If there is a secret ballot among the hundred-odd judges in the three tiers of judiciary, the overwhelming majority will uphold the constitution and support the position that it is unconstitutional to extend the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President

Thanks to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for admitting  clearly that the appointment of Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and the Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as additional judges so that they can continue as the two top judges in the country were made on the advice on Tun Arifin Zakaria on March 30, his last day as Chief Justice before his retirement.

Article 122(1A) in the Federal Constitution has not been complied with in the appointment of Raus and Zulkefli as as “additional judges”, unless the Chief Justice in office at the time of the appointment had also advised the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the matter.

Raus is the Chief Justice at present. Did he advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the appointment of himself and Zulkefli as “additional judges” under Article 122(1A) of the Federal Constitution, which reads:

“122(1A) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution contained, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong acting on the advice of the Chief Justice of the Federal Court may appoint for such purposes or for such period of time as he may specify any person who has held high judicial office in Malaysia to be an additional judge of the Federal Court: Provided that no such additional judge shall be ineligible to hold office by reason of having attained the age of sixty-six years.”

It is clear that Article 122(1A) refers to the Chief Justice at the operative time of the appointment of “additional judges” by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, and cannot be stretched to include previous Chief Justices, whether the advice was made when they were still Chief Justice or after their retirement.

If Raus had endorsed Arifin’s advice, then it would give rise to the conflict-of-interest situation where Raus advises the Yang di Pertuan Agong on his own appointment as an additional judge under Article 122(1A) with the purpose of extending his tenure as Chief Justice for three years.  This is clearly unacceptable and will make Raus’ extension as Chief Justice doubly unconstitutional  after August 3.

Otherwise we will have the ludicrous situation whereby Constitutional provisions on the Yang di Pertuan Agong acting on the advice of the Prime Minister could be interpreted as the Yang di Pertuan Agong acting on the advice of previous Prime Ministers while in office – i.e. acting on the advice of former Prime Ministers, whether Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad or Tun Abdullah Badawi.

The Malaysian Bar President George Varughese had rightly said that the country does not want a repeat of the 1988 Constitutional Crisis, which adversely affected the Judiciary and  caused repercussions that resounded for decades.

In 1988, the Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas was sacked and five Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah stood up for the important principles of the doctrine of separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law and paid a heavy price for their courageous stand, with Wan Suleiman and George Seah sacked as Supreme Court judges.

Do we have modern-day Azmi Kamaruddin, Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Wan Hamzah, Wan Suleiman and George Seah among the hundred-odd judges in the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Courts in Malaysia today?

It is worth noting that during the whole period of the Judiciary crisis resulting from the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President, the present Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was a member of the Cabinet. Can he wash his hands from the crisis like Lady Macbeth?

I have no doubt that if there is a secret ballot among the hundred-odd judges in the three tiers of judiciary, the  overwhelming majority will uphold the constitution and support the position that it is unconstitutional to extend the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President as the Prime Minister has sought to do.

It would appear that the 1MDB scandal is not enough for the Najib administration to attract international infamy and ignominy for Malaysia in the international community, to the extent of being catapulted into the stratosphere of  a global kleptocracy, and that  we want to commit more  heinous misdeeds which go against the very grain of the principles and precepts of  good governance, like the appointment of an illegal and unconstitutional Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President violating all canons of good governance and Constitutional provisions.

Malaysia was in the dock of international opinion for some 15 years for violating the principles of doctrine of separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law  and we seem to be courting another extended period in the dock of international opinion if we flout the Constitution to have an illegal and unconstitutional Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President.

It is wrong for Azalina to say that those who think that the appointments of Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as additional judges and the extension of their tenures as the two top judges in land  are unconstitutional can challenge the appointments in court.

There are two ways to resolve the crisis with subjecting the judiciary and the country to another bout of interntional embarrassment and ignominy.

One is for Raus and Zulkefli to decline the appointments as additional judges and the unconstitutional extension of their tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively.

Another is for the Cabinet to step in to nip the incipient constitutional crisis in the bud when it meets today.

The 36  Ministers should ask themselves what is the use of the Cabinet if it is unable to save the country from another bout of international infamy and ignominy!

Will the Cabinet meeting today discuss the latest constitutional crisis in the country and take the necessary actions to nip the crisis in the bud, or will the Ministers behave like the traditional three monkeys – with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 7:34 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s 1MDB a `Victim’ of Jho Low, Singapore Prosecutors Say

By Andrea Tan  and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

Bloomberg

12 July 2017

Prosecutors in Singapore said Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho is the central figure in probes linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., and that he used money traceable to the state fund for his own benefit.

Low received “huge” sums of money, the prosecutors said in court filings made public on Wednesday. About $1 billion that 1MDB was purported to invest in a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd. was diverted to a bank account beneficially owned by Low, according to the filings.

“The main victim in this case is 1MDB,” prosecutor Nathaniel Khng said in a Singapore state court. “Jho Low has gone missing from the public eye.”

Singapore’s investigations into 1MDB-related activities has so far seen five people convicted, four of whom have been sentenced to jail. The city-state is the only country so far to have criminally charged bankers.

The probes are part of a worldwide effort to track how much of the $6 billion that 1MDB raised for development projects was used to pay for luxury real estate, art, lavish parties and more. The U.S. and Switzerland are among the countries also investigating the roles played by banks and individuals. Low has been characterized by U.S. investigators as the controller of a plan to drain billions from the Malaysian fund.

A request for comment sent via the website of Low’s Jynwel Capital Ltd. wasn’t immediately answered, nor was an email sent to 1MDB, which has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Low has previously described his role with the fund as informal consulting that didn’t break any laws.

Low issued a statement in June in response to a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that sought to recover $540 million in assets that it said were purchased with funds misappropriated from 1MDB. “We look forward to the court being presented with the actual facts which demonstrate that the DOJ’s case is completely without foundation,” he said at the time through a representative.

A probe by a Malaysian parliamentary committee identified irregularities in 1MDB’s joint venture agreement with PetroSaudi in 2009, when $700 million was transferred to an account at RBS Coutts Bank Ltd. held by a company that had nothing to do with the project.

Secret Profits

Wednesday’s court hearing saw Yeo Jiawei, a former banker serving the longest jail term in Singapore’s 1MDB investigations, admit to charges including money laundering. Yeo played a role in the transactions involving the fund and made secret profits on the side, prosecutors said.

Yeo, who also pleaded guilty to cheating his former employer, agreed to help with Singapore’s money-laundering probes, which prosecutors described as the largest in the country’s history. He was sentenced to 54 months in jail by the state court on Wednesday. The former BSI SA wealth planner was handed a 30-month term in December on charges of trying to tamper with witnesses in the probe.

Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun said on Wednesday that the courts must take an “uncompromising stance” to safeguard the integrity of Singapore’s financial system.

Yeo had referred to Low as “boss” and spent at least one night at his house, according to earlier court proceedings. Yeo previously said it was a misunderstanding that he worked for Low. His admission of guilt came after the Monetary Authority of Singapore wrapped up a two-year probe into flows related to the Malaysian investment fund.

Singapore has imposed a total of S$29.1 million ($21 million) in penalties on eight banks as part of its 1MDB probes. Credit Suisse Group AG and United Overseas Bank Ltd. were among the firms that paid penalties, while BSI and Falcon Private Bank Ltd. were also ordered to shut their local operations.

Yeo accumulated a net worth of S$23.9 million through “secret profits” in the 15 months after he left BSI in June 2014, prosecutors said in an earlier hearing. Yeo had said the money was earned legitimately.

Yeo’s lawyer Derek Kang said Wednesday that his client came from a humble background and had “no chance” of working again in the finance industry. Yeo will give up the profits he made from the offenses, Kang said.

The criminal case is Public Prosecutor v Yeo Jiawei, Singapore State Courts.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 10:03 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Spawns Worldwide Probes: QuickTake Q&A

By Shamim Adam  and Laurence Arnold

Bloomberg

16 June 2017

Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1MDB, was supposed to attract foreign investment. Instead, it has spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world that have cast an unflattering spotlight on financial deal-making, election spending and political patronage under Prime Minister Najib Razak. A Malaysian parliamentary committee identified at least $4.2 billion in irregular transactions.

1. What is 1MDB?

It’s a government investment company — full name, 1Malaysia Development Berhad — that took shape in 2009 under Najib, who went on to lead its advisory board. Its early initiatives included buying privately owned power plants and planning a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The fund proved better at borrowing — it accumulated $12 billion in debt — than at luring large-scale investment.

