Official arrogance will bring Najib down

Jeswan Kaur | September 13, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

When he took over as prime minister, Najib Tun Razak said he will listen to the people but his officers have turned a deaf ear to the promise with their arrogance.

COMMENT

In 2009, when Najib Tun Razak took over the country’s affairs from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he promised the rakyat that his government would be all ears. But two years down the road it appears that the promise was just lip service.

One such example of refusing to listen to the rakyat was displayed through the insensitive remark by the Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal.

In February this year, Raja Nong Chik had admonished the Bukit Jalil estate workers who turned to him for help in trying to avoid being evicted from their homes. The minister told the residents that they should be contented with the Little India project when they wanted to negotiate compensation.

Raja Nong Chik, instead of living up to the objective of his “ambitious” sounding ministry, told the residents that they should be glad the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had spent a lot of money on the Little India project in Brickfields.

Raja Nong Chik arbitrarily offered RM23,000 each to those who had worked in the rubber estate for more than 15 years and RM11,000 for the rest.

Initially, the offer was RM11,000 for those who worked there for more than 15 years and RM6,000 for the others.

Forty-one families had asked for three acres of a 26-acre land to build low-cost terrace houses as compensation for vacating the land they had been living on for three generations.

Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) had acquired their land in 1980 and pledged that the appointed contractors would pay their wages and make EPF contributions for working on the rubber plantation.

But the pledge was never kept and the residents demanded that DBKL pay up the outstanding wages and EPF contributions.

The residents were equally upset that their representatives were not allowed to speak at a meeting, which was attended by Raja Nong Chik’s deputy M Saravanan and Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

Showing more disrespect

Raja Nong Chik, it seems, only allowed the residents to voice their grievances after much objection. The residents who had been living at the Bukit Jalil estate for three generations were given a mere week to consider the offer, failing which the minister threatened to issue them with eviction notices.

It was later revealed that the land belongs to Bukit Jalil Development Sdn Bhd, a property developer. Questions were raised as to why was the BN government negotiating on behalf of a private entity, in a typical show of abuse of power.

The residents were told that upon acquiring the land, the government would build a cemetery on it. But to an independent observer, Shin Choong Men, he doubted as to whether a cemetery would really be built there.

“Are you trying to say that a private developer wants to build a cemetery on this valuable piece of real estate?” Shin asked during a Press conference on this matter.

In August this year, Sarawak’s State Land Development Minister James Masing, labelled the Penan native customary rights landowners as thieves, accusing them of stealing oil palm fruit bunches from four major government-linked oil palm plantations.

Earlier on, Masing accused the Penans of being “good story tellers” when the Penan women and girls cried rape at the hands of timber loggers.

In the case of the oil palm fruit bunches, Masing lost his head because illegal harvesting of oil palm fruits had cost Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) and its joint-venture partners some RM33.6 million in losses.

As far as Masing was concerned, the thieves were none other than the Penans.

“Stealing is stealing, no matter how you (the landowners) try to justify it. You don’t steal from your friend,” Masing had lashed out at the Penan community.

Masing’s finger-pointing outraged the Penan community in Kampung Ugos, Jambatan Suai, in Baru Niah, who took offence and proceeded to lodge a police report against Masing.

Drop the arrogance

Penan chief Ugos Sugon, who lodged the report on behalf of his people at the Batu Niah police station on Aug 12, said Masing had no right to call them thieves.

“We are not thieves… we are not happy at being accused of stealing from our own land. We have been waiting for our dividends for a very long time.

“In February 2009, after waiting 13 years we received a cash cheque of RM500,000 to be divided among us.

“The 500 of us in Kampung Ugos are to share the RM500,000… after 13 years. It is not right,” he said.

Ugos and his people had, in 1999, agreed to jointly develop their NCR land with the LCDA and its band of private investors.

However, the “deal”, according to the villagers, was somewhat unfair to them.

Many claimed that they had not even seen the agreement. The villagers believe the joint-venture project involving their NCR lands has made millions for LCDA and the private investors “in view of the very good oil palm price for many years”.

Early this month, Tenaganita director, Irene Fernandez, criticised director-general of labour, Sheikh Yahya Sheikh Mohamed, who was quoted in The Star, as saying that Malaysia was not “desperate” for Indonesian maids and could hire maids from other countries.

“His statement smacks of arrogance. What he is saying is that since we are ‘rich’, we can move anywhere to recruit maids,” Fernandez said.

She had pointed out that Indonesian maids were turning away from Malaysia as an employment destination because of the poor treatment and official arrogance on matters concerning their welfare.

A slap to Malaysia

She said the recent decision by the Australian High Court to block the refugee swap deal between Australia and Malaysia was a slap to Malaysia’s policies and should “awaken us to change”.

Malaysia, she said, was shamelessly sliding back into exploitation and slavery as other nations move towards developed sustainability.

“The government can no longer sustain this form of modern-day slavery manifested in domestic labour.

“Employers must realise that they can no longer expect cheap labour, demand 18-hour work schedules and silence migrant workers with the support of the state.”

Two years ago, the Labour Department director-general Ismail Abdul Rahim commented that the Sexual Harassment Act “could lead to a dull and rigid environment in the workplace”.

Women, Family and Community Development Ministry revealed that between 2005 and 2008, there were 3,096 cases of sexual violence and harassment cases, including rape and molestation, reported to the police. Another 27 disciplinary cases involving the public sector were reported to the Public Service Department.

“Besides, sexual harassment in whatever forms, be it physical, verbal or psychological, was a serious offence under the Penal Code,” Women, Family and Community Development deputy minister Noriah Kasnon had said.

How should the rakyat perceive a department head like Ismail, who is least disturbed by incidences of sexual harassment at the workplace? One wonders what Ismail’s take is on the Rabia Abdul Salam case, an athlete who committed suicide 17 years ago after she was sexually harassed by her coach.

In December 2009, Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahim Othman said a Malaysian transsexual fighting deportation from Britain would be punished for bringing “great shame” to Malaysia.

Mohamed Fazdil Min Bahari, a pre-operative transsexual known as Fatine, married a British man in a civil ceremony but was refused permanent visa on technical grounds.

Uncalled-for haughtiness

Abdul Rahim had said that once deported to Malaysia, Fatine could be banned from travelling overseas for at least two years, all because she brought “great shame” to the country.

In April this year, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Noh Amar, who, in his capacity as the Selangor Umno deputy chief, chided urban voters for being ungrateful for the initiatives implemented by the BN government, as seen from their refusal to vote for BN in the Sarawak state polls held on April 16 this year.

Incidentally, on April 7 last year, Noh, infamous for his racist remarks, read out at the Selangor BN convention quotes from speeches of MIC and MCA leaders, in the 1960s, which praised Umno for giving citizenship to the non-Malays.

This prompted 15 Kapar MCA delegates to walk out of the convention, claiming Noh’s speech was an insult to the Chinese and Indians. DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang later raised this issue in the Dewan Rakyat demanding that the government apologise over Noh’s remark.

However, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nazri Aziz, rejected the demand and instead asked Lim to settle the matter with Noh.

The intention of harking back to incidences of “official arrogance” is to caution Najib of the arrogance festering among the government servants. Instead of serving the rakyat, the department heads show no remorse in name-calling and condemning the very people they are supposed to help, ending up making a hash of a job.

The government servants, through their uncalled-for haughtiness, have conveniently forgotten who the stakeholders really are, that is the rakyat. The carte blanche abuse of power will exert a price, more so going by Najib’s refusal to come to the defence of the rakyat and take such irresponsible department heads to task.

It remains a mystery as to for how long Najib intends to remain silent while the people are bullied under the weight of “official arrogance”.

Perhaps Najib plans to open his mouth and spew words of support just before the 13th general election. But, by then, it would have been too late to undo the damage resulting from the “official arrogance”.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance journalist and a FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 September 2011, 11:15 am and is filed under
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Pakatan asks BN to jointly fix polls date

By
Shannon Teoh and Mohamed Hosni Ibrahim

September 13, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — The federal opposition has called for the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to negotiate and fix the date of the next general election together to avoid any dispute over the implementation of electoral reforms that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has promised.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers said today that as Putrajaya has set aside six months for a parliamentary select committee to table recommendations to the House, the government should allow enough time for the reforms to take place before federal polls are called.

“It will show their commitment to electoral reforms. It has never happened before but we can make history and avoid any dissatisfaction,” said PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub.

The prime minister had announced last month that a polls reform panel would be set up, six weeks after tens of thousands poured into the capital in the July 9 Bersih rally to support free and fair elections.

However, he has said that reforms can be implemented as and when his administration saw fit.

Salahuddin noted that the current Parliament need not be dissolved until April 2013, “so there is no need to rush into things.”

“We have time. Even if we want to amend the constitution to implement reforms, we give our sincere assurance that we will support it. But if there is no assurance from them, then it is just window dressing and Bersih 3 will take place. Don’t forget this,” the Kubang Kerian MP said.

PR set out today four other demands to guarantee the opposition pact’s full support to the committee, including implementing Bersih’s eight-point demand, reasonable time for the panel to discuss suggestions, inserting the issue of citizenship to foreigners as one of the terms of reference and that all recommendations tabled must be fulfilled.

But Salahuddin refused to say if PR would boycott the committee if all five demands were not met.

