Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Grand Compromise, Part Two: Raise the Retirement Age, Cure Alzheimer's.

As noted here yesterday, Rep. John Boehner said what many, maybe most, officials in Washington DC think: the retirement age for Social Security should go up.    But of course, here in Powertown, stating the obvious can get you in trouble.


And so Boehner's office dredged up a long list of nearly identical comments on Social Security from top Democrats, and passed them on to Hotline.   In the words of Hotline reporter Reid Wilson, summing up the state of play: 


Boehner's comments, made in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, have given Dems an easy target for today. But once upon a time, Dems thought raising the retirement age wasn't such a bad idea.  


And then Wilson cites a string of top Democrats and their quotes: 


Those senior Dems include VP Joe Biden, who told the AP in '07 he was open to discussions about raising the cap.
House Maj. Whip James Clyburn's official website says raising the age can keep Social Security solvent. "With minor changes to the program such as raising the salary cap and raising the retirement age by one month every year, the program could become solvent for the next 75 years," Clyburn's website says.


Just last week, House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer told an audience at an event for Third Way, the centrist think tank, "we could and should consider a higher retirement age."





OK, so candor about entitlement policy seems to be bipartisan.  Good.  That's to the credit of both parties, even if both have been known to seek tactical political advantage on entitlement issues from time to time.    
But if both parties agree on the problem, then they might eventually agree on a solution.  As noted here yesterday, if the solution includes raising the retirement age, then the solution also ought to include doing something about Alzheimer's Disease (AD).  That's not only compassionate, it's also practical.   
As we wrote:
So here's a suggestion: Make a big offer to the American people: Couple the raising of the retirement age with a Manhattan Project-like quest for an AD cure.  
History tells us that we could either cure AD or put a big dent in it, IF we made a concentrated effort.   That is, bring the best experts together, sweep away the litigation and regulation that blocks progress, explore new financing mechanisms, such as "health bonds," and generally mobilize the country in the search for a cure, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the fight against polio, back in the 30s, when he established the March of Dimes.   It's worth recalling that the fight for a polio vaccine was initiated by a Democratic president, Roosevelt, then continued by another Democratic president, Harry S. Truman, and then completed by a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.   Which is to say, the fight against polio was a bipartisan success; great leaders of both parties joined together for the common good of the country. 
The logic here is as strong today as it was yesterday.


Correction and update: The Economist, cited in this space as the source for the assertion that cuts have been made in Alzheimer's spending, now says that it made a mistake--federal spending on AD did not fall, it has merely plateaued.   SMS regrets the error.



Future Habitat



Recycled island is a research project on the potential of realizing a habitable floating island in the Pacific Ocean made from all the plastic waste that is momentarily floating around in the ocean.

The proposal has three main aims; Cleaning our oceans from a gigantic amount of plastic waste; Creating new land; And constructing a sustainable habitat. Recycled island seeks the possibilities to recycle the plastic waste on the spot and to recycle it into a floating entity. The constructive and marine technical aspects take part in the project of creating a sea worthy island.

The main characteristics of the island are summarized:
1. Realized from the plastic waste in our Oceans. This will clean our Oceans intensely and it will change the character of the plastic waste from garbage to building material. The gathering of the plastic waste will become a lot more attractive.
2. The island is habitable, where it will have its value as land capturing and is a potential habitat for a part of the rising amount of climate refugees.
3. The habitable area is designed as an urban setting. Nowadays already half of the World population lives in urban conditions, which has a huge impact on nature. The realization of mixed-use environments is our hope for the future.
4. The island is constructed as a green living environment, from the point of view of a natural habitat. The use of compost toilets in creating fertile ground is an example in this.
5. It is a self sufficient habitat, which is not (or hardly) depending from other countries and finds its own resources to survive. The settlement has its own energy and food sources.
6. The island is ecologic and not polluting or affecting the world negatively. Natural and non polluting sources are used to let the island exist in harmony with nature.
7. The size of the floating city is considerable in relation to the huge amount of plastic waste in the Ocean. The largest concentration of plastic has a footprint the size of France and Spain together. Starting point is to create an island with the coverage of 10.000Km2. This is about the size of the island Hawaii.
8. The location is the North Pacific Gyre, where at this moment the biggest concentration of plastic waste is discovered. This is geographically a beautiful spot North-East to Hawaii. By recycling and constructing directly on the spot with the biggest concentration of plastic waste, long transports are avoided. Because of the floating character the position could eventually be altered.

The BP Mess







The awful BP oil leak continues, and has revealed a system fucked up beyond belief. Congressional hearings into the matter began with Rep. Joe Barton (Tex, R) telling BP CEO Tony Hayward that he is personally "ashamed" of the White House meeting where Obama made BP agree to establishing a $20 billion contingency fund. (It won't be enough.) Barton called it a "shakedown" and a "tragedy". He said he didn't want to live in a country where "legitimately wrong" actions are held to account, "so I apologize." Hey Joe -- since you don't wanna live here, kindly get the hell out!

For his part at those hearings, Hayward played the role of the most ignorant, unknowledgable, incompetent CEO in history. His answer to every question was that he was unaware of it, he knew nothing about it, he is not normally informed of such things, he delegated that, he could not recall, that is not his area, blah blah blah. Tony, if you're the CEO and you don't know anything about anything, then what fuckin' good are ya? BP's chairman has since yanked Tony from the public eye and given him back his normal life of yachting.

President Obama has taken heat for being slow to respond to this disaster, and such criticism is at least partially deserved. But the reality is that nobody -- not BP, not the President, not the Coast Guard, not Jacques Cousteau -- really knows exactly how to fix this kind of deep sea leak. Official protocol dates back to the Exxon Valdez spill and says let the oil companies fix it/clean it up because they have the "expertise". Well, bullshit! Obviously they didn't have the expertise for this one. Yet permits for similar deep water drilling are issued almost daily. When it comes to oil exploration, the inmates have been running the asylum for too long.

These permits are issued by the hitherto unknown federal agency, the Minerals Management Service, a part of the Interior Dept. During the Bush/Cheney years, the MMS became a rubber-stamp outfit where managers earned bonuses for pushing through offshore oil leases, auditors were ordered not to investigate safety issues, and staffers routinely accepted gifts from oil companies. MMS even gave deep-sea drillers a "categorical exclusion" which exempted them from any environmental review. The fox has been given the keys to the goddam henhouse!

