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		<item>
		<title>Racial tint to golf club membership!</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/racial-tint-to-golf-club-membership/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/racial-tint-to-golf-club-membership/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:07:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BJCC News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sports]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Kelab Golf Negara Subang is allegedly offering racially-different membership rates, although some say that this is merely a move to fill up the club's racial balance.

PETALING JAYA: A golf club in Subang is accused of charging new members according to race. The accusation is making the rounds on the Internet.

The membership price list first appeared on Facebook over the weekend. It showed differences in Kelab Golf Negara Subang (Subang National Golf Club – KGNS) membership rates, with RM35,000 to RM65,000 for Malays, RM45,000 to RM80,000 for Chinese, RM60,000 to RM80,000 for Indians and RM40,000 to RM50,000 for “Others”.

According to a source who took the photo, the membership price list came from a copy of KGNS’s official newsletter, Berita Subang, printed for the October to December 2011 period.

The source told FMT that he found it very “peculiar” that KGNS would practice racial policies in admitting members to the club.

“It is hard to believe that the club, being established by an Act of Parliament still practices somewhat offensive racial discriminatory policies in admitting members. This admission policy somewhat offends my ideology of what Malaysia is.”

“I would like to stress that I have no malice towards the club when posting the picture,” he told FMT.

Predictably the photo caused an outcry over Facebook, with many reacting in disappointment and anger over the racially-charged prices.

“Where goes the 1Malaysia concept (Where has the 1Malaysia concept gone)?” said a Md Farhad Rahman.

Another, only known as PuiSee Ch, said: “What’s in the minds of these pepps (people)? Now ‘race’ can be purchased? They gotta be kidding.”

Other comments were tinged with sarcasm. One Calvin Wong said: “Wow. I never knew Chinese and Indian (were) worth so much more.”<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8678&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Hang-ups over Malaysian history</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/hang-ups-over-malaysian-history/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/hang-ups-over-malaysian-history/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:06:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Main]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hang Tuah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8673</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s time to correct the inaccuracies and skewed viewpoints of historical events that have been ingrained as part of lessons in schools.

AS the furore over the status of Hang Tuah — historical warrior or mere myth — rages on, a notorious mob is conspicuously missing from the action.

It’s a surprise that the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) hasn’t joined the fray by claiming him as an Indonesian icon and accuse us of stealing yet another piece of their heritage.

Hang Tuah and his sworn brother warriors (Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu) are also exalted in Indonesia.

While our hero purportedly hails from Kampung Duyung, Malacca, Indonesians believe that he was from Bintan in Riau or various parts of Sumatra.

There are roads named after him in almost every Indonesian city and town, along with universities and hotels. The Indonesian navy even has a frigate named KRI Hang Tuah.

Perhaps, Bendera, which gained infamy for throwing human faeces at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta two years ago, is too occupied with internal troubles these days.

Its leaders, Mustar Bonaventura and Ferdy Simawun, are being sued for claiming that members of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s inner circle took 1.8 trillion rupiahs (about RM608mil) in kickbacks from the bailout of Bank Century in 2009.

As critics rebuked Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim — who sparked the debate in saying that Hang Tuah and princess Hang Li Po are purely the stuff of folklore — the Bendera bunch were reportedly busy creating a ruckus in a Jakarta courthouse.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8673&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>The Malay rights group, Perkasa’s white packets to corrupt or ignorance of ethnic culture?</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/malay-rights-perkasas-ignorance-of-ethic-culture-so-near-yet-so-far/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/malay-rights-perkasas-ignorance-of-ethic-culture-so-near-yet-so-far/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:46:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malay rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysian Chinese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perkasa]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8656</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[PETALING JAYA: No excuse.

That’s the reaction from several young MCA leaders over Perkasa’s white ‘ang pow’ distributed at its Chinese New Year gathering on Sunday.

Money given out in white packets is traditionally associated with the pak kam (white gold), which are donations given at a funeral.

MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief Datuk Chua Tee Yong said there was no excuse for what Perkasa did.

“Perkasa should have been aware. They should have learnt the practices of another race before organising such an event, so that they did not upset anyone,” said Chua.

MCA Youth secretary-general Datuk Chai Kim Sen described Perkasa’s white ‘ang pows’ as disrespectful and not knowing this was not an excuse.

“(Perkasa president) Datuk Ibrahim Ali should act in the people’s interest by understanding our multi-cultural society which he represents as a Member of Parliament,” Chai said in a statement.

On his Twitter handle @weekasiongmp, MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong slammed “some people” for not understanding the meaning of ang pow.

