First of all, if you read the New Straits Times and other newspapers, you will come away confused as to who said Lingam’s case was closed.

NST on its front page had Najib replying to Lim Guan Eng’s question in Parliament on the matter.

Good for them that they put the story on the front page.

The other newspapers buried it inside, but they had Nazri answering Lim’s question.

Big mix-up but then again, no big deal. After all, UMNO leaders are all pimps as far as I’m concerned.

The closing of the Lingam files has got to be one of the biggest cover-ups in our country’s history.

In the future, our grandchildren will watch a five-part History channel documentary on it … that is, if we and our children are not stupid enough to vote UMNO/Barisan Nasional again and again and again.

Tell your children about this when they’re old enough to understand. Teach them well.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry that was formed to probe into the case comprised former Chief Judge of Malaya Haidar Mohamed Noor former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong, former Solicitor-General Zaitun Zawiyah Puteh, historian Khoo Kay Kim and retired Court of Appeal Judge Mahadev Shankar.

They found that:

1. The video clip was authentic;
2. Lingam was in conversation with Ahmad Fairuz over judicial appointments;
3. There was direct influence by Lingam in the elevation of judges, in particular in the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as president of the Court of Appeal, with the possible aim of his further appointment as chief justice; and;
4. Lingam had asked tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to involve themselves actively in the appointment of judges, in particular the appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as the Chief Judge of Malaya and subsequently, president of the Court of Appeal.

The commission identified six people to be investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Sedition Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code.

They are former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Lingam, Tan, Umno secretarygeneral Tengku Adnan, Eusoff Chin and Ahmad Fairuz. [New Straits Times]

Najib/Nazri said investigations were carried out but there was no solid evidence for further action.

It must be then that the members of the commission, eminently qualified and vastly experienced though they were, were seeing things that were not there when they made their findings.

This must have been a case of collective hallucination, if Najib/Nazri and the whole apparatus of the establishment are to be believed.

Maybe we should institute another Royal Commission into this Royal Commission.

All this ties in nicely with what happened a few days ago, when Anwar’s appeal on his RM100m lawsuit against Dr M was struck out.

It was struck out because his application was not submitted in Bahasa Malaysia.

Brilliant.

Such is justice in 1Malaysia land.

Najib’s 1Malaysia. Where the executive and the judiciary are truly united.

Now Najib wants to complete the circle by bringing in the legislative into his 1Malaysia unity.

The legislative branch of the state is the only one in which we Malaysians have some semblance of a say, some measure of control, some degree of power.

This was evident on March 8 2008.

Come the next general election, Najib wants to you to give it all to him.

Before you do, think of Altantuya. Think of Lingam. Then think of your children.

You put your trust in Najib at your own peril and more importantly, that of your children.

MAHATHIR is safe now.

He won’t bother Najib no more.

I thought the furore had died down over this intriguing wife of the Prime Minister and that her handlers had steadily managed public perception with all the stuff she’s been doing since Rosmah took offi … I mean, since Najib took office.

But lo and behold, first we have this:

… Menurut sumber dalaman Umno isteri tercinta Perdana Menteri, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor dilaporkan menggunakan jet peribadi milik Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing yang dikaitkan dengan skandal Zon Bebas Pelabuhan Klang (PKFZ).

Beliau dikatakan telah mengguna salah sebuah jet mewah kepunyaan Tiong beberapa kali untuk tujuan peribadi. [Malaysia Today]

No shit, Sherlock? Now every politician (and his wife) can fly.

And this:

… kaitan Rosmah dengan Deepak Jaikishan, salah seorang daripada lima pengarah sebuah syarikat, Carpet Raya Sdn Bhd (492434-H).

… Dokumen Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) menunjukkan kesemua mereka memiliki jumlah saham yang sama banyak dengan modal berbayar RM8.7 juta.

Akaun terakhir syarikat yang didaftar 10 tahun lalu menunjukkan syarikat itu memiliki aset hampir RM90 juta dengan tanggungan keseluruhan RM67 juta dan simpanan melebihi RM12 juta.

Secara rasmi, pendapatan syarikat pada 2005 adalah RM122 juta dan keuntungannya lebih RM7 juta tapi nilai sebenarnya dijangka jauh melebihi angka berkenaan.

Keuntungan besar syarikat yang menjalankan perniagaan menjual karpet itu menimbulkan kecurigaan.

Nilai pendapatan dan keuntungan itu terlalu menjolok mata untuk sebuah perniagaan karpet.

Talk about carpetbaggers, eh?

And most disturbing is this:

Pegawai kanan Kementerian Kewangan dikatakan semakin gusar dengan campurtangan Rosmah Mansor, isteri Perdana Menteri, dalam urusan Perbendaharaan Negara, termasuk penyediaan Belanjawan 2010 dan pemberian kontrak dan tender kerajaan.

