The famous Anus and LIWAT

I have to admit that learning is a lifetime process. I learn new language and new terms daily. Whilst I would understand LIWAT is sodomy in Malay languange, L.I.W.A.T. is also an abbreviation for Liberation of International Working Group for Anwar in Turkey. Recently I also learn that the opposition abbreviation P.K.R. also stands for Parti Khinzir Raksasa.

Whilst the allegation of Anwar Ibrahim’s liking for young men are of national interest (considering sodomy is an offense by Malaysia law) can he really be the alternative to Abdullah Badawi as the Prime Minister of Malaysia?

The people had conveyed their dissatisfaction on Abdullah Badawi government by depriving Barisan National of not only from a landslide victory but also from its 2/3 majority in the last general election but all the component party executives seems to be fully supporting Abdullah. Can Abdullah given a chance, drive Malaysia to achieve the Barisan National Vision 2020 and stabilise the economy from the drastic increase in fuel price and the price of essential items?

Since all Barisan National component party rallied behind Abdullah and agreeing to whatever and everything that Abdullah or the 4th floor boys submit, what will happen to Malaysia if Tun Dr Mahathir stop issuing statements?

Given the failure in the people’s move to awake our Prime Minister from sleep in the last general election and the failure in Tun Dr Mahathir endless call for Abdullah to step down, Anwar Ibrahim became an important instrument in the public’s effort to ‘humble-lise’ BN.

Tun Dr Mahathir had brought us out from both the late 80s and the 1998 recessions which Anwar Ibrahim failed when he was the Deputy Prime Minister cum Finance Minister in the last recession. Anwar almost sold Malaysia to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and most businesses were almost bankrupted when he increased the interest rate for his political gain in the last recession which was reversed by Tun Dr Mahathir when Tun resumed the post of Finance Minister when Anwar was sacked.

What has the public benefitted from Abdullah’s government? The current infrastructure developments were all of Mahathirism. There is currently no such thing as Abdullah’ism except for the Islam Badawii.. eh.. hadhari.. which even I do not understand. Now, even the islam Hadhari concept had disappeared from the public. What is perceived and felt under Abdullah’ism is the toll price increase (for highway that was completed even before the construction material prices increased), the petrol price increase, electricity bill increase and all other essential items price increases. What is also pronounced under Abdullah’ism is the announcement of the National Automotive Policy (NAP) by only his special officer. Certainly a policy of national interest should be announced by at least a cabinet minister or the Prime Minister himself raising doubt on Abdullah’s credibility or Abdullah’s trust in his Ministers. This again proves the significant of the 4th floor compared to other cabinet Ministers. Typical of Abdullah, once the announcement went sour, his deputy Najib Razak was appointed Chairman of the automotive policy and typical of Najib to accept and become a yes man. As a consequence of the NAP, majority of the public were not able to sell and dispose of their car due to the revision in the used car prices or risk having to pay the bank extra payment to settle the balance car loan. Many used car dealers were bankrupted holding stocks of cars that now fetches below their cost price and new car dealers sales plummeted as buyer were not able to trade in their cars (to buy a new car), to say the least.

Businessmen had to absorb all the increase in operating cost without much assistant from the government. Abdullah’s indecisiveness in the future of Proton too raises further doubt on his long term vision and his commitment to BN’s vision 2020. The vision 2020 is a BN’s future direction which Abdullah as the Chairman of BN should see through its success. Without the vision 2020, there is no other long term vision of Barisan National. Proton and the automotive sector contribute significantly to the national GDP growth and a constant annual GDP growth of at least 8% is imperative to ensure the Vision 2020 is realised. Where is Malaysia future direction now and it is doubtful Abdullah is able to drive Malaysia with his indecisiveness. It is even doubtful that the 9th Malaysia plan can even materialise fully.

Previously, with the mega-projects under Tun Dr Mahathir government (or at least those that was not scrapped), we could at least see our money spend on tangible outlook that benefited the public rather than under Abdullah’s 'corridors' that was launched and awarded as a carrot for the last general election cum the year end UMNO assembly but nothing has started whilst our country's money are depleting, petrol subsidy reduced and the public's disposable income are deteriorating.

It is also a fact that our crime rate had multi fold since Abdullah took the premiership. These are issues that affected our daily life and however positive the statistics that the government portrayed are all immaterial as we felt the negativity in our daily life when we refuel our petrol, shop for groceries, replace our existing car and walk down the street fearing the mat rempik, thugs and snatch thieves.

