BEST OF THE BLOGS THIS WEEK

There's a lot going on locally and much being said about it in the blogosphere. If you've been as busy as I have with other concerns, you might find it useful to read my personal pick of the best sociopolitical blogposts of the week...

Economic Warfare Waged Against The People...

Exclusive: Taibs' Foreign Property Portfolio

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Canadian properties worth in excess of a hundred million dollars

Twin glass towers and a swish shopping complex at Preston Square in downtown Ottawa form just part of an enormous foreign property portfolio controlled in Canada by the family of Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, according to our exclusive investigations.

These buildings alone are worth at least one hundred million dollars and generate a healthy rental income from some of Canada’s top corporations, including Xerox, Adobe and Sun Life, who rent office space and retail outlets. Numerous Canadian Government Ministries are also listed at the building.

[Read the full exposé here!]

Bodoh, Bangang atau Bahlul?
16 June 2010

When I was in Form One (which seems like a million years ago), a class-mate asked me "Engkau ni bodoh ke, bangang ke atau bahlul?" That's when I learnt that there are 3 categories of stupid. I forgot all about it untill this week - when I suddenly remembered that question. It was triggered by 3 pieces of news, all about money, splashed in our newspapers.

News 1
Government comtemplates building a new Parliament building in Putrajaya at a cost of RM 800 million.

News 2
Cost of building the new palace escalates to RM 811 million.

News 3
Datuk Nazri Abd Aziz says "Government hasn't got enough money to provide our students with scholarships.


Seeking might out of rights
by uppercaise
14 June 2010

Myth-making gets a new stage today when the postponed intimidatory May 13 rally organised by a devout idoliser of Mahathir Mohamad is held in Kuala Terengganu. The Mamak or Mamak Kutty (as he is widely and vulgarly known) will be there with a so-called keynote address, ready to clothe intimidation with cloying references to the uplifting of Malay society.

Postponed or not, there can be no mistaking the nexus between the original choice of date and that day of blood-letting in 1969 when Umno Malay political hegemony seemed to have shattered.

Nor can one overlook the nexus between the rally and Dr Mahathir, the person around whom this has been organised (the continuing references to his preferably-forgotten-ancestry aside) and his long-established politics of race-baiting.

[Read the rest here.]

Heil 1Rosmah, queen of our hearts? HAH!
by uppercaise
18 June 2010

Did you notice? The Malaysian constitution just got rewritten.

There’s a new menu at Parliament — tripe and waffles, served piping hot. Not in the canteen, but in the chamber itself. The prime minister himself was dishing it out this week, protecting the presumed position of his wife Rosmah Mansor, the usurper and pretend queen of the land, while pretending to defend the position of the constitutional Queen, the Raja Permaisuri Agong.

In the process, he just about rewrote the constitution. And all the papers went along with the gag, bending every which way to avoid calling out the plain facts.

[Read the whole ridiculous story here.]



STUDY LOAN DEFAULTERS, SHAME ON YOU!
17 June 2010

The Malaysian government’s decision to eventually scrap the 1,500 Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships has drawn much flak from all quarters. This move will deprive academically gifted students, particularly those from low income families, of an opportunity to further their education and contribute to the future development of the country.

[Read the rest here.]