Samy “flunked” test 40 months ago – now “rat running across the street”

MIC President and sole Indian Cabinet Minister for more than 28 years, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu announced that the Prime Minister has asked him to
monitor
 all Hindu temples and submit a report on their status periodically.

He said the Prime Minister also wanted the MIC to forward to him and the Cabinet a list of temples that might have to be demolished for various reasons.

In declaring that the MIC “will completely take over” the sensitive issue of Hindu temples, several observations and questions are in order.

Firstly, is this an election gimmick until the next general election expected in March is over – when the various State Governments will again assert their untrammeled power and authority like the arbitrary, high-handed and insensitive demolition of the of the Sri Mariamman Temple at Padang Jawa in Shah Alam a few days before Deepavali?

Secondly, is there a total moratorium and halt on the demolition of Hindu temples, and if so, for what period – is it only until the  next general election?

Thirdly, if Samy Vellu is now given additional responsibilities and powers by the Prime Minister on the question of Hindu temples in the country, he must thank Hindraf and he should ask the Prime Minister to release all the five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act immediately and unconditionally – and they should be charged in court and be given their fundamental right of an open trial to defend themselves to any charges that the Attorney-General wants to prefer against them.

It is moot however  that this latest announcement is going to reverse Samy Vellu’s political fortunes, who is akin to the Chinese saying of a
“a rat running across the street with everybody  shouting ‘smack it’”
.

A
Malaysiakini
 correspondent writing  about  the public booing of Samy Vellu when officiaiting the Astro’s ‘Aattam 100 Vagai’ (100 types of dance), an international modern Indian dance competition, at the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) on Sunday, entitled his report:
“Writing on the wall for MIC supremo”
.

Some 40 months ago, I had given Samy Vellu an opportunity to redeem himself, MIC and the Barisan Nasional Government by embarking on  the process to check and  arrest the long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious polarization of the Malaysian Indians in the country.

This was when I suggested to Samy Vellu that he get Cabinet approval for the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on the Marginalisation of the Indian Community, with him as Chairman, to identify the problem areas faced by Malaysian Indians for over two decades  which have denied them an equal place under the Malaysian sun, to be followed by a New Deal to restore justice and fair play to the Malaysian Indians.

I even wrote an official letter to Samy Vellu, dated 4th June 2004, which I handed to him personally in Parliament at a meeting of the Parliamentary  Committee of Selection.

Samy Vellu expressed great enthusiasm and full support for my proposal at the time and promised to raise it at the Cabinet – but nothing has come out of it.  He has not breathed a single word about my letter and proposal in the past 40 months.

I do not know whether he had just thrown my letter into the wastepaper basket when I turned my back, but Samy Vellu had  flunked the opportunity to end the marginalization of Malaysian Indians 40 months ago or he would not now be like “a rat running across the street with everybody  shouting ‘smack it’”!

This is the letter which I gave Samy Vellu, which I am making public for the first time:

“4th June 2004,

Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu,

MIC President and Works Minister,

Parliament.

YB Datuk Seri,

Select Committee on Marginalisation of Indian Community in Malaysia

We are in the era of a more open, accountable and democratic government with the agreement by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister for the establishment of two Select Committees, one to address the problem of increase in sex crimes through amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code and the other, a Select Committee on National Unity and Integration, with its first agenda a review of the national service training programme.

Even more important and significant is the developing consensus between the government and the opposition on the need for a “First World Parliament” if the Prime Minister’s aspiration that the “First World Infrastructure, Third World Mentality” Malaysian malaise obstructing the nation from becoming a fully developed nation is to give way to a “First World Infrastructure, First World Mentality”.

Long-overdue parliamentary reform and modernization to effect a more activist and hands-on Parliamentary institution, such as embracing the Select Committee system which has become common-place in First World Parliaments in the Commonwealth, deserve the strong and vocal endorsement from all quarters particularly Cabinet Ministers.

I am seeking YB’s support for the establishment of a third Select Committee, viz. on the marginalization of the Indian community which have not received commensurate benefits from decades of national development – an issue which deserves the concern of all Malaysians, regardless of community and political affiliation.

YB knows better than me about the crisis of Indian marginalization in the national development process, and there is no need for me to enumerate them, although an NGO had recently summarized the long-standing fundamental issues faced by Indian Malaysians, including the following:

•	The number of Indian youths dying in police custody has increased;

•	The socio-economic inequality between the Indian poor and rich and between other communities has worsened;

•	The State has not responded effectively in addressing social ills in the community;

•	The State policies towards and financial allocations for Tamil schools remains pitiful;

•	The University intake policy has been a source of major distress for the community;

•	Low cost housing needs of the Indian poor have not been adequately addressed;

•	The negative consequences of the final breakdown of the plantation economy on the Indian rural poor have still not be regulated. Aggressive displacement of the Indian Malaysians is a serious problem.

A Select Committee on the marginalization of the Indian community in the national development process will be the most opportune and appropriate forum for a full ventilation of this national problem to find a formula to break the back of this crisis, with the support of all concerned players rising above party differences and partisan interests.

YB will be the most ideal Chairman for the Select Committee on the Marginalisation of the Indian community in the development process and DAP MPs are prepared to give full support and make the fullest contribution if the Cabinet could agree to its establishment.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

(Lim Kit Siang)

Ketua Pembangkang”

The offer of co-operation 40 months ago by  DAP MPs to Samy Vellu, the MIC and the Barisan Nasional government, rising above party differences,  to work in unison to end the long-standing marginalization of the Malaysian Indians was spurned and rejected.

What a golden opportunity lost – with Samy Vellu,  Malaysian Indians and  the nation as a whole all become the losers.

If the long-standing problem of the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians had been  highlighted and addressed by a Parliamentary Select Committee 40 months ago, the feeling of neglect, alienation  and despair  would not have reached the stage where 30,000 Indians from all over the country braved hardships and threats to rally in support of the Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 25 in a collective cry of desperation to be heard by the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional government.

Can Samy Vellu explain why he had spurned my proposal for the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on the Marginalisation of the Indian community in Malaysia 40 months ago?

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Do Malaysian Muslims understand what ‘Allah’ means?

The Other Malaysia

by
Farish A. Noor

25 December 2007

At the time of writing this, I am in Cairo in the company of my Egyptian friends who are Muslims, Catholics and Copts. Eid has passed and I attended several dinners and celebrations where Muslims and Copts celebrated together, visiting each others’ homes and ate til we could not eat any further. What is worse, Christmas is upon us and so once again Muslims, Catholics and Copts will be heading for the communal table for the communal feast and there will be much licking of chops, munching of bread, gobbling of sweet deserts and drinking for everyone. It is all simply too pleasant to belive, yet it is real and this is what life is like for many in Cairo, the ‘Mother of civilisation’ and home to more than twenty million Egyptians from all walks of life.

What is most striking to the outside observer like me – though rather banal for the Egyptians themselves – is the fact that in all these celebrations ranging from Eid for the Muslims to Christmas for the Catholics and Copts the word ‘Allah’ is used to denote that supreme and singular divinity, God. Catholics and Copts alike exclaim ‘Masha-allah’, ‘Wallahi’, ‘ya-Rabbi’, ‘Wallah-u allam’, and of course ‘Allahuakbar’ day in, day out, everywhere they go. The coptic taxi driver blares out ‘By Allah, cant you see where you are parking??” as he dodges the obstable ahead. The Catholic shopkeeper bemoans “Ya Allah, ya Allah! You can only offer me two pounds for the scarf? Wallahi, my mother would die if she heard that! Ya-Rabbi, ya-Rabbi!”

Yet in Malaysia at the moment yet another non-issue has been brewed to a scandal for no reason: The Malaysian Catholic Herald, a publication by and for Catholics in the country, has been told that it can no longer publish its Malaysian language edition if it continues to use the word “Allah” to mean God. Worse still, the country’s Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum recently stated that “Only Muslims can use the word Allah” ostensibly on the grounds that “Allah” is a Muslim word. The mind boggles at the confounding logic of such a non-argument, which speaks volumes about the individual’s own ignorance of Muslim culture, history and the fundamental tenets of Islam itself.

For a start, the word ‘Allah’ predates the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad and goes way back to the pre-Islamic era. Christians had been using the word long before there were any Muslims, in fact. Furthermore the word is Arabic, and is thus common to all the peoples, cultures and societies where Arabic – in all its dialects – is spoken, and is understood by millions of Arabic speakers to mean God, and little else. One could also add that as “Allah” is an Arabic word it therefore has more to do with the development and evolution of Arabic language and culture, and less to do with Islam. It is hard to understand how any religion can have a language to call its own, for languages emerge from a societal context and not a belief system. If one were to abide by the skewered logic of the Minister concerned, then presumably the language of Christianity (if it had one) would be Aramaic, or perhaps Latin.

The Minister’s remark not only demonstrated his shallow understanding of Muslim culture and the clear distinction between Arab  culture and Muslim theology, but it also demonstrated his own lack of understanding of the history of the Malays, who, like many non-Arabs, only converted to Islam much later from the 13th century onwards. Among the earliest pieces of evidence to indicate Islam’s arrival to the Malay archipelago are the stone inscriptions found in Malay states like Pahang where the idea of God is described in the sanskrit words ‘Dewata Mulia Raya’. As no Malay spoke or even understood Arabic then, it was natural for the earliest Malay-Muslims to continue using the Sanskrit-inspired language they spoke then. Surely this does not make them lesser Muslims as a result?