“Ang pow, in the Hokkien dialect, means red packet. If you want give an ang pow to your friends, make sure the colour is RED,” Dr Wee wrote.

Perkasa deputy president Datuk Rahman Bakar had said on Sun- day that the white packets were the only mini envelopes they had and that they did not know if some may be offended by the colour.

Meanwhile, Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali said they had no idea that white packets was taboo among the Chinese community.

“To us, white symbolises purity and sincerity. If we had known that it is wrong to give out white packets, we would not have done it,” he said.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8656&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Eurozone unemployment hits new record</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/eurozone-unemployment-hits-new-record/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/eurozone-unemployment-hits-new-record/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:42:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eurozone debts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unemployment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8651</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The jobless rate in the 17 countries that use the single currency was 10.4% in December, unchanged from November's figure which was revised up from 10.3%.

Some 16.5 million people were out of work in the eurozone in December, up 751,000 on the year before.

The highest unemployment rate remains in Spain (22.9%), while the lowest is in Austria (4.1%).

Unemployment has been rising throughout 2011, as the debt crisis in the region has continued. In December 2010, the unemployment rate in the euro area was 10%.

Investment delays

Guillaume Menuet, economist at Citigroup, said he expected the number of people out of work to increase throughout 2012.

"If you think about the direction of employment expectations that you see across various business surveys, the outlook for employment doesn't look particularly enticing, simply because the uncertainty is very high.
“Start Quote

    Much energy and argument has been spent on this agreement. It is questionable, however, whether it will have much influence on the immediate crisis. ”

image of Gavin Hewitt Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor

"In many cases you find firms continuing to delay investment projects. For those that are still making profits, hiring is being frozen, and for those which are under pressure to hit results or losing money, job losses are becoming the only solution that they have," he said.

In the 27 EU countries, the unemployment rate was 9.9% in December, with 23.8 million people out of work. November's figure was also revised up from 9.8% to 9.9%.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8651&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">The euro sculpture at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49980000/jpg/_49980072_gavinhewitt.jpg" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">image of Gavin Hewitt</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>How American Consumers Handle an Ever-Growing Heap of Personal Debt?</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/how-american-consumers-handle-an-ever-growing-heap-of-personal-debt/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/how-american-consumers-handle-an-ever-growing-heap-of-personal-debt/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[debts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8646</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Probably. Most Americans do. Bombarded by home mortgages, college loans, credit card payments and car loans, the typical American consumer faces a mountain of financial obligations. Louis Hyman, Cornell assistant professor in the College of Industrial and Labor Relations, will speak to journalists about debt in his new book, “Borrow: The American Way of Debt,” on Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 at 10 a.m. at Cornell’s ILR Conference Center, sixth floor, 16 E. 34th St., Manhattan.

“Borrow: The American Way of Debt” is a lively, historical account of consumer debt in America, published by Vintage/Random House on Jan. 24, 2012.

In this society, debt is pervasive. Hyman says the average American owes more than $15,000 in credit card debt alone, and he provides a fresh look at the financial mess in which millions of Americans wallow. “Today’s problems are not as new as we think,” Hyman says.

“Borrow” examines how the rise of consumer credit – virtually unknown before the twentieth century – and how it has altered our culture and economy.

“My book puts today’s economy in context and helps explain how we got here, and then offers some novel solutions for today's troubles,” Hyman says<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8646&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">A credit card, the biggest beneficiary of the ...</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Get set for Malaysian politics of the young!</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/get-set-for-politics-of-the-young/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/get-set-for-politics-of-the-young/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:34:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carool Kersten]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dzulkefly Ahmad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malaysia Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marina Mahathir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zainah Anwar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8632</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ The UKEC’s Projek Amanat Negara (PAN) shows how much young people can achieve without the straitjacket of thought control. Open debate events like the PAN will do Malaysia a world of good.

Projek Amanat Negara 2012 Trailer

[gigya width="425" height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LoRQviuDEUo&#38;rel=1&#38;border=0" quality="high" wmode="transparent" ]

More Videos at Oolin
I’M in London and it’s late at night. Having arrived from Davos only yesterday I’m also exhausted but I can’t sleep. I’m too excited.

In fact, I’ve just returned to my hotel from the United Kingdom &#38; Eire Council of Malaysian Students (UKEC) Projek Amanat Negara (PAN) conference and I feel as if I’ve seen – if not participated – in the future.

Whilst the World Economic Forum was an overwhelming event, the PAN conference was altogether more enthralling and meaningful for me - as a Malaysian.

