Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) 2006, Singapore

I received a request from Sriram Krishnan of Petaling Jaya, an undergraduate in the National University of Singapore who is also the chairperson for Host Country Organizing Committee (HCOC) for Harvard Project for Asia and International Relations 2006 to publicize in this blog the event to be held from 18th to 21st August, 2006 in Singapore.

For his confidence in this blog, here are the particulars of the event:-

HPAIR CONFERENCE 2006

DATES: August 18-21, 2006

LOCATION: Singapore

WEBSITE: http://www.hpair2006.org/

DEADLINE FOR PAPER ABSTRACTS: March 15th, 2006

FINAL APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 15th, 2006

The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) invites you to participate in our *annual summer student conference*in Asia.

HPAIR is a partnership between the students and faculty of Harvard University, offering a sustained academic program and a forum of exchange to facilitate discussion of the most important economic, political, and social issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific region.

HPAIR's international conference has emerged as the largest annual Harvard event in Asia and the largest annual student conference in the Asia-Pacific region, attracting a wide variety of distinguished speakers and future leaders as Harvard's student outpost in Asia. Past speakers at our conferences include South Korean President KimYoung Sam, Governor General of Australia Peter Hollingworth, Singapore President S.R. Nathan and Malaysian Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad.

Both delegates and papers are welcome! Applications for both areonline and located at www.hpair2006.org .

The theme will be Redefining Asia: Visions and Realities

WORKSHOP TOPICS

Our HPAIR 2006 workshops will focus on the following six
topics:

-The Political Economies of China and India: Trends, Trade and Tomorrow's Asia

-Environmental Management in Asia: Writing Tomorrow's Textbooks Now

-Diseases and Disparities: Improving Health Outcomes for All

-Impersonating Asia: Performing Arts and Film in Contemporary Perspectives

-Boundaries in Flux: Religion, Nation, and Identity in Asia

-War, Domestic Conflict, and Interdependence: Peace and Security inEast Asia

MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about the HPAIR 2006 conference, please go to http://www.hpair2006.org/

Istana Zakaria under construction: Part IV

My letter to the IRB and the ACA

Due to time constraints, I was unable to go personally to the offices of the Inland Revenue Board and the Anti Corruption Agency this morning. Instead, I wrote to both Tan Sri Dato Zainoal Abidin bin Abd Rashid, CEO of the Inland Revenue Board, and Dato Zulkipli bin Mat Noor, Director General of Anti Corruption Agency. The letter was sent by fax and Pos Laju (Express Post).

In my letter, I urged the IRB to investigate if Zakaria had duly declared his income for all the years he was involved in business that enabled him to accumulate the wealth sufficient to built the palace worth more than RM5 million.

If he were found to have under-declared his income, then it would be prima facie that he had either been evading tax and thus committing an offence within the purview of the IRB, or obtaining income from unknown sources for which the ACA would have to do their job.

The ball is now in their courts, the IRB and the ACA.

A shameful day for Selangor!

An hour of heavy downpour at 4.00 am this morning caused an almost 12-hour of closure of the 2 highways, i.e. the Federal Highway between Subang Jaya and Shah Alam and the NKVE highway at Bukit Jelutong inter-change between Shah Alam and Klang.

The toll plaza at Subang Jaya and Bukit Raja were closed until about 4.00 pm. Imagine the scenario of the Selangor state capital, Shah Alam, being the only place that was flooded after the heavy rain this morning. This is "Selangor Maju 2005"! It is shameful.

Pictures by courtesy of China Press

http://www.chinapress.com.my/content_new.asp?dt=2006-02-27&sec=local&art=0227lk01.txt

Istana Zakaria under construction: Part III

As expected, the officer in the Building Department of MPK I met this morning was unable to tell me if Zakaria had submitted the building plan for approval and in the event he had done so, when was it. Ahmad Khairy, the head of department, was attending a meeting when I visited his department and the officer who met me could not, or probably dared not, provide me with any information.

I called Ahmad Khairy this afternoon at about 4.30 p.m. and he did not want to get into trouble, too.

