Illegal Moneylenders

It's an offence to borrow from the illegal moneylenders (a.k.a. Loan Sharks or Ah Longs). That's what the Federal Commercial Crime director Datuk Ramli Yusuf has intended to do by proposing to the Housing and Local Government Ministry. He has even stated that with such a law in place, it would deter people from borrowing from Ah Longs and instead compel them to go to licensed moneylenders. (source: 30 Jan, The Star)

At the same time, borrowers-to-be have been advised to check with the police or the ministry to see if the moneylenders were legal. At times, people who needs money urgently have no time to wait for the government staff's response time. All this talk in the newspapers lead to nowhere. How are they helping?

On the contrary, Malaysia's no. 1 cop, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, stated that the priority in the fight against loan sharks should be to educate the public against such borrowings, instead of prosecuting the borrowers. Meaning to say, that Ramli's statement is now redundant? (source: 2 Feb, The Star)

And then the Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting made the following statement (source: 3 Feb, The Star)
"The Cabinet has rejected a recent suggestion to prosecute those who borrow from loan sharks"

I agreed that actions should be taken against the loan sharks instead and not the borrowers. The above really shows how bad is the communication between the police force and the federal government as was in the case of increasing traffic fines previously.

On one hand the borrowers would be in deep shit if they had defaulted on the re-payment which will incur the wrath of the loan sharks known for being ruthlesss in obtaining the capital amount plus the high interest rates. Then the borrowers will wander around as they can't even report to the police for fear of being arrested even though there was property damage, assault and in some cases murder. Only way out of this deep shit - suicide. This will be the scenario if the new act was implemented.

Hopefully in future, people who wants to suggest something to the public at large will think through before opening that big mouth.

(Extracted from 4 Feb, The Star) MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Michael Chong noted that hawkers and farmers were sometimes left with no choice but to borrow from loan sharks due to the requirements imposed by banks.

“How could you expect a hawker or farmer, for example to produce all the necessary documents required by banks?” he asked. “Furthermore they have to be subject to Bank Negara’s Central Credit Reference Information System and private credit reference agencies. “In addition to this, they would have to wait for a long time before their loan is approved,” he said.

Michael Chong is just playing politics here as he agreed with the prosecution of borrowers earlier: (source: 30 Jan, The Star) "Michael Chong agrees with the police proposal to penalise people who borrow from Ah Longs. “This is the best way to teach the public a lesson. They know it is illegal to borrow money from loan sharks but they still do it,” he said."
Tags: Loan Shark, Ah Long, Illegal Moneylender, Moneylender, Police, Malaysia, Borrow, MCA, Michael Chong

Whale Hunting

The picture (below) was not taken at a construction site where the red earth has been dug up. That red pile is actually whale's red meat which were not fit for consumption and ready to be buried at landfill site. The location: Iceland.

Iceland and Japan are the main culprits in whale huntings. After my generation and the next, the following generations may not get to see any more whales in ocean. This is sad as it's not owing to self extinction through death but due to over doing the huntings. Demand for such whale meat has dropped but the whale hunting industry is still being sustained.

Greenpeace has been organising protest over the whale hunting stating that there in no scientific, economic or environmental justification for it. (source: Greenpeace)

Various protests were held/initiated on whale huntings:-

* Iceland's whale hunting makes waves with critics csmonitor.com

* Iceland breaks whale hunting ban - World Environment - MSNBC.com

* Help Save the Whales, Britain Urges More Nations - Environment News Service

* New Zealand colluding with Japan to illegally slaughter whales - CDNN, New Zealand

Japan has even tried to call for a special meeting amongst members of an international whaling group to help lift a global moratorium on hunting of whales, but several countries opposed to the practice may boycott the assembly. (source: Reuters News via Alaska Report)

Tags: Whale, Whale Hunting, Iceland, Japan, Greenpeace

Jail For Parents

At times parents may have to spank their children for being naughty and mischievous. Some parents prefer not to do it saying that it may distant the child from them.

