Open Door?

Batang Ai is up for grabs. No one is doing any speculating for now.But if the rakyat gets their heads together, this might as well be the first crack at the domination of White Beard's BN backed empire. You might as well scoff at the notion. But one never expect miracles until the very defining moment.

Have we been so dammed content being under White Beard's beck and call; all this as he
and his cronies suck whatever resources out for their own financial gains? It is rather amusing
they are confident of their eventual 'win'. But countless Sarawakians cannot be wrong; for
the joke is starting to get old.

It is fair to me to say that Malaysia as a whole is at the crux of unspeakable change that will shakewhatever we are taught to believe. Yes. Peg me as a uncurable optimist. But to stand there and be self-rightiously cynical about things will not amount to shit. It is the old order's culture to keep the young from dreaming big things; to settle for an inferrior immitation of the good life while all the insides of your soul rot away to the state sponsored malaise of fickle gossip-entertainment.

Call me guilty of being a dreamer. If I were a sin in your eyes, i'll definetely take the mantle of being of what you deem a heretic.

How much our local Sarawakian media is trying to paint a rosy picture! Laughable! Ha! How much people like Alfred Jabu would use his stock down-to-earth roots talk to cajole voters from the interior; at times tapping at pantang to perhaps give them the heebie jeebies. The Nietzchian
idea of politics holds sway in the hearts of these hopelessly morally bankcrupt lap dogs. " Give me your votes so I can live on the rakyats federal revenue! " It's ironic it is these types of conservatives who complain and moan of federal welfare as a means of making the people lazy!
Elected slackers in office? Hell yeah!

What one sees in Perak is merely the infantile attempts of dying regime to legitamalize itself. Talk about their profuse sweats of desperation as they scramble for damage control. Even in Kuching town, forces are at play to try to discredit Chong Jien Jen right as a fairly elected representative of the Rakyat. You may accuse of me being in conspiracy theory overdrive. I do not have any smidgen of proof. But ask a man down the street that. It's obvious to us its the very rancid stench of politricks in the air.

Good news, for once.

And the brave and righteous fight back.

V Sivakumar, to most, seems to be a man bent desperation. You can say he is trying to break
the democratic process by barring the new BN MB. I shall resprect you stance of taking the middle ground. I have one problem with your argument though... the notion that recent events in Perak were all fruits of democracy is frankly laughable and highly misleading. The BN spin machine has tried tried to paint a picture of Truth prevailing for the sakes of the noble BN party. Wishfull thinking my dear sirs, even a fool could figure the glaring lie behind your PR smiles.

I shall make my stance in this very plain; Sivakumar has gone to the point where he shall not stand for this very obvious contempt the House... the total disrespect of democracy itself; all this by means of money politics and selfish ambitions at the expense of the Rakyat. BN may argue that it's rights as 'legally elected' officials has been demeaned. But it does takes any criminal to try to paint himself as the victim. BN was never the victim. It just so happens that the crook has found himself an oppsotion, what better way for a coward to defend himself by using the time honored 'oppressed do-gooder' ticket!



News of Elizabeth Wong's plight is making it's rounds as the most talked about topics, even here in Sarawak. Instead of giving BN the needed ammo to discredit Pakatan, it has ellicited a surge of sympathy from the public; as well as opening up to them the true nature of BN's running dog tactics of sleaze and corruption. We have seen now how individuals like Khir Toyo try to profess viritue and morality, only to have it back-fire to their faces, even earning ire from their colleagues from the ranks. Such politricks could only carry the proud and conceited far. But in the day, these same people would have to find a dammed good excuse to explain to multitudes who are right now reaching the end of their wanning patience.

Don't mess with us, mr. politician. For we have the right of the to VOTE YOU OUT!

Notes In This Here Times (Part 3)

Note: I actually wanted to talk about my take on the state of affairs in Sarawak in my last post.
But I seriously didn't think the rushed nature would be of any justice. So yeah...heres my dua sen regarding this.

The fact is clear even to the most dumbest of idiots living in this here state; that the family economy of old White Beard has done more to stunt any real progress, be it cultural and economical. Sure.... stay home and don't talk about politics. Live your lives in a state of ignorance even a mute would hint at. But te fact stays the same: the systematic plunder of the state by the so-called leaders that be.

It's really amazing at the deafening silence we Sarawakians are making. We bitch and moan about the corruption thats rampant in the corridors of power. But we are also fearful enough to be chicken shit; to quietly take the payoffs by the YB's for them to have you vote for them. You'd think you are fucking brave to actually be smart in your skills of survivalism. But what happens when self interest becomes party to watching everything crash and burn. All the sudden your 'luck' in the hierachy means nothing. Rome is left burning to ashes. And here you are roasting to death in your beds screaming.

Perhaps the notion of not causing is too ingrained are all to genteel Asian psyche. To oblige and be doormat as the thief breaks in and fucks your girl. You suck it up and tell it it's just part of life. You are just scared to speak out in fear of retribution. All the while in your silence the YB's and Wakil Rakyats live of their extravagances on our taxes.

Silence works both ways. It other comforts and consoles. But in this case we comfort ourselves to the resignation to a life thats obviously unfair. It is unfair not because of the how it really is in the world. It is unfair because that the powers that be has made it this way to serve their selfish needs. I have earlier mentioned in my posts that my dear brothers are very much underpaid with only $500. It really astounds me even now that my employers (Lord bless them.) could seriously get away with such travesty. Clearly no system or trade unions is in place to fight for their rights and convince them it is actually a wise investment to pay the workers more. All this talk about the lessening of the percentage of poverty; still the the money all goes to the private parties and vacations of the powerful. They let small hearted capitalists go unchecked (even dealing with them!) with their cruelty. To think it's the same system that teaches nilai bertimbang rasa and berbaik hati in their children's Pendidikan Moral classes. How much telling is their government in their blindness in this matter.

I seriously wish all this was just another bad dream. I really wish this country is as good as what the TV and papers had it out to be. But the truth is the divisions are still as apparent as ever. No matter how much we hire the best graduates from places like Lim Kok Wing to paint a rosy picture about Malaysian life; to those brothers and sisters living on the other side the answer is so fucking obvious. They are pretty much doomed. It would really take a miracle to really get them out of this cycle.


Perhaps it is indeed coming after all....

