Electoral Reform a Must Before Next General Election

By
Kee Thuan Chye
 | 17 August 2011

Malaysian Digest

PRIME Minister Najib Razak is suddenly so generous in calling for electoral reform. He has even called for the establishment of a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to look into this. While it is still premature to say whether this will ensure effective participation by the Opposition in the process, it is nonetheless a radical change from his previous stubborn position against Bersih 2.0’s demands for free and fair elections.

As with much of Malaysian politics, there is probably more to all this than what appears on the surface. Najib must have been comforted by some assurance of electoral victory – and possibly a landslide one – before he would allow himself to accede to an initiative begun by Bersih 2.0. Otherwise, he would be seen to be weak by his own party, Umno, which no doubt would have players in the wings with knives behind their backs.

One hopes this assurance of certain victory does not involve giving illegal immigrants the right to vote. In light of Wanita PKR’s revelation that it has evidence of illegal immigrants taking an oath to vote for BN, this is disturbing.

That’s putting it mildly. For nothing could be so heinous on the part of our government, indeed any government, than to sell the country to foreigners just for the purpose of staying on in power. Such a move of granting citizenships to immigrants overnight would also be extremely unfair to the many who have lived in this country for decades and continue to hold red ICs. But above all, it is the sinister motive that makes it inexcusable.

Talk has indeed been rife for the past few months that a project of this sinister nature is already in the works. More suspicions were raised when the Election Commission (EC) announced it would use the biometric system to identify voters as this is the system also being used by the Government in its 6P amnesty program to register foreign workers as well as illegal immigrants. Opposition politicians are especially worried that those not qualified to vote could in the process get registered as voters. The illegal immigrants that Wanita PKR says were made to swear an oath of allegiance to Umno/BN are allegedly from the 6P amnesty program.

This sort of tactic, together with the granting of citizenships to new immigrants, has supposedly been used in Project M (also known as Project IC) in Sabah when Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister, so that the demographic and voting patterns would favor BN and entrench it as the ruling regime there. If this is being repeated now, it would reaffirm BN’s ruthless tendency to stoop to underhand tactics to serve its own cause, without any regard for the people.

There is also the possibility that Najib’s call for the setting-up of a PSC is merely a public relations ploy, in light of what Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has said in response – that it would take a year before the committee can conclude discussions.

If Najib had prior knowledge of that before making his announcement, then his move counts for nothing. The next general election (GE) may very well be called soon, less than a year from now. Which means it may be held prior to the electoral reform. Which means it may be held with the shortcomings of the current system still intact. How can that be satisfactory?

If doing it via the PSC takes too long, even though Najib still has one and a half years left before calling for fresh polls, then another method must be sought.

For example, on the pressing and crucial issue of cleaning the electoral roll, which has been found to be full of dirt and discrepancies, Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan has suggested this: “Set up a committee, give it three months and let’s just clean it up.” Why not take this suggestion up? The committee could be made up of the EC, BN and Pakatan Rakyat representatives, the Bar Council and Bersih 2.0.

A few other issues can also be addressed through stakeholder discussions that could take only a matter of a few months.

One is the debate on Bersih 2.0’s advocacy for the use of indelible ink versus the EC’s proposal to use the biometric system.

Another is the debate over the length of the campaign period. Bersih 2.0 is asking for a minimum of 21 days but the EC has been giving excuses against it. In the 1959 and 1964 GEs, the campaign period was as long as 35 days, and for the one in 1969, it was 28 days. A reasonable length of time is needed to let voters acquaint themselves with the candidates and their promises, but Najib has scoffed at the idea that a short campaign period is a disadvantage to the Opposition, claiming that Pakatan Rakyat campaigns “every day… with a ceramah here and a ceramah there”. He, however, ignores the fact that his own ruling party gets to campaign day in day out on a much larger scale through the mass media it controls.

Even during the campaign period, the ruling party has almost total access to the print and broadcasting media. Prior to the 1999 GE, Opposition parties were given at least a bit of airtime on RTM’s radio stations to broadcast their manifestoes. But in 1999, the Government announced that as RTM was Government-owned, preference would be given to government parties. Since then, no Opposition party has been heard on the air.

It is for this reason that one of Bersih 2.0’s demands is the granting of free and fair access to the media to all political parties. As the ruling party becomes merely a caretaker government when a general election is in progress, it should not hog the media facilities but instead open them up to all political parties, including the Opposition. Resolving this issue through discussion should also not take long.

Neither should the issue of reforming postal voting.

Whatever the process adopted to ensure that electoral reform is achieved, it is imperative that it be completed before the 13th GE. If Najib is truly sincere about reform, if his statements that “we will only want to form a government if the rakyat truly chooses Barisan Nasional” and that “I do not want to be prime minister without the people’s support” are to be believed, he should make a pledge not to call for the 13th GE until the reform has been effected.

And while all this is going on, let’s not forget that Bersih 2.0 is still considered illegal, after Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein declared it so last month. He should now admit that if it had not been for Bersih 2.0’s insistence on electoral reform, embodied in its eight demands and publicly vented in its July 9 mass rally, we would not have arrived at this point.

Hishammuddin should admit that Bersih 2.0 has demonstrated the power that civil society can have to pressure the ruling party to re-examine its stand. He should also note that the Deputy Speaker has now actually said, that as electoral reform is a matter of great importance to the public interest, “It is best we discuss it in-depth and involve all stakeholders including Bersih, NGOs, the Bar Council and civil society.”

If no less than the Deputy Speaker of Parliament has expressed recognition of Bersih 2.0, isn’t it about time that Hishammuddin revoked his order against the group?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 11:41 am and is filed under
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GDP growth slows to 4pc as global economy falters

By
Lee Wei Lian

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 17, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Malaysia’s economic growth decelerated to its slowest pace of four per cent since the 2009 recession as the country was hit by a slowdown in external demand and a moderation in government spending, Bank Negara said today.

This was the fifth consecutive decline in quarterly growth and down from the 4.6 per cent growth registered in the first quarter of this year.

Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz added, however, that stronger growth is expected in the second half of the year and that while there is no revision to the 5-6 per cent growth target for the year, it will “very likely be closer to 5 per cent.”

Zeti said that the nation’s economic fundamentals were still strong with a 5.2 per cent growth in domestic consumption, low unemployment and low levels of impaired loans at only two per cent.

Domestic consumption growth was down, however, from 6.9 per cent in the first quarter due to public sector spending growth falling from 8.9 per cent to four per cent.

Private sector consumption growth, meanwhile, remained fairly steady at 6.4 per cent as compared with 6.7 per cent in the first quarter.

Net foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to RM6.2 billion in the second quarter from RM4 billion in the first quarter thanks to an improved investment climate, which led to an increase in domestic private sector investment, said Zeti.

With concerns mounting over a global economic slowdown, the central bank will now have to balance the need to fight inflation while supporting economic activity in setting interest rates.

Zeti said that inflation hit 3.4 per cent in July and 3.3 per cent for the first half of the year.

She said that the central bank’s current overnight policy rate (OPR) of three per cent was still supportive of economic growth.

The Malaysian economy grew 7.2 per cent in 2010 as it rebounded from the global economic slowdown in 2009.

The global economy this year, however, has been shaken by the spread of the euro zone debt problem to Italy and Spain and by fears that the recovery of the US economy may be faltering.

Share market investor confidence also slumped in recent weeks after Standard & Poor’s cut the credit rating of the world’s biggest economy and the debt crisis in Europe threatened to escalate.

Reflecting the fears of slower economic growth, Bank Negara has so far raised borrowing costs only once this year to three per cent as compared with three increases in 2010 despite inflation hitting its highest level in two years in June.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 7:00 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia Looks West for Investments

By
MATTHEW SALTMARSH

The New York Times

August 16, 2011

LONDON — With Europe’s economy mired in a debt crisis, governments in the region have been looking east for a helping hand, tapping the likes of China and Japan to buy their bonds and step up investments.

But at least one Asian country — Malaysia — still sees value in turning the opposite way, to enhance opportunities for its more assertive multinationals as well as bolstering investments from the West.

The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, led a large official delegation last month to Britain via Turkmenistan, to capitalize on his country’s strong economy and investment inflows and assuage concerns about political agitation in the multicultural Southeast Asian country.

In past years, “it was just ‘please come to Malaysia,’ ” the trade minister, Mustapa Mohamed, said during an interview on the trip. “Now we are going to foreign countries to help provide access to Malaysian companies.”

Part of the sales pitch is selling the economic recovery story. The economy grew by 7.2 percent last year after shrinking 1.7 percent in 2009, and the government anticipates expansion of about 5 percent this year and next. The Malaysian inflation rate has been creeping up, though it remains moderate by global standards, at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in June.

But officials were also eager to ease potential concerns about the Malaysian political challenges.

“I think many investors have been to Malaysia, they understand the complications in Malaysia — multiracial, multireligious,” Mr. Mohamed said. “We need to have laws in place to ensure that things don’t get out of hand.”

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, or Bersih, an amalgam of nongovernmental and activist groups, has pushed for changes in electoral law from the coalition government led by the United Malays National Organization, which has dominated politics since independence from Britain in 1957.

