Marimuthu/Raimah case – foreign media reports

[1]
(International Herald Tribune)

In landmark case, Hindu man in Malaysia gets custody of children born to Muslim wife

The Associated Press

Published: May 3, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia’s Islamic authorities gave a Hindu man married to a Muslim woman custody of their children Thursday, in a landmark decision for minority rights, after the couple were forcibly separated because they follow different religions.

The decision was announced at an emotional hearing in the High Court attended by the ethnic Indian couple, Marimuthu Periasamy and Raimah Bibi Noordin, both rubber tappers who had been happily married for 21 years.

The case is the latest in a series of conflicts involving the religious rights of minority groups that is straining ties in multiethnic Malaysia, where Islam is the dominant religion. Buddhists, Christians and Hindus are the minority faiths.

The crisis began unexpectedly when Islamic authorities took away Raimah Bibi and six of her seven children on April 2 on the grounds that her marriage with Marimuthu was illegal. It was not clear why the authorities acted now when the couple had been together for 21 years.

At the hearing Tuesday, Raimah Bibi, 39, broke down and sobbed openly when the judge asked her if she will give up custody of their seven children, who are aged between four and 14.

“Yes, I agree to surrender my children to Marimuthu,” she said, wiping her tears with the ends of her headscarf.

Marimuthu had filed an application demanding that the Islamic Affairs Department bring his wife and children to court. The department has indicated the couple cannot live together because Marimuthu did not convert to Islam as required by law for their marriage to be legal.

Later, government lawyer Zauyah Be Loth Khan said the Islamic Affairs Department had no objection to the children being raised as Hindus by the father. “It is up to the parents,” she said.

The decision was a landmark step in minority rights because it allowed a Hindu man to take custody of his children who legally might be considered Muslims because their mother is one.

“It would set a precedent for other cases,” said the 43-year-old Marimuthu’s lawyer, Karpal Singh.

Singh indicated that Raimah Bibi gave up the children as a compromise to end the family’s predicament.

“What is very sad is that a happy united family has been divided and has faced such a crisis,” said Lim Kit Siang, opposition leader.

“For this to happen to a couple that has lived together for 21 years as a result of a religious conflict is not good for our international image,” he said.

After Raimah Bibi and the six children were removed on April 2, Islamic authorities took them to a Muslim village for rehabilitation and religious counseling. Marimuthu has claimed that his wife was a practicing Hindu despite having a Muslim name and that he feared she would be brainwashed at the rehabilitation village.

She and Marimuthu did not speak with reporters Thursday.

However, in a statement to the court, Raimah Bibi said she was born a Muslim and wants to “continue professing the Islamic faith.”

Singh said Raimah Bibi “will have absolute access” to her children.

“We are resorting to King Solomon’s justice,” he said referring to the biblical story of a baby being ordered to be cut equally and given to two women who both claimed to be his mother.

(2)
Middle East Times

Hindu gets custody of children from Muslim wife

May 3, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR —  A Malaysian Hindu man forcibly separated from his Muslim wife by Islamic authorities because they are of different religions was Thursday granted custody of their children in a milestone case.

The children will be raised as Hindus in central Selangor state despite having one Muslim parent – which lawyers said was unprecedented in mainly Muslim Malaysia.

Selangor Islamic authorities last month forcibly separated ethnic Indian P. Marimuthu from his ethnic Indian Muslim wife of 21 years, Raimah Bibi Noordin and six of their seven children.

During a high court hearing west of Kuala Lumpur, Raimah, 39, clad in traditional Malay floor-length attire with a Muslim headscarf, told the judge that she was voluntarily giving up custody of her children.

“I agree to hand over the custody of my children to my husband to be raised as Hindus,” Raimah said, before she broke down in tears.

Under Malaysian law, a non-Muslim must convert to Islam in order to marry a Muslim, and children born to Muslims must be raised as followers of that religion.

Government legal advisor Zauyah Be Loth Khan said that Selangor’s Islamic Affairs Department did not object to the children being raised as Hindus.

“She is still entitled to visiting rights at any time,” Zauyah told reporters.

“It sets a new precedent,” said Marimuthu’s lawyer Karpal Singh, also a lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Marimuthu, 43, applied for custody of the children after they were placed with Raimah in an ethnic Malay Muslim village.

Islamic authorities said that they separated the couple after they recently found out that she was a Muslim.

“I have had discussions with my husband … with regard to the predicament facing the both of us, and I hereby state that I was born a Muslim and I wish to continue professing the Islamic faith,” Raimah said in an affidavit to the court.

Marimuthu has said that Raimah, an ethnic Indian, was adopted by an Indian Muslim family but was a practicing Hindu.

They were married 21 years ago according to Hindu rites and raised their seven children, aged four to 14, as Hindus, he said.

Raimah’s case comes amid growing sensitivities over the rights of non-Muslims in Malaysia.

Rights groups have condemned the actions of the Islamic authorities, saying that freedom of religious practice is guaranteed in Malaysia’s constitution.

“Relationships should not be broken up by religion, which is supposed to foster family love and unity,” said DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

(3)
Gulfnews.com

Published: 04/05/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

Hindu man in Malaysia gets custody of children born to Muslim wife

AP

Kuala Lumpur: Authorities in Malaysia gave a Hindu man married to a Muslim woman custody of their children yesterday, in a landmark decision for minority rights, after the couple had been forcibly separated citing their religious beliefs.

The decision was announced at an emotional hearing in the High Court attended by the ethnic Indian couple, Marimuthu Periasamy and Raimah Bibi Noordin, both rubber tappers who had been happily married for 21 years.

The case is the latest in a series of conflicts involving the religious rights of minority groups that is straining ties in multi-ethnic Malaysia, where Islam is the dominant religion.

Authorities took away Raimah Bibi and six of her seven children for counselling on April 2 on the grounds that her marriage with Marimuthu was illegal.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Raimah Bibi, 39, broke down and sobbed openly when the judge asked her if she would give up custody of her seven children, who are aged between four and 14. “Yes, I agree to surrender my children.”

Marimuthu had filed an application demanding that the Islamic Affairs Department bring his wife and children to court. The department indicated that the couple could not be allowed to live together because Marimuthu did not convert to Islam as required by law for their marriage to be legal.

Government lawyer Zauyah Be Loth Khan said there was no objection to the children being raised as Hindus by the father.

“It would set a precedent for other cases,” said the 43-year-old Marimuthu’s lawyer, Karpal Singh.

“What is very sad is that a happy united family has been divided and has faced such a crisis,” said Lim Kit Siang, opposition leader.

 [4]
The Guardian London

Malaysian religious law splits wife and children

 Officials force apart Hindu man and Muslim woman

High court judge backs custody bid of father

Ian MacKinnon, South-east Asia correspondent

Friday May 4, 2007

The Guardian

A Muslim woman forcibly separated from her Hindu husband by Malaysia’s Islamic authorities after 21 years of happy marriage wept inconsolably yesterday after a judge endorsed her decision to hand custody of six of her seven children to her former spouse.

In an unprecedented move for Malaysia – where Islamic religious laws are strictly enforced – the children, aged four to 14, will be raised as Hindus despite being born to a Muslim mother. Last month Selangor state’s Islamic authorities took Raimah Bibi Noordin, 39, and her children away for “rehabilitation” and religious counselling after belatedly declaring that her marriage was illegal.

The couple cannot live together because the husband did not convert to Islam as required by law for their marriage to be legal. In a country where 60% of the population is Muslim, the law also stipulates that the children must be brought up to observe Islam. Anyone born into a Muslim family cannot legally convert.

But Mrs Raimah Bibi’s husband, Marimuthu Periasamy, 43, applied for custody of the ethnic Indian couple’s children after they and his wife were removed to a Malay Muslim village. He said he feared his children would be brainwashed.

In yesterday’s emotional high court hearing west of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, Mrs Raimah Bibi, who wore traditional floor-length Malay garb with a Muslim headscarf, agreed to give up her children voluntarily to end the standoff. “I agree to hand over the custody of my children to my husband to be raised as Hindus,” she said, before bursting into tears.

The couple were married according to Hindu traditions and brought up their children in the Hindu faith.

Mr Marimuthu claimed his wife had been adopted by an ethnic Indian Muslim family but that she was a practising Hindu and her old identity card categorised her as an Indian Hindu. But when she applied for a new identity card this year, the government listed her as a Muslim, he said.

However, an affidavit read to the court earlier Mrs Raimah Bibi contradicted her husband’s testimony. “I have had discussions with my husband … with regard to the predicament facing us,” it said. “And I state that I was born a Muslim and wish to continue professing the Islamic faith.”

A Malaysian government legal adviser, Zauyah Be Loth Khan, said that Selangor’s Islamic affairs department had raised no objections to the children being raised as Hindus, adding that Mrs Raimah Bibi would have the right to visit at any time .

Despite the eventual outcome, the case highlights growing disquiet about the legal rights of non-Muslims in Malaysia, even though religious freedom is enshrined under the constitution.

Lim Kit Siang, an opposition leader, said. “For this to happen to a couple that has lived together for 21 years as a result of a religious conflict is not good for our international image.”

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 May 2007, 9:49 pm and is filed under
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“Pokkiri” film controversy ends – school principal admits mistake

The
“Pokkiri”
film controversy ends with the assurance by the principal of the SK Taman Hi-Tech, Kulim that the film which parents complained of being  one of “violence and sensuality” and unsuitable for Primary One pupils would not be shown to non-Malay primary school students and admitting that  its screening was a mistake.