The ruckus that has resulted thanks to the threat not to allow the publication of the Malaysian language edition of the Christian Herald therefore forces observers to ask the simple question: Why has this issue erupted all of a sudden, when the word Allah was used for so long with narry a protest in sight? At a time when the Malaysian government is already getting flak as a result of the protests by Malaysian Hindus who insist that they remain at the bottom of the economic ladder despite fifty years of independence, now it would appear as if the Malaysian government cannot get enough bad publicity.

The administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came to power on the promise that it would promote its own brand of moderate Islam that was pluralist and respectful of other cultures and religions. But time and again the Malaysian public – first Hindus and now Christians – have felt necessary to protest over what they regard as unfair, biased treatment and the furthering of an exclusive brand of Islam that is communitarian and divisive. The latest fiasco over the non-issue that is the name of God would suggest that Prime Minister’s Badawi’s grand vision of a moderate Islam has hit the rocks, and is now floundering. Just how the ministers and elite of this government is to regain their course is open to question, but what is clear is that some Ministers should get their basic knowledge of their own religion in order first.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 December 2007, 5:12 am and is filed under
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Pak Lah’s host of great breaches of great promises

This Parliamentary Roundtable on the Special Complaints Commission (SCC)  Bill is special for more reasons than one.

Firstly, there should be no need for this Parliamentary Roundtable as there should have been a Parliamentary Select Committee on the SCC Bill – what I had described as the fake Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill – to collect public testimony and undertake public consultation on an important piece of proposed legislation with far-reaching consequences on the quality of life and governance in the country.

Secondly, this may be the last Parliamentary Roundtable for the current Parliament if it is  dissolved without reconvening again, paving the way for the next general election.

The IPCMC was one of the great promises of the Abdullah premiership and the SCC Bill one of the great breaches by Abdullah of his pledges to the people and country.

It was almost exactly four years ago, 29th December 2003,  that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the formation of a Royal Commission into the Police.

This is the
New Straits Times report of 30th December 2003 on Abdullah’s announcement in its report
“A new image for police”
:

PUTRAJAYA, Mon. – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said a Royal Commission would study and recommend steps that could transform the police into a credible force.

He said the commission would also rectify the force’s weaknesses and review work procedures besides coming up with recommendations which could enhance the confidence of the public.

Abdullah said the proposal would be submitted to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin for his consent.

He said the recommendations by the commission would help the police to discharge their duties more efficiently and operate in a more transparent and responsible manner.

Abdullah said the commission would also outline terms and conditions for recruitment and human resource development.

“We want to make the police force a unit which can be trusted. I hope the commission will help change the public’s perception of the force.”

Abdullah, who is also Home Minister, said the commission would also look into the welfare and family matters of police officers so that their morale and commitment would not be affected.

“The police must be well-versed in human rights when discharging their duties and dealing with the public. Police brutality, poor service, corruption and other negative traits must be eradicated,” Abdullah said at the opening of a conference of police commissioners, state police chiefs, General Operations Force brigade commanders and commandants at the Putrajaya Convention Centre.

The Royal Police Commission resulted in its 125 recommendations to transform it into an efficient, incorruptible, accountable, professional world-class police service with the three core objectives to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights, with its most important recommendation the establishment of the IPCMC.

After four years, Malaysians have the right to expect an IPCMC “lion” with powerful teeth and claws but instead, a toothless and clawless SCC mouse has been produced!

An independent, professional and incorruptible police force is not the only great pledge Abdullah had made in his “First 100 Days” which had been met with great breaches, and it is against the backdrop of a host of great breaches of great pledges that the SCC “mouse” instead of a IPCMC “lion” must be seen in perspective and context.

Just to give a quick snapshot of the other great pledges with their equally great breaches:

(1)
Pledge to create  a First World Parliament
, which is not an appendage of the Executive.  At the beginning of the 11th Parliament, I had met the Prime Minister proposing a First-World Parliament which adopts the full committee system with a Parliamentary Select Committee to shadow each ministry or important portfolio.

So far, there had been a Parliamentary Select Committee on amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and Penal Code, which had completed its work resulting in consequential legislative action. There are  also two other Select Committees, one  on National Unity and Integration and the other on Integrity.

Both Select Committees are in danger of ending up as parliamentary scandals with no report or final report submitted to Parliament if general election is called by March.

There is another Parliamentary Select Committee which even MPs have forgotten – the Select Committee on Ethics for MPs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak  which was adopted by the Dewan Rakyat by way of a motion in May this year and which had its first meeting in June this year on its programme of action but went to sleep after that.

This is only one illustration of the lack of seriousness and political will to create a First-World Parliament.

(2)
Restoration of the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary.
 Without even going into the Lingam Tape scandal, the state of the judiciary is a parlous one, which is why the new Chief Justice, Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad had promised a “house-cleaning”.

However, how can one man however well-meaning beat a system which is rotten?  The 3-2 Federal Court judgment upholding the appointment of academician Dr. Badariah Sahamid confirms the view that Abdul Hamid is an “accidental Chief Justice” who will find it very uphill to carry the judicial system with him in his short tenure of at most less than a year as the top judicial officer of the land.

The two dissenting judgments by Abdul Hamid and Datuk Zulkefli Ahdmad Makinuddin in the Badariah Sahamid case, that High Court judges and Judicial Commissioners must have at least 10 years’ experience as an advocate or a member of judicial and legal service before they can be appointed are solid judgments which are definitely more meritorious and weighty than the majority judgments by the three Federal Court judges, which  make nonsense of the Federal Court decision last year that a non-practising advocate may not be appointed Industrial Court Chairman.

However, this has not saved the country from the extraordinary spectacle of the Chief Justice ending up in a dissenting minority in a bench of five, although his judgment are overwhelmingly regarded as the proper construction of the law.

(3)
An independent Election Commission.

Malaysians must have been surprised to read in the Star today that Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman had his tenure as Election Commission Chairman extended for another year yesterday!

To extend Rashid’s tenure as Election Commission Chairman from 65 to 66, the Constitution had to be amended, which the Dewan Rakyat passed on Dec. 11 under the protest of Opposition of MPs who staged a walkout at the violation of parliamentary privileges by the police who committed trespass of the parliamentary precincts on the same day to effect arrests of BERSIH activists demanding free, fair and clean elections.

Dewan Negara passed the Constitution Amendment Bill and adjourned on Dec. 24.  December 25 was Christmas Day and a public holiday.  Dec. 6 was a Wednesday and should be a normal Cabinet day, but Ministers were too much of a holiday mood to have their weekly Cabinet meeting.

If so, the Yang di Pertuan Agong should also be partaking of the holiday spirit of the Cabinet, but clearly this was not the case, as the Royal Assent and the gazetting of the Constitution Amendment Bill (the two final steps before a bill could become law) were both done on Dec. 26 so that Rashid could extend his tenure for another year yesterday!

This must be one of the fastest cases of securing the Royal Assent and gazetting the law immediately after passage by the Senate.

It shows that if the Barisan Nasional wants to do so, it could get a law enacted in super-quick time unlike the years it could take to translate  important legislative proposals into law.

But where the Barisan Nasional wants to do anything, like ensuring a free, fair and clean election for the country, it will be impossible to move at all.

(4)
Anti-Corruption pledge a total washout.

Finally, I need only to refer to another great breach of a great pledge by Abdullah – the anti-corruption campaign promised by the Prime Minister which is a total washout.

(Opening remarks at the Parliamentary Roundtable on the Special Complaints Commission Bill held at Committee Room 1, Parliament on Friday, 28th December 2007 at 9.30 am)

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Landmark achievement of Tawau “Don Quixote” case in defence of open spaces

I commend the Tawau Municipal Council (TMC) for admitting that the Sabindo development and encroachment of Tawau open spaces is  illegal and invalid and I call on Sabindo developers, Jeramas Sdn Bhd and Aggasf  Construction Sdn. Bhd to emulate the  example of TMC to reach an amicable  “win-win” settlement for the interests of the people of Tawau.

DAP leaders and I had attended several public meetings in Tawau over the scandal of the encroachment and deprivation of the open spaces in Tawau, subordinating the public interests of the people of Tawau to private profit-making in disregard of the law and public policy.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok and I had also  raised in Parliament  the issue of the lack of municipal good governance as illustrated by the Sabindo open space scandal, with the Tawau municipality teeming with “Little Napoleons” defying the Prime Minister and the Sabah State Cabinet in depriving the fundamental right of the people of Tawau to open spaces and recreational grounds.

I was very uplifted  when I was informed last night by Jimmy Wong (alias Tiger Wong of Tawau) –  who together with nine other public-spirited Tawau ratepayers had taken the TMC to court on the unlawful  Sabindo development project and the encroachment of the Tawau open spaces and recreational grounds – that the Tawau people had achieved a classic and landmark breakthrough in their long, arduous and uphill battle to protect the “open spaces” in Tawau not only for the people of Tawau but also for the people  Sabah and Malaysia.

Jimmy showed me the Borneo Post report “Surprising twist in Tawau open space devt case – Council agrees joint-venture pact for project is invalid” dated 20th December 2007 which reads:

by Alan Kee

Tawau – In a surprising turn of event at the High Court here yesterday, the ten plaintiffs in the controversial Sabindo open space development case reached an amicable settlement with the Tawau Municipal Council (TMC), which is the second defendant.