2. What’s the issue?

Investigators have been trying to trace whether money flowed through and around 1MDB and illegally into personal accounts. Some of the money is alleged to have ended up with Najib and his family. That includes $681 million that landed in the prime minister’s personal bank account, according to U.S. prosecutors. Malaysia’s attorney general, backed by Saudi authorities, said the $681 million was a donation from the Saudi Arabian royal family, much of which was returned. The U.S. Justice Department says the money instead came from, and was returned to, an offshore entity called Tanore Finance Corp. Another $700 million in 1MDB funds meant for a joint venture with a company known as PetroSaudi International was found to have landed in an unrelated offshore account. Najib has denied wrongdoing.

3. Who is investigating?

There are probes related to 1MDB in at least 10 countries, focused on possible embezzlement or money laundering. At home, investigations have been less pointed. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to seize about $1.8 billion in assets that it says were illegally acquired through money diverted from 1MDB, including real estate, art and proceeds from the film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Singapore and Switzerland have imposed financial penalties on several banks for lapses in anti-money laundering controls related to funds allegedly from 1MDB.

4. Who is involved?

Though not all have been accused of doing anything wrong, financiers and financial companies have found themselves part of the 1MDB saga:

Low Taek Jho
, a bon vivant who did consulting work for 1MDB, is portrayed by U.S. prosecutors as a central figure who set up shell companies to collect proceeds from the fund and arranged the withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars to pay Malaysian government officials and for his own lavish spending. He is a “key person of interest” in Singapore investigations and the Wall Street Journal says U.S. authorities could file criminal charges against him. Efforts to reach Low, who had previously denied wrongdoing, have been unsuccessful.

Falcon Private Bank Ltd
., a Zurich-based bank linked to $3.8 billion of 1MDB fund flows, was ordered to cease operations in Singapore while Switzerland threatened to withdraw its license if there were any further breaches of money-laundering regulations.

BSI SA
, a 143-year-old Swiss bank that worked with 1MDB, lost its license to do business in Singapore for breaches of money laundering rules.

Goldman Sachs
 made $593 million working on three bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, dwarfing what banks typically make from government deals. It said in 2015 that fees and commissions “reflected the underwriting risks” it had assumed. New York’s bank regulator has asked the firm for a summary of its 1MDB work.

Tim Leissner
, Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asia chairman, wrote an unauthorized reference letter for Low on the bank’s letterhead. He resigned in February 2016 and hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. Singapore banned him from the securities industry for 10 years.

UBS Group AG, DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Credit Suisse Group AG, United Overseas Bank Ltd. and Standard Chartered Plc
 are among those who have also drawn penalties from the Singapore central bank for anti-money laundering lapses. They said they will strengthen controls in their businesses.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 10:22 pm and is filed under
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Singapore Banker Admits Money Laundering in 1MDB-Linked Case

By Andrea Tan  and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

Bloomberg

12 July 2017

Yeo Jiawei, a former banker serving the longest jail term in Singapore’s probes linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., admitted to charges including money laundering.

Yeo, who also pleaded guilty Wednesday to cheating his former employer, agreed to help with Singapore’s money-laundering investigation, which prosecutors described as the largest in the country’s history. He was sentenced to 54 months in jail by a Singapore state court. The former BSI SA wealth planner was handed a 30-month term in December on charges of trying to tamper with witnesses in the probe.

Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun said on Wednesday that the courts must take an “uncompromising stance” to safeguard the integrity of Singapore’s financial system.

Yeo’s admission of guilt came after the Monetary Authority of Singapore wrapped up a two-year probe into flows related to the Malaysian investment fund. Prosecutors named him as a central figure linked to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, who was identified by Singapore police as a “key person of interest” in their probe. Low has also been characterized by U.S. investigators as the controller of a plan to drain billions from 1MDB.

The Malaysian fund, at the heart of several money laundering and corruption probes across the globe, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Low has previously described his role with 1MDB as informal consulting that didn’t break any laws.

Yeo had referred to Low as “boss” and spent at least one night at his house, according to earlier court proceedings. Yeo previously said it was a misunderstanding that he worked for Low.

Singapore has imposed a total of S$29.1 million ($21 million) in penalties on eight banks as part of its 1MDB probes. Credit Suisse Group AG and United Overseas Bank Ltd. were among the firms that paid penalties, while BSI and Falcon Private Bank Ltd. were also ordered to shut their local operations. Five people, including Yeo, have been convicted in Singapore, the only country so far to have criminally charged bankers.

Yeo accumulated a net worth of S$23.9 million through “secret profits” in the 15 months after he left BSI in June 2014, prosecutors said in an earlier hearing. Yeo had said the money was earned legitimately.

Yeo’s lawyer Derek Kang said Wednesday that his client came from a humble background and had “no chance” of working again in the finance industry. Yeo will give up the profits he made from the offenses, Kang said.

The criminal case is Public Prosecutor v Yeo Jiawei, Singapore State Courts.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 4:46 pm and is filed under
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The RM117 million 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace stolen from 1MDB funds by Jho Low and given to “wife of MO1” would be able to immediately sponsor over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that 1MDB had contributed to the people in many ways which they are unaware of, like the Prime Minister’s special  haj programme which had spent RM57 million since 2011 to finance 5,700 people to perform the haj in Mecca.

I did an immediate calculation and found that the RM117 million (US$27.3 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace stolen from 1MDB  funds by Jho Low and given to the “wife of MO1” would be able to immediately sponsor over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia.

May be this is what the “wife of MO1” should do with regard to the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace to immediately finance over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia. Will the “wife of MO1” agree to this suggestion?

We are only talking about the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace gifted to the “wife of MO1” from the stolen 1MDB funds, which is not the only item of jewellery involved in the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which landed up with “wife of MO1”.

The third filing by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the California court to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets from the US$4.5 billion  1MDB funds stolen and laundered through American banks, referred to 28 jewellery items purportedly purchased for “MO1’s wife”.

But the  one piece of the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace costing RM117 million is itself beyond the capability of over 99% of Malaysians, even from their multiple life-time incomes or earnings.

If a person earns RM5,000 a month, he would make RM60,000 a year, RM600,000 in a decade, and given 50 years of lifetime earnings or incomes, we are talking about a total of RM3 million – which is just 2.5% of the cost of the pink diamond necklace of “wife of MO1”.

To afford to buy the 22-carat pink diamond necklace gifted to the “wife of MO1” by Jho Low would need incomes from such a person earning RM5,000 a month for 50 years for 40 life-times!

Furthermore, how many people in Malaysia earn RM5,000 a month for 50 years?

In his speech yesterday, Najib enlisted imams and village heads to be his propagandists to defend the 1MDB so that the 1MDB haj sponsorship programme could continue.

Najib should for a start give a full accountintg of the 1MDB scandal.

Nobody knows what are the total debts which had been piled up by 1MDB, which eventually would have to be paid by future generations of Malaysians.

This is because the last accounts of 1MDB to be audited and published was up to the end of March 2014, with three years of outstanding 1MDB accounts from 2014 to 2017 a mystery even to Cabinet Ministers!

The total debts of 1MDB could be in the region of RM50 – RM55 billion, which would put the RM56 million allocated by 1MDB to sponsor pilgrims to Mecca in the past six years since 2011 a mere drop in the ocean as it represents only a paltry 0.1 per cent of the total 1MDB debts.

If 1MDB had allocated 1% of its total debts to sponsor pilgrims to perform haj in Mecca, then 57,100 Muslims and not just 5,711 persons would have benefitted, with the total allocation in the region of RM560 million and not just RM56 million.

If 1MDB could reveal that it had spent RM56 million in the last six years to sponsor 5,711 pilgrims to perform haj in Mecca, why can’t 1MDB fully disclose its financial statements in the past three years?

I am reminded of the lament by political analyst, Professor Ahmad Atory Hussain  that 1MDB has been  prioritising young imams and village chiefs in its haj sponsorship programme, rather than the old folk.

A  former Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) political science lecturer, Atory said:

“Many young applicants have been getting the 1MDB-sponsored spots. I feel shocked, if those who went on haj were as old as me, I wouldn’t mind.”

Atory said that according to the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) name list, his turn will only come when he is 110 years old.

“I have applied four times to perform the haj, but it seems that it will take 44 years before I get it.

“I am now 66 years old and I probably won’t be around when I am 100.”

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir announced last year that the waiting period for the haj pilgrimage had been extended from 72 years to 82 years, due to a large number of applicants with Tabung Haji.

Now we know the reasons for Atory’s complaints.

Since 2011, 1MDB has spent more than RM56 million to sponsor 5,711 pilgrims, including imams, village development and security committee (JKKK) chairpersons, tahfiz (religious) teachers and tokbatin (village chiefs) to perform the haj under the Prime Minister-1MDB Foundation special programme.

