Zacharevic draws again in Johor Baru

JOHOR BARU: Graffiti artist Ernest Zacharevic, whose Taman Molek wall art depicting a robber waiting for his victim drew the ire of the city hall, made a comeback with another drawing at Jalan Pahang here.

His latest work depicted a Lego woman and a boy riding a bicycle on a wall which was previously vandalised with nondescript words.

The new artwork was also rather similar to his popular Little Children On A Bicycle mural on Armenian Street in Penang.

Ardent fans of his work were seen thronging the street to snap photos of the fresh painting just hours after he drew it.

Nearby shop lot owners claimed that Zacharevic started working on his art on Wednesday evening, but was forced to stop when the owner of the premises did not allow him to proceed.

Clerk T. Jaya, who works just a few doors away from the wall art, said that the owner of the building stopped Zacharevic from painting the wall just as he started drilling holes into it to hang the bicycle.

I heard a loud drilling sound and decided to check and saw the owner and Zacharevic arguing over the matter.

“Zacharevic was forced to stop painting when the owner asked him to produce a valid permit from the city council,” she told reporters when met at Jalan Dhoby here yesterday.

She added that when asked why was he painting the mural, Zacharevic replied that he was only beautifying an ugly-looking wall.

However, a nearby hair salon owner, who declined to be named, said that he fully supported Zacharevic and even lent him a helping hand.

Apparently, Zacharevic came back later in the evening and completed his artwork at the same spot, though it was still uncertain what the property owner thought of it.

‘Lower toll rate, not raise it’, says BN Backbenchers

PETALING JAYA: The Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club has called on the Government to stick to its 13th general election manifesto pledge to gradually reduce intra-city toll charges instead of raising them.

BNBBC chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad said that while the Government had yet to announce whether or not toll charges would be raised, it should bear in mind its GE13 promise.

“The main point here is that our manifesto states that toll charges will be reduced in stages and because of this the BNBBC hopes there will not be any increase at all,” said Shahrir.

The manifesto stated among other things that Barisan was committed to “the gradual reduction of intra-city tolls” within the next five years. Shahrir, who is Johor Baru Member of Parliament, said there was no immediate plan by the BNBBC to formally take up their reservations against a toll hike with the Government as there has been no confirmation of an increase.

“The issue is still being discussed by the Government and, as things stand, our members comprising MPs from many different constituencies do not all have the same view on the subject because not of all of them have tolled roads in their areas.”

While Barisan backbenchers from Sabah and many parts of Sarawak were not as worried over the prospects of a toll increase as these areas were not affected, other MPs, especially those with seats in the Klang Valley and other major urban centres were concerned, he added.

Shahrir said the Barisan backbenchers who are against a toll increase felt strongly about the issue because the reduction of toll charges was included in the manifesto which they had referred to when wooing voters.

“However, we are also mindful that not raising toll charges will mean that there may be a cost which the Government will need to incur,” he added.

Second wave of rains expected

KUALA LUMPUR: The Meteorological Department has issued a warning that a second wave of monsoon rains that will cause floods is expected to occur from Friday to Monday.

A National Security Council statement said the areas that are expected to be affected are Terengganu (Dungun dan Kemaman), Pahang (Kuantan, Pekan and Rompin) and Johor (Segamat and Mersing).

“People living in low-lying areas should adhere to instructions given by the authorities. They can go online at http://portalbencana.mkn.gov.my/Portal/ to get the latest information on floods nationwide,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, flood victims whose MyKad had been lost or damaged in the recent floods here can apply for a replacement at the National Registration Department (NRD) without having to lodge a police report, said its director-general Datuk Jariah Mohd Said.

She added that they also need not have to pay for the replacement.

“However, they will have to answer several questions posed by NRD officials to verify that they are flood victims,” she said in Kuantan yesterday.

Jariah said that the process to replace the identity cards would take a week.

In Kota Baru, Kelantan Disaster Relief Committee deputy chairman Datuk Makhtar Mustapha said government departments and agencies are gearing up for the possibility of the next wave of floods.