As far as we, as tax payers, are concerned, as long as the MPK refuses to be transparent about the matter and continues to keep mum, we are entitled to conclude that Zakaria did not submit the building plan for his Istana. The one and only logical conclusion for the MPK's failure or refusal to show the proof of submission of building plan is that Zakaria did not submit one.

My next action will be to lodge report with the Income Tax Department and the Anti Corruption Agency next week. This will the issue of wealth.

Istana Zakaria under construction: Part II

All the Chinese press today carried the story of Istana Zakaria and Zakaria's reply to my allegations.

On the issue of building plan, Zakaria replied very strangely that the question should be answered by the President or the Director of Building Department of MPK. Zakaria should be able to answer whether he had submitted the building plan and in the event he had, then produced the receipt as proof. If he had submitted the plan, the next question would be had he obtained the approval. Being a senior local councillor, he should be able to understand the questions and give direct answers to my query. Why was he being dilly-dally?

I was informed that the MPK President, Abd Bakir bin Hj Zin, had told the press that Zakaria had submitted the plan, contrary to my information, but approval had yet to be given and therefore he would be subject to penalty for constructing the palace before approval of plan. To determine the truth, I would go to the MPK tomorrow and do a search on the file.

Meanwhile, Zakaria also explained that he had been doing business all these years and made a fortune before he was elected as a state assemblyman. Well, if he had made his bulk before he was elected, why didn't he build the Istana then? Why did he need to live in a low cost house until his second term as assemblyman before he decided to build the Istana?

Be it as it may, I will soon lodge a report with the Income Tax Department to check if he has been paying tax accordingly for what he claimed to have been made from his business over the years. If there were no such declarations, he must have been either evading tax in which case the Income Tax Department will have a field-day or telling lie for which the ACA will have to sweat out to detect the sources of his wealth.

Istana Zakaria under construction

The side view of Istana Zakaria

The front view

The rear car porch

Situated beside the Workers Institute of Technology, in Pandamaran, Klang and within the vicinity of a low cost house area, Kampung Idaman, a majestic bungalow house having the makings of a palace is in the course of construction. This majestic mansion is known to the locals belongs to Dato Zakaria Deros, the Selangor State Assemblyman for Port Klang.

Journalists from the Chinese, English and Tamil press visiting the site with me this morning literally held our breath while taking photographs of the bungalow. We were simply amazed at the soon-to-be gigantic and splendid building constructed on the land of approximately one acre in size.

My conservative estimate of the costs of land, construction, fittings, fixtures and other interior decoration of the building will be not less than RM5 million.

If it were true that the mansion belongs to Zakaria, he would be obliged to explain to the people as to how did he manage to amass the wealth to afford him the palace within less than 2 terms as elected representative. The official record shows that at present Zakaria still lives in a low cost (but well-decorated) house in Kampong Idaman itself. It will be a multiple jump in status for him, or anyone for the matter, to shift to the palace from a low cost house. The Anti Corruption Agency and the Income Tax Department should immediately conduct an investigation. A simple calculation, as has always been applied by the Income Tax Department on the tax evaders, will give the people a prompt answer to the doubt.

We also observed that there was no signboard stating the title of the land, the owner, the contractor, the plan approval date and other construction information as required by the local authority to be put up at the construction site. On prime facie, this is a construction without approved building plan as required by the building by-laws and the local authority has the power to demolish the bungalow for the breach.

For the past 2 years, the Selangor state government and the local authorities in Selangor, including the Klang Municipal Council (MPK), have been invoking the draconian Regulation 10 of the Essential (Clearing of Squatters) Regulation 1969 to demolish squatters in Selangor. Under the regulations, any building structure without approved plan from the local authorities are defined as squatter hut and shall be liable for demolition after being given a 7-day notice.

My information shows that no one has ever submitted the building plan of the palace to the MPK for approval. Under the circumstances, the MPK should forthwith invoke the regulation by giving a 7-day notice and thereafter demolish the palace without fear or favour, or otherwise, it will be guilty of favouritism. The state government will then also lose its moral authority to implement the ‘zero squatter’ policy by demolishing the houses of the poor while allowing the squatter palace of an elected representative to stand alone amidst the low cost houses in Kampong Idaman.