The bigger-picture fuck-up of Obama was not recognizing this corrupt cluster of cocksuckers sooner. That he didn't is attributable to his choice of Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary. (I have a hard time taking seriously a Cabinet member who appears publicly in a cowboy hat and bolo tie.) Salazar did make a few heads roll at MMS, but he didn't clean house and the agency remains populated by "drill, baby, drill" douchebags. That's because Salazar has been a long-time proponent of more and more offshore drilling. On his watch, 53 million acres in the Gulf are available for offshore drilling -- an all-time high. Jesus! The ocean floor is gonna look like swiss cheese!

And then we have the bizarre ruling of District Court Judge Martin Feldman (Marty Feldman?!) which blocked Obama's 6 month moratorium on deep-water drilling. Obama's order affected only 33 of over 3000 oil rigs, but Feldman could see no point in taking a break to consider the obvious need for more safeguards. In his decision, the judge (who is personally invested in oil exploration companies) asks, "If one tanker spills oil, do we ban all tankers? If one train wrecks, do we eliminate all trains? If one oil rig explodes due a defective part, does that mean all rigs have defective parts?" My dear moron judge, in this case, yes, it might mean exactly that, given the piss-poor oversight of recent years. And the larger point is that we know how to respond to a tanker spill or a train wreck, but we don't know nearly enough about how to respond to a deep-water oil leak and before we proceed willy-nilly, we oughta fuckin' figure it out!

Meanwhile, the good citizens of the Sportsman's Paradise don't know whether to shit or wind their watch over this whole thing. Louisiana has a long and sordid history as a look-the-other-way, laizzez bon temps roulez kinda place. Now half the people are bemoaning the tragic damage to habitat, wildlife, tourism, the seafood business, etc. The other half are complaining about slow-downs, layoffs and job loss in the oil industry, which is a huge employer on the Gulf Coast. They want to get back to business as usual. But if you want to have your shrimp and eat it too, the old business as usual may not be in your long-term interests. What price your bon temps?

I'll wrap up with one last BP tidbit. Judge Feldman's decision is being appealed and Interior may also order a temporary halt to some deep-sea drilling. It's pretty clear that some sort of moratorium will be reinstated. But here's what BP is planning for this fall, and it won't be subject to any moratorium because it's not technically "offshore". Up in Alaska near the Prudhoe Bay, BP has built an "island" 3 miles out into the Arctic water. This pile of rocks is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. So now it's "land-based", see? Salazar's Interior Dept. closes its eyes and agrees that it is. So, already 3 miles out, BP will put a drilling rig on its island and drill straight down for 2 miles. It will then drill 6 to 8 miles sideways to reach the site of the oil. This sideways shit has never been tried before, but BP pooh-poohs any safety concerns and has, as always, low-balled the quantity of any possible leak (leaking which, of course, is virtually impossible. Yeah, right.) The MMS has given BP the go-ahead for this project. You think it was tough to get to BP's blown rig a couple miles out in the Gulf of Mexico? Now try it 9 to 11 miles out into the friggin' Arctic Ocean! This is totally bat-shit crazy nuts!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Grand Compromise: Raise the Retirement Age, Cure Alzheimer's.

Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Republican Leader in the House, is quoted by The Pittsburgh Tribune Review today as saying that he thinks that the retirement age should be raised to 70, over the next 20 years, as part of any restructuring of Social Security.   Boehner's words were reasonable enough, and couched enough, that they should be taken as just a thoughtful politician musing over possibilities, and probabilities, in the decades ahead, and not as anything drastic about "the third rail of politics."   But as The Huffington Post headline, reproduced above, suggests, Boehner's political opponents will likely do their best to paint Boehner as an enemy of Social Security and, by extension, of senior citizens.   Cue up the direct mail from AARP and the National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, as well as partisan foes.

Most observers, on both sides of the aisle, agree that something will have to be done about the future growth of entitlement programs.  But as with any problem, there are better solutions and worse solutions.  The better solution is to help Americans become healthier, so that they can be happier, live longer, and yes, be more economically productive.

Lots of Americans would be happy to continue working till they are 70, or maybe even older, but they are unable to do so, due to various medical problems, perhaps the most serious of which is Alzheimer's Disease (AD).   AD is surging in the US; the incidence of AD is expected to triple in the next 40 years.  And early-onset AD may be on the rise, too.   Which is to say, given the current state of medicine, it might not be possible for a significant number of Americans to work longer.

And so AD poses a big problem for anyone who might wish to see the retirement age go up.

So here's a suggestion: Make a big offer to the American people: Couple the raising of the retirement age with a Manhattan Project-like quest for an AD cure.  

History tells us that we could either cure AD or put a big dent in it, IF we made a concentrated effort.   That is, bring the best experts together, sweep away the litigation and regulation that blocks progress, explore new financing mechanisms, such as "health bonds," and generally mobilize the country in the search for a cure, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the fight against polio, back in the 30s, when he established the March of Dimes.   It's worth recalling that the fight for a polio vaccine was initiated by a Democratic president, Roosevelt, then continued by another Democratic president, Harry S. Truman, and then completed by a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.   Which is to say, the fight against polio was a bipartisan success; great leaders of both parties joined together for the common good of the country.

In that spirit, Boehner might wish to have a chat with his fellow Midwesterner, Lou Weisbach, a Democratic businessman based in Chicago, who has been leading The American Center for Cures for the past decade.  Weisbach has been making Serious Medicine-ish arguments for all that time; he has assembled an impressive array of allies, in both parties.    Improvements in medicine are vastly more important to him--and to almost Americans--than mere partisan advantage.



So Weisbach and the American Center for Cures would be happy to help any leader wrestling with these issues, as part of an overall bipartisan approach to curing AD, among other serious diseases.   As Weisbach has said many times, in the long run, it's cheaper to cure a disease than it is to treat it.   His logic is impeccable, but as he himself has discovered, the politics are difficult, because too many politicians aren't very interested in long term solutions to problems, no matter how serious the problem.

But Boehner is thinking long term--about a very controversial topic.  So he would benefit from rallying together those who think creatively about the problem, those who are eyeing better solutions to the problem.

And, we might add, those who are eyeing, as well, the opportunity.  Because a cure for AD would not only be a boost to Social Security's solvency and a boon for America's aging population, but a cure for AD would immeasurably strengthen America's competitive position in the world.

