Archive for June, 2015
Pak Samad pilih parti berintegriti
A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
23 June 2015
Beberapa hari selepas Sasterawan Negara, Datuk A. Samad Said menyertai DAP, beberapa sahabat bertanyakan pendapat saya mengenai langkah sasterawan ternama itu, saya menjawab: “Apa salahnya, ini demokrasi, Samad seorang pemikir dan dia sudahpun berfikir sebelum menyertai DAP.”
Untuk beberapa hari saya belum lagi menghubunginya, memikirkan mungkin beliau sedang sibuk dengan perkembangan baru ini, hinggalah penyair Dinsman memberitahu saya bahawa Samad mahu mendengar pendapat saya mengenai langkahnya itu.
Lalu saya menghubunginya, mengucapkan tahniah kepadanya kerana memilih parti yang berintegriti, mempunyai imej bersih. Beliau mengucapkan terima kasih kepada saya.
Pada pendapat saya, sasterawan negara itu membuat pilihan yang tepat, iaitu memilih parti yang mampu mempertahankan integritinya, teguh pada prinsip perjuangannya untuk menegakkan demokrasi dan keadilan, menentang perkauman, walaupun selama puluhan tahun DAP digambarkan sebagai parti chauvinis Cina dan pelbagai lagi. Read the rest of this entry »
Ayah sokong parti baharu jika masih hidup, kata anak Fadzil Noor
The Malaysian Insider
23 June 2015
Anak kepada bekas presiden PAS, Muhammad Faiz Fadzil yakin jika bapanya Datuk Fadzil Mohd Noor masih hidup, beliau akan menyokong parti baharu yang sedang dalam proses pembentukan.
Faiz mengulas video Youtube yang disebarkan di laman sosial bagi menunjukkan Fadzil akan menentang penubuhan parti baharu sekiranya masih hidup.
“Anda mungkin tak setuju dengan saya, tapi saya percaya Ustaz Fadzil Noor (UFN) pasti menyokong parti baharu yang didokongi oleh pemimpin yang dilahirkannya yang banyak berjasa kepada karier perjuangannya,” tulis Faiz dalam laman Facebooknya hari ini.
“Parti baharu adalah meneruskan perjuangan UFN walau berlainan.” Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should begin a 1MDB Nothing2Hide confession starting with revelation what has happened to the RM3 billion which were “overprized” in acquisition of 15 power stations for RM18 billion
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
The Wall Street Journal expose five days ago has probably started the end-game for the six-year RM42 billion 1MDB scandal with attention focussed on the question which the parliamentary duo, DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua and PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli, joined by former Prime Minister Tun Mahahtir, have repeatedly asked: “Where have the 1MDB billions disappeared to? Show us the money!”
The Wall Street Journal report, “Fund Controversy Threatens Malaysia’s Leader”, alleged that 1MDB had bought Genting Group’s power assets at an inflated price, and the group then made substantial donations to the 1MDB-linked charity YR1M.
YR1M had then allegedly bankrolled BN’s 13th general election, and is now funding social programmes in Sarawak where state elections are widely anticipated.
The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday 1MDB made overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012.
The price, which was equivalent to about US$740 million at the time, came to RM2.3 billion, around five times what it was worth.
Genting later reported it had a 1.9 billion ringgit extraordinary gain on this sale, implying a value for its stake in the power plant of just 400 million ringgit – or less than one-fifth what 1MDB paid for it. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Long Road to Change
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Asia Sentinel
June 20, 2015
The headline issues behind Malaysia’s current political crisis often puzzle outside observers, not just for the specific and sometimes bizarre details but for what they reveal about a system designed to maintain the status quo at all costs. Taken in the current context, it is remarkable that Prime Minister Najib Razak remains in power. In an actual democracy – instead of the kind of purpose-built one-party state in Malaysia – he would presumably be long gone and perhaps in the dock.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad debacle, with its overtones of greed, political favoritism and inside deals is exactly the kind of sleaze that should and does bring down governments worldwide. Add to that the lingering issue of the 2006 murder of the misbegotten Mongolian party girl Altantuya Shaariibuu by bodyguards linked to Najib, the shamelessly cooked-up jailing of long-suffering opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the poisonous stew of bitter racial politics manipulated by the ruling elite and the widespread disgust with the acquisitive ways of Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and it is a wonder that anyone can keep a straight face while claiming Malaysia’s system is anything but a thinly disguised playpen for the Barisan National and its cronies.
