PROTES 2008 – oh whatta night!

Well it was not quite a million people – other than the organisers, no one ever expected that many anyway, so let’s just say it was one million give or take a few hundred thousand, but nevertheless, tonight 30,000 of us had a party.

Anwar was in his usual element blasting all and sundry in BN to kingdom come – he also confirmed that he will take on anyone – especially a Najib-Badawi tag team in July 15th’s “Great Petrol Debate” scheduled to be telecast live on TV – “Lawan tetap lawan,” said he.

He explaind why swearing on the Quran to prove his innocence was not allowed by Islamic Law – one has tho be CHARGED in court first – the Ulamaks say that using the Quran to disprove a mere allegation would be tantamont to belittling the Holy Book. Islamic Law as with Civil Law places the burden of proof on the accuser, he said.

Pity I missed Carburettor Dung Alak’s mooning incident – he’s a wild man of rawk!!

[See video of the incident below]

————————————————–

This morning when I set out there, I feared roadblocks … NONE.

I feared roads leading to the venue closed … NONE.

I feared the FRU and Army blocking our way into the stadium and chasing us away, creating a standoff, frustration, running street battles, tear gas and water cannons a’la HINDRAF … NONE.

Have the police [and the BN who hold their leash] FINALLY got it that public demos are not the problem - THEY ARE.

Perhaps it was the compromise of having it in an enclosed area instead of on the streets, perhaps it was because it was held in Selangor State Govt. territory, but whatever the reason was for this total non-kacau bilau by the cops, I am truly grateful for it.

To their discredit, their omnipresence, along with their Army cousins on the streets of PJ yesterday was a very frightening blow into the collective groins of the public – perhaps they were smug in the knowlege that their show of power yesterday was enough to deter most of us from coming out; and they were right – 970,000 stayed away, and Najib today, called the gig “a failure.”

But the 30,000 who did show up were enough to send the message to the BN that 30,000 men, women and children would ignore all the fear tactics in the world and show up to hear Anwar out.

Just let Najib try and get these many people to show up to listen to him!

Anyway, let’s let the pictures do the rest of the talking …

Pix by DeadAlienX
Click to enlarge

For more pix by Deadalienx, click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/publico.probono/PROTES2008
…then click “Slideshow”

Malaysiakini photo gallery.

VIDEOS by DeadAlienX:
Apologies for poor sound quality – I’ve only got a Nikon Coolpix cam.

Morning Shift:
HATTA RAMLI ROCKS DA MIC

RE FO MA SI STAGE SCENES

Night Shift:
KIT SIANG HOLDS COURT:

THE CROWD – “Najib penipu!!”

ANWAR IBRAHIM #1

 ANWAR IBRAHIM #2

 

 

ANWAR IBRAHIM #3

ANWAR IBRAHIM #4

 Star online video 

 Carburettor Dung fracas: was that all Alak did? And this was the reaction?

According to Topix forum, “Vokalis Carburettor Dung Kena Pukul” - hayooo….

 

wa, wery confiden ah you?

The NST (which I thoroughly have no confidence in) tried to spin the motion to support the petrol price hike into a show of support for Badawi/BN: “BN wins test of strength”

Who the phooks do the NST editors take us for, ah?

OF COURSE all BN MPs would vote in favour – this is the doctrine of ‘collective ministerial responsibility’ under the ‘party whip’ system. 

They have no option but to say ‘Aye’ no matter how ludicrous the proposal (like, say, a motion to support raising the price of fuel – “All in favour of screwing the citizens say, ‘Aye’!”), or face ‘whipping’ and possible ejection from BN [which would not be such a bad thing, really.]

What is interesting however, is the number of BN MPs who decided to absent themselves from proceedings, which would suggest they had ‘no confidence’ in both this sandiwara and the, er… sandiwarists.

ELEVEN of them; 5 East Malaysians, 3 Cabinet Ministers: Zul Rafique, Zahid Hamidi and Rais Yatim; and 3 that were kicked out of Badawi’s cabinet this year, including one Rafidah Aziz.

ELEVEN OF THEM. Add the two SAPPs and we’ll have … errr … lesseee … ah, THIRTEEN.

We can therefore infer that 13 BN MPs have no confidence in their party or its leader. Add in other disgruntled Umnoputeras and you’ll slowly have one big snowball…

Meanwhile, ‘Man of the Match’ and therefore latest addition to DX’s Idiots of the Highest Order Gallery [whose alumni includes The Nazri, The Samy, Kerishamuddin and the Kerbau from Rembau]:

SHAHRIR (I used to have integrity, but now I’m a Cabinet Minister) SAMAD.

