Far Right Parties Win In EU Elections, Macron Calls Snap Polls In France After Big Defeat To Le Pen

The European Union had their European Parliament elections (which is based in Brussels) over the weekend. 

Throughout the EU anti-immigration and anti-Islam far right parties have made considerable gains.

In Germany Chancellor Olaf Schulz's Verrator Party came in THIRD position even behind far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD is said to be sympathetic to the Nazi ideology  yet they performed well in the vote. The German people, and the European people are tired of the woke and leftist politics which has invaded the west.

The biggest win for the far right was in France where Marinne Le Pen's National Rally party won 32% of the vote, more than double Macron's 15%. As a result president Macron has suspended the French Parliament and called for snap elections.

France's Marinne Le Pen leader of the far right National Rally party said “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” echoing the rallying cry of so many far-right leaders in other countries who were celebrating substantial wins.

France's Macron dissolves parliament, calls new elections
Macron's poor performance in EU elections. 
His party defeated by far-right National Rally.
called for snap election after decisive defeat
trounced by far-right National Rally in European Parliament elections.
National Rally won 32%, more than double Macron's 15%.
first round parliamentary election on June 30 second round July 7
far-right made substantial gains in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria.

My Comments:

This is a big win for democracy in Europe. Over the past decades Europe has been going dont know where. What made Europe great was their European identity and their European civilisation.  We speak English, its one of their languages. They should regain their pole position - by competing in doing good works. And by avoiding silly mistakes.

 أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يُسَـٰرِعُونَ فِى ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ وَهُمْ لَهَا سَـٰبِقُونَ    -  "it is they who race to do good deeds, always taking the lead"  (23:61).

55% Diesel Hike - Last Time Something Dumb Like This Happened Was Under Abdullah Badawi

 

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-s-diesel-subsidy-cuts-will-not-raise-inflation-say-analysts

• KL – M'sia cut diesel subsidies, float to market rate RM3.35 per litre 
• increase of 55% from RM2.15, starting from midnight on June 10.
• will not have much impact on inflation observed experts
• (OSTB : They are the dumbest experts)
• previous price for diesel, announced on June 5, RM2.15 per litre.
• Lower- and middle-income groups not affected 
• monthly RM200 cash handouts
• can purchase 148 litres of diesel each month 

My Comments 

A little before 2008, Abdullah Badawi raised the price of petrol by 70 sen per litre. It sent the economy into a shock. The direct result was that in 2008 Badawi lost the 2/3 majority in Parliament and FIVE States. In 2009 Badawi was kicked out.

In 2014 Najib imposed the GST at 6%. A huge bungle. The direct result was that in 2018 Najib and the BN lost the elections - after being in power for 61 years (1957).

As of midnite tonite the price of diesel is going to jump by RM1.20 sen per liter from RM2.15 to RM3.35 per liter.  (This is worse than Abdullah Badawi's 70 sen per liter fuel hike before 2008).  This 55% overnite increase in the price of diesel is going to choke the economy again. 

There is no way the inter-city and inter-state bus fares are NOT going to go up. The long distance bus operators and the lorry and truck operators will be the first ones to be hit by this 55% jump in the price of diesel.

If the long distance buses cannot increase their bus fares some of them may just stop operating. Truck operators will all have to increase their freight rates.

Therefore the prices of everything under the sun are going to go up. Vegetables from Cameron Highlands, chicken sent by truck from Manjong, fish transported by truck around the country, any item delivered by a truck that burns diesel fuel. All the prices will go up.

Even if they increased the price of diesel by say 15 sen per liter every three months, they can remove the subsidy fully in 24 months. That would be less of a shock on price inflation and on the economy.

Lets see what happens tomorrow. It will not be nice. The people will suffer.

Growing, producing and distributing food can be a criminal offence?

 

Kita rakyat marhein ni jual beras sendiri kena saman.
Buat benih sendiri kena saman
Ada mesin padi kena sita
Buat baja sendiri kena kutuk

 

I received the following via WhatsApp. 
Author unknown. 
I suppose it is going around.  

Dah dua tahun takde beras harga 2.60
Jauh tu harga 3.20
Rata-rata harga 3.50 ke atas.
Tapi harga lantai padi tetap sama 1300.
Nak jaga kepentingan pengguna 
Masa sama pesawah semakin miskin. 

Yang kaya raya kartel padi dan beras
Tapau abis dari biji benih, racun, baja, beras.