Ten days ago, I blogged as well as raised  in Parliament the complaint from Vimaleson Gunaratnam, a parent of a seven-year-old pupil at SK Taman Hi-Tech, Kulim that non-Malay students in the school were separated from Malay students  for the whole morning session until recess time for two consecutive days  and shown a Tamil movie, Pokkiri, which is full of violence and sensuality.

He sent a letter of protest to the school principal as he was particularly incensed that the movie Pokkiri, (translated the meaning is “Thug”) starred by Vijay, is shown in school when he would not allow such a movie at home.

Several parents of pupils in the school have written to my blog in support of Vimaleson’s complaint.

Yesterday, I received through my blog an email from Vimaleson informing me that the “Pokkiri” film controversy has ended with an assurance from the principal of the school that the violent film will not be shown to non-Malay primary school pupils and admitting that its screening was a mistake.

This is Vimaleson’s
email
:

I thank you for all the support given. Some of the parents and I met the school authorities on Sunday and here is the outcome.

As expected the PIBG YDP did not attend the meeting, although earlier he personally told me he will.

The HM agreed that the movie is not suitable to be shown in school. He trully regretted it happened.

The HM said the movie was brought by a Standard 5 student and played by the teachers. How weird?????????

HM questioned why he was not contacted before escalating.

Reply given- the email was sent on this issue but no response for 4 days. Email sent on another issue but no response for more than 1 month. So it was perceived that the school not interested in replying. Reasonable opportunity given to school, but they did not use it.

HM said that he didn’t know there was an email, but the PK Academic admitted reading and didn’t bother to tell the HM.

The PK Academic was harping on the matter that it was shown only on 1 day. But it doesn’t matter, even for 1 hour the movie must not be shown in school. The movie is rated as 18SG, therefore not meant for primary school kids. It is a violation of Copyright Act, the movie is for home viewing only.

Agreement achieved in summary:

The school must respond all forms of communication, including emails,, within 1 working day.

The school will make a written reply on this issue.

The school will not show movies in schools.

A proper program need to be made if no classes is conducted on certain times. Watching movies or placing the students in library is not a solution.

Dear bloggers,

I would like to thank you too.

I applaud Vimaleson for his public-spiritedness and the support he had received from other  like-minded parents from his school which enabled the Pokkiri controversy to be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. It is also a demonstration that parents cared enough about their children’s education and upbringing in school as to take a keen interest as to what is going on in school — a most commendable attitude which should be emulated by every parent in the country.

Let Vimaleson also be an example to all Malaysians that they must speak up when there is anything wrong or amiss in order to rectify them instead of suffering in silence.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 May 2007, 3:31 pm and is filed under
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RM534.8 million commission for  Scorpene submarines – why Perimekar?

Commission paid was under the guise of support and coordination services

by Richard Teo

The pathetic explanation given by the Defence Ministry regarding the purchase of the Sukhoi SU30MKM fighter and
Scorpene submarines
raises more suspicions than answers.

The public is not concerned with the laborious explanation regarding the negotiations carried out by the Defence Ministry neither are they interested in the approval levels and the checks by the technical and price committee.

What the tax paying public is interested is why was the contract awarded to Perimekar to prepare support and coordination services for six years. The contract value was 114.96 mil euros(RM534.8 mil) to be paid in stages according to the level of progress of the project.

What kind of support and coordination services that Perimekar can provide that the Defence Ministry is not capable of providing?

The pertinent question that begs to be answered is why was the contract awarded to Perimekar. In view of the substantial amount involved (RM534.8 mil) was there any open tender for the contract?

Perimekar for all intent and purpose is jointly owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, Boustead Holdings Bhd and KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd.

The ownership of Perimekar reveals one interesting fact. None of them appears to have any expertise in the area of Defence equipment. So how could they provide any support and coordination services to the Defence Ministry?

The revelation of the owner of KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd is even more fascinating.A political analyst by profession and a close associate of DPM, Najib, Razak Baginda owns Ombak Laut.

The public deserves an answer why a contract of such proportion (RM534.8 mil) was awarded to a political analyst for a job that could easily be monitored by the Defence Ministry.

The nature of the contract albeit under the guise of support and coordination services is nothing but a concealment of commission paid to parties or party closely associated to the Defence Ministry.

[Kit – NST report
“No commission paid, says Mindef”
 reproduced below:

2007/04/27

No commission paid, says Mindef

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has denied giving political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda a RM540 million commission for the purchase of two Scorpene submarines worth US$972 million (RM3.68 billion) for the navy.

It said no commission was paid to Perimekar Sdn Bhd for the purchase of the submarines two years ago, as alleged by certain quarters.

It said the submarines were procured through direct negotiations in accordance with the government’s procurement procedures.

Negotiations were carried out with the manufacturers Armaris (French) and Navantia (Spanish), which had obtained the approval of their governments.

Perimekar was given a contract to provide support services and co-ordination for six years, said the Defence Ministry yesterday in a statement. It said the contract was worth E114.96 million (RM534.75 million) and was paid in stages according to the project status.

“The contract worth E114.96 million was not a nett profit for Perimekar as the amount covered the direct costs payments for the support services scope and also the indirect costs for the co-ordination services as stipulated in the contract.”

It also said Perimekar was owned by the Armed Forces Superannuation Fund Board, Boustead Holdings Bhd and K.S. Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd.

The statement said the Defence Ministry had decided to appoint a local company to provide the support services and co-ordination as it was a more effective method.

The statement also touched on the purchase of the 18 Sukhoi SU-30 MKM fighter jets worth US$900 million by the government in 2003.

The Defence Ministry said the purchase of the jets did not involve the government as it was a business deal between Russian company Rosoboron-export and a local company.

“The purchase of the jets was done in a direct negotiation deal with Rosoboronexport. This direct negotiation is in tandem with the policy of Russia and other countries which have a policy to monitor the sale of military equipment produced by companies in their countries so that the military equipment will not fall into the wrong hands,” it said.

Based on that scenario, all contracts for the purchase of defence equipment are signed by a representative from the Defence Ministry, on behalf of the government, with principal companies from the foreign countries.

This was also true in the purchase of the Sukhoi jets. The purchase was in accordance with the country’s Defence Equipment Procurement Contract Procedures.

The statement was issued to counter allegations by certain political parties about the purchase of the submarines and jets.

“The allegations have brought much confusion and misunderstanding to the people. The allegations have also led to a negative perception and suspicion that the purchase of the equipment for the use of the armed forces was done without following the proper procedures, was not transparent and was wasteful.

“The ministry hopes that all parties will understand the situation and no longer issue confusing statements that could paint a negative perception towards the armed forces, the Defence Ministry and the government.”

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 May 2007, 5:58 am and is filed under
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Six children being returned to Marimuthu to be brought up as Hindus — habeas corpus application for Suresh/Revathi case

A settlement was reached at the Shah Alam High Court this morning following the habeas corpus application filed by Karpal Singh on behalf of  rubber tapper
Marimuthu Periasamy
for the release of his wife Raimah Bibi a/p Noordin and six children, Yoogneswary 12, Paramila 11, Hariharan 8, Ravindran 5, Shamala 5 and Keberan 4 from detention by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department since 2nd April 2007 on the ground that they were Muslims.

Periasamy has filed a supporting affidavit stating that he and his wife were at all material times of the Indian race and they practiced and professed the Hindu religion. They brought up their children in the Hindu religion and beliefs.

Their children were given Indian names and they had lived in peace without interruption even though they earn a modest living.

Things changed in the morning of 2nd April 2007 when seven officers acting on behalf of the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (JAIS) raided their residence in Kampung Baru Tambahan, Ulu Yang, Selangor, detaining his wife and six children and forcibly took them away from their house. Marimuthu was threatened with “khalwat” if he attempted to stop them.

When the Shah Alam High Court sat this morning, Karpal informed Justice Su Geok Yian that the habeas corpus application had been overtaken by events as a settlement has been reached with Raimah filing an affidavit that she remained a Muslim and that she has agreed that the six children be returned to the father to be brought up as Hindus – which is to be done later today.  Raimah was in court and she confirmed the arrangement with Justice Su.

This is a sort of a solution to a very human problem affecting the parties concerned, although it is not a very happy arrangement as it leaves many issues open-ended which may cause problems in the future.

It is sad and tragic that a happy couple and united family with seven children as a result of 21 years of marriage should be broken up by religious factors when family unity and love should be the paramount concern of all religions.

Something is very wrong with our society and nation when a 21-year  happy and united family could be broken up like the case of Marimuthu, Raimah and their seven children.

The authorities concerned, whether federal or state, should ensure that there will no more  break-up of families because of religion, creating human tragedies, family disruptions and a bad international image of the country.

I told the media at the Shah Alam High court that we are prepared to render assistance in the
Revathi
 case, in the form of support by Karpal for habeas corpus application.

Revathi Masoosai/Siti Fatimah’s 100-day detention for Islamic rehabilitation had been extended by the Malacca Syariah Court for another 80 days, and is forcibly separated from her husband, Suresh Veerapan and 15-month old baby.

The Suresh/Revathi case was the feature of an Al-Jazeera programme for a week.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 May 2007, 11:59 am and is filed under
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BN’s Pyrrhic victory in Ijok – next general election before 50th Merdeka celebrations on August 31?

