Seedless Slogans

By
Augustine Anthony

People love seedless fruits. It is convenient for our consumption.  The value of the fruit ends the moment it enters our digestive system. But a fruit with seeds can maintain continuity if placed in the hands of a creative and resourceful owner.

Just imagine if we pick up the seed and visualize the beginning and the end of what the seed can become, we will see many things that the mind had not thought or perhaps had taken for granted. We will begin to see the seed becoming a shoot, a little plant, then a tree after which it will bear fruits and we get to enjoy the fruits. More fruits mean more seeds and more seeds mean more trees and the cycle continues. Of course we can expand this simplistic explanation into a complex and endless discourse. But in short, in the miniature seed we are able to glimpse the continuity of a grand scheme of things.

Play the concept forward and then play it backward, play the idea from the seed to the fruit and fruit to the seed.  We will see nothing but harmony and purpose. The seed has a purpose for which it must grow as a tree to bear fruits and the fruits have a purpose to produce more seeds and the end result is continuity of purpose.

Empty Slogans

Like seedless fruits, empty slogans are also a convenient item for consumption which will experience its death pang without any hope of continuity the moment the shout is over. If a meaningful national slogan cannot be expanded into grand scheme of things, it will become a disservice to a nation as it turns hope into a mirage and a vibrant society into a mass in a state of inertia that will soon see its distant surrounding overwhelming it. Lip service has the capacity of turning the greater population into a cynical lot.

An idea called democracy

An idea is a seed with a grand scheme of things with continuity in mind. Today the world over, we hear the rejuvenated shouts of democracy echoing in every corner. At its inception the idea was to give power to people and that people themselves should decide what is best for them.

The Greeks started it. The Romans experimented on it. The French Philosopher Montesquieu debated it (the concept of separation of powers is an integral part of democracy). We now have Congressional and Parliamentary Systems. To safe guard the realization of “Power to People”, creative and resourceful thinkers had put in place various mechanisms for compliance. Inventive people know too well that without instruments exacting obedience, people in general will tend to abuse anything that is designed for a common good.

The sacred position of common good necessitates instruments outlining the obligations of all who form and become inclusive of a collective voice called a society. Documents outlining the contractual relationship between People and the State, which we now understand in our country as the Federal Constitution, had become imperative with room for expansion and improvisation. The effective adherence and commitment to the Constitution is made possible by various administrative institutions with the introduction of separation of powers to safe guard that sacrosanct citizen and state relationship.

Now a forward or backward reading of democracy and “power to people” in which ever way will reflect harmony and purpose. And because of this unity, there is hope for modification, improvement and enhancement of the concept. There is room for remodeling and there is space for improvisation in an ever evolving society.

Society and Evolution

A society consisting of living beings is endowed with a self generating pattern of evolution. It is constantly changing. It needs to remodel itself and that can only be done effectively by adaptation and improvisation and this is where the slogans are introduced to spark an innovative idea for a renewed beginning. A slogan with an intended grand scheme of things can give birth to a vision of harmony and purpose very much like the seed and the fruit.

A slogan is a spark as well as an impetus. It ignites and remains a flame.

Trivializing Slogans

Reformasi

What is Reformasi apart from being a wonderful slogan?

Does this seed have a greater purpose for reformation to survive or continue?  Right thinking members of society ask what this movement intended to achieve by the very shout of this slogan. Can we visualize this seed turning into a grand scheme of things with comprehensive policy safe guards that will allow room for experiments and improvements?

In hearing the shouts of Reformasi, people would generally think that it is intended to bring reformation to the people which encompass a positively altered way of thoughts that will pave the way for the restructuring of the unworkable system of governance that is pulling this nation down.

After more than ten years from the first clenched fist of Reformasi, we see that many associated with this movement struggling with basic issues like unethical party hopping, corruption, mediocrity and the propagation of distrust among the ethnically divided fragile cooperation. Racial and communal political patriotism and championing are still deeply rooted in many within this movement.

 As this slogan is only a sub slogan of the main slogan of democracy, one expects that this slogan will compliment and supplement democracy but sadly the basic ideas of good governance which is part of democracy whether of a state or a political party, still elude many within this slogan. No wonder we hear less and less of the shouts of Reformasi nowadays.

Is Reformasi dead? Or is there a renewed direction to this slogan.

Change

What is Change? Is it not obvious that a change can be for better or worse? A mere sloganeering with word such as “change” does not define an idea with a grand scheme of things in mind.

The fact is reformasi is a form of change but more importantly a change in a positive sense. Thus the slogan change is in effect an outdated slogan going back to reformation. In fact reformation is a superseding theme for the slogan called “Change”. Reformation is an improvised positive term for change, applicable in an advance, clean and efficient system of governance.

Between Change and Reformasi, there is confusion and we are regressing even in sloganeering.

A slogan that screams change must have reformation in mind otherwise sporadic whispers “that the only change that is taking place is the change of heart of many who feel that they are terribly short changed”, might become loud and boisterous shouts.

If there is one reformation that our society must desperately and urgently embrace, then it must be the reformation with renewed mindsets of our people that free us from the very system that has a terrible grip on all our actions and reactions. Look around and see how feudal and patriarchal our society has become.

1Malaysia

What is the grand scheme of things by the utterance of this 1 Malaysia?

Is it one nation with one identity called Malaysians where there is no place for race based society and congregation, one language spoken by all where none will be a stranger in a crowded promenade, one education system where there will be no distrust and suspicion, one judicial system where there will be no confusion and confrontation, one financial system that streamlines our financial prudence, one system of governance where all will have equal opportunity, appraisal, recognition and occupancy.  One vision, one struggle, one goal, one dream and one unwavering hope, not of Malaysia for Malaysians, but Malaysians for Malaysia our motherland?

A simple visualization of this slogan gives many skipped heart beats in exhilaration. Can this nerve tingling excitement translate into an endless euphoria in the collective contemplation of the entire nation?

That endless euphoria is only possible when and if the author of this slogan visualizes and sets in motion an agenda in anticipation of the harvest time.

Upshot

When we elevate our focal point from Malaysia for Malaysians to Malaysians for Malaysia, we reach a higher consciousness where our collective conscience will discard its greedy consumerism enslaved by scarcity mindset and embrace the splendor of conservationism.

Barren lands will turn into vibrant ecosystems, polluted rivers will become pristine waterways and the air will be ours to breathe deep.

Not possible? Think again.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 14 November 2009, 12:29 pm and is filed under
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Prime Minister Najib requires superhuman effort to achieve high income status for the people of Malaysia

Media Statement by Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life Advisor in Seremban on 14th November 2009

To achieve high income status for the people of malaysia requeires a revolutionary policy and full support from the people.

PM Najib stated that his intention was to raise the present per capita income of US$7,000 to US$17,000 by the year 2020, assuming that the GDP increases on an average of 9% a year.

Later he revised his targets after realising that the targets were unrealistic. His new estimates were a 6% GDP growth annually and achieve per capita income US$13,000 in 2020.

What are the prospects of achieving a pci of US$13,000 by 2020? Dim.

Historically, it would be near impossible. In 1957 at independence, Malaysia enjoyed a pci of about US$500, the second highest in Asia after Japan. In 2008, Malaysia pci was US$7,000. It took 51 years to reach US$7,000. Year 2020 is 11 short years away to reach US$13,000, when it took 51 years to reach US$7,000.

If PM Najib has a revolutionary policy and inspire the entire nation to rally and work exceedingly hard, the objectives might be achievable.

I do not see the government wholly committed to full liberalisation of the economy which would attract foreign and local investors to bring in more FDIs into the country. Investors are not convinced that the lukewarm reforms by the Prime Minister are liberal enough for them to bring in their cash for investment. Statistics show that FDIs for the first half of this year are very much lower than the FDIs in the first half of last year.

Although the reforms to revoke the NEP were announced, in practice there is still a 121/2 per cent bumiputra allocation. Moreover the NEP attitude. The NEP machinery and regulations and NEP dependence are still evident and practised.

PM needs reminding that NEP was the major factor that cause Malaysia’s economy to fall behind South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Note the pci of US$18,000 for S.Korea, US$17,000 for Taiwan, US$34,000 for Hong Kong and US$34,000 for Singapore. Malaysia with a pci of US$7,000 is way behind. The reluctance of PM Najib to do away with the NEP will the doom for all his so called reforms.

Corruption is another factor which will hamper PM Najib to grow the economy faster. Many investors feel that corruption adds to the cost of investments, and would make their investments risky.

PM Najib has a herculean task ahead of him. His reforms have to be more fundamental and drastic. Putting up a show of reforms will not make Malaysia a high income country.

Dr Chen Man Hin

DAP Life adviser

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 November 2009, 1:47 pm and is filed under
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Corruption conviction rate against ikan yu – Indonesia 100% Malaysia 0%

During the parliamentary debate during the committee stage of the 2010 budget on the Prime Minister’s Department, I compared Malaysia to Indonesia on the anti-corruption front.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared that the war against corruption and fighting the “judicial mafia” would be a priority for his first 100 days of his second administration.

