Lost and Found

Has a scary moment during check in at Arlanda for the flight to Malmo. During the check in at the Business Class counter at KLIA, my luggage was checked in all the way to Malmo.

At Arlanda, the check in counter lady said I cannot do that and would now have to go claim my luggage and have it check in at Arlanda for the Malmo route. It was a hectic 1 hour of trying to track the 'lost' luggage. We went to the MAS counter, and was told that we need to go to the SAS counter. At SAS, we were told to go MAS. Finally, someone said go to Menzies Aviation counter at arrival. We were ushered in to the luggage carousels area again but no bag. There was also no report of a lost bag.

By then, i have tried calling the travel agent in KL, plus firing off a email to them to ask for assistance. Also informed to wife about this little problem.

Upon arrival at Malmo, expectation was not exactly high that the luggage would also arrive.

Lo and behold, the bag came out!!

I am glad that i do not have to wear the same thing for the next 2 days!!

Abdicating one's responsibility

The PM has appointed Idris Jala to be the 'minister/ceo' with the responsibility to oversee the implementation of the government's KPIs.

As a somewhat 'hands on' person who has been rather involved with an organisation's KPIs and delivery systems, I am totally amazed that there are so many levels of control.

The fact is the PM will sit right at the top of the organisation chart, then, for all intent and purposes will be each and every ministries. Now, we have Tan Sri Koh, who is overall in charge of formulating policies/KPI, and then we have Idris who will be held responsibility to ensure the KPIs are implemented by each ministries.

Will IJ be given the authority to 'hire and fire' if KPIs are not met? I doubt it. so, how the heck is IJ going to 'implement' the KPIs if there are ministries who probably dont even want to be 'overseen' by an outsider?

What the heck is TS Koh supposed to be doing? shake legs and fire IJ if the KPIs are not met? Fully blame IJ if the KPIs are not delivered?

And for our dear PM;' TS Koh failed... IJ failed. I am not responsible...someone else was supposed to do the work, not me.'

The way to get this done is simple; the PM must shoulder the sole responsibility since he is the person the ministers (his cabinet) report to. Not all the ministers are there not because they can do the work, but simply because they command certain faction of the bigger political scene; and it is clear these politicians will NOT respond to anyone except the man with the most power. Will they listen to TS Koh or IJ? I certainly have my reservations.

I can see IJ will be in for a tough time.

See here for the report.

TBH inquest: Lawyer grills 'snoozing' officer

If an officer of a private company admitted to sleeping while on official duty, he would have been summarily dismissed.

BUT, this is no ordinary officer and the 'employer' is not ordinary either. So, presumably, no action will be taken.

I wonder whether as a tax payer, i have a right to make a report on this 'officer' to discipline him...?

Sweden..for 1 week

The earlier plan was supposed to be for a few days in Guongzhou (China) where meetings with Chinese companies related to deep sea fishing industries were to have taken place. However, due to time constraint, the China trip did not happen.

After the China trip, a few days later, it will be to Sweden.

The Sweden trip is still happening; will fly off 28th August and back to KL on 5th Sept. That is the current plan.

we will see...

Datin Seri Lestari Rahman's Greeting Video

Take this with a smile.. and a bellyful laugh..

Oh, i guess i dont really have to tell you who this is supposed to be right?

Deep sea fishing off KK, Sabah

OK, sooner or later I will have to detail down this trip that happened between 28th to 30th July 2009.

Perhaps the signs were all there even before we boarded the 7 Stars.

The morning started with a heavy shower while we were still at breakfast. Fortunately it stopped after about 30 minutes of rain. The drizzle kept on for a while more until we were going to board.

There we 10 fishos; 5 locals and 3 from KL with 2 from Singapore. To sweeten the event, we prepared 2 cartons of Carlsberg and a 5 liter pack of Australian red wine. The person who will be doing the cooking for us is a real professional cook who just also happened to love fishing.

However, as it turned out, the sea waves were occasionally higher than the boat itself. There were heavy bouts of rain. Although the current was not particularly strong (we only used size 32 weights!), the rather heavy rocking made fishing quite difficult.

Not a single can of beer was consumed... There were plenty of leftovers even though the food prepared was fantastic. One of the dinner was actually crispy boneless lemon onion chicken...