Is the next general election likely to be  held before 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations of  August 31 as a result of the Machap and  Ijok by-elections?

Until now I had completely ruled out the possibility of the next general election being held before August 31 as the hundreds of million of ringgit that will be splurged all over the  country to celebrate our half-a-century of nationhood would have been planned with an eye to recreate the  “feel good euphoria”  which had been so successful in the 2004 general election to give the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi an unprecedented victory mandate of 91% of the parliamentary seats.

There have been two schools of thought among the election strategists in Umno and Barisan Nasional. — whether the next general election should be held next year before end of April when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil  right enfranchisement  to stand for elective office or latter part  of this year.

As a result of the Machap and Ijok by-elections, the  third option of a general election before the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations on August 31 appears to be  seriously on the cards.

Those who advocate early polls even before the splash of the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations are worried that the longer the next general election is delayed, the worse it is going to be for the ruling coalition as Abdullah’s stocks can only further plummet with his proven  inability to fulfill his 2004 general election pledge to lead a clean, incorruptible, accountable, transparent, efficient, democratic,  just and people-oriented government.

Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders who have various serious allegations hanging over their heads also want early polls  to end their agony so that they can start on a new slate by claiming  personal vindication with a Barisan Nasional election victory.

Although the local stock market hit an all-time high yesterday with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) rising to a record 1,342.79 points,  there is considerable nervousness as to how long such a bullish situation can  last.

This anxiety has been exacerbated by  more and more frequent warnings of an impending global stock market crash and worldwide recession.

Only early this week, Morgan Stanley former star economist
Andy Xie
warned of an imminent stock market crash in China.

Xie told  Reuters in a pre-May Day telephone interview “I think it’s going to be bust very soon”, adding that a combination of excess liquidity, rising inflation and rich valuations would result in a global crash soon.

Xie said: “People will be surprised. When the end comes, it’s going to be pretty bad.”

Despite outward exultation over the by-election victory, Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders knew that their Ijok win is a Pyrrhic victory which is not sustainable in a general election.

With the   manpower poured into the by-election  including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the entire Cabinet, the various  Barisan Nasional State Governments and taking into account all expenditures by the Federal and State governments, the  Barisan Nasional component parties, and expenses like  the cash payments ranging from a few hundreds to RM1,500 per vote in the “buy-election”, easily totaling some  RM100 million,  the Ijok by-election rightly earns the notoriety as the dirtiest election campaign in  the nation’s 50 year history.

But Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders are not in the least uplifted by the Ijok by-election result, as is evident from their public vacillation and disarray about its  meaning and implications.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came out with a
new “spin”
 to claim that Chinese support in Ijok for the Barisan Nasional had not dropped as drastically as some had claimed, as if he did not know  that it was none other than the Prime Minister who had expressed alarm at  the swing of Chinese voters in Ijok to the Opposition and wanting to know why from MCA and Gerakan.

Why the public vacillation and  twist-and-turn of Umno, MCA and Gerakan leaders over the swing of Chinese voters in Ijok to the Opposition, which even attracted an editorial in the Umno-owned
New Straits Times
yesterday,
“
Wooing back the Chinese”
?

The reason is very simple — no MCA or Gerakan leader dare to tell Umno  leaders the truth for the swing of Chinese voters by standing up in Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to demand retraction and apology for  statements and actions of Umno leaders which had “hurt the feelings” of the Chinese, as well as about the injustices and abuses of Barisan Nasional  policies, especially in the arbitrary extension of the New Economic Policy when it was  a 20-year policy which was to end in 1990.

This explained the arrogant response of the Umno Youth leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday, justifying his “keris-wielding” exhibitions in the context of extremist and communal demands completely heedless of the rights and sensitivities of all communities in the country. Clearly, Hishammuddin has  won over MCA and MCA Youth leaders to  publicly defend his “keris-wielding” outbursts.

But all this are sheer bravado and there is a growing feeling in Umno and Barisan Nasional that the third option of holding the next general election even earlier than had been seriously considered previously  — i.e. before  the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations on August 31 –  should be given very serious consideration to secure the best possible results for the Barisan Nasional.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 May 2007, 11:10 am and is filed under
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Congrats and 3 immediate tasks for Raymond Tan as new Sabah DCM

Congrats to Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Deputy President Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah on his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Vice President  Datuk Liew Yun Fan as Minister for Youth and Sports..

I do not expect any thanks from the duo, although all Sabahans know that if not for my strong criticisms of the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman during my three-day political tour of Tawau, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan last weekend for leaving vacant  the two posts relinquished by Tan Sri Chong Kah Keat and the marginalization of both the Chinese and the Kadazandusun Murut communities in Sabah Baru, both appointments would have remained shelved.

Although the Sabah State Secretary Datuk K. Y.  Mustafa said yesterday that Musa had  informed the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of the reshuffle on April 25 and he had agreed to the appointments, nobody would believe Mustapha’s statement.

If Mustapha was speaking the truth,  then Musa has a blackmark in  setting the worst record for any state government leader  in having to take nine long days to implement such a decision, which would normally be announced  on the very same day itself

Can Musa explain the reasons for such gross incompetence and ineptitude?

Mustafa was clearly trying to shield the Chief Minister  and fend off my political criticisms of Musa  on this issue, but it is not his job as the state’s No. 1 civil servant to be  embroiled in the political waters.

Mustafa should zealously safeguard the independence, impartiality, professionalism and image of the state civil service and not compromise them by doing political yeoman service for his political master.

Mustafa should leave politics to the politicians and do a good job as a model civil servant in the state by demonstrating that as the No. 1 civil servant in  Sabah, he fully  understands the meaning of civil service independence, impartiality, integrity and non-partisanship and is guided by these principles in his every action and statement.

Now that Raymond Tan has been appointed a Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, on top of his post as Infrastructure Development Minister, there are two things he must do to demonstrate that he does not forget his “roots” and that he is a Deputy Chief Minister with “teeth”.

Firstly, Raymond should give himself one month to resolve all the woes of the scandalous RM34 million new Sandakan market, especially as he

is one of the Sandakan State Assemblymen,  in particular

	why the grandious “white elephant” of a market in Sandakan incur a cost overrun of over 60% from the original RM21 million to RM34 million, whether there was corruption and if so, why nobody had been arrested and prosecuted for corruption;

	why the State Government and the Sandakan Municipal Council had ignored the cries of the stallholders who had moved in for the past few months that they could not make ends meet, being sandwiched between high rentals and poor business as a result of bad siting, lack of supportive infrastructure like proper bus service and sub-standard construction despite exorbitant construction costs.

Secondly get formal State Cabinet approval for the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat  now that Musa has publicly stated that he had not objected to it; and

Thirdly, set a timetable to address and resolve the curses of  2Cs and 2Is in Sabah, which was the thrust of my speech in Sandakan last Sunday, namely crime and corruption for the 2Cs and illegal immigrants and infrastructure failures for the 2Is, in particular the longstanding water and power infrastructures woes in Sandakan and Tawau.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 May 2007, 3:22 pm and is filed under
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Public building mishaps – end Samy Vellu farce, get Cabinet out of the way and emulate South Korean/Singapore examples

Yesterday was the
opening
of the RM290 million largest court complex in the world in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur marked by more mishaps, after the ceiling collapse in the secretarial room of Civil High Court judge Datuk Abdul Malik on Monday.

Firstly, cracks measuring more than three metres appeared on the fourth floor corridors opposite Magistrate Four.

Then one of the lifts broke down, trapping eight passengers for about half an hour.

Car parking is going to be a nightmare for lawyers and the justice-seeking  public who have to go to the Jalan Duta Court Complex, which would house 77 courts comprising 26 magistrate’s courts, 21 Sessions Courts and 30 High Courts.  The RM290 million Court Complex in Jalan Duta is clearly most unfriendly to the justice-seeking public.

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has said that his Ministry will assemble a team of experts to investigate the faults at the court complex in Jalan Duta, the Immigration Headquarters building in Putrajaya and the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry building, also in Putrajaya.

He said the team would deliver a preliminary report on Monday for him to present to the Prime Minister at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday where further details, including repair costs, would be discussed.

I say: End the Samy Vellu farce and get Cabinet out of the way — emulate South Korean and Singapore examples to establish independent inquiries into construction disasters and prosecute defaulting parties regardless of cronies or proxies!

In the Sampoong Department store collapse in Seoul, South Korea in June 29, 1995  as a result of  structural failure,, causing 501 deaths with 937 injured, the chairman of the building was charged for negligence and received a prison sentence of ten and a half years. His son, the store’s president, executives of the store and the construction company, were also jailed. Several city officials who were bribed to close an eye on the sub-standard construction were also  imprisoned.

In the Nicoll Highway collapse in Singapore  in April 2004, the collapse of  a tunnel being constructed for use by MRT trains killed four people and injured three.

A committee of inquiry found main contractor Nishimatsu Construction Company and its officers as well as Land Transport Authority officers responsible for the collapse. Several other officers and subcontractors were reprimanded and issued warnings in connection with the accident.

Four men are facing criminal charges in the wake of the Nicoll Highway collapse, including the  former project director of the Circle MRT Line, who had  monitored the excavation and design work in his other capacity as the Qualified Person on the site.