What can I say? A small if well-organised group of Malaysian students in Britain – full of enthusiasm and determination – has set out to bring the best Malaysian minds and voices together.

In short, they succeeded and in doing so have shamed their nervous, narrow-minded elders back home in Kuala Lumpur – those who mumble that Malaysians aren’t ready for or need democracy and/or debate.

Instead, and with great confidence, they have proved that Malaysians are ready for change and that dialogue – open, frank and at times, heated – is well within our capacity.

Whilst I wasn’t much of an expert in the topic of my session (religion, of all things), I was glad and grateful to have contributed to the PAN along with my fellow panellists: Dr Carool Kersten, Zainah Anwar and PAS’ Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Nonetheless, the highlight of the conference was undoubtedly the debate on public policy between PKR’s Rafizi Ramli and Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin.

The anticipation in the lead-up was almost unbearable.

Taking a front row seat and sitting alongside fellow columnist Marina Mahathir, I prepared myself for the encounter. Behind me, the room was seething with activity.

Would the session degenerate into a nasty, partisan session between the two prominent young lions? Both men are renowned as passionate voices for their party’s causes and Rafizi has recently assumed a very high national profile with his attacks on Government mismanagement (especially the NFC).<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8632&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Western war on Iran soon?</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/western-war-on-iran-soon/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/western-war-on-iran-soon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:45:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Main]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Defense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[defense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Western powers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US new military strategy in Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8626</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The new year is witnessing an escalation of a Western economic blockade against Iran while it has been claimed that Israel is preparing for a military strike. Can a war against Iran be avoided?

THE risk of the world being engulfed in a new and dangerous war is increasing. In recent weeks, Iran has come under greater pressure over its nuclear programme, and the chances of this leading to military conflict have escalated.

A recent article in New York Times magazine revealed that senior Israeli leaders were preparing for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2012.

The United States has intensified its initiative on trade and financial sanctions on Iran.

Republican candidates for the Presidency have been using high anti-Iran rhetoric.

And there is the possibility in a Presidential election year that the incumbent President may start a war to gain popularity.

In his State of the Union speech last week, President Barack Obama said he would take no option off the table to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Europe recently announced an embargo on Iranian oil. The European Union foreign ministers decided there would be no further oil contracts between its member states and Iran, and that existing oil delivery deals would be allowed to run only until July.

These actions are purportedly aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But Iran has insisted its research programme is for developing nuclear power, not weapons.

And there is no evidence that it is in fact developing, or intending to develop, weapons.

There is a danger of dramatic escalation of the present conflict through one of various scenarios, such as an Israeli attack on Iran (with or without United States assistance or approval) or an incident in the Persian Gulf involving Western and Iranian ships.

The US has doubled the number of aircraft carriers near the Persian Gulf, while French and British warships recently accompanied the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln into the Gulf.

These developments are creating the conditions for a slide into a catastrophic war.

On Jan 25, the New York Times carried an article – “Will Israel attack Iran?”– by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, an analyst who interviewed Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak, vice-premier Moshe Ya’alon and others.

“After speaking with many senior Israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, I have come to believe that Israel will indeed strike Iran in 2012,” wrote Bergman.

This determination to strike comes despite many difficulties, listed by Bergman.

Iran has dispersed its nuclear installations throughout its vast territory, and Israel has limited air power and no aircraft carrier.

Even if an attack were successful, Iran would be able to rebuild the damaged or wrecked sites. And Iran had declared that it would strike back if attacked.

There is of course irony and double standards in this situation.

While Israel and the West decry the consequences if Iran obtains nuclear weapons capability, it is well known that Israel itself owns many nuclear weapons.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8626&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Corporate Malaysia history needs Muck</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/corporate-malaysia-history-needs-muck/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/corporate-malaysia-history-needs-muck/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:55:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Corporate goverance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate tussle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8621</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here are some important reminders of our business history

IT'S clear of late that Malaysia has an awkward relationship with its past. Controversy after controversy have shown that it's hard for us to agree on the facts and interpretation that form a widely accepted version of our history, or indeed, on what separates historical facts from mere stories.

This is troubling. George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist, but if he is to be universally noted for just one thing, it should perhaps be for the fact that he wrote this: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Try arguing against that.

What's more worrying is that there's no collective effort by corporate Malaysia to enrich what we know about the pivotal developments in the country's business landscape. Key documents, publications and other forms of information from companies should be aggregated, organised and presented to a broad audience.

In other words, we should have a Museum of Corporate Knowledge. As a bonus, it has an easy-to-remember acronym Muck.