In California, USA, it has taken even a bigger turn where if a child is being spanked excessively, the parents could face jail and a fine under a new legislation to be enacted in the state. Weird? The lawmakers have the idea that spanking may victimise a child and develops violence in their mindset. Huh????? What school of taught is this?

The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger (the tough muscled man), has not objected to the proposed legislation. What is excessive? Who is to measure the excessiveness in spanking a child? Does it allow a tiny weeny cane? This must be tough on the court of law to decide. (source: Yahoo! News)
Tags: California, USA, Spank, Legislation

Statement By Bloggers United

BLOGGERS UNITED CONDEMN ACTION AGAINST ROCKY & JEFF
& DEMAND LEVEL PLAYING FIELD in ALL ACTION AGAINST BLOGGERS

We, Malaysian bloggers, who believe in justice and right to free speech, we, who endorse the Bloggers United movement, unanimously condemn the action taken by media conglomerate NST against bloggers Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi. The action by the newspaper against the duo is an action against all bloggers who believe in their right to free speech, freedom of expression and justice.

The recent event may seem like a grave development in the path of bloggers, but it can never and must never impede or stop us from defending our right to speak, to express, to write and to tell the truth, to be the watchdog, eyes and ears of the people, or simply to share our view, and give fair comment on any subject which involves and affects us as humans, as rightful citizens of this country.

The recent event may very well give the government owned media the opportunity to dictate the so-called 'truth" but such actions only prove that bloggers must unite, continue to uphold the right to free speech and freedom of expression, fight for justice, even if it is not our own, be more alert, committed to the cause of free speech, relentless and persistence in the face of such persecution like the one which had befallen on the two of us.

What YOU do to any of US, is what YOU do to ALL.

As responsible bloggers, we demand and claim our space on the blogosphere for free and fair comment, where important national issues and prominent personalities are discussed.
Although it may seem as if the NSTP defamation suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers, as litigation can be expensive and may jeorpadise a blogger's economic position, we will not be cowed or silenced by those who have no regard for free speech.

If you find our post offensive, you may refute us with correct facts and figures and fair comment, in the spirit of free speech.

The first two cases will have grave impact not only on the internet, but country as a whole as the country celebrates VMY2007. The healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression in our midst is at stake. The reputation of the nation as it strives to promote our multimedia supercorridor and love for IT will be a national joke for all the world to feast on.

We demand for a level playing field in all action meted out to bloggers and in particular in the defamation proceedings particularly in terms of financial resources and capabilities, and secondly, that the legal rights of bloggers et al are properly protected in keeping with the imperatives of an information society and knowledge economy which Malaysia aspires to become.

For further information, please contact blogger susan loone at susanloone@gmail.com and sheih at kickdefella@yahoo.com

Tags: Bloggers United, Malaysian Bloggers, Freedom of Speech, Defamation, Jeff Ooi, Screenshots, Ahirudin Attan, RockyBru, NST

Malaysian Bloggers Sued

The news of the 2 Malaysian Bloggers being sued have travelled widely across the globe.

- Malaysian bloggers sued for libel - MWC News, Canada

- Malaysia Newspaper Sues Two Bloggers - Houston Chronicle

- Malaysia newspaper sues two bloggers - BusinessWeek

- M'sian bloggers sued - ZDNet Asia, Asia

- Bloggers to face defamation suit - Ninemsn, Australia

- Malaysian newspaper sues bloggers in landmark case - Reuters India, India

- Bloggers to face defamation suit - Sydney Morning Herald

- Malaysian bloggers sued for libel - Aljazeera.net

- Malaysian paper files 1st ever defamaton suit against bloggers - Yahoo!/Kyodo News

- Malaysia's pro-govt newspaper sues two bloggers for defamation - IHT

Tags: Malaysian Bloggers Sued, Jeff Ooi, Screenshots, Ahirudin Attan, RockyBru, Libel, Defamation, New Straits Times, Freedom of Speech

Maybank2u.com website

I had an encouter with the so-called biggest bank in Malaysia, Malayan Banking Berhad, but having the 'stupidest' (if ever a word) call centre in the whole world. What happened?