He said 729 evacuation centres had been identified while essential supplies were being stockpiled.

In Kuala Terengganu, families affected by the floods in Terengganu will receive up to RM1,500 aid from the state government, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said.

The maximum RM1,500 aid will be given to victims whose houses were totally inundated by the flood while other flood victims will get RM500, he added.

“The state government is expected to spend RM15mil for the aid. The state’s annual aid for families with schoolgoing children affected by the floods will be increased,” he said after chairing the weekly state exco meeting at Wisma Darul Iman here yesterday.

Ahmad also said the state departments and agencies are fully prepared for the next wave of floods which is predicted to hit the state again this weekend.

Meanwhile, the state Agriculture Department director Md Yusof Maidin said the floods in Terengganu had damaged about 700ha of crops and had caused 856 farmers to lose about RM4.7mil.

He said the crops affected were padi, vegetables, fruit trees and cash crops such as corn, tapioca, mushroom and sweet potatoes as well as nurseries.

Shock over horrifying crash

KUALA LUMPUR: Friends and family gathered to pay their last respects to the six victims of the fatal accident near the Kampung Pandan roundabout.

The bodies of the foreigners – three Filipino women, two female Myanmar nationals and a British driver – were charred beyond recognition when their Nissan Skyline burst into flames after crashing into one of the highway pillars near the roundabout at about 12.45am yesterday.

The Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) mortuary was filled with crying relatives and friends of the victims, several from Singapore, who came to pay their respects.

Police have identified the driver of the Nissan Skyline as 40-year-old Briton Simon John Hall.

The two Myanmar nationals who perished were Pi Pi, 20, and Esther Sui, 26.

The Filipinas were identified as Siso Aileen, 30, Maileen Montejo, 26, and Mary Grace Macaraig, 24.

It is learnt that Hall was working as a manager in an offshore company in Jalan Tun Razak and was friends with the five women.

Sources revealed the women, with the exception of Siso, were waitresses who worked at a bar in Bukit Bintang here.

Marina, who is a cousin of Sui, said she came to the country in search of work four years ago.

“I am still shocked that she is gone,” she said in between sobs.

She was accompanied by two friends when retrieving her cousin’s body at the HKL mortuary yesterday.

She was devastated after identifying Sui’s body and had to be consoled by friends.

The women’s deaths caused such a huge impact on the community of foreign workers that even distant acquaintances came to show their respects.

One of the Filipinas’ friends, who declined to be named, said the victims were on their way to supper when the accident happened.

City Traffic chief Asst Comm Rusli Mohd Noor said initial investigations revealed that the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the pillars.

MCA polls: 72 chase 31 positions in Saturday’s MCA polls

KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA elections on Saturday will be a crowded race with 72 candidates vying for 31 posts.

The spotlight will be on the three-cornered tussle for the presidency – deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, 52, vice-president Gan Ping Sieu, 47, and former president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, 57.

Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, 45, and vice-president Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai, 58, will fight it out for the deputy president’s post.

Nine candidates are in the running for the four vice-presidencies while 58 are contesting the 25 central committee member seats.

This is the second bid by Ong for the number one post after losing it to Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek in 2010.

It is also the second try by Lim after losing to Dr Chua in the 2008 elections.

Liow is teamed up with Dr Wee while Gan is with Lim this round.

The MCA Youth election on Thursday will also see a packed field with 69 candidates fighting for 34 posts.

Selangor MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon and Batu MCA division Youth chief Datuk Goh Gaik Meng are vying for the Youth chief’s post.

Wanita MCA’s elections on Friday, however, will be relatively tame with 43 candidates in the race for 31 posts.

Perak Wanita MCA chief Datuk Heng Seai Kie, 51, and former Penang Wanita MCA chief Tan Cheng Liang, 54, are in the straight fight for the Wanita chief’s post.

Datuk Lee Pit Chern, 62, was returned unopposed for the Wanita deputy chairman’s post when nomination closed at 5pm.

A total of 184 candidates filed their nomination for MCA and its Wanita and Youth elections at Wisma MCA yesterday.