Of course, it ought to have features you would find in any other top-notch museum, such as objects of great significance, dioramas, interactive displays, and narratives.

Considering that corporate Malaysia is well over a century old the Companies Commission of Malaysia's origins go back to the late 19th century a major challenge is to select the people and events that deserve to be showcased in Muck.

And after that task has been completed, there's the equally difficult job of designing exhibits that best tell the story behind each choice. Some suggestions:

The power of no power

The story: Lightning struck a transmission facility on Sept 29, 1992, causing a blackout throughout Peninsular Malaysia. It took 48 hours to fully restore electricity supply. The incident prompted the Government to allow others to enter the business of generating power, until then the monopoly of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

This paved the way for the birth of the independent power producers (IPPs).

Six months after the blackout, TNB signed a 21-year power purchase agreement (PPAs) with YTL Corp Bhd. Four more PPAs were inked in 1993. These early PPAs are highly lucrative, to the point that they were regarded as lopsided in favour of the IPPs.

The terms of subsequent PPAs were less generous, but the structure of the IPP programme has proven to be less than ideal because of the strain on TNB. Attempts to renegotiate the first-generation PPAs have failed.

The exhibit: The TNB equipment damaged by the September 1992 lightning strike. This serves to remind us of how an act of God can have far-reaching consequences.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8621&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Malaysian History &amp; Legend; facts &amp; fallacies; myths, heroes or zeroes?</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/malaysian-history-legend-facts-fallacies-myths-heroes-or-zeroes/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/malaysian-history-legend-facts-fallacies-myths-heroes-or-zeroes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:58:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legend]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Prof Khoo Kay Kim]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8610</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Like Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes in England, Hang Tuah could be cleverly promoted as a tourist attraction in Malacca.

THE current debate over whether the legendary warrior Hang Tuah actually existed or is merely a figment of imagination should be taken positively. At least there is a renewed interest in history, a subject many Malaysians regard as boring.

Our students have bad memories of studying History, which will be a compulsory subject in schools, because of unimaginative and uninspiring teachers who turned their classes into tedious note-taking exercises.

They did not inspire their students with stories of how we could learn from the past and how relevant history is to us. History is not about forcing students to just memorise dates and signing of treaties.

History is about his story, and teachers should respond with lively accounts, even personal trivia, of the personalities involved to spice up their classes.

With a short remark, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim restarted a debate on the existence of Hang Tuah, who is said to have lived during the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah in 15th century Malacca. Hang Tuah is believed to be the greatest of all of the sultan’s admirals and was described as a ferocious fighter. 

Our STPM Tamadun Islam reference books touch on Islamic history in China but some of the facts in the books must not be accepted at face value for some of the statements have been made without quoting any credible source.

There are some writers who have quoted non-Malaysian authors from the 20th century who had little knowledge about China’s history but merely based it on their fantasised ideas and twisted facts derived perhaps from their own assumptions.

The writers who touched on the topic have been an embarrassment to those in the academic fraternity as they had based their facts from what they had obtained from the old authors. For instance, the STPM books claim that the Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang (old spelling Chu Yuan-chang) was a Muslim, when in fact, he was not.

Historical evidence proves that Zhu Yuanzhang (also known as Ming Taizu, or the Emperor Hongwu) was once a Buddhist monk before he founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368.

Tan Sri Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim provoked a storm of controversy when he said that there was no evidence that legendary warrior Hang Tuah ever existed. Malaysian Archaeologists Association president Datuk Prof Emeritus Dr Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman has refuted this claim, saying the tomb of Hang Tuah in Malacca proves the legendary warrior’s existence. Literary figure Dr Kassim Ahmad, who compiled the Hikayat Hang Tuah, also stressed that Hang Tuah was a real person. So did he exist or not? Arman Ahmad sits down with Khoo to find out<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8610&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Yuan or not to Yuan? Yuan way to new monetary order</title>
		<link>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/yuan-way-to-new-monetary-order-yuan-or-not-to-yuan/</link>
		<comments>http://rightways.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/yuan-way-to-new-monetary-order-yuan-or-not-to-yuan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rightways</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[currency war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yuan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yuan internationalization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rightways.wordpress.com/?p=8594</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CHINESE New Year has come and will soon go. The eurozone debt crisis is well past two years. Yet uncertainty persists. The World Bank's January 2012 Global Economic Prospects reports:

“World economy has entered a very difficult phase characterised by significant downside risks and fragility and as a result, forecasts have been significantly downgraded. However, even achieving these much weaker outturns is very uncertain Overall, global economic conditions are fragile.”

