China to help 1MDB settle multibillion-dollar legal dispute

Jeevan Vasagar in Kuala Lumpur, Caroline Binham in London and Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Financial Times

Dec 7, 2016

Troubled Malaysian state investment fund ready to make repayment to Abu Dhabi’s Ipic

Malaysia’s troubled state investment fund 1MDB is preparing to make a repayment, with Chinese assistance, to Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company, as it seeks to settle a dispute in which the Emirati fund is claiming about $6.5bn.

The move to begin repaying what the Malaysian fund owes, confirmed by two people familiar with the matter, marks a step forward in efforts to resolve the financial position of the heavily indebted state fund.

The two funds reached an impasse earlier this year, with 1MDB insisting it had fulfilled its obligations and Ipic taking the dispute to arbitration in London.

The relationship between the two funds — once hailed as a “strategic partnership” between Abu Dhabi and Malaysia — has gone sour amid allegations that Emirati officials were involved in a plot to siphon more than $1bn from 1MDB.

Khadem al-Qubaisi, former head of Ipic, has been detained over his suspected role in the affair. He has not been charged with any offence.

China has been approached as a source of funds for 1MDB, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, one of whom said Malaysia would swap assets for financing.

Chinese state-owned enterprises have led a bailout of 1MDB — acquiring assets including a power generation business — that has relieved pressure on Najib Razak’s Malaysian government at a time when financial flows linked to the state fund are being probed by regulators in the US, Singapore and Switzerland.

Relations between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing have grown increasingly cordial as US investigations into the 1MDB affair have complicated Malaysia’s relationship with Washington.

The current dispute between the Abu Dhabi fund and its Malaysian counterpart arose from a bailout deal last year in which Ipic agreed to lend $1bn to 1MDB and assume payments on $3.5bn of the Malaysian fund’s debt. It also forgave some debt that 1MDB owed Ipic.

In exchange, the Malaysian fund was to transfer assets to cover the amount of the loan, the assumed debt and the forgiven debt.

The Abu Dhabi fund claims 1MDB and Malaysia’s ministry of finance failed to perform their contractual obligations under the bailout deal.

1MDB said in a statement in April that it had been “surprised” by Ipic’s comments. The Malaysian fund said that it “unequivocally asserts that it has attempted to meet all its obligations to Ipic”.

After Ipic took the dispute to arbitration, 1MDB said it was confident in its legal position and had submitted a “robust” response through legal counsel.

Arul Kanda, the former investment banker who is president of 1MDB, said in an email: “1MDB does not have anything further to add to previous statements in relation to the ongoing dispute with Ipic.”

Mr Qubaisi’s lawyer declined to comment.

A settlement between Ipic and 1MDB would mark the close of a troubled relationship between the two funds, which began with a pair of 1MDB bond issues in 2012 that were guaranteed by Ipic and grew into a “strategic partnership” that led to a further $3bn 1MDB bond issue in 2013 that was again guaranteed by the Abu Dhabi fund.

1MDB said at the time that this international partnership would focus on projects “vital to the long-term economic and social growth of Malaysia”.

The 2012 and 2013 bond issues were arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs. Malaysia’s finance ministry took over the fund’s remaining assets in May.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 2:47 pm and is filed under
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Election Warning Shot Sounded: Is the Opposition Prepared?

Koon Yew Yin

7th Dec 2016

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. There were two photos which came out in the media during the last few days which are worth at least two thousand words if not many more .

The first shows UMNO President sitting side by side with Dato Seri Awang Hadi, President of PAS. Although they were together at a rally to condemn the violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar support, the picture of Najib and top Umno leaders sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Barisan’s long time enemy shows clearly that the union of PAS and UMNO is only a matter of time. Not only that but the two parties are working secretly as well as openly together in their joint attempt to kill off the Malay and Islamic opposition.

This marriage of PAS and UMNO is no ordinary marriage. It is meant purely for both Najib’s and Hadi’s personal advantage. Both leaders have been guilty of the worst possible mistakes and scandals – Najib on 1MDB and Hadi with hudud. Both leaders, in the recent past, have shown that they could not give a damn about the plight of the Rohingyas. However, this time round, they have – in typical hypocritical fashion – decided that it was important for these two who have never shown any love for each other in the past to shower each other with hugs and kisses.

Both, also hope that by getting and staying in bed together for what may turn out to be more than a one night’s stand and which is now propagandized by the official media and Harakah as for the greater glory of Islam – that they can make Malays and Muslims forget all the problems that they have been responsible for, and the mess that they have created – Najib who is making Malaysians suffer from unprecedented corruption and power abuse; and Hadi in Kelantan who is making a basket case of the state and engaging in fanning religious division and disunity in the country.

The second picture shows an unprecedented gathering of the opposition leaders at the DAP National Convention lately. Included in the photo line up were the DAP’s leaders together with Dr. Mahathir of Parti Pribumi, Mat Sabu from Amanah and Wan Azizah from PKR. The presence of Dr. Mahathir especially in the photo has given hope to Malaysians that the old warrior can be the cement that can glue the opposition parties together in what may be the last chance for us to get rid of the chains of Najib and Barisan rule.

I am optimistic that, with the first picture, Malay Muslims will see through the mutual political hypocrisy and bankruptcy of Najib and Hadi. This will include UMNO and PAS loyalists who have kept quiet during the UMNO and PAS meetings but who are disgusted with their present leadership and will be looking for real change in the next election.

I am also optimistic that with the second picture, the Malaysian electorate will realize that the opposition is finally getting its act together and will go into the next polls as a united front.

The key to winning the next election is work, more work and even more work at the grassroots level starting from now.

All the opposition parties must put their differences aside and begin the constituency work right now. They must get the young party members to start going out into Felda constituencies. They must target the constituencies of UMNO and other BN top leaders. They must bring along videos and pamphlets showing the PM’s responsibility in 1MBD and how he has distributed millions to his UMNO cronies. They must show excerpts from UMNO’s recent elections in which Zahid claims that Najib has been chosen by Allah; Sharizat claiming that Najib is the best President that UMNO ever had. Even the most simple UMNO member will cringe at and reject this shameless display of boot-licking by the President’s men and their complete failure to attend to the many issues facing the Malay and Malaysian communities.

The opposition must strike now while the iron is hot. Get the best young presenters to do facebook, instantgram and you tubes presentations in the various languages, especially Bahasa. Get the key middle-level and grassroots leaders to begin campaigning now with these materials.

The media battle must begin now and all the necessary resources must be put into it, asap!

The laundry list of Najib and BN inflicted corrupt practices and abuse of power is a long one. The list of problems and suffering faced by Felda settlers and other kampung folk is also long.

There’s no need to wait for more. Focus on these two lists and have Dr. Mahathir, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and other Malay leaders lead the charge and I am sure that we will see a change in government.

Remember time and tide wait for no man or party. And that the nation cannot afford another round of Najib and BN rule.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 12:08 am and is filed under
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Family of Malaysia’s Jho Low moves to protect assets in 1MDB probe

Reuters

Dec 6, 2016

Relatives of Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho are seeking fresh court action in a bid to prevent the U.S. government from seizing assets as part of an investigation into the scandal-tainted 1MDB fund, according to a U.S. court filing.

Four relatives of Low Taek Jho are planning to file court actions in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands this week to have real estate and other assets transferred to a new trustee, according to a motion on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.

The motion seeks to push a hearing on the case out to a later date, noting that there is an effort to take the case to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands.

The businessman, commonly referred to as Jho Low, is among the people named in civil lawsuits filed earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleged that more than $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund.

According to the filing, the move to try courts elsewhere came after the U.S. government opposed a prior attempt by the Low relatives to transfer the assets to a new trustee. The government had argued, among other things, that the courts of New Zealand and the Cayman Islands were the proper venue for that request.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 12:04 pm and is filed under
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How can the Education Ministry claim that Malaysia has achieved higher scores in PISA 2015 when PISA 2015 authorities have dropped and de-recognised Malaysia’s results  from the OECD “world school report”?

I am amazed as to how the Education Ministry can claim that Malaysian students had registered better scores in mathematics, science and reading according to the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 results announced in London  yesterday, when PISA 2015 authorities have dropped and derecognised Malaysia’s results  from the OECD “world school report” in this triennial test, for reasons which have yet to be disclosed.

It is completely unthinkable that the Education Deputy Director-General Datuk Dr. Amin Senin could announce Malaysia’s results for the PISA 2015, claiming better scores in all three PISA domains, scientific literacy, reading literacy and mathematical literacy, when Malaysia was the only one of the 72 countries/economics which took part in the PISA 2015 tests last year but which had been dropped from the PISA 2015 results released yesterday.

The Education Ministry should know why Malaysia had the dishonour and ignominy of being the only  one of the 72 participating countries/economies to be dropped and derecognised from the PISA 2015 results announced in London yesterday as well as from the PISA 2015 Report and the Education Ministry owes it to the Malaysian people, and in particular to the 9,660  Form III students from 230 schools and  involving 5,750 teachers and 230 administrators who were selected to participate in the PISA 2015 tests, to reveal why Malaysia had been officially dropped and de-recognised from the PISA 2015 tests after Malaysian students had participated in the programme last year.