 

Sharkrir was the motion proposer, and to cap off his day, what did he say?

“We should all thank Petronas!”

I’m frickin serious! It’s recorded on video! Check it out!

WATCH VIDEO 

 

… despite the ‘victory’ of the BN, yesterday was on all counts, “No Confidence Monday”

89.2 billion bucks, chief!

I recieved this email which was forwarded by one of my usually reliable sources. It is not known who it is from, but it is written in defence of Petronas:

Excerpts:

 Malaysia
population = 27,452,091
oil reserve = 4.8 billion barrels
production rate = 550,000 barrels per day (resources from internet salah. Aku kira production hari2, sila ikut nombor aku)
reserve life = 33 years

 

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Malaysia/Oil.html
http://www.malaysia-today.net/Blog-e/2006/03/petronas-profits-create-friction.htm

 

 

 

Drilling Campaign:
Rig: RM552,000 per day (minimum)
We dont make rigs. We rent them. The deeper the ocean, the pricier the rig. And FYI, shallow waters of Malaysia is running out of oil. We are running the final race on shallow waters , have to concentrate on smaller pore-sized fields and taking the greater risk and more cost on deepwater fields.
 
Supply boat : RM 209,509 per day (minimum)
We need at least 2 supply boats.
 
Thats the cost of just two of many, many more items involved in Drilling campaigns alone. I’d like to reiterate that these campaigns occur in ALL of the 3 cycles, each campaign is at least 4 months. Do the maths or better yet, put it in a fancy Excel and publish it around.
 
Thats just costs involved in extracting the oil.

 

 Some may ask why are we selling our oil, since we can use it? Well, here the answer: WE DONT HAVE MONEY. What else can we sell to make money? Tin? Gold? Pepper? Rubber? All these calculated together would not make even a small portion of profit in O&G.

 

Our oil is of one of the best quality in the world because it is low in sulphur. Fyi, we dont need best quality oil for our cars, its only used in industries and in jets. In the international oil price is average USD130/bbl, ours would be close to USD140/bbl.

 And then some might additionally ask, SO WHERE DID ALL THE OIL MONEY GO? Please refer to the statistics above, we have less than 50yrs of supply of O&G, although more explorations are aggressively being done in deepwater and small fields.

 

 

PETRONAS needs the money to ensure that we have the supply AFTER 50 years. PETRONAS is aggressively pursuing O&G projects overseas, and these projects does not come cheap. In other words, PETRONAS is not the nation’s piggy bank, its THE bank for our children’s children.

 So please, do not be swayed easily by cheap-mouthed politicians who does not have the in-depth knowledge about how the process goes. If they say they want to use our oil money, please do consider our children’s children. PETRONAS have been supporting the nation by giving back almost 60% if its profits.

 So next time any politician says, DUIT PETRONAS PEGI MANA?, ask them back DUIT CUKAI SAYA PEGI MANA?

————ends————

Don’t know who or where the person got his info from [by the looks of it, it could be a Petronas man, could be Hassan Merican himself], but if it’s true….

 550,000 barrels per day X US140 per barrel = 77 million US dollars per day x 3.2 = 246,400,000 [TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND RINGGIT PER DAY]

 Subtract the rig and supply boat rentals of RM1million and throw in another one million per day for other operating costs and you still have 244.4 MILLION RINGGIT PROFIT PER DAY X 365 days = 89,206,000,000 [89.2 billion - which is close to Anwar's estimate of 80 billion/yr] X 33 years = 2,943,798,000,000 [2.9 fuckadillion ringgit]

 If, according to the writer, ”almost 60% of profits [44.6 billion] are given to govt” [per year]- DON’T YOU THINK THE GOVT CAN FULLY SUBSIDISE OUR PETROL?????

 He challenges us to do the math, and yet he can still say “WE DON’T HAVE MONEY”???

 arsehole…

 Granted the oil will run out in 2041 [so will the gas reserves according to Anil Netto's article, which says gas will run out 33 years, oil in 19 years], but who’s to say with all that exploration that the writer says Petronas is doing here and overseas, will not yield new reserves?

 This is also not taking into account the development of non-fossil fuels [biofuels etc] as a future alternative to petrol.