I believe that if the same stringent standards are followed in Malaysia, learning from the lessons of South Korea and Singapore, collapse of public buildings will become a rare event instead of becoming a weekly scandal in the past month.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 May 2007, 6:13 pm and is filed under
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50th Merdeka – nightmare of public health system

Our Pathetic Healthcare System

by “Product of the System”

Once upon a long time ago, I vowed as a naive medical student to serve fellow Malaysians with my utmost sincerity.

Despite much disappointment with the mediocrity of our local university, I was determined to repay the rakyat for the subsidy they have provided me with.

It has finally dawned on me that it is practically impossible to provide optimum healthcare in a pathetic healthcare system like Malaysia’s.

Indeed, ours is a system that is flawed at its very roots, and top.

An Obsession of Vanity

The shortcomings of Malaysia’s healthcare are anything but oblivious to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Instead of putting in concrete efforts to overcome simple problems with simple solutions, the MOH has instead chosen to busy itself with efforts of vanity and exhibitionism.

Penning a rosy Piagam Pelanggan and a lofty “misi dan visi” for every single sub-department will not translate into better services.

Putting our healthcare personnel through time-wasting, brain-washing Kursus Induksi, Biro Tatanegara (BTN) and Penilaian Tahap Kecemerlangan (PTK) programs will not produce more skillful and knowledgeable staff.

Holding weekly perhimpunan pagi hospital and singing patriotic-sounding songs will not miraculously make anyone serve their fellow Malaysians with greater commitment and efficiency.

Forcing our doctors to don bacterial-laden white coats and equally lethal neck ties is the perfect example of style without substance.

Seeking and attaining MS ISO accreditation is far from reflective of the quality of services our patients are receiving.

These fanciful so-called recognitions have instead added unnecessary red tape and rigidity to a clumsy, obese system already burdened and bloated with excessive bureaucracy and paperwork.

The MOH’s misplaced obsession with ISO recognition and protocol is holding everybody back — doctors, nurses, lab technicians, radiographers and everyone else trying to fulfill their duties in a system that frustrates.

While healthcare in much of the rest of the modern world is cruising ahead, Malaysia’s is so very wedged in the medieval ages, with no signs of any prospective improvements under a greedy government more concerned about serving the interests of its cronies in the money-loaded field of medicine.

Arrested in Medieval Ages

The typical government hospital has no computer networking system to store and track patients’ records and investigation results. When a patient is readmitted, there is no inkling what was done in the previous admission. Crucial investigation results are rarely returned to the respective patients’ notes.

Almost everything is traced by phone in an age when people across the globe are downloading music, movies and any form of data at the click of a mouse. Doctors and nurses are kept crazily busy tracing investigations taken weeks and months ago, instead of seeing and attending to patients like they were trained for.

Elsewhere in the medical laboratory, lab technicians are answering relentless phone calls from their clinical colleagues stationed throughout the hospital instead of performing chemical tests and analyzing specimens like they were trained for. Sending specimens and collecting results are all done by foot, resulting in senseless delays in a field that requires a constant sense of exigency.

At a time and age where information transfer has never been much easier, our doctors, nurses and hospital attendants are still scurrying about like messenger pigeons chasing after scraps of paper that could be anywhere in a hospital of 600 beds.

Consequently, a simple two-minute test like a full blood count can be delayed up to hours. Receiving its results can take an eternity. Not uncommonly, some important investigations can never be successfully traced which in bulk, translates to wasted millions as tests are repeated merely because the first ones were nowhere to be found. All that is needed to address this crippling deficiency is a cheap, simple networking system any computer-savvy secondary school kid is capable of setting up.

Time is golden they say, and this is particularly true in cancer, where the difference between a week and a month may mean the difference between survival, morbidity and death. The histopathology services in our government system squirm along at a sluggish pace.

It is totally not uncommon for one to wait months for a tissue diagnosis of a suspected malignancy, by which  time the cancer would probably have metastasized. Occasionally and not surprisingly, diagnostic reports disappear altogether, leaving the patient without a final diagnosis.

Frustrated with this gaping weakness of our healthcare system, most doctors choose instead to convince patients to perform their tests in private laboratories and hospitals – at a costly sum, needless to say.

The patients’ loss is the cronies’ gain, as friends of BN in healthcare businesses stroll gleefully on their way to the bank.

Medical wards or refugees camps?

	Fifty years of merdeka and liberation from colonialists yet our medical wards are still very much like overrun, pre-war, post-disaster,refugee camps. Sixty patients with a spectrum of ailments are packed like solid popiah into a single ward no larger than a badminton court.

The immunocompromised HIV patient lies beside the old man with active tuberculosis who, coughing towards the immunosuppressed cancer patient on chemotherapy just opposite his bed. There is hardly any observation of barrier nursing or isolation. It is far from surprising that our ill patients are succumbing to multiple infections.

There is zero room for privacy in the typical general ward. Screens are scarce and often impossible in an overcrowded ward. Clinical procedures are performed in full view of other patients and relatives, putting the patient through untold embarrassment and loss of confidentiality.

Unless the Health Minister desires to undergo a digital rectal examination with a strong, curious audience of 60, there is no reason why our mothers and fathers should be put through such ordeals.

The general appearance of our wards is a shame. Rusty beds with broken wheels, faulty drip stands held in place by cheap plaster, blinking fluorescent lamps, and noisy mini-wall fans are the norm of the day and make good for a scene in
Dark Water
.

Our febrile elderly patients become dehydrated, and literally fry in the seething heat that epitomizes the current state of our hospitals. Septic patients with high fever, chills and rigors waste away in crammy, stuffy, noisy general wards, while the crooks they elected as representatives recuperate from a simple ankle sprain in spacious, air-conditioned single bedded rooms, oblivious to the sufferings of the simple-minded folk who put them in power in the very first place.

As BN-putras plunder the nation even as one is reading this article, ill and sick Malaysians are wasting away in shoddy wards so deficient in so many aspects.

ECG machines so crucial in diagnosing acute cardiac events are sometimes shared between two wards of 80 patients. In times of emergencies, doctors and nurses run helter skelter hunting for elusive ECGs, pulse oximetries, ventilatory bags, oxygen tanks, arterial blood gas machines and heck, even blood pressure sets.

Not uncommonly, life-saving intubation sets are incomplete or faulty and cardiac monitors are so ancient that the readings cannot possibly be taken seriously.

	Our patients wait months to undergo CT scans, ultrasounds and MRIs. Inevitably, some patients meet their Maker way before their appointment date.

In one large state in East Malaysia, there are merely two CT scans to serve 2 million people, one of which is low-grade and substandard. With the rise in vascular diseases, most government hospitals still do not offer CT angiography. In an oil-rich nation, is this beyond our means?

In our existing miserable state, doctors, nurses and attendants do not even have working counters of their own and are instead wrestling for limited space to do the ridiculous paperwork bestowed upon them, in stark contrast to the posh, cooling office that the Minister sits in.

Pitiable Corrective Measures

Some hospitals, in a vain attempt to deal with the overcrowded wards, transfer “stable” patients to so-called extension wards which are commonly separated from the main hospital. Not infrequently, these supposedly stable patients deteriorate and require urgent intervention — elusive help which would not arrive as there is usually no resident doctor on-call in these peripheral units located far away from the main hospital building. Many needless deaths occur due to delayed help in these “recovery units” and “extension wards”.

Our clinics are not any better, if not worse. With the massive wealth of Tanah Melayu, it is beyond belief that most of our wards and clinics are not equipped with a computer and printer. Referral letters are hand-written, resulting in unquantifiable confusion, communication errors and disastrous consequences. Specimen tubes have to be labeled manually instead of cheap and convenient printed stickers. Up to five patients undergo consultations simultaneously in a room no bigger than Proton Perdana.

Malaysia boleh?

Emergencies Bereft of Urgency

Government ambulance services are reasonably renowned by now — for the wrong reasons. While the public may decry the unnecessary deaths of Mohd Yusry and Yusnita Abas due to alleged ambulance delay, much more nonsense does not reach public knowledge.

Poorly equipped to begin with, most of our ambulances serve as nothing more than a modified human transporter, with no inbuilt oxygenation, no ready supply of emergency drugs, no intubation sets, no communication services save for the driver’s handphone. Patients’ running out of oxygen supply during an ambulance ride is a daily occurence.

Essentially, our ambulances serve only to transport an ill patient from one place to another in the shortest time possible. Whatever happens in along the way is solely left to God, and beyond the control of any medical personnel, who has few tools to work with.

	The sad state of our ambulance services is seen beyond emergencies. In many rural districts, ambulances serve as perhaps the only form of transport for poor patients to travel to a general hospital.

Our ambulances fail miserably even in this undemanding task. Recovering patients end up stranded for weeks awaiting ambulances from the district hospitals to send them home to their anxious families. Ward beds are occupied unnecessarily. Some patients waited so long that by the time an ambulance is actually available, they developed severe hospital-acquired infections due to an unnecessarily prolonged stay in the ward.

	Here in Malaysia, the field of emergency medicine is one that lacks a sense of urgency. Uncannily however, such lackadaisical attitude is cleverly hidden during buy-elections – by-elections, I mean.

Unsupportive Support Services

	Our sad state stretches far beyond the clinical scenario. Our hospital support services are equally, if not more pathetic.

Faulty elevators lie in ruins, unrepaired for months, causing delay in almost everything and to everyone. The elderly lady with severe osteoarthritis is forced to walk up seven flights of stairs to visit her ailing husband. Is this humane? Far from it.

