Monty Python's Flying Circus ~ The Malaysian Adaptation!

I greatly enjoyed this ebullient essay published in Malaysiakini. For those of you who are too cheap to subscribe and therefore will not be able to access this little gem, I have reproduced it below in full (with sincere apologies to "V for Vernon" and Malaysiakini). Promise I won't do this sort of stuff too often! :-)...

SAD LOCAL ADAPTATION OF MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS

V for Vernon | Jul 2, 08 4:54pm

Dear Malaysians,

Once again we see the same lunatics trying to tar and feather Anwar Ibrahim with the most slanderous and demeaning allegations against his character. Mind you, these are the same clowns from ten years ago who tried to tell us that Anwar apparently sodomized his wife's driver in a bedroom of an apartment complex that wasn't built yet.


These are the same clowns that tried to lead us into believing that Anwar sodomized his wife's driver, when the driver himself admitted under oath three times in open court that Anwar did not sodomize him.

And here we are again, ten years later, and the circus is back in town trying to convince us that an almost six-footer of a 23-year-old man was forcibly sodomized by a relatively small-built 62-year old man with prior back surgery.

And this poor young man was apparently so severely sodomized that he has been rushed to hospital to have his anus probed for damage. Never mind the fact that this young man ‘disappeared’ for two days prior to the allegation and was in police custody.

But in all seriousness, if you believe this allegation against Anwar, then I have a submarine to sell to you (commissions thrown in, of course).

They say that prior to an earthquake, animals are often witnessed to be behaving strangely. So too with this allegation against Anwar. We should take heed of the behavior and related circumstances of some of our very own political animals.

This latest allegation against Anwar smacks of a poorly conceived last-minute strategy by a bunch of desperados. And Exhibit A in the list of desperados is actually a former dictator who now spends most of his time running around the country with his pants on fire.

Scandal after scandal has been surfacing about the misbehavior of this former dictator, starting with the infamous ‘Koreck Kronicles’ of a prominent lawyer who used to moonlight as a match-maker for corrupt judges and positions of power.

Closely following this was the recent bombshell of a disclosure by a present judge that this former dictator supposedly organized boot camps to demean and demoralize the nation's judges so that they may bow to the whims of him and his party apparatchik.

Around the same time, we have received reports from global financial experts that Malaysia has bled close to RM300 billion to corruption since the 1980s, a time period that unfortunately coincides with the two decades long rule of this former dictator.

And now, they say they want to have Petronas disclose their accounts to show where all the profits went - an outcome which may not be very favorable to a former dictator who is best known for trivial pursuits and expensive and dead-end crony-friendly mega projects, all at public expense, of course.

Exhibit B consists of two ringside clowns who were instrumental in the first inquisition circus against Anwar Ibrahim. One clown paraded into court on a unicycle while carrying a used mattress over his head, while the other clown built a case of sodomy around a star witness who denied he was ever sodomized.

Unfortunately, as with all things Umno, the clowns usually get promoted and they sit now in the corridors of power merrily honking their noses at the public. Furthermore, Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin has disclosed some very damaging information against one of these clowns and the possible affiliation with undesirables from the underworld, with signed affidavits to boot.

To date, neither clown has honked their noses in response to this serious allegation but are instead working double-time to not follow any useful leads or motive in the murder of some poor foreign girl who had some explosive connections with some very volatile people.

Exhibit C consists of a prominent high-level leader of Malaysia and her henpecked husband. This first-couple-in-waiting (or so they hope) now find themselves in a pickle with the recent Statutory Declaration filed in court by Raja Petra Kamarudin relating to some very explosive matters.


But I tell you what lah, we don't really need any Statutory Declaration to know that trained police bodyguards don't kill people randomly for no reason, that they also won't take orders from some civilian head of a think-thank, and that immigration entry records don't automatically vanish unless you have some clout in government.

Also, not to forget the the fact that C4 is not your grandfather's toothpaste that you can easily pick up at the local provisions shop.


Now all the characters in Exhibits A, B and C have much to lose from any change in government, and run a very good chance of being winners of extended-stay packages at Hotel & Resort Sungai Buloh, with at least one opportunity of a starring role in the resort's in-house adaptation of Murder She Wrote.

It is quite conceivable for the parties in Exhibits A, B, and C to come together as supporting roles for each other, especially considering that all of them are rotten branches that sprouted from the same diseased two-decades old tree.

The desperation of each individual party is the smoking-gun context around this latest slandering of Anwar Ibrahim, as well as the even more dire threat of an assassination attempt against him.

And all these events have coincided very nicely with the timing of the henpecked husband implying that he will be making a run for a top-notch political post in the very near future, on the behalf of his wife of course.

While the circus rolls into town, we are duly entertained by the clowns honking their noses, the first-couple-in-waiting (or so they hope) doing their political acrobatics over a bed of flaming coals, and the old ringmaster running around in circles with his pants on fire after trying to jump through a flaming hoop.

