Malaysia may be first country to get its ‘Sealegs’

Putrajaya: Malaysia will be the first nation in the world to own the “Amphibious Sealegs,” a high-tech boat which is functional both on water and on land, if the purchase receives the green light from the Government.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said its manufacturer wanted Malaysia to be the first country to own the boat and to be the centre for its worldwide sales.

“The chief executive of Sealegs, New Zealander David McKee Wright, has Malaysia close at heart because his mother hails from Taiping, Perak.

“From my observation, the boat is suitable to be used not only by the navy’s elite squad but also by other wings of the Armed Forces.

“I will ask for a special allocation to purchase the boat if the use of the ‘Amphibious Sealegs’ meet our needs, especially in helping to safeguard the sovereignty of our nation,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after witnessing a mock “sea rescue operations” at the Putrajaya Maritime centre Friday, Ahmad Zahid said the “Amphibious Sealegs” would also be useful to other agencies, especially to carry out rescue and relief operations during floods.

The “Amphibious Sealegs” will be carrying out a four-day tour, covering 1,600km from Kelantan to Langkawi in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) exhibition 2009.

Meanwhile, Wright said it took his company five years to create the RM360,000 boat, which is 7.1m in length and could sit eight people.

He said Malaysia was the first country which was introduced to the vessel.

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Didja catch this news report in the Star, folks? (Note: Above pix is not from the Star but retrieved from the Net).

Well, it piqued my curiosity coz I’m a fan of technological gizmos, whether applicable in real life or just plain hare-brained what-were-you-thinking stuff.

Anywayz, back to this MSM inspired article:

a) “Sealegs” is a premier NZ manufacturer for amphibious boats based in Auckland. You can read more on their operations at their website (here) plus view their image gallery (here) where you’ll find some locals (read – Malaysians) undergoing product evaluations.

b) “Sealegs” have established several dealerships worldwide including one in Shah Alam, namely:

LMT Maritime SDN BHD

Mr. Ibrahim Wahab
No 77A, Jalan Lawan Pedang 13/27
Tadisma Business Park
Seksyen 13, 4000 Shah Alam
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia

Phone: +603 5510 6340
Fax: +603 5510 6270
Mobile: +6012 3666 425

c) At RM360,000 per boat, it looks pretty accurate if you read this other news report (here) which also stated that 10 boats “destined for Malaysia have taken their final pre-delivery sea-trials on Auckland Harbour” in its first paragraph. Apparently, 8 were ‘Red’ and 2 were ‘Grey’ boats which according to the manufacturer’s color code designation refers to fire and rescue, and military (read – covert) applications respectively whilst ‘White’ is for recreational purposes.

Therefore, for SAR operations, I reckoned these amphibious boats are quite suitable.

On the other hand, AZH wants these new toys for the MAF.

If stealth, mobility and lethal strike/response are pre-requisites from a military standpoint, can AZH please explain the obvious vulnerability of an elite commando unit chugging merrily away at 10kph on land for a maximum period of 10 minutes? (Technical FAQs here).

Ahhh .. but there is the ‘XRT’ which basically is an upgraded option with an extended 30 minute ‘road-time’. Both options however require a 20 or 30 minute ‘cooling off’ period on its land propulsion system before you can re-start the built-in engine. (I guess the commandos can opt for a 5 minute cigarette break whilst waiting for their getaway boat to take a breather, eh folks.)

Ok, let’s .. errr .. rub.. ber (pun intended) this in further.

Rubber inflatable boats (RIBs) are definitely cheaper and lighter to carry on shore by (strong) commandos who will invariably land pretty close to their target destination. They would also probably be cast off on their mission from our newly acquired submarine (unless some UMNO MPs have taken it for a joy-ride elsewhere) and paddle on. In the event of a debacle (sometimes referred to as plan B .. coz everyone forgot the way back to da boat), the ‘cheap’ RIB becomes dispensable.