Rakyat marhein ni jual beras sendiri kena saman.
Buat benih sendiri kena saman
Ada mesin padi kena sita
Buat baja sendiri kena kutuk

Wahai bangsaku
Keluarlah dari sistem
Bukalah minda
Kemahiran kita punya
Tanam sendiri
Buat benih sendiri
Proses beras sendiri
Mampu buat baja sendiri

Bersuara itu pedih
Tapi sampai bila kita kena cengkam dengan sistem kartel

Pergi jalan-jalan ke negara jiran
Kebanyakkan masyarakat mandiri
Mereka tidak dicengkam kartel

Tapi siapa kita nak bercakap
Harga beras tak habis2 dikaji
Pi mai pi mai kerajaan nak bantu siapa sebenarnya?
Nak jaga perut pengguna?
Atau cuma nak jaga hati kartel?

 

My Comments :

There is an increasing awareness among the poorer people (especially Malays) that the ordinary people have been given a poor deal in order to keep the  cartels and monopolies in  gold thread and in milk and honey. 

But I was intrigued with these statements :

Rakyat marhein ni jual beras sendiri kena saman.
Buat benih sendiri kena saman
Ada mesin padi kena sita
Buat baja sendiri kena kutuk

I checked the : 

Control of Padi and Rice Act 1994
Act 522
Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 

(http://www.commonlii.org/my/legis/consol_act/copara1994203/)

True enough the Control of Padi Act gives :  POWERS RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT, SEARCH, SEIZURE, ARREST,   ETC.     So indeed there are powers of  SEARCH, SEIZURE, ARREST  over padi and rice  !!

The following are not in this exact order but they are all taken from the same Control of Padi Act.  

 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 522 

• Duties and functions of Director General
• 4. (1) The duties and functions of the Director General shall be as follows:
• (c) to fix maximum or minimum prices of padi or rice;
• (e) to regulate and control the disbursement of subsidies to padi farmers;
• (f) to regulate the marketing of padi and rice particularly through the licensing of wholesalers, retailers, rice millers, importers and exporters;
• (g) to regulate and control the amount of padi or rice that may be kept, stored or possessed by any person;
• (j) to regulate and control the milling of padi into rice including the rate and regularity of milling operations;
• (l) to require persons engaged in the production or marketing of padi and rice to register .. . as the Director General may deem necessary;
• (m) to regulate the production of padi;
• (n) to prohibit, regulate or control the movement of padi or rice

"regulate, control, prohibit, licensing" bla bla.

My Comments :

Rice is our basic food.  Growing, producing and distributing food can be a criminal offence?   How stupid is this?

Please abolish this act. No wonder our padi and rice supply is so messed up.

A Few Major 'Kodak Moments' Coming Soon On A Planet Nearest To You. Orang Melayu Sila Baca.

 

In 1989 the digital cameras began to hit the mass market. By 1997 the old fashioned film cameras hit their peak and declined rapidly after that. In the first decade of the 21st century the film camera industry was dead. Along with it the sales of camera film also died and all those quite ubiquitous Kodak 'camera film processing centers' disappeared. A 'Kodak moment' had indeed occurred in the life of Kodak.

Kodak moment :  an occasion suitable for memorializing or remembering (with a photograph).

 

 

Then just about 20 years ago cameras became part of our mobile phones. Camera phones could not only take pictures but they also record video. This killed off both the still cameras and video camera industry. Who needs to buy a video camcorder anymore? Just buy a mobile phone. 

There are a few 'Kodak moments' like these coming soon (maybe within five years) in breakthrough technologies that will radically change the world. It will change the world in terms of economic growth, military power and of course world power-politics or geo-political weight. And almost all of these technological breakthroughs are coming from China. Russia is still leading in military technology but there too China will likely overtake them.

Both the Russians and Chinese have developed and put into operation hypersonic missiles that are capable of flying at super high speeds (above Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound).  These were Kodak moments in missile tech. 

Other countries have also developed hypersonic missiles but still with different capability.  Some hypersonic missiles are limited in their deployment. They can only be launched from fixed platforms, they may need heavy support equipment to get them airborne etc. The Russians can launch them from mobile launchers, from ships and submarines and from multiple aircraft. The Chinese are catching up too.  

Radar that can detect stealth aircraft are another Kodak moment. The Chinese are advanced in this area as well and we really do not know how far ahead the Chinese technology has gone. 

