Sabah Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Ahmadshah’s Term Extended?

The jostling for a new Sabah Yang Di-Pertua Negeri will come to an end soon. The services of Sabah Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah may be extended for yet another one year after serving two terms so far. His term ends in December, 2010.

Tun Ahmadshah’s name was apparently sent to Premier Najib for approval, who would then get the Agong for the final approval of the appointment. No formal announcement has been made yet.Tun Ahmadshah’s tenure will be extended to another year beginning Jan 1, 2011. Tun Ahmadshah, who will turn 64 this December, was appointed as Sabah’s ninth Yang Di-Pertua Negera, replacing Tun Sakaran Dandai on Dec 2 2002.

Although Tun Ahmadshah is close ally to Musa Aman and was classmate to Musa Aman during Sabah College days, his extension of service only reinforces that Musa Aman will continue to be Chief Minister of Sabah way after the anticipated upcoming 13th General Elections.

Even before Tun Ahmadshah’s term is extended as Governor is announced, the maneuvering for the position had begun about six months ago. But, with this move now, various groups which aggressively insisted on who they believed should be the Governor of Sabah will come to a stop. Initially, rumors swirled that Musa Aman may step down as Chief Minister of Sabah and be appointed as the new Governor of Sabah, as a compromise for him to leave the Sabah Chief Minister-ship gracefully. But this is not the case now. Another individual mentioned was Speaker of the Parliament, Pandikar Amin Mulia. Pandikar is eager but he has to wait for Parliament to be dissolve first and that might take awhile, so he is out too. The other player who is lobbying for this price position is Yahya Hussein, the minister of agriculture and food industry but Yahaya it seems have been promised the position as the next Speaker of the state assembly.Another front-runners for the post was also the current State Assembly Speaker Juhar Mahiruddin. The other contender was former Finance Ministry permanent secretary Yusof Kassim but he has been promised the position of Mayor of Kota Kinabalu. Then we also had the Mayor of Kota Kinabalu Iliyas Ibrahim, whom is Musa’s very close ally, also a classmate and favored by Musa to be the next Governor. Mayor Iliyas Ibrahim was the strongest contender in fact, as he had the blessings of Musa himself. He’s been mayor for two terms already and doing a great job as Mayor of Kota Kinabalu, and should be about to step down, but hear that his contract as Mayor has also been extended for a year.

So with Ahmadshah’s extension as TYT, it is a conclusion that his appointment was the result of a political compromise that advanced Musa Aman’s Sabah development credentials and Premier Najib is in total agreement to that. Premier Najib is happy with Musa Aman’s performance as Chief Minister and after spearheading the Batu Sapi Parliamentary By-Election victory, everything goes Musa Aman’s way- Musa Aman is riding high. Besides, Premier Najib would not want to rock the boat in Sabah for the time being, as Musa has displayed his leadership abilities quite well so far.

With this, it means Musa Aman could be poised to become the most powerful man in Sabah and Premier Najib is very much in favour of Musa Aman to be in the helm of Sabah even after the upcoming 13th General Elections.

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A Moment’s Silence: Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu (1919-2010)

Just because this news was expected (especially given rumors of the great man’s passing last night) doesn’t make it any easier to write about.

Legendary Penangite Tun Dr Lim Choong Eu at the age of 91 in Penang.

God Bless and Rest in Peace, Tun.

Thank you for everything you’ve done for Penang, which wouldn’t be the same without your many contributions. You were truly a Penangite original.

Chong Eu a great Penangite, a great Malaysian, and a great patriot.

Mamak Thugs Of Penang

My Malay friends from Penang are all beautiful chaps but I cannot say the same to these Mamak thugs who have misbehaved and hijacked the peaceful Anti-ISA Forum held in KOMTAR, Penang, yesterday.

See here how these Mamaks have brought shame to Penangites..