K.O. Is O.K. By Me


Posted 6/29/10 on the Huffington Post

Keith Olbermann named Sarah Palin his Worst Person in the World Monday night on "Countdown," mocking the former Alaska Governor for her "stupidity."

Olbermann gave "Sister Sarah" the honor for her "gaffe-fest" at Cal State Stanislaus over the weekend, during which, he said, "she said, perhaps, 100 things that brand her as a phony."

"But none is more symbolic of her imbecility, her corner-cutting, her downright endorsement of stupidity instead of intelligence than this one," he said, introducing her false claim that Ronald Reagan attended "California's Eureka College."

"Eureka College is in Eureka, Illinois," Olbermann said. "Illinois, where Ronald Reagan was from. There is a town of Eureka in California, but it doesn't have a college. And Palin went to three different colleges and doesn't have an education. [Imitating Reagan's voice] Well, that woman is an idiot."

__________________

Buster says Olbermann is clearly correct. In the very same California speech, the Moose-Gutter also uttered the following, which is verbatim, I swear. If it makes the slightest bit of sense to you, then you speak Palinese far better than I:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and among those life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the genius of our founding fathers is that they took that, took what the Declaration of Independence called the laws of nature and of nature’s God, and those laws that as the apostle Paul says are written on our hearts, and these providential forefathers of ours they designed a Constitution that enshrined them and allowed people to live within them and it’s an awesome gift given to us in this Declaration of Independence which really was a declaration of responsibility too and in our Constitution including the Bill of Rights."

Huh?

Monday, June 28, 2010

How to bow against your principle


The saga between Khalid vs Azmin is the Malay culture instill by the teaching of founder UMNO baru Mahathir, of killing and shying away future leaders, who have good intention of developing and serving the people.

Selangor is one of the three States in West Malaysia sitting on a Gold Mine, that the Malays especially the selected PKR, UMNO clan, including the Royal Household think they can pluck money, land and projects etc.........at ease.

The people especially Selangorians have to decide whether to have a rich and developed State or a State run by group of men intent in enriching themselves. Like the previous MB Toyo.

Given the pressure forced onto Khalid, it would be good if the Sultan of Selangor can step up and be the first in this modern century to allow a Non-Malay run Selangor. If not possible allow a Non-Malay be deputy to Khalid. I know of a lady though she is not married a very suitable candidate to help Khalid run Selangor. I only met her twice but one could sense a dragon within that timid body of hers. The people have show great respect for her even though she does not sit in an important position in Selangor.

Knowing the Malay’s mentality one can only dream.

It takes a crooked man to build a crooked bridge



The Sultan of Johore wants the crooked bridge and the MB of Johore is all for it. So it looks like Najib has no choice but to oblige.

But will Singapore agree to it? Singaporeans do not work like Malaysians. Singaporeans will first calculate how much of juice there is, for how long and what other benefits can derive from it.

Nari a Singaporean is one of many businessmen working hand in hand with Lee Hsien Loong's wife. Many years ago, he was approached by HICOM to do a comprehensive study and ways to develop the KTM Land. The cost for the paper was agreed at RM300,000 but on the condition that Nari signs the agreement with a third party and not direct with HICOM. Nari on his part asked for an advancement to proceed the work. Though it was agreed, he never got it. Nari was repeatedly told to have faith in HICOM and that such a big company would not cheat him. Upon completion he was given RM40,000. The three directors of HICOM told him that they have to look through the papers before releasing the balance payment. But Nari was not stupid, he handed them a summary of the whole project. The three directors then handed the paper over as their own to Mahathir and Daim.

Nari approached me to inform Daim who was the Finance Minister then and in charge of the KTM land, about it and that he was willing to hand over the completed papers provided he gets his payment. No reply came forward.

Briefly the project is about running hotels and business center on KTM Land and beneath it a train tunnel and sea world. The working paper is attractive and he was very sure that Lee Hsien Loong's wife would agree because he had already given her hints of it and she was very, very excited.

The KTM Land was never leased to Malaysia by Singapore, as mentioned by a certain Minister who is trying to blind us to the truth.

Trust me Malaysia is the biggest fool and loser by handing over the KTM Land to Singapore.

So go ahead and build a crooked bridge to watch Singapore grow in abundance.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sergey Brin confronts the need for Serious Medicine--and responds in a Googley way.






Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, is on the cover of the new issue of Wired magazine.   But the main focus of this piece is not computers, or the Internet, but rather a deadly and crippling disease.   The piece somberly notes that Brin seems to have a high genetic predisposition to Parkinson's Disease, which has afflicted everyone from Mao Zedong to Billy Graham to Janet Reno, plus, of course, Michael J. Fox.   approximately -- and kills about 100,000 people a year, worldwide.   The article's author, Thomas Goetz--who comes across as much more pro-technology than he did in this piece, critiqued here at SMS, just a few months ago--writes sympathetically, even enthusiastically, about Brin's efforts to mobilize computing power to the challenge of curing Parkinson's and other diseases.

Brin has donated some $50 million to Parkinson's research, but his real contribution could be a whole new way of thinking about scientific research:


[Brin's]  approach is notable for another reason. This isn’t just another variation on venture philanthropy—the voguish application of business school practices to scientific research. Brin is after a different kind of science altogether. Most Parkinson’s research, like much of medical research, relies on the classic scientific method: hypothesis, analysis, peer review, publication. Brin proposes a different approach, one driven by computational muscle and staggeringly large data sets. It’s a method that draws on his algorithmic sensibility—and Google’s storied faith in computing power—with the aim of accelerating the pace and increasing the potential of scientific research. “Generally the pace of medical research is glacial compared to what I’m used to in the Internet,” Brin says. “We could be looking lots of places and collecting lots of information. And if we see a pattern, that could lead somewhere.”


In other words, Brin is proposing to bypass centuries of scientific epistemology in favor of a more Googley kind of science. He wants to collect data first, then hypothesize, and then find the patterns that lead to answers. And he has the money and the algorithms to do it.