There is something called a fusion reactor which can not only replace all fission nuclear reactors in use today but it will in the long run end the need for oil and gas to generate power in the power stations. Plus the fusion reactor does not produce radiation. The fusion reactor 'fuses' hydrogen atoms and so its fuel source will be water. For over 60 years the West has been trying to develop a working model but it has been slow going. Germany and China are ahead in this technology but China seems to be increasing their lead by leaps and bounds. The Chinese may announce a working model within say five years. Bye-bye oil and gas. 

Both China and Russia are developing hypersonic drones. UAVs that can fly above Mach 5 and carry weapons. Because they are 'unmanned' they can be designed to make insane twists and turns beyond 9Gs (gravitational pull). 9Gs is about the maximum limit for human pilots. A hypersonic drone equipped with AI technology will be next to impossible to stop.

To "power" all these new technologies they will need terabytes, exabytes, zettabytes and yottabytes of computing power.  Which our present day computer chips do not have.

But not for long. The Chinese are approaching a technology breakthrough in something  called the 'photon chip'. The photon chip uses light to store information. Dont ask me how it works but it is super duper fast. It can store and process mathematical 0s and 1s to a capacity exponentially larger and quicker than any chip available today. 

Here is a short video by an American guy who has grasped what this means in the real world. More Kodak moments are indeed coming. 

 

 

Where does Malaysia stand? A few days back a video was circulating of that brain dead ostard wal retard talking about 'cara mengelak daripada dibangkitkan bogel' or  how to avoid from being resurrected naked (on the day of judgement). This seems to be the maximum kilobyte capacity of their brains. Very sad.

 

 

NOTES FROM THE QURAN (7/6/'24) - SOME HISTORY.

Although the Quran is over 1,400 years old it remained (and perhaps remains) a largely unknown document. The largest majority of Muslims, including Arab Muslims, just do not know what is in the Quran. 

The first printed Arabic Quran appeared in the 16th century (1537) in Venice in Italy. A fellow called Paganini (not the famous composer of the 18th century)  and his son published what was probably the first printed edition of the Quran in Arabic. This work was likely intended for export to the Ottoman Empire, with which Venice had extensive trade ties. All copies of that printed Arabic Quran have vanished except for one copy which was discovered in 1987. It is said that the printing had many faults.

But what does this mean? It means that before 1537 the Quran just did not exist in printed form. You could not walk into any Muslim house or even mosque or madrasah and ask to see a copy of the Arabic Quran - which you can do today. There were almost none.

Before the 16th century (or even much later) the Quran existed as hand written mushaf or hand written manuscripts. Like these two here:

The Quran on the left, kept in Tashkent, Uzbekistan is a handwritten volume from the 8th century and the one on the right, kept in Cairo, is from between the 8th to 10th centuries. I have personally seen this copy in Cairo. You can see how difficult (and expensive) it would have been to produce a Quran.

In the early times the Quran was indeed scarce, hence unknown to the vast majority of Arab and non-Arab Muslims around the world, hard to access due to its large-sized volume and the high cost to produce a hand-written copy. 

For example, here is some copy paste:

According to Ignacio Olagüe in his book "The Arabs Never Invaded Spain" (Flammarion, Paris, 1969), he quotes Eulogius of Córdoba (857) and John of Seville (858), that the 8th-century conquest of Spain occurred without the presence of the Quran or any collection of religious texts.

So when the Arab conquests began in the 7th and early 8th centuries they didnt even carry the Quran with them. 

The first English translation of the Quran (1734) was done by George Sale. This copy is in print until today.

The first English translation of the Quran by a Muslim translator was done circa 1920s. The famous English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali was first printed in 1938. The first Javanese translation was completed in 1913 while the first Acehnese translation was completed in 1965 (this is what I found on the Net, cant vouch for 100% accuracy).

The point I am trying to make is that printed translations of the Quran are fairly recent occurences. Meaning many, many non-Arab Muslims did not have easy access to read and understand the Quran.

To conclude here is some brain-shock. The French researcher (on Islam) Odon Lafontaine  has most recently (about a week ago) released the English version of his book The Great Secret of Islam.

 

The 162 page PDF version is available for FREE here at www.thegreatsecretofislam.com.  Indeed the book is a brain-shocker.   To illustrate this, here is a chart from this book: 

 

Odon Lafontaine belongs to the modern genre of researchers who rely a lot on scientific methods, historical evidence, archaeological remains, numismatics to support their research and conclusions. 