Notes in this here times. (Part 2)

Let us remember a few things here; while all you are safe in the relativecushy comfort of your homes and cushy jobs.....

The vast numbers arrested past and present under the ISA. Those who dare totell the truth and paid for it dearly in incarceration and torture. People such as Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the Hindraf 5. These were the people that would like us could have watched the shit unfold and remain silent overthe issues that clearly shows the abject rot in this so-called 'harmonious' nation
and the men that claims to be our leaders. They, with all their power and conceit, silenced those voices of conscience. Sure... another topic well avoided for the public peace and investors. But it's basically serves to dig their graves ever so deep. To actually fall from grace will be the death will kill them us all.

To actually say we're better of talking about things in this country is no better like a wife who stands an abusive marriage. To let BN just get away with bloody murder would no better be an abject act of complicity. No better than the Germans with the atrocity of World War 2 and the Holocaust. A man may be put behind bars for the truth; that a whole lot better than the rest of the population losing their rights and lives to the ever racist political machine.

All this talk of the component parties of BN 'reforming' and 'reevaluating their priority' has reccently been shown as cosmetic and mere lip service. Trust MCA to get in dubious individuals like Chua Soi Lek. Never mind what he does with his privates in his spare time, but mere fact that he plays to the tune of generic Malaysian practice of corruption ( a friend of mine says that to most people in Johor, its common knowledge to where he gets his extra income)is one thing not even a fool like me could possibly ignore. Do seriously we, the Malaysian Rakyat, would take you seriously?

Sure signs of BN's miserable desperation

Try if they want. But they could not stop this ball from rolling. It was proven to us on March 8th that the public has had it up to here with corruption and racism that is prevalent in the culture of Barisan Nasional politics. This is enough for these crooks (together with the police, those criminals in uniforms) to go up in arms in what they perceived as the day of reckoning for all their blood in their hands. They have been talk after the election for BN to go 'find their roots', to learn from whatever mistakes so to speak. But it's really bloody clear to us all that they are still tied to their habitual dirt mongering, just get their points across.

It would be really fair to say that they only do this to dig their own graves. Public opinion has been in all time low and the police force has the gall to actually arrest Anwar without a warrant. Nat Tan had said that is was ploy for the coppers to tell the goverment that they (the govt.) are not to bring the police down with them once the shit hits the fan. Pretty much going to a defensive survivalist mode I must say, but in reality THEY ARE GOING DOWN. With all their focus going to investegating the alleged 'sodomy' case, little has been said about the progress of solving who kidnapped Sharlienie (refer to the link on my last article). Talk about a gross case of priortisng... no wonder we all don't look to our policemen very highly.

Do not take this that I'm a hater of all the boys in blue. They are good people eere and the goverment it's really hard to make real positive progress. And it's about high time we say "Ënough is enough!". We are not take the abuse of power at the expense of us rakyat anymore!

Dubious allegations in Anwar's sodomy trial.

RPK hits it spots on stating that it was as if UMNO was mirroring the CIA in trying to sabotage Anwar and him. THe whole thing is a case of smoke and mirrors, the degree of conspiracy and deceit that even Survivor would be very proud of. The weird part that peaked my interest was Pete's mention of the setting up of the special police operations center before the alleged sodomy case took place. Dubious isn't it. It's as if they were really psychic there and then to see it coming. Even more intriging is the fact that the special police operations took place the office of a Shafee Abdulah, a UMNO legal hatchet mannoted for fixing trials involving the people implcated in the Altantya case. TO the faint hearted it's really sickening to know that the judiciary sytem is athte mercy of the unscrupilous higher-ups bent on concealing their guilt.

It's all in the goal from preventing the tsunami of change fast rising to wash all the corruption that BN has built. It's really understandable; for in their own sense of condemantion they try to hit out faster and meaner than before. At what cost, I ask? Athte expese of the rakyat? At the emotional toll of their own family members who probably (if thats the case) in the dark about all the injustices that their loved one has commited in power. Corruption, no matter how big or small dooms the best of all ideas and dreams. It is a cycle that comes back at one with an unspeakable vengence. Definetely they are no one spared in this. Not one.

Sordid details of our leaders value system. How low can they go to protect their interests.

Bad police priortising at the expense of young lives (in the expense of criminal perverts)

Btw, kudos to Captian Zahar for spilling the beans in the first link. THis vry much goes to show that for all the dubiousness in this world, there are good people that actually have integrity and values which is fast becoming a dying thing in modern society. Sure... we may lump people of dirrent race, creed or party affiliation in stereotypical character profiles just make thing easy for our own personal clasification. But the truth is... it's really far from the truth. They are people , regardless from Pakatan or BN who are actually sincere in making a diffrence in their communities. The only thing that totally fucks it up is the sheer abject abundance of personal politcics that in the end turns most into the hardest of cynics and survivalist manipulators.

It's really sad considering that even Pak Lah himself gets himself in the rut at the expese of his own party's code of ethics.Perhaps it's growing insecurity that he and his party is numbered. Destined to be on the voter chopping block. You can not blame the rakyat being so exasperated with BN. 50 years after merdeka it's still the same with the the racial and economic divide. This is very much coupled with the growing revelations of corruption (does any remeber VK Lingam, anybody?) which only serves to twist the knife even further.

Yeah. Times are really getting dire. It's really depressing if you really think of it. But lest you are. Here's a poem for you to consider:

And I am still despite the violence of the storm,
Our leaders take the newest low at the expense of us,
the world burns aflame in its destruction.
Still I am calm, in the very sanctity of peace that is You.

For what can the corrupt do to dispense their own justice,
like blooming flowers the just rise to bring them down,
For out of the mouth of babes comes the revelation,
the Word, The Truth, the Grace, The Ultimate Bullet.
Broken are the hardest of hearts,
Crumbed are the barricades of color and hate,
We are now saved from the foolishness of self.
We are all saved so we may all live again!

Again, do keep our freedom fighters in your prayers, especially for the coming by-elections. May
evil and corruption be stopped in their tracks! May rightious and just prevail always!

What the f...

A glimpse to the UMNO/ Pas talks.

A commentary on that by Nat Tan.