In Indonesia recently, there was a public movement and outcry in support of the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi) whose top officers  and anti-corruption campaign were undermined and threatened  by the “judicial mafia” comprising top officials in the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers trying to protect the corrupt and those who abused their public positions and power.

If there is a public movement in Malaysia concerning the Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC), it will not be in support but in condemnation of MACC for its failure to make a dent on corruption and for lending itself to be the catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional in their campaign to destroy the Pakatan Rakyat.

What has the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak got to show on the anti-corruption front after his first seven months in office?

Parliament established MACC to replace the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to declare war against corruption. MACC failed in its mandate and had instead gone all-out to declare war against Pakatan Rakyat on behalf of Barisan Nasional.

What is fatally lacking in Malaysia’s campaign against corruption is “political will”. There is simply no condition to mount a successful anti-corruption campaign in any country without political will.

Since its establishment in 2002, Indonesia’s KPK has a 100 per cent conviction rate and success in exposing and prosecuting the corrupt in high places, and among its trophies are top officers in government, police, the central bank, provincial governors and city mayors.

What is MACC’s conviction rate against ikan yus among the corrupt in Malaysia? Zero per cent!

Malaysia is not short of mega scandals, the latest being the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal. Malaysia makes world record in having the most number of “heinous crimes” and mega scandals but without criminals – as not a single “big gun” had been brought to court and convicted for high crimes of corruption against the state despite all the cans of worms and swamps of crocodiles in the country!

This is why there is the report today of the latest survey of voters (Sept. 16 – Oct. 12)  by Merdeka Centre commissioned by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) which found that corruption and abuse of power are the most important problem which needs to be solved.

The survey showed a whopping 74 per cent of those polled dissatisfied with the government’s handling of corruption and abuse of power issues.

Among those polled, 52 per cent felt the country was headed in the right direction, while 47 per cent were of the opinion that Malaysia was headed in the wrong direction.

For those who felt the country was going in the wrong direction, political instability and graft were listed as the top reasons.

Some of the findings of this survey include:

A total of 13 per cent polled felt corruption and abuse of power was the most serious problem that needed addressing, followed by social problems at 12 per cent.

While 74 per cent were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of graft, a total of 67 per cent were also unhappy with how the administration dealt with social problems.

Unsurprisingly, 81 per cent of respondents felt corruption was a serious problem.

Notably, the kind of graft listed as most serious was petty corruption, with 42 per cent viewing it as “very serious.” This was followed by nepotism (41 per cent), fraud (37 per cent), corruption among politicians (34 per cent), grand corruption (30 per cent) and administrative corruption (24 per cent).

On media reporting of corruption, 58 per cent could not name an incident of corruption that was widely reported in the media. Of the 42 per cent who could, some 42 per cent cited the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal. This was followed by corruption among politicians (12 per cent), allegations about former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Khir Toyo (eight per cent), Teoh Beng Hock/MACC (seven per cent) and money politics in Umno (six per cent).

There is a major difference between Malaysia and Indonesia. In Indonesia, the “legal mafia” to protect the corrupt and the abusers of power so as to frustrate the course of justice are to be found in the police and the Attorney General’s Chambers and their target is the KPK.

Malaysia’s “legal mafia” to protect the corrupt and those who abuse their powers are even more formidable than the “legal mafia” in Indonesia, as it embraces the MACC as well.

The MACC  Operations Review Panel have asked for a review of the Lingam  Videotape scandal as to why no action has been taken on the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The MACC Operations Review Panel should not just review the Lingam Videotape scandal but should conduct a major review of the directions of the MACC after 11 months of operation, why it has lost even greater public support and confidence in playing the role of being Umno/BN catspaw to declare war against Pakatan Rakyat instead of being an independent and fearless agency against corruption.

This is why MACC had been mocked as “Malaysian Agency for Cow and Cars” when it tried to target the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor Mentri Besar. Its stocks fell further when MACC colluded with Umno/Barisan Nasional in the illegal power-grab in Perak by illegally harassing the Perak Speaker, Sivakumar with investigations for corrupt practice and abuses of power for initiating assembly disciplinary actions against Perak State Assembly members from Umno.

Public confidence in MACC reached the bottom with the mysterious death of DAP political aide in Selangor, Teoh Beng Hock, as Malaysians do not believe that Teoh had committed suicide from jumping to his death from the 14th floor of MACC in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.

I call on the MACC Operations Review Panel to probe and to rein in  the MACC from deviating from its statutory objective to fight corruption and to stop being a catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional to declare war against Pakatan Rakyat.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 November 2009, 10:56 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia can help Asia lead the recovery of the world economy if it has a fully liberalised economy like China

Media Statement by Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser in Seremban on 15th November 2009

WILL MALAYSIA PLAY A ROLE IN WHAT THE PUNDITS CALL ‘ASIA WILL LEAD THE RECOVERY OF THE WORLD ECONOMY’

It is becoming evident that while the economies in the West are trying very hard to revive their economies, and while America is still bogged down by failures of its banks – both big and small – China and India are having record GDP growths, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.

This has prompted many economists to propose the trend that it is Asia that will show the way for recovery of not just the Asian economy but also the WORLD economy.

This conclusion was further emphasised only two days ago, at the GLOBAL LEADERS SERIES talk organised by the American Chambers of Commerce in Singapore, it was postulated that Asia will lead the recovery of the world, from recession.

This is happening because China is now the second richest nation in the world, with its economy galloping at a rate of 9% GDP growth, supported by positive GDP growth rates in Indonesia, and Vietnem.

CAN MALAYSIA HELP ASIA LEAD THE RECOVERY OF THE WORLD ECONOMY AS A RESPONSIBLE MEMBER OF APEC?

Unfortunately, the economy in Malaysia has not been as encouraging as countries in ASEAN like Indonesia and Vietnam which has positive growth rates of 6%. Malaysia’s economy slowed down in 2008 and is slated to slow down to minus 6% in 2009.

PM Najib has predicted that the recession has bottomed and the economy is projected to have 6% growth in 2010. Not many people share his optimism. The income from manufacture exports would still have a problem as its major markets in Japan, America and Europe have yet to recover.

The country is feverishing looking for new markets for its export, as substitutes for the slow takes from Europe and America.

PM Najib has courted China by establishing stronger ties and increasing bilateral trade relations. He has given China big contracts like building a double rail track, between Gemas and Johore Bahru, a dam in Penang and three other projects, in the hope of reciprocal contracts in China.

But these are not enough. What is required are solid FDIs from China and foreign countries.

Foreign investments bring in money and technology. The figures are not encouraging. Statistics show that FDIs into Malaysia have decreased in the first half of 2009 compared with FDIs in the first half of 2008.

This means that the investment incentives offered by the government are not attractive enough. Najib’s reforms of the NEP did not impress the investors despite the cut of the quota from 30% to 12½%. it would appear that the NEP policy is still very much in force. The NEP culture and structure are still there. There is no liberalisation.

If there is no real liberalisation, if there are still distortions in the economic system like quotas, APs and any regulation or rules that hinder free trade, the economy will continue to stagnate.

40 years of NEP has slowed the economy considerably and Malaysia is far, far behind Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. If there is no true liberalisation there will never be a 1Malaysia.

We, in the PR strongly recommend Prime Minister Najib to follow the course taken by China to fully liberalise the economy. China changed a communist economy to a socialist market economy,and is now the second richest country in the world.

If Malaysia does not liberalise, it will be overtaken by the other ASEAN countries who are more liberal and democratic. Malaysia may not join the other countries who helped Asia lead the recovery of the world economy.

MALAYSIA CAN ALSO HELP ASIA LEAD THE RECOVERY OF THE WORLD ECONOMY IF IT HAS A FULLY LIBERALISED ECONOMY LIKE CHINA

Dr Chen Man Hin

DAP life adviser

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 November 2009, 12:41 pm and is filed under
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Who is lying – father (2nd PM Tun Razak) or son (6th PM Najib Razak)?

I asked in Parliament today – “Who is lying – father (second Prime Minister Tun Razak) or son (sixth Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak”?

This was during the committee stage debate on the Prime Minister’s Department on the 2010 budget in Parliament.

On 3rd November, while replying during question time, Najib told Parliament that from a legal aspect, states such as Kelantan and Trengganu are not entitled to oil royalties for petroleum  produced “off-shore” – as they are only entitled to oil royalties if the petroleum is drilled from its water.

Najib said:

“The offshore oil operations in their waters are defined as an area not more than three nautical miles, which is measured starting from the low watermark or the shoreline of the state.

“Currently, there is no oil production in the waters of Kelantan or Terengganu. Because of that, from the legal standpoint, Kelantan does not have a right to demand oil royalties, the same as Terengganu”.