Still, and finally, we may be witnessing the endgame in the country’s painful transition from the 20th century politics and governance that started with the transition from British colonialism to rule by the Barisan Nasional, the race-based coalition of political parties led by the United Malays National Organization. In power since 1957, the Barisan is the world’s longest-ruling parliamentary coalition. Read the rest of this entry »
Skewered for joining ‘Chinese party’, Pak Samad laments Malaysians’ racial lens
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
by Boo Su-Lyn,
The Malay Mail Online
June 23, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 ― National laureate and new DAP member Datuk A. Samad Said has questioned Malaysians’ race-centric mindset that remains prevalent almost 60 years after the country achieved independence.
Commenting on reaction to his entry into the DAP, the 83-year-old bemoaned how his Muslim friends responded to the news negatively and rebuked him for joining what they described as a “Chinese party”.
“We’ve been independent for almost six decades and it’s a shame if we still think racially,” Samad told Malay Mail Online in an interview yesterday.
“I received phone calls and SMSes scolding me and asking me why I joined a Chinese party. I said, ‘Who said it’s a Chinese party? It’s a Malaysian party’,” he added.
The Malay-Muslim novelist and poet said although his wife and family members supported his decision, his friends were concerned and mistakenly thought that he had rushed into joining the secular party on June 13.
“I’ve been thinking about it for two years already. I’ve known Lim Kit Siang since the 50s. We were journalists then,” said Samad, referring to the senior DAP leader.
Samad, who has written 75 books comprising novels, short stories, dramas, essays and poems, said the DAP may have started off as a predominantly Chinese party, but pointed out that the “visionary” Lim’s “Malaysian dream” of making the party multi-racial.
“They want to be a Malaysian party. What is important is their ideal, their dream,” he said. “Because of that, I think I made the right choice in joining DAP”. Read the rest of this entry »
Excerpt #6 Incentives And Zero-Sum Mentality
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
M. Bakri Musa (www.bakrimusa.com)
June 24, 2015
Unlike my earlier books, in Liberating the Malay Mind I adopt a narrow approach, focusing only on Malays. Some would counter that Malaysians are now at a stage when we should consider ourselves Malaysians rather than Malays, Chinese or Ibans. Thus we should seek an approach applicable to and suitable for all Malaysians. I agree, up to a point.
One does not have to be particularly perceptive to note the obvious and significant differences between the races beyond how we look, dress and what we eat. If there are those obvious differences in such simple things, imagine our differences on more substantive matters, like what we value and aspire to.
Being mindful of our differences does not mean ignoring our commonalities rather that we should be cautious as to the possible variations in how we react to policies and initiatives. We may all aspire to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’, but those concepts mean a whole lot of different things to different people. Read the rest of this entry »
The untouchable Dr M
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Kapil Sethi
The Malay Mail Online
June 22, 2015
JUNE 22 ― On the surface, it seems even more lopsided than a David and Goliath battle. On one side is a frail, almost 90, long gone from the corridors of power old man whose bark is practically all that is left of what was 22 years of autocratic but arguably economically robust rule. On the other is a man decades younger and a second term prime minister controlling all the levers of power who is increasingly comfortable in deploying them to crush all dissent, whether through legislation, 3am wake-up calls by the police or even by suing through the judiciary.
The PM also has publicly-funded government largesse to dole out as and when the situation requires. He has a plethora of government and party posts and contracts to hand out to keep his party cadres in line. He controls all the mainstream media and has a large, ever-expanding public relations machine at his disposal to run down all enemies, real or imagined.
So it would seem bizarre that things have reached such a head that the battle is not only not over, but has spilled out on the international stage courtesy of the New York Times. In a sign of exactly how difficult the situation is for the incumbent PM, his foreign minister is reduced to replying to the article by criticising Dr Mahathir for internationalising the issue rather than rebutting the issues themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Civics bureau: from attendee to slideshow feature
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Lyana Khairuddin
The Malaysian Insider
22 June 2015
I was amused to find a picture of me, particularly the one used for the profile of this column, on one of the slides sourced by the National Civics Bureau and recently released online. The slide cited the online petition I founded, I am #26, my age and affiliation. Upon sourcing for the whole slide deck and reading through them, I could only roll my eyes at the sheer audacity and idiocy of it all.
For someone who was (un)fortunate enough to have attended three “Kem Bina Negara” courses organised by the bureau, I am thankful that I ended up being the liberal, rational-minded person that I think I am today.
Syukur Alhamdulillah, the brainwashing did not work on me. Read the rest of this entry »
Demi hudud, kepimpinan Kelantan bakal bertukar tangan?