Election steering committee chairman Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha commended the candidates and their supporters for ensuring a smooth nomination process.

He said there was no objection to all nominations filed.

Najib celebrates 40-year relationship with Land of the Rising Sun

TOKYO: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the one of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Shinzo Abe by a bamboo tree speaks volumes.

The image was taken on a sunny Thursday morning after the two leaders held a bilateral meeting.

The picture of the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Japan, smiling into the camera of Najib’s smartphone with the former’s hand wrapped around a bamboo tree had gone viral with a huge number of “likes”.

At the end of a press conference with the Malaysian media covering Najib’s visit to Japan – which was to attend the Asean-Japan Comme­morative Summit to celebrate 40 years of ties between the regional grouping and the Land of the Rising Sun – Najib showed reporters shots of him and Abe at the bamboo tree.

At a press conference after the bilateral meeting, both Abe and Najib spoke of their warm and open relationship, and their body language as seen in the picture said it all.

Relations between Malaysia and Japan is believed to go back as early as the 15th century during the era of the Malacca Sultanate and the Ryukyu Kingdom.

It was recorded in the Rekidai Hoan, an official record of diplomatic documents compiled by the kingdom, that 10 voyages bound for Malacca were made between 1424 and 1630.

Several hundred years later in 1982, then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced an economic policy known as “Look East Policy” which sought to learn from Japan and Korea, their work ethics and practices that have helped the industrial and economic advancements of the two nations.

Thirty one years on, Najib sought the second wave of the policy, known as LEP 2.0 and this was made possible because of the long standing warm relations between Malaysia and Japan.

Malaysia has benefited from the 30 years of the Look East Policy. Najib said “the years in which we turned to face the rising sun were some of the most productive in our history”.

Malaysia got the first taste of Japanese work ethics during the construction of Dayabumi Complex.

Most construction work at that time took a long time to complete but this project was done within two years – from February 1982 to 1984.

International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed remembered the project as one that “went on day and night and around the clock”, which back then was a rarity.

Today, construction projects achieving completion within 18 months is a norm, thanks to the work values adopted from Japan.

Mustapa said Malaysia was looking for quality investment from Japan under the LEP 2.0 and not just merely “ringgit and sen”.

We want Japanese firms to offer our people work opportunities that come with research and development and benefit from transfer of technology.

“This will not only help our economy but also complement efforts to have a society that reflects the high income nation status that we aim to achieve,” he added.

Mustapa admitted that the good relations between “two old friends” had put Malaysia in an advantage as far as trade and investment from Japan were concerned.

Because of the long relations, many Japanese companies are turning to Malaysia when it comes to looking for a place to set up hubs.

A few of its automobile manufacturers are exporting their cars to countries in the region from Malaysia. Their reason? Apart from skilled workers, the Government and its economy are stable.

The fact that Japan has agreed to turn the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology into a hub for students from Asean countries to study their technology reflects their high regard for Malaysia.

Japan is also leveraging from this warm relations. They are getting internationally-known halal certification to penetrate halal food and cosmetic products in the Middle Eastern market.

Mustapa, whose Miti is the lead ministry in ensuring efforts of the LEP 2.0 were realised, said Japan would remain as a very important source of foreign direct investment for Malaysia.

“But now, we will also be looking at other aspects of investment as we move from labour-intensive market to a more sophisticated one that is high in technology,” he said.

Japan is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner after China and Singapore with total trade amounting to US$47bil (RM149bil), and the country’s top investor.

In Japanese culture, bamboo is a plant that signifies strength and prosperity. And that is exactly what Najib and Abe intend to achieve as they embark on a new effort to further solidify the already good relations between the countries.

Thaksin factor all over again

Coups and elections have become a routine fixture in Thailand. And this time around, will it be the pro- or anti-Thaksin forces who will prevail.

ON Monday, in a televised address, Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced she would dissolve parliament and hold a snap election.

“Wah, another election in Thailand,” said a colleague at Menara Star in the Petaling Jaya office.