This was in clear contradiction to the answer given by Najib’s father, Tun Razak when he replied to my question as the second Prime Minister in Parliament on the same issue 34 years ago in 1975.

This is the Q & A from Parliament Hansard of November 12, 1975:

Tuan Lim Kit Siang minta Perdana Menteri menyatakan samada semua negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia, Sarawak dan Sabah telah menandatangani perjanjian dengan Petronas untuk mencarigali minyak di sepanjang pantai dan samada perjanjian tersebut mengandungi apa-apa syarat dan kepentingan bersama. Nyatakan juga keuntungan bersama yang akan diterima oleh tiap-tiap negeri.

Perdana Menteri (Tun Razak): Tuan Yang di-Pertua, semua negeri di Malaysia, melainkan Sabah dan Selangor, telah menandatangani perjanjian dengan Petronas sebagaimana yang dikehendaki oleh Akta Kemajuan Petrolium, 1974. Saya diberitahu Kerajaan Negeri Selangor pun telah bersetuju menandatangani perjanjian ini. Mengikut Perjanjian itu, tiap-tiap negeri akan menerima 5% daripada nilai petrolium yang dijumpai dan diperolehi di negeri masing-masing samada yang diperolehi dalam kawasan perairan atau di luar perairan negeri tersebut, yang dijual oleh Petronas ataupun ejensi-ejensi ataupun konraktor-kontraktornya.

I called on the son and the sixth Prime Minister to keep to the commitment by the father and the  second Prime Minister that Kelantan and Trengganu are entititled to 5% oil royalty for petroleum “whether onshore or offshore” as stipulated in the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (one of whose architects is Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who had rightly spoken up on the legal rights of Kelantan and Terengganu to 5% oil royalty for petroleum produced offshore and not as  mere “wang ehsan”).

Otherwise, Najib’s 1Malaysia would be sheer mockery if the legal rights and status of states to oil royalty is politicized to depend on whether Umno/Barisan Nasional controls the state government, as happened to Terengganu and Kelantan.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 November 2009, 5:26 pm and is filed under
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Form Six class unfair treatment

Letter by citizen leong

A new system has recently been implemented in all schools with Form Six classes throughout the country. All Lower Six classes from 2009 will have to stay back until 4pm. This new system started in my school in early July.

I found out from the teachers that this  batch (2009/2010) was used to try out the suitability  of the semester-based system to be implemented in schools in the future. Unfortunately for us, our exams are still not semester-based. Staying back till 4pm means we, Lower Six students will not have a chance to participate in the extra-curricular activities as all the club and uniformed body meetings are held after 1pm. What about our co-curriculum marks? We were told that 10% of the overall criteria to enter local universities is from our involvement in co-curricular activities. Before this new system was implemented, we all could go for our co-curricular activities. With the new system in place, we are forced to stay back and could not  involve ourself in such activities as the timing will clash with us as most activities are  held after school. While co-curricular activities make up 10% of our total STPM grades, I  strongly believe there must be other alternatives. I don’t think a person who has four distinctions, but without any co-curricular achievements will be selected to enter a local university. So, why should we stay until 4 o’clock when the things we are doing now will not contribute any marks to our STPM?

The new system is a complete waste of time. The new system requires students to stay back after school until 4pm for activities. But the activities organised by the school to keep students until 4pm is not a good idea. The extra time that we are required to put in school is used for nonsensical activities such as making posters, doing sketches, preparing for presentations and proposals and doing research and development (R&D). Besides this, some  activities are really  of no use to us. For example, during cocuriculum, we even told to prepare food, play on the field under the hot sun from 2.40pm-4pm and planning how to decorate the school. I do not see the teaching and learning value here as these activities are a waste of time! In addition, some students hate it so much that they decided to skip school altogether.

I understand that this system is a part of the Education Ministry’s initiative in boosting the  level of confidence and enhancing communicative ability among school students while doing presentation. But please be rational and reasonable. Ministry need to take cognizance that we are humans too. All of us need more time to study and staying back till 4pm is just too much on our plates. The moment we reach home, most of us will be dead tired. By the time we get home, we will be exhausted because we have been in school since 7.30am. Many of us would be too tired after coming back from school and just hop on to the bed into dreamland even if they wish to study. Furthermore, not to forget the amount of assignments given by our teachers and we have to complete everything on time. By then we would be too tired to study. Preparing for presentations and projects requires a lot of our attention and time, so we will struggle to cope with our studies. Our main priority is still our studies! Without time to revise, how are  we supposed to live our dreams of attaining a 4.0 score? But forcing us to stay back after school will deprive us of the chance to revise our lessons. An ample amount of time is needed for us to carry out constant revision. However with the time constraints, there is certainly no time for us to study at home! Even if we do have the time, we would suffer from fatigue. The ministry fails to see the light that whatever they are doing is in fact making our lives even more miserable, stressful and very depressing. Will this result in good achievement in the STPM exams? Definitely NO!!!

Many parents decided to send their children to Form Six as it is the cheapest route to universities. But now not any more. We have to fork out our own money for our lunch expenses. By right, if the Education Ministry wants to carry this out, they should at least think about giving lunch allowances to us. Now, parents will need to fork out additional expenses for their child’s lunch. Not everyone is well-to-do. In these times where money does not come easy, forking out extra money will be a burden to them as the overall house expenditure would have increased as well. Another woe is that we are only given an hour for our lunch break before we begin our presentation; it is impossible for students to head home to have a home-cooked meal, take a bath and have a short break and then rush back to school before 2 o’clock. Most of us will not be able to eat at home as we are not living nearby. Therefore, students are left with no other alternatives but to patronise nearby mamak stalls for their lunch. Needless to say, food sold at mamak stalls can be unhealthy and unhygienic. And since the mamak stalls usually serves oily and non-nutritious food, the students are not benefiting at all as it make us feel lethargic. With the lack of nutritious food, how are we to maintain a healthy body to study hard and achieve good result in STPM?

On the other hand, transportation is a major problem for most of us. Our parents are not free to send us home. Left with no other immediate solutions in sight, we have to rely on public transport like buses. Taking the school bus at odd hours costs extra as it is inconvenient for the drivers. Some of us are not living nearby and thus, walking back home will be out of the question and too dangerous for us students considering the disturbingly high number of snatch theft cases across the country. It is undeniable that life in the sixth form can be pretty daunting and challenging.

Not only are the students disatisfied with this new system, the teachers are unhappy. They could not express their feeling as they could risk losing their jobs. Almost every teacher I have spoken to, too, do not agree with this new system.They feel that the time spent in school is way too long! Forget about the students, even the teachers are grumbling! Teachers and students alike are exhausted by the end of the day.So, how do we expect teachers to perform their best when they are tired? Needless to say, students too have a hard time concentrating in the hot and stuffy afternoon classes. It is not fair for the teachers who teach the Form Six classes for they have to stay back for longer hours compared to their other colleagues. Wake up! The new system brings nothing but stress and red tape.

I acknowledged that some authorities would advice us to quit form six if we despise or hate the system. However, as far as I concerned, we are totally not being informed about this 4pm-stay-back system until a few week after we enrolled. We are the victims and we got no other better options than form six but as a student, we have the right to protect our right and express our  feeling. So, we need to change. There is no point “testing” as the Malaysian education system is not a playground or lab where future leaders were “tested” with new policies. We as the students are not “guinea pigs”. If we were to continue to “test” policies on our children, our education system will be seen as a joke in the international arena. Last but not least, I only hope next year we can revert back to the old system where everyone can go home like normal or 1pm. I sincerely hope you will help us. Thank you.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 9:46 pm and is filed under
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Major blow for Najib premiership – Malaysia’s worst ranking and score in 15 years in Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2009

I asked in Parliament yesterday whether Malaysia is heading for the worst Transparency International  (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking and score in 15 years when TI CPI 2009 is announced in the next few days.

I had expected poor results for Malaysia both in CPI ranking and score, with Malaysia slipping  further in ranking from No. 47 to may be No. 50 and to fall to the lowest CPI score ever of 4.8.

But my worst fears had been exceeded when the Berlin-based TI just announced that Malaysia had plunged nine places from last year’s 47th CPI ranking to 56th  position while Malaysia CPI index score plunged to the lowest in 15 years to 4.5 when Malaysia’s previous  worst scores below 5 were 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002.

This is a national shame and major blow for Najib’s premiership

I have no doubt that the mysterious death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16, who went to the 14th floor MACC headquarters as a healthy, vigorous, idealistic young man to give his co-operation as a witness but ended up as a corpse on the 5th floor of the building and the the MACC role as Umno catspaw to declare war on Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war on corruption were major factors for Malaysia’s worst-ever TI CPI ranking and score.

Will there be any response from Najib to the shocking TI CPI 2009 ranking and score?

From AP

BERLIN – RANKINGS of the top and bottom nations studied by corruption watchdog Transparency International for its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, released on Tuesday.

The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.