In the circumstances, it is premature for  Dr. Amin to claim that the Ministry of Education’s Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) initiative was the major push which helped Malaysia register higher scores in PISA 2015, as the Education Ministry must first secure recognition of these so-called PIS 2015 results.

Dr. Amin claimed that for scientific literacy, Malaysia recorded an improvement by scoring 443 points, which was an increase of 23 points from the 2012 PISA score; for reading literacy, Malaysia’s score was 431 points which was up by 33 points while for mathematical literacy the score was 446 points, up by 25 points.

Amin claimed that the 2015 PISA score also revealed that over 60 per cent of students are able to apply their knowledge and skills in real life situations and are prepared to participate fully in the society.

Which PISA 2015 results were Amin talking about – the Education Ministry’s released in Kuala Lumpur yesterday or the OECD’s PISA 2015 results released in London yesterday?

Amin’s  claims are suspect as they are  not recognised by the PISA 2015 authorities in OECD.

Yesterday, I had waited for the PISA 2015 results, which were scheduled to be announced in London at 11 am UK time, as one of the objectives of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 is to elevate Malaysia into the top one-third of countries participating in international assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS).

I was shocked and stunned when I combed through the PISA 2015 Report, and could not find Malaysia in the in the “world school report” results, especially as the PISA  tests have become increasingly important as the litmus tests for international educational standards.

Did the Malaysian education authorities do something dishonourable and disgraceful for Malaysia to be disqualified at the last minute from the PISA 2015? I do not believe that the 9,660 Malaysian 15-year-olds would have done anything to cause Malaysia’s disqualification from PISA 2015.

A full and detailed explanation from the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir is urgently warranted.

The latest PISA 2015 results show that East Asian countries still dominate the top of the PISA tables, particularly in science and maths.

Singapore has come top in science, maths and reading. And East Asian countries have taken the top five places in maths and three of the top five places in science.

But in reading, while the top two places are taken by Singapore and Hong Kong, the next highest performers are Canada, Finland and Ireland. And in science, Estonia and Finland have made it to the top five.

“The fact that students in most East Asian countries consistently believe that achievement is mainly a product of hard work, rather than inherited intelligence, suggests that education and its social context can make a difference in instilling values that foster success in education,” said Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director of education.

This is also a lesson which Malaysian educationists, teachers and students must imbibe, but how can we begin such a process when Malaysia is even disqualified and de-recognised from the PISA 2015 Report?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 11:40 am and is filed under
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In the world’s biggest education test, one small country has raced past all the others

Jenny Anderson/Amy X. Wang

Quartz

December 06, 2016

Every three years the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tests 15-year-olds around the world on their math, science and reading abilities.

Then, countries around the world celebrate, or panic.

For example, in 2000, the world learned Finland was a global education superpower (that was news to many in Finland too, according to some). Somehow the country managed to start kids in school at 7, have short school days, assign little homework, test kids infrequently, and still eke out amazing results.

Finland’s schools became a top tourist attraction, as educators around the globe flocked to understand their secret (basically, stringent selection of teachers, who are given autonomy to teach).

But what goes up sometimes comes down. In the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking, for 2015, Finland has fallen from its perch (though it remains a very high performer), and Singapore trounced the rest of the world on math, reading and science.

PISA 2015 includes data from 72 countries and economies, including all 35 OECD members and 37 other countries and economies. In some cases, regions stand in for countries: Taiwan’s results are based on testing in Taipei, in Argentina only the city of Buenos Aires participates, and in mainland China, four provinces — Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong (B-S-J-G) participate.

In addition, some countries paid to have subnational regions tested separately; the US, for instance, asked for rankings for Massachusetts and North Carolina. Approximately 540,000 students took the test, which aims to capture what students know toward the end of their formal schooling, and how well they can apply that knowledge more broadly.

Here’s a snapshot of the winners and losers. We present these with the obvious caveat that the sum of an education is not a score on a test; read here, for instance, about how teachers worldwide are focusing on other skills, like agency and empathy, to create a more rounded education.

Results

Singapore takes the top dog award. Over the past three years, it has gained in every single area. And its scores utterly smoke every one else’s:

Singapore

OECD average

Science

556

493

Math

564

490

Reading

535

493

In addition to Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, and Macao were the only places where at least four out of five 15-year-old students have mastered the OECD’s baseline level of proficiency in science, reading and mathematics.

2006

score

2015

score

Finland

556

Singapore

556

Hong Kong

538

Japan

538

Canada

534

Estonia

534

Taipei (Taiwan)*

532

Taipei

532

Estonia

531

Finland

531

Japan

529

Macao

529

New Zealand

528

Canada

528

Australia

525

Vietnam

525

Netherlands

523

Hong Kong

523

Korea

518

B-S-J-G (China)*

518

MATHEMATICS

2006

score

2015

score

Taipei

564

Singapore

564

Finland

548

Hong Kong

548

Hong Kong

544

Macao

544

Korea

542

Taipei

542

Netherlands

532

Japan

532

Switzerland

531

B-S-J-G (China)

531

Canada

524

Korea

524

Macao

521

Switzerland

521

Japan

520

Estonia

520

New Zealand

516

Canada

516

READING

2006

score

2015

score

Korea

535

Singapore

535

Finland

527

Hong Kong

527

Hong Kong

527

Canada

527

Canada

526

Finland

526

New Zealand

521

Ireland

521

Ireland

519

Estonia

519

Australia

517

Korea

517

Poland

516

Japan

516

Sweden

513

Norway

513

Netherlands

509

New Zealand

509

The United States fared poorly, as usual: with a math score of 470, it performed well below the OECD average, and it is among the lowest-performing countries in the subject. Results in science declined from 2012, coming in at 496, slightly above the OECD average. In reading, it also performed slightly better than the OECD average (493) at 497.

The OECD examined the results of Massachusetts separately, and it fared well: in science, the small east-coast state scored 529, on par with some of the world’s top students in the subject, and far above both the OECD and US averages. Its kids scored well in reading too; and even in math—which is perpetually weak in the US—they scored, 500, above the OECD average of 490. Then again, that could be because there’s a strong correlation between wealth and education performance; Massachusetts has one of the US’s highest average incomes.

Science

Despite the fact that spending per primary and secondary student rose by almost 20% across OECD countries between 2005 and 2013 — the majority of countries with comparable data—science performance in PISA hasn’t budged much since 2006.

Of the 64 countries/economies with legitimate results from more than one PISA round, 31 show no significant change in average science performance; 15 countries improved significantly; and 18 worsened.

Countries that showed measurable gains in science include both high-fliers such as Singapore and Macao, and low performers, including Peru and Colombia.

Reading

Since 2000, four PISA tests have been administered, and the way the OECD measures reading scores has not changed much. This allows long-term comparisons over a period in which, the OECD wrote, “not just education systems, but societies and economies as a whole have changed considerably.” Consider: In 2000, only 26% of the population, on average across OECD countries, used the internet, compared to 80% in 2015, according to the report.

Examining data from 42 countries and economies, from 2000-2015, the OECD found that the following places have made steady gains in reading: Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Macao, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Russia. Chile, Israel, and Russia improved the most.

Twenty-four others saw no significant improvement or a worsening since 2000.

Trends are of course messy: in Russia and Macao improvement is accelerating; in Poland, it’s improving but at a slower pace than before; and in the US and Canada, there’s been no significant change.

Sometimes this is nothing to complain about. As the report says, “In Canada, in particular, reading scores have remained at least 20 points above the OECD average in all six PISA assessments – a remarkable achievement.”

The same cannot be said for kids in Australia, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, the Slovak Republic, and Sweden, where performance has fallen, on average, between three and six points every three years.

Math

Last week, Boston College released the results from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a set of math and science tests given every four years to 10- and 14-year olds around the world. Asian countries soundly beat the rest of the world.

PISA results reflect much of the same trend.

The top four performers were Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taipei (Taiwan). Japan, B-S-J-G (China), and Korea followed. The results this year also looked at some subnational regions: Quebec ranked between Hong Kong and Macao, and British Columbia placed right after Japan.

Among OECD countries there was a four-point drop between 2012 and 2015, but it wasn’t significant given changes in how the two tests were reported. Among all the 72 PISA participants, 11 improved, led by Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Qatar, and 12 deteriorated, including Korea and Turkey.

So should we all move to Singapore?

No.

Ever since PISA made its 2000 grand debut, and Finland made it big, a sort of perverse educational arms race has ensued. Since we live in a more global world, and labor increasingly crosses borders, knowing how kids perform in other countries is fine.

But context matters. Finland has a population of around 5.5 million, and until recently, has lacked any real diversity. The US system is enormous and caters to far more kids living in poverty; overall it fares poorly, though some states — like Massachusetts — are all-star performers like Singapore.

And even in Singapore, the recognition that tests are putting extreme pressure on kids have led the government and its citizens to start de-emphasizing the importance of test results, producing videos about the value of effort, and imploring kids to understand that they are more than just their academic results.

The tests are just that: tests. Kids are more than that.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 1:50 pm and is filed under
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Jho Low Family Digs in to Stop 1MDB Asset Seizure by U.S.

by Edvard Pettersson

Bloomberg

December 6, 2016

Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s family is reaching far and wide to stop the U.S. from seizing $650 million in real estate and business investments the government claims were acquired with funds stolen from his home country.