Mahathir denies paying lobbyist for Bush meet

Mahathir had now denied that the Malaysian government had paid money to arrange his meeting with Bush in White House but he did not deny that the amount was US$1.2 million. In fact, he knew that that sum was paid in order for him to meet Bush.

He was quoted in Bernama, the Malaysia official news agency, to have said that,

“I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government.”

The first bothering question is whether Hu Jintao of China, Koizumi of Japan, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore or Merkel of Germany also needs to pay a million dollars to the lobbyist in order to meet up with Bush, like Mahathir of Malaysia.

The American government owes the Malaysians an explanation if only Mahathir as the Malaysia Prime Minister needed to do so. Wasn’t it a discrimination, against Mahathir or Malaysia?

Secondly, if the Malaysia Prime Minister had to pay lobbyist in order to meet the American President, then we should close down our Wisma Putra, the Foreign Affair Ministry, to save millions of Ringgits paid to the maintain the diplomatic service.

Thirdly, it is impalpable how a Prime Minister could meet the American President through arrangement of lobbyist knowing that the lobbyist was paid more than a million dollar for the job but not knowing who actually paid for it!

Would Mahathir still meet Bush if the money were paid by Israel or Osama bin Laden?

Who on earth would pay for the meeting if he had no interest to gain, then or in future, from the meeting? Mahathir could not be so naïve and chose not to find out who paid for the meeting.

Did he know that accepting any gratification as a reward (the third-party-paid-million-dollar-meeting) for doing or forbearing to do any act or showing or forbearing to show any favour or disfavour in his capacity as a Member of Parliament, as he then was, when he met up with Bush, could render him liable for a corruption offence under section 14 of the Anti Corruption Act, 1997? It does not matter whether Mahathir did or did not touch the money although he claimed he did not. The issue is whether he did accept the gratification as a reward.

Mahathir claimed that it (the third-party-paid-meeting-through-highly-paid-lobbyist) is not corruption in America. Well, it does not matter whether it is a corrupt act in the United States but it is a corrupt act in Malaysia.

Since Mahathir had admitted that US$1.2 million was paid for his meeting with Bush, the Anti Corruption Agency has now valid ground to immediately institute an investigation into the matter. Just a reminder to the ACA, Mahathir is no longer the Prime Minister, don’t worry.

Picture by courtesy of Malaysikini

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/47213

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/47246

Malaysia paid US$1.2 million for Mahathir to meet Bush?

It was reported in the Los Angeles Times on Feb 15 2006 that Malaysian government had paid a sum of US$1.2 million to a disgraced lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, allegedly to have close tie with the presidential advisor, Karl Rove, to arrange for the meeting between Mahathir Mohammad, the then Prime Minister, and President Bush in May 2002. Mahathir was supposed to meet Bush to repair the tarnished image of Malaysia after being chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents. The White House had claimed that the meeting was arranged through normal channels.

However, Abdullah Badawi, the Prime Minister, must order for a thorough investigation into the matter for the Malaysians have the right to know the truth.

If it were ture that lobbyist was handsomely paid to arrange for the meeting, the public has the right to ask for the justification for the public fund to be used to redeem the mistakes committed by Mahathir Mohammad. Why should we pay lobbyist to arrange for a meeting between the heads of governments of 2 sovereign states? Our Anti Corruption Agency must also act without hesitation to determine if anyone had committed an offence under the Anti Corruption Act 1997. This is a scandal.

Picture from Merdekareview.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-abramoff15feb15,1,3386314.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Ezam to quit politics

I feel demoralized when I read the news in Malaysiakini that Sdr Ezam Mohd Noor, Youth Chief of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, will quit politics soon.

Ezam, Marfuz Omar (the then Pas Youth Chief), Faizal Sanusi (the then Parti Rakyat Malaysia Youth Chief) and me (the then DAP Youth Chief) were among the popular speakers at ceramahs organized by Pas or Parti Keadilan Rakyat during the height of Reformasi (1998-1999) when we travelled all over the country to speak to ten of thousands of enthusiastic people from all walks of life. At one time, the UMNO Youth Chief, Hishamuddin Hussein Onn, had even challenged us to debate with the BN youth leaders. He named Ezam, Marfuz and me to be in the BA team. However, the chicken-hearted Hishamuddin backed out.

