Once-Top Indonesian Reformer’s Feet of Clay

Asia Sentinel

07 December 2012

Sports minister, once thought presidential material, is named a corruption suspect

Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, once thought to be a voice of the new reformasi Indonesia, resigned Friday after being named a suspect on corruption charges by the country’s anti-graft watchdog.

Mallarangeng, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s handpicked choice to lead the Democratic Party until he was pushed aside by party leader Anas Urbaningrum – himself thought to be a suspect in the same corruption probe – was once thought to be presidential material to replace SBY after he is scheduled to leave office in 2014.

The charges had long been expected, dealing with the construction of the scandal-plagued athletes’ village for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games. A widening ring of top Democratic Party officials has been snared in the probe, including the onetime party treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, who has been jailed on bribery charges and who has been an invaluable witness central to the case. Earlier this week Nazaruddin submitted documents to the KPK that he said proved that Anas Urbaningrum and secretary general Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono — SBY’s son — were aware of the flow of corruption-tainted funds.

Mallarangang “is a huge disappointment to a lot of people because he was once thought to be clean and an example of a new breed of political leader,” said a veteran Jakarta-based political analyst. The act is yet another indication that the Corruption Eradication Commission is drawing ever closer to the circle that surrounds the president himself.

Mallarangang is not the only disappointment. After Indonesia climbed slowly up the Berlin-based Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index from the time Yudhoyono came into office, the country slid from 100th of 186 in 2011to 118th of 176 this year, tying with Madagascar, Egypt, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, as the scandals have taken their toll.

Mallarangang maintained his innocence. “I am certain that the many accusations that have been leveled against me are not true,” he said, adding that he hoped that “truth and justice” would eventually prevail. He said he had been speaking out against graft and corruption from the time he was a college student.

With Mallarangang and Urbaningram seemingly enmeshed in the charges, the slow-moving train wreck that is the leadership of SBY’s party seems to be speeding up. When SBY first came into office at the start of his first term, he was given high marks for pushing reformasi, cleaning out the vast web of corruption that had infected Indonesian politics and society during the 39-year reign of the strongman Suharto. His cadre of bright young reformers were looked upon by international investors as emblematic of that push for reform. That reputation now lies in wreckage.

“This is getting closer and closer to SBY,” a veteran risk consultant said of Mallarangeng’s resignation. “It was time for Andi to fall on sword for the President. But it won’t stop here.” The KPK, as the corruption watchdog is called, appears to be picking up speed in its own determination to clean out Indonesia’s top rungs. It detained the former traffic police chief. Inspector. Gen. Djoko Susilo this week and also some time ago netted Sri Hartati Murdaya, the wife of one of the country’s richest Chinese industrialists, Murdaya Poo. Ranked by Forbs the 19th richest businessman in the country, Sri Hartati is the chairwoman of the Indonesian Buddhist Association.

The KPK has compiled an enviable conviction rate since the organization’s establishment in 2002, pulling down an astonishing 100 percent of the cases it has prosecuted in relation to bribery and graft involving government procurements and budgets. However, perhaps 20,000 cases have been reported to the agency, which is overwhelmed by the magnitude of Indonesian corruption.

Mallarangeng was named a suspect on Dec. 3, according to KPK chairman Abraham Samad, on allegations of abuse of power to benefit himself or others, and causing losses to the state. The charge carries up to 20 years in jail and fines of up to Rp1 billion. The Supreme Audit Agency, which audited the sports project, said it was full of irregularities that had potentially cost the state up to Rp243 billion in losses.

The results of the audit also showed that Andi was responsible for presiding over procedural malpractice related to his ministry’s budgeting, according to the statements, allowing his secretary, Wafid Muharram, to sign the procurement contract, against a government regulation requiring contracts of more than Rp 50 billion to be signed by the minister himself.

“People are really sick of the sleaze,” said a political observer. “I think the KPK may be getting too strong and popular to be stopped. The ultimate beneficiary could be a potential presidential reform candidate in 2014.”

So far, no such candidate has emerged although Prabowo Subianto, the head of the Gerindra Party and currently the leading candidate for the presidency to replace SBY, is thought possibly seizing on the issue.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 December 2012, 2:17 am and is filed under
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The PM has been leading this country on a vague idea!

by Martin Jalleh

December 7, 2012

1 Malaysia concept vague ‘by design’, says PM

When Najib Razak first introduced “One Malaysia” to Bolehland, no one except him knew (or we thought he knew) what it really meant. As time passed by his Cabinet ministers and his cohorts chanted the slogan trying to convince the rakyat that they knew what it really meant.

Now, three years later, the man who mooted the concept says he had “deliberately not defined the idea so its meaning could absorb different views over time”.

PM: I didn’t define the concept very clearly, but that was by design. I had decided it needed to have an “element of strategic ambiguity” when I introduced it three years ago so that the concept could be broadened to include other views from the public.

MJ: So vague is now the vogue of your premiership, Mr Prime Minister? What a “strategic excuse” when after three years of your tenure 1 Malaysia has become one big absolute joke and being mimicked by your Cabinet and cohorts who pretend to know what it all means!

PM: The concept I envisioned, to promote the idea of inclusiveness among the races, has been translated into policy and was clearly understood now even though some quarters have been sceptical at the onset.

MJ: The results of your vague vision are very clear – never before has this country been so divided by race and religion than now! Indeed, Umno’s exclusiveness has never been as evident than now!

PM: They may not see 1 Malaysia as something practised within the entire government system. But then again people must realise this is a journey. (He said this in response to scepticism from the minority races outside the ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Malay party, Umno.)

MJ: Indeed, it has been a long journey of flip-flops, farcical transformation, fanciful public relations, fraudulent claims and foolhardy decisions by you and your government, Mr PM.

PM: My idea is more comprehensive than had been previously envisioned by the country’s past leaders as I have promoted the fundamental principles and values of social justice, inclusivity and moderation.

MJ: “Social justice, inclusivity and moderation”? Alas, you choose to have only a vague idea of what is really happening in this country, Mr PM. It was only yesterday that you admitted that Umno has not changed and your party has everything to do with the very opposite of “Social justice, inclusivity and moderation”!

PM: This is the first time that we’re trying to really define it in terms of the principles and values associated with 1 Malaysia. In the past, people talked about working together, but there was no real operational definition of what that meant.

MJ: In the past, there was no need of sloganeering and rhetoric like yours! We learned to live together, we co-existed, there was interdependence. Then the Umnoputras got greedy and corrupt and began to bleed the country dry. The Malays were mislead, manipulated and made to believe that their sufferings were due to the non-Malays!

MJ: Please note – with each passing day, the future of your premiership is becoming very vague!

(Quotes taken and adapted from Malaysian Insider, 7 Dec 2012, which highlighted excerpts from an interview published in the Malay Mail today)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 December 2012, 9:58 am and is filed under
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What transformation is Najib talking about when he could not even get UMNO GA to endorse his 1Malaysia policy nearly four years  as PM and UMNO President?

In his interview with Malay Mail yesterday, when asked about “factions that were skeptical of 1Malaysia in UMNO itself”, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that it was by design that he did not define the concept very clearly as “there should be an element of strategic ambiguity so that once you introduce the concept like that, as time goes by, the definition could be defined by taking on board the views of people as we go along”.

He claimed however that “the concept of 1Malaysia is now clearly understood”!

This is indeed a tall claim which Najib could not possibly believe himself.

In fact, Malaysians are entitled to ask what transformation is Najib talking about when he could not even get the UMNO General Assembly to endorse his signature 1Malaysia policy nearly four years since becoming Prime Minister and UMNO President, when the 1Malaysia Policy represents the very basis of all his “transformation” programmes, whether government, economic or political, i.e. GTP, ETP, PTP, etc.

Malaysians are surprised that after nearly four years, Najib is saying that he had deliberately left  the 1Malaysia concept  vague and nebulous, which was not what he said in his first year as Prime Minister.

For instance, in  February 2010, in his keynote address at the 1Malaysia Economic Conference, Najib expressed unhappiness about the various misconceptions over the 1Malaysia concept which he introduced upon taking office in April 2009, lamenting: “ I am greatly saddened that such an idea, which is not terribly complicated, is so often not understood.”

How could Najib now claim that he had deliberately allowed “an element of strategic ambiguity” in the definition of 1Malaysia, when the definition of 1Malaysia was clearly, fully and plainly spelt out right from the very beginning, particularly in the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap, viz:

“The goal of 1Malaysia is to make Malaysia more vibrant, more productive and more competitive – and ultimately a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society.”

The 1Malaysia GTP Roadmap declared that Malaysia has “chosen a unique route – that of unity of diversity and inclusiveness, while ensuring fairness to all and remaining anchored in our Constitution” – which means that “we embrace our diversity of ethnicity, religions and beliefs and, by being inclusive, build mutual respect and acceptance into a social foundation of trust and cohesiveness”.

It is  clear right from the beginning Najib could not get the UMNO leadership and the Cabinet to endorse his 1Malaysia Policy, as his Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not mince his words when he repudiated the 1Malaysia policy by publicly declaring that he was “Malay first, Malaysian second” – with no  reprimand or contradiction by Najib.

In fact, in July 2011, Najib dodged the question when asked at the Malaysian Students Leaders’ Summit whether he was prepared to state that he was Malaysian first and what he thought of Muhyiddin’s infamous remark of being “Malay first and Malaysian next”.

Najib did not answer the question, saying:

“I don’t want to respond in a way that will divide me from my deputy. 1Malaysia is our guiding philosophy. It does not matter what you say, just as long as you follow (the 1Malaysia concept.”

Most ominous of all, Muhyiddin had the support of the  UMNO eminence grise, Tun Dr. Mahathir who publicly said he did not understand Najib’s 1Malaysia concept and that “Malaysia has become more racial than ever”.

Now Najib is making a virtue out of necessity, trying to camouflage his failure to get the endorsement of the UMNO leadership for his 1Malaysia policy as a deliberate stance of strategic ambiguity to get more people “on board” the concept!

1Malaysia has degenerated to sheer electioneering gimmickry to win votes for UMNO/BN in the 13GE, “transforming” from the initial giveaways of 1Malaysia T-shirt, 1Malaysia-Tupperware and 1Malaysia notebook to 1Malaysia Water Tanks, 1Malaysia Clinics, 1Malaysia Housing and 1Malaysia RM500 Cash Aid.