The family of the businessman known as Jho Low claims the Swiss trustees holding their assets are afraid to fight back against the U.S. for fear of being prosecuted in the global game of investment hide and seek set off by the alleged disappearance of more than $3.5 billion of the $8 billion raised by 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Four relatives of Low, including his father and brother, now say they will ask courts in the Cayman Islands and New Zealand to replace the Swiss trustees — so they can avoid having their possessions go to the U.S. by default.

The Justice Department is targeting real estate, investments and art works that were allegedly bought with money siphoned off from the state-owned investment and development fund known as 1MDB.

The Low assets at issue include a $380 million stake in New York’s Park Lane Hotel, a $107-million interest in EMI Music Publishing, a $35-million Bombardier Jet, and a $30-million penthouse at Time Warner Center in New York. The trusts that hold the assets call for application of either New Zealand or Cayman Islands law, according to the family’s filing on Monday.

Paris Hilton

Low, who is known for partying with Hollywood celebrities Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, is also friends with Riza Aziz, a stepson of Malaysia’s prime minister and a producer of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which the U.S. alleges was also funded with stolen money. Low has said he provided consulting to 1MDB that didn’t break any laws, while the fund and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have both denied wrongdoing.

The U.S. will oppose the Low family’s request to delay a Dec. 12 hearing over whether they can intervene in the forfeiture case, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker in Los Angeles.

Singapore police have identified Low as a “key person of interest” in a money laundering investigation surrounding 1MDB, according to testimony last month in the trial of a former BSI SA banker accused of obstruction of justice.

Other assets the Justice Department says were acquired with stolen 1MDB funds include a $51 million New York penthouse condominium and a $31 million Beverly Hills mansion bought in 2014 by Khadem al Qubaisi, the former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. Al Qubaisi, who’s also the former chairman of restaurant and nightclub operator Hakkasan Group, received $473 million siphoned from 1MDB in 2012, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Hakkasan Chief Executive Officer Neil Moffitt is fighting the U.S. claim that a $15-million chunk of Beverly Hills real estate he owns was also bought by al Qubaisi with misappropriated Malaysian funds.

“Mr. Moffitt had no involvement in the property at issue in the federal case other than as owner,” his lawyer, Ronald Richards, said. “I expect the forfeiture complaint to be dismissed as the government was unaware of his purchase at the time they filed the forfeiture complaint. He has never been a target or subject of any federal investigation or civil forfeiture action at any time.”

The cases in which the Low family seeks to intervene are 16-cv-05364, 16-cv-05367, 16-cv-05368, 16-cv-05369, 16-cv-05370, 16-cv-05374, 16-cv-05374, 16-cv-05375, 16-cv-05378, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 3:34 pm and is filed under
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The Global Search for Education: Everything You Need to Know About PISA

C. M. Rubin

Huffington Post

12/06/2016

“If we look at countries like Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Japan and Finland, who have combined excellence and equity over a number of PISA cycles, we can see what they do: they have high and universal expectations for all students, an unwavering focus on outstanding teaching and they target resources on schools and students that are struggling.”  —  Andreas Schleicher

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey that evaluates education systems. Once a country is approved for participation by PISA, individual schools are chosen based on stringent criteria to represent all 15 year-olds in that country. In 2015, over half a million 15-year-olds in 72 countries and economies took the two-hour test. Students were assessed in science, mathematics, reading, collaborative problem solving and financial literacy, although the major emphasis of the 2015 test was science literacy. The results were published today.

Some fascinating highlights: Just four provinces in China now provide 13% of the world’s top-performing students; Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Japan and Finland have combined excellence and equity over a number of PISA tests, and interestingly these countries have a steadfast commitment to outstanding teaching and to supporting schools and students that are struggling. While socio-economic status accounts for 13% of the variation in science, maths and reading, the 10% most disadvantaged students in Macao (China) and Vietnam outperformed the 10% most advantaged students in 20 PISA participating countries.

Which countries made progress? Which countries performed poorly? To what extent did this year’s test focus on the application of knowledge versus possession of knowledge, and how relevant is the test to the competencies students must have in a 21st century world? What’s the breaking news for PISA 2018?

To tell us everything we need to know about PISA, The Global Search for Education welcomes Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD Secretary-General.

“It is no longer the case that the world is divided between rich and well-educated nations and poor and badly-educated ones. The 10% most disadvantaged students in Macao (China) and Vietnam outperform the 10% most advantaged students in 20 PISA participating countries.”  —  Andreas Schleicher

Andreas: What picture do the scores paint for us about what the most effective education systems look like?

If we look at countries like Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Japan and Finland, who have combined excellence and equity over a number of PISA cycles, we can see what they do: they have high and universal expectations for all students, an unwavering focus on outstanding teaching and they target resources on schools and students that are struggling.

Which countries have made the most significant progress since the last PISA test? What changes in their educational practices does this reflect?

Singapore out-performs all other countries and economies in science. The top-performing OECD countries are Japan, Estonia, Finland and Canada. Over the last decade, since PISA last focused on science, Japan and Canada have maintained outstanding levels of performance. A number of countries have improved over that time: Colombia, Israel, Macao (China), Portugal, Qatar and Romania. Just four provinces in China now provide 13% of the world’s top-performing students.

“The major emphasis this time ‘round is on science. We are asking if 15 year olds got better in key science skills: explaining phenomena scientifically, designing scientific enquiry and interpreting data scientifically.”  —  Andreas Schleicher

How big a factor is disparity in the prevalence of disadvantaged students in the relative country results? Is there a measure of this in the results? Can the results be normalized for this factor?

Socio-economic status accounts for 13% of the variation in science, maths and reading. On average, the difference between the 25% most advantaged and the 25% least advantaged students within each country is 88 score points, the equivalent of roughly 2 years schooling. On average, disadvantaged students are almost three times as likely as more advantaged students not to attain the baseline level of proficiency in science. In 2015, 29% of disadvantaged students were resilient, in the sense that they performed above expectations, up by 2 percentage points against 2012. It is no longer the case that the world is divided between rich and well-educated nations and poor and badly-educated ones. The 10% most disadvantaged students in Macao (China) and Vietnam outperform the 10% most advantaged students in 20 PISA participating countries.

To what extent did this year’s test focus on the application of knowledge versus possession of knowledge?

PISA has always focused on student skills – what they can do with what they know. In the 2015 cycle we have built on this, asking whether students can think like a scientist, reason like a mathematician and distinguish between good and bad arguments in a written text. The major emphasis this time ‘round is on science. We are asking if 15 year olds got better in key science skills: explaining phenomena scientifically, designing scientific enquiry and interpreting data scientifically.

How well does the current test measure the range of competencies needed for success in the 21st century?

We see the foundational domains – maths, science and reading – as equally relevant to the 21st century as the 20th. In 2017, we will be publishing additional 2015 data on collaborative problem solving, which is widely agreed to be a key modern skill. As we look to 2018, we will be testing global competence, which we define in terms of inter-cultural sensitivity. Here, values and attitudes are as important as knowledge and skills.

“As we look to 2018, we will be testing global competence, which we define in terms of inter-cultural sensitivity. Here, values and attitudes are as important as knowledge and skills.”  —  Andreas Schleicher

Can you draw conclusions from the data regarding how culture shapes education quality and impacts results?

We certainly see that the most successful countries in PISA, in all parts of the world, bring real rigour to the learning process, deploying both teacher-led instruction and adaptation to the needs of individual classes and students.

How do the scores of disadvantaged students in the leading Asian nations compare to the scores of the non-disadvantaged students in the leading western economies? What does that indicate about the differences in culture, the nature of education, and socio-economic advantage among these countries?

Disadvantage remains a major determinant of performance, right around the world. On average, poorer students are still 3 times more likely to be low performers in science than wealthier students. In Singapore, they are 4 times as likely to be low performers in science. But in Hong Kong, they are only twice as likely and in Macao, only 40% more likely to be low performers. That said, the proportion of disadvantaged students performing above expectations has increased. On average across the OECD, 29% beat the socio-economic odds against them, up by 2 percentage points since 2006. In the United States, there’s been a 12 percentage point increase over the period, in Spain 11. In Viet Nam, the 10% most disadvantaged students compare favourably with the average student in the OECD. So it’s no longer the case that the world is divided between rich and well-educated nations and poor and badly-educated ones.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 2:24 pm and is filed under
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The Guardian view on the Pisa tests: slicing them up

Editorial

The Guardian

6 December 2016

Tony Blair wanted to be remembered for his education reforms, and the latest results from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment – Pisa – the triennial survey of the skills of 15-year-olds suggest that if only he had concentrated on his domestic agenda, he probably would have been.

The Pisa scores are notorious for revealing no consistent message, but it is striking that England’s 15-year-olds are performing about as well as three years ago, where Scotland and Wales, where reform was rebuffed, are in decline.

Overall, the UK’s performance is almost unchanged: a little above the OECD average, still a long way behind Singapore, Japan and Estonia, but well ahead of Italy, Israel and Iceland. There is a marginal improvement in the UK’s ranking, despite a slight decline in scores.