“We will see how the federal government will respond to this and then negotiate,” he said.

PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar and DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke also represented their parties in demanding an assurance from Najib that the committee’s findings would be fully implemented before Parliament is dissolved.

“If it is dissolved, then the select committee will also be dissolved automatically and rendered invalid. This will mean that the select committee is just a political ploy to pull wool over the eyes of the public and repair Najib’s image after the Bersih rally,” said Loke, who is Rasah MP.

The international media had widely criticised the Najib administration’s clampdown on the July 9 rally which saw water cannons and tear gas fired on demonstrators by police who also arrested nearly 2,000 leading up to and during the march.

PAS’s Tumpat MP Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar also stressed that the issue of foreigners being given voting rights must be addressed before polls are called.

“If we are so proud that we are no longer colonised, then we should not be colonised by foreign voters in this coming election,” the Islamist party’s former secretary-general said, referring to the ongoing debate over the contribution of communist leaders to Malaysia’s independence effort.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 September 2011, 1:58 pm and is filed under
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Pua: Telcos’ tax is illegal

K Pragalath | September 13, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

Decision to charge the 6% service tax is akin to price fixing and is against the soon to be implemented Competition Act 2010, says PJ Utara MP.

PETALING JAYA: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua criticised the decision by telecommunication companies to charge the 6% service tax as illegal because the companies were trying to fix prices.

“There is no question that the joint statement (on the decision) and attempt by the four telecommunication companies to raise prices by the same percentage concurrently is illegal because they are colluding to form a cartel for the purposes of price-fixing.

“The real issue at hand is the blatant and coordinated attempt by the telecommunication companies to raise prices concurrently, contemptuous of the competitive spirit,” said Pua.

On Thursday, all the telecomunication companies – Maxis, Digi, Celcom and Unifi – announced in a joint statement that purchases of prepaid reloads and prepaid starterpacks for all telcos will be charged a 6% service tax, effective Sept 15.

Bernama had reported that the move was taken to ensure mobile prepaid services remain competitive compared to the postpaid, given the high prepaid rates for calls and SMS from the onset.

The move, however, did no go down well with politicians from both sides of the divide and the public, and led to a decision to delay taxation to next year.

Yesterday, all telecommunication companies suspended service tax on their pre-paid SIM card packs and reload pending discussions with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

‘New law must have bite’

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said the MCMC would review and determine the best time to implement the tax.

Pua also said that the move to impose taxes is against the Competition Act 2010 which is aimed at promoting competition. It would come into effect in February next year.

“The Competition Act 2010 states that, “the object of the Act is to promote economic development by protecting the process of competition, and thereby the interest of consumers”.

“The bill specifically bans anti-competitive agreements including price fixing, import cartel, bid rigging, territorial allocation, limiting production, market sharing.

“The anti-competitive agreements will be subject to financial penalties of up to 10% of the worldwide turnover of the enterprise over the period during which the infringement occurred,” said Pua who is also DAP’s national publicity secretary.

Pua urged the government, especially the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to issue a stern warning to the telecommunication companies that their anti-competitive behaviour will not be tolerated.

“The government must act to prove that the Competition Act will protect ordinary consumers and not be trampled upon at will by Malaysian corporate giants,” said Pua.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 September 2011, 10:29 pm and is filed under
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Top court says Lingam video RCI findings ‘cannot be reviewed’

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 13, 2011

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 13 — The Federal Court ruled today that the findings of  the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the controversial V.K. Lingam video clip cannot be reviewed as the commissioners merely made findings and it was not a decision.

Lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam wanted the Court of Appeal to review the RCI’s findings that he had committed criminal misbehaviour which, he said, was a grave attack on his reputation, and that he had been adversely affected.

The senior lawyer argued that although he had not been prosecuted, his reputation had been gravely tarnished and injured, and that it was his fundamental right under the Federal Constitution to safeguard his reputation.

Justice Raus Sharif ruled that Lingam and two former chief justices were not adversely affected by the findings of the commission.

Sitting with Raus, who is Court of Appeal president, were Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, who chaired the three-man panel, and Federal Court judge Justice Abdull Hamid Embong.

On February 7, then-Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, leading a three-man panel of the Federal Court, unanimously ruled that the question of law posed by the commission for determination of the Federal Court was a novel one and of public interest.

He said the commission had met the requirements of section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act and granted leave to the commission to appeal on one question of law, that is on whether its (commission) findings under section 3 of the Commission of Enquiry Act 1950 were reviewable by way of judicial review.

The other members of the panel were Zulkefli and Abdull Embong.

On August 24 last year, the appellate court, in a 2-1 majority decision, allowed the appeal brought by Lingam and former Chief Justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim to set aside the High Court’s refusal to grant leave for their applications for judicial review to quash the commission’s findings.

Following the appellate court’s decision, the matter was remitted back to the Kuala Lumpur High Court to proceed to hear the merits of the trio’s judicial review application.

In its report, the five-member panel of the RCI had concluded that the video clip was authentic, and that Lingam was the person in conversation with Ahmad Fairuz over the appointment of judges.

The commission had also recommended that appropriate action be taken against six individuals, namely Lingam, Eusoff, Fairuz, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and businessman and former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor for misconduct.

It also found that there was prima facie evidence to investigate the six men for offences under the Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, the Penal Code and the Legal Profession Act.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 September 2011, 1:18 pm and is filed under
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Chief Jester’s Circus and Charade Comes to a Close (Part 1)

By Martin Jalleh

14 Sept. 2011

Zaki Azmi has retired as the Chief Justice (CJ) of Bolehland. Weeks before the final curtain, he held himself in high regard in press interviews by giving rave reviews of his own tenure. He felt “very satisfied with the judiciary’s achievements in less than three years” (Bernama).

For a long time the mainstream press had portrayed  Zaki as a “reluctant” CJ. But as his retirement date drew nearer, the Malay Mail (MM) revved up the farewell accolades by revering him as the “Judiciary’s Renaissance man” (25.08.11).

According to MM’s executive editor Terence Fernandez the feedback he received from Zaki’s contemporaries in the Federal Court including Arifin Zakaria, Raus Sharif, James Foong, Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Abdull Hamid Embong was that Zaki “has revolutionised the judiciary”.

Praise for Zaki’s tenure also came from the Bar Council. Its chairperson Lim Chee Wee lauded him as one who has “surpassed the Bar’s expectations as he has implemented many positive changes”. Lim listed 11 of the changes (Malaysiakini, 06.09.11).

Zaki’s changes may have been impressive but the reputation of the judiciary was sullied irreparably during his term of office. In the eyes of the public the judiciary sunk so low as to allow itself to be intimidated, its independence and impartiality interfered with, and its integrity reduced to ignominy.

He may have “performed very well” (according to Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee)  but Zaki’s judiciary continued to be a convenient playground for the ruling elite to stay in power, persecute their opponents,  punish dissenters and promote their political agenda, through the perversion of the rule of law. Further, it became so predictable!

Zaki took great pride in reiterating that he has never presided over any Umno-related cases during his tenure. He did not need to. His cohorts especially in the appellate courts would run the judicial circus on his behalf and even readily run riot with their ridiculous judgments, reducing the country into a judicial backwater!

Little wonder the ‘Perak cases’ for example were made the exclusive domain of the few judges who were already looked upon with increasing dismay by the public for their perceived political partisanship. It was not difficult to guess why the well-regarded judges in the Federal Court were kept out.

The latest indictment on Zaki’s judiciary was in the form of an unsworn statement from the dock by Anwar Ibrahim in his sodomy trial. He explained that he was opting to testify from the dock, because he had no confidence he would be tried fairly and he showed in detail the court’s undeniable bias against him thus far.

He called the entire court process “nothing but a conspiracy by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars… this is not a criminal trial. It is a charade staged by the powers that be to put me out of action in order that they remain in power.” He was putting the judiciary on trial!

It is very evident that the “Judiciary’s Renaissance man” left behind a legacy of a judiciary scandalously compromised, shamelessly cowed and a slew of shocking contradictory and convoluted judgments. He failed to put his house into order so he shifted his furniture around to impress some of the people, like those in the Bar Council!

Zaki’s supposed judicial reform  was shredded into smithereens and his judicial show and sham laid bare by Justice N H Chan who was furious at how the judiciary which he had served so faithfully has been reduced to a farce run by those who are “intellectual frauds”.

The respected, renowned and retired accused Zaki’s judges of “putting themselves beyond the pale…just like pariahs”. He showed why he considered some of the judges, especially those in the appellate courts – “ignorant”, “incompetent”, “inconsistent”, “imposters” and even “idiots”!

The then Chief Justice remained silent! His conspicuous and continued silence gave credence to the court of public opinion that it is one of “quiet subservience”. Evidently, it would be safer to maintain the status quo and to say that he was “very satisfied with the judiciary’s achievements in less than three years”.

There were those who interpreted Zaki’s silence as him allowing, approving, aiding and abetting with members of the judiciary who had left behind a dead constitution, “bad” and “perverse” decisions, dubious declaratory orders, judgments devoid of reasoned grounds, and disgraceful double standards.

The Government must have been very pleased with the fine performance of their reliable Renaissance Man. It even made a  recent revision of a remuneration law in Parliament so that Zaki can ride into the sunset with a full pension after serving only for less than three years! Zaki was so touched, he invited the PM for a cup of tea but it created quite a storm!

