Science and Maths in BM - VOTE NOW!

Dr Mahathir has set up a poll on his blog for us to cast our vote on whether we agree to what the Govt has decided. He has promised to raise the matter with the Government if the vote is pro-English…

To vote, go to

http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/

Vote NOW!!

Govt does away with 30% bumi equity requirement

KUALA LUMPUR: The 30% bumiputra quota requirement for companies seeking to list on the Bursa Malaysia has been done away with under an overhaul of the Government’s economic policies.

In his most important announcement since taking office on April 3, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said there was a need for a new economic model.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announcing the need for a new economic model at the Invest Malaysia 2009 conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday. — NORAFIFI EHSAN / The Star

He said the Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) would effectively “no longer exist” as it had failed to achieve its objectives.

Saying that the emphasis now was on participation instead of equity, Najib also announced the setting up of Ekutinas (Ekuiti Nasional Bhd), a private equity fund to make strategic investments for bumiputras, especially in companies with high-growth potential.

The other announcements, which are to take effect immediately, were:

* All property transactions, except for those involving a dilution of government or bumiputra interests for property valued at RM20mil and above, would no longer require FIC approval;

* All Malaysian companies seeking listing would have to offer 50% of their public offering to bumiputra investors, which would work out to 12.5% of the total stake;

* A 100% ownership would be allowed for qualified and leading fund management companies to set up operations in Malaysia;

* Foreign equity in existing stockbroking companies would be increased to 70% from 49%;

* All transactions on mergers and takeovers by local or foreign companies will no longer need FIC approval; and

* All listed companies need not maintain 30% bumiputra equity as required previously.

Exact details of Jackson death remain unclear

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The final act of Michael Jackson's life came into clearer focus Friday, a picture of a fallen superstar working out with TV's "Incredible Hulk" and under the care of his own private cardiologist as he tried to get his 50-year-old body in shape for a grueling bid to reclaim his glory.

While the exact circumstances of his death remained unclear, early clues suggested he may simply have pushed his heart too far.

Police said they had towed the doctor's BMW from Jackson's home because it may include medication or other evidence, and a source familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that a heart attack appeared to have caused the cardiac arrest that led to the pop icon's sudden death.

As grief for the King of Pop poured out from the icons of music to heartbroken fans, and the world came to grips with losing one of the most luminous celebrities of all time, an autopsy showed no sign of trauma or foul play to Jackson, who died Thursday at UCLA Medical Center after paramedics not could not revive him.

The AP source who said Jackson apparently suffered a heart attack was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Jackson's brother Jermaine had said the pop singer apparently went into cardiac arrest - which often, but not always, happens because of a heart attack.

Authorities said they spoke with the doctor briefly Thursday and Friday and expected to meet with him again soon. Police stressed that the doctor, identified by the Los Angeles Times as cardiologist Conrad Murray, was not a criminal suspect.

"We do not consider him to be uncooperative at this time," Beck said. "We think that he will assist us in coming to the truth of the facts in this case."

Craig Harvey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner, said there were no signs of foul play in the autopsy and further tests would be needed to determine cause of death. He said Jackson was taking some unspecified prescription medication but gave few other details. Meanwhile, an emergency dispatch call released by fire officials shed light on the desperate effort at the mansion to save Jackson's life before paramedics arrived Thursday afternoon. Jackson died later at UCLA Medical Center.

In the recording, an unidentified caller pleads with authorities to send help, offering no clues about why Jackson was stricken. He tells a dispatcher that Jackson's doctor is performing CPR.

"He's pumping his chest," the caller says, "but he's not responding to anything." Asked by the dispatcher whether anyone saw what happened, the caller answers: "No, just the doctor, sir. The doctor has been the only one there."

The president of the company promoting Jackson's shows said Murray was Jackson's personal physician for three years. Jackson insisted Murray accompany him to London, said Randy Phillips, president of AEG Live. Phillips quoted Jackson as saying: "Look, this whole business revolves around me. I'm a machine, and we have to keep the machine well-oiled." Phillips said Jackson submitted to at least five hours of physicals that insurers had insisted on. On Friday, the autopsy was completed in a matter of hours, but an official cause of death could take up to six weeks while medical examiners await toxicology tests. No funeral plans had been made public.

Jackson had remained out of the public spotlight during intense rehearsals for the London concerts, but those with access said he was upbeat and seemingly energized by his planned comeback. Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the Grammys, said he watched Jackson dance energetically as recently as Wednesday.