– Riesya H.
The Malaysian Insider
22 June 2015
Isu hudud nampaknya belum reda.
Terkini, dengan terburainya Pakatan Rakyat, boleh lah dianggap isu hudud berjaya memainkan peranannya. Peranan untuk memporak porandakan PR.
Di zaman teknologi facebook dan whatsup hari ini, saya ingin kongsikan secebis nota menarik yang dipanjangkan kepada saya, berbunyi begini;
“I, like many Malaysians, may have underestimated Datuk Seri Najib Razak as a politician. He may have committed a lot of economic and public relation blunders. But he has managed to kill PR. Tricking PAS into believing that Umno will support hudud, Najib has cause a major rift between PAS and their PR allies, which then caused a crisis within PAS. Now that he has accomplished what he wanted, he pulled his support from hudud.
With one stroke, najib has managed to kill PR and put PAS in the ECU. He may have assured Umno’s rule for another 2-3 terms. And for that, he should be named one of Malaysia’s best politician. He took over the helm when Umno was at its worst. He didn’t try to make things right with Umno, but he destroyed the opposition.
Great game Najib.”
Itu lah yang menjadi persepsi dan gambaran rakyat marhaen semacam saya yang kerdil ini. Read the rest of this entry »
Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?
Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?
The question I want to pose tonight is whether the 11th Sarawak state general election, whether held this year or next, will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead political changes in Malaysia.
In the ninth Sarawak state general election in 2006, DAP made history in Sarawak winning from one to six state assembly seats, spearheading the “308 political tsunami” of the 2008 Malaysian general election where the Umno/BN coalition was ousted from power as the government in five States and lost for the first time its two-thirds parliamentary majority.
The 2011 Sarawak State General Election made further history when Pakatan Rakyat won 15 State Assembly seats, with DAP winning 12 and PKR three. The major electoral shifts in the 2011 Sarawak state general election spearheaded the “Ubah” political awakening in the 13th Federal general elections, where Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the first minority Prime Minister in the nation’s history and still without two-thirds parliamentary majority – as UMNO/BN won 48% of electoral support although he won the majority of the 222 parliamentary seats because undemocratic constituency redelineations.
What is in store for the 11th Sarawak state general election which must be held by next August? Read the rest of this entry »
Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious WSJ allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for 13GE?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Monday, 22 June 2015
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers to international publications but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious Wall Street Journal allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power four days ago about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for the 13th General Election campaigning two years ago?
Two weeks ago, the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman wrote an Open Letter to New York Times protesting against the interview by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir who touched on the 1MDB scandal, UMNO and accusations against Najib and expressing regret at Mahathir’s action “to undermine his own country through the international media as part of a personal political vendetta”.
In one fell swoop, the nation’s elder statesman and the longest-serving Prime Minister in the nation’s history has been reduced to an anti-national digit on the same level as other critics of the government-of-the-day who are accused of ignoble and even disloyal motives for bad-mouthing the government and the country.
It is the irony of ironies that Mahathir himself had himself made such allegations against his critics when he was Prime Minister for 22 years. Read the rest of this entry »
An open letter to Bloomberg
Posted by Kit in Economics, Najib Razak on Monday, 22 June 2015
— Idris Jala
The Malay Mail Online
June 20, 2015
JUNE 20 — When I read William Pesek’s latest commentary on Bloomberg View, I barely recognised the country he was writing about. He starts by referring to Malaysia’s “underlying economic distress” and “prolonged slow growth”, which he says are caused by “race-based policies that strangle innovation, feed cronyism and repel multinational companies.”
The facts, however, are these:
1. Between 2009 and 2014, Malaysian Gross National Income grew by 47.7 per cent.
2. Growth last year was six per cent, and over the next four years the OECD predicts Malaysia will enjoy annual growth of 5.6 per cent. It would be perverse to characterise this as “slow”. By contrast, the Economist reported last month that “The European Commission is forecasting growth in 2015 of 1.5 per cent, which would be the euro area’s best outcome since 2011.” A growth rate nearly four times that of some of the most advanced economies in the world hardly suggests “distress”.
3. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak launched Malaysia’s ‘Economic Transformation Programme’ in 2010. Let me highlight some key achievements: Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia Gets a Dose of Real Talk
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak on Monday, 22 June 2015
By William Pesek
Bloomberg
Jun 18, 2015
Asia-based journalists have missed Mahathir Mohamad since he left office in 2003. The former Malaysian prime minister’s mercurial governing style and fiery rhetoric made for great copy. I was in a Hong Kong ballroom in 1997 when Mahathir — the man credited with turning the agricultural backwater Kuala Lumpur, which literally means “muddy river,” into one of Asia’s most impressive skylines — responded to his country’s crashing economy by castigating hedge fund managers. He singled out George Soros as a “moron.”