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011, 3:13 pm and is filed under
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Chief Jester’s Circus and Charade Comes to a Close (Part 2)

by
Martin Jalleh

14 Sept 2011

Zaki Azmi, the “Judiciary’s Renaissance man” has left behind a legacy of a judiciary scandalously compromised, shamelessly cowed and a slew of shocking contradictory and convoluted judgments. Below are some examples.

“Creatures of the Government”

In Dec. 2009, Abdul Aziz Bari, a constitutional law expert, declared that  the judiciary has been reduced to one that “takes its cue from the government”.) But it has been the then CJ’s belief that since the 1988 judicial crisis “the confidence in the judiciary has improved a great deal” (The Nut Graph, 26.03.10)!

Zaki called those who criticized the judiciary for its lack of independence “a small group of vociferous people out there, who go onto the internet and blogs and Facebook and all that and make comments without knowing the proper background. Many are not even lawyers.”

A few months later lawyer Edmund Bon, who was then the chairman of the constitutional law committee of the Bar Council revealed that “the perception that the judiciary is executive-compliant still remains till today” (Free Malaysia Today, 17.08.10)!

According to former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram: “… the judiciary has become so ‘executive-minded’ and that “the judges have become creatures of the government” (Malaysiakini, 16.09.10).

The NST quoted Zaki on 12 May this year that feedback from lawyers showed that they were happy with the integrity of the judiciary and had not heard anything negative since 2008. He added: “I am sure many, if not all, agree that the Malaysian judiciary is now free from any criticism or accusation of bias or partiality.”

Very apparently he had not listened to N H Chan who had often pointed out that the “Perak crisis has brought out a host of cases that showed that the judges gave the impression that they were one-sided. The perception of the people is that they sided with the BN government.”

Cowardice & Cold Feet in the Courts

The less-than-three-year tenure of Zaki Azmi saw the Federal Court shirking its responsibility to execute justice by declining to answer burning constitutional questions especially those related to conversion issues.

There were instances when it chose not to make a ruling but preferred to dismiss the case on technicalities instead. There is no better example of this that the Shamala Sathiyaseelan appeal.   The glaring truth is that the court of last resort in this country is not the Federal Court, but political expediency.

Commenting on the issue, the Bar Council said that “the Federal Court failed to be decisive and abdicated its role as the ultimate arbiter in disputes involving constitutional questions and jurisdictional conflict.”

Respected lawyer Art Harun concurred: “I have lost count of the number of cases which involve inter-faith conflicts arising from conversion and re-conversion of a person from one faith to another — often from one faith to Islam and back to the original faith — where the Federal Court had chosen not to make a ruling, preferring to dismiss the case on technicalities instead.”

On 28 July 2010 Zaki shied away from explaining why the Court of Appeal has yet to set a hearing date for the controversial “Allah” court case more than a year after it was filed. (The Catholic Church, which had initially agreed to stay publishing the word after a series of attacks broke out nationwide following the ruling on 31 Dec. 2009, has grown anxious at the extraordinary delay.)

On 8 Sept. this year, a three-member panel of the Federal Court led by Zaki, an unanimous decision, dismissed a crucial appeal by five Sarawak native customary rights landowners, a decision which will adversely affect more than 100 similar cases (Malaysiakini).

Both Zaki and another member of the panel, refused to interpret the constitutional question affecting native customary right land in Sarawak with the excuse that the issue of unconstitutionality was not raised or properly canvassed before the Court.

Baru Bian, one of the lawyers for the natives pointed out that there were in fact oral and written submissions on the matter.  The judges “were evading the practical problem on the ground”. Law professor Abdul Aziz Bari opined that by refusing to deal with the constitutionality issue, the Federal court has abdicated its duty.

Contradictions

Zaki’s cowed judiciary took its cue from the government and this resulted in the courts being riddled with self-contradictions or courts contradicting one another, at times to a ridiculous extent! Below are some examples.

On 9 Feb. the Federal Court in the case of whether PR’s Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin or BNs Zambry Abd Kadir is the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak ignored (and contradicted) the established precedents.

set in the Stephen Kalong Ningkan case in Sarawak in 1966 and the Pairin Kitingan case in Sabah in 1985.

On 25 Feb. 2010 the Federal Court unanimously decided not to review its 29 Jan. decision barring Anwar Ibrahim from access to the documents “which would be tendered as part of the evidence for the prosecution” and “a written statement of facts favourable to the defence” which he is entitled to.

There had been 10 previous decisions since 2001, presided by four previous chief justices where the Federal Court allowed a review of its own decision. Further, a month earlier (21.01.10) the Federal Court, acting on an application by the CJ reviewed and revised its absurd and perverse decision made a decade ago. One of the judges on the panel was Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin. He was also on the panel of the 25 Feb. hearing! In other words he contradicted himself about a month later!

On 5 Aug. the election court threw out Zaid Ibrahim’s petition to declare the election of P Kamalanathan as MP of Hulu Selangor on April 25 void, for Zaid failed to furnish details to back up his claims that the poll results were influenced by bribery and corruption.

In the Sodomy II case the court held that the details – police reports, list of witnesses, medical reports – of the prosecution’s ongoing case against Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy, details that are as a norm furnished to the defence at the start of a trial “have not been fatal to the prosecution’s case”.

In April, in a case between ousted Perak Speaker V Sivakumar and BN assemblymen in Perak, the Federal Court ruled that it was allowed to inquire into legislative proceedings. It departed from the precedent which gives respect to the doctrine of separation of powers.

On 22 Oct 2010 (in a case brought about by Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo) the High Court ruled that legislative proceedings cannot be challenged in court. The constitution was supreme and that it cannot question proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat.

Other than introducing measures to speed up cases and ensure judgments are issued on time, Zaki has also been dogged by controversy during his time as CJ, the latest over amendments that allow him to get a full pension despite serving just a few years in the judiciary.

On the pages of history will be penned the public perception of a Umno lawyer picked by the Government from the Bar, parked in the Court of Appeal for a while, and placed at the pinnacle of the judiciary at an opportune time so that he and his cohorts could pander to their wishes and be paid a handsome price for bring prized lap-dogs!

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011, 3:23 pm and is filed under
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Economists no longer able to predict economic crisis, says ISIS chief

By Lee Wei Lian

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 14, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, September 14 — The global economy is now so unbalanced that economists are no longer able to predict crises, said Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) chief Datuk Mahani Zainal Abidin today.

This comes as the global markets continue to be plagued with uncertainty due to the lingering effects of the 2008 financial meltdown that hit the United States and Europe.

While Malaysia was spared from the financial crisis and has resumed economic expansion after the 2009 recession, its stock market has been rocked by global volatility, while inflation has soared due to pressure from high commodity prices. Property prices have also jumped dramatically owing to ample liquidity.

The think tank chief said that the problem was that the financial economy has become much larger than the real economy and admitted that assumptions used by economists no longer work.

“If you look at the world, economic theory has not kept up with what’s happening,” said Mahani at the launch of the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2011 today.

“We can’t predict the future as assumptions don’t reflect reality. The financial part of the economy is bigger than the real part.”

She added that a key factor was that financial institutions were now compensating their CEOs based on profits, which encouraged too much risk taking.

“You look at how much a top banker gets paid versus a good engineer. Good engineers studied very hard. What does a good banker do? Basically shuffling papers,” she said.

The former member of the National Economic Action Council that crafted the New Economic Model for the Najib administration said another factor was that financial products and services have become too complex, which made it easier for speculators to manipulate prices.

“These financial people are very clever,” she said. “All the best brains are going into finance. Financial engineering has become far more complex than real engineering. You look at the high price of gold and other commodities. It is not that we are eating more rice. It is because of financial engineering.”

Mahani also warned that the situation is expected to deteriorate further, with the ratio of the financial sector to the larger economy worsening and potentially causing social problems.

“It is easy to create money, you just print,” she said. “The US quantitative easing pumped in US$600 billion (RM1.8 trillion) just like that. But the effects are (destabilising) capital flows. First, the stock market will go up and down. Now, when I see the stock market go down, I don’t worry anymore. Second, it will bite into property. The non-bankers will no longer able to afford property. Only people who know how to manipulate money can buy property.”

She said that Malaysia was lucky in some respects as it had learned from the 1997 Asian financial crisis and was not “gung-ho” about financial liberalisation.

The ISIS head added that Malaysia needed to prepare for the future by building a balanced economy.

“Although we want strong exports we also need a strong domestic economy,” she said. “Don’t forget about agriculture. Last time agriculture was not interesting but now it is considered very important.”

She added that the country needed to take steps to tackle its household debts levels.

As a percentage of GDP, Malaysia’s household debt increased from 66.7 per cent in 2004 to 76 per cent in 2009, which is uncomfortably close to the levels seen in the US prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

“Households have large debts because we encourage consumption,” she said. “Then when there are external shocks, they cannot cope.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011, 11:41 pm and is filed under
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Hasty deadlines, languid decisions marring MRT project

By Jahabar Sadiq

Editor

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 14, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Rushed tender deadlines, slow decision-making and an abrupt change of project owners is blighting the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project that is already reeling from controversial land acquisitions along the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line, critics say.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the key independent check engineer (ICE) job has finally been issued — eight months after it was first put up for tender in the last week of December 2010 — just before the change of project owners.