“There might not be an election,” I said.

On that Monday, hundreds of thousands were marching to the Government House (the office of the Thai Prime Minister) to force the Yingluck government to step down.

The Prime Minister’s attempt to pass an amnesty Bill in parliament that would have pardoned her older brother, Thaksin, of his criminal conviction sparked the latest street protest.

Under pressure from demonstrators who have flooded the streets of Bangkok for weeks, Yingluck told the Thais: “At this stage, when there are many people opposed to the government from many groups, the best way is to give back the power to the Thai people and hold an election. So the Thai people will decide.”

There might not be an election because the Thai people – three fifths of the voting electorate mostly from rural north and northeast of the country – will decide to vote into power a party linked to Thaksin, who was Thai Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.

Since 2001, parties – Thai Rak Thai (TRT), People’s Power Party (PPP) and Pheu Thai – controlled by Thaksin have comfortably won all Thai polls.

So how do you get into power without allowing the Thai people to decide?

If you can’t beat Thaksin in this game called elections, what you do is launch a military coup while he is in New York to attend the United Nations general assembly.

On the night of Sept 19, 2006, a few weeks after I started working in Bangkok as The Star’s Thailand correspondent and Asia News Network (ANN) editor, I received an SMS informing that there was a military coup.

I told my then fiancee, Vera, to stay in the apartment, lock the door and not open it unless it was me, and I walked for five minutes to The Nation’s office, a Thai English newspaper that together with The Star are members of ANN, an alliance of Asian newspapers.

“The military has launched a coup,” a jubilant journalist at the newsroom told me.

Later, I looked out of the window of the ANN office and saw soldiers surrounding The Nation building.

“They are friendly soldiers,” a Nation journalist told me. “They are here to protect us.”

The military installed a caretaker Prime Minister. To make sure Thaksin’s political grip was uprooted, the courts banned TRT.

In December 2007, elections were held in Thailand and PPP (a TRT reincarnation) won most of the votes. The self-exiled Thaksin – or to be precise his proxy – was back in power. His brother in law, Somchai Wongsawat, was even elected Prime Minister.

The anti-Thaksin forces (with allies in the military, courts and monarchy) then did what they did before the 2006 military coup.

They unleashed the Yellow Shirts to bring down the People’s Power Party government to step down.

One of their crippling stunts was to occupy Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports in Bangkok in late November 2008.

It was a surreal experience covering the siege of Suvarnabhumi that paralysed the Thai tourism industry. Inside the airport, instead of passengers flying in and out of the airport, hundreds of yellow shirts protesters occupied the arrival and departure halls. Outside the airport, it was no man’s land. You could sense there were hidden “black shirt” gunmen guarding the parameters.

The PPP government asked the military to take over the two airports.

Instead, it did a TV coup.

On television, the Army commander General Anupong Paochinda flanked by his generals told the government to resign.

Then came the judicial coup in December 2008. The court dissolved PPP over alleged electoral fraud in the 2007 elections. Once again, Thaksin (or his proxy) was kicked out of power.

A government led by the Democrat party took over. The pro-Thaksin forces in the form of the Red Shirts did a Yellow Shirt on the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.

It launched a street protest to bring down the Abhisit government.

The military handled the Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts differently.

It used rubber bullets on the Yellow Shirts and live bullets on the Red Shirts.

My Thailand stint ended at the height of the Red Shirt bloody protests that saw “civil war” played out in the streets of Bangkok between the army and the pro-Thaksin forces in 2010.

In 2011, the Democrat government’s hold on power was untenable and it called for an election.

I was back in Bangkok to cover the Thai polls and it was clear that even Bangkokians – a majority of whom were anti-Thaksin – had gotten tired of the bumbling Democrat government.

In the July 2011 elections, Pheu Thai (a reincarnation of PPP) won the majority of votes and Yingluck was elected Thailand’s first female Prime Minister.

If polls go on schedule in February 2014, expect Thaksin’s Pheu Thai to win convincingly.

One way for the anti-Thaksin forces to get into power is via a people’s coup.