Urgent phone calls lose their very adjective as doctors wait ten minutes for calls to be answered and a further ten minutes as operators flip through prehistoric, dog-eared antique phone books instead of an ultra-convenient computerized directory. What could have been achieved in minutes and seconds take hours and days instead.

Replacing a burnt bulb takes a mere four minutes but getting the personnel to actually do so may take up to four months. So much for privatization of hospital support services…

What is needed, What is not

	 Improvements to our healthcare do not require fanciful slogans so characteristic of the Badawi administration. We do not need more time-wasting, money-consuming kursus or more standard operating procedures (S.O.P) that make everything so rigid and methodical. As it is, everything is already moving at snail pace. With that statement, I am of course guilty of insulting the snail.

We need wisdom and sincerity if we are to improve our healthcare.  Both unfortunately, are not synonymous with the Barisan Nasional regime.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 May 2007, 5:45 am and is filed under
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BN no reason to exult over Ijok – but fatal mistake to think next poll is “harvest time” for Opposition

I wish to clarify a Chinese news report today on my statement yesterday with the heading:
“Kit Siang rules out polls before September”
.

What I said was that until yesterday, I had completely ruled out the possibility of the next general election being held before August 31 as the hundreds of million of ringgit that will be splurged all over the country to celebrate our half-a-century of nationhood would have been planned with an eye to recreate the “feel good euphoria” which had been so successful in the 2004 general election to give the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi an unprecedented victory mandate of 91% of the parliamentary seats.]

I said there had  been two schools of thought among the election strategists in Umno and Barisan Nasional — whether the next general election should be held next year before end of April when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil right enfranchisement to stand for elective office or the  latter part of this year.

However, as a result of the Machap and Ijok by-elections, there is a third school of thought in Umno and Barisan Nasional, favouring  a general election before the 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations on August 31.

It is to be seen as to which of these three schools of thought would win the ear of Abdullah, although there are increasing signs of early polls.

The next general election will be a crucial and critical one for Abdullah.  It will also be a crucial and critical one for the DAP and the Opposition.

There had been diametrically opposite reactions to the Ijok by-election result, from the claim on the one hand that the Opposition, in particular Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Anwar Ibrahim are spent forces to the other extreme, that Abdullah and Barisan Nasional (BN)  will be in big trouble in the next general election.

BN has no reason to exult over Ijok by-election result but it will be fatal error for anyone to harbour the notion that the  next general election is “harvest”  time for the Opposition.

The next general election is going to be a very  tough and grueling test and challenge not only for the DAP, Opposition and Barisan Nasional, but also for 50-year democratic experiment in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 May 2007, 10:00 am and is filed under
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Next Constitution Amendment Bill – introduce Article 121(1B) to restore non-Muslim rights

I have been informed that the Attorney-General’s Chambers have submitted to the Government a Constitution Amendment Bill, which is to be tabled to Parliament for passage next week or in the June/July  meeting of Parliament from June 18 — July 10, 2007.

The next Constitution Amendment Bill should include a new amendment of Article 121(1B) to clearly restore to non-Muslim Malaysians the Merdeka “social contract” and their constitutional right not to be adversely affected by Syariah law and courts.

Last month, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) conducted a week-long special prayers to express their anxieties, concerns and fears over growing encroachments of religious freedoms and rights in plural Malaysia, although freedom of religion is entrenched in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution and the Constitution the supreme law of the land.

This is because the past two years have seen increasing incidence of disputes affecting the human, family, religious and citizenship rights of non-Muslim Malaysians, such as the Moorthy, Rayappan, Subashini, Marimuthu and Revathi cases.

The 1988 amendment of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution was to provide to Muslims the constitutional protection for their rights to be adjudicated in syariah courts without detracting any rights from non-Muslims.

I have no doubt that if during the parliamentary debate in March 1988 on the Constitution Amendment Bill 1988 which enacted Article 121(1A), an MP had the foresight to ask whether the intention was to create injustices and family grief like the Moorthy, Rayappan and Subashini  cases, or to erode and  undermine the constitutional rights of non-Muslim Malaysians to seek legal redress in civil court rather than  in syariah court, the answer would have been a clear “No” in both instances.

By enacting Article 121(1A), Parliament never intended to take away even one iota of the constitutional rights of non-Muslims to be fully adjudicated under civil law and not under syariah law.

Why then has the implementation of Article 121(1A) been allowed to create grave strain and stress to Malaysia’s plural society of diverse races and religions?

If there is uncertainty in the interpretation and implementation of Article 121(1A) as to create a situation never intended by Parliament, it is the duty of MPs to rectify it — in this case, by introducing a Article 121(1B) to make it clear that Article 121(1A) does not derogate from non-Muslim Malaysians any rights which they had enjoyed without challenge before the 1988 Constitution amendment.

When I raised this in Parliament last month, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz said my arguments were valid but there was no way the Barisan Nasional government could agree because there was no way to convince and persuade Malays who constitute the majority of the electorate to support such a constitutional amendment.

Is this an acceptable reason why there should not be a new constitutional amendment of Article 121(1B) to explain clearly the implications of Article 121(1A) as affecting Muslims and not non-Muslims?

Can MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the other non-Muslim leaders in Barisan Nasional in Sabah and Sarawak accept such an argument?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had asked MCA and Gerakan why there was a swing of Chinese voters to the Opposition in the Ijok by-election.

This is one example — that the Barisan Nasional government is indifferent to the increasing  concerns, anxieties and fears of non-Muslim Malaysians about their religious rights and sensitivities as well as their human and family rights as illustrated by the Moorthy, Rayappan, Subashini, Marimuthu and Revathi cases and is not prepared to do what is right — by amending the Malaysian Constitution with a new Article 121(1B).

What we have is  a sorry  situation where MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the other non-Muslim leaders in Barisan Nasional know that a constitutional amendment in the form of Article 121(1B) is the proper and best solution to the problem, but they  dare not stand up for what is right and good for the country whether in Cabinet or the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council.

How then are Malaysians to have confidence in MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS, SAPP as well as Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders when they are not prepared to stand up for what is right and just  by amending the Malaysian Constitution with a new Article 121(1B)?

I call on MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other non-Muslim Cabinet Ministers to ensure that the next Constitution Amendment Bill, when tabled in Parliament next week or next month, would also have a Article 121(1B) amendment.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 May 2007, 9:00 am and is filed under
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PM – reprimand and discipline JJ for racist remarks against Malaysian Indians in California

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should reprimand and discipline the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis for his disgraceful conduct in making racist and derogatory remarks about Malaysian  Indians when he met Malaysian students in California on Monday (30th April).

During his official visit to California on Monday,
Jamaludin
 met some of the Malaysian students studying in California especially the ones from TPM Academy twinning programme at the Belacan Grill Malaysian Restaurant, Redondo Beach, Ca.

One of the students was Sheena Moorthy, a third-year Biotech Malaysian student in CALYPOLY.

Sheena complained that during the 3½ hour session, Jamaludin  passed a few racial remarks on her, being one of the two Indians present there.

Sheena has formally written to the Prime Minister to complain against Jamaludin for the “totally uncalled-for racial insults”, citing the following instances:

Incident 1 – Each student had to briefly introduce themselves. When it came to her  turn, while speaking he interrupted her  and asked if she  knew Samy Vellu, because he knows him. She did not  see any relevance in that and he mentioned it a few times for no apparent reason.

Incident 2 — He gave a speech regarding how agriculture started in Malaysia. He mentioned how the British invested in Malaysia and made farmers work. Due to the lack of work force, “buruh India” was brought in. While mentioning this, he looked at her saying “that’s how we get Indians in Malaysia”.

Incident 3 — After saying he is going to get MARA to help the Bumiputra students, he looked at her  and asked “How many Indians are here?”  Sheena did not  keep track of number of Indian students so she mentioned that in the  room there were  two (pointing to  another Malaysian Indian friend, who is fair skinned) and Jamaludin  looked at him and asked “Oh. You are an Indian? Which means you are an upper class Indian and she is the lower class one” (pointing at her).  Jamaludin went on to say that, “Oh, I am not going to help upper class Indians, I only help the  lower class ones. They are the ones that need it’.

Sheena  left the room feeling very insulted as the Minister had judged her based on her skin colour.

This incident happened in front of a crowd of about 100 people including students, officials from the Malaysian Consulate, TPM, Tourism Malaysia, etc.  But everyone is afraid and nobody is prepared  to stand up to speak  the truth.

I can fully understand Sheena’s hurt  feelings at being humiliated and insulted by Jamaluddin in public.  All right-thinking Malaysians should support Sheena’s demand for  a public apology from Jamaludin.

Sheena’s sister, Dr. Sheela Moorthy, who is currently living in the USA and supporting her sister’s education at CalyPoly, is so incensed that she has written to the media to express her disgust and anger that a Minister of a multi-racial country should be making such racist and derogatory remarks about Malaysian Indians at a function abroad, giving the country a bad image.

Sheena has also written to complain about Jamaluddi’s biased and disgraceful conduct to several Malaysian Ministers, including the MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

I hope Samy Vellu would raise the Sheena issue at the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday to add his voice to the growing demand for public apology from Jamaludin and to  support the Prime Minister to  reprimand and take disciplinary action against the Science, Technlogy and Innovation Minister.