It was one of many tenders that had short deadlines, much to the dismay of many engineering companies interested in taking part in the bidding.

“The ICE tender was on the last week of December 2010 when most people are on holiday. If that is not bad enough, it took them eight months to finally send out the official award letter,” an industry source told The Malaysian Insider.

“And what is strange is the award was given out so late by Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd (Prasarana) but just days before the project was transferred to MRT Co as the new owners,” he added, referring to the switch in project owners by Putrajaya.

Putrajaya had announced last month that MRT Co would take over as project owners effective September 1, with former managing director of Sime Darby Plantation, Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, as the chief executive officer.

“They might as well have waited for MRT Co to relook and sign the contracts as they are the new project owners,” the industry source said.

The Malaysian Insider reported on April 14 that the Prasarana board was to meet on that day to award the contract for two per cent of the undetermined project cost, which is reportedly above market rates.

The report said the consortium of HSSI, Hong Kong’s MTR Corp Ltd and Canadian SNC-Lavalin was likely to land the contract despite being rejected by SPNB earlier for not putting a price to its brief — which usually costs up to 0.8 per cent of the total project.

It was understood that the matter was taken off the agenda at the last minute. Prasarana later admitted that HSSI and SNC-Lavalin were already working on the project since February while waiting for the formal award letter.

It is now learnt that the contract price has been revised from RM700 million to RM200 million. The engineering consortium is also seeing a reduced role for SNC-Lavalin while MTR Corp Ltd has pulled out. A key component of the tender requirements is a partnership with an MRT operator.

Officials familiar with the MRT project said that Putrajaya’s Performance and Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) was concerned about the procurement aspects of the MRT and wanted a direct hand in the process. Prasarana has already had run-ins with its ultimate shareholder, Ministry of Finance (MoF), over a Light Rail Transit (LRT) extension project contract.

It is learnt that differences of opinion and changes in contract awards had led to Prasarana non-executive chairman Tan Sri Izzudin Dali leaving the post last August 31 after just one term. The former Treasury secretary-general is known for his no-nonsense approach and diligent attitude, which led to some clashes over contract awards.

Izzudin’s replacement is former Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam.

Critics have also pointed out that another tender for the supply and delivery of segmental box girders that support the overhead train line also has a short period of just one month between August 23 and September 20, 2011, which included the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday break.

“This is a specialised job that involves very few pre-cast concrete product makers yet it is an open tender rather than a restricted tender. And the period for such tenders is usually six to eight weeks, not three weeks minus the one week Hari Raya break,” an industry official told The Malaysian Insider.

“Why the speed? And why not just invite the few that can actually do the job?” he asked, requesting not to be named by The Malaysian Insider.

He also hoped that MRT Co as the new project owners can clarify the status of contracts and tenders issued by Prasarana, pointing out that Prasarana is the owner and operator of all the other public transport assets such as the LRT, monorail and bus lines.

“There seems to be some duplication here and just more bureaucracy. I hope they get their act together,” the officials said.

Twenty eight firms have already pre-qualified for 16 packages in the elevated part of the 51km-long MRT, which is the country’s biggest infrastructure project and also the largest National Key Economic Area (NKEA) project under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s New Economic Model (NEM).

The cost for the project was earlier reported to be between RM36 billion and RM50 billion although authorities say those estimates are now outdated and no figure can be finalised before the alignment is confirmed in June.

The massive project is expected to generate 130,000 jobs during its five-year construction phase.

The government aims to have more than half of the population in Greater Kuala Lumpur use the public transport system to prevent traffic congestion.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011, 2:48 pm and is filed under
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After 54 years independence, Malaysia still sufferring in the middle income trap

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

There is not much to celebrate after 54 years of independence, as Malaysia is still caught in a middle income trap, where 60% of our households are living below the poverty line of RM3000 per month.

In the past few weeks, PM Najib made some moves calculated to impress the people that the economy is resurging and well on the way to full recovery.

The first plan was to announce that FDIs (foreign direct investments) inflow was spectacular. He admitted that the FDI dropped to a low of US$1.5 billion in 2009 but in 2010 it had rebounded  by over 500 per cent to US$9 billion. It looks impressive, but the increase was large only because it rebounded from a very low baseline.

However, the US$9 billion was minuscule compared to a FDI of US$38 billion in 2010 for Singapore, US$15 billion for Indonesia and US$105 billion for China.

It is quite clear that Malaysia has a long way to go to convince that there are liberal incentives for foreign investors to park their money in Malaysia.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS RANKING

Najib next strategy to give a better impression of his government was to announce that Malaysia had its Global Competitiveness Ranking rise to 21 in 2011 – 2012 from 26 the year before 2010 – 2011. this is nothing new, as Malaysia’s ranking had been hovering between 21 to 26 during the past four years.

However, looking at the performance rankings of Malaysia it is indeed surprising that better performing economies like New Zealand, South Korea, China could be lower in competitiveness.

Besides Malaysia’s corruption perceptions index stands at 56 way below the standing of S. Korea,  or New Zealand. Corruption is so rife in this country that is hurting  every aspect of the economy, big or small.

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM

This is the program designed to stimulate the economy with super-gigantic projects in a desperate effort to stimulate the economy after the havoc wrought by the New Economic Policy. Najib tried to introduce a liberal strategy to the ETP by removing the bumi quota on all new investments whether foreign or local. This was gunned down by PERKASA which insisted that the bumi equity quota stay.

Hampered by the bumi quota ruling, foreign investments are still wary about investing in Malaysia. Hence the much lower FDIs to Malaysia compared to other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Najib is pouring hundreds of billions to stimulate the economy, in the same way that Tun Mahathir did during his tenure as Prime Minister (1982 – 2002).

All to no avail, as World Bank tabulated a chart which showed that Malaysia’s economy slowed down considerably after 1971 when the NEP was implemented, while other economics like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and S. Korea boomed.

PER CAPITA INCOME

After 1971, the Tiger economies of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and S. Korea zoomed upwards while Malaysia’s PCI stagnated. the following figures are explanatory.

Country

PER CAPITA INCOMES (US$)

WORLD BANK RANKING (2010)

MALAYSIA

8,519

47

SINGAPORE

43,324

12

HONG KONG

31,877

19

SOUTH KOREA

20,757

26

CHINA PR

4,393

74

JAPAN

43,161

13

At independence, Malaya had the second highest per capita income, after Japan. These are frank stark figures from World Bank. It depicts just how sorry the Malaysian economy has lagged behind other countries in Asia. Malaysia’s economy was dragged down by the NEP.

Secret of the success of the tiger economies of Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan. All these countries practise a market economy and they have a global outlook.

The solution for Malaysia is to be liberal and to be global. If Malaysia keeps the NEP and refuses to embrace globalism, then Malaysia will forever stay as a middle income economy. Most of Malaysian households will stay poor.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 September 2011, 9:19 am and is filed under
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For now, a healthy dose of scepticism

By
Ong Kian Ming
 | Sep 16, 11

Malaysiakini

Many who read this commentary would accuse me of being unnecessary cynical, that I am not giving credit where it is due. Those who know me better would know that I am an optimist at heart. Which is why I want to caution everyone who is ecstatic over Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcements tonight to take what he says with a large bucket of salt.

On paper, Najib’s announcement to repeal the Internal Security Act 1960 (better known as the ISA) and the less well-known Banishment Act 1959 as well as to review certain sections of the Restricted Residents Act 1933, the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and the Police Act 1967, should be applauded and welcomed by all who advocate for a freer and more democratic country.

But instead of reacting with glee and overwhelming optimism, I have instead chosen to take a more sceptical, and in my humble opinion, more realistic view of these announcements for three related reasons. These are:

(i) The experience of having too high hopes in the promises made by Najib’s predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah), prior to the 2004 general election.

(ii) That Najib’s announcement is just that – a mere announcement until the proper parliamentary proceedings take place.

(iii) That nothing in Najib’s tenure as PM thus far has shown me that he is able and willing to take on the forces needed to implement these fundamental changes that will increase the protection of basic human rights in our country.

A litany of broken promises

Firstly, Pak Lah’s broken promises.

I still remember the tremendous sense of optimism I felt when Pak Lah, who was deputy PM and acting PM then, addressed the Oxbridge alumni in June 2003, where he lamented the ‘malaise’ that was our ‘Third World Mentality’ in the midst of our ‘First World Infrastructure’.

I still can remember quite vividly the euphoria I felt when it was announced, shortly before the 2004 general election, that the then minister for land and cooperative development Kasitah Gaddam, as well as Eric Chia, formerly of Perwaja Steel, were going to be charged with corruption.

And of course, the words ‘Work with me, not for me’ will be forever etched in my mind. The result, as we all know now, was a trail of broken promises left by our former prime minister.

I wonder how many of those who were so captured by Pak Lah’s promises feel similarly giddy after hearing the promises made by Najib earlier tonight? If you answer in the affirmative, I advise you to take a sober look back Pak Lah’s record as prime minister. And then re-examine Najib’s promises. I hope you would have come back down to earth after this exercise.

Secondly, I hope that you will remember that Najib’s announcement does not mean that the ISA has been abolished tonight.

