They could have protested loudly outside the 02 Arena on Najib’s arrival or departure but they chose to heckle him inside.

I do not think Datuk S. Ambiga would appreciate it if she gets booed or heckled while giving a speech on law at an international event when she does not touch on Bersih 3.0.

Likewise, I believe most Malaysians did not appreciate the “burger stall” protest by members of the unheard of Malaysia Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Alliance outside Ambiga’s house last week.

Its president Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah had threatened to return with more stalls but he has wisely called it off, saying: “We are afraid that if a large group was gathered outside Ambiga’s house, provocation may occur, resulting in fights.”

Their protest was then followed by a group of army veterans who, in a bid to show they were turning their back on Ambiga, did “butt exercises” in front of her house. This is intimidation, it is as simple as that.

The police and City Hall have done the right thing by sending officers to her house to prevent such protests. Certainly, she is entitled to her privacy and none of us would be amused if someone did the same thing outside our house.

Another group calling itself WargaAMAN had also planned a “thosai” protest outside the house of Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar but it was called off.

Just weeks earlier, Perkasa had staged a noisy protest outside Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s residence and scattered posters featuring Lim with the Nazi sign.

They also hung on the gate a framed picture of Lim with a garland, resembling a picture for a funeral.

This has happened to other leaders, too. Last year, students of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim carried out a mock funeral for the government with “funeral pictures” of the PM and Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin.

In the 2008 elections, Penang Wanita MCA leader Tan Cheng Liang found her picture being used by Pakatan Rakyat members in a “funeral rite”.

It is time for rational political leaders, regardless of their allegiance, to condemn such unruly and despicable behaviour. This is not our Malaysian culture and we should not allow such practices to flourish by keeping silent because the target is not in sync with our political belief.

So when Najib was heckled, the only ones to chastise such rowdy behaviour were from Barisan Nasional and when Perkasa members held the mock funeral at Lim’s house, the DAP members angrily reacted.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin must be commended for voicing his objections against the “butt exercise” protest.

So should Tan Cheng Liang and Wanita MCA national vice-chairman Heng Seai Kie, who expressed similar sentiments about such events including the protest outside Lim’s residence.

This has to cut across political lines. A wrong is a wrong but when we compromise our principles for political expediency, then we are going down the wrong way.

Last week, a Gallup Poll Survey showed that 50% of Americans supported gay marriage while 48% opposed it. What Obama hopes to do from his announcement is to win over the younger voters who are more open to this subject. His rival, Republican’s Mitt Romney, has come under attack from the Obama camp for being out of touch with his anti-gay marriage stand.

Obama also believes that blacks will still stick with him even though opposition against gay marriage among black church-goers is the highest among all the racial groups in the US. He retains the black votes and wins extra votes from the white liberals, and he knows he’s into his second term.

But I do not think it is necessary for Obama to invoke his Christian faith as well as Scripture in his defence of gay marriage.

He is not only the first American president to reaffirm same-sex marriage but must also be the first one to quote from the Bible to justify his decision. In this instance, he quoted Matthew 7:12, known as the Golden Rule from Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount.

The Sermon On The Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus that emphasises moral teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. The Sermon is the longest piece of teaching from Jesus in the New Testament.

In a nutshell, the Golden Rule states that one should treat others the way one wants to be treated. My Bible states the Golden Rule paragraph as: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

What Obama has done, like many politicians and their supporters including those in Malaysia, is to read selectively a passage or chapter from a holy book to back their political arguments – political expediency, in other words.

Worse still, some Obama supporters have written about or appeared on TV to point out how some figures in the Bible were polygamists or adulterers while conveniently leaving out the parts that these people eventually repented and found God. They can get away with this because most of us feel inadequate to take on a debate on theology.

Holy books are supposed to be read as a whole, not as a chapter or two, to enable us to have a complete understanding.

Obama, for example, has even implied that the Apostle Paul’s objection to homosexuality in the Bible “is less than transparent” and perhaps even at odds with Jesus. I am not sure if Obama, whose campaign theme is Change, is planning to change the Scripture.