Mahathir now has a new target — Najib Razak, Malaysia’s current prime minister. The daily squabbling between Najib and his predecessor has unsettled Malaysian markets, with the ringgit falling to its lowest value in a decade. But Najib has nobody to blame but himself for the attacks, given the country’s underlying economic distress. Malaysia’s prolonged slow growth, which has Fitch now threatening a downgrade of the country’s credit ratings, traces back to Najib’s refusal, or inability, to make good on his pledges to dismantle race-based policies that strangle innovation, feed cronyism and repel multinational companies.
You don’t have to take Mahathir’s word for it — Malaysia’s most successful entrepreneurs say the same thing. Just ask Tony Fernandes of AirAsia. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Ultra Malay racist’ BTN undermining multicultural Malaysia, says G25 rep
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Monday, 22 June 2015
By Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
June 17, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 ― The National Civics Bureau (BTN) is undermining Putrajaya’s effort to promote inclusiveness among races, former ambassador Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin said yesterday after the agency’s slides critical of several groups were leaked online.
Noor Farida also slammed BTN for toeing the line of religious authorities by demonising liberalism and pluralism without explaining why, when such concepts are reflected in the Quran, the Federal Constitution, as well as the Rukunegara.
“There seems to be very little doubt that BTN is an ultra Malay racist agency. How the government can establish an organisation like this and use civil servants and public funds boggles the mind,” said Noor Farida, the spokesman of G25, a group of former Malay high-ranking civil servants.
“Instead of promoting national unity, the BTN is undermining it. Notions like Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) appears to be it’s main agenda. Whatever happened to the Ministry of National Unity? It has now been relegated to nothing.” Read the rest of this entry »
Why the BTN must be shut down
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Monday, 22 June 2015
Azrul Mohd Khalib
The Malay Mail Online
June 19, 2015
JUNE 19 ― Ask anyone who has ever done their undergraduate degree in Malaysian public universities and quite a few of them will tell you how they were forced to attend and endure the Biro Tatanegara courses.
Each year, hundreds of students join civil servants from various departments, ministries and institutions to be indoctrinated or brainwashed into becoming unthinking, obedient and compliant drones whose allegiance is arguably not towards God, King and Country but more likely leaning towards Umno, Melayu and of course, Umno.
What they often produce instead each year are groups of people who are often embarrassed, cynical and frustrated listening to a bumbling group of individuals who have no business being instructors of anything other than potty training.
Many former attendees admit to being shocked and mortified at the content of these courses which are often unashamedly racist, bigoted, and ignorant and Malay Muslim supremacist in nature. The thing is the attendees are often multi-ethnic and reflect the rich diversity of Malaysian society.
Instead of fulfilling its stated aims which are to nurture the spirit of patriotism and commitment to excellence and good values among Malaysians, and to train leaders and future leaders to support the nation’s development efforts, this government agency which exists under the Prime Minister’s Department has for decades promoted racial and religious discrimination and divisiveness. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP ideology suits rapper Edry just fine
By Geraldine Tong
Malaysiakini
Jun 21, 2015
MALAYSIANS KINI Edry Faizal Yusof is a Malay who speaks near-perfect Chinese. But suggest it as a reason for his joining DAP, a Chinese-majority political party, and he noticeably bristled at the thought.
“People always say ‘oh you speak Chinese, no wonder you joined DAP’. But that has nothing to do with anything,” Edry insisted.
For Edry, now a coordinator for DAP mouthpiece Roketkini, it has never been a race thing, but more of an ideology thing.
“When I first started considering getting involved in politics, I did my research and found that DAP and its ideals suited me best. That’s why I joined them,” he explained simply.
But he has not always been interested in politics, he admitted. Read the rest of this entry »
BTN is a tool for Umno’s propaganda
Posted by Kit in Malays, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Monday, 22 June 2015
– Iskandar Fareez
The Malaysian Insider
21 June 2015
I am appalled to read the recent statement made by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim in defence of the National Civic Bureau (BTN).
Perhaps the leaking of presentation slides are not enough and Razali needs more testimonials from participants before he admits that BTN was and will continue to be a tool for Umno’s political propaganda.