It is imperative we keep the spotlights trained on all these characters with maximum intensity and not get distracted by the concession stands trying to sell us 10-year old mee soto rebus.


As you know, concession stands always con you for the dough. So keep your eyes trained on the main act as the sad local adaptation of Monty Python's Flying Circus entertains us to their last hurrah.

Please Comment on My Comments!

Patrick Teoh was the blogger who inspired me to start my own back in December 2006. I love leaving comments on his highly popular Niamah! blog - but Pat moderates all comments before publishing and sometimes it takes more than 24 hours to see one's comment posted...

Military intelligence is a great deal more efficient and effective than the Special Branch and operates in ways hidden from public scrutiny. There are officers in Military Intelligence whose loyalty is primarily to King and Country - not any political party or politician in power. RPK's royal connections makes him privy to certain things others are not. I do not doubt that the Military Intelligence report RPK alludes to exists and that a copy was handed personally to the PM. Undoubtedly there are others who have copies of the report. It's not unreasonable to believe the Agong may have seen the report. If so, RPK would have been given the nod to lob his grenade directly into the political cesspool that Umno has become. In effect, in RPK's shoes I wouldn't put my name to such a bold statutory declaration unless I had a copy of the report. Now, whoever does the laundry for the PM and DPM would be in the best position to tell us how badly stained their underwear has been since 18 June 2008.

26 June 2008

A. Kadir Jasin was Group Editor-in-Chief of the NST during the Mahathir era. These days he's a "simple blogger" like the rest of us virtual loudmouths. Now that he's no longer in cari makan mode Kadir's views appear to have become more "neutral" - at least he doesn't have to bodek anyone now!

The game of politics, as in poker, requires mastery of stonewalling - the proverbial poker-faced response to even the most explosive and damaging accusations. From their calculated denials in the press, both the PM and DPM reveal themselves to be seasoned political poker players. However, viewing Najib on Malaysiakini.tv as he was speaking to reporters about RPK's statutory declaration, my flesh began to creep. Najib's was not a HUMAN response. There was absolutely no emotional content in his voice, which struck me as cold-blooded and dispassionate. He showed no anger, no sadness, no outrage. To be so calculative when confronted with such a serious accusation reveals a man who no longer behaves like a human being and therefore is capable of inhuman decisions. That alone, in my sight, disqualifies Najib Razak as somebody I can trust to lead the nation. Personally, it matters not if the guilty parties are clapped behind bars or merely sent into exile. For some folks, not being in power alone is punishment enough. But I heartily resent a single cent of the Rakyat's money being paid into Najib Razak's account as his public servant's salary - and I'm sure he receives two salaries for his official positions as DPM as well as Defence Minister. As for Abdullah Badawi, nobody wishes the man ill simply because his public persona does not invite a hostile reaction (unlike his predecessor's). However, as PM, he has used up whatever credibility he had to begin with. So when some readers comment that RPK's agenda is to bring down the government, I feel it would be more accurate to say he merely wants to bring down the irredeemably corrupt BN government.

26 June 2008

Din Merican served in the Foreign Ministry but is now program director of PKR. He calls himself "the reluctant blogger" but he seems to be really enjoying the high traffic flow to his blog :-)

They tried to bring Clinton down with allegations of oral sex and with Anwar it’s anal. Frankly, people, anyone of legal age who has never tried either or both or - at least fantasized about it - deserves to be the son of a BN Backbencher! My point is: regardless of whether the accusation is true or false, an individual’s sex life is his or her private affair - unless force comes into the picture, in which case we’re talking about RAPE. The biggest rapists I know are the BN who have raped Mother Nature every which way since Mahathir launched his stupid and shallow Vision 2020 - and the Dirty Old Man also raped the Malaysian Judiciary and the Polis Di Raja Malaysia - in fact, he also sodomized the Civil Service, Academia, and an entire generation of young Malaysian psyches. In any case, these desperate moves by the BN reveals their level of panic. Ladies and Gentlemen, even before September 16, BN will have killed itself with its own criminally insane stupidity. Long live Saudara Anwar, Pakatan Rakyat, and all freedom and justice lovers in Malaysia!

29 June 2008

Mohd Fudzail worked at TV3 from 1992-1999 and then relocated to Dubai where he serves as a consultant on IT and media related projects. He has hosted Anwar Ibrahim on some of his recent Dubai visits.

The polygraph or lie detector is ancient technology and has been around for decades. Why use it just on Saiful? It would be in the interest of Malaysia's future as a nation if we can subject everybody named in RPK's statutory declaration of 18 June to a polygraph test. I'm willing to bet real money that Badawi, Najib, Rosmah and Khairy will flunk spectacularly. But why stop there? Apply the polygraph test to Gani Patail and Musa Hassan too - see if they can pass! Ask them any question, they will lie - because it's the only thing these goons know how to do - and they don't even do it well!