In Malaysia, we are used to reading and hearing PAS leaders – politicians masquerading as theologians – quoting from the Quran to justify their political positions. Umno leaders are often criticised as “pharaohs” from the Age of Ignorance – kejahilan – before the age of Islam.

But now there is a trend among some Malaysian church leaders and Christian-based writers, who support Pakatan Rakyat, to quote from Scripture to justify the need to vote against the government in the coming general election.

This is done during Sunday sermons and via email, and those who are uncomfortable with this religious push are being made to feel guilty or not in sync with the rest of the church. Likewise, nobody wants to listen to a priest or pastor on a Sunday heaping praises on the Barisan Nasional or telling us about the coalition’s transformation plans. We will leave that to the Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Idris Jala.

Politics and religion should not be mixed. People who go to places of worship are united in their faith and never for a particular political party or politician. That’s why we are in a democracy and that’s why we have elections – the right to differ and the right to choose.

The lesson to learn from the Obama controversy is this – the first time around, he was a fresh personality and people around the US wanted change. They were fed up with anything conventional and mainstream. Obama represented hope and ideals.

But the fact is, he is not a Saviour. He is just another self-serving politician who will do anything for self-preservation.

First, it was same-sex civil union. Now it’s same-sex marriage and once that’s legal, same-sex couples would have the constitutional rights to adopt babies from orphanages, and churches will break the law if they reject performing wedding rites for them.

Well, that’s change for you from Obama.

The lady who asked the question said that before she moved to Malaysia, she had been told that the neighbourhood here was safe and well maintained to meet the demands of the international community.

But she was upset after hearing that break-ins had taken place in condominiums. How did they get past the security guards and CCTV? she wanted to know.

The management of the condominiums in the area and police were of course not keen to splash such news in the media.

The Star subsequently reported that the wealthy living in the posh area were being targeted by burglars and robbers.

Police presence: Security in Mont Kiara was beefed up after the abduction of Nayati.

On March 11, an ex-wife of a prominent Tan Sri was robbed by four men armed with crowbars and they reportedly escaped with RM1.5mil worth of jewellery and RM50,000 cash. There have also been break-ins with the thieves getting away with smaller amounts.

That these crimes happened in gated properties with security guards and in flats where residents need access cards to get in is highly disturbing.

Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid confirmed that a robbery occurred at about 6pm in a condominium with a 24-hour security. Everyone knows that all the condominiums in that area have round-the-clock security.

I am not sure whether the culprits have been caught as they were said to have bypassed the guards with a stolen or duplicate access card to enter the premises.

A month later, Sunrise Bhd, the biggest developer in the area, spearheaded a community-based campaign with the police. The campaign included conducting joint patrols by the police and auxiliary force, crime prevention talks, dialogues and exhibitions by the police.

Datuk Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim said Sunrise was setting up an Intelligent Video Analytics system that could send alerts instantaneously in response to a crime.

That was before the kidnapping of 12-year-old Nayati Shamelin Moodliar last week, which attracted international attention.

Obviously there is now a greater need to assure the safety of the international community here. They would have heard about the numerous snatch thieves in Malaysia but this kidnapping incident would have jolted them. The bottom line is that after the kidnapping incident, Mont Kiara has lost its reputation as a safe place.

The population density at Mont Kiara has increased over the past years and the police beat there isn’t sufficient any more. Surely the force must consider upgrading to a fully-fledged police station now.

There are currently a total of 45 cameras in the area but more would be needed given the increase in people and traffic movement.

We cannot afford to have another kidnapping case involving a foreigner in Mont Kiara. If that happens, then Kuala Lumpur could be downgraded into the ranks of Manila where no one is safe in the streets.

I hope the police will see the seriousness of this whole episode.

The public still have high regard for the police in handling serious crimes.

When Nayati was kidnapped, many Malay­sians found it hard to believe that a foreigner could be kidnapped and many were asking whether the family had offended anyone at work or whether it was a family-related case.

There was disbelief because when a foreigner is kidnapped, greater pressure is exerted on the police, who certainly would go the extra mile to pursue the kidnappers. The risk of the criminals being caught and killed by the police is greater, for sure.