Since I'm based faraway, only way to control my finance is via the bank's online banking service, Maybank2u, which I have been using it for more than 2 years now. No problem faced before. Just this morning around 11am here. I keyed in my username and password as usual. The page will of course change to the main page of the internet banking page. But no! It showed the log-in page again. Naturally, I keyed in again and submit. It repeated the same thing. It happened for 5 times and by the 6th time, after keying in and hitting the button, a message came out like this:-

You have reached the maximum number of password tries. Your Maybank2u.com account has been blocked. For assistance, please contact Maybank Group Customer Care at 1-300-88-6688 or 603-7844 3696 (overseas).

Man, what's this nonsense? I have to make some payments and this is happening to me now at this stage??????? Contacted a friend who's wife is working with one the bank's branches where she said I have to call the bank no matter what. Call from Sudan???

My KL colleagues found out for me that our Petronas office (next cabin) should have some satellite phones around. Yeah, in the desert, what do you expect......so Maybank's instruction to request their customers to call their office is really ridiculous. Found the phone and called them. Spoke to a lady at the call centre and related my incident. She verified whether I'm the accountholder before she proceeded to anything. She asked for my identity card number, where do I stay in Kuala Lumpur and then my banking account numbers. I told her that the account numbers are in the website where I'm trying to access. She got what I meant.

Next, she asked for my ATM card no. (cash card). Told her it's back home in Kuala Lumpur. Lastly, she said that she can help me by refreshing the password and then I can use it PROVIDED ...............yeah there's something else to it............ PROVIDED I can recall my initial password from day one (which was a computer generated password given to us when we first applied for the internet banking). HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER THAT PASSWORD (the bank will also advise that such password should be changed after keying in for the first time) ????? And if not mistaken, last year or so, Maybank has sent another email to their online customers to change their passwords again for safety reason. I can't even remember that previous password, so don't talk about the first one.

I was so angry and I asked her back the same question. She said that's the only way. ONLY WAY???? Then I told her that was not a solution at all. You are throwing the situation back at me. So I told her, your website asked a customer to call back not having the mind to think where could the customer be and after calling in, such an answer is ok for Maybank to give to their customer. Really absurd..........so 'STUPIDEST BANK IN THE WORLD' stands!

And I'm still stucked in the middle of the Sudanese desert with no internet banking!!!!!!!!!
Tags: Malayan Banking Berhad, Maybank, Maybank2u.com, Bank, Internet Banking, Frustrated, Absurd, Stupid, Call Centre, Online Banking, Malaysia

Ethiopia - Somalia War

New have been coming on the Ethiopia - Somalia conflict where Ethiopia has launched strategic airstrikes against Somalia. It's sad to see that news has to link the conflict to religions. Terrible news agencies as such news sells. It mentioned that Ethiopia, a predominant Christian majority country, is waging war against Somalia's Islamic force under the Union of Islamic Courts ("UIC"), an Islamic party. The UIC does not want to work with the interim government and has seized major cities in order to take control of the country where there is still no government since 2004. What a mess!

The next thing that came to my mind is that the conflict is exactly at the south-east of Sudan only. Not far away.

Tags: Ethiopia, Somalia, Conflict, Dispute, War, Union of Islamic Courts, Africa

Chris Evert's Divorce

Many younger folks may not have heard of Chris Evert (doesn't mean I'm old). FYI, she was a former tennis ace and holds 18 Grand-Slam tennis titles.

Recently, a divorce outcome required Chris Evert to give up nearly a third of her net worth, according to the details of her divorce finalized on Monday. Evert, now 51, signed a settlement agreeing to pay $7 million in cash and securities within 48 hours to her ex-husband Andy Mill, 53. Financial disclosure forms listed Evert's worth to be $24 million with her declaring a monthly income of $58,333 and total monthly expenses of $41,666.