1. New Zealand 9.4

2. Denmark 9.3

=3. Singapore 9.2

=3. Sweden 9.2

5. Switzerland 9.0

=6. Finland 8.9

=6. Netherlands 8.9

=8. Australia 8.7

=8. Canada 8.7

=8. Iceland 8.7

11. Norway 8.6

12. Hong Kong 8.2

=12. Luxembourg 8.2

14. Germany 8.0

=14. Ireland 8.0 .

.

.

162. Angola 1.9

=162. Congo Republic 1.9

=162. Congo Democratic Republic 1.9

=162. Guinea-Bissau 1.9

=162. Kyrgyzstan 1.9

= 162. Venezuela 1.9

168. Burundi 1.8

=168. Equatorial Guinea 1.8

=168. Guinea 1.8

=168. Haiti 1.8

=168. Iran 1.8

=168. Turkmenistan 1.8

174. Uzbekistan 1.7

175. Chad 1.6

176. Iraq 1.5

=176. Sudan 1.5

178. Myanmar 1.4

179. Afghanistan 1.3

180. Somalia 1.1

AFP

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 5:52 pm and is filed under
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Nazri insists Kelantan not entitled to oil royalty

By
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 – The Parliament was in uproar this afternoon when Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz poured oil on the fire raging over the Kelantan oil royalty issue by insisting that the PAS-governed state has no legal right to demand the payment.

While winding up the Supply Bill debate, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department explained that former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein had not specifically used the term “royalty” when debating the Petroleum Development Bill in 1974 that established Petronas and agreements with the various oil-producing states to receive 5 per cent of the oil revenues.

“The agreement was made as a promise so that future administrations will respect it. It is a promise but not a right and his son, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is respecting this promise by giving goodwill payment to Kelantan,” Nazri told the Dewan Rakyat.

The statement made by Najib’s father was recorded by the Parliament Hansard and has been used by the opposition as proof to their claims that the government had recognised the rights of Kelantan to receive royalty.

Apart from the Act, the agreement between then Petronas chairman Tun Salleh Abbas and its founder, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, that oil-producing states be given royalty, have also been used as opposition fodder to demand payment of royalty.

However, PAS lawmakers and their allies in the Pakatan Rakyat have been frustrated for weeks now by the government’s argument that oil extracted beyond three nautical miles of state waters don’t belong to the state as the territorial definition cannot be found in laws dictating state-federal government agreement on oil royalties.

The state waters definition was first mentioned by Najib in Parliament two weeks ago when he announced that the federal government will be giving “goodwill payment” to Kelantan instead of oil royalty.

It was again used by Nazri as the government’s defence on the matter but Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang blasted the reply a “a distortion of facts” and a desecration of the spirit that drafted the oil regulations.

Lim and other opposition lawmakers argued that the state waters definition given by the prime minister was nowhere to be found in any of the laws governing state-federal governments agreement on the matter.

“If you want to think it’s a distortion of facts, it’s up to you. The PDA does not mention royalty,” Nazri said in his reply to Lim’s outbust.

At this point, the House had already erupted into a warzone with several opposition MPs simultaneously blasting Nazri’s reply as absurd and inconsistent.

The House later calmed after opposition MPs felt it was no longer useful to argue with the minister who in his closing remark said, “whatever it is, I insist that Kelantan will not get royalty as oil is extracted beyond its waters.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 7:25 pm and is filed under
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Doctrine of separation of powers – Kula’s emergency motion on police killing of five Indians should have been allowed

DAP MP for Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran was unsuccessful in his attempt this morning to move Parliament for an emergency debate on the police killing of five Indians in a shoot-out in Klang on November 8 for being suspected gang members.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaffar conceded that Kula’s motion met two of the three criteria of being definite and of public importance, but it was not “urgent” as police investigations were “ongoing”.

I stood up to support the protests by Kula and DAP MP for Teluk Intan, M. Manogaran for rejecting a debate on the motion and argued that “investigations under way” should not be used as an excuse to disallow a parliamentary debate as this will be against the doctrine of separation of powers.

“Ongoing police investigations” is an executive action, but under the doctrine of the separation of powers, it is the executive that must be answerable to Parliament and not Parliament having to kow-tow to the Executive.

The Malaysian public are concerned about police killing of people in police shoot-outs and this is a matter which should be debated in Parliament with the executive giving a full and satisfactory accounting as at stake are  public confidence in the police as well as in Parliament.

The following is a
parliamentary report
from
Malaysian Insider
:

Parliament rejects motion on Klang shoot-out

UPDATED

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar today rejected an emergency motion on the Klang shoot-out where five Indian men were killed as the matter was still under police investigation.

Ipoh Barat DAP MP M. Kulasegaran had moved a motion for the government to conduct a public inquiry on the five shot dead by the police on Nov 8 for being suspected gang members.

The shoot-out caused an outcry in the Indian community as opposition leaders and NGOs accused the police of being trigger happy. A sister of one of the dead men tried to commit suicide which the family said was linked to the shoot-out.

Kulasegaran argued that the police should have captured the suspects and brought them to court instead of shooting them.

“The police action has caused public peace to be in jeopardy. The incident that happened on Nov 8 has clearly shown that the police have abused their powers without considering public interest and peace,” he said.

He said the police should tell the truth.

“The police should not deny the allegations made against them,” Kulasegaran added.

Wan Junaidi explained that the motion was not allowed because the subject matter was not urgent although he did admit that it was a specific matter and was of public interest.

Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang objected and argued that the subject matter was urgent because it was of public interest.

“We cannot use that it was still under investigation as an excuse. This is an urgent debate because it involves the interest of many. It also involves the belief of the public in the institution of Parliament.

“The case is still investigated by police so there must be a separation of power between the legislative and the executive. This goes against the doctrine of separation of powers,” he said.

Last Thursday, R. Seetha poured weedkiller for herself and her four children in Klang and told them to “drink it so you can see uncle” after she was overcome with grief for her younger brother who was among those shot dead by police.

R. Surendren, 24, was among the five “high on the police wanted list” gunned down by the police.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 4:32 pm and is filed under
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Heads must roll starting with the resignation of the MACC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Said for Malaysia’s worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score in past 15 years

Heads must roll – starting with the resignation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan – for Malaysia’s worst single-year plunge in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception  Index (CPI) ranking and score since the introduction of TI’s annual CPI in the past 15 years.

Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking and score from 1995 to 2009, which ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt), are as follows:

Year

CPI Rank

CPI score

1995

23

5.28

1996

26

5.32

1997

32

5.01

1998

29

5.3

1999

32

5.1

2000

36

4.8

2001

36

5.0

2002

33

4.9

2003

37

5.2

2004

39

5.0

2005

39

5.1

2006

44

5.0

2007

43

5.1

2008

47

5.1

2009

56

4.5

In the nine years from 1995 to 2003, Tun Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister saw Malaysia’s TI CPI score stuck in the narrow groove between 4.8 in 2000 to 5.32 in 1996 while the CPI ranking fell 14 places from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 in 2003.

In the five-year  premiership of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking fell 10 places from 37 in 2003 to 47 placing in 2008, while CPI score stuck between 5.0 to 5.1.

In his seven months as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak presided over the worst single-year plunge in TI CPI ranking and score, i.e. a nine-placing fall from No. 47 last year to No. 56, with the score plunging to the lowest ever of 4.5, when in the past 15 years, Malaysia had only twice fell below the score of 5, viz: 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002.

The National Integrity Plan, launched in 2004 with the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s TI CPI from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008 and the 5.2 CPI score for Malaysia in 2003 to at least 6.5 by 2008 is an utter failure, and nobody in government now dares to even mention this five-year National Integrity Plan 2004-2008.

I have given notice to the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin to move a motion of urgent definite public importance tomorrow on Malaysia’s worst ranking and score in the TI CPI 2009 for the past 15 years.

My motion states:

“Malaysia plunged nine places from last year’s 47th CPI ranking to 56th  position while Malaysia CPI index score plunged to the lowest in 15 years to 4.5 when Malaysia’s previous  worst scores below 5 were 4.8 in 2000 and 4.9 in 2002.

“This is the worse drop both in CPI ranking and score for Malaysia for any single year since the introduction of annual CPI by TI in 1995, when Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries, with a score of 5.28.

“This is a national shame, an indictment of the newly-formed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and a major blow for the new premiership of YAB MP for Pekan who had declared that the fight against corruption was one of the six KPI priorities of his administration.

“The mysterious death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16 at  MACC headquarters and the failure of MACC to prosecute and convict offenders in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone and the Lingam Videotape scandals are  major factors for Malaysia’s worst-ever TI CPI ranking and score.

“This is confirmed by the TI statement accompanying its CPI 2009 report on the perception of ‘little progress combating corruption and a lack of  political will to implement effective anti-corruption measures’ as well as the MACC’s ‘focus on ‘small fish’ and opposition politicians.