There was even speculation that the kidnappers could be foreigners as there have been cases of Africans abducting other Africans in Kuala Lumpur. But now it has dawned on many that Malaysians could be involved although the police have not made any comments.

We believe the police will complete their task successfully. Despite the criticism of our men in blue’s handling of Bersih 3.0, where protesters and media personnel were assaulted, many of us recognise the work of the police in fighting serious crimes.

But they need to re-look their operations in Mont Kiara as it is Kuala Lumpur’s biggest international community enclave. They must be made to feel safe here; there can be no compromise on that. A lot is at stake to maintain our reputation and our efforts to attract the best and brightest brains to work here.

On the government side, while the Prime Minister has made several nationwide trips, his series of visits, which emphasises his government transformation plans on services for the people, has only just started.

Both sides have also not finalised their list of candidates despite their bravado in making declarations that they are ready for elections.

With a tough fight ahead, being winnable candidates is not good enough; they have to be trustworthy too. Both sides do not want defections after the general election.

This is especially so for Pakatan Rakyat whose elected representatives defected after the polls.

For the Barisan Nasional, it would not want to deal with a situation similar to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s attempt to woo Barisan MPs to cross over.

So far, only the DAP’s Karpal Singh has consistently argued for a law to stop defections. The rest from both sides have refused to be drawn into such a commitment, preferring perhaps to keep the options open.

Then there is the matter of seat swapping. Both sides are still at the negotiation table and, in the case of Pakatan Rakyat, the unhappy components have gone to the media to voice their frustrations.

In Sabah, the local opposition want the Pakatan Rakyat to stay out but the DAP, especially, is adamant in contesting. It will lead to a crowded fight if no compromises are made within the opposition.

In the Barisan, the seat-swapping issue is still being sorted out and has not even gone to the supreme council level yet.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s diary is packed with commitments, including overseas visits. The media has already been informed of his trips to the United Kingdom and United States in mid-May.

It does not look like a red herring as planning for his meetings has been completed and he would also take a short holiday with his family after his official duties, which include meeting members of the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council in New York.

The council was set up to enable the country to make a quantum leap from a middle-income status to a high-income one.

By the time Najib returns, it would be the last week of May, and calling for polls in June will be unlikely from a strategic planning point of view.

The push for rural votes – the core of Umno’s support – will continue in June, especially after the windfall for Felda settlers has been declared from the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) Bhd, either in end May or early June.

The windfall will be in two forms – cash and equity – but the excitement would be the amount of the quantum. But word is that the rewards would be good.

Over the next few days, Najib will also be announcing details of the minimum wage plan and there is also talk that the Government will unravel the nine-month Malaysia Airlines-Air Asia alliance as early as Wednesday.

The alliance has been a source of discontent for the 22,000-strong staff of the national flag carrier. Their number is big, and given the fact that they are believed to be supporters of the ruling coalition, and their family members who are voters would be too, this issue is significant.

Over in Sabah and Sarawak, there will be two major celebrations – the Kaamatan festival of the Kadazandusun community on May 30 and 31 and Gawai for the Sarawakian Dayaks on June 1 and 2.

As these festivals are the most important events on the calendars of the two main communities in these states, no one would be expected to campaign for elections during this period.

Many Sabahans and Sarawakians, especially those working in the peninsula, are also expected to take a long break at this time.

Those who talk about a June 9 general election obviously have no idea of what’s happening in Sabah and Sarawak.

By July, it will already be the fasting month, which means there won’t be any election campaign. After this, the whole month of August will be taken up by the Hari Raya celebrations.

That means the first week of September will be the last window period.

The general election cannot be in late September as the haj season would have begun, ending only in October.

Then there is the Parliament meeting from Sept 24 to Nov 27, where the Budget needs to be tabled.

Once it is tabled, it has to be approved by the Dewan Negara, which means the session will drag on until next year.

If you are planning a holiday or a major corporate event in May or June, go ahead, your plans won’t be disrupted.

In fact, Malaysia is hosting Asia’s largest oil and gas event from June 5 to 7, bringing top people from this industry to Kuala Lumpur.