What can Anwar & his PKR offer that BN cannot? An opportunist by nature, whatever weaknesses in BN is Anwar’s marketing strategy but what is Anwar’s long term vision? True and it is also a known fact that Anwar and PKR long term vision is to make Anwar Ibrahim as the new Prime Minister but that is Anwar & PKR vision, mission and objective! How can Anwar becoming the Prime Minister benefits the public? What about Malaysia’s long term plan and strategy that is probably better than the 9th Malaysia Plan and better than the Vision 2020?

There is no future plan and direction with Anwar and PKR but we do need Anwar to ‘humble-lise’ BN. But Anwar is only important as an opposition and NOT as a government. There is no glory felt in Abdullah’s government given his indecisiveness in everything and if Abdullah resign, Najib will be the next Prime Minister. A man whom half his life was spend as a cabinet minister and never took a stand or so we see. What and how can Najib drives Malaysia further being a yes man all his life in cabinet… if he ever become the Prime Minister! I am speculating that Abdullah is strategising the removal of Najib by planting a reverse psychology that suggested Najib was involved in framing Anwar with the sodomy charges (over and above the Altantuya tragedy to discredit him). When Anwar accused the government of conspiring with Saiful to lodge a police report against him, Abdullah was quick to deny his involvement but went on to say that he did not think Najib had anything to do with it too, indirectly suggesting that Najib is in fact was the culprit for the alleged conspiracy. Najib had to deny, when neither Anwar nor anybody had ever accused Najib.. except indirectly by Abdullah whom triggered with the drop of hint. Najib's denial became a headline frontpage news in all medias (hence government-own media). Wan Azizah (Anwar’s wife) then met with Abdullah for assurance on Anwar' safety further suggested a conspiracy at the highest level. Having announced Najib as his successor, Abdullah and his 4th floor boys had to orchestrate other means to remove Najib and take the highlight away from the public on the Malaysia poorly managed country and economy. It is believed (Abdullah's greatest fear) that Najib is repeating and adopting Anwar previous strategy in removing Tun Ghaffar as the Deputy PM. Even before the election, Anwar’s boys were able to gather enough nomination that left Ghafar Baba with no other choice but to concede defeat. A season politician and always fronting a ‘Yes man’, Najib should be able to gather enough nominations for the President’s post this incoming branch and division meetings in July. This make Najib as Abdullah’s greatest threat after Anwar.

Given the long term Vision 2020 of BN, there is no doubt we need BN as the government but what we needed more now is a strategist and a driver for Barisan National and Malaysia as how Matthias Chang viewed Tun Dr. Mahathir as the Prime Minister. Tun was the sun and the Cabinet was the moon. The moon’s glow is the reflected shine of the sun. Hence, the ministers were perceived to have been effective. Sadly, today, we are experiencing a total eclipse! There is no shine coming from the Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi and as such how can we expect any reflected glow in the Cabinet? ... and the glory of Malaysia.

Good luck to us Malaysian…

The corridors of power and our power within..

What would be more ironic than to have our fate determined by those in the Corridors of power? We know that the Petrol price has increased and we cannot stop bitching about it. Similarly, we know the price of electricity, water and most essential items will be increased (if not already increased).

We know (though some maybe doubtful) that Anwar Ibrahim is probably gay and is homosexual and we bitch about his sex life as if his sex life is more important than the price of petrol. We know that we as the citizen do not benefit from any policies of Abdullah Badawi (except Abdullah’s family members that we learn from fellow bloggers like Raja Petra- RPK). We know that Najib Tun Razak having spend almost half his life as a cabinet Minister had never made any stand on his own beside yes sir yes sir and we know that his decision is probably the decision of his wife Rosmah which is doubtful if it is any better than Abdullah whom allow the 4th floor to decide for him on almost all Malaysia matters.

But what would be more ironic than that fate that was determined by those in power is to let the power that you have to be out of control. Yes we don’t agree with all the price increases but hey vote against our MPs that passed and did not debate against the price increase in the next general election. That is your power and your right and what is also within your power and control is your survivability which is more important for now. Even if we bitch every second and every hour and every day about the government’s policies, we still have to refuel our car petrol, pay the toll, pay our utility bills and even have to buy chicken when the price doubled up soon. We cannot stop using the car (or use the bicycle like the stupid display of disagreement by the opposition MPs) especially with the lousy public transportation and we cannot stop eating chicken or use candles instead of switching on the light to avoid paying the electricity bill. The next general election to channel our grouses is in another 4 years. What we need now is to survive more than bitching about everything which does not and will not solve anything. Even Anwar is probably busy with boys when he is not debating. Everybody has to survive.