What was supposed to be a trial turned out to be a hearing as the plaintiff’s lawyer Datuk Simon K.Y.Shim informed Judicial Commissioner Y.A. Puan Yew Jen Kie that the second defendant had agreed to the plaintiff’s claims as follows:

1.	A declaration that the joint venture agreement dated 13th December 1996 between the 1st and 2nd  defendants is invalid, illegal and unenforceable, being ultra vires the Local Government Ordinance 1961 and the Tawau Municipal Council Instrument  1983 (G.N.S. 22 of 1983).

2.	A declaration that the Development Plan submitted on 12th October 2004 and approved by the 2nd defendant on 27th May 2005 vide DP37/2004 is invalid, illegal and unenforceable.

3.	An order that the said Development Plan DP37/2004 be set aside.

TMC is the second defendant.  The first defendants, the developers of the Sabindo project, i.e. Jeramas Sdn. Bhd and Aggasif Construction Sdn. Bhd, however objected to the application to enter the terms of consent judgment in court in view of the “surprise turn of events” and their lawyers successfully applied for the adjournment of the case “to allow the first defendant to take stock of the situation to reconsider the pleadings”, including whether to draw in the TMC and join the State Government as third party as the council’s approval must be with the consent of the minister concerned.

The case has now been fixed for 25th January next year for hearing of a third party notice.

Nobody had given Jimmy and the other nine plaintiffs any chance of success in their legal suit to protect the open spaces and recreational grounds for the people of Tawau and future generations, as well as a test case on the sanctity of  open spaces in Sabah and Malaysia. In fact, many regard the legal challenge as akin to a Don Quixote exercise in tilting at windmills.

It had not been an easy fight (and Jimmy was even physically assaulted once over the issue), especially as the initial application for an injunction to halt all Sabindo development construction had been dismissed  in the first instance in March 2006 on the ground of lack of “locus standi” – but the 10 great Tawau plaintiffs had not been dispirited by these setbacks and had persevered in their battle for justice and good governance.

The Sabindo/Tawau Open Spaces legal suit is no Don Quixote  exercise nor just a legalistic matter but concerns the quality of life and good governance in our country.

The controversy had dragged on long enough and I hope that there could be an all-round amicable settlement so that the bold and courageous concession by the TMC that it had acted illegally and unlawfully could be a salutary lesson to all parties concerned not only in Tawau but for the whole of Sabah and Malaysia and would not go to waste because of continuing litigation over the issue.

I would call on the Sabindo developers, Jeramas Sdn Bhd and Aggasf  Construction Sdn. Bhd, who are the first defendants, to consider their CSR (corporate social responsibility) and to emulate the example of TM C to reach an amicable  “win-win” settlement for the interests of the people of Tawau – where the  interests of both Jeramas Sdn. Bhd and Aggasf Construction Sdn. Bhd are also taken into consideration.

I am prepared to offer my conciliation and mediation services to Jeramas Sdn. Bhd, Aggasf Construction Sdn. Bhd,  the 10 Tawau plaintiffs as well as to all Tawau ratepayers to try to achieve such a “win-win” comprehensive out-of-court settlement of the Sabindo “Open Spaces” litigation in the interests of all parties concerned.

(Media Conference in  Kota Kinabalu on Saturday, 29th December 2007  at 11.30 am)

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Ring out 2007 “annus horribilis” and bring in 2008 with hope and change, starting with forthcoming general election

2008 New Year Message

Malaysians heave a sigh of relief at the end of 2007, a year which had opened with such great promise as it is to celebrate the 50th Merdeka anniversary of the nation.

I cannot think of a better term to describe 2007 than to borrow  from Queen Elizabeth II  in one of her most unforgettable annual  messages when she said that the year that had just ended was an “annus horribilis”.

For Malaysians, 2007 had been an
“annus horribilis”
 (a horrible year), a year which Malaysians would not  look back with undulited pleasure and pride – but with great foreboding!

This is because 2007, the 50th Merdeka anniversary costing over RM100 million of taxpayers’ money in public celebrations, should be the year where Malaysians can look with pride and confidence into the next 50 years, founded on the fulfillment of the many great pledges which Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had made on becoming Prime Minister and for which he was given the unprecedented electoral mandate of over 91 per cent of parliamentary seats in the 2004 general election.

But 2007 has proved to be one of  the most divisive and troubled year in the half-a-century of Malaysia’s nationhood – with religious polarization assuming its most serious dimension in dividing Malaysians, compounding an already difficult problem of racial polarization in the nation-building process.

It was announced a few days ago that an unprecedented 27,668 students scored all 8As in this year’s Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination.

Abdullah  would have scored all straight Fs in his four-year report card for the great pledges of reform he had promised when became the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, whether police reform by implementing the most important  proposal of the Royal Police Commission and  establish an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service; create a first-world Parliament; restore the independence, integrity and competence of the judiciary; eradicate corruption; respect human rights and press freedom; his promise to  “hear the truth” from the people and be a Prime Minister for all Malaysians!

Let all Malaysians come together as one to put the annus horribilis of 2007 behind us, not by suffering the worst denial syndrome in Malaysian history by denying its existence, but by courageously owning up to the disaster of the past 12 months in nation-building and making a collective  new year resolution  that 2008 should not be a repeat of another
annus horribilis
 –  with a serious national commitment for change and renewal starting with  next general election which will be held in 2008.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 December 2007, 7:53 am and is filed under
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World’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat – call for RCI on misgovernance by all 3 tiers of government

I welcome the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday expressing the government’s hope that former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat will settle the Mazu status issue amicably without going to court.

He said the government is hoping to bring the Mazu statue issue back to the negotiation table instead of going through the court.

I support Najib’s proposal for an amicable settlement of the proposal to build the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat.

It is important however for Najib to  understand that the principles and issues involved in the Mazu statue controversy do not just concern  Chong as one person, but have become a major public issue of national and even international importance involving not just three million Sabahans but also  26 million Malaysians

I am glad that immediately after my visit to Kudat to visit the site of the Mazu statue, there is now the possibility of a new development.

The Mazu statue controversy should not only be resolved at the negotiation table, I will go even one step further and call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mishandling and lack of good governance  in all three tiers of local, state and federal government resulting in the Kudat Mazu statue controversy undermining nation-building and  inter-religiousl understanding as well as turning Malaysia into an international laughing-stock.

I have just returned from a three-day visit to Kota Kinabalu, Kudat and Sandakan including a 500-km land journey from Kota Kinabalu  through Kota Belud to  Kudat and onwards to Sandakan through Marudu, with the Kudat-Sandakan journey taking eight hours through some very treacherous stretches (with 25 km of unsealed portion of the Paitan highway after the Nango junction).

Yesterday morning, together with DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, Kota Kinabalu DAP Branch Chairman Hiew King Cheu, Tawau DAP Branch Chairman Jimmy Wong and Karambunai DAP Branch Chairman Pastor Jeffrey Kumin I visited the site of the Mazu statute (where over a million ringgit had been spent to complete the statue platform)  for a first-hand understanding of the controversy over the proposal to build the world’s tallest Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) in Kudat to enhance the international tourism competitiveness of Kudat, Sabah and Malaysia.

A lot of things happened in the two years between 12th December 2005 when a ground-breaking ceremony for the project for the world’s  tallest Mazu statue  was held and 12th December 2007 when Chong  instituted legal proceedings against the Kudat Town Board (KTB) and the Sabah state government for stopping the project, as evident from the following chronology of events:

•
12th December 2005
– ground-breaking ceremony for the world’s tallest Mazu statue after approval of site layout and building plans for the project.

•
8th February 2006
–  the Kudat Town Board (KTB) issued a letter of approval valid for two years for the construction of the Mazu statue.

Works on the project commenced, including piling and construction of a 20 feet platform which was completed five months later at a cost of RM1 million.

Orders were placed for granite  carvings of the statue by  craftsmen from China and the granite carvings had been shipped from China and are now stored in a containers in Kota Kinabalu.

The Immigration Department had also given  approval for visas to be issued to 11 craftsmen from China to assemble the granite carvings of the statue.

May 25, 2006
, KTB, acting on the directive of the Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister,  ordered the temporary suspension of the work project pending  further directive from the Chief Minister.

•
June 6, 2006
, the Sabah Local Government and Housing Ministry  issued a written directive to KTB to order suspension of works on the project pending approval from the Chief Minister.

•
June 23, 2006
, the State Secretary issued a letter to the KTB stating that the government had, after considering all the circumstances, decided that works on the project should stop immediately.

•
July 7, 2006
, the Mufti of Sabah issued a Fatwa (religious decree) advising that the construction of the statue would offend Islam and ordered that the construction be stopped in order to protect the sensitivities of Muslims.

•
Nov. 15, 2007
, KTB withdrew the approval granted by their letter of Feb. 8, 2006, giving reason that the site layout plan and building plans had not been approved by the second respondent by reason of non-compliance with Section 15 of the Town and Country Planning Ordinance.

•
December 12, 2007
 – Chong Kah Keat institutes legal proceedings against KTB and Sabah State Government for stopping the work project, seeking declarations from the Kota Kinabalu High Court, inter alia,

1.	that the letter of withdrawal of approval dated Nov. 15, 2007 by KTB  be revoked, set aside and declared null and void;

2.	that the letter of approval dated Feb. 8, 2006 be confirmed as valid and binding on all parties concerned;

3.	compensation for loss suffered by project proponents.

The reasons which had been given so far do not stand up to any scrutiny.  For instance, the argument that the Mazu statue is close to the Asy-Syarikin Mosque in Kudat collapses on close examination.

This is because  the statue would be about 2,400 ft from the mosque, whereas there is another temple, the  Fu Tik Temple which is just opposite the mosque across the road in the town cent re  or about 100 ft away.

