<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Maztulis Strategic Management Services,</title>
	<atom:link href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com</link>
	<description>no fear brother</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:35:14 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>
<cloud domain='maztulis.wordpress.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />
<image>
		<url>http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/dc3d720a742b7d4b1e22ffac169df45a?s=96&#038;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png</url>
		<title>Maztulis Strategic Management Services,</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com</link>
	</image>
	<atom:link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/osd.xml" title="Maztulis Strategic Management Services," />
	<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?pushpress=hub'/>
		<item>
		<title>JOCELINE TAN THE PROSTITUTE LICKING UMNO CONES WHY SHE HATE ISLAM</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:35:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5583</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[  &#160; readmore http://malaysiaonlinetoday.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/pull-the-plug-on-anti-islam-the-star-or-resign-home-minister-now/ MCA president Chua Soi Lek appears to be on a warpath, defending his criticism of Muslim women who chose not to shake hands with the opposite sex for religious reasons. In an angry reaction to questions from reporters, Chua insisted that the norm practised by many Muslim women to avoid skin contact with the&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5583&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h3></h3>
<div></div>
</div>
<div></div>
<h3> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;"><span style="text-align:center; display: block;"><a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/"><img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/rSi4BJ3tHnw/2.jpg" alt="" /></a></span></span></h3>
<div id="post-body-6896261841798029416">
<div dir="ltr">
<div id="post-body-2205471860518434866">
<div dir="ltr">
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<span style="text-align:center; display: block;"><a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/"><img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/hr9Gaksebls/2.jpg" alt="" /></a></span>
<div dir="ltr">
<div><a href="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/joeblow.jpg"><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/joeblow.jpg?w=640&#038;h=480&#038;h=480" alt="" width="640" height="480" border="0" /></a></div>
<div><img src="http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/media/k2/items/cache/69cd95c222f51083bda79d7d279af858_S.jpg" alt="'Mongolian Pork Ribs' for buka puasa, anyone?" width="640" height="640" /></div>
<div>readmore <a href="http://malaysiaonlinetoday.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/pull-the-plug-on-anti-islam-the-star-or-resign-home-minister-now/">http://malaysiaonlinetoday.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/pull-the-plug-on-anti-islam-the-star-or-resign-home-minister-now/</a></div>
<p><em><strong><br />
</strong></em></p>
<div>
<h3><img src="http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/images/uploads/2010/05/14/chuasoilek2.jpg" alt="" /></h3>
</div>
<div>MCA president Chua Soi Lek appears to be on a warpath, defending his criticism of Muslim women who chose not to shake hands with the opposite <a id="Y7308914S3" href="http://headline-news-online.blogspot.com/2011/01/sex-is-my-religion-chua-soi-lek-says-to.html">sex</a> for religious reasons.</div>
<div>In an angry reaction to questions from reporters, Chua insisted that the norm practised by many Muslim women to avoid skin contact with the opposite sex during handshake was contrary to “basic culture and manners to shake hands”.</div>
<div>“I have been in the public life for many years. It’s part of the basic culture and manners to shake hands,” said Chua, who also scolded a reporter from online portal Malaysiakini, which first broke news of Chua’s attack on PAS candidate Normala Sudirman.</div>
<div>readmore <a href="http://engagemalaysia.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/sex-is-my-religion-chua-soi-lek-says-to-keep-my-sex-passion-alive-so-what-is-so-great-about-that-islam/">http://engagemalaysia.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/sex-is-my-religion-chua-soi-lek-says-to-keep-my-sex-passion-alive-so-what-is-so-great-about-that-islam/</a></div>
<div id="post-body-3964840447381110517">
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mokotopgirlxuyingleakedmodelnudephotoscandalpart3www-gutteruncensored-com027.jpg?w=640&#038;h=480&#038;h=480" alt="" width="640" height="480" />&nbsp;</p>
<div></div>
<div><strong>Chulia Street Prostitute aka Penang Wanita MCA Chief Tan Cheng Liang</strong></div>
<div><strong>Chulia Street Prostitute aka Penang Wanita MCA Chief Tan Cheng LiangThe eunuch’s from MCA are at it again. While MCA ‘Sugar Daddy’ UmnoWe are inviting applications from you</strong></div>
<div><a href="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/images2528722529.jpg"><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/images2528722529.jpg?w=640&#038;h=415&#038;h=415" alt="" width="640" height="415" border="0" /></a></div>
<div>The eunuch’s from MCA are at it again. While MCA ‘Sugar Daddy’ Umno</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><em>READMORE <a href="http://muslimmalaysia786.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/mca-chulia-street-prostitute-aka-penang-wanita-mca-chief-tan-cheng-liang/">http://muslimmalaysia786.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/mca-chulia-street-prostitute-aka-penang-wanita-mca-chief-tan-cheng-liang/</a></em></div>
<p><em><strong><br />
</strong></em><br />
<em><strong>Mat Sabu is dangerous. The Chinese like him. DAP likes him. So, having him as the deputy president of PAS is not good for Barisan Nasional. It might make the Chinese more comfortable with PAS. That is why he needs to be brought down. And that is why they are going all out to get him on charges from being a communist to being a philanderer. And Joceline Tan is one of the many ‘mechanics’ being employed to assassinate Mat Sabu.</strong></em><br />
Debra Chong and JOCELINE TANthe prostute s with big pussy When you wrote as pressure piles on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over his sex video scandal did you watch<br />
that doctored blue filem doctored by non then two Bastards Sex Doctors Dr Mahathir and Dr Chua</p>
<div></div>
<div>This not a political blog. I understand that politics pervades everything, but I’m not pushing a political agenda. I’m pushing a human agenda.</div>
<div>As a journalist for decades, I avoided making political statements at all costs. Back then you lost your job for it. Today, it’s nearly a prerequisite for employment in mainstream media.I avoid stories that make blatant political statements because they only diminish the potential impact. Improving your health, chasing your dreams and improving your community shouldn’t be about politics. Of course, the current battle over ANWAR IBRAHIM is highly politicized. My goal is to simply relay a perspective about Dysfunctional Fame Whores from my very specific vantage point.Our that encourages people of all ages, all colors and every socioeconomic status to become all that they can by pursuing their passions, improving their well-being and helping others. Malaysia Insider Star ,Sun Utusan NST clogged with contrived formulaic writting. Give dysfunctional fame whores national exposure and the very clear understanding that only outlandish behavior ends up on</div>
<p>COMMENT By JOCELINE TAN, The Star</p>
<p>THERE were many who thought this would be Mohamad Sabu’s lucky year when he beat the odds to become PAS’ new deputy president.</p>
<p>But his luck seems to be running out. Mat Sabu, as he is better known, has been hit by another controversy even as a firestorm is still raging over his remarks that the communists were the real heroes of the Bukit Kepong massacre.</p>
<p>Unlucky: Mat Sabu’s luck seems to be running out as he has been hit by another controversy.<br />
A video titled “Skandal Seks Mat Sabu” has made its way into the Internet and is set to shake the party.</p>
<p>The video contains some very sexy conversation between a man and a woman, whom the commentator in the video claimed to be Mat Sabu and Normah Halim, the woman with whom he was caught for khalwat in 1994 in Kota Baru.</p>
<p>That was a long time ago, but his past has returned to haunt him.</p>
<p>At this point in time, it is hard to tell whether the sexy phone talk, which appeared to have been secretly taped, is genuine or staged.</p>
<p>But Mat Sabu’s dilemma is that this is one issue which he and his friends in PAS will find hard to address or defend because the khalwat incident involving him and Normah has never been denied although it was thrown out by the syariah court.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu and Normah were caught in a hotel room but were acquitted because two of the witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the hotel room’s number in which they were caught for khalwat.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu was then a rising star. He was Nilam Puri MP and PAS deputy Youth chief.</p>
<p>Normah was a local beauty who in her salad days was regarded as the belle of Melor, the area where she hails from.</p>
<p>At the time of the incident, she was married to Bukhari Noor, a handsome and wealthy businessman, also from the area.</p>
<p>The scandal rocked the party which had just come to power in Kelantan.</p>
<p>A lawyer in the case remembered the packed courtroom and how one of the witnesses had even fainted during the proceedings.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu had told a close associate then, “mampus aku kali ni” (I’m finished this time), but it was not to be.</p>
<p>He scraped through and even survived the general election which was called shortly after.</p>
<p>The khalwat incident is etched irrevocably in the memories of the adult generation who had followed the case.</p>
<p>In fact, most Kelantanese with some interest in politics would have watched the uploaded video by now and formed their own conclusions.</p>
<p>It was clearly put together by his enemies out there, with a running commentary in between segments of the conversation.</p>
<p>However, the commentator was quite understated and had referred to the sexy exchange as “bermain cinta” or “flirting”.</p>
<p>It is not exactly phone sex, but it is what polite society would call “intimate talk” and in less polite society, “dirty talk”.</p>
<p>There are references to the sexual liaisons between the two speakers, all of which are conducted in the local patios and slang terms.</p>
<p>Those who have heard Mat Sabu speak at political ceramah and are familiar with his voice think that it does sound like him.</p>
<p>“The male voice sounds like that of Mat Sabu. I know Normah and her husband; they have come to my restaurant.</p>
<p>“But the woman in the tape is speaking in a whispered tone throughout; quite hard to say if it is Normah.</p>
<p>“I have heard her speaking, but not in a whisper,” said restaurateur Juhaidi Yean Abdullah who is also from Melor.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu may find himself quite alone in this issue.</p>
<p>Not many of his associates from Kelan­tan will be able to defend him with an open heart.</p>
<p>“I have heard about it (the video) but I have not listened to it, so I can’t say if it is true or false.</p>
<p>“It’s so difficult to know what is true or untrue in politics because so many things are happening now that the general election is getting nearer but if this is done with bad intention, then it is not right,” said Kelan­tan PAS deputy commissioner Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.</p>
<p>Besides, he added, the khalwat case is no longer an issue in Kelantan.</p>
<p>“Many people believed it was a plot by Umno even though they were found together in the room,” Nik Amar said.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu’s friends in PAS are angry that these cerita lama or old stories are being dredged out to discredit him.</p>
<p>They said if the phone conversations were authentic, then they would have been used against Mat Sabu at the height of the scandal.</p>
<p>A lot of it has to do with the Internet and also the fact that Mat Sabu is a major star today.</p>
<p>All eyes are on him and everything he says or does has become newsworthy.</p>
<p>After all, if anything happens to Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Mat Sabu will be the next PAS president.</p>
<p>But at the time of the khalwat scandal, he was just on the way up.</p>
<p>“He was then known as an ayam tambatan (a fighting cock) that PAS used to peck at the other side,” said Juhaidi.</p>
<p>“The ulama leadership in PAS was so sure that no one like him could ever go so high up.</p>
<p>“He was then just an orator, not a threat to anyone inside or outside the party.”</p>
<p>The stakes, said blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, were much higher now and both sides were using whatever they have against each other.</p>
<p>Mat Sabu’s response to the latest issue has been “no comment,” which Syed Azidi, who used to work for a PAS politician in Kelantan, finds ironic.</p>
<p>“It’s really funny for someone who makes a living out of talking to have ‘no comment’.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure how people will take this, but it is certainly extra bullets for his enemies,” said Syed Azidi.</p>
<p>PAS members took a leap of faith when they elected Mat Sabu as their deputy president.</p>
<p>They were aware of his personal baggage but they thought that unlike the ulama leaders, he would be able to take the party to another level.</p>
<p>Instead, he has led the party from one controversy to another.</p>
<p>And, as Juhaidi pointed out: “Instead of explaining the Negara Kebajikan (welfare state) concept PAS is promoting in place of the Islamic state, the party is spending time defending their deputy president.”</p>
<p>The ostrich is a very peculiar creature. When faced with danger, it buries its head in the ground. The reasoning is that if the ostrich can no longer see the source of danger then the source of danger can no longer see the ostrich.<br />
a more deadly and vicious threat to our society than all-pervasive corruption. But, as in the case of corruption, successive sarkars have done virtually nothing to protect the country from this dire menace. This failure indicates more than sheer bungling and gross inefficiency; it suggests a wilful blindness to a clear and present danger.<br />
— have their own dedicated security personnel who in no circumstances can be posted elsewhere. Symbolically, however, the closure of Parliament was in perfect consonance with ostrich-like behaviour: the best way to deal with threat is to shut your eyes to it.</p>
<p>Neoliberalism’s audit culture is more of a threat to values than terrorism</p>
<p>Ever since the West was deprived of the Soviet Union, Western right wingers have been inventing dire threats to the future of the West: Islam, immigration, abortion, gays and lesbians, atheists, and even Hispanic Catholics, these last responsible for undermining Protestant values according to Samuel Huntington.</p>
<p>At least the Soviet Union actually had the capacity to destroy the West.</p>