29 June 2008

A NATION IN DEEP CRISIS

Quality Hotel, Shah Alam, 29 June 2008: PKR leaders on red alert as BN makes its desperate move to decapitate Pakatan Rakyat and thwart the people's demand for freedom, justice and responsive government. (Photo from the Anwar Ibrahim blog)

People who have done all sorts of dastardly deeds in their lust for power and privilege have to keep looking over their shoulders and constantly guard their rears. Their greatest fear is being attacked through their own backdoors and ending up behind bars where they could find themselves shafted just like they have been mercilessly shafting the public for generations. This is why they see sodomites lurking in every nook and cranny.

Normal folk imagine Death as a Grim Reaper. If they happen to be Hindu, they might picture the Lord of Death as Yama, who rides a buffalo with a rope in hand; if they grew up on a diet of Spaghetti Westerns, they might visualize Yama as a strong, silent, cheroot-chewing Clint Eastwood type, lasso at the ready to yank souls out of bodies drawing their final breaths; and, if they happen to be diehard members of the Barisan Nasional, they are bound to see Death in the form of Anwar Ibrahim, the Righteous Prick That Impales and puts an end to all delusions of grandeur.

Ten years ago, Mahathir saw his own political demise in the rising popularity of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, and promptly fired him, publicly accusing him of sodomy. The court found Anwar guilty as charged and sentenced him to nine years in prison. However, an Appellate Court subsequently reversed the verdict and dropped the sodomy charges against Anwar - but only after he had already languished in prison for six years on another trumped-up charge.

On 28 June 2008, a young man named Saiful Bukhari Azlan allegedly lodged a police report that his employer, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had sodomized him against his consent on 26 June 2008. I say "allegedly" because nobody believes anything the BN says anymore. Interestingly, a blogpost dated 27 February 2008 shows the same Saiful Bukhari posing beside Khairil Annas Jusoh, special advisor to DPM Najib Razak!

Photo from Riwayat Hayat


Certain members of the Anwar Ibrahim Club had voiced their misgivings about Saiful soon after the 12th General Election. This screenshot dated 13 June 2008 (since deleted) from Najwan Halimi's Riwayat Hayat blog reveals that PKR leaders may have been aware that Saiful Bukhari was Najib's mole and were just waiting for him to make his move:


In any case, Anwar says that he recently secured documentary evidence that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan fabricated evidence with which to convict Anwar in 1999. In other words, both committed serious offences on behalf of their boss Dr Mahathir and should be immediately sacked.

Anwar was whisked off at 6AM to the Turkish Embassy to seek protection against being arrested by a rogue police force. PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali also disclosed at a press conference that there had been serious warnings that Anwar's life was in imminent danger. In other words, the BN will stop at nothing to keep itself in power.

Malaysia, it appears, has joined the ranks of military dictatorships and police states like Burma, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and the U.S.A. Now, more than ever, we have to unite as one to bring down the irredeemably corrupt and criminal Barisan Nasional... or be enslaved and exploited another generation!

Anwar Ibrahim and Syed Husin Ali in serious discussion at the Quality Hotel, where a two-day PKR seminar was being held when news of BN's latest move broke. (Photo from the Anwar Ibrahim blog)

RPK'S CATASTROPHIC REVELATIONS

Sub judice my foot! Before the Mongolian murder trial even began, the Attorney-General himself had publicly declared that there were only three people involved in the murder - Abdul Razak Baginda and two members of the Unit Tindakan Khas (Special Action Squad) assigned to Najib Razak as bodyguards. Isn't that "sub judice" to the max? The BN seems to have adopted former PM Mahathir's infamous modus operandi of accusing everybody else of being a liar and opportunist except himself.

The Altantuya murder trial, even more so than the grotesque Anwar Trial nine years ago, has worn out the public's patience with the rusty grind of ill-fitting wheels that passes for Malaysian justice. Not a single person I know has the slightest confidence in the impartiality of Attorney-General Gani Abdul Patail - or the presiding judge hand-picked to play his part in the charade. Nor does anyone (apart from, of course, his political masters in Umno) believe for a moment that Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan is worth a single cent of his salary. Indeed, the general perception is that both the A-G and the IGP work exclusively for Barisan Nasional and not on behalf of the Malaysian public. As such, we find ourselves in a total quandary where there is no longer any authority figure or public institution that can be relied upon to do its work independently and effectively.

Imagine a situation where a young woman has been abducted and gang-banged. Finally, she manages to free herself and escape. Her friends take her to the nearest police station to lodge a report - and there, to her utmost horror, she finds the same gang that just raped her standing behind the counter, smiling smugly in their uniforms and eager to take her report. Well, that's more or less the nightmarish predicament Malaysia is in right now.