There are of course RIBs fitted with an outboard engine for quicker transporting if ’silent runs’ are not an issue but upon landing, it is incumbent for an elite commando squad to overcome terrain issues on foot in the fastest possible time-frame. They are trained for this … and not call in a radio taxi, fer crying out loud.

d) Product brickbats: Yamaha (Japan) or Evinrude (USA) outboard motor options plus a Honda (Japan) inboard for land use which are factory installed. Not-negotiable due to the manufacturer’s warranty tied into the standard ’sea trial before shipping’ policy. Which also makes this “Sealegs” boat genuinely un-Kiwi-ish, don’t you think. But, it’s better than having a ‘Proton’ on board, eh folks.

e) Is Malaysia the first nation in the world to acquire this technological wonder?

NOPE!!!

According to the earlier report, “Sealegs has now sold 400 boats to 22 different countries .. we are no longer at the ‘experimental’ or ‘start-up’ stage and we believe we are now moving towards achieving the critical mass which we have always sought”.

Furthermore, in Asia, Mumbai police (India) beat us to it recently. Read all about it here.

Thus, what gave the Star this crazy idea that Malaysia will be the FIRST? Or rather, was it AZH who is feeding us all this crappy stuff?

Honestly, this 1Malaysia thingy is creating a lot of hallucinations on being the only ONE or FIRST in whatever!

Hmmm .. Sometimes I wonder if someone would be wacky enough to put wheels on this other contraption with a single propulsion system for both aquatic and terra firma ’shoot the breeze’ pursuits.

And we can call it ‘1Frog’.

P.S. Best defense is a good offense. Check out MetalStorm.

Allegedly bashed by NINE PAS supporters, this bloke ended up in a hospital bed, looking none for the better coz he still looks … errr … pathetically idiotic.

Soft tissue injury? Now who would believe that a future leader of Malaysia, and an UMNO Supreme Council member at that, can be felled by fisticuffs and legistuffs (sic) when he should have been made of sterner stuff. Wimp! Don’t ever try that stunt of walking into ‘enemy’ territory unless you got kokonut kahunas.

And of course, Homey sez “We have seen what they tried to do to Umno supreme council member Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim .. ” and also ” .. police would carry out a thorough probe into the matter.” Ok, which is which? Homey knows better or is he ‘telling’ the PDRM to investigate according to his ‘announcement’ in the MSM? Or is he jumping the gun as usual, as in the bull-head incident in Shah Alam?

“This is not a gimmick. Can I make my head swell for no reason? … ” Nope, yer swelled head was there when UMNO made you Poootera chief and yer definitely ain’t no workaholic. The Bagan Pinang folks will be happier if you don’t show up again in their lifetime.

Awww .. c’mon guyz. Gimme a break. Can’t we go to that new K-oK joint tomorrow night? Them .. damn .. press people are still out there and I can’t sneak out lah.

??%##*@!!+&$>

And don’t you guyz dare go for my favorite awek 231.

Hmmm .. will Hollywood ever dish out a bronze Oscar? With Arkham’s certificate pre-loaded, of course.

Did you have problems reading the latest posting from Malaysia-Today entitled ‘The attacks on Malaysia-Today”?

Well, I’m reproducing the entire article here which is self-explanatory.

Probe into leaked cabinet papers to narrow on place where it happened. (The Star report)

Putrajaya: Police investigations into the posting of classified Cabinet papers on the Internet will focus more on where the leak occurred rather than who was responsible for making them public, said Home Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein. Hey, the PDRM finally got their ‘corruption’ compass pointed in the right direction. It’s right smack in the middle of the PMO. In other words, they can’t find RPK lah.

He also warned that the police would even probe ministers if they were suspected to be involved. Yup, that’s gonna shake some black suits. Sabre rattling time. I’ll bet MCA’s gonna be the first port of call. But then again, they are just the deck hands. Try looking for the captain with a keris in his hand.