It is unhappy reading for Tories who only last year pledged in their election manifesto to make Britain the best place to study by 2020; but when the individual countries of the UK are broken out from the overall UK result, it becomes clear that Mr Blair’s aggressive focus on English education appears to have paid off.

Education specialists argue that it takes about a decade for changes to affect outcomes on a large scale. In science, reading and maths, England now outperforms the rest of the UK. Wales and Scotland both opted out of league tables and other Blairite reforms in the early 2000s.

Now they are playing catch up. In particular Scotland, for so long the top performer in the UK, has suffered an unexpected fall in outcomes since 2012. No wonder the SNP now suggest the results “strongly reinforced” the case for change.

The real value of the Pisa survey lies in the detail. This makes bleaker reading for the UK as a whole.

Twice as many Britons are low achievers in maths, for example, as are outstanding. Unexpectedly, there is no correlation between outcomes and either national income or per capita school spending.

One worry is that the government will attempt to use figures to claim high-performing English grammar schools – which record near-perfect science scores – represent a model to replicate. They do not.

The more academically selective systems are, the more socially selective they become.

It’s true that the Dutch system bucks this trend, but it is the result of having selection at 14, coupled with high levels of spending on those left behind.

Whatever the Pisa scores reveal, ministers should promote high achievement – in every school.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 2:03 pm and is filed under
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Why Australia’s PISA results are a catastrophe

by Jennifer Buckingham

Australian Financial Review

December 7, 2016

Problem-based learning is a problem if children don’t have the basic skills to apply.

Two sets of independent international test results released in the past week show Australia’s education system has serious deficiencies.

The results of the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 showed no change in maths and science scores for Australian students since 1995 while other countries improved, leading to a slide in our international rankings.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 results are even worse – the performance of Australian students in reading, maths and science has significantly decreased over the past 15 years.

There has been a corresponding slide in our international rankings because other countries have either maintained their performance or improved.

While the country rankings are interesting and appeal to our competitive side, educational assessment is not the World Cup. The trend in Australia’s own performance over time is far more important than that – and unfortunately the trend is very clearly downward. The decline in reading and maths mean scores is the equivalent of one year of learning, according to the reports from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

Mean scores are useful for comparisons over time, but they don’t tell us much about student capabilities in real terms. This year, ACER has defined a proficiency standard for Australian students which is described as a “challenging but reasonable” level of achievement.

Low performers

In PISA 2015, 61 per cent of students achieved the National Proficient Standard in reading, 55 per cent of students achieved the National Proficient Standard in maths and 61 per cent of students achieved the National Proficient Standard in science.

This sounds bad because it is. The deterioration in Australia’s performance is because we now have more low-performing students and fewer high-performing students. Students in the low-performing group have achievement levels “too low to enable them to participate effectively and productively in life”.

In reading, the proportion of low performers grew from 12 per cent in 2000 to 18 per cent in 2015, while the proportion of high performers fell from 18 per cent in 2000 to 11 per cent in 2015. In maths, the proportion of high performers almost halved from 2003 to 2015, from 20 per cent to 11 per cent. Singapore had the highest proportion of high performers in all domains, with between 2 per cent and 35 per cent of students achieving in the top two proficiency levels.

Other countries – most notably the much-vaunted Finland – have also experienced significant declines in the last two rounds of PISA, showing how cautious we must be about making simplistic country comparisons to guide policy. PISA data is very useful but it must be evaluated carefully, preferably looking at the relationships between policies, practices and performance using multiple country comparisons over multiple years.

TIMSS and PISA are slightly different in nature and purpose: TIMSS assesses curriculum content knowledge in Years 4 and 8, while PISA assesses the ability to apply this knowledge to realistic problems among 15-year-olds. The concurrent implementation of TIMSS and PISA indicates that not only are students not improving their knowledge of the maths and science curriculum, they are becoming less capable at applying this knowledge.

Misguided and detrimental

It would be a mistake to jump to the conclusion that students need more “problem-based learning”. One finding that stands out in a multiple country analysis of PISA results is that teacher-directed instruction is related to higher mean scores in science, while inquiry-based learning approaches are associated with lower mean scores. Furthermore, students in countries with more teacher-directed instruction were more likely to express an expectation to work in a science-related occupation.

These findings suggest Australia’s fixation with discovery or inquiry-based learning approaches to improve achievement with maths and science by developing student “engagement” – often at the expense of learning facts and concepts – is misguided and detrimental. Confidence in these domains is the result of competence, not the reverse.

The same is true in reading instruction. The majority of children will not learn to read through whole language-based approaches that operate on the false assumption that encouraging enjoyment of reading among children is more important than actually teaching them to read through explicit instruction in the foundational elements of written language. Children cannot enjoy reading if they cannot read.

The Productivity Commission’s report on evidence in education published earlier this year noted that research on effective educational practice is disconnected from classrooms. The TIMSS and PISA results demonstrate the consequences of this problem for Australian students.

Dr Jennifer Buckingham is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies and director of the FIVE from FIVE reading project.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 10:12 pm and is filed under
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Good wishes to Harith Iskander to become the world’s funniest person in the  final of  the international  competition, Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World,  in Helsinki tonight

Malaysians send good wishes to the country’s stand-up comedian Harith Iskander to become the world’s funniest person in the final of the  international competition, Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World, in Helsinki tonight.

Although Harith, 50, will be facing stiff challenge from four others, Katerina Vrana (Greece), Mino Van Nassau (India), David Kilimnick (Israel) and Alex Calleja (Philippines), he stands a good chance of winning the final as he topped the chart among the 20 semi-finalists last Sunday.

It is fortunate that last year  Harith survived the threat posed by UMNO/Barisan Nasional Ministers and Deputy Ministers to stand-up comedians, as UMNO/BN Ministers and Deputy Ministers at the time like Ahmad Maslan, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Paul Low and even the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, were competing with them to run them out of their jobs with their own  comic and clownish statements and actions.

This was why I had occasion to remark last December that very soon, comedians like Harith would have to call it a day because Ministers and Deputy Ministers like Ahmad Maslan, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Paul Low and even Najib would have taken over their jobs; leaving the professional comedians probably with the option of venturing into politics to encroach into the protected domains of the Ministers and deputy ministers!

Fortunately, comedians like Harith Iskander and Dr. Jason Leong proved to have great resilience and have survived the “threats” from  “stand-up comedians” from Parliament and the  political arena.

Let all Malaysians put aside their differences to root for Harith Iskander’s world success in Helsinki at 8 pm tonight (2 am Friday Malaysian time)!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 December 2016, 3:16 pm and is filed under
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HAS CHINA OFFERED TO BAIL OUT MALAYSIA’S 1MDB? AT WHAT COST?

BY BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS

South China Morning Post

7 DEC 2016

China’s economic largesse to Malaysia was back in the spotlight on Wednesday following an apparent renewed effort by Beijing to bail out the Southeast Asian country’s beleaguered 1MDB state investment fund.

Political observers say such multibillion-dollar favours are likely to continue unabated as China seeks to bring a key trading partner closer into its strategic orbit and as Prime Minister Najib Razak turns away from the West, where he is accused of running a kleptocracy.

The Financial Times newspaper in a report on Wednesday said China “had been approached” to help 1MDB – embattled by a long-running money laundering scandal linked to Najib – pay off a US$6.5 billion (HK$50.4 billion) debt to an Abu Dhabi state investment arm.

One unnamed source with knowledge of the matter told the newspaper that Malaysia would swap assets in exchange for Chinese financing.

“China is disbursing goodwill around the region…so this is not a surprising move,” said Oh Ei Sun, a former top political aide to Najib.

Beijing does not make explicit demands in exchange for such economic favours, but there is an expectation that Malaysia “should know what to do”, Oh said.

The new bailout – if confirmed – will be the latest effort by China to rescue 1MDB, which is facing money laundering investigations in multiple jurisdictions including Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. Najib has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and insists the government is cooperating with these probes.

The Swiss Attorney General’s Office in October hinted at difficulties in obtaining the help of its Malaysian counterparts as it investigates what it claimed was a “ponzi scheme” run by a 1MDB subsidiary.

A civil lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department said more than US$3.5 billion had been misappropriated from 1MDB, a pet project of Najib launched in 2009. Court cases linked to the scandal are ongoing in Singapore, and the city state’s central bank has cracked the whip on lenders that were involved.

China, on the other hand, has stayed clear of any such investigations. Instead, it played the role of white knight late last year as the enormity of 1MDB’s debts and allegations of money laundering became public following a series of leaks to the media by whistleblowers.

China General Nuclear Power Corp moved in to buy 1MDB’s power unit Edra Global Energy for RM$17 billion (HK$30 billion), while China Railway Engineering Corp bought a stake in a key 1MDB development project in capital Kuala Lumpur for RM$12.4 billion.

And in November, Najib returned from a state visit to China with about US$34 billion worth of economic deals, including Malaysia’s first major military purchases from Beijing.

A RM$55 billion deal for Chinese rail companies to develop a rail link between Malaysia’s rural east coast states and the capital was also inked.

“Malaysia needs help and no one else in the world has the excess liquidity to throw around than China,” said Malaysian politics expert James Chin.