But UMNO is still fully committed to the exclusive ideology  of Ketuanan Melayu which is the very antithesis to  a supposedly-inclusive 1Malaysia concept.

This is illustrated by the episode in the recent UMNO General  Assembly where UMNO delegates stood in silence and shed tears touched by an overseas UMNO club student representative’s rendition of ‘Anak Kecil Main Api’, a song that bemoans the fate of Malays for being sidelined in their own land.

The song, which was written by former National Civics Bureau (BTN) chief, was taught to all those who attended the BTN courses, which is compulsory for students before attending local public universities or going overseas on government scholarships.

The questions raised by this episode include:

•	55 years after Merdeka,  42 years after the New Economic Policy and half a century of UMNO political hegemony, who must bear responsibility for the fate of  the Malays marginalised in their own country?  Shouldn’t the UMNO-putras bear the greatest responsibility?

•	With 1Malaysia concept and policy, shouldn’t the  focus be on the marginalised and discriminated among all Malaysians in their own country,  whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli, Kadazans or Ibans, and not just one community?

•	Is this not the best proof that Biro Tata Negara has become the chief agency in government sowing anti-1Malaysia concept?

Can Najib answer these three questions in the spirit of 1Malaysia?

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                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 December 2012, 3:16 pm and is filed under
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Everyone will have something to lose

Steve Oh

CPI

Dec 8, 2012

The fires of May 13, 1969 still burn in the mind of older Malaysians who lived through the racial riots that swept through the major cities of the peninsula.

I was a teenager then and the sight of my father quickly putting on his shoes to go out to our middle-class and predominantly Chinese neighbourhood to call for the menfolk to come out and defend their homes if the Malays attacked us was hard to reconcile with the ‘happy-go-lucky’ life we were enjoying.

We could hear the drums beating in the distance where there was a Malay kampung. And for his efforts my father came back fuming that an old Chinese woman had scolded him for being a ‘busybody’. It turned out she was also a distant relative.

A month before Penang had seen a curfew when a policeman was killed after a politically linked incident. Tension was high. But not all of us were bent on spilling racial blood.

We made sure that the Malay teacher and his mother who lived in our street was safe. I checked with my Malay friend and his family who lived in an adjoining suburb (which was predominantly Chinese) that they were safe. We took care of one another and there was no incident in all the neighborhoods around us – Chinese protecting Malays and Malays protecting Chinese.

Not everyone, in fact few Malaysians considered in total, were infected with the madness.

Ours was a clique of friends from both sexes – some from school, and others from outside, who were drawn from all the races. Malay boys had Chinese girlfriends and Chinese boys had Malay girlfriends and so on. It was a time when we could have fun together without the scourge of religious separatism. It was the time of innocence uncorrupted by the poison of the politicians.

Some of those friendships have lasted to the present.

There is no racial madness except that which is taught and caught, and the politicians have much to answer.

Years later we learned that it was all a ploy to rid Tunku Abdul Rahman of his leadership and that the racial riots were the plot of shameless politicians as Dr Kua Kia Soong explains in his book, May 13, Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969.

Besides the bits and pieces I heard from friends and those who were eyewitnesses, I like most of my friends in Penang, were sheltered from any real violence. The real bloodletting was in Kuala Lumpur.

Who knows the final number of casualties but as usual the official figures that I won’t even bother checking would be understated. That many had died from gunshot wounds left questions unanswered.

One real-life account was given by my university mate overseas. He was in a cinema in Kuala Lumpur and suddenly he was roused from his seat in the dark cinema by loud shouting and banging on the doors. When he saw that people were being attacked with parang, he quickly got out and escaped.

It was the darkest time in Malaysian history.

So many innocent lives were lost and Kuala Lumpur in certain Chinese-dominated areas was like a war zone. The ghosts of May 13 still haunt those who lost loved ones and property.

Therefore why would anyone today remind us of a bloody day in the country’s history and make cheap political capital out of the innocent blood of their fellow Malaysians?

What unscrupulous politician would stoop so low as to draw his or her own race into a scheme that would leave no one any benefit but many homes with nothing but suffering and sorrow?

I agree with CPI columnist Koon Yew Yin that Malays will be the biggest losers of a May 13 repeat because they now have so much more to lose but it is not even right to say who will lose more when the truth is everyone will have something to lose.

The nation will lose most from the bloody minds and hands of those traitors.

Umno Wanita chief Sharizat Abdul Jalil deserves our condemnation for even raising May 13 let alone scaremongering and relating the bloody day to an Umno political defeat.

What a shameless and despicable display of desperate and unconscionable politics that should be deplored by every conscionable Malaysian.

It goes without saying that the country will be plunged into the abyss of a failed state and recovery will be hard and painful should the race riots recur. And this time nothing will be hidden from the world.

We will see images that were not possible when the state-controlled media had a news blackout and modern digital media technology did not exist.

You can be sure that if anything like May 13 happens again, the international community will see what takes place and no one will be able to stop mobile phones sending images all over the world and anything that happens being recorded by someone somewhere.

And there will be sufficient evidence to charge those responsible for the cowardly and cold-blooded murder.

Those who play with the fire of May 13 are shameless and gutless, and the reason they do it is to drag their race and others into their dirty political war, one in which they face certain defeat.

Fortunately today is not the era of May 13 though some specimens from that dark era still survive in power but not for long because they and their monstrous ideas will be rejected by every responsible Malaysian who wants peace and prosperity, not bloodshed.

Some politicians are just that callous and poor losers and the sooner we see the backs of them the better it will be for every Malaysian.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 December 2012, 11:51 am and is filed under
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Nonsensical Najib must be very nervous!

By Martin Jalleh

9 Dec 2012

The General Elections beckons and it looks as though the Prime Minister (PM) has gone berserk. He is making comments most bizarre! He blurts out statements beyond human logic!

Soon after the last General Elections he had warned his political party that either it changes or the government that it so dominates will be changed by the people.

He now surprisingly admits that Umno needs to change (The Malaysian Insider, 7 Dec., 2012). In other words, his party has not changed – which in fact clearly contradicts what he and his cohorts have been saying!

For instance the Sun Daily reported on 1 Dec. 2012: Following up on his apology for Umno’s past wrongdoings, at the opening of the party’s 66th general assembly…Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak today closed the annual event by exuding optimism that the people’s confidence for Umno is well on recovery mode.

“There is such tremendous response,” he told a euphoric crowd of delegates who seemed charged-up to defend the party’s hold over Malaysia in the upcoming general election.

“Not just from the Malay people…. The non-Malays also see Umno more positively than in the earlier times.

“They see that with each passing day, Umno is recovering even more… With each passing day, they see that Umno is qualified even more, to rule this country.

“We have shown that we are capable to remedy our condition. We are closing ranks and displaying an extraordinary spirit,” he said in his presidential speech at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

“Indicating to the party faithful – and voters at large – that Umno has indeed transformed and improved from what it was in the 2008 general election when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition it led lost four states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament, he proceeded to dish out warnings at those in the party who may hamper it in the next election.”

First you say Umno has changed. Yet in your latest comment you admit that it has not changed! Alas dear Mr PM are you not being a chameleon which you so often accuse Anwar Ibrahim of?

What is most preposterous is that Najib says “he needs a mandate from voters in order to reform Umno” (The Malaysian Insider, 7 Dec., 2012)!

“If I want to reform the party, I need a mandate from the people. Without the mandate from the electorate how can I reform the party?” he told the Malay Mail in an interview published recently.

The Malaysian Insider
commented:

“Reforming Umno has proven to be a monumental task despite the party’s and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) flagging popularity, particularly in urban areas.

“The Umno president has been pushing a reform agenda which included the repeal of security laws considered draconian and the push for a more multi-racial agenda.

“But conservative forces within the party, especially those linked with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have resisted change and have pushed a more Malay-centric platform.

“Mindful of Dr Mahathir’s continued influence, Najib has been careful not to alienate the former PM who had contributed to BN’s worst electoral performance in Election 2008 when he campaigned against the administration of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“But ahead of key national elections due next year, Prime Minister Najib said he was pleading for voters to grant him the mandate to continue his reform policies that can spur Malaysia forward for the greater good even as he acknowledges his party and the ruling BN coalition’s sluggishness towards change. (The Malaysian Insider, 7 Dec., 2012)

“With this mandate, a strong mandate from the people, I will deliver what I promised. This is not just about GE13, it’s about transforming the nation and I’m committed to it.”

Why don’t you try to change your own party before you try to transform the whole nation, Mr PM?

“If I want to reform the party, I need a mandate from the people. Without the mandate from the electorate how can I reform the party?”

The mandate given by the people (the electorate) in the General Elections is to transform the country and not to reform your party! That’s Umno’s and your job!

Please get the mandate from your own party members to reform your own party! It appears that either you have failed to get the mandate from Umno members to change the party or in spite of the support given to you, you have failed to reform it.

And since you have failed to reform Umno, the party will be an obstacle to your plans to transform the country. It would not make any sense for you to continue as Umno president and as the PM.

And if you cannot even change your own party are we to expect that you are going to bring about change in the country?

Alas, perhaps it is time to change the president of Umno and the Prime Minister of this country!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 December 2012, 12:02 pm and is filed under
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Will Najib apologise for Malaysia’s poor record  in fighting corruption under his watch as PM,  falling to lowest rankings of TI CPI

Today, December 9,  is the International Anti-Corruption Day designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of corruption and the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in combating and preventing corruption.

However, although this is the 9th International Anti-Corruption Day since its first observance in 2004, the Malaysian Government had simply ignored it – which is a reflection of its  lack of commitment and political will to combat corruption, in particular “grand corruption” of top political and government leaders.

The failure of the “reform” government of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to observe the International Anti-Corruption Day this year is a great disappointment, as it was only ten days ago that Najib had apologised for “any oversight” of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional government in the past, couched in the most flowery of  language, viz:

“Where on this earth is there no rain, which sea has no turbulence? Where on this earth are there people, or leaders, or companies or parties that have never stumbled or committed a mistake?  As the leadership of the party and government, we put our palms together in apology for any oversight.”

I want to ask Najib whether he would apologise for Malaysia’s poor record in fighting corruption under his watch as Prime Minister, falling to the lowest rankings of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for four consecutive years from 2009-2012 – a record worse than previous Prime Ministers?

This concerns his own “oversight” as Prime Minister in the past four years and not the “oversight” of the previous UMNO/BN Prime Ministers in the past five decades!