From my personal experience going through training at BTN during my secondary school days, the modules were designed with the purpose of indoctrinating participants with a Malay supremacist agenda under the guise of nation building.
Being only in my teen years, we were called on to defend Malaysia’s current leadership to avoid any split of Malay political dominance.
We were cautioned that any hints of discord among the Malay community will be used by the opportunist non-Malays to take over the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Scrap the 1MDB roadshows as they will end up as disastrously as the “Nothing2Hide” 1MDB Forum
Posted by Kit in Election, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Sunday, 21 June 2015
One of the most accident-prone government front-benchers, the Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan announced yesterday that nation-wide roadshows to explain the 1MDB scandal and other government controversies will be launched at the state levels during the second week of Syawal.
I would advise the Federal government to scrap the 1MDB nation-wide roadshows as they will end up as disastrously as the “Nothing2Hide” 1MDB Forum at the Putra World Trade Centre in KL on June 5 where the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak ignominiously backed out of appearance because of Mahathir’s presence, unless Najib could immediately explain whether 1MDB funds had been misused for the UMNO/BN campaign in the 13th General Election, and are now being spent and misused in Sarawak for the forthcoming Sarawak state polls.
Najib’s thunderous silence on the third day of the Wall Street Journal expose on Friday that the 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit had been used to bankroll his 13th General Election campaign does not brook well that the Prime Minister’s credibility can recover with any “Public Relations” gimmicry like 1MDB nation-wide roadshows.
Why is Najib incapable of giving a detailed and convincing rebuttal to the Wall Street Journal allegation that one “trick” of using 1MDB billions of ringgit to bankroll Najib’s 13GE election campaign was through the artifice of 1MDB making overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012 – paying RM2.3 billion or around five times for a power plant that was only worth RM400 million, with Genting make a subsequent donation to a foundation controlled by Najib for the 13GE campaigning purposes. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s national per capita income increased 25-fold from 1970 to 2014 but Malaysia’s financial scandal increased by more than 63,000-fold from RM66 million in 1975 to RM42 billion today
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Sunday, 21 June 2015
When introducing the Eleven Malaysia Plan in Parliament last month, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak boasted that Malaysia’s national per capita income increased 25-fold from 1970 to 2014, rising from the ranks of a low-income economy in the 1970s to a high middle-income economy today.
What Najib did not tell Malaysians is that Malaysia’s financial scandal had increased by more than 63,0000-fold from the RM66 million Bank Rakyat scandal in 1975 to the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal of today!
No wonder that even the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, who during his 22-year administration from 1981 to 2003, had chalked up a long series of financial scandals probably costing the country some RM100 billion, has come to forefront to demand accountability, transparency and good governance from the Najib premiership in utter disgust at the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history – the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal.
In the escalating Najib-Mahathir tussle for accountability, transparency and good governance over the 1MDB scandal, DAP leaders have been proven right that allegations of malpractices, abuses of power and even corruption in the 1MDB scandal in the past few years with DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and the PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli spearheading the 1MDB exposes in the last four years had hit the nail on the head about the enormity and iniquity of the 1MDB scandal. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat crisis might have come earlier if PR had won majority of seats in 13 GE as Hadi had never accepted Anwar as PR candidate for Prime Minister
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, PKR on Sunday, 21 June 2015
In response to media query, I want to stress that I do not want to be involved in polemcis with the PAS President, Hadi Awang who claimed that Pakatan Rakyat is not dead yet and that the coalition still exists.
The PAS Muktamar resolution cutting ties with DAP is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back as for a year Pakatan Rakyat had existed in name but not in fact, because Hadi had violated the two basic and bedrock Pakatan Rakyat principles, the PR Common Policy Framework and the consensus operational principle that the agreement of all three PR component parties are needed for any PR motion to be made and that no single leader has the veto power to override the decisions of the PR Leadership Council.
Hadi not only violated the PR Common Policy Framework but acted in utter disregard of the PR consensus operational principle as if he could override decisions taken by the PR Leadership Council in the same way he had no qualms about overriding decisions taken by the PAS Central Working Committee.
In fact, the Pakatan Rakyat crisis might have come even earlier if Pakatan Rakyat had been successful in winning the majority of the parliamentary seats in the 13GE two years ago as Hadi had never accepted Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the PR candidate to be Prime Minister of Malaysia.
With such a background, I find it astounding that Hadi could now claim that Pakatan Rakyat is not dead, when the PR Secretariat had for the past year find it almost impossible to fix a meeting when the PAS President could attend. Read the rest of this entry »
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