If you have planned for the Olympics in London, enjoy the Games, which starts on July 26 and ends on Aug 12.

But don’t be away too long because the drumbeats of the general election would be very loud by then.

So, for the first time in Malaysian journalism, you will have a print newspaper that provides you with both sound and visual. If you have done that, we would have taken a big step together in this exciting journey.

Go to any of the pages in the newspaper from today. If you see an article or advertisement with the iSnap logo, it would have a playable video or audio clip or additional content such as a photo gallery, maps, product catalogues or contest entry forms.

For instance, if you read an “iSnapped” article about football in the sports pages, you can watch a video clip of the goal being scored. For a review of a movie, the iSnap technology allows us to show a video trailer of the movie on your phone or tablet.

I am always asked about the fate of the newspaper. If we recall, there were those who predicted that video would kill the cinemas, but cinemas have re-invented themselves and have staged a strong comeback, proving their critics wrong.

There is also the tendency to divide the media into mainstream and alternative media but really, the line has blurred.

In Malaysia, the top 20 news websites on the Internet are by the traditional news companies. This is because people want to read news of all kinds, not just politics. In fact, media practitioners have long realised that the top 10 news items read are often not political news.

Media organisations are just like any other business concerns with wages and expenses to pay. They need to make money.

Most have found it hard to monetise the model of just providing news over the Internet. People expect content to be free over the Internet, that’s the culture.

Media organisations have tried the subscription model only to find out that Malaysians share passwords. In the case of games applications, they try to break the codes. There are plenty of such experts at Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur.

In the media industry, print is still king in Malaysia, taking a huge chunk of the advertising revenue.

The Star Online is the country’s number one news portal with 47 million pageviews a month. However, it is the newspaper, The Star/Sunday Star, that is the flagship with 1.3 million readership.

We went online 19 years ago with our Star Online and today, we are taking another lead with this innovative approach.

Then there are our four radio stations – in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Chinese – Redfm 104.9, Suria FM, 99.8FM and Capital Radio 88.9FM, which is targeted at women. In short, we are a content provider delivering news and information via print, Internet and radio.

Thanks to the emergence of smartphones and tablet computers, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, for example, the entire newspaper is now available on the go online for those who want to read it in its original format and they can switch to the Internet edition for updates at the same time.

And, more important, the Audit Bureau of Circulation has allowed the sale of the digital replica of a newspaper to be accepted as the same as the sale of the printed version.

For advertisers, this means having their presence on both the print and digital versions at the same time. It also means the young and old can read the paper at the same time.

Furthermore, via the e-paper, readers in Sabah and the more remote parts of Sarawak can now read the newspaper’s different editions no later than seven every morning.

So Malaysia, our new journey begins today. Thanks for making history together.

Vagrants, the homeless, drug addicts and the jobless living in the city, they are in need of a decent meal.

They are generally regarded as social outcasts not just by their families but also by society who feel uncomfortable with their presence.

They go to the Kenosis Home’s feeding station not just because they can enjoy a plate of rice, curry chicken, half a hard-boiled egg and vegetables there but also have someone to talk to.

Like everyone else, they also want someone to engage with, more so for those who wander the streets aimlessly, broken in spirit.

If you listen to them, some will remark in a dejected manner why they were born in the first place. The feeling of rejection is total.

They just want food and company.

The volunteers do not turn anyone away. And no one has time to preach or try to convert anyone.

Regardless of their race and religion, these underprivileged have one thing in common – their dignity is lost. Don’t even talk to them about self-confidence.

They feel despised and unwanted. In fact, most are even told so by their own families. Their will to live is defeated.

Many ask for a second chance. In many cases, after getting that second chance most could not deliver, often leaving their families in despair too.

So they come with empty stomachs, and the volunteers rush to hand out the food before volunteer doctors examine them – if they want medical attention.

At another feeding centre involving about 100 street people near Central Market, the food is gone within 20 minutes.

Among them are HIV carriers and some have full blown AIDS. So it’s not a Saturday stroll in the park for the doctors who come every weekend to attend to them. You have to admire these doctors.