Evert will keep the couple's $2.8 million home in suburban Boca Raton, and Mill gets their $4 million vacation home in Aspen, Colo. Get your butts of your couch and go straight to the tennis court. Want to see how big is her family's tennis academy facilities? Click Evert Tennis Academy to see more. (source: Sun Sentinel)

Tags: Chris Evert, Evert Tennis Academy, Divorce, Tennis

Interior Decoration

This is a seemingly trivial domestic incident in Hong Kong, but I found it interesting because it took me a while to figure why the fight was inevitable. Everything can be explained through the floor plan of the re-decorated apartment. A couple lived there, but they have been estranged (but not yet divorced) due to infidelity on the part of the husband (namely, he has a mistress in mainland China). The apartment is in a public housing estate, although the husband has a reported wealth of HK$100 million and could probably live in much better style.

However, the husband believes that his good fortunes were due to the fengshui in this apartment and therefore he continues to live there. Due to the estrangement, the couple live in separate rooms. The husband lives in room A while the wife lives in room E. Previously, both shared the living room (D), the bathroom (C) and the kitchen (B). The wife has her own living room (F). There is an entrance area (G) right behind the front door.

The husband then initiated interior decoration project #1. He hired a contractor to seal the door from Room E to the living room, restroom and kitchen. The wife was mad, but she could not make the contractor stop.

So the wife then initiated interior decoration project #2. She hired a contractor to seal the door from the entrance area G to areas A, B, C, D. So this means that the husband has no access to his own room. Furthermore, nobody had access to the living room, restroom or kitchen.
As said, the fight was inevitable with their children taking different sides. The police was summoned and they came and hauled everyone down to the police station. (source: ZoneEuropa)


Tags: Hong Kong, Interior Design, Humour

Football Coach Threatened By Parent

The father of a young football player pulled a gun on his son's coach because he didn't think the boy was getting enough playing time, Philadelphia police said on Monday. Wayne Derkotch, 40, was charged with aggravated assault after getting in a fight with the coach over the amount of time the boy was getting on the field at a game for 6- and 7-year-olds on Sunday morning, said police spokesman Officer Raul Malveiro.

"There was a physical altercation about what child should play or not play and then he pulled the gun," Malveiro said. There were no injuries and Derkotch fled before being arrested after a complaint was made by the coach, whose name was not released, Malveiro said (source: Reuters).

Is it an abundant of parent's love for the son or pride/ego was dented when his son couldn't play in the game?

Tags: Family, Football Coach, Philadelphia, Fight

Austrian removes 'sexist' urinals

An Austrian businessman in Vienna said that he would get rid of urinals shaped like a woman's mouth from a public toilet near Vienna's national opera, after facing pressure from politicians who demanded their removal especially from the Vienna Department of Women's Affairs & Green Party's women's affairs. (source: FoxNews)

Maybe they can re-renovate the toilet as per earlier blog here.

Tunisia moves against headscarves

My earlier blog on 8 Oct stated that Morocco had moved to drop headscarf worn by the female gender. It seems that the Tunisian authorities have launched a campaign against the Islamic veil worn by some women to cover their hair.

Human rights groups describe the move as unconstitutional. Police in Tunisia have been stopping women on the streets and asking them to remove their headscarves and sign pledges that they will not go back to wearing them. Under a ban introduced in 1981, women in Tunisia are not allowed to wear Islamic dress in schools or government offices. Those who insist on it face losing their jobs. Strong call indeed. (source: BBC News)
Tags: Headscarf, Morocco, Tunisia, Veil, Islamic, Religious

Villagers Attacked Local Police Station

In Zhonghuo town, Danzhou, Hainan of China, there have been three consecutive days of rioting in which 20-30 villagers attacked the local police station. The door into the station was kicked down, the desks and air-conditioners were wrecked, the window glasses were smashed, several motorcycles in the courtyard were overturned and a police car was overturned and tossed into a ditch.
Several police officers were injured - 1 was stabbed in the stomach by a dagger, while 2 others were injured in the chest and back.