<p>What the Soviets might have done from outside, with a barrage of nuclear missiles, self-licking ice cream cones do from within. Their work was far advanced in nearly every sector of professional life.</p>
<p>These insidious and destructive ice cream cones come in many flavours in private and public organisations. I am most familiar with those in military and academic life, but people who work in other professions may experience a glimmer of recognition.</p>
<p>Bombing Vietnam</p>
<p>As far as I am aware, the phrase came into usage among knowing observers of the Vietnam War. A self-licking ice cream cone is a programme or policy that costs money and resources, generating a great deal of activity; producing indicators of its own success, preferably quantitative, but does not actually achieve its announced goals. Indeed, a proper self-licking cone undermines the very purposes for which it was created, while at the same time sucking in ever more resources from worthy and effective activities.</p>
<p>In the early 1960s, the US Air Force (USAF) advisory mission was trying to expand its role in South Vietnam. For this it required targets that were helpfully supplied by South Vietnamese officers. The targets were labelled “VC arms factory” or “command and control facility”, but were in fact peasant huts or the most prominent building in a village. The fighter bombers would go out and blow up these “structures”. Damage assessments duly reported a high rate of “success” – blown up huts.</p>
<p>To really grow this cone and set the self-licking in motion, an ever expanding list of targets had to be invented.</p>
<p>“The corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant   for insurgency.”</p>
<p>More targets meant more bombing, and more bombing meant a bigger role for the USAF. The result was more budget, more planes, and career advancement for all concerned.</p>
<p>The only problem was that the bombing was helping lose the war. Predictably, the peasants turned against Saigon, leading to the introduction of US ground forces in 1965. Like the “body count”, the number of “structures” destroyed had no relation to actually winning the war. It was an indicator of organisational “success” wholly divorced from reality, and from the values that the organisation was supposed to be serving. The USAF was killing the very peasants it was there to save from communism.</p>
<p>Self-licking ice cream cones can arise in any modern organisational environment. People dedicated to the values of their vocations have had to struggle against them, always – as did more than a few US officers in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Today, however, the problem is exponentially worse. Neoliberalism, with its audit culture and fetish for short term quantitative indicators, is a mass production facility for self-licking cones. Everywhere bottom line measures of “efficiency” shape the activities of organisations and determine career advancement, selecting the kind of people and personalities who prosper in the system.</p>
<p>In the British National Health Service, general practitioners are assessed in part by the number of completed patient visits. Consequently, one has to go to the doctor several times for simple ailments so that statistics can be massaged.</p>
<p>In Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the development aid provided by the US was outsourced to the private sector. In one electrical generation project outside Kabul, $40m of $300m were lost to contractor delays and other difficulties in order to build a plant that mostly sits idle. Without competitive bidding, the same contractor somehow has been given a new contract to the tune of $266m.</p>
<p>From the point of view of those living in Kabul, the reality is a melting cone that cannot be licked; for the contractors, it is like a bottomless tub of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice-cream, reward for inventing indicators of “progress” amid farce. As with the USAF’s bombing in Vietnam, the corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant for insurgency.</p>
<p>The fall of the British academy</p>
<p>Over remarkably short periods of time, self-licking ice cream cones corrode professional integrity and set in train dynamics that undermine core values. For the last fifteen years, successive governments have sought to turn the British higher education system into 31 flavours of self-licking cones. Various forms of audit have been imposed on the sector concerning research output, rate and time for completion of PhDs, student satisfaction, grant income, and so on.</p>
<p>In common with the USAF in Vietnam or contractors in Afghanistan, the “indicators” used in these audits – applied as ham-fisted national-scale policies – have little direct connection to what they purported to measure, much less to the values the academy is supposed to serve.</p>
<p>Initially, the professoriate tried to game the system, and did so with some local success. Under good leadership, the necessary scores could be achieved while staff still acted according to traditional values. But with each audit, resources flowed to those who scored highest; to those who most fully adapted to the surreal indicators; to those who either came to believe in them or – effectively the same thing – acted as if they did.</p>
<p>A new class of manager-academic arose, whose careers prospered by “modernising” university departments and staff, making them perform in accordance with bottom line indicators. A university system that took decades to build was dismantled by its own hands in less than a generation. As for principled resistance, one was more likely to find it among the US officer corps in Vietnam than among British academics.</p>
<p>The fate of values in a world of organisations</p>
<p>The great danger in modern life is the detachment of ultimate values from the organisations and institutions that are supposed to serve them. Bureaucracies, despite their bad press, are enormously efficient forms of organisation in the public and private spheres – they get things done and make the trains run on time. The problem is deciding upon and directing them towards what they ought to be doing.</p>
<p>Seductive measures of efficiency, the kind of personalities who thrive upon them, and the army of neoliberal self-licking cones has been unleashed on all walks of life, threaten to overwhelm the West. We are so busy fulfilling our quotas that we have no energy to act on the values that should define us.</p>
<div><em>We are inviting applications from young and dynamic reporters who can write about sex, and also generate ideas pertaining to the subject. Salaries will be tailored according to professional experience and market conditions.</em></div>
<div>Imaginary ad of course. But, possible. And, necessary. For, my experience with Indian newspapers has taught me two things. Most newspapers carry articles on sex, and few can write about it. Mind you, I am not saying that newspaper articles ought to have the classiness of literary erotica. If they do, they will have very few dedicated readers. What I have experienced with time, however, is that articles on sex have repetitive ideas, stereotyped language, and, when they seem intelligently written, mostly originate from some relatively unexplored corner of cyberspace. But people read. They want more. Newspapers give more. Life goes on. Few complain. Those who do don’t matter.</div>
<div>Writing about sex isn’t easy. Many good writers of fiction are known to huff, puff and pant while trying to describe the progression of the act in its relatively simple avatar. Such writers have the required words in their arsenal; but, somehow, their pens tend to choke when they embark on the journey. What we have, as a result, ranges between the clichéd and the comical. Smarter writers who know their limitations play it smart. They announce the inevitability of intercourse, take a suggestive break, and return with a description after the act is over. So, the reader knows it has happened, although he doesn’t know what exactly has. He has the freedom to speculate, or not bother at all.</div>
<div>Writing for a newspaper is far more problematic. Although writing about sex allows some space for imagination – or, creativity with the language at least – newspaper articles aren’t descriptions of intercourse. They are based on ideas. But what we see is the recycling of a set of themes. Is she getting it? Is he getting it? Why isn’t either getting it? How do you know if your girl is going out and getting it? How would you know if your man is going out and getting it? How can you spice up your sex life, get rid of that seven-year itch, make things happen, find a way out when things aren’t happening? The same set of subjects. Time and again.</div>
<div>Why does this happen? The answer is easy. Most sex writers make the mistake of thinking that writing about the performing art is child’s play. The copy is a lazy quickie: having a few paragraphs, the odd hot line that leaps out of somewhere and intends to surprise you with its boldness, and of course, a boring idea. There is very little effort to think beyond the obvious. Say, if you have spiced up your sex life, or so you think, and still it’s not happening, then what? A writer on sex need not be a master in the subject. In fact, he seldom is. What he needs to do is discuss the idea with somebody who is, quote the person, get a grip on the subject and write it stylishly.</div>
<div>Not that every idea needs a specialist’s touch or reference, there being many that can be developed on one’s own. For, if a writer is speaking from experience, he can be sure that many others will relate to what he might have written. Say, a piece on my ‘real wedding night, or the day I messed up and lost my virginity.’ That will get you readers, and also the satisfaction of knowing that some will connect with what you said.</div>
<div>Writing about sex is serious business. It requires flair, and a lot of hard work. That is why we need people who deal with the subject naturally instead of generalists who churn out copies to meet their targets. Since the subject has readers, isn’t it important that we do?</div>
<div>functional Fame Whores : Debra Chong the prostute with big pussy &amp; Malaysian Insider Dysfunctional Fame Whores House The Kill Team GETTING READY TO TO SELL HER PUSSY</div>
<div>The sensationally titled “Urban renewal a time bomb for Selangor government” article by Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider is littered with factual errors and allegations.</div>
<div>As coordinators of the Maju Jaya Pilot Urban Regeneration Project, Petaling Jaya, we are dismayed that Debra Chong, despite being given generous amount of information and time by the residents, architects and coordinators, chose to ignore almost everything discussed from the three hours of conversation in total spent with her during and after the launch of the project.</div>
<div>After reading her article, we requested for a meeting with Debra Chong, the writer. Below are our responses as well as questions to her and The Malaysian Insider.</div>
<div>#1. When asked where she got the information of this “RM10 billion plan” by the Selangor Government “for vote-buying”, she could not answer with certainty. Did The Malaysian Insider conjure it up or pluck this astronomical figure from thin air? Unless factual information can be provided this allegation is slanderous.</div>
<div>#2. Time bomb? If there were indeed a RM10 billion, or even just a RM10 million allocation to rehabilitate low-cost housing and communities, would this not be a good policy for the Selangor Government to have? To “bail out” the poor and needy rather than the rich? Shouldpublic money not be used for the benefit of the people who need it most? In what way is it a “time bomb”?</div>
<div>#3. The truth is that this urban regeneration pilot project does not even amount to RM500,000. It is a public-private initiative between MBPJ (local government) and Veritas Architects and Sususan Baru Sdn Bhd. MBPJ is only allocating a small amount whereas the private sectors are coming out with about three quarters of the total expenses through their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) allocations.</div>
<div>#4. This pilot project was initiated by as far back as July-August 2010. This can be verified by checking the minutes of MBPJ meetings. It has nothing to do with “vote-buying”. It was only launched in May 2011 because many legal and logistical issues had to be ironed out among all the stakeholders as well sourcing for more sponsorship.</div>
<div>#5. Debra Chong also claimed “physical work has yet to start”. During the launch of the project which she attended, she could see with her own eyes that the roads were newly paved and the broken public lights repaired. She was also briefed that seven loads of waste from the septic tank was pumped out. Why deny what is out there for all see?</div>
<div>#6. After the meeting with her, she sent an SMS asking: “Why pick a private housing development for the pilot project instead of public housing project?” in what she claims to be a “massive rejuvenation exercise”.</div>
<div>Again, the truth is often more prosaic. Block C Maju Jaya Flats was listed as one of 10 low-cost flats among the 300 plus – both private and public (i.e. PKNS) — in Petaling Jaya which needed urgent attention. It was also selected because it involved only a five–storey low-rise with 60 flats. As a pilot project with no precedent in Malaysia, we had wanted to start small and not make it a “massive exercise” as the writer claims.</div>
<div>Many private low-cost housing have been left in disrepair by developers. Some developers have gone bust, especially in the late 1990s. Others have sold off their companies. In the case of Block C Maju Jaya, the former developer is involved in this rehabilitation initiative and will be contributing both labour as well a new community hall. For all these reasons, Block C Maju Jaya flats was selected by MBPJ to begin a pilot private-public engagement.</div>
<div>It is indeed sad to see a journalist who chose to ignore practically all the information and facts provided to her. We hope that Debra Chong and The Malaysian Insider will print this response in full so the public can judge for themselves; right what is wrong and retract the unfounded allegations and factual errors. And instead, engage and challenge all local governments, architects and developers in Malaysia to develop better social housing policies and developments for the future</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5583/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5583&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/joceline-tan-the-prostitute-licking-umno-cones-why-she-hate-islam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/joeblow.jpg?w=640&#38;h=480&#38;h=480" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/media/k2/items/cache/69cd95c222f51083bda79d7d279af858_S.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">'Mongolian Pork Ribs' for buka puasa, anyone?</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/images/uploads/2010/05/14/chuasoilek2.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mokotopgirlxuyingleakedmodelnudephotoscandalpart3www-gutteruncensored-com027.jpg?w=640&#38;h=480&#38;h=480" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/images2528722529.jpg?w=640&#38;h=415&#38;h=415" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>PM NAJIB &amp; PM MANMOHAN SINGH PARTNERS IN CRIME OF CORRUPTION THEY STILL DON’T GET IT, DO THEY?</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in-crime-of-corruption-they-still-don%e2%80%99t-get-it-do-they/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in-crime-of-corruption-they-still-don%e2%80%99t-get-it-do-they/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:38:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5580</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[THE WAYS OF OUR GOVERNMENT OFTEN PERPLEX ME. WHEN INFLATION CRIPPLES US, THEY SIMPLY LOOK AWAY OR OFFER SILLY REASONS FOR DOING NOTHING. WHAT’S WORSE, JUST TO MAKE THE POINT THAT THEY DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO OUR PROTESTS, THEY RAISE FUEL PRICES ELEVEN TIMES IN QUICK SUCCESSION. WHEN CORRUPTION CORRODES OUR SOCIETY AND DESTROYS&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in-crime-of-corruption-they-still-don%e2%80%99t-get-it-do-they/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5580&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<h3>THE WAYS OF OUR GOVERNMENT OFTEN PERPLEX ME. WHEN INFLATION CRIPPLES US, THEY SIMPLY LOOK AWAY OR OFFER SILLY REASONS FOR DOING NOTHING. WHAT’S WORSE, JUST TO MAKE THE POINT THAT THEY DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO OUR PROTESTS, THEY RAISE FUEL PRICES ELEVEN TIMES IN QUICK SUCCESSION. WHEN CORRUPTION CORRODES OUR SOCIETY AND DESTROYS OUR LIVES,</h3>
