Month: October 2018

To Pay or Not To Pay…

I’ve been fascinated by the phrase To be, or not to be”, it says so much and yet so little, that’s William Shakespeare indeed.

Recently The Star reported Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, our newly appointed Khazanah MD said, “The government is not the sole decision-maker in whether toll rates should be reduced or maintained as it also depended on the stakeholders”. He continued, “They will not simply dishonour the contract. No government can break those contract. You can read the full news HERE.

 

shahril epf
Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan. He was the CEO of EPF since 2013 before moving to EPF.

Naturally, I wanted to know who these stakeholders are, so I straight away googled the owner of PLUS. In my head, questions flying around, “Khazanah can’t even negotiate with them? They are the cronies of previous government or something like that?”

So the first Google search result for the phrase “plus highway shareholders” returned THIS. it’s another article in The Star back in September 2017. Apparently there are only two shareholder for PLUS Malaysia Bhd, UEM Group 51% and EPF 49%.

So in my head, God damn you UEM, you won’t agree to at least reduce the tolls? Who owns you, I want to know!

So I googled “UEM Group Shareholder”, lo and behold, the first search result returned UEM website with the sentence “UEM Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia.”

Then it hit me, “The stakeholders” here are EPF, then UEM and in turn Khazanah of whom he Shahril himself is the MD. Is this another case of “Najib, mintak dekat Najib, Najib kata boleh, dan bagi dekat Najib” as popularised by our Dear Mat Sabu. Although this time it’s Shahril instead of Najib.

A guy who helmed EPF, and now Khazanah, spouting out nonsense like that. Is he taking us for ride? Just because one is of Oxford and Cambridge educated, it surely doesn’t mean one is full of wisdom. To me, in this regard, he’s a load of bulls. There’s no stakeholder this and that, what it takes is just the will to make it happen. That’s all, no need to spin here and there Datuk Khazanah MD.

And people still wonder why I despise most of the top people at GLC so much.

Adios, and peace be unto all of you.

The Prince and the Youngster

This article on our youngest minister really hit me hard. Here’s a guy who shared on his twitter page, his experience working with the person he really admires, and out of nowhere, our regal prince came and took a jibe at the young minister.

The Prince and the Youngster.

I can’t help but surmise that our prince just could let our dear Tun get all the attention and admiration he deserves. In the past, our prince had also took a jibe at Tun before GE14, not forgetting to mention the conflict our dear Tun had with his late grandfather.

He also said “Don’t change the boat if the engine is not broken, don’t even change the skipper but allow HM The Sultan of Johor and I to work with the skipper”. We all know what he meant by this.

Rewinding a little further back, our prince’s JDT Facebook Page has also been saying things that are unpatriotic and unbecoming of a Malaysian. I have said my piece in a Facebook posting I made on 31 August. and not long after that, the good prince complained that he and his father are being monitored on social media, and I’ve said my piece as well.

And today, here we are again, saying my good piece for the good prince, yet again. My prince, one’s age is not the absolute measure for wisdom or stupidity. Looking at the young minister, he is already a full cabinet minister. On the other hand, many, many years ago, I was still trying to figure out what to do with my life after I got married at 25.

After the stories of Tun’s wonderful UN speech, we have several people coming out sharing similar experience with Tun, on him being ‘a master at his own work’ validating our young minister’s ‘claim’. You can check them HERE and HERE.

I can’t but feel something is off when our good prince is in the news for all the wrong reasons this year. Perhaps something can be learned HERE.

Daulat Tuanku. Peace be unto all of you.

Thinking and Writing

So after close to a year not having my laptop in working condition, I now have it fixed. It was suffering from a logic board malfunction. After spending a good amount of money, I managed to get it working again. I love this MacBook, bought it back in 2012. It’s still very good at doing its thing. Getting a new one will cost me close to RM10K. I don’t think I should be spending that kind of money for a laptop.

Earlier today, I watched our dear Tun M talk on Asia Society, he was asked a question that probably get ask almost every single time he is interviewed. The host was in awe of Tun’s stamina and his great health so he asked where did such health come from.

Tun, reply in the simplest way, we need to be active all the time. Both physically and mentally. What strikes me was when he specifically mentioned READING (nothing new here, we all know he’s a avid reader), THINKING and WRITING.

Thinking and writing is what really made me go “Huh! I know this, this is not the first time I heard this. It was the very reason why I was inspired to write back in the days”.

So, armed with the trusty laptop that has served me since 2012, I started to write again. Not really a heavy hitting post, but just something to get it moving. What do you do before starting a full workout? Just a simple warm-up, right?

Going forward I’ll try to write at least 2-3 times a week. Mostly a commentary of things happening around us. You have got to exercise at least 2-3 times a week right?

So, till we meet again…soon-ish…a certain prince has caught my attention recently.

Peace be unto you.