Let us forget for a moment everything that is not in our control and take control of everything that is in our power? Yes, our disposable income! That is what we can control. True our disposable income is much less now with all the price increase whatever the amount is. Soon the government may use the interest rate to manage the economy and that will further decrease our disposable income. Generally, almost 90% of the working population has either a mortgage or a hire purchase loan or perhaps both. More often, 30% of our income per month is spend on the mortgage or house rental, another 30% on hire purchase car loan and another 10% for income tax, EPF and SOCSO leaving only 30% as our disposable income or the percentage that makes up our lifestyle. The 30% disposable income is usually spend on the following categories:

1) Petrol, car maintenance and toll
2) Utility bills (electric, water, astro)
3) Household expenses (Groceries, toiletries and gardening)
4) Healthcare, doctors, medicines, vitamins
5) Shopping and entertainment
6) Savings.

To be able to sustain our current standard of living or disposable income, we either need to (1) increased our salary or (2) have a higher disposable income. The recent price increased in the essentials also affected the cost of operation of our employer and the likelihood of getting a pay revision is highly unlikely. So we are left with only the latter option, to increase our disposable income.

Generally a total of 60% of our income is spent on mortgage or house rental and car hire purchase loan. We can dispose of the house and/or the car or the second house or second car and buy a cheaper one to have more disposable income but this is too tedious. If we want to maintain the same house and car but would like to have a higher disposable income, we can try to refinanced both the car and the housing loan to a longer period. Housing loan can be extended to a maximum of 30 years and car hire purchase loan (depending on year of manufacture) can be extended to 9 years. Most of the Banks now have various package of refinancing housing loans. This is imperative to ensure that the fix percentage of our spending on fix loans is reduced. A car is a necessity and is inevitable given the current state of our public transportation in Malaysia. Refinancing the car loan will ensure that you can service your hire purchase car loan regularly given further increase in the essential items prices.

With all price increases and soon the interest rate too (hopefully not), if we do not refinance our existing loans and fix the interest rate at the current rate which is still low, we may not only have a lower disposable income but we may not be able to even afford the monthly loan repayment. Thus, take action now before it is too late. In 1998 recession, all new loans we frozen and any refinancing of loans (once we are in recessions) will be impossible.

This reduction in fix loan payment per month can ensure we are ready for any inevitable price increase or interest rate variation (given our indecisive government) but it is also best to avoid any other inevitable expenses such as exorbitant car maintenance and health care.

With smaller disposable income given all price increased, any inevitable cost such as car repair or healthcare will further deplete our negligible disposable income and savings. For a start, our driving behaviour can save petrol consumption by more than 30% if we drive slow and do not step and accelerate above 2500 rpm. Driving behaviour is a start but regular car maintenance will warrant any inevitable damage to the car engine which will cost you a bomb. A normal engine lubrication service starts from only RM80 but will ensure the engine is well maintained and this regular engine lubrication service will also save your petrol consumption further which is a great savings in the long term. Proper wheel alignment and balancing will promote greater fuel savings as well as prolonging the wear and tear of any tyres which otherwise will also cost you a minimum of RM200 per tyre change. With a proper wheel alignment, balancing and driving behaviour, a tyre can last more than 20,000km. Unfortunately, the tyre and engine oil lubrication price will also increase as a chain effect of the fuel price increase… it would be good if we, the public, can hedge the tyre and lubrication oil price at the current price to avoid any further increase in the future as lubrication oil and tyres are essential expenditure for car owner. If we can hedge similar to how Airasia hedge their fuel price, then even the public can enjoy the savings by not paying more when the price increase. Yes, I will make sure Fasfik has this package extended to the public so that car owners can hedge their engine lubrication oil price as well as their tyre price fix on the current price. This is important so that you will not have to further reduce your disposable income unnecessarily.


Medical and healthcare is also a pinch in the pocket. It does not cost you much to be healthy but every time you are sick and have to visit the clinic or hospital, there will definitely be an additional cost for the travelling petrol, time and clinical bills. To avoid unexpected sickness, we have to ensure we are always healthy. All that it takes to be healthy is just a regular daily 30minutes exercise. Perhaps 30 minutes run or a walk in your neighbourhood. These 30 minutes run can improve your stamina, increase your body antibody, reduce your cholesterol or sugar level and keeps the doctors away.

Historically, the economic recession is a 10 years cycle with the last recession being in 1998. Since our country is still recording growth, theoretically we are not in recession.. or rather that is what the Government are misleading us to think. Even the CPI is said to be 5% lower than the inflation rate but we know that we are spending more than 30% our regular spending in bill payment (pertrol, electricity etc) and groceries.

Therefore and needless to say, let us not get conned by whatever the government is saying and let us not bitch too much on whatever the government is doing, let us take control and do something with our ownself before it is too late. Afterall, we need to survive..!