"There was this one moment, he was moving across the stage and he was doing these trademark Michael moves, and I know I got this big grin on my face, and I started thinking to myself, 'You know, it's been years since I've seen that,"' he said. Lou Ferrigno, the star of "The Incredible Hulk," said he had been working out with Jackson for the past several months.

Still, Jackson's health had been known to be precarious in recent years, and one family friend said Friday that he had warned the entertainer's family about his use of painkillers.

"I said one day we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson," Brian Oxman, a former Jackson attorney and family friend, told NBC's "Today" show. "The result was I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."

Oxman claimed Jackson had prescription drugs at his disposal to help with pain suffered when he broke his leg after he fell off a stage and for broken vertebrae in his back.

The worldwide wave of mourning for Jackson continued unabated for the man who revolutionized pop music and moonwalked his way into entertainment legend.

"My heart, my mind are broken," said Elizabeth Taylor, who was one of Jackson's closest friends and married one of her husbands at a lavish wedding at the pop star's Neverland Ranch in 1991. She said she had heard the news as she was preparing to travel to London for Jackson's comeback show, and added, "I can't imagine life without him."

Hundreds made a pilgrimage to the Jackson family's compound in Los Angeles, leaving flowers and messages of love. They did the same at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and at the home in Los Angeles' Holmby Hills where Jackson was stricken. Some camped out overnight.

In New York, people stopped at Harlem's Apollo Theater, where Jackson had performed as a child with his brothers in one of rock's first bubblegum supergroups, the Jackson 5.

Scores of celebrities who knew or worked with Jackson - or were simply awed by him - issued statements of mourning. Some came through publicists and others through emotional postings on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, where countless everyday fans were sharing memories as well.

"I truly hope he is memorialized as the '83 moonwalking, MTV owning, mesmerizing, unstoppable, invincible Michael Jackson," said John Mayer. Miley Cyrus called him "my inspiration."

And Diana Ross, the former lead singer of the Supremes who introduced the Jackson 5 at their debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1969, said she could not stop crying. "I am unable to imagine this," she said. "My heart is hurting."

His two ex-wives both said they were devastated. One of them, Lisa Marie Presley, posted a long, emotional statement on her MySpace page in which she said her ex-husband had confided to her 14 years ago that he feared dying young and under tragic circumstances, just as her father, Elvis Presley, had.

"I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that," Presley said. Presley's father, the King of Rock 'n' Roll to Jackson's King of Pop, died in 1977 at age 42 of a drug-related death.

At rehearsals for Sunday's Black Entertainment Awards show, stars like Beyonce, Wyclef Jean and Ne-Yo were frantically revamping their performances in an effort to turn the evening into a Michael Jackson tribute.

"There's a direct line from Ne-Yo to Michael Jackson," said executive producer Stephen Hill. "There's a direct line from Beyonce to Michael Jackson. There's a direct line from Jay-Z to Michael Jackson. I think they'll want to pay tribute in their own way."

When he was on trial on child molestation charges in 2005, Jackson appeared gaunt and had recurring back problems that he attributed to stress. His trial was interrupted several times by hospital visits, and Jackson once even appeared late to court dressed in his pajamas after an emergency room visit.

After his acquittal, Jackson's prosecutor argued against returning some items that had been seized from Neverland, the Santa Barbara County estate Jackson had converted into a children's playland. Among the items were syringes, the powerful painkiller Demerol and other prescription drugs. Demerol carries a long list of warnings to users. The government warns that mixing it with certain other drugs can lead to reactions including slowed or stopped breathing, shock and cardiac arrest.

Within hours of Jackson's death on Thursday, fans were inundating Web sites that sell his music, and physical stores reported they had been cleaned out of Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 CDs. All 10 of the albums on Amazon.com's bestseller list Friday were Jackson's; the 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller," the bestselling album of all time, was at the top.

Meanwhile, fans were snapping up every Jackson recording they could get their hands on.

Bill Carr, Amazon.com Inc.'s vice president for music and video, said the Web site sold out within minutes all CDs by Michael Jackson and by the Jackson 5. Jackson's albums accounted for all 10 of Amazon's "Bestsellers in Music" list Friday, with the 25th anniversary edition of the celebrated "Thriller" album taking the top spot.

Barnes and Noble Inc.'s Web site and retail stores also sold out most Jackson CDs, DVDs and books, and its 10 best-selling CDs were Jackson titles as well.

"They love him," said Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for music and video. "He's a legend, and they're anxious to make sure they have his music in their collections."

