Three suggestions for Malaysians to believe that RMP the best police force in ASEAN

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has borne out my contention in my response on the same day to the keynote address by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to the 13th Invest Malaysia conference where  he portrayed me as the “most powerful person” in Malaysia who could make a former Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Minister as my stooges and puppets.

I said that Najib’s greatest enemy does not come from DAP  or Pakatan Harapan but he himself, simply because  he has zero credibility – and that applies to his Ministers and the Najib administration as well.

Yesterday, Zahid said a skeptical  public still sees the police as ineffective despite cutting the national crime rate by 47% in the past eight years.

Zahid said police effectiveness in cutting crime just through a reduction in the statistics is not enough as those involved in fighting crime must do more engagement and adopt a friendlier approach when dealing with the public.

Zahid said public perception towards the police was still “not as positive as it should be”.

“The Royal Malaysian Police is acknowledged as the best in Asean. This is an international recognition but not the general perception.

“My estimate is that only 20% are positive about the police,” he added.

Zahid is barking up the wrong tree, as public confidence in the police capability to fight and reduce the crime rate is not a mere public relations exercise, of friendly public engatgement.

I myself do not believe that the Police have cut down the national crime rate by 47% in the past eight years.

How many Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs believe that crime rate in the country has been slashed by 47% in the past eight years – when more and more Ministers and VIPs are guarded and surrounded by more security personnel than eight years ago?

If Zahid is right that the Malaysian Police is acknowledged as the best in ASEAN, then let him present the facts, statistics and acknowledgements in a formal report to Parliament.

I offer three suggestions to help Malaysians believe that Royal Malaysian Police is  the best police force in ASEAN, viz:

•	firstly, declare RMP mission to make Malaysia safest place in the world;

•	secondly, submit annual police reports to Parliament; and

•	thirdly, set up a Parliamentary Select committee on Police which will have the responsibility to oversee police matters.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 27 July 2017, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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Why Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia’s best hope, and Najib’s worst nightmare

William Pesek

South China Morning Post

26 July, 2017

OPINION

William Pesek says the newfound Mahathir-Anwar Ibrahim coalition could lead Malaysia out of economic stagnation and, even if Najib Razak plays tough, the good news is it can no longer be business as usual

Twenty years after the financial crisis that devastated Asian economies, Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad still hates currency traders. But the deputy prime minister he fired, and later jailed, during that chaotic period? Not so much.

Mahathir’s 180-degree turn on Anwar Ibrahim is as disorienting as any bromance Asia has seen. What otherworldly force was enough to reunite the 92-year-old firebrand who ruled Malaysia for 22 years and his nemesis? A shared disgust for current Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose corruption scandals have Malaysia in the global headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Since 2009, Najib hasn’t just tarnished the national brand at every turn – he has pursued an agenda ensuring a lost decade for a resource-rich economy that should be booming. Cronyism isn’t new to Malaysia; there was plenty during Mahathir’s 1981-2003 tenure. When Malaysia hit a wall in 1997 along with Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea, its culture of patronage, political ties over merit, and weak institutions sent currency speculators, including George Soros, pouncing on the ringgit.

Mahathir hasn’t forgotten that episode, during which he pegged the currency and imposed capital controls. He called Soros a “moron”, while the financier called Mahathir a “menace”. In recent interviews explaining his return to politics, he said currency dealing “should not be a business at all” and is “causing a lot of poverty” around the world.

Najib is now the menace, in Mahathir’s view. Studying his gripes about Najib, another protégé turned arch-enemy, Mahathir seems less perturbed by the stench of corruption than the reek of economic backsliding. Malaysia’s population, like those of Japan, China and elsewhere, will put up with dodgy governance practices so long as living standards rise. The ends tend to justify the means if bellies are full and bank accounts grow. But as Indonesia, the Philippines and other neighbours move forward, Malaysia is regressing in dangerous ways.

When Mahathir left office 14 years ago, Malaysia ranked 37th on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index. It’s now 55th. Since Najib grabbed the reins, Malaysia has stagnated in competitiveness and innovation rankings. He’s huge on buzzy conferences heralding Malaysia’s success in raising its game, but the facts belie the hype.

Najib pledged to dismantle the affirmative-action policies his prime-minister father implemented in 1971. Those productivity-killing quotas favour the ethnic Malay majority for jobs, education and government contacts, and scare off foreign investment. Once scandal hit, Najib went the other way – backward – and expanded what can be best termed apartheid economics.

Many of those controversies surround 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the state fund Najib created in 2009 to burnish Kuala Lumpur’s image as a financial centre. Instead, it’s been a national embarrassment, sparking money laundering investigations from Singapore to Zurich to Washington, and pulling Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr into the fray. There’s also a little matter of US$700 million that found its way into Najib’s personal accounts (he claims it’s a donation from rich Saudis).

Watching Malaysia return to cautionary-tale status was too much for nonagenarian Mahathir. He and former deputy-turned-foe-turned-ally Anwar are joining forces with opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan to unseat Najib.

Anwar must get out of jail first, of course, but that seems a mere formality, as many in Putrajaya turn on Najib and perhaps the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which has ruled for seven decades.

Is all this good news for Malaysia’s calcified economy? In the short run, no. These last eight years of drift and dysfunction resigned it to a multi-year period of lower living standards and perhaps the dreaded middle-income trap. Longer-term, though, Mahathir could be the jolt that rescues Malaysia from mediocrity.

Granted, Mahathir is as much a forefather of Malaysia’s one-party sclerosis as anyone. And his headline-generating tirades against currency traders, capitalism and Jews over the years did their own damage to the Malaysian brand.

Mahathir also should have done more in the years after 1997 to discard growth-draining policies championed by Najib’s father 26 years earlier. Years of being somewhat removed from Putrajaya’s political bubble and an eye on his legacy, though, have re-energized a man with more gravitas than anyone in the nation of 30 million. Just as Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew held larger-than-life sway in his post-leadership incarnation, Mahathir’s voice has a resonance that is unmatched.

That makes Mahathir both Najib’s worst nightmare and Malaysia’s best hope. There is a risk that Najib, desperate to maintain power, clamps down on dissent and monkeys with the rule of law, as, frankly, Mahathir once might have. This tussle of leaders past and present could extend Malaysia’s lost decade if Najib digs in for a protracted fight.

Najib, for example, has resorted to playing the God card, harnessing intolerance in his Muslim-majority nation at the expense of Chinese and Indian minorities. This could descend into a political catfight that roils markets and slams business and consumer confidence.

But even if Mahathir fails to wrestle the premiership from Najib’s hands, his return ensures business as usual is no longer an option. That could lead to a more dynamic and modern Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 27 July 2017, 7:29 am and is filed under
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Will Malaysia have a kleptocratic Prime Minister as well as an unconstitutional Chief Justice next week?

International reaction to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s keynote address  at the 13th Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday came quick and fast – that it does not buy the Prime Minister’s latest PR exercise to trot out the Malaysian government’s handling of the political  economy in very upbeat and promising terms while trying, for the first time for any Malaysian Prime Minister, to demonise the Opposition, which includes the longest-serving former Prime Minister and two former Deputy Prime Ministers.

This international reaction came in the form of an Opinion piece in yesterday’s South China Morning Post by William Pesek in his article:
“Why Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia’s best hope, and Najib’s worst nightmare”
.

The depth of failure of Najib’s “Punch and Judy” speech at the 13th Invest Malaysia conference could be gauged from the fact that the article by William Pesek, author of
“Japanization: What the Wolrd can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades”
 and columnist/journalist on Asian and global economics, business markets and politics, came out within 24 hours  of Najib’s speech with the following six thrusts:

1.	That “a shared disgust” for the current Prime Minister, “whose corruption scandals have Malaysia in the global headlines for all the wrong reasons” was the powerful force behind Mahathir’s “180-degree turn” on his nemesis,  Anwar Ibrahim.

2.	Since 2009, Najib hasn’t just tarnished the national brand at every turn – he has pursued an agenda ensuring a lost decade for a resource-rich economy that should be booming.

3.	“Malaysia’s population, like those of Japan, China and elsewhere, will put up with dodgy governance practices so long as living standards rise. The ends tend to justify the means if bellies are full and bank accounts grow. But as Indonesia, the Philippines and other neighbours move forward, Malaysia is regressing in dangerous ways.”

4.	“When Mahathir left office 14 years ago, Malaysia ranked 37th on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index. It’s now 55th. Since Najib grabbed the reins, Malaysia has stagnated in competitiveness and innovation rankings. He’s huge on buzzy conferences heralding Malaysia’s success in raising its game, but the facts belie the hype.”

5.	The 1MDB scandal, described as a “national embarrassment” sparking money laundering investigations from Singapore to Zurich to Washington, and pulling Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr into the fray.  There’s also the “little matter” of of US$700 million that found its way into Najib’s personal accounts.

