN, but focus being on the malays because of Anwar's long standing special agenda to be the PM. Malaysia is very unique indeed, in the sense that peace in is guaranteed if the Malays' special rights are maintained as enshrined in the Constitution. Do what you want, say what you may, this is the hard core reality that the hard core racist chinese of DAP must start learning to accept. You want equality, you may get it but Malaysian style, without any party losing out, by just ensuring the malays' rights are not provoked, reduced or taken away. We cannot afford another 13 May as the path towards 2020 is very clear ahead of us.

Bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita hancur

Salam untuk Malaysia. Saya rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan keamanan. Saya telah menabur bakti berkhidmat dalam Angkatan Tentera melebihi 25 tahun. Sekarang saya sedang berbakti untuk anak bangsa melalui perkhidmatan pendidikan di IPT. Saya tidak pernah jemu menjadi rakyat negara ini dalam apa jua keadaan sekali pun. Saya amat berdukacita sekarang ini Malaysia sedang dilanda krisis politik, yang berkemungkinan disebabkan kelemahan kerajaan yang memerintah. Pada pandangan saya kekuatan majoriti kaum melayu masih bersama kerajaan yang memerintah. Isu2 baru seperti Hindraf, DEB, politik wang, rasuah dsbnya yang kurang tegas ditangani kerajaan BN selepas era Dr Mahathir telah membuka ruang baru untuk parti politik pembangkang mempengaruhi rakyak yang kurang arif ataau berfikir panjang agar menyokong mereka pada PRU 12 lepas. Memang 5 negari jatuh kepada PR. Bagaimanapun, saya menyokong parti politik yang betul2 membela nasib semua rakyat, tidak kira parti politik apa sekalipun, pembelaan untuk rakyat yang masih jauh ketingalan dan banyak memerlukan pembelaan dalam serba bidang, iaitu kaum melayu khususnya. Pendirian ini jangan disalah ertikan saya sebagai racist. Saya juga amat prihatin akan pembelaan untuk kaum lain yang juga tertinggal dalam beberapa bidang tertentu. Saya mahu melihat malaysia terus maju sepertimana yang diusahakan oleh pemerintahan Dr Mahatir dahulu. Walaupun melayu terlalu banyak memberi ruang kepada kaum lain sebagai penghargaan atas apa jua pengorbanan mereka sejak merdeka dahulu, saya dapati kaum lain dari melayu amat tidak menghargai pengorbanan orang melayu. Orang melayu pun satu hal juga. Terlalu banyak peluang diberi oleh kerajajan tapi mereka terlalu ambil jalan mudah. Mereka lalai dan tidak menuntut ilmu dan mendapat kemahiran secukupnya. Sebab itu kaum lain tidak mengiktiraf 'ketuanan melayu'. Tapi melayu tak akan lupa asal usul sebenar orang2 bukan melayu ini yang ibarat 'diberi betis hendak peha'. Saya menyeru semua melayu di malaysia bersatu atas nama Islam demi servival melayu itu sendiri. Saya juga menyeru semua bukan melayu di malaysia agar lebih menghormati bumi yang anda pihak dan belajar menghormati dan menguasai bahasa kebangsaan kita demi identiti nasional. Pertahankanlah negara melalui penyertaan aktif dalam angkatan bersenjata walaupun gajinya kecil demi membuktikan semangat patriotisme anda. Janganlah bercakap lagi tentang hak anda di negara ini jika tidak sanggup mengadai nyawa untuk malaysia. Orang melayu sanggup berkorban untuk kemerdekaan, tapi orang bukan melayu amat berkira dan tidak berminat sebab gaji mempertahankan negara tidak tinggi. Baru sekarang bila kerajaan naikkan gaji baru nampak bukan melayu mula nak berjinak jadi orang kerajaan. Janaganlah memikirkan untung sahaja seperti sikap kiasu orang seberang.