Under no circumstances should Pas be in bed with the devil himself. Let also be noted that discussions should not be a on the future of one particular race but of the whole of the populace of Malaysia; be it Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. The fact that UMNO made the talks at the expense of the other component parties is nothing short of insensitive and callous towards their prevailing doubts to their feelings regarding Pas. This also serves to expose on how self serving are their agendas; the promotion of mono-racial unity which only alienate voters of the other racial demographic. Is it fair to say that we, of the other side of the fence are unimportant and not fit for any mean of consideration? Wake up for fucks sake! This idea of racial dominance is just pure delusion and empty egotism. We must realise that everyone, regardless of race and creed is equally as important to the social process. We call ourselves a muhibah nation. For pete sake... do act like one, man!

Pas on the other had is risking screwing up their credibility rto their brother parties of PKR and DAP who, may I remind them, are in this fight against BN and all that it stands for. To say 'don't meddle with our affairs' to their brother in arms makes me marvel at Pas' seeming inability to negotiate and work around their differences. No person in his good state of mind would abuse their ally. Do they even remotely remember their elder's teaching them to work together; to keep each other in check and build each other up in giving out constructive critiszm rather being some spoit brat autocrat and mess things up with their aimless bravado?

The whole idea of these negotiations, to me, is a pathetic farce by BN to undo the 2/3 majority garnered by the opposition in Selangor during the last elections of 2008. To have Pas jump to an obviously sinking ship would be futile and would do no contribution to all the rakyat in Selangor. We need no more of these cloak and dagger and politics. We need a goverment more concerned to bridging the gaps in the socio-economic divide. You would say it makes a damn good telenova to a average housewife. But has it ever put food to the table? To alleviate the sufferings of the hardcore poor? Enough bullshit and more work I say! Just serve the rakyat and don't be so bloody content of having the rakyat serve you!

Much Needed Sobering Truths.

When the ‘Dirty Dozen’ left PKR to rejoin Umno just before the 2004 general election, everyone knew that Ezam and Najib were behind this move. Of course no one said anything about Ezam’s role.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is not surprising that one-time PKR youth leader Ezam Mohd Noor rejoined Umno. What is surprising is that he waited until after the 8 March 2008 general election to do so. Long before 8 March, Ezam had already been flirting with Umno. In fact, it was an open secret that Tun Daim Zainuddin was financing his NGO, Gerak. And Daim is behind Najib Tun Razak -- so it was the Deputy Prime Minister and not Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who was instrumental in Ezam rejoining Umno.

Actually, most people already knew that Ezam was about to take that final plunge. Photographs of him with Muhammad son of Muhammad and Aziz Shamsuddin, etc., had been floating around the Internet for a couple of years -- even during the time when Anwar Ibrahim was still in jail. The problem at that time, though, was that Ezam was PKR’s blue-eyed boy, the darling of the party, and any negative comments about Ezam, or Azmin Ali for that matter, was considered a treacherous act. You are a traitor to the cause, a traitor to PKR, a traitor to the opposition, a traitor to the Malay race, and a traitor to the entire nation -- all in one -- if you badmouth one of the PKR darlings.

That is the trouble with PKR. They dabble in cult personalities. When you are the current hot favourite, the flavour of the day, even your fart smells sweet. But once you fall out of favour then they even curse your poor innocent mother who has nothing to do with your political business and does not even know what is going on.

The PKR crowd is one emotional group of people. I suspect that if Anwar was to order them to commit mass suicide they might just do so. And that is dangerous, as time and time again history has proven. If Anwar could get a religious scholar somewhere in the world to come out with a fatwah (religious decree) that if you die for PKR you will go straight to heaven where 70 virgins are waiting for you, I bet we will not be short of candidates who will volunteer to undertake suicide missions.

Whether it is Anwar, Dr Wan Azizah, Nurul Izzah, Azmin, or Ezam, they all have their cult followers. The PKR people revere their idols and appear to lose their senses when in the presence of these demigods. So how to tell these PKR herds that Ezam is not what he appears to be and that he is a plant, a Trojan Horse, a termite meant to weaken the ranks of PKR? Try doing that and you will get a beer bottle broken on your head. So it was best to just keep quiet and watch. Time would reveal the truth. And, true enough, the truth has now been revealed.

I remember when I was once the sub-editor of the party newspaper, Suara Keadilan, and I published a letter from a reader that criticised PKR’s Youth Movement. The letter was about the high-handed manner the Youth Movement ‘security squad’ handled the crowd. Even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, when he was still Prime Minister, was not that well-guarded and his security team did not push and shove the crowd the way the PKR Youth boys did.

It was not my comment. It was a letter from a reader and I allowed it to get published. Wow, you should have seen the SMSess I received. The PKR Youth boys cursed me and one of Ezam’s ‘groupies’, Jo, even challenged me to a boxing match. I was having dinner with Johari Abdul and Dato’ Kamarul at that time and I showed them the SMS.

The next day I turned up at the party headquarters in Shah Alam where PKR Youth was having its monthly meeting. I waited at the bottom of the stairs for Jo to see if he really wanted to Kungfu me. Okay, he may be half my age, but I could still deliver a punch that can floor someone 30 years younger than me. Jo walked up to me and I was ready with clenched fists. Only one of us was going to walk away from this fisticuff and I had planned that that would be me. Instead, Jo reached out to shake my hand and he apologised, so I allowed the matter to end there.

Yes, you can criticise Islam. They will allow you to get away with that. But try criticising Ezam or PKR’s Youth Movement and all hell will break loose. Look at what happened to Lokman Adam. He too revealed a lot of dirt on Ezam and they threw him out of the party. Lokman is a good man. He is fearless and would sacrifice his freedom for the party, which he did when he was detained under the Internal Security Act for 26 months in April 2001. But make one negative comment about Ezam or the Youth Movement and you are history.

While on the subject of Lokman, one day, while covering a demonstration in front of the Dang Wangi Police Station along what used to be called Campbell Road, Bakri Zinin, the then OCPD who is now the CID Director, arrested me. I was taking photos at that time when Bakri grabbed me by the neck and asked me where I was from. I replied that I was from Seruan Keadilan and he ordered one of his men to immediately arrest me.

As I was being dragged into the police station I shouted out to Lokman that I was being arrested. Lokman pushed the police officer and he fell to the ground. I almost fell as well but Lokman grabbed me to prevent me from hitting the tarmac. I was too shocked to react. I mean; there was this police officer sprawled on the road trying to get up as quickly as he could and I did not know what I should do. Lokman shouted at me to run and I did, with the hapless police officer hot on my heels.