It is obvious that the 1MDB Haj programme has a political purpose.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on  Wednesday, July 12, 2017)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 11:15 am and is filed under
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Najib should take a leaf from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, schedule a three-day parliamentary debate on 1MDB on 24-26th July   when Parliament reconvenes and waive parliamentary immunity to give full accounting of a scandal which has made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should take a leaf from his Singapore counterpart and schedule a three-day parliamentary debate on 1MDB on 24-26th July when Parliament reconvenes and waive parliamentary immunity to give a full accounting of the scandal, which has made Malaysia into a global kleptoracy.

Up to now, Najib and his government have put up an elaborate but artificial charade that the 1MDB scandal does not exist, a figment of imagination of Najib’s enemies who want to topple the Malaysian Prime Minister and undermine the national sovereignty of Malaysia.

However, the fig leaf  of such an elaborate and artificial charade has been torn to shreds by the guilty plea of the former Singapore banker, Yeo Jiawei, to charges including money-laundering of stolen 1MDB funds. Yeo played a role in the 1MDB money-laundering transactions and made secret profits on the side.

Even more ominous was the statement by the Singapore prosecutors that 1MDB was  the “main victim” of the US$6 billion financial scam by the Penang billionaire Jho Low and the revelation that Jia Wei had agreed to help with Singapore’s 1MDB money-laundering probes, described as the largest in the country’s history.

As at least 10 countries are probing into 1MBD embezzlement or money laundering, it is too far fetched to insinuate that there is an international conspiracy involving at least 10 countries to topple Najib as Prime Minister and interfere with Malaysia’s domestic affairs.

Could it be true – and when and why did Malaysia make so many enemies in the international arena?

It may be possible in the pre-Internet era to continue with such a charade pretending that the 1MDB scandal is a figment of imagination of Najib’s enemies, but in the information era where information travels at the speed of light and with at least 10 countries carrying out criminal or regulatory investigations into the 1MDB scandal, Najib  will be exposed and ridiculed as the modern-day Emperor without clothes.

The elusive Jho Low has accused the Singapore government of being motivated solely by politics in its campaign against him when the Singapore prosecutors accused him of victimizing 1MDB.

In a statement issued by his spokesman  early today, Jho Low said that any attempt to link him and recent guilty pleas by parties who allegedly made secret profits was “based on unfounded assumptions”.

Singapore prosecutors said that about US$1 billion (RM4.3 billion) purported to invest in a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd was diverted to a bank account beneficially owned by Low.

Jho Low was named as the central figure in the probe into the Malaysian-government owned entity.

In response, Low’s spokesman said: “This is an example of overreach with a politically motivated act and selectively chosen narrative alleging 1MDB as a ‘victim’, when it has been clearly stated by the Malaysian authorities that there has been no misappropriation of 1MDB funds.

“No wrongdoing has been proved in any jurisdiction relating to the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds, and this development in Singapore does not change that.

“Mr Low is confident that any impartial party presented with the complete facts will see that the allegations are flawed, biased and create an inaccurate picture.”

Low has not been seen in Malaysia since his ill-fated but highly-funded attempt in the 2013 general elections to defeat the DAP Secretary-General and  Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng in the Air Puteh State Assembly seat.

In fact, it has been said that “his sightings have been as rare as the Loch Ness monster since Singapore and the United States began their probes into alleged wrongdoing at 1MDB”.

An explanation from Najib is clearly needed – does the Malaysian Prime Minister agree with Joh Low’s version of 1MDB events.

If Jho Low is innocent of any grand larceny or any money-laundering running into billions of American dollars, why has Jho Loh disappeared from the public scene to become a fugitive from justice – when he was at one time a highly publicized party-goer at glittering social events?

Is it true that the Prime Minister had to meet Jho Low in secrecy during some of Najib’s overseas trips?

To put all rumours and speculation to rest, Najib should invite Jho Low to Parliament during the three-day special debate on 1MDB on July 24 -26, as it should be no problem to arrange for a special session where  Jho Low could  address and answer questions from Members of Parliament on the 1MDB scandal.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 13 July 2017, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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Why had Khairy been overshadowed not only by “old men” in Pakatan Harapan but also “old men” in UMNO?

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad made a valid point when he asked the UMNO youth leader and Minister for Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin, why he is afraid of “old men” in politics because Khairy had asked Mahathir, Datuk Seri Anwar and I myself to  retire from politics.

While we wait for Khairy’s reply, just as I am waiting for Khairy  to elucidate the mysterious reason he had given asking for my retirement from politics, Khairy should explain why he is being overshadowed not only by “old men” in Pakatan Harapan, but also by “old men” in UMNO!

Khairy, who may regard himself as the greatest gift to Malaysians, has failed to stand heads-and-shoulders over  the “half-past six” and “deadwood” Ministers in the Najib  Cabinet which he joined in 2013  – an eloquent but sad testimony of the mediocrity of an Oxonian.

The mission to craft the country’s new vision in TN 50 (Transformation Nasional 2050) should have provided Khairy with a final  opportunity to show his intellectual and political prowess and talents against the rest of the  maddening Cabinet crowd, but Khairy again blotted his copybook as he had been infected by the same disease which afflict all the other Cabinet Ministers – the lack of courage to stand up  on principles most notably over the unprecedented and colossal international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

Khairy must have known about the case of the  former Singapore banker, Yeo Jiawei, who was sentenced to 54 months in jail in Singapore during the early part of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

Did he quote  Jiawei’s conviction and case to ask the Cabinet at the meeting yesterday to stop pretending that the 1MDB scandal does not exist.

This was all the more pertinent as the prosecutors in Singapore said that 1MDB was the “main victim” of the financial scam by the  Penang billionaire Jho Low, described as the “central figure” in probes linked to the 1MDB in at least ten countries, focused on possible embezzlement or money-laundering.

Yeo was last December handed a 30-month term  on charges of trying to tamper with witnesses into Singapore’s 1MDB money-laundering investigation, which Singapore prosecutors described as the largest in the country’s history.

As whizz-kid of Malaysian politics, Khairy who had once boasted of wanting to be Prime Minister before he is 40 years, should have “belled the cat” to ask in Cabinet yesterday whether it is true that 1MDB was the “main victim” of Jho Low’s financial scam, and if so, why the Malaysian authorities had been singularly kind to Jho Low?

Former Deputy Prime Minister and now Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president,  Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said that as UMNO Youth leader, Khairy should take a braver stand, in particular over the 1MDB scandal.

Muhyiddin is disappointed with Khairy as Muhyiddin  had high hopes in Khairy when he was still in UMNO.

When will Khairy respond to Tunku Makhota Johore, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim, Mahathir and Muhyiddin?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 13 July 2017, 7:12 am and is filed under
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Is there not a single one from the 36 Ministers who realized that establishing an RCI into Bank Negara forex earnings losses a quarter of a century ago without a RCI into 1MDB is the dumbest thing the Cabinet can do?

Newly-appointed Pakatan Harapan Chairman and former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in his blog yesterday, wrote:

“On the other hand, no RCI is being set up to investigate the proven losses of tons of money by 1MDB and Najib despite the enormous evidence of wrongdoings which are available to the world and the Malaysian public.

“The RCI on currency trading by Bank Negara more than thirty years ago is not about seeking justice but is clearly a desperate effort by Najib to silence his detractors. It will not work.”

I fully agree with Mahathir.

In fact, I want to ask if there was not a single one from the 36 Ministers who did not realize that establishing a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara forex earnings losses a quarter of a century ago without a RCI into 1MDB is the dumbest thing the Cabinet can do and that the Malaysian Cabinet has become the laughing stock in the world in the past three weeks?

Where is the conscience of Barisan Nasional in the Cabinet?  Gerakan had forsaken that self-appointed role as “conscience” of Barisan Nasional long time ago, and has the Barisan Nasional Cabinet and government become conscienceless all these years?

It was only three weeks ago on June 21 that the Cabinet took the decision to set up a RCI into the Bank Negara forex losses a quarter of a century ago.

I had told the Cabinet Special Task Force into Bank Negara forex losses in early nineties on Thursday, 4th May 2017 that I stood my speech in Parliament in April 1994 calling for a RCI into the Bank Negara forex losess.

But I told the Special Task Force that the key lesson of the Bank Negara forex losses a quarter of a century ago was the failure of Ministers, top civil servants, MPs and the press to play their respective roles to uphold the principles and accountability and good governance – and that  the same expensive mistake was being repeated over the current bigger1MDB scandal.

This is what I told the Special Task Force when I appeared before it on May 4:

“The special task force has been described as ‘exhuming an elephant’s carcass from Dr. M’s era’.

“Why are we missing the ‘elephant’ in the room – the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal which has earned for Malaysia the ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy?

“Or are we to wait for a quarter of a century before we have a special task force to ‘exhume’ the ‘elephant carcass’ of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal – some time in 2040?”