The Fu Tik Temple was built as far back as 1941 or some 66 years ago and was there when the Asy-Syarikin Mosque was built in the 80s.  If the Asy-Syarikin Mosque had no objection to being so close to the Fu Tik Temple, the oldest temple of the Hokkien community in Kudat, and build it in the 80s about 100 ft away, why should there be any objection  to the building of the Mazu statue  which is about 2,400 ft away?

There are many places of worship of different faiths in the country which are next to one another and even  share the use of common passages or spaces, for instance a temple and a mosque in Kuching which one above another while in Miri there is a church and a mosque next to each other sharing the use of common passageways.

In ancient times in the Middle East, Muslims, Christians and followers of other faiths share the same premises for their religious worship.  Why are we not learning the best cultural, religious and civilisational practices in the history of mankind but want to blaze out a new path of extremism and intolerance in mutli-religious Malaysia which is also against the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion?

I understand that the Muslims in Kudat do not have any objection to the building of the world’s tallest Muza statue as they know its great tourism potential in kick-starting the economy in Kudat, which is the poorest in Sabah and therefore in Malaysia.

The insensitive  controversy objecting  to the building of the Mazu statue is created by a small group of Muslims outside Kudat  with ulterior personal and political objectives, which set a dangerous precedent in undermining inter-religious understanding, goodwill and co-existence not only in Sabah state but in Malaysia as well.

The other objection that the construction of any statue or replica of a living thing, either human or animistic, is haram and should not be allowed – which is the fatwa of the Mufti Sabah – is even more subversive of the multi-religious foundation  of Malaysia.

Imagine the horrendous consequences if such a fatwa is accepted in Malaysia and implemented throughout the country?

The protracted controversy of the Kudat Mazu statue for the past 18 months, resulting in the highly-principled  protest resignation of Chong Kah Kiat as Sabah Deputy Chief Minister is a reflection of mishandling, total insensitivity  and lack of good governance  in all three tiers of local, state and federal government resulting in the Kudat Mazu statue controversy undermining nation-building, inter-religiousl understanding and turning  Malaysia an international laughing-stock.

There are two things which Najib should do immediately:

•	Firstly, remove all the man-made and politically-motivated obstacles to the construction of the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat; and

•	Secondly, get the Federal Cabinet to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mishandling, insensitivity and lack of good governance in all three tiers of governance,  local, state and federal government, resulting in the protracted and divisive Mazu statue controversy so that Malaysia could be spared in future of such misgovernance which could only undermine nation-building, inter-religious understanding and make Malaysia into an international laughing-stock.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 December 2007, 2:19 pm and is filed under
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Mazu statue in Kudat – allow resumption of construction and official opening before next polls

Former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat has said that he is prepared to
drop
his suit if the Sabah state government allows the construction of the world’s tallest Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) statue at its original location in Kudat.

Responding  to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement in Tuaran  on Sunday on the government’s hope that the Kudat Mazu statue dispute could be settled amicably without going to court, Chong said he was left with no option except to institute legal proceedings as he had only 28 days to appeal against the decision of the Kudat Town Board (KTB) to withdraw its earlier approval for the Mazu statue on Nov. 15 last year.

He said he had been “patient because I have been writing, pleading and begging with everyone to resolve this matter for one-and-a-half years”.

Najib had said Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman  was open to negotiation to resolve the controversy over the halted construction of the Mazu statue in Kudat. The Deputy Prime Minister said Musa  had given him the assurance that as Chief Minister he is open to solving problems, including sensitive ones.

I for one would not believe Musa and I believe that this would be the sentiment of Chong and Sabahans who supported the construction of the world’s tallest Mazu statue both on the grounds of the constitutionally-entrenched guarantee of freedom of religion as well as to enhance the international tourism  competitiveness of Sabah and Malaysia.

This is because the RM5 million 10-storey 108-ft high  Mazu statue would have been completed and officially opened early last year  and would have become a magnet to bring in tourist revenue from  local, regional and international tourists for the past year.

The tourist and economic potential of the world’s tallest Mazu statue  are most  promising, especially in kick-starting the economy in Kudat, which is the poorest region in Sabah and Malaysia.

Religious monuments and statues have always been major tourism draws of countries. For instance, the 108-metre high Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) statue in Hainan Island attracts some 2.5 million tourists a year.

If in its  first year,  the Mazu statue can attract 10,000 tourists to Kudat, it would already been a great start.

However, it was Musa who single-handedly halted the construction of the Mazu statue because of his animosity with Chong, especially in spat over Musa’s plan to develop the Sipadan Island, one of the world’s five best diving spots, in utter disregard of the Sipadan’s ecosystem which attracted unfavourable international attention for Malaysia because of criticism from global environmentalist.

Construction work on the  RM5 million 10-storey 108-ft high  Mazu statue started in February 2006 after formal approval was issued by the Kudat Town Board on 8th February 2006.

When  the first directive was issued  on May 25, 2006 to stop the construction of the Mazu statue, the RM1 million 20-feet platform for the statue had been completed, granite  carvings of the statue by  craftsmen from China  ordered and 21 containers of granite carvings shipped to Kota Kinabalou from China, with visa application s for 11 craftsmen from China to assemble the granite carvings of the statue approved by the Immigration Department.

DAP MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok and I visited the stalled Mazu construction project in Kudat on Sunday morning and we were informed that local Muslims in Kudat have no objection to the Mazu statue, as they see it as a great opportunity to break the back of hard-core poverty in the area.

The reasons which had been given so far  to halt the Mazu statue do not stand up to any scrutiny.  For instance, the argument that the Mazu statue is close to the Asy-Syarikin Mosque in Kudat collapses on close examination.

This is because  the statue would be about 2,400 ft from the mosque, whereas there is another temple, the  Fu Tik Temple which is just opposite the mosque across the road in the town cent re  or about 100 ft away.

The Fu Tik Temple was built as far back as 1941 or some 66 years ago and was there when the Asy-Syarikin Mosque was built in the 80s.  If the Asy-Syarikin Mosque had no objection to being so close to the Fu Tik Temple, the oldest temple of the Hokkien community in Kudat, and build it in the 80s about 100 ft away, why should there be any objection  to the building of the Mazu statue  which is about 2,400 ft away?

There are many places of worship of different faiths in the country which are next to one another and even  share the use of common passages or spaces, for instance a temple and a mosque in Kuching which one above another while in Miri there is a church and a mosque next to each other sharing the use of common passageways.

The other objection that the construction of any statue or replica of a living thing, either human or animistic, is haram and should not be allowed – which is the fatwa of the Mufti Sabah – is even more subversive of the multi-religious foundation  of Malaysia.  Imagine the horrendous consequences if such a fatwa is accepted in Malaysia and implemented throughout the country?

In view of the latest developments and Najib’s statement in Tuaran, Barisan Nasional national and state  leaders must demonstrate they have the political will to undo the 2007 “annus horibilis” by  allowing  the resumption of work on  the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat so that it could be officially opened for world tourists before the next general election expected this year.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 January 2008, 9:55 pm and is filed under
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No Glitter to Merdeka’s Golden Anniversary Year

by
M. Bakri Musa

By right Malaysians should still be relishing the afterglow of their 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations.  Alas, the much-anticipated euphoria was short lived; the grim realities of Malaysian life quickly intruded.

            Even the mainstream media carry daily headlines of gory crimes.  If those were not scary enough, residents now live in fear that their basic freedom is being threatened, not by some external enemy rather by their very own government.  Malaysian leaders mistook their electoral mandate for a license to trample on citizens’ basic rights, as in the rights to free assembly and the freedom of conscience.

            Those breaches of course did not grab the headlines in the mainstream media; you have to read the alternative media or international publications to get the real news.  The mainstream media instead highlighted Prime Minister Abdullah’s “small” wedding to his “downstairs lady.”

            The images of Malaysia projected onto the world stage towards the end of the year were not of a modern nation poised for Vision 2020, rather the typical backward Third World state with a stubbornly bumbling warden as its leader.

            The scenes on Al Jazeera and CNN were of the police wildly tear-gassing and firing water cannons upon thousands of peaceful citizens who dared exercise their basic rights to a free assembly.  If those images were not ugly enough, there was Minister of Information Zam in a fit of latah in front of the television cameras for the whole world to see.

            Zam is a poor imitation of Saddam Hussein’s Information Minister “Comical Ali.”  At least Ali entertained us with his outlandish bravadoes; Zam nauseated us with his blabber.

            Just as we thought it could not get worse seeing that it was already November when Zam was blabbering in front of an international audience, there was Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum declaring that only Muslims are entitled to use the word “Allah” (God).  He threatened banning the Malay version of the Catholic Church publication that dared use the word “Allah.”

            The startling observation was that this moron of a minister could get way with such idiocies.  By his silence, Abdullah reveals that he is equally moronic.

            How did a nation that was so full of bubbly confidence as encapsulated in its “Malaysia boleh!” spirit only a few years ago descended so fast and so far, and with so few of the elite class protesting?

            To be sure, Malaysia is still far ahead of Pakistan or Zimbabwe.  Unfortunately, far too many, especially the leaders, take comfort in this.

Annus Horribilis

            Malaysians had premonitions for this long Annus Horribilis.  It began ominously with the southern part of the peninsula being flooded, with hundreds of thousands displaced.  It was the worst flooding in decades.

            Where was Prime Minister Abdullah in the hour of need?  Off to Australia for his scheduled sailing vacation and opening his brother’s nasi kandar restaurant!