“Parliament must urgently debate the TI CPI 2009 ranking and score for Malaysia to take urgent and remedial measures to check the country going down the road of a failed state in continuing to lose out in international competitiveness because of failure of institutional reforms particularly in the war against corruption and abuses of power.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 11:41 am and is filed under
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Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side

Written by
Dr Azly Rahman

Edited by Helen Ang

for Center for Policy Initiatives

‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.

According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays.

Language issues come to mind as we speak about identity formation, befitting the notion of “language as culture,” and “culture as the habits we acquire and the tools we use in a house we inhabit in order to create our realties.”

This notion of language runs deeper than merely the need to ‘teach language’ in schools; it is to preserve and transmit culture for the continuing survival of the essential values of the peoples of the same language.

Language, perceived from the social/linguistic anthropological point of view then becomes a political subject and a matter of concern. With this also comes the idea of education that is described by an American educationist Lawrence Cremin as – a “deliberate process of transmitting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values”.

As society progresses, tensions arise between the new and the old. In the case of Malaysia, the new consciousness signified by the idea of multiculturalism is seemingly in conflict with the idea that ethnocentrism still needs to be championed.

Ironically the current Minster of Education [
Editor’s note
: This article was written when Hishamuddin Hussein held the post
] is also the Chief of the Umno Youth which brings us to the question of value neutrality in policy-making. Can one separate the institution, the individual, and the ideology?

The Minister of Higher Education too is appointed based on his loyalty to the ideology of Malay dominance.

Unless radical changes are made to the governance of the country – and this will also mean a dramatic shift in policies relating to race relations, education, and cultural identity – we will still live with the reality of schooling in Malaysia as being “separate and unequal”.

The task of bringing about an educational ideology that will pave the way for racial integration and genuine intercultural understanding continues to be daunting. The more the demands for racial equality and equal opportunity are made, the more the resistance to these will surface and the more violence – structural, symbolic, or real – may be the outcome.

The fear is that Malaysia will see the Balkanization of its people in the emergence of ‘postmodern tribes’ that will fight for their own rights in an environment that may not be resolvable through dialogue. Education for multiculturalism could offer some hope for reconciliation.

Not given the right info

In an
article
 first published in my blog ‘A Republic of Virtue’ in Malaysia Today (April 24, 2008) titled ‘Thumbs up or thumbs down for Biro Tata Negara?’, I argued for the need to look into the philosophy of the bureau and the dangers of indoctrination.

Flaws in the arguments of the BTN supporters concern the nature of history and the structure of propaganda and mass indoctrination disguised as ‘patriotism’.

I agree we must give credit to those, like BTN, working hard to improve the mental wellness of Malays. This is important. This is a noble act. The question is: in doing so, do we want to plant the seeds of cooperation and trust or racial discrimination and deep hatred? Herein lies the difference between indoctrination and education.

Over decades, many millions of Malays and non-Malays have not been getting the right information on our nation’s history, political-economy, and race relations. History that is being shoved to us or filter-funneled down the labyrinth of our consciousness is one that is already packaged, biased, and propagandized by our historians that became text-books writers.

History need not be ‘Malay-centric’. Special rights for all Malaysians should be the goal of distributive and regulative justice of this nation, not the “special rights of a few Malays”.

History must be presented as the history of the marginalized, the oppressed, and the dispossessed – of all races.

We toil for this nation, as the humanist Paramoedya Ananta Toer would say, by virtue of our existence as “anak semua bangsa … di bumi manusia”. Malaysia is a land of immigrants. No one particular race should stake claim to Malaysia. That is an idea from the old school of thought, fast being abandoned.

Each citizen is born, bred, and brought to school to become a good law-abiding and productive Malaysian citizen is accorded the fullest rights and privileges and will carry his/her responsibility as a good citizen. That is what “surrendering one’s natural rights to the State” means. One must read Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire, and Jefferson to understand this philosophy. A bad government will not honour this.

The history of civilizations provides enough examples of devastation and genocide as a consequence of violent claims to the right of this or that land based upon some idea of ‘imagined communities.’

Back to BTN.

BTN brainwashing students

Courses devoid of critical treatment and sensibility, and ones that retard student thinking such as ‘Kenegaraan’ in our universities, are designed to tell our mind to live in an imagined past.

BTN is playing this dangerous game of blind nationalism, still passing down packaged information that do not take into consideration the complexities of globalization and the promise of multiculturalism. We need to offer courses such as ‘Multiethnic Malaysia’ that will have students aspire to think like multiculturalists and help this nation evolve better.

The ministries of education and higher education combined have hundreds of experts – many overseas trained and have tasted the ‘spirit of multiculturalism’ and the “beauty of intellectual freedom” in their classrooms abroad – who ought to have engineered a paradigm shift to help dismantle indoctrination agencies such as Biro Tata Negara.

One-dimensional thinking prevails: the thinking that does not allow diversity of ideas and failed to develop cross-cultural perspectives. Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence. Political masters, however corrupt to the core they are, dictate the work of our academicians.

Whoever writes history and turns that into, say BTN propaganda controls the future (or at least they think they do). We must question what is taught during the sessions or during any history lesson.

The BTN as an indoctrinating institution was conceived by ‘intellectuals’ who themselves are trapped in their own cocoon or glass coconut shell of wrongly-defined Malay-ness and in a paradigm that teaches a poor understanding of Malaysian history. These intellectuals are running around in our public universities promoting a more sophisticated and pseudo-intellectual version of racism.

Inciting racial sentiments in classroom and boot camps is big business nowadays – profits made in the name of patriotism. But who’s monitoring the trainers?

What Malay students are taught

The mission statement of BTN reads: “
Wawasan: Menjadi sebuah organisasi awam yang unggul dalam memupuk semangat patriotisme serta menjadikan rakyat setia kepada Kerajaan.
” (Vision: To become the preeminent public organization that will foster the patriotic spirit as well as [train] citizens to be loyal to the Government.)

My response is based on my personal experience in undergoing the indoctrination programme in the mid-1980s. Over the decades, perhaps millions of Malay students like me were taught the dangerous propaganda song, ‘Warisan’.

One verse concerns the power of the Malays:

Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa

yang akan menentukan bangsa

Other lyrics include:

Hasil mengalir, ke tangan yang lain

pribumi merintih sendiri

My loose translation:

Political power is what we are only left with

one that will determine the fate of our nation

Wealth of this nation flows into the hands of others

sons and daughters of the soil suffer in solitude

This song composed by BTN is one based on racist intents. The training programmes that encapsulate the theme of this song are meant to instill fear in the Malays, not of others but of themselves, and to project hatred onto other ethnic groups without realising who the enemies of the Malays really are.

Warisan

Anak kecil main api

Terbakar hatinya yang sepi

Airmata darah bercampur keringat

Bumi dipijak milik orang

Nenek moyang kaya raya

Tergadai seluruh harta benda

Akibat sengketa sesamalah kita

Cita lenyap di arus zaman

Indahnya bumi kita ini

Warisan berkurun lamanya

Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain

Pribumi merintih sendiri

Masa depan sungguh kelam

Kan lenyap peristiwa semalam

Tertutuplah hati terkunci mati

Maruah peribadi dah hilang

Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa

Yang akan menentukan bangsa

Bersatulah hati bersama berbakti

Pulih kembali harga diri

Kita sudah tiada masa

Majulah dengan maha perkasa

Janganlah terlalai teruskan usaha

Melayu kan gagah di Nusantara (3x)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 5:00 am and is filed under
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Another black day for Parliament and anti-corruption

Another black day for Parliament and for Malaysia’s anti-corruption campaign – when my motion for an emergency debate on Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2009 which saw Malaysia suffering the worst CPI rank of 56 and score of 4.5, as well as the worst single-year drop in CPI rank by nine placings from last year’s 47th position and fall of  CPI score of 0.6 from last year’s 5.1, was rejected in chambers by the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin as “not urgent”.

It is meaningless to talk about the TI CPI 2009 as a “wake-up” call, as it would appear that nothing is capable of waking up the Barisan Nasional government to clean up corruption in Malaysia except for a change of federal government in the next general elections.

A survey of the 15 annual reports of the TI CPI from 1995 to 2009 shows that Malaysia occupies dubious company, sharing with Philippines the dishonour of being two of the 12 Asian countries first surveyed in 1995 which had ended with both lower CPI ranking and score in CPI 2009 as compared to CPI 1995 – with Malaysia suffering a bigger drop in CPI score of .78 (5.28 in 1995; 4.5 in 2009) as compared to Philippines, which suffered a drop of .37 in the past 15 years (2.77 in 1995; 2.4 in 2009).

In the first TI CPI 1995 report, Malaysia was ranked the top fourth out of 12 Asian countries, behind Singapore (No. 3), Hong Kong (No. 17) and Japan (No. 20), but 15 years later, Malaysia has slipped to ninth placing out of 24 Asian countries ranked, behind Singapore (3), Hong Kong (12), Japan (17), Taiwan (37), Brunei (39), South Korea (39), Macau (43), Bhutan (49) – all before Malaysia (56).