</div>
<div id="post-body-139708778778787916">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/media/k2/items/cache/489bd38120e64b3099443ffbdec238f2_S.jpg" alt="September a worrying month for Najib as Scorpenes probe pick up pace" width="640" height="640" />&nbsp;</p>
<div><a href="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/gani11.jpg"><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/gani11.jpg?w=616&#038;h=640&#038;h=640" alt="" width="616" height="640" border="0" /></a></div>
<div>Nine years ago in 2002, when current Prime Minister Najib Razak was defense minister, Malaysia ordered two diesel-electric Scorpene attack submarines from French shipbuilder DCNS as part of a naval upgrade. This singular event has since set off a chain of consequences that have culminated into a sensational story of corruption, murder and sex befitting a paperback blockbuster novel.</div>
<div>An upcoming investigation into the 2002 deal by a French appointed investigative judge aims to “get at the truth surrounding the commisions”, according to human rights activist group Voice of the Malaysian People (Suaram) director Kua Kia Soong.</div>
<div>As the time draws closer for the true story to unravel through the French investigation beginning in September, Najib and his government will be under increasingly heavy scrutiny not only for the alleged bribery that was paid out as “commissions” to government officials during the sale but even more sensationally for his involvement in the murder of Mongolian translator, Altantuya Sharibuu in 2006.</div>
<div>During the sale of the two submarines, a 114 million euros “fee” was paid by DCNS to an alleged shell company Perimekar Sdn. Bhd., whose major shareholder is wife of Najib’s close friend and then defense analyst Abdul Razak Baginda. Altantuya, who had been having an affair with Baginda, had apparently found out about this and demanded a share of 500,000 euros from Baginda, an act that effectively led to her demise. The rest, as we know, is still a mystery.</div>
<div><strong>Timeline</strong></div>
<div>Here is a succinct timeline for the occurrences that took place following the Scorpene deal:</div>
<div>In October 2006, Mongolian national Altantuya Sharibuu was shot in the head and blown up with C4 explosives in Shah Alam, sparking a sensational trial and investigation into Malaysia’s most prominent leaders and government officials. Baginda and two police officers, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, of the Malaysian Police Special Action Force and bodyguards to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak were arrested for the murder.</div>
<div>In June 2008, Raja Petra Kamarudin in a statutory declaration implicated Prime Minister Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mandor in Altantuya’s murder.</div>
<div>In July 2008, private investigator P. Balasubramaniam disappeared the day after he filed a statutory declaration that disclosed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s links to Altantuya and his direct interference in her murder investigation. Bala further claimed that Najib had a sexual relationship with the victim, and that Baginda had inherited her as a lover from Najib.</div>
<div>On October 31st 2008, Baginda was acquitted of the allegation that he abetted the murder of the Mongolian translator, with whom he had been having an affair.</div>
<div>On February 3rd 2009, Sirul pleaded with the court to not sentence him to death as he was “a black sheep that has to be sacrificed” to protect unnamed people.</div>
<div>In April 2009, the two special force policemen received stone-facedly death sentences for the murder of Mongolian beauty.</div>
<div>In March 2010, French judicial officials launched an investigation into the 2002 Scorpene submarine sale at the request of Suaram.</div>
<div>A month ago, French lawyer William Bourdon hired by Suaram, was deported from Kuala Lumpur for giving a speech at a Suaram dinner in Penang on Thursday.</div>
<div><strong>The elephant in the room</strong></div>
<div>With the investigation looming ahead, the series of events and the Malaysian government’s dubious actions can no longer be ignored or sidelined as irrelevant coincidences, and the overlapping links between Altantuya’s death and the Scorpene scandal are difficult to overlook.</div>
<div>Of the myriad of mysteries still shrouding this case, it is of the utmost importance that the relationship between Altantuya’s murder and the Scorpene scandal, as well Najib and Razak’s involvement in both of the above do not remain the elephant in the room.</div>
<div>Perhaps with the commencement of the investigation into “Ops Scorpene” in September, the gritty truth behind Altantuya’s murder and the full extent of the corruption within our government will finally meet the public’s eye.   <em> -   Malaysia Chronicle</em></div>
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/littleindiadibrickfields.jpg?w=640&#038;h=471&#038;h=471" alt="" width="640" height="471" /><br />
<strong>corruption</strong>&nbsp;</p>
<h1>They still don’t get it, do they?partners in crime of corruption</h1>
<p>“I have investigated another case in 1995 where I verified with a minister, who did not deny the existence of such a letter relating to Halim and his UMNO links,” he said.</p>
<p>If this was the truth, Mat Zain said, the questions remained as to where all the money that the three corporate figures were holding in trust came from.</p>
<p>Acrimonious relationship with A-G</p>
<p>This also begged the question as to why the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACA), now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), had not acted on this information although it has known about the matter since 1999.</p>
<p>“The people cannot accept that it (MACC) is still investigating the case as it has taken 12 years.”<br />
He also questioned why attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail (right) had not taken action against Tajuddin even though the police investigations were “crystal clear”.</p>
<p>“I believe Gani still remembers that he had directed the withdrawal of 37 charges against Port Klang asssemblyperson Zakaria Mat Deros. This brought disrepute to the A-G’s Chambers, judiciary and the enforcement agencies.</p>
<p>“Hopefully, in this month of Ramadan, Gani remembers the fate of the government officers who were involved in the MAS and Tajudin scandal investigations, who were persecuted by him for merely doing their job in investigating the matter, and some are languishing in prison,” lamented Mat Zain.</p>
<p>He said Najib may not have been involved in the abuse of power and corruption among senior UMNO leaders in 1999.</p>
<p>However, the Prime Minister, by calling for a settlement in the Tajuddin matter, may have been forced to make an unwise decision to the effect of the rakyat losing out.</p>
<p>“I hope Najib himself will not protect the alleged criminal acts committed by Tajuddin in the MAS scandal. The action of protecting or hiding a criminal offence is an offence itself.”</p>
<p>There is still time until September 29, Mat Zain added, for Najib to make amends, which will show whether the Prime Minister is aware of, and is concerned about, the people’s grievances in the whole affair.<br />
<strong>READMORE</strong><br />
<a href="http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/08/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in.html">http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/08/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in.html</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5580/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5580&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/pm-najib-pm-manmohan-singh-partners-in-crime-of-corruption-they-still-don%e2%80%99t-get-it-do-they/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/media/k2/items/cache/489bd38120e64b3099443ffbdec238f2_S.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">September a worrying month for Najib as Scorpenes probe pick up pace</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/gani11.jpg?w=616&#38;h=640&#38;h=640" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/littleindiadibrickfields.jpg?w=640&#38;h=471&#38;h=471" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Najibfor being loyal to Rosmama Megawaste and the art of the possible Economic indicators point to a meltdown of Najib&#8217;s policies</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/najibfor-being-loyal-to-rosmama-megawaste-and-the-art-of-the-possible-economic-indicators-point-to-a-meltdown-of-najibs-policies/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/najibfor-being-loyal-to-rosmama-megawaste-and-the-art-of-the-possible-economic-indicators-point-to-a-meltdown-of-najibs-policies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:30:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5571</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; The MAS-Air Asia share swap announced yesterday raises serious concerns over the dominance of Air Asia over MAS and effectively reducing competition between the two. This may lead to a virtual monopoly of the domestic airline industry by in the long run and gives rise to risks and concerns associated with monopolies, more so&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/najibfor-being-loyal-to-rosmama-megawaste-and-the-art-of-the-possible-economic-indicators-point-to-a-meltdown-of-najibs-policies/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5571&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="post-body-7205501154039709455">
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://really.tigaline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bik2-300x300.gif" alt="" /><br />
<img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rosmahmansor.jpg?w=246" alt="" /></p>
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://sloone.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/online_sg_article_on_rosmah_mansor_20080701.jpg?w=661&#038;h=464" alt="" width="661" height="464" /></p>
<div><img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/imeldarosmah2.gif?w=463&#038;h=640" alt="" width="463" height="640" /></div>
<div><a href="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/6a014e5f6d7611970c015432547890970c-800wi.jpg"><img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/6a014e5f6d7611970c015432547890970c-800wi.jpg?w=640&#038;h=533" alt="" width="640" height="533" border="0" /></a></div>
<div><a href="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/261802_2049773176712_1615958823_1940497_695981_n252812529.jpg"><img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/261802_2049773176712_1615958823_1940497_695981_n252812529.jpg?w=289&#038;h=320" alt="" width="289" height="320" border="0" /></a></div>
<div><a href="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ccc.jpg"><img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ccc.jpg?w=640&#038;h=604" alt="" width="640" height="604" border="0" /></a></div>
<div>The MAS-Air Asia share swap announced yesterday raises serious concerns over the dominance of Air Asia over MAS and effectively reducing competition between the two. This may lead to a virtual monopoly of the domestic airline industry by in the long run and gives rise to risks and concerns associated with monopolies, more so because of the involvement of cronies and political power brokers.</div>
<div>The swap accompanied by effective participation of Tony Fernandes and his nominees in the board of MAS raises the likelihood of a conflict of interest notwithstanding his purported ‘non-executive’ position. This is clearly a violation of corporate governance rules and should not be condoned.</div>
<div>More importantly, the deal raises the question as to what is the fate of the GLC Transformation Programmes that had been launched by the Prime Minister Najib Razak with much fanfare and wastage of millions of the rakyat’s money. And is the government specifically admitting that the so-called successful turnaround of MAS was a mere charade? The Prime Minister must be held accountable for misleading the rakyat on this.</div>
<div>This deal also raises fundamental issues of transparency because of the secrecy in which it was shrouded. In this regard, the Securities Commission must investigate the possibility of irregularities including insider trading of the shares of both entities.</div>
<div>Above all, I am very concerned that this deal benefits the interests of the minority at the expense of the majority, that is, the employees of MAS who have served our national carrier with selfless dedication and loyalty in spite of having been given such a raw deal and deprived of bonuses for years.</div>
<div><strong>ANWAR IBRAHIM<br />
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION<br />
DEWAN RAKYAT MALAYSIA</strong></div>
<div>he latest national economic indicators may have a deeper impact on Malaysia besides the obvious economic loss felt especially the billions of ringgit wiped out from Bursa Kuala Lumpur in the past one week.</div>
<div>In particular, the downgrading of economic growth forecast recently announced by local research houses and analysts may spell an early doom to the grand economic master plan and targets unveiled by Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration through the Economic Transformation Programmes (ETP), the 10<sup>th</sup> Malaysian Plan and the New Economic Model.</div>
<div>If Malaysia’s economic growth continues to slide as expected, the ETP would have failed even before it takes off because the ambitious plan requires a steady 6% growth annually to reach the GNI per capita target of USD15,000 (or RM48,000) by 2020. A less than 5% growth for 2011 means ETP has failed to excite the market at the time when the full government focus, resources and machineries were directed to promote it; let alone when all the euphoria wears off 2-3 years down the line.</div>
<div>The impact of the economic uncertainties in the USA and Euro-zone countries may add severity to the Malaysian economic prospect; especially when the debt crisis in Euro-zone will begin to pull the third (Italy), second (France) and largest (Germany) economies in Europe into the economic mess. Should the current trend in the Euro-zone continue, there is a possibility that there will be further downgrades of economic growth in the near future.</div>