This week's IMF World Economic Outlook says more of the same: “The global recovery is threatened by intensifying strains in the euro area and fragilities elsewhere.” China, India, South Africa and Brazil have entered a slowing phase.

No country and no region can escape the consequences of a serious downturn. Nevertheless, growth in the East Asia and Pacific region (excluding Japan) is expected to slowdown to about 7.8% in 2012 (8.4% in 2011) and stabilise in 2013.

This reflects continuing strong domestic demand (evident in third quarter or 3Q 2011 GDP) while exports will slow to about 2% due to Europe heading towards recession and sluggish rich “Organisation For Economic Coercion And Direction (OECD)” demand.

The middle-income nations are, I think, in a good position to weather the global slowdown, with significant space available for fiscal relaxation, adequate room for interest rate easing, ample high reserves and rather strong underpinning for domestic demand to rise.

I see the modest easing in China's growth being counterbalanced by a pick-up in GDP gains in 2013 over the rest of the region. Outside China, growth has slackened sharply to 4.8% in 2011 (6.9% in 2010), but is expected to strengthen in 2012, reaching 5.8% in 2013.

China

GDP growth in China, which accounts for 80% of the region, had eased to about 9.1% in 2011 (10.4% in 2010) and is expected to slacken further to a still robust 8.2%-8.4% in 2012.

The World Bank projections point to growth moderating at 8.3% in 2013, in line with its longer-term potential GDP. Expansion is expected to emanate from domestic demand, with private spending and fixed capital outlays contributing most of the growth in 2012.

For China, the health of the global economy and high-income Europe in particular, represents the key risk at this time. Domestic risks include property overheating, local government indebtedness, and bloating bank balance sheets.

The 4Q 2011 growth of 8.9% annoy investors who are looking for indications either weak enough to justify further policy easing or strong enough to allay fears of a hard landing. Bear in mind the forecast growth for 2012 will be the weakest in a decade, and may cool further as exports slump.

The Chinese economy is buffeted by two very different forces: (i) slow global growth will hurt Chinese exports (especially to its largest trading partner, European Union) which rose by 7% in December, and exporters foresee more trouble ahead; however, (ii) analysts point to strong retail sales (up 18% in December) reflecting rising wages and domestic spending which represented about 52% of GDP in the first quarter, higher than in 2009-11.

China is counting on its massive effort to build low-income “social housing” to provide enough demand to keep the real-estate market from collapsing.

It is unclear whether China can accelerate this program to build 36 million subsidised housing by 2015enough to house all of Germany's households. But financial markets are anticipating worse news ahead. After all, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 21% in 2011. As the adage goes, stock analysts did forecast 10 of the past 3 recessions!

The yuan

Appreciation of the yuan (renmimbiRMB) against the US dollar in 2012 is expected to slow to about 3%, from +4.7% in 2011. The yuan closed at 6.3190 at end 2011, up about 8% compared with June 10 (when China effectively ended its 2-year long peg to the US dollar and has gained 30% since mid-2005 when it was last revalued.

The slowdown reflects growing demand for the US dollar amid uncertainty, lower growth, diminishing trade surplus, and growing US military presence in Asia, according to China's Centre for Forecasting Science (of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) which reports directly to the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Much of it will be in the latter year as China is likely to keep the yuan relatively stable in the first half to allow time to assess the impact of goings-on in the euro-zone. Dollars are pumped in via state banks, providing markets with a clear signal it will not allow the yuan to depreciate, while not in a hurry to let it appreciate either. The yuan has since moved sideways.

The government of Zimbabwe is considering using China's Yuan as their national currency.
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe - From downtown shops that stock cheap clothing and shoes that fall apart after one wear, to mining concessions in platinum, gold and diamonds - the Chinese finger is now in virtually every Zimbabwean pie.

From city sidewalks to low-income suburbs, the Chinese have become part of the local population, and if some senior government bureaucrats have their way, the country could soon find itself adopting the Chinese Yuan as its official currency.

For some influential monetary policy czars, the massive assailing of the Zimbabwean economy by the Chinese now only requires the Yuan to strengthen these economic reconstruction efforts.

Invited by President Robert Mugabe as part of his infamous 2004 "Look East" policy to help drive the economy and employment creation, after relations with former traditional investment partners the European Union and United States soured, China has been able to create its own little sphere of influence and establish an ubiquitous presence in Zimbabwe.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=rightways.wordpress.com&amp;blog=11914973&amp;post=8594&amp;subd=rightways&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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