As this chart from the Wired article shows, it appears that such "super-crunching" of data can make a huge difference, by dramatically accelerating--by 90 percent--the process of scientific discovery:



This is the so-called "Fourth Paradigm" of science, based on data-intensive computing.  In this reckoning, the first three paradigms, were empirical, analytical, and simulation.  But now, thanks to data-crunching, we have a “fourth paradigm.”  As described by a famous Microsoft scientist, the late Jim Gray, in this fourth paradigm we would see “A world of scholarly resources—text, databases, and any other associated materials—that were seamlessly navigable and interoperable.”



Microsoft's Craig Mundie sums it up in a book published by MSFT last year, available for free online:


As Jim Gray observed, the first, second, and third paradigms of science— empirical, analytical, and simulation—have successfully carried us to this point in history. Moreover, there is no doubt that if we rely on existing paradigms and tech- nologies, we will continue to make incremental progress. But if we are to achieve dramatic breakthroughs, new approaches will be required. We need to embrace the next, fourth paradigm of science.


Jim’s vision of this paradigm called for a new scientific methodology focused on the power of data-intensive science. Today, that vision is becoming reality. Com- puting technology, with its pervasive connectivity via the Internet, already under- pins almost all scientific study. We are amassing previously unimaginable amounts of data in digital form—data that will help bring about a profound transforma- tion of scientific research and insight. At the same time, computing is on the cusp of a wave of disruptive technological advances—such as multicore architecture, client-plus-cloud computing, natural user interfaces, and quantum computing— that promises to revolutionize scientific discovery.

Of course, a lot of this sounds more than a bit like the founding credo of Google, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."  Well, whoever's doing it, and whoever's getting the credit, we all have much to be thankful for.    Because of this approach works, we will all benefit.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The win-win-win of Serious Medicine, Chicago-style


Sandra Guy, writing for The Chicago Sun-Times this morning, reports on new technological developments in the Windy City that could dramatically improve surgical outcomes everywhere:  

Dr. Pier Cristoforo Giulianotti, a pioneer in performing surgery with robots, envisions the day when he will see a patient's MRI and discuss surgery with experts worldwide on an interactive screen inside his operating room.

"The possibility of having high-quality imaging and interactive communication on the walls is a concept that's very close to our ideal," said Giulianotti, a professor of surgery and chief of the minimally invasive, general and robotic surgery division at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Imaging is of particular importance because images aren't just representations of reality, they contain all of the information one needs to perform an operation," said Giulianotti, who has worked in the field of surgical robotics since 1999 and who was recruited to UIC in 2007.

Dr. Giulianotti soon will be able to make his vision a reality with a 3-D, flat-paneled display system that provides so much resolution it achieves a human's 20/20 vision quality.

Dr. Giullanotti and his team are working to advance the Next Generation Automated Virtual Environment, which they abbreviate as NG-CAVE.   It's a breakthrough for medicine, and, of course, an economic shot in the arm for Chicago.

But wait!  There's more as reporter Guy relates: 

The NG-CAVE might even enable manufacturers to make better-quality 3-D TV sets, give astronomers a new look at the heavens and enable high-definition, life-size video of one's friends to jump to life on the wall when you want to talk with them.

So there's the win-win-win of NG-CAVE, and, by extension, all medical technology: A win for healthcare, a win for economic development, and a win for future technology spinoffs, into sectors unrelated to medicine.   In the short run, the bean-counters at the Congressional Budget Office might dread such technological innovation--Peter Orszag, a former director of CBO, now the director of the even more powerful Office of Management and Budget, has said that we need to slow the introduction of new technology in the name of budget savings*--but the truth is just the opposite. 

Such techno-gains won't cost us money, they will make us money, as well as, of course, make us healthier.  

* From Orszag's testimony to Congress on January 31, 2008:  "Future increases in spending could be moderated if costly new medical services were adopted more selectively in the future than they have been in the past and if the diffusion of existing costly services was slowed. Although this approach would mean fewer medical services, evidence suggests that savings are possible without a substantial loss of clinical value." 

Friday, June 25, 2010

At the Extreme Edge of Medical Progress










Forbes magazine's Christopher Steiner offers a fascinating look at the AI future in a piece entitled, "At the Extreme Edge of Artificial Intelligence."

Two items of Serious Medicine interest.  First, "Second Opinions":

Medical imaging helps doctors diagnose everything from breast cancer to brain tumors. Now comes A.I. The University of Chicago's Department of Radiology is testing a method, called Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD), where a computer corroborates or challenges a radiologist's initial diagnosis. The computer combs images for suspicious regions and lesions while estimating the probability of each spot's malignancy. "Image interpretation by humans can be limited by incomplete visual search patterns, the potential for fatigue and distractions and the presence of structure noise in the image," says Chicago's Dr. Maryellen L. Giger.


And this, "Virtual Nursing": 


Timothy Bickmore, a computer science professor at Northeastern University, has created a virtual nurse named Louise who talks patients through the discharge process and can tell if they are correctly absorbing medical instructions. Louise is the work of Bickmore, MIT and the Boston Medical Center. Her skill in reading faces for clues is a huge breakthrough, says Dr. Brian Jack of the Boston Medical Center. Jack says that 20% of discharged patients show back up at the hospital within a month because they misunderstood the directions.

Feng Shui: The Klang Valley and Parliament


Prof David Koh and Joe Choo wrote this in the Star dated 25th June 2010.

Sri Petaling has benefited tremendously from the construction of the National Sports Complex, closure of the rubbish landfill, Light Rapid Transit (LRT) station, the Kesas Highway and Endah Parade shopping mall. (For Google map reference, please log on to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and search for “Kuala Lumpur”.)

We have also covered a few of the condominiums, apartments and low-cost flats in the vicinity. Within section 149b (roads with the suffix 149b), there are the Endah Villa Condominium, Sri Endah Apartment and 14 blocks of flats. Two schools - primary and secondary – and a community hall are also found here. To the west, there are rows of houses along roads with the suffix 149d.

The terrain in this roughly rectangular area is quite flat. The hills and highland are found further north, east and south (beyond the Kesas Highway). The west is also raised, thanks to the KL-Putrajaya Highway. Thus, we find a small bowl-like valley here that can collect earth energy.

There is a big monsoon drain at the south, parallel to Jalan 4/149b, just before the Kesas Highway. It eventually joins the Kuyoh River and move on to Klang. Smaller monsoon drains channel rain water perpendicularly into it from the north.