We came back to shore after a rather heavy storm.

All in all, we had 4 ice boxes of fish, with species such as 7 stars groupers, kingfish (amberjacks up to 18kg), 2 groupers in excess of 7 kg, 2 mackerels in excess of 5 kg each, lots of smaller kerapus, and other kind of fish.

It would have been a more fruitful trip if we have been able to fish longer hours.

Well, the date for another go at KK is set for 16th to 18th April 2010.

anyone wants to go along?

I probably still want one...

Even after the horrendous problems and issues I have had with the E200 Kompressor T, with the new E model, and the imminent launching of the new E Estate models in Germany, it would still be nice to have this...



Front view



Rear view

NICE....

Dear PM, prove it...

Like all Malaysians, it was with extreme incredulity for me to read the PM stating categorically that the MACC is an independent body.

MACC not BN tool, says Najib
4 Aug 09 : 7.45PM

KUANTAN, 4 Aug 2009: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today dismissed claims by opposition parties that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was a tool of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

He said the MACC was an independent body which was free to investigate and act against anyone it found to have committed an offence.

Najib responded thus when he was asked to comment on the reported arrest of a Terengganu assemblyperson and two other persons by the MACC on Sunday for allegedly having received more than RM20,000 in bribes from a developer.

The trio were held in a hotel room in Kemaman, Terengganu, and are under remand for five days from yesterday for investigation.

"This is proof that the claims by the opposition are baseless," Najib said in reference to the arrest of the assemblyperson. — Bernama

The problem is not whether some BN or some not so BN related personnel are investigated and prosecuted.

the crux of the matter is why certain blatant and obviously and publicly glaring cases are not investigated at all.

The case of a certain dentist acquiring RM24 million mansion should be good enough fodder to grind the MACC's teeth for many months, but, NO action whatsoever has been taken. WHY?

The case of a certain 'privately held' multi billion RM Free Zone developed and paid for using cheap loans from Tax Payers should be top priority for MACC, but, NO, we should look into the possibility of undeclared donations of 'flags' worth RM2400.

If only our dear PM knows what is important and not make anymore remarks that implies certain level of stupidity in the rakyat, he may then get some respect. In the meantime, please, do not think Malaysians are just a bunch of idiots who will swallow what ever thrown out hook, line and sinker.

Time for ACTION, Tan Sri?

Following is written by one of the Commissioner of SUHAKAM.

Since SUHAKAM is of the view that demonstration should be allowed, perhaps it is time for at least one of them to join in any assemblies??

Suhakam: Respect right to assembly
3 Aug 09 : 6.45PM

By Tan Sri Simon Sipaun
editor@thenutgraph.com

THE Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) regrets to note that in the process of dispersing the 15,000-strong crowd marching in protest of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Kuala Lumpur on 1 Aug 2009, the police used tear gas and water [cannons] excessively, which also affected bystanders.

The day of the public assembly ended with the police reportedly arresting [nearly] 600 people and 44 juveniles aged between 13 and 17 years old at different locations in the city.

In this regard, Suhakam strongly maintains its stand that the people have the right to participate in peaceful assemblies. Suhakam has consistently urged the government to consider and take into account the recommendations made by the commission on freedom of assembly, as enunciated in the reports of the Kesas Highway and KLCC Bloody Sunday Public Inquiries.

It is therefore recommended that in the event where police find it necessary to control or disperse a crowd, proportionate and non-violent methods should be invoked.


Running from tear gas (Pic by Gan Pei Ling)

In addition, it is also Suhakam's grave concern that the children who were arrested during the rally were handcuffed, detained and held under remand together with the rest of the adult protesters.

Suhakam would like to draw the government's attention to its obligations to observe and protect the rights of children as stipulated under the Child Act 2001 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Consequently, in view of the situation that took place last weekend, Suhakam urges the government to seriously consider Suhakam's recommendation made since 2003 to repeal the ISA due to its nature of detention without trial, which is clearly an infringement of the principles of human rights.

Suhakam would like to reiterate its stance that the ISA should be repealed and replaced by a new comprehensive legislation that balances national security and human rights, [such as] a specific Anti-Terrorism Act to deal with anti-terrorism and mass acts of violence.

Tan Sri Simon Sipaun
Vice-Chairperson
Suhakam

3 Aug 2009