            His “bright” young advisors did not see fit to advise their man to cancel his vacation in the face of a national emergency.  The old man was of course clueless.

            The floods soon receded and the residents went back to their daily grind, helped by many generous fellow citizens and non-governmental bodies.  When you see your fellow Malaysians in need, you pitched in.  That comes way ahead of your holidays.  Unfortunately you cannot really teach these things, not even at Oxford.  You either have the sense of human decency or you do not.  Fortunately many Malaysians do have it; we just do not see it in the leaders.

            Allah (if I am permitted to use that word here) must have known that our leaders are slow learners, for a few months later there was yet another massive flood, this time in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, paralyzing it.

            As for that grease spot whose opening was graced by the Prime Minister, it closed soon after.

Horrible In Between

Between the terrible beginning and the horrible ending to the year, there were plenty of hideous fillers in between.

            The tenures of the Director of the Anti Corruption Agency Zulkipli and the Chief Justice Ahmad Feiruz were not renewed.  Both left under a cloud.  That should be a feather in Abdullah’s cap, except that Abdullah was intent on keeping them both!  Unrelenting public pressures forced him to back off.  Abdullah may not have wanted the people to challenge him, but they did anyway.

            Ahmad Feiruz was again the “off stage” star attraction later in the year in the infamous “Lingam tape.”  Again you would not find that in the headlines of the mainstream media.  Thanks to former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, we had a sniff of the filth that is the Malaysian judiciary.

            Weakened by his endless displays of ineptitude, Abdullah was in no position to brave public opposition.  A few weeks after the Johore floods, Raja Petra Kamarudin’s Malaysia-Today carried a detailed expose of the Prime Minister acquiring a luxurious corporate jet, at public expense of course.  Raja Petra had the details nailed down; right to the jet’s tail number.

            Malaysia-Today’s phenomenal success is the one rare bright spot.  No wonder World Business named Raja Petra, together with Bank Negara’s Governor Zeti Aziz and former Prime Minister Mahathir among Asia’s Top 20 Progressives.  Meanwhile Tokoh Wartawan Negara Zam remains a jagoh kampong (village champion).  He and those who honor him belong there.

            Raja Petra made other headlines.  The police questioned him and his wife Marina separately over some activities purported to be harmful to the state.  Presumably one of those could be his release of the sordid details of the messy divorce settlement of one double Muhammad, a senior UMNO operative.  Raja Petra went further; he challenged this double Muhammad to a public debate to expose this discredited politician, but the latter chickened out.

            The police interrogations went nowhere; the police were flummoxed.  Marina in particular refused to answer questions claiming that as a Muslim she is entitled to have her husband present beside her.  Isn’t it great to be a Muslim!

            Lina Joy however, did not think so.  Her celebrated case, a simple and routine administrative matter of changing the religious designation on her identity card, attracted worldwide attention when Malaysia’s top court ruled that, the norms of civilized society notwithstanding, there is no freedom of conscience in the country.  Malaysians cannot change their religion on a whim, according to the wisdom of Chief Justice Ahmad Feiruz.

            Pursuing this theme, the religious authorities in Perak charged a young Malay mother for “encouraging immoral activities” while singing in her sleeveless blouse in a nightclub.

            And pursuing the moronic theme again, some

well-meaning supporters (“arse lickers” would be the more appropriate though crude term) of Abdullah nominated his late wife Endon as Anak Gemilang Malaysia (Illustrious Malaysians).  Mercifully, they withdrew her name, but not before some very unkind jabs by bloggers.  I do not blame them; instead rap the knuckles of the idiots who set her up.

            I am uncertain which was more idiotic, that or the hysterical reactions among the leaders to a student’s sophomoric rap rendition of Negara Ku.  Or that character Mat Zakaria Derus and his mansion amidst the slums of Klang.

            The annual Auditor General’s Report too made headlines, again!  There was the RM 4.2 billion Port Klang Free Zone development project debacle, and the Sports Ministry’s spending sprees.  The list goes on.

            I am certain that the theme will be repeated next year; only the players, projects, and price tags would vary.  Well at least we can be comforted by the fact that those boondoggles still make the headlines.  The day may come when they won’t.  With Abdullah in charge, that will not be too far off.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 January 2008, 3:58 am and is filed under
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Beloved Sister lost

I appreciate the messages of condolence from party comrades, supporters, sympathizers,  friends and fellow Malaysians  on my family’s  bereavement over the loss of my sister, Kit Hwa, 82, through this blog, facebook,  sms, phone or  direct communication.

I felt very keenly  the loss of my sister, who passed away peacefully  in her home in Batu Pahat, Johore on Saturday, 29th December 2007 at about 1.30 pm after over six years of battle with Alzheimer’s disease (AD),  She was  the eldest and I the youngest in the family with a 15-year age difference, which explains why we were especially close.

I was in Kota Kinabalu with Teresa Kok, DAP MP for Seputeh on that day in response to a government invitation to attend the Christmas Open House and we were  waiting for a very late lunch on 29th December 2007 to be served after several programmes, including   a media conference and visiting   the Sabah leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat  Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan at the VIP ward of  the Queen  Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu who  had had a nasty automobile  accident.

My daughter, Hui Ming, who was in Penang with the family for the end-of-the-year holidays, phoned to tell me the  bad news about my sister.  A very distraught and crying Evelyn, my sis’ second daughter, had phoned about her mother’s death and asked her to inform the rest of the Lim family – my other children Guan Eng, Hui Ying and Guan Choon, my brother in Singapore and my elder brother’s family in Batu Pahat.

I immediately phoned Ho Lai Chee, 83, my brother-in-law at home in  Batu Pahat, who like other members of the family were crying. In the grief, there was also thankfulness that Kit Hwa passed away when all her five children, Eva, Wyman, William, Evelyn and Ee Yong,  and six grandchildren have returned to the hometown for a family reunion from as far as Australia and United Kingdom.

Lai Chee had been a good and exemplary husband and head of the household. He was not only a successful businessman in Batu Pahat but had taken active part in the local community affairs, serving  for many years as President of the Batu Pahat Chinese Chamber Commerce, President of the Kong Siew Association,  the federation of board of managements of the five Chinese Schools in Batu Pahat, as well as other capacities.

However, even more meaningful than his role as a  pillar of society with his social and community services must be his success in  bringing up a very loving and close-knit family, although scattered in different parts of the world as far afield as Sydney and London,  and the life-long love he  devoted to his wife, especially the past seven years when my sis was afflicted with the debilitating AD.

My sis’ passing will be remembered by another strange phenomena.  She had planted a durian tree in her compound but which had not fruited for 20 years. In the past few years, the durian street had begun to share in her largesse, but fruiting very sparingly – about half-a-dozen a year.

The next morning sis died, the family found a solitary durian had dropped from the tree – as if to mark the passing to another world of another homo sapien.  To commemorate the event, the durian fruit with its  increasing fragrance was given pride of place in the five-day wake.

Her funeral is this morning. In  another hour or so, my sis will be taking her last journey.  She was a pioneer in her time, the first batch of  girls in Batu Pahat to have completed English secondary education – at a time when the social attitude of the day was to regard education for girls as a waste of time and money as they were  going to be “married off” in any event, and so “no point” whatsoever  in giving girls too many years of schooling!

At that time, girls were regarded as little better than “chattels” to be married off for their proper monetary value in dowry!  My sis rebelled against such “gender bias” and won her battle to complete her secondary education.

But a greater heroine was my mother,  Tiu Kau Nee, who was the redoubtable ally of my sis, fully ahead of her time in standing up to the regressive  social pressures of the time discouraging expending  too much time and resources on giving girls too many years of education.

She backed up sis and insisted that she  had the opportunity to go through her secondary studies. My mother belonged to the line of  unsung heroes and heroines who played  their part in ushering in social changes and  I have no doubt that if university education  had been  developed at the time, she would have given my sis full backing for her to be one of the earliest girls to proceed to  tertiary studies.

Rest in peace, sis. You had been blessed with a good and loving husband and a good and loving family.

(P.S –  Apologies to guests at the KK lunch that I was not my normal self, as I was distraught over my sis’ passing and unable to take part in the conversation. I also left early at the subsequent Christmas Open House, explaining to Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim and Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek – who also hails from Batu Pahat – the reason for my early departure. I thank them for their instant condolences.)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 January 2008, 10:06 am and is filed under
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Sudden demise of fastest-rising star in political firmament – was Chua Soi Lek victim of double betrayal?

When I told  Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek at the National Christmas Day Open House in Kota Kinabalu last Saturday, informing him that I had to leave early because my sister, Kit Hwa, 82, had passed away in our mutual  hometown Batu Pahat, none of us knew that would be our last encounter as political leaders – or that in the next four days, he would be at the vortex of a political maelstrom ending with the demise of the fastest-rising star in the MCA political firmament.

Chua’s announcement of resignation as Health Minister, Labis Member of Parliament, MCA vice president, head of Johore State MCA and Batu Pahat MCA Division 24 hours after admitting that “I’m the man in the sex video” but declaring that he had no intention   of quitting his government and party posts has come as no surprise to astute political observers.

This is  because after Chua’s Labis statement admitting that he was the man in the sex DVD, he had unleashed political forces in the MCA and Umno which have made it completely untenable for him to retain his government and party posts.

Many questions surround the sudden demise of Chua Soi Lek as the fastest-rising star in recent MCA history, as he appeared to be quite  unstoppable until he captures the top prize in the MCA as its President despite  many powerful obstacles in his path.

Two immediate questions  about the sudden demise of the MCA comet are whether Chua had been the victim of a double betrayal.