Bersih was declared illegal July 1, after which hundreds of activists were rounded up. Most of them were quickly released, but some were held longer. On July 9, thousands of protesters defied a government ban and held a large street protest, during which the police fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested about 1,700.

“We have to engage,” Mr. Mohamed said, “we have to continue changing, reform.”

Underneath the political tension is an economy that has proved increasingly attractive to overseas capital.

Nonequity foreign direct investment inflows in 2010 were $9.1 billion, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, up from $1.4 billion a year earlier. The government is confident that it can retain that momentum.

“It’s not having an impact on investor confidence,” Mr. Mohamed said of the recent disturbances.

Ian Bryson, an analyst in Singapore at Control Risks, a consulting firm, said that there was less political risk in Malaysia than most of its regional peers and that the country benefited from relatively low corruption and a fairly dependable judiciary.

“I don’t think the current political agitation is pivotal or that the country is at a tipping point,” he said. “Malaysians are not interested in a full-scale upheaval.”

“The opposition is factious but vociferous,” he said, adding that splinter, conservative groups from the United Malays group still had the potential to destabilize the governing coalition in the next election, which is expected to be called in 2013.

On the economic front, Mr. Bryson cited concerns about limits on equity ownership in certain sectors — favoring ethnic Malays known as Bumiputera — and the employment of foreigners. He also noted broader skills shortages and restrictive local hiring and firing rules. “It’s generally very open to business, but with some cultural and sociopolitical limitations,” he said.

A report from the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, ranked Malaysia 21st out of 183 economies globally for the ease of doing business. The country scored lower for starting businesses and enforcing contracts.

Among Malaysian companies seeking global opportunities is the energy group Petronas, which announced last month that it had drawn its first natural gas from a field in Turkmenistan, where it has invested $5 billion. Others include the automaker Proton, which controls Lotus, a maker of sports cars; and the utilities conglomerate YTL, which owns Wessex Water in Britain.

At home, the government has used its $25 billion sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional, to take strategic stakes in businesses, including the energy group Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia Airlines System and Bank Lippo. More recently, the fund has been making tentative forays into Singapore and Indonesia. It opened its first overseas office in Beijing in 2008.

Speaking in London, Mr. Najib, the prime minister, sought to address potential concerns like those highlighted by Mr. Bryson. The government, he said, is “committed toward divesting government holdings,” citing the sale of post office assets, two Petronas subsidies and a sugar business. “There will be quite a few more holdings that we will divest,” he added.

He said there had been a “policy of gradual liberalization” of Bumiputera quotas, and “in the forthcoming budget we are expected to make further announcements.”

European companies that have invested in the country include BP and Royal Dutch Shell in energy, HSBC and Standard Chartered in banking, the vacuum cleaner maker Dyson and the retailer Tesco.

Tesco has invested more than $1.5 billion in Malaysia and employs about 14,000 people in the country. In a report in April, marking 10 years in the country, the chief executive of Tesco Malaysia, Tjeerd Jegen, said that he was “as bullish as ever on the prospects of the Malaysian retail sector.”

He cited “continued economic growth and prosperity, buoyed by sound economic reforms, robust consumer confidence and political stability.”

Perhaps mindful of recent unrest in the Middle East and rising inflation in Asian economies like India and China, Malaysia has been quick to express its desire to stay on a steady course.

Mr. Najib said there was a “huge commitment by the government to keep prices as low as possible,” and there would be only a “gradual” easing of subsidies on food and fuel.

Appointed in 2009, Mr. Najib has initiated several economic plans to draw investment and address the lack of skilled workers in Malaysia, focusing on bolstering productivity and research, easing red tape for investors and improving inclusiveness.

The government is also seeking to fill its labor shortage by biometrically registering all workers and offering permits of a maximum 10 years for illegal workers.

“We’ll legalize them as workers, not as citizens; that would be a disaster,” Mr. Najib said. “If all those things are executed, God willing, we will be a fully developed nation. It will give us 6 percent growth that we need for the next 10 years.”

According to the government, one million Malaysians live abroad, a sizable proportion of the country’s population of 28.7 million. Some estimates peg the number of Malaysian nationals based overseas much higher. Singapore has been the biggest beneficiary of the outflow, attracting more than half of those who have emigrated.

Mr. Najib also said rising wages in China could present an opportunity for Malaysia.

“More and more people are beginning to realize they need a ‘China plus one’ policy,” he said, “They don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.”

As a result, he said, “we’re seeing companies seriously looking at Malaysia.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 11:24 pm and is filed under
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The dynamism of Penang

By
TAY TIAN YAN

Translated by DOMINIC LOH

Sin Chew Daily

2011-08-16

Opinion

To get the attention of international media, in particular someone in the likes of The Economist, is not anything we can buy with money.

The Economist recently reported the transformation of Penang and its dynamic economy.

Penang is nothing more than just a tiny dot in our enormous world, and to fall into the limelight of international media and receive very high acclaims would be more like holding a winning lottery ticket in hand.

We need sheer luck to win the lottery, but a lot of effort and real strength to gain global recognition.

Some might accuse the state government for buying over the heart of The Economist journalist, but such moronic speculation doesn’t deserve even the slightest discretion.

International media show the least interest in our political crossfire. They only have the big picture in their mind.

No matter how boisterous and noisy is the Komtar madman Mohd Ghani in front of the state government offices, or some weird people dumping animal carcasses in front of the state government building, such disruptions would hardly dent the overall picture.

What really matters is whether the state government has a distinct direction. People are only concerned whether the state government performs, and whether its leaders are capable.

If you have visited Penang lately, perhaps you would sense some changes. The streets are now tidier, and the roadside stalls cleaner. The town is bursting with activity and the public have less to grumble about.

Such impressions that come naturally to anyone visiting Penang are a lot more solid than noisily chanting slogans and propaganda.

Where economic development is concerned, Penang appears to have moved on the right track.

The state government has harnessed on the Unesco cultural heritage status to promote tourism. This coupled with cleaner streets and improved amenities has managed to lure more visitors to the state.

Penang’s achievements in medical tourism development are particularly eye-catching.

A heart surgery will easily cost US$100,000 in the United States, but only a tenth as much in Penang. Pampered with the vast price disparity but minimal differences in technological sophistication, patients still enjoy highly personalised and professional care while in Penang.

It has been reported that a specialist centre on the island has predicted 70,000 medical tourists this year, 20,000 of them coming here for heart-related problems.

As if that is not enough, boom has returned to the state’s electronic industry. While some electronic bellwethers relocated to China several years ago, some have now opted to return to Penang due to the rising costs and lack of transparency in China.

Low cost coupled with state-of-the-art technology, Penang has booked itself a place in the international economic value chain.

Sure enough the new state government should take the credit for the positive change, we must not write off the efforts contributed by the past administration. So, this shouldn’t make another topic of political contention.

There is no need for the federal government to shed some negative light on Penang’s transformation. Instead, it should collaborate with the state government and provide the necessary facilities, funds, infrastructure and assistance.

In addition, it can also learn from Penang’s experience, emulate its development model and apply it to other states as well as the country in whole.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 9:13 pm and is filed under
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Without iron-clad assurances of meaningful electoral reforms in time for 13GE, a PSC is neither useful nor acceptable

In less than 24 hours, the country appears to be back to square one on electoral reforms despite the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement of a parliamentary select committee.

Firstly, the swift contradiction by the  Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin that there is any real problem with the electoral system and that only some minor tweaks are required.

In one swift blow, Muhyiddin has vindicated the  wariness, doubts and reservations in the responses to Najib’s announcement of a parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms whether it is a sincere and genuine effort to address electoral flaws and defects to ensure free, fair and clean elections or merely a diversionary tactic and stone-walling operation.

Secondly, the time-line spelt out by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz making clear that the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms could well be an academic exercise if Parliament is dissolved before it could complete its report and its recommendations accepted and implemented as part of the electoral laws of the land.

Without iron-clad assurances of meaningful electoral reforms in time for 13th general elections, the proposal of a parliamentary select committee is neither useful nor acceptable.

When announcing the parliamentary select committee, Najib said that  “when the next general election is held, there will be no suspicion of manipulation”.

If this is the case, then the Prime Minister must give a categorical assurance that there would be meaningful electoral reforms when the next general elections are held.

This is all the more imperative in view of his irresponsible language of “crushed bodies, lives lost” at the UMNO General Assembly last year calling on Umno to defend power at any cost in Putrajaya and his equally irresponsible speech  earlier this year to UMNO to recapture Selangor “at all costs”.

With or without a parliamentary select committee, there are electoral flaws and defects that cannot wait – like the cleaning up of the electoral rolls, efficient registration of eligible voters, registering overseas Malaysians as voters and stopping the treasonous activities of registering foreigners as voters.