6.	Malaysia’s “calcified economy” –  The last eight years of drift and dysfunction and the possibility of  a multi-year period of lower living standards and perhaps the dreaded middle-income trap; but  longer-term,  Mahathir could be the jolt that rescues Malaysia from mediocrity.

These are damning indictment of the eight years of Najib premiership which the Prime Minister cannot remain silent, after his keynote address at the 13th Invest Malaysia address on Tuesday.

Parliament has two more weeks to go before adjournment.

Najib should arrange for a three-day debate before Parliament adjourns on August  10 to clear or cleanse Malaysia’s reputation in international society from such a damning indictment, and in particular, the stain of the odious appellation of a global kleptocracy arising from the 1MDB scandal.

Is Najib prepared to start the process to clear or cleanse the stains on Malaysia’s international reputation, or is Malaysia going to be plunged to an even lower depth of international acceptability by having not only a kleptocratic Prime Minister but also an unconstitutional Chief Justice  by next week?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Thursday July 27, 2017)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 27 July 2017, 9:07 am and is filed under
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Cabinet today should speak up for a moderate Malaysia for a change, suspend the ban on G25 book and form a high-level committee to hold public hearings whether the book should be banned

The reported ban on G25 book on
“Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”
 is so extraordinary and unbelieveable that the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi must confirm whether he had authorized such a ban and why.

This book is produced by G25, comprising former high-ranking Malay/Muslim civil servants, civic leaders  and politicians first formed in December 2014 to call for a rational dialogue on the position of Islam in a constitutional democracy as they are  deeply concerned over developments regarding race relations, Islam and extremist behaviour in Malaysia.

In the Open Letter in December 2014 signed originally by 25 prominent personalities, including former secretaries-general, directors-general, ambassadors, judges and prominent Malay individuals who have contributed much to Malaysian society, their spokesperson, Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, former Malaysian Ambassador to the Netherlands, said she and the others were “deeply concerned about the state of the debate on many issues of conflict on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia”.

Stressing that it was time for moderate Malays and Muslims to speak up, and that “extremist, immoderate and intolerant voices” do not speak in their name, she said:

“Given the impact of such vitriolic rhetoric on race relations and political stability of this country, we feel it is incumbent on us to take a public position and urge for an informed and rational dialogue on the ways Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in Malaysia”.

She also urged more moderate Malaysians to speak up and contribute to “a better informed and rational public discussion on the place of Islamic laws within a constitutional democracy and the urgency to address the breakdown of federal-state division of powers and finding solutions to the heart-wrenching stories of lives and relationships damaged and put in limbo because of battles over turf and identity”.

Now with the ban of G25’s book, what does it imply?

Will G25 itself, comprising former top prominent Malay/Muslim civil servants and public servants and which has since expanded to double its original number but has decided retain the name of “Group of 25” or “G25”, as this is the name that the Malaysian public is familiar with, be next to be banned, signifying a major setback for the cause of a moderate Malaysia and the  triumph of extremist and intolerant forces in the country?

Does the ban of G25’s book signify a far-reaching and even seismic  transformation in the nation-building directions in the country, where what had been regarded as being  in the “out-boxes” for the past six decades have made a grand entrance  into  the “in-boxes” and what had been in the “in-boxes” under five Prime Ministers from 1957 to 2009 under Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Badawi have now been relegated to the “out-boxes”?

Tun Abdullah had written a foreword for the G25 book, where he endorsed the G25’s call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to “exercise his leadership and to demonstrate the political will to establish an inclusive consultative committee to find solutions to the intractable problems that had been allowed to fester for far too long”.

Tun Abdullah  shared the hope of G25 that the publication of the G25 book, “Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy” would further encourage an informed and rational dialogue on the ways  Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, yet within the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution and the spirit of Rukun Negara.

Has former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah’s foreword to the  G25 book become a banned “foreword”?

Senior UMNO leader and MP for Gua Musang, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah launched the book and the accompanying “Islam in a Constitutional Democarcy” forum in December 2015, where he warned of “a religious bureaucracy” which is but a mask for the appropriation of power by vested interests through the application of Islamic laws and which threatens the constitutional provision where the Sultans must be the ultimate decision makers in the administration of Islam.

Is the ban on G25’s book an example of the latest strike by the  “religious bureauracy” violating fundamental Malaysian constitutional principles?

Among the prominent Malay-Muslim former senior civil servants, professionals and civil society leaders as well as non-Malays and non-Muslims  who contributed to the G25 book  are Dr. Asiah Abu Samah, Dr. Asma Abdullah, Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff bin Mohd Kassim, Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, Dr. Azmi Sharom, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Dr. Maszlee Malik, Zainah Anwar,  Aston Paiva, Fawza Sabila Faudzi, Firdaus Husni, Koh Kee Hoe,  Lim Heng Seng, Mohamad Afif bin Daud, Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Dr. Mohamad Nawab Osman, Nizam Bashir, Ranita Hussein, Rosli Dahlan, Shazal Yusuf Zain and Farouk A Peru.

Have  these contributors, particularly the Malay/Muslim stalwarts of society, become the new enemies of Malaysia, whether individually or collectively, trying to destroy the very body fabric of multi-racial  and multi-religious Malaysia?

The Cabinet at its meeting today should speak up for a moderate Malaysia for a change, suspend the ban on G25 book and form a high-level committee to hold public hearings whether the book should be banned.

I am sure all the contributors to the G25 book, as well as eminent Malaysians want to give their views to the Cabinet Committee on the G25 book, whether to ban it or not, for the very soul of Malaysia is at stake – whether Malaysia is to continue as a moderate nation or allow the forces of extremism and intolerance to hijack nation-building in Malaysia.

What is the use of the Prime Minister launching the international initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates, when for the past seven years it had not shown any of the three attributes of being “global”, “a movement’ or “moderate” if the Cabinet allows the forces of extremism and intolerance to rear their ugly heads by  jettisoning the constitutional  principles of moderation, such as arbitrarily  banning the G25 book.

(Media Statement in Parliament on Friday, July 28, 2017)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 July 2017, 8:33 am and is filed under
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Can  the BN Sabah and Sarawak Ministers and MPs be trusted to uphold Sabah and Sarawak interests when they dare not openly declare their support for Malanjum as Chief Justice of Malaysia?

The President of the Sabah Council of Datuks, Claudius Roman, said that Sabah may have to wait 100 years to produce another judge as gifted as  Richard Malanjum.

He said the Council, which is made up of serving and former senior leaders of the public and private sectors, political organisations and NGOs. had unanimously agreed on Wednesday that Malanjum was the most qualified member of the Malaysian judiciary for the post of chief justice.

The question is whether the Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak dare to tell the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, that Sabah will have to wait 100 years to produce another judge as gifted as Richard Malanjum.

This is most unlikely as how can  the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak be trusted to uphold Sabah and Sarawak interests when they dare not openly declare their support for Malanjum as Chief Justice of Malaysia, especially as next Thursday on August 3 will be deadline for the appointment of a new Chief Justice.

I stand by what I said at the DAP Miri Dinner two weeks ago that it must be a matter of grave concern to all patriotic Malaysians that the integrity and sanctity of the Malaysian Constitution are receiving less and less respect from the powers-that-be, and the latest example of an incipient constitutional crisis in Malaysia is the illegal and unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Raus Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively.

The extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli are not only unconstitutional, but would affect the promotional opportunities and prospects of at least eight Federal Court judges, including three women.

But the most glaring injustice of the unconstitutional extensions will be the denial of the opportunity of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the first Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Malanjum is in fact the most senior Federal Court judge in the country, more senior than both Raus and Zulkefli, having been appointed Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak in 2005.

How would any Barisan Nasional Minister or Member of Parliament from Sabah and Sarawak dare to convey to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet the sentiments expressed by Cladius Roman when none of them dared to attend the Parliamentary Roundtable convened by the DAP MP for Bandar Kuching, Chong Chieng Jen and DAP MP for Sandakan Wong Tien Fatt in Parliament on Tuesday on the issue of a Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President?

This is particularly the case when the extension of Raus and Zulkefli’s  tenure as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President are most irregular, improper and unconstitutional, based on wrong and bad advice by the Prime Minister to the Yang di Pertuan Agong under Article 122B of the Malaysian  Constitution.

What has made the by-passing of Malanjum in judicial promotions even more objectionable is that it would appear that there is a glass ceiling for judges from Sabah and Sarawak, that they could only rank fourth in the hierarchy of judicial appointments and deemed unqualified or unfit to occupy the first three top  judicial posts, namely Chief Justice, Court of Appeal President and Chief Judge of High Court of Malaya.

It would appear that Malanjum is not only suitable to be Chief Justice, but also for the post of Court of Appeal President.

A judge from Peninsular Malaysia had once  been appointed Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak but there had never been a judge from Sabah and Sarawak who had been appointed Chief Judge of the High Court of Malaya.

