Apparently, this country’s leadership reputation is so tarnished that we need a Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to give a national promise to the Singapore that we’re not going to flip-flop in the Government’s Iskandar Development Region (IDR) policies.

Mr Najib said he had assured investors there will be no flip-flop in the government’s IDR policies.

Many investors have still not forgotten the lingering hostility over the unexpected closure of Clob International in 1998 and the hefty exit levy imposed on Singapore investors who bought properties in Johor.

"I gave them the assurance that a project like the IDR has the support of not just the Prime Minister but also the entire government. Policies will be consistent, we will not flip-flop, because we realise we’re living in a different world — a world that’s getting more and more competitive," said Mr Najib.

However, having said that, Singapore being Singapore itself is smart enough to give a hefty discount on what’s being promised. With their very low fault tolerance level, they know well enough from where to pick up old lesson.

I mean, they are a bunch of brilliant scholars who knows how to play safe with this country’s leadership after a few rounds of golf, a few hours of walking down the lane and etc. recently. Then, the syok sendiri factor kicked in, hence the bridge idea was being mooted again, which of course originated from our side.

History has proven over the time that we’re capable of screwing up things at the very last minute. Singapore knows there is a high possibility that similar hiccup might take place in the future, therefore, with this latest assurance from Najib, it’s interesting to check what’s the response from Singapore’s side when IDR kicks in.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Najib as saying that Malaysia and Singapore can decide "at any point of time in the future" on the type of linkages that needed to facilitate easier movement of people.

… let’s see who’s the biggest fool in Malaysia? Who’s poking fun at us?

What about the title? Soccer politics trumps national politics in Malaysia.

[…] But the prime minister was no match last week for one of soccer’s most powerful politicians. In a showdown with the president of the Asian Football Confederation — Mohamed Bin Hammam — the prime minister lost. […]

Malaysia tourism minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor argued that hosting Man United would increase the game’s profile in an area with little grass-roots soccer.

"We are trying to get more people interested in football," he said.

But whose football? […]

I feel so miserable that even before the celebration of 50 years of nationhood, the whole nation is being caught in the wrong limelight.

And that comes with a huge price of being an international laughing stock, thanks to the rational egoism which we shouldn’t have in the first place.

From 2003 to 2012, that’s Penang Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon for you, Penangites.

As Malaysia is moving towards 50 years of nationhood, I can safely conclude that Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin is a minister who is lacking of ministerial material (some say, void of quality at all!) proven through statements he made for the past few months.

Being an Information Minister, he is clueless on what’s blogging all about. His statements with regarding to Malaysia blogging community is inconsistent too by trying his luck through various measures, either through intimidation or even suggestion to classify bloggers into professional and non-professional bloggers.

Now, he is on a new headline, asking Malaysians especially students studying oversea to foster unity and show mutual respect to each other but not questioning what has become a social contract in this country.

Being the chosen ones, he said the students must be mindful of each others’ sensitivities and not raise questions on matters that have been ingeniously agreed to by the country’s forefathers nearly 50 years ago.

"Matters like how the Chinese and Indians can become Malaysian citizens, why only the Malays can become rulers, why Islam became the official religion and why Bahasa Malaysia is the national language should not be questioned anymore,"

Mutual respect is one thing, however it’s not right at all to conclude that questioning equals not showing respect. Critical thinkers are what this country need and we should encourage intellectual discourse among students instead of accepting what’s being taught wholeheartedly.

Students too, as part of this country, have the right to understand what’s social contract is all about and why its formulation at first place. How can the Information Minister denies students the right to information?

Irrespective to UMNO Deputy Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s rejection to Tony Pua’s invitation to a sensible debate, the forum on "Civil Service Excellence: Quality vs Quantity" will proceed as planned.

According to Tony, he will reserve a seat on stage for the SIL providing him with the opportunity to change his mind at any point of time.

CIVIL SERVICE EXCELLENCE: QUALITY VS QUANTITY

"The Government must hence take the painful but very important step of trimming the civil service sector into a leaner and more efficient "machine". The increase in pay will be a waste of public funds, if the move is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in civil service productivity." Tony Pua

"Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO mendesak Pua dan DAP mengambil langkah memperbetulkan kata-kata mereka yang langsung tidak bertimbang rasa dan begitu menghina sekali."

"Tony Pua’s negative comments about the civil service can cause considerable damage to the morale and image of the public sector," Khairy Jamaluddin .

Panel of Distinguished Speakers

• Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• Khalid Ibrahim, PKR Secretary General
• A. H. Ponniah, former Secretary of Public Service International (Asia-Pacific Region)
• Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to Anwar Ibrahim
• Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
•  Open invitation to UMNO Deputy Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin

Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 30th May 2007 (Wednesday)
Time: 8.00 pm

Since the pay rise plan is now materialize, we as taxpayers have the right to demand quality service from civil servants too.

In the end of the day, even if the SIL doesn’t show up, the forum would still be interesting.

Be it All Blogs (AB) or People’s Alliance of Blogs (PABS), blogger Unspun who is currently based in Jakarta has another refreshing thought.