If the proposal of parliamentary select committee is not meant as a diversionary tactics – and  there is not going to be any emergency Parliament to immediately set up the committee – there should be an immediate high-level meeting involving all the stakeholders including Bersih 2.0 to agree on the minimal areas where immediate action must be taken to address and resolve serious allegations of major electoral flaws and defects.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 August 2011, 12:49 pm and is filed under
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“Passing the buck” to PSC of all allegations of a flawed electoral system such as foreigners given the right to vote is completely unacceptable

The “passing the buck” to the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms of all allegations of a flawed electoral system such as foreigners given the right to vote is completely unacceptable and would be proof that the PSC is mere political ploy and diversionary tactics.

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that Pakatan Rakyat allegations of foreigners being given the right to vote will be addressed by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform.

Why should this be the case.  Shouldn’t serious allegations like the issue of citizenship to foreigners to give them the right to vote, which is a most treasonous action, be addressed and resolved immediately by the Election Commission, instead of deferring action and “passing the buck” to the parliamentary select committee which could only be formed in October?

An efficient and professional Election Commission would report to the parliamentary select committee what measures it has taken to address and resolve the serious allegations of a flawed electoral system instead of “passing the buck” to the parliamentary select committee in October to start from scratch to deal with them.

Hishammuddin said the government has nothing to hide and that the allegations of foreigners issued with citizenship to give them the right to vote is “baseless”.  Why then is it not possible for the Election Commission and the National Registration Department to here and now prove these allegations as “baseless” instead of having to wait for the establishment of the parliamentary select committee?

There are enough matters to occupy the parliamentary select committee to propose a free and fair electoral system without having to be tied down by these specific allegations.

The latest statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz have reinforced doubts that the parliamentary select committee is more political ploy and diversionary tactics than a sincere and genuine measure to address the flawed electoral system in the country.

Only this morning, Muhyiddin again likened the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 to the UK riots when he congratulated the police for their handling of the Bersih rally after citing the UK riots as a “clear example” of how a country can descend into chaos if “elements that threaten peace and security” are not stopped.

If the top  government and police leaders refuse to concede the great difference between the Bersih rally where the organisers and tens and thousands of Malaysians regardless of race or religion were fully committed to a peaceful assembly to demand free and fair elections and the UK riots where the troublemakers set out to riot, who can be convinced that the Barisan Nasional leadership have undergone a real change of heart as to expect meaningful electoral reforms before the next general elections?

Najib  cannot be more wrong when he said yesterday that his decision to introduce electoral reforms was to “satisfy” the opposition as the call for free and fair election system is the demand not only of the opposition but also the civil society and all patriotic Malaysians and for the good of the future of Malaysia.

However, what is most fatal about public confidence in the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms is the refusal of the Barisan Nasional to consult with the Pakatan Rakyat leadership before unilaterally and arbitrarily deciding on the composition, terms of reference, timeline, the role of Bersih 2.0 and other aspects of the committee.

Without an agreed time-line and clear-cut assurance from the Prime Minister himself that the report and recommendations of the parliamentary select committee for free and fair elections would be fully implemented in time for the next general elections, the deliberations of the parliamentary select committee would be  moot if Parliament is dissolved earlier – in fact, the parliamentary select committee is automatically dissolved when Parliament is dissolved.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 August 2011, 1:58 pm and is filed under
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Four more ex-soldiers admit to postal vote fraud

Joseph Sipalan | Aug 17, 11

Malaysiakini

Postal vote manipulation has been a common practice in the military for many years – so it seems – now that more retired military personnel are speaking up.

Now, four ex-military personnel have confessed to committing election fraud – the same way an ex-army man said he did so earlier this month.

The four, who had served at army and air force bases across the country, say they marked thousands of postal votes in three separate general elections between 1978 and 1999.

The four – Major (Rtd) Risman Mastor, Kamarulzaman Ibrahim, Mohamed Nasir Ahmad and Mohd Kamil Omar – said they were ordered by their commanding officers to mark postal votes for the hundreds and thousands of personnel who were out in the field.

Their expose today is the second after an ex-army man came forward earlier this month, making a similar claim that he was ordered to mark postal votes for other personnel.

Kamarulzaman, who was a clerk working at the Terendak army camp in Malacca, said he was ordered to spend three days marking thousands of ballot papers during the 1986 general election.

The 53-year-old said he was given three pens of different colours, which he used alternately to sign the postal votes in the absence of the army personnel who were on their tour of duty.

“For example, I would use a blue pen to sign for one serviceman and a black pen to sign for his wife. I was also ordered to mark votes for the opposition,” he said at a press conference hosted at the PAS headquarters by the party’s youth wing.

When asked how many postal votes he signed, Kamarulzaman said he could not remember the exact number but was sure that it ran into the thousands.

“If you want to say how many, let’s just say my hand went numb (from signing the ballot papers). I basically voted for soldiers from all over the country.”

‘It was the wrong thing to do’

Kamil, a retired Air Force commando based at the Butterworth Air Force base, claimed he was offered a “reward” if he complied with the order to mark a box full of postal votes during the 1999 general election.

The 21-year veteran however refused to carry out the order, saying that he realised it was not right for him to mark ballots for his colleagues.

“They gave me a box, and expected me to mark all the ballots in 30 minutes. I realised it was wrong,” said the 49-year-old, adding that he has no idea what the “reward” was since he did not carry out the order.

Nasir, 50, who was a clerk based in Sandakan during the 1986 general election, said he and another colleague were told to split over 900 postal votes between them to be marked on behalf of their fellow soldiers.

He pointed out that being in the military, orders are orders and that soldiers were “not too bothered” about politics.

“Even after retirement, we didn’t care so much about politics. But when Bersih came about, we started to realise that what we did was not right,” he said.

Risman stressed that this practice went as far back as the 1978 general election, when he and nine others were ordered to go through around 200 sacks – each containing 10 postal votes – during his time at the Kampung Sawah army camp in Port Dickson.

“I did it just that one time… I don’t remember the figures but I believe there were about 10 (ballots) in each sack. In effect there were just 10 of us actually voting,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 August 2011, 9:46 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s economy: resilient?

by
Kevin Brown

Financial Times

August 17, 2011

Is Malaysia set for sustained economic growth this year, or exposed to serious potential problems if wobbles in the West turn into another slowdown? It depends who you ask.

The central bank is in no doubt that growth will continue, in spite of a fall in the annual pace of growth from 4.9 per cent in the first quarter to 4 per cent in the second.

In robustly positive comments issued with the numbers on Wednesday, Bank Negara acknowledged the impact of weakness in the advanced economies, but insisted that growth prospects remained underpinned by the expansion of private domestic demand and strong exports of commodities and resource-based products – for which read oil, gas and palm oil.

Part of this argument reflects the bank’s insistence that monetary policy remains supportive of economic activity in spite of a further increase in official interest rates to 3 per cent in May.

The bank paused the upward movement of interest rates in July, responding to growing fears about slowing growth, but wants to be free to start raising rates again to head off simmering inflationary pressures. The consumer price index hit 3.3 per cent on an annualised basis in the second quarter, up from 2.8 per cent in the first.

But the bank does also seem to believe that the global weakness in the second quarter was mainly due to temporary factors such as the supply chain impact of the Japanese earthquake in March. Resilient domestic demand will support growth amid sustained private consumption, strong private investment and faster progress on public works projects, it says.

The trouble is, the bank’s tone is at odds with rising uncertainty outside Malaysia about the country’s ability to keep growing. Goldman Sachs downgraded its GDP forecast for the full year from 5.4 per cent to 5 per cent last week, while Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, said the country’s growth prospects were poor in the event of a crisis. Both referred to its relatively open, export driven economy combined with weak public finances still recovering from the 2008-09 crisis.

The point was made even more strongly on Wednesday by Kun Lung Wu, an economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore, who argues that Malaysia is one of the two Asian countries least well placed to withstand a sharp slowdown caused by financial worries in the US and the eurozone. (The other is India).

Although Malaysia ran one of Asia’s most expansionary fiscal policies during the 2008 crisis, equivalent to about 10 per cent of GDP, its toxic combination of high government debt relative to GDP and a big primary fiscal deficit means it could not do so again without endangering its ability to reduce the debt ratio, says CS.

On top of that, the country’s fiscal position is extremely exposed to a fall in global prices. Oil and gas revenues amount to about 40 per cent of total government revenues each year, and about 8 per cent of GDP. So a $10 fall in the oil price strips M$2bn (about 0.3 per cent of GDP) out of government revenues.

Of course, the advanced economies may quickly recover, and oil prices may go up again. But if they don’t, expect long faces in Kuala Lumpur.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 August 2011, 4:24 pm and is filed under
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Mat Zain: Dropping Tajuddin suits raises doubt over Umno funds

By
Shannon Teoh

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 18, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — A former senior police investigator has questioned Putrajaya’s directive for all GLCs to drop civil suits worth billions of ringgit against Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli, stating that the move raises the question of whether hundreds of millions of ringgit were being held by Umno nominees.

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim wrote in an article sent to The Malaysian Insider that the former MAS chairman held RM70 million in trust for Tun Daim Zainuddin who was finance minister during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration.

“The question of whether the money belonged to Tun Daim, or was shared with someone else or if it belonged to Umno will become an issue. In short, the public has the right to raise 1,001 questions on this issue,” said the former city CID chief.