When the TI CPI was first introduced in 1995, Malaysia was ranked No. 23 out of 41 countries. I can still remember the condemnation by the then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who accused it as part of the Western “white men” conspiracy to demonise Asian countries as the global anti-corruption NGO was headquartered in Berlin.

What is most ironic is that in the months before he stepped down as Prime Minister in October 2003, Mahathir was singing a different tune, suggesting that Malaysia must compare its public behaviour with Finland, which came out as the world’s least corrupt and most ethical country in the TI CPI for three consecutive years at that time.

Giving final recognition to the TI CPI, Mahathir urged the country to aim “to be amongst the highest ranking countries” – which could only mean among the top least corrupt nations!

When Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister, Malaysia’s ranking in 2003 had dropped from 23rd in 1995 to 37th position!

In the five-year premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia’s TI CPI plunged another ten places from 37th to 47th ranking in 2008 despite Abdullah’s five-year National Integrity Plan to achieve at least 30th ranking in 2008.

But for the period when Najib took over as Prime Minister, Malaysia’s plumbed to the lowest TI CPI rankings in all the four consecutive years, falling to 56th placing in 2009 and 2010, 60th  in 2011 and 54th in 2012 – confirming that Malaysia under Najib is even more corrupt than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Mahathir and Abdullah.

If Najib is not prepared to apologise for the “oversight” and “failings” under his own premiership, who will believe that Najib is sincere and genuine about his “apology with palms together”  for the “oversight” of past UMNO/BN governments?

With such an abysmal record on the anti-corruption front, despite giving it top priority in the government transformation programme (GTP) and NKRA, the International Anti-Corruption Day should have been observed by Najib with the announcement of new meaningful anti-corruption initiatives by the present UMNO/BN government.

But this is not the case, and the International Anti-Corruption Corruption Day continues to be ignored by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet – an eloquent statement that they are not serious in the war against worsening corruption in Malaysia apart from sloganeering and rhetorics.

The 66th UMNO General Assembly is not the first time that Najib had apologised for past UMNO/BN mistakes, but he had singularly failed to enumerate the past UMNO/BN mistakes which he was apologising for.

Let Najib identify and particularise these “oversights” which he is apologising for, whether for abuses of power, corruption, cronyism and lack of accountability; the destruction of the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism of major national institutions whether the civil service, the judiciary, police, election commission or anti-corruption agency; the worsening race and religious polarisation in the country or for the illegal and undemocratic power grab in Perak from Pakatan Rakyat in February 2009?

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                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 December 2012, 2:42 pm and is filed under
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Adakah Najib akan memohon maaf kerana rekod buruk Malaysia dalam membanteras rasuah ketika di bawah pengawasan beliau sebagai PM, kegagalan sehinggakan kedudukan terendah CPI TI untuk empat tahun berturut-turut sejak 2009-2012?

Hari ini, 9 Disember, merupakan Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa yang ditetapkan oleh Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu untuk meningkatkan kesedaran tentang rasuah dan juga Konvensyen PBB Menentang Rasuah dalam melawan dan mencegah rasuah.

Walau bagaimanapun, sekalipun ini merupakan Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa ke-9 sejak pertama kali didakan pada 2004, Kerajaan Malaysia terus tidak mempedulikannya – mencerminkan kurangnya komitmen dan kesungguhan politik untuk membanteras rasuah, terutamanya “rasuah besar” pemimpin politik dan kerajaan.

Kegagalan kerajaan “reformasi” Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk meraikan Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa tahun ini amat mengecewakan, memandangkan baru sepuluh hari lepas Najib telah meminta maaf atas “segala kekhilafan” kerajaan UMNO/Barisan Nasional pada masa lalu, diungkapkan dengan kata-kata penuh berbunga, iaitu:

“Bumi mana tak ditimpa hujan, laut mana tidak bergelora, bahagian dunia manakah yang wujudnya orang, atau pimpinan, atau persyarikatan atau parti yang tidak pernah tersandung atau tersalah. Di atas segalanya, sebagai kepimpinan parti dan kerajaan, kami menyusun jari nan sepuluh memohon maaf atas kekhilafan.”

Saya mahu bertanya Najib adakah beliau akan memohon maaf kerana rekod buruk Malaysia dalam membanteras rasuah ketika di bawah pengawasan beliau sebagai PM, kegagalan sehinggakan kedudukan terendah Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) Transparancy International (TI) untuk empat tahun berturut-turut sejak 2009-2012 – satu rekod yang lebih buruk daripada Perdana Menteri sebelumnya?

Ini melibatkan “kekhilafannya” sebagai Perdana Menteri sepanjang empat tahun lalu dan bukan “kekhilafan” Perdana Menteri UMNO/BN sepanjang lima dekad lalu!

Sewaktu CPI TI pertama kali diperkenalkan pada 1995, Malaysia berada pada kedudukan ke-23 daripada 41 negara. Saya masih ingat lagi kecaman oleh Perdana Menteri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad yang menuduhnya sebagai sebahagian daripada konspirasi “orang putih” Barat untuk memburuk-burukan negara Asia kerana NGO anti-rasuah antarabangsa itu berpusat di Berlin.

Yang ironinya adalah beberapa bulan selepas beliau meletakkan jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri pada Oktober 2003, Mahathir menyatakan perkara berbeza, mengatakan Malaysia perlu membandingkan sikap rakyatnya dengan Finland, yang merupakan negara paling kurang rasuah dan paling beretika di dalam CPI TI untuk tiga tahun berturut-turut ketika itu.

Memberikan pengiktirafan beliau kepada CPI TI, Mahathir menyeru negara untuk mensasarkan “menjadi antara negara yang mendapat kedudukan tertinggi” – yang bermaksud antara negara paling kurang rasuah!

Apabila Mahathir meletakkan jawayan sebagai Perdana Menteri, kedudukan Malaysia pada 2003 telah merosot daripada tempat ke-23 pada 1995 kepada tempat ke-37!

Dalam tempoh lima tahun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi menjadi Perdana Menteri, CPI TI Malaysia menjunam sepuluh tempat lagi daripada tempat ke-37 kepada tempat ke-47 pada 2008 walaupun Pelan Integriti Nasional lima tahun Abdullah adalah untuk mencapai sekurang-kurangnya tempat ke-30 pada 2008.

Tetapi, pada waktu Najib mengambil alih jawatan Perdana Menteri, Malaysia jatuh ke kedudukan paling teruk CPI TI selama empat tahun berturut-turut, jatuh ke tempat ke-56 pada 2009 dan 2010, tempat ke-60 pada 2011 dan tempat ke-54 pada 2012 – mengesahkan bahawa di bawah Najib Malaysia lebih korup berbanding dua Perdana Menteri sebelumnya iaitu Mahathir dan Abdullah.

Sekiranya Najib tidak bersedia untuk memohon maaf atas “kekhilafan” dan “kegagalan” di bawah pemerintahannya, siapa akan percaya yang Najib ikhlas “memohon maaf dengan menyusun jari nan sepuluh” atas “kekhilafan” kerajaan UMNO/BN sebelum ini?

Dengan rekod anti-rasuah yang sedemikian, sekalipun memberikan keutamaan tertinggi terhadapnya di dalam Program Transformasi Kerajaan (GTP) dan NKRA, Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa sepatutnya diraikan oleh Najib dengan pengumuman inisiatif baru yang bermakna daripada kerajaan UMNO/BN.

Akan tetapi itu semua tidak berlaku, dan Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa terus tidak dipedulikan Perdana Menteri dan Kabinetnya – satu kenyataan jelas bahawa mereka tidak serius dalam membanteras rasuah yang semakin buruk di Malaysia melainkan sekadar melaungkan slogan dan retorik.

Perhimpunan Agung UMNO ke-66 bukanlah kali pertama Najib memohon maaf atas kesalahan lalu UMNO/BN, namun beliau tetap gagal menyebut satu persatu apakah kesalahan lalu UMNO/BN yang beliau pohon kemaafan itu.

Biar Najib kenal pasti dan perincikan “kekhilafan” apa yang beliau pohon kemaafan itu, sama ada memohon maaf kerana penyalahgunaan kuasa, rasuah, kronisme dan kurang akauntabiliti; hancurnya kebebasan, kesaksamakan, intergriti dan profesionalisme institusi utama negara baik perkhidmatan awam, badan kehakiman, polis, suruhanjaya pilihan raya atau agensi pencegahan rasuah; perpecahan kaum dan agama yang semakin meruncing di dalam negara atau memohon maaf untuk rampasan kuasa yang tidak sah dan tidak demokratik negeri Perak daripada Pakatan Rakyat pada Febuari 2009?

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/09/will-najib-apologise-for-malaysias-poor-record-in-fighting-corruption-under-his-watch-as-pm-falling-to-lowest-rankings-of-ti-cpi/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 10:17 am and is filed under
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Adakah UMNO/BN akan memperoleh majoriti dua pertiga semula atau adakah Pakatan Rakyat akan menawan Putrajaya dengan majoriti lebih 20 di dalam PRU13?

Terdapat seorang lagi yang berkerja lebih keras daripada Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk memastikan UMNO/Barisan Nasional bukan sahaja memenangi Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 tetapi juga mendapat majoriti dua pertiga kerusi Parlimen.

Orang itu adalah Tun Dr. Mahathir yang sepatutnya sudah bersara daripada politik apabila meletakkan jawatan pada penghujung 2003 selepas 22 tahun menjadi Perdana Menteri.

Semalam, Mahathir berada di Sik untuk mengingatkan ahli UMNO bagi menghilangkan rasa tidak puas hati terhadap calon yang dipilih oleh kepimpinan tertinggi UMNO/BN sekiranya mereka mahu lihat UMNO/BN kekal berkuasa selepas PRU13.

Beliau meminta ahli UMNO untuk mengenepikan perbezaan mereka dan memberikan sokongan penuh kepada calon UMNO/BN yang terpilih kerana keutamaan sepatutnya untuk memastikan kemjayaan supaya BN dapat menang besar dan membentuk kerajaan yang kuat.

Perkara itu amat luar biasa tetapi kebiasaan Mahathirism yang mana Mahathir perlu memberi amaran tentang penyakit “Melayu mudah lupa” sebagai punca tidak puas hati di dalam UMNO sehingga tidak menyokong calon yang terpilih, sedangkan Mahathir sendiri adalah gambaran terbaik penyakit “Melayu mudah lupa” apabila beliau dengan giat berkempen menentang Tun Abdullah sebagai Perdana Menteri pada pilihan raya umum 2008.