The best way to resolve this unseemly constitutional crisis is for Raus and Zulkefli to decline the unconstitutional and improper extension of their tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 July 2017, 12:41 pm and is filed under
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Challenge to Najib to emulate Lee Hsien Loong and have a no-holds barred debate in Parliament on the 1MDB scandal where he would answer all questions raised by MPs on the scandal

Earlier this evening, CNN carried the following news item from Islamabad:

“Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned Friday after he was disqualified from office by the country’s Supreme Court.

“The court ruled Sharif has been dishonest to parliament and to the judicial system, and is no longer deemed fit for the office of prime minister.

“The panel of five judges announced their unanimous decision Friday afternoon, with the election commission ordered to issue a disqualification notice to Sharif. With the ruling, Sharif’s cabinet has also been dissolved.”

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the same thing can happen in Malaysia, whether the Malaysian Parliament and judiciary can remove a Prime Minister from office for corruption and dishonesty to Parliament and the judiciary.

South Korea had recently provided another example of the strength of its national institutions when the South Korean Parliament passed an impeachment motion against President Park Geung-hye, followed by an unanimous decision by eight judges of the South Korean Constitution Court which dismissed Park as South Korean President for corruption – putting Park in prison during her corruption trial.

Could this happen in Malaysia if the Malaysian Prime Minister is corrupt and abused his powers?

Clearly, Malaysia has a long way to go to demonstrate that our national institutions are stronger and more powerful than an individual personality.

In Singapore, its premier Lee Hsien Loong went to Parliament to answer all questions about the controversy with his siblings with regard to their late father and the island republic’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s residence at Oxley Rise, but in Malaysia, Parliament was prohibited from asking questions about the 1MDB scandal, with questions from over 30 MPs rejected on the most ridiculous and indefensible grounds – although the 1MDB scandal turned Malaysia into a global kleptoracy overnight.

Why is there such a contrast between the two Prime Ministers in Malaysia and Singapore, or the Malaysia’s political system from that of Pakistan and South Korea?

If Najib has nothing to hide, he should hold an open and no-holds barred debate on the 1MDB scandal, inviting MPs to ask any questions about the 1MDB scandal and ready to answer all the parliamentary questions.

(Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang at the Skudai DAP Branch dinner at Skudai, Johor on Friday, 28th July 2017 at 9.30pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 July 2017, 10:49 pm and is filed under
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Challenge to Speaker  Pandikar to cite an instance from another  Commonwealth Parliament where the Speaker used sub judice rule over court proceeding in another country to stop parliamentary  question, debate  or scrutiny of a financial scandal

The Speaker of Parliament, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, likes to quote back to me one observation I had made in Parliament, that a good Speaker does nspeak much.

Pandikar is not only a very talkative Speaker, he even holds media conferences to justify his decisions and rulings, some of which are quite high-handed and most indefensible from the standpoint of impartial and independent  interpretation of the parliamentary standing orders.

The best place for Pandikar’s justification of his arbitrary and indefensible rulings and decisions, the most recent of which were the rejection of questions from over 30 MPs on the 1MDB scandal and refusal to allow the 1MDB scandal, which had turned Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy, to be the subject of debate in Parliament, is in Parliament itself and not in media conferences where the Speaker cannot  be rebutted by MPs.

DAP MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo, who also had questions on 1MDB rejected by the Speaker, had given notice on Wednesday of a substantive motion to review the Speaker’s rulings which in first-world Parliaments, would have come up for debate and decision in Parliament after a 48-hour notice.

Will Gobind’s motion to review the Speaker’s rulings come up for debate in Parliament next week?

This will be the proper place and forum for the Speaker’s  rationale and justification for his high-handed and indefensible rulings to be ventilated, and not at media conferences.

Pandikar’s use of sub judice rule to prevent questions and debates on the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ)’s three series of kleptocratic suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets misappropriated from US$4.5 billion 1MDB funds money-laundered through American banks is the most ludicrous and indefensible, as if the independence, impartiality and integrity of the American system of justice needs assistance and protection from the Speaker of Malaysian Parliament.

When the Speaker of Parliament cannot even ensure that the Malaysian Judiciary can uphold the integrity and  sanctity of the Malaysian Constitution, as in the current controversy in the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal President, it is misplaced arrogance and impertinence to assume that the Malaysian Speaker can protect the independence, impartiality and integrity of the American system of justice!

I challenge Speaker  Pandikar to cite an instance from another  Commonwealth Parliament where the Speaker used sub judice rule over court proceeding in another country to stop parliamentary  question, debate  or scrutiny of a financial scandal.

Let Parliament as a whole decide whether Pandikar had abused his powers as Speaker in his various rulings rejecting questions by over 30 MPs on the 1MDB scandal, as well as virtually banning and prohibiting the 1MDB scandal from being  raised in parliamentary proceedings, including Pandikar’s new-fangled use of the sub judice rule, but this will only happen if substantive motions to review the Speaker’s rulings, which require only two day’s notice under Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 43, are allowed to be debated and resolved – and not just die undebated on the Order Paper.

[Speech (2) at the DAP Skudai dinner in Skudai on Friday, 28th July 2017 at 9.30 pm]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 29 July 2017, 11:59 am and is filed under
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Najib should clarify whether it is true  Xi Jinping, President of China will not be visiting Malaysia this year, removing the programme from his 14GE plans

One of the hottest topics in the country is speculation on the timing for the 14th General Elections and the possible outcomes.

Only a month ago, there was considerable unanimity among the psephologists and political soothsayers – that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would win hands-down in the next general election as the Opposition is too weak and divided, especially after the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat as PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang  embarked  on his new political journey to prop up and champion Najib despite his 1MDB kleptocratic  scandal.

One journal even published an article entitled
“The Unsinkable Najib Razak”
.

Even Najib believe all these hypes.

But a fortnight night ago, there had been a start of a political hurricane in the country.

Now all the bets about the outcome of the 14GE are now off, and Najib and the top UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers have been in panic in the last two weeks about the possible outcome of the 14GE, which may see them ejected from Putrajaya!

The start of the political hurricane was the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting on July 14, announcing the Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and new leadership line-up, which re-ignited new hopes and re-inspired Malaysians that there is still a chance of achieving in the 14GE the political  change in Putrajaya for a new Federal Government in Malaysia, which the majority of Malaysians rooted for in the 13th General Election but was foiled by an undemocratic gerrymandered electoral system.

For the past two weeks, there is a new air, new hope and new confidence in Malaysian politics which had disappeared in the past four years after the 13th General Election.

There was greater diversity of views about the timing for the 14th General Election – whether this year or next year.

Najib had lost a golden opportunity of winning with the best possible results, if he had dissolved Parliament after the Sarawak state general elections in May last year.

It was reported today that Najib’s advisers are pushing for early general elections, possibly in late October or early November, as further delays could risk a “perfect storm” against UMNO/Barisan Nasional.

Various factors had gone into the mixer in the computation for the timing of the next general election, and one important such factor is the China card for Najib, especially with regard to the visit to Malaysia of President of China, Xi Jinping.

There had been earlier speculation that Xi’s visit to Malaysia was in August and then in October with consequent adjustments to plans for the timing for the 14th General Election.

Recent controversy surrounding the RM7.4 billion Bandar Malaysia project owned by 1MDB, originally awarded to China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) and its Malaysian partner Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) but which was terminated by the Finance Ministry at the last minute with the intention to award the project to the Dalian Wanda Group, had roiled relations between Malaysia and China.

Najib should clarify whether it is true  Xi Jinping, President of China will not be visiting Malaysia this year, removing the programme from his 14GE plans.

The greatest challenge of the 14th General Election is to achieve what the 13th General Election failed to do, to change the occupants of Putrajaya and instal a new Pakatan Harapan Federal Government.

The precondition for this feat is that  Pakatan Harapan must achieve two political tsunamis in the 14GE  so that Malaysia can become a normal democratic country after 60 years of nationhood – to be a country where Malaysians can use their vote to elect and change the government they want.

We must re-energise and re-inspire the many who had helped to create the political tsunami in the 13th General Election but who have lost hope that the electoral process is capable of producing any political change – to get them back into the hustings and the political campaigns to ensure that they have the stamina and perseverance to replicate in the 14th General Election the urban tsunami that was achieved in the 13th General Election.

But there must also be another tsunami – a rural tsunami to match the urban tsunami.

We can feel the beginning of a new political awakening among the Malays in the rural areas and Felda settlements, which had hitherto been inaccessible to other political parties previously, whether DAP, PKR, Amanah or even PAS.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and the Parti Pribumi Bersatu has altered the political landscape, breaking open the Malay hinterland which had hitherto been sealed and locked up by UMNO to allow in the ideas for change, justice and progress.

