FLIP (26 Feb 2009) TheStar: Works Minister announces toll hike KUALA LUMPUR: Road users will have to pay higher tolls for five major highways beginning March 1. The highways affected are the North-South Expressway (PLUS), Sprint/Kerinchi/Damansara Link highways, Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Expressway (AKLEH), Sungai Besi Highway and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE). FLOP (27 Feb 2009) Malaysiakini - Gov't U-turn: Toll hike put off In a dramatic reversal, the government has decided to suspend toll hike of up to 33 percent for five major highways in Klang Valley announced yesterday. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi was also quoted in The Star saying "The situation is not right for a toll hike. I felt that this matter needed to be discussed again in the Cabinet." Now, the interesting question is, why is it that no proper study or consideration was made before announcing the toll hike? Sadly, it just shows how indecisive and weak the government is. The government should study al

It's really been a while since I last blog something about Malaysian movies, or any movies for that matter. This blog has been too politically focused in the past few months - all thanks to the never ending political instabilities ever since the March 8 elections. So anyways, I have just watched ' Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula ' at TGV Sunway Pyramid with some of my office colleagues. I have read a few good reviews about the film and knowing most of the production crews and their capabilities since my university days, I have no doubt that the film will be a big hit. And true enough, the film grossed more than RM2.5million within just 4 days! It might be just a matter of time before it exceeds beyond 5million in the next couple of weeks. I must say that for a meager budget of RM4 million, the first Malaysian 3d animation film is not just a good film, but an outstanding one. For an extensive review of the film, read Hafidz Mahpar's article in The Star: Animating an ind

Another long overdue entry. :p The charity bazaar for Gaza below was held at the Bangsar Shopping Centre about 10 days ago. I even spotted former MCA Cabinet Minister, Dr. Chua Jui Meng there. A Malaysian doctor on the mini stage shared her experience while working with the humanitarian group in Gaza Two street musicians and an unknown lady

Elizabeth Wong Blogpulse.com Graph above shows the popularity of three Pakatan Rakyat leaders in the blogosphere; Anwar Ibrahim, former Perak MB, Nizar Jamaluddin and former Selangor exco member and Bukit Lanjan Assemblyperson, Elizabeth Wong. While Nizar Jamaluddin's fame has slowed down this week, Eli's popularity among bloggers continues to skyrocket exceeding even her boss, Anwar Ibrahim - all due to her recent nude pictures scandal allegedly being exposed by her ex-boyfriend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mukhriz Mahathir, Khir Toyo and Khairy Jamaluddin Secondly, judging by the popularity in blogs, former Selangor MB, Dr. Khir Toyo seems to be the leading contender for the Ketua Pemuda UMNO post. Unfortunately, this sentiment is also shared by many UMNO insiders and other political commentators like Joceline Tan of The Star and Raja Petra of Malaysia-Today. His latest fame in the blogs was his criticism on Eli Wo

This is quite a long overdue blog post - all due to the Perak political crisis which dominated all media headlines for the past few days. Last Thursday I was fortunate to had the chance to hear former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir and other panel members speak at the forum for Palestine, organised by the Kuala Lumpur Foundation To Criminalise War at Crowne Plaza Hotel, KL. I don't have much time to blog about it though. You may head over to Tun's blog for his personal view on the forum. Here are some pictures. Apologize for the low quality pictures. :) Tun Dr. Mahathir giving the opening speech. His full speech is available at criminalisewar.org Prof. Michel Chossudovsky and former US Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party nominee for President of the United States, Cynthia McKinney (seated) Two Jordanian doctors spoke about their horror experience while treating patients at the Al-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza. Seated on the left is law expert, Prof. Gurdial Singh Nijar

Two by-elections: One MP dies, one rep quits PETALING JAYA: The country will face two by-elections within the next 60 days after a Member of Parliament (MP) in Perak died, while a Kedah assemblyman quit -- both on Monday. Bukit Gantang MP Roslan Shaharum of PAS died of a heart attack on Monday morning, while Bukit Selambau assemblyman V. Arumugam of PKR quit his seat and his position on the Kedah executive council in the afternoon. This is something which is not necessary yet unavoidable. Malaysian politics is getting hotter and more exciting, depending on which side you are with. Personally, I seriously think that the current political situation is just too much. And it's definitely not good for the country. Expect to watch more political fightings, lies & deceptions and dirty politics being played out by both parties. This is also causing me problems for my on going MA research as I find it quite hard to set the time frame for my research. And secondly, while analyzing t

UPDATE: Utusan Malaysia - Mesyuarat Exco Nizar tidak sah, macam budak-budak - SUK Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri (SUK) Perak, Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahman Hashim ketika dihubungi Mingguan Malaysia semalam turut terkejut dengan tindakan Mohammad Nizar sampaikan boleh mempengerusikan 'mesyuarat Exco' berkenaan. "Katakan kepadanya dia hanya main wayang, mesyuarat itu tidak sah, macam mesyuarat budak-budak," katanya. Ketika Mingguan Malaysia membacakan empat keputusan 'mesyuarat' yang 'diluluskan' oleh Mohammad Nizar, Abdul Rahman terdiam seketika. "Cakap pada dia, terima kasih sahajalah," katanya. Hahah. Man, this is so funny. I just can't wait to see how long this ex-MB would last without the support from the Sultan AND the government agencies! Dear Nizar, it would be much better for you to do what Idris Jusoh did in Terengganu last year and accept the Sultan's decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Another round of quotable quotes by Bar Council Chairwoman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, constitutional law expert, Prof. Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi and Kelantan MB, Tuan Guru Nik Aziz. PERAK IN CRISIS - Nizar has no choice but to resign: Bar Council KUALA LUMPUR, Thurs:Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin has no choice but to resign, the Bar Council head said. Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said that Perak ruler Sultan Azlan Shah had acted within the provisions of the state constitution in not agreeing to the dissolution of the state assembly and asking Nizar to quit. “The constitution says that if the MB does not command majority in the state assembly and his request to dissolve the state assembly is not granted by the Sultan, then will have to tender the resignation of the exco, including himself,” she said. “These provisions are similar to those in the Federal Constitution and in this case, the Ruler seemed to be satisfied that he (Nizar) does not command the majority.”

The circus clown party in Perak is just getting more exciting that I can't afford not to blog about it and be part of history. A simple search on "Perak" on the blogosphere have so far resulted in an impressive 12728 results (via Blogpulse). Below are two quotable quotes from 1) The Group Chief Editor of The Star, Wong Chun Wai and 2) a letter to The Star by Ahmad Hussein. A Game that Anwar Ibrahim lost "It was a high stakes game that Anwar Ibrahim started and he has ended up losing the Perak state government. The PKR tried luring BN representatives to join the party and even set a Sept 16 deadline of forming the next federal government. It failed but many people believed it would take place. In the end, it was just a sham. Then the Pakatan Rakyat tried to woo BN men in Penang, Negri and last week, the Bota state assemblymen. The floodgates, so to speak, were opened. A dangerous political game was played out and in the end, when the BN decided to come in, the