<div>Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration has also failed to meet its own private investment growth target that is a centre-piece of his strategy to rejuvenate growth in Malaysia. PEMANDU/ETP has boldly claimed that 92% of the hundreds of billions worth of investments will be funded by the private sector to reverse a decade’s worth of dependent on pump priming using public coffers.</div>
<div>Unfortunately, the source of funding of flagship ETP projects is still shrouded in mystery. Of the top 10 ETP projects announced (or expected to take off) in between October 2010 and June 2011, 77% of these projects will be carried out by GLCs.</div>
<div>The following analysis of the top 10 ETP projects will heighten the sense of economic dejavu as essentially the present administration still employs the same approach of pump priming using public money – though it is now being channelled through the GLCs:</div>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<thead>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="272">
<div align="center"><strong>FLAGSHIP ETP PROJECT</strong></div>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="170">
<div align="center"><strong>INVESTMENT ANNOUNCED (RM BILLIONS)</strong></div>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="174">
<div align="center"><strong>GLC/NON-GLC</strong></div>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (RAPID)</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">60.0</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC (PETRONAS)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">MRT (investment without rolling stocks and land acquisition)</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">36.6</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC</div>
<div align="center">(special purpose vehicle set up)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Oil and gas development at Tapis field (enhanced oil recovery) and Teluk field development (due to start in 2013)</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">10.0</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC</div>
<div align="center">(PETRONAS &amp; ExxonMobil, reinvestment of profits from hydrocarbon resources)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Development of Karambunai Integrated Resort City</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">9.6</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">Non-GLC</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Small Retailer Transformation Program (TUKAR) to modernise sundry shops</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">5.43</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">Unknown</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Shell Malaysia’s expansion program (upgrade of refinery/new builts including Shell Middle Distillates, Port Dickson complex and Gumusut deepwater development)</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">5.1</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC</div>
<div align="center">(PETRONAS &amp; Shell, reinvestment of profits from hydrocarbon resources)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Development of deepwater petroleum terminal in Johor</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">5.1</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">Dialog Group</div>
<div align="center">(private group with large shareholding by GLICs)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">3 new power plants, 2 hydro power plants, 1 coal plant and investment in transmission infrastructure</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">4.0</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC</div>
<div align="center">(TNB)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Development of Tanjong Agas Oil &amp; Agas and Logistic Industrial Park in Pekan, Pahang</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">3.0</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">GLC</div>
<div align="center">(under East Coast Economic Region)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="272">
<div align="center">Development of MINES Wellness City</div>
</td>
<td width="170">
<div align="center">3.0</div>
</td>
<td width="174">
<div align="center">Non-GLC</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>The total investments announced for the top 10 ETP projects are RM142 billion that makes 82% of the total ETP projects announced so far (total investments of RM173 billion).  The fact that 77% of the top 10 ETP projects will be carried out by GLCs or firms with large GLIC shareholdings is a proof that the 92% private investment target set out in ETP is nothing more than a <em>public relations</em> number with no indication that it will ever be achieved.</div>
<div>The 3 national economic indicators – the turmoil at Bursa Kuala Lumpur, the growth forecast that looks dimmer as we move closer to the end of the year and the failure of ETP flagship projects to hit the private investment target set out by Dato’ Seri Najib – point to a meltdown of his administration’s economic policies and initiatives.</div>
<div>Malaysia’s economic predicament is the complete opposite of the tremendous growth enjoyed by Indonesia. Indonesian economy continues to register a 6.5% growth in the last quarter and expected to grow further at 7% next year. While Malaysia’s inflation hit a two-year high in the last quarter, Indonesia’s inflation recorded a 14-month low for the same period. Stagnated wages that grow only at a snail pace of 2.6% over the last decade for Malaysian workforce is contrasted by the double digit annual rise in wages in Indonesia since 2006.</div>
<div>Clearly there is a fundamental difference between Malaysian and Indonesian economies that leads to this divergence.</div>
<div>While Indonesia embraced political, economic and social reforms since 1998, the Barisan Nasional government balked at any attempt to spearhead political and social reforms at the detriment of the economy. Therefore, it is a matter of time before the <em>rakyat </em>subscribes to Pakatan Rakyat’s principle that there cannot be an economic reform without a commitment for political reforms.</div>
<div><em>- Rafizi Ramli is the PKR Strategy Director</em></div>
<p>These days, the United States media are full of ordinary Americans venting their rage at the incompetence and immaturity of their politicians. Even though the US government&#8217;s debt limit was raised in the nick of time, the process was - and remains - fraught with risk. Why, the public asks, can&#8217;t politicians sit down together like sensible adults and come up with a timely agreement that commands broad consensus? If we can balance our household budgets, they ask irately, why can&#8217;t our political leaders?<br />
The reality, though, is that US politicians reflect the views of the American electorate – views that are fundamentally inconsistent. The absence of broad consensus is no wonder. Indeed, the last-minute agreement to raise the debt ceiling is proof that the politicians did what they were sent to Washington to do: represent their constituencies and only compromise in the interests of the country as a whole.<br />
The key question is whether the political gridlock exposed by the debt-ceiling debate will worsen in the run-up to the 2012 presidential and congressional elections - if not beyond. That is possible, but we should not overlook cause for hope in what America&#8217;s politicians just accomplished.<br />
<strong>Income and age</strong><br />
Let&#8217;s start with why the electorate is so polarised. There are two key divisive factors: income and age. Income inequality has been growing in the US over the last three decades, largely because the labour market has increasingly demanded skills that the education system has been unable to supply. The everyday consequence for the middle class is a stagnant paycheck and growing employment insecurity, as the old economy of well-paying low-skilled jobs with good benefits withers away.<br />
Until the financial crisis, the easy availability of credit, especially against home equity, enabled the middle class to sustain higher consumption despite stagnant incomes. With the collapse of the housing bubble, many people lost their jobs and health insurance, risked losing their homes, and suddenly had little reason for economic optimism. The response from America&#8217;s Democratic Party, which has traditionally represented this constituency, was to promise affordable universal health care and more education spending, while also protecting government jobs and entitlement programs.<br />
When added up, such spending is unaffordable, especially with current federal revenues at just 15 per cent of GDP. The solution for many Democrats is to raise revenues by taxing the rich. But the rich are not the idle rich of the past; they are the working rich. To balance the budget only by taxing the rich will require a significant increase in income taxes, to the point that it would lower incentives for work and entrepreneurial activity considerably.<br />
This is not to say that taxes on the rich cannot be increased at all; but such increases cannot be the primary way of balancing the budget. Republicans, trying to give voice to many working Americans&#8217; ambient uneasiness with rising government expenditures, as well as to the growing anger of the working rich, find it easier to defend a principle than a particular constituency. Hence their mantra: no additional taxes.<br />
The neat divide based on income is muddled by the elderly. It is understandable that older Americans who have few savings want to protect their Social Security and Medicare benefits. However, even elderly Tea Party Republicans, who are typically against big government, defend these programmes because they view them as a form of property right, paid for when they worked.<br />
In truth, rising life expectancy and growing health-care costs mean that today&#8217;s elderly have contributed only a fraction of what they expect to receive from Social Security and Medicare. The government made a mistake in the past by not raising taxes to finance these programs or reducing the benefits that they promised. Unless the growth of these entitlement programs is curbed now, today&#8217;s young will pay dearly for that mistake, in the form of higher taxes now and lower benefits when they are old.<br />
But the elderly are politically active and powerful. Not only do many defend their entitlements strongly; some oppose growth in other types of public spending for fear that it will weaken the government&#8217;s ability to pay for the benefits that they believe they are owed.<br />
<strong>The roots of America&#8217;s fiscal impasse</strong><br />
These then are the roots of America&#8217;s fiscal impasse, which has produced passionate constituencies viscerally opposed to compromise. Any political deal significantly before the debt-ceiling deadline would have exposed politicians to charges of betrayal from their constituents. And, given that President Barack Obama would ultimately be held responsible for a default, he needed the deal more than the Republicans did. So he had to coerce his party into accepting a deal full of spending cuts and devoid of tax increases.<br />
Will the deal deliver what it promises? A bipartisan committee has to propose $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by the end of this year, and Congress must either accept that proposal, or see immediate, politically painful expenditure cuts, which would include defense spending - an area that America&#8217;s Republicans care about strongly.<br />
If this structure works as advertised, Congress will be forced to reach a compromise, which can be sold once again by politicians to their polarised constituencies as being necessary to avoid a worse outcome. This time, Obama&#8217;s Democrats will be on a level playing field, because both parties will be held equally responsible for a failure to reach a deal.<br />
Ultimately, the big necessary decisions on curbing entitlement growth and reforming the tax code will probably have to wait until after the next election, giving the divided electorate an opportunity to reflect on its own inconsistency and send a clearer message. In the meantime, US politicians might have done just about enough to convince debt markets that America&#8217;s credit is still good. For that, Americans - and others around the world - should stop pillorying them and give them their due credit.<br />
<strong><em>Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist of the IMF, is Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago&#8217;s Booth School of Business and author of </em>Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, <em>the Financial Times Business Book of the Year</em></strong></p>
<div>Malaysia’s emerging first world economy, despite the wishful thinking of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who doubles up as Finance minister, is no longer a factor that the ruling Barisan Nasional can constantly harp on at the hustings.</div>
<div>If the 58-year old Najib were to boast about the economy in purchasing power parity terms, the man on the street would fire back at how expensive life has become. And for Najib to argue would not only be a futile exercise, it would also be a dumb move.</div>
<div>Straightaway, it would set up the backs of the ordinary folk who feel the pulse of the economy from their ragged PVC wallets, and not the thick tomes of numbers that only make sense when compared with similarly sized and stressed nations.</div>
<div>The desperados in Umno and their pet poodles like Perkasa, among others, are not above twisting and turning every issue in the country into a racial and religious one to pit the people against each other. The master gameplan is to scare the Malays, the heartland in particular, into circling the wagons and gathering under only one political platform i.e. Umno.</div>
<div>Meanwhile, in the country’s tumultuous politics of distraction and disruption, the plunder of the public treasury continues unabated as the ruling elite accumulate capital in the same manner that the colonialists had done in the past, filling their already burgeoning war chest.</div>
<div><strong>Best of the Worst or the Worst Ever?</strong></div>
<div>As the date of the next General Election draws nearer, Pakatan appears more determined than ever to drive the BN, in particular Umno, into political oblivion. Since the 2008 General Election, Umno appears to have transformed into a right-wing fringe organisation with shades of the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler. This is not an unfair accusation given the controversial politicking pursued by Najib&#8217;s party, which includes Christian, Chinese and Jew bashing.</div>
<div>Beyond a penchant for delivering grandiose public speeches, Najib too has been a great disappointment even to his own tight-knit inner circle. There’s very little substance in the thunder, and his bluff-and-bluster is by now visibly a sham to many in the country. Still, all is not lost. There’s method in Najib’s “madness” save for the sword of Damocles, wielded by the ghost of slain Mongolian model Altantuya, hanging ominously over his head in a courtroom in Paris, the French capital.</div>
<div>Najib’s people now belatedly concede that no one, their master included, has the stature of the great leaders of the past to govern the country. However, this admission comes with a bizarre caveat: their man is the “best of the worst”, they claim. Obviously, the pious hope is that this newly-discovered “strength” will save the embattled Malaysian Prime Minister when the country goes to the polls again, which many expect will take place before the year is over.</div>