The sad story told by the TI CPI series from 1995-2009 is that in the past 15 years, Malaysia has become more corrupt, losing out not only to Taiwan and South Korea in Asia but likely to be overtaken by China, Thailand and India by 2020 and eventually even by Vietnam and Indonesia unless there is political will to stamp out corruption and the rot in government in Malaysia.

In the first TI CPI 1995 report, the last two of the 41 countries surveyed were all from Asia, viz: China (No. 40) and Indonesia (No. 41) but both have made significant strides in anti-corruption efforts as illustrated as follows:

Country

	CPI 1995
 (out of 41)

CPI 2009
 (out of 180)

China

40 (2.16)

79 (3.6)

Indonesia

41 (1.94)

111 (2.8)

Even Thailand and India made significant strides in combating corruption in their CPI scores if not in ranking, as follows:

Country

CPI 1995
 (out of 41)

CPI 2009
 (out of 180)

Thailand

34 (2.79)

84 (3.4)

India

35 (2.78)

84 (3.4)

Vietnam was first included in the TI CPI 1997, ranked 43 out of 52 nations with 2.79 score. It is ranked No. 120 with a score of 2.7 in the TI CPI 2009.

All over Asia and the world, to enhance greater international competitiveness to promote greater economic development and growth, most countries are making great strides in institutional reforms particularly in cleaning up corruption in their  economics and politics.

Malaysia stands out as moving in the opposite direction despite all the high-sounding rhetoric about integrity and war against corruption by one Prime Minister after another, like the recent establishment of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which has become a Frankenstein.

MACC has declared war on Pakatan Rakyat to serve the political agenda of Umno/Barisan Nasional instead of discharging its statutory duties to professionally, independently and fearless declare war against corruption like Indonesia’s Komiti Pembenterasan Korupsi with 100 per cent corruption conviction against the “sharks” as compared to MACC’s record of zero conviction against the “sharks”.

Instead of TI CPI 2009 serving as a wake-up call, the Barisan Nasional government of Datuk Seri Najib Razak remains stubborn in its denial with the Minister for International Trade, Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamad blaming the TI CPI and the methodology used instead of the increasingly rampant corruption in the country and the pervasive loss of national and international confidence in the BN government to declare an all-out war against corruption, as highlighted by  MACC inaction or culpability in the various corruption scandals in the past few months, in particular the death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock at MACC headquarters in Shah Alam, the RM12.5billion PKFZ scandal, the Lingam Videotape scandal, etc. and continued government refusal to establish an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct  Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.

This is not only a great shame and infamy for Malaysia in international society but a great obstacle to any goal for Malaysia to become a developed high-income nation by 2020.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 November 2009, 12:47 pm and is filed under
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Teoh Beng Hock would not have died if MACC had followed the law (update)

DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock would not have died if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had followed the law.

This is the immediate reaction not only of family members of Beng Hock, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat, but all Malaysians following the landmark decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court today which ruled that the MACC is not entitled to interrogate witnesses late at night beyond normal office hours, from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Justice Mohd Ariff Md Yusof ruled that it was illegal for the MACC to question its witnesses at night as such questioning must be done during the daytime.

“The term day to day as stipulated in the MACC Act cannot mean round the clock.”

This landmark decision is the result of the suit filed by Kajang Councillor Tan Boon Hwa who was falsely imprisoned together with Teoh Beng Hock on July 15 and 16 at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam, with the case argued by DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Glugor Karpal Singh.

This is an added reason why the MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan should resign, in allowing MACC to become a Frankenstein as to cause Teoh Beng Hock’s unnecessary death in a campaign not to declare war against corruption but against Pakatan Rakyat to serve Umno/BN political agenda.

It was only two days ago I had called for Ahmad Said’s resignation as MACC chief following Malaysia’s worst Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking and score for the past 15 years in the Transparency International CPI 2009, making Malaysia the worst performer in Asia in anti-corruption in the past 15 years.

Karpal has informed me that the judgment covers not only MACC  but all law enforcement agencies, including the police, that all witnesses should be treated fairly and lawfully.

For a start, the MACC, police and all law enforcement agencies must immediately revise their Standing Operating Procedures so as not to run afoul of the  Mohd Ariff judgment in the Tan Boon Hwa case.

MACC must cease immediately all unlawful activities in questioning  witnesses beyond normal office hours.

The
Malaysian Insider
reports:

MACC can’t quiz witnesses beyond office hours, High Court rules

By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — The High Court here today delivered a stunning rebuff to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigative procedures by ruling that it has no right to question witnesses in an investigation beyond normal office hours, namely from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

It also found the MACC to have acted illegally when it detained Kajang town councillor Tan Boon Wah overnight at its Selangor head office in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam.

Judicial Commissioner (JC) Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof stressed that the meaning of the phrase “day to day” as laid down in Section 30(3)(a) of the MACC Act – which is at the core of the dispute between Tan and the MACC – “cannot mean round the clock” investigation, which includes recording statements from the witness.

Mohamad Ariff explained that to do so would “offend the legislative purpose” and limit the fundamental liberties of a person, which are clearly laid down in the Federal Constitution, under Article 5, and which the Federal Court had recently upheld must be interpreted in the “widest sense” possible.

He remarked that the MACC may have realised this when they ordered Tan to return to help in further investigations at 10am on July 20, which is well within normal working hours.

The High Court ordered the MACC to pay damages to Tan for “false imprisonment” between 9.45pm on July 15 and 2.53am on July 16, but left it up to the court registrar’s office to determine the amount, which will include interest.

Tan was taken in for questioning as a witness by Selangor graft busters investigating claims of an abuse of state funds involving DAP state executive councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, about 9pm on July 15, the same day as political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

Teoh, who was Ean Yong’s secretary, was also interrogated overnight and found dead the next afternoon on a fifth-floor landing outside the MACC office in Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam. His mysterious death is currently the subject of an on-going inquest.

Tan was interrogated until nearly 3am the next day and then told to go home, but stayed on to have his statement recorded later at about 11am. He finally left the MACC office around lunch time.

The suit against the national anti-graft body was filed on July 22.

Tan’s lawyer, Karpal Singh, told reporters later that it was a landmark case which held great consequences on how interrogations of both witnesses and suspects in an investigation would be carried out in future.

“This affects across the board every investigation in the country; every police investigation and even the Criminal Procedure Code,” the veteran said and added that it was no longer limited to the MACC’s way of handling things.

“For the first time, we get a definitive ruling to the phrase ‘day to day’,” Karpal added, referring to the JC’s stress that the law was silent on how the phrase should be read and resorted to consulting the dictionary meaning of it.

Asked to comment on the impact the High Court’s decision in relation to the dead political secretary, Karpal said: “In the case of Teoh Beng Hock, death was involved. The MACC has to be sued in a wider range and not limited to just the questioning.”

Karpal, who is also the MP for Bukit Gelugor, noted that the authorities had always thought they could question anyone at any time.

He marked that today’s ruling paved the way for others who had been similarly affected in the past to sue the authorities for holding them beyond regular hours.

But he said that those looking to claim damages must do so quickly because the Public Authorities Protection Act limits legal action being taken against such public institutions to within the last three years.

The Kajang councillor who was in court when the decision was read out looked highly relieved. He said he had filed the suit hoping to stop the MACC’s practice of questioning people at odd hours, especially after what had happened to Teoh.

“It’s good for all Malaysians,” Tan said.

It is unknown at this point if the MACC will appeal the High Court’s decision.

While lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers representing the commission did not indicate whether they accepted the ruling or not, Karpal thinks they are likely to appeal because of the implications on other public authorities.

He added that they have one month to file their appeal.

In an immediate reaction, DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang lamented that political aide Teoh Beng Hock would still be alive if the MACC had followed the law.

“Teoh Beng Hock would not have died if MACC had followed the law,” the Ipoh Timur MP said in a statement.

He said the landmark decision today was an added reason for MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan to resign, following Malaysia’s worst Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking and score in 15 years in the Transparency International CPI 2009.

Malaysiakini
 reports:

High Court: MACC’s night interrogation illegal

Hafiz Yatim

Nov 19, 09

In a landmark decision today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is not entitled to interrogate witnesses late at night.

Justice Mohd Ariff Md Yusof ruled that it was illegal for the MACC to question its witnesses at night as such questioning must be done in the daytime, during office hours.

“The term day to day as stipulated under Section 30 (3) (a) of the MACC Act cannot mean round the clock. To do so, will offend the intention of the legislature and to curtail the ambit of personal liberty.

“The court allows the application for the declaration,” he said.

He also ordered costs to be paid to the plaintiff, Kajang councillor Tan Boon Hwa.

Despite the differences in opinion on the time when Tan was interrogated, Karpal agreed to the one stipulated by the MACC officer in his affidavit which was between 9.45pm on July 15 and 2.53am on July 16.

Hence, Mohd Ariff directed the court’s senior assistant registrar to assess the damages for wrongful detention based on those stipulated time.