The devastating information presented in Raja Petra Kamarudin's June 18th statutory declaration at the Kuala Lumpur High Court reveals that there was indeed a military intelligence report delivered to the Prime Minister of Malaysia who, at the time, also served as Home Minister. RPK does not indicate when this military intelligence report might have been submitted to the PM - but he states unequivocally that the report was subsequently handed over to the PM's son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, "for safekeeping."

What does all this imply? What are the broad ramifications of this truly mind-boggling development?

Let's connect a few dots so we can step back and look at the ugly picture that emerges. The background to Altantuya Shaariibuu's gruesome abduction and murder can be traced to the Defence Ministry's shopping spree over the last few years that resulted in the acquisition of Scorpene (2) and Agosta (1) submarines and 18 Sukhoi SU30MKM jetfighters. Abdul Razak Baginda, the main accused in the ongoing Altantuya murder trial, is a close friend of DPM and defence minister Najib Razak. Razak Baginda is - or was - a consultant to the Defence Ministry and also doubled as a purchasing agent and high-level negotiator via his private limited company, Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, whose subsidiary, Perimekar Sdn Bhd received a record-breaking RM534.8 million commission on just the submarine deal alone. (Perimekar Sdn Bhd is jointly owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, Boustead Holdings Bhd, and KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd.)

Abdul Razak Baginda's sworn affidavit, filed on January 5th, 2007, named Altantuya Shaariibuu (alias Aminah) as Razak Baginda's mistress. As she was reportedly conversant in several languages, including French and Russian, it can be surmised that she might have come in handy as a paid interpreter at negotiations between the Malaysian Defence Ministry, Perimekar, and the French and Russian manufacturers. She accompanied Razak Baginda during his stay in France to conduct the negotiations - and it has been established that Defence Minister Najib Razak was also in France at the time (June 2005) and handed out jackets sponsored by Perimekar Sdn Bhd to Malaysian submariners undergoing training at the Brest naval yard. On June 11th, 2005, Najib Razak gave a press conference after visiting the site where the Scorpene submarines were being built. This indicates that the Defence Minister took a personal interest in the French submarine deal and it's unimaginable that he would not have been in contact with his purchasing agent, advisor and negotiator, Abdul Razak Baginda (who would have had Altantuya in tow). In effect, Najib's vehement insistence that he never met "the Mongolian woman" rings particularly hollow - and even more so when Altantuya's friend, Burmaa Oyunchimeg mentioned during the trial that she had seen a photograph of Altantuya dining with "the two Razaks." In short, we detect an extremely high possibility of untruthfulness in the Defence Minister's public denial of any personal acquaintance with the murdered Mongolian.

Malaysia's first Scorpene sub, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, launched 23 October 2007 by Rosmah Mansor at the DCNS dockyard in Cherbourg, Normandy, France.

We are also inevitably drawn to the conclusion that astronomical amounts of kickback payments were involved and that "the Mongolian woman" may have been privy to the financial arrangements behind the Defence Ministry's shopping spree in Europe - at least circa June 2005. Could there have been the added bonus and titillation of some fun and games when negotiations were transferred from boardroom to bedroom? Dare we say it... a ménage à trois? If that was indeed what happened in France in June 2005, it would explain the subsequent wrath of Rosmah Mansor, official wife of the Defence Minister and DPM.

Jealous rage and power are a lethal combination - as we have already witnessed in another high-profile murder case, unsolved since 2002, involving Siti Hasleza Ishak, second wife of a member of the Perak royalty. There are many more unsolved murders involving pretty women: take the 2003 case of Noritta Samsudin (left) whose cellphone records were conveniently erased although rumors persist that she had called some extremely powerful politician on the night she was murdered.

So what we have before us is a deadly and scandalous combination: corruption of the first magnitude, sexual peccadilloes, betrayal, blackmail, harassment, intimidation - and finally abduction, possible torture, and cold-blooded murder ending with the body getting blown to a million bits with military-grade explosives. RPK's statutory declaration names three others present at the crime scene: Rosmah Mansor, Lt. Col Aziz Buyong (an explosives expert with the Defence Ministry's engineering corps), and his wife Norhayati Hasan (a Defence Ministry employee who also happens to be Rosmah's aide-de-camp). In every instance, the Defence Ministry is implicated, as well as police personnel assigned as bodyguards to Najib and Rosmah - and everybody knows who the Top Dog is at the Defence Ministry.

Some folks play high stakes poker, willing to risk everything to get where they want to go - in this case, the very highest rung of power in the country.

There is absolutely no way that Abdul Razak Baginda and the two accused UTK cops (Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar) could have accomplished the crime and the subsequent (albeit clumsy) cover-up without help from the highest echelons of power. Not even DSP Musa Safri (Najib's ADC) would have the necessary clout to order immigration records deleted so that there would be no traces of Altantuya and her cousin's arrival in Malaysia.