<div>But what worked in 2008 may not work anymore. Three years ago, when the Umno supreme council moved to punish Badawi for the bad GE results, the clarion cry across the party was that there is nobody else but Najib. How sad that a party with a tradition of more than 5 decades has to ask its members to pick for their president a man who has no better selling point than because &#8220;there is no one else&#8221;.</div>
<div>For this man to now play it back to party members that they still have no choice because he is now the &#8220;best of the worst&#8221; is truly an insult. Yes, an insult of the highest degree.</div>
<div>Where are the results that he was duty-bound to achieve , where are the reforms, where are the outcomes, what happened to the promises and pledges? Can his claims stand up to the light of the day? Is it not more accurate to say that Najib is the &#8220;worst ever&#8221;?</div>
<div><strong>The competition</strong></div>
<div>The opposition alliance swears that they are all about bringing the people together. Both the Democratic Action Party and PAS, the Islamists, are incredibly strong on the ground and Parti Keadilan Rakyat has caught up fast.</div>
<div>Former Finance Minister and Kelantan Umno warlord, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, sensing a kill, has re-positioned himself for change through a new NGO, Amanah. Notable among his supporters is Najib&#8217;s predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam.</div>
<div>Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib’s deputy who looks increasingly smart with a neater hair-cut and more modish attire, is likewise making a last-ditch attempt to steal the thunder from his boss.</div>
<div>But the man directly leading the charge is none other than former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He’s impatient to see his son, Mukhriz Mahathir, pole-vault into the post currently held by Muhyiddin. That will certainly not happen unless Najib can be forced out and Muhyiddin kicked upstairs.</div>
<div>Mahathir’s problem is that Najib is no hurry to call a General Election for which he set a tall order: concede only Penang and Kelantan to the opposition – to maintain a semblance of free and fair elections – and win back the two-thirds majority in Parliament.</div>
<div>When Najib fails, as he’s expected to, Mahathir will hound him out of the Prime Minister’s chair, thanks to the Umno Supreme Council being at his beck and call. Mahathir’s little black book must be bulging with details on their sins of commission and omission.</div>
<div><em>By J. Di’ Lovrenciear</em></div>
<div>These past three years since, BN has been fast sliding down the road of political survival. Hence today it is very evident that BN has gone on the defensive with the ‘opposition’ coalition party trenching into an offensive advantage.</div>
<div>Why?</div>
<div></div>
<div>The problem is the leaders and power brokers within the BN army have been operating from an out-dated mindset for far too long. They failed to grasp the revolution taking place within societies with Malaysia being no exception in this globalizing and networked society.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Civil society, through the liberating technologies of the new-age millennium, has increasingly harnessed the power of democratic governance. Our leaders have failed to take cognizance of the fact that society is “being changed from arborial beings, rooted in time and space, to rhizomic nomads who daily wonder at will without necessarily moving (their) bodies at all” (Mark Poster, 1990).</div>
<div></div>
<div>When governments and leaders fail to recognize and accept the fast changing landscape of socio-political fundamentals, the civil societies pour into the streets. Their action cannot be curtailed by the age-old tested and proven means of threats, arrests, punishment and absolute controls.</div>
<div>The more you take as prisoners and kill, the more will rise like a tidal wave. Time remains the defining factor.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Our leaders and their ill informed advisors need to know that what we are witnessing around the world today is the advantages of “cybernations evolving … people sharing an interest, exchanging information and possibly arranging to meet with one another … on a global basis (providing) the distant village dweller the opportunity to make contact with any person, anywhere in the world” (Rolf Jensen, 1999).</div>
<div></div>
<div>And throughout the history of humanity, we have ample attestation to prove that when people come together systems fall apart, and resurrect a new framework to help propel that society onward.</div>
<div></div>
<div>BN had the disadvantage of a comfort zone for far too long. Whether it will be able to restructure itself to face the already changing Malaysian society is the million-ringgit question.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Given BN’s political warfare tactics, it appears that transformation is quiet unlikely within its own yard. For as long as it continues to keep reinforcing itself with the justifications, admonishments and smear tactics of race, religion and sex, it is bound to sink even further.</div>
<div></div>
<div>BN leaders (past and current) continue to live in a self-denial mode. They keep clamoring that the ‘opposition’ with its “pack of lies” is hurting BN and misleading people. This clearly tells us that BN is blinded to the truth about the networked society. In today’s environment even a doctor knows that he or she cannot anymore just tell the patient to follow instructions. The doctor is matched and challenged by the patient’s access to knowledge and practice and insists in a participatory role on the route to recovery.</div>
<div></div>
<div>BN leaders must accept the fact that there is an awakening within civil society. That society is no more caught within the limitations of the Penny Press of a by-gone era where psy-war could move societies according to the whims and fancies of power brokers.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Even media moguls today are rudely being awakened to this changed information landscape in the world.</div>
<div></div>
<div>It appears that there are only two options left for BN as the country suspiciously creeps to its impending 13th general election.</div>
<div></div>
<div>One, is for BN to accept the fact that it does not anymore have the privilege of time and resources to do a through spring cleaning of its entire framework of entrenched political mindset and untenable political SOPs.</div>
<div></div>
<div>And in doing so, prepare the ground work to return to power as a shining star of hope in the 14th general election. But most people know this would be a hard-to-swallow pill of salvation for BN because it may never rise again as the in-coming winning political party may go on a killing spree in its attempt to bring back all stashed-away wealth for the benefit of civil society’s growth and empowerment.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Then the other alternative is for BN to seek a sincere act of contrition. This will demand that BN goes into overdrive mode to purge its party of all misdeeds and bring to book in a transparent and without fear or favor manner all those who have thrived on crimes of misappropriation and corruption.</div>
<div>That will call for intense and courageous shake up strictly starting from the very top and going right down to the grass root levels. It would necessarily demand reviewing and enforcing all Royal Commission recommendations of the past; addressing the judiciary; the police and related enforcement bodies; and review and repeal of laws that hint a protection of power brokers but vilify the ordinary civil society.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Now to do so, BN need not engage exorbitant external consultants. The middle path to accountable, transparent and justified governance is clearly plotted in the road map of Vision 2020.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Hence for as long as BN hollers all kinds of accusations and throws cry-baby tantrums at the opposition party leaders and accuses and admonishes citizens while counting on the large sector of rural electorates, BN is destined to make a dangerous fall down the ravine of political obsolescence.</div>
<div></div>
<div>So stop blaming your opposition enemies. Stop slamming labels of ‘ungrateful public’ on citizens’ foreheads. Stop raising alarm bells of laws that will come crushing on the ‘enemies’ of BN. Stop devising and remote-managing race and religious fueled political war strategies.</div>
<div></div>
<div>As the late John Denvor sang, indeed “The times have changed”. Either BN changes with the times or sinks like a stone. If it changes and embraces the aspirations of civil society it has every reason to celebrate. If BN takes the old and expired political route of acting tough, branding its opponents as enemies and not embrasing them as collaborators, then BN leaders must only blame themselves for their half-a-century dinasour political party&#8217;s demise.</div>
<div>The very fact that citizens are expressing their concerns over BN’s governance is already a hopeful signal that they are still giving that last straw to the leaders and power brokers of BN to transform before God and man.</div>
<div></div>
<div>But when all else fails, civil society will join the world of peaceful protestors. That is the dictum of true democracy and rising civil liberties on this planet earth.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5571/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5571&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/najibfor-being-loyal-to-rosmama-megawaste-and-the-art-of-the-possible-economic-indicators-point-to-a-meltdown-of-najibs-policies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://really.tigaline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bik2-300x300.gif" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rosmahmansor.jpg?w=246" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://sloone.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/online_sg_article_on_rosmah_mansor_20080701.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/imeldarosmah2.gif?w=200" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/6a014e5f6d7611970c015432547890970c-800wi.jpg?w=300" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/261802_2049773176712_1615958823_1940497_695981_n252812529.jpg?w=271" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ccc.jpg?w=300" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>GOD IS WATCHING NAJIB’S LIES ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE BITTER AND ULTRA-PARTISAN BATTLES OVER THE BUDGET, THE DEFICIT,</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/god-is-watching-najib%e2%80%99s-lies-about-when-it-comes-to-the-bitter-and-ultra-partisan-battles-over-the-budget-the-deficit/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/god-is-watching-najib%e2%80%99s-lies-about-when-it-comes-to-the-bitter-and-ultra-partisan-battles-over-the-budget-the-deficit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:55:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5568</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[DATUK SERI NAJIB RAZAK TOLD HIS BARISAN NASIONAL (BN) COALITION TODAY THAT IT MUST WORK TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE PUBLIC WITHOUT RESORTING TO GOVERNMENT CHANNELS. God willing….God willing….. &#160; related article The prime minister said that under its new political model, the ruling coalition must strive to use political avenues to help the&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/god-is-watching-najib%e2%80%99s-lies-about-when-it-comes-to-the-bitter-and-ultra-partisan-battles-over-the-budget-the-deficit/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5568&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<h3>DATUK SERI NAJIB RAZAK TOLD HIS BARISAN NASIONAL (BN) COALITION TODAY THAT IT MUST WORK TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE PUBLIC WITHOUT RESORTING TO GOVERNMENT CHANNELS.</h3>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>God willing….God willing…..</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><span style="text-align:center; display: block;"><a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/god-is-watching-najib%e2%80%99s-lies-about-when-it-comes-to-the-bitter-and-ultra-partisan-battles-over-the-budget-the-deficit/"><img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/LwNLT428PqU/2.jpg" alt="" /></a></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p>related article</p>
</div>
<div id="post-body-391427187754534772">
<div dir="ltr">
<div></div>
<div>The prime minister said that under its new political model, the ruling coalition must strive to use political avenues to help the public rather than the current practice of pressuring the various ministries to act.</div>
<div>Najib said that “in the current landscape … political parties can act through political channels” to request help from partners and “take the initiative to have programmes.”</div>
<div>His administration has been committed to trimming the budget deficit from a two-decade high of seven per cent in 2009 to 5.4 per cent this year but surging inflation — especially in urban centres where his coalition is weakest — has forced Putrajaya to rethink its timetable for subsidy cuts.</div>
<div>After hitting a two-year peak of three per cent in March, the consumer price index has continued to rise, hitting 3.5 per cent in June as the government increased fuel, electricity and sugar prices to prevent the subsidy bill from doubling to RM21 billion.</div>
<div>The Umno president is also expected to call for general elections soon despite his mandate only expiring in early 2013.</div>
<div>Both government and opposition lawmakers have said that Najib should announce an election budget for next year as sustaining subsidies continues to put a strain on the Treasury.</div>
<div>Pressure from hardline Malay ground to maintain Bumiputera quotas is also threatening the prime minister’s economic transformation programme that aims to double per capita income by 2020.</div>
<div>Observers believe a new five-year mandate will give Najib some breathing space to execute his economic reforms to move Malaysia out of the “middle-income trap,” which in turn, will allow him to ease the burden of subsidies on the budget.</div>
<div>Launching the BN Youth Home Owner Programme Exhibition (Hope) today, Najib said that such initiatives, which pulled together stakeholders such as developers, financial institutes and prospective homeowners, were an example of how “BN is capable of fulfilling the hopes of the public.”</div>
<div>The markets are watching, the Republicans are watching, the Democrats are watching, the media are watching, the pollsters and pundits are watching. The public is watching and is disgusted with Washington, D.C.</div>
<div>When it comes to the bitter and ultra-partisan battles over the budget, the deficit, and the fast-approaching deadline for America to avoid defaulting on its financial commitments, the whole nation and even the world is watching.</div>
<div>But God is watching too.</div>
<div><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/07/28/god-is-watching/" target="_self"><img title="1100728-godiswatchingad" src="http://blog.sojo.net/wp-content/uploads/1100728-godiswatchingad.jpg" alt="1100728-godiswatchingad" width="300" height="215" /></a></div>