Modern-day rivers
Monsoon drains or similar large drainage systems can be considered rivers in this day and age. Gone are natural rivers which carve their own paths to the oceans. Property developers in this country tend to change the entire landform to suit their needs.

This is the most straightforward way to develop land and maximise its utility. It is much harder and less profitable to design towns and properties that suit the land’s natural forms. Only very high-end and expensive developments offer this luxury.

Rivers and mountains play important roles in environology. Earth energy emanates from the top of mountains and flows downhill to valleys, plains, rivers and eventually, the ocean. In the big picture, the central focus from which earth energy comes is Mount Everest.

The energy radiates outward and downward through the mountain ranges. One of these ranges extends into the Malay Peninsula. We call this the Main Range or Titiwangsa. At Bukit Tinggi, two smaller ranges branch out and form a claw that embraces what we now call the Klang Valley.

This is a very conducive formation and is likely to explain why the Klang Valley is the most prosperous area in the whole country. Yes, you can say that the state of Selangor is the most prosperous but if you look carefully, most of this prosperity is centred in the Klang Valley.

Klang Valley prosperity

The powers-that-be should consider environology factors if they are thinking of moving the seat of government to the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).
You could say tin played an important role in spurring the Klang Valley’s growth but Ipoh and the Kinta Valley were similarly rich in tin. In fact, Ipoh was the first administrative centre in Malaya for the British, having established a beachhead there during the Residency days. J.W.W. Birch, the first resident in Malaya, was assigned to Perak, not Selangor.
The centre of administration, business and finance eventually shifted to the Klang Valley because, in our opinion, of the attractive energy pool created within the Klang Valley.

This also suggests that our nation’s capital – be it financial, economic or political – should remain within the Klang Valley. Relocating it outside the valley could lead to a decline in our country’s affairs.

Sometime ago, we covered Parliament House in our tour and noted how our nation’s history very closely followed a series of changes predicted by the I-Ching’s hexagrams. If Parliament House is relocated, the powers-that-be must carefully consider the environology factors instead of just cost, logistics and convenience.

The seat of government should always be on higher ground. This is a position of authority. The present Parliament House fits this criterion. The proposed new site – the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) – also sits on high ground and therefore fulfils the criterion, too.


Seat of power
The seat of power should also be located at the north-west sector of the city, which represents the patriarch or master. In this regard, neither the present nor the proposed location fits the bill. This could explain the difficulty Tunku Abdul Rahman had in keeping Malaysia together. Singapore seceded soon after and Tunku left office following the May 13 tragedy.

In any case, we urge caution about the PICC. Putrajaya is not located within the Klang Valley and therefore does not enjoy the same pool of conducive earth energy found in the latter. Even within the township, the PICC is not in the north-west sector. It is found in the south.

The fact that the PICC is under-utilised, as reported in the press, should be a warning sign. Of course, one can assign many “obvious” reasons for that. Putrajaya is too far away from Kuala Lumpur. The management company was not aggressive or creative enough to attract events.

Putrajaya is the nation’s administrative capital and with that comes plenty of clout. It is also next door to Cyberjaya, the centre of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Surely something can be done to increase its usefulness and usage.

Perhaps then, there is another reason for the PICC’s situation. Perhaps it is not conducive from an environological point of view. If that is so, relocating Parliament to this complex may also create more woes for our nation’s lawmakers, and by extension, our country itself. Interesting food for thought, is it not?

Earth, wind, water
But we digress. We were saying rivers and mountains could affect earth energy. Water has a different rigidity from solid ground. Earth energy cannot penetrate water. Thus, when it flows down from the peak of a mountain or hill, it is deflected and reflected by the river. This reflected energy is gentle and homogenous, which are desirable traits.

When a river is curved to embrace the land, the rebounding energy is concentrated like a parabolic dish. Properties built to face this pool are likely to do well. If a river forms an outer elbow, the angle of deflection is such that the energy is dispersed, and properties here tend to do poorly.

The condos, apartments and flats in 149b of Sri Petaling are sitting in a bowl-like valley where earth energy tends to accumulate. This is attractive to life. However, this is also often associated with vice activities: gambling, protection racket, gangsterism and prostitution.

Roads with suffixes 149d and 149j are very close to the elevated KL-Putrajaya Highway. This poses a slight challenge as the highway becomes an artificial mountain that impacts the earth energy pattern. Furthermore, wind turbulence from the highway’s traffic can disperse the energy. Thus, properties which are too close to the highway are likely to do more poorly than those further away on the other end of each row. This will happen naturally anyway, due to higher amounts of noise and air pollution.

There are two rows of shophouses here - one along Jalan 1/149d and the other along Jalan 1/149j. The land is mostly flat but there is actually a gentle slope from north to south. Furthermore, there is a river running in a north-south direction to the east.

All these point to one thing - the best direction to face is south. This follows the slope and is also parallel to the river’s direction. Since the shophouses here have been operating for a few years now, the effect is quite apparent. Those along 1/149d seem to do better than 1/149j. Of course, a logical explanation could also be that 1/149d has a higher visibility from the main roads than the other. We leave it to you to decide.

http://malaysiaflipflop.blogspot.com/2010/06/city-of-dead.html

Thursday, June 24, 2010

1Malaysia gamblers


This Rais Yatim should be smart and resign on his own before we show him the exit. Since becoming a Minister he had been yakking like a pariah dog.

Every time the government loses out to the Malays, attention is given to the Chinese. One must never forget the waving of the Keris with saliva flying everywhere demanding for Chinese blood and the spitting at the Chinese Assembly Hall. Oh no the Chinese must never, ever forget that. Be sure to remind generations to come. No matter how sweet the dessert may look the taste would alway be bitter as long as the UMNO cum BN is running this country.

Chinese by nature likes to gamble I agree but so too are the Malays, Indians, Eurasians and others. No! No! Yes! Yes!

Let's see - Every day except Thursday "1Malaysians" are at the Magnum, Toto and Big Sweep outlets.

At the snooker centers, we have "1Malaysians" betting.

At internet cafes we also have "1Malaysians" gambling on the net.

At private homes located in Kenny Hills, Mount Kiara, Tropicana, Damansara, Ampang and certain Royal Palaces we have "1Malaysians" weekly sessions.

In Genting Highland, again we have "1Malaysians" gambling happily away.

Monday till Friday "1Malaysians" gamble at the stock market.