Putrajaya had directed earlier this month all government-linked companies, including Malaysia Airlines and the national debt restructuring company Danaharta, to cease all civil suits against Tajuddin, a poster boy of the Mahathir-era plan to groom Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

Mat Zain today cited his privileged position as the investigating officer in 1995 when an unnamed minister and Umno supreme council member asked police to investigate money held in trust by another of Daim’s nominees, former Renong chairman Tan Sri Halim Saad.

“A few months before the 9th general election, several top Umno leaders were concerned that the hundreds of millions of ringgit controlled by Halim Saad would fall into the hands of a third party,” he wrote.

Mat Zain, who led the probe into former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s 1998 black-eye case, said that Tajuddin and Halim were among three Daim proteges named by Anwar in police reports made in 1999 alleging that Daim had received bribes worth hundreds of millions of ringgit while he was finance minister.

Mat Zaid added that included in the report were letters signed by Halim, Tajuddin and former Maybank chief executive Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah stating that they held RM117 million in shares, RM70 million in cash and RM150 million in cash for Daim respectively.

He said that in the course of his investigations, he believed all three letters to be genuine and the minister who asked police to initiate the 1995 probe into Halim did not deny the truth of the letters.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 August 2011, 2:55 pm and is filed under
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50 years on, returning to my university

by
Tunku Aziz

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 19, 2011

AUG 19 — I have just returned from a pilgrimage of sorts to my old stamping ground, Hobart, Tasmania where I went to university. It was exactly 49 years ago that I arrived to take up residence at Hytten Hall.

This recent visit was made in response to an invitation by the Chancellor of the University of Tasmania to accept the degree of Doctor of Laws (h.c) in recognition of “your long-standing campaign to promote transparency and integrity in government and business…”

It was a humbling experience that my own university had seen fit to honour me in this way for my small contribution to the fight against corruption inside my country as well as in the wider world. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I was told some months ago that the Council of the University of Tasmania had decided to admit me to the degree of LL.D honoris causa.

In my Occasional Address I told the assembled audience of academic luminaries, high officers, graduates, diplomats and parents that if anyone had suggested to me when I was a student all those years ago that one day I would be conferred such an honour, I would have told them that I did not believe in miracles “but as you can see, I do now.”

By a happy coincidence, the students at this conferral ceremony were drawn from the faculties of law and business, many of whom were foreign students. I spoke to them about integrity in personal life, and by extension, national life. Addressing them as future chief justices, high court and appeal court judges, attorneys-general, corporate lawyers, and other high-flying legal eagles and business tycoons, I reminded them that “there is no substitute for personal integrity. Also remember that integrity is about doing what is demonstrably right when no one is watching you. So many reputations have been ruined because so many people have chosen to ignore a fundamental rule of integrity.”

The day before the conferral ceremony, a reception was held for overseas students and their parents. I was invited to address the students from various parts of the world, including sizeable numbers from Malaysia. I told them what the university meant to me beyond acquiring a degree. It offered an opportunity to live and work among Australians, to make friends and be a part of the university in the real sense of the word.

I hoped they had not spent their years overseas living in their own little communes. If they had not made some Australian friends and got to know some local families they had really wasted their time. To the Malaysians I said their journey had not ended with their degree; the journey would be long and arduous. It was good to see their bright-eyed enthusiasm.

I only hope that we will treat our non-Bumi young men and women without discrimination on their return. Discrimination should be made a criminal offence. They have an absolute right to equal opportunity; the Constitution guarantees that.

The Chancellor, Damian Bugg AM, QC, is an eminent and distinguished member of the Australian Bar and has served as the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. At a special Chancellor’s Dinner which he gave, I had the opportunity to ask him about the role of the Attorney-General and that of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions functions independently of the government. Although the ultimate authority to prosecute lies with the A-G, but because his is a political post, and it is preferable to have a non-politician carry out this function, the A-G’s prosecution powers are normally delegated to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Bugg, who occupied this office from 1997-2007, has written and spoken extensively on the role of the independent prosecutor and the rule of law.

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is an indispensable feature of the justice systems in many democratic societies, and its introduction is long overdue as far as our country is concerned. For the rule of law to take root in Malaysia, we must work towards embedding a system of justice free of political interference so as to generate public confidence in our prosecution service.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 8:27 am and is filed under
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Ex-military personnel who come forward to expose postal vote fraud are the true patriots who love army and country

The Armed Forces chief General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin has got it all wrong when he hit out against former military personnel for exposing electoral fraud in past general elections in the manipulation of postal votes as an act of betrayal and questioned their loyalty to the armed forces.

In actual fact, the ex-military personnel who come forward to expose postal vote fraud are the true patriots who love the army and the country as they want to see the army continue to be held in the highest esteem by all sectors of society and the country restored to the right track of a healthy democratic nation.

Zulkifeli’s rhetorical question “How can we be loyal to you if you are disloyal to us” is not only misplaced but is the classic example of how far the public service, of which the armed forces are part, have deviated from its proper non-partisan and professional role.

The object of loyalty of all Malaysians, whether individuals, groups or public servants including armed forces must be to the country and the Yang di Pertuan Agong and no other as it is not only wrong, but a great national disservice to indoctrinate anyone including  public servants and  the armed forces to be more loyal to Umno than to the country or to equate loyalty to Umno as loyalty to the country.

The four ex-servicemen, Major (Rtd) Risman Mastor, Kamarulzaman Ibrahim, Mohamed Nasir Ahmad and Mohd Kamil Omar who have come forward to admit that they had been ordered by their commanding officers to mark postal votes from hundreds and thousands of personnel who were out of the field in three separate general elections between 1978 and 1999 should be commended for their public spiritedness and great sense of  patriotism instead of being castigated as “traitors”.

What the four ex-servicemen revealed has not come as a surprise to the Malaysian public as such electoral malpractices with regard to postal ballots is an open secret for decades.

These exposes of postal ballot frauds in previous general elections are not attacks on the integrity, competence and loyalty of the armed forces but patriotic efforts to remove flaws and abuses in the postal ballot system to ensure that every military personnel can freely vote for the candidate of his or her choice in elections.

What Zulkifeli should have done is take effective measures to eradicate these electoral  flaws and abuses as for instance allowing candidates to send polling agents into military establishments to supervise the postal ballot voting process  instead of making emotional and baseless attacks questioning the loyalty of patriotic Malaysians who want to see a free, fair and clean electoral system.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 11:54 am and is filed under
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Is the world facing fundamental changes?

Viewpoint by Chris Williamson

Chief economist at global financial information firm Markit

BBC News Business

18 August 2011

Recent events, including stock market falls, the escalating sovereign debt crises, US credit rating downgrade and a near-stalling of growth in the developed world is leading increasing numbers of experts to wonder if the world is facing some fundamental changes.

In reality, many of the ideas reflect trends that have been under way for many years, but the crisis had accelerated the process of change.

Four years after the financial crisis began and the world has certainly not returned to normal.

No major developed economy has yet fully regained the output lost during the recession and global share prices remain almost a third lower than their peak prior to the crisis.

Financial stocks have lost two-thirds of their value. Government debt has spiralled due to the bank bailouts, although it has become apparent that not all governments can finance this debt.

If stage one of the crisis involved the transfer of liabilities from the financial sector to governments via bank bailouts, stage two is witnessing transfers from weaker governments to stronger governments, as the latter seek to prevent the former from defaulting and causing more financial turmoil.

Soul-searching

Government indebtedness has led to a sea-change in attitude towards risk.

Developed world government bonds are no longer the risk-free investment they once were. In fact, credit markets show that government debt is now perceived to be riskier than corporate debt in western Europe.

 As banks around the world came close to collapse in 2008, some predicted huge changes

The downgrade of US debt from triple-A to AA+ by S&P also sparked a bout of soul-searching among sovereigns that remain triple-A rated by all credit rating agencies. Attention was focused on France last week.

The crisis has consequently taken on an increasingly political focus in recent months.

Political leaders are struggling to manage a situation where austerity measures designed to reduce deficits and retain credit worthiness have coincided with a near-stalling of developed world recoveries.

Economic growth slowed to 0.3% in the US and 0.2% in the UK. Germany – the eurozone’s hitherto star performer – expanded just 0.1% and France stagnated.

Sticking together

Increasing numbers of analysts are questioning the survival of the euro due to the political tensions.

Many see the euro – in its current guise at least – to be sustainable only if the euro countries are prepared to issue common eurobonds.

Such an “all for one, one for all” debt issuance is seen only as a last resort by Merkel and Sarkozy, and would require great change in terms of control over national economic policy and fiscal budgets among euro member states.

However, many analysts consider eurozone leaders to already be in the eleventh hour.

Currencies weaken

It’s not only the euro which faces problems.

The Chinese authorities are now calling for a new world reserve currency to replace the US dollar following S&P’s downgrade.

The greenback and the euro may never again be the strong currencies they were before the crisis struck (assuming the euro survives).

Likewise for sterling, where an inability of the Bank of England to meet its inflation targeting remit is testing its credibility and further encouraging investors to move out of currencies which are losing their value through inflation into safer havens – notably gold.