The first betrayal was the very orchestrated and professional manner in the surfacing of the video DVD.  Who was  behind it? All fingers point to his political enemies from within the MCA.

The second betrayal was whether he had been misled into believing that his admission in his Labis statement would suffice, and he could continue to keep his government and party posts, when in fact, his Labis statement would be the basis to force him to relinquish his government and party posts – as has now happened.

These questions would dominate any debate or discussion of the sudden demise of Chua Soi Lek in the annals of Malaysian politics.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 January 2008, 5:10 pm and is filed under
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Ka Ting doubling up as Acting Health Minister – ridiculous, shameful and unacceptable

The proposal that the post of Health Minister left vacant by the resignation of Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek should be left unfilled with the MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting doubling up as Acting Health Minister is most ridiculous, shameful  and unacceptable – subordinating the rights and interests of 26 million Malaysians to a world-class medical and health system to the rot and factional infighting in MCA.

It is a reflection  of the advanced marginalization, irrelevance and rot of MCA that it has found itself in a dilemma over the appointment of a fourth MCA Minister to the extent there could be the serious suggestion that the post be left vacant until the next general election and that the MCA President double up as Acting Health Minister apart from his portfolio as Local Government and Housing Minister.

The Malaysian public are entitled to know whether the MCA Presidential Council has reached such a decision and whether  the MCA President had formally forwarded such a proposal to the Prime Minister – as whether the country has a full-time Health Minister or just a half-time  Acting Health Minister is a matter of grave public importance which concerns all Malaysians and not just MCA.

At present, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is also the Internal Security Minister and Finance Minister – and it is no exaggeration to say that  this has resulted in the country having  the weakest and most ineffective  Internal Security Minister and Finance Minister in the nation’s history.

If the vacancy of Health Minister is left unfilled, with Ka Ting doubling up as Acting Health Minister, the message to Malaysians is very explicit – that the Abdullah premiership and MCA leadership are not concerned or interested about efficient, effective and good governance but only in playing politics in Barisan Nasional, whether in the component parties or the coalition!

If the MCA President is not prepared to recommend the appointment of a full-time MCA Health Minister, whether Datuk Ong Tee Kiat, Datuk Donald Lim,  Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen,  Datuk Fu Ah Kiow or Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, then Abdullah should appoint a full-time Health Minister from the other non-Umno Barisan Nasional component parties – as Malaysia deserves a full-time and hands-on Health Minister.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 January 2008, 12:22 pm and is filed under
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RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal – Kong Choy should emulate Chua Soi Lek

When  Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek left the Health Ministry yesterday morning for the weekly Cabinet meeting, he was confident and upbeat that he had the  sex video scandal behind him, as he had the day before made the courageous admission that “I’m the man in the sex video”.

He must be optimistic that he could now move forward politically, as he had met and apologized to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and his wife and children had forgiven him.  This was why he announced in Labis that he had no intention of  quitting his government and party posts.

Although Chua subsequently told the media that he changed his mind about quitting his government and party posts after 24 hours because he was wrong in believing that his confession and apology would be accepted by Malaysians, and the “holier than thou” attitude of some Malaysians, I have no doubt that he was made to understand this “political reality” by the other Cabinet Ministers.

Although Abdullah said that the Cabinet yesterday did not discuss the “DVD controversy” as it was a personal matter, I do not believe that many Malaysians would buy this statement.  I would not be surprised if the other Ministers had used the Cabinet meeting to convey to Chua the “political reality” on the ground, forcing him to reach the conclusion that he had no choice but to relinquish all government and party posts – ending with the Cabinet making a formal decision that the Ministers had never discussed the issue for the public record.

If so, then Chua’s reference of the “holier than thou”  or “ulama” attitude of some Malaysians would also  be an oblique criticism of his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues.

Chua subsequently told a media conference that he was quitting all government and party positions so that he will cease to be a burden to government and party, especially in the context of Islam Hadhari and the “healthy political culture” proposed by the MCA President.

Chua’s resignation has put the MCA Deputy President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy in a spot, for the question uppermost in many minds is when  Chan  will emulate Chua’s  example to  uphold Islam Hadhari and a “healthy political culture” in MCA by bearing full accountability and responsibility for the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal – the largest financial scandal in the four-year Abdullah administration.

The RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal is the first biggest financial scandal of the Abdullah premiership, which is even bigger than the first biggest financial scandal of the Mahathir premiership – the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal in the early eighties.

At least Mahathir had set up the Ahmad Nordin Committee of Inquiry into the BMF scandal while the first mega-financial scandal under a MCA Minister in the nation’s 50-year history  is being buried under a maze of denials and cover-up!

Chan had not denied that he had unlawfully issued three of the four Letters of Support to the PKFZ turnkey contractor  to raise RM4 billion bonds, which were regarded as government guarantees by the market.

The Transport Minister had no such powers to issue financial guarantees committing the government, as it could only be issued by the Finance Minister and only after Cabinet approval.

It was because of these  four unlawful “Letters of Support” by  the Transport Minister, giving illegal but implicit government guarantee to the market,  that the Cabinet had to give them  retrospective approval, forcing the government into  a RM4.6 billion  bailout of PKFZ.

Will Chua’s example of bearing Ministerial responsibility open the eyes of Chan of what he must do to be a responsible Minister  in keeping with Islam Hadhari and the so-called new MCA “healthy political culture”  by ending his denial and stone-walling to accept full accountability for the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal?

Let me put it bluntly to Chan – he should either get the Cabinet to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal to clear himself of any abuse of power and/or   breach of trust  or he should follow the example set by Chua and resign from all government and party posts – including as Transport Minister.

Chua has left the Malaysian political scene with several cryptic but caustic comments of the political establishment – whether the government or MCA.

For instance, he pointedly declined to rebut the thesis that he had been the victim of political assassination.

He said he had received no fewer than 200 SMSes condemning certain party leaders for the “sting operation” to eliminate him from the political scene  but he would not go into it.

There can be no doubt that among the  MCA leaders responsible for the sudden demise of Chua’s meteoric political career include person or persons  sitting in the MCA Presidential Council which yesterday “regrettably accepted and respected” Chua’s resignation from all government and party posts.

The MCA Presidential council also strongly condemned those responsible for filming and distributing Chua’s sex DVDs as it was “a blatant intrusion of privacy of a citizen”.

Ong Ka Ting said: “We urge the police to take firm action against the perpetrators and to ensure that those liable are punished”.

What baloney and hypocrisy, when it is quite clear that the “black hand’ or the “mastermind” of the very organized, orchestrated and systematic campaign to destroy Chua’s political career must be sitting on the MCA Presidential Council!

Is every member of the MCA Presidential Council prepared to take a public vow that he or she had nothing to do whatsoever with the plot for the political assassination of Chua and had no prior  knowledge of it before the four-day political maelstrom which buried Chua’s meteoric political career on the national scene?

I was in Batu Pahat yesterday for the funeral of my sister, Kit Hwa, and the identity of the hotel in Batu Pahat where Chua ended his political career is a common knowledge. In fact, I had stayed in that hotel at least once.  Will the mastermind, and not just the operatives, who set up the elaborate operation to “assassinate” Chua’s  political career face the full legal and political consequences of their actions or will this end up as another “heinous  crime without criminals”?

Chua did not spare the MCA President and Deputy President with his parting shots when he said that a healthy political culture should also embrace zero corruption and no moral judgment.

Chua said: “Healthy political culture should not be just confined to only terms of the office. Terms of office are the easiest to fulfill.”

Clearly, an MCA Minister presiding over the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal cannot pass muster Chua’s definition of a healthy political culture.  Over to you, Chan!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 January 2008, 11:46 am and is filed under
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Herald & “Allah” – “Wonderful Christmas present” which is not so “wonderful” after all

The euphoria that good sense and sanity have finally prevailed among those in government whose decisions could adversely impact on inter-religious and inter-racial relations as to aggravate religious polarization  in a plural society like Malaysia lasted  just four days.

On New Year’s eve on Monday, 31st December 2007, Malaysians thought they saw a silver lining after a whole year of gloomy “annus horribilis” when they learnt that
Herald
, the Catholic weekly, had been allowed to continue printing its Bahasa Malaysia section with
no restrictions
on the use of the word Allah for God.

A happy editor of the 13-year-old Herald, Father Lawrence Andrew, said that a representative from the Internal Security Ministry delivered a letter containing the permit to print the paper, dated Dec. 28, by hand at 10 am on a Sunday (Dec. 30) – which was a great and commendable gesture of goodwill.

The letter placed no restrictions whatsoever and included the permit for all the languages, including the Bahasa Malaysia segment, causing Father Lawrence to give effusive thanks to the government and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok for his assistance.

Bernard described the
Herald
 permit as “good news” and “a wonderful Christmas present” by the government to the Christian community.

This morning,  the euphoria that good sense and sanity have finally prevailed  among the decision-makers in government on why it is imperative to promote   inter-religious goodwill and   harmony evaporated after just  four days when Malaysians woke up to read headlines like

“Herald can’t use ‘Allah’ in its publications”

(Star)
 and
“Cabinet: ‘Allah’ for Muslims only”

(The Sun).

In a
statement
 by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Dr. Abdullah Mohd Zin said the Cabinet has decided that restrictions on the use of the world “Allah” still stand and Catholic weekly Herald therefore cannot use it although its printing licence has just been renewed.

Abdullah said the apart from
Allah
, the use of the words
Solat
,
Kaabah
 and
Baitullah
 was also prohibited in the publications of religions other than Islam as per the decision of the cabinet on July 30, 2002, which has been enforced since Dec. 5, 1986.