There is also an old couple who often brings their grandson to the feeding stations. Both are in their 80s but they have to care for their grandson who was abandoned by his parents after they had a dispute with loan sharks. It’s a heart-wrenching case.

There are also many blind people, some working as masseurs, in the area who could do with a free meal and a glass of teh tarik.

My colleagues and I volunteered our time for a worthy cause yesterday. Since we are not in the league of generous Malaysian tycoons who are able to spare millions of ringgit for charity, the best we could give was our time.

In support of The Star’s Volunteer for Change project, we visited the Kenosis street feeding project in Brickfields near the YMCA building.

Kenosis is a Greek word meaning emptiness, but from a Christian theological perspective, it means the self-emptying of one’s own will and becoming receptive to God’s own divine will.

Kenosis is my favourite cause because I have great respect for the work of Pastor Richard Lee who runs the Kenosis Home street feeding programme. He also runs a rehabilitation programme for drug addicts.

Pastor who feeds the hungry

It’s hard not to be impressed with Pastor Lee and his amazing turnaround story. He himself was a drug addict for two decades before he saw the light and through God’s grace, turned his life around to be a pastor now.

Besides his work in the streets and in the drug rehabilitation centres, I enjoy watching Pastor Lee challenging the middle-class congregation in the comfort of their churches, during his sermons, if they would be comfortable having the drug addicts and HIV carriers sitting among them.

This is a man of God who does the most difficult work. If you are looking for someone to deliver high-brow theological sermons or one with political overtones, he’s not the man. He hasn’t got time for that because he needs to feed the hungry and those whose lives need saving.

For my colleagues and I, our day out with Kenosis was certainly good for the soul. It couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time as this is the holiest season for those who are of the Christian faith.

This is the season of Lent when Christians go through a period of repentance and abstinence. On Thursday, Christians celebrated Maundy Thursday, and many went through the ritual of “washing the feet” to remind themselves to submit to humility. The following day, Good Friday, marks the day when Jesus Christ was crucified.

Today, as you read this, Christians all over the world celebrate Easter Sunday, as they rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus.

We are indeed blessed to be living in this country, where we can show love to one another and celebrate our faiths openly.

It was a prestigious school and was also well known for its education and discipline standards. It is an open secret that parents who do not live nearby forge addresses to try to get their children enrolled in this school where places are limited.

Although I come from an English medium school and I am unable to speak or write in Chinese, my wife and I took the decision to send our daughter for early Chinese education because we wanted her to speak Mandarin. By then, we were already realising the growing importance of knowing Chinese.

As with many children from urban middle-class homes, my daughter spoke in English with us and her school mates at Puay Chai.

When she entered Form One – she was in PJ Catholic High School, a national-type school – she continued to learn Chinese. Again, English was widely spoken in her school.

In fact, in the United Kingdom where she sat for her A-levels, her school even offered Chinese as a subject and encouraged its predominantly British students to study the language and sit for exams.

In my case, my parents sent me to an English medium school even though they were Chinese educated because the world revolved around Britain in the 1960s. English had economic value and my father had no sentiments with China.

In fact, we have no family links with anyone in China.

I chose to send my daughter for early Chinese education simply because China was by then heading towards becoming a major economic power. Besides, the language would be useful not just in China but Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore as well.

It is this Chinese language asset that has enabled us to have a strong and advantageous link with China, just like our Malay and Indian brethren have their links to India, Indonesia and the Middle East in their linguistic and religious connection.

At Puay Chai, parents were prepared to pay extra money to have the classrooms air-conditioned and they had to personally collect their children’s school report cards. If a student’s average results were not up to standard, the school sometimes called up the parents to explain.

Chinese schools in Malaysia have built a strong reputation over the decades but it’s not an entirely successful story. There is a danger that many students have become monolingual, unable to speak good Bahasa Malaysia and English.

On April 26, 2011, the online news portal The Malaysian Insider, citing a study, reported that a significant number of secondary school dropouts with Chinese primary education had little or zero command of English or the national language.

Studies had shown that nearly one in four Chinese students had failed to complete secondary school and their dropout rate was virtually the same as that for Malays and other races, the news portal reported.