<div>Others are watching to see how their self-interests will benefit in the final deal. Or they are watching to see who’s up and who’s down, who will get the political win, and whose election chances will be better afterward.</div>
<div>Forty-eight hours after President Obama mentioned corporate jet tax deductions, and suggested they might not be as important as scholarships for low-income kids going to college for the first time, a headline appeared in the<em> New York Times</em> reading, “Industry Set for Fight to Keep Corporate Jet Tax Breaks.” Wow. That was pretty fast. The ones who will win the current battle over the budget and deficit are the ones who are watching. As the book of Proverbs teaches, the poor are shunned, but the rich have many friends.</div>
<div>Agribusiness is ready to respond if anyone challenges the subsidies that go to millionaire “farmers” living in Manhattan. The oil and gas industry reacts to questions about whether $2.5 billion in offshore drilling subsidies might be less needed than $2.5 billion slated to be cut in home heating oil assistance for low-income families. The Pentagon is watching and ready to invoke national security interests, or question the patriotism of anyone daring to cut its budget. A bipartisan commission came up with $1 trillion in military cuts over the next 10 years that wouldn’t hurt our national security, but it is unlikely that more than a fraction of their recommendations will ever be taken.</div>
<div>Republicans are watching and are ready to push the nation even closer to the brink of default if anyone suggests that revenue from the wealthy be a part of the solution. Democrats are watching, but, with a few notable exceptions, they don’t say the word “poor” out loud anymore. Anyone who could end up paying more in taxes is watching, even though taxes as a percentage of GDP dropped from <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/tax-cuts/?scp=5&amp;sq=taxes%20as%20a%20percentage%20of%20gdp&amp;st=cse" target="_blank">20 percent</a> in 2000 to just over 14 percent in 2010. The average effective tax rate for the wealthiest is now <a href="http://www.quickanded.com/2010/02/effective-tax-rates-of-the-richest-400-americans.html" target="_blank">only 17 percent</a> of their income, and many corporations do not pay any taxes at all.</div>
<div>At the same time, nutrition programs for low-income mothers and children are at risk of being cut, as well as children’s health programs, education for low-income students, early childhood development, and the most effective initiatives in the world, which are dramatically reducing both disease and hunger. These programs are at the risk of being cut<em>because nobody has been watching out for them.</em></div>
<div>But the religious community is changing this: It formed “A Circle of Protection” to defend the most effective anti-poverty efforts both at home and around the world. Today, Sojourners has a full-page ad in <em>Politico</em> with the message “God Is Watching” as a part of our series of print ads on the budget. This week our radio ads, recorded by local pastors, are playing in Nevada, Kentucky, and Ohio to remind politicians of the moral issues at stake. Faith leaders say God is biased in such matters, and prefers to protect the poor instead of the rich, and instructs the faithful to do the same. This is class warfare now, and when it breaks out, the Bible suggests that God is on the side of defending the poor from assault.</div>
<div>In the past, our country has successfully reduced deficits and poverty at the same time. There were bipartisan agreements to defend the means-tested programs for low-income people against cuts. And for the past 25 years, every automatic budget cut mechanism has exempted core low-income assistance programs. But not this time. Neither the Republican House, the Democratic Senate, nor the Obama White House has clearly and publicly committed to protect the poor and vulnerable, even though religious leaders have persistently pressed them all to do so. It’s a moral imperative that we do so again today. So now, faith leaders are watching the political leaders. And we believe God is watching us all.</div>
<p><img title="portrait-jim-wallis" src="http://blog.sojo.net/wp-content/uploads/portrait-jim-wallis.jpg" alt="portrait-jim-wallis" width="60" height="73" /></p>
<div><em><strong>Jim Wallis</strong></em><em> is the author of </em><a href="http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=F7iZ7XiVaWLKfhghFwfJ1g.." target="_blank">Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery</a><em>, and CEO of </em><a href="http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=qetrAnKP-l9oheaS1Yds1A.." target="_blank"><em>Sojourners</em></a><em>. He blogs at </em><a href="http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=p8Niynq9VcnOMTE6GIx_fQ.." target="_blank"><em>www.godspolitics.com</em></a><em>. Follow Jim on Twitter</em><a href="http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=4HwayqIjScoanb8NV5OKHg.." target="_blank"><em> @JimWallis</em></a><em>.</em></div>
<div>Not every country in the world can afford fighter jets. Its prohibitive cost, maintenance and spare parts run into the billions of ringgit. Not to mention the accompanying hi-tech accessories and weapons arsenal which the aircraft cannot do without.</div>
<div>The country’s fetish for any thing hi-tech is laudable. Just like us <em>‘kiasu’</em>Malaysians with our i-phones and i-pads, or blackberrys that cost a bomb. Like purchases of Lamborghinis and Ferraris that are just super expensive play toys not worth their weight in gold, or RM24 million diamond rings and RM14 billion gold and jewel-studded yachts. Having a couple of units of the Eurofigter Typhoons won’t guarantee that Malaysia will win a war. It may be considered a deterrent, but a damn expensive one.</div>
<div><strong>Super toy</strong></div>
<div>Fighter jets are known for their stealth capabilities, able to fly at supersonic speed, arriving at their targets so quickly and disappearing like magic. They are so deadly that they can obliterate their targets faster than the enemy can say<em> mama mia!</em> Armed with laser guided missiles they can take out and disable a military installation from miles away.</div>
<div><img src="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/eurofighter252btyphoon_0021.jpg?w=350" alt="" width="350" border="0" />They have extra powerful engines that are able to take-off at less than 100 feet into the air, compared with commercial planes that need at least 10,000 feet of runway. Some of them like the F-35s are equipped with VTOL (vertical take off and landing) just like helicopters. But all these high tech fighter jets consume massive amounts of fuel like there is no tomorrow. So logistically wise they are not equipped for long missions. An aircraft carrier would be a good place to station fighter jets, where they can park themselves in international waters a safe distance from the targeted country, while the fighter jets are deployed to fly in and take out all the military targets.</div>
<div>Armed to the teeth with a hi-tech array of powerful weapons, bunker busting bombs and tomahawk missiles, they are so accurate and so effective in inflicting maximum damage, that many countries are awed by their capabilities. Travelling at supersonic speed and almost invisible to radar, they are immune to counter attacks from the ground, except from another fighter jet.</div>
<div>When Malaysia bought our Russian made MIG29’s a decade ago, it was even reputed to be more sophisticated than the American F16’s and at a fraction of the price. But like all machines, they go out of fashion, and become obsolete in an instant, that Defence Ministries are at a loss whether to upgrade or keep their original fleet at risk of national security. Today our MIG’s are no match for the latest and more sophisticated fighter jets in circulation or the Eurofighter Typhoons.</div>
<div>With a maximum speed of 2500km per hour, it also has a range of 2900km. Although it is not designed to be a stealth fighter, it has excellent radar masking qualities in a large section of its body.</div>
<div>With a payload up to 52000 lbs at take-off, it can carry a large arsenal of weapons, missiles and bombs making it a multi-role combat fighter aircraft. There is no doubt that such a purchase will meet the growing needs of the nation, but then isn’t the price a little too expensive?</div>
<div><strong>Eurofighters vs Bankruptcy by 2019</strong></div>
<div><img src="http://kingmagic.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/page20typhoon.jpg?w=640" alt="" border="0" />If those same billions were allowed to flood the Malaysian economy instead, our stagnant economy will steamroll forward like a jet engine to be on par with many first world countries. Malaysia’s economy is not very stable at the moment, and there is talk that the country may go bankrupt by 2019, so why is there such a need to spend so lavishly?</div>
<div>Already most of our staple food subsidies have been discontinued, while electricity has gone up. The petrol price will definitely go up again. Isn’t it time for the government to implement spending cuts, and reuse these funds to stimulate the economy?</div>
<div>The Eurofighter typhoons are priced at RM3 billion a piece according to<em> Bernama</em>, which is way beyond the market price Germany paid for their Eurofighters. Check the aviation news archives and you will find that on 17 June 2009, Germany ordered 31 aircraft of Tranche 3A model for 2.8 billion euros which works out to be a system cost of €90m per aircraft or around RM350 million each.</div>
<div>How on earth did the price shoot up so astronomically to RM3000 million per aircraft? That’s almost 10 fold per aircraft. Does the price include the 10 year full maintenance package, its high tech accessories, and the sophisticated weapons arsenal?</div>
<div>Can the nation actually afford 30 billion ringgit to purchase 10 aircraft? It would mean 30,000 less ‘would be’ millionaires in this country. Moreover, Malaysia has yet to grasp the full cost of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s purchase of two second-hand Scorpene submarines at RM7.3 billion. It seems the maintenance has not been fully disclosed. For sure, it will be a while before the country can digest this huge cost.</div>
<div>Then there is the purchase of 6 operating patrol vessels costing RM1 billion each, which the navy needs now that it is found that the Scorpenes cannot patrol the shall Straits of Malacca after all.</div>
<div>Malaysia policy-makers must be professional. They must decide whether there is any real foreign threat to the nation before making another rash decision to spend lavishly -  just to join the neverending arms race. And as some cynics have pointed out, to line their own pockets as well.</div>
<p><a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/page/authorProfile?page=authorProfile"><img src="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/resource/swami_S.jpg" alt="" width="96" height="62" border="0" /></a><a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/page/authorProfile?page=authorProfile">SA Aiyar</a> <a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/page/authorProfile?page=authorProfile"><br />
</a><a href="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/page/authorProfile?page=authorProfile"><br />
</a></p>
<div>
<h1>Neo-illiberalism is India’s bane</h1>
</div>
<div>Dear Justices Nijjar and Reddy,</div>
<p>Many of us welcome your decision in the Supreme Court case on black money, castigating the government for its inaction and setting up an independent special investigative team. This approach needs to be institutionalized: i have long argued for an independent Police Commission, analogous to the Election Commission.</p>
<p>However, in a long preamble to your judgment, you attribute black money and the “predatory state” to neo-liberal ideology. Excuse me, but the very opposite is true: the licence-permit raj is what creates a predatory state in which politicians make money out of controls. This would be difficult or impossible in a liberal framework that has impartial rules and no political discretion.</p>
<p>Liberals aim to get rid of controls imposed in the holy name of socialism and then used for kickbacks and patronage networks. Instead, liberals seek a rule-based system and free competition that ends kickbacks and favours.</p>
<p>You refer to neo-liberals promoting a “greed is good” model. May i request you to cite a single great liberal who ever said that? On the contrary, the books of great liberal thinkers from Adam Smith (“ The Theory of Moral Sentiments” ) to Milton Friedman (“ Free to Choose” ), all emphasize morality. Friedman says the foremost argument for free markets is not efficiency but morality—freedom to choose empowers citizens, whether in politics or the market, and the moral imperative of such empowerment matters much more than higher GDP.</p>
<p>“Greed is good” is the quip of a fictional character, Gordon Gecko, in the Hollywood film “Wall Street.” Unable to cope with the reality of Smith or Friedman, the Indian left invokes Hollywood. We trust your future judgments will cite reallife liberal giants.</p>
<p>Neo-liberalism is said to represent the abolition of nearly all regulations, leaving everything to markets. No country has such a regime and never will—governments do not come to power in order to abolish all their powers. So, neo-liberalism is a straw man. Far from being neo-liberal, India remains terribly illiberal. The 2G scandal, the Adarsh housing scam, the Commonwealth Games scam and many others are the consequence of politicians making money out of allocations, permits and contracts.</p>
<p>The Heritage Institute brings out an annual Index of Economic Freedom. This has long shown a strong relationship between economic freedoms on the one hand and income and lack of corruption on the other. The freest societies-—Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand—are also among the cleanest.</p>
<p>In this Index of Economic Freedom, India ranks 124th out of 183 countries. Is this really too liberal? Would we be better off becoming even less liberal and matching Togo (153rd) or Sierra Leone (164th)?</p>
<p>The Heritage Foundation divides all countries into six categories, ranging from free to repressed. India, alas, falls into the category “mostly unfree”. Will we be better off moving to the category “unfree”? Should we be going in the direction of North Korea and Myanmar?</p>
<p>Again, consider the Doing Business reports of the IFC/ World Bank. The 2011 report rates India 134th out of 183 countries in “ease of doing business”. Is it not a cruel joke to call this neo-liberal? India ranks among the most illiberal countries in the world in starting a new business (166th), getting a construction permit (177th) and enforcing contracts (182nd). Is there really a case for tightening controls and coming last in the world?</p>
<p>India has indeed liberalized industrial licences, import licences and foreign exchange. But in other areas, we have half-baked liberalization where permits and allocations are still needed, enabling politicians and their cronies to mint money. Full liberalization ends corruption and black money. For instance, if industrial licensing is abolished, nobody can demand or receive bribes for licences. Foreign exchange convertibility on current account has killed the black market premium on the dollar. The slashing of import duties has virtually ended the once massive smuggling of gold, electronics and synthetic fibres.</p>