Boycott!!! (upated 18/6)

There is an email circulating far and wide calling all petrol-using Malaysians to:

1. Boycott Petronas stations FOREVER – because the govt is pulling their strings and setting their prices, which all the other petrol companies have to follow. The e-mail in question rationalises: “If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.“

2. Boycott all petrol stations one day a week starting Sun. July 6, 2008 [to coincide with the big anti-petrol hike rally scheduled at Padang Timur, PJ], and every Saturday thereafter. A weekly one-day nationwide boycott will inevitably result in a petrol glut, which may force petrol companies to offer lower prices to ‘clear stock’.

I’m in … how ’bout you?

Today’s Star saw Petronas bigwig Hassan Merican trembling in fear:

“Petronas Urges Public Not To Join In Email Campaign”
(Excerpts)
“Any form of boycott will only hurt the station owners, the small and medium-seized enterprises that supply the stations with their products and the shareholders of Petronas Dagangan – many of whom are pensioners,” he said in an interview.

Then the station owners and suppliers will demand a lower price or else close shop and use their money earned to get into another business. The shareholders will sell of their shares … and THEN who will suffer in the end?

Petronas was not the largest retailer of fuel in the country as it only has about 800 stations nationwide.
…
Petronas stations account for about 30% of fuel sold in the country.

30% is nearly ONE-THIRD of the ENTIRE MARKET – zat eesa muucho grande piece of ze pie, compadre…

The largest retail station owner is Shell with over 1,200 stations.

800 stations presumably makes Petronas the No.2, so let’s boycott BOTH Shell and Petronas, si?

He said Petronas as a corporation would not be unduly affected by such a boycott as Petronas Dagangan accounted for less than 5% of its revenue.

So then, why you so scared we boycott, chief? Sampai keluar paper bagi warning, ni?

Hassan also said the country had to import 80,000 barrels of petrol every day because the refineries in the country did not produce enough.

Again, telling half the story. “The country (does) not produce enough,” you say.
Can’t you come clean and also tell us how many thousand barrels of LOCAL PETROL are sold every day? And show us proof of the TOTAL number of barrels sold per day. 
But, ‘angonaminnit … ‘barrels of petrol’?? Isn’t crude oil sold by the barrel, while petrol is sold by the litre/tanker?

Trust the CIA [yes, the Central Intelligence Agency] to have the relevant facts:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html

MALAYSIA:

PETRONAS ANNUAL REPORTS: CLICK HERE then click on “Company Background” (top left corner), then click on “Investor Relations”, THEN ONLY will you find the Annual Reports [yes, its reallly hidden deep inside their website].

According to an article by Anil Netto in Aliran, “Petronas Oil Profits Slip Away”:
Petronas finished bottom of a list of 15 oil corporations rated for their sustainability and ethical practices, according to a study by the Madrid ethics rating firm Management & Excellence (M&E). When a company is making record profits, it tends to mask wastage, lack of management oversight and slow technology transfer.

Check out also, Netto’s article on the same subject on his blog:
“It’s a Jungle Out There! Oil Price Hike Madness” 

 Meanwhile preliminary price hike demos have begun. Here’s a Malaysiakini.tv video of a small taste of what we can expect during the July 6 BIG ONE:

 

September 16, July 6 – mark these dates… (updated 10/6)

Sept 16 is a Tuesday … and, according to Anwar, it’s BN GOVT OVERTHROW DAY!

Excerpts from latest Malaysiakini report:

PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim today said that the Sept 16 deadline for a high number of BN MPs to defect to Pakatan Rakyat remained on target.

A defection of 30 BN members of Parliament would allow the Pakatan coalition to take over the federal government.
…
Anwar further reiterated that the announcement of the crossover would only be revealed when the Parliament is in session. The next sitting begins on June 23.
…
Anwar also reiterated Pakatan’s stand to bring down fuel prices when they come to power, giving fresh assurance today that he would rather lose his job than allowing people to suffer.

“If that (lower fuel price) doesn’t happen, I will resign immediately,” he said. Anwar is Pakatan’s prime ministerial choice when the coalition comes to power.

**********************************************************

Meanwhile Malaysiakini & Bernama reported the PM saying:
“I would like to assure all Malaysians that the government is fully aware of the increased hardship that they now face and that we will do everything within our power to alleviate the people’s burden.”

Hello CHIEF! YOU ARE THE GODDAMN BURDEN LAAA!! USE WHATEVER POWER TO STEP DOWN!!!