PART 1

PART 2

20% Of Americans Have Mental Sickness

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans had mental illness in 2009. No wonder, I always thought that the Americans were a little strange compared with people any where else. It was the Americans in high places whom I always thought was a little different and it worried me if they were mentally OK. People like George Bush, Al Gore and Rumsfeld and many others for example.

Read here story from CNBC…
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans had mental illness in 2009

CHICAGO – More than 45 million Americans, or 20 percent of U.S. adults, had some form of mental illness last year, and 11 million had a serious illness, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday.

Young adults aged 18 to 25 had the highest level of mental illness at 30 percent, while those aged 50 and older had the lowest, with 13.7 percent, said the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA.

The rate, slightly higher than last year’s 19.5 percent figure, reflected increasing depression, especially among the unemployed, SAMHSA, part of the National Institutes of Health, said.

“Too many Americans are not getting the help they need and opportunities to prevent and intervene early are being missed,” Pamela Hyde, SAMHSA’s administrator, said in a statement.

“The consequences for individuals, families and communities can be devastating. If left untreated mental illnesses can result in disability, substance abuse, suicides, lost productivity, and family discord.”

The 2009 mental health survey hints at the impact of record unemployment rates, which last year hit a 25-year high as struggling employers slashed jobs to cope with a weak economy.

For many, lost employment meant loss of health insurance, leaving many of the nation’s mentally ill unable to get treatment.

According to the survey, 6.1 million adults last year had a mental health need that went untreated, and 42.5 percent said it was because they could not afford it.

It found 14.8 million Americans had major depression last year, and 10 percent of the jobless did, compared with 7.5 of retired people or those not in the job force, 7.3 percent who worked part time and 5.4 percent who worked full time.

Only 64 percent of adults aged 18 or older with major depression were treated last year, compared with 71 percent a year ago.

Being jobless also increased the risk of suicide.

Adults who were unemployed last year were twice as likely to have serious thoughts of suicide as people who were fully employed, with 6.6 percent of the unemployed considering suicide, compared with 3.1 percent of those who were working.

The survey also found that 23.8 percent of women had some form of mental illness, compared with 15.6 percent of men.

Copyright 2010 Reuters

Read here : Are We Going Mad

RADIO FREE SARAWAK

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0630-0730 local time on 7590 kHz

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1800-1900 local time on 15680 kHz

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Taiko Yong Teck Lee says Koh Tsu Koon lost his own seat, his Penang State and his honour and dignity…how true!

I am with Yong Teck Lee and he is right about Koh Tsu Koon. Koh Tsu Koon is a clown and as a fellow Penangite I say this again, Tsu Koon is a clown.

Read here what I have written about Tsu Koon in the past:

https://selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/lim-guan-eng-has-done-well-so-far/
https://selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/gerakan-youth-chief-sucking-up-to-tan-sri-koh-tsu-koon/

https://selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/najib-says-malaysians-rejected-leaders-but-not-the-bn/

https://selvarajasomiah.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/raymond-tan-shu-kiah-the-deputy-chief-minister-of-sabah-joining-parti-gerakan/

Read here what our Taiko Yong Teck Lee has to say about Koh Tsu Koon…

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President, Datuk Yong Teck Lee is surprised why Gerakan President Koh Tsu Koon keeps comparing himself with me. It could be due to his closeness to Tham Nyip Shen who has a habit of biting people.

Koh and other Ministers should be warned that Tham is merely using them to benefit himself. I realized this too late, against the warnings of so many friends and colleagues for 30 years.

Tham wants to make more millions from his “friendship” with ministers Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Datuk Peter Chin, Tan Sri Koh, Sabah CM Datuk Musa Aman and others.

He told me this in mid 2008 when I realised that he would not leave the BN with SAPP in 2008.

He said CM Datuk Musa Aman had promised him the billion ringgit petrochemical plant in Kimanis together with Bernad Dompok (representing the KDMs) and me (for the Chinese), with him taking the lead in the project.

Tham hastily organized a lunch meeting with Dompok and me at Damai.