Power shift

China, of course, has the opposite problems to the West in many respects. It is accused of having an undervalued currency and continues to battle to cool near double-digit growth.

This means that, not only does China have a hold over the West due to its vast holdings of US debt, but ongoing recoveries in the West are also very dependent on whether the Chinese authorities can manage to engineer a soft-landing.

The financial crisis has therefore resulted in an acceleration in the existing trend of economic power and influence moving from West to East.

Trends exposed

So the big changes that are being mooted in terms of the world as we know it are in fact largely trends that were already in place – the shifting of power to the East, the accompanying perceived decline in the status of developed world currencies and government debt, and the need to reduce the developed world’s unsustainable dependency on debt and credit.

Even the viability of the euro has always been in question, with its creation having been seen by many to have been driven by political rather than economic reasoning.

The crisis has just brought all of these issues firmly into focus, but quite what will happen in the long run is of course speculation.

Low rates

The one change that seems quite certain, however, and that will direct affect most of us in the developed world in some way or another, is that interest rates look set to stay extremely low for the foreseeable future.

The US Federal Reserve has pledged to keep interest rates at close to zero for the next two years, and the Bank of England is also not expected to hike rates until 2013.

There again, perhaps even this is not guaranteed because we may yet see a fundamental change in economic policymaking.

Many see the current emphasis on inflation targeting to have failed, not least because central banks have a remit to control something which is effectively out of their control, as inflation is these days dominated by global factors. Nothing is for certain.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 6:15 pm and is filed under
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Loyalty to King and Country II

by drrafick

August 19, 2011

1. Words can’t describe the anger and pain that I felt with the MAF Chief over his political partisanship comments that disgraced the serving and retired members of the Malaysian Armed Forces. It is unbecoming for a General to call retirees a traitor to the service when he does not have the facts on hand. Anyone who can tell the truth and stand by what they said deserves much more respect than this General whose chest wall is pasted with tin medals. Half of them are probably earned while sitting at a desk and pushing papers.

2. We expect our generals to lead and provide leadership to the man in uniformed. We expect him to defend the integrity of the nation and not defending any political party. Loyalty to the government of the day has its limits. It does not include having a blind loyalty to the political party. In our country the civil service is lame and dictated by politicians, the police are crippled and now the MAF leadership has defamed itself. He send a strong message to the public that confirms that the brass are spineless and their past career growth has been dependent on politicians. They continue to look at politicians for their post retirement career.

3. Aren’t there any officers with strong character and conviction to serve the King and the country today? Has the phrase loyalty to the King and country has been change to blind loyalty to BN? It worries me as the 2nd and 3rd layer of our civil service, police and military has been groomed to be politically loyal to BN first and country second.

4. To the MAF chief, as a retired military officer I demand that you stand tall and apologize to the nation. If you don’t have it in you to do so, then does the next best thing i.e. resign! The same goes with the service chiefs that stand behind him during his press conference. They have disgrace the flag, country and the people. There are men and there are officers. Which one are you?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 6:55 pm and is filed under
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Review of media censorship a major step forward

—
CC Liew

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 19, 2011

AUG 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently announced that the government would review its media censorship policy. This move undeniably constitutes a major step forward for the country and would effectively remove the shackles some civil servants ignorant of present day realities have imposed on the media.

Najib’s announcement also shows that he has come to recognise the on-going changes taking place in the county’s media landscape.

Even though this is no longer a novel idea, yet many of our civil servants appear to be indifferent to this important message: While you can audit the printed page of the newspaper, a reader only needs to push a few buttons to read completely unedited reports in the electronic version. While you can block a news report from appearing on the print media, there is no way you can stop bloggers writing their stuff online.

Sometimes, the censorship criteria themselves are dubious and incomprehensible. Magazines publishing bare breast pictures of aboriginal women are torn and even classics by master painters would not escape the fate of their works published in upscale magazines being blacked out.

Living in a multicultural society, sure enough we cannot do things indiscreetly and some forms of restrictions are indeed essential. That said, threats of censorship from politicians and public servants would only generate some undesirable effects.

The criteria as to what should be reported and what should not should go back to the media operators, who would make the decisions and bear all the responsibilities and consequences for their lapses and misjudgements, if any. We already have more than enough laws governing the media anyway.

Although the prime minister’s promise to review media censorship does not translate into amendments to the existing laws and policies, yet it is a remarkable step ahead. Going forward, other laws meant to pin down the media should also come under the microscope.

The media landscape has altered. Newspapers and government-sponsored electronic media can no longer dictate public consensus. With elevated education standards and enhanced civic awareness, Malaysians have learned to distinguish what is right and what is wrong while the Internet offers the public a much more convenient and ready source of information.

Online information could sometimes be misguiding or even harmful by virtue that rumours, slanders and poison letters could spread unrestricted in the cyberspace.

However, reputable media organisations and respectable journalists will continue to exercise a very high degree of professionalism and self-discipline to see that what they pen will not cause damage to our society. The mode of communication could have changed, yet the standards for genuine, accurate, unbiased and balanced news reports remain the same.

In the enormous market teeming with all kinds of information and ideas, it is imperative that the media be allowed to execute their professional obligations without fear and favour.

We are ready to face the consequences for lapses owing to our oversight, but any verdict and any form of punishment handed down to us must be carried out in accordance with the law, not dictated by a handful of powerful people

Only a media operator that boasts integrity can be sustainable. Media resorting to distorted, fraudulent and baseless accusations, or adopting illegal or morally unacceptable means will be exposed, be it individual bloggers or multinational corporations in the likes of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Scrap the various laws meant to put a curb on media operation, please! Like any other professionals, let the journalists — renowned writers with an established media organisation or little-known online bloggers alike — be governed under the same general law. And let the reading public determine whether we should prosper or decline.

Let the courts, not certain politicians or civil servants, pass down a verdict on our doings or misdoings. — mysinchew.com

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 12:54 pm and is filed under
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Select committee for show

—
Gomen Man

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 19, 2011

AUG 19 — I would love to believe that the government is sincere about electoral reform but judging by all the statements of BN politicians, I have major doubts.

I was pleasantly surprised when I read a few days ago that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had agreed to set up a select committee on electoral reform. Finally, I thought, some common sense was creeping into his thinking and he understood the aspirations of the people who marched on July 9 and the many who were with the Bersih crowd in spirit.

But within a few days all that has unravelled, and now I am unsure if the administration’s intentions to set up select committee are pure. Even Najib seems to have backtracked, agreeing with his deputy that the election system only needs tweaking (I got to ask if Najib or Muhyiddin Yassin is setting agenda for Malaysia).

To make matters worse, he says that he set up of the select committee to satisfy opposition claims. This is very strange comment because it calls into question whether Najib really wants a clean and transparent election system.

I don’t think he does and I think that his announcement on the select committee was just an appeasement to buy his administration some time, to stall until the next elections. Najib knows that his image at home and abroad is quite bad following the crackdown on Bersih and he wants to reclaim his spot as a reformer.

That is why he made announcement on select committee. Judging by comments of Nazri Aziz and other Umno leaders, they too have very little liking for a transparent and clean electoral roll. They are going to stuff the committee with five BN stooges and one “independent” lackey and it will be headed by a minister.

I am sorry to say that there is not one MINISTER who has the integrity to lead any committee on electoral panel. These guys live beyond their means and want to be able to enjoy the poisonous fruits for a long time more. Are they going to do anything to change this corrupt system which has put them in power?

These ministers know about Project M and awarding ICs to illegal immigrants and some of them have been beneficiaries. Are they going to change the system? This select committee is going to be as toothless as the PAC led by Azmi Khalid.

My suggestion to Pakatan Rakyat is set up an independent panel with eminent Malaysians including Ambiga Sreenevasan and some respected international figures. Carry out the process, come up with workable suggestions for the coming elections and take your proposals directly to the people through a road show.

If my doubts prove true, the select committee will be caught in red tape and no meaningful recommendation will be on the table for the next elections.

Messrs Najib and Co have no intention of cleaning up a system which has put them there.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 8:34 am and is filed under
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TBH ‘suicide’ finding: The impossible does not happen

By CT Wong
| 19 August 2011

CPIAsia

Extracts from Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Enquiry:

Decision on the second term of reference:

[119] Having considered all the evidence in its entirety, we found that TBH was driven to commit suicide by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation to which he was subjected by certain officers of the MACC who were in the ongoing operation by the Selangor MACC on the night of the 15th and into the morning of the 16th.

– Forensic psychiatric aspects

[233] Tormented by this predicament, TBH experienced a change in his state of mind. And in a matter of hours, this change transformed him from being in the low-risk group for suicide into the high-risk group. The doubts, extreme emotional conflict and the immense feeling of guilt were all intolerable. Finally, precipitating the irreversible crisis that happened to him between 3.30am and 7.00am on the 16th, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Finding no viable strategies to surmount the hurdle of accusations levelled, he found himself unable to escape from the suffocating quagmire in which he was trapped. TBH would have felt trapped and have succumbed to despair. Since the window on the 14th floor was either open or could be easily opened and it was conspicuous and easily accessible near where he was on the sofa outside Nasdzri’s room, TBH would have found that the only way for escape from the torment he was undergoing was by jumping out of the window, even though it meant taking his own life….”

