Cabbies want Loke to quit as transport minister - too arrogant of cabbies

Now, cabbies want Loke to quit as transport minister

Published 15 hours ago on 23 October 2018

By Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin

A group representing the taxi community has called for the resignation of Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook, saying he is the one to blame for the industry’s decline. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — A group representing the taxi community has called for the resignation of Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook, saying he is the one to blame for the industry’s decline.

In denouncing the walkout staged by several cabbies during a forum with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Langkawi over the weekend, Gabungan Teksi Se-Malaysia instead blamed Loke for the industry’s shortcomings.

“The whole Malaysia has heard and now know the individual that should be blamed and held responsible is YB Anthony Loke.

“The prime minister’s explanation during the dialogue with taxi drivers in Langkawi clearly proves the concerned minister did not adhere to repeated instructions given by the prime minister,” said its chairman Kamarudin Hussain in a statement today. 

Kamarudin said it made no sense for cabbies to call for Dr Mahathir’s resignation, instead saying Loke should resign for practising cultures similar to that of ministers from the Barisan Nasional administration.

“Tomorrow we will be having a peaceful gathering at Padang Merbok in Kuala Lumpur, but we are not asking for the prime minister to resign, we want YB Anthony Loke to be dismissed.

“He has failed to solve the taxi issue; should be held responsible to what happened to the prime minister in Langkawi, and he is the reason why the community condemns the industry,” said the statement.

Meanwhile, the executive director of taxi-hailing company PicknGO, Valerie Chan Chee Ching, in a statement today expressed regret over the walkout, saying a vast majority of cabbies maintained their professionalism and are well-mannered.

“The backlash has already begun with messages on social media going around calling for the boycott of taxis.

“It is however not fair to allow a few bad apples to determine the outcome of any situation,” Chan said.

Chan then suggested for the government to shape policies that would benefit the industry and help them, but not in the form of handouts.

She pointed out that 67,000 people had at the last census admitted they relied on their taxi business to make a living. 

“This is not a weekend job for these 67,000 people. This is their career. And to many of them, they do not know how to be anything else.

“Helping does not mean handouts. Helping means shaping good policies that can cut bureaucracy and make it easier and safer for them to make a living,” it read.

Chan also suggested a more proactive approach be taken for regulation and enforcement, while instilling a holistic public policy impacting the industry as a whole, and not just short-term measures.

Cabbies want Loke to quit as transport minister - too arrogant of cabbies. These people ought to SHUT their mouths - WHO do they think they ARE??? Telling this person and that person to resign, The authorities ought to revoke their licences as their behaviour is detrimental and if they behave like this - HOW will they behave with their customers, people who hail their cabs. The police MUST act and take immediate ACTION against their violent actions and abuses NOW!

The Ugly Truth About Jamal Khashoggi

n high school, Jamal Khashoggi had a good friend. His name was Osama bin Laden.

“We were hoping to establish an Islamic state anywhere,” Khashoggi reminisced about their time together in the Muslim Brotherhood. “We believed that the first one would lead to another, and that would have a domino effect which could reverse the history of mankind.”

The friendship endured with Jamal Khashoggi following Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan. Khashoggi credited Adel Batterjee, listed at one time as one of “the world’s foremost terrorist financiers” by the Treasury Department, with bringing him to Afghanistan to report on the fighting.

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The media calls Khashoggi a journalist, but his writings from 80s Afghanistan read as Jihadist propaganda with titles like, "Arab Mujahadeen in Afghanistan II: Exemplifies the Unity of Islamic Ummah".

And when Osama bin Laden set up Al Qaeda, he called Khashoggi with the details.

After Afghanistan, Jamal Khashoggi went to work as a media adviser for former Saudi intel boss, Prince Turki bin Faisal, alleged to have links to Al Qaeda. Those allegations came from, among others, Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged twentieth hijacker.