All these with approval eyes from the Religious Department, whose main interest are knocking down doors, raiding clubs, stopping couples from holding hands in public and drinking beer.

Legal or not we all gamble.

Right now all Malaysians are gambling with our lives at stake, that the UMNO cum BN Government does not drown us with debts.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Azmin Ali should not be given a chance to be MB of Selangor.


Traitors are the biggest scum bags in the world. I should know. My husband was played out by these bastards.

I am very disappointed with a number of PKR members especially Azmin Ali who had resigned as Selangor Development Corporation director. It is bad enough they are ex-UMNO members but do they really need to bring with them bad habits over to PKR. I have many issues with Malay mentality that they are the boss. So what if you were once UMNO members. Does that mean you are the only person capable of running the party? If I want to be racist, I can name three people who are more capable as a leader than the donkeys fighting over the MB seat.

MB Khalid should be left to do his work until the 13th General Election. All these complaints about him not able to do his work is political rubbish. As a MB, Khalid has to please the Sultan of Selangor no matter how questionable it is. Then he has to get the government servants to help him get things done, most time ending up in the rubbish bins or in the hands of UMNO gang bang. Then the headache starts within the party itself everybody wanting to be buddy with him and getting projects etc...........Khalid has less problems with DAP and PAS. So try working round that and see what happens.

If Zaid is chosen to take over from Khalid, he too will have the same problems.

Now Azmin Ali is one guy I do not trust at all especially as MB for Selangor. Azmin Ali was financially back by Mahathir from his younger days till the day he step down as Prime Minister. Azmin Ali became a millionaire not through Anwar but Mahathir. Azmin has not shown his colour yet but given a chance I strongly believe he will hand over the Selangor state to UMNO.

If a Malay must be given the MB post let it be a woman this time round and stop those bastards from running loose.

Customer Service



Harrods the first retail group in Britain had offered its own staff a complete BA Honours, a two year degree course in sales. The course includes modules in human behaviour, psychology and business enterprise, designed to improve the students’ sales skills and effectiveness.

It would be ideal if our retail companies follow what Harrods is doing. I have had many bad experiences where the staff can tell you point blank “I tak tahu,” and walk away. I believe in any service business be it hypermarket, stores, government department dealing direct with the public, restaurants and many others must ensure their staff understand their functions as they are the first person a customer sees. Rude staff can spoil a person’s day and I hate that.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Brain Drain


When Mahathir became the Prime Minister, my parents left this country saying there is no more future for them though they were government servants. At that time I did not understand what they meant.

Today I fully understand the betrayal and how manipulative the UMNO cum BN Government is. Many people like me at that time were at awe that Mahathir could do so many grand projects when he became the Prime Minister. Now after many moons, we are living on the after effect of over spending, stealing of lands, projects and transferring of funds overseas........etc........

Najib is no different from Mahathir. On the one hand we are told to be mindful of what we consume, spend and not to depend on the subsidies. But on the other hand the grand projects are on and many more are on the table. We gave away our black oil to Brunei and Prime Land plus income to Singapore for a mince pie. Our Sungei Besi, Cochrane and Peel Road land were taken by our ex-Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Finance Minister and now been sold to a foreign company. The smart tunnel is too smart for us to use. Every two weeks the tunnel is close for maintenance which cost us RM20million per year. Bernas recorded a net profit of RM179million FY09 - the highest since it was privatised in 1996. Naza is still receiving 60,000 free APs, Air Asia is given more benefits than MAS. Sime Darby now has an ex-Felda as CEO,who not only mismanaged Felda but also has many pockets and women to handle. Then we have an IGP who is connected with the underground and AG who not only have mansions oversea but private accounts. Give Najib another year and we will have the biggest Sendiri Berhad corporation like Taib.

So Khairy do not blame the opposition for the brain drain. After 54 years of UMNO control people are fed-up.

Now the recent talk about terrorists are just bull shit. Najib was told by the Bomohs that election must be held before February 2011 otherwise he will lose his underwear. To ensure that he stands a better chance of winning more seats he now attack University students and Lecturers who are in favour of PKR, to ensure he has control over them.

Terrorists are not stupid people. They will never attack country like Malaysia, who is supporting them in arms and money and give them a place to do their training. Plus it is a fact that Putrajaya and Cyberjaya was built with terrorists' money. Is Mahathir willing to swear in the Quran, he did not supported and funded the terrorists?

Given that kind of play, play and double twisting talk and laws in this country, you think my children's' future is safe? I must be insane.

Robbie Says "Repeal"


Cincinnati Republican Rob Portman is running for a U.S. Senate. His opponent is Lee Fisher, the Lt. Governor. Seemingly just the other day, the lovely Mrs. Gammons attended elementary school with Portman, known then as Robbie. She reports that, in those days, Robbie was cute. Clearly, those days are over for the cadaverous candidate. But I digress.

Recently both candidates were asked for their opinions on the health care reform bill passed earlier this year. Fisher said he liked it, but felt it didn't go far enough. He personally favored a single payer system as a means to control costs and reduce the inefficiencies of our current 1300-payer system. (Buster happens to agree with this viewpoint.)

Portman is the former G.W. Bush U.S. Trade Representative and is thoroughly steeped in the Bush/Cheney TEA. He said he agreed with the expanded access and coverage of pre-existing conditions that the law provides. (Me too.) He said he felt it didn't go far enough in containing costs. (Me too again.) Then Robbie said that therefore he thought the whole thing should be blown up and, if elected, his first priority would be to repeal health care reform. Huh? WTF?? You essentially approve but nevertheless want to start all over. Later. Sometime between now and Armeggedon. And what is Robbie's big idea for cost control? The doctors' favorite bitch, malpractice law reform. OK, but malpractice costs are a piss-drop in the toilet bowl of total health care costs. The real culprits are the charges billed for medical services, the insurance premiums paid for coverage of same, and the administrative redundancy inherent in our current set-up. They are sucking each other along in a never-ending upward spiral.

Yo, Robbie! Take your dick out of the A.M.A.'s mouth and wake up!

City of the dead

Putrajaya

Egypt

Malaysian UMNO cum BN Government likes to destroy old buildings especially those heritage sitting on prime land. The Government has no long term planning. Their love for money is how the Government works. It does not matter the future of this country is doom. As long as they can get away by creating impossible dreams to blind us from their hidden crime.