In the present day this type  of research into Islam's past is very vibrant among French scholars. The French seem to be pioneering this effort in the 21st century.  

If you have the time, the gumption, the curiosity do read Lafontaine's book. Agree or disagree is up to you. I am more interested in what they have found out and how they present their findings. 

60% FARE SUBSIDY FOR ASIA MOBILITY. A VERY GOOD BUSINESS MODEL.

 

Someone sent me this video about that Asia Mobility issue. Its a 47 minute video. I have done a sort of running commentary of the video. My comments are based on the conversation in the video.

 

 

Premesh Chandran co-founder of Msiakini. From their conversation Premesh is apparently a shareholder (co-founder) in this venture. Not bad bro. From running with the hares all these years to now making hay.

Ramachandran Muniandy - CEO of Asia Mobiliti.

DRT or Demand Responsive Transit is actually a high fallutin way of saying "on demand vans" aka "bus on demand" aka "e-hailing minibus shuttle between house and MRT station, heavily subsidised by public funds".  Say what you like but that is what it is to the public, the end user. Because that is what you are getting. Except e-hailing is available 24 hours. This one operates for 14 hours only.

Sgor mobility - from what has been spoken in the video it will cater largely or solely to areas with MRT / LRT train stations. It is a simple shuttle service between your house and the nearest MRT station. There will be no DRT in Kuala Selangor or Banting yet. Not for a long while yet.

November 2023 two zones, 3rd and 4th zones since February 2024.

Contract awarded to Asia Mobiliti by Sgor State govt.

DRT is NOT a new thing at all. "DRT" sounds high fallutin but it is just e-hailing. Here is something from the Ministry of Transport, which describes e-hailing PUBLIC TRANSPORT.

" e-Hailing Services  :   Intermediation business (e-hailing) is a service provided to book public transport services through electronic applications. These services include e-hailing vehicles and taxis.

E-hailing vehicle is a private vehicle used to provide public transport services to passengers who book through electronic applications.

The vehicle shall be a motor vehicle with a seating capacity of four (4) persons and not more than eleven (11) persons (including the driver)."

So Grab, Buddy ?, EzCab, inDrive, Mycar etc are all e-hailing companies. The main difference is the existing e-hailing companies can seat "four (4) persons and not more than eleven (11) persons (including the driver)".

The DRT is targetting the 12 - 19 passengers niche, using mini-buses and drawing heavily upon gomen subsidies. Do read on.

And macha, all e-hailing is a digital experience. Ordering food through Food Panda or Grab Food are all digital experiences. They all sound equally high fallutin.

"to solve the problems of public transport in the cities of the developing world". Wow ! Fantastic. But will other Asian countries give you such generous subsidies to run the business which you are getting now? Your business model is heavily dependent on the State gomen subsidising your passenger fares - at least 60% subsidy. Do read on.

This technology is not new. It is now quite "off the shelf". It is simply e-hailing software which is well established. So many e-taxis, e-parcel delivery services, e-food delivery, e- grocery shopping use pretty much the same software. Of course you have to modify the software for specific requirements.

For example according to Ramachandran the other company Badanbas also had exactly the same app ("that does exactly what we do")- which they got from Japan. Rama also says that this technology has "already been proven in other cities around the world". 

So this technology is quite common already. So brother if this technology is already existing and proven around the world then how are you going to pioneer your DRT services to other cities in Asia? "Asia Mobility" and all? Perhaps it shall remain "Malaysia mobility" after all.

Approved by the Land Transport agency in December 2022? That was just one month after the new PH gomen came to power in November 2022. What can I say except congratulations. Indeed this is meritocracy at its best.

Hannah Yeoh is an MP in the DAP.  Prior to this she was a two term DAP assembly woman in the Selangor State gomen.
 
Now Hannah Yeoh's party the DAP is the single largest party in the PH gomen in  Selangor  with 15 out of 35 PH State seats.  The State Assembly has a total of 56 seats.  The PH (minus BN) has been in power in Selangor for three straight terms.  At the Federal level, the DAP is again the largest party in the PH gomen coalition with 40 Parliamentary seats. Certainly the DAP has significant clout in both the Selangor State and Federal gomen.

Ramachandran says "we have national interest at heart here".
He also talks about "robbing bright people with talent from actually contributing".