When the other 19 hijackers perpetrated the attacks of September 11, Khashoggi wrote that the Saudis would not “give in” to American “demands” for “unconditional condemnation” and “total cooperation”.

"Saudis tend to link the ugliness of what happened in New York and Washington with what has happened and continues to happen in Palestine. It is time that the United States comes to understand the effect of its foreign policy and the consequences of that policy," he declared.

"A Muslim cannot be happy with the suffering of others. Even if this suffering is that of Americans who neglected the suffering of Palestinians for half a century."

That’s the real Khashoggi, a cynical and manipulative apologist for Islamic terrorism, not the mythical martyred dissident whose disappearance the media has spent the worst part of a week raving about.

Jamal Khashoggi was not a moderate. Some describe him as the leader of the Saudi Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamist network admires Hitler and seeks to impose Islamic law around the world. Nor was he a supporter of freedom of the press. In one of his Al Jazeera appearances, he complained that the Saudi government was allowing some journalists to report positively on Israel.

His final project, DAWN or Democracy for the Arab World Now was meant to aid Islamists. According to Azzam Al-Tamimi, an old Muslim Brotherhood ally aiding Jamal, "The Muslim Brothers and Islamists were the biggest victims of the foiled Arab spring." Al-Tamimi has endorsed suicide bombings.

But unlike Osama bin Laden, Khashoggi did not use the Muslim Brotherhood as a gateway drug to the pure and uncut violence of Al Qaeda or ISIS. He was still betting on a political takeover.

As he recently put it, “Democracy and political Islam go together.”

Khashoggi went on making the case for the Islamic state of the Muslim Brotherhood. He went on making that case even as the Saudis decided that the Brotherhood had become too dangerous.

Like his old friend, Jamal Khashoggi went into exile in a friendly Islamist country. Osama bin Laden found refuge in Pakistan and Khashoggi ended up in Turkey. The Khashoggi family had originated from Turkey. And Turkey was swiftly becoming the leading Sunni Islamist power in the region. Living in Turkey put Khashoggi at the intersection of the Turkish-Qatari backers of the Brotherhood and the Western media.

His disappearance has touched off fury and anger from the Islamist regime that harbored him. And it has also set off an unprecedented firestorm of rage and grief by the American media which adored him.

Media spin describes Khashoggi as a dissident. And he certainly was that. But so was Osama bin Laden.

What Khashoggi wasn’t, was a moderate. No more so than the Muslim Brotherhood. He wasn’t a proponent of human rights, but of Islamic rule. He could be found on Al Jazeera, Qatar’s Jihadist propaganda network, bemoaning Saudi opposition to the Brotherhood and its friendliness to Israel.

"Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should get rid of his complex against the Muslim Brotherhood and stop treating them as the enemy or a threat to Saudi Arabia," he complained, and urged the Saudis to fight Israel instead.

Jamal Khashoggi’s career of spouting Muslim Brotherhood propaganda for his new Turkish and Qatari masters came to an end in a curious way. Before Khashoggi allegedly entered the Saudi embassy, from which Turkey claims that he disappeared, he told his Turkish fiancé to call Yasin Aktay if he didn’t return.

Before the summer coup of 2016, Turkey was said to have 50,000 political prisoners. Many of them were members of the country’s oppressed Kurdish minority which is deprived of its most basic civil rights. These include even the use of their own language. Doing so can carry a prison sentence.

In that terrible summer, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s Islamic tyrant, finished securing his absolute hold on power with the coup as his Reichstag fire. The alleged coup became a blank check for the mass arrest and torture of countless thousands of political prisoners. Amnesty International estimated that 50,000 had been detained. The UN listed a figure as high as 180,000. They included 300 journalists.

Lawyers described clients being brought to them covered in blood.

Erdogan went after professors, judges, law enforcement, the military and the last remnants of a free press. A Human Rights Watch report documented electric shocks, beatings with truncheons and rubber hoses, and rape by Erdogan’s Islamic thugs. Heads were banged against walls. Men were forced to kneel on burning hot asphalt. Medical reports showed skull fractures, damage to testicles and dehydration.