I escaped and five minutes later sneaked back into the crowd and took all the photos I needed while making sure that Bakri did not spot me. Lokman stood in front of the police station gate and refused to move even when they threatened to arrest him. He wanted to make sure that no one got arrested that day and he was going to stand guard in front of the police station. Yes, there used to be three of them -- Lokman, Tian Chua and Gobalakrishnan -- one Malay, one Chinese and one Indian loose cannon. Today there are only two left.

But Lokman was thrown out of the party not because he did not do his job but because he criticised Ezam and the Youth Movement. Ezam and the Youth Movement can do no wrong. Even their fart smells sweet. And if you criticise them you are dead meat. So no one says anything even though everyone knows the inner dark secrets of Ezam and his Youth Movement.

When the ‘Dirty Dozen’ left PKR to rejoin Umno just before the 2004 general election, everyone knew that Ezam and Najib were behind this move. Of course no one said anything about Ezam’s role. They cursed the Dirty Dozen and called them traitors who sold out for money. But no one dared say that Ezam was behind the Dirty Dozen rejoining Umno. To do so would incur the wrath of the entire party. So everyone kept quiet and did not mention Ezam’s name. They focused on cursing the Dirty Dozen and kept Ezam’s name out of it while in their hearts they knew that this was merely Ezam’s first move in his eventual re-entry into Umno.

Yes, cults are dangerous. If there is one thing that will be the death of PKR it will be the cult culture. People refuse to see things for what they are. Common sense no longer prevails when you look at things from the angle of cults. And Ezam was one such cult figure. And Ezam could do no wrong. Even when Lokman revealed the truth and exposed Ezam for what he is, it was Lokman and not Ezam who was punished.

Today, Lokman can look the entire PKR in the face and proudly proclaim, “I told you so!” But what good will that bring? The damage has been done. The fake Ezam has revealed his true colours while Lokman has much earlier been kicked out of the party for ‘bad-mouthing’ Ezam. Are we going to see more of this as time goes by? Will we finally see the fakes being exposed while those who had exposed them long ago were sent out to pasture?

PKR owes Lokman a huge apology. Lokman had warned the party what Ezam really is but it was Lokman instead of Ezam who was thrown out of the party. And PKR Youth has not changed. It is still high-handed as the recent ‘pesta’ at the Kelana Jaya stadium proved. But try criticising PKR Youth and see what will happen. They will send you a SMS and challenge you to a boxing match. PKR Youth is a sacred cow, which must not be criticised. And, in time, another PKR Youth leader will resign and will rejoin Umno on the excuse that Anwar is gay and has committed sodomy. And then this ‘sacred cow’ will be called all sorts of names although before this you criticised him at your own peril.

When will PKR ever learn? Ten years on and it is still so immature and can’t seem to understand that you just can’t build a party based on personality cults. And PKR will get burned many more times before it wises up. If the survival of PKR is centred on personalities, then it will not go far. Personalities come and go. And if the party’s future is tied to these personalities then the party will disappear when these personalities do.

RPK hits this spot on. Do away with the cult of personality in politics. You never know who turns out to be the biggest snake or poseur ( in this case Mohd Ezam, with his shadowy cloak and dagger firtations with the real enemy) The truth is, the personifcation of mere humans as demigod ambassadors of change is very immature ( according to RPK) and callous.

Was this the same mentality that plagued the Germans in the 1930's and of the Americans in the opening days of the War on Terror. To trust leaders with such naive blindless is nothing more a benign neglect of thinking indivually to make a diffrence. As much that I admire men like Che and Malcolm X, one has to realise these people are like you and me; all of them trying to find the geist of change and progress by stumbling in the vacum of popular ignorance. Let it be noted that Malcolm X was himself a puppet of the Nation of Islam; spouting of racial segregation against the whites before, after visits to Mecca and the African continent, realising that racism itself comes in many shades (How true it is in this so-called 'muhibah' nation.)

As I exhorted to you all... pray for your leaders to have the wisdom and revalation. For He is the true source of inspiration and postive wisdom. These are things that is very much sorely needed not in Malaysia but int the world.

Here is some light reading for you all. YOU be the judge of this.

(source: http://violetyong.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-info-on-bakun-dam-and-cms-family.html, originally published in www.asiasentinel.com on 15 August, 2007 )

"The Dam that Wouldn’t Die":-

Sarawak’s politically motivated Bakun Dam has a new Australian friend to help keep it going.

The resuscitation of the controversial Bakun Dam as the result of an agreement to build a nearby aluminum smelter is the latest chapter in a long running saga to push forward the environmentally sensitive project closely linked to the longstanding Sarawak chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, and his family.

The mammoth dam, one of the cherished mega-projects of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, has already wiped out 23,000 hectares of virgin rainforest, delivered the timber into the hands of timber barons and displaced 9,000 indigenous people. It is also a textbook example of how the New Economic Policy, Malaysia’s affirmative action program to improve the economic wellbeing of its bumiputera, or ethnic Malay majority, instead concentrates riches in a few hands.

On August 7, Australia-based Rio Tinto Aluminum signed a deal with Malaysian conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, whose principal stakeholders are members of the Taib Mahmud family, for a joint study to build a US$2 billion smelter in Similajau, near Bintulu, 80 km inland from the dam itself. Expected to open in 2010, it will be one of the largest in the world, with initial production capacity is projected at 550,000 tonnes a year with the capability to expand to 1.5 million tonnes later.

Rio Tinto, with its projected takeover of Alcan, Inc., of Canada, is already expected to become the largest aluminum producer in the world. The smelter, which will use power from the Bakun dam, is expected to be the fifth and biggest aluminum plant for Rio Tinto, its external affairs manager Jim Singer told The Associated Press. Rio Tinto picked Sarawak for the project due to strong government support, a credible local partner, abundant electricity supply from the Bakun dam and robust demand in the region, Singer said.

Critics are livid. In a forum early this month organized by the United Nations Development Program in Kuala Lumpur to mark World Indigenous Day, Colin Nicholas, the coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli (Indigenous People) told local reporters that "From our point of view, by allowing the Rio Tinto project to go ahead, it is just like trying to cover up one natural disaster with another.”