Then we have the blatant interference of the Attorney-General who replaced the trial judge and prosecution team under outrageously suspicious circumstances - and the dramatic resignation of Azilah's lawyer, Zulkifli Nordin, who publicly stated: "There were serious attempts by third parties to interfere with the defence that I proposed."

RPK alleges that the PM and his son-in-law have read the military intelligence report and are therefore accessories after the crime in that they have all this while been withholding crucial evidence for their own political advantage.

No wonder the BN-owned media have been absolutely mute over RPK's bombshell declaration!

In other words, if RPK is as "reliably informed" as he claims to be, he has just indicted the entire Malaysian government for various jailable offences - and under ideal circumstances we ought to be seeing on TV the arrest of everybody from the PM and his son-in-law, defence minister and DPM Najib and his wife Rosmah, the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police (for aiding and abetting a variety of serious crimes). Even without the anticipated crossovers, BN is dead meat. In any case, nobody in their right mind will accept Najib Razak as Malaysia's next prime minister. The only way he could rule the country would be by martial law - and that would spell ABSOLUTE AND IRREVOCABLE DISASTER for our beloved nation.

But will BN leave the stage without fussing and fighting and resorting to the ISA? RPK took pains to add in his declaration that a ruler had been briefed on the sordid details of the Altantuya murder and was fully in the know. We can only surmise that he was referring to his cousin, Sultan Sharafuddin of Selangor, who was subjected to an abusive phonecall about a month ago - according to an RPK blogpost on Malaysia Today - from none other than Rosmah Mansor! Now that was a really smart move, RPK. Because, when push comes to shove, we may have to call upon Royal Intervention to protect the nation from the vicious Crime Syndicate that has taken over the reins of government.

It's High Noon at the Not-So-OK Corral that Malaysia has become. We watch with bated breath as the showdown begins between those of us who love the country - and those who love only their own power and privilege, which they have abused for far too many decades.

SHAARIIBUU SETEV DESCRIBES RPK AS AN EXTRAORDINARILY BRAVE MAN

      Courtesy of Malaysiakini.TV (added 24 June 2008)

Veteran DAP politician and lawyer Karpal Singh wants Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail to immediately initiate an investigation into the fresh explosive allegations over the Altantuya Shaaribuu murder.

Speaking at a press conference held at his office in Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur today, Karpal said that he will try and arrange a meeting with Gani at his office in Putrajaya tomorrow morning to push for a probe.

Full story in Malaysiakini.com

Camera: Mohd Kamal Ishak
Editing: Indrani Kopal

Did I read this in The Star or NST? NOPE!

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor at a press conference (photo from NST)

An influential Malaysian blogger alleges that Najib’s wife was present when the Mongolian translator was murdered in 2006

Asia Sentinel

One of Malaysia’s most prominent bloggers, in an explosive statutory declaration to a Malaysia court, has alleged that the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as well as a Malaysian Army officer and the officer’s wife were directly involved in the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu on October 19, 2006, and that people at the very top of the Malaysian government are aware of the fact.

The declaration, by Raja Petra Kamarudin, who edits the web publication Malaysia Today, has been ignored by Malaysia’s government-linked mainstream media. However, it threatens to finally break open the case. Even if it doesn’t, it adds considerable chaos to the country’s political mix. The Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition, is reeling from the loss of its two-thirds majority in March elections.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, taking the brunt of criticism over the loss, has already promised to step down at some future date to cede the premiership to Najib. District elections are due in July in the United Malays National Organisation and there are suspicions that the verdict in the Altantuya murder trial is being delayed until the elections are completed.

Raja Petra wrote that Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and Acting Colonel Aziz Buyong and his wife, Norhayati, Rosmah’s aide-de-camp, were present at the scene of the murder and that Aziz Buyong was the individual who placed C4 plastic explosive on Altantuya’s body and blew it up. Both Najib and his wife have repeatedly denied any involvement in the case although top society in Kuala Lumpur has been buzzing for months with rumors of their complicity.

Shaariibuu was executed by two shots to the head and her body was blown up with military explosives in a patch of jungle near the suburban city of Shah Alam. One of Najib’s closest friends, Abdul Razak Baginda, once the influential head of a political think-tank, and two of Najib’s bodyguards, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of the elite Unit Tindak Khas or Special Police Action Unit, have been the subject of a marathon murder trial that got underway more than a year ago.

Neither Najib nor his chief of staff, Musa Safri, has been questioned nor summoned as a witness despite the fact that Baginda in a sworn statement in November 2006 said he had contacted Musa for help in dealing with Altantuya, his jilted lover. That has raised widespread suspicions that the court – prosecution, defense and judiciary – have all been struggling to keep the case under wraps. It has been subject to numerous delays for reasons that are unclear.