In a survey of 159 schools nationwide in 2010, the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) found that one-third of students from those schools could not understand either English or Bahasa Malaysia when they transferred to national secondary schools.

Another one-third was found to be able to understand only a bit of English or BM, while the remaining one-third could fully comprehend both languages.

The report quoted NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng as saying that the survey was done to find out the reasons behind the high dropout rate among Chinese students who were required to take part in the “remove class”, a year-long programme to ease their transfer from Chinese primary schools to national-type schools.

Chinese educationists should pay serious attention to this problem. The fact is that while there are many Chinese primary school students who are fluent in English and BM, a huge chunk do not have these skills because they or their parents do not interact with people of other races and English or BM is not spoken at all at their homes.

So, when a Chinese education group like Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia) demands that non-Chinese speaking teachers be removed from their vernacular schools, it runs contrary to what we are trying to achieve for Malaysia.

It smacks of racism and intolerance. In short, it is unacceptable.

What kind of schools are we trying to run by having only teachers of a single race? What’s wrong with having non-Chinese speaking teachers who can teach Bahasa Malaysia or English?

They may just encourage these children from Chinese-speaking homes to meet Malaysians of other races, learn about the religion of other races and, in the process, become friends.

Those who sign up for French classes would know that the teachers would never use English to teach the language.

The position of the Chinese schools is guaranteed under the Federal Constitution. Period. It is acceptable to suggest that more should be done. Fair enough. But to suggest or to imply that the government has not done anything to help Chinese schools when the figures show otherwise is a lie.

This year, Chinese schools partially aided by the government would receive RM100mil. The government has also agreed to allocate RM95mil for the relocation of 13 schools, the setting up of seven new schools and reconstruction of eight others.

Allocations are deposited directly into the school board’s account to avoid unnecessary accusation of interference from civil servants or politicians.

In fact, the government has even allowed Chinese schools to be built on land which could be used for national schools. The government is also now paying RM2,000 of the monthly utility bills of Chinese primary schools.

Last year, a total of 1,648 Chinese students received government scholarships and this does not include the MCA’s Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (KTAR) and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar). KTAR has produced 185,000 graduates and Utar 27,000 graduates.

The question to critics here is what they themselves have done for Chinese education and whether they have successfully produced a generation of confident, multi-lingual students who are at ease with other Malaysians.

Unsure of whether they will get re-elected, or worse, dropped as candidates, many are understandably jittery and overly-sensitive as the pressure builds up. After all, much is at stake.

Wanting to get the attention of their party bosses, they start bombarding media offices with tons of press releases, many of which are hardly newsworthy.

The political minnows are unlikely to get their news across and that’s when news organisations are accused of sidelining them for purported political motives.

Then there are rural-based politicians who wonder why they do not get any coverage at all. They insist on the presence of the press even when most of the newspapers do not reach their constituencies, let alone read by the voters there.

There are politicians who blame everyone for their failings except themselves. Again, their critics and the media get the blame.

There’s another group of has-been politicians. They have held positions including Cabinet posts for what feels like forever but never seem to be able to fade away. They still refuse to find time to play with their grandchildren.

So, come election time, they will find a way to get some publicity, including trying to seek a seat to contest or to quit their party.

Retirement age, it would seem, is only for the ordinary citizens, not for politicians. We have got two generations contesting in polls. We have father-son teams, a husband-wife-daughter team, and with Malaysians increasingly living longer, we may end up having their grandchildren as fellow candidates too.

By now, Malaysians are used to the saying that there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics. So, last week, former Selangor PAS leader Datuk Dr Hasan Ali was accused of spending lavishly during his tenure in the state government, including “wasting” RM300,000 to renovate his office.

The allegation was made by PKR’s Azmin Ali, the Gombak Setia assemblyman, who also said more than RM500,000 was spent on a conference organised by the Selangor Malay Customs and Heritage Corporation.

Barisan Nasional rightly asked why Azmin was only making this revelation after Dr Hasan had left PAS and Pakatan Rakyat.

But politicians always have an answer for every question, no matter how illogical it sounds. Azmin replied that he only received the evidence recently and had asked PAS to probe the matter even before Dr Hasan was sacked.

