Australian MPs to Malaysia: "Drop Charges Against Anwar"

Well done to Michael Danby, the chairperson of the Australian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, who delivered a letter to the Malaysian High Commissioner yesterday demanding that the Malaysian judiciary drop the sodomy charges against Anwar Ibrahim.

The letter contained signatures from 50 Australian Members of Parliament (MPs).

It won't surprise me if, in the next few days, the Barisan Nasional government will start protesting against Australia for its perceived 'interference' in Malaysia's judicial system.

Please stand firm, Michael, because your support, and the support of all the 50 Australian MPs, against this trumped-up sodomy charge, means a lot to the people of Malaysia.

It means that the Malaysian people will no longer feel that their fight for democracy goes unheeded in the rest of the world, that for once, the Malaysian people can rely on their friendly neighbor, Australia, for support in doing the right thing.  Thank you to Australia.

A Submarine that Cannot Dive

This might sound like an April Fool's joke, but today is not April 1.

According to Malaysia's Defence Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia's first submarine cannot dive. At least for now.

Wait, I hear you ask - what's the point of buying a new submarine that cannot dive? Isn't a submarine's sole purpose to dive?

It's like buying a fish that cannot swim, or a bird that cannot fly. Actually, Malaysia also has a plane that cannot fly (plane engines sold off to another country) but that's another story!

Malaysia bought two submarines for $3.4 billion ringgit in a controversial deal that involved a payment of 540 million ringgit to a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak; at the time of the deal, Najib was Malaysia's Defence Minister. This deal reportedly also led to the death of an attractive Mongolian model, Altantuya, who was shot and her body blasted using military grade explosives.

Now, wouldn't you like to get a commission payment of half a billion ringgit simply for brokering a deal? This might be the greatest commission ever earned in the history of the world! Perhaps Malaysia should apply to have this commission recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records.

As if spending half a billion ringgit as a commission for a submarine is not enough, now the submarine cannot dive.

Malaysia has a term for all of the above - "Malaysia Boleh", and as you can read above, Malaysia certainly can (excel in incompetency).