A(H1N1): Students back from US, UK, Australia, Philippines must stay home for 7 days

Latest: Seri Cempaka, Assunta 1 schools closed for a week

PUTRAJAYA: Students returning for holidays from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines must quarantine themselves at home for seven days.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said most imported cases of the Influenza A (H1N1) reported in the country involved people who returned from these countries.

“We urge them to do so and if they develop flu-like symptoms, they must seek treatment immediately,” he told a press conference here Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Seri Cempaka International School in Batu 9, Cheras in Kuala Lumpur became the fourth school to be ordered to be closed for a week after a student tested positive for the flu.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lay said on Tuesday that the number of cases nationwide had increased to 69 with 10 new cases, he said, with two of them being local transmissions.

SJK (C) Jalan Davidson here and SRK Assunta 1 and 2 in Petaling Jaya were closed earlier after students were confirmed with the virus.

SMK Seksyen 9 Shah Alam, SMK Damansara Utama in Petaling Jaya and SM Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur have each had one class stopped from Monday.

Meanwhile, Education Ministry director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Md Dom says parents with children in the affected schools can keep them at home for the rest of the week if they are worried or the children feel unwell.

"All they would need to do is to inform the school; there is no need for a medical certificate from a doctor," he said.

Declared Perak MB, Nizar to hold 10pm Pakatan Exco meeting in Ipoh

9:24pm: The High Court today declared Datuk Nizar Jamaluddin as the legitimate Menteri Besar of Perak and his bid to regain office will come sooner than expected after the same court denied the application of rival MB, Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, for a apply for a stay pending an appeal.

In his ruling, Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim stated that a new Mentri Besar could not be appointed as the office had not been vacated. A mentri besar can only be dismissed by a vote of no confidence, one in which Aziz noted that the Perak Legislative did not carry out.

Court said the fatal Barisan Nasional mistake was despite the majority of 31 against 28, the coalition failed to take a no-confidence vote against Nizar in the state assembly.

The Judge said once appointed as chief executive of the state, the Menteri Besar is only answerable to the state assembly.

The judge also said the job of the Ruler or head of state was only to appoint a Menteri Besar and if he refuses to resign, he cannot be sacked or his position vacated.
Justice Aziz said Nizar had gone to meet the sultan on Feb 4 to seek a dissolution of the house to go back to the people.

“It is not true that Nizar had asked the ruler to dissolve the House on grounds that he had lost confidence of the majority,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the BN will appeal the court ruling.

“We feel we have a strong case. We feel that we are on a sound footing so we will appeal this decision,” Najib told a Press conference in an immediate reaction the court ruling.

In the meantime, Nizar declined to meet the Press for the customary Press conference, preferring to leave the court to travel back to Ipoh to seek an audience with the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, to get the royal consent to dissolve the Perak Assembly and call for fresh state elections.

However, he has made a pit stop at Taman Melewar, in Gombak, where the Pas headquarters is situated, where he briefed senior Pas leaders on the court ruling.

Nizar was expected to attend a Pas ceramah tonight and explain the court ruling to supporters but NST reporters have established that he has left for Ipoh to hold an a Pakatan Rakyat Exco meeting around 10pm, presumably with those who were State Exco members when he held office. Word has spread to the Ipoh-based Press that a media conference will be held no later than 12.30am.

"I have already indicated to the palace that I am seeking an audience with the Raja Muda to present a proposal to dissolve the state assembly," he said.

"It does not matter if I am not appointed as Menteri Besar as long as the right to choose are returned to the people," he added.

NST reporters in Ipoh also established that Nizar, as of now, does not have an appointment for an audience with the Sultan of Perak. Even if he soughts one today, he is likely to get the appointment confirmed only tomorrow morning.

However, a Malaysian Insider report, quoting senior PKR official, stated that the Regent of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah has agreed to see Nizar at 8.30am tomorrow.

However, this does not seem to be the case with the palace. NST reporters have found out that while the palace have confirmed receiving Nizar's request for an audience with the Regent, Raja Nazrin has not given the consent that he will grant an audience with the re-instated Menteri Besar although the Ruler has the forbearance to give one at any time of his choosing.

For now, Nizar and his people have to adopt a "wait-and-see" stance.

On March 3, after the "democracy tree" assembly held by Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen, Nizar had submitted a letter to the palace seeking that the Sultan dissolve the assembly can call for fresh state elections. However, Nizar did not get a response.

But with today's court ruling, that letter still stands. It is now a question of whether the palace may communicate a response to Nizar's letter and declare a royal ruling.