Hishammuddin said since the papers were classified, the person responsible for the leak would have to be “someone on the inside” and as such would have to face action. Duh! That’s how ‘classified’ leaks happen, dear home minister. From the inside. If it’s from the outside, it’s usually termed as an expose. That’s a good thing, I might add.

He said the act of leaking the papers was serious as it jeopardised the government’s decisions on how to lead, manage and administer the country and it was something that could not be tolerated. Gosh! You blokes in the cabinet actually work and make big, important decisions? And all this time, I’ve tolerated (sic) and thought that you’re a bunch of nincompoops who can’t read … hang on, we’re dealing with big, hugh numbers here, right? The ones with plenty of zeros at the back of the first digit. Like RM12,500,000,000.

“The papers were leaked before they were even discussed in cabinet and there is a possibility that they may not even have been discussed but leaking the papers has compromised the cabinet. Naughty, naughty, HH. Are yer saying that such an important secret government document with probably lots of words and big, hugh numbers was NOT read by the cabinet? Are yer certain or are yer just throwing a red herring for any gullible joe public to lap up this possibility? And if you yourself have not seen and read it, I’d recommend that you go here before the MCMC decide to ban it for something deemed as offensive. Thank RPK when yer done, will yer. Meanwhile, thanks but no thanks for the cunning obfuscation which I believe is the MAIN THRUST of this news report..

“There is a reason why the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was created and all those within the Government have a responsibility to respect the law and the confidentiality of the documents. Geez! And I thought the OSA was meant primarily for national security. Like how many nuts and bolts do you need to hold a submarine intact. No?

“I have told the police to conduct an all out and thorough investigation and investigate even ministers if they are suspected to be involved,” he told reporters when met at the Hari Raya open hosted by the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers here on Sunday. The PDRM ALWAYS have to have your green-light before they venture out of their cushy air-conditioned office, eh HH. What’s the newly re-instated IGP doing anywayz? Making coffee for yer, I’ll bet.

On another matter, Hishammuddin said the police had already handed to the Attorney General’s Chambers investigation papers on the allegations by Tunku Nadzimuddin Tunku Mudzaffar, grandson of the late Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negri Sembilan, that the Raja Muda of Johor Tunku Ismail Idris had put a gun to his head and hit him. Eleven months or closer to a year. That’s got to be a PDRM KPI record of sorts, especially when a firearm, yer know . a gun, was allegedly brandished. Wanna rake up Sungei Lunchu in JB just in case if the evidence was accidently dropped there?

The minister said the police had thus completed their work and it was now up to the AG’s chambers to decide on the next course of action. Twiddling their thumbs, more like it. It’s a case involving the bluebloods, yer twit. They are ‘bigger’ than the umnoputras.

Asked why the police took more than 11 months to conclude investigations into the case, he said that the papers had been handed in earlier but the AG’s chambers had then requested for additional information over the case. Maybe somebody stamped “RAHSIA” on it hence the AG deferred reading it like you lot in the Cabinet. Refer to above example.

“I was also told that the two sides had one point tried to resolve the problem on their own but what is wrong is wrong and the papers have now been handed to AG’s chambers and it is up to them to decide on the next course of action,” he said. Damn right, Mr Home minister. What’s wrong is still wrong. Just like what that bunch in Shah Alam did a couple of weeks ago with a severed bull-head. Unless you wanna wait 13 months and break a record. Ohh .. you are?

Tunku Nadzimuddin had claimed that he was hit in his head and face, had a gun pointed at his head, and suffered a fractured nose and other serious injuries as a result of the incident while his lawyer friend, Shamshuddhuha Ishak, who was knocked out, lost two teeth. Err .. never mind.

He had also hit out at the police for failing to act after having assured him that they would investigate the case and take the necessary action. Hmmpfff!

From food fights on recipe rights to detention ‘comforts’.

It’s amazing sometimes when you look at the sibling rivalry between Malaysia and Singapore (aka RDC = Red Dot Com).