Jamaludin is still in the United States as he is currently  leading a 300-man Malaysian delegation to the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) Convention in Boston, Massachussets.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 May 2007, 11:52 am and is filed under
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Scrap Maybank ruling on 50% bumi partnership for law firms on its panel – unacceptable NEP extension

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should scrap the inequitable and unacceptable
Maybank extension of the New Economic Policy (NEP)
 by requiring law firms  on its panel to have at least  50 per cent bumiputra partnership.

Maybank has imposed the rule that with effect from 1-7-2007, one of the criteria for legal firms to be on its  panel is that 50% of the equity of the partnership of the legal firm must be held by Bumiputras.  For legal firms which are already on the Maybank panel, they have a year to comply with the new ruling.

Maybank, a government-linked company,  has justified the new ruling on the ground that Malaysia was working towards improving the quality of service industries including the legal profession to face the challenges of globalization.

But this is a most unconvincing ground for the new Maybank ruling has nothing to do with the upgrading of the quality of service industries, whether legal profession or other fields. On the contrary, the opposite may be the case.

Furthermore, it will create new national divisions by undermining the nation-building process especially at a time when the country is celebrating the 50th Merdeka anniversary when Malaysians have discovered that the country had not made much progress in promoting national integration in the past five decades.

After the Ijok by-election, Abdullah asked MCA and Gerakan to explain why there was  a swing of Chinese voters to the Opposition.  Let MCA and Gerakan Ministers tell the Prime Minister that it is unfair and inequitable policies and measures like the Maybank ruling for 50% bumiputra partnership for legal firms on its panel which have aggravated disaffection and alienation in the country.

DAP MP for Bandar Kuching, Chong Chieng  Jen, will move an emergency motion in Parliament tomorrow to protest and demand end  of the unacceptable  Maybank extension of NEP by  requiring its law firms to have at least  50 per cent bumiputra partnership.

Let all Barisan Nasional MPs stand up to support the DAP motion in Parliament opposing the unfair and unacceptable Maybank extension of the NEP.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 May 2007, 4:44 pm and is filed under
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Dengue – a failure of medical leadership

DENGUE – A FAILURE OF MEDICAL LEADERSHIP

by Gabriel

I refer to the news that Malaysia is seeing a higher death toll from dengue fever this year. Health Ministry’s Director of Disease Control, Hasan Abdul Rahman said 44 people had died in the first four months of 2007 from 16,214 cases reported, compared to 21 deaths and 10,244 cases in the same period last year.

Even more disturbing is the statement that the disease has seen a rise of 16 per cent in cases every year since 2003 with fatalities reaching record levels in 2004, when 102 people died.

The Ministry’s Deputy Director-General, Ramlee Rahmat further appears to have even identified the cause for the rise attributing it to unkempt construction sites, indifferent contractors and land owners, public complacency and ideal weather conditions for breeding the Aedes mosquito.

Primary health care officials, having already identified the problems, may need to do more if this plague is to be dealt with more effectively.

The time is appropriate for them to speak to the DPM and ask for emergency powers for they may have no clout if some of these problems fall into the domain of the Environmental Ministry or local councils who may take a lackadaisical attitude to this endemic plague which can very well rapidly escalate to be an epidemic if these erratic weather conditions continue to facilitate the exponential breeding of the Aedes aegypti.

How indeed memories are short for authorities do not appear to remember the other great mosquito scourge that swamped this country in its early years — malaria.

Malaria was first successfully shown to be controlled in Malaya by a government surgeon, Sir Malcolm Watson in 1901 who, faced with an epidemic of malaria, brought it under control by a program of jungle clearing and drainage in the town of Klang.  This was one of the world’s first examples of successful malaria control by anti-larval measures.

But a far greater problem awaited Watson in Port Swettenham, opened in September 1901, where by the end of that year 118 out of the 176 government servants working in the port had gone down with malaria causing the port to cease functioning.  On Watson’s advice – bunds, which stand till this day, were built around the area to keep out the tide and the area inside the bunds was drained and oiled. Malaria was soon brought under control and the port working again.

These two successful measures by Watson were  the harbinger for the application of similar drainage methods including subsoil drainage in estates — so vital for the economy at that time, where malaria proved fatal to many of its Indian laborers.

Watson’s efforts were complemented by G.F Leicester, an entomologist at IMR, who helped him identify the different species of mosquitoes and this they did by actually going together into the jungle round Klang sometime in 1903 and catching
Anopheles umbrosus
, the mosquito vector responsible on flat land.

In 1911, the Malaria Advisory Board was formed with Watson as one of its members. The Board had a free hand and wide powers which included powers to coordinate, order and execute control measures.

Watson with his skillful methods of combining subsoil drainage and a suitable blend of oil was able to significantly reduce the incidence and subsequent mortality of malaria.

By careful observations and experimentation, he was able to recognize the vectors of the tidal zone, the coastal plains, the inland plains, and the hills and apply specific control measures adapted to their habits.

Many in Port Klang would remember its main trunk road which was named for him, Jalan Watson, now renamed Persiaran Raja Muda Musa.

The rise of dengue in our current ecological circumstances is not dissimilar to Sir Malcolm Watson’s analysis of the relationship between economic activity, landscape change, insect density and malaria in Central Africa in 1953.

Constant attention to the ecology of the local mosquito species in relation to control measures is critical if we are to curtail this rise in incidence and bring about its consequent reduction in mortality which is more related to reinfection rather then primary infection.

Our primary health care leaders need to demonstrate greater leadership qualities adopting more aggressive and proactive measures.

They must be further equipped with adequate powers to rope in other departments such as the DID, JKR, local councils, the police and the Environmental Ministry to effect the necessary environmental changes so required to eradicate the vector.

Fogging and fines are akin to treating the symptom unlike Watson and Leicester who went down to the field to treat the disease.

This country has a powerful tradition in overcoming many tropical illnesses basically because of its strong initial foundations since pre-independence days. Sadly we appear to have let slip this advantage and reading in the papers about children, golfers and lecturers dying of dengue is I am certain not something our forefathers would have been proud of.

The main reason dengue still kills is because we do not possess the medical leadership so critically required in surmounting it.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 May 2007, 6:08 am and is filed under
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Freeze new Maybank bumi ruling until EPU methodology on ethnic equity ownership made public

Although Maybank Bhd has said that it will
review
 its new ruling that with effect from 1-7-2007, one of the criteria for legal firms to be on its panel is that 50% of the equity of the partnership of the legal firm must be held by Bumiputras, its statement is ambivalent and unsatisfactory.

This is because the Maybank statement seems to imply two things:

	firstly, that existing legal firms which are already on the Maybank panel, and which had been given one  year to comply with the new ruling, may now be exempted from the 50% bumiputra partnership ruling;

	secondly, that for all practical purposes, new legal firms will have to comply with the 50% bumiputra partnership ruling if they are to be emplaced  on the bank’s panel.

In keeping with the principles of CSR  (corporate social responsibility), Maybank Bhd should not speak  in ambiguities but must make clear its policies and guidelines.  For this reason, Maybank should clearly explain whether the 50% bumiputra partnership ruling for its panel lawyers will come into force on 1st July 2007 and how it will impact separately on its existing panel lawyers and new firms.

The controversy raised by the Maybank ruling, whether on the blogosphere or among the Malaysian public, have highlighted one important issue —  that the few law firms doing good business with the government, statutory bodies or public listed companies with large government holdings are the politically connected ones,  which is a more important consideration than whether  they are bumiputra owned and operated or with substantial bumi equity.

Or as one poster on my blog put it: “In many of the cases if there is a bumiputra partner he’s probably a retired government servant or a stay-at-home mom who lends their names for a few bucks every month”.

I call on Maybank to be a model of CSR and make public the top 25 legal firms on its panel which have been given the most bank business each year for the past 10 years.  This is to allow Malaysians to judge whether the criteria for legal firms on its panel who are given the most Maybank business are the politically-connected ones rather than based on meritocracy or other critera.

The New Economic Policy (NEP) was meant to be a 20-year policy from 1971-1990.  The NEP had been productive of many injustices and power abuses and it is most regrettable that the NEP had recently been revived without any attempt to end all the  betrayals and corruption of the NEP.

Malaysians have also been denied access to full and honest data about outcomes of the NEP, in particular the methodology and data used by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to compute ethnic breakdowns of NEP equity ownership.

In October, both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had given undertakings to make public the EPU methodology and data for computing ethnic breakdowns of NEP equity ownership, after the controversy over the ASLI report on the subject.

More than six months have passed, but a thunderous silence have descended on the issue despite repeated public reminders, including by DAP MPs in Parliament, calling on the government to honour its undertaking to make public the EPU methodology and data on ethnic breakdowns of NEP equity ownership.  What has the government to hide?

Since then, a 2002 University of Malaya research study  has come into the public domain with the finding that the 30 per cent bumiputera equity ownership as targeted under the NEP had been achieved a decade ago in 1997.

The research, entitled
“Bumiputeras in the Corporate Sector — Three decades of performance 1970-2000”
, by Dr. M. Fazilah Abdul Samad, head of department of finance and banking in the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, was based on a 10-year analysis of bumiputera equity ownership between 1988 and 1997 of public listed companies on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), now called Bursa Malaysia.

According to Fazilah’s study, bumiputera equity ownership reached 33.7 per cent in 1997, comprising 30.6 per cent bumiputera corporate equity ownership and 3.1 per cent individual bumiputera share ownership.

