vox populi big thumbnail 'He won not because he 'used' to be a minister and knew government operations. He won because the grassroots supported him and wanted him back.'

On Soi Lek's comeback 'too soon' after sex scandal?

Charlie Tony: With the recent comments aimed at Chua Soi Lek, I think it is not fair for one to keep attacking him on the old issue of his morality. This is already a lapuk issue but we are still harping on it.

Chua has been very courageous in admitting his mistakes and he has repented, meaning that he has paid a price for his mistakes and he's starting afresh, from zero, on a piece of blank paper.

I am sure that not only myself, but many others admire his courage of standing up tall again after such a major fall. Why then are we still questioning his mistakes?

He won not because he 'used' to be a minister and knows the operations in government. He won because the grassroots supported him and wanted him back.

If we continue to talk on the same issue over and over again, it will be an endless issue and we might end up with more corrupted officers or ministers because what we care will be about politicians' private lives and not their performance.

Do we want more corruption and bad governance? I vote for this whole issue of Chua Soi Lek's morality to stop and that we should now concentrate more on how to solve this issue of corruption.

DuaKaliLima: It is unfair and morally wrong for Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, the PSM president, to express doubts on whether Chua can differentiate between his private and political life in the future.

Most important is that Chua had the guts to come clean. We are human, we make mistakes. We do not harm others. Matters of the heart are private and personal.

Who is Nasir to comment if Chua's family stand by him on all accounts? Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan agreed that if Soi Lek ‘can prove that he is a changed man, people would look beyond his morality and the issue will be secondary'.

Even Serdang parliamentarian Teo Nie Ching says ‘...he deserves another chance because everyone makes mistakes....It is unfair if we continue to judge him on his past mistakes'

Chua is a champion of the Chinese community and highly regarded for his frank disposition and besides he is a very humble fellow.

On Backbenchers rap Penang's multi-lingual road signs

CH Siew: I find much humour in the suggestion by Mohd Aziz from BN that multiple language road signs means disrespect to the national ‘social contract'.

How does placing different languages for road signs constitute disrespect? I really fail to see the relationship.

It is not like the state government is replacing Bahasa Malaysia road signs with Chinese ones - that would be disrespect to our national language.

Mohd Aziz's view is shortsighted and narrow as he fails to see the big picture. Has he not realised the changing demography of the tourist industry? Has he not realised the influx of Chinese tourists into the country?

With Georgetown now a world heritage site, it is a must for the state government to use that status to improve revenue, hence a more tourist-friendly environment.

Already they are speaking of other languages including Jawi for the benefit of the Middle-Eastern tourists.

Aziz, if you really want to champion something, try to be a champion for the country, not a single race. By only fighting for a single race, you fail to benefit the country.

The Healer:

What is wrong with multi-lingual road signs? Should we expect visitors to Penang to understand Bahasa Malaysia?

Why not, with the aid of a language they are familiar with, we inform them the name of the road they are on plus its Bahasa Malaysia name?

On Joyless Deepavali for ISA detainee's family

Shamini Manikam: It was indeed a very sad Deepavali this year not only for the Hindraf 5 and their loved ones but I believe for many people in Malaysia.

I am baffled at the sheer callousness of our so-called leaders in their continued ignorance of the calls for the abolishment of the ISA and for the release of the Hindraf 5.

Please improve yourselves and prove yourselves worthy of leading the country for otherwise we are setting ourselves up for failure in the long run.

On At last, Khairy qualifies

Alitan Muthu: Khairy Jamaluddin's interest in a public debate with his fellow Umno Youth aspirants is indeed commendable - but not in terms of his commitment to a fair political contest.

Rather, it is his commitment to ensure the entire country of 27 million listen to him speak.

Participating in a public debate is a clever strategy, especially for a candidate who requires the publicity.

Khairy, despite being the deputy youth head, finds himself trailing in the nominations race behind Mukhriz Mahathir and knows that a slot on national television will give his campaign a boost.