“For Najib who is facing political problems at home, Chinese aid is preferred because they don’t really care about good governance when they give out aid,” said Chin, director of the Asia Institute at Australia’s University of Tasmania.

“In a way, Najib is pointing the middle finger at the Western countries criticising him over corruption allegations…telling them that I can go to China if you don’t embrace me.”

During his visit to Beijing, Najib penned an editorial in state mouthpiece China Daily slamming “former colonial powers” for “lecturing countries they once exploited on how to conduct their own internal affairs today”.

Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at Singapore’s National University of Singapore, said the ongoing court cases in the West were compelling Malaysia to “reduce exposure in the US and Europe”.

“That leaves China as the best option for collaboration, especially since Beijing is currently eager to reach out, invest and build relations in the region,” he said.

Analysts say Najib is cognizant of the fact that accepting Chinese economic favours means Beijing will expect his country to openly embrace coming closer into its orbit.

Alienating other major powers and over-relying on one patron, however, could be costly.

“This is not a particularly Chinese thing, but like deals and arrangements elsewhere, they sometimes fall through or are not delivered as promised,” Chong said.

Ong Kian Ming, a lawmaker of Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party, questioned if the latest help rendered to 1MDB – if accurate – would require “the award of large-scale infrastructure projects to a Chinese state-owned enterprise”.

“The Malaysian government needs to be fully transparent on the details of this deal…nothing comes for free and the Malaysian taxpayer deserves to know the true cost of the bailout,” he said.

One Chinese observer said Beijing too had to exercise caution in its strategic courtship of Southeast Asian countries as it competes with the US for influence in the region.

“In the strategic competition with the US, China intends to use economic means as incentives to stop its neighbours leaning towards the US and being hostile to itself,” said Zhang Baohui, a professor at Lingnan University.

“But a big problem is that Beijing sometimes is too obsessed with its own strategic and diplomatic goals to assess and manage the economic risk of such investments, including the lack of good governance and checks and balances,” he said.

The Financial Times report on Wednesday coincided with fresh legal developments in the US involving Jho Low, the Malaysian financier linked to Najib identified by the Department of Justice as a key figure of a money laundering scandal.

His family members are seeking to stop the US from seizing US$650 million in real estate and business investments prosecutors claim was acquired with plundered funds, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by Liu Zhen in Beijing and Amy Chew in Kuala Lumpur

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 December 2016, 12:52 pm and is filed under
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PISA 2015 a major setback for  Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 to achieve above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards in less than a decade by 2025

The PISA 2015 results were supposed to be the coming-of-age of the Najib premiership, both nationally and internationally  – to provide evidence that under Najib’s premiership, with  his string of National Transformation Programmes,  the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, and most important of all, his forthcoming and most ambitious 2050 National Transformation (TN50) Plan to replace Vision 2020, Malaysia would not only be able to become a RM2 trillion economy in seven to eight years, but to become the Top 20 nation in the world.

But the PISA 2015 results were a major setback to Najib’s towering ambitions, in particular the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 objective to achieve above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards in less than a decade by 2025.

This was why the Malaysian government was  so quick off-the-mark to claim credit for good improvement in the OECD-organised PISA 2015 tests – announcing that Malaysia scored 446 in Mathematics, 431 in Reading and 443 in Science as compared to Malaysia’s PISA 2012 results of 421 in Mathematics, 414 in Reading and 422 in Science.

This will be quite creditable improvement if true, as the three sets of PISA results for Malaysia since 2009 would be as follows:

PISA Score (Rank)

2009

2012

2015

Maths

404(57)

421(52)

446(45)

Science

422(52)

420(53)

443(47)

Reading

414(55)

398(59)

431(50)

The PISA 2015 results were quite creditable improvements over previous results in PISA 2009 and 2012,  except that these were PISA 2015 results arbitrarily and unilaterally announced by the Education Ministry but not approved or recognized by the PISA authorities in OECD.

In fact, I was shocked and  stunned when I followed on the Internet  the launching of the PISA 2015 results in London two days ago, and I combed through  PISA 2015 Report “Volume 1: Excellence and Equity in Education” and I found to my disbelief and horror that Malaysia is not in the list of the 72  participating countries/economies, although 9,660 students from 230 schools in Malaysia took part in the PISA 2015 tests last year.

Malaysia has the dubious distinction as one of the four countries whose PISA 2015  results were excluded by the PISA authorities whether for mistake in testing methodology,  manipulation of data or distorted sampling.

The other three countries are Argentina, Albania and Kazakstan.

In a proper and accurate assessment of Malaysian students,  would Malaysia have achieved the improvements in PISA 2015  now claimed by the Education Ministry but not recognized by PISA?

Even assuming that Malaysian students had achieved the international educational standards as claimed by the Education Ministry, Malaysia has still a long way to go to achieve the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 objective to be above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards in global assessments like PISA and Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS)  in less than a decade by 2025!

The nine years left for the Malaysian Education Blueprint would involve three more PISAs – PISA 2018, PISA 2022 and PISA 2025.

Can Malaysia achieve the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 objective to be above global average and  be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards by 2025?

Even going by the Education Ministry’s claims of improved PISA 2015 performance, which is not recognized by the PISA authorities, Malaysia is still below the OECD average for all three subjects, which is 490 for Mathematics, 493 for Science and Reading.

If Malaysia is to in top one-third of countries in the PISA tests, Malaysia will have to perform better than countries including United States, Austria, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Latvia, Russia, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Malta, Slovak Republic, Greece, Chile and Bulgaria which are countries in the second one-third ranking of PISA assessments, and better positioned than Malaysia, even going by the Education Ministry’s claims of PISA 2015 results which are not recognized by PISA authorities.

Is this likely without even talking about Malaysia edging out countries in the top one-third of PISA 2015 tests, led by  Singapore, Japan, Estonia, Taiwan Finland, Macao, Canada, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, New Zealand, Slovenia, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Norway.

It is sad and shameful that Malaysians should be bogged down by the question as to why Malaysia had been excluded from  PISA 2015 results and why  the Education Ministry’s claims of PISA 2015 results are not recognized by the PISA authorities, when we should be focusing on why Malaysia is finding it so difficult in improve on our international educational standards while other countries are blazing ahead as education superpowers – like Singapore.

In fact, many of the students in Singapore who sat for the PISA 2015 are probably Malaysians – raising the question why Malaysian students can help ensure Singapore is the No. 1 education power in the world but in  Malaysia, the nation  is lagging  far behind in the international educational assessments.

What is the answer to this question?

I am surprised that there is still no statement by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid on the PISA 2015 results controversay despite the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

Did Mahdzir brief the Cabinet on the reasons for the derecognition  of Malaysia’s PISA 2015 results by the PISA authorities, and when is Mahdzir going to enlighten the Malaysian citizenry on what happened with regard to the PISA results for Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 December 2016, 9:01 am and is filed under
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Is Malaysian Education Blueprint target for Malaysia to be above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards by 2025   realistic and achievable – or whether it should be lowered and amended

The Education Ministry is setting a bad moral example to the young generation of Malaysians as it is not even telling a white lie, but a downright lie, on Malaysia’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 results.

It is indeed shocking that a Ministry which is responsible for the moral upbringing of a young generation of Malaysians should be guilty of such immorality as to try to lie its way out of the shame and ignominy of Malaysia’s exclusion from the results and rankings for mathematics, science and reading in the PISA 2015 Report.

Lets get down to the brass tacks – is the Education deputy director-general Datuk Dr. Amin Senin seriously claiming that the Malaysian government’s  assertion that Malaysia’s PISA 2015 results  for all three subjects have improved from those of PISA 2012 – i.e. mathematics from 404 to 421, Science from 420 to 422 and Reading from 398 to 414 – is recognised by PISA authorities in OECD?

The answer is an unequivocal “NO”, or Malaysia would not have been excluded from the rankings for mathematics, reading and science in PISA 2015, which appears on Page 44 of the PISA 2015 Results Volume 1 (Excellence and Equity in Education).

Malaysia’s results were mentioned in Annex B of Volume 1, from page 320 to 442, as  9,660  15-year-old students from 230 schools had participated in the PISA 2015 tests, but together with Argentina and  Kazakhstan, they were three countries isolated from the main PISA 2015  findings because the data for Malaysia, Argentina and Kazakhstan could not be used for comparison.

The report explained in Annex A4 on page 304, which concerned quality assurance of the data:

“In Malaysia, the Pisa assessment was conducted in accordance with the operational standards and guidelines of the OECD.

“However, the weighted response rate among the initially sampled Malaysian schools (51 percent) falls well short of the standard Pisa response rate of 85 percent.

“Therefore, the results may not be comparable to those of other countries or to results for Malaysia from previous years.”

If the Education Ministry had conducted the PISA 2015 tests efficiently and professionally, why were there data inaccuracies or mistakes which caused Malaysia to be excluded from the PISA 2015 rankings for mathematics, science and reading?

Who were responsible for such data bunglings, inaccuracies and errors, causing the results not “comparable to those of other countries or to results  for Malaysia from previous years”?

