Nor Yaakob's Conspiracy theory

Photo taken from http://thestar.com.my/archives/2007/7/19/nation/n_25nor.jpg

Almost anything in Malaysia would come with a conspiracy theory nowadays. Sure, there are some real conspiracies and some are well imagined. The others are rethorics that was formed from coffee shop talks. It takes a person who is mature to know how to distinguish between more credible talks than angan -angan (inspiration). For example, the Home Minister decided to lock down Kuala Lumpur on the basis of 2 sms, 2 blogs and 2 speaches that he is still unable to produce as 'credible evidences". Till he is able to produce these 'evidences', it would be in the domain of speculative decision making.

I was on the plane to another country where the economy is booming and everything is being built at the same time. In contrast to that, the Malaysian economy seemed to be uninspired, rudderless and lethargic at best. Against this backdrop, it is even more harder to digest the Star newspaper headline that screamed "Nor Mohamed: Economy under attack every 10 years ". He claimed that " these “attacks” could be either coincidental or attempts by “unseen hands” to sabotage the economy". I do want to know who these attackers are and if indeed, the current mess in our economy is a product of external factors than internal mismanagement and inefficiency.

The BN's mouthpiece in the web also came out with an article " Policy Flip flop due to flops" where it decided to investigate the issue of competency and performance of our ministers.

"The decades of sacrificing meritocracy and having a political system which views smart individuals as a threat is hurting the country like never before.

Just run through the list of Cabinet ministers from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi downwards. Only a clutch of them have a strong grasp of economics and understand how the market works. Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop. Datuk Amirsham Aziz, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed. Perhaps a handful of others. Perhaps.

The rest are, well, politicians. They rose up the ranks in Umno, MIC, MCA because they are astute politicians; they are adept at working the ground, are good orators; are powerful warlords in their respective states and are the best that their component party can offer"

This piece should be written prior to Nor Yaakob's unsubstantiated revelation of conspiracy. Perhaps he was trying to go to the level of Tun Dr Mahathir when he tackled the 1997 Currency exchange related economic challenge. The difference between then and now is that there was a consensus that indeed the currency speculation and subsequent domino failings of national currencies ( baht, rupiah etc.) is real. And the fact that Nor Yaakob is not Tun Dr. Mahathir.

Would suggest few reading materials for our distinguished Finance Minister. I for one do not hold highly a Finance Minister who are not able to articulate his strategy on the cuff and remarked that Tony Fernandes ( CEO of Airasia) did a better job responding to Bloombergs' line of questioning and came out stronger. I have not seen this minister attempting such a rudimentary skill of an economist and probably would not want to see another minister shooting themselves in the foot.

> Finance 101 - business cycle or economic cycle via wikipedia

> The Kondratieff Theory - slightly wordy but good grounding to know that these theories have been around for some time.

> Generating economic cycle by HL Moore

So, unless that this minister provide more insight into his allegation, would this just be another speculative uttering from a supposedly authority in economic policy driving?

Would the Real Police force please stand up .. please stand up ..

Image from http://english.people.com.cn/200512/09/images/1209_A20.jpg

Today is Sunday. I have managed to avoid blogging on any hot subjects of last week. 3 big events that happen last week that created a lasting impression and knocked KLCI further down the rung. First, the paranoid decision on Monday that created mothers of all traffic jams in Klang valley, estimated at millions of ringgit in opportunity lost. Then the debater who won the first televised debate was captured ala SWAT style on Tuesday. On Wednesday, blogger extraordinaire of Malaysia Today was captured and charged. And we are only halfway thru the week.

However, I would wish to bring out the need to reform in our police force. Indeed, some joked that PDRM ( Polis Di Raja Malaysia) should be called PRDM .. Polis Raja Di Malayisa ( Police, the king in Malaysia). The mind boggling actions of our once respected law enforces turned into despair and frustration. Selective enforcement and random decision making makes it tougher for the Malaysian citizen to give them the benefit of doubt. Indeed, the writting by Tunku Abdul Aziz today "Arrest police's fall from grace" reflected many people's grievence over the week.