Jelas pada Mahathir, yang berada di hujung tanduk dalam PRU13 bukanlah soal jawatan Perdana Menteri Najib tetapi legasi Mahathir, dan tiada keraguan lagi yang mana satu akan mendapat keutamaan sekiranya berlaku pertembungan antara jawatan Perdana Menteri Najib dan legasi Mahathir!

Inilah sebabnya mengapa rakyat Malaysia mendapati kenyataan Najib di dalam wawancaranya bersama Malay Maol Jumaat lalu bahawa beliau memerlukan mandat daripada pengundi untuk mereformasikan UMNO adalah mengejutkan.

Pertama, hal itu terkena pada diri sendiri pada Ucapan Dasar Presiden UMNO pada Perhimpunan Agung UMNO ke-66 sepuluh hari lalu, ketika beliau mengakui bahawa kegagalan UMNO/BN di dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-12 pada 2008 adalah “isyarat jelas rakyat Malaysia kepada UMNO dan rakan-rakan dalam Barisan Nasional untuk berubah, sesuai dengan selera, aspirasi dan jangkaan rakyat”.

Apabila Najib mengatakan beliau memerlukan mandat daripada pengundi di dalam PRU13 untuk mereformasikan UMNO, beliau sebenarnya mengakui bahawa beliau telah gagal untuk mereformasikan UMNO meskipun “isyarat jelas” daripada rakyat pada PRU12 bahawa UMNO mestilah berubah – sebab yang mencukupi mengapa UMNO/BN mesti digantikan dengan Pakatan Rakyat di Putrajaya dalam PRU13.

Kedua, kenyataan Najib juga terkena pada diri sendiri apabila tiga hari sebelum Perhimpunan Agung UMNO ke-66 Mahathir mengatakan, dan dipaparkan pada tajuk berita laporan Malaysiakini: “Dr. M: We’ve reformed, what more do you want?”

Sekalipun perkara itu benar, sama ada ia kerana jawatan Perdana Menteri Najib atau legasi Mahathir, Najib telah menunjukkan keyakinan tinggi selepas Perhimpunan Agung UMNO untuk mencapai dua pertiga majoriti dalam pilihan raya umum  akan datang.

Adakah UMNO/BN akan memperoleh majoriti dua pertiga semula atau adakah Pakatan Rakyat akan menawan Putrajaya dengan majoriti 20 lebih di dalam PRU13?

Sekiranya UMNO/BN mendapat dua pertiga majoriti dalam PRU13, jumlah kerusi parlimen Pakatan Rakyat akan dikurangkan sekurang-kurangnya lapan kerusi, 74 kerusi daripada 82 kerusi yang dimenangi dalam PRU12 pada 2008, memberikan BN majoriti sekurang-kurangnya 74 kerusi.

Walau bagaimanapun, sekiranya Pakatan Rakyat boleh memenangi majoriti yang banyak melalui empat juta pengundi atas pagar di dalam daftar pemilih yang terdapat lebih 13 juta pengundi – terdiri daripada tiga juta pengundi baru dan satu juta pengundi atas pagar daripada PRU12 – Pakatan Rakyat mampu mengalahkan UMNO/Barisan Nasional dan mendapat majoriti melebihi 20 kerusi parlimen.

Dalam senario terbaik itu, kemungkinan pembahagian kerusi Pakatan Rakyat di dalam Parlimen adalah 45 kerusi untuk PKR manakala DAP dan PAS masing-masing akan mendapat 40 kerusi – memberikan Pakatan Rakyat majoriti kecil 28 kerusi.

Bagaimanapun, parti-parti Pakatan Rakyat mestilah berkerja keras untuk memenangi pengundi atas pagar, memandangkan perkembangan beberapa bulan ini memberikan sebab untuk pengundi atas pagar mula berasa ragu-ragu sama ada parti-parti Pakatan Rakyat yang terdiri daripada PKR, PAS dan DAP betul-betul komited terhadap Kerangka Dasar Bersama PR dan Buku Jingga.

Keraguan yang diekploitasi habis-habisan oleh media perdana Barisan Nasional dan cybertrooper, perlu diatasi segera atau Pakatan Rakyat akan kehilangan peluang keemasan untuk memenangi Putrajaya pada PRU13 dengan mudah.

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/10/will-umnobn-regain-its-two-thirds-parliamentary-majority-or-will-pakatan-rakyat-capture-putrajaya-with-a-20-plus-majority-in-the-13ge/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 4:23 pm and is filed under
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Dirty tricks of the BN media

 — Fikry Osman

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 09, 2012

DEC 9 — There is a good reason not to buy newspapers owned by Barisan Nasional (BN) parties. They lie, twist and misinterpret news against opposition parties.

Look what The Star has done with Kelantan this week, reporting that four non-Muslims were caught for khalwat by local council officers. The officers had also apparently asked for bribes.

Isn’t this just another trick by the MCA-owned newspaper to make PAS look bad? To make people fear PAS and raise the spectre of an intolerant and punitive Islamic state?

On the other side, the NST does the same, except it is against DAP where it says our way of life is in danger because DAP is secular, communist or Christian in outlook.

These newspapers should make up their mind. It is one or the other and not all. It just shows how they will lie for their political masters.

Is this the best way to win votes for BN then? By lying and making up all kinds of accusations, by dividing people according to race and religion? What ever happened to nation building?

Is it any wonder that these newspapers are facing a shrinking circulation with the kind of half-baked lies that they perpetuate? I hope people vote with their wallet and boycott these filthy rags that masquerade as newspapers.

They’re trash and should be treated as such for the kind of tricks they pull off to smear the opposition parties.

We need better journalism and the BN media isn’t it.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 1:41 am and is filed under
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Exploding two myths

 — Mohd Nazim Ganti Shaari

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 08, 2012

DEC 8 —
Myth No.1: “Malays are guaranteed to receive all kinds of benefits, advantages and special treatment from the government (using taxpayers’ money) simply on the basis of their membership to the Malay tribe.”

It should be clear to anyone who has actually read Article 153 of the Federal Constitution that that particular view remains a myth. In fact, Article 153 focuses on both “special position of the Malays/natives of Sabah and Sarawak” together with “legitimate interests of other communities”. Anyone reading further than the constitution itself could and would discover that the framers of the constitution back in 1957 did not have any intention to enshrine it into permanency.

Furthermore, it was Umno who proposed for Article 153 to be reviewed after some time, the same opinion that was also shared by the Conference of Rulers. When one goes back to the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948, which gave birth to our present Article 153, one would similarly discover that the focus was both on the “special position of the Malays” AND (this writer’s emphasis) “legitimate interests of other communities”.

Closer to this century, one could similarly open the government’s White Paper entitled “Towards National Harmony”. The aim of this White Paper that was prepared and published in 1971 was to inform and educate Malaysian citizens regarding the intention of the ruling political party to amend Article 153 in enlarging the powers of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong therein.

It is very interesting to note that in this White Paper, that was prepared and published by the government of the father of our current prime minister in 1971, the Tun Abdul Razak government emphasised that the purpose of Article 153 was simply to address the economic imbalances among the different races back then, as opposed to the supposed manifestation of the supremacy of the Malays.

In fact, the Razak government disagreed giving scholarships to all Malay university students on the basis that it would be an unjust enrichment to the rich Malays, thereby supporting the idea under social theory that one must always guard against giving benefits to the wealthy especially so when giving special treatment to any marginalised community.

Myth No.2:
“We (the Malays/public servants) must be loyal to the government.”

In a country that practices democracy, the government is formed by the ruling political party, who is voted to be in power by the citizens. As much as the citizens have the right to elect whomever to be in the government is as much as the citizens have the right to disagree with the government, or even to vote for a different political party to be in power. A Malaysian citizen owes his/her loyalty to the Federation of Malaysia, not to the government, and certainly not to any political party, ruling or otherwise. In
Lim Lian Geok vs Minister of the Interior, Federation of Malaya [1962] MLJ 159
: per Thomson CJ:

“What we are concerned with here is disloyalty or disaffection which would justify depriving a citizen of his citizenship and on that it is I think clear that at least one essential element in such disloyalty or disaffection must be something more than mere disapproval of existing constitutional arrangements or of the policy of those who for the time being are in control of the Government. After all the Constitution is not something that has been brought down from the heights of Pisgah nor do the persons who for the time being constitute its Government and lay down its policy enjoy political immortality any more than they enjoy personal immortality. The Constitution itself contains in gremio the means by which it may itself be changed and the means by which what is popularly called the Government can be changed easily and without any fundamental damage being done, if such be the will of the citizens. Clearly, then, if a citizen merely dislikes and wishes to change any of the provisions of the Constitution or dislikes and wishes to change the Government of the day in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution designed to facilitate such a change or dislikes and wishes to have changed any part of the policy of Government and if he states his views publicly with a view to persuading his fellow citizens to operate the machinery of the Constitution in such a way as to bring about the changes he would wish to see them, to my mind, there can be no question of disloyalty or disaffection.

“If, however, he acts and speaks in such a way as to excite his fellow citizens to disobey the laws rather than to change them; if he behaves in such a way as to endanger the domestic peace and tranquillity or the enjoyment of law and order which the Federation must assure to its citizens if it is to continue to exist; if it is the natural and probable consequences of what he says and does that some citizens may be moved to effect changes in the persons making up or in the machinery of Government otherwise than in the way provided for by the Constitution itself; then and in any one of such cases it would, to my mind, be open as a matter of law to say that that individual’s conduct showed disloyalty or disaffection.”

Further, public servants are required to be neutral. A long time ago, an infamous vice-chancellor of a certain university tried to pontificate that his university staff must be loyal to Umno/Barisan Nasional since Umno/Barisan Nasional formed the government, and that the same rationale applies if PAS/DAP/PKR were to form the government. This opinion is devoid of substance since loyalty to the ruling political party which is cloaked with the veil/label of “government” takes away the neutrality of the public servants.

This neutrality/impartiality is the bedrock of good governance in which the doctrine of separation of powers demands that public servants are not agents/servants to the politicians. Even if the government were to pass any legislation demanding public servants to be loyal to the “government” (ruling political party), such a law would be unconstitutional and thereby null and void, and surely in the year 2012 everyone would know by now that there is no “parliamentary supremacy” or even “governmental supremacy” in Malaysia in which the government cannot rule the country according to its whims and fancies since Article 4 of the Federal Constitution declares that it is the constitution that is supreme in Malaysia.