On Saturday, if you are found donning a yellow Bersih T-shirt in front of Bukit Aman distributing copies of Mao Zedong’s little red book to the joggers who are assembled there, you are still liable to be arrested by the police under the very same ISA which Najib has promised (remember, it’s only a promise) to abolish earlier tonight.

We still have to go through proper parliamentary procedure in order to repeal the ISA and the Banishment Act and to amend certain sections of the Restricted Residents Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Police Act.

When the ISA is repealed in parliament, we also have to examine the two new laws which Najib has promised to introduce in place of the ISA in order to safeguard Article 149 of the federal constitution which pertains to ‘legislation against subversion, action prejudicial to public order, etc.’

When the other acts are amended, we need to examine the details in order to ensure that they do indeed strengthen basic human rights in our country. For example, while the amendment to the PPPA will take away the need of existing printed newspapers to renew their licences, will online newspapers such as Malaysiakini and Merdeka Review be given new printing licences?

Also, will the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) be given a new mandate (whether formal or informal) to allow the media greater freedoms to discuss politically sensitive issues?

But surely Najib is smarter than Pak Lah…

At this point, I can anticipate how some would counter my arguments thus far. In response to the first point, many would say that Najib is not Pak Lah.

He’s a much smarter PM and would not make the same mistakes as Pak Lah. He has shown insight, for example, in institutionalising agents of change within his government by creating the NEAC (National Economic Advisory Council), Pemandu, Talentcorp and Teraju instead of relying on a small team of people without the proper institutional mandate and support system.

In response to the second point, some would say that Najib has to deliver on his promises in order to win back support that he seemed to have lost after the Bersih 2.0 rally, indicated by his 59% support level in the recent Merdeka Center survey, down from a high of 72%, in June 2010.

I would respond to both counters with this point – that nothing in Najib’s career as a politician or in his 29 months as prime minister has shown me that he is capable of taking on the right-wing factions and groups who will undoubtedly be opposed to some of these legislative changes.

He was not willing to take on Perkasa after Part 1 of the New Economic Model (NEM) was announced which proposed that the needs of the bottom 40 percent of society be prioritised. Perkasa criticised Part 1 of the NEM because it failed to mention the New Economic Policy (NEP), not because it advocated for the NEP to be abolished or watered down. And this was when his approval rating was hovering around the 70 percent mark.

He was not willing to take leadership to force the police to find a compromise with the Bersih 2.0 committee, by for example, opening up Stadium Merdeka for the supporters of this cause to gather peacefully.

He may have been sceptical of the attempts by the Home Ministry to blacken out certain portions of an article in the Economist pertaining to the Bersih 2.0 rally but he did not try to use his position as PM to instruct the home minister that such an action would actually be counterproductive.

In fact, the proposal to amend the ISA had been on the table since he became PM. The fact that the relatively simple amendments that were needed to change the focus of the ISA from detaining political dissidents to focusing on legitimate security/terrorist threats took such a long time is an indication that the PM was not willing to push these changes through initially.

The introduction of two new acts to replace the ISA was probably a sop to the conservative interests within the Home Ministry, the police and within his own party.

Finally, it is also possible that Najib may not introduce these legislative changes until after the next general election in order to postpone the inevitable fights from within. And, if enough people take Najib’s promises seriously, he may achieve the two-thirds parliamentary majority he needs in order to stave off a possible political challenge from his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin.

If Najib is successful, then the impetus for him to follow through with these promises will be greatly decreased, just as the impetus for Pak Lah to combat corruption and to reform the civil service evaporated after he gained 91% control of parliament.

How can he convince the sceptics?

The cynical part of me says that Najib’s closest advisors were reacting to the negative aftermath of Bersih 2.0 and they managed to convince Najib that this was a necessary step for him to take in order to stop this downward slide in his popularity.

The cynical part of me also says that Najib is far from a committed believer in basic human rights and has difficulty in facing up to the conservative elements from within the administration and within his own party. This makes me want to wait until the proper legislation is passed and the ink is dried before I jump with joy.

Is there any way in which Najib could convince this skeptic of his seriousness in protecting human rights in this country? There are a few.

Firstly, to show his sincerity, Najib should ask the Attorney-General’s Chambers to drop all outstanding charges against those who were arrested in association with the activities of Bersih 2.0.

Secondly, Najib would have to show some consistency in insisting that the police and the Home Ministry do not exhibit double standards when it comes to public demonstrations. This would include not allowing Umno Youth or other groups from demonstration in front of the US embassy if groups advocating for human rights are not allowed to do the same in front of the PM’s office (or the Chinese or Iraqi embassy, for that matter).

Thirdly, I would like to see one concrete instance by the PM where he puts his foot down for the protection of human rights, where, for example, he reverses a decision by RTM to cancel a politically sensitive programme or where he openly criticises a government agency for taking an action which is seen by many as being detrimental to the protection of human rights.

I sincerely hope that my scepticism will be proven wrong. I am not hoping that Malaysia will suddenly become a beacon for human rights and civil liberties just because of Najib’s announcements.

Like most things and in most instances, change usually comes slowly. But what I do want to avoid is the temptation of getting overexcited at prospects which have been promised but which have not been delivered. If these promises are indeed delivered, I’ll gladly eat my hat or accept a pie in the face.

Until then, I will maintain a healthy dose of scepticism.

____

ONG KIAN MING holds a PhD in political science from Duke University. He can be reached at im.o
[email protected]
 and his twitter handle is ‘imokman’.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 16 September 2011, 1:18 pm and is filed under
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Answering Jeffrey

By
N H Chan

In the recent article by Martin Jalleh dated 14 Sept 2011 entitled
Chief Jester’s Circus and Charade Comes to a Close (Part 2)
 which appeared in your blog, I find this comment from Jeffrey:

The Ex judges that talked independent, don’t forget that they do so only after they left office, with nothing to lose!

Normally I do not answer comments from commentators. But in this case I think Mr Jeffrey should know that he is mistaken because apparently he does not know about me when I was a serving judge. For sure he has not read my book How to Judge the Judges. I would suggest that he reads Ayer Molek v Insas [1995] 2 MLJ 735.
 This is what I said in the Court of Appeal, page 742 (in my book at page 164):

The ex parte order in the instant case which compels compliance of it within two working days and the subsequent conduct of the judge in adjourning the application of the defendants to set aside the ex parte order to a date after the period allowed for compliance of the order (without granting a stay of the ex parte order) have effectively deprived the defendants from exercising their right to apply to set aside an ex parte injunction. This misuse of the court’s procedure, in our view, is manifestly unfair to a party to litigation before it. This court, therefore, has a duty to exercise its inherent power to prevent misuse of its procedure.

With me in the Court of Appeal were Siti Norma Yaacob JCA (later Federal Court judge and Chief Judge of the High Court (Malaya) and KC Vohrah J (later judge of the Court of Appeal), both are judges of the highest integrity. I concluded the Court of Appeal’s judgment thus, page 744:

These observations are made so that people will not say, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” – Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1.

Our decision in the Court of Appeal went to the Federal Court within a week and we were severely criticized by Chief Justice Eusoff Chin who ordered our judgment to be expunged. But in expunging the objectionable passages from the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Eusoff Chin had to repeat the expunged passages in his judgment; see Insas v Ayer Molek [1995] 2 MLJ 833. What is the use of expunging our judgment when anyone can read the expunged part from the judgment of the Federal Court? When we have imbeciles as judges this is what you get!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 September 2011, 1:25 am and is filed under
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It was People Power that finished off the ISA

Aliran Executive Committee

Malaysia Day, 16 September 2011

        Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement that the ISA and the Emergency Ordinance would be repealed has taken the nation by surprise. He also announced that Section 27 of the Police Act (on public assemblies) and the requirement for publishing permits to be renewed annually would be dropped.

Most people would be inclined to welcome these announcements. But we would be well advised to temper any celebration with caution. What will replace these oppressive laws is not clear and has not yet been revealed in much detail.

The repeal of the ISA and EO is an acknowledgement that the government can no longer sustain the use of these laws without strong public condemnation and opposition. The repeal of these two laws is the only logical   move.

Massive public rallies have driven the final nail into the coffin of these obnoxious laws. The people, inspired and spurred on by the civil society Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), have won a remarkable victory through their persistent and determined opposition to the ISA. For that, the people have to be congratulated.

The repeal of the ISA and EO, however, will not erase the suffering of all the detainees down        the ages who have unjustly suffered at the hands of an oppressive state apparatus. Countless lives have been ruined. An independent tribunal is needed to look into all cases of ill-treatment and torture, psychological or otherwise, that have surfaced over the years. Those who have been abused and ill-treated and incarcerated without trial for years – or their families – must be adequately compensated. Those responsible for        ill-treating or abusing detainees must be brought to book as a lesson for others who may be tempted to continue in similar ways.

Meanwhile, other laws that restrict human rights such as the Sedition Act, the Police Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act and the Official Secrets Act must also be repealed as a sign of sincerity on the  part of the BN. The same goes for other preventive detention laws.

As for publishing permits, do democratic countries really require permits for publishing newspapers and other periodicals? If the Minister revokes a “permit”, can it now be challenged in court? In the spirit of        democracy and freedom of expression, the government should also make a commitment towards creating a Freedom of Information Act. If not, there is nothing to celebrate.