An urban tsunami without a rural tsunami will not effect political change in Putrajaya. A rural tsunami, without an urban tsunami, because of loss of hope and confidence in the ability of the electoral process to effect political change, would be equally fruitless and futile

If in the 14GE, there could both be an urban tsunami as well as a rural tsunami, which will mean a Malay tsunami in the rural hinterland, then Malaysia is embarked on political change in Putrajaya and a new Pakatan Harapan Federal Government to start the country’s journey as a normal democracy, to reset nation-building directions and policies as well as  restore Malaysia’s international reputation  by cleansing and abolishing  Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy.

[Speech (3) at the DAP Skudai dinner in Skudai on Friday, 28th July 2017 at 9.30 pm]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 29 July 2017, 1:38 pm and is filed under
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Ban on G25 Book on “Islam in a Constitutional Democracy” marks  Najib’s break with  five previous Prime Ministers and the rising influence of PAS President on government policy

I am very disappointed that the Cabinet had again proved to be an utterly incompetent and useless outfit, incapable of addressing the great issues of the nation.

I had suggested that the Cabinet meeting last Friday should speak up for a moderate Malaysia for a change, suspend the Home Minister’s ban on G25 book on “Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy” and form a high-level committee to hold public hearings whether the book should be banned.

But the Cabinet, the latest personification of the traditional three monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not, and mouths that speak not, completely ignored the issue and there was no statement post-Cabinet on the corrective measures on the shocking, ridiculous and illogical ban on the G25 book.

The ban on G25 Book on
“Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”
in fact marks Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s break with  five previous Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Husein, Tun Dr. Mahathir and Tun Abdullah – on the basic cornerstone of the nation as enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution and reiterated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the rising influence of PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang  on government policy, with regard to Islamic matters.

Tun Abdullah had in fact  written a foreword for the G25 book, where he endorsed the G25’s call on the current  Prime Minister to “exercise his leadership and to demonstrate the political will to establish an inclusive consultative committee to find solutions to the intractable problems that had been allowed to fester for far too long”.

But Tun Abdullah’s hopes that the G25 book “would further encourage an informed and rational dialogue on the ways  Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, yet within the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution and the spirit of Rukun Negara” have proved futile, as the whole book had been banned without spelling out the  reasons for the illogical and ridiculous ban.

The ban on the G25 book is doubly illogical and ridiculous when it is the current Prime Minister himself who launched the international initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates!

What is the stand of the GMM on the ban of the G25 book?

Was the GMM consulted before the G25 book was banned, does the GMM agree with the ban, or will the G25 lead a national campaign on behalf of moderates to demand the ridiculous and illogical ban to be lifted?

This book produced by G25 represents the concerns of former high-ranking Malay/Muslim civil servants, civic leaders  and politicians who want a rational dialogue on the position of Islam in a constitutional democracy as they are deeply disturbed over developments regarding race relations, Islam and extremist behaviour in Malaysia.

Have the lurch towards intolerance, extremism and bigotry in Malaysia reached such serious straits that contributors to the G25 book, which include prominent Malay-Muslim former senior civil servants, professionals and civil society leaders like Dr. Asiah Abu Samah, Dr. Asma Abdullah, Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff bin Mohd Kassim, Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, Dr. Azmi Sharom, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Dr. Maszlee Malik, Zainah Anwar,  Aston Paiva, Fawza Sabila Faudzi, Firdaus Husni, Mohamad Afif bin Daud, Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Dr. Mohamad Nawab Osman, Nizam Bashir, Ranita Hussein, Rosli Dahlan, Shazal Yusuf Zain are viewed with suspicion by the religious bureaucracy in Putrajaya?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 30 July 2017, 3:32 pm and is filed under
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Call on Malaysian youths regardless of race, religion or region to be the vanguard  of  a political hurricane of change, backed by two  political tsunamis, urban and rural, in the 14th General Election

Parti Pribumi Youth chief, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman gave a very passionate speech just now calling on  Malaysians, particularly the youths, to be in the forefront of the political battle for change in the country.

I am reminded that I also started my political journey when I was 24 years old, like Syed Saddiq, but that was some 52 years ago.

This year, the nation will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of our attainment of Merdeka on August 31, 1957 when I was in Form Three in Batu Pahat High School.

I remember that the students in the school were assembled at the school padang, where the Merdeka Proclamation was read out.

We have failed in our Merdeka Dream and Vision to be a world-class nation as a parliamentary democracy; a successful and developed economy; a centre of educational excellence and  a united, harmonious and progressive nation despite the diverse races, religions, cultures, languages in the country.

Malaysia has become a joke of a parliamentary democracy, where Members of Parliament are virtually prohibited from posing questions or debating the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history – the 1MDB scandal.

Economically, we have lost out to other countries which had lagged behind us when we achieved Merdeka 60 years ago, in particular South Korea and Taiwan; in danger of being overtaken by Vietnam and Thailand, while other countries are swiftly closing the economic gap with us like Indonesia.

Educationally, whether at university, or secondary and primary education, we have lost our international eminence, while in recent years, the voices of extremism, intolerance and bigotry have caused the worst racial and religious polarization in the nation’s history.

What is worse, we have overnight been transformed into a global kleptocracry, with the Prime Minister as the lead actor in a Malaysian cast involving  Cabinet Ministers, Parliament, top public officials and national institutions like the Attorney-General, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara, Police pretending that the 1MDB scandal does not exist although it continues to dominate world headlines with the  latest developments in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal in various part of the world in the past few years.

Only political change in the forthcoming 14th General Election, with a change of the occupants of Putrajaya with a new Federal Government, can halt Malaysia’s decline and save the country from the trajectory of a failed and a rogue state.

Let us start a political hurricane from Kluang tonight to user in political changes in the next general elections.

The 13th General Election did not overcome the electoral hurdles to a political change in Putrajaya because there was only one political tsunami – in the urban areas where Chinese, Indians and Malay voters united as one solid bloc.

But there was no political tsunami in the rural areas.

This is a shortfall we must overcome in the forthcoming general election, as there can only be political change in Putrajaya if there are two political tsunamis – both in the urban as well as the  rural areas.

I call on Malaysian youths regardless of race, religion or region to be the vanguard  of  a political hurricane of change, backed by two  political tsunamis, urban and rural, in the 14th General Election.

(Speech at the Kluang DAP’s 14th General Election Preparations Dinner held in Kluang on Saturday, July 29, 2017 at 8.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 30 July 2017, 1:23 pm and is filed under
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Najib would have been found guilty in any consumer court for making false representations when  he claimed that UMNO does not practise the politics of fear  but spread the politics of hope

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Perak today that UMNO does not practise the politics of fear as it spreads  the politics of hope.

If the Prime Minister can be dragged to the Consumers Courts, Najib would be found guilty of making false representations claiming that it is practising the politics of hope when it is most guilty of practising the politics of fear!

For instance, Najib said in Perak today that DAP dominates Pakatan Harapan, and what is even shocking, that former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, and two former Deputy Prime Ministers, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin have become my stooges and puppets, answering my every “beck and call”.

Could this be true?

MCA leaders, however, are hewing to a completely different and contradictory propaganda line, claiming that DAP leaders are sidelined and marginalised in Pakatan Harapan.

I suggest that the MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai should lead a high-level delegation of MCA leaders to meet with the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to thrash out  once-and-for-all whether DAP leaders dominate  and dictate Pakatan Harapan decisions or whether DAP leader have become impotent and completely marginalized, like MCA in Barisan Nasional, and are completely irrelevant in the Pakatan Harapan decision-making process.

This is of course subject to the condition that MCA leaders dare to confront Najib and are equal partners with UMNO in Barisan Nasional, and not stooges and puppets of UMNO!

UMNO under Najib is not only guilty of the politics of fear but also the politics of lies,  fake news and false information.

I am prepared to appear in any public debate or forum with Najib to prove that UMNO is not only guilty of the politics of fear, but also the politics of lies, fake news and false information.

All that Najib needs to do is to name the place, date and time and I will be there.

Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi today took up the cudgels on behalf of MCA and Gerakan when he was in Malacca today, declaring that MCA and Gerakan should work hard to regain the people’s confidence ahead of the 14th general election to prove that BN is capable of looking after their interests.

I want to warn MCA that it can be reduced from a 7/11 party (winning only seven parliamentary and 11 state assembly seats) in the 13GE into a ¾ (tiga suku) political party winning only three parliamentary and four state assembly seats in the 14GE if it continues to allow the UMNO President to play footsie with PAS President, Datuk Seri Awang Hadi on the RUU355 Bill or continue to be the supreme coward in Malaysian politics and dare not say a single word against Najib’s 1MDB  kleptocratic scandal.

(Speech  at the DAP Yong Peng kopitiam dialogue on Saturday, 29th July 2017 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 30 July 2017, 7:57 am and is filed under
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Call on Zahid Hamidi to resign as DPM and MP if  he is not prepared to uphold his oath as DPM and MP to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution, including Article 4 on Malaysian Constitution as the supreme law of Malaysia

I am shocked by the call by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi for Muslim unity to oppose anyone challenging decisions by the National Fatwa Committee, in response to the Court of Appeal ruling that a child conceived out of wedlock can take his or her father’s surname, and that the edict on this by the National Fatwa Committee does not have the force of law.