The media didn’t show any of the hysterical outrage at these crimes that it has over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. The media cares more about Khashoggi, a former media mouthpiece of the Saudi regime before it turned on his Muslim Brotherhood brothers, than about 300 Turkish reporters.

It’s not hypocrisy, it’s consistency.

Erdogan and Khashoggi are both militant Islamic activists. And their opponents, the victims of Erdogan’s Reichstag fire and the new Saudi king, had fallen afoul of them for being insufficiently militantly Islamist.

The media will always take the side of Islamists over non-Islamists. That’s why it bleeds for Khashoggi.

There was a reason why Jamal Khashoggi felt so comfortable in Turkey, while actual journalists in the country were terrified of being locked up, tortured and disappeared. If that was the fate that befell Khashoggi, it was a commonplace one in Turkey. And it may have been carried out by his own Turkish allies who decided that their Saudi subversive had more value as a false flag martyr than a house guest.

The media’s disproportionate outrage over Khashoggi has nothing to do with human rights. If it did, the media would have been just as outraged at the arrests and torture of tens of thousands in Turkey.

It’s not. And it won’t be.

And the politicians shrilly urging that we punish the Saudis never thought about curtailing arms sales to Turkey. Many of the same politicians were unhappy when President Trump used economic pressure on Erdogan in an effort to free American hostages, like Pastor Andrew Brunson, being held by Turkey.

This is about Islam.

The struggle between Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the one hand, and Turkey, Qatar and Iran on the other, is the next stage of the Arab Spring. And, from Yemen to Turkey, the media has made no secret of being on the Islamist side. Its outrage over Khashoggi, like its claims of a human rights crisis over the Saudi bombings in Yemen, are not journalism, they’re the political spin of the Islamist axis.

The media has reported every claim of victimhood by the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar’s Al Jazeera propaganda arm, while giving as little attention as possible to the victims of Muslim Brotherhood church bombings. Its coverage of Israel has been little more than terrorist propaganda since Osama was in diapers. Its coverage of the Khashoggi case is every bit as dishonest as its slanted attacks on the Saudi embargo of Qatar, as its propaganda about the wars in Yemen and Libya, and just as devoid of context.

The Khashoggi case demands context.

Before the media and the politicians who listen to it drag the United States into a conflict with Saudi Arabia over a Muslim Brotherhood activist based on the word of an enemy country still holding Americans hostage, we deserve the context.

And we deserve the truth.

The media wants the Saudis to answer questions about Jamal Khashoggi. But maybe the media should be forced to answer why the Washington Post was working with a Muslim Brotherhood propagandist?

The real mystery isn’t Khashoggi’s disappearance. It’s why Republicans aren’t asking those questions.

The media’s relationship with Khashoggi is far more damning than anything the Saudis might have done to him. And the media should be held accountable for its relationship with Osama bin Laden’s old friend.

Putrajaya RIGHT in terminating MMC-Gamuda’s underground contract

Why Putrajaya terminated MMC-Gamuda’s underground contract

Dear directors of MMC-Gamuda,

Let me applaud you for putting up a great show since Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the Cabinet decision to:

(i) accept the offer from MMC-Gamuda to reduce the cost of the MRT2 above-ground works by RM5.2 billion to RM17.4 billion (23% reduction) in the form of a turnkey contract; and

(ii) terminate the underground contract as both parties could not reach an agreement on the required price reduction.

You have issued a letter proclaiming innocence, claiming that you were awaiting an offer from the finance ministry (MoF). You questioned the qualifications of the independent engineering consultant we engaged. You implied that the decision to terminate was hasty and ill-conceived. You sought sympathy claiming the loss of jobs for no less than 20,000 people.