We travelled from cities to kampongs and to the most remote area of the country just to disseminate the message of Reformasi. We organized forums and seminars for the youth. We even spoke in the National Mosque compound and confronted the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) who fired tear gas at us.

The most memorable one was the Black 14 gathering preparation. Ezam was arrested under the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA) an hour after leaving the last meeting held in the the PRM headquarters in Petaling Jaya when he was supposed to catch the flight to Penang.

When I later visited him in the Kamunting Detention Centre, he looked pale but was high-spirited. I find it hard to believe that he wants to quit now. Although I feel that he should stay on, I believe he must have very good reasons to justify the decision.

I could only wish that he would change his mind.

Picture by courtesy of Malaysiakini

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/47001

Meteorological Department needs to buck up

I was having tea with my clients when I saw about 8 ladies in a group with their departmental name tags walking into the Petaling Jaya Magistrate’s Court canteen this morning. Each of them was having a plateful of rice and dishes and enjoying their meal leisurely for exactly half an hour. After they left, another group of 4 took their turn. I was not sure if they were taking their breakfast, lunch or brunch because it was 10 o’clock in the morning. Their tags indicated that they were from the Meteorological Service Department situated next to the court house.

I wonder whether it is still the culture and practice of the government departments where the civil servants are given half an hour in the morning and afternoon to walk out of their offices for their tea. If it still were, then it would be high time that the government should abolish it or downsize the civil service.

A simple calculation will tell us that substantial amount of productive hours are wasted in the government departments for such unproductive activities. It’s time for the government departments especially the Meteorological Service Department to buck up when the Prime Minister has called for everyone to work hard for the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Selangor State Assembly Meeting Schedule

I received a notice from the Selangor State Assembly yesterday on the meeting schedule of the assembly for 2006 as follows:-

(i) First Meeting (Opening) from 14-17 March 2006;

(ii) Second Meeting (Bills and Supply Bills) from 3-5 July 2006;

(iii) Third Meeting (Budget 2007) from 27-30 November 2006.

I had been making numerous calls urging the Speaker, in and outside the assembly meeting, to fix the tentative schedule of the assembly meetings at the beginning of every year so as to enable the assemblymen and the government departments to block the dates and to facilitate the preparation of their annual time-tables. At last, during my suspension, the speaker (or the government) has agreed to adopt my suggestion, of course without giving me any credit for it.

Insignificant Cabinet Reshuffle

Abdullah Badawi has again disappointed the people for his minor and insignificant reshuffle of cabinet announced today. "Changing soup without changing herbs" as the Chinese saying is. Mahathir's shadow is still haunting the Abdullah's cabinet.

Picture by courtesy of Malaysiakini

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/46916

Khir Toyo talks about spendthrift

What moral authority does Khir Toyo, the Selangor Menteri Besar, have to advise the state department heads not to be spendthrift when he himself has approved RM40 miliion to build 10 luxurious bungalow houses for the state exco members, frequent unnecessary overseas trips by the MB himself, the exco members, Barisan Nasional state assemblymen, the department officials, the local government officers, councillors, all the festive parties by various local governments, all the white elephant projects in and outside the MB's constituency and etc?


MB Selangor mahu Ketua Jabatan jangan boros

Menteri Besar Selangor Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo mengingatkan ketua-ketua jabatan jangan boros membelanjakan wang kerajaan dan perlu memastikan setiap sen yang dikeluarkan mengikut prosidur.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/46830

What about Brisdale and other state-owned companies?

Selangor Menteri Besar Khir should first lodge police report against state-owned companies like Brisdale Holding Bhd and others which breached terms of the sale & purchase agreements for their failure to deliver in time or failure to deliver at all. Projects in Pulau Indah, Klang and North Port, Klang are the 2 examples. However, in those cases, the state-owned companies have even been reluctant to pay damages for their breaches. Where is the leadership by example?

Well, Khir has his concern too. How to lodge police reports against them when all these state-owned companies are placed under one umbrella company headed by him!