<p>But we have moved from the old illiberalism (where everything was controlled) to a new illiberalism, where some sectors are liberalized (helping increase the economic cake), while other sectors are kept illiberal to enable politicians to extract more than ever out of an expanding economic cake. This is not neo-liberalism. It is neo-illiberalism. This is not the Washington Consensus. It is better called the New Delhi Consensus—all parties are fully agreed on continuing to making money out of a smaller but hugely profitable licence-permit raj.</p>
<p>We trust that in your next judgment, you will castigate this New Delhi Consensus as a cesspool of illiberalism that spawns corruption and black money. The problem is not neoliberalism. It’s neo-illiberalism.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div></div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5568/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5568&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/god-is-watching-najib%e2%80%99s-lies-about-when-it-comes-to-the-bitter-and-ultra-partisan-battles-over-the-budget-the-deficit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://blog.sojo.net/wp-content/uploads/1100728-godiswatchingad.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">1100728-godiswatchingad</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://blog.sojo.net/wp-content/uploads/portrait-jim-wallis.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">portrait-jim-wallis</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/eurofighter252btyphoon_0021.jpg?w=350" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://kingmagic.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/page20typhoon.jpg?w=640" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/resource/swami_S.jpg" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Krugman:what’s “pass through”? Against Learned Helplessness</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/krugmanwhat%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpass-through%e2%80%9d-against-learned-helplessness/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/krugmanwhat%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpass-through%e2%80%9d-against-learned-helplessness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:37:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5561</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[   I refer to the prime minister’s statement that independent power producers (IPPs) would not benefit from a power hike, as he’s quoted by The Malaysian Insider — “It is a pass-through tariff so nobody benefits.” Er&#8230; what’s “pass through”? Could someone please explain in plain English, what is this new terminology? For the life of me, it&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/krugmanwhat%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpass-through%e2%80%9d-against-learned-helplessness/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5561&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;"> </span></h3>
<div id="post-body-8757353349979656334">
<div dir="ltr"><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/284155/thumbs/s-PAUL-KRUGMAN-large.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="467" /></p>
<div> I refer to the prime minister’s statement that independent power producers (IPPs) would not benefit from a power hike, as he’s <a href="http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pm-says-ipps-wont-benefit-from-power-hike/" target="_blank">quoted by <em>The Malaysian Insider</em></a><em> </em>— “It is a pass-through tariff so nobody benefits.”</p>
<div><a href="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/altantuya-najibshouldtellallinsteadofbitsandpieces.gif"><img src="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/altantuya-najibshouldtellallinsteadofbitsandpieces.gif?w=640&#038;h=426" alt="" width="640" height="426" border="0" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>Er&#8230; what’s “pass through”? Could someone please explain in plain English, what is this new terminology? For the life of me, it sure seems to have escaped the notice of renowned economic and financial experts; don’t think you’d find it in anything that, say Paul Krugman, writes.</div>
<div>Yeah, and you thought Najib Razak’s acronym laden programmes were too much to stomach…by the time you managed to connect the ETP to the GTP and how it’s intertwined with the EPP which is then managed by the KOPI…</div>
<div>You get the point.</div>
<div>Now, if we could put away this seeming penchant that our PM has for acronym and terminology driven smoke screens, I’d sure like to try to make it plain and simple. Why, just a couple of days earlier, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin took a shot at providing an explanation: Hey folks, them subsidies, aren’t really subsidies. Yes sirree… all that happened was that Petronas sold gas below market price to the IPPs and in that process, ended up foregoing RM19 billion worth of profits.</div>
<div>Wow.</div>
<div>Either we have a minister who is trying to buy some breathing space by confusing us or he is pretty much confused himself.</div>
<div>What happens when a nationalised industry, such as Petronas, decides to forego profits? It means that the RM19 billion, which was intended to be social profits for the benefit of many, ends up instead as dividends accruing to a few shareholders. Whichever way you see it, what remains is that Petronas’s RM19 billion loss became the IPP’s gain.</div>
<div>Folks, if that isn’t subsidy, then I don’t know what is. Now, that’s the real pass through — RM19 billion “passed through” the rakyat.</div>
<div>RM19 billion’s a lot, isn’t it? Now, what would have happened if Petronas had actually realised that sum by selling the gas at market prices? The government’s kitty would have ended up with a couple of more billion ringgits. Think we could have done some good stuff with RM19 billion?</div>
<div>Hmmm.</div>
<div>Well, perhaps it could have provided scholarship funds for all high achievers in school, so that we don’t have to put up with the same, lame excuse of “tak cukup” allocation, year-in, year-out.</div>
<div>Gee whiz, I sure don’t want to start dreaming of more hospitals, schools, better transportation system, or better pay for our civil servants so that maybe, we get to hear less of “macam mana mau settle?”</div>
<div>And here’s the icing on the cake — the government says it has no power to make IPPs reveal the terms of contract.</div>
<div>This, coming from the same government that has no qualms incarcerating individuals without trial… since when did commercial contract rights become more important than human rights?</div>
<div>Mr PM, if you can authorise an on-the-spot RM15 million cheque in Sibu with “I help you, you help me” thrown in, then I am pretty sure you can bring those IPPs boys to the negotiating table. And if that doesn’t work, then I’d like to recommend to you that wonderful government mechanism known as tax. Try it. You might just impress Barack Obama. At least that’s what he tried to impose on CEOs who were given huge bonuses in the aftermath of the sub-prime loans fiasco.</div>
<div>And as for your “nobody benefits”, here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you make public the contracts, and let the rakyat judge if anyone benefits or otherwise? Surely the days of “government knows best are over”… no?</div>
<div>So, in plain layman’s language, that is what I understand as “pass through”. For the past 30 years, we had to endure many losses. According to Barry Wain, as much as US$100 billion had “passed through” the rakyat  as a result of Umno’s failure at governance. I don’t really have to detail it; just read The Malaysian Maverick.</div>
<div>Mr PM, I sense the days are slipping further away from you, for you to make a firm and principled stand on socio-economic and governance matters that plague this country.  It doesn’t help that every time you appear to try and move towards progress, all that is needed are a few barks from Perkasa or Utusan Malaysia and you pull back.</div>
<div>If all our pleadings for reform continue to falter at your doorstep, then I cannot wait for the day when Umno and company are made to pass through Putrajaya after we vote them out.As I see it, policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue: the more they fail to do anything about the problem, the more they convince themselves that there’s nothing they could do. And those of us who know better should be doing all we can to break that vicious circle.</div>
</div>
<div>Like every Indian I am delighted the battle against corruption has been joined. Finally. How far it will go is tough to predict. But the cynical phase is over, for now. Inspired by Anna Hazare&#8217;s campaign, an aggressive media baying for the blood of the corrupt, and a Supreme Court that means business, the people of India are finally ready to believe it&#8217;s possible to fight corruption, and take out corrupt politicians, businessmen, Government servants. This is a definitive first step: Opening Nelson&#8217;s eye. Unless the Government accepts it is corrupt, it can never bring about change.<span style="color:#ff00ff;"><strong>readmore </strong></span><a href="http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/krugmanwhats-pass-through-against.html">http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/krugmanwhats-pass-through-against.html</a></div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5561/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5561&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/krugmanwhat%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpass-through%e2%80%9d-against-learned-helplessness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/284155/thumbs/s-PAUL-KRUGMAN-large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://maztulis.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/altantuya-najibshouldtellallinsteadofbitsandpieces.gif?w=300" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Midas touch or Midas Bust India&#8217;s Economy Grows At Slowest Pace In Over A Year</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias-economy-grows-at-slowest-pace-in-over-a-year/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias-economy-grows-at-slowest-pace-in-over-a-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:52:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5559</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[NEW DELHI (Rajesh Kumar Singh) &#8211; India&#8217;s economy grew at its slowest annual pace in five quarters in January to March, as rising interest rates crimped consumption and investment, which some analysts say could temper the pace of central bank tightening to tackle inflation. Gross domestic product rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier, lower&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias-economy-grows-at-slowest-pace-in-over-a-year/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5559&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">NEW DELHI (Rajesh Kumar Singh) &#8211; India&#8217;s economy grew at its slowest annual pace in five quarters in January to March, as rising interest rates crimped consumption and investment, which some analysts say could temper the pace of central bank tightening to tackle inflation.</span></h3>
<div id="post-body-7167132636394399353">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Gross domestic product rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier, lower than 8.3 percent in the previous quarter and below the median forecast of 8.2 percent in a Reuters poll.</div>
<div>For the full fiscal year, Asia&#8217;s third-largest economy grew 8.5 percent compared with the government&#8217;s 8.6 percent forecast.</div>
<div>&#8220;Growth is slowing down as was anticipated so the Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to resort to any more single-stage 50 basis point rate hikes,&#8221; said Jay Shankar, chief economist and director at Religare Capital Markets in Mumbai.</div>
<div>Shankar said he expects India&#8217;s main policy rate of 7.25 percent to rise by 25 basis points (bps) in June and then another 50 bps by the end of the fiscal year in March 2012.</div>
<div>Investment growth slowed down to just 0.37 percent in January to March from 7.8 percent in the previous quarter as higher interest rates, numerous project delays as environmental clearances took longer than expected and government paralysis as it fought a series of corruption scandals took a toll.</div>
<div>Now that elections in five states have ended, the pace of project implementations is expected to pick up.</div>
<div>India&#8217;s 10-year benchmark bond yield fell 2 basis points to 8.37 percent immediately after the data, which was seen to ease pressure on the central bank to tighten rates aggressively.</div>
<div>The benchmark 5-year swap rate dropped as much as 3 bps and the 1-year swap rate edged down 2 bps. The 30-share BSE index .BSESN briefly pared gains before climbing to be up 1.19 percent on the day.</div>
<div>RATE RISES</div>
<div>Most economists expect the Reserve Bank of India to increase its main policy interest rate by 25 basis points at its next review on June 16, after it raised rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points early this month.</div>
<div>Before Tuesday, analysts had expected a further 75 basis points of increases by the end of December.</div>
<div>&#8220;The market had been expecting another 50-75 basis points increase in key rates but with today&#8217;s GDP print the market seems to be assigning a higher probability for just another 50 bps in the rest of the year,&#8221; said Sandeep Bagla, senior vice president with ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.</div>
<div>India&#8217;s farm sector expanded at 7.5 percent during the quarter from the previous year, while manufacturing grew 5.5 percent, lower than 6.0 percent annual growth a quarter ago.</div>
<div>Agriculture is expected to perform well for the second straight year after the government forecast a normal monsoon.</div>
<div>SPEED BRAKES</div>
<div>Annual consumer spending growth in the quarter slowed to 8 percent from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter as interest rates reined in demand.</div>
<div>Car sales in April rose at their slowest pace in nearly two years with buyers also put off by the rising cost of fuel and vehicles.</div>
<div>New Delhi is likely to revise down its economic growth forecast for the current fiscal year from around 9 percent, a senior government adviser said last week.</div>
<div>&#8220;The outlook certainly is for a growth slowdown,&#8221; said Ramya Suryanarayanan, an economist at DBS Bank in Singapore.</div>
<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s not really a function of GDP as much as it&#8217;s related to the worrying rise in inflation including revisions. That rise in inflation and failure of food prices to moderate suggests it will be tough ahead in terms of interest rate trajectory,&#8221; she said.</div>
<div>The HSBC Markit Purchasing Managers&#8217; Index for April showed soaring fuel and raw material prices were driving up costs and feeding into output prices, an indication that high inflation would persist.</div>
<div>India&#8217;s overnight indexed swap curve stayed inverted on Tuesday, reflecting expectations for tighter liquidity and more policy tightening, along with doubts over the pace of long-term economic growth.</div>
<div>The spread between the five-year and one-year OIS has turned negative for the first time since October 10, 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Data.</div>