This is however an underestimate, as it did not include nominee company ownership which many economists have argued would be held in the majority on behalf of bumiputeras.

Furthermore, it does not take into account government-held ownership (9.5 per cent), as was done in the study  by the controversial Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli)’s Centre for Public Policy Studies.  Both the University of Malaya and ASLI studies have  arrived at very similar conclusion of 45% bumiputera equity ownership achievement if 70% of government-held ownership are attributed to bumiputeras.

There should be a total freeze on NEP extensions like the new  Maybank ruling requiring 50% bumiputera  partnership  for panel law firms until  the government has honoured its undertaking to make public EPU methodology and data for computing ethnic breakdowns of NEP equity ownership.

This matter should be given top priority in the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Monday 7th May 2007 after the urgent motion by DAP MP for Bandar Kuching Chong Chieng Jen to debate this subject was rejected by the Speaker)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 May 2007, 2:17 pm and is filed under
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Samy Vellu – why marginalisation of Indians worsened nine years after Anwar sacked from Umno?

MIC President Datuk Seri
S. Samy Vellu
yesterday castigated Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Anwar Ibrahim, accusing him of deceit and not helping Indian estate workers when he was in power.

When Anwar was deputy prime minister, he
“did nothing”
 for the estate workers, let alone the Indian community, said the Works Minister.

Samy Vellu said: “I have copies of letters I sent to him seeking assistance (for estate workers when Anwar was deputy prime minister), but he did not lift a finger to help.”

This was the MIC President’s response  to Anwar who had said that Indians in estates were treated like slaves and subjected to abject poverty.  “They live in fear of thugs and their overlord minister. The Indians are treated as third class, not by us but by you,” Anwar  said, referring to Samy Vellu.

Anwar said estate workers were intimidated and bribed into supporting the Barisan Nasional during the recent Ijok state constituency by-election.

Anwar is fully capable to defending himself and I have no intention of replying on Anwar’s behalf.

However, I have received calls from Malaysian Indians wanting to know from Samy Vellu why the MIC President had been a party to the marginalization of Indians and kept quiet for so long even now.

It is  now almost nine years since  Anwar was expelled from Umno and no more in  the Barisan Nasional but the plight of the Indians have got worse rather  than better, (as illustrated by the highest percentage of  Indians in Simpang Rengam detention centre,  completely out of proportion with the population ratio)  reinforcing their status as the new underclass in Peninsular Malaysia.

I am therefore raising two  question on behalf of Malaysian Indians who had phoned me asking me  to speak up on  their behalf, viz:

	Why the marginalization of Malaysian Indians as  the new underclass in Peninsular Malaysia have got worse nine years after Anwar had been sacked from Umno and no more in BN government; and

	What concrete steps and masterplan have been adopted by the Barisan Nasional under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to restore to  Malaysian Indians their full citizenship rights as Malaysian sons and daughters of the soil, and enable them to  believe  beyond a shadow of doubt that they have an equal  place under the Malaysian sun — a key principle of successful Malaysian nation-building as defined by Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Nazrin.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 May 2007, 3:48 pm and is filed under
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Taib Mahmud digging hole to bury himself with preposterous bill  to silence the Opposition?

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud sounded
very brave
last weekend when addressing Sarawak   Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers in Damai Resort in a seminar with the most inappropriate topic, namely
“The role of political leaders: integrity and development”
.

In the Star report headlined
“Taib: Use law to fight back”,
 the Sarawak Chief Minister was quoted as telling Sarawak Barisan Nasional State Assembly members: “Fight any smear campaign bravely.”

This has reminded everyone of Taib’s
48-hour ultimatum
to Malaysiakini to remove several articles concerning accusations of corruption allegedly linked to him and his family after the Japan Times report implicating Taib in a scandal involving RM32 million in kickbacks paid by Japanese shipping companies for timber from the resource-rich state.

Seventeen days have passed since the expiry of Taib’s 48-hour ultimatum to Malaysiakini to remove the “offensive” articles or he would institute legal proceedings to clear his name and reputation.

Why hasn’t Taib instituted legal proceedings yet?

In his speech last week, Taib told  Sarawak BN backbenchers:

“Don’t fear. We have to fight it out.

“I will show you how we can protect ourselves through the legal system.”

Everyone thought Taib was reassuring Sarawak BN backbenchers that he would be instituting legal proceedings against Malaysiakini and others to clear his name when he spoke about using the legal system to “fight back” but  everyone was wrong.

It is now clear that what Taib meant was the misuse and abuse of the tyranny of the BN majority in the Sarawak State Assembly to enact laws to hamper, impede and obstruct the freedom of speech and action of Opposition representatives in the  Sarawak State Assembly.

New Sunday Times
yesterday under its   story
“Throwing a dare in the House will land you a fine”
reported a new bill, Dewan Undangan Negeri (Privileges and Powers) Bill 2007 which will be tabled in the Sarawak State Assembly in its meeting from May 14-23.

Under the Bill, a  member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly will be fined up to RM2,000 on the spot if he challenges another member to a fight or issues a threatening letter while the assembly is in session.

If the member does not pay the fine immediately, he or she will be sent to prison until the fine is paid or until the state assembly is dissolved.

A member will also be fined if he or she creates or joins in any disturbance inside the House or in its vicinity where any proceedings are or are likely to be interrupted.

The Bill also creates other offences, including:

 assaulting, obstructing or insulting any member coming to or going from the House or on account of his conduct in the assembly or endeavouring to compel any member by force, insult, or menace to declare himself in favour of or against any proposition;

 tampering with, deterring, threatening, beguiling, or in any way unduly influencing any witness in regard to evidence to be given by him before the House or any committee;

 presenting to the House or to any committee any false, untrue, fabricated or falsified document with intent to deceive the House or any committee;

 the publication of any false or scandalous libel on any member touching on his conduct as a member; and

 the publication of any report of a committee of the House or of any evidence given or any document presented to such committee or extracts from such documents, before such committee has presented its report to the House.

The bill also seeks to give power to the speaker of the state legislative assembly to order the arrest of any person for causing disturbance during the sitting of the House.

The person, after being arrested, might be sent to jail according to the tenor of the warrant.

These  new proposals to hamper, obstruct and impede the freedom of speech and action of Sarawak State Assembly members are  most undemocratic,  preposterous and obnoxious, demonstrating the fear of the Sarawak Chief Minister and the State Cabinet in being engaged by the six DAP State Assembly members in the Sarawak State Assembly  in a open and no-holds-barred debate in the past year.

Clearly, Taib wants to use the brute majority of the Sarawak BN in the State Assembly to enact laws with punitive sanctions including jail sentences to silence the Opposition.

What Taib is proposing in the new bill is a major step backwards for the development of parliamentary democracy and makes a total mockery of  the country’s claim that it is committed  to the system of parliamentary democracy, particularly when the country is celebrating its 50th Merdeka anniversary which coincides with the 43rd Malaysia Day marking Sarawak and Sabah’s entry and creation of the Malaysian federation.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should advise the Sarawak Chief Minister to drop the ludicrous bill to hamper, impede and obstruct freedom of speech and action of State Assembly representatives, as it will make Malaysia a laughing stock in the world with regard to our retrograde parliamentary practices.

Alternatively, Taib Mahmud should agree to refer the  Bill to an all-party  Select Committee of the State Assembly, which could hold public hearings and consultations to seek public views and inputs.

I am attracted by another provision in the new bill, which seeks to compel any member to disclose his direct pecuniary interests before he takes part in any discussion in the House or any of its committees.  He faces a fine of RM2,000 if he fails to disclose his interests and if the fine is not paid immediately, he will be sent to jail until it is settled.

Is Taib Mahmud digging a hole to bury himself, for he and his family have such extensive interests in business and economic interests in the state that he would have to first reveal his pecuniary interests not only every time he speaks, but probably a dozen times in a major speech, if he is to comply with this new rule.

Will Taib be fined or sent to prison if he fails to disclose his pecuniary interests when he takes part in any discussion in the State Assembly or its committees?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 May 2007, 9:42 am and is filed under
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What else does the govt want from us?

What else does the Govt want from Us?

by Richard Teo

On the same day when it was reported that two major banks “require law firms to have a minimum of three partners of which one must be Bumiputra with a minimum 50 per cent stake in the firm before they can do any business with the banks” another report in Singapore says “Job ads in the city: No age, race.”

Two different emphasis on policy matters, one from our close neighbour Singapore and one from our own virtually sums up the two different directions we are heading.

After 50 years of being in power our leaders are still promulgating laws and policies which are dividing the nation while in Singapore, the rationale is to eliminate race as a criterion to select candidates for jobs believing in the concept that “multi-racialism is a fundamental principle here”.

How divergent and different each nation’s path has become.One will lead the nation to ultimate destruction whilst the other will grow and prosper.

How can our leaders be so myopic and parochial? Why must it always be the Malays vs  Chinese thing? Can’t they adopt a more pragmatic view that the Chinese are not their enemies and that we are all sitting in the same boat. If this boat sinks we sink together.

Our immediate competition will be from our neighbouring countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Yet this has not been their main focus.

Instead of directing their energy and strength to combat our external foes our leaders are doing their level best to weaken our own citizens.

How can our leaders be so short-sighted as to sacrifice long term gains for short term benefits?

Instead of looking at the bigger cake from outside our shores we are scrambling for the contracting small cake within our country.