“There was no open tender for the (aluminum smelter project) and no public announcement of it,” fumed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in an email to Asia Sentinel. “Combined, the smelter and the dam raise serious concerns about environmental impacts and the treatment of indigenous populations.”

Just as disturbing, to some observers, is the way Cahya Mata Sarawak, which means “light of Sarawak’s eye” in English and goes by the acronym CMS, has maneuvered itself into position to benefit from the dam.

Begun in 1974 under the name Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Bhd, the company originally produced Portland cement as a state-owned firm. Its transformation has been remarkable, according to a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of London in 2002 by Andrew Aeria, currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University Malaysia Sarawak in Kuching.

“The rapid growth and transformation of CMS since the 1990s has been nothing short of phenomenal, and is due to two main factors, namely the privatization and restructuring of CMS from a state-owned public-listed company into a private sector public-listed conglomerate owned by the Mahmud family, and the huge amount of state rents CMS secured for itself and its subsidiary companies from 1992 through political patronage,” Aeria wrote.

Aeria’s study tells the story in voluminous detail. Beginning in the early 1990s, Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Bhd, a state-owned company, bought major stakes in three highly profitable subsidiaries of the Sarawak Economic Development Commission – PPES Quarry, Steel Industries Sarawak and PCMS, for 117.4 million Malaysian ringgit, 50 million of that in cash, the rest covered by 13.48 million shares. For that, CMS got, in addition to the assets, 30.94 million ringgit in cumulative retained profits, according to the company’s annual reports. That moneyproved helpful, allowing CMS to acquire two other companies owned by the Mahmuds, namely Syrakusa Sdn Bhd and Concordance Sdn Bhd, via cash and share swaps. This resulted in the "privatization to the Mahmud family via a reverse takeover. Bank Utama, Sarawak Securities and Archipelago Shipping -- all Mahmud family companies -- were subsequently injected into CMS.

The CMS takeover also reflects the politics of New Economic Policy privatization exercises in Malaysia, which tend to favor hiving off profitable public enterprises instead of loss-making ones to well-connected individuals in the private sector, Aeria claims. Apart from cultivating cronyism and promoting rent-seeking, such privatizations deprive the state sector of lucrative sources of income end up raising the tax burden of ordinary taxpayers, he writes.

During the privatization and restructuring of CMS, numerous public-funded infrastructure projects also were channeled to CMS. These helped CMS maintain an extremely healthy cash flow and high annual turnover. They bolstered its restructuring efforts, hiked up the share price of CMS and helped CMS raise funds easily from banks and other money markets.

By 1996, the Mahmud family had consolidated the cement business, Bank Utama, Sarawak Securities, and Archipelago Shipping, turning the firm, now named Cahya Mata Sarawak, from a publicly-owned cement producer into a private-sector diversified conglomerate involved in stock brokering, road construction, water, quarry operations, steel bar manufacturing, trading, cement production and investment holdings.

“Taib Mahmud’s control over the levers of power and resources in Sarawak saw the SEDC (Sarawak Economic Development Commission) privatize profitable state enterprises to his family,” Aeria wrote in his thesis. “Similarly, his position of favor with the federal government meant that his family received various rents, principally a stockbroker license (to Sarawak Securities) that became a lucrative monopoly, and waivers on mandatory general share offers. Taib Mahmud’s powerful political position also meant that the companies linked to his family easily raised loans from the capital market.”

Taib Mahmud’s 26-year tenure as the chief minister of Sarawak also gave the company at least the appearance of having ready access to government power and favors during a time when the family company had a healthy cash flow and high annual turnover that drove up the share price. The company also got involved in numerous infrastructure projects.

“What is notable about these infrastructure projects is that most of them were secured via negotiated tender from the Sarawak government and its agencies without going through a process of competitive tenders,” Aeria writes. “Not only were many public sector projects channeled towards CMS but CMS also actively undertook a process of seeking out profitable public sector jobs like the maintenance of federal and state roads by the Sarawak Public Works Department estimated at between RM300-RM500 annually, and negotiated for their being transferred to CMS on a turnkey basis.”

Born in relatively modest circumstances, Taib Mahmud now is locally famous for wearing double-breasted suits and driving around Kuching, Sarawak’s capital city, in a cream-colored Rolls-Royce. According to Aliran Monthly, the reformist Malaysian magazine, Taib Mahmud’s spouse Laila and his children are the majority shareholders of Sitehost Pty. Ltd., Australia, which owns the Adelaide Hilton Hotel. Company records dated December 2000 show them holding 95 percent of the company or 9.5 million fully paid up shares, the magazine said.

Onn Mahmud, Taib Mahmud’s brother, his daughter Jamilah Hamidah Taib and her husband Sean Murray are listed as director-shareholders of SAKTO Corporation, a major real estate operator of non-residential buildings in Ottawa, owning and managing more than half a million square feet of prime office space with affiliate offices in the US, Asia, the UK and Australia. They also own SAKTO Development Corporation, a multi-million dollar development and construction company in Ottawa. Jamilah is the sole director of SAKTO Investment Corporation.

“Now, it may well be that the Mahmud family is one of the best and most astute business families in Malaysia,” Aliran wrote. “And more power to them on that account. But much of their known wealth has arisen during the tenure of Abdul Taib Mahmud as Sarawak chief minister. Is there then any wonder why there exists so much public skepticism about the sources of Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family wealth? Would not a transparent audit do well to quash such obviously unscrupulous rumors once and for all?”

The construction of the dam, which had been under development in fits and starts since the 1960s, began to mesh with Cahya Mata’s capabilities in 1994, when construction began, led by a privatized joint-venture consortium called the Bakun Hydroelectric Corporation comprised of Ekran Bhd, the national power company Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the government of Sarawak, Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) and Malaysian Mining Corporation Bhd (MMC).

The dam project itself is part of a grandiose plan to meet electricity demand in peninsular Malaysia, nearly 700 km away, via a high voltage direct current cable, since the entire island of Borneo, where the dam is situated, is unlikely to be able to use the amount of electricity it is projected to produce.

Thus an additional 300km line was also envisioned to feed power throughout peninsular Malaysia. Because of the distance of transmission, the underwater cables are expected to leak more than half of the wattage before the power reaches peninsular Malaysia. Even without Bakun, Sarawak’s installed electricity reserve capacity was estimated at 25 percent two years ago. At one point, the massive operation was projected to tie up the world’s entire cable-laying capability.