Raja Petra himself is due to go on trial in October on sedition charges that were filed against him for writing an article titled “Let’s Send The Altantuya’s Murderers to Hell” and accusing Najib, his wife and others of complicity in the murder. He amplified the statement considerably in his statutory declaration, made last Wednesday, in which he also said that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been a full report by military intelligence on the involvement of his deputy premier’s family. Badawi gave the intelligence report to his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, for safekeeping, according to Raja Petra’s statement.

Raja Petra, a member of the Selangor royal family, also wrote that one of the country’s sultans had been given a full report on the matter. He didn’t identify the sultan, but that raises additional implications, presumably that there is at least one member of royalty who can back up his declaration, which was made under oath, if he is subjected to additional charges over the matter.

From the time Altantuya’s body was discovered, there has been widespread suspicion that not only figures at the top of the government were involved but that the 28-year-old translator and mother of two may have been involved in a much bigger controversy than a jilted relationship. She made several trips to Kuala Lumpur to attempt to confront Baginda, at one point standing in front of his house and screaming “Razak, bastard, come out.” The last time she was seen alive was again in front of his house, when she was bundled into a car and taken away.

She accompanied Baginda to France when he was involved in negotiating the purchase of two Scorpene submarines and a used Agosta submarine produced by the French government through a French-Spanish joint venture, Armaris, for the Malaysian defense ministry, which was headed by . The submarines were bought through a Kuala Lumpur-based company, Perimekar Sdn Bhd, which at the time was owned by yet another company called Ombak Laut, which was wholly owned by Abdul Razak Baginda.

The €1 billion (RM4.5 billion) contract to buy the submarines was non-competitive and netted Perimekar €114 million. Although Najib has sworn an oath to Allah that he had never met the woman, he was in France at the same time one of his best friends was there, dealing with matters over the submarine. A cousin of Altantuya's testified at the trial that she had seen a picture of Najib together with the dead woman, but she was quickly hushed up by both defense and prosecution lawyers about the matter.

Altantuya, by her own admission in a letter discovered after her death, wrote that she had been blackmailing Abdul Razak, presumably to keep his family from finding out about their relationship. But in his cautioned statement to the police, Baginda said he had already informed his family of the relationship and said she was pressuring him for US$500,000. Her father, Setev Shaariibuu, a psychology professor in Ulan Bataar, has said she was killed because she "knew too much," although he has never elaborated on that statement.

Given the close relationship between the two men, and that Najib was reported as presenting jackets made available by Perimekar to the submarine crews training in France, and that Altantuya was along with Baginda, it is difficult to believe they had not met.

It is also difficult to believe, given the wealth of published reports, plus the fact that Azilah Hadri, and Sirul Azhar Umar, were members of Najib's own bodyguard unit, that neither has been questioned about how the bodyguards came to be involved in allegations of Altantuya's murder.

READ THE REST HERE.

NEWSFLASH! THIS APPEARED IN THE STAR TODAY...

KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) has submitted a notice calling for an emergency motion to discuss allegations by online news portal Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin over the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

In his notice, Lim said the credibility and legitimacy of the Government would suffer a mortal blow if the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and those named in the allegations remained silent on the matter.

Copies of the notice were distributed to reporters in the Parliament Lobby.

Lim repeated the statutory declaration by Raja Petra who claimed that he was reliably informed that three people were present at the scene when Altantuya's body was blown up.

"He (Raja Petra) said these three people have thus far not been implicated in the murder nor called as witnesses by the prosecution in the ongoing trial at the Shah Alam High Court.

"He was aware that it is a crime not to reveal evidence that may help the police in its investigation of the crime,” Lim said.

- The Star

RPK FOR IGP! The Stonewall Begins To Crumble!

(Photo courtesy of TV Smith)

Breaking news on Malaysiakini, 20 June 2008.

RPK's explosive Statutory Declaration at the KL High Court dated 18 June 2008. Click to enlarge!

On behalf of all truth-loving Malaysians, I salute your courage, RPK! Thanks for blowing BN's cover. Once again, I nominate Raja Petra Kamarudin for the post of honorary Inspector-General of Police. After you've helped sort out the Force, you're free to go back to blogging full time :-)

Najib, are you mulling over the best place to run to? I hear the Mongolian desert is beautiful beyond words - lots of female camels that don't mind being humped!

IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY: Alex Jones Interviews Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Alex Jones interviews Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (Dem, Ohio) on Friday, June 13, 2008 about his ongoing effort to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice-President Richard B. Cheney for war crimes (among other criminal offences).

Britain's Got Talent: Kate Nicholas & Gin the Performing Canine

16-year-old college student from Cheshire, Kate Nicholas wows Britain's Got Talent panelists Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan with her sensational animal act starring her 6-year-old Border Collie, Gin.