"This confirms what I have always said about our sloppy management of public relations and information generally.The severely-battered police image took another self-inflictedbeating, which could have been avoided without sacrificing the objectof the whole exercise, which was to take Anwar into custody.The right of arrest under the law, in circumstances that warrant it,is not in dispute here.

As we all know, police powers are wide andoften abused with impunity, but surely, the manner of the arrest wasexcessive.One of the most important tenets or doctrines of ethical policing is the principle of proportionality. It is about time police training gave greater emphasis to human rights issues so as to create publicconfidence.The police cannot succeed without the cooperation and support of the public, and as long as the police continue to over-react, they willnever be accepted as friends and protectors, to the detriment of lawand order in our already crime-ridden towns and cities."

-"Contemporary policing demands much higher standards ofprofessionalism, ethical behaviour, self-worth and honesty than in the past".

-"The police need strong, visionary leadership that is prepared tosubordinate individual preferences to the larger interests of thenation".

'".... have convinced me more than ever thatthe most important recommendation of all, the setting up of anunadulterated Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission,must not be delayed any longer."

Indeed, the cost of incompetence is very high and the time is nigh for the police force to look at itself and do better. The millions of taxpayers's ringgit have been invested into buying new techonologies, cars, etc. , and there is a need to make the best use of the resources that the people have paid for. We also paid for your salary ( though not much) and other benefits. Some housing residences are now paying guards to guard their neighbourhood. May we not see the day that the taxpayer paid organised thugs for protection and instead of the police.

Would the Real Police force please stand up?

Missing person alert

Not a joke. If happen to see this chap, do the necessary

Harap maaf sekiranya email ini memenuhkan mailbox anda...Cuma menjalankantanggungjawab sesama insan.....
Assalamualaikum Tuan/Puan/Saudara/Saudari... (minta tolong forwardkan padakawan-kawan email dari saya ini) Sesiapa yang terjumpa abang saya, ABDULAZIZ (seperti gambar yang disertakan), sila hubungi salah satu nombor dibawah atau menghantar beliau ke Balai Polis berdekatan kerana kami telahmelaporkan kehilangannya sebelum ini.

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"Debate" on article 153.

I also read the attempt by the Malay nationalistic group (MMKM) in refuting the article by Raja Aziz Addruse and Helen Ting in NST Sunday. Wonder why NST allow such racist group to put forth their positions when they do not extend the same priveledge to groups like Don Jiong or God forbit... Hindraff, the 'Tamil tigers". Comparing both articles, one is written with reference to other documents/ research and the other one is ... uhmm.. a good attempt. It is like reading the judgement of ex CJ Ahmad Fairuz and compare it to to Richard Melunjun's judgement in Lina Joy's case. You just know where quality sits. But as usual in Malaysia, it is not facts that decide the matter but emotions and who shouts louder. Esp. when the article have threats like "I think it is not safe" and"It is a sensitive issue and no one should question it". Excellent summary of a 'debate' by a Tan Sri is that the other side should keep quiet. (http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Columns/2286159/Article/index_html)

Support equality of Malaysian Muslim Women

Image from current.com

One of the best piece of factual writtings from The Star!

It is sad to note that in summary, the rights of Malaysian Muslim womens have been trampled from progressive to suppressive. It is a sad state of affair that makes me ponder the parralel of this with many things in Malaysia currently. The NEP has regenerated, the Syariah has superceeded common law, the deterioration in leadership, the growing Islamisation, the lost of individual rights etc.

If Islam is for Justice, may good politicies come out of these leaders who are overwhelmingly Muslim. At minimal, for your own women folks. Protect them better.

Malaysia Going Nuclear! ?

Photo taken from http://www.sonnenseite.com/

Trouble are brewing politically and seemed that there is a direction to project these troubles on unseen enemies of countries with vested interest. While the ex-foreign minister engages in strong rhetorics to the usual 'threats' of US and Singapore, he should be giving direct answers on using Internal Security act against BSA Tahir (Dewan Rakyat: Minister ducks the question) which is coincidentally within his jurisdiction.