Therefore it is strange to hear complaints from some public servants that they had been found guilty of “anti-government” activities just by attending a ceramah by DAP/PAS/PKR. It is even stranger to hear complaints from some university students that they had been asked by the student affairs department to spy on their fellow students and lecturers for any “anti-government” sentiments/activities.

With all of these myths exposed bare, why do the majority of mainstream politicians, a certain number of public servants, a certain number of lecturers and professors and politicians-masquerading-as-academicians still regurgitate these same myths? Are they ignorant? Could it be that the ones who still spout such nonsense are shameless sycophants?

I pray for the former, since I could make an attempt to educate them. If they were sycophants who only care to protect their own personal interests and the interests of their political masters, contempt does not even begin to describe how I feel towards them since these are the real traitors to the Federation of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 1:56 am and is filed under
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Najib’s Farcical Presidential Speech

M. Bakri Musa

10 Dec 2012

That Prime Minister Najib Razak is oratorically-challenged is patently obvious, and a severe understatement.  The pathetic part is that Najib is determined to delude himself that he is otherwise.  His presidential speech at the recently-concluded UMNO General Assembly was only the latest example.

            He confuses ponderousness with deliberateness, equates yelling as emphasizing, and thinks that furrowing his forehead as being in profound thought.  In the hands of a gifted actor, those could be great comedic acts.  Alas, Najib is also far from being that.

            I learned early in high school at Kuala Pilah that if I did not know what to do with my hands when delivering a speech, to keep them in my pockets or behind my back.  Do not gesticulate wildly as that would only distract the audience.  Worse, I risked looking like a monkey on speed.  Najib apparently did not learn that at his expensive British school.

            As an aside from the personal hygiene perspective, I hoped they sanitized the microphone thoroughly after he spoke; there was an awful amount of spit splattered on it during his delivery.

            Najib should take comfort in the fact that there are many effective leaders who are neither charismatic nor great orators.  Germany’s Angela Merkel readily comes to mind.  Najib should also be reminded that the converse is even truer.  Leaders with great oratorical gifts and generously endowed charisma can often be among the most corrupt and inept.  Sukarno mesmerized Indonesians with his mercurial personality and spellbound speeches, but that country remained a basket case economically and in many other ways during his presidency.

            Had Najib delivered his address in his usual persona, without the put-on gravitas or pretensions of grandeur, he could have finished his nearly hour-long speech in half the time.  Then he and his audience would not have missed their Maghrib prayers.  Besides, there was nothing in Najib’s speech that was so urgent or important to justify that.  As self-professed champions and defenders of Islam, Najib and his fellow UMNO members do not need to be reminded of the importance of prayer.  He and UMNO might need it for the coming election!

            Or perhaps those UMNO folks believed in the canard that their party is God’s choice, and thus dispensed from having to pray.

            With all the daunting challenges facing Malays, Najib could come up with only two piddling policy prescriptions:  One, increasing Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia’s (AIM) loan amount to RM100K from RM50K; and two, reviewing the country’s bankruptcy laws.  This from the leader of a party that purports to champion the Malay cause!

            In announcing the loan increase, Najib looked approvingly to Wanita members, and they in turn responded in kind.  Meaning, they were the intended beneficiaries.  I have no problem giving those ladies who are hairdressers or trained pre-school teachers loans so they could start their own beauty salons or kindergartens, but simply by virtue of their being Wanita members would be folly.  Besides, if all you have is some vague idea of starting basket weaving, you do not need such outlandish amounts.

            AIM is Malaysia’s government-sponsored version of “micro-credit.”  Muhammad Yunus, its pioneer, would be flabbergasted to know that a loan of RM100K is considered “micro.”  This is yet another example of Najib adopting an otherwise brilliant idea from elsewhere and then screwing it up in the implementation.  AIM’s generous program has degenerated into another massive and lucrative UMNO patronage machinery.

            As for reviewing the bankruptcy laws, I would have been reassured had Najib made it part of an overall scheme to encourage economic entrepreneurialism and business risk-taking especially among Malays.  Alas, none of that!  It was prompted simply to rescue the many UMNO leaders who are bankrupt purportedly from guaranteeing loans of their members in return for their support.  With the proposed changes, those local leaders would be spared from bankruptcy, and then they could be their party’s next “winnable” candidates!  Having not learned their lesson, they would then mortgage the country’s future.

            What is obvious here is that Najib and the entire UMNO leadership are bereft of ideas.  They are intellectually bankrupt.  The brilliant political cartoonist Zunar captures well this degeneration of UMNO leaders with his latest cartoon, “Evolusi UMNO.”

            The only remedy for the intellectual bankruptcy of our current leaders is to have an entirely new leadership.

            Fully aware what Mahathir did to Abdullah Badawi, Najib heaped profuse praise on the still powerful Mahathir.  It was sucking up performance par excellence!  Najib singled out Mahathir’s commitment of loyalty to leaders, which he (Mahathir) apparently forgot when Abdullah Badawi was in charge.

            According to Najib, Mahathir had impressed upon UMNO members the importance of loyalty to leaders, presumably in contrast to fidelity to principles.  Najib readily or more accurately, desperately hung on to that!  These UMNO leaders are nothing but opportunistic characters, modern-day Hang Tuahs.

            In his speech Najib was like a little kid desperately seeking approval and relishing praises from grown-ups.  Apart from gushingly citing Mahathir’s approbation, Najib reminded his audience of IMF’s Christine Legard’s praise for Malaysia’s “gravity-defying” economic performance.  Najib needs to be reminded that the IMF, World Bank, and other “respected” international bodies were running out of superlatives to describe the country’s economic stewardship right up to the day before the 1997 Asian economic contagion.

            When he was not consumed with sucking up and seeking approval, Najib was obsessed with demonizing the opposition, in particular its leader Anwar Ibrahim.  Najib feigned disgust at Anwar’s alleged crime, for which he was jailed but subsequently acquitted on appeal.

            Najib and others of his ilk conveniently forgot that whatever crime Anwar may have allegedly committed, no one was murdered.  Instead, Anwar suffered a black eye, literally and metaphorically.  Now compare that to the fate of the beautiful young Mongolian lady Altantuya.  She and her unborn child were literally blown to pieces.  The fact that her killers are close to Najib (they were part of his official bodyguard unit) or the explosives used are available only to his department remains unexplained.

            Najib smugly let on that he had other “secrets” of Anwar which he (Najib) would unhesitatingly reveal at the opportune time.  Left unsaid are the many secrets of Najib now swirling openly in cyberspace that he has yet to respond.  The biggest remains the tragedy of that poor Mongolian lady.

            It is hard to pick which part of Najib’s speech was the most obscene or offensive as there were many vying for the top spot.  His closing remarks must clearly rank high up there.

            It is an accepted tradition in Islam that once you have uttered vile words or committed evil deeds, your wuduk (ablution) would be nullified.  You would then have to re-cleanse yourself (take another wuduk) before reciting any dua (supplication) or verse from the Koran.  The reason is clear and obvious:  You cannot invoke Allah’s name when your heart is filled with bile and hate. It makes a mockery of your good niat (intention).

            In vilifying the opposition and uttering those ugly words, Najib had committed evil deeds.  I could also add that he had demeaned himself, but then he could not get any lower.

            Earlier, UMNO folks were appalled when PAS members, led by their leader Nik Aziz, had a prayer calling for UMNO’s downfall.  Like many, I too was utterly repulsed by that vulgar gesture.

            Yet there was Najib, frothing at the mouth vilifying the opposition and attributing the most evil of motives to them, and then with his instant put-on piety leading his followers to a recitation of dua calling for Allah’s blessing!  They in turn responded in kind with their collective exuberant “Amen!” and “Allahu Akhbar!” (God is great!).  Only UMNO’s carma (contraction for cari makan – lit. seeking food; fig. opportunistic) ulamas would approve of that.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 2:27 am and is filed under
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Next year will be a bad year for Malaysia’s TI CPI as UMNO/BN are set to spend billions to try to retain power in the 13GE – taking money politics to new depths in nation’s history

For the fourth consecutive year, the Najib premiership (2009-2012) has registered a lower ranking in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012 than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

In the first year of TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked 23rd out of 41 countries, plunging to No. 37th placing in 2003 when Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister at the end of the year.

Despite all the Abdullah boast of “Mr. Clean”, “Modern-Day Justice Bao”, “all-out war against corruption” and “impending arrest of 18 ‘big fishes’”, Malaysia’s TI CPI continued on a headlong plunge in Abdullah’s five-year premiership, falling to No. 47 position in 2008.

But the four years of Najib premiership saw Malaysia’s TI CPI plunging to even lower depths – No. 56 in 2009 and 2010, No. 60 in 2011 and No. 54 in 2012.

As a result, the Najib premiership has the dubious record of being even more corrupt than all the previous five premierships, as no one has ever suggested that corruption under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein were more serious than their successors.

Until the seventies, the biggest scandal in Parliament was the RM65 million Bank Rakyat scandal which I debated in Parliament in 1979.

Since the eighties, corruption and financial scandals increased by leaps and bounds from the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal, the RM600 million Maminco tin-buying scandal and the RM1.5 billion Co-operatives Finance scandal in the 80s, to the RM30 billion Bank Negara foreign exchange scandal and RM11 billion Perwaja scandal in the 90s, and current multi-billion ringgit Scorpene and defence procurement scandals and the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal.

With the change in methodology in the present TI CPI, it is not possible to compare the TI CPI 2012 with the previous series of TI CPI of the past 17 years from 1995-2011.

As a result, nobody can really claim that Malaysia has achieved any improvement on the anti-corruption front from the TI CPI 2012, although this is what UMNO/BN leaders are doing.

However, as analysed earlier, what is incontrovertible and undeniable is that corruption under Najib’s four-year premiership is worse than the 51 years under Malaysia’s first five Prime Ministers.

What must be a matter of grave concern to all Malaysians is that Malaysia is set for a bad year for TI CPI next year as UMNO/BN would  spend billions to try to retain power in the 13GE – taking money politics to new depths in the nation’s history.

I understand that the 2012 CPI covered data gathered between December 2011 and September 2012, which would mean Malaysia would have more adverse TI CPI ranking and score if the corruption exposes in October and November 2012 had been taken into account – especially the scandal of the RM40 million “political donation to Sabah UMNO” implicating Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and Sabah timber trader Michael Chia as well as the Bruno Manser foundation’s expose of unusual extraordinary wealth amounting to RM64 billion for the family of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Taib Mahmud (and RM46 billion for himself alone) after 30 years as Sarawak Chief Minister.