The state executive councillors are located on the same floor at the state government’s office and no one is going to believe that no one knew renovations were being carried out in Dr Hasan’s office. It’s the same with the purported expensive conference.

Surely, there must have been meetings on the budget allocated for the conference and it is difficult to accept that no one knew about the allocated sum.

Barisan state assemblymen have rightly asked whether these would be exposed if Dr Hasan had remained in PAS and had not rebelled against the state government.

Dr Hasan, in any case, was supported and campaigned for by the same Pakatan leaders in the 2008 elections. The same people who criticised him now are the same people who had heaped praises on him then, persuading people to vote for him.

It’s never a dull day in Malaysian politics – on some days it is amazingly incredible – but at the same time, Malaysians are not getting surprised any more.

My wife insists that she gets to return to Indonesia during her break on Malaysia Airlines and arrangements are made at the airport so she would not be hassled by Indonesian Immigration officers and hustlers.

Yuli gets a say in most decisions involving the household and I have my lucky stars to thank, considering that many Malaysians have a horror story to tell about their maids.

She has picked up the English language, learnt how to cook some of my favourite Penang nyonya food, and she can even laugh at the Hokkien sitcoms on Astro.

But my sister-in-law has not been lucky. She has had two maids and both were a disaster.

The first was an Indonesian from Flores who spent most of her time in the living room in front of the TV rather than in the kitchen. Her addiction to instant noodles would have made her worthy of an academic study.

The second, a Cambodian, was worse. She put on weight within weeks of her employment after she discovered the magic of the refrigerator and oven.

But that wasn’t enough. She stole food, secretly storing them in a bag in her room. Apparently, she’s never heard of expiry dates.

Still, that was tolerable until she decided to go on a mutiny, snubbing directives and snapping back at her boss. Then she walked off and refused to come back.

Here’s the best part: the agency had the audacity to ask for her salary to be paid despite her absence without leave and work not rendered.

I won’t be surprised if she has been “recycled” and is now with another desperate Malaysian couple who needs a maid.

There’s another story. Lady boss asked the Cambodian maid why she had not prepared the husband’s breakfast as she was told.

The maid’s reply: “Madam, Sir is already big. Sir knows how to make breakfast. I no need.”

I swear this is not made up, but I am not sure if the maid has gone for counselling or if she has been sent back to Cambodia.

And here’s another one. There is a friend who installed CCTV at his home so he could monitor what’s happening there from his office. Lucky for him – he found out he had a psychopath on his hands when he saw his Indonesian maid regularly talking to her image in the mirror and rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.

She would burn so-called blessed papers, presumably jampi, and insist that his children consume them before they went to school. The final straw came when she asked my friend to post her “love letters” – addressed to President Suharto!

Again, we are not sure if she’s safely back and undergoing mental treatment in her home country or if she’s with another new Malaysian tuan. Hope someone tells her there’s now a new Indonesian president.

There may be stories of maids being abused and certainly Malaysians in their right mind would not tolerate such incidents. It gives our country a bad name and also leads to pressure from their countries to slow down the numbers coming in to Malaysia.

But there are also stories of Malaysian employers who suffer emotional and financial abuse from maids. These are less reported but that does not mean they are isolated cases or it’s simply because non-governmental organisations are not taking up cases of abused employers.

So, Malaysians are not amused when Indonesia tells us that their maids headed here will only perform one task and must be paid RM700 for that.

I believe Malaysian employers would not mind paying more, but not for less work. Pressing frustrated employers with such unreasonable demands is certainly going overboard.

It has been reported that the fresh batch of 106 Indonesian maids headed here would only carry out one task for their bosses. They would be trained to do four household chores – cooking, babysitting, taking care of the elderly, and housekeeping – but will perform only one of these tasks for their employers.

The report stated that the workers were undergoing four skills training courses over 21 days and must be paid RM700 a month by their Malaysian employers.

The Malaysian Maid Employers’ Association and Malaysian National Association of Employ­ment Agencies have rightly questioned the announcement. Come on, this one is surely a bad deal.