Fine bro. But can you do it WITHOUT that 60% subsidy by the public? You said that in your Proof of Concept for the past seven months your cost is RM5.00 for each passenger. You said the State gomen pays you a subsidy of RM3.00 and you collect RM2.00 from the passenger.  That is a 60% subsidy. How bright do you have to be and how much talent do you need to run a business where the State gomen pays you a 60% subsidy for your passenger fare?  You dont have to be a rocket scientist.

But how can you guarantee that the mini-buses will not run empty? You say that to save cost  "if there is no booking the mini-bus will not run". Ok but supposing only THREE people book the mini-bus at a certain time then the mini-bus will still have to go and pick them up, even though there are only THREE passengers for a 19 seater mini-bus. That is not cost effective at all. It can suddenly become a very high cost per passenger operation. This is where you need that 60% fare subsidy from the State.

There is some confusion over that 60% gomen subsidy. Right now the feeder buses are free. The people do not have to pay a fare. (But their schedules are not reliable). There is also no subsidy because the feeder buses are run by the gomen. But in this new business model the gomen  has to pay DRT RM3.00 per passenger or a 60% subsidy. That is using public funds. Plus the public must now pay RM2.00 each. So the public has to pay for the entire RM5.00 "cost" of operating this business.

Ramachandran says for seven months they have 17,000 riders a day. So DRT has been earning 17,000 x RM3.00 = RM51,000 subsidy per day or about RM1.5 million subsidy per month. The past seven months DRT has already "earned" RM10.5 million in subsidies.

The three senior Press guys in the video did not ask what is the total project cost? Billion Ringgit figures have been mentioned. What is the exact figure? And how are the funds going to be applied? Capex versus Opex etc. Things like that. What is the Capex breakdown? The devil is always in the details.

And how long is the concession period? There must be a concession period. 5 years? 15 years? 30 years? What?

Are there any other subsidies, cash grants, soft loans, financial concessions granted by the gomen? For example who will own or pay for the mini-buses? DRT or the State?

No this is not a great model of a public-private partnership. This is a straight forward cash-subsidy using public funds business model. Public funds have a socio-economic objective whereas the private partner always has a profit motive. Not exactly the best mix.

And no the State CANNOT have ANY SKIN here because the State is playing with public funds. It is Mr Public Taxpayer who has ALL the skin in this venture. RM3.00 subsidised by public funds and RM2.00 paid as fares by each passenger. That is 100% public footing the bill.  

Premesh says they welcome competitors. Really? How very christian bro. Does that mean the State will be ready to provide another 60% subsidy for the other "competitors" as well? Or will you be the only beneficiary of that 60% cash subsidy from the State? If the State continues dishing out 60% subsidies I am sure even the Arabs will suddenly want to become mini-bus shuttle operators here in Selangor.

But if the State will not provide 60% cash subsidies to other new competitofrs, then DRT will likely become yet another monopoly in this country.  Who will be fool enough to run public transport without State subsidies.

I have some other suggestions.

1. Why not go full meritocracy? 

Why not allow anyone with a 12 to 19 seater minibus to operate this glorified shuttle-bus service between house-to-MRT-station in Selangor ? And without any subsidies having to be paid by the gomen? Just break open the market. 

The fares will have to be regulated but the gomen can quid pro quo by cutting import duties and other taxes on mini-buses used for these shuttle services. That will make the purchase price of the mini-buses cheaper and make lower fares feasible. But it must be at market risk. Anyone and everyone who is interested can operate these services. This is 100% meritocracy.

2.  Tell the Ministry of Transport to make a tiny, tiny change to this part of the e-hailing definition  "The vehicle shall be a motor vehicle with a seating capacity of up to nineteen (19) persons (including the driver)." 

This may attract the existing e-hailing fellows to begin operating these mini-bus shuttle services along all the MRT routes in Selangor / Wilayah. They will know how to sort it out. No need for subsidies, using public funds etc.

3.  In Rome they have a very simple system. At every bus stop there is a simple LCD monitor which tells you when the next bus will be arriving and the bus route number. And of course there is a bus stop near every subway station. Or while you are at home or in the office you can visit the public transport homepage and based on your mobile phone's location it will instantly tell you the bus stop nearest to you and when the buses will be arriving plus the bus route number as well as the train arrival times at the nearest subway station. So if your house is a seven minute walk to the nearest bus stop, you can time yourself to board the bus as well as time yourself for the next train at the subway station. This is a wonderfully easy system that we used while we were in Rome a few years ago. They just make sure that the buses and trains arrive as per schedule. It works very well. Apa susah sangat. No need for 60% subsidies.