At the recent UMNO General Assembly, some Sabah UMNO delegates had told online news portals that although they full support  Musa Aman, they were in the dark about the RM40 million “political donation” to Sabah UMNO and they wanted Musa to personally explain the issue.

In the five-day UMNO General Assembly, Musa succeeded in evading the media and he has not yet given any satisfactory explanation to date about the RM40 million “political donation to Sabah UMNO”.

However, there were also Sabah UMNO delegates who dismissed the controversy on the ground that the RM40 million donation was pittance compared to the millions UMNO dished out during elections – with one Sabah UMNO delegate revealing that in the Putatan constituency in his home state, UMNO would have to spend up to RM6 million during the polls.

With 26 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah (and Labuan) and at the average of RM6 million per constituency, the total election expenses would exceed RM150 million at the parliamentary level – which would more than doubled when the election expenses in the state assembly constituencies are taken into account.

With UMNO/BN spending at least RM300 million in Sabah, another RM300 million in Sarawak, and similar election expenditures for the 165 Parliamentary seats and 441 State Assembly seats in the eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia, we are looking at the UMNO/BN coalition spending billions of ringgit to retain power and recapture two-thirds parliamentary majority at the federal level, recapture the four Pakatan Rakyat states of Penang, Kelantan, Selangor and Kedah, keep its unconstitutional rule in Perak, and retain power in the other states.

The billions of ringgit spent by UMNO/BN in the 13GE will the root cause of rampant corruption for the next five years after the 13GE if UMNO/BN remains ensconced in Putrajaya, as those who contributed to the billions of UMNO/BN election expenditures would expect to be amply rewarded, tenfold if not hundred-fold, after the 13GE.

This is why I say that next year will be a bad year for Malaysia’s TI CPI.

No wonder the Najib government is not prepared to celebrate the International Anti-Corruption Day yesterday, which had been designated by the United Nations General Assembly for the past nine years!

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/10/tahun-depan-merupakan-tahun-petaka-untuk-cpi-ti-malaysia-memandangkan-umnobn-bersedia-untuk-menaburkan-berbilion-ringgit-di-dalam-pru13-bagi-mengekalkan-kuasa-membawa-politik-wang-ke-satu-paras-bar/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 5:27 pm and is filed under
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Penang Lang must defend Penang at all cost

by Richard Loh

10 Dec. 2012

Your PM is blackmailing and using his ‘legal’ bribery ‘I help you, you help me’ bribing his way to recapture Penang. Penangnites must not fall into this dangerous trap.

Your Prime Minster has proven beyond doubt that he is a very weak and incapable leader. His daily speeches, a multitude of plea, threat, admission, omission and deceptive promises that allowed one to see how a man looks like when the fear of losing power is imminent.

His latest trip to Penang on the 8th December 2012 was to galvanize support to retake Penang in the next General Election with more ambiguous speeches and deceptive promises.

Every Malaysian must ask this question “Who is paying for all the extravagant expenses of your PM playing Santa Claus Merry going round the country”?

 What kind of leadership is he trying to prove, a leadership for all Malaysians or just to those who like and support his Umno coalition BN?

He made a call to Penangnites to ensure a BN victory only then will they get to have (mind you, only pledges) 20,000 affordable homes and monorail. Is he a real joker PM or what? Can I put three questions to him.

What has Umno/BN done during their 50 years of taking power in Penang when these affordable homes and monorail were much needed back as early as the late 90’s?

Is your PM trying to say that there will be no help from the Federal government if Penang is still under Pakatan Rakayat?

If that is the case, can Penangnites insist that they will not pay their taxes directly to Federal government but instead to the State government?

1Malaysia was incorporated into your PM GTP (Government Transformation Plan) and it failed miserably, now he is saying it was deliberately designed to be vague, can you believe that? Will he said again that the whole GTP is a vague planning should it collapse or failed, which is now seen failing by the day?

A PM leading a nation with vagueness and ambiguity should not be making all sorts of promises. What happened if you give your mandate for him to run another term and he failed to implement his promises and tell you that all the promises were said in vagueness? There you will be conned yet again after living with their lies for 55 years!

Your PM is also the President of Malaysia’s largest political party, Umno, with over 3 million members. He admitted that he cannot reformed his party without the public mandate. What a funny PM you have.

He is the President and yet he is powerless to reform his party and calls for public help. Yet, he is talking about transformation of a nation of over 28 million people, how the hell is he going to do it. Do you think he can do it if the people were to give him the mandate in GE 13? He has been the PM for nearly four years and he has done nothing except to crow, cry and beg!

“What happens if after obtaining that endorsement, reactionary factions in UMNO interpret the mandate as support for the status quo in party and government which means that reform would then not be necessary and that it should be business as usual?” – Terrence Netto

I have created a FaceBook Fan page “Penang Lang must defend Penang at all cost”
here
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Even though this Fan Page is created to defend Penang at all cost, all Malaysians can like the page and make it a ‘Malaysians must defend Malaysia at all cost” from the devil you know that is corrupt, racist and arrogant with a weak and incapable PM taking the nation to nowhere.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 6:48 pm and is filed under
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Tahun depan merupakan tahun petaka untuk CPI TI Malaysia memandangkan UMNO/BN bersedia untuk menaburkan berbilion ringgit di dalam PRU13 bagi mengekalkan kuasa – membawa politik wang ke satu paras baru sejarah negara

Untuk empat tahun berturut-turut, sepanjang tempoh Najib menjadi Perdana Menteri (2009-2012) telah mencatatkan kedudukan rendah di dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) Transparency International (TI) 2012 berbanding dua Perdana Menteri sebelumnya iaitu Tun Mahathir dan Tun Abdullah.

Di tahun pertama CPI TI pada 1995, Malaysia berada pada kedudukan ke-23 daripada 41 negara, menjunam ke tempat ke-37 pada 2003 ketika Mahathir meletakkan jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri pada hujung tahun itu.

Meskipun berdegar-degar Abdullah dikaitkan dengan imej “Mr. Clean” dan”Hakim Bao Zaman Moden”, “pencegahan rasuah secara menyeluruh” dan “penahanan 18 ‘ikan besar”, CPI TI Malaysia masih berterusan menjunam dalam tempoh lima tahun Abdullah menjadi Perdana Menteri, jatuh ke tempat 47 pada tahun 2008.

Akan tetapi empat tahun Najib memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri memperlihatkan CPI TI Malaysia menjunam ke paras yang lebih rendah – No.56 pada tahun 2009 dan 2010, No. 60 pada 2011 dan No. 54 pada 2012.

Kesannya, sepanjang tempoh Najib memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri beliau mempunyai rekod buruk menjadi lebih korup berbanding lima Perdana Menteri sebelumya, memandangkan tiada yang menyatakan rasuah di bawah tiga Perdana Menteri awal iaitu Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak dan Tun Hussein lebih serius berbanding pengganti mereka.

Sehingga tahun tujuh puluhan, skandal terbesar di Parlimen adalah skandal RM65 juta Bank Rakyat yang saya bahaskan di Parlimen pada tahun 1979.

Sejak tahun lapan puluhan, skandal rasuah dan kewangan meningkat dengan mendadak daripada skandal RM2.5 bilion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF), skandal RM600 juta Maminco untuk menguasai pasaran timah dan skandal  dkoperasi kewangan RM1.5 bilion pada 80-an, sehinggalah skandal pertukaran asing RM30 bilion Bank Negara dan skandal RM11 bilion Perwaja pada 90-an, dan terkini adalah skandal berbilion ringgit Scorpene dan perolehan pertahanan dan skandal RM12.5 bilion Zon Perdagangan Bebas Pelabuhan Kelang.

Dengan perubahan pada metodologi dalam CPI TI terbaru, tidak boleh membandingkan CPI TI 2012 dengan CPI TI sebelumnya sepanjang 17 tahun daripada 1995-2011.

Kesannya, tiada siapa berhak mendakwa Malaysia telah menunjukkan kemajuan pada usaha pencegahan rasuah daridapa CPI TI 2012, walaupun itulah apa yang pemimpin UMNO/BN sedang lakukan.

Walau bagaimanapun, seperti yang dianalisa lebih awal, apa yang tidak dapat dipertikaikan dan tidak dapat dinafikan adalah rasuah di bawah pemerintahan Najib selama empat tahun lebih teruk daripada tempoh 51 tahun Malaysia berada di bawah lima Perdana Menteri sebelum ini.

Apa yang sepatutnya menjadi kebimbangan besar seluruh rakyat adalah tahun depan merupakan tahun yang buruk buat Malaysia untuk CPI TI kerana tahun depan UMNO/BN tentu akan membelanjakan berbilion ringgit untuk cuba mengekalkan kuasa dalamPRU13 – membawa politik wang ke satu paras baru sejarah negara

Saya tahu bahawa CPI 2012 merangkumi data terkumpul di antara Disember 2011 dan September 2012, yang bermakna kedudukan Malaysia akan lebih buruk jika rasuah yang didedahkan pada Oktober dan November 2012 juga diambil kira – terutamanya skandal “sumbangan politik kepada UMNO Sabah” RM40 juta melibatkan Ketua Menteri Sabah Datuk Seri Musa Aman dan ahli perniagaan balak Sabah Michael Chia serta pendedahan kekayaan luar biasa yang berjumlah RM64 bilion keluarga Ketua Menteri Sarawak Tan Sri Taib Mahmud (dan hampir RM46 untuk dirinya seorang) sepanjang 30 tahun menjadi Ketua Menteri Sarawak oleh yayasan Bruno Manser.

Pada perhimpunan Agung UMNO, sesetengah perwakilan UMNO Sabah telah memberitahu portal berita atas talian bahawa meskipun mereka menyokong sepenuhnya Musa Aman, mereka samar-samar tentang “sumbangan politik” RM40 juta kepada UMNO Sabah dan mereka menuntut Musa menjelaskan isu tersebut sendiri.

Dalam tempoh lima hari Perhimpunan Agung UMNO, Musa berjaya mengelak daripada media dan sehingga hari ini masih belum memberikan sebarang penjelasan memuaskan berkenaan “sumbangan politik kepada UMNO Sabah” sebanyak RM40 juta.