Sumber-sumber kerajaan berkata campurtangan itu sudah di “tahap kritikal’ dengan Rosmah mempertikaikan keputusan tertentu Timbalan Perdana Menteri Muhyyiddin Yassin dan Ketua Setiausaha Negara Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan.

… Rosmah menaruh minat yang amat mendalam terhadap penyediaan Bajet 2010 yang akan dibentangkan oleh Perdana Menteri di Parlimen pada sesi Persidangan Dewan Rakyat 23 Oktober depan.

Isteri kedua Najib itu dikatakan mempunyai akses kepada semua bahan-bahan serta dokumen yang berkaitan dengan belanjawan tersebut sehinggakan menimbulkan rasa gelisah dan tidak senang hati di kalangan pegawai tinggi kementerian. [Malaysia Today]

The tabling of the Budget is just days away.

We should follow it closely.

It’s like Najib is trying to pummel you into submission by carpet-bombing you with 1Malaysia. Over and over and over again. It’s like brain washing.

The way this is going, we’ll all turn into 1Malaysia zombies sooner than you can say “Ketuanan Melayu”.

Its easy to spot the people who have caught the fever — they give you the 1Malaysia finger every chance they get.

Fingering unity: People in happy, happy 1Malaysia land are generous with their smiles. Except for the dude on the right (arrowed). He strikes a Travolta-esque pose worthy of Saturday Night Fever that shows he takes his 1Malaysia seriously. Either that or he’s an MIC member.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for unity.

It’s just that what they don’t tell you about 1Malaysia is that it is Malay-led unity.

I got no problems with that either, as long as the Malays who lead are leaders on merit, not solely because they are Malay.

Been havin’ a ball on Twitter so if you wanna get kinda like an up-to-the minute update of the ramblings in my mind, follow me @Aisehman.

Not abandoning the blog though. This space is gonna be used for more reasoned observations and arguments. The elections are just a few years away so I got a lot of work to do.

You’ll read more and more postings in Bahasa Malaysia over here, as @Khairykj (yes, that KJ, the Kool Jantan) inspired me to also reach out to my Melayu bros and sistahs who are more comfortable with the vernacular if I wanted to change their minds.

He’s right.

So, if you need a daily Aisehman fix, Twitter is where you can get me.

Stay tuned, don’t touch that dial, and remember: This is our country, damn it. OURS. Not UMNO’s.

Drive safely and don’t eat too much.

Former Umno vice-president Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad today dismissed the suggestion that he would be a liability to Barisan Nasional if he is fielded in the Bagan Pinang by-election.

“In the opposition, even a former prisoner could contest,” Isa told a press conference in an apparent reference to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was imprisoned for six years.

“I’m not a criminal,” he added. [Malaysian Insider]

Of course Isa’s not a criminal.

If you bought votes, then you are guilty of corruption. Our laws are clear on that.

But while UMNO found Isa guilty of vote-buying, it did not see fit to report him to what was then known as the Anti-Corruption Agency.

Isa escaped punishment from the law simply because he was an UMNO member. It’s as simple as that.

So, while legally Isa not a criminal, in the minds of many people, he fuckin’ is.

During happier times: Shorty was riding high (LOL) then, smiling away in his tall (ROTFL) songkok. Of the five Nazgul pictured here, two are but a shadow of their former selves, while one still reigns in his neck of the woods.

Now, if Najib really wants to walk his fuckin’ talk about “cleaning up” UMNO, then the logical thing to do would be to pick someone else as the Barisan Nasional candidate for Bagan Pinang.

It don’t matter if Barisan will win hands down were Isa to contest. It don’t matter if the people of Bagan Pinang perversely prefer a corrupt man.

What matters is whether Najib will take this opportunity to provide evidence that he’s the real deal, or not.

If he gives Isa the nod, then it’s clear that Najib is nothing more than hype.

And I suspect he will pick Isa. He needs to be doubly sure that Barisan/UMNO wins this one.

Najib has lost too many by-elections already.

So go ahead, Mr Prime Minister.

Make my fuckin’ day.

Bowing to public pressure, the government is expected to charge the cow head protestors under the Sedition Act and for illegal assembly.

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail confirmed the charges today.

The protestors are likely to be charged tomorrow in Shah Alam.

… “I have decided to charge those who carried and spoke while stepping on the cow head under Sect 4 (1) of the Sedition Act alternatively Section 298 of the Penal Code.

“They as well the other demonstrators will also face another charge under section 27 (5) of the Police Act for illegal assembly,” Gani said in the press statement today. [Malaysian Insider]

Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act states that:

4. (1) Any person who—

(a) does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do,or conspires with any person to do, any act which has or which would, if done, have a seditious tendency;

(b) utters any seditious words;

(c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes orreproduces any seditious publication; or

(d) imports any seditious publication,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable fora first offence to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both, and,for a subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceedingfive years; and any seditious publication found in the possessionof the person or used in evidence at his trial shall be forfeited andmay be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the court directs.