Mas Selamat ‘happy to be detained in Malaysia’. (TMI report. The Star carried a similar truncated news item – here)

Excerpts:

• Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant Mas Selamat Kastari is happy to be detained in Malaysia, but he hopes to see his wife and five children during the Hari Raya celebration, according to Suhakam vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun.
• Sipaun said Mas Selamat also claimed he had been drugged while he was in detention in Singapore. He said he did not feel normal most of the time and was always dizzy.
• Suhakam carries out regular checks on detention centres and prisons throughout the country to ensure there is no violation of human rights.
• Home Ministry secretary-general Mahmood Adam confirmed yesterday that his ministry would allow Mas Selamat’s wife to visit him in Kamunting. “We have no problem. As long as she has the proper travel documents, she can visit him anytime,” he said.
• For its part, Suhakam did not plan to contact Mas Selamat’s wife or children, said Sipaun. “Unfortunately, our duty is only to make sure that there is no human rights violation in the detention centres and we’re not planning to meet Mas Selamat’s wife,” he said.

Singapore: Mas Selamat never complained about ill-treatment. (TMI report. No, the Star didn’t publish this ROR = right of reply).

Excerpts:

• “The family’s request for travel documents to enable them to visit Mas Selamat at the Kamunting Detention Centre is currently being assessed by the Singapore authorities. We will have to consider, given the family’s past immigration offences, Mas Selamat’s terrorist activities and plots against Singapore, and the fact that Mas Selamat’s wife was also a member of the JI, whether it is in our national security interests to grant the family travel documents to leave Singapore to visit him in Malaysia.
• “Any report of ill-treatment of the detainee is sent to the Minister for Home Affairs. The government did not receive any report of ill-treatment from Mas Selamat, the doctor, his family, or the Board of Inspection during his detention.
• “It should also be pointed out that in the last few years since Mas Selamat was repatriated to Singapore from Indonesia, despite his having plotted terror attacks against Singaporeans and despite his having deserted his family in Singapore and fleeing to hide in Malaysia, ISD and members of the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group, which comprises several Singaporean Malay-Muslim organisations and individuals including AMP, Khadijah Mosque, Mendaki and Taman Bacaan, had provided the family social and financial assistance, such as help with their utilities bills, and tuition and school textbooks for the children.”

It’s kinda weird to see both nations falling over each other in what can be considered as ‘making hay while the rain pours’.

And the icing on the cake?

The Malaysian government is inviting another known JI member to visit the country.

That will ring alarm bells in the Oval Office, eh folks.

Heck! I’m prepared to view the special visit request under sympathetic considerations. At least for the kids. Plus it’s the Raya thingy.

But does it have to be such an ‘overt’ public relations exercise, especially because of this and this?

Discretion is definitely not their forte.

Yes, there’s still the opportunity to celebrate OUR real 50th anniversary.

Meanwhile, let’s rejoice with:

Honest! I didn’t realise it was that cheap.

Lest you might think that I’m leading you down the wrong path in this holy month of Ramadan, please perish the thought.

Batal puasa nanti.

Anywayz, Shahanaaz Habib of the Star dug deeper into the Shah Alam bull-head incident and filed two reports.

A) Hisham explains his role in the affair

Excerpt:

• In his defence, he told The Star through text messages that he had agreed to meet the protestors because they told him they were not the ones who had brought the cow’s head to the protest.
  

B) Not cowed but regretful

Excerpt:

• One of the organisers of the protest who was responsible for bringing the cow’s head says they had wanted to bring a live cow as a symbol of the stupidity of the state government but they could not afford one. “We wanted to follow the group that sent a cow a few months back to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in Selangor but a live one costs too much. So we got the cow head instead for RM25,” says the organiser who declined to be named.

Sounds and looks like an open admission of guilt to me.

Motive, intent and execution. All wrapped up in a nice little bundle for the PDRM.

But still, the police have not located another ’suspect’ called ‘The 13th cow-head”, have they?

