Local Authorities Conspiracy to Commit Extortion

And again, dirty cops, conspiracy to commit extortion of now, an innocent trader. You may think this is a one off thing. No it isn't.

Our authorities have been involved in a whole host of crimes against citizens. I am sure that the reported story below on the 10th May 07 is one of many unreported cases. This is certainly more than just a bribe or one may say, extortion of RM50-100 for traffic offences.

What I hear from some very reliable sources, as well as the victims themselves is that the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, as well as the Enforcement Officers of City Hall or DBKL have been conspiring and extorting money from the DVD peddlers who are selling pirated DVDs.

Apparently, the proceeds from the raids, meaning the DVDs that are consfiscated in the tenths of thousands are subsequently resold to the peddlers and syndicates whom they were originally consfiscated from at a price of a few thousand Ringgit for a batch of discs. Obviously this isn't something that is sanctioned by the government, but it is obvious that this goes high enough whereby the entire department can turn a blind eye, auditors and gatekeepers are silenced and the many people who make it work are well protected from scrutiny.

What seems to irritate the peddlers is that the officers think that they owe them a living and that they are getting fat on cheating the public, the MPAA and that they have to buy back what was originally theirs. However, due to shortage of supply, this is welcome and the price is paid

Our hearts actually go out to the DVD peddlers, not so much that we enjoy buying and watching movies that would otherwise be unaffordable to us at RM150 for an original. The local cuts are rubbish, no THX, DTS or surround sound, and they are also censored by FINAS who applies strick Islamic thinking that a mother kissing a child is "haram" a sin and shouldn't be shown. Much less, the occassional kissing and revealing clothes. Did we say that it's also about RM60 per DVD?

But really, our hearts go out to them because they have families as well, and although they are peddling pirated copies to the public, they are not involved in the vices that plague our cities, they don't hurt anyone and they just go about their day ensuring that we have a free flow of information that is uncensored for our un-interrupted viewing pleasure. The only one who sufferes is the MPAA and some large production companies like Universal and MGM that already make a killing in the developed world.

Fact is, we are a developing nation, though it may be wrong, piracy has done it's good for us. Not only for the movies, but also all the software.

Wrong? Bad? Immoral? If you think so, think again...

A short and simple example. A kid learns how to use Photoshop, a software that would easily be RM5,000, and he becomes proficient in it and applies it in school and has a genuine interest. He eventually becomes a graphic artist or a computer programmer. Who is to say? No family would spend that much to buy software, or even RM600 for Windows Vista. Just so that their child can experiment with it, eventually get bored and lose interest? No, it doesn't happen, not in a developing nation.

Software piracy has help build the proficiency of our nation's people and enabled the ones who can least afford it and the ignorant to experience it and learn something about it. What we have today, is a result of that. All it takes is interest and RM10 to get a copy.

As wrong as it sounds, there is good that has come from it. Our government fails to see what they are supporting and what the nation needs. They are supporting western values of developed countries that can already afford these things.

However, as I understand that the people in government are mostly now from the 20,000 local graduates that couldn't get jobs in the private sector due to language proficiency and substandard understandings of their degrees, I suppose, that some dimwitted idea would have come from one of these people, probably because they don't see the benefit of it, didn't benefit from it and is obviously computer illiterate. They are most likely the ones surfing for porn rather than reading articles like this from the world of free information and enlightening themselves. God help them and God help us all.

Two cops arrested after trader reports extortion

KUALA LUMPUR: Two policemen were arrested early yesterday for allegedly extorting RM21,000 from a night market trader.

Both the policemen, said to be lance corporals in their 40s, were arrested at the Sentul district police headquarters when they came in for questioning.One is said to be attached to the city police headquarters and the other is from the Sentul district. They were remanded for three days.

The 42-year-old trader, who lodged a report at the Taman Melawati police station, claimed he had been extorted twice within the past two weeks.In both cases, the same suspects are believed to be involved. However, it is learnt that investigators are looking for at least one other suspect.In the first incident about two weeks ago, the trader was at his stall when he was approached by three men who introduced themselves as policemen.

They arrested him for allegedly being involved in illegal gaming. The trader was told that he would be released if he paid them RM15,000.The money was brought by the victim’s son to a police station in Setapak, and the victim was released.

Last Wednesday, while the trader was at his stall about 9pm, he was again approached by three men. It is not known if they were the same men.The three men told the trader that they wanted to check his car. They did not find anything. The trader was then ordered to drive the three to a foodcourt in Bandar Baru Sentul.

He told police that the three demanded another RM15,000. The trader appealed and the amount was reduced to RM6,000.Once again, the trader contacted his son, who brought the money to the foodcourt.

After that, the trader claimed he received several calls from one of the suspects who demanded more money.

Fed up, he lodged the police report.

Malaysia Bodoh! Part 1

Now here is an article I really like... it says what has been on
so many Malaysian's minds for a very long time... Reviving the archives...
enjoy... will save my views

Michael Backman
November 15, 2006

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.

It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world. Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.

As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point. It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't. Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies.

They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space
program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather".

But the summer Olympics are held in the summer. So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad. It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).