This is a half step backward followed by quick one step forward.

What is the use of appointing Bernard Dompok as the Minister in charge of Christian affairs if the legitimate hopes and concerns of the Christian community are not accorded  the weight and respect they deserve  – just as what is the use of a Christmas present which has only a four-day lifespan for its “wonder” effects?

However, it is not only the Christian community who are adversely affected by the ban of the use of the word
“Allah”
as it  also affects the Sikh community who use the words
Allah
 and
Rahim
 extensively to refer to God, as well the Arabic terms
“iman”
 and
“ibadat”
for faith and worship.

In claiming that the Cabinet has decided that restrictions on the use of the word
“Allah”
still stand, reaffirming the Cabinet decisions of July 30, 2002 and Dec. 5, 1986, I call on Abdullah to state:

1.	When was the last Cabinet decision on the matter and who were the Cabinet Ministers who attended and voted for it; and why the non-Muslim Cabinet Ministers did not object.

2.	Who were the Ministers who took part in the Cabinet decision on July 30, 2002 to ban the use of “Allah” for non-Islamic religions; and  non-Muslim Cabinet Ministers who supported this decision at the time should step forward to explain their action.

3.	Who were the Ministers who took part in the original Cabinet decision of Dec. 5, 1986 and whether there was full, informed and intelligent discussion of the subject before the decision was taken; and

4.	Whether all the non-Islamic Cabinet Ministers at each of these Cabinet meetings had been given an opportunity to consult the non-Islamic religions so that the Cabinet decision is the  result of the considered views and representations from all religious faiths, and not just of a handful of people from one religion?

If the Cabinet had failed to seek the widest consultation before reaching a decision which tantamounts to the unconstitutional deprivation of the right to religious freedom guaranteed to all Malaysians, the Cabinet should put on hold  its decision to ban the use of the word “Allah” for non-Islamic religions  and commission a full  and extensive consultation process on the issue   involving all religious leaders and faiths in the country.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 January 2008, 3:53 pm and is filed under
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Najib – teaching baby crabs to walk straight

Today’s
New Straits Times
 carried two intriguing and  controversial  front-page headlines in the aftermath  of the Chua Soi Lek sex video scandal:

“LET THIS BE A LESSON”
 and

“’My biggest mistake’”
.

The
“LET THIS BE A LESSON”
 headline and
NST
 report (p 6) elicited the common reaction  from most  readers –  “Is Najib the  right person to give such a warning?”

The report quoted  the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak telling Barisan Nasional leaders and members “to learn a lesson from the resignation of health minister Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek”.

Najib told Barisan Nasional leaders “to behave themselves so as not to embarrass the party”.  He said party members must exercise discipline and abide by the code of conduct of the party.

Had  Najib set exemplary standards in his political career as to qualify him to issue warning or is he akin to Father Crab  teaching Baby Crab to walk straight?

Or was Najib saying that the real lesson to be learnt was not to be caught with the pants down?

The second
NST
  frontpage headline
“’My biggest mistake’”
– also front page headline of
Star

 “
My mistake – Chua blames downfall on hardwork“
 and the
Sun

“Chua’s biggest mistake”
 –  is equally thought-provoking.

Chua attributed his  political downfall to his being too conscientious and hard-working as Health Minister and MCA vice president , to the extent that he gave this unsolicited  advice  to future  Health Ministers – “Please go slow. If you go too fast, you will also be subject to speculation. This is political reality, so I agree with some people that it is the Ministry of Hell, not because of the ministry’s work but because of the political system that we have.”

A heart-felt advice by Chua to his successors to be Health Ministers of mediocrity instead of excellence and distinction?

A very perceptive  observation and comment was left on my blog by one
TruthEnquirer
 as an off-topic  on a thread on January 1, 2008 at 8.47.26 am (more than six hours before Chua’s admission in Labis) raising very pertinent questions not only about the real power-equation in Barisan Nasional but also about  the  mainstream media, viz:

Scandal of V. K. Lingam video clip – immediate Media Blackout for 2 days when Internet Blogs and Online Bulletins buzzed with its news.

When it involves digital video disc involving a bedroom romp of a person resembling “a senior MCA politician from Johor” being distributed in several places, including Muar and Batu Pahat, this looming sex scandal received immediate mainstream papers’ attention. No Media Blackout ordered pending investigations.

Is the MCA marginalised? Do its office bearer and image deserve less protection judging from no immediate restraint imposed on mainstream media on this scandal as compared to treatment of VK Lingam video?

No wonder Chua said yesterday that he was also “killed” by the press.

On 1st January 2008,
New Straits Times
 carried the front-page headline
“Minister in sex-video poser – DVDs being distributed in Johor. State police chiefs warns against possessing or making copies. MCA party chiefs decline to comment…”
 with a Page 4 lead story
“’MCA minister’s sexual escapade’ caught on tape”
.
The Star
on the same day carried a report
“Sex DVDs of ‘politician’ out in Johor”
 in p 16.

Would  the mainstream media reported  with equal alacrity the sex DVD scandal  if the personality involved had been a key Umno leader?

To Chua, his “biggest mistake” was  not to be a  laggard like other MCA Ministers and secondly, being serious about a new “healthy political culture” like  Ministerial responsibility  whether over his sex video or  the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal.

Is the MCA Central Committee meeting next Tuesday capable of proving  Chua wrong and demonstrate to Malaysians that the highest decision-making body of the MCA sets high benchmarks for the party’s goal of a new “healthy political culture” and will discuss not only the implications and consequences of Chua’s resignation, but also the biggest financial scandal linked to any MCA Minister in party and  nation’s history – the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal of the MCA Deputy President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy?

Or is the MCA Central Committee of the view that  Chan’s RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal is much  less serious than Chua’s sex video scandal and can  therefore be ignored altogether?

The MCA had ushered in  the new year with the general election expected to be held  within 80 days with a
RM10 million  government
angpow
 to Chinese schools nationwide, which was announced by the MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting at a ceremony at MCA headquarters last week  giving out RM6.32 million to 33 primary and secondary Chinese schools.

What is the paltry RM10 million compared to the RM4.6 billion squandered away in the PKFZ bailout scandal –  as without the PKFZ scandal, the bulk of the RM4.6 billion could be disbursed to Chinese primary and secondary schools for their development to make up for the decades of government neglect and discrimination suffered by Chinese schools!

Let all Malaysians await the outcome of the MCA Central Committee on Tuesday as to whether it is prepared to take a stand on the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, such as asking Chan to set up a public inquiry to establish his innocence of any abuse of power, misuse of public funds or any Ministerial wrongdoing, failing which Chan should be instructed to tender his resignation as Transport Minister and from all government and party posts.

It has been reported that the police in Muar and Batu Pahat would launch a
massive operation
to nab those involved in distribution and in possession of Chua’s sex DVDs.

Muar Police Chief Asst Comm Mohammad Nasir Ramli said the operation would include door-to-door searches of residents suspected to be in possession of the banned material.

The police must be forewarned that it should lay off any door-to-door searches purportedly to nab those in possession of the sex DVDs.  By all means, go all out to bring to book those responsible for the crime of invasion of privacy and for distributing the sex DVDs – but the police would be turning the populace against the government for any trespass to private property in a house-to-house  search for the sex DVD as  this would be a gross abuse and misuse of police powers, transforming the country into a police state.

I call on the Prime Minister and Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to issue a clear instruction forbidding any house-to-house search by the police.  All MCA Cabinet Ministers should also speak up to oppose any such house-to-house police search operation.  I am sure Chua would not agree to any such house-to-house trespass by the police purportedly to search for his sex DVDs.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 January 2008, 11:51 am and is filed under
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PKFZ
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Police
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Renaming Synergy Drive to Sime Darby – merger or reverse takeover?

by
Mendela

Some one e-mailed me the below:

I have been curious to find out the reason for the renaming of Synergy Drive to Sime Darby after the merger. By renaming the merged entities, it seemed more like a takeover.

The followings may offer some reasons which weren’t published in the mainstream papers.

1. Was it really a merger or was it a reversed takeover of Golden Hope and Kumpulan Guthrie by Sime Darby? We were told that this was a merger of equals. It’s now obvious that it was called a merger “to enable PNB to vote at the EGM. If it was called a takeover, it would be deemed to be a related party transaction and PNB would have to abstain from voting;

2. A takeover was evident when the new merged entity is called Sime Darby (SD) Berhad. Synergy Drive (SD) was it’s temporary name during the “takeover” exercise;

3. Did the promise to create the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation company really happen? Can the “new” Sime Darby be called a plantation company when only 47 per cent of revenue is contributed by plantation activities?;

4. Have the stakeholders, in particular the PNB, been “taken for a ride” with the promise to establish the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation but ended up still with a diversified company?;

5. Will another clever and well-connected “orang tengah” (middleman) copy the hugely profitable CIMB’s money making scheme to propose another round of reorganization of Sime Darby so that more commissions and quick capital gains could be made?;

6. Who would be the lucky buyers of Sime Darby’s non-plantation assets should a further break-up of this PNB-controlled company be mandated by the power-that-be?;

7. The initial market reaction to the takeover has been positive. When listed on Nov. 30, Sime Darby shares rose 23.6 per cent or RM2.10 to RM11. But will the long-term assessment change now that the promise to create a truly gigantic plantation company has not materialized?;

8. Will other PNB assets be acquired by other “orang tengah” — middlemen– to force another mega merger or takeover on the pretext of business rationalization and economies of scale when the real reason is fee income and quick capital gains?;

9. It is incumbent upon the PNB, in particular its chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji, to guarantee that PNB and its millions of unit trust investors are not taken for a ride;

10. For its shrewd “orang tengah” role, Synergy Drive (CIMB) is believed to have turned its modest invest in the venture (or adventure) into fee income and shares worth hundreds of millions of Ringgit. Not bad for a year’s work;

11. Who is the mystery “non-Bumiputera” market maker who is said to have been responsible for successfully selling this merger idea to the Umno-led government?;

12. Will more Bumiputera assets held in custody by PNB and other Bumiputera trust agencies be “surreptitiously tranferred” to government-linked companies (GLCs)?;

13. In recent years, Bumiputera objectives of trust agencies and companies have given way to profits and market capitalization at most GLCs;

14. What will happen to the staff on the enlarged Sime Darby in the long run? When the sale of business agreement was signed, everyone was promised at least one year of guaranteed employment. When job offers were made, they were offered one year to three years “contracts”; and

What about morale? There have been allegations that those putting together the takeover “have no respect for seniority ” and that the staff of the “dead” Holden Hope and Kumpulan Guthrie alienated.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 January 2008, 7:56 pm and is filed under
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Ban on “Allah” for non-Muslims and on stop-work on world’s tallest Mazu statue – are moderates in Cabinet outnumbered by extremists?

