Talk about economic turmoil and aviation business in Malaysia is sprouting.

Now the latest, AirAsia X is going to fly to London at RM499 one-way fare for travel between March 11 and October 4, with 5 flights a week.

Online bookings begin 8pm tonight.

Let’s see how MAS is going to counter the campaign and as I said in my earlier post, it’s always good to have stiff competition in the market place. While the mass is the market force to decide who is going to make the cut as far as profitability is concern, I can’t help but to feel rejoice with the end users as the ultimate beneficiaries.

This should be the way forward in every single business entity in Malaysia. Free competition and only the best stays.

Pardon my England please, but I just can’t take it anymore.

While the world is in the midst of moving forward to a new a chapter amidst the global economic turmoil, Malaysia continues to live in our own fantasy.

Politicians continue to be in state of denial, dishing out perception that the economy is still robust, even though the crude oil price once dropped to below USD$50 per barrel a few days ago.

Mind you, about 30 to 40 percent of our GDP is fueled by the commodity items and the drop of petrol price is going to affect our domestic economic stability. No?

Then a minister came out and proudly confessed that the Government has stopped subsidizing the petrol, with current retail price is above the market rate and it’s necessary for the Government to earn some revenue. The logic given is due to the fact that the Government has been giving out subsidy for such a long time and it’s time to reap the benefit out of the average joe like you and me.

And god knows we’re having a bad time here, right here in Malaysia when inflation is high and things are expensive.

Not enough of that, EPF contribution from the employees were cut from the original 11% to 8%. The logic, extra money is needed to spur the economy.

Smart.

But, that’s not about it.

Just when I thought economic crisis is imminent and when the focus should be placed more on that, a council decided that yoga as haram even though the practice of yoga in Malaysia unlike that in India is catered to the local religious sensitivities and cultural traditions.

Now, tell me what’s next.

Starting from last night, this country is officially on auto-pilot mode.

The PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for official visit while the DPM Najib Tun Razak is attending the 16th Apec Economic Leaders meeting in Lima, Peru.

The Star reported that Najib said that while it was rather unusual for him and the Prime Minister to be overseas for a few days simultaneously, it proved that the country was stable.

“I think it will be all right. It is the mark of a stable nation,” he told reporters.

I don’t share his sentiment and I strongly believe that as a chieftain of a country, I’m afraid the notion of a stable nation is a lil far fetched when the economic is in shambles. Simply dumbfounded by the way how politicians react with their loose tongues sometimes.

This morning, at a joint press conference by Plus and the Works Department, it was announced that passenger car owners will now enjoy a 10 percent discount for traveling between midnight and 7am on the North-South Expressway (Plus) and North-South Expressway Central Link (Elite).

The new system will take effect from Jan 1, 2009 and end in Dec 31, 2010, as reported in Malaysiakini.

Accordingly, the incentive is provided as a step to encourage motorists to travel during the off-peak period.

Now, to whoever who even think of such an idea, let me tell you that it’s really a stupid idea, that also provided that I’m trying to be as polite as possible.

Does that mean the Government is actually encouraging car owners to drive in the middle of the night and indirectly increases the possible occurrence of traffic accidents on the expressways?

In the newly announced MCA setup by the party president Ong Tee Keat, it’s apparent the president’s team members are appointed to various key portfolios.

In another word, as a measure to curb the uprising of the newly elected deputy president Chua Soi Lek and former party secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan, Tee Keat took the drastical move which surprised many, especially the grassroot leaders who at least hoping to see Chua being given the chance to head his own state Johor.

I remember a few weeks ago, moment after the announcement of the MCA election result, when everyone was still overwhelmed by Chua’s shocking triump, both the president and deputy president pledged to work together to move the party another step forward.

The party members, on the other hand, held their eyebrows and quite skeptical with the duo, prefer to take a wait-and-see approach as both exchanged barb over their personal track records in the run-up to the party election, with Tee Keat raising suspicion into Chua’s morality concern in view of his openly confessed sex scandal.

Now, less than a month after making a successful comeback to active politics, Chua has openly shown his disgruntlement towards Tee Keat following the recent new party line-up, a clear indication he is being sidelined by the party leadership.

In an interview by Malaysiakini, he revealed by acknowledging that there was "no spark" with the party president after the first and the only meet up between them and sarcastically commenting that he won’t beg Tee Keat for support.

While Chua admitted he is now a changed man, unlike a few months ago, MCA members are definitely hoping he is turning for good, although it looks rather impossible at this stage when he is being pushed to the corner. For the time being, he chooses to keep the cards to his chest if he is not going to be appointed into the Cabinet and many pundits believe he might team up with Ka Chuan to form a comeback.

Regardless of the outcome, the more interesting question to ask is if internal implosion within the party is too obvious with the non-cooperation mode between the party top 2, what’s the future for the Chinese based party is going to hold? Is this the truly rejuvenated MCA to represent the Chinese ethnic in Malaysia, getting ready to put up a strong voice in the Cabinet as claim or the new MCA with the same old ultra-conservative, non-offensive and adhering approach? Or this might be the MCA slowly disintegrate into bits and pieces?

I’m glad Malaysians nowadays are smart enough to exercise the wisdom in choosing what the they think best for the nation, thanks god.

Be it Idris Jala or Tony Fernandes, let me tell you what, I just love free competition.

