"Mastering the pickup game" — The title striked my mind to read further.

The Toyota factory in this industrial suburb of Bangkok churns out one pickup truck a minute. But that’s NOT ENOUGH to meet demand from customers as far away as Australia, the Middle East and South America.

Because of the size of its domestic market, China’s overall production is considerably higher, and the country continues to attract foreign investment in its carmaking business. But Thailand’s more freewheeling approach may explain why Ford, General Motors, Honda Motor, Isuzu Motor, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor and Toyota continue to invest billions of dollars here despite the much smaller domestic market.

"Our policy is very clear," said Vallop Tiasiri, the president of Thailand Automotive Institute, a research organization funded by the government. "We don’t force them to do anything," he said of foreign carmakers.

"We do not have bargaining power like China," Vallop said. "So we let them enjoy having the lowest costs possible."

While China owns the size advantage and Thailand offers more freewheeling approach, we in Malaysia placed high price on the  national pride.

Sorry lah Malaysia.

There is no better opportunity than this time around for MIC delegated to show how much their "love" towards MIC president S Samy Vellu.

It’s also worthy to note that, even though Samy Vellu threatened to sue both Malaysia Nanban and Makkai Osai, not only they didn’t back-off, but ready to tell the truth.

"Our JB reporter has confirmed that the MIC president said this (the disputed remarks) in his opening speech (at the convention) and we have it on tape," said Makkal Osai general manager SM Periasamy. Malaysia Nanban chief editor M Rajan said the daily also had a recording of the speech.

"Our reporter was there (at the convention). We reported what he (Samy Vellu) said. We have no intentions of creating any friction between him and Mahathir.

"As far as we are concerned, we did nothing wrong. We are ready to face legal action," he added.

My wish to Samy Vellu is, sue them. That’s when you sue, we Malaysians get to know who is the big liar!

Oh ya, a gentle reminder, Samy Vellu can’t even pick up phone calls?

Let me tell you the exact definition of talk c**k.

Via Malaysiakini:

MIC president S Samy Vellu has criticised former premier Mahathir Mohamad for not giving anything to the Indian Malaysian community under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP).

According to a front-page report in Tamil daily Makkal Osai today, Samy Vellu said Mahathir had promised ‘this and that but in the end told the community nehi (’no’ in Hindi)’.

However, the Works Minister said he was confident that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would keep his word and deliver the promises made to the community under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Samy Vellu - who was always considered a close ally of Mahathir during his 22-year rule - said this in his speech at an MIC gathering in Johor yesterday.

Yeah right, as if he has contributed a lot to Indian communities?

You know, he can’t even pick up phone call.

See my middle finger?

Yesterday, the status was "coming soon".

Today, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik said Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) will be allowed to raise electricity rates "very soon", noting that the last tariff rise was in May 1997, nearly 9 years ago.

Previously, TNB has warned a tariff increase is vital to ensure its financial future.

In March, the government rejected TNB’s request for an increase of 10% as it had just raised petrol pump prices. Tenaga has been lobbying for higher tariffs for the past ten years to help offset rising fuel prices, but the government is reluctant to raise rates when inflation is running at a seven-year high.

Under TNB’s revised proposal to the Government, users will be charged the new rates only if their monthly bills exceed RM33, which means that 45 per cent of TNB’s 6.2 million domestic, mostly low-to-middle’s income, users will be unaffected. The new proposal is a marked improvement over TNB’s previous one, in which the cut-off point was RM22.

Analysts have predicted an increase of 5-10 per cents by TNB, adding it may occur on staggered basis, backing a rise in the power producer’s tariff given increased fuel costs and higher capacity payment.

Some are ready to embrace the hike, while some are waiting for a chance to shoot under the hip. Whichever it is, I believe the raise is quite reasonable, given that the welfare of needy groups are being considered and Tenaga has to pay market price for coal, together with additional RM1bil next year to Independent Power Distributors (IPPs).

It’s time to save electricity usage or else, be ready to fork out more. Fair enough.

However for now, do remember to pay up your electricity bill.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Special wish to blogging mothers that I know of - Lilian, Jomel and De Book Worm.

Via The Star:

BALI: Malaysia made a strong statement against corruption at an international summit here, saying that Muslim nations will not be able to achieve their full economic potential if they do not address the problem. 

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said fighting corruption was one of the most fundamental issues pertaining to good governance. 

"Corruption must be eradicated in the management of our respective economies as it only benefits a few at the expense of many. Corruption disrupts the entire governmental process, undermines morality and erodes ethical behaviour," he said at the fifth Developing Eight (D8) Summit yesterday,

The Prime Minister said as contribution to the campaign against corruption, Malaysia would be holding a forum on anti-corruption and enhancing integrity initiatives exclusively for the Organisation of Islamic Conference countries in August. 

“Invitations have been sent out and I look forward to active participation from D8 members,” he added.

Malaysia, being the taikor among Muslim nations, looks set to hold an anti-corruption forum.

However, the question is, are we qualified to do so anytime soon?

Tepuk dada, tanya selera.

Today, 13 May 2006, marks the anniversary of the May 13 incident.

Thirty-seven years may have passed since the infamous riots, but the ghost of this bloody episode in Malaysian history remain alive, forever entrenched in national psyche.