Bagaimanapun, terdapat juga perwakilan UMNO yang menolak kontroversi itu dengan alasan bahawa sumbangan RM40 juta adalah sedikit berbanding berjuta-juta yang UMNO taburkan ketika pilihan raya – dengan pendedahan seorang perwakilan UMNO Sabah bahawa di kawasan Putatan, UMNO akan berbelanja sehingga RM6 juta ketika pilihan  raya.

Dengan 26 kawasan parlimen di Sabah (dan Labuan) dan dengan purata RM6 juta untuk setiap kawasan, jumlah belanja pilihan raya keseluruhannya akan melebihi RM150 juta pada peringkat perlimen – yang mana akan meningkat dua kali ganda apabila perbelanjaan pilihan raya di kawasan dewan undangan negeri diambil kira.

Dengan UMNO/BN membelanjakan sekurang-kurangnya RM300 juta di Sabah, dan RM300 juta di Sarawak, dan belanja pilihan raya yang sama untuk 165 kerusi Parlimen dan 441 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri dalam kesemua sebelas negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia, kita melihat UMNO/BN membelanjakan berbilion ringgit untuk kekal berkuasa dan mendapatkan semula majoriti dua pertiga parlimen pada peringkat persekutuan, untuk menawan semula negeri-negeri Pakatan Rakyat yang terdiri daripada Pulau Pinang, Kelantan, Selangor dan kedah serta mengekalkan pemerintahan tidak mengikut perlembagaan di Perak dan mengekalkan kuasa di negeri lain.

Berbilion ringgit yang dibelanjakan UMNO/BN pada PRU13 akan menjadi akar masalah rasuah yang berleluasa pada lima tahun akan datang selepas PRU13 sekiranya UMNO/BN kekal di Putrajaya, memandangkan mereka yang menyumbangkan berbilion ringgit kepada perbelanjaan pilihan raya UMNO/BN mengharapkan balasan selepas PRU13, sepuluh kali ganda kalau tidak seratus kali ganda pun.

Inilah sebabnya mengapa saya katakan tahun depan akan menjadi tahun petaka buat CPI TI Malaysia.

Tidak hairanlah mengapa kerajaan Najib tidak bersedia untuk menyambut Hari Anti-Rasuah Antarabangsa semalam yang telah ditentukan oleh Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu sejak sembilan tahun lalu!

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/10/next-year-will-be-a-bad-year-for-malaysias-ti-cpi-as-umnobn-are-set-to-spend-billions-to-try-to-retain-power-in-the-13ge-taking-money-politics-to-new-depths-nations-histor/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 11:59 pm and is filed under
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Transformasi apakah yang sedang Najib katakan apabila beliau tidak mampu membuatkan Perhimpunan Agung UMNO untuk menyokong dasar 1Malaysia beliau setelah empat tahun menjadi Perdana Menteri dan Presiden UMNO?

Di dalam wawancaranya bersama Malay Mail semalam, ketika ditanya berkenaan “kumpulan yang skeptik dengan 1Malaysia di dalam UMNO sendiri”, Perdana Menteri, Datu Seri Najib Razak mengatakan adalah sengaja beliau tidak mentakrifkan konsep itu sejelas-jelasnya kerana “sepatutnya ada unsur kekaburan makna yang strategik supaya apabila anda perkenalkan konsep seperti itu, apabila masa berlalu, takrifannya dapat ditakrifkan dengan menerima pandangan orang lain sepanjang kita bergerak”.

Beliau bagaimanapun mendakwa “konsep 1Malaysia kini difahami dengan jelas”!

Ini merupakan dakwaan yang Najib sendiri mungkin tidak menyakininya.

Malah, rakyat Malaysia berhak untuk bertanya transformasi apakah yang sedang Najib katakan apabila beliau tidak mampu membuatkan Perhimpunan Agung UMNO menyokong dasar 1Malaysia beliau setelah empat tahun menjadi Perdana Menteri dan Presiden UMNO, sedangkan Dasar 1Malaysia merupakan asas kepada semua program “transformasi” beliau, baik kerajaan, ekonomi atau politik, contohnya GTP, ETP, PTP dan lain-lain.

Rakyat Malaysia terkejut selepas hampir empat tahun, Najib mengatakan beliau sengaja membiarkan konsep 1Malaysia kabur dan samar-samar, sedangkan itu bukan apa yang beliau katakan pada tahun pertama sebagai Perdana Menteri.

Sebagai contoh, pada Febuari 2010, di dalam ucapan dasarnya sewaktu Persidangan Ekonomi 1Malaysia, Najib meluahkan rasa sedih dengan pelbagai salah faham terhadap konsep 1Malaysia yang beliau perkenalkan ketika memegang jawatan Perdana Menteri pada April 2009, mengeluh: “Saya benar-benar sedih bahawa gagasan tersebut, yang tidak begitu kompleks, seringkali tidak difahami”

Bagaimana Najib kini boleh mendakwa bahawa sejak awal, beliau telah sengaja membiarkan “unsur kekaburan makna yang strategik” di dalam takrifan 1Malaysia, apabila takrifan 1Malaysia telah disebut dengan penuh dan jelas sejak awal, terutamanya di dalam Pelan Hala Tuju Program Transformasi Kerajaan (GTP) 1Malaysia, yakni:

“Matlamat  1Malaysia adalah untuk menjadikan Malaysia lebih berdaya maju, lebih produktif dan lebih berdaya saing – dan kemuncaknya sebuah negara yang hebat: sebuah negara yang diharapkan agar setiap warga Malaysia melihat dirinya terlebih dahulu sebagai rakyat Malaysia, dan kemudiannya barulah melihat dirinya berdasarkan bangsa, agama, kawasan geografi dan latar belakang sosial,”

Pelan Hala Tuju GTP 1Malaysia mengisytiharkan Malaysia “Malaysia telah memilih jalan yang berbeza – perpaduan dalam kepelbagaian dan keterangkuman (inklusif) dan pada masa yang sama, memastikan kesaksamaan untuk semua. Konsep yang diperkukuhkan dalam Perlembagaan” – yang bermakna “kita menerima kepelbagaian etnik, agama dan kepercayaan dan dengan ciri keterangkuman, kita harus membina rasa salinghormat-menghormati dan saling menerima sebagai sebuah asas kepercayaandan kesepaduan”.

Jelas sejak awal lagi Najib tidak mendapat sokongan pemimpin UMNO dan Kabinet terhadap Dasar 1Malaysia beliau, kerana Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sendiri tidak berlapik sewaktu beliau menolak dasar 1Malaysia secara terbuka dengan mengisytiharkan dirinya “Melayu dahulu kemudian barulah rakyat Malaysia” – tanpa teguran dan sanggahan daripada Najib.

Malah pada Julai 2011, Najib mengelak ketika ditanya pada Persidangan Pemimpin Pelajar Malaysia sama ada beliau bersedia untuk menyatakan diri beliau sebagai rakyat Malaysia dahulu dan  apa pandangan beliau tentang kata-kata Muhyiddin tentang “Melayu dahulu kemudian rakyat Malaysia”.

Najib tidak menjawab soalan, beliau berkata:

“Saya tidak akan jawab soalan yang akan menyebabkan perpecahan di antara saya dan timbalan saya. Percayalah saya, 1Malaysia akan menjadi pedoman kita. Tidak kiralah apa yang anda katakan selagi mana anda mengikut konsep 1Malaysia.”

Yang membimbangkan, Muhyiddin mendapat sokongan ‘tok dalang’ UMNO, Tun Dr. Mahathir yang secara terbuka menyatakan beliau tidak faham dengan konsep 1Malaysia Najib dan bahawa “Malaysia telah menjadi lebih perkauman daripada biasa”

Kini Najib cuba menyembunyikan kegagalannya untuk mendapatkan sokongan pemimpin UMNO untuk dasar 1Malaysia sebagai tindakan yang disengajakan bagi kekaburan makna yang strategik supaya lebih ramai orang menerima konsep itu!

1Malaysia akhirnya menjadi gimik pilihan raya untuk memenangi undi buat UMNO/BN di dalam PRU13, “transformasi” daripada permulaannya pemberian kemeja-T 1Malaysia, bekas 1Malaysia dan buku nota 1Malaysia kepada Tangki Air 1Malaysia, Klinik 1Malaysia, Perumahan 1Malaysia dan Bantuan Tunai RM500 1Malaysia.

Tetapi UMNO masih komited pada ideologi eksklusif Ketuanan Melayu yang merupakan bertentangan kepada konsep 1Malaysia yang sepatutnya lebih inklusif.

Ini digambarkan melalui Perhimpunan Agung UMNO yang mana para perwakilan UMNO berdiri dan menangis tersentuh dengan persembahan ‘Anak Kecil Main Api’ oleh perwakilan Kelab UMNO luar negara, lagu yang meratapi nasib orang Melayu yang dipinggirkan di atas tanah airnya sendiri.

Lagu tersebut, yang dicipta oleh bekas ketua Biro Tata Negara (BTN), diajar kepada semua perserta kursus BTN, yang diwajibkan buat semua pelajar sebelum memasuki pusat pengajian tinggi tempatan atau ke luar negara dengan biasiswa kerajaan.

Persoalan yang timbul daripada episod ini adalah:

55 tahun selepas Merdeka, 42 tahun selepas Dasar Ekonomi Baru dan setengah abad dominasi kuasa politik UMNO, siapa yang sepatutnya bertanggungjawab terhadap nasib orang Melayu yang dipinggirkan di negara sendiri? Bukankah UMNO-putra yang sepatutnya bertanggungjawab?

Dengan dasar dan konsep 1Malaysia, bukankah tumpuan terhadap golongan terpinggir dan terdiskriminasi di dalam negara sendiri sepatutnya dari kalangan rakyat Malaysia sama ada Melayu, Cina, India, Orang Asal, Kadazan atau Iban dan bukannya Cuma satu komuniti saja?

Bukankah ini bukti terbaik bahawa Biro Tata Negara telah menjadi agensi utama di dalam kerajaan menanam rasa anti-1Malaysia?

Bolehkah Najib menjawab tiga soalan ini dengan semangat 1Malaysia?

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/08/what-transformation-is-najib-talking-about-when-he-could-not-even-get-umno-general-assembly-to-endorse-his-1malaysia-policy-nearly-four-years-since-becoming-prime-minister-and-umno-president/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 10:05 am and is filed under
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Will UMNO/BN regain its two-thirds parliamentary majority or will Pakatan Rakyat capture Putrajaya with a 20 Plus majority in the 13GE?