To demonstrate its commitment to international human rights norms, the Malaysian government must now ratify all UN human rights treaties such as the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Covenant on        Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Refugee Rights Convention. This will convince Malaysians that the BN is serious about respecting human rights.

It is also important to put in place a truly independent judiciary so that the courts will not be used to persecute political opponents. To restore the independence of the judiciary, appointments of judges must be   made based on their merits and not on political considerations as perceived by a vast majority of Malaysians.

For now, in the spirit of these announcements and to mark Malaysia Day, Aliran calls on the Malaysian government to drop all charges against the PSM 30 and others arrested before and during the Bersih rally. This would be a welcome gesture on this auspicious day.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 September 2011, 11:08 am and is filed under
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Peanuts, not sweeping reforms

by Kee Thuan Chye

Free Malaysia Today

September 16, 2011

Let’s not be fooled, people. The changes Najib announced are merely cosmetic, and will have to be passed in Parliament first before they become effective.

COMMENT

PEANUTS. That’s what Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s so-called “sweeping reforms” are. They hardly amount to a political transformation.

While it’s cheering to note that the Internal Security Act (ISA) will be repealed – finally, after our many years of waiting – and that the Emergency proclamations are to be lifted – a decision that is decades overdue –it’s disturbing to be told that they will be replaced by two new laws aimed at preventing subversion and safeguarding public order.

And even though the detention period under these new laws may be shorter, with further extensions to be made by court order, the Home Minister is still the one to decide who gets detained for suspicion of being a terrorist.

This means, theoretically speaking, that although Najib has given the commitment that “no individual will be detained purely based on political ideology”, there is no stopping the government from branding a political opponent a suspected terrorist, whether or not he is one. Just to lock him away.

Another so-called “reform” is scrapping the requirement for publications to renew their printing licences annually.

This, also, is nothing to crow about. It still means that publications have to obtain a licence that the Home Minister may or may not grant. It still means the Home Minister has the absolute power to suspend or revoke a licence at any time. And his decision cannot be challenged in court. He does not even have to give a reason.

It also means the Home Ministry can still call up newspaper editors and cow them into submission for publishing something the ministry finds objectionable. Like what happened recently to The Star when it ran the heading ‘Ramadhan delights’ for an eating-out supplement that was not totally devoted to halal food.

The ministry can still practise the double standards it has been practising – turn a blind eye to the race-baiting and rabble-rousing of Utusan Malaysia but come down hard on the minor transgressions of other publications. So where’s the change?

If the government were truly sincere and had the political will, it should repeal the Publications and Printing Presses Act (PPPA) and no longer require publications to obtain a printing licence. That would be in keeping with the spirit of what Najib talked about instituting in Malaysia when he announced the “reforms” on Sept 15 – a “democratic system based on the universal philosophy of ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’”.

Vague reforms

None of the newly announced “reforms” fully cohere with this spirit.

On Section 27 of the Police Act, Najib said there would be a review to take into consideration the provisions under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees Malaysians the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

But in the same breath, he said police permits would still be required for street demonstrations, subject to certain criteria.

If freedom of assembly, which should be a right of all citizens, is still curtailed in this fashion, what is that rubbish talk of Najib’s about forging a democratic system “of the people, by the people and for the people”?

He did say, however, that “permission to assemble will be given in accordance with procedures to be fixed later that will take into account international norms”. But this sounds vague. What international norms did he mean? And when is “later” going to be?

And speaking of Article 10, why doesn’t the government address the other impediments to freedom of speech, such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA), the Sedition Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), the Multimedia and Communications Act, the Public Order (Preservation) Ordinance?

No wonder Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was smirking and applauding when Najib made his announcements. His absolute powers remain intact.

Let’s not be fooled, people. The changes Najib announced are merely cosmetic. And of course they will have to be passed in Parliament first before they become effective.

Meanwhile, Articles 149 and 150 are still there to provide Parliament with the power to pass laws that do not have to be consistent with the freedoms guaranteed in Articles 5, 9, 10 and 13, and to allow the Cabinet to declare an emergency. The Emergency proclamations may go, but Article 150 is still around. We the people are still vulnerable.

Some of us may say that we cannot expect the government to make such truly sweeping reforms in one go, and that we should be thankful for the small mercies we are now getting. Some may say this could be just the beginning, and more reforms could come.

That’s well and good. But at the same time, we should give credit where it’s due for this beginning. It’s not Najib we should thank. What we are getting is what has been due us for a long time, what any concerned government should have given us even without our having to pressure them to do so.

We should instead acknowledge that the March 8 effect lives on, and therefore the credit for these changes should go to us the rakyat for voting as we did on March 8, 2008. We voted in a stronger opposition, we denied the ruling party the two-thirds majority that it had abused to increasingly curb our democratic rights over the decades. We sent them the message that enough was enough.

These “reforms” have now come about because Barisan Nasional (BN) wants to stay in power, and it has realised that we have the power to decide whether that will happen. The “reforms” are meant to win back our votes. Ever since Najib took over as prime minister, he has been doing things merely to ensure that BN’s goal is fulfilled, not because he is altruistic or benevolent in spirit. We have seen his meanness in numerous other ways.

Watching him speak on Sept 15 when announcing these “reforms” as part of his Malaysia Day address, we could have contrasted it with his speech to 6,000 Umno members and Malay NGOs at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) a couple of days after the Bersih 2.0 rally, and call him “two-faced”.

Contemptuous chauvinist

At that PWTC gathering, he was far from being the prime minister who cared about reform and the good of the entire country.

He was a truculent thug who roused the crowd with the boast of Umno’s ability to round up a million members to “conquer Kuala Lumpur”. He was a contemptuous chauvinist who exhorted the Malays to unite in order to teach the Bersih 2.0 protesters a lesson and “show them whose country this is”.

No doubt, he has since realised his mistakes in his handling of the Bersih 2.0 rally and is now making amends. His ratings have dropped and he’s trying to make them go up again. Hence these “reforms”. But let’s be wary of his sincerity and be clear about his real purpose.

Let us keep sight as well of the many more ills that the government has not comprehensively addressed, such as corruption, rent-seeking, wasteful spending, Umnoputraism, our pathetic education system.

Let us demand more reforms, especially those pertaining to our institutions, such as the judiciary, the police, the Attorney-General’s Office, the Election Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

There is still a long road ahead. Unless and until the reforms are truly sweeping and the restrictive laws abolished, we should not put our trust in Najib and BN.

Make them sweat, make them work, and don’t let them take us for granted. Never again.

Dramatist and journalist Kee Thuan Chye is the author of ‘March 8: Time for Real Change‘. He is a contributor to FMT.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 September 2011, 1:51 am and is filed under
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The Economist says well done Najib but…

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 17, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — The influential international newspaper The Economist has praised Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his move to repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other controversial security laws but points out that he will have to abolish “institutionalised ethnic discrimination” before he can assume the mantle of a radical reformer.

The extreme right-wing of Umno is expected to go along with the sweeping legislative changes as long as it does not touch on ethnic quotas and divisions, the newspaper said in an opinion published in its popular Banyan column yesterday.

“It is the system of ethnic quotas and divisions that is really holding the country back — if Mr Najib started to take an axe to all that, then absolutely nobody would question his credentials as a radical reformer,” the newspaper wrote.

The Economist noted that the reforms announced on the eve of Malaysia Day could further transform the image of Najib from grey, indecisive technocrat to progressive democrat, “or so his supporters hope.”

Some analysts say his plans to speed up reforms to retake middle Malaysia could still hurt Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances in the next general election because some conservatives may feel alienated.

Najib had said on Thursday in a televised address that the ISA and Emergency Ordinance, both of which allow for indefinite detention without trial, would be repealed and replaced by two new laws for use mainly against suspected terrorists.

The international media has responded with measured praise to the prime minister’s efforts to assume the reformist mantle with the Wall Street Journal also pointing out yesterday that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial continues to cast a pall over Najib’s bid to become a reformer.

Newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and The Economist had flayed the Najib administration over its handling of Bersih’s July 9 rally where tens of thousands were dispersed by water cannons and tear gas in chaotic scenes that resulted in nearly 1,700 arrested, scores injured and one ex-soldier dead.

An article in The Economist attacking the heavy-handed police action against Bersih activists was even censored by government officials here.

But Najib’s speech on Thursday has now gained slightly more positive coverage in The Economist, with yesterday’s Banyan column describing the repeal of the ISA a most welcome measure.

“If all these laws are indeed repealed and changes implemented, then the political landscape in Malaysia might look very different in a few years’ time, and Mr Najib will be able to claim a lot of credit for that.”

The newspaper added however that the opposition will also feel vindicated, “although they will worry that Mr Najib has swiped many of their most distinctive campaign promises at the next election.”

But The Economist pointed out that Najib’s biggest challenge would still be ethnic quotas.

“Some on the extreme Malay wing of the party grumble that all this reform stuff is going too far, but they will go along with it as long as it does not touch on the most profound sources of oppression and grievance in the country, the institutionalised ethnic discrimination that privileges Malays over the country’s other races, mainly Chinese and Indians.”

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 September 2011, 5:39 pm and is filed under
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Will repeal of ISA and slew of other legislative changes be completed before next general elections or will they be “work-in-progress” trotted out as BN election “goodies” ?