2 days ago, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) announced a global online sale starting with 3 days of booking period, starting from 10 till 12 Nov.

Tomorrow, AirAsia and AirAsia X are is going to remove all fuel surcharges, from midnight today offering 500,000 free seats.

Tell me about it and I just can’t stop loving the duo for making Malaysia such a better place to live in amid the economic downturn.

Former de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim was issued a show cause letter by Umno, asking him to explain his open letter on the Internal Security Act to the prime minister.

He said the letter also required him to explain his participation in an ISA event organised by the Pakatan Rakyat in Parliament and that his lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar will respond to the matter soon.

It was only last week when Zaid referred to the social contract as "racialist and a creation of Umno and this has infuriated some Umno warlords who had since clamouring for action to be taken against him due to his "outspokenness" on various hot topics.

Once again, the public will be made known of the same old Umno which has the least intention to undertake any reform ever since the March 8 General Election.

I say, if criticism from within is not accepted, let’s criticize when you’re out of the party, hence, when I read about the press conference by Zaid, it’s obvious Umno is losing the plot and on the other hand, Zaid capitalizes on the situation well.

I’d think the show cause letter is a good credential to build up his march towards the PR coalition by expediting his progress into joining Keadilan led by the Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

[UPDATED VERSION] I was informed Tony was released this morning at about 8am and he is going to hold a press conference at Parliament later at 11am.

Please feel free to drop by if you happen to be around the area.

[ORIGINAL VERSION] The Star SMS alert at 11:11pm.

Cops detain DAP members Tony Pua and Lau Weng San, and a news videographer at Bersih rally in PJ, crowd dispersing.

More later!

Recently, the Penang Government announced a free state-wide WiFi initiatives under its Wireless@Penang project.

While most of the Penangites welcome the initiative, however there is a minority group who goes against the idea, citing health hazard as the main concern.

Various parties, be it Multimedia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Malaysian Nuclear Agency Radiation Safety and Health Division as well as academicians came out in defense of the project, pacifying the worrying crowd of the insignificant risk the wireless signal transmission is going to cause, putting the WiFi/Wimax radiation risk as less susceptible to the human body compared with radio, television and cellular signals.

On top of that, international organisation like the reputable World Health Organization (WHO), the amount of radiation is less than one-fifth that the people’s bodies receive from FM radio and televisions that surround them day and night. No country in the world bans the service as there isn’t any conclusive evidence which links WiFi or Wimax service to health concern.

So, what’s the big hoo-haa now? Apparently, there is growing concern among the parents when it’s reported that there has been an increase in the number of students complaining of headache and nose bleed recently, ever since a RF antenna was installed near the school area a few months ago.

Pardon my ignorance if I’m being seen as one, but I think it’s fair to say that sometimes, public do jump into conclusion when a concern was raised based on certain myth or half-truth and when one is being consistently told the similar myth from multiple sources over the time, one tends to believe it as the truth. We can’t blame them for that as in the end of the day, perception does matter and as a people-friendly government elected by its people, the authority must be prepared to listen to the feedback from the grassroots and decide what can be done next to alleviate the fear, otherwise if not being managed in a proper manner, it would create a misperception towards the Opposition-led state as not a caring Government and worse is when the public equate the current Government with the previous BN-led state government under Gerakan.

Now, the good thing is, the state Government is receptive towards the concern of certain Penangites and a forum would be held soon to clear the air as well as providing the public a place to air their concern and frustration. Given that industry expertise are to be there to help explain the health concern and simultaneously educating the participants with the right message, I hope the hoo-haa is going to make a full-stop.

Otherwise, if the public’s concern persists, the state Government might want to consider installing the RF antenna out of the school boundaries, even if it might incur certain additional cost and as long as it’s within the state Government’s mean and by doing doing that, it’s going to be a win-win solution for everyone.

I certainly would be the one feeling proud of this latest initiative if it’s well-implemented. By then, Penangites would never look the same again with the burgeoning of a tech-savvy group, or at least telling people to Google on certain topics–anytime, anywhere, is not going to be an alien matter anymore.

How cool this idea is going to be, don’t you think so?

Malaysia first woman Vice-Chancellor Rafiah Salim tenure as the University Malaya (UM) VC came to an abrupt stop when her contract was terminated immediately.

No reason was given of why the sudden decision from the Ministry of Higher Education, according to a report by Malaysiakini.

Rafiah, who was appointed in May 2006 and once touted as the best candicate to curb the slide of university ranking not only fail to improve the university ranking published by The Times Higher Education (THES), it’s getting worse with rank 169 in 2005, 192 in 2006 to 245 in 2007.

It was rumored that former MMU president Ghauth Jasmon is tipped to take helm, in which the coveted role has been the center of public focus as UM continues to slip from the world university ranking, creating fear that our education status which is once recognized worldwide is now under threat, compelling more parents to send their kids to study overseas citing lack of trust in local education system as the prime factor.

A few years during my uni. days, I was lucky to speak to Prof. Ghauth on a few occasions and discussing about admission criteria into MMU, how MMU is putting into practise the quota system as made known to the public and I’d say he is quite fair and honest in his opinions as we can see MMU nowadays has a good blend of students from different backgrounds.

Malaysians is eager see if Prof. Ghauth is able to bring remarkable result for the good of UM, regaining the long lost shine and propeling UM back to its world class status, as what he has consistently shown during his MMU days.