Tan filed a suit on July 22 claiming that the MACC had falsely imprisoned him when he was detained and questioned at odd hours.

He said that he was questioned late at night along with political aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16.

MACC meanwhile had contended they had the right to interrogate witnesses at odd hours.

Senior federal counsel Noorin Badaruddin, who appeared on behalf of the MACC, said she has received instructions from the Attorney General to file an appeal.

Tan, commenting today’s judgment, said the decision was important to all Malaysians.

“What is important is that no one should be subjected to such interrogation late at night. This is a victory for all Malaysians,” said the Kajang municipal councillor.

Oxford dictionary meaning used

Mohd Ariff in his judgment had used a federal court case and also the Oxford English dictionary second edition, in arriving at the decision.

In the federal court decision, the judge noted that personal liberty as enshrined under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution should have been expanded.

He also noted that within the MACC Act, there was no definition of “day to day”.

Section 30 (3) (a) states: A person to whom an order has been given under paragraph (1) (a) shall attend in accordance with the terms of the order to be examined orally to assist investigations, and shall continue to attend from day to day where so directed (by the MACC) until the examination is completed.

As a result of this, Justice Mohd Ariff said the court was empowered to interpret the meaning.

“Looking at the definition under the Oxford Dictionary “day to day” means daily. It does not mean 24 hours a day but at anytime of the day. Hence, it should mean within normal working hours as stipulated between 8.30am and 5.30pm,” he said.

Justice Mohd Ariff, also noted that the MACC had summoned Tan to give his statement on July 20, at 10am. Hence, this was within the right definition of day to day. This means, he can be brought in or come another day (during office hours) to help assist in the investigations.

Karpal: Decision has serious ramifications

Karpal, who represented Tan, said today’s judgment was a landmark decision, as never before had the court interpreted the limits of conducting interrogations.

He said the MACC Act gave an avenue for the public to address the issue.

The senior lawyer also pointed out that even under the Lock-Up Rules, a person must be in his cell (jail) between 6.30am and 6.30pm and hence, interrogation could not conducted outside those time.

He said in previous Acts, there was no specific reference on ‘day to day’ in the conduct of interrogation for witnesses.

Asked whether the judgment would mean that Teoh’s family could file a similar suit for wrongful detention, Karpal said it would mean that and more.

“Under the Public Authorities Protection Act, civil liability on the government is limited to three years. Hence, witnesses for the past three years, who have been unlawfully detained and where interrogations were conducted after office hours could file for damages claim,” he said.

As a result of Tan and Teoh’s matter, the Selangor government has also issued a circular barring its officers from being interrogated by the MACC after office hours.

The attorney-general has, however, sought to set it aside on the basis that the circular is against the law, because it violates the legal rights accorded to the MACC officers in performing their duties.

The case is pending in Shah Alam High Court.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 November 2009, 4:33 pm and is filed under
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Divyashree, one of three pupils drowned in Kuala Dipang bridge tragedy, scored 4 As 3 Bs in UPSR, had ambition to become orthopaedic surgeon

V. Divyashree, 12, one of the three pupils drowned in the bridge collapse tragedy at SK Kuala Dipang in Jeram, Perak on Oct. 26 scored 4 As and 3 Bs in the UPSR results yesterday.

But the UPSR results were no comfort to her or her family. Divyashree’s life and her ambition to become an orthopaedic surgeon were snuffed out when together with two other pupils, N. Dina Deve and M. Devatharshini attending a 1Malaysia camp organized by the Education Ministry’s Co-curriculum Centre, she was drowned when the Kuala Dipang suspension bridge collapsed because of criminal negligence.

This morning, together with Perak Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives including MPs Ngeh Koo Ham (Bruas), M. Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat), Nga Kor Ming (Taiping) and Perak State Assembly members A. Sivanesan (Sungkai), legitimate and legal Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar (Tronoh), Leong Mee Ming (Jalong), I was at the Ipoh High Court to extend support, sympathy and solidarity to the parents of the three victims of the Kuala Dipang tragedy to file a hundred-million ringgit suit against the Education Ministry for their death.

The Kuala Dipang tragedy claiming three young innocent lives should never have happened as they are casualties of a lengthening catalogue of criminal negligence and sharp drop in performance and standards of public authorities represented by greater lack of public accountability. Transparency and good governance.

Hardly a day passes without an example of such deplorable drop in standards, performance and lack of accountability of the public authorities, for instance, the unchecked rise in crime index and rampant corruption in the country.

There are at least two such items in today’s press, viz:

News report of “
Datuk killed fleeing robbers
” on a former Master Builder’s president Datuk Patrick Wong who died after he fell from the first floor of his house at Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar while fleeing armed robbers;

The vindication of the beliefs of all right-thinking Malaysians that DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock would still be alive today  if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) had not broken the law in unlawfully grilling witnesses – as ruled by the Kuala Lumpur High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) judge Justice Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof yesterday in the landmark Tan Boon Wah case that the MACC cannot interrogate witnesses beyond office hours.

The battle to ensure greater accountability, transparency and good governance in the Najib premiership suffered a grave blow yesterday hen Parliament was not allowed to debate a motion  of “definite, urgent, public importance” Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2009 which returned the worst results for Malaysia in 15 years – not only  the worst CPI rank of 56 and CPI score of 4.5, but the worst single-year drop in CPI rank by nine placings from last year’s 47th to 56th position and fall of CPI score of 0.6 from last year’s 5.1 to the present 4.5.

Huguette Labelle, chairman of Transparency International, cannot be more right when she said it was “essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle”, adding:

“Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows. “

The Malaysian Parliament has failed its first test – to provide strong oversight to stem corruption.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 November 2009, 3:04 pm and is filed under
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Indonesia’s gecko-gate

by
Tim Lindsey

The Australian

November 20, 2009

(extract)

Instead, the nation is riveted by televised Constitutional Court hearings, explosive press conferences and a daily diet of rolling media revelations uncovering what may be the country’s biggest political crisis since the fall of Suharto in 1998.

At the heart of it all is Indonesia’s popular anti-corruption commission (KPK). Originally expected to be the latest in a long and unhappy line of toothless, gutless or silenced anti-corruption initiatives, it quickly proved itself anything but.

Energetic, determined and courageous, it used aggressive new tactics involving electronic surveillance and carefully managed stings to chase some very bigfish.

It targeted legislators at the local and national levels, as well as ministers, governors, police, prosecutors, judges and reserve bank governors. And it enjoyed a spectacular 100 per cent success rate in court.

Unsurprisingly, Indonesia’s “untouchables” are strongly supported by the public, weary of decades of being farmed by a corrupt public sector.

Equally unsurprisingly, the KPK is hated and feared by Indonesia’s ruling elite.

Now secret wiretaps have revealed a huge, multi-agency elite conspiracy to destroy the KPK that involves, so far, a murder, a love triangle, a bank collapse, stolen funds, frame-ups by senior police and prosecutors and, of course, lots and lots of bribery — and (accurately or not) Yudhoyono is named on the tapes as supporting it.

Before the recent presidential polls Yudhoyono had to watch the KPK send his son’s father-in-law, Aulia Pohan (a former deputy governor of the reserve bank), to jail for bribery.

At the time Yudhoyono won great kudos for this, strengthening his reputation as anti-corruption campaigner and champion of rule of law, and he won a second term in a landslide.

But these events caused great pain in his family and his government has since expressed concerns that the KPK has become far too powerful, remarks endorsed by nervous politicians in Indonesia’s legislature, the DPR.

The speculation in Jakarta is that Yudhoyono may therefore have been happy to let others wipe out the KPK, with a nod and a wink. In any case, what followed were a series of attacks on the KPK. It began with the arrest of the KPK’s head, Antasari Azhar, for the murder of the husband of his golf-caddy mistress. He denies this and last week a key prosecution witness, a dodgy policeman called Williardi Wizar, claimed he had falsified his original evidence as part of the plot. No one seems sure any more if Azhar’s prosecution is legitimate, a frame-up or a bit of both.

Then came a tangled tale of corruption arising from the collapse of Bank Century. The KPK investigation into claims of bribes to secure a government bail-out led to questions about Vice-President Boediono and Finance MinisterSri Mulyani Indrawati. Allegations followed that KPK Deputy commissioners Bibit Rianto and Chandra Hamzah solicited bribes from the brother of a wealthy businessman and key graft suspect named Anggoro. Bibit and Chandra were detained in September, but wiretaps played on national television suggest the case against them was a conspiracy by the police and prosecutors in cahoots with Anggoro’s family and various mysterious middlemen, one of whom has admitted to the plot. And the 270 minutes of wiretaps even included a plan to murder Chandra.

Police chief of detectives Susno Duadji, implicated in the plot, sneered that the war between the KPK and the police was a fight between a gecko and a crocodile. The result was demonstrations across the country in favour of the gecko, a media feeding frenzy and a Facebook campaign that has attracted 1.3 million members.