Now, much as I am disgusted with the actions of the dog who stepped on the cow head, I am not sure he will receive true justice for his actions if he were charged under the Sedition Act.

Not that I doubt he will be found guilty and probaby get fined, but I do not agree that a person can and should be found guilty of sedition without determining whether he had intended to commit sedition.

Sedition is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

Conduct or speech inciting rebellion against the authority of a state or monarch.

Clearly, in the act of inciting rebellion against authority there must be an element of intention to incite rebellion.

Even if you define sedition a little more loosely as an incitement to public disorder, there must be intention.

The Sedition Act however does not give a damn what your intentions are; only that your actions “have a seditious tendency”.

Obviously, there is a seditious tendency in stepping on a cow’s head in a public protest against the building of a Hindu temple.

But did the UMNO dog, through his actions, intend to incite rebellion against the authority of a state?

Did he intend to incite public disorder?

We must be careful here. There must be and there is a difference between a valid public protest and rebellion against authority or the incitement to public disorder.

If I were to be honest with myself, I do not believe he committed an act of sedition.

The Attorney-General could charge the dog under Section 298 of the Penal Code, as suggested:

Whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person, or makes any gesture in the sight of that person, or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Here, you need to prove “deliberate intention”.

Of course the dog will deny it. He will likely put up what I would call the Bodoh Macam Lembu Defence. It can also be called the Lembu Dicucuk Hidung Defence.

Do not laugh, for it is a formidable defence.

If the dog can convince the judge that he did not know the cow was sacred to Hindus, and that all he intended to do was to publicly and forcefully communicate his opinion that the Selangor Menteri Besar and the Pakatan Rakyat representatives directly involved in the controvery were “bodoh macam lembu” or that their actions in defending the temple relocation were “seperti lembu dicucuk hidung, our man will have a fair chance of being found not guilty of deliberately intending to wound the religious feelings of Hindus in the country.

Now, is it possible that a dog of his circumstances and standing does not know that the cow is sacred to Hindus?

That is for the judge to decide.

I would say no, because I believe most adult Malays in this country know this.

Even more so a dog who is in politics and is an UMNO community leader.

But it also must be decided whether the dog, any dog, still has the right to conduct a “cow head protest”, bearing in mind the well-known Malay sayings, “bodoh macam lembu” and “seperti lembu dicucuk hidung”, or whether the protection of “religious feelings” absolutely over-ride all other considerations.

This is the dude who carried the severed head of a cow to the protest the other day.

This is the dude who had his foot on the cow head.

And as you can see from this picture, this is also the dude who disrupted the Selangor government dialogue with Section 23 residents.

His name is Azmir Md Zain.

Some say he is HAJI Azmir Md Zain but I kinda doubt that.

Haji apa kalau perangai macam anjin’?

Tuk aku, pak aku, pak penakan aku semua haji, tapi takdak la perangai anjin’ macam ni.

Pasai tu la susah sikit aku nak pecaya Azmir ni haji.

Anjin’ mungkin la.

Anjin’ UMNO.

Azmir ni adalah Pengerusi Penaja Umno Cawangan Seksyen 23.

Dua beradik dengan Dato’ Nawawi Md Zin, Ketua Bahagian UMNO Shah Alam.

Nawawi dan Azmir ni barua kehormat Khir Toyo.

Memang depa bedua ni anjin’.

Anjin’ penjilat Tempe.

The government-linked private equity fund, Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (Ekuinas) said today it will not make public all of its investment portfolio.

“We will follow typical disclosure of global equity firms. We will disclose on a progressive basis,” said Ekuinas CEO Abdul Rahman Ahmad at a media briefing here today.

“Sometimes it’s important to keep information confidential especially in the private sector to remain competitive,” said Abdul Rahman when asked whether Ekuinas will be transparent in its investments. [Malaysian Insider]

You see, Abdul Rahman here talks like the funds he’s going to handle will be sourced from private investors.

The problem is, Man, is that Ekuinas money is taxpayer money.

There is no fucking way we can let this slide. Not when we’re putting up to RM10 billion of our money on the line.

I am gonna watch Ekuinas and its investments like a hungry hawk looking for a big, fat, dirty rat to pounce on.

And I am gonna kick Najib’s ass right across the Tanah Melayu if our money is abused or misused.

BODOHLAH kau, Man.

It hits the spot. Brilliant.

This is not to say that Liew is right and everyone else is wrong, but I cannot see the current slate of UMNO leaders arguing the subject in an equally factual and persuasive manner.

Or maybe they just haven’t tried. Somebody should.