<div>&#8220;We expect this inversion to remain at least till July due to tight liquidity concerns and beyond that it will depend on how much liquidity tightness eases,&#8221; said a dealer at a foreign bank.</div>
<div>&#8220;If we use the narrowing spread as a leading indicator of GDP growth, this suggests that GDP growth is likely to slow going forward,&#8221; Standard Chartered said in a note on Tuesday<span style="color:#000000;">.<strong>readmore  </strong></span><a href="http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias.html">http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias.html</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5559/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5559&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/midas-touch-or-midas-bust-indias-economy-grows-at-slowest-pace-in-over-a-year/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Trading Strategy That Really Works 10 Companies With The Best Reputations In America &#8220;Fire Your Hedge Fund, Hire Your Congressman.&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/a-trading-strategy-that-really-works-10-companies-with-the-best-reputations-in-america-fire-your-hedge-fund-hire-your-congressman/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/a-trading-strategy-that-really-works-10-companies-with-the-best-reputations-in-america-fire-your-hedge-fund-hire-your-congressman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:41:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5557</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The headline of a recent article in Barron&#8217;scaught my attention: &#8220;Fire Your Hedge Fund, Hire Your Congressman.&#8221; It reports on a study indicating that members of the House of Representatives outperform the average stock market investor by 6.8 percent a year, which is superior to the performance of the best hedge funds. Members of the Senate&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/a-trading-strategy-that-really-works-10-companies-with-the-best-reputations-in-america-fire-your-hedge-fund-hire-your-congressman/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5557&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3></h3>
<div id="post-body-7832987109817781243">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/282886/thumbs/s-NASDAQ-INSIDER-TRADING-large.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="467" /></div>
<div>The headline of a recent article in <a href="http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904433604576346981994360302.html" target="_hplink">Barron&#8217;s</a>caught my attention: &#8220;Fire Your Hedge Fund, Hire Your Congressman.&#8221;</div>
<div>It reports on a study indicating that members of the House of Representatives outperform the average stock market investor by 6.8 percent a year, which is superior to the performance of the best hedge funds. Members of the Senate were even better traders. Their outperformance was an amazing 10.7 percent a year. The study looked at the period from 1985-2001.</div>
<div>How did they do it? The authors concluded: &#8220;We find strong evidence that Members of the House have some type of non-public information which they use for personal gain.&#8221;</div>
<div>Congress is not alone in figuring out that insider trading is profitable. Recent news reports include:</div>
<div></div>
<ul>
<ul>
<li>The conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of Galleon Group, for insider trading;</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://sec.gov/news/press/2011/2011-117.htm" target="_hplink">Allegations by the SEC</a> that Donald L. Johnson, a former managing director of The NASDAQ Stock Market, engaged in insider trading on confidential information that he allegedly stole while working in a market intelligence unit that communicates with companies in advance of market-moving public announcements.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-05-28/barai-capital-founder-admits-fraud-in-insider-trading-crackdown.html" target="_hplink">guilty plea</a> to insider trading by Barai Capital Management LP founder Samir Barai. In a related case, Sonny Nguyen, a former senior financial analyst for Nvidia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.</li>
</ul>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<ul>
<li>Senator Charles E. Grassley is examining 20 stock trades by mega hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors. The trades were made around the time of market moving events, like merger announcements.</li>
</ul>
<div></div>
<div>These insiders understand something your broker doesn&#8217;t. A combination of the efficient markets theory (EMT) and the wisdom of crowds make stock picking a zero sum game.</div>
<div>EMT holds that attempts to &#8220;beat the markets&#8221; are futile because share prices incorporate all relevant information. Therefore, the current price of every stock is a fair price. There is no mispricing.</div>
<div>The &#8220;wisdom of crowds&#8221; was coined in a book of that name by James Surowiecki. The premise is that the judgment of a diverse crowd is more accurate than one made by any single member of the group. As applied to stocks, it would mean that the pricing set by millions of stock traders looking at all publicly available information about a stock is better than your judgment or the judgment of you and your broker.</div>
<div>Industry insiders accept EMT and the wisdom of crowds, but they are a persevering group, devoid of morality or ethics, in their quest for higher returns, more assets and more fees. They have gamed the system by creating inefficiencies in an otherwise efficient market. Trading on inside information achieves this goal.</div>
<div>Unlike most investors, these industry pros don&#8217;t fight the overwhelming data that has persuaded them they can&#8217;t beat the markets. You and your broker and &#8220;market beating&#8221; advisers can learn a lot from their acumen. Don&#8217;t fight market forces. Join them and capture market returns with a globally diversified portfolio of low management fee index funds in an asset allocation suitable for you.</div>
<div>Creating market inefficiencies is possible, but those convicted of insider trading (other than members of Congress!) will also be trading their Brioni suits for prison stripes. Is it worth it?</div>
<div><em>The views set forth in this blog are the opinions of the author alone and may not represent the views of any firm or entity with whom he is affiliated. The data, information, and content on this blog are for information, education, and non-commercial purposes only. Returns from index funds do not represent the performance of any investment advisory firm. The information on this blog does not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice and is limited to the dissemination of opinions on investing. No reader should construe these opinions as an offer of advisory services. Readers who require investment advice should retain the services of a competent investment professional. The information on this blog is not an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities or class of securities mentioned herein. Furthermore, the information on this blog should not be construed as an offer of advisory services. Please note that the author does not recommend specific securities nor is he responsible for comments made by persons posting on this blog.</em></div>
<div><em><br />
</em></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282752_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div>It&#8217;s difficult for a corporation in today&#8217;s world to survive under the microscope.</div>
<div>But in fact, while <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/the-11-most-hated-american-companies_n_856471.html#s272707&amp;title=11_Comcast" target="_hplink">some don&#8217;t</a>, a recent survey released by market research firm <a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/" target="_hplink">Harris Interactive</a> finds companies generally are perceived more favorably than one year ago. When roughly 30,000 Americans were asked to rate the 60 most visible companies for the<a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/HI-News-Release-RQ-2011-05-02.pdf" target="_hplink">12th Annual Harris Interactive U.S. Reputation Quotient Survey</a>, in fact, 16 companies scored an &#8220;excellent&#8221; rating, compared to only six one year prior.</div>
<div>Based on six factors including financial performance, products and services, workplace environment, vision and leadership, social responsibility, and emotional appeal, those 16 companies scored an 80 or above on what Harris calls its Reputation Quotient (RQ) score.</div>
<div>With 75 percent of respondents positively viewing the tech sector, those companies were the survey&#8217;s runaway hit. That, says Harris Interactive Senior VP Robert Fronk, can possibly be attributed to the enjoyable nature of their services. &#8220;These top scoring companies&#8230; get credit for simplifying, delighting, or enriching people&#8217;s lives,&#8221; Fronk <a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/HI-News-Release-RQ-2011-05-02.pdf" target="_hplink">said</a>in an accompanying release.</div>
<div>But some tech companies, like Google, also received high marks in areas not directly tied to tech, such as workplace environment and social responsibility. The strong reputations of General Mill and Johnson &amp; Johnson, on the other hand, closely relied on the emotional appeal accompanying their long histories as American staples.</div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282762_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282761_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282760_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282759_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div></div>
<h3>4. Berkshire Hathaway</h3>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282758_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282757_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282756_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282755_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
<div><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282754_large.jpg" alt="" /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5557/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5557&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/a-trading-strategy-that-really-works-10-companies-with-the-best-reputations-in-america-fire-your-hedge-fund-hire-your-congressman/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/282886/thumbs/s-NASDAQ-INSIDER-TRADING-large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282752_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282762_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282761_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282760_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282759_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282758_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282757_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282756_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282755_large.jpg" medium="image" />

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26273/slide_26273_282754_large.jpg" medium="image" />
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Goldman Sachs Lost Nearly All Of Libyan Dictator&#8217;s Investme Offered Libyan Fund Chance To Become Huge Shareholder</title>
		<link>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan-dictators-investme-offered-libyan-fund-chance-to-become-huge-shareholder/</link>
		<comments>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan-dictators-investme-offered-libyan-fund-chance-to-become-huge-shareholder/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:26:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>taxi2driver</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://maztulis.wordpress.com/?p=5555</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs invested more than $1.3 billion from Libya&#8217;s sovereign-wealth fund in currency bets and other trades in 2008 and the investment lost more than 98 percent of its value, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing internal Goldman documents. When the fund, controlled by Col. Muammar Gaddafi, made huge losses Goldman offered Libya the chance&#160;&#8230; <a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan-dictators-investme-offered-libyan-fund-chance-to-become-huge-shareholder/">Read&#160;more</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5555&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/284088/thumbs/s-GOLDMAN-GADDAFI-large.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="467" /></p>
<div id="post-body-3867333158735084183">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Goldman Sachs invested more than $1.3 billion from Libya&#8217;s sovereign-wealth fund in currency bets and other trades in 2008 and the investment lost more than 98 percent of its value, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing internal Goldman documents.</div>
<div>When the fund, controlled by Col. Muammar Gaddafi, made huge losses Goldman offered Libya the chance to become one of its biggest shareholders, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.</div>
<div>Goldman Sachs was not available for comment, outside of normal U.S. business hours.</div>
<div>Among the different proposals put forward by Goldman Sachs to recoup the losses was one in which Libya would get $5 billion in preferred Goldman shares in return for investing $3.7 billion into the securities firm, the paper added.</div>
<div>The documents also show that company Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, its finance chief David Viniar and top executive Michael Sherwood were involved in discussions in this regard, the Journal reported.</div>
<div>The Libyan fund had apparently paid $1.3 billion for options on a basket of currencies and on six stocks &#8211; Citigroup Inc (C.N), Italian bank UniCredit SpA (CRDI.MI), Spanish bank Banco Santander, German insurance giant Allianz (ALVG.DE), French energy company Électricité de France (EDF.PA) and Italian energy company Eni SpA (ENI.MI), the paper said.</div>
<div></div>
<div>
<div></div>
<span style="text-align:center; display: block;"><a href="http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan-dictators-investme-offered-libyan-fund-chance-to-become-huge-shareholder/"><img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/AvIPBViZBB0/2.jpg" alt="" /></a></span>
<div> VAN SUSTEREN: Goldman Sachs got bailed out, right?</div>
<div><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>readmore </strong></span><a href="http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan.html">http://thebusinesstribune.blogspot.com/2011/05/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan.html</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/maztulis.wordpress.com/5555/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=maztulis.wordpress.com&amp;blog=5627118&amp;post=5555&amp;subd=maztulis&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://maztulis.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/goldman-sachs-lost-nearly-all-of-libyan-dictators-investme-offered-libyan-fund-chance-to-become-huge-shareholder/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/ef0a249a042d57015064121014c7180f?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jihad786</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/284088/thumbs/s-GOLDMAN-GADDAFI-large.jpg" medium="image" />
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