Instead of coming clean and conducting a full investigation as to who were responsible for these PISA 2015 data bunglings, inaccurancies and errors to the extent that Malaysia was excluded from the PISA 2015 rankings, the Malaysian education authorities pretended that they were only telling “white lies” on the ground that Malaysia’s results were reported in the PISA Report – ignoring the most important fact these results were not recognized by the PISA authorities.

The Education Minister, Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid cannot remain silent any longer on the great  educational chicanery in the country.

He  should either  own up to the data bungling, inaccuracies and errors which caused the Malaysian results in the PISA 2015 to be derecognized by the PISA authorities, or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should sack Mahdzir as Education Minister for setting a bad example to an entire generation of young Malaysians in trying to tell a downright lie about Malaysia’s PISA 2015 results.

It is sad and shameful that Malaysians should be bogged down by the question as to whether and why Malaysia had been excluded from  PISA 2015  rankings and results, when we should be focusing on why Malaysia is finding it so difficult in improve on our international educational standards while other countries are blazing ahead as education superpowers – like Singapore.

In fact, many of the students in Singapore who sat for the PISA 2015 are probably Malaysians – raising the question why Malaysian students can help ensure Singapore is the No. 1 education power in the world but in  Malaysia, the nation  is lagging  far behind in the international educational assessments.

Even assuming that Malaysian students had achieved the international educational standards as claimed by the Education Ministry, Malaysia has still a long way to go to achieve the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 objective to be above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards in global assessments like PISA and Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS)  in nine years’ time  by 2025!

The nine years left for the Malaysian Education Blueprint would involve three more PISAs – PISA 2018, PISA 2022 and PISA 2025.

Can Malaysia achieve the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 objective to be above global average and  be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards by 2025?

If Malaysia is to in top one-third of countries in the PISA tests, Malaysia will have to perform better than countries including United States, Austria, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Latvia, Russia, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Malta, Slovak Republic, Greece, Chile and Bulgaria which are countries in the second one-third ranking of PISA assessments, and better positioned than Malaysia –  even going by the Education Ministry’s claims of PISA 2015 results which are not recognized by PISA authorities.

Let Najib answer whether such Malaysian Education Blueprint (MEB) target for Malaysia to be above global average and be in top one-third of countries and international educational standards by 2025  is realistic and achievable, bearing in mind Malaysia’s colossal bungling in  PISA 2015, or whether the MEB target on this score should be lowered and amended?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 December 2016, 3:45 pm and is filed under
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Jho Low family dealt setback in move to claim assets in 1MDB probe

Reuters

8th December 2016

Relatives of a Malaysian financier at the center of the 1MDB fund scandal were dealt a setback in their efforts to claim assets seized by the U.S. government when a federal judge denied a motion that would have given them time to try their luck in overseas courts.

Earlier this week four relatives of Low Taek Jho filed a motion to delay the Dec. 12 hearing to Jan. 23 so they could go to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to try and get real estate and other assets transferred to a new trustee.

In a one-sentence ruling, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied both the motion to postpone the hearing and a separate request to extend the deadline for filing a claim. No reason was given in the filing, dated Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors had opposed the delay, noting in a filing on Wednesday that almost five months had transpired since the Department of Justice launched a series of lawsuits alleging more than $3.5 billion was misappropriated from the 1MDB fund.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak established the IMDB fund in 2009 and chaired the advisory board until recently.

Low Taek Jho is among the people named in civil lawsuits aimed at seizing $1 billion in assets allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB and diverted into luxury real estate in New York, Beverly Hills and London, valuable paintings and a private jet.

Low Taek Jho’s relatives had wanted to try courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, hoping those venues would be more hospitable to their requests. The ruling to go ahead with the hearing on Monday could thwart those plans.

The relatives’ lawyer, Daniel Zaheer of Kobre & Kim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to Low, the Department of Justice has named Riza Aziz in its lawsuits. Aziz is the stepson of Najib, the Malaysian prime minister, and founder of Red Granite Pictures, which produced the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said Malaysia will cooperate in the international investigations.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 December 2016, 10:20 am and is filed under
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Malaysia PM opens thorny debate in accusing Myanmar of genocide

By Praveen Menon | KUALA LUMPUR

Reuters

Fri Dec 9, 2016

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stern rebuke to Myanmar for a military-led crackdown on Muslim Rohingyas was a rarity among Southeast Asian nations, who adhere to a policy of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs.

Critics saw the beleaguered Najib reaching for the moral high ground with his criticism over the weekend of Myanmar in order to pander to Malay Muslim voters after a series of protests calling for him to resign over a corruption scandal.

Najib is eyeing elections in the second half of 2017, nearly a year ahead of the 2018 deadline, a government source told Reuters.

At a rally on Sunday, Najib called for foreign intervention to stop the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims and lashed out at Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for her inaction.

The persecution of the Rohingyas in Rakhine state, however, has been going on for years. It has forced hundreds of thousands to board flimsy boats and flee to neighboring countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – which along with Myanmar are all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

More than 100,000 Rohingya live in poverty and face harassment as illegal migrants in Malaysia. Many others fell into the hands of human traffickers on their perilous journeys from Myanmar.

MYANMAR INCENSED

The Myanmar government was incensed by Najib’s criticism.

Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said Myanmar was considering lodging an official complaint with ASEAN, the bloc of 10 Southeast Asian nations that agree on economic cooperation but pledge non-interference in each other’s domestic issues.

“He (Najib) could have tried to handle this issue diplomatically through the ambassadors,” Zaw Htay was quoted telling the local media in Myanmar. He accused Najib of looking to win popular support among his Muslim voters.

Myanmar said this week it was halting workers going to Malaysia in response to the comments.

But Najib in his rally speech suggested that ASEAN must set aside its principle of non-interference to tackle regional issues like the Rohingya repressions and migrations, especially when they pose questions about universal values.

“We want to remind Myanmar’s government that the ASEAN charter also upholds basic human rights,” the premier said in his speech.

INVISIBLE MIGRANTS

Rohingyas in Malaysia applauded Najib’s intervention.

“Rohingya people are hoping something may change in Myanmar – and also in Malaysia where many of us live,” said Faisal Islam Muhammad Kassim of the Rohingya Society in Malaysia.

Many of them live in squalor in Kuala Lumpur’s suburbs, working illegally in restaurants and construction sites, where they are routinely underpaid. Families and single men live in matchbox apartments with over half a dozen cramped into one room.

“We are harassed everyday … by the cops and by everyone,” said a Rohingya migrant living illegally, who did not want to be identified. “We have no dignity here.”

Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on the status of refugees, which means all refugees, including Rohingya, are viewed as illegal migrants awaiting resettlement in a third country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Malaysia, Richard Towle, said Rohingyas in Malaysia are in the “invisible bottom 30 percent of society, and very much at risk of exploitation and abuse”.

“Although it’s proper to highlight the situation in Myanmar itself, it’s also very important to look at the situation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh and here in Malaysia, where there is a lot we can still do to make their lives more secure and safer,” Towle said.

PRESSURE OF SCANDAL

Najib’s popularity dropped after he was linked to a multi-billion dollar graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Tens of thousands marched on the streets in capital Kuala Lumpur last month, demanding he step down and face corruption charges.

Najib has denied wrongdoing and has used powerful security laws to block dissenters and his opponents.

Najib needs the support of the powerful Islamist party PAS, to secure a convincing win in the next elections. The premier has put his weight behind an Islamic law, hudud, that sets out punishments such as amputation and stoning.

The law may be tabled in parliament next year.

“Quite clearly, there is a major domestic political dimension to this, as Najib positions himself as the champion of downtrodden Muslims in the region, which he and UMNO obviously believe will be popular in the Malay Muslim heartland,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director for the Asia

Division of Human Rights Watch.

“And of course, talking about the Rohingya is a good way to change the subject from the 1MDB scandal,” he added.

Najib’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

(Additional reporting by Ebrahim Harris and Rozanna Latiff in KUALA LUMPUR and Antoni Slodkowski in YANGON. Editing by Bill Tarrant)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 December 2016, 4:09 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians underestimate the damage caused by the 1MDB scandal

Economist

Nov 26th 2016

But the opposition has to do more to win over rural Malays

FORTY thousand people wearing yellow shirts gathered in Malaysia’s capital on November 19th, to protest against corruption and impunity in government. The rally was orderly and restrained; the response of the authorities was not. On the eve of the protest, police arrested Maria Chin Abdullah, leader of a coalition of human-rights groups that organised the event. She was placed in solitary confinement, and can be held there for 28 days. Even by Malaysia’s dismal recent standards this marked a fresh low. Ordinary Malaysians should not stand by while their leaders undermine the rule of law so casually.

Ms Chin Abdullah’s detention was justified by an anti-terrorism law which the government had promised would never be used against political opponents. The true motivation was to stifle outrage over 1MDB, a state-owned investment firm from which billions have gone missing. In July American government investigators said they thought that $3.5bn had been taken from the firm and that hundreds of millions of dollars went to the prime minister, Najib Razak (who says he has never taken public funds for personal gain). The investigators’ findings corroborated exposés written by local and foreign journalists, who have been unravelling the saga for several years.