This is because Zahid is not only challenging the authority of the civil courts to make decisions affecting the life and liberty of Malaysians, but dishonouring his oaths as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

I want to remind Zahid of Article 4 of the Malaysian Constitution which states clearly and unequivocably that the Malaysian Constitution is the supreme law of Malaysia, and Zahid has taken oath of offices as Member of Parliament and Deputy Prime Minister to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

Zahid should retract his statement which challenges Article 4 of the Malaysian Constitution and he should resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament if he is not prepared to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution, including Article 4 on the supremacy of the Constitution as the “supreme law” in Malaysia.

Zahid should not take too long to retract his call in  his officiating speech at a Hari Raya event with the Malabari community in Selayang on Friday night or tender his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament if he is not prepared to honour his oaths of office as DPM and MP to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

Former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Gopal Sri Ram has said that both Zahid and the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Mohd Yazid Ramli may be looking at serious legal repercussions, including jail time, for their responses to the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision regarding out of wedlock Muslim children.

There is an appeal against the  Court of Appeal judgement, but an appeal does not operate as a stay of execution.

The statement by the NRD director-general that the NRD would not abide by the appellate’s court decision pending an appeal is clearly wrong, contumacious and amounts to a willful contempt of court – and the usual punishment for serious and willful contempt is imprisonment.

These are the legal consequences for contempt of the Court of Appeal decision, but Zahid must also answer the political consequences for his contempt for Article 4 of the Malaysian Constutiton and his breaches of his oaths of offices as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

No other Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister had in the past 60 years broken his oaths of office or acted with such contempt of the Malaysian Constitution.

The recent actions of the Najib government are a great cause of concern.

Another case is the ridiculous and illogical  ban on the G25 book on “Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”, which marks a break with the policy of the first five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, as this is a vote of  five against one as the first five Prime Ministers would never have banned the G25 book.

In fact,  if we take into account the 10 Deputy Prime Ministers in Malaysia since Merdeka in 1957 (the second-to-sixth  PMs together with  Tun Ismail, Tun Musa Hitam, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Tun Ghaffar and Zahid himself), the voting would be eight versus two as Ismail, Musa, Anwar and  Ghafar would not have supported the ban of the G25 book.

Tun Abdullah had in fact  written a foreword for the G25 book, where he endorsed the G25’s call on the current  Prime Minister to “exercise his leadership and to demonstrate the political will to establish an inclusive consultative committee to find solutions to the intractable problems that had been allowed to fester for far too long”.

But Tun Abdullah’s hopes that the G25 book “would further encourage an informed and rational dialogue on the ways  Islam is used as a source of public law and policy in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, yet within the letter and spirit of the Federal Constitution and the spirit of Rukun Negara” have proved futile, as the whole book had been banned without spelling out the  reasons for the illogical and ridiculous ban.

The ban on the G25 book is doubly illogical and ridiculous when it is the current Prime Minister himself who launched the international initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates!  Why is the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, having increasing influence on Najib’s government on Islamic matters?

It would be interesting to know  the stand of the GMM on the ban of the G25 book?

Was the GMM consulted before the G25 book was banned, does the GMM agree with the ban, or will the G25 lead a national campaign on behalf of moderates to demand the ridiculous and illogical ban to be lifted?

This book produced by G25 represents the concerns of former high-ranking Malay/Muslim civil servants, civic leaders  and politicians who want a rational dialogue on the position of Islam in a constitutional democracy as they are deeply disturbed over developments regarding race relations, Islam and extremist behaviour in Malaysia.

Have the lurch towards intolerance, extremism and bigotry in Malaysia reached such serious straits that contributors to the G25 book, which include prominent Malay-Muslim former senior civil servants, professionals and civil society leaders like Dr. Asiah Abu Samah, Dr. Asma Abdullah, Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff bin Mohd Kassim, Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, Dr. Azmi Sharom, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Dr. Maszlee Malik, Zainah Anwar,  Aston Paiva, Fawza Sabila Faudzi, Firdaus Husni, Mohamad Afif bin Daud, Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Dr. Mohamad Nawab Osman, Nizam Bashir, Ranita Hussein, Rosli Dahlan, Shazal Yusuf Zain are viewed with suspicion by the religious bureaucracy in Putrajaya?

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Monday, 31st July 2017 at 3 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 July 2017, 4:05 pm and is filed under
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With MCA and Gerakan joining more UMNO leaders “whistling in the dark” to hide their increasing panic,  14th General Election more likely this year than next

Since the seismic development on July 14, when Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council announced the Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and leadership line up, signifiying the final Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation after nearly two decades of political enmity, the past 16 days have seen increasing panic among UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders about the very real prospects of losing Putrajaya and the Federal Government in the forthcoming 14th General Election.

As a result, even MCA and Gerakan leaders are joining more UMNO leaders in  resorting to “whistling in the dark” to hide their increasing panic, shouting from their rooftops that they are not panicking!

MCA President, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, for instance, is suddenly putting up a bold front proclaiming in Penang that MCA is confident that there will be a change of support among voters in Penang as the people have lost confidence in the DAP for failing to fulfil their promises after taking over the state nine years ago while declaring to the 45th annual general meeting of the Young Malaysians Movement in Kuala Lumpur that MCA believes that the Chinese community is shifting its support back to Barisan Nasional.

Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong announced the Gerakan’s three candidates to contest the Segambut, Batu and Kepong parliamentary seats and declared that Chinese votes for Barisan Nasional are expected to improve to 30% in the 14th General Election from the 13.4% received in the 2013 polls.

It is indeed a great national tragedy and shame that at a historic period when the nation is  on threshold of a possible change of Federal government in six decades, MCA and Gerakan leaders have fallen to such a parlous level that they could only indulge in “whistling in the dark” hoping to win more electoral seats depending on UMNO, instead of being focused on the great issues confronting the people and country.

I just want to gently remind MCA and Gerakan leaders that that they are in for a surprise if they think that they can continue to survive by hanging to the coat-tails of UMNO leaders, even discredited, autocratic and kleptocratic UMNO leaders.

Let me advise MCA and Gerakan leaders to wake up and face the brutal truth: that UMNO leaders are fighting a battle of survival and UMNO leaders are worried about the following three things in the next general election:

•	Whether UMNO candidates would lose the support of the majority of Malay voters in the country;

•	Whether UMNO candidates would lose the support of the majority of the 1.6 million civil servants in the country; and

•	Whether the UMNO candidates would lose the support of the majority of the 3.5 million UMNO members in the country.

UMNO leaders would not have much time for MCA and Gerakan when they themselves are fighting for their political lives, especially as all indications point to the 14th General Elections as more likely this year than next.

I had advised MCA leaders that MCA would be reduced from a 7/11 party (winning only seven parliamentary and 11 state assembly seats) in the 13GE into a ¾ (tiga suku)  political party  winning only three parliamentary and four state assembly seats in the 14GE if MCA continues to be spineless and unprincipled and dare not take a stand on the following issues:

•	Dare not say a word about the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which had catapulted Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy;

•	continues to allow the UMNO President to play footsie with PAS President, Datuk Seri Awang Hadi on the RUU355 Bill, with Hadi having  a greater influence on Najib on matters concerning Islamic administration.

•	Dare not defend the Federal Constitution, Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Rukunegara 1970 by demanding that the Cabinet revoke the ridiculous and illogical ban on G25 book on “Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”;  and

•	Continue a spineless and unprincipled stand in not daring to oppose illegal abuses of power, like the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President, Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin to block the judicial promotion of the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.

The fate for Gerakan in the 14th General Election whether in Penang State or nation-wide would be as dismal as MCA if on the great questions of right and wrong, Gerakan proves to be a spineless, unprincipled and useless as their counterparts in MCA.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 July 2017, 9:22 am and is filed under
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1MDB Misses $603 Million Payment to Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund

By Elffie Chew

Bloomberg

August 1, 2017

1Malaysia Development Bhd. failed to make a $603 million payment to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a settlement over a debt dispute, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

International Petroleum Investment Co. is expected to make an announcement in London on Tuesday, said the person who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public yet.

The obligation, which was due on July 31, is half the amount 1MDB and the Malaysian finance ministry agreed to make to IPIC, with a second payment by the end of 2017. 1MDB and the Ministry of Finance didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the non-payment.

While Malaysia is regaining favor as investors shrug off far-reaching investigations into 1MDB and focus on encouraging signs of an economic turnaround, analysts have warned that failure to pay IPIC could hurt sentiment and become a contingent liability for the government.

“That’s definitely a negative for the ringgit at some point,” said Michael Every, head of financial markets research at Rabobank Group in Hong Kong. “We have to wait and see how it develops. If people don’t make an arbitration payment they’ve agreed to, it doesn’t say something positive about the currency or the country or the regulatory framework.”

