‘Buying the Eurocopter for use in Malaysia is like buying an Formula One car for use in a small town or a Rolls Royce for use in a remote kampung .'

On Azmi barbecued over Eurocopter findings

Ex-Airman: As an ex-RMAF serviceman of 22 years, I believe I am qualified to comment on our government's insistence to purchase the Eurocopters. Worse still, without any so-called physical tests.

Buying the Eurocopter for use in Malaysia is like buying an Formula One car for use in a small town or a Rolls Royce for use in a remote kampung .

This chopper is such a sophisticated machine; it is not meant for normal helicopter roles. I still see the Aloutte and Nuri (Sea King) in service in other countries.

The Eurocopter is more of a combat helicopter. Who do we want to fight, anyway ? Why use it for search and rescue or during flood relief operations?

Other choppers can do that just as well or even better. The Eurocopter is expensive. So are the training, spare-parts, servicing, accessories for role changes, and armoury involved.

Can we afford the subsequent costs of parts and modern armoury? And you don't buy such a sophisticated machine without evaluation by first going through its built-in purposes, the subsequent cost of training for pilots and ground crews, availability and cost of spare parts etc.

Saying that the the Alouettes and Nuris are old and obsolete is no justification for buying a machine that will not be fully utililised.

Just buying the armoury to go with the machine will cost a ‘bomb' (pun intended). Buying the Eurocopter just to show off our stupidity to our neighbour is downright arrogant!

It is not a wise decision by our leaders to purchase this Eurocopter. Please spare a thought for the poor and underprivileged of our country before going ‘shopping' more so during such economically trying times.

On Zaid: Ketuanan Melayu has failed

Kaisim: Dato Zaid, I salute you for speaking the truth. Malaysians, in general are fortunate to have you around to speak out without fear or favour irrespective of race.

Dato, you have scarified too much already and now they are calling you `traitor` in Umno. Have courage. The truth will prevail.

What is there in Umno today? Everyone outside it knows the purpose of remaining in Umno and the all-out fight to gain important positions even to the extent of paying money to get votes.

We cannot see leaders like Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Ismail in the party anymore. There is no point in forcing Ketuanan Melayu onto people.

Respect will be natural if Umno can carry itself well before all Malaysians. From what I see today, this may not be possible in the immediate future.

The tendency towards greed, selfishness and narrow-mindedness is too obvious.

CH Siew: I both sympathise and empathise with Zaid on how his own people have risen up against him. The move by these people is unnecessarily garang .

I am really curious about why Umno keeps insisting on Ketuaan Melayu even though this has caused more harm than good for the Malay.

Ketuanan Melayu

prevents the Malays from moving out of their comfort zone and thus prevents them from being a stronger race.

Both the Chinese and the Indian have never been protected and because of this, these two races have become stronger and are able to withstand bigger storms. May I ask whether the same can be said for the Malays without their protection?

Ketuanan Melayu has not been extended to all Malays in the country. It has only protected the very few favoured by Umno. For the rest, it is only an illusion of ketuanan . Only in name, not in reality.

Defence of Ketuanan Melayu only comes from those who would lose big when it is removed. We can certainly see what would happen if these people are deprived of their ‘protection'.

On Bumi equity: NEP, Malays, non-Malays all to blame

Baiyuensheng: I didn't even attempt to finish reading the above letter.

The writer surely is noble enough to know that the 'unjust' ruling of having to force the 30% bumi workforce ruling on non-Malay companies is already fundamentally flawed and against the principle of universal human rights.

It is morally wrong in the first place! A policy discriminating against another fellow human being and a Malaysian at that.

Fundamentally, the government's mentality is already on the wrong footing...sigh. I want to know from the writer - is this sort of policy in tune with his upbringing and religious teachings?

On 'No money, no talk' sealed Ku Li's fate

Dulu Umno, Sekarang Pas: Actually, it is not Ku Li's fate that is at stake. By not getting enough nominations, Ku Li has nothing too lose in his personal capacity. He has tons of money.

He did not contest for monetary gain. He has been in politics for a very long time. By offering himself for the Umno president's post, he just wanted to detour Umno from the path of self- destruction it is on now.

Sadly, it is Umno's and Malaysia's fates that are at stake since the Umno president is also Malaysia's PM. It seems that Umno is beyond reform.

Umno's cancer is too seriously far gone. Money politics is blatant and rampant in Umno but the Umno leaders are not serious in tackling this and appear to condone it.

Umno leaders and members are killing Umno from within. A self-destruction no one can stop. In the end, Umno will die. That may be good for Malaysia.

On Don't racialise tourism, Pakatan told

Peter Ooi:

I find it very childish for Azalina to still harp on this simple issue of adding extra languages to the road signs in Penang.

An added language to a road sign does not in anyway downgrade the status of Bahasa Malaysia. After all Bahasa Malaysia is still placed on top of the other languages.

Azalina, assuming she has travelled far and wide, should by now learn that many English speaking countries like Canada make announcement in Cantonese at some of their airports, namely Vancouver.

On top of that road signs in Chinatown are in Chinese as well as English. There were no protests that English was downgraded.

If Azalina is sincere in defending the position of Bahasa Malaysia, then she should be at the forefront in demanding that the medium of instruction for the teaching of science and mathematics be reverted back to the said language.

The teaching of mathematics and science in English has more impact on the status of our national language. It is a bigger issue.

It has been said that a great person would treat a small issue as a non-issue but a petty person would enlarge it. Which category do you belong to, Azalina?

On Price reductions: Gov't should move first

KSN: Shahrir Samad has said that businessmen and shopkeepers cannot bring down their prices immediately until their stocks bought at higher prices are depleted. He said the same thing about stocks at petrol pumps when the price of petrol was reduced.

I cannot understand the logic of his arguments in both cases. The petrol pump owners, businessmen and shopkeepers increase prices and sell at higher prices and do not wait for their stocks bought at lower prices to deplete before selling at higher prices.

While admitting that businesses should make reasonable profits to survive and make a living, what the general public is asking for is the lowering of prices in tandem with lowering of oil prices.

In other words, the prices of all consumer items, not confined to controlled items, should go back to the same level when the price of petrol was RM 1.92 per litre. Understand, Sharir?

This is the primary responsibility of and the reason his ministry exists. Instead of his officers conducting stringent enforcement and taking businesses to task and exposing the profiteers, we have the minister begging and appealing to businesses to bring down prices.

What a shame!

The prices of rice, oil, milk and other necessities people cannot do without have gone up by 100%. But then how will our politicians know what with their lavish lifestyles and riches.

On 'What Say You' - minister's claim challenged

Freedom Fighter: The government should stop deceiving and lying to the rakyat .

We are becoming a more educated and more intelligent and we know how to think and how to see through plain lies.

This type of explanation coming from the information minister is downright disgusting. Maybe the ministry should be renamed ministry of disinformation.

On 'Bloody bastard' remark: DAP wants MP disciplined

Yum: Fulamak! A macho he-man in parliament who wants settle differences through fisticuffs?

At least that's what I assume by the words 'Settle, outside'.

What? Are you going to take Ipoh Barat out back where some cattle were sacrificed some time back so that there is no incriminating residual evidence?