Elsewhere the scandal would have sparked a swift change in government. But the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has held power for six decades and enjoys broad support from Malaysia’s ethnic-Malay majority, some of whom resent their ethnic-Chinese and Indian compatriots. The party has devised many ways to protect its leaders from internal revolts, so Mr Najib found it easy to purge critics, delay a parliamentary investigation and replace an attorney-general said to have been preparing charges against him.

No one in Malaysia has been charged over 1MDB’s missing money. But a court has handed a prison sentence to an opposition politician who frustrated efforts to hush up the affair. The editor and publisher of one of Malaysia’s last independent news organisations face jail under a rule which forbids certain content published with “intent to annoy”. A competitor closed in March after authorities ordered its website blocked.

Mr Najib’s party is carelessly widening Malaysia’s ethnic and religious splits. Seeking to bolster support among conservative Malay Muslims, it is toying with a proposal to intensify the whippings which may be meted out by sharia courts. It has failed properly to condemn pro-government gangs that last year menacingly gathered in a Chinese part of the capital. Their leaders paint ethnic Malays as victims of sinister conspiracies — dangerous rumour-mongering in a country where politics is still defined by the racial violence of the 1960s.

Easily broken, hard to fix

Until now foreign investors have been fairly sanguine about the economy. But they are growing rattled. The ringgit has depreciated faster than other emerging-market currencies. Last week the authorities asked foreign banks to stop some ringgit trading abroad, raising fears of harsher controls.

Rural ethnic Malays, a crucial constituency, feel that the scandal is a remote affair. Even some educated urbanites still favour Mr Najib’s government over the opposition, underestimating the damage being done by the scandal. If change is to come, the disparate opposition needs to do a better job of winning such people over; its fractious parties must overcome their divisions and present a plausible candidate to replace Mr Najib in a general election that could be held as soon as next year. Malaysia has always been an imperfect democracy, but the rot eating at its institutions is harming its international standing and its economic prospects alike.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 December 2016, 11:04 am and is filed under
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If authorities are not out on a “witch-hunt”, Najib should be the first person who should be probed for “foreign funding” and not Ambiga or Bersih

If the authorities are not out on a “witch-hunt”, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should be the first person who should be probed by the police for “foreign funding” and not Ambiga Sreenivasan or Bersih, for three reasons:

Firstly, the quantum.
The amount of “foreign funding” which went into Najib’s personal banking accounts boggles the imagination – at first it was the gargantuan figure of RM2.6 billion and later it was expanded to  an even more astronomical figure of RM4.2 billion.

No sane person would dispute the claim by Ambiga, who headed Bersih from 2010 to 2013, that Bersih had at all times been transparent about its finding and accounts, and had never hidden the fact that it had received US$25,000 from Open Society Institute (OSI) and US$9,690 from National Democracy Institute (NDI) in 2011 which were used in election-related projects.

But what is US$34,690 compared to the over US$1 billion foreign funding which had been deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts – as the “foreign funding” that was deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts was 30 million times larger than the puny figures which Bersih had received from OSI and NDI in 2011.

Secondly, the source of the “foreign funding”.
 Bersih never attempted to conceal or equivocate over the US$34,690 which it received from OSI and NDI in 2011, which is in  sharp contrast about the source of the foreign funding of over US$1 billion which went into Najib’s personal banking accounts.

But there had been multitude of different versions and purposes for the over US$1 billion deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts, including:

• On August 11, 2015, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the donation was from a “brotherly nation” which wanted to see certain parties win the 13th general election because they were friendly to them.

• Four days later, Umno Kuantan division chief Datuk Seri Wan Adnan Wan Mamat said the RM2.6 billion was from Saudi Arabia as a form of appreciation of Malaysia “championing Islam” and fighting militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).

• But on August 22, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the donation came from their “Muslim friends in the Middle East” to help Umno fight DAP in the general election, as the party was funded by Jews.

• Later that same day, Zahid said he met the donors’ representatives who informed him that the funds was in appreciation for the government’s efforts in countering terrorism, and to help Barisan Nasional (BN) maintain Malaysia’s status as a Sunni country.

• After the new Attorney-General’s no-further-action decision on Najib, however, the BBC reported an unnamed Saudi source as saying that the money was donated to help the prime minister win GE13 and counter potential Muslim Brotherhood influence in Malaysia.

•	The latest account from Director-General of Department of Special Affairs (Jasa), Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi in his speech in Canberra in his international “Veracity Tour”  in May 2016, claiming that Najib had told UMNO leaders when the Wall Street Journal reported the expose in early July last year that he had “Bank Negara documents” to approve the transfer the money (RM2.6 billion) into his personal accounts and that he had discussed it with the Bank Negara governor.  According to Puad, Najib denied the money originated from 1MDB and told UMNO leaders that the money was from the Saudi King (Raja Saudi) to “combat the Islamic State, and secondly, to help in other places such as in Palestine and others”.

Can Najib now confirm which one or several of these versions were true and correct and which were untrue and incorrect?

Furthermore, have the Police and the investigative authorities established which of these diverse and even contradictory versions were true, or were they all false?

Thirdly, the application of these “foreign funds”.
 Again there was full transparency and accountability by Bersih with regard to the US$34,690 which it received from OSI and NDI in 2011, but serious contradictions with regard to the US$1 billion deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 45-minute Four Corners’ documentary “State of Fear: Murder and Money in Malaysia” in March this year  had helped many Malaysians to realize that there were actually three separate tranches of deposits into Najib’s personal banking accounts at AmBank, (i) pre the RM2.6 billion donations, (ii) the RM2.6 billion donations itself and (iii) post-RM2.6 billion donations, viz:

(i) some US$300 million from 2011 to March 2013;

(ii) two transactions in March 2013 totalling US$681 (the often-reported RM2.6 billion political donation) – bringing the total deposited into Najib’s accounts to US$1.03 billion (RM4.14 billion) by April 10, 2013, just over a month prior to the 13th General Election; and

(iii) deposits of £50 million (RM285 million) as well as “a series of cash deposits” in June 2014 and after.

Najib had never contradicted these facts and figures, elevating Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal into at least RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal.

In fact, former Kuala Lumpur police Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim had lodged a police report in March this year  against the attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, claiming that the AG was suspected to have “abused his powers, hidden information, and or used false statements” when clearing Prime Minister Najib of wrongdoing in the then RM2.6 billion donation case.

Has the Police investigated Mat Zain’s police report against the Attorney-General Apandi Ali, and if so, what is the outcome of the investigations; and if not, why not, considering that the report was made by a former senior cop who had been KL CID chief?

The Attorney-General’s claim that Najib had returned US$620 million to the Arabs had been rubbished by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits to forfeit over US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

If Bersih receiving US$34,690 which it received from OSI and NDI in 2011, and used for election-related projects, could be the subject of investigations under SOSMA and Penal Code Sections 124C for being engaged in activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy, what about the more heinous activities of receiving over US$1 billion foreign funding clearly to undermine parliamentary democracy in Malaysia and even undermining Malaysia’s sovereignty?

In any event, when did SOSMA and Penal Code Sections 124C which were enacted by Parliament in 2012 take retrospective effect as to empower the police to use these two provisions enacted in 2012 to investigate activities in 2011?

The Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Nur Jazlan, raised a very valid question when he asked Malaysians, NGOs and media like Malaysiakini why they should fear if they have nothing to hide.

The answer is simple and straightforward – peaceful and law-abiding Malaysians have nothing to fear if there is professional and non-partisan application of the law, but they have every reason to fear if there is a “witch-hunt” with investigations carried out in bad faith, contrary to both the spirit and word of the Rule of Law.

Will the authorities prove that they are not guilty of such “witch-hunt” and violation of the rule of law by probing the Prime Minister for his US$1 billion “foreign funding” in his personal banking accounts?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 December 2016, 7:46 am and is filed under
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Call for amendment of  the Malaysian Constitution to put Orang Asli on par with   the Malay and Bumiputeras in terms of constitutional privileges

DAP will continue to support the special position of the Malays and Bumiputeras while protecting the rights of other ethnic groups as enshrined in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution. This means we also want help to be extended to all communities who are in need.

The special position is for the Bumiputeras who are in need, and not for the rich Umnoputras. It also means that the non-Malays who are backward and who need help must have access to the affirmative action programmes.

In this respect, I would like to point out that Malaysia’s first and original Bumiputeras – the Orang Asli – have long been neglected  since Merdeka in 1957 – nearly 60 years ago.

They have been here for thousands of years, yet they were and are still being treated unfairly by the authorities. In terms of privileges,  that no one is more deserving than the Orang Asli communities to be given such a special position.

In 2010, there were 178,197 Orang Asli in Malaysia. The Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) oversees them. JAKOA’s website states that:

“Measures to develop the Orang Asli people are consistent with the principles and objectives of the National Principles and the New Economic Policy goals as well as the Outline Perspective Plan so that the development process can give them prosperity, security and integration with other communities. To achieve the intended objectives, the programs are planned and carried out according to the important guidelines as follows:-

·Act 134, Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 (reviewed in 1974);

·Orang Asli Administration Policies 1961;

·Cabinet of Ministries 1977’s Decision On Plans to Gather the Orang Asli;

·Community that live scattered under the Regrouping Plan (RPS);

·Orang Asli Development duty guidelines in the modern society 1978.”