Khir: Amend Housing Act again
KUALA LUMPUR: The Housing Developers Act (Amendment) 2002 should be amended again so that stern action could be taken against errant developers, said Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo.
This, he said, would enable legal action to be taken against developers who breach terms of the sale and purchase agreements for the provision of for basic amenities and road and drainage systems before the Certificate of Fitness is issued by local authorities.
He said the existing Act did not provide for a remedy when irresponsible developers handed over keys to housebuyers without even applying for the certificate.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/13/nation/13377046&sec=nation

Another 'piratization' in process

It is simply outrageous!

It started with highways and extended to various aspects of the public services including power supply, water supply, sewerage management, garbage collection, public car parks, medical care, tertiary education and etc. The latest is the privatization of 3 main rivers in the Selangor state, namely Sungai Selangor, Sungai Kelang and Sungai Langat under the pretext of beautification of the rivers.

Announcing the proposed 30-year concession to be awarded to a state-owned company, the state government had resorted to the similar lame excuse of insufficiency of fund to maintain the river to justify the privatization. If even the government of the most advanced state in Malaysia had no sufficient fund to preserve and maintain its natural resources, it would be certainly ironic and beyond comprehension that a state-owned company was expected to have the resource to do the same job.

Under the 30-year concession, the company will be permitted to harvest sand and initiate commercial development along the rivers and in return it has to maintain and beautify the rivers. If the project were viable and profitable, why then should the state government privatize it to the company? The state government should do it itself to enrich the state coffers rather than privatize it to the state-owned company.

The most amusing statement was made by the DID director-general Datul Keizul Abdullah who said that the privatization will relieve the department the responsibility to carry out flood mitigating measures along rivers and that the department will be able to spend the funds saved on other needy areas.

Is it not one of the fundamental responsibilities of the DID to carry out flood mitigating measures? What could be ‘the other needy areas’ that need so much of fund that the fund used for flood mitigation could be considered as being spent at the expense of ‘the other needy areas’?

Keizul further said that the whole river basin must be covered by the privatization and not only the lucrative parts of the rivers. With all our bad experiences in all other privatization projects in Malaysia, it will be too good to believe that that will be the case. We will soon see the reverse.

With the natural resources being privatized, the only thing left behind will be the state government itself. Probably not too long from now, the state government will also be put up for privatization for the reason that it has insufficient fund to have it run.

And the concessionaire will again be another state-owned company!

Full report in The Star Online: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/10/central/13326131&sec=central

Here is the delicious steamed fish head in Klang

Here is my recommendation for the delicious steamed fish head in Klang as published in The Star today. There is only one clarification, i.e. I have never brought my mother-in-law to that restaurant. Thank you The Star for unintentionally reminding me to do so.

"News
Central
Friday February 10, 2006

Healthy appetite in frail frame

JUDGING from his physique, one will be forgiven to assume Sungai Pinang state assemblyman Teng Chang Khim eats on-the-go just to fill hungry pangs.

However, looks can be deceiving as Teng’s frail frame belies a healthy appetite for good food.
Whenever he is hungry or that he wants to treat friends to a hearty meal, the state opposition leader cum lawyer heads over to his favourite restaurant.

Teng calls the Gold Leaf Village Restaurant in Jalan Batu Tiga Lama, Klang his “no-frills-gem-of-a-find”.

Teng (centre) and his “makan buddy” Lim Lip Suan (right) chatting about the food with restaurant owner Tan (left).

“Food is tasty and the price, reasonable,” he said.

“The steamed fish head, with ginger, bird’s eye chilli and onion is a must-order for me.

“I come to this restaurant at least four times a month, either alone, with friends or with my mother-in-law for a hearty family meal,” said Teng.

He claims he had eaten steamed fish head elsewhere but nothing compares to the dish here.

“The flesh is succulent and is able to absorb the flavour of the seasonings.

“There is also no strong fishy smell. Very nice,” he said.

Another dish that catches his fancy at this restaurant is the Stewed Pork Slices with beancurd and hardboiled eggs.

The dish is stewed for several hours each morning to ensure the mixture of pork slices, beancurd and eggs are able to absorb fully the spices in the stew sauce.

“When you eat this dish with rice, its just so delicious,” said Teng as restaurant owner Danny Tan sauntered over to enquire if the food for the day was all right.

Teng said Tan’s friendliness was another plus factor that makes him frequent the place. Teng likes the personal attention as he is assured the dishes he orders will be prepared to his liking.