I had said at the Sabah Pakatan Rakyat convention in Kota Kinabalu last evening that the Pakatan Rakyat has begun to chalk up victories even before the 13th general elections, citing as example the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement to repeal the  Internal Security Act (ISA) which is one of the specific promises made by Pakatan Rakyat in the Buku Jingga manifesto.

This has been quickly rebutted by Najib today who said that no one else but Barisan Nasional  should take credit for the repeal of the ISA and the slew of other  law reforms which he announced in his Malaysia Day message on Wednesday night.

Najib claimed that “these are not the fruits of their struggle” but was a decision made by the Barisan Nasional government “because we listened to Malaysians who want this change”.

Najib even said the decision to scrap the ISA was part of his promise to amend the controversial law when he took office in 2009.

Not to mention Malaysians  at large – but even leaders and  members of Barisan Nasional parties would require enormous capacity of self-deception to believe such tall tales.

If Najib’s is to be believed, that the repeal of the ISA and the removal of other draconian laws had been in the works since April 2009 when he became Prime Minister, then Najib’s announcements on Malaysia Day eve should mark the final step in government review and reform of oppressive laws and its readiness to fully implement them when Parliament meets on October 3, tabling  all  necessary legislative changes for parliamentary sanction.

But is this the case?

Clearly not or the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz would not have said that there was not enough time to repeal the ISA in the October sitting of parliament and that the draft replacement laws would be tabled during the next meeting  in March.

This is because the “change of heart” to repeal the ISA and remove other draconian measures is not the result “comprehensive review” of draconian laws in the past 28 months  after he became Prime Minister in April 2009, but the result of electoral pressures after the catastrophic loss of public confidence in his leadership, both nationally and internationally, from the disastrous government mishandling of the 709 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for free and fair elections in Malaysia.

In fact, if the repeal of the ISA and the removal of other draconian laws in the country had been actively and seriously reviewed and pursued in the highest government and political circles since Najib became Prime Minister in April 2009, the arrogant, ham-fisted,  high-handed and mindless repression and clampdown  on the Bersih 2.0 campaign such as the unjustified PSM arrests under Emergency Ordinance, ridiculous arrests for wearing Berish 2.0 T-shirts or just wearing yellow, would not have taken place.

Najib has only himself to blame for the skepticism and cynicism about his sincerity, commitment and steadfastness to democratic, electoral and legal reforms because of his own record as PM since April 2009.

All patriotic and right-thinking Malaysians want the ISA and all draconian and repressive laws to be removed from the statute books – but can Najib be trusted to “walk the talk” of his public promises?

Najib must not deride but sincerely address the sea of doubts and questioning about his commitment and resolve to introduce a more open and democratic environment in Malaysia, upholding human rights, a free and responsible press, as well as  the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity?

Five questions which demand answer from Najib are:

1. Will the repeal of ISA and slew of other legislative changes be completed before next general elections or will they be “work-in-progress” trotted out as BN election “goodies”?

2. Will the replacements  for the repeal or removal of repressive laws and measures result in the reincarnation  of these very same  draconian features in a new format, e.g. repeal of ISA but enactment of new law which could be described as ISA2?

3. What Najib announced on Wednesday does not satisfy the definition of Political Transformation Programme for Malaysia. Will he support the repeal of all other restrictive and draconian laws including the Universities and University Collegs Act, Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act.

4.   Is Najib prepared to repeal all provisions in the statute books which undermine the doctrine of the separation of powers such as excluding judicial review of executive decisions.

5. Will Najib support a motion in Parliament to ratify international human rights conventions, in particular the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 September 2011, 4:39 pm and is filed under
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Anything But Umno (Part 2)

— Ali Kadir

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 17, 2011

SEPT 17 — Humility is a virtue which everyone of us should aspire to but many of us prefer pride.

So we should not be surprised that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional are claiming credit for announcing the removal of some laws which the BN government has used for decades to stifle dissent, lock up critics and control the press.

Strange isn’t it that they are silent about being the architects of the ISA and other laws but quite happy to claim credit for proposing their demise.

This is like a factory owner or dare I say rare earth plant, which pollutes the neighbourhood for 20 years, and then congratulates itself for shutting down the factory, not saying sorry for the increase in the number of deaths from cancer.

But it’s OK, by claiming credit Najib and BN are behaving just like humans or like desperate governments anywhere in the world.

I just have a few points to make.

One, this is a proposal, a whole bunch of nice words but only words.

Two, the test of sincerity of any policy or initiative is timing. If Najib proposed these changes and implemented it within his few weeks in office, then he could make the argument that his DNA is that of a reformer.

But he and BN are only doing this now because it is his last gambit, not because he believes that Malaysia is a mature democracy.

The real mature people are the Malaysians who have fought with blood, sweat and tears for a better country.

Remember the Hindraf men who were detained for speaking up for their community, the Sin Chew journalist who was jailed for alerting Malaysians to the racism of Ahmad Ismail, politicians who were deprived of sleep and tortured for no other reason that they didn’t agree with the government, Raja Petra Kamarudin who was detained because he was too troublesome.

Many unnamed Malaysians fought evil and refused to be scared of the might of the powerful. They deserve our respect and gratitude.

If Najib and BN want to claim credit, we can’t stop them. But we don’t have to join in their frenzy of self-congratulation.

We have more important work to do, namely regime change.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 September 2011, 12:22 am and is filed under
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Najib: Reforms not due to any pressure

Free Malaysia Today

September 18, 2011

The prime minister says ISA was being repealed in order to make Malaysia the best democracy.

PEKAN: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said today the repeal of the Internal Security Act was an effort to make Malaysia the best democracy in the world.

The prime minister said the repeal of the ISA was possible at this time because of the success in developing the nation, the increasing maturity of the people and the greater awareness of human rights in society.

“It was not due to pressure from any quarter,” he stressed at his Aidilfitri open house here which was attended by about 50,000 people. Also present was his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Najib said that changes to the law were part of the political transformation that the government was carrying out from the aspect of human rights.

“The time has come for us to take another step forward not only in economics and education but also in upholding democratic principles,” he added.

He said the BN government would continue to champion the cause of the people “in all aspects” for their well-being.

The prime minister said the uniqueness of Malaysia must be preserved with multiracial harmony as the country surged ahead.

– Bernama

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 September 2011, 2:44 pm and is filed under
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Stop the charade of  claiming to want to be the  “best democracy in the world” – what Najib should  do is to immediately end Malaysia’s ranking as a “flawed democracy”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is outdoing himself every day with taller and ever incredible claims – yesterday claiming that no one else but Barisan Nasional should take credit for the repeal of the Internal Security Act and other law reforms he announced in his Malaysia Day message and today reiterating that the repeal of the ISA is not due to pressure from any quarter but an effort to make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world”.

Najib should stop the charade of claiming to want to be the “best democracy in the world” when what  he should do is to  immediately end Malaysia’s ranking as a “flawed democracy” before Malaysia could qualify to rank among the full democracies in the world.

The third edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index 2010 released early this year categorised Malaysia as a “flawed democracy” due to “a gradual erosion of civil liberties and political culture in the past year” with Malaysia’s aggregate score dropping 0.17 to 6.19 out of 10 from the previous index in 2008, and the overall country  ranking falling from 68th to 71st out of 167 countries.

Twenty-six countries, headed by Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand,Australia, Finland, Switzerland, Canada and Netherlands in the top 10, were in the first category of  26 “Full democracies” – which includes two Asian countries, South Korea (20) and Japan (22).

Malaysia with the overall 71st ranking,  is in the second category of “Flawed Democracies”, trailing behind South Africa (30), Chile (34), Taiwan (36), Israel (37), India (40), Timor-Leste (42), Jamaica (43), Panama (46), Brazil (47), Mexico (50), Argentina (51), Sri Lanka (55), Thailand (57), Indonesia (60) and  Mongolia (64).

Who advised Najib that the repeal of the ISA (which is be replaced with two new laws raising concerns whether they would be ISA  type of substitutes) and other reforms, Malaysia will catapult not only from the ranks of “Flawed Democracies” but to top the ranking of “Full Democracies” as to be the “best democracy in the world”?

The EIU’s Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.

The condition of having free and fair competitive elections, and satisfying related aspects of political freedom, is regarded as the sine quo non of all definitions of a democracy.

On “electoral process and pluralism”, Malaysia trails behind 88 other countries – 26 “Full Democracies” and 62 “Flawed Democracies”.

This is the most powerful vindication for the Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for free and fair elections on July 9 and indictment of the high-handed and undemocratic repression of the  Bersih 2.0 campaign by the Najib administration.

Before Najib prates about wanting to be the “best democracy in the world”, when is he going to revoke the unjustified government ban on Bersih 2.0 which declared it an illegal organisation and drop all charges against those arrested in connection with the Bersih 2.0 campaign?

                                                                     Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 September 2011, 5:36 pm and is filed under
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You should be afraid, Najib

— Tan Teck Huat

The Malaysian Insider

Sep 18, 2011

SEPT 18 — One of the more amusing articles that I have read recently was the story about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak telling his Umno members yesterday that he was not afraid of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition leader.

Najib said that he was willing to debate Anwar or something along those lines.

The PM must be one of those people who say they are not fixated with something  yet spend an inordinate amount of time talking or paying attention to that person “who they are not afraid of”.

If he is not afraid of Anwar, why bring up the name at all?