The yield on 1MDB’s 5.99 percent notes due 2022 rose 4 basis points to 4.02 percent on Tuesday, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. The ringgit was little changed as of 3 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur. Five-year credit-default swaps protecting Malaysia’s sovereign notes were at 80 basis points, near the lowest in almost three years, prices from CMAN show.

Debt Tussle

IPIC completed a merger with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co. earlier this year. A Mubadala representative couldn’t immediately comment on the matter.

1MDB and IPIC were locked in a tussle that spilled over to repayments on two sets of bonds issued by the Malaysian state fund, leading to a default in April 2016. IPIC was seeking $6.5 billion from 1MDB and the Malaysian government for failure to perform their debt obligations as the dispute moved into arbitration at the London Court of International Arbitration.

In April, the parties said they reached an agreement. On top of the $1.2 billion payment, 1MDB would also assume the coupon and principal obligations for $3.5 billion of bonds issued by it and co-guaranteed by IPIC. The settlement would be funded by the sale of 1MDB’s investment fund units, it said then.

Among the issues between the 1MDB and IPIC were billions in allegedly missing funds. 1MDB has said it could be a victim of fraud if payments intended for IPIC never made it there, while the latter had denied ownership in the company that the Malaysian investment firm transferred money to.

— With assistance by Y-Sing Liau, and Anthony Dipaola

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 August 2017, 3:33 pm and is filed under
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Height of government irresponsibility and professional negligence not  to have legal representation in the US DOJ kleptocratic suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets money-laundered from US$4.5 billion through American banks

It is the height of government irresponsibility and professional negligence on the part of the Cabinet and the Attorney-General’s Chambers not to have legal representation in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) kleptocratic suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kindom and Switzerland from money-laundering of US$4.5 billion misappropriated from 1MDB.

The answer from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has no plans to send lawyers to the US to observe the DOJ’s civil forfeiture suits on 1MDB-linked assets is most shocking indeed.

If the Najib government is consistent, isn’t the Attorney-General’s Chambers seeking an intervention in the US DOJ proceedings to prove that the US DOJ civil forfeiture proceedings are completely misplaced, as both the Malaysian government and the 1MDB had not lost a single sen and that no 1MDB funds had been  money-laundered through Americans banks to the tune of US$4.5 billion with US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets the subject of kleptocratic assets forfeiture proceedings?

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali should even make a special trip to the United States to make a special submission to the American courts that  American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr were wrong and misguided in handing over their multi-million US dollar gifts from 1MDB mastermind Jho Low to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and demand the return of the gifts to the rightful owners.

Representatives of Leonardo Di Caprio announced last month that the American actor had turned over an Oscar won by Marlon Brando to US investigators probing money laundering by 1MDB as well as initiated the return of other, unidentified items that the actor said he accepted as gifts for a charity auction and which originated from the international 1MDB money-laundering scam.

In July last year, Hollywood production company Red Granite was accused in a US civil lawsuit of using US$100 million that prosecutors said had been diverted from the 1MDB fund to finance DiCaprio’s 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” in which he starred.

DiCaprio said in October he was cooperating with the probe and would return any gifts or donations if they were found to have come from questionable sources.

In a new filing on 15th June 2017, the US DOJ moved to seize artwork by Picasso and Basquiat that it said had been purchased with money-laundered 1MDB funds  and gifted to DiCaprio by associates of Red Granite.

The latest DOJ filing also sought to seize the assets of two other Red Granite produced films which US investigators alleged were financed by money from the 1MDB fund – the 2014 comedy “Dumb and Dumber To” starring Jim Carrey, and 2015 comedy “Daddy’s Home” starring Will Ferrell.

It was also  reported last month that Melinda Kerr had  transferred the gifts which were diverted and misappropriated from 1MDB by Jho Low to DOJ agents from her safe-deposit box in Los Angeles – which included an 11.72 carat heart-shaped diamond valued at US$1.29 million and a US$3.8 million 8.88 carat diamond pendant.

The heart-shaped diamond pendant was gifted to Kerr by Jho Low on Valentine’s Day 2014 while the heart-shaped necklace came from New York-based designer Lorraine Schwartz.

Would Apandi seek an intervention in the US DOJ kleptocratic forfeiture  proceedings to submit that the US DOJ forfeiture proceedings were misconceived , wrong and mischievous as the so-called 1MDB international money-laundering scandal never existed?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 August 2017, 7:49 am and is filed under
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Utterly shameful and disgraceful when we  should be focused on how to achieve the lost Malaysian dream to be a world-class nation, we are caught in ugly dogfight insulting each other’s lineage and heritage

Today is August 1, 2017 – the 30th Day Countdown to the 60th National Day Anniversary to celebrate the nation’s attainment of Merdeka on August 31, 1957.

It is utterly shameful and disgraceful when we should be focused on how to achieve the lost Malaysian dream to be a world-class nation of achievement and excellence in every field of human endeavour, we are instead caught in a ugly dogfight insulting each other’s lineage and heritage.

As if further proof is needed, this is further evidence of how serious things have gone wrong in our six decades of nationhood.

I was in Form III in Batu Pahat High School, and all students were assembled in the school padang to hear the Proclamation of Merdeka read out by the founding Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman at Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, culminating with the chanting of “Merdeka” seven times.

Reading out the Merdeka  Proclamation, Tunku Abdul Rahman pledged that the nation “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.

When the country achieved independent nationhood on August  31, 1957, it heralded the beginning of a new  era where all its citizens  could dare to dream big dreams to remake the world.

But have we been able to achieve world-class status in every field of human endeavor, whether political, economic, educational, social, environmental or on good governance after sixty years?

Today, we have overnight become a global kleptocracy.

The doctrine of separation powers is suffering unprecedented strain – with the Executive led by the Prime Minister and his Ministers putting up a world-class charade pretending that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal does not exist, although the 1MDB scandal has not stopped hogging global headlines in the past two-and-half years with new developments and revelations.

Parliament, meanwhile, has entered the Guinness Book of Records as a legislature which has refused to allow MPs to question or debate the greatest financial scandal to hit the country and which has made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy, on the ridiculous ground of sub judice to protect the independence and impartiality of the judiciary of another country!

While the Judiciary is speeding towards a new constitutional crisis with the unconstitutional extension of the Chief Justice in two days’ time, to be followed by the unconstitutional extension of the Court of Appeal President in eight weeks’ time.

What is our report card on the state of  democracy,  liberty, justice, people’s welfare and happiness promised in the Merdeka Proclamation 60 years ago?

Have we become a more united or more divided nation?

The ridiculous, illogical and even unconstitutional ban of the G25 book on
“Breaking the Silence –Voices of Moderation: Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”
is a distressful sign of greater racial and religious polarization in Malaysia, a departure from the nation-building  principles enshrined in the Constitution, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Runkunegara and a break from previous five Prime Ministers and previous nine  Deputy Prime Ministers (i.e. Razak, Ismail, Hussein, Mahathir, Musa, Ghafar, Anwar, Abdullah and Muhyiddin) who would not have approved the ban on the G25 book.

Instead of pondering on the gulf between the  promises and realities   of the Merdeka Proclamation on democracy, liberty, justice, people’s welfare and happiness  and the commitment to reaffirm our dedication, determination and resolve to achieve the goals of the Merdeka Proclamation in the face of the challenges of globalization, the nation’s leader have descended further down the gutter to insult reach other’s lineage and heritage.

The 60th National Day Anniversary and 57th Malaysia Day Anniversay should be occasions for moderate Malaysians to  launch a virtuous movement of goodwill and solidarity among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or politics to build a nation of peace, tolerance, understanding and mutual respect to defeat those who want Malaysia to be trapped in a vicious circle of hate, enmity, intolerance, mutual distrust and extremism.

Malaysia is not a nation of one race or one religion, but a nation of diverse races, religions and cultures.

Malaysia as “Instant Asia” should not just be a draw for tourists to come to Malaysia from all over the world, as the racial, linguistic, religious and cultural diversity of Malaysia is a national asset and strength  and not a liability or weakness for Malaysian nation-building.

Malaysia can become a world-class nation if we can leverage on the best qualities and values of the diverse races, religions, languages and cultures which meet in confluence Malaysia, but Malaysia is doomed as a nation if we allow the voices of extremism and intolerance full and free rein in our national life.

The greatest challenge of Malaysia is whether we can build on the goodwill, solidarity, tolerance and mutual understanding and respect of the diverse races, religions and cultures or allow the voices of intolerance, hatred and extremism to destroy the bonds of reason, love, compassion and unity we have built in the past and replace them with hate, mistrust, intolerance and extremism which could only end with greater national discord and division.