So, why the sudden interest in nuclear technology since Najib mentioned it? Suddenly, the science minister scrambled to present a paper to outline the strategy. Do wonder what happened to the ex-science minister who wasted RM100 million on a space journey and tried to grope a lady in a cigar bar?

Anyway, here is what the government say and lets examine it.

Pro Nuclear arguments from Science, Technology and Innovation Deputy Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof .

Statement 1 "been no accidents in nuclear power plants in the world in the last 20 years, including in earthquake-prone countries like Japan."

There are 56 nuclear power plants in Japan and generally with their work ethics and preciseness, this statement will be taken at face value. Contrast that with the Malaysian maintainence culture and one one will wonder if the benchmark is an overstretch. Surely, nuclear plants do have risks and is not as simple as this statement. Even with the best maintainence culture and a country that comes out with philosophies like TPM and poka yoke, accidents do happen.

In the last 20 years,
a) 2007 - Radiation leak, and into Sea of Japan due to earthquake.
b) 2004 - 4 death and 7 injured.
c) 1999 - 2 death and hundreds of public affected.
d) 1991 - leak in cooling water in Mihama.

From greenpeace on 'cover ups' from the Japanese government.

March 2007 - It was discovered that the Hokuriku utility did not inform the public or nuclear inspectors about a serious incident at Shika nuclear power plant. On July 18th, 1999, failure of control rods lead to an uncontrolled chain reaction.

April 2006 - A radioactive spill of 40 litres of liquid containing plutonium occurred in a brand new reprocessing plant in Rokkasho-Mura.

August 2004 - A pipe rupture in Mihama nuclear power plant killed five workers. TEPCO utility - the same one operation Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant - was forced to shut down its 17 reactors when it was discovered that if faked documents about safety inspections.

September 1999 - Workers at a fuel factory in Tokaimura failed to follow guidelines, leading to an uncontrolled chain reaction that lasted for three days. Three workers died due to high irradiation and local people had to be evacuated from the neighbourhood

Verdict : False statement that there are no nuclear plant accidents in the world in the last 20 years , even when we only examine Japan's record. With our poor maintaince culture and lower compliance culture, it will a huge risk to Malaysian public should issues like this are swept under a blanket of progress.

Statement 2: "economic viability is definitely attractive,"

From the article, cost of building of a 1,000 Megawatt

a) Electric nuclear plant, it can cost between US$1 billion and $2.5 billion.
b) Coal power plant costs up to US$1.5 billion
c) Gas-fired plant costs between US$500 milllion and US$1 billion."

It then listed down the rationale of mitigating against the increasing pricing of crude based fuels and the demand of eco friendly solutions to lessen carbon emission. All this is well and dandy. Do remember that when more countries use radioactive materials, the prices of these materials will increase. "The price of uranium was approximately $10.75 per pound in early 2003. By mid 2006, the price had risen to approximately $45.00 per pound. In early 2007 the price approached $100.00 per pound."( Argonne national Lab) The price have decreased in 2008 and like other commodities, is subjected to supply-demand and speculations.

The intent of this article is to demand that the Malaysian government be open to different solutions than just depending on a single tracked mind. The solutions may have been proposed convincingly or have been accepted by a powerful person, yet the job of the officers in the government is to be really sure of what the next steps are to be.

Try the solar power path instead.

The same 1000 Megawatt solar panel plant by Shell Showa costs just US$948 million to build. It is lower than any of the other plants, really brings down the carbon emission level, utilize our natural sunshine resource and does not need any fuel ( and hence lower the cost of operations) to get it to work. Would this solution be intensely studied by the panel in determining our way ahead in our energy need?

Samudi, the UKM radioactive expert summarized "Almost every month, there is a death in the coal mines, but why are people not so sensitive to that? The negative perception stems from the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that's all." While it is true in some way, do remember that any accidents involving radioactive is long term, can be far reaching and potentially devastative. The fear of the rakyat ( people) is real and should not be dismissed with rhetorics. Our hope is that any solutions will be weighted and carefully analysed in its true value.