This is the same Khairy who declined his opponent's invitation to debate in Rembau during the general elections when the entire country was actually voting so why does he want to go on a public platform now?

Let us be clear that only 789 delegates will be able to cast their votes come March. So Khairy, please spare us the public appearance and go re-convince your delegates instead.

On Fall in oil prices, gov't must revise budget

Hafiz Noor Shams : With global crude oil prices having more than halved since it peaked at about US$150 per barrel just months ago, this is definitely one of those rare opportunities to make a permanent structural change to our economy by effectively eliminating the fuel subsidy once and for all.

The growth rate of subsidy size at the current prices must be relatively small compared to months ago. Back in June, Malaysians saw retail prices for gasoline jump by approximately 40%.

Since then, somewhat in tandem with falling global prices of crude oil, the Malaysian government has decided to significantly reduce the retail prices though we have yet to see the levels seen prior to the hike in June.

Why does the current environment offer the best time to execute this? Since the quantum of subsidy is decreasing, the government could just maintain the current prices until the quantum of subsidy becomes zero.

This happens when market prices equalise with the current subsidised prices. In doing so, elimination of subsidy does not require a hike in retail prices. When that happens, the government could immediately float it.

This strategy significantly reduces political opposition to the idea of the subsidy removal. I suspect what was protested in the past was the price hikes, not subsidy removal per se.

Lost Confidence Malaysian: Our government has the dubious honor of not making good their promises

Shahrir had hinted that the pump price of RON97 could return to that of before June 5 (RM1.92 a litre) if world crude oil prices fell below US$72 (RM182) a barrel.

To our dismay, Shahrir is singing a different tune now. At today's crude oil price, our pump price should be RM1.8 or less. May I suggest the following:

1. Float our oil prices on a daily basis as what our southerly neighbor does and other developed do. This is to ensure that the differences inflicted by the retailers will be minimised

2. As all the retailers' inventories are centrally recorded, our government can offset the difference in cost back to the retailers when there is a drop in the pump prices and vice-versa

On NEP has not made the bumi's lot any better

LC: I take issue with the stance taken by Dr Mahathir Mohamad in that ‘the 30% bumiputra equity in public-listed companies be retained as the objectives of the New Economic Policy (NEP) have not been achieved yet'

Firstly, as we all know, measuring bumiputera equity in terms of equities on Bursa Malaysia does not reflect the actual bumiputera wealth in the country.

I shall not elaborate further as this has been done many times before but which the government of the day chooses to ignore.

I take issue with Mahathir and the government because the 30% equity as per the government's definition will mean that the NEP will have to go on forever. Why? Simple.

I don't spend all I earn but reinvest it in buying a house, buying electrical products by cash and using the savings from hire-purchase interest to buy others asset.

However, my bumiputera brothers and sisters have a tendency to spend all they earn on consumables.

If the same rational goes with the national 30% bumiputera equity issue, that is if the bumiputera does not have the mindset to reinvest part of their earnings to increase their wealth, how will the national target to help them reach 30% ownership of the country's wealth be reached? And sustained?

So I suggest to Mahathir and others like him to strenuously work at educating to change the mindset of the majority of bumiputera to save and reinvest in order to reach the target of wealth desired.

Simply by giving them a tongkat will not teach them how to fish but handicap them further as they will not know how to walk in the future without the aid of this tongkat.

Dian Abdullah: The present talk is about the NEP. The idea behind it was to help the Malays for a number of years only.

But then like all goodies, there were a number of Malays who took and misused the NEP to enrich themselves only.

To propose now that the NEP be reviewed is like telling this elite group to stop depending on the government. Which of these Datuk and Tan Sri can survive without the government's help?

Malays who have never gained or received help from the government are not bothered about NEP.

So whatever claims that it makes, it must be realised that the government and its cronies have never represented the majority of the Malays, full stop.