Let us start with full respect of each other’s lineages and heritages especially as all the Prime Ministers of Malaysia have mixed lineages and heritages.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi should be graceful enough to admit his grave error  of judgment in disparaging the lineage and heritage of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, tender an unreserved apology,  and let the country move on to properly celebrate the nation’s 60th National Day anniversary, with the 30-day Countdown today.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 August 2017, 2:54 pm and is filed under
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Parliament Speaker Pandikar should take a cue from the AG’s refusal to send lawyers to US to observe the US DOJ’s civil forfeiture suits of 1MDB-linked assets to revoke his ridiculous  ruling banning MPs from asking questions or debating the 1MDB scandal in Parliament

The Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should take a cue from the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali’s refusal to send lawyers to the United States to intervene or observe the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) civil forfeiture of US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets to revoke his ridiculous ruling banning Members of Parliament from asking questions or debating the 1MDB scandal in Parliament.

It is ridiculous for the Attorney-General to adopt the stance that the US DOJ forfeiture suits were unfounded, misconceived and baseless as there is no evidence that any 1MDB funds had been misappropriated or money-laundered,  while on the other hand the Speaker of Parliament adopted the equally ludicrous stance that he has “extra-territorial” powers under the sub judice rule to protect the integrity, independence and impartiality of the American system of justice while completely impotent to protect the integrity, independence and impartiality of the Malaysian system of justice!

I had last week challenged Speaker Pandikar to cite an instance from another Commonwealth Parliament where the Speaker used sub judice rule to stop parliamentary question, debate or scrutiny of a  local financial scandal because of court proceeding in another country but the Speaker has not been able to cite an instance so far and must be busy looking for such a precedent in another Commonwealth Parliament.

Since Monday, DAP MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo’s substantive motion to review Pandikar’s abuse of Speaker’s powers to reject the questions of over 30 MPs on 1MDB scandal had been placed at the bottom of the Order Paper i.e. Item 41  of  today’s Parliamentary business, which makes nonsense of the requirement of only two days’ notice for such a substantive motion.

It is the responsibility of the Speaker to ensure that there is a parliamentary convention that  such a substantive motion comes up for debate after the requisite two-day notice, or the Speaker’s favourite reminder that his ruling from the Chair  is final and cannot be questioned further  subject to review by the House is an empty and meaningless statement, if there is no parliamentary convention requiring debate of a motion to  review the  Speaker’s ruling after the requisite two-day notice.

Today in fact,  the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should come to Parliament to make a Ministerial statement, which should be allowed to be debated, to explain why 1MDB had failed to make a US$603 million payment to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) yesterday,  as part of a settlement over a debt dispute.

The obligation, which was due on July 31 in London, is half the amount 1MDB and the Malaysian finance ministry agreed to make to IPIC, with a second payment by the end of 2017.

According to an IPIC  filing to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) yesterday, 1MDB and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOF InC) have five business days to “remedy” the failure to pay IPIC and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar) outlined in the settlement between the company and 1MDB on May 11, 2017 before 1MDB and MOF Inc become subject to additional obligations to IPIC and Aabar.

IPIC’s filing to the LSE said it should have been paid US$602,725,000 (RM2.58 billion) and US$26,024,509.59 (RM111 million) by July 31.

MPs are entitled to know the reasons for the two separate items.

It is also long overdue that Parliament should be given a full accounting of the 1MDB-IPIC arbitration fiasco, especially the statement made by the second Finance Minister, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani, in August 2016 who was supposed to be the “final gatekeeper” in the entire 1MDB imbroglio, that he was confident that 1MDB would win in any arbitration case and about bringing to book  the “culprits in the 1MDB scandal”.

Why have  the Ministry of Finance and 1MDB gave away a “sure win” case in the London arbitration and why have the “culprits in the 1MDB scandal” have yet to be brought to book?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Wednesday, 2nd Augusty 2017)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 August 2017, 5:46 am and is filed under
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Was Dzulkifli given  two specific tasks on his appointment as MACC Chief – don’t allow any investigation affecting Najib’s political survival  and free mandate to abuse the MACC  to  hound the Opposition?

Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad thanked the heavens for having completed his first year as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner.

He said yesterday: “Alhandulillah, I survived.”

In his first year as MACC Chief Commissioner, the MACC had admittedly been very active when compared to previous  chiefs whether of MACC or its predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Agency, in pursuing actions against corruption and the corrupt except in the biggest case of kleptocracy not only in Malaysia but in the world – the international  multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which had even transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy!

In fact, when on January 26, 2016  the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali cleared the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing on the RM2.6 billion found in the latter’s personal bank accounts, Dzulkifli was seated next to the chief prosecutor during the press conference, in his capacity as director of the Attorney-General’s National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team.

It is clear that Dzulkifli had played a major role in the Attorney-General’s decision that Najib had not committed any wrongdoing on the RM2.6 billion “donation” in the Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts.

Dzulkifli should explain whether his appointment as Chief Commissioner of MACC came with two specific tasks – firstly, not to allow any investigation affecting Najib’s political survival, in particular the 1MDB scandal,  and secondly, a free mandate to abuse the MACC to hound the Opposition?

Is this the reason why the MACC is strangely silent and inactive in the largest kleptocratic scandal in the nation’s history – the 1MDB scandal?

Dzulkifli’s tenure as MACC Chief Commissioner will largely hinge on his action or inaction on the 1MDB scandal. This  is clear  in the following Malaysiakini report of his interview on the occasion of his first anniversary as MACC Chief Commissioner:

“When asked that the opposition continues to question MACC’s credibility as it had failed to clamp down hard on the 1MDB scandal, Dzulkifli declined to answer.

“’Next question,’ he said in the press conference.

“To a question, if this was a tough question, he also refused to respond. He said: ‘Next question.’”

Whether Dzukifli blazes the path to lead the 2,000-strong MACC to combat corruption, malpractices, fraud and dishonesty in the civil service and the private sector and establish itself as a world-class anti-corruption agency like its counterparts in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia will depend on its handling of the 1MDB scandal and other cases affecting the Prime Minister.

Will the MACC re-open corruption investigations into the 1MDB scandal when it should be clear as day in the 18 months since the Attorney-General’s exoneration of Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal that the Apandi’s decision is not tenable or sustainable at all!

Dzulkifli’s first anniversary as MACC Chief Commissioner has coincided with  two ominous developments: firstly, the missing of the deadline by 1MDB  for the  first payment of RM2.58 billion to International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) over their London arbitrarion settlement agreement; and secondly, the AFP report quoting a French judicial source as saying that Najib’s confidante, Abdul Razak Baginda was charged in France on July 19 with “active and passive complicity in corruption” and “misappropriation of corporate assets” in connection with RM5 billion purchase by the Malaysian Government of two Scorpene-class  submarines and one Agosta-class submarine from the French naval dockyards unit DCN, which is linked to French defence group Thales.

Dzulkifli must speak to answer whether MACC would re-open investigations into both the 1MDB scandal as well as the Scorpene submarine purchase scandal, with Najib as the Defence at the relevant time of the Scorpene deal.

[Media Statement (2) in Parliament on Wednesday, 2nd August 2017]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 August 2017, 11:42 am and is filed under
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If Raus and Zulkefli are not prepared to decline the unconstitutional extension of  tenure of the two top judicial posts, they should at least do two things: await Federal Court decision and announce their recusal from all cases where Najib is involved

Yesterday, Pakatan Harapan leaders led by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Bersatu), Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR), Mujahid Yusuf Rawa (AMANAH) and myself (DAP) petitioned the Yang Di Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V to refer the government’s decision to extend the tenures of the two top judicial posts, the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal President, to the Federal Court.

Article 130 of the Malaysian Constitution on “Advisory jurisdiction of Federal Court” states:

“130. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may refer to the Federal Court for its opinion any question as to the effect of any provision of this Constitution which has arisen or appears to him likely to arise, and the Federal Court shall pronounce in open court its opinion on any question so referred to it.”

The tenure of Tan Sri Raus Sharif as Chief Justice ends today while tenure of Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Court of Appeal President ends on Sept. 27.

Tomorrow may therefore see the country plunged into a new constitutional crisis.

As former Attorney-General and former Suhakam Chairman  Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman said in an interview last week, the country cannot afford another judicial crisis.

Today, Abu Talib said the extension of Raus as Chief Justice and Zulkefli as Court of Appeal President “are contrary to the intent and spirit of the amendment to Article 122(1A) which allows for appointing additional judges”.

Former Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad said the extension of the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President would compromise independence of the judiciary and create uncertainty among other judges regarding their career  and he suggested that both Raus and Zulkefli should decline the appointments.

The extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli are not only unconstitutional, but would affect the promotional opportunities and prospects of at least eight Federal Court judges, including three women.

But the most glaring injustice of the unconstitutional extensions will be the denial of the opportunity of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the first Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Malanjum is in fact the most senior Federal Court judge in the country, more senior than both Raus and Zulkefli.

Malanjum is the first Sabah bumiputra to be appointed a High Court judge, and the first Sabahan to be elevated as a Judge of the Court of Appeal and Federal Court , the apex court of the country, in 2005 at the age of 52.