Introduction

Self-inflicted death must have meaning and a reason. In Teoh Beng Hock’s death, we find neither meaning nor a reason for taking his own life, if we accept the findings of the TBH royal commission of inquiry.

Suicide is rare. It is even rarer for a normal person without abnormal psychology to commit suicide.

It is hard to believe suicide can happen within few hours of experiencing trauma. Hopelessness as an acute warning sign of suicide most often takes time to develop, days or weeks if not months. RCI has confirmed that TBH was “driven to commit suicide” within hours. The impossible does not happen and the improbable only happens very rarely.

This suicide verdict goes very much against common sense and the intuition of many Malaysians. A closer look is hence necessary to critically examine how the RCI arrived at such conclusion and whether the RCI has proved TBH’s intention to suicide.

The focus of study here is essentially of the psychological aspects of the section on ‘Forensic psychiatric aspects’, pages 64 to 72 of the Report of the Royal Commission of Enquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock (hereafter called RCI).

Serious flaws in RCI conjecture

RCI evaluated the evidence from forensic pathology and concluded that TBH fell to his death; and from forensic psychiatry that TBH would have jumped to his death. These conclusions are used as reasons to support the suicide verdict that TBH was driven to commit suicide.

However, there are serious flaws observed in RCI’s argument. The authenticity of the evidence of intention to suicide used to support the claim is doubtful. Also, the inference from evidence to the conclusion of suicide is invalid and unsound.

The commissioners’ method of reconstructing TBH’s psychological state prior to death is questionable. The suicide verdict is examined here from the perspective of suicide.

Making attributions without proof

One of the two main terms of reference as spelt out in the RCI is “…to enquire into the death of Teoh Beng Hock and the circumstances surrounding and contributing to his death. It does not state clearly whether ‘death’ means the cause of death (e.g. major injuries, heart attack etc.) or the manner of death (natural causes, accident, homicide or suicide).”

By RCI’s verdict of the enquiry, it had taken to itself the responsibility to determine the manner or mode of death.

As for the requirement of the level of proof, RCI stated that their finding would be based on “a balance of probabilities sliding to proof beyond reasonable doubt” (RCI pp.5). This means RCI claims its standard of proof is very high. Also, it says that in order to “understand the probability that TBH took his own life”, it is crucial to know TBH’s traits of character and his changing states of mind (RCI, pp.64).

It is clear from the above that RCI intended to use the language of probability in the reasoning in the argument. However, the RCI commissioners used the language of certainty when giving the verdict of “driven to commit suicide”; it does not say something like “TBH probably or most probably was driven to commit suicide”, but asserted that TBH was “driven to commit suicide”.

The commissioners should not use categorical terms of suicide in absolute certainty as the precise mental state of the deceased could not be known.

Purported intention to suicide unconvincing

When read closely, the RCI para.[233] on “conclusion on forensic psychiatric aspects” does not confirm that TBH intended to commit suicide but speculated that TBH must have committed suicide:

“…TBH would have found that the only way for escape from the torment he was undergoing was by jumping out of the window, even though it meant taking his own life.” (RCI, pp.72). However, such speculation is used as the reason to come to the suicide verdict: “…Having considered all the evidence in its entirety, we found that TBH was driven to commit by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation to which  he was subjected by certain officers of the MACC..” (RCI, pp.37).

Para. [233] is of utmost importance in determining whether TBH had the intention to suicide. RCI was unable to confirm the intention to suicide and yet it confirmed suicide had occurred. This is a deep contradiction and the inference is seriously flawed.

RCI is using a strange logic which is only intelligible to itself. It runs something like this: Teoh Beng Hock would have found suicide as the only way out. Therefore, TBH committed suicide. Speculation has then become hard fact. There is little wonder that the public refuses to accept the verdict.

But, why must RCI deliver a suicide verdict? Why not an open verdict? We do not know for what reasons the commissioners felt compelled or were compelled to make a verdict that contradicts its own reasoning. With an unconvincing verdict, the reasoning itself in the RCI needs to be examined critically.

Missing the mark in suicide definition

According to De Leo, Burgis, Bertolote, Kerkhof and Bille-Brahe (2006), the World Health Organisation working group had proposed a standard definition for the study of suicide:

“Suicide is an act with a fatal outcome which the deceased, knowing or expressing a fatal outcome had initiated and carried out with the purpose of provoking the changes he desired (WHO/Euro, 1986)”.

The key elements of the WHO’s definition involve: 1) an awareness that action has fatal outcome, 2) the self-responsibility of the subject both to initiate and to carry out the suicidal behaviour and 3) the intention to bring about wanted changes.

RCI’s verdict of “driven to suicide” is not in accordance with WHO’s definition of suicidal behaviour. RCI’s speculation of TBH’s thinking of “…would have found that the only way of escape…jumping out of the window” can only be described as suicidal thoughts rather than an act that was initiated and carried out by TBH himself.

By WHO’s definition, one cannot force another to commit suicide without one’s intention to commit suicide. One can force another to kill him/herself which is considered as homicidal. In 22 state and three territories of the United States of America, even assisting in suicide is a crime and the charge is murder.

RCI has not proved the crucial elements of suicide: (1) the locus of origin (self-initiated) and (2) the intention (to cause, or not to cause death). Neither has RCI proved that TBH was aware or conscious of the potential of fatal outcome.

The RCI verdict is therefore illogical conceptually.

RCI lacking legitimate data of psychology

To establish suicide or suicidal behaviours, from the legal point of point of view, both the physical act (actus reas) and the mental element (mens reas) must be present; the mental element is intentionality i.e. the intention to suicide. It is self-evident that evidence must be produced to support any claims of suicide as the manner of death.

From the psychological point of view, the legitimate data which can or should be used as evidence are derived from experimental methods, observations and introspections.

There are 4 different types of data:

behavioural data

personal accounts of inner experience

symbolic data (symbolic creations of the mind such as texts or the language used), and

material data like the biological data and neuropsychological data

Behaviour is what can be seen or observed from the outside. The data gained and evaluated is called outsider viewpoint without going into the mental state of the subjects studied.

The inner experiences involve the feelings, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, reasons, motives and intentions. The data gained/evaluated is called the insider viewpoint. These cannot be seen directly from outside and can only be accessible to others through verbal or written reports or inferred from non-verbal behaviours.

Insider viewpoint without evidence

RCI had provided an insider viewpoint of TBH’s psychological state of mind without giving any basis of how the data of inner experiences were collected and evaluated. It is more appropriate to say that RCI reconstructed the reality of TBH’s psychological state in such a way that the suicide verdict is inescapable. This is a serious flaw of RCI’s reasoning.

The relevant passage is found in RCI para.[233] page 72 (in italics below) and my comment run as follows:

-“Tormented by this predicament, TBH experienced a change in his state of mind.”

My comments
: How did the commissioners know of TBH’s torment of predicament and inner experience of psychological changes? What evidence?

– “And in a matter of hours, this change transformed him from being in the low-risk group for suicide into the high-risk group.”

My comments
: Why the immediate grouping into suicidal and not other category? How likely is that within a matter of hours a person becomes suicidal? Having suicidal thoughts is different from suicidal behaviour. What evidence of suicidal behaviour is there with TBH?

– “The doubts, extreme emotional conflict and the immense feeling of guilt were all intolerable.”

My comments
: Guilt is an inner emotion and thought. How do the commissioners know? What evidence of TBH’s inner feelings was being manifested?

– “Finally, precipitating the irreversible crisis that happened to him between 3.30am and 7.00pm on the 16th, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.”

My comments
: Metaphor is no substitute for hard evidence. What really happened?

– “Finding no viable strategies to surmount the hurdle of accusations levelled, he found himself unable to escape from the suffocating quagmire in which he was trapped.”

My comments
: When and how did the commissioners know that TBH knew of no other viable strategies?

– “Losing all hope, TBH would have felt trapped and have succumbed to despair.”

My comments
: When and how did the commissioners know that TBH had lost all hope?

– “Since the window on the 14th floor was either open or could be easily opened and it was conspicuous…, TBH would have found that the only way for escape from the torment he was undergoing was by jumping out of the window, even though it meant taking his own life.”

My comments
: How did the commissioners know TBH’s intention to suicide?

The above reconstruction sounds more like a survivor’s account of suicide attempt.

Reconstruction and interpretation of suicidal thoughts and behaviours must relate to legitimate data. Without a proper and sound method of data collection and interpretation, we can only infer that the data is manufactured out of imagination.

RCI couldn’t have known

RCI had used various terms  like “extreme emotional conflict”, “guilt…all intolerable”, “irreversible crisis”, “losing all hope”, “succumbed to despair” to give an account TBH’s subjective psychological state of mind after the interrogations. Then, they described TBH’s judgement of the extreme situation as “no viable strategies”, “unable to escape” and “trapped”. The depiction of TBH’s immense emotional turmoil and the judgement of “no escape” was framed in such a way as to lead to the inevitable consequence of “jumping out of the window”.