Zambry, on the other hand, has indicated through his aides that he will respect the court decision and will vacate his Menteri Besar office at any time soon. Zambry was not present at the court this afternoon.

His aides also indicate that the Exco members will also vacate their respective offices once Zambry does so.

Speaking to reporters later in reacting to the verdict, Zambry said: "I accept the court decision with an open heart and mind. I and my firends will take steps according to the law. I call on all BN supporters and people in Perak to be calm."

In anticipation of a demonstration, police deployed Federal Reserve Unit trucks at the Perak Secretariat in Ipoh.

Perak takeover hasty, says Mahathir

Former PM TDMM says BN had acted hastily in taking over the Perak government and that Rulers cannot dismiss an elected head of government.

But he refused to say whether Zamry's appointment was legal or not because "the matter is best decided by the court".

That's exactly what I have been saying that Nizar is the Perak MB. To me, he is still the MB.

Perak Assembly adjourned after chaotic & acrid meeting

4:08pm: The Perak Assembly has adjourned after a tumultuous meeting that led to ugly shouting matches and the ejection of Speaker V. Sivakumar, who was carried out physically by policemen. Despite the difficult situation, Perak Regent Raja Dr Nazrin Shah delivered his royal address but did not touch on the state's political flux nor the verbal brawls in the House.
The Regent instead focused on praising both the State and Federal Governments for ensuring growth and prosperity in Perak.

Earlier, commotion reigned at the Perak state assembly sitting after Sivakumar refused to start proceedings for as long as Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, the six Barisan Nasional (BN) executive councillors and three Independent assemblymen were in the House.

Immediately after taking his seat at about 10am, Sivakumar ordered the 10 assemblymen to leave the hall on the basis that they had been suspended.

The commotion that ensued left the Regent waiting in the holding Royal Room, for the official opening of the assembly session. Zambry and the other nine assemblymen, however, ignored Sivakumar's order.
Former Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammed Nizar Jamaluddin and his former Exco members remained seated at the seats allocated for the Menteri Besar and exco members, while Zambry and the new exco members were seated on the opposition side.

Zambry then stood and proposed a motion to sack Sivakumar as Speaker, with the 27 BN assemblymen and three Independents raising their hands in support. But Sivakumar rejected the motion and explained that Zambry could not table the motion as he had been suspended from the assembly.

This caused the assemblymen on both sides of the political divide to hurl insults at each other.

Zambry then proposed the motion again, supported by the BN and Independent assemblymen. In response, Sivakumar ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to remove the 10 assemblymen but Zambry said that Sivakumar had been expelled.

At 10.48am, Deputy Speaker Hee Yit Fong then took over to preside over the assembly sitting from the opposition seat.

Zambry then proposed that former Sungkai assemblyman Datuk R. Ganesan be appointed as the new Speaker and the BN assemblymen and Independents supported the motion.

The commotion continued with Sivakumar still occupying the speaker's chair. With both parties claiming theirs is the rightful speaker, the taunting and booing continue and at one point, they almost got physical.

Sivakumar's voice, however, could not be heard clearly as his microphone has been turned off. The new speaker, Datuk R. Ganesan adjourned the session for an hour with Sivakumar claiming it was null and void.

What you need to know about swine flu

Here's what you need to know:

Q: How do I protect myself and my family?

A: For now, take commonsense precautions. Cover your coughs and sneezes, with a tissue that you throw away or by sneezing into your elbow rather than your hand. Wash hands frequently; if soap and water aren't available, hand gels can substitute. Stay home if you're sick and keep children home from school if they are.

Q: How easy is it to catch this virus?

A: Scientists don't yet know if it takes fairly close or prolonged contact with someone who's sick, or if it's more easily spread. But in general, flu viruses spread through uncovered coughs and sneezes or — and this is important — by touching your mouth or nose with unwashed hands. Flu viruses can live on surfaces for several hours, like a doorknob just touched by someone who sneezed into his hand.

Q: In Mexico, officials are handing out face masks. Do I need one?

A: The CDC says there's not good evidence that masks really help outside of health care settings. It's safer just to avoid close contact with someone who's sick and avoid crowded gatherings in places where swine flu is known to be spreading. But if you can't do that, CDC guidelines say it's OK to consider a mask — just don't let it substitute for good precautions.

Q: Is swine flu treatable?

A: Yes, with the flu drugs Tamiflu or Relenza, but not with two older flu medications.

Q: Is there enough?