Bibit and Chandra — who, with the gecko, are stars of millions of posters and T-shirts — were released but, incredibly, the police are still proceeding against them.

Yudhoyono was forced to appoint an independent fact-finding commission, the “Team of Eight”, led by Indonesia’s most prominent lawyer and law reform advocate, Adnan Buyung Nasution.

Its findings, announced on Tuesday, only confirmed popular perceptions of a vast, multi-agency conspiracy.

This scandal goes to the heart of the government’s legitimacy and shows no sign of letting up. So far Gecko-gate has forced the resignation of Duadji and deputy attorney-general Abdul Hakim Ritonga. The big question now is who is next? Attorney-General and cabinet member Hendarman Supandji and police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri are clearly in the firing line, but exactly how much did the President and his staff know?

President swept up in Indonesian corruption scandal

Tom Allard

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD CORRESPONDENT

November 21, 2009

JAKARTA: It is an allegation that has spread like wildfire through Jakarta’s elites and is now being openly canvassed in the press.

Was the election campaign of Indonesia’s President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – fought and won on his credentials as an anti-graft campaigner – financed by elite donors who were bailed out in dubious circumstances with public funds?

At the heart of the corruption scandal sweeping the country is the $760 million rescue of Bank Century last year, a small bank dominated by shareholders and depositors from some of Indonesia’s richest families.

An investigation by the independent anti-corruption watchdog, the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, into what appeared to be a case of irregular prudential regulation seemed simple enough. Its early findings implicating senior police in kickbacks in exchange for ensuring the funds went to wealthy beneficiaries were alarming, but not spectacular by Indonesian graft standards.

What has opened a pandora’s box for the President was the extraordinary police effort to shut down the KPK investigation – an apparently brazen conspiracy to imprison the body’s leadership on trumped-up charges of bribery and murder.

It has laid bare the deep-seated corruption in the law-enforcement establishment but, in light of the President’s seeming indifference to the assault on the KPK, has raised a question that has yet to be answered: what are they trying to hide?

Beyond the prominent figures who had parked their money in Bank Century, the institution’s bail-out was odd for a number of reasons. First, the bank’s collapse was due to the embezzlement of funds, rather than an exposure to the ructions in world financial markets.

Moreover, the bank was so small that it posed no risk of triggering systemic failure across the country’s financial system.

The size of the bail-out also grew five times beyond that authorised by parliament, and went direct to select shareholders and depositors, rather than re-capitalising the bank so it could begin trading again.

Among those who were given the money were Hartati Murdaya, the treasurer of the Democrat Party re-election campaign, and Budi Sampoerna, another supporter of the President.

As the KPK investigation gathered pace, there was a remarkable development. The chairman of the KPK, Antasari Azhar, was arrested and accused of murdering a Jakarta businessman, because the two men were infatuated with the same female golf caddy. Mr Antasari’s case remains before the courts, but the key prosecution witness has already changed his story and claimed he was told to fabricate evidence.

It then emerged that the KPK had uncovered evidence that senior police had been orchestrating the siphoning of bail-out money for Bank Century in exchange for large bribes. Chief among their suspects was its chief detective, Susno Duadji.

Mr Susno, aware his calls were being intercepted by the KPK, made a comment that came to define the scandal: ”How dare a gecko [ KPK] challenge a crocodile [police and prosecutors].”

The retaliation of the crocodile was swift. Two KPK deputy chairmen – Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto – were soon charged by the police with abuse of power and soliciting bribes and put in prison.

They claimed they were set up, and the evidence later emerged to back their assertion.

As television cameras rolled, more than four hours of KPK wiretaps were played in a Jakarta court earlier this month. Millions of transfixed viewers heard various senior police and prosecutors talking about framing the two KPK deputies, even suggesting that Mr Chandra, following his imprisonment, could be murdered.

At one point in the recordings, an unidentified woman can be heard saying Dr Yudhoyono supported the plot.

As evidence goes, it was no smoking gun. And the President has vehemently denied the claim. On Thursday his Justice Minister, Patrialis Akbar, said: ”Rumours saying that funds had flowed to SBY and his presidential election campaign team are slander.”

The director of the Anti-Corruption Assessment Centre at the Gajah Mada University, Zainal Arifin Mochtar, said the jury would remain out until a parliamentary investigation was completed.

”It is premature to say now that the President is involved directly and indirectly. But his comments and actions do not help him,” Dr Zainal said.

Dr Yudhoyono’s support for the KPK has been, at best, equivocal. He complained that its power must ”not go unchecked”. Police and prosecutors implicated in tapes have also been returned to their positions.

His Democrat Party has fiercely resisted a parliamentary inquiry into the Bank Century bail-out, while Dr Yudhoyono’s policy to combat a ”judicial mafia” of corrupt police, prosecutors and judges has so far amounted to introducing a ”complaints box” for the public.

Much will depend on his response, due on Monday, to the recommendation of an independent taskforce known as the Team of Eight.

It wants the case against the two KPK deputies dropped, corrupt police and prosecutors removed and the leadership of the police and attorney-general’s department reshuffled.

It also wants the Bank Century bail-out examined.

”The President said he would curb this judicial mafia,” said Frenky Simanjuntak of Transparency International, an anti-corruption non-government organisation.

If he does not, thundered the Jakarta Post this week, he ”will be staring his own political suicide in the face”.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 November 2009, 10:38 pm and is filed under
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Najib should give iron-clad guarantee of personal safety of PI Bala to return to tell the truth of what he knows about C4 murder of Mongolian Altantuya

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give iron-clad guarantee of the personal safety of private investigator P. Balasubramaniam for him to return to the country to tell the truth of what he knows about the C4 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

There is no other option to Najib to ensure national and international legitimacy as Malaysian Prime Minsiter following the five-part publication of Balasubramiam’s interview, where he named names as well as cited monetary figures explaining the background to the mystery of his Statutory Declaration One and Statutory Declaration Two contradicting each other within 24 hours and his subsequence disappearance with his family from Malaysia.

Left contradicted and unchallenged, Balasubramaniam’s latest five-part interview will stand as an indictment not only on the Prime Minister, the system of government as well as all key national institutions in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 November 2009, 4:12 pm and is filed under
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Only 5.7 Per Cent Of Year Six Students Skilled At Problem Solving

Bernama

November 19, 2009 16:39 PM

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 19 (Bernama) — The education ministry’s first Aptitude Test for Year Six students during their UPSR exams has shown that only 5.7 per cent (29,084 students) out of 509,885 pupils are skilled at problem solving and decision making, and only 34.34 per cent (175,101) in skilled thinking.

Education Director-General Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom This said today that this indicated that the children needed more training on problem-solving and decision-making.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, he explained that the Aptitude Test was divided into two dimensions, namely Skilled Thinking and Problem Solving and Decision-Making .

Alimuddin said a student’s aptitude level was then categorised from Band One (lowest skilled) to Band Four (highest skilled).

The test results have found that when it comes to problem solving and decision making, the majority of Year Six students which is 47.71 per cent (243,258 students) remained in Band Two, followed by 28.24 per cent (143,971 students) in Band Three and 18.35 per cent (93,572 students) in Band One.

On the other hand, the majority of Skilled Thinking students lies in Band Three at 41.04 per cent (209,244 students), followed by 20.71 per cent (105,580 students) in Band Two and 3.91 per cent (19,960) in Band One.

The test also categorised a student’s interest into Academic, Technical and Vocational, Arts, Sports and Culture and Society, ranking them from One (primary interest) to Five (least interest).

There is a 39.31 per cent high tendency of candidates towards the academic, followed by technical and vocational (29.25 per cent), arts (19.26 per cent), culture and social (9.72 per cent) and sport (2.57 per cent).

— BERNAMA

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 November 2009, 9:15 am and is filed under
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Personal Data Protection Bill put online as national service and to welcome public views

It has taken the government some two decades to finally come out with Personal Data Protection Bill which was presented in Parliament for first reading yesterday.

It is however not available online, which is a sad reflection on the government’s seriousness and commitment to ICT and e-government.

As a national service, the Personal Data Protection Bill is hereby put on-line and all public views and input are welcome before parliamentary debate next month.

In  Parliament in April 1997, I spoke of eight principles which should be adopted in a Malaysian  Data Protection Act, viz:

The information to be contained in personal data shall be obtained and processed fairly and lawfully.

Personal data shall be held only for specified and lawful purposes.

Personal data held for any purpose shall not be used or disclosed in any manner incompatible with that purpose.

Personal data held for any purpose shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to that purpose.

Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

Personal data held for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose.

An individual shall be entitled to be informed by any data user whether he holds personal data of which that individual is the subject and to access any such data; and where appropriate, to have such data corrected or erased.

Appropriate security measures shall be taken against unauthorised access to, or alteration, disclosure or destruction of, personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of personal data.

Download Personal Data Protection Bill :-

from server in Malaysia
; or

from server in US

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 November 2009, 3:31 pm and is filed under
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