Datuk Musa later confirmed to me in his office that he (Musa) would handle the Malay side.

To me this is bribery to stay in BN and a sellout for Sabah. I rejected the bribe.

“When the time comes, Tham will turn around and bite Koh, Dompok, Musa and others.

For 20 years, he was a fierce personal enemy of Puan Sri Genevieve Pairin Kitingan calling her all kinds of names that, as a gentleman, I dare not repeat here. But today, he could turn around and call Puan Sri Genevieve his political mother.

For 30 years, he kept my confidence, sung my praises and coached me along. He cursed Edward Khoo, Yee Moh Chai, Raymond Tan and so many others but always saying how good I was. I was fooled. Others will be fooled by him.

In the name of humanity, I ask every living human being to beware of Tham Nyip Shen. If he can camouflage himself so shrewdly for 30 years, and come up with such vicious and wicked lies against me today, nobody, not even his own family is safe from him.

“As for Koh Tsu Koon, any semblance of honour that people had in Koh disappeared when he crawled into the cabinet by way of a back door Senatorship. He had earlier said he would not want to enter cabinet via the back door.

I resent being compared with him.

Unlike Koh, I had proudly rejected the official nomination as Senator and ministerial-status as BIMP-EAGA envoy in June 2008. Koh call this “arrogance”. I call this pride and honour; Pride as a Sabahan who can say “NO” to Kuala Lumpur, honour as a Sabahan who refused to be bribed.

“Although Koh and I had worked together and compared notes during our time as counter parts, being Chief Ministers at the time 1996 to 1998, I pitied Koh that he was often being bullied around. He could only claim close ties with fellow Penangite (then Deputy Prime Minister) Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim as a way to boost his clout.

“At one function in KL, I witnessed Koh being rudely scolded by a Malay government officer when Koh spoke in Mandarin with Tham Nyip Shen. To my shock, Koh meekly kept quiet. Koh and Tham then switched to English mixed with some Malay words.

Another time, I saw how Koh had to lower himself physically and emotionally when begging the then Kedah Menteri Besar (Sanusi Junid) not to proceed with the airport proposal in the Northern region (which presumably would compete with the Penang airport). Sanusi brushed Koh aside and walked away. Koh had to run after him.

These are incidents that made me realize that the political DNA of the national BN leaders is completely wrong.

I resent being compared with Tsu Koon because he was a coward in dealing with UMNO. UMNO like to have such puppets. “There was no dignity, no mutual respect, no honour in the relationship between Koh and his UMNO colleagues.

It does not matter whether Koh change his style from “tai chi” to “kung fu” or whatever. His political DNA is subservient to UMNO.

“Koh and Gerakan and MCA leaders just could not understand why I, as the then Sabah CM, could reject federal UMNO directives such as the then Acting Prime Minister’s approval of a gaming licence in Sabah. I had also successfully rejected the extension to Sabah of the Local Government Act, the Employment Act, the Indah Water Sewerage Consortium, among others.

“On my part, yes, I have lost Batu Sapi. We knew the risks. Defeat was a real possibility. Today, our enemies are gleefully mocking me and other SAPP leaders. But we conducted an honourable campaign against all odds.

We lost Batu Sapi but kept our honour. “Koh Tsu Koon lost his own seat, his Penang State and his honour and dignity. His final nail will be when he is betrayed by Tham Nyip Shen.”

Belated Deepavali Wishes!!!

Belated Deepavali wishes to EVERYONE!

May the brightness of this festival never fade and the light of this festival keep your hearts aglow with hopes and plenty of blessings. Though these wishes have come somewhat late yet they remain fresh as ever because they come straight from my heart.

I want to also take this opportunity to wish my Premier Najib Tun Razak a speedy recovery.

Happy Deepavali Everybody!

Some Deepavali sweets from me to all…

And below, this video is President Barack Obama’s Deepavali message…a thoughtful message from a good and decent man.