Your social media actively promoted a campaign to “Save 20,000 Jobs” asking Malaysians to sign the petition. There are viral WhatsApp letters from first-class honours engineers regretting support for Pakatan Harapan in the last general election.

The performance and mobilisation of the above campaign is nothing short of impressive. The question of the cost of the project to the government was conveniently ignored.

We had no intention of engaging with you in a public war of words. We tend to reserve that for our political opponents. And after all, we wanted to continue the good working relationship to complete the RM17.42 billion worth of above-ground works.

However, the obvious brazen attempt to paint yourself as an innocent victim to an unjust Pakatan Harapan government requires a response to set the facts right and record straight.

1. The original underground contract was awarded for RM15.49 billion. MRT Corp awarded an additional RM1.2 billion of variation orders which resulted in the revised contract value of RM16.71 billion.
2. After numerous meetings and discussions, you wrote to the minister on Aug 15 to offer a revised price of RM15.1 billion. This was mostly a result of shelving the two underground stations at Bandar Malaysia North and South.
3. Subsequently on Sept 7, you offered to reduce the price further to RM14.58 billion for the underground contract (making it RM32 billion for the entire MRT2 project). This represented a cost saving of RM2.13 billion or a 12.7% reduction. In the words of the Gamuda director at the meeting with the minister on Sept 4: “We offer what we can offer, but anything beyond that will be meaningless to continue.”
4. However, based on the study by the independent engineering consultant, MRT Corp should expect total savings between RM4.19 and RM5.79 billion for the estimated remaining 60% portion of works yet to be completed. Yes, this potential savings is just for the balance of works to be completed. Imagine the potential savings if it was for the entire contract.

So the question to be deliberated upon by this new Pakatan Harapan government is very simple.

A. Do we say, “It’s OK lah, let’s just accept the RM2.13 billion reduction offered by MMC Gamuda”? After all, we can take this figure and boast to Malaysians of our “magnificent” achievement, for they would know no better that we might have left another RM2 billion of potential savings on the table. Furthermore, it would certainly save us the trouble of having to deal with the negative publicity and the new international tender exercise which has to be carried out. Too much work… Or

B. Do we honour the mandate and trust the people have given us and maximise the savings we can reasonably derive from the project? RM2 billion can pay for five hospitals or 50 schools. RM2 billion is hell of a lot of money when I see my MoF colleagues who are struggling and scrimping to find RM50 million savings here, and RM80 million cuts there for the upcoming budget.

The Cabinet obviously made the decision to pick the latter. And you are seriously telling Malaysians to blame the Cabinet for the termination?

Would you then pick a different target, as you implied in your media statement, that the independent consulting engineers aren’t sufficiently qualified – despite employing more than 500 staff with a track record of having completed more than 80 projects in 24 countries outside of Malaysia?

Or was it because the government-appointed independent consulting engineer exposed the frequently expounded lie that the cost of MRT1 and MRT2 are well below the average cost of construction of various Asian metros, because no one was actually able to substantiate the data provided?

Should we instead question why MMC-Gamuda initially agreed but subsequently refused to share costing data with the independent consulting engineer to justify its cost, claiming “trade secrets”?

To the 26-year-old first-class honours engineering graduate, I empathise with the turbulence you are facing in your life today which is due to no fault of yours. However, should Gamuda decide not to retain your services, it would only be their loss because you would build an equally successful career in many other companies.

To the purported 20,000 workers who, according to MMC-Gamuda, would lose their jobs as a result of the underground contract termination, let me emphasise that the Malaysian government is not terminating the project.

You will find plenty of opportunities when the new project is awarded at a lower cost, while the savings generated would mean even more projects for the future.

Perhaps, instead of starting a petition on change.org to ask the government to reverse its decision on the termination, it might be more productive to start a petition to ask your bosses at MMC-Gamuda to make the Malaysian government an offer they cannot refuse.

Tony Pua is political secretary to the finance minister.