The way that extremes in emotion and impairment in judgement are attributed to TBH without any correlation to any specific time, specific location, specific events and specific details raises the serious doubt of its authenticity.

Highly subjective and using loaded phraseology

RCI used a large amount of rather emotional, subjective and value-judgement words and phrases to describe TBH’s state of mind. For example:

“[219]…Taking his mobile phone away would have meant robbing him of his means to reality and sanity. And the MACC officers did just that. Thus, for the first time in his life, TBH found himself totally and completely isolated from the outside world and thrust into desolation…” (RCI, pp.71)

Are the commissioners suggesting that TBH was losing his sense of reality and sanity just because of a handphone? And suggesting that TBH was going insane?

And how do they know that it was the first time in TBH’s life that he felt “totally and completely isolated”? Presumably, they had special access into TBH’s autobiographical memories and all the life stories.

The first sentence of the RCI finding using a third-person perspective speaks of “…would have meant…”. But by the third sentence, a speculation by RCI had become a fact – “TBH found himself totally….”. It is a remarkable feat to blur the reality by switching from one dimension of reality to another.

It is important to analyse this short passage as the whole argument for the suicide verdict is constructed using similar lines of reasoning or reconstruction of mental reality.

Risk factors are not causal factors

Risk factors are still risk factors, however high or acute it is. Risk factors are not causal factors unless proven so.

Just because RCI suggests that someone feels trapped and troubled by hopelessness does not mean that the individual would commit suicide. In fact, even most people who have previously harboured suicidal thoughts still do not do so.

All the three psychiatrists who gave expert opinion to the RCI were of the view that TBH belonged to low-risk group for suicide after reviewing TBH’s life history against the risk factors.

The psychiatrists were Dr Badi’ah Yahya, a forensic psychiatrist and Dr Nor Hayati Ali from the Ministry of Health, and Paul Edward Mullen, emeritus professor of forensic psychiatry, Monash University, Australia. Dr Badi’ah and Dr Hayati based their argument on the observation that TBH came from an intact family, had a stable job, and had no history of mental illness, impulsivity or substance abuse.

However, RCI ignored the expert opinions of the low probability of suicide and argued that TBH had undergone dramatic psychological changes from the low-risk group to the high-risk group for suicide when taken in by the MACC on July 15, 2009.

Quite early in their argument, RCI chose to categorise that TBH belonged to a high-risk group for suicide. Instead of choosing to argue out what was the probability of each of the manners of death (natural, accident, homicide or suicide), RCI ruled out all other scenarios and was fixated on the sole verdict of suicide.

RCI then used the hypothesised emotional state to justify suicide was the only way out for TBH.

No warning signs of suicide

RCI adopted the approach of insider viewpoint in arguing for the suicide verdict. RCI first classified TBH belonging to high-risk group for suicide and then provided purported details of TBH’s inner emotions and thoughts before he purportedly took the decision to ‘jump’.

From their approach, we would have expected that RCI had managed to gather evidence of signs of TBH of wanting to commit suicide. Strangely, no such evidence was produced.

According to the American Association of Suicidology, a person in acute risk for suicidal behaviour most often will show the following warning signs:

“Threatening to hurt or kill himself or herself, or talking of wanting to hurt or kill him/herself; and/or

Looking for ways to kill him/herself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means; and/or

Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide, when these actions are out of the ordinary.”

RCI had not provided any credible and convincing evidence that TBH had suicidal thoughts or suicidal behaviour. It is at best mere speculation and at worst the manufacture of inner experience of a supposedly insider viewpoint.

RCI had failed immensely to establish TBH’s intention to suicide.

TBH stable and supported

Van Orden et al. (2010) proposed that the most dangerous form of suicidal desire is caused by the simultaneous presence of two factors – the thwarted belongingness (I am alone) and perceived burdensomeness (I am a burden) – and the hopelessness of these situations.

Also, the individual must acquire the capacity to engage in suicidal behaviour.

It is most unlikely that TBH would have felt hopeless when he was only detained less than 24 hours and there were ample opportunities for him to be reconnected to the outside world.

There is no reason for TBH to entertain the thought that his family, friends and colleagues in the outside world had abandoned him.

Subsequent events following news of TBH’s death saw an outpouring of support – including many friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues – for the family. It is clear from this that TBH had a sound social network of support to cope with any traumatic events.

Thus, the attribution of despair and hopelessness by RCI onto TBH is falsely created.

A physical and mental wreck will not commit suicide

Para. [229] stated that “By the time the fourth or final stage of the interrogation was over, TBH would have been almost a mental and physical wreck. When Ashraf fetched him a glass of water [demanded impolitely by TBH], TBH was said to have sat up very slowly.”

It is clear that in such a tortured weakened state, TBH would not have sufficient strength to commit suicide. When he could hardly move, he could not be expected to jump out of the window. This RCI conclusion now of TBH’s physical near collapse is self-contradictory to its melodramatic reconstruction of a fevered, despairing mind planning an energetic act of self-annihilation.

It is more probable that TBH would want to get out of the dreaded MACC building the moment he had the chance and the energy.

Conclusion

The RCI’s suicide verdict is questionable as the reasoning in its argument is deeply flawed. Mere speculation of TBH’s psychological state prior to death had become hard facts.

The authenticity of the evidence of intention to suicide used to support the claim is doubtful.

The inference from such evidence to the conclusion of suicide is invalid and unsound.

RCI based its reasoning on reconstructed suicidal thought. It is not inevitable that suicidal thoughts would lead to suicide. Also, it has not provided any evidence of suicidal behaviour or warning signs of suicide. The seriously weakened mental and physical state TBH as described by the commissioners shows that suicide is implausible.

RCI should have delivered an open verdict as it is a matter of intellectual honesty and integrity to respect facts and evidence.

Death would only have meaning when the truth is revealed and justice is done.

Reference List

De Leo, D., Burgis, S., Bertolote, J.M., Kerkhof, A.J.F.M., and Bille-Brahe, U. (2006), Definitions of suicidal behaviour. Crisis, 27(1), 4-15.

Van Orden, K. A., Witte, T.K., Cukrowicz, Braithwaite, S.R., Selby, E.A. and Joiner, Jr., T.E. (2010), The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, Psychological Review, 117 (2), 576-600.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 August 2011, 11:22 am and is filed under
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As talents fly home, Penang’s fortunes rise

By Debra Chong

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 20, 2011

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 20 — Six months ago Dr William Khor quit his London flat in affluent Kensington to fly home to Penang with little more than a rough plan to build a boutique health resort by the sea.

The former student of St Xavier’s Institution had jetted to the UK near a decade ago in pursuit of a medical degree and initially planned to head home immediately after graduating in 2007.

“The prospects then were not good,” the 28-year-old said, explaining the change in his plan.

He decided to stay on another year and complete his housemanship there to qualify as a doctor while reconsidering his options.

It was during that time that he was scouted by the Singapore General Hospital, which offered him a monthly salary of S$7,000 (about RM17,326) to serve as a general practitioner; he accepted and moved to the Lion City to be closer to his family.

He left after two years, to travel and think over his options for a way he could move home permanently to be a support to his grieving father, alone after Dr Khor’s mother died of cancer.

The UK was his base during that period.

Dr Khor said his homecoming in February was spurred by Penang’s rapid economic growth in the last few years as foreign investors pumped more money in the state than any other in the country and boosted business opportunities.

Dr Khor is not the only one.

Former banker Goh Soo Sing is excited by the property boom going on full throttle in space-strapped Penang.

The 27-year-old had been away since his secondary school years, and is looking forward to putting to work the knowledge and strategies gained through stints with various corporations in his family-owned property development firm.

The eldest in his family, and one groomed to inherit the family business, Goh said business today had gone global and a broader perspective was needed to tackle the challenges ahead.

“If I had entered the family business straight from school, my views would have been limited. I had a choice and I chose to come back. There’s no lack of business opportunities on the island,” said the lanky property developer whose previous experiences included the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad in Kuala Lumpur.

Both Dr Khor and Goh are leading the charge of young, educated professionals heading back to the northern state in what appears to be a reversal of the brain drain malaise afflicting Malaysia.

In January, the Najib administration had set up Talent Corporation to revive to revive the nation’s stagnating economy.

A brain drain is depriving Malaysia of talent, and accounts for a third of the country’s one-million strong diaspora, according to the World Bank Economic Monitor.

Singapore alone has absorbed 57per cent of these departing educated workers.

Only 23 per cent of Malaysia’s current work force is highly skilled and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this number must rise to 37 per cent by 2015 if it is to become a developed nation by 2020.

To Goh, there is ample room to grow in the property sector including on the island.

He is relishing translating architectural designs from paper to stone, steel and glass to draw out Penang’s full potential as “the first custom-made city of globalisation” as dubbed by influential international weekly The Economist in its August 13 issue. He noted with delight the increased value and heightened interest to acquire Penang properties among outsiders, especially those based in the Klang Valley, to expand their operations.