[Recommended by Hari Ho]

THE GREAT OIL SWINDLE ~ by Mike Whitney

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes its laws” - Mayer Rothschild

HOW MUCH DID THE FED REALLY KNOW?
By Mike Whitney

30/05/08 "ICH" -- The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading in oil futures to determine whether the surge in prices to record levels is the result of manipulation or fraud. They might want to take a look at wheat, rice and corn futures while they're at it. The whole thing is a hoax cooked up by the investment banks and hedge funds who are trying to dig their way out of the trillion dollar mortgage-backed securities (MBS) mess that they created by turning garbage loans into securities.

That scam blew up in their face last August and left them scrounging for handouts from the Federal Reserve. Now the billions of dollars they're getting from the Fed is being diverted into commodities which is destabilizing the world economy; driving gas prices to the moon and triggering food riots across the planet.

For months we've been told that the soaring price of oil has been the result of Peak Oil, fighting in Iraq, attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria, labor problems in Norway, and (the all-time favorite)growth in China. It's all baloney. Just like Goldman Sachs prediction of $200 per barrel oil is baloney. If oil is about to skyrocket then why has G-Sax kept a neutral rating on some of its oil holdings like Exxon Mobile? Could it be that they know that oil is just another mega-inflated equity bubble - like housing, corporate bonds and dot.com stocks—that is about to crash to earth as soon as the big players grab a parachute?

There are three things that are driving up the price of oil: the falling dollar, speculation and buying on margin.

The dollar is tanking because of the Federal Reserve's low interest monetary policies have kept interest rates below the rate of inflation for most of the last decade. Add that to the $700 billion current account deficit and a National Debt that has increased from $5.8 trillion when Bush first took office to over $9 trillion today and it's a wonder the dollar hasn't gone “Poof” already.

According to a January 4 editorial in the Wall Street Journal: “If the dollar had remained 'as good as gold' since 2001, oil today would be selling at about $30 per barrel, not $99 (today $126 per barrel). The decline of the dollar against gold and oil suggests a US monetary policy that is supplying too many dollars.”

The price of oil has more than quadrupled since 2001, from roughly $30 per barrel to $126, WITHOUT ANY DISRUPTIONS TO SUPPLY. There's no shortage; it's just gibberish.


As far as “buying on margin” consider this summary from author William Engdahl:

“A conservative calculation is that at least 60% of today’s $128 per barrel price of crude oil comes from unregulated futures speculation by hedge funds, banks and financial groups using the London ICE Futures and New York NYMEX futures exchanges and uncontrolled inter-bank or Over-The-Counter trading to avoid scrutiny. US margin rules of the government’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission allow speculators to buy a crude oil futures contract on the Nymex, by having to pay only 6% of the value of the contract. At today's price of $128 per barrel, that means a futures trader only has to put up about $8 for every barrel. He borrows the other $120. This extreme “leverage” of 16 to 1 helps drive prices to wildly unrealistic levels and offset bank losses in sub-prime and other disasters at the expense of the overall population.”

So the investment banks and their trading partners at the hedge funds can game the system for a mere 8 bucks per barrel or 16 to 1 leverage. Not bad, eh?


Is it possible that gambling on oil futures might be a temptation for banks that are already underwater from a trillion dollars worth of mortgage-related deals that have “gone south” leaving the banking system essentially bankrupt?

And if the banks and hedgies are not playing this game, then where is the money coming from? I have compiled charts and graphs that show that nearly two-thirds of the big investment banks' revenue came from the securitization of commercial and residential real estate loans. That market is frozen. Besides, this is not just a matter of “loan delinquencies” or MBS that have to be written off. The banks are "revenue starved". How are they filling the coffers? They're either neck-deep in interest rate swaps, derivatives trading, or gaming the futures market. Which is it?

Of course, there is one other possibility, but if that possibility turned out to be right than it would cast doubt on the legitimacy of the entire financial system. In fact, it would prove that the system is being rigged from the top-down by our friends at the Banking Politburo, the Federal Reserve. Here goes:

What if the investment banks are trading their worthless MBS and CDOs at the Fed's auction facilities and using the money ($400 billion) to drive up the price of raw materials like rice, corn, wheat, and oil?

Could it be? Could the Fed really be looking the other way so it can bail out its banking buddies while they drive prices skyward?


If it is true; (and I suspect it is) it hasn't done much good. As the Associated Press reported yesterday:

“The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that it will make a fresh batch of short-term cash loans available to squeezed banks as part of an ongoing effort to ease stressed credit markets. The Fed said it will conduct three auctions in June, with each one making $75 billion available in short-term cash loans. Banks can bid for a slice of the available funds. It would mark the latest round in a program that the Fed launched in December to help banks overcome credit problems so they will keep lending to customers.”