Yes, the govt did the RIGHT THING in terminating the underground project as we all it reeks of corruption as these people only want to claim lots more if the old administration was around - a lot of greedy politicians want a piece of pie (money) too. This MMC and Gamuda people should be investigated for all past and present projects for overpriced projects and brought to justice for any corrupt practices!

TOXIC food preservative in many popular foods cause DNA damage and cancer

(NaturalHealth365) Did you know that a substance used in paint stripper, rubber cement and permanent spot remover is being used as a preservative in many popular foods (and beverages) for decades?!

The culprit is called, sodium benzoate and you may have seen it while glancing at a food label.  Sadly, too many people dismiss it as one of those chemical preservatives ‘necessary’ to process packaged food.  But, there’s an ugly truth that the food industry is hiding from you about this preservative.

Wicked food preservative deprives cells of oxygen and causes DNA damage

Most people never learn that sodium benzoate is a leading cause of cancer.  In fact, it was even banned by the rubber production industry due to high incidents of workers who handled it developing leukemia.

When sodium benzoate is mixed with sodium hydroxide, it becomes active and develops solvent qualities that are highly destructive to cellular functioning.

While Europe is clamoring to have this toxic chemical banned entirely, in the U.S., it’s a different story. The controlled lamestream media never reports about it.

On top of that, many doctors and researchers are afraid to conduct studies or report their findings due to the increase in threats and “mysterious deaths” of cancer researchers and holistic doctors.

The danger of sodium benzoate to humans is that it deprives the cells of oxygen, compromises the immune system and can lead to the development of blood cancer. It’s the cheapest mold inhibitor available, but it leaches essential nutrients in the body – causing and exacerbating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Ingesting sodium benzoate triggers uncontrolled cell division

In food items, sodium benzoate also reacts with vitamins C and E to form benzene. This is when leukemia is triggered due to cellular mitochondria being deprived of oxygen.

Since the mitochondria is the cells’ power station, programmed cell death results. Cells are then unable to battle disease and infection – including cancer, which is the uncontrolled division and mutation of cells. Sodium benzoate is also destructive at the DNA level.

In short, while sodium benzoate actually does extend the shelf life of food and beverages, with regular consumption, it can shorten the lives of those who consume it. While listed as a ‘preservative,’ clearly this chemical (and other cancer-causing food additives) have no place in ANY food item. It should not be handled or included in non-food products, either.

And, just for the record, foods that contain sodium benzoate include: salad dressings, soy sauce, vinegar, jams and jellies, fruit juices, salsas, dips, sodas and shredded cheese. It is also an ingredient in toothpaste, cough syrup, mouthwash and many cosmetic products.

Favoring unprocessed, natural, organic foods free of preservatives will reduce your cancer risk

Believe it or not, sodium benzoate is limited to 5 ppb in drinking water (that’s 5 parts per billion) – and yet, food and beverage manufacturers are exempt from this regulation. Some sodas have as much as 100 ppb of benzene. (Can you believe it?!)

The presence of such a harmful chemical in so many foods and beverages easily explains why nearly one in two people are expected to be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifettime.  As is so often the case, avoiding processed, non-organic foods in favor of natural, organic choices is the most effective path to minimizing your cancer risk.

Don’t wait, take action today.  Because life is worth living!

Rosmah’s daughter anger for her mother is not justified

This has gone too far, Rosmah’s daughter says after mother’s arrest

Published 12 hours ago on 03 October 2018

By Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and Nooryana Najwa are pictured leaving the Kuala Lumpur Court July 4, 2018. — Picture by Azneal Ishak

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib, has taken to social media to vent her frustrations after her mother was arrested by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) earlier today.

In the caption accompanying her latest Instagram post, Nooryana slammed the arrest, saying it was a sign that things had gone ‘too far’.