The actions of his party and government suggest that they eat, sleep and breath Anwar more than even PKR members do!

That is why this flimsy sodomy charge was brought against Anwar and the government has persisted in carrying on with the charade in court. It wants Anwar in jail and out of the picture. Out of sight and out of mind.

That is also why former senior police officer Mat Zain says openly that the police and the Attorney-General Gani Patail fabricated evidence against Anwar in the first sodomy case. If Mat Zain is talking nonsense, he would have been charged with criminal defamation but Gani and the Najib administration have been silent.

If Anwar was a non-factor, why would the administration “interfere” in the ongoing Anwar trial? The Malaysian Insider reported that Umno lawyer Shafee Abdullah and a Najib aide were present at a briefing on the Anwar trial for the mainstream media.

I guess Umno is not frightened of Umno that is why the unholy Datuk Trio received the blessings of the party for their porn video show, abetted by the mainstream media and police.

Why do I single out the mainstream media and police? Because the mainstream media were invited to a screening by the Datuk Trio and only went, one presumes, because of the order from Putrajaya. Then there was the police providing security and bodyguard services for Eskay Abdullah while he swore on the Quran.

Sorry I forgot the judiciary which allowed Shafee Abdullah the unusual courtesy of providing an unchallenged report on the authenticity of the videotape.

So I guess we should believe Najib when he says he is not afraid of Anwar. Good joke, right?

Actually, Najib should not be afraid of Anwar. He is just one man, a flawed individual like any other man.

If Anwar is locked up, Pakatan Rakyat will live on because Malaysians realise that it is in our interest to keep our politicians on their toes.

Najib should fear the average Malaysian because we no longer fear the people in power, the police or any other security apparatus. And we no longer swallow everything politicians tell us, even if that man is the PM.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 September 2011, 2:20 pm and is filed under
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A Whiff of His Father’s Leadership

by
M. Bakri Musa

In announcing the repeal of the Internal Security Act and other repressive laws, Prime Minister Najib Razak secures for himself an enshrined spot in Malaysian history.

            Of the many thoughtful comments on Najib’s historic announcement, the one that struck at the heart of the issue was that by former Mufti of Perlis, Dr. Asri Zainul Abidin. He declared, “The ISA is an un-Islamic law. It infringes [upon] individual rights and can be easily misused by leaders, so repealing it was a very Islamic move.” Amen!

            “Najib’s announcement,” Asri continued, “is more valuable than any bonus payment or salary increase because repealing the ISA means the restoration of human rights … which is more valuable than money.” That is putting things in their proper perspective.

            I disagree however, with the Mufti’s characterization of Najib’s move as a “gift” to the people. When someone robs you of something and then returns it, that is no gift, merely restoring what is rightly yours. The ISA and other restrictive laws rob us of our precious possession, our freedom. That is Allah’s gift to us, as enshrined in the Koran. It is not for mere mortals, no matter how exalted their earthly positions, to tamper.

            Nonetheless I do hear the Mufti. Good Muslims ought to be grateful for their blessings, however small. I want to be a good Muslim, and Najib’s announcement is a huge blessing, so I am very grateful. Alham dulillah! Praise be to Allah!

Missing the Islamic Visuals

Najib and his policymakers must have deliberated for some time. Perhaps it was not a coincidence that only a week earlier Najib’s younger brother, the head of a GLC bank, intimated the need for Malaysia to change lest it risks a Middle East type of upheaval. Significantly, he made it at the Malaysia-China Trade Investment Conference, but more on China shortly.

            Pursuing the religious theme, I was surprised that Najib and his advisors did not choose an occasion with some Islamic symbolism to make his momentous announcement.

            Not that there was anything wrong with choosing Malaysia Day. However, we just completed Ramadan only a fortnight ago. Surely Najib had decided then. Imagine if he had announced it on Hari Raya, which also coincided (more or less) with Merdeka Day. What better way to demonstrate and acknowledge the special blessings of Ramadan and live its spirit, as well as fulfill the aspirations of merdeka – freedom! Ramadan is after all about remembrance and return – remembrance on the origin of Islam and return to its essence, in Eboo Patel’s pithy phrase.

            When Islam was revealed, it emancipated the Arabs from their Age of Jahiliyiah (ignorance); likewise, getting rid of the ISA would emancipate Malaysians, lifting us from our Age of Fear. As for the essence of Islam, our faith commands us to do good and forbid evil. Getting rid of ISA is getting rid of evil; it cannot be more Islamic than that!

            Imagine the powerful symbolic impact globally had Najib made the announcement at the end of Ramadan, coming as it was only a few days before the tenth anniversary of the horrible 9-11, and with it the inevitable hysteria of Islamophobia. Imagine the good that would do to the cause as well as image of Islam! One Muslim country bravely discarding its antiquated repressive laws, and doing so not in response to mass demonstrations or civil disobediences but as a normal turn of events. The contrast with America’s renewed commitment to its Patriot Act and the Guantanamo detention camp could not be starker.

            Speaking of image, had I been the administration’s public relations consultant, I would have arranged with the announcement a simultaneous release of some ISA prisoners. I would have alerted the news media so they could station their journalists and cameras outside the gate of Kamunting prison.

            Imagine the stunning and symbolic visuals! While Najib was making his announcement, the prisoners would emerge one by one into the arms of their eagerly awaiting loved ones. If there were to be a mosque nearby, I would superimpose the call of Azzan to the visuals. I would also have the producer put on a split screen; on one side would be the Prime Minister making his solemn announcement; on the other, the prisoners with their families joyously celebrating their freedom, with the takbir (affirmation to the greatness of Allah) superimposed as the background soundtrack.

            I cannot imagine a more powerful symbolism. Those tapes would also be great campaign materials!

            The Najib Administration forks out tens of millions to foreign consultants in an effort to spruce up its image. Alas those “documentaries” that supposedly portrayed Malaysia in good light, as well as the many “interviews” Najib landed on the international media, all turned out to be unmitigated fiascos. Those “journalists” and “interviewers” were nothing more than hired hacks.

            Yet when a rare and splendid opportunity arose as with the recent announcement, those highly paid public relations pros missed it! Perhaps that should not be a surprise. After all they are all foreigners and non-Muslims to boot; they could not possibly pick up on the Islamic nuances I alluded to earlier. However, their fumbling on the international stage where they are supposedly the experts cannot be readily excused. There is no justification for their lack of professionalism, if not downright unethical behaviors there.

            As can be seen, a good policy is the best PR. Notice the favorable comments locally as well as in respected foreign media to Najib’s latest initiative, and it did not cost the government a ringgit to get them! Focus on crafting enlightened policies, and the favorable publicity would ensue. Even if you do not get any, a good policy is reward in itself. Your people will be grateful for it.

A Whiff Of His Father

In committing to repeal the ISA, Najib did something no other prime ministers before him had dared even to contemplate. And Najib had some mighty impressive predecessors. In so doing, Najib also demonstrated a whiff of his late father’s great leadership qualities.

            The late Tun Razak did not hesitate to suspend parliament following the May 1969 race riots. Despite the howling protests at home and abroad, Razak was undeterred for he had a crucial job to do; restore peace and stability to a nation shocked by the horrors of that tragedy. And may Allah bless his soul, he accomplished his mission in short order.

            To those who would belittle that achievement, let me remind them that the 1969 riot coincided with the flare ups of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. While Malaysians have been enjoying peace for the past four decades, those folks in Northern Ireland are still busy settling their deadly scores.

            To this day, Tun Razak remained unique in being the only leader in the world who grabbed power during a national emergency to pursue a much needed critical goal, and then willingly gave that power up once he completed his mission. No other leader could claim that. On the contrary, history is filled with leaders who had to be pushed or dragged out, or worse. Libya’s Gaddafi and Syria’s Assad are only the latest examples.

            I am not concerned with how Najib arrived at his decision; I am focused only on the decision. There is no shortage of skeptics out there, and they are not without their reasons. After all Najib’s flip-flopping rivals that of his immediate predecessor.

            Even if those skeptics were to be proven right later, there would be no turning back. Najib has clearly declared his niat (intention) to repeal the ISA. In Islam, niat is what counts. We declare our niat before we pray, fast, give zakat or undertake the Hajj. If Najib fails to live up to his Nawaitu, then he has to answer not only to his Maker on the Day of Judgment but also more practically, to his political makers – the voters – right here on earth and now, as in the next election.

Najib’s Nixon-in-China Moment

Najib’s declaration last Wednesday reminded me of Nixon’s pioneering 1972 trip to China. It took another seven years before America would send its first Ambassador to Beijing. Today, over 30 years later, we wondered why on earth it took America so long to recognize the obvious reality of this most populous nation. Regardless, America, China, and the world are now better for it.

            Nixon basked on the glory of his China trip and went on to win a landslide for his second term. Alas that triumph proved short-lived, for he was soon forced out of his presidency in shame on matters unrelated to his China initiative. Nonetheless his trailblazing China moment retained its luster in an otherwise blemished legacy.

            If Najib’s Malaysia Day niat proves to be just that and nothing more, well, like Nixon, at least he will have that as his legacy, and only that. However, if it proves to be ikhlas (sincere) and only his first step, with many more courageous moves ahead, then greatness awaits him, as well as Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 September 2011, 12:49 am and is filed under
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