While everyone’s attention were fixated on the:

• Shah Alam’s bull-head circus
• NTR’s new PKFZ STF(U)*
• TBH’s inquest
• MCA’s presidential turmoil
• MIC’s party elections
• Etc, etc, etc

Something sinister cropped up quietly down south in the state of Johor.

And it happened in the Johor state assembly at that.

Remember when we are told of the four pillars of democracy namely the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and the Fourth Estate.

Well, in Malaysia, it does not exist. No thanks to UMNO.

Here’s why:

A) Democracy: One step forward for Selangor, one step back for Johor.

I am extremely upset that my debate speech on Bill of Constituional Amendment 2009 of Johor State Constitution 1985 Part II Article 23 Clause (5) which provides 8th Spetembet in Johor State Assembly was halted half way on the reason that I did not protest on the first reading of the bill. But the Standing Orders clearly states that the first reading could not be debated or interrupted. Any dabate can only be proposed at the second reading.

The Bill was passes hastily without givng a chance for Members to fully debate on such an imporatnt bill. The passage of the Bill means that any casual vacancy in the Dewan shall be established by the Election Commission, and not by the Speaker or the House.

Read more here.

Hmm.. didn’t someone also say it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

Be vigilant Malaysian netizens coz there’ll be a lot of strange happenings on the local Net i.e. web/blog site hackings are becoming virulent lately.

* STF – Super Task Force. Go figure where ‘U’ fit in as an acronym.

Update: 0245HR 12/09/09.

A clarification or UMNO’s feeling queasy with GE13 – read here.

Came across these two news reports at the Star on Friday 11th September ‘09 (online version, not print) which, at first blush, looked promising:

MCA to MCMC: Back off on Malaysiakini (published 2:22pm)

Kuala Lumpur: The repeated visits by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to the office of news portal Malaysiakini could be misconstrued as harassment aimed at stifling the independence of the media, says the MCA.

The MCA’s information and communication bureau spokesman Lee Wei Kiat said that the party is concerned that the Commission, as a regulating body, will be perceived as attempting to silence the press.

He noted the similarity to the controversy of Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng who was detained under the Internal Security Act for merely carrying out her job after she had reported on apparently seditious statements made by Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail.

In a statement on Friday, Lee noted that the Commission had visited Malaysiakini’s office three times in the last week and had interviewed 12 of its staff.

Lee said MCA is calling for the Commission to allow Malaysiakini’s media crew to continue carrying out their duties professionally and uninterrupted by marathon interview sessions.

“Malaysiakini’s editors, journalists and technical crew have been co-operative with the officers from the Commission.

“The reporters and photographers are earning an honest living reporting the news,” said Lee.

He added that the Commission should take into account the Prime Minister’s stand on Aug 7 that the Government will not filter or censor the Internet.

Lee also urged the authorities and regulating bodies to be fair in their investigations.

The visits were part of the Commission’s probe into the online publication after it refused to delete two videos related to the controversial Aug 28 “cow head protest” against the Selangor government’s decision to relocate a Hindu temple from Section 19 to Section 23 in Shah Alam.

The first video was of the protestors dragging the decapitated head of cow, then proceeding to stamp and spit on it. Hindus consider the cow a sacred animal.

One of the protest leaders was also reported to have threatened bloodshed if the Selangor government proceeded with its relocation plan.

The second video is of a press conference held by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein after he had met with the protestors.

The Commission sent a letter to Malaysiakini claiming that the portal was in breach of Section 211/233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 for displaying videos of the anti-temple protest and the Hishammuddin press conference.

It said it had received complaints from the public that the videos were annoying and disturbing.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan has refused to take down the videos, saying they were news items and of public interest.

Don’t harass website, MCMC told (published 10:03pm)

Kuala Lumpur: Repeated probes by the the Malaysian Communications and Multi- media Commission (MCMC) on news portal Malaysiakini could be misconstrued as harassment aimed at stifling the independence of the media.