Three weeks have since passed, and the question which I posed to the Special Task Force has become even more relevant – with the latest guilty plea of the former Singapore banker, Yeo Jiawei, to charges including money-laundering of stolen 1MDB funds and the revelation that Jia Wei had agreed to help with Singapore’s 1MDB money-laundering probes, described as the largest in Singapore’s history.

The fact that at least 10 other countries are probing into 1MBD embezzlement or money laundering, and that in Singapore alone, a total of US$21 million in penalties  had been imposed on eight banks as part of its 1MDB probes, while BSI and Falcon Private Bank Ltd. were also ordered to shut their local operations; and five people had been   convicted in Singapore for 1MDB money-laundering offences have raised the international question whether Malaysia has got  a rogue Prime Minister, a rogue Cabinet and a rogue Attorney-General.

I call on the 36 Ministers to clear themselves of being Ministers of the first rogue Cabinet in the nation’ history by ensuring two things:

•	firstly, schedule a three-day parliamentary debate on 1MDB on 24- 26th July, with invitation to 1MDB mastermind, Jho Low, to end his secretive sojourns in recent years as fugitive from international justice so as to be in  Parliament for the special debate; and

•	secondly, establishing a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal.

Or are Malaysians to wait until the next 14th General Election for a new  Pakatan Harapan federal government in Putrajaya as the  Pakatan Harapan  Presidential Council had decided last night (and announced at the post-midnight news conference)  that the formation of a RCI into the 1MDB scandal will be one of the priorities of a PH Federal Government in its first 100 days in office, including to:

•	Stabilise the price of petrol.

•	Focus on efforts to alleviate the rakyat’s burdens.

•	Start a thorough reform process of institution.

•	Fight corruption to its roots.

•	Rehabilitate the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).

•	“Cancel and correct” any breach of laws by the current government, which impact the people’s interest; and

•	start within the first week of forming the Federal Government the process to obtain a royal pardon for Datuk Seri  Anwar Ibrahim to enable him to fully return to the national political scene as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 14 July 2017, 6:00 am and is filed under
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Reply to Salleh – DAP neither sidelined nor do we dominate Pakatan Harapan, which is  coalition of political equals based on the operational principle of consensus, unlike Barisan Nasional  which is founded on UMNO hegemony

The Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak was mystified by the Pakatan Harapan leadership council decision yesterday on the structure of Pakatan Harapan and asked about the absence of the DAP leaders in the top three positions in the Pakatan Harapan line-up.

He asked: “Was DAP sidelined or the line-up was deliberately done to make as if the coalition is dominated by the Malays?”

It is neither.

DAP  is neither sidelined nor do we dominate Pakatan Harapan, which is  coalition of political equals based on the operational principle of consensus, unlike Barisan Nasional  which is founded on UMNO hegemony.

For quite some time, the main thrust of UMNO/BN propaganda of UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers was to purvey the lies, fake news and false information that DAP dominated Pakatan Harapan and that I am a  “dictator of dictators”, exercising  dictatorship not only in DAP but also in Pakatan Harapan; and  that Malay leaders like Mohamad Sabu, Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ramli, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Muhyiddin and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad  have sold their soul and were just   my stooges and puppets.

This serves the UMNO grand strategy of a propaganda campaign of lies, fake news and false information to poison the Malay ground with the fear that if UMNO is defeated in the next general election, the Malays will suffer as the Chinese will grab  the political power from the Malays.

These are all lies – for Malaysia can only  start anew and find greatness if UMNO is defeated; and if UMNO is defeated, the Chinese will not grab the political power of the Malays as Malay political power in Malaysia is  assured, with the Prime Minister from Pakatan Harapan a Malay and not a Chinese or non-Malay.

The trouble with UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers is that they come to believe and live in the world of their own propaganda and lies, but they have to wake up one day to face the political realities.

One of these political realities in Malaysia is the that the  time for UMNO is up and national salvation lies in a new political coalition in Putrajaya.

This is why July 13 will go down  as one of the most important dates in Malaysian political history, for the new structure, political leadership and direction decided by the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council last night heralded a re-ignition of new hope and confidence among Malaysians that there can be political change in Putrajaya in the next general election.

Salleh said that the opposition coalition can never match BN, which has a “track record of co-operation between different ethnic groups and tolerance between its leaders, without compromising party principles”.

I agree with Salleh that Pakatan Harapan can never match UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition in making Malaysia overnight into a “global kleptocracy”, and we  defintely do not want to match UMNO/BN on corruption and abuses of power.

We want to save Malaysia from the international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy” and ensure that Malaysia fulfils our early promise to become a vibrant democracy and a model to the world as an united, harmonious, just, progressive and prosperous  nation where the diversities of race, religion, language and culture are  national assets and strengths and not national liabilities and weaknesses.

What Salleh and the UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers must understand is that Pakatan Harapan is a different coalition altogether from the UMNO/BN coalition, where UMNO hegemony is accepted  as a modus operandi by all  the other 13 component parties, who are left with an increasingly subservient and servile role.

Pakatan Harapan, on the other hand,  is a coalition of equals, where no party exercises hegemony like UMNO in BN, and where consensus from all the four component parties is the basic operational principle of the coalition.

There is no consensus in Barisan Nasional – only  UMNO hegemony, which is best illustrated by the total silence and subservience of the other BN parties  to the 1MDB scandal, where there is not a single Minister (even from Sarawak) who dare to ask in Cabinet who is “MO1” and who is “wife of MO1” with the RM117 million pink diamond necklace presented by 1MDB mastermind, Jho Low, from stolen 1MDB funds!

(Media Conference Statement in Miri on Friday, 14th July 2017 at 4 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 14 July 2017, 6:02 pm and is filed under
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Shariah’s Winding Path Into Modernity

Mustafa Akyol

New York Times

JULY 13, 2017

In June, Americans in about two dozen cities joined a “March Against Sharia.” For these protesters, the Arabic term is a code word for the oppression of women and men in the name of God — horrors like stoning and beheading. Since such brutalities do indeed happen in the name of Shariah, they may have had a point. But there were also points that they missed.

In Arabic, “Shariah” literally means “the way.” More specifically, it refers to the body of Islamic rules that Muslims see as God’s will — based either on the Quran or on the Prophet Muhammad’s reported words and deeds. It is conceptually impossible, therefore, for a Muslim who is serious about his faith to condemn Shariah. But the implementation of Shariah, which is called “fiqh,” or jurisprudence, is open to interpretation and discussion.

Much of Shariah is about personal observance: A good Muslim should pray five times a day while turned toward Mecca, for example, or should fast daily throughout Ramadan. Of course, there is no problem with these acts of personal piety — unless they are coerced. They should be welcome in any society with religious liberty.

However, a part of Shariah is about public law, including the penal code. And there are clear conflicts here with modern standards of human rights. First, Shariah lays out corporal punishments, such as chopping off hands, stoning, flogging and beheading. The Islamic legal code also proscribes crimes like apostasy, blasphemy and extramarital sex — none of which can be a crime at all in any liberal society.

For those on the side of human rights, there is some good news: Medieval Islamic scholars drew a distinction between personal observance, or ibadat, and public law, or muamalat. And they granted that the latter is more flexible. Moreover, in the past two centuries, modernization in most parts of the Muslim world, beginning with the Ottoman Empire, rendered much of the muamalat obsolete and replaced it with secular laws. That is why while there are some 50 Muslim-majority countries, a criminal code based on Shariah is implemented in only about a dozen.

But there’s also bad news. Across the Muslim world there are ideological movements that want to bring back Shariah, with all its harsh, coercive, illiberal elements, naïvely hoping that it will revive the Islamic world’s medieval glory. Typically, these movements are called Islamist. While most Islamists are nonviolent and want to advance their ideology through political means like winning elections, others are violent. (The Islamic State is the most extreme. Tellingly, one of its slogans reads, “Shariah can only be established by weapons.”)

Would the Islamists like to impose Shariah across the world, even in the West — even in, say, Oklahoma, Alabama or South Dakota, all of which have in recent years passed laws intending to ban Shariah? The most radical Islamists, in their wildest dreams, may hope to do that. But their main battle is within the Muslim world — and even there they are not making much headway.

Moreover, polls show that most Muslims living in the West, especially the United States, are happy with liberal laws and norms. Some conservatives among them may want voluntary Shariah courts to arbitrate on issues like marriage, divorce and inheritance, but even that modest demand should not be confused with making Shariah’s harsh penal code the law of the land.

All of this may appall some in the West. Why, they wonder, is Islam so obsessed with law? This has led some critics to assert that “Islam is not even a religion” but rather “a political system.”

The reason for this misunderstanding is that many Westerners’ ideas about religion are based mainly on Christianity, whose very Savior reportedly gave up the will to legislate “the kingdom of this world.”