In 1996, Cahya Mata expanded its steel and cement production capacities in response to a massive economic boom in the construction sector. CMS’s new steel and cement plants were financed by large short and long-term loans from both local and international offshore money markets.

The Asian financial crisis, however, brought the Bakun dam project to a halt and forced the government to assume control from the consortium at an estimated cost of 1.6 billion ringgit to Malaysian taxpayers. It was revived in 2000 through a wholly owned-government company, Sarawak Hidro, along with the Malaysia-China Hydro JV consortium. (This also isn‘t Bakun’s first flirtation with an aluminum smelter. One was previously proposed for Similajau, to be funded by the international financier Mohamed Ali Alabbar as a joint venture between Dubai Aluminum Co. Ltd and Gulf International Investment Group. Those plans collapsed due to construction delays and squabbles over contractual terms. By 2004 most of the minor partners to the consortium posted losses or substantially decreased profits.)

The Asian crisis of 1997-1998 also resulted in a spectacular 439 million ringgit pre-tax loss for Cahya Mata for the year ending December 1998 and a reversal of fortunes to the tune of 670.7 million ringgit, primarily because of severe nonperforming loan losses in the company’s banking and financial services arms. By 1999, the company’s total debt burden ballooned to 787.33 million ringgit and resulted in a downgrade of its bonds.

Cahya Mata’s cumulative debts and financial troubles at the turn of the century meant that Bakun took on added importance. A large portion of its debt was secured by pledges of securities as collateral, the share price of which was tied directly to the terms of its debt. CMS’s share price dropped below RM3.00, Aeria wrote.

The revival of Bakun became an overnight confidence boost to Cahya Mata and strengthened the financial status of its majority owners as well as numerous other shareholders. But Bakun was more than just that. From a political standpoint, the dam was a major lifeline thrown at a very crucial time to Taib Mahmud, other client businesses having dealings with the conglomerate, and ordinary shareholders in Sarawak. This lifeline was thrown back in the form of a Sarawak majority party that delivered all 28 of its parliamentary seats to offset the federal Barisan Nasional’s losses of seats in national elections and helped Mahathir to maintain his critical two-thirds majority in parliament.

Taib Mahmud himself has faced numerous corruption allegations by critics over his 26-year career as chief minister, most recently earlier this year when Japanese media reported that he had been implicated in a 1.1 billion yen timber export kickback scheme involving a cartel of nine Japanese timber shipping companies through Hong Kong-based Regent Star, which is linked to Taib Mahmud and his family. He has not been charged and has publicly denied any wrongdoing. He recently said he would sue several Malaysian publications for defamation over articles relating to the case.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came to power in 2003 as Malaysia’s prime minister, he vowed to cut back on the number of mega-projects that Mahathir had lumbered the country with, telling delegates to the 57th United Malays National Organisation’s 57th general assembly that he would turn away from Mahathir’s economic strategies. “That era is over,” he told the delegates. But Abdullah Badawi has been weakened by a series of missteps and scandals, and meanwhile Bakun dam soldiers on.

Carry On, Carry On

And the ridicule you for your ideals and thoughts,
Belittling every notion of your say,
But In Him I say carry on,
For their words hold no sway.

For what do cynical and proud have to offer?
What do the smart have in place for their vacant eyes?
With their weak sarcasm they try to tear us down,
With their complacency they die choking in their conceited peace.

For what do they have that could break this union?
What more could they offer except the excrement's of their 'better' lives

For those who believe is the greater peace,
The anointing of Him that brought down Jericho,
The anointing now that can rebuild this nation.
For was it His wisdom that guided Solomon,
His wisdom that liberated Paul,
For layeth down your broken weapons of your labor,
In Him alone, the corrupt shall be brought to their knees!

Malaysia's True Metanoya

We are still sleeping. We do not hear the fires raging as we sit on our collective behinds
as this country is choking under the Establishment's sanctioned complacency. Sure enjoy life
and drown out the screams with pointless entertainment. Go about your ways and think it's
all alright while the system squeezes us dry with their racist, cronyist legislation. All it's not fine
here. Wake up and smell the bitter coffee.

Certainly no amount of clever politicking could save us all. Not even revolution could do the trick.
We've seen it time and time again that for all good idealogies (lest I repeat myself again, btw) are
doomed to failure with us humans. The cult of personality and the sacharine promises made by all leaders, whatever their political predisposition are... is the Archilies heel that kills a good movement. The stupidity of individual pride goes into their heads and BANG! You're very much
faced with the same enemy: a big dumb politician full of wind-bag rhetoric with nothing more to offer.

But DO NOT be cynical and give up. For all you Christians for change, look to Christ... look to Him to inspire your leaders to bring those who are corrupt. We now may get a lot of crap heaped us, we may be called crazy or naive. But what do those bitter old fogies know? They just sit in their fancy restaurants and spend our tax money on making private vacations to overseas or stuff their bloated faces with their french cuisine. Do not be content to be subject to these evil men. To all children of Christ, PRAY and ABIDE! SEEK His wisdom and revelation to make a difference!

It took a divine miracle to have the five states under Pakatan Rakyat. It's actually unheard off.
To those who have prayed this is sure proof we going from glory to glory. Bob Dylan once sang that the times are a-changing. I guess it's fair to me to say that he pretty much nailed it on this one. But to those who are in fear and in the dark... do not despair! Lest I sound like a broken record, I exhort you to pray and believe. Your prayers do carry weight and in all positiveness, from personal experience, it has and ALWAYS worked.

I know you all scoff at my outrageous exhortations. But to those who believe in a God. Why do you believe in Him the first place? If we knew how to sort it out in the first place, how come for all of human history did we screw up bad?; from the atrocity of religious war to plain racism (even here in our fair country!) My exhortation to you all is the change of the heart, not 2-dimesional behavior modification. I believe, in all sincerity...that only God's unmerited love for us can save us all, even from ourselves.

True love kills hate
True love kill hypocrisy
True love kills corruption
True love kills racism

Witness: I abstained from voting for ‘bonus’
By Churchill Edward

Self-declared BN supporter testifies against Chong

KUCHING: A self-declared supporter of the Barisan Nasional (BN) told the Election Court here yesterday that he abstained from voting in the last parliamentary polls because of the lure of the ‘Malaysia bonus of RM6,000 for those having a household income of RM6,000 per annum’.