Malaysia is celebrating the 60th National Day anniversary marking the attainment of Merdeka on 31st August 1957 and the 54th Malaysia Day anniversary marking the formation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963.

It would be a great and important factor contributing to the closer unity and cohesion of the Malaysian Federation if a Sabahan or Sarawakian who is Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak could be elevated as Chief Justice of Malaysia in the sixth decade of Malaysian federation.

If Raus and Zulkefli are not prepared to decline the unconstitutional extension of  tenure of the two top judicial posts, they should at least do two things:

•	Firstly, announce that they will  await the Federal Court decision on the constitutionality or otherwise of the extension of the tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President before taking up their new extended appointments; and

•	Secondly, announce that both of them will recuse from all court cases where Datuk Seri Najib Razak is involved as a party, whether as Prime Minister, UMNO President or in his private personal capacity, during their extended tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Thursday, 3rd August 2017 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 August 2017, 3:21 pm and is filed under
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The 1MDB-IPIC London arbitration “settlement” is a financial scam against the people of Malaysia – why did Speaker Pandikar become part of it by  refusing a parliamentary debate on it?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that 1MDB is able to pay Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) the US$602.5 million as part of a settlement struck in April, giving an assurance that 1MDB was facing a “technical matter” and not a question of being unable to pay (IPIC).

The DAP MP for Segambut, Lim Lip Eng’s emergency motion today under Standing Order 18(1) on 1MDB’s failure to meet the deadline to pay IPIC was rejected by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, on the ground that the Speaker “difahamkan oleh pihak Kerajaan bahawa 1MDB telah mengambil tindakan seperti yang telah di umumkan pada 1Ogos 2017 berkenaan dengan Pelan Rasionalisasi 1MDB bagi menyelesaikan isu yang dibangkitkan dalam usul” Lip Eng.

I rose in Parliament just now and said that the 1MDB-IPIC London arbitration “settlement” is a financial scam against the people of Malaysia and asked why the Speaker wanted to be part of this financial scam to deceive Parliament and the people of Malaysia by rejecting a parliamentary debate on it.

The 1MDB failure to pay IPIC has been attributed to misappropriation of 1MDB fund or being  symptomatic of “bad financial planning”.

I think it is more serious, as the whole so-called  1MDB-IPIC arbitration settlement is a financial scam against the interests of Malaysian taxpayers.

The second Finance Minister, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani is on record as saying that he had studied the documents of the 1MDB-IPIC dispute and he  was confident that 1MDB would win the case in going for London arbitration.

Why then did the Ministry of Finance and 1MDB ended up “surrendering” to IPIC claims in toto in reaching the 1MDB-IPIC London arbitration “settlement” where 1MDB had to pay IPIC twice, and now we have  the new problem of 1MDB unable to meet the deadline for the a first payment?

Parliament is the proper forum where Malaysians, through Members of Parliament, could demand a full accounting from the government for the latest “financial scam” by 1MDB.

The Speaker had rejected questions by over 30 MPs on the 1MDB scandal, and he said that MPs who are not happy with his ruling, which is final until reviewed by the House,     can invoke Standing Order 43 to move a substantive motion which requires only two days’ notice to review his ruling.

DAP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo, had moved such a substantive motion to review the Speaker’s ruling rejecting questions by MPs on 1MDB, but  since Monday, despite the two-day requisite notice, Gobind’s motion remains at the bottom as  the last item of the Parliamentary Order Paper, ie. Item No. 39 –  never to see the light of day or  coming up for debate making Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 43 a “dead leter”!

It is the responsibility of the Speaker to ensure that there is a parliamentary convention that  such a substantive motion comes up for debate after the requisite two-day notice, or the Speaker’s favourite pastime reminding MPs that his ruling from the Chair  is final and cannot be questioned further  subject to review by the House is an empty and meaningless statement.

The proper place for the Speaker to justify rejection of questions about the 1MDB scandal is through  debate in Parliament to review the Speaker’s rulings, and not at press conferences by the Speaker.

Alternatively, Pakatan Harapan can host a public forum on 1MDB next week where the Speaker can be a panel speaker to give reasons for rejecting questions about the 1MDB scandal, which had overnight turned Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

[Media Conference Statement (2) in Parliament on Thursday, 3rd August 2017 at noon]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 August 2017, 4:44 pm and is filed under
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Will Cabinet tomorrow ask Zahid to reaffirm his oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution, including Article 4 on Malaysian Constitution as the supreme law of Malaysia?

Will the Cabinet tomorrow ask the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to reaffirm his oaths as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution, including Article 4 on the Malaysian Constitution as the supreme law of Malaysia?

In response to the Court of Appeal ruling that a child conceived out of wedlock can take his or her father’s surname, and that the edict on this by the National Fatwa Committee does not have the force of law, the call by Zahid for Muslim unity to oppose anyone challenging decisions by the National Fatwa Committee is contrary to what Zahid had sworn in his oaths of office as DPM and MP to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution.

Zahid is not only challenging the authority of the civil courts to make decisions affecting the life and liberty of Malaysians, but dishonouring his oaths as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

The Cabinet tomorrow should ask Zahid to retract his statement which challenges Article 4 of the Malaysian Constitution declaring unequivocally that the  Constitution is the “supreme law” in Malaysia.

Former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Gopal Sri Ram has said that both Zahid and the National Registration Department (NRD) director-general Mohd Yazid Ramli may be looking at serious legal repercussions, including jail time, for their responses to the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision regarding out of wedlock Muslim children.

There is an appeal against the Court of Appeal judgement, but an appeal does not operate as a stay of execution.

The statement by the NRD director-general that the NRD would not abide by the appellate’s court decision pending an appeal is clearly wrong, contumacious and amounts to a wilful contempt of court – and the usual punishment for serious and willful contempt is imprisonment.

Apart from  the legal consequences for contempt of the Court of Appeal decision, Zahid must also answer the political consequences for his contempt for Article 4 of the Malaysian Constitution and his breaches of his oaths of offices as Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament to “preserve, protect and defend” the Malaysian Constitution.

No other Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister had in the past 60 years broken his oaths of office or acted with such contempt of the Malaysian Constitution.

Malaysians wait for bated breath for the outcome of the Cabinet’s meeting tomorrow, or will the 35 Ministers collectively behave like the traditional three monkeys, with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not?

[Media Conference Statement (3)in Parliament on Thursday, 3rd August 2017 at 12 noon]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 August 2017, 5:19 pm and is filed under
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Raus is the only person today  who can save the country from an ugly constitutional crisis

Will today, August 4, 2017, go down in Malaysian history as one of the nation’s black days of infamy when the country fell into the pit of a major constitutional crisis testing the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Agreement 1963 as to whether the nation can remain true to the basic principles of nation-building spelt out in the Merdeka Proclamation 1957 and Malaysia Proclamation 1963?

Two days ago, Pakatan Harapan leaders led by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Bersatu), Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR), Mujahid Yusuf Rawa (AMANAH) and myself (DAP) petitioned the Yang Di Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V to refer the government’s decision to extend the tenures of the two top judicial posts, the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal President, to the Federal Court.

Article 130 of the Malaysian Constitution on “Advisory jurisdiction of Federal Court” states:

“130. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may refer to the Federal Court for its opinion any question as to the effect of any provision of this Constitution which has arisen or appears to him likely to arise, and the Federal Court shall pronounce in open court its opinion on any question so referred to it.”

The tenure of Tan Sri Raus Sharif as Chief Justice ended yesterday while the tenure of Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Court of Appeal President ends on Sept. 27.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Bar in an extraordinary general meeting in Kuala Lumpur on the “blatantly unconstitutional” extension of the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President decided to mount a legal challenge against the extension of the appointment of the two top judicial posts.

The Malaysian Bar EGM also decided to boycott Raus as Chief Justice and Zulkefli as Court of Appeal President from their social functions, and members of the Bar are also encouraged to decline social invitations from them.

The country is now set on an ugly constitutional crisis.

It is most tragic that we do not seem to be able to learn from the mistakes of the past, and as the former Attorney-General and former Suhakam Chairman  Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman warned in an interview last week, the country cannot afford another judicial crisis.

One man can save the country although we are at the  precipice of a major and  ugly constitutional crisis – Raus himself.

If Raus is not  prepared to decline the unconstitutional extension of  tenure of Chief Justice, he should at least do two things:

•	Firstly, announce that the  will  await the Federal Court decision on the constitutionality or otherwise of the extension of the tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President before taking up the new extended appointment; and

•	Secondly, announce that he  will recuse himself  from all court cases where Datuk Seri Najib Razak is involved as a party, whether as Prime Minister, UMNO President or in his private personal capacity, during his  extended tenure as Chief Justice.

Until the Federal Court has pronounced on the constitutionality of the extension of his tenure as Chief Justice, Raus should be not allow himself to be sworn in as Chief Justice for another three years.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 August 2017, 8:29 am and is filed under
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