However, there is another Abrahamic religion that is much more similar to Islam on this matter, and it may offer some perspective: Judaism. The Jewish tradition of divine law, Halakha, which also means “the way,” is what Shariah is modeled on.

Like Shariah, Halakha has many rules on matters of personal observance — what to eat, what to wear — that Orthodox Jews still follow. But it also has harsh punishments, including stoning and even burning to death, for crimes such as adultery, blasphemy and idolatry.

The big difference between Judaism and Islam here is that the former lost political power nearly 2,000 years ago, at which time the Halakha’s penal code became ineffective. Rabbis, as leaders of often persecuted minorities, accepted the laws of their host countries, declaring, “the law of the kingdom is the law.” Today, most Muslim scholars give the same advice to Muslims living in the West, whereas Islamists don’t want to give up the ideal of theocracy. (The modern state of Israel was born as mainly a secular entity, and those who would like to see a state run according to Halakha constitute a small minority.)

Yet a lack of power wasn’t the only thing that led Jews to abandon the constraints of Halakha, there was also the Enlightenment — more specifically the “Jewish Enlightenment.” Its proponents, like the 18th-century philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, reinterpreted Judaism in the light of modern values like secular knowledge, rationality and freedom of conscience. The arguments Mendelssohn articulated in his 1783 masterpiece, “Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism,” are remarkably similar to the arguments by Muslim reformists today. (In other words, the Jewish Enlightenment, not Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, is the right analogy for the reform needed in contemporary Islam.)

It is also worth noting that at the time, some Western liberals viewed the Jewish Enlightenment as a futile attempt to transmute a hopelessly legalist religion. One of them was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who depicted Judaism as “not a religion at all, but a political constitution.” Jews would never become true Europeans, Kant added, unless they accepted “the religion of Jesus” and a “euthanasia of Judaism” took place. This anti-Semitic view from the 18th century sounds remarkably similar to some fashionable anti-Islamic views of today.

Islam, in other words, is not the exceptional religion that both its believers and critics often think it is. It is rather a branch of the old Abrahamic tree and is going through the challenges that other branches have gone through.

Islam also has the seeds of reform within itself. On Shariah, here is a silver lining: Some medieval Islamic scholars, like Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi of Granada, looked beyond the letter of the law and mapped out the divine “intentions” behind Shariah. The latter turned out to be the protection of five fundamental values: religion, life, property, reason and lineage.

Today Muslim reformists point out that these values are much better protected in Western democracies than in “Islamic” states.

They add that the passion for Shariah should be translated into a doctrine of the inalienable rights of all people — a vision that is desperately lacking in today’s Middle East, where the alternative to archaic literalist Shariah is often only secular but despotic rule.

Mustafa Akyol, a contributing opinion writer, is a visiting fellow at the Freedom Project at Wellesley College and the author, most recently, of “The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 14 July 2017, 8:06 am and is filed under
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Extension of Raus as Chief Justice after August 3 not only unconstitutional but deny Richard Malanjum as the the first Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia

It must be a matter of grave concern to all patriotic Malaysians that the integrity and sanctity of the Malaysian Constitution is receiving less and less respect from the powers-that-be, and the latest example of an incipient constitutional crisis in Malaysia is the illegal and unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Raus Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively.

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

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

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

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

On 26th July 2006, for the first time since the formation of Malaysia, Malanjum became the first Sabahan to be elevated as fourth Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, as the post was previously held by a British, Peninsular Malaysian and Sarawak judge respectively.

Malanjum is a more senior Federal Court judge than Raus and Zulkefli by six years, as both Raus and Zulkefli were only elevated as Federal Court judges in September 2011.

With Raus and Zulkefli‘s unconstitutional extension of their tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively, the country may also have been denied having the first woman Chief Justice in the near future.

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

It would be a great and important factor contributing to the closer unity and cohesion of the Malaysian Federation if a Sabahan or Sarawakian who is Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak could be elevated as Chief Justice of Malaysia in the sixth decade of Malaysian federation as otherwise, it would take another few decades before this could be achieved.

It will indeed be most unfortunate if the constitutional crisis over the extensions of the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal Presidentn could not be resolved, for it would also give the impression that the existing judges in the Federal Court are not ready to be elevated to higher judicial positions.

The easiest and swiftest resolution of the constitutional crisis is for Rauf and Zulkefli to decline the unconstitutional extension of their two judicial offices, especially as both of them have sworn to uphold the Constitution in their oaths of office.

Will Rauf and Zulkefli decline their unconstitutional appointments, and will Malanjum be the first judge from Sabah/Sarawak to be appointed Chief Justice of Malaysia to mark the 60th National Day Anniversary and the 54th Malaysia Day anniversary?

(Speech at the “Bangkit Miri, Undi Harapan” DAP Miri 14th General Election Preparatory Dinner at Eastwood Valley, Miri on Friday, 14th July 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 11:02 am and is filed under
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Extension of Raus as Chief Justice after August 3 not only unconstitutional but deny  Richard Malanjum as the first  Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia

It must be a matter of grave concern to all patriotic Malaysians that the integrity and sanctity of the Malaysian Constitution is receiving less and less respect from the powers-that-be, and the latest example of an incipient constitutional crisis in Malaysia is the illegal and unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Raus Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively.

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

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

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

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

On 26th July 2006, for the first time since the formation of Malaysia, Malanjum became the first Sabahan to be elevated as fourth Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, as the post was previously held by a British, Peninsular Malaysian and Sarawak judge respectively.

Malanjum is a more senior Federal Court judge  than  Raus and Zulkefli by six years,  as both Raus and Zulkefli  were only  elevated as Federal Court judges in September 2011.

With Raus and Zulkefli‘s unconstitutional extension of their tenures as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President respectively, the country may also have been denied having the first  woman Chief Justice in the near future.

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

It would be a great and important  factor contributing to the closer unity and cohesion of the Malaysian Federation if a Sabahan or Sarawakian who is Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak could be elevated as Chief Justice of Malaysia in the sixth decade of Malaysian federation as otherwise, it would take another few decades  before this could be achieved.

It will indeed be most unfortunate if the constitutional crisis over the extensions of the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal Presidentn could not be resolved, for it would also give the impression that the existing judges in the Federal Court are not ready to be elevated to higher judicial positions.

The easiest and swiftest resolution of the constitutional crisis is for Rauf and Zulkefli to decline the unconstitutional extension of their two judicial offices, especially as both of them have sworn to uphold the Constitution in their oaths of office.

Will Rauf and Zulkefli decline their unconstitutional appointments, and will Malanjum be the first judge from Sabah/Sarawak to be appointed Chief Justice of Malaysia to mark the 60th National Day Anniversary and the 54th Malaysia Day anniversary?

(Speech at the “Bangkit Miri, Undi Harapan”  DAP Miri 14th General Election Preparatory Dinner at Eastwood Valley, Miri on Friday, 14th July 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 8:44 am and is filed under
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Malaysian opposition to release Anwar ‘within a week’ if it takes power – Dr Mahathir

By A. Azim Idris | 15th July 2017

Asian Correspondent

MALAYSIA’S former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Friday said opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (Hope’s Pact) is committing to the process of releasing imprisoned de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim within one week if it assumes power in the next general elections.

The former premier, who was recently appointed Pakatan Harapan chairman, said the opposition pact would seek a royal pardon for Anwar who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for his second sodomy conviction.

“We will wait for the law to take its course, not immediately because the prime minister who takes over will have a lot to do,” the statesman, who ruled the country for 22 years, told reporters after attending the pact’s presidential council meeting early Friday morning.

Dr Mahathir, who defected to the opposition after a fallout with the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) party led by scandal-ridden Prime Minister Najib Razak, said this in response to questions on whether Anwar would become prime minister if the opposition secures a victory against the Barisan Nasional coalition in the polls due in 2018.

At the meeting, Pakatan Harapan – formerly known as Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Pact) – made key appointments including Dr Mahathir’s designation as chair while Anwar was named the opposition bloc’s de facto leader. Anwar’s wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was appointed as the pact’s president.

Anwar is currently serving his prison sentence at the Sungai Buloh Prison centre, where he was sent upon his conviction two years ago.

He was jailed in February 2015 after his appeal against an earlier 2014 sodomy conviction was rejected by the High Court.

There have been several attempts to free him via the courts and through appealing for a royal pardon, all of which have proven unsuccessful.

Anwar has long claimed the charges against him were politically-motivated as the conviction disqualifies him from political office.

In June, New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) urged the Malaysian public to send letters addressed to the country’s head of state, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, to appeal for Anwar’s immediate release.

The foundation claimed the sodomy charges that led to Anwar’s conviction in 2014 were “trumped-up” and lacked DNA evidence. The charges, it said, also saw inconsistent testimony of his accuser and alleged tampering of evidence by a policeman in the case.