SECOND WITNESS: Jukai going to the courtroom.

Merdrict Jukai Empaka from Tabuan Ulu along Foochow Road No.1 here said the bonus was stated in the Democratic Action Party (DAP) manifesto which he alleged was given to him on March 4, 2008.

Appearing before Judge Datuk Clement Allan Skinner, Jukai - the second witness in the election petition against Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen - testified that supporters of the DAP gave him a copy of the manifesto at a coffee shop in Tabuan Jaya.

He brought the manifesto home, read it repeatedly and was attracted by the promise of the bonus of RM6,000, Jukai said when examined by the petitioner’s leading counsel Datuk Muhammad Shafee Md Abdullah.

The petitioner is Kho Whai Phiaw, a 64-year-old voter.

Jukai, 56, said even his wife abstained from voting in the last election due to the same reason as his.

He told the court that on polling day he and his wife were given a bottle of mineral water each by DAP supporters at the polling station at SK Tabuan Ulu.

He said the supporters then brought them to the ‘electoral clerk’ who then checked their names against the electoral roll.

He said the supporters asked them to vote for the DAP candidate, Chong, in return for money but they decided not to vote.

A week after the election, he said he went to look for Chong - who had won the election in Bandar Kuching - at the DAP office in Chong Lin Park to demand for the bonus.

Upon reaching the office, Jukai said he was told by a ‘lady clerk’ that Chong was not available, adding that after that visit he never returned there.

When cross-examined by Chong’s counsel Wong Ho Leng, Jukai said he was jobless and was living on the earning of his wife - which is about RM300 per month - and a RM15 commission for each work done for friends.

Wong asked: “You wanted to get RM6,000 for not voting, am I right?”

Jukai: “Yes.”

Jukai said he became a witness because Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth vice chairman Sih Hua Tong had asked him to.

It was also Sih who introduced him to Shafee and another lawyer Frankie Tieh Kah Siang, he said.

But he regretted coming to court yesterday because of “these people” and that Wong’s line of questioning had caused his blood to boil and temper flare, he said.

Jukai, however, said he did not mean to threaten anyone and when inside the court he said: “… bullet cannot enter me (as) I am Iban”.

The witness kept silent several times when Wong asked him (Jukai) some pertinent questions, including whether he agreed to the suggestion that he was a liar.

But on some occasions he said: “If you (Wong) said I am a liar, I am a liar, lah.”

To another question by Wong, Jukai insisted that he came to court voluntarily but after the proceeding he would be telling Sih what had happened in the court.

Wong asked: “Are you telling me the truth? You have no money, you want money and yet you volunteered to come?”

Jukai: “That fellow (Sih) asked me to come together with this lawyer Datuk Shafee.”

He then handed to court Sih’s business card.

Wong asked: “When he asked you to come, did you ask him whether you would be paid or not?”

Jukai replied: “No such thing. He asked me to follow these people, introduced me to this lawyer.”

Wong: “I put it to you that you came to this court for one purpose only and that purpose is to earn some money.”

Jukai only kept silent and the court recorded that as “witness does not answer”.

Wong: “I put it to you that you came to court to lie.”

Jukai: “That was because of these people. Actually I don’t know… This is my first time.”

Wong: “Tell us who ‘these people’ are who had asked you to come to court?”

Jukai: “Sih Hua Tong. He introduced me to Datuk Shafee and Mr Frankie. If not because of that, you can never see my face appearing in court. I already am 56 years old.”

The witness also requested for a short stand-down twice to ease himself.

On another matter, Judge Skinner said he could not tolerate any interference with witnesses.

He was referring to an allegation by Shafee that Chong’s witness, Yong Kim Mui, harassed one of the petitioner’s witnesses namely Subramaniam, outside the courtroom yesterday.

Yong was alleged to have threatened Subramaniam by saying that if he (Subramaniam) was to lie in court, God will punish him; “they” will check his ballot paper and; that he may be facing 10 years’ imprisonment for perjury.

Shafee said such threat on his potential witness was clearly a contempt of court and he therefore urged Wong to take the matter seriously.

Wong then told the court that he undertook to talk to Yong so that he would not be talking to the petitioner’s witnesses anymore or go near them “should the complaint be the truth”.

Judge Skinner said: “In view of the assurance given by Mr Wong, I will leave it to him to advise Mr Yong of the very serious allegation that has been made. He should be informed that the court will not tolerate any interference with witnesses. I hope I will not need to take the matter any further.”

In the petition, Kho alleged that Chong, or with his knowledge or consent, had insinuated or made a warning, threat or intimidation of the infliction of fear and injury or harm to Chinese voters if they wanted to vote for BN candidate Alan Sim Yaw Yen.

The allegations stated in the pamphlet had compelled voters to vote for Chong or refrain from giving their votes to Sim, Kho said in the petition.

He also alleged that Chong was guilty of corrupt practice of bribery by making promise to give voters in Bandar Kuching a ‘Malaysia Bonus of up to RM6,000 or less per annum’ contrary to Section 10 (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954, in that Chong or with his knowledge or consent published and distributed ‘DAP 2008 Election Manifesto’ as advertisements for Chong in February 2008.

On April 28, Kho filed the petition at the High Court Registry seeking a court order to declare the result of the March 8 election in Bandar Kuching parliamentary constituency, null and void so that a by-election would be held.

In the March 8, 2008 parliamentary polls, Chong garnered 22,901 votes to defeat Sim by a 9,952-majority in a straight fight.

If he didn't bother to vote for Chong why did he come back for the bonus? Something does not add up here. If you'd ask me it smells like someone has a motive. It has been stated above that he was not well off and was in need of finance.

Now on a personal level, it really pisses me off when certain individual tries cause havoc, fueled with nothing only but corrupt materialistic intent. I can understand if he is desperate for financial support. But to stoop to such lowlife drama really makes me speechless.

They think they are doing themselves a favor by claiming themselves a slice of the financial pie. Probably a little publicity; to put themselves as the David against the Goliath. Perhaps they are no better than the persecutor Goliath... serving to the wiles of certain individuals, only to have themselves thrown out and cast aside like the snitches they are.