Did the Orang Asli get a fair deal from the government? Despite all these measures, Orang Asli are still treated with contempt and  malice, as if they are strangers in their own land, as shown in the recent sad episode in Gua Musang in Kelantan where 47 Orang Asli were detained by police merely for erecting barriers to protect their land.

What we need now is to have a complete review of the Government programme to bring Orang Asli communities to the mainstream of national development, and a total revamp of government services to uplift Orang Asli in all fields of human endeavour.

We need a New Deal for Orang Asli.

For a start, we need an Orang Asli to head JAKOA – regardless of his or her religion, or political affiliation. It is an indictment on the failure of six decades of UMNO/Barisan Nasional policies and programmes  to uplift the Orang Asli communities that after nearly six decades of nationhood, the government is incapable of appointing an Orang Asli to head JAKOA.

In less than nine months, Malaysia will be celebrating the 60th National Day Anniversary on August 31, 2017.  Let an Orang Asli be appointed to head JAKOA before this date to give meaning and purpose to the nationhood achieved on August 31, 1957.

We must also revamp of the civil service with the appointment and promotion of Orang Asli public servants to important posts in the civil service, covering the entire public service, and not just areas concerning the Orang Asli upliftment.

More importantly, the Federal Constitution should be amended to put Orang Asli on par with  the Malay and Bumiputeras so that they too can finally enjoy the constitutional privileges, including education, public service, scholarship, business, and protected reserved land.

The time has come for all of us to act. The time is now.

(Media Statement in Gua Musang, Kelantan)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 December 2016, 7:10 am and is filed under
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Call on Najib to convene a special meeting of Parliament before end of year to refute ignominy of Malaysia  as “global kleptocracy” or cleanse Malaysia’s reputation to show the world Malaysians cherish reputation of Malaysia as an upright  nation of integrity

Five  recent events have given Malaysians a lot of food for thought and deliberation for the last three weeks of this year, viz:

1. The resounding impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye by a 234-56 votes by South Korean Parliament over a corruption scandal which had brought millions onto the streets in protest against her.

2. The unceasing international shame and  embarrassment to Malaysians with the unending reverberrations of the global  multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal in various foreign countries, creating  a  spate of  adverse  publicity like the closure  of banks and imprisonment of bankers, Malaysians becoming international corruption fugitives and the mystery of “MO1”, which is impossible to hide from Malaysians in the era of information society – although the 1MDB scandal  is strictly kept  under the lid by repressive and autocratic laws.

3. A purported letter dated Dec 9 in Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s name addressed to BN MPS and Senators urging them to pressure Najib to step down as Prime Minister, together with a replacement Cabinet with Zahid as Prime Minister and Khairy Jamaluddin as Deputy Prime Minister.

I believe this is a fake letter, but did it originate from within UMNO ranks or outside. In any event, Malaysia is heading for an unprecedented era of  political dirty tricks, for didn’t the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself ushered in such  disgusting politics of hate and “Big Lies”  in his  opening and closing speeches at the UMNO General Assembly, with three “Big Lies” Nazi-style:

*That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP.

*That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

*The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power to DAP  in the next general elections.

4.  The stupid and short-sighted attempt by the Education Ministry to deny the disgrace that Malaysia had been excluded from the Programme for  International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 – regared as the world’s school report – as a result of data and sampling bungling and mistakes (which should not have happened at all) and its impudence and temerity to claim that Malaysia had actually improved on the scores in mathematics, science and reading in PISA 2015 when PISA authorities refused to recognise the results or include Malaysia in the PISA 2015 rankings.

5. Malaysian stand-up comedian, Harith Iskander, crowned winner of the Laugh Factory’s “Funniest Person in the World” (LFFPITW) competition in Helsinki on Friday.

Malaysians have one uncompleted business for the year as Malaysia should stop running and hiding from the greatest kleptocracy scandal not only in Malaysian history but the biggest money-laundering scandal in the world as well.

Parliament in its 25-day budget meeting had failed its national duty to rebut and refute Malaysia’s ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” as a result of the International multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal or to cleanse and purge Malaysia of such infamy and ignominy.

The five-day UMNO General Assemblies also failed the country in neither rebutting and refuting the preposterous epithet of a “global kleptocracy” nor purging and cleansing Malaysia of such international infamy and ignominy.

Instead of boldly confronting the 1MDB and “global kleptocracy” issues, the five-day UMNO Assemblies have put up the  infamous charade to vaporise the 1MDB and “global kleptocracy” issues into an invisible but  humongous “elephant in the room”.

I call  on Najib to convene a special meeting of Parliament before end of year to refute the  ignominy of Malaysia  as “global kleptocracy” or cleanse Malaysia’s reputation to show the world Malaysians cherish  the reputation of Malaysia as an upright  nation of integrity.

If Najib is unable or incapable of performing this last uncompleted business for the year 2016, he is not qualified to be a patriot and least fit to continue as Prime Minister.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 December 2016, 8:35 am and is filed under
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Can the Malaysian Parliament Move Against Prime Minister Najib Razak?

Koon Yew Yin

10th Dec 2016

Friends who watch the foreign TV news channel have asked me whether Malaysia will be able to follow the example of South Korea in the current leadership crisis found in that country.

In the case of South Korea, their lawmakers recently voted overwhelmingly in Parliament to impeach President Park Geun-hye over an influence-peddling and corruption scandal. If successful, it will set the stage for her to become the country’s first elected leader to be expelled from office in disgrace.

The impeachment motion was carried by a 234-56 margin in a secret ballot in parliament, meaning that at least more than 60 of Park’s own conservative Saenuri Party members backed removing her.

The votes of at least 200 members of the 300-seat chamber were needed for the motion to pass.

The Constitutional Court must now decide whether to uphold the motion, a process that could take up to 180 days.

“I solemnly accept the voice of the parliament and the people and sincerely hope this confusion is soundly resolved,” Park said at a meeting with her cabinet, adding that she would comply with the court’s proceedings as well as an investigation by a special prosecutor.

Although I am not an expert on parliamentary systems, I think that this option or related ones should be explored by our parliamentarians in bringing closure to the 1MDB and personal bank donation scandals that have plagued the Prime Minister and our country.

It is necessary to point out that there are important similarities in the two cases of leadership crisis in South Korea and Malaysia.

Both involve allegations of corruption and abuse of power. Both have seen peaceful crowds rally in support of action to remove their heads of state. Both have also seen their heads of state resist demands that they step down.

According to Wikipedia, a motion of no confidence (alternatively vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, or (unsuccessful) confidence motion is a statement or vote that a person or persons in a position of responsibility (government, managerial, etc.) is no longer deemed fit to hold that position: perhaps because they are inadequate in some respect, are failing to carry out obligations, or are making decisions that other members feel are detrimental.

As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the head of state (in our case, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong) that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government.

Wikipedia also notes that a censure motion is different from a no-confidence motion. Depending on the constitution of the body concerned, “No Confidence” may lead to compulsory resignation of the council of ministers or other position-holder(s), whereas “Censure” is meant to show disapproval and does not result in the resignation of ministers. The censure motion can be against an individual minister or a group of ministers, but the no-confidence motion is directed against the entire cabinet. Again, depending on the applicable rules, censure motions may need to state the reasons for the motion while no-confidence motions may not require reasons to be specified.

We all know that earlier in October 2015, a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister which was introduced by opposition leader, Wan Azizah, failed to be debated. We also know that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has argued that the motion of no-confidence vote is totally democratic. According to Dr. Mahathir although Parliament may not have any provision for vote of no-confidence, the Constitution which is the the supreme law of the country, states otherwise.

“Article 43 (4) of the Federal Constitution states if the Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet”.

Separately, the noted constitutional lawyer, Prof. Shad Saleem Faruki has pointed to numerous instances of Prime Ministers from Commonwealth countries being ousted from their positions by votes of no-confidence.

They include 11 successful votes of no confidence in the UK: Lord North (1782), John Russell (1866), Benjamin Disraeli (1968), Gladstone (1885, 1886), Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1886, 1892), Archibald Primrose (1895), Baldwin (1924), MacDonald (1924) and Callaghan (1979); and 3 in India: Vishwanath Pratap (1991), Deve Gowda (1997) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999).

He has also noted that in Malaysia, although no federal Prime Minister has ever been forced out of office on such a motion, three such instances at the State level illustrate the vitality of the doctrine. These involved Stephen Kalong Ningkan (Sarawak, 1966); Datuk Harun Idris (Selangor, 1976); and Datuk Mohammad Nasir (Kelantan, 1977).

The conclusion that Prof. Faruki has drawn is crucial for our Parliamentarians to note. He writes that “despite its role in enforcing responsibility in government, there is much uncertainty that surrounds the Westminster technique of a vote of no confidence.”

I think now is the right time for our Parliamentarians (both BN and Opposition) to debate and if possible take a vote of confidence or no-confidence in the Prime Minister.

And if the Prime Minister is so sure that Parliament and the country are behind him, he should in fact introduce it and allow for a secret ballot!

Otherwise this will be another NEP story – Never Ending Problem!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 December 2016, 6:34 am and is filed under
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