With each passing day as citizens of this country, we feel hopeless and helpless as our leaders remain oblivious to the consequencs  of their own policy-making decisions.

We can only hope with abated breath that a miracle will prevent the ruination of this country. Otherwise, only divine intervention can rescue us from this path of destruction.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 May 2007, 6:43 am and is filed under
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Can Samy Vellu guarantee that the RM1.9 billion SMART Tunnel will be trouble-free when it opens on Monday?

Public constructions and buildings have become a national  scandal, with burst-pipes, collapsing ceilings, faulty air-conditioning systems in brand-new government buildings almost a daily shame.

As a result of we have the following two reports today:

“”I have spoken until my mouth is dry’ — PM tired of talking about Terengganu airport maintenance problem”
(Sin Chew Daily)
.

“Judge loses his cool over faulty air-con”

(New Straits Times)
.

The former referred to the
cancellation of all night flights
for two nights at the Sultan Mahmud Airport in Kuala Terengganu following a power glitch that caused the runway navigation lights to be switched off.  The two-day closure affected six commercial flights and some 335 passengers were stranded on the first day.  The Yang di Pertuan Agong and his entourage, who were to have left for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night, were also grounded.

The latter referred to spanking new  RM290 million largest court complex in the world in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur which has  earned instant notoriety as the most mishap-prone public building — not only with collapsed ceiling,  cracks on the walls, defective lift and toilet, and yesterday, High Court judge Datuk Mohamed Apandi Ali lost his cool with the frequent breakdown of the  air-conditioning system in the new court complex as he was forced to postpone an appeal hearing.

A construction project manager with 30 years experience who inspected the court complex in Jalan Duta yesterday was of the view that it suffers from structural defects, contradicting the earlier claim by the Works Minister, Datuk Seri Datuk Seri Samy Vellu that  the cracks were merely in the cement and that the “structural integrity of the building is not compromised”.

Clearly a completely independent study must be made as to whether the court complex suffers from structural defects.

With all these defects, the question uppermost in the minds of Malaysians is whether Samy Vellu  can give an iron-clad guarantee that the RM1.9 billion
SMART Tunnel
will be completely trouble-free when it is open to traffic next Monday?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 1:02 pm and is filed under
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Hishammuddin – apologise for “keris-wielding” episodes to restore confidence as  a symbol for national integration among students

During the debate in Parliament today on the Youth Societies and Youth Development Bill, I called on the Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to apologise for his “keris-wielding” episodes to restore confidence as a symbol for national integration among students in the nation’s schools.

This raised the heckles of UMNO MPs in the House particularly Datuk  Badruddin bin Amiruldin (Jerai) and Idris Harun (Tangga Batu) who demanded clarifications which I rejected as I had only ten minutes to speak as the second last speaker on the Bill.

As a result, the last MP in the debate,  Razali Ismail (Muar) started his speech on the “keris-wielding” episodes, allowing Badruddin to go on a rampage to accuse me of being disrespectful  and contemptuous of Malay culture and the Yang di Pertuan Agong in not accepting the keris as a national symbol.

In rebuttal, I made it very clear that I accepted without  reservation the Malay keris as  part of the national emblem, and that when the Yang di Pertuan Agong unsheathed and kissed the keris, it was a symbol of justice.

However, what was unacceptable was when the Umno Youth leader  wielded the keris in the context of extremist and communal demands utterly insensitive of the feelings and rights of all communities in the country.  I reminded Umno MPs that at the recent Umno Youth general assembly, an Umno Youth delegate even asked when Hishammuddin was going to use the keris now that he had wielded it twice — highlighting the totally unacceptable circumstances of the keris episodes.

The Youth Societies and Youth Development Bill is aimed at youth development which includes the following objectives:

	To build youth character;

	To develop patriotism among youths;

	To spread the principles of the Rukun Negara.

Furthermore, the Youth Minister has been given powers to issue policies or directives on youth development.

I asked how Malaysians are to be assured that there would be no abuse of powers by the Minister or the Barisan Nasional government in discharging the powers under the Bill when Barisan Nasional leaders had been setting bad leadership examples for national unity and national integration.

With the limited time available, I cited three instances:

	Hishammuddin’s “keris-wielding” history in unacceptable contexts  turning  him into a symbol of national division and disunity when he should be the symbol of national unity and harmony in his capacity as Education Minister;

	The complaint by third-year biotechnology student, Sheena Moorthy  of the misconduct of the  Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis  in making racist and derogatory remarks about Malaysian Indians when he met Malaysian students in California last week.

	The latest ruling by Maybank requiring legal firms on its panel to have 50% bumiputra  equity partnership.

I also asked why the National Integrity Plan and its principles  were  not specified as among the objectives to be promoted under the rubric of “youth development” when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had made anti-corruption and promotion of integrity the  paramount commitment of his administration.

Referring to the sacking of five cabinet ministers by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday to bolster his government’s national and international credibility in the  fight against corruption, I said the same thing should be done in Malaysia.

Also highlighted was the   abuse of power by the Deputy Youth and Sports Minister, Liow Tiong Lai who had forced the All-England doubles champions Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong to campaign for MCA in the Machap by-election last month by appearing at the “Malaysia Love Badminton Campaign” in Machap.

Koo and Tan are the badminton heroes for all Malaysians regardless of party affiliation and it was wrong for Liow to politicize Koo and Tan’s winning the All England doubles championship  to get political mileage for the MCA  in the Machap by-election.

Their coach Rexy Mainaky had publicly stated that he would not have allowed Koo and Tan to go to Machap had he known about the MCA programme  beforehand.

The pressures put on Koo and Tan in Machap had adversely affected the duo, resulting in their poor under-performance at the Asian Badminton Championships in Johore Bahru immediately after their Machap trip and their  first-round elimination  at the recent Singapore Open.

Liow Tiong Lai should publicly apologise for politicizing and pressurizing  the badminton doubles champions resulting in their underperformance, when it is the hope of all Malaysians transcending political differences that Koo and Tan can reach greater heights for the country in winning  an Olympics Gold as well as bring home  the Thomas Cup.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 8:38 pm and is filed under
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Putrajaya – Mahathir’s Fatehpur Sikri

PUTRAJAYA — MAHATHIR’S FATEHPUR SIKRI

by Z Ibrahim

I refer to the news regarding the various construction defects of buildings in Malaysia’s new administrative capital at Putrajaya. Putrajaya remains an architectural wonder in the forest with its gleaming, sometimes partially completed buildings and bridges. A megaproject during Malaysia’s days of excesses it is reminiscent of Akbar’s deserted capital of Fatehpur Sikri.

Fatehpur Sikri, located 40km west of Agra, was the political capital of India’s Mughal Empire under Akbar’s reign from 1571 until 1585. It shared its imperial duties as a capital city with Agra and is regarded as Emperor Akbar’s crowning architectural legacy. Construction of the new ceremonial capital, with its elaborate palaces, formal courtyards, reflecting pools, harems, tombs and a great mosque commenced in 1571. A large number of masons and stone carvers worked hard for 15 years on the construction of the city the size of which was larger than contemporary London.  It served as the capital of his mighty empire for twelve years (1571-1585) and was abruptly abandoned thereafter shortly after the work was completed ostensibly because of the lack of adequate water supply.

Akbar did not stay in this magnificent city for long and reasons for deserting Fatehpur Sikri are as much mysterious as was its construction. There is much speculation as to the reason Akbar built the city at the chosen site by the Sikri Ridge. Some historians cite he built it to honor the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chishti who used to dwell there and blessed the childless Akbar with three children including his heir Jahangir. But its site could have been chosen more for its strategic location which lies on the highway between North and South India, and was of tactical value to control the huge Mughal Empire. The opulence of the city is greatly enhanced by the mosque which was the first structure to be built in the whole complex. The spacious courtyard added charm and can accommodate ten-thousand men at prayer. Akbar is reputed to have been so inspired by the atmosphere that he wept and gave a call for prayer or azan himself.

Putrajaya, first envisioned in the 1980’s and founded officially on October 19, 1995 was built to accommodate and centralize all of the Malaysian government’s administrative duties and is located 30km south of Kuala Lumpur. The Federal government paid a substantial amount of money to Selangor for more than 11 000 acres of land to build this planned city possibly financed by Malaysia’s oil revenue which in retrospect could have been better utilized for education and health. However after the 1997 economic crisis and following Mahathir’s resignation as Prime Minister of Malaysia, it appears to many visitors as a forlornly desolate city. One of the key reasons for its apparent barrenness is the absence of public transport from Kuala Lumpur’s cosmopolitan population of over 3 million.

The city’s planners built highways but possibly due to economic reasons failed to put in place an efficient LRT connecting it to the masses in KL before or while the city was being built.  Unlike Singapore which plans and builds MRT lines and stations decades ahead of actual development, Putrajaya’s planners blundered by building the city first and worrying about public transport later. This error could prove fatal as Putrajaya stands eerily silent as the world passes by. Planners didn’t envision the fact that the usage of cars, the prices of which were already beyond the per capita income of the average Malaysian, were further handicapped by rising costs of petrol, maintenance and tolls ensuring the reduction of private transport utilization.

Putrajaya, as in Fatehpur Sikri, lies in danger of being entrapped in the words of Lane Poole, a historian, “Nothing sadder or more beautiful exists in India than this deserted city, the silent witness of a vanished dream.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 7:53 am and is filed under
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