Tan also introduces new dishes to Teng regularly.

For instance, Teng was sceptical when Tan asked him to try the Fish Fillet Stewed with Big Peanuts.

Teng never misses his Fish Head dish but admitted that the recommended new dish was equally delicious.

“I might skip my Fush Head dish once in a while,” he said.

“Again, the fish has been well marinated with the sauce and the peanuts are just nice and tender,” he said.

Tan said his shop was noted for its 10 types of fish specialities and that customers just loved its long opening hours.

The restaurant is popular among its lunch crowd and weekend family get-togethers.
n GOLDEN LEAF VILLAGE RESTAURANT, 45 Jalan Satu, Kaw 16, Off Jalan Batu Tiga Lama, Berkeley Town Centre, Klang (Tel:03-3342 2239). Business Hours: Daily, lunch (8am-3pm); dinner (6pm-10pm). "

"Main-main" trip or not, prove it!

The Sun reported today that the Selayang Councillor, A. Kohilan Pillay, defended that the Selayang Municipal Council's (MPS) trip to Mauritius and South Africa from 31 Jan to 8 Feb 2006 was not a "main-main" trip.

No one will believe it unless it can be proven by the MPS by producing the actual itinerary of the 9-day trip.

In fact, the explanation made by Kohilan had raised more questions than answered.

The Sun reported:-

"We paid RM5,500 each while the council paid the rest. We will have to re-pay the difference in the next few months," Kohilan said, adding that the repayment will be done by August when the term of all councillors expire.'
'He maintained that the trip, which cost RM10,500 each, will not cost ratepayers a sen."

There are 4 question arised from this statement. Firstly, why should the councillors pay from their own pockets for an official trip, if it was truly official? Secondly, if it was a private trip, since it was not paid by the authority, why should they be treated as official VIPs in Mauritius and South Afirica? Thirdly, does the council have the power under the Local Government Act, 1965 to pay in advance for the councilors' trip? Fourthly, does the council have the power to deduct the advance payment under the Local Government Act?

To prove that the trip was not "main-main", Kohilan was quoted to have said that,

"As the cleanliness committee chairman, I saw 12 public toilets and they were really clean."

Mind you, we had just been told by the Selangor Menteri Besar, Dato Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, in August 2005, hardly 6 months ago, that Selangor had already become a developed state! Yet, we still have to send local councillors to visit public toilets in Mauritius and South Africa. Probably Khir Toyo had forgotten to include clealiness of public toilets as one of the indicators in the 'developed state' assessment.

Kohilan also said the main thing MPS learnt from South Africa was the incinerator project. Well, he had obviously forgotten that even the state government incinerator project in Broga had yet to take off the ground. How on earth that he could harbour the thought of having an incinerator in Selayang when the MPS's financial is already in a real bad shape?

He also said that,

"We also saw how they maintained a closed drainage system, unlike ours which is open."

Why did he need to go so far to know the system? He just need to drive less than 20 km from Selayang to Sierramas in Sungai Buloh or Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam, it would have saved him the RM10,000-trip.

He further said MPS also learnt "invaluable lessons" in managing squatters and that:-

"Cape Town has a huge squatter problem, but they have adopted a tough stance for a squatter free city by 2020. They give you 24 hours and bulldoze your house. Here, we give them compensation."

Kohilan again forgot the fact that Khir Toyo had by now indiscriminately cleared more than 90% of the squatters in Selangor under the "zero squatters" policy and he was targetting the deadline in the first quarter of 2006 to achieve 100% clearance. We are more advanced than Cape Town in this respect! We should, instead, be teaching the Cape Town Municipal how to enforce draconian law to clear squatters.

This is yet another case of mismanagement by the local government.

I'm on TV tonight

I will appear in the Astro AEC (Channel 19) "Talking Issue" program discussing the issue of Chinese primary school workbooks and profit-making together with Chinese Educationist, MoTai Xi, and writer, Zhen Yun Cheng, at 8.00 p.m. tonight. The program hosted by Siew Hui May was recorded 2 weeks ago before the Chinese New Year. The issue has been very sensitive in the chinese community and the local Chinese press has always shunned the issue due to the pressure of the powerful chinese school principals' union. Don't miss it!