Another $225 billion for the bankers and not a dime for the struggling homeowner! The Fed is bankrupting the country with their permanent rotating loans to keep reckless speculators from going under. So much for moral hazard. As far as speculation, there is ample evidence that the system is being manipulated. According to MarketWatch:

“Speculative activity in commodity markets has grown "enormously" over the past several years, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said in a news release. It pointed out that in five years, from 2003 to 2008, investment in the index funds tied to commodities has grown by 20-fold -- to $260 billion from $13 billion.”

And here's a revealing clip from the testimony of Michael W. Masters of Masters Capital Management, LLC, who addressed the issue of “Commodities Speculation” before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs this week: “Today, Index Speculators are pouring billions of dollars into the commodities futures markets, speculating that commodity prices will increase..."


In the popular press the explanation given most often for rising oil prices is the increased demand for oil from China. According to the DOE, annual Chinese demand for petroleum has increased over the last five years from 1.88 billion barrels to 2.8 billion barrels, an increase of 920 million barrels.8 Over the same five-year period, Index Speculatorsʼ demand for petroleum futures has increased by 848 million barrels. THE INCREASE IN DEMAND FROM INDEX SPECULATORS IS ALMOST EQUAL TO THE INCREASE IN DEMAND FROM CHINA.

Index Speculators have now stockpiled, via the futures market, the equivalent of 1.1 billion barrels of petroleum, effectively adding eight times as much oil to their own stockpile as the United States has added to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the last five years.

Today, in many commodities futures markets, they are the single largest force. The huge growth in their demand has gone virtually undetected by classically-trained economists who almost never analyze demand in futures markets.

As money pours into the markets, two things happen concurrently: the markets expand and prices rise. One particularly troubling aspect of Index Speculator demand is that it actually increases the more prices increase. This explains the accelerating rate at which commodity futures prices (and actual commodity prices) are increasing. The CFTC has taken deliberate steps to allow CERTAIN SPECULATORS VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE COMMODITIES FUTURES MARKETS. The CFTC has granted Wall Street banks an exemption from speculative position limits when these banks hedge over-the-counter swaps transactions. This has effectively opened a loophole for unlimited speculation. When Index Speculators enter into commodity index swaps, which 85-90% of them do, they face no speculative position limits.... The result is a gross distortion in data that effectively hides the full impact of Index Speculation.” (Thanks to Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; the one “indispensable” financial blog on the Internet)

Masters adds that the CFTC is pressing to make “Index Speculators exempt from all position limits” so they can make “unlimited” bets on the futures which are wreaking havoc on the global economy and pushing millions towards starvation. Of course, these things pale in comparison to the higher priority of fatting the bottom line of the parasitic investor class.

Brimming oil tankers are presently sitting off the coasts of Iran and Louisiana. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been filled. Demand is flat. The world's biggest consumer of energy (guess who?) is cutting back. As CNN reports:

“At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate. The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded. Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less - that's 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT's Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history."

The great oil crunch is another fabricated crisis; another "smoke and mirrors" fiasco; another Enron-type shell-game engineered by banksters and hedge fund managers. Once again, the bloody footprints can be traced right back to the front door of the Federal Reserve. Don't expect help from the regulators either; they've all been replaced with business reps like Harvey Pitt or Hank Paulson. The only time anyone in the Bush administration finds their conscience is when they're offered a multi-million dollar “tell all” book deal.

Can you hear me, Scotty?

Something to take your mind off the price of oil...

I SALUTE THE ANTI-ISA MARCHERS

How heartened and happy I am to read of the unwavering resolve and shining courage of all those who gathered outside Kamunting to bring an end to the evil ISA. Malaysiakini reported at least 1,000 braved the police cordons and the FRU to light their symbolic candles at the vigil. When people are fearless and united in a noble cause, no armed force in the universe can deter them from expressing their burning desire for freedom from oppression and tyranny.

I am also extremely relieved and reassured to note that there are a few level-headed police officers who, when ordered to perform an unpleasant and unjust task, are able and willing to walk the line between obeying orders and further antagonizing the public.

Kudos to the Pakatan Rakyat state governments who openly lent their support to the June 7 anti-ISA rally at Kamunting. All of us who voted them into power are fully confident that as soon as they take over the federal government, abolishing archaic tyrannical laws will have top priority on their political agenda.

This triumph for human dignity and justice is yet another moral defeat for the no longer relevant and irredeemably rotten BN whose every action and reaction since March 8, 2008 has only estranged them further from the Malaysian voter.

Each day the ISA detainees remain behind bars is one more reason to abolish such evil and unnecessary laws - and the Barisan Nasional along with them. These oppressive laws serve only one purpose: to prop up a corrupt, benighted, piratic and parasitic political party that has mismanaged the land for 50 years.

[Photos courtesy of Malaysiakini]