**********************************************************

Meanwhile, I posted this request on the KeADILan Power e-group:

i was approached by one of the PKR working comm. members to ask all of you to input some suggestions here, on how we can pressure the BN govt. into either:
 
- reducing the price of petrol to ‘manageable’ levels
- abolishing other taxes
- price-controlling oil related products and services [which therefore includes just about EVERYTHING]
 
My blog [and therefore, my input] is not to pressure the govt into any of the above, but pressuring them till are toppled, defeated and overthrown.
  
Be that as it may, we would like to hear YOUR suggestions on how WE can get out of this nightmare upward spiral of inflation we are now caught up in.

… and these were among the replies:

All Malaysians need to boycott one day for pouring fuel. We need to do this at the same day. This will create a backlog of supply because there is no demand.

The oil companies cannot stop production as this would be very costly, and they will have storage problems and there will be a glut.

If this is done collectively, this will work

Rgds

Slurpee 

So how, anyone game for this? When? July 6 sounds like a good date [coinciding with the BIG PETROL HIKE DEMO at Padang Timur, PJ]

What shall we call it? “Pump Up The Jam“?

If each of us can convince 4 car driving friends to join in this boycott, and these 4 convince 4 others, we could have a “tsunami” by the 6th, what say you?

To this Joe Kidd  said:

it’s JAM UP THE PUMPS la boss. 

gh had this to add…

Just select a day on every week, publish it widely, everyone will support the move,

regards,
(gh)

So, how bout we start on July 6 and once every week thereafter? Or shall we start earlier?

What say you? What say you??

Comment from “M”:

Symbolically this one day fuel boycott is great, but that is all.warkahuntukpm.com daily with our complain, boycott local tourism…..so much for telling us to take local vacation…with the price of petrol now…our vacation is right at home…very local.

We need to do something more significant on a long term basis. We need to hit them where it hurts most.

We can start a nationwide campaign for people to just stop buying from petronas. We cant do much with foreign petrol company, but it is Petronas that should be selling to us cheap fuel. We should also stop paying taxes, this is going to be tough but the catalyst need to take the blows..the will the rest follows. If we can get a significant number to do it then that will show our determination.

Other struggle is to boycott all tool highways, flood

Lets make a campaign to demand them to:
1. change their lifestyle, i.e. all MP and government cars should be Iswara or savvy as it is the most economical instead of the fuel guzzler Perdanas.
2. Cut down the number of outriders and entourage that follows the VIPs around.
3. 10% alowance reduction is not sufficient, it should at least be 25%
4. No more free petrol for ministers
5. Subsidy should be given to school buses, better still school should be allocated with school buses. I see all the government department and universities gets a fleet of luxury buses whilst our children goes to school on crap buses that compromise their safety.

Many more we can do to get out of this mess, but the best we can do is from now on to work really hard to get the PR into government.That the sure guarantee of petrol price reduction

Lets go live in Venezuela!

Musalmah had this comment:
Hi everybody,

    It does not matter what we call it. Just stop buying petrol on a specific day.

    That is all what it takes. However, do not fill up your tank prior to the D day.

    Just stay at home if you can by taking one day leave or car pool. 

 

     It is time for us Malaysians to have a say in our life. Not to be like a kerbau

     yang di cucuk hidung olih kera jaan .  Telling us to makan kentang and 

     keledek while the ministers enjoy a toll free ride.  

 

     I am 64 years old. No way am I going to makan kentang and keledek which

     is more expensive than rice. I have worked all my adult life and in old age

     the kera jaan is telling me  to give up rice. What a great sugesstion. I just

     wonder should clothings naik harga will the kera jaan tell us not to pakai baju.

 

     Never have I been so irritated with the kera jaan until now.

 

     Ibu.

Jeannie had this to say:
     

Here’s my input on how to manage the price of petrol into manageable level. The shortage of oil is a worldwide phenomenon, therefore causing an increase in the price of oil everywhere. Here are a few ways in which the burdens of the people can be reduced:

 

1) Make LRT/monorail/KTM rides free as they are not directly linked to oil. Instead of giving out subsidies to eligible vehicles in which they could use to buy petrol, hence reducing the supply of oil even further and shooting the price up, these subsidies should be used instead to revamp the entire LRT/monorail systems.