There is one person who is working even harder than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ensure that UMNO/Barisan Nasional not only win the 13th General Election but also regain its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

This person is Tun Dr. Mahathir, who is supposed to have retired from politics when he stepped down as Prime Minister after 22 years at the end of 2003.

Yesterday, Mahathir was in Sik to remind UMNO members to rid themselves of the feeling of dissatisfaction over candidates chosen by the top UMNO/BN leadership if they want to see UMNO/BN remain in power after the coming 13GE.

He said UMNO members must all set aside their differences and give their full support to the selected UMNO/BN  candidates as the priority should be ensuring victory so that BN can win big and form a strong government.

It is most extraordinary but typical Mahathirism that Mahathir should be warning of the “Melayu mudah lupa” complex as the cause of the disgruntled in UMNO not supporting the chosen candidate, when Mahathir himself was the best illustration of the “Melayu mudah lupa” complex when he campaigned actively against the premiership of Tun Abdullah in the 2008 general election.

It is clear that to Mahathir, what is at stake in the 13GE is not so much the Najib premiership but the Mahathir legacy, and no one has any doubt as to which would get the priority if there is a clash between the Najib premiership and the Mahathir legacy!

This is why Malaysians find Najib’s statement in his interview with Malay Mail last Friday that he needs a mandate from the voters in order to reform UMNO so outrageous.

Firstly, it flies in the face of his UMNO Presidential Address at the 66th UMNO General Assembly ten days ago, where he clearly admitted that the UMNO/BN’s debacle in the 12th General Elections in 2008 was “a clear signal of the Malaysian people to Umno and its partners in the Barisan Nasional to change, according to the tastes, aspirations and expectations of the people”.

When Najib said he needs a mandate from the voters in the 13GE in order to reform UMNO, he is in fact admitting that he has failed to reform UMNO despite the “clear signal” of the people in the 12GE that UMNO must change – reason enough why UMNO/BN must be replaced by Pakatan Rakyat in Putrajaya in the 13GE.

Secondly, Najib’s statement also flies in the face of what Mahathir said three days before the 66th UMNO General Assembly, and captured in the headline of Malaysiakini report : “Dr. M: We’ve reformed, what more do you want?”

Be that as it may, whether it is for the sake of Najib premiership or the Mahathir legacy, Najib has put up a front of supreme confidence after the UMNO General Assembly to achieve a two-thirds parliamentary majority in the coming general elections.

Will UMNO/BN regain its two-thirds parliamentary majority or will Pakatan Rakyat capture Putrajaya in the 13GE?

If UMNO/BN recaptures two-thirds majority in the 13GE, the total number of Pakatan Rakyat parliamentary seats would be slashed by at least eight seats to 74 from 82 won in the 12GE in 2008, giving the BN a majority of at least 74 seats.

However, if Pakatan Rakyat can win an overwhelming majority of the four million middle ground voters in the registered electorate of over 13 million voters on the electoral register – comprising three million new voters and one million swing voters from the 12GE – Pakatan Rakyat can defeat UMNO/Barisan Nasional and win a majority of over 20 parliamentary seats.

In such a best-scene scenario, the likely distribution of Pakatan Rakyat seats in Parliament would be 45 seats for PKR while DAP and PAS would each have 40 seats – yielding a small Pakatan Rakyat majority of 28 seats over UMNO/Barisan Nasional.

However, Pakatan Rakyat parties must work hard to win over the middle ground voters, for developments in the past month have given reasons for middle-ground voters to hesitate as to whether Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, PAS and DAP are fully committed to the PR Common Policy Framework and Buku Jingga common platforms.

These doubts and hesitations, which are fully exploited by the Barisan Nasional mainstream media and cybertroopers, must be addressed immediately or Pakatan Rakyat will lose the golden opportunity to win Putrajaya in the 13GE by sheer default.

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2012/12/10/adakah-umnobn-akan-memperoleh-majoriti-dua-pertiga-semula-atau-adakah-pakatan-rakyat-akan-menawan-putrajaya-dengan-majoriti-lebih-20-di-dalam-pru13/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 December 2012, 2:13 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir
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Najib Razak
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Dare MACC emulate its Indonesian counterpart, KPK and  introduce game-changer in anti-corruption battle by requiring  all political leaders and public servants to explain unusually high wealth not in line with their official salary?

“Don’t shoot MACC from behind”
 is one newspaper headline today, quoting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim yesterday when urging politicians from all parties not to “shoot the MACC from behind”, saying that this would only make it even more difficult to fight corruption.

He said: “The MACC is the army to fight corruption. If you shoot us from behind, who could our society ask for help against corruption.”

Abu Kassim is grossly mistaken. Pakatan Rakyat politicians do not shoot MACC from behind but from the front, for its obvious failings and ineffectiveness in the war against corruption, allowing the MACC to defend itself.  There is no reason for PR political leaders to hide their criticisms of MACC.

Only UMNO/Barisan Nasional politicians have the resources, means and even the motivation to shoot MACC from behind, to ensure that the MACC, which is already a complaint and subservient creature of the political leaders in power, will become even more compliant and subservient to the other lower-ranking leaders in the ruling coalition.

Secondly, four years after the elevation of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to MACC with increased powers, funding and staffing, Malaysians are not convinced that the MACC is “the army to fight corruption”.

MACC has still blood on its hands, with the death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock and customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad on its premises still to be unsatisfactorily accounted for. Clearly, only a change of government in Putrajaya in the 13GE followed by the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry can get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbaini on the MACC premises.

The establishment of MACC from the elevation of the former ACA  since January 2009 had been marked by a worsening problem of  corruption as reflected by Malaysia plunging to  the lowest ranking and score in these four years in the 18-year annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) series since 1995.

In the first year of TI CPI in 1995, Malaysia was ranked 23rd out of 41 countries, falling to No. 37th ranking in 2003 when Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister at the end of the year.

Despite all the Abdullah boasts of “Mr. Clean”, “Modern-Day Justice Bao”, “all-out war against corruption” and “impending arrest of 18 ‘big fishes’”, Malaysia’s TI CPI continued on a headlong plunge in Abdullah’s five-year premiership, falling to No. 47 ranking in 2008.

But in the four years since the establishment of MACC replacing ACA, which also coincides with the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Malaysia’s TI CPI not only continued in the downward plunge, but reached even lower depths – No. 56 in 2009 and 2010, No. 60 in 2011 and No. 54 in 2012.

Can Abu Kassim and MACC explain why Malaysia performed so badly in the TI CPI in the four years since establishment of MACC in 2009 as compared to the 14 years from 1995 to 2008 under the two previous Prime Ministers, Mahathir and Abdullah?

Or why MACC failed to achieve the  2009 National Key Result Area (NKRA) target of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) to increase Malaysia’s TI CPI 2010 score  to 4.9 (which would have ranked Malaysia in No. 48th position instead of the actual 56th placing)?

Or going further back, the reasons for  Malaysia’s abysmal failure to achieve the target of the five-year National Integrity Plan (2004-2008) to improve Malaysia’s ranking in the TI CPI from 37th place in 2003 to at least 30th position in 2008 with a score of at least 6.5? (10 being the best and 0 the worst)

Are there any signs that the MACC would cease to be a creature of the powers-that-be and  be more effective and independent  in combating corruption, particularly “grand corruption” involving top political and government leaders in the coming years” or must this wait until there is a change of government in Putrajaya?

Although Malaysia boasts of being  better than Indonesia with regard to the problem of  corruption, Indonesia is chalking up more impressive improvements in the war against corruption in the past two decades.

In 1995, Indonesia was at the bottom of the TI CPI ranking at No. 41 position with a score of 1.94. It clawed  up to the rank of 100 out of 183 countries in the TI CPI 2011 with a score of 3.0.

In contrast, Malaysia had been regressing in both ranking and score since 1995, down to No. 60 with 4.3 score  in the TI CPI 2011.

Indonesia is ranked No. 118 out of 176 countries with a score of 32 out of 100 in TI CPI 2012, as compared to Malaysia’s ranking of 54 with score of 49.

However, there are significant progress and even game-changers in the anti-corruption campaign in Indonesia which is completely absent in Malaysia.

Last Friday, Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, once thought to be presidential material,  resigned after being named a suspect on corruption charges by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – KPK).

KPK has also announced plans to require all state officials to explain unusually high wealth not in line with their official salary, which is regarded as a game-changer in the war against corruption in Indonesia.

Would Abu Kassim and MACC dare to emulate their  Indonesian counterpart KPK and introduce the game-changer in anti-corruption battle in Malaysia by requiring  all political leaders and public servants to explain extraordinary and unusual wealth whether  assets, income or lifestyles, totally disproportionate to their official salary?

It is when Abu Kassim and MACC dare to introduce a game-changer like this in the war against corruption that they can begin to win confidence of the Malaysian public  in their efficiency, independence, professionalism and integrity in the  all-out war against corruption and chart an improvement in the TI CPI for Malaysia in the coming years.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 11 December 2012, 4:25 pm and is filed under
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Wrong to bulldoze the AES

 — The Malaysian Insider

December 10, 2012

DEC 10 — The Automated Enforcement System (AES) is supposed to help cut down the number of accidents and road fatalities by making motorists slow down for fear of being caught and having to pay punitive fines.

Everyone gets that bit. Especially when there are enough reports of corrupt policemen or enforcement officials out there. Which leads to continuing mayhem and a loss of revenue for the government.

But that isn’t the reason to bulldoze the AES as the answer to ensuring laws are observed and those captured on film pay their fines and hopefully not continue speeding in the future.

The reasons are simple. Till today, the government can’t explain why the service has been privatised.

The initial cost cannot be the answer as the government will still have to upgrade the equipment once the service is handed back to them.

And why would any company run a system that works on being successful if it doesn’t capture anyone committing an offence any more?

The Road Transport Department (RTD) can say all it wants about a drop in the number of accidents or a reduction in speeding with the AES but no one believes the agency because there is no independent verification system.

And where do most major or fatal accidents occur in the first place? Who are the fatalities? Motorists or motorcyclists or pedestrians?

The RTD needs to come up with a better explanation and engage the public about the AES to ensure that it is a system that will help in cutting down accidents and fatalities, not help line some people’s pockets.

Until then, no one will believe the system will work for what it is intended to do.

And most will oppose the government for bulldozing the system despite the outcry. That itself should be food for thought for the RTD and the government of the day.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 11 December 2012, 9:27 am and is filed under
Good Governance
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Transport
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