Now that the UMNO cum BN Government is seriously considering moving Parliament to Putrajaya, I believe this country is finish.

I am not talking about the cost but on a more serious matter. Putrajaya may be a beauty on the exterior but on Feng Shui and Spiritual reading it is a CITY OF THE DEAD. Since many Ministries have moved there plus the incredible home that Mahathir built for himself to die there the whole country had been a mess. Malaysia has many so called feng shui experts like Joey, Lillian, Yong, etc.............none had dare to speak the truth about Putrajaya. The incredible home of the Prime Minister has many problems such as leakage from the roof down to the flooring, permanent wetness on walls and black and cold spots... etc on a daily basis.........but what most people do not know is that it is haunted. Well the truth is all the buildings there are haunted. After 6pm voices are heard and one could feel the presence of the unknown.

In other countries like Egypt more than 5 million poor live in the Northern Cemetery. In Manila 1 million poor live in the Northern Cemetery. Bangladesh 1 million poor live in Kandahar Cemetery.

In Malaysia Mahathir built Putrajaya at a cost of RM25 billion to make his dream come true without studying the landscape. So now Malaysia can claim to have built the biggest and most expensive cemetery in the world where the death and living does not want to stay. Don't believe? Check in today's Star Pg N18 where it is reported that the Prime Minister's residence is in Jalan Langgak Duta and not Putrajaya. Rosmah the bomoh expert can even vouch the eerie environment in Putrajaya.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Helen Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot


A couple weeks ago, Israel earned itself more goodwill and made friends all over the globe by attacking a Turkish flotilla carrying relief supplies for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis were convinced this was not a humanitarian operation, but a terrorist one, so they boarded the boats, shot things up and killed some people. They justified their actions by claiming there were weapons aboard, but these weapons turned out to be a box of Bic shaving razors.

Israel's Belligerent-In-Chief Bibi Netanyahu displayed not the slightest bit of embarrassment or contrition. His bad-neighbor policy continues to be shoot first and ask questions later. If mistakes are made, well, tough shit. That's the price of self-defense. And Israel is always defending itself from one thing or another. Peace in the Middle East seems impossible.

It was in this time frame that a videographer asked veteran/ancient/decrepit White House reporter Helen Thomas what Israel could do to improve the situation. Helen looked into the lens and hissed, "Get the hell out of Palestine! Just go back home to Poland or Germany or wherever." Ooh, Helen, that's just a tiny bit anti-Semitic, don't you think? Apparently her bosses at the Hearst News Service thought so, because Helen announced her retirement the next day, ending a career that dates back to the days of John Quincy Adams.

Old Helen, who has some Palestinian ancestry, was clearly wrong to blurt out this bigoted sentiment. But there are plenty of bigots on both sides in the so-called Holy Land/Promised Land. Jews, Christians, and Muslims have been fussin' and fightin' over this patch of ground for literally thousands of years. That bit of British imperial wisdom which redrew the maps at the end of WW II and created Israel out of what had been Palestine has done nothing but fan the flames of resentment ever since.

What Helen suggested will never happen. Modern Israel will not go away. It has a right to exist, and its location makes historical sense. What does not make sense is the absence of a genuine Palestinian state. It's their land too. The only option with a snowball's chance in hell of maintaining peace in the region is the two-state solution. There must be a modern nation of Palestine, just as there is a nation of Israel. Most reasonable Israelis understand this and agree with it. Bibi's not one of 'em. Which is a shame.

Arabs and Jews have been behaving like spoiled children for far too long. It's time for some basic kindergarten rules: Share! Play nice!! Now!!! Please!!!!

A New Novel About Penicillin in World War Two


Lauren Belfer has just published a new novel, A Fierce Radiance, about the development of penicillin during the early days of World War Two, when development of the drug was a vital national security issue, as well as a matter of compassion and humanitarian relief.

And of course, today, seven decades later, nothing has changed.  Our ability to win wars, for example, is directly challenged by out completely understandable squeamishness about death, injury, and disfigurement.   And while we are spending billions on military medicine, we should be spending more, and doing more.  If we did, we would not only see greater progress on behalf of our warriors, but we would see the development of new industries on the homefront.  That was the story of plastic surgery, which emerged in Britain during World War One--and has been both a a help, and a profit center, ever since.

But today, we just seem less interested in that sort of profound medicine.  As a society, we have drifted into the strange position of wanting to pay for the disease after the fact, not prevent it or cure it.

The New York Times gave A Fierce Radiance a nice review on Sunday, saying in part:



Lauren Belfer’s death-haunted medical thriller begins in December 1941, just three days after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor. Claire Shipley, a photojournalist working for the phenomenally successful Life magazine, has come to the Rockefeller Institute in New York to record one of the earliest trials of a new medication called penicillin. Highly effective in experiments involving bacterial infections in mice, this substance is about to be tried on a human. Will the drug work? Or will it have serious, potentially lethal, side effects? For the patient and the doctors, there’s no real choice: this experiment is a desperate last chance for a 37-year-old man who had been robustly healthy until a seemingly harmless scratch, acquired during a game of tennis, rapidly developed into a life-threatening infection.
Claire’s assignment introduces her to the world of medical research — and to Jamie Stanton, the dedicated physician who will administer the penicillin, along with his younger sister, Tia, a mycologist who serves as his chief assistant. These highly attractive, hard-working siblings are motivated by a personal tragedy: their parents perished in the great influenza epidemic that swept the country just after World War I.
Claire Shipley has suffered deep losses too, but hers are of more recent vintage. Seven and a half years earlier, her 3-year-old daughter died of a blood infection after an apparently minor accident, a circumstance not unlike that of the patient she has just photographed. In the aftermath of her daughter’s death, Claire’s marriage collapsed, leaving her the sole custodian of her surviving child, an 8-year-old son. Claire’s stepfather and mother have also died. For her, the last 10 years have been a “decade of death.”
The day after Claire’s initial photo shoot, she returns to find the critically ill patient looking fully recovered. He’s awake and alert, freshly bathed and shaved, and reading the newspaper. But, as Tia Stanton explains, this miracle may be short-lived. If a relapse occurs, there will be no way to save the patient because there is no more medication. Penicillin grows agonizingly slowly, harvested from small droplets that leak from a kind of green mold. The hospital’s supply is being cultivated in makeshift rows of sideways-turned milk bottles, even in bedpans, but the patient has received all the available supply. Sure enough, within hours he begins to fail, and by the end of the day he is dead.
Belfer uses the urgency of the Stantons’ mission — finding a means of quickly mass-producing penicillin — to add drama to the romantic attraction that develops between Claire and Jamie. America has just become a country at war, with soldiers soon to be dying from infected battlefield wounds. The novel’s tension increases as Jamie is called away by the government to oversee and coordinate penicillin projects in laboratories throughout the nation. Back in New York, Tia continues her own research, which may put her in personal danger. And as the race for lucrative pharmaceutical patents on penicillin’s so-called cousins heats up, Claire’s father, a wealthy tycoon, begins to play a significant role in the ever widening narrative.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day


Inspite a hectic day I simply had to meet up with an old friend. A very, very old friend who inspite of his ups and downs was loyal and good hearted, that is difficult to find today.