MCA information and communication bureau spokesperson Lee Wei Kiat said the party is concerned that the commission, as a regulatory body, will be perceived as attempting to silence the press, similar to the controversy over the detention of Sin Chew journalist Tan Hoon Cheng under the Internal Security Act for carrying out her job.

In a statement Friday, Lee pointed out that the commission had visited the portal’s office three times and interviewed 12 of its staff.

Lee said MCA is calling for the commission to allow all Malaysiakini staff to continue carrying out their duties professionally uninterrupted by marathon interview sessions.

He added that the commission should take into account the Prime Minister’s stand on Aug 7 that the Government will not filter the Internet.

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For the sake of clarity, I’ve highlighted similarly worded paragraphs in the same colour. In other ..errmm .. words, the red content of the first were left out in the second bulletin.

Why?

Was the Star told by higher authorities to tone down the message i.e. defending Mkini with very comforting terms, references to the UMNO Bukit Bendera politician and the Home minister plus explicitly describing the relevant cause celebre (Shah Alam bull-head incident) for which Mkini has now suffered three ‘fishing’ expeditions by the MCMC?

Is there something more to this than meets the eye?

Well, here’s another report, originally from Bernama, which was published in the NST:

Most MCA members don’t want Umno to interfere: Najib (2009/09/11)

by Aizat Sharif

Kamarul: “My clients didn’t bring cow head”

THE 12 people to be charged in court this morning for the controversial ‘cow-head’ incident on Aug 26 are expected to plead that their intentions to conduct the protest that day had been misconstrued and had been unfairly turned into a religious issue.

Kamarul Irzuan, one of the lawyers representing the 12 to be charged, also said that his clients had told him that they don’t know who even brought the cow head in the first place as it was never part of their plans.

“None of my clients brought the cow head as it had nothing to do with the main messages they wanted to send in their memorandum to the Selangor State government.”

Kamarul said the main grouse was that the Section 23 Shah Alam residents felt aggrieved the State government had decided to locate a Hindu temple within the mainly Muslim community without even consulting them first.

“There isn’t anything religious or racial about such a concern because there are hardly any Hindus here in the first place and why would anyone want to inconvenience them to come to a strange new place? The residents wanted the State government to explain this rationale.”

Kamarul further said that the Section 23 residents also wanted to know why the Hindu temple was being relocated in the first place since there didn’t seem to be any real reason for it to be moved.

“The residents felt it was an arbitrary decision that was unfair to both Hindus and Muslims, and wanted the State government to reconsider as the decision seemed very high-handed.”

He spoke to Malay Mail after the 12 were summoned to the Shah Alam district police headquarters at 9pm yesterday. After being questioned, all 12 were released on personal bonds at 12.30am and were instructed to appear at the Shah Alam Sessions Court at 9am today.

Kamarul said the 12 had yet to be told what charges they would be facing, but he expected all to be charged for illegal assembly under Section 27 of the Police Act.

He also expected six of them to be charged under Section 1 and Section 4 of the Sedition Act, and felt that it would be unfair for this charge to be made.

Kamarul also drew a comparison to the recent case of a pig head that was dumped at the Universiti Malaya surau in January. The carcass had been placed in a Pas flag in a surau located in the Islamic studies academy.

“What happened in that case?” he asked.

“Why was there no big legal controversy like what is happening now? Furthermore, my clients had no religious extremism in mind when they did what they did. Is it fair then that they are persecuted for something they had never intended?”

Source: Malay Mail report

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Here are a series of screenshots taken from Mkini’s video which captured the incident as it happened:

Can this lawyer explain how the severed bull-head got from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ which is at the front entrance of the Selangor state secretariat if it was not carried by the persons shown in these images?

Or perhaps, this lawyer is not representing the persons shown here?

Is there another twelve ’suspects’ that the PDRM have not investigated and identified yet?

And I thought there was only one DIRTY DOZEN.