What happened here? Before you say "human rights violation," you should read the description. On the evening of 3 October, about 20 youths from Changshatian village had an arugment with youths from Zhonghuo village at a dance hall. This turned into a mass brawl, in which the youths from Changshatian village used iron bars, rocks and machetes to fight with Zhonghuo village youth in the middle of the "triangle street" During the fight, Zhonghuo resident Zhong Guangshen sustained serious injuries and died. The Zhonghuo villagers blamed the police for not taking action against the perpetrators, and that was why they laid siege to the police station. (source: Nanguo Metropolis Daily and EastSouthWestNorth)

Worse than terrorists!!
Tags: Zhonghuo, Danzhou, Hainan, China, Police, Changshatian

Military Junta in Myanmar

The rulings generals in Myanmar can now argue that the world leaders were quiet on the coup d'etat in Thailand. As democracy was put aside by the Thai military leaders, ruling generals have a time-out now as they can say that if the Thais can do it, why keep hitting us all the time.

Tags: Myanmar, Military Junta, Thailand

Coup d'etat in Philippines

Is it going to happen in Philippines too? Coup d'etat is not uncommon words in this country. Seems that the modus operandi used in Thailand's coup could trigger similar situation in Philippines. President Gloria Arroyo doesn't seem to be ready to hand over her presidency in her comfy Malacanang Palace to anyone yet while there were past situations whereby coup d'etat almost happened in Philippines.
Tags: Philippines, Thailand, Gloria Arroyo, Malacanang Palace

Traffic Fines Reduced?????

Lower traffic fines in Malaysia as announced by the M'sian police force yesterday. Why, you may asked? My good guess could be that the top 2 Malaysian government officials may not have settled their fines yet (as reported earlier here and here). Maybe it was reduced to accommodate our top 2 government officials as they earn government salaries only. It's a good offer for both of themFto settle the traffic summonses now.

The best part was that the Transport Ministry said it was not consulted over the reduction of traffic fines. One of Transport Ministry's functions is to coordinate with the various government departments and agencies, including the police, to implement measures to reduce road accidents. Simple co-ordination but ended up like this?????

* Latest update - The Cabinet has decided to postpone the reduction of traffic fines by the police (read more in 6 Sept, STAR)
Tags: Traffic Fine, Police, Transport Ministry, Government, Cabinet

SME Bank Loans

Just when the Prime Minister said (as reported on 28 Aug, STAR) that the SME (small & medium enterprises) Bank Loans are opened for all races, rigid requirements imposed by SME Bank Berhad itself really baffles certain group of people who were not amused by it.

Though opened to all races, these are the following requirements on potential borrowers (as reported on 5 Sept, STAR):-

• must be a degree holder;
• must have at least a 51% bumiputra ownership; or
• provide collateral and have fixed deposits.

By imposing item 2, business owners of other races may have to relinquish 51% of their ownership to the bumiputra race in the end making that business becoming bumiputra-owned. Where are we heading to right now? On the front page, the story seems so nice and accommodative to all races but when it comes to the nitty gritty of the application, the real picture unfolds. Anyone has the right scenario now?

Tags: SME Bank Berhad, Loans, Malaysia, Small & Medium Enterprise

Petronas & ChevronTexaco chased out of Chad

How come the Malaysian news have not reported on this yet?

The Chad government has given a 24 hours ultimatum to both Petronas of Malaysia and ChevronTexaco of USA to move its staff out of the country and close their offices. It's a real blow to both companies. Reason for the immediate clearance as mentioned was due to non-compliance to tax obligation matters. Other sources claimed that the removal was to make way for the entrance of China companies into the picture as reported in BBC News/Africa & CNN News.

In Sudan itself, China companies are making headways too. China's top government officials recent visits to a number of African countries are actually paving ways for China companies' path into the largely untapped markets. Apparently, Chad just resumed its international tie with China 3 weeks ago.
Tags: Chad, Petronas, ChevronTexaco, China, Oil

Scomi's Involvement in Nuclear Instrument Resurfaces

There are new reports on the abovesaid title where it mentioned that Japanese authorities had charged a Japanese company of exporting certain equipments to Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd as reported yesterday in Japan Times.

An earlier investigation by the Malaysian police has cleared Scomi (police report released in 2004).
Tags: Scomi, Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd, Japan Times, Nuclear Instrument, Investigation