A genuine friend whom I am grateful to have met and known. Today’s meeting was rather weird as my feeling and knowledge that this will be the last I would see him before he leaves this world. I have never been wrong when it comes to death.

This meeting on his part was full of anger, frustration and regrets about his wife. For the past nine years he had been living alone due to his selfish wife.

My friend has four girls. After the birth of the third girl, the wife had an affair with her colleague and left home. My friend’s mother had to look after the girls. After a couple of months the wife returned home after she was thrown out by the man. My friend forgave her for the sake of the children and soon they had another girl. Again she ran off with another man. When she returned, my friend again forgave her. But this time she refused to look after the youngest child and treated her like an orphan. The relationship between my friend and his wife was never the same after that. My friend tried his best to be a good husband and father to the children but the wife refused to have him touch her and shown her frustration by accusing him of having affairs with so and so. Everyday she would tell the children that the father was a good for nothing and sleeping with this and that woman. But the truth was, he was the most faithful man I have ever met. After the death of his mum, his best friend and myself pushed him to get a second wife. Which he did eventually but he up us by getting two more wives.

But things did not work out smoothly because the first wife decided to use the service of the bomohs. So after a short blissful life, he decided to divorce the other three wives and accepted the first wife accusation and spite for the sake of the children.

Today all four girls are married and he is a proud grandfather of three. His wife left home nine years ago today and presently staying with the third daughter. But for the past nine years the wife had taken everything from him and is presently fighting in court over the house he is staying in which is worth RM1million. My friend had told the girls that he is too old to fight her and does not mind her coming back home and live the balance of whatever time they have left together. But the wife is determine to make him homeless.

As a friend I feel helpless. I hope and pray that the wife and his third daughter whom he had also not seen for the past nine years would reconcile and ask for forgiveness before he closes his eyes.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish: As Alzheimer's Increases, Government Funding to Combat Alzheimer's Decreases

The June 17th issue of The Economist features an important article on the penny-wise-pound-foolish nature of America's health expenditures on Alzheimer's Disease (AD.)

As the magazine notes, AD costs the US some $170 billion a year.   And the number of Americans suffering from AD is projected to triple by 2050.

Yet the NIH is cutting back on anti-AD research, thus condeming us all to a terrible public-health and fiscal fate.  As the magazine explains:

Yet Alzheimer’s research, on which the NIH spent $643m in 2006, is to receive only $480m in 2011. It has not been singled out for these cuts. They are part of a general belt-tightening at the agency. But in this as in everything, you get what you pay for. And that might, in the future, be an awful lot of witless, wandering elderly.


It might not be so bad that the government is cutting back if the private sector were making up the difference.  But there's plenty of evidence that Pharma companies have hit a wall.   As The Economist notes, Pfizer just abandoned its effort on the anti-AD drug Dimebon, after having spent $725 million.

Making drugs is hard--harder, even than plugging oil spills.   So absent suitable incentivizing and/or prodding, it’s possible that the drug companies will work on something else.

So clearly, leadership is needed.  But from where is it going to come?  The White House? The Congress?  The private sector?  Philanthropy?   And it's not just money that's needed,
 of course: To cure AD, we will need to reform the FDA, clear away the trial lawyers, and probably revisit intellectual property rules.   


And by the way, there's political advantage to be had here.   The elderly vote in disproportionate numbers; if one politician, or one party, emerges as a clear champion of effective AD research--that is, genuine victory, as opposed to just propping up the status quo--it's a safe bet that that politician/party will reap a substantial political reward at the polls.   

The alternative to effective leadership is a continuation of the current system, which is to say, fiscal disaster: A big chunk of our population comes down with AD, and we pay the bills for their futile care over the course of decades    That's a grey dawn, indeed.  



It would be a lot cheaper, as well as more humane, if we could figure out a cure for AD, focusing on it as we did with polio and AIDS.    And who knows--if we could figure out a cure, here in the US, we would have a new precious export. 

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Indonesians have Bumiputra right


Back in 1984 I was told to check on land belonging to the old folks in Kampung Baru. Then again in 1990 I was told to do the same. I was told much later that the Mat Rempit boss Sulaiman had used that list to acquire the properties illegally and given to senior UMNO big guns.

The tenants in Kampung Baru are not the actual owners. They are illegal immigrates from Indonesia who were either issued Malaysian Identity cards by the UMNO government for election purpose or had purchased the Identity cards costing RM200 then. These are the very people who are staying there now and are paying rental to the family of the senior UMNO big guns, on the understanding that if the owners want to sell they will have the first right to it. Some of the big guns have since passed away and the properties being sold to these Indonesians.

Every Raya it is not difficult to notice that these Indonesians goes back to Indonesia for a month and even by talking to them one would notice the Indonesian slang. Many of them are even proud to tell you which part of Indonesia they were born in.

Where my aunt is staying, she is the only Malay family in that two row of houses.

So how will Datuk Raja Nong Chik and the 50 representatives for the owners and beneficiaries of Kampung Baru retain 100% bumiputra ownership, unless of course the good UMNO government had already decided that Indonesians are also Bumiputra.

On another case, many Indonesians are owners of Agriculture land in Selangor. One need not go far like Hulu Selangor but Ampang to see for themselves. For this we must thank the Gombak Land Office officers who can settle everything over breakfast and by 9 am the Indonesians are proud owners of Agriculture land. Don’t believe me, just go where they have their breakfast every morning and see the exchange of money when they salam each other.