Dr Mahathir booted Anwar, his former deputy, from Cabinet in 1998 when he was embroiled in allegations of power abuse and sexual misconduct. Anwar’s dismissal and subsequent imprisonment spurned the creation of the “Reformasi” (reformation) movement and the formation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), or People’s Justice Party, the lynchpin of the federal Pakatan Harapan pact.

However, following his fallout with Najib over the massive 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, Dr Mahathir set aside his long-time rivalry with Anwar in order to oust the Najib administration.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil told Asian Correspondent , the influential Dr Mahathir would be playing a key role in the opposition fold.

“As chairman, Tun Dr Mahathir will coordinate and chair the Presidential Council meetings to maximize our efforts to win GE14 (the 14th General Elections),” he said.

Mahathir, who turned 92 last week, was also tipped to head the government again if the opposition alliance wins, but Pakatan Harapan is yet to confirm whether Mahathir or Anwar would be prime minister.

“PM nominee will be announced at a later date,” Fahmi said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 11:24 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s government harasses opponents as an election looms

Economist

Jul 13th 2017

No offence too small

But a multi-billion-dollar scandal does not seem to bother it much

“UNDEMOCRATIC”, “gerrymandered” and “fix-up” are good words to describe Malaysian politics, dominated since independence by a single party. So it was a bit rich for the prime minister’s spokesman to employ them when smearing a big opposition group this month. On July 7th the national registrar confirmed that it had detected irregularities in a leadership ballot which the Democratic Action Party (DAP) conducted almost four years ago, and said it would be asking the party to re-run the poll. The DAP’s supporters saw an effort to sow discord among the opposition, ahead of a general election due by next August.

Critics of the United Malays National Organisation, which has led Malaysia’s government for six decades, are used to run-ins with the authorities. Prosecutors have twice brought charges of sodomy against Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition coalition, who began his second jail term in 2015. Lately police have also taken an interest in Lim Guan Eng, the DAP’s secretary-general and chief minister of the state of Penang, an opposition stronghold. Mr Lim is awaiting trial on two charges of corruption (prosecutors allege that he used his authority to buy a bungalow for less than it was worth).

Meanwhile in late June the government announced that it was opening a national inquiry into big losses incurred by Malaysia in the early 1990s, when the central bank indulged in risky currency trades. The decision to dredge up this old saga supposedly has nothing to do with the dramatic return to politics of Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister at the time. Now 92, Dr Mahathir says he has lost confidence in his old party and joined hands with the opposition. The speculation is that he will serve as prime minister in the event of their victory (at least for as long as it would take to secure a royal pardon allowing Mr Anwar to take the job instead).

Given the zeal of Malaysia’s watchdogs and corruption-busters, it seems odd that they have yet to find anyone responsible for the disappearance of billions of dollars from 1MDB, a state-owned investment firm set up shortly after Najib Razak, the current prime minister, took office. Government investigators in America have applied to seize around $1.5bn-worth of goodies bought with money they say was siphoned from the firm; a court in Singapore this week sentenced a banker to four-and-a-half years in jail in connection with the scandal. Swiss investigators are also on the case. But Malaysia has convicted only one person: a whistle-blowing MP who leaked documents relating to the affair and who belongs — would you believe it? — to an opposition party.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 9:25 pm and is filed under
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Reminder to DAP leaders, members, branches and supporters to prepare for the worst in latest UMNO/BN ploy to destroy the DAP through the RoS

The DAP headquarters administration has confirmed that up to now there has been no letter from the Registrar of Societies, Datuk Mohamad Razin Abdullah directing the DAP to hold fresh central executive committee (CEC) elections based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates’ list, although the Registar announced eight days ago last Friday that a directive will be issued to the party.

What is going on?

Surely the letter should be  ready when the Registrar made that announcement the previous Friday, when in fact, such a statement should not have been made the subject of a media statement until the Registrar’s letter had been received by the DAP.

A week has passed and yet still no letter.

I do not think this would have happened to any civil servant if there is no untoward political interference with the non-partisan role of the civil service.

In the circumstances, all DAP leaders, members, branches and supporters must be prepared for the worst in the latest UMNO/BN ploy to destroy the DAP for the benefit of Najib and the UMNO/BN coalition in the 14th General Election.

Has the success of the Pakatan Harapan on Thursday night to finalise the coalition structure and the leadership line-up, re-igniting  new hopes of  Malaysians for political change in the next general election that Datuk Seri Najib Razak as Prime Minister and the UMNO/BN coalition can be toppled by the Pakatan Harapan coalition of four political parties, DAP, PKR, Amanah and Pribumi Bersatu, changed the political picture to the extent of holding up the Registar of Societies’ letter to the DAP/?

I do not know, as only the Registrar of Societies can answer this question as well as why it has taken four to five years for the RoS to decide on the DAP CEC election in December 2012 and DAP CEC re-election on 29th Sept. 2013.

The Registrar of Societies is a civil servant and should not be subject to the political dictates and political interference of UMNO/BN coalition.

The question is whether we have a Registar of Societies who dare to stand up against any untoward political interference with the affairs of the Registry of Societies  by the UMNO/BN political leadership.

(Media Conference Statement in Miri on Saturday, 15th July 2017 at 12 noon)

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Two things for Malaysian voters to prove at the 14th GE – that Malaysians reject kleptocracy and is a normal democratic country

There are two things for Malaysian voters to prove in the next 14th General Election – firstly, that Malaysians reject kleptocracy; and secondly, that Malaysia is a normal democratic country.

I do not believe there a single person who would think when the country attained Merdeka on August 31, 1957 or when Malaysia was formed on Sept. 16, 1963 that the nation would become not just a kleptocracy, but a “global kleptocracy”.

Malaysia only became known as a “global kleptocracy” after the 13th General Election in May 2013.

This is quite an achievement of sorts in so short of time, but Malaysians must demonstrate in the 14th General Elections that they are not proud of such “achievement” and do not want such international infamy and ignominy for the country, where they are shy when overseas to admit that they are Malaysians for they do want to answer questions revolving around “MO1”or the RM117 million pink diamond necklance for “wife of MO1”.

For six decades, the political rulers in Malaysia from Barisan Nasional have acquired the traits of a “big bully” which can be seen by the high-handed and arbitrary manner in which they tried to disqualify the DAP Sarawak State Assemblyman for Pujut, Dr. Ting Tiong Choon with the brute Barisan Nasional majority in the Sarawak State Assembly.

Another example of Barisan Nasional as the “big bully” trampling on the human rights of Malaysians is the high-handed and arbitrary ban of political activist Hiew Kuan Yau from entering Sarawak this evening to be guest speaker at this Miri DAP Branch dinner.

The only Sarawak BN party which is concerned by Kuan Yau’s attendance at the Miri DAP Branch dinner is the SUPP, and SUPP leaders should explain why they are so afraid of Kuan Yau, who is now not even a member of DAP, that they had to get the Sarawak Chief Minister his powers to bar Kuan Yau entry to Sarawak.

Another example of BN as the “big bully” in Malaysian politics is the announcement by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) wanting to DAP to hold DAP Central Executive Committee re-elections based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates list, with a barely concealed threat that the DAP will otherwise be regarded as an illegal party and the Rocket logo would not be used in the next general election.

The Registrar of Societies have not explained why they have waited for four to five years to act so unreasonably.

I have been informed by the DAP headquarters administration and up to close of office today, no letter from the RoS have been received although the Registrar issued a media statement last Friday that such a letter to the DAP would be on the way.

But the biggest buly of all in Malaysian politics was none other than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who caused Malaysia become a “global kleptocracy” overnight and is trying to deceive the nation and the worlsd with the scam and charade that the 1MDB scandal never existed, although former bankers have been convicted and jailed, while banks have been fined or close down, in foreign countries because of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

The second objective of the 14th General Election is for Malaysia to become a normal democratic country, where voters can change the party or political coalition in government peacefully and democratically through the ballot box like other mature democracies without threats of national catastrophes.

In the past 60 years, there had been six democratic and peaceful changes of government in the United Kingdom, but not a single time in Malaysia.

In Asia, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and even Philippines and Indonesia have more democratic traditions and practices than Malaysia, as the Japanese, Indians, South Koreans, Taiwanese and even Filipinos and Indonesians can use the ballot box to change the party or political coalition in power without any national disaster or calamities.

The case of South Korea should be a salutary reminder of how far we as a nation have fallen short of our expectations when we achieved Merdeka on August 31, 1957.

Sixty years ago, South Korea was very poor and backward, with a per capita GNP which is only one-third in this country. Today, South Korea is one of the richest, most developed and prosperous nations in the world.