“Two weeks ago you raided his mother’s house and today you remand his wife and plan on charging her the same day her husband is due in court,” the caption read in reference to raids conducted at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s mother, Tun Rahah Mohd Noah’s house by police.

“I suppose tomorrow makes for a great picture and media circus,” she added in the Instagram post, which has since received more than 1,300 likes in just over an hour.

Rosmah was arrested today by the MACC today after appearing for a third time at the graft-buster’s headquarters in Putrajaya.

The MACC had said she would be taken to the KL Sessions Court tomorrow to face charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 over money laundering offences.

Let the authorities quickly indict charge and get Rosmah sentenced as this going in and out of court is a judiciary circus. Let's quickly end all and put corrupt people in prison where they belong. And the SAME goes for Najib as he is still mouhing his great innocence when so uch incrimiting evidence has mounted against him -m GET Najib indicted, charged and SENTENCED quickly, for the sake of the people of Malaysia and for justice. END all political maneuverings. Let these TOP criminals be jailed quickly as they have caused much sufferings (GST, inflation, etc...)     

The dangers of sugar - increases your risk for depression

The danger that is sugar: How this food item increases your risk for depression and anxiety

(Natural News) You probably crave sweets once in a while and for good reason – a preference for sweets is a survival mechanism that protects humans from ingesting toxic foods. Sweet foods are also a common comfort food that instantly makes you feel better when they’re stressed or lonely. However, your sweet tooth is exposing you to more danger than you thought possible – apart from the inevitable weight gain, there is a strong link between a diet that is high in sugar and conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress. To understand why, you have to know how sugar affects how your brain behaves.

How sugar affects your brain

White sugar, or pure white crystalline sucrose, commonly extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets, contains no nutritional value and acts more like a drug than a food. This means that it is possible to get addicted to sugar. You may even experience nasty withdrawal symptoms when you consume sugar in much smaller quantities than you are accustomed to.

Sucrose has two components – glucose and fructose – that are structurally very similar, but behave differently inside the body and may affect your mood. Glucose is the brain’s main energy source and is essential to life. It is a simple sugar molecule, a building block of complex carbohydrates that are plant-based, such as whole grains, legumes, and vegetables, to name a few. It circulates in your blood and provides energy to all of your cells, particularly brain cells, which always uses up a lot of energy. The brain is in constant need of glucose because it cannot store energy. It literally runs on glucose most of the time.

The problem with added sucrose

If glucose is found in complex carbohydrates, fructose is found in fruit and sweet vegetables such as carrots, beets, and yams. Only liver cells can process fructose, unlike glucose which is metabolized by every cell in the body for energy. Fructose that is naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables is not a problem, as it can easily be handled by your body.

The problem is added fructose that comes from concentrated sweeteners, such as refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup. A diet that is high in added fructose raises blood sugar levels. Elevated blood sugar levels can lead to heart and liver diseases, as well as kidney complications. It also increases the risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes and contributes to chronic inflammation, which causes a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

While consuming sweets when you’re down or stressed can make you feel better temporarily, the fact is that sugar actually feeds depression. Numerous studies have proven that there is a highly significant correlation between sugar consumption and depression rate, including that of the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial. The study followed the diet of over 49,000 women over eight years, and findings state that sugar and processed grains increase the risk of depression, while a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables can help decrease the risk.

Here’s how sugar causes depression:

• It increases brain inflammation.
• It causes a serotonin crash.
• It suppresses brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a natural antidepressant.

Another surprising finding of the study is that following a low-fat diet does not have health benefits nor does it lower the participants’ risks for heart disease or cancer. A low-fat diet does not aid in weight loss either. This means two things – that sugar and refined carbohydrates are the main culprits in most diseases, including obesity and depression, and that healthy fats are critical in maintaining a healthy weight, as well as optimum brain health and function.

The next time you’re feeling blue, you can do yourself a favor by staying away from cake and candy. Instead, you can engage in activities like running, listening to music, or meditating.