[…] trying to establish an organization framework to bloggers is counterproductive. In some ways it is no better than the government trying to register and regulate bloggers. […]

Bloggers are at their best when they perform as individuals. Those that take risks and remain reasonable gain street creds and readers. As individuals, one of thousands or millions blogging, they are also mighty difficult to bring under control. Think of a shark trying to catch a meal from a shoal of fish. […]

Putting a structure to blogging also has one disadvantage in Malaysia: the arousing of jealousy (best captured by the Indonesian term cemburu sosial). For some reason or another Unspun has the impression that Malaysians are better at tearing down things than building them, and the main reason for that is that often they cannot stand the personality of the person ahead of them.

Food for thought.

[UPDATED VERSION] Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s advisor Anwar Ibrahim withdrew from the contest in the wake of dissolution threat from Registrar of Societies (ROS).

Another contender for the post Abdul Rahman Othman pulled out after Anwar’s speech, which means incumbent Wan Azizah Wan Ismail retains the top post.

[ORIGINAL VERSION] It’s a huge blow to PKR when Anwar’s close friend S Nallakaruppan announced his decision to quit a day before the PKR 2007 congress. Excerpt from Malaysiakini:

"He (Anwar) said he’s not interfering (in party matters). But he called and asked me to withdraw from the (vice-presidency) race. That is called interference." […]

"If someone falls, he must get up. He’s doomed if he doesn’t."

"Now when I realise he is not doing anything (for Indians), I have decided to leave the party."

It was also reported that Anwar will continue to seek his presidential bid today even though the ROS rejected his application to contest as he is barred from active politics until April 2008. We shall see if Anwar wins the election, what action would be taken against Anwar or PKR by ROS?

Meanwhile, the questions remain: What’s up, Doc?

When the son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin was putting effort in salvaging his favorite Manchester United trip to Malaysia, Umno Rembau division exco member Azman Mat Shah urged the SIL to step down as its division chief - for failing to stand up for his division’s choice of delegates to the party’s coming AGM.

"He may be the prime minister’s son-in-law and the deputy chief of the movement, but that doesn’t mean he can do this. Umno Youth is not for the son or son-in-law of anyone to treat the movement as he sees fit," he added. […]

"If this causes my political death, so be it. But it has to be said that we are disappointed in the way he has cast us aside.

"There are many more issues we have with Khairy but we will raise these later when the time is right," he added.

So, just because your father-in-law is the PM, you can set your own rules? Just because you’re the Umno deputy youth chief, you can treat the movement as you see fit? Just because your FIL is the PM, you can call the no-go as an insult to the Government? Just because you’re the SIL of the PM, you expect a non-Malaysian to even listen to your request? Just because Malaysia housed the Asian Football Federation (AFC), AFC must compromise and give in?

But really, who the f88k you think you’re that the world must take order from you?

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini reported that Manchester United visit to Malaysia was discussed twice during two consecutive cabinet meeting, but not the postponement of the Building Bridges International Islam-Christianity Inter-Faith Conference.

My worry turns reality and frankly speaking, this is the last thing that I’d want to see it going in Malaysia’s blogosphere.

Barely 2 months after the establishment of All Blogs (AB) which is chaired by Ahirudin Attan a.k.a Rocky with Screenshots’s Jeff Ooi as the vice-president, there is a new blog association in town founded by Susan Loone and KTemoc - People’s Alliance of Blogs (PABS).

However, with the objectives of PABS remain unknown, Jun-E says competition is good, with more choices of representation. However before we dwell further, my question is, do we really need such a split of choices at first place, especially when we’re under such tight scrutiny by Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin and co.?

I’m a realistic person and I know the fact that nasi sudah menjadi bubur. My wish is that bloggers who support either AB or PABS must remain cool about this, let’s not shooting down each other idea as we’ve greater feat to achieve, especially when comes to promote the freedom of expression through the existence of blogs.

Harmonius co-existence would be great. However even if it’s not possible too, let’s not make a big fool out of ourselves through unnecessary blog war (I hope not!) and by that time, we’d have failed ourselves tremendously and guess who’s going to have the last laugh?

You guess is as good as mine and it’s a lose-lose situation we must avoid at all cost.

"What’s up, Doc?" is one of the funniest movie released in 1972.

Unfortunately, in this case, it’s not funny at all, especially when this country has gone awry and what we eagerly need the most is a credible opposition party, let alone speaking of a reliable Barisan Alternative (BA).

Now, various levels of accusation are being thrown at Anwar Ibrahim, who is the advisor of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Starting from accusation of interference in the Youth election, nominees boycotting the party election, open challenge from a division chief questioning the eligibility of Anwar contesting for the post of party president until the biggest bombshell from S Nallakaruppan who decided to quit PKR, apparently, PKR is anything but stable and united.

They are unhappy and stand to voice out on a single and common platform albeit on different circumstances, in which they accused Anwar of meddling in the upcoming party polls.

Apart from that, it’s also interesting to note these grouses appear to be collective and happened to take place less than a week before this coming Saturday party election.

This blogger can’t help but to ask whether it’s a BN’s directed conspiracy theory or rather, Anwar Ibrahim has himself to blame for digging deep enough to come out with his version of dream team?