Resolution #1

Saving IJN: Who misled the MoF? I have a list of resolutions for 2009 but the most urgent one is to help save the National Heart Institute from the slimy foxes.

We know some people at Sime Darby and MoF (did someone say Ethos?) haven’t given up. And despite the IJN doctors’ petition against the proposed takeover, the Cabinet has been willing only to defer the decision. I hope the Minister of Finance Najib Razak will shoot down the proposal (and the consultants responsible for the idea) after the Kuala Terengganu by-election on Jan 17. It’s the ony way.

The Rakyat will appreciate it.

Newsmakers of the Year. And talk about the Rakyat, kudos to Malaysiakini on an excellent choice of their Newsmakers of the Year 2008: the People. Read here if you are not (yet) a subscriber to Mkini.

The write-up is a tad partisan but it’s amusing to see that others have spiced it up even further, as in here.

Thanks Prem and Stevens for the special mention of BLOGS, and for singling out Dr Mahathir the blogger. Many of us forget that we enjoy this new media freedom today because of the promise given by the Mahathir Administration that the internet would not be censored. At one time in 2007, every sopo blogger that was critical of Pak Lah was leveraging on Dr Mahathir in one way or another, including RPK and Jeff Ooi. I should revisit this interesting period of our blog evolution soon.

Back to IJN, hop over to Sime Darby Watch to examine the issues, eg Who misled the MoF?, here.

The IJN takeover has brought fame to TWO big corporate figures. See TURKEYs of 2008.

p.s. Remember the IJN doctors who signed the petition against Sime Darby’s takeover bid? If we are looking for heroes for 08, you don’t have to look further than them. And thank you Belacak for the Newsmaker of the Year award (click h e r e) but I wasn’t the one who broke the story on IJN. The award should go to SDW.