Badrul quits PKR

Port Klang Assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah has quit PKR, saying that he has lost faith in the party's leadership. Earlier, his boss, Selangor MB Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the state government has recommended to the PKR supreme council that Badrul Hisham resign from his seat for non-performance. More from Star Online here.

PKR's Badrul Hisham to quit party?

The word going around is that PKR state assemblyman Badrul Hisham is quitting the party. A press conference is said to be scheduled this evening but the Selangor MB has apparently got wind of what's coming up.

Khalid Ibrahim has issued a statement asking Badrul, who has been absent from many PKR meetings and functions, to resign. He has said the Port Klang state assemblyman has not been performing. He said a delegation would also meet Bardul to convey the message personally to the elected representative, The Star Online reported.

Badrul's appearance at the Hari Raya Open House of Klang Umno chief Mazlynoor Abd Latif recently sparked speculations that he would be quitting PKR. There is also much talk that PKR secretary-general Sallehuddin Hashim is calling it a day despite his denial. He is said to have privately expressed his frustrations, which has been reported by at least one pro-PKR blogger. Yesterday, PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan quit the party after a fall-out with the leadership over the appointment of the Sabah PKR head.

Of tom yam and feuding politicians

I have just spent a few days in Bangkok with the family. I still do not know why a stressful place like Bangkok was chosen to get rid of my stress and exhaustion. But with my wife and daughter along, it was a good break. I tried staying away from the Internet. The English language newspapers in Thailand, written for farang (foreigners, read Westerners), was dead boring, so it helped me to stay away from newspapers. But it was the massage and tom yam that did wonders.

I am still on leave as I write this posting. I have missed nothing. Nothing else has changed in Malaysian politics. Politicians regardless of their political affiliations are doing what they does best - squabbling among themselves for positions. It does not seemed to matter whether they are from the MCA, MIC, PAS, PKR or Umno, the feuding is almost never ending.

We all thought we have had enough of extra ordinary general meetings but now even PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat has been bitten by the EGM bug. He has aimed his pot shots at party president Hadi Awang. Nik Aziz insist Hadi has not given up on working with Umno. His enemies have hit back at Nik Aziz saying he appointed his son in law to head the state investment arm, insisting nepotism exist in PAS too. Well, nothing is impossible anymore in Malaysian politics.

But it's one fight that Nik Aziz will not win. He has influence in Kelantan but the president's men won in the party polls. The president always has the upper hand. After all, he has the power to reward and punish. That is something the MCA rebels have realised.

Don't ignore the warning signs...

The burnt-out rate is high for those who love the newsroom adrenaline. With age catching up and after the recent scare, I have to be mindful of how much my body and brain can take.

IT wasn’t karoshi, the Japanese term for death from overwork where workers die from heart attack, stress or over-exhaustion but I certainly suffered a blackout last week.

It happened on Monday when I was having a discussion with a colleague at 7.30pm after our daily evening editorial meeting to decide on the contents of the next day’s paper. It was the only time slot that we could find and I had wanted to discuss with her a simple matter – the design of the T-shirts for an upcoming event.

But shortly into our small talk, I felt my head spinning. I unbuttoned my collar to remove my necktie and complained about the heat in her room, asking for ever reliable minyak angin at the same time. My legs then turned wobbly and I started throwing up continuously. My colleague’s secretary quickly summoned for help.

I do not recall what happened subsequently – my colleagues struggling to put me into a wheelchair and bringing me down to the lobby to rush me to the hospital.

Read the rest of the column here.

Happy Deepavali

Wishing all Hindus in Malaysia and beyond a Very Happy Deepavali. May good always triumph over evil and may light always overcome darkness.

Even Fortune magazine gets censored!

We have seen how the censors ridiculously black out pictures of topless tribal women in National Geographic but even financial magazine Fortune has not been spared. My September issue of Fortune came with this shocking censorship.

On the cover is a picture of actress Mary Louise Parker, who acts as a single mother who sells weed to support her family in the hit TV series "Weed." On the right hand corner, our censor's black marker pen "censored" out something. I was not sure at first what was on it but as you can see from the cover above (which can be easily found online), what our censors found objectional turned out to be a picture of the subject matter being discussed.

The cover story is about medical marijuana and how it has been made legal in many parts of the US and Europe. There's an interview with the head of the US Drug Policy Alliance, who favours marijuana legislation on a tax-and-regulate model. Back then, he argued, the older generation of Americans did not know the difference between marijuana and heroin. "Now that generation is gone. The people in power are baby boomers, a majority of whom actually smoked marijuana."

The three past presidents, more or less admitted trying weed. Bill Clinton famously said - "I did not inhale" when asked if he had tried weed. Barack Obama, when asked if he inhaled, retorted: " I thought that was the point." Only in the US would we get such quotes!

A fresh look at our federal territories

The image above is by Emila Yusof whose blog entry can be found here.

Notice the Blog4FT icon on the right? Well, this is a blogging competition to encourage the public to blog about the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. And you stand a chance to win a Peugeot 308. Yes, that's one cool car all right!

Be it with pictures or with your words, here's a chance to blog on life, heritage, nature, history, places, architecture, communities and events. Well, actually there are so many things to tell about our cities, so the categories are only limited by your imagination, so says the contest organisers.

Check out the site and get cracking.

Naked but alive: Malaysian miracle in Padang

WONG LEE KWONG, 52, came out of a hotel swimming pool stark naked but he was no flasher.

He had lost the towel wrapped around his waist and it would have been embarrassing for him.

But the Malaysian businessman was not complaining. He was thankful that he had been showered with a big dose of good fortune and was still alive.

Read more about Wong's exploits in The Daily Chili.

Noordin Md Top sodomised?

Update: Noordin kept explosives in anus? - Daily Chilli

He's dead but Malaysian terrorist Noordin Mat Top is still making news. The Jakarta Globe has quoted an Indonesian forensic expert as saying that the ex-UTM student was sodomised! He has based his assumptions on "indications". The expert Munim Idris is said to be part of the team that conducted an autopsy on Noordin, whose remains would be collected by his family. Daily Chilli has picked up the report.