Sixty years ago, any notion of democracy and human rights in South Korea was non-existent as it was ruled by a dictatorship. But today, the South Korean Parliament could impeach the South Korean President and eight judges of the South Korean Constitutional Court could unanimously uphold the impeachment of the South Korean President by the South Korean Parliament on charges of corruption and cronyism.

Today, Park Geun-hye has been toppled as South Korean President and is in jail waiting trial on corruption and abuse of powers charges which could sent her to prison for life.

Can Malaysians to do the same thing against “MO1” which had earned for the country the international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”?

Why is Malaysia so backward and behind South Korea in political and economic developments today, when we were ahead of South Korea on both scores sixty years ago.

All Malaysians should ask these question and look for the answers – why after six decades of nationhood, we failed to be an example and showcase to the troubled world as to how diverse races, languages, religions, cultures and civilisations could successfully co-exist and integrate to build a united, harmonious, purposive, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous nation.

The impending 14th General Election will be a critical test whether Malaysia can be a normal democratic country where voters can peacefully and democratically elect the government they want for the country.

Are all political parties and leaders prepared to prove their democratic credentials by declaring clearly and unequivocally that they would respect and abide by their voters’ choice expressed through the ballot box on general election day, including a peaceful and democratic change of the Federal Government?

(Speech (2) at the “Bangkit Miri, Undi Harapan” DAP Miri 14th General Election Preparatory Dinner at Eastwood Valley, Miri on Friday, 14th July 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 11:07 am and is filed under
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Two things for Malaysian voters to prove at the 14th GE – that Malaysians reject kleptocracy and Malaysia is a normal democratic country

There are two things for Malaysian voters to prove in the next 14th General Election – firstly, that Malaysians reject kleptocracy; and secondly, that Malaysia is a normal democratic country.

I do not believe  there a single person who would think when the country attained Merdeka on August 31, 1957 or when Malaysia was formed on Sept. 16, 1963 that the nation would become not just a kleptocracy, but a “global kleptocracy”.

Malaysia only became known as a “global kleptocracy” after the 13th General Election in May 2013.

This is quite an achievement of sorts in so short of time, but Malaysians must demonstrate in the 14th General Elections that they are not proud of such “achievement” and do not want such international infamy and ignominy for the country, where they are shy when overseas to admit that they are Malaysians for they do want to answer questions revolving around “MO1”or  the RM117 million pink diamond necklance for “wife of MO1”.

For six decades, the political rulers in Malaysia from Barisan Nasional have acquired the traits of a  “big bully” which can be seen by the high-handed and arbitrary manner in which they tried to disqualify the DAP Sarawak State Assemblyman for Pujut, Dr. Ting Tiong Choon with the brute Barisan Nasional majority in the Sarawak State Assembly.

Another example of Barisan Nasional as the “big bully” trampling on the human rights of Malaysians is the high-handed and arbitrary ban of political activist Hiew Kuan Yau from entering Sarawak this evening to be giest speaker at this Miri DAP Branch dinner.

The only Sarawak BN party which is concerned by Kuan Yau’s attendance at the Miri DAP Branch dinner is the SUPP, and SUPP leaders should explain why they are so afraid of Kuan Yau, who is now not even a member of DAP, that they had to get the Sarawak Chief Minister his powers to bar Kuan Yau entry to Sarawak.

Another example of BN as the “big bully” in Malaysian politics is the announcement by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) wanting to DAP to hold DAP Central Executive Committee re-elections based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates list, with a barely concealed threat that  the DAP will otherwise be regarded as an illegal party and the Rocket logo would not be used in the next general election.

The Registrar of Societies have not explained why they have waited for four to five years to act so unreasonably.

I have been informed by the DAP headquarters administration and up to close of office today, no letter from the RoS have been received although the Registrar issued a media statement last Friday that such a letter to the DAP would be on the way.

But the biggest buly of all in Malaysian politics was none other than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who caused Malaysia become a “global kleptocracy” overnight and is trying to deceive the nation and the worlsd with the scam and charade that the 1MDB scandal never existed, although former bankers have been convicted and jailed, while banks have been fined or close down, in foreign countries because of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

The second objective of the 14th General Election is for Malaysia to become a normal democratic country, where voters can change the party or political coalition in government peacefully and democratically through the ballot box like other mature democracies without threats of national catastrophes.

In the past 60 years, there had been six democratic and peaceful changes of government in the United Kingdom, but not a single time in Malaysia.

In Asia, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and even Philippines and Indonesia have more democratic traditions and practices than Malaysia, as the Japanese, Indians, South Koreans, Taiwanese and even Filipinos and Indonesians can use the ballot box to change the party or political coalition in power without any national disaster or calamities.

The case of South Korea should be a salutary reminder of how far we as a nation have fallen short of our expectations when we achieved Merdeka on August 31, 1957.

Sixty years ago, South Korea was very poor and backward, with a per capita GNP which is only one-third in this country. Today, South Korea is one of the richest, most developed and prosperous nations in the world.

Sixty years ago, any notion of democracy and human rights in South Korea was non-existent as it was ruled by a dictatorship. But today, the South Korean Parliament could impeach the South Korean President and eight judges of the South Korean Constitutional Court could unanimously uphold the impeachment of the South Korean President by the South Korean Parliament on charges of corruption and cronyism.

Today, Park Geun-hye has been toppled as South Korean President and is in jail waiting trial on corruption and abuse of powers charges which could sent her to prison for life.

Can Malaysians to do the same thing against “MO1” which had earned for the country the international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”?

Why is Malaysia so backward and behind South Korea in political and economic developments today, when we were ahead of South Korea on both scores sixty years ago.

All Malaysians should ask these question and look for the answers – why after six decades of nationhood, we failed to be an example and showcase to the troubled world as to how diverse races, languages, religions, cultures and civilisations could successfully co-exist and integrate to build a united, harmonious, purposive, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous nation.

The impending 14th General Election will be a critical test whether Malaysia can be a normal democratic country where voters can peacefully and democratically elect the government they want for the country.

Are all political parties and leaders prepared to prove their democratic credentials by declaring clearly and unequivocally that they would respect and abide by their voters’ choice expressed through the ballot box on general election day, including a peaceful and democratic change of the Federal Government?

[Speech (2) at the “Bangkit Miri, Undi Harapan”  DAP Miri 14th General Election Preparatory Dinner at Eastwood Valley, Miri on Friday, 14th July 2017 at 9 pm]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 July 2017, 9:49 am and is filed under
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Call on BN Sabah and Sarawak Ministers and MPs to take a common and  united stand with Pakatan Harapan MPs for the appointment of Richard Malanjum as the new Chief Justice of Malaysia

I said at the DAP Miri’s “Bangkit Miri, Undi Harapan” 14th General Election Preparation dinner on Friday night that the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Rau Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively will be detrimental to the cause of Malaysian nation building.

The by-passing of the opportunity for the appointment of the first Chief Justice from Sabah/Sarawak will be like “manna from heaven” and exploited by those  in Sabah and Sarawak attacking the Federal Government in Putrajaya as too Peninsular-centric and unable to take full account of the vision of Malaysia as a federation where the rights and interests of  Sabah and Sarawak are given full respect and recognition.

This unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli  is  totally indefensible, undermining not only the sanctity and integrity of the Malaysian Constitution  and the vision of Malaysia as a federation where Sabah and Sarawak are fully integrated and not treated as step-brothers, it would also undermine  the promotional opportunities and prospects of at least eight Federal Court judges, including three women!

As  the most glaring injustice of  the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli is the by-passing of the opportunity to appoint the first Chief Justice from Sabah and Sarawak in the person of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, I call on all Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak to take a common and  united stand with Pakatan Harapan MPs for the appointment of Richard Malanjum as the new Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Let not the by-passing of the opportunity for the appointment of the first Chief Justice of Malaysia from Sabah and Sarawak become a real-life example of  how Sabah and Sarawak are  treated as step-children in the Malaysian scheme of things.

This would be most unfortunate setback for Malaysian nation-building, especially in the  welding of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region or   even politics into one Malaysian people.

Malanjum is most qualified from every aspect to become the new Chief Justice of Malaysia on August 3.

Malanjum is in fact the most senior Federal Court judge today, even more senior than  both Raus and Zulkefli, both of whom were appointed to the Federal Court in 2011.

Malanjum was elevated to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court in 2005 and in 2006 was appointed as the Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak at the age of 52.

Malanjum should not be by-passed in the appointment  as the Chief Justice  on August 3 as it will be a serious affront to the vision and concept of Malaysia as a nation for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region,  as well as  a major blot in the forthcoming  celebrations for the  60th National Day anniversary on August 31 and the 54th Malaysia Day anniversary on Sept. 16.

