Chinese New Year is just a week away.

And the balik kampung exodus for this festive season is set to begin tonight since tomorrow is a public holiday in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. Many more will begin their journey on Friday and Saturday while the traffic will peak on 5 and 6 February!

Kenny Sia

Congratulations James Ooi, you are 39% not Malaysian.

That means you’re as Malaysian as…

Michelle Yeoh!
How Un-Malaysian Are You?

Pauline Puah
The Sun

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 30, 2008): Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says voters should vote for “good candidates” instead of parties in the next general election to ensure the Barisan Nasional (BN), especially its main component Umno, is “cleansed”.

“(This is) because there is no hope that Umno can be cleansed from within. Everything is controlled now. Nobody can have an opinion and contrary views … they will make sure they are unheard,” he told a press conference after launching a book titled ‘Mahathir’s Selected Letters to World Leaders’.

He said voters should not support corrupt leaders, even if the candidates are from BN.

“That way, we can clean up BN and Umno,” said Mahathir, who was in his usual combative mood.

Mahathir said he would only campaign for candidates who can bring good to the country but will not campaign for opposition candidates.

“Last time, I said I would help in the (election) campaign. But in 2004, the BN was so popular, so I did not campaign. (Now) I will campaign if I believe that that candidate can bring benefit to the people,” he said.

“I hope that we will love the country enough to vote for the best candidate. But I think people who support BN should be a little bit more selective. (They) should think and have wisdom to choose people they support.”

On whether he could accept the fact that the opposition would win more seats in the next general election, he said the Opposition would not win more seats than BN and that even if they have more seats, they would not be able to form a government.

Mahathir said political Islam will be exploited by PAS in the coming general election and the government will have its hands full managing it.

When a reporter asked whether he had a gentleman’s agreement with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that the latter would only helm the country for one term, he said: “Even If I say that I have this gentleman’s agreement, there is no way I can prove this.”

“(But), that was my thinking - that he (Abdullah) was older than Najib . He should be PM for one term, then Najib should be able to take over,” he said.

The book contains 71 letters from Mahathir to the world leaders of his time, such as former British prime minister Tony Blair, former US president Bill Clinton, and US president George W. Bush.

The book, with an introduction and selected commentaries from former special envoy to the United Nations Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, touches on the issues of terrorism, globalisation, economic and diplomatic relations and war and conflicts.

Bus Crash No More

We, the concerned youths of Malaysia express appalled anger towards the Slim River Bus Crash incident that claimed the life of Lee Nian Ning, Mohd. Zailani and Pang Boon Eng on the 25th of January 2008. This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred. Despite numerous complaints and public uproar in the past, incidents like this continue to occur. It was reported that the driver’s company had 13 summonses on that bus itself. We find it unacceptable that such a company could have operated that vehicle on the road.

What are the explanations?

Hundreds of thousands of university students just like Nian Ning and us rely on such public transport to travel back home. A human life should not be taken lightly.

How could a vehicle with 13 summonses be free on the roads and not be held by the authorities?

We, the following, hereby demand that the relevant authorities set up a committee consisting of road safety experts and representatives from relevant public bodies to conduct a thorough study to find effective solutions to ensure that mistakes like this do not occur again in the future.

We will not be quiet until we see it in the media that satisfactory measures have been taken.

To sign the petition,

please click here

and submit your FULL NAME and e-mail. It will be considered one e-signature upon completion.

Alternatively, please send your FULL NAME and IC NUMBER to buscrashnomore@gmail.com.

Please do not leave initials or nicknames, only full name is accepted.

We thank you for your co-operation. Let us pray for those who have died to make way for change and keep our fingers crossed that someone, anyone will hear us and enforce that change.

Please put this in forums, bulletins, emails, blogs…..everywhere. We need all the support we can get. This is for you as well.

Just less than a week ago, we were all shocked by yet another express bus tragedy involving a double decker Konsortium Bas Ekspres Semenanjung express bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur killing three people, including Lee Nian Ning (pic), a medical student. Many blogs have posts about the tragedy and we can see how many people are outraged by the tragedy due to the carelessnes of the bus driver.

There are calls for authorities to check on the drivers of express buses, especially with Konsortium, which has a record of high accident rates and well-known of speeding beyond 120kph on the North-South Expressway. While the call is to check on express buses, let us not forget many local stage buses are also terrorizing roads and highways in residential and commercial areas.

Just a few hours ago I was driving from SS2 to 1 Utama and traffic on LDP was quite congested, hence I by-passed the congestion by turning into Damansara Utama heading towards the roundabout beside the mosque and head towards the slip road out of Damansara Utama to LDP just before the slip road beside Sri Pentas (TV3).

While I was about to turn out to LDP, where I have a dedicated non-stop lane to turn to, a Metrobus heading north was speeding on the “ghost-island” lines which is meant for vehicles turning into LDP from Damansara Utama. I honked at the bus and the damn bus driver honked back multiple times at me! Doesn’t he know he should not drive on that lane?

How many times have anyone here noticed Metrobus drivers terrorizing the narrow road in SS2? How many times have anyone here noticed Metrobus drivers terrorizing city highways such as LDP and MRR2? Are we waiting for another tragedy before action is taken?

The attitude of these bus drivers, be they stage bus drivers or express bus drivers not only endanger lives of passengers, but also other road users! Enough is enough! Something is ought to be done to put a stop to all these!