And as these talents return, Penang’s fortunes have been rising.

Shophouses within the George Town heritage enclave today easily fetch RM2 million, minimum, a five-fold rise from two years ago; yet many have not hesitated to fork over the astronomical amount to transform the units — some in highly decrepit states — into attractive boutique inns offering both global and domestic visitors a comfy, clean and calm place to lay their heads at night.

Among them is Penang-born director and performer Chee Sek Thim who managed to purchase property on Malay Street, on the outskirts of the enclave at a reasonable RM400,000, before the market went crazy.

Chee has spent the better part of his three years since moving back applying for all sorts of development permits to renovate his double-storey unit into a bed-and-breakfast-slash-performance-gallery downstairs.

The 48-year-old, whose Petaling Jaya art gallery shuttered in the late noughties, is now running his performance outfit Pocketsize Productions from the turtle-shaped island and said the proceeds from the business will be channelled to pursue his real love — performance art.

Despite the exceptional number of creative- and artistic-minded talents who hail from this Pearl of the Orient, example dancer extraordinaire Aida Redza and world-famous visual artist-turned-social activist Wong Hoy Cheong, Chee lamented the lack of a vibrant arts scene.

“There is no arts scene to speak of,” he insisted when met recently, explaining the lack of systematic efforts to build up infrastructure and train as well as manage local talent.

But he is optimistic there can be one, saying the arts was growing albeit in bursts and spurts, and hoped to play a key role in cultivating that creation.

The personable artist had recently directed River Meets Light, a mixed media performance as part of the George Town Festival 2011, a month-long celebration commemorating the city’s listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site July 7, 2008.

The 2011 festival, into its second year, had coincided with the bigger Penang Arts festival to showcase over 80 programmes on the arts, ranging from film to food and music, even opera and was estimated to have drawn one million visitors this year.

For returnees like Dr Khor, this mix of cultures is what flavours Penang’s lifestyle and cannot be found anywhere else, not in cosmopolitan London or Singapore.

“Penang’s got soul,” he said proudly.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 August 2011, 7:54 am and is filed under
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End the charade, revoke the ban on Bersih 2.0 and drop all charges against the 1,600 Bersih demonstrators and others related to wearing Bersih T-shirts or yellow

On the occasion of the sixth yellow Saturday, I call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to end the Barisan Nasional government charade for the past two months, revoke the ban on Bersih 2.0 and drop all charges against the 1,600 Malaysians arrested for taking part in the peaceful  Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections on July 9 and all others related to Bersih 2.0 rally, including those for  wearing Bersih T-shirts or just wearing yellow.

Let the Prime Minister and all Barisan Nasional Ministers come out openly to admit that they had gravely mishandled the Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections, which are the  most pertinent, legitimate and democratic aspirations of right-thinking Malaysians so that the Malaysian electoral process can win the support, confidence and legitimacy  of Malaysian voters.

It is no answer to the Bersih 2.0 rally for the Barisan Nasional Ministers and the Election Commission to counter that if the electoral system is as flawed as alleged by Bersih 2.0, Pakatan Rakyat and the civil society, then Pakatan Rakyat would not have won in five states or  denied the Barisan Nasional two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2008 general elections.

The simple and truthful response to such an argument is that if not for the flawed electoral system, more than five states would have fallen to the Pakatan Rakyat parties and at the national level, the Pakatan Rakyat parties might even be within distance of replacing the Barisan Nasional government in Putrajaya.

Whether such a scenario would have taken place is highly debatable and one could argue until the cows come home without a conclusion but what is undoubtedly beyond dispute is that the Pakatan Rakyat parties would definitely have made more electoral gains whether at the state or parliamentary levels in the 2008 general elections if the flaws in the electoral system had not been present.

The high-handed government and police action on Bersih 2.0 rally have brought the worst publicity and image to Malaysia during Najib’s short tenure as Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional Ministers should make immediate amends for their gross misjudgement and mishandling of the Bersih 2.0 rally and show respect for their peaceful and patriotic expression by Malaysians regardless of race and religion who had courageously supported the Bersih 2.0 rally despite most unjustified and horrendous threats and intimidations by the various apparatus of government and their proxies.

In fact, the Prime Minister should show appreciation that the Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally of some 50,000 Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, age and gender is so far the best and most outstanding demonstration  of the true 1Malaysia concept  –  which he had promoted but not gone much beyond sloganeering since acceding  the highest office of the land.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 August 2011, 3:40 pm and is filed under
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Will the PSC on electoral reforms be stillborn with another Najib flip flop

In just four days, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has done a full flip-flop, reneging on his implicit undertaking on Monday night that the next general elections would not be held until the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms has reached a national consensus on electoral reforms.

Let me quote from Bernama on Najib’s announcement on Monday night:

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced Monday, Aug 15 the setting up of a parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms to put to rest any suspicion that there is manipulation by the government in the country’s electoral process.

The prime minister said the committee, comprising government and opposition members, would have its first meeting on Wednesday and would discuss “everything that needs to be done” and reach a consensus on the matter.

“This is so that we can reach a consensus in facing the next election without any suspicion about any manipulation by the government.

“That is why when the issue of free and fair elections was raised recently, the government’s response was for us to tackle the issue which has spawned numerous views, and to a certain extent, disputes,” he said in his speech at the breaking-of-the-fast with the media hosted by Bernama at Wisma Bernama, here.

He said the move was to dispel any misconception that the government was against a clean electoral process.

Najib said the government was committed to continuing the parliamentary democracy tradition that was started by the nation’s forefathers.

“I have said it before and I say it again, that the cabinet members and I do not want to become ministers and prime minister without the support of the people. We will only form the government if it is proven that the people truly choose the Barisan Nasional as their government.

“Let no one misconstrue and say that we do not want a clean process to elect the government,” he said.

Last night, Najib reneged on his  commitment on the formation of the parliamentary select committee to “reach a consensus in facing the next election without any suspicion about any manipulation by the government” when he stated that the next general election can be held anytime and is not bound by the work of the parliamentary select committee.

In declaring that the next general election can be held anytime and is not bound by the work of the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms, Najib is in effect saying that the Barisan Nasional government is now  prepared to go ahead with the next general election although it has failed to put to rest suspicions of manipulation by the government in the country’s electoral process.

This has vindicated the intense questioning and doubts about the true intentions of the parliamentary select committee proposal, whether it is a genuine and sincere attempt to address and resolve the many flaws in the electoral system or just a gimmick to sidetrack legitimate and growing public demands for electoral reforms.

This is why so much questions have been raised about the Parliamentary Select Committee proposal, in particular  why Pakatan Rakyat parties had not been consulted and agreement sought on the formation of the parliamentary select committee, its  membership, terms of reference, time-line and other aspects and whether the Prime Minister could give an iron-clad guarantee that the next general elections would not be held until the recommendations of the  parliamentary select committee have been fully implemented.

Malaysians are asking  whether Najib has backed down in four days from his implicit undertaking that the parliamentary select committee would be a meaningful exercise and that general elections would only be held after electoral reforms had been effected because of the hardline pressures such as those emanating from the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had denied that there is any real problem with the electoral system and that only some minor tweaks are required.

Be that as it may, it is now in the court of the Prime Minister as to whether his proposal of a parliamentary select committee will be stillborn because of his refusal to fully consult with and seek the agreement of  Pakatan Rakyat on various important aspects of the committee as well to assure all Malaysians that it will be a meaningful exercise and not a political ploy to avoid electoral reforms.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 August 2011, 12:59 pm and is filed under
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Will the real PM please stand up?

— Jose Rizal

The Malaysian Insider

Aug 20, 2011

AUG 20 — I have to say this about Malaysians: We are very patient and tolerant and forgiving.

But I do believe that even our legendary patience is at breaking point with Datuk Seri Najib Razak, one time prime minister of all Malaysians but now prime minister of who threatens most.

I give up because I cannot figure what he stands for anymore. One week he talks about economic reforms and opening up the country, and the next week he returns to the safe embrace of the New Economic Policy; and yet one week later, he goes silent when right wing elements assail his policies.

I have been reading The Malaysian Insider and there seems to be some the suggestion that hardliners like Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin are pushing Najib towards more right wing, Malay-first policies. I am sorry but this is absolute rubbish.

I believe we have a weak PM who, depending on who shouts loudest and threatens most, goes with that flow.

That is why we have rudderless policy making and seem to be drifting. You know why it seems that we are constantly at odds with each other, fighting over race and religious space, etc.

Because there is hardly any leadership. When the likes of Datuk Ibrahim Ali attacks and offends the sensibilities of most Malaysians, there is silence from Najib.

And this PM also shares the table with Datuk Zulkifli Noordin, Ezam Nor and Datuk Zahrain Hashim, not the most credible of characters. He is not being forced to mix with them but he chooses to. Just like he was not forced to sanction the power grab in Perak but he chose to.

So please, please don’t expect me to believe that Muhyiddin, Hishammuddin and Ibrahim Ali are forcing Najib to go where he doesn’t want to go.

He just is weak. And we Malaysians have been tolerating weak since Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 August 2011, 7:21 pm and is filed under
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