Both Rauf and Zulkefli  must step forward to resolve and end  the constitutional crisis threatening  the sanctity and integrity of the Malaysian Constitution and undermining the vision and integrity of the Malaysian Federation by declining the unconstitutional extension of their two top judicial posts in the country.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 July 2017, 4:41 am and is filed under
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UMNO/BN at sixes and sevens over Pakatan Harapan’s structure and leadership line-up last Thursday

It is quite hilarious to see the UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers at sixes and sevens in the past two days over Pakatan Harapan’s structure and leadership line-up announced on Thursday midnight after a meeting of the Pakatan Harapan Presidential council.

The first to react was the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak who seemed to be in a state of shock, complaining  about the absence of the DAP leaders in the top three positions in the Pakatan Harapan line-up, for two reasons:

*Firstly
, this is completely inconsistent and contrary to the UMNO/BN “black ops” media campaign of lies, fake news and false information with one overpowering theme – that DAP leaders dominate Pakatan Harapan and that the Malay leaders in PKR, Amanah and Pribumi Bersatu, whether Mohamad Sabu, Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ramli, Nurul Izzah, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri  Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and even Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad were just my stooges and puppets, completely at my “beck and call” and obedient to my directives and wishes.

*Secondly
, which is the fate of most propagandists, Salleh and many UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers have come to believe in these lies, fake news and false information, and they must be  genuinely shocked at the Pakatan Harapan structure and leadership line-up which is out of line with their propaganda.

I was quite flattered, as for the first time in many months and years, the UMNO/BN propagandists forgot their script that I am the “dictator of dictators” not only in DAP but also in Pakatan Harapan, and we have the rare spectacle of UMNO/BN leaders championing me for being conspicuously absent from the Pakatan Harapan leadership line-up.

I thank Salleh and the other UMNO/BN leaders for their solicitious concern for my political future and the  crocodile’s tears in asking whether DAP had been sidelined in Pakatan Harapan structure.

I can  assure UMNO/BN leaders that DAP had not been sidelined in Pakatan Harapan and there is also no basis for swinging to the other end of the spectrum, like Salleh’s other question whether “the line-up was deliberately done to make as if the coalition is dominated by the Malays?”

Let Salleh and the UMNO/BN leaders get it straight once-and-for-all – the Pakatan Harapan is not dominated by Malays, which does not mean Pakatan Harapan is dominated by Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli.

What it means is that Pakatan Harapan is dominated by Malaysians!

It is time that the UMNO/BN leadership learn  from Pakatan Harapan to see Malaysian problems and issues from the multi-racial Malaysian spectacle and not from any mono-ethnic angle.

To salvage the situation and to ensure that the astronomical. funds, resources and energy invested in the UMNO/BN “black ops” media operation of lies, fake news and false information  to paint DAP and DAP in the worst possible light do not come to nought, the UMNO Youth leader and Minister for Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin tried to save the day and offered the lame excuse that although the DAP leaders are not named Pakatan Harapan leaders, DAP will decide on the policies of Pakatan Harapan.

Khairy said the party which holds the most parliamentary seats in Dewan Rakyat will decide on the Pakatan Harapan’s policies and manifestos – which is utter bunkum as the four constituent parties of Pakatan Harapan, DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Pribumi Bersatu  are all  equals in Pakatan Harapan and there is no “political hegemon” like UMNO in the Barisan Nasional.

There must be consensus and agreement by all the four constituent Pakatan Harapan parties before a policy could become Pakatan Harapan policy, and no one political party, whether DAP, PKR, AMANAH or Pribumi Bersatu can unilaterally impose its will and policy on the Opposition coalition in the way UMNO can and had done in Barisan Nasional for the past few decades.

But as the saying goes, “Many cooks spoil the soup”, and the  Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Ismail Sabri, lacking the sophistication and finesse of Khairy to get out of a delicate situation, returned to the old blunt propaganda line when speaking to Ampang UMNO division delegates meeting and raised  the “spectre” of a non-Malay from DAP who could become Prime Minister because there was no constitutional provision to bar such a scenario.

He said:  “In the end, we Malays will be split into three if this happens, if they (the opposition) form the government , DAP will have the most seats, and constitutionally, they are entitled to decide who will be prime minister.

“If Lim Guan Eng wants to become prime minster, then he will be (if the opposition wins). If they don’t dare to put Guan Eng (as prime minister), they can put up a Malay, but it will be a Malay like the Selangor menteri besar, who cannot make decisions because everything is controlled by Teresa Kok, Hannah Yeoh and whomever.”

I am really appalled that Malaysia has such “half-past six” Ministers who do not know what they are talking about.  But what is even more appalling is that Sabri is supposed to be among Ministers who are more educated and intelligent than other Ministers.

The more the UMNO/BN Ministers speak, the greater fool they become!

At least, Malaysians can get free entertainment from the speeches of UMNO/BN Ministers.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 July 2017, 3:25 pm and is filed under
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Call for a common strategy by the 10 Cabinet Ministers and 57 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak in next week’s Parliament to ensure that the  first appointment of a Chief Justice from Sabah and Sarawak is not voided and by-passed

The 10 Cabinet Ministers and 57 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak should meet before Parliament reconvenes next Monday on 24th July to work out a strategy to ensure that the first appointment of a Chief Justice from Sabah and Sarawak in the sixth decade of the formation of Malaysia should not be voided and by-passed.

The unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Rau Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively will be detrimental to the cause of Malaysian nation building.

The by-passing of the opportunity for the appointment of the first Chief Justice from Sabah/Sarawak will be exploited by those  in Sabah and Sarawak who are attacking the Federal Government in Putrajaya as too Peninsular-centric and unable to take full account of the vision of Malaysia as a federation where the rights and interests of  Sabah and Sarawak are given full respect and recognition.

The unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli  is  totally indefensible, undermining not only the sanctity and integrity of the Malaysian Constitution  and the vision of Malaysia as a federation where Sabah and Sarawak are fully integrated and not treated as step-brothers, it would also undermine  the promotional opportunities and prospects of at least eight Federal Court judges, including three women!

As  the most glaring injustice of  the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli is the by-passing of the opportunity to appoint the first Chief Justice from Sabah and Sarawak in the person of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, I call on all Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs from Sabah and Sarawak to take a common and  united stand with Pakatan Harapan MPs for the appointment of Richard Malanjum as the new Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Let not the voiding and  by-passing of the opportunity for the appointment of the first Chief Justice of Malaysia from Sabah and Sarawak become a real-life example of  how Sabah and Sarawak are  treated as step-children in the Malaysian scheme of things.

This would be a most unfortunate setback for Malaysian nation-building, especially in the  welding of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region or   even politics into one Malaysian people.

Malanjum is most qualified from every aspect to become the new Chief Justice of Malaysia on August 3.

Malanjum is in fact the most senior Federal Court judge today, even more senior than  both Raus and Zulkefli, both of whom were appointed to the Federal Court in 2011.

Malanjum was elevated to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court in 2005 and in 2006 was appointed as the Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak at the age of 52.

Malanjum should not be by-passed in the appointment  as the Chief Justice  on August 3 as it will be a serious affront to the vision and concept of Malaysia as a nation for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region,  as well as  a major blot in the forthcoming  celebrations for the  60th National Day anniversary on August 31 and the 54th Malaysia Day anniversary on Sept. 16.

The question that must be asked is what is the use of having  one-third or 10 out of 35  Cabinet Ministers and 57 parliamentary seats from Sabah and Sarawak if none of the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs is prepared to stand up for constitutional and MH63 rights to oppose the voiding and by-passing of Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as Chief Justice of Malaysia

Article 122B(1)  of the Federal Constitution provides that the Chief Justice of the Federal Court and the President of the Court of Appeal shall be appointed by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, after consulting the Conference of the Rulers.

In the two cases of the extension of the tenures of Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal President, the Prime Minister had clearly given the wrong advice to the Yang di Pertuan Agong.

This matter should be raised by one of the 10 Ministers from Sabab and Sarawak at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, as the Prime Minister had given a wrong advice to the  Yang di Pertuan Agong, denying and voiding the opportunity of appointing the first Chief Justice from Sabah and Sarawak, which is totally indefensible in terms of Malaysian nation-building.

The Cabinet on Wednesday should consider how to avert the constitutional crisis in voiding and by-passing the appointment of the first Chief Justice of Malaysia from Sabah/Sarawak.

If the Cabinet on Wednesday is not prepared to do anything to restore justice to Sabah and Sarawak as well as to Justice Richard Malanjum, there should a meeting of all Sabah and Sarawak Ministers and Members of Parliament, as well as Pakatan Rakyat MPs who uphold constitutional sanctity and integrity, to agree on a strategy on the issue for the three-week Parliamentary meeting from July 24 to August 10, 2017.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 July 2017, 12:38 pm and is filed under
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