A: Yes. The federal government has stockpiled enough of the drugs to treat 50 million people, and many states have additional stocks. As a precaution, the CDC has shipped a quarter of that supply to the states to keep on hand just in case the virus starts spreading more than it has so far.

Q: Should I take Tamiflu as a precaution if I'm not sick yet?

A: No. "What are you going to do with it, use it when you get a sniffle?" asks Dr. Marc Siegel of New York University Langone Medical Center and author of "Bird Flu: Everything you Need To Know About The Next Pandemic." Overusing antiviral drugs can help germs become resistant to them.

Q: How big is my risk?

A: For most people, very low. Outside of Mexico, so far clusters of illnesses seem related to Mexican travel. New York City's cluster, for instance, consists of students and family members at one school where some students came back ill from spring break in Mexico.

Q: Why are people dying in Mexico and not here?

A: That's a mystery. First, understand that no one really knows just how many people in Mexico are dying of this flu strain, or how many have it. Only a fraction of the suspected deaths have been tested and confirmed as swine flu, and some initially suspected cases were caused by something else.

Q: Should I cancel my planned trip to Mexico?

A: The U.S. did issue a travel advisory Monday discouraging nonessential travel there.

Q: What else is the U.S., or anyone else, doing to try to stop this virus?

A: The U.S. is beginning limited screening of travelers from Mexico, so that the obviously sick can be sent for treatment. Other governments have issued their own travel warnings and restrictions. Mexico is taking the biggest steps, closings that limit most crowded gatherings. In the U.S., communities with clusters of illness also may limit contact — New York closed the affected school for a few days, for example — so stay tuned to hear if your area eventually is affected.

Q: What are the symptoms?

A: They're similar to regular human flu — a fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people also have diarrhea and vomiting.

Q: How do I know if I should see a doctor? Maybe my symptoms are from something else — like pollen?

A: Health authorities say if you live in places where swine flu cases have been confirmed, or you recently traveled to Mexico, and you have flulike symptoms, ask your doctor if you need treatment or to be tested. Allergies won't cause a fever. And run-of-the-mill stomach bugs won't be accompanied by respiratory symptoms, notes Dr. Wayne Reynolds of Newport News, Va., spokesman for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Q: Is there a vaccine to prevent this new infection?

A: No. And CDC's initial testing suggests that last winter's flu shot didn't offer any cross-protection.

Q: How long would it take to produce a vaccine?

A: A few months. The CDC has created what's called "seed stock" of the new virus that manufacturers would need to start production. But the government hasn't yet decided if the outbreak is bad enough to order that.

Q: What is swine flu?

A: Pigs spread their own strains of influenza and every so often people catch one, usually after contact with the animals. This new strain is a mix of pig viruses with some human and bird viruses. Unlike more typical swine flu, it is spreading person-to-person. A 1976 outbreak of another unusual swine flu at Fort Dix, N.J., prompted a problematic mass vaccination campaign, but that time the flu fizzled out.

Q: So is it safe to eat pork?

A: Yes. Swine influenza viruses don't spread through food.

Q: And whatever happened to bird flu? Wasn't that supposed to be the next pandemic?

A: Specialists have long warned that the issue is a never-before-seen strain that people have little if any natural immunity to, regardless of whether it seems to originate from a bird or a pig. Bird flu hasn't gone away; scientists are tracking it, too.

Anwar 2nd Most Influential Man in rigged TIME poll

On 15 April 2009, Anwar Ibrahim's office was quick to claim credit for the Opposition leader when the list of 100 Most Influential Man was announced.

1. Anwar Antara 100 Tokoh Paling Berpengaruh Dunia 2009
2. Anwar Ibrahim - The 2009 TIME 100 Finalists

Now, the results are out and he is 2nd but the poll was rigged. I wonder what TIME will say or if Anwar Ibrahim's office will still claim credit to this.

BN parties defend Bukit Gantang Chinese community over loss

Senior Barisan Nasional component parties defended today the Chinese community in Bukit Gantang, saying piecemeal offerings should not be seen as a guarantee of votes. The MCA and Gerakan both said the coalition’s failure to wrest the seat from the opposition could not be pinned down to any one reason.

The two parties were commenting on a statement by deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said the dip in Chinese votes seemed to imply that “there is no appreciation for what we (BN) have done”.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, on Saturday also blamed Umno’s coalition partners, saying Umno could no longer rely on the MCA, Gerakan and MIC to regain the support of the non-Malays.