In his speech at the Christmas high-tea organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made a stirring call to moderates to lead the fight against fanatics or extremism will prevail.

He said: “If the moderates do not speak up, they will allow the extremists to occupy centre stage. And then, extremism will be seen as the religious or national approach in our country.”

However, from the continued ban on the use of “Allah” for non-Muslims and the stop-work on the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat, Malaysians are entitled to ask: Where are the moderates in Cabinet and government  to lead the fight against fanatics so that extremism will not prevail?

How can the Cabinet justify the total ban on the use of  the word “Allah”, by surreptitiously inserting as an unwritten condition for the renewal of the printing permit of the Catholic weekly Herald, when for 50 years through four previous Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Mahathir, the use of the word by Christians and Sikhs had not caused religious misunderstanding, tension or conflict?

It is the Cabinet decision to impose a total ban on the use of the word “Allah” for non-Muslim religions, trampling on the fundamental right of freedom of religion for non-Muslims, that is  exacerbating inter-religious relations in plural Malaysia.

Why are there no moderates in the Cabinet to hold the middle-ground or have the extremists and fanatics now outnumber the moderates among the Ministers?

Last Sunday, DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok and I made a special trip to Kudat to gain first-hand understanding of the genesis for  the  Mazu statue controversy, why there had been such a failure of good governance in all three tiers of governance, local, state and federal, in the mishandling of the issue making Malaysia an international laughing-stock.

I was very glad and relieved that the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak,  who was also in Sabah on the same day, touched on the subject  in Tuaran. Najib expressed the government’s hope that former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat could  settle the Mazu statue dispute amicably without going to court. I immediately  welcomed Najib’s statement.

However, after the government “somersault” in the Herald issue, renewing the permit but coming out with an unwritten condition that it could not use the word “Allah” which also infringes on the freedom of religion of the Sikhs, I have no confidence that Najib’s Tuaran statement signified the triumph of the moderates over the extremists in Cabinet and government.

My negative vibrations have been fortified by one former Chief Minister attacking another former Chief Minister over the issue, when they should be standing united to hold the middle ground to  uphold the constitutional right of Sabahans and Malaysians on freedom of religion by continuing with the construction of the 108-ft Mazu statue in Kudat.

Yesterday’s Daily Express reported an  attack on Chong Kat Kiat by Datuk Yong Teck Lee (both former Sabah Chief Ministers),  with the latter accusing the former of not being prudent as “to  aggravate the situation and raise the political tension by making harsh and hostile statements (as reported in newspapers on Jan 1).”

The
Daily Express
report

“Accept in good faith: Yong”
 reported:

Yong, also a former Chief Minister, said the continued attacks by Chong on the Government and its leaders had only made the situation worse. He said it was also interesting that Chong has linked the so-called “Sipadan incident” to the Mazu project.

He said by opening up another issue, Chong now says that the Mazu project was, after all, not just about the Mazu project and there was a wider dimension. “Was Sipadan the one and only issue? Or, was Sipadan, an after-thought? If any, what were the other issues that Chong had with the Government and the BN going back to a few years?” Yong asked.

He said these were questions which answers would shed more background on how the Mazu project has turned out today.

What was the cause of Yong’s attack on Chong? This was the
Daily Express
report

“Najib fully aware I exhausted all means: Chong”
 on Chong’s response to Najib’s statement in Tuaran, explaining that he had no choice but to institute legal proceedings, viz:

“Not that I want to be nasty and go to court. The suit that I took is not simply for the sake of main main saja. I have no choice kerana saya kena paksa. I have no choice but to seek legal redress kerana the State Government through the Kudat Town Board (KTB) withdrew atau revoked the KTB’s approval to the Mazu project under a specific provision of Section 15 of the Town Planning Ordinance.

“And under Section 16 of the same ordinance, whoever is aggrieved by the refusal of a permission or by the making of a prohibition must within 28 days from the date of receiving notice of the decision, appeal to the High Court against the decision by notice in writing,” he told a press conference at his office at Alamesra here.

On another newspaper’s heading
“Govt Hopes Chong Will Settle Mazu Issue Amicably: DPM”
, Chong said it is not the Government’s hopes but actually the hope of DPM.

“If it is the Government’s hopes, sudah selesaibah. Betulkah? Ini ada salah print sikit. Patut the DPM hopes. But DPM is not wrong because he has been fully briefed by me.”

Chong said since the letter of revocation was already issued to him on Nov. 15, 2007, it is imperative that he act accordingly.

“Sekiranya, saya tidak ambil tindakan, ertinya saya salah, (If I don’t take action, it means I am wrong); ertinya I admitted something wrong with my project. That is why I am appealing to the court.”

On Sunday, Najib said the issue of the Mazu statue can be resolved if the parties involved discuss it among themselves, instead of going through the courts.

Chong reiterated that he has been sabar (patient) for more one-and-a-half years. “If there is any BN leader in Malaysia who is really that patient, then Chong Kah Kiat is the man. If I wanted to be nasty, jahat, nakal, I would have taken the Government to court long time ago.

“I never did that. I have got letters and documents to prove how far and how wide I have gone through all this. You think I like to have this sort of problem? You think I like to give up my job?

“My message today is bukan saya seolah-olah main tunjuk lawa mau pergi court. Tidak, saya kena paksa kerana under Section 16, I only got 28 days to appeal against the decision.

“Kalau mau bincang, saya sudah bincang dengan banyak orang, KL and all this. Semua surat saya ada, semua dokumen saya ada. Not that saya tidak pernah buat perbincangan.”

The former CM said he had not only been discussing but writing, pleading, begging everybody in the BN to see reason, to be rational and reasonable.

“I have already done everything within my means. What did I get in the end – a letter to cancel my project!

“For the record, I also met PM. PM came to LDP Congress on 11th Nov.

PM asked me to see him the following Wednesday. I went to his office. We had a very good meeting on 14th Nov, to be fair to Pak Lah. He was very good. Everything is done. But Pak Lah being a diplomat, you knowlah.

“After having successfully met the PM on 14th Nov, the State ‘rewarded’ me with a letter of revocation letter on 15th Nov, contrary to what PM told me. As a result of which, I have 28 days from the date I received (the letter) to go to court, failing which, that would mean I salah (wrong).”

On the Government’s hope to bring the Mazu statue issue back to the negotiation table (instead of going through the court), Chong said it is not a question of negotiating.

“What is there to negotiate? It is a question of whether the Government’s decision is right or wrong. Simple logic. If the decision (conveyed in a directive dated June 6, 2006 from the Local Government & Housing Ministry, ordering suspension of works on the project) and followed by a letter from the State Secretary on June 23, 2006 (ordering immediate stoppage of work) is correct and legal, why should the Government talk about compensation and relocating the site?” he asked.

“I know I am not wrong. I have all this while adhered to the law.”

Answering a reporter on Federal leaders’ stand, Chong said:  “They have been very good and understanding, all I can say. I don’t want to say much. But at the right time if I am forced to.”

Asked why then did the State not give the approval, he replied:

“Personal… I have said that already. If you remember May 2006 Sipadan – that is how it started. Before Sipadan, my project is already completed (except for assembling the statue). It’s all documented in the national and state papers. What was said, what was blasted, it’s all thereÉall the statements from the State leadership including mine.

“Bulan satu buat kerja, bulan dua, bulan tiga, bulan empat, bulan lima buat kerja. All up already before this (Sipadan), in the open. Secara terbuka saya punya projek. Siap, sekarang mau assemble. After Sipadan, less than three weeks, my project was stopped – no one can run away from Sipadan. How otherwise can you explain?”

It is disgraceful and tragic that instead of the two former Sabah Chief Ministers standing on an united platform working for the completion of the world’s tallest Mazu statue at its original site in Kudat, as the 21 containers of granite carvings for the 108 ft Mazu statue had arrived and are  lying idle in the Kota Kinablu port for the past 18 months, Yong Teck Lee is leading the attack on Chong Kah Kiat to oppose the Kudat Mazu project!

Is Yong Teck Lee with the moderates or the extremists in Sabah and Malaysia  on the Kudat Mazu statue project?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 January 2008, 1:15 pm and is filed under
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