Kuala Lumpur were turned into a terrified shells of themselves, how over a hundred people lost their lives and how homes and vehicles were set on fire and left smoking on the streets. Perhaps no one should.

However, the historial day has created repercussions that is still felt today, and it taught us a lesson, one that we have been using as some sort of benchmark in our national consultative processes in all aspects of national life.

Learn from the history, not to take peace for granted and this new sense of confidence that Malaysians feel and which outsiders now regard us is not only about us, it’s about one nation.

Google lifted the veil this week on one of its best-kept secret: Which nations search for what?

Who looks up "corruption" most avidly? Who seeks out "terrorist" most faithfully? Who types in "drugs" or "sex" most frequently?

No country’s secrets are spared.

The site introduced Thursday, Google Trends, measures how often particular phrases are searched for from computers in individual countries and cities. It short-lists the places with the highest absolute number of searches for, say, "sex". Then it picks the top 10 or so based on which places look up "sex" much more than they do other things, for instance, "love".

The Google Trends site is likely to generated a mix of consternation, embarassment and laughter around the world. While Google stresses its efforts to protect individual’s privacy, the new site does nothing to protest the collective privacy of nations and this sort of feature reminds us that the internet is global, yet not one undifferentiated mass.

Searches for "terrorist" surprisingly, come overwhemingly from Singapore! Is the Government or its people that are fascinated by the terrorist word or …. ?

As for Malaysia, our kingdom ranks No. 5 in searches for "corruption", a rung above Indonesia and two rungs above Singapore.

This should be useful to search engine optimisers, and people in advertising and marketing, who’ll be able to compare brands over time. For the rest of us, it’s just amusing to compare, basically almost everything.

But the results may not be accurate. Google Trends is only based on a subset of Google searches, choice of term can make a lot of difference, and as with normal Google searches, a lot of the results are probably not genuine.

But a result like this one might say something interesting for you? LOL!

Via NST:

PUTRAJAYA: Trouble is mounting for besieged Jasin MP Mohd Said Yusof.

The Anti-Corruption Agency is investigating whether he tried to interfere with the work of the Malacca Customs over a seized timber consignment.

To make matters worse, it has also been discovered that Mohd Said is a director of Purnama Mutiara, a company once hauled up by Malacca Customs for attempting to smuggle some 7,000 pirated VCDs, 2,000 of them pornographic, to Indonesia.

Customs sources say this happened in 1999, when officers raided the company’s boat docked at Kuala Linggi.

Oppss, not enough with wood, pornographic business too?

Now, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) has begun to investigate on the "close one eye" allegation, Melacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam wanted him to explain and even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi requested him to appear before a special meeting.

So Jasin, you prefer hard or soft now? Just like the Malay proverb says: Mulut celupar, badan binasa!

As UMNO celebrates its 60th anniversary today, a two-hour DVD depicting former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad flaying the current crop of leaders for "lacking courage" and said members were afraid of putting their heads on the chopping block and thus opted for silence when things went wrong.

"If you want things to be right, you have to take the risk. But what I see now is a desire to avoid risks at all cost even if the country goes to the dogs." […]

My fear, it doesn’t really matter, I’ll be on my way very soon, so my fear is that if you’re not prepared to take some risks to criticise what is wrong, if you are only keen on saying ‘yes’ to everything, that the party will rot. That is my fear.

On cancellation of crooked bridge, Mahathir condemned the Government for showing over-respect towards Singapore, chiding the act of "playing golf" and "pat each other’s back" to make them happy.

The Second Bridge - as you know, the Second Bridge has been built. That is the Second Crossing, but I think you mean the replacement for the Causeway. Well, because we want Singapore to be happy, we have to wait until they agree. Of course, I feel that we need not wait.

Actually, when I became prime minister in 1981, I went to Singapore to make friends with Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I strained very hard. I bent over backwards until it became almost like a bow. But somehow or rather, I could not get Mr Lee to agree on anything but he would like us to give more things to him and as a result, of course, when I stepped down, the problem is still there after 22 years.

I believe that the present government thinks that they should try again to be friendly with Singapore, to play golf - I don’t play golf, which is very bad - and to pat each other’s back. Unfortunately, after two years, after putting in the piles, this bridge is not going to be built just as yet. At the same, the Customs, Immigration (and Quarantine) Complex will be completed soon, but that will be a white elephant because there is no road leading to this new complex. So the Second Bridge will not be built anytime soon.

If you were to wait for Singapore to agree, they will not agree. I was told by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, we will have to wait until Goh Chok Tong (to step down), because he has this nostalgia about the Causeway. Until he is not around, we cannot build the bridge.

But as you know, Goh Chok Tong stepped down as prime minister but he was elevated to senior minister and, apparently, more senior than the prime minister himself, because on the (bridge) issue, only he is allowed to negotiate and since his nostalgia is still there, we will have to wait until either he steps down as senior minister - which is not likely - or he fades away from this earth, then perhaps we can build the bridge. But since we want to be friendly with Singapore then we should be patient enough to wait for Singapore, to wait for Mr Goh Chok Tong.

As what Mahathir said, he may be on his way very soon, but being in his ownself, grab-and-bite-it-tight is something where someone up there needs to pay extra attention to.

At least senile still isn’t the right word to describe him, not for now, at least.