Gerakan deputy president Chang Ko Youn said yesterday that while it was quite obvious they lost out on Chinese votes, it was wrong to say the community was ungrateful to the BN for its contributions.

Admitting there had been mistakes on their part in strategising the BN’s campaign in Bukit Gantang, he pointed out that the non-Malay community’s dissatisfaction was not something that could be resolved with campaign promises and one-off allocations.
“We shouldn’t be looking for a scapegoat. What is more important is to find the reason why the anger of the non-Malays has not subsided since one year ago.

“We must realise that last-minute work is not effective anymore. It was too little, too late, and we need to find more continuous and long-term solutions,” he said.

MCA spokesman and central committee member Lee Wei Kiat, in a statement, said a RM1 million allocation could not be expected to sway the votes of the non-Malays, who, along with the Malays, were frustrated over numerous issues.

Among these, he said, were lop-sided decisions in licensing and diesel subsidies for fishermen in Kuala Sepetang, unresolved status of village land ownership in Perak and the problems in the implementation of the New Economic Policy.

MCA vice-president Datuk Kong Cho Ha said Muhyiddin should not draw such a conclusion merely based on the results of one or two by-elections.

MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam declined to comment on the issue when met in Malacca.

A country that encourage extortion?

Parking your car?? Do you see a man walking towards your car assisting you how to park, so on and so forth? Your car is parked and do you see him standing there still, right in front of your door? You get down from the car and he hands out his hand... and you either asked him "what do you want" or asked yourself "should i pay him?"

Park your car in Kuala Lumpur and wonder why you are still required to pay for parking fees even though you are not parking at a privately owned parking lots, but public parking spaces allocated by the government after 6pm (on weekdays & Saturdays) or even though on public holidays??

Those men will ask for money each time even though you know legally you are not required to pay a parking fee & you do not have to pay him. But why are you paying him?? For a simple reason, the government/ the enforcer could not be bothered to protect its citizen from these extortionist.

Perhaps they did something to curb this illegal activities but each Tuesday and Wednesday when I sit in the car waiting for my classes to start, I see the same thing. (they didn't extort from me because I'll be sitting in the car for at least 40 minutes from 530 to 610pm. They couldn't wait and walk away). There will be 2 men waiting and extorting money and if you don't they will curse you. I did just that once early March and came back to find out they spat on my new car.

There is a police station nearby, in Petaling Street where these people pray on their victims but i have not seen anything done. This place is near to Advance Tutorial College. My own lecturer paid, and i managed to take a picture of it. Here goes..

So, tell me... who are we to blame? And why are they not doing anything?!

Muhyiddin Yassin you are out of touch

Recent comments by our DPM Yassin only show that he has very little intellectual capacity. He had called the Chinese ungrateful and trying to be kingmakers. He claims after BN spend millions building chinese schools the chinese betrayed BN and voted for the opposition.

Mr Yassin, anyone with any brains can tell you that the problem with BN losing is NOT about building schools. It is all about UMNO & BN's arrogance and it's failure to deliver acceptable results for ALL Malaysians.

Mr DPM, UMNO's power base had always been with the Malays and if you fail to notice let me tell you, in the last few years the Malays are abandoning UMNO in ever increasing numbers and going over to PAS & PK.

Today's Malaysia is very different. The people are better informed and the ever arrogant UMNO can longer treat them as ignorant kampong folks. Forget the Chinese and the Indians, they are not you main cause of concern. MCA & MIC will always obey UMNO.

The Chinese & Indian support for PAS & PK is important but clearly insufficient to turn the tide and tilt the balance of power. It is the Malays shifting away from BN that is your main problem.

Don't blame the Chinese blame yourself, it is people like you in UMNO that are creating the shift and alienating the ordinary Malay folks away from UMNO.

The other day I was driving past Damasara and I saw this big sign that cried 6% discount for Bumiputras. Mr DPM, you think this sign will give the ordinary Malay a warm fuzzy feeling that your Government is doing something for them?

The answer is NO. The ordinary Malay knows that he cannot afford anything in Damasara even with the 6% discount. This sort of advertising will only make him more aware of the inequalities amongst the have and the have nots.

Mr DPM it is such thoughtless acts that you have to worry about. You guys in UMNO have failed to look after your power base and instead of fixing the problem you just want to blame it on the Chinese.

Share the country's wealth amongst all Malaysians instead of just the priviledged few and UMNO will rule for a thousand years. Keep going along the present path of blind self destruction and it will be the end of UMNO very soon.

Wake up and smell the kopi or is it too late already.