It is extremely upsetting that people act out their cynicism and greed by stooping to worm-like tactics to oppress and discredit. This is the symptom of the world; the so-called Darwinian need to kill or be killed. There is no hope for a tommorow. Rely on your strengths and cross your fingers for a miracle. If that's how life really is...why do we need faith? Why do we need God? If we are so smart as we claim...how come is there still suffering and grieviences in this world? By right our énlightement'should have saved us all.

We are indeed striving to a better place. But do not be faithless and stoop to the negatives to grab any gain. Yes, we would have the results. But for anything borned out of corruption will certainly die and collapse. What would seem like a little lie would fester forth into a damage where it would seem impossible to repair.

KICK OUT THE JAMS!

http://jelas.info/2008/07/08/strike-what-we-should-be-doing-in-face-of-the-political-ugliness-surrounding-us/

Indeed we need to stop complaining and take to the streets. For good men do more damage in their silence to engage present situation. As someone once said; ïf you are not turned on to politics, politics will turn on you" To remain placid and still have the gall to complain about it is akin to sitting in a burning house while all the while the door is clearly open.

Perhaps, that is the case... we probably do not know how to act out. Our hearts are still hard and cynical; declaring that it's all messed up and that. It is one thing to make aware the rights of the common the man. But the real battle is in the mind of Malaysians everywhere. True change comes from the heart.

And indeed we are on the brink of that....

For in this times more and more are seeking transparency and relevance in their governments. The people now are coming to a point of not sitting put and carrying on with their lives while society steadily burns to the ground with corporate greed and even more insidious cosumerism rotting out the mind of the masses. Cynics would declare this to be youthful idealism; a flash in the pan instance of youthful rebellion. But friends... DO NOT BE SWAYED. These ideas are God given! For all things from God are exceedinglly good!

Triumph (Glory to Glory )

Victory - http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/jangan-lupa-kena-ingat-rakyat-bersatu-takkan-kalah/

To tell you the truth, I was very much pleasantly surprised and humbled by this. The stunning
accounts of the rise of the Malaysian people taking to the streets in one act of peaceful protest
is awe inspiring. What's even greater was the fact that the powers that be were warily keeping
their distance from making any act of unnecessary violence. I guess all of us, those who have prayed, has their prayers answered in full. The power of God is upon all us in Malaysia. He definitely stopped evil in it's tracks.

But by no means this would be the last victory the rakyat will have. For definitely change is
now nearing to it's genesis. Look at America... it would seem that the traditional corruption
of lobbyist politics is now consigned to the chopping block with Obama. Although it's just my
optimist point of view but one has to notice the feeling in this here times; the fact something big
and grand is about to happen. The fact that this could be the defining moment in history itself.

But for all this, one must not look towards human leaders as a kind of demi-god that would make
fast reforms and changes. We are all prone to erroneous fallacy and corruption. To have everyonelook to God (the leaders as well) for a source of incorruptible wisdom is the only way. It may seen naively deistic but to me that is the only way. If humans can be corrupt... is it right for us to put total trust in them in the first place.

To all believers in Christ, keep our freedom fighters in prayer. They definitely need it.

Of Rats and Stooges:

http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=37835

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysian-news/34-malaysian-news/1375-voter-tells-friend-he-was-paid-rm1m


Question: If Kho Whai Phiaw, the man behind the litigation of Bandar Kuching
MP Chong Jien Jen for alleged corrupt election practices, is adamant in setting
the record straight? Why on earth would he had to make things worse for himself be
'sarcastically' declaring that he was paid of RM 1 billion. Obviously no man of
perfect coherence would do such a thing; for this only puts his motives in serious
question. Perhaps this is very much a story of someone trying his darndest to
cover his tracks. Talk about sheer cowardice...

A follow up on my previous post... the statement by the cop involved in the Altantuya
case has been retracted. Now... this smells fishy to me... I seriously don't know jack
even with the abundance of material online. But I just read this from Nat Tan.
If this is the case, it pretty makes some sense: http://jelas.info/2008/07/04/threatened-bribed-lied/

Cowardice and greed. I don't blame them. For the bigger snakes are playing them with
fear and bribery. They think they'll be in the benefit and the good books of the powers to be...
only discover later they would be played out like mere pawn pieces of a political chess game.

May the evil in this country be stopped in their tracks. Only the Lord brings true justice against
the liars.

Greeting Here In No Mans Land (Hope Awaits...)

Before I start ... news of importance - http://jelas.info/2008/07/03/statutory-declaration-proves-najib-knew-altantuya/

I had been pondering the situation for way too long. I guess this is the cream of all that is corrupt and decrepit about the system of things in this fair country. First of all I really salute folks like Nat Tan, Raja Petra as well as countless of others to take to the blogs to speak out the truth. It's very obvious even to the creeps in power that the dailies are nothing more but over-glorified bastions of shameless biased reporting. To tell you the truth, I can't bee certain that the exact sources for the attached address above to be credible. But the joke plainly is clearly getting old. The festeering of feudalist politics to the promises of democracy. And all we do is complain and do nothing....

I say this in remeberenace of the complacentcy of all of is in Sarawak. For so long we have been lapdogs and slaves to the 'ruling class' of old white hairs. The fact that we are making apologies as they strip us of our lands and livelyhood... what for do we have to do that?! Clearly we, are giving the thieves they key to our homes (and giving them a smile as well!)

But as much the powers that be dare to silence the whole lot of us, the inevitble would sure to come. I'm sure for all who believe in a higher power (me especially) dreams of retribution to all abusers. I have news for you: THE DAY WILL COME. We may plan revolutions and protests to
make the diffrence, rest assured the final coup de etat would be from God above. How he works, we can't explain... but it's either this: He Has the power to bring the corrupt to justice. He also has the power to actually change the hearts of the corrupt. Either way. Either path. But if He chooses to ignore the later; I have to say it's nobody's fault but him.

The sheer self-rightiousness and blind arrogance is the ultimate archiles heel that brings the giants down. Hitler, with his delusions of matrydom clouding his reason destroyed himself as well as the nation of Germany. Sukarno, relishing on fantasies being the next Che Guevara of the South East only ended being deposed from power. Absolute power corrupts. It's is only the notion of me, myself and I in the realm of reasoning. You are so full of yourself and your professional abilities, that you fail to notice the small cracks that would beyour ultimate demise.