Examples of how the systems could be improved would be increasing connection point of stops either within the city or between the city and out-of-city areas. This will dramatically reduce the burdens of the people and enable them to get from one point to another easily, apart from reducing traffic congestions on the road and frauds in claiming the subsidies.

 

2) Revamp the entire train system and slash the price of train transportation costs by half. This would encourage manufacturers/distributors to utilize trains to transport their goods or materials through trains which is definitely more cost-efficient than using trucking or distribution companies on the road.

 

3) Make bus rides at certain areas, e.g; tourist or cultural spots free. This would encourage more tourists to populate the areas, hence boosting the economy even further while controlling the supply of oil.

 

4) Encourage airlines to use smaller/regional jets that utilize less oil. These airlines should be exempted from tax as a result of using smaller/regional jets. The tax savings can be used to ease the burdens of passengers by offering cheaper air fares, while controlling the supply of oil.

 

5) Allocate more budget for active oil exploration in Malaysia. This is absolutely urgent as more oil discovered will drastically reduce the price of oil. Companies actively involved in oil exploration should be given incentives like subsidies or tax breaks for discovering new oil resources.

 

6) Encourage Malaysian scientists to develop alternative solutions to oil, which can be used in planes and cars. This can be done through a nationwide competition and the scientist who successfully develops an alternative to oil is to be awarded.

 

Hope this helps..

 

Jeannie

 

Here’s an old idea from Philip Hollingsworth:

For the rest of this year, DON’T buy gasoline from the two biggest companies, EXXON-MOBIL(Esso in Malaysia) and SHELL…

When the oil companies that we are boycotting are not selling any gas for a week, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit; oil companies work like a cartel !!!!

 

  

Project Overthrow BN: Your suggestions, please…

“Sometimes it seems like a hopeless cause. I don’t think people give a damn for our ideals. Social justice, racial integration, equality – it doesn’t even measure up to a bowl of rice. And that’s what people care about: their pot of rice. Or, in some cases, their pot of gold. If that’s endangered, then they’ll fight. Or they’ll leave. Otherwise, they can’t be bothered. Meanwhile, the system remains as it is.” – Kee Thuan Chye (The Big Purge)

This is where “it” is “at”…

The cost of a full tank of petrol for a Proton Wira before 12 June 2008: RM85.00

Now: RM125.00

Per annum [estimating 1 full tank per week]: RM6,500
- that’s IF the price per litre does not go up further this year.
There are speculations it will hit RM4.00 in August [around Budget time].

Among the “measures” the govt is introducing to “help the public cope”:

• Annual “rebate” of RM625.00 (less than 10% of what we’ll be spending annually)
  - big bloody frickin deal…
• cost-cutting regime by government departments and agencies
  - who’s gonna show us the accounts?
• social safety net to be expanded for those in the lower income bracket and underprivileged groups -leaving out most of us in the middle-income and slightly privileged group. 
• enlarge the list of controlled items -with prices set at post oil hike levels.
• increase the number of public transport vehicles, like buses - that will charge post oil hike prices and be mismanaged as usual.
• And of course the much-needed simple piece of golden advice:
  CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE.

The BN govt has already confirmed: it is NOT going to back down on the price – in fact they will be back to UP the price pretty soon.

Here’s the Deal:

Anwar Ibrahim, during his campaigning for PKR had promised: “Bring us into power and we’ll reduce the price of petrol tomorrow!” [Video from AnwarIbrahimBlog.com]

WE ARE AN OIL PRODUCING COUNTRY – JUST LIKE QATAR – look at how Qatari people are enjoying the oil boom (from Al-Jazeera): http://youtube.com/watch?v=3I8jZ3IUlo4
FYI – Full tank of petrol in Qatar: RM32.00 (RM0.60/ltr)

 

These are our options:

1. Grin and bear it like the sheep we’re supposed to be. “Kamu mesti sabarrrrrr….sabaarlaaah… tukarlah gaya hiduuuuppp….hidup lebih bermakna tanpa memikir….”
2. Take to the street in protest. [There'll be a BIG ONE on July 12 - more on that later]
3. Wait for the next General Elections in 4-5 years and hope more people do like we did.
4. Hope BN MPs do the ‘crossover dance’ soon.
5. Hope for a vote of “no confidence” against The Sleeping One, and a snap election thereafter.
6. TAKE CHARGE AND OVERTHROW THE BN GOVT NOW!!
   But how? 
   (Please submit your suggestions here – all ideas welcome (but will be moderated as an ISA/Sedition-avoidance measure.)