Challenge to Hishammuddin to have opinion poll on Home Ministry website whether the prominent media photo of him and IGP as best of pals are genuine or just “for show”

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein gave an immediate response to my press conference in Parliament yesterday, when I had commented on the photograph of him and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan “making up” which was given prominent coverage in all the media as mere show.

I said the two must not take Malaysians as four or five-year-old children who are gullible and would believe the photo-shoot as proof that all was well between the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police, as if what happened over the past few days and their statements never existed!!

I called on Hishammuddin and Musa not to have any “cover up” and to address the real issues concerned.

Hishammuddin accused me of exploiting the “purported rift” between him and the Inspector-General of Police, even saying that it was “not easy” for the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police “to act out things”.

I challenge Hishammuddin to have an opinion poll on the Home Ministry website whether the media photo of him and IGP as best of pals are genuine or just “for show”.

I have confidence that the overwhelming majority of over 95% polled would return the answer that it was just a show.

If the Home Minister and the IGP are the best of pals, can Hishammuddin explain why the IGP was not informed beforehand before he made the announcement on 15th  March that Musa would be replaced as IGP when his retirement comes up in September?

In fact, for almost a week later, Musa had not been officially informed that he would not get another extension as IGP come September. This is obvious from Musa’s answer in the Mingguan Malaysia interview with the IGP dated 21st March 2010, viz:

“Q – Mungkin terdapat kemungkinan Tan Sri menyambung perkhidmatan selepas September depan?

“Musa – Itu saya tidak tahu. Saya tidak boleh bercakap apa-apa. Kena tanya kerajaan atau Perdana Menteri kerana beliau saja yang tahu.”

From this answer, it is clear that Musa has not taken Hishammuddin’s announcement as the last word, despite Hishammuddin’s statement that “I know who is going to replace the IGP. I know who will replace the commercial crime division director.”

It was Musa who talked about “a third force” which was by-passing the IGP and giving direct orders to the police behind his back without his knowledge, and that this “third party” could be politicians or certain individuals.

Musa must explain what he meant by this “third party” which had circumvented  the IGP and undermined his authority – or is he saying that he had been misquoted by Mingguan Malaysia?

With the approach of Police Day this year, both Hishammuddin and Musa have been busy spinning about the achievements of the police in fighting crime.

In today’s press, for instance, Musa boasted a big dip in the crime index, amounting to 13.2% in the first two months of this year compared to last year.

Are both of them aware that this  alleged 13.2% dip in crime index is not accompanied by any increase in public confidence in the police capability to keep the country safe  from crime and the fear of crime for the people, investors and tourists?

One reliable indicator of public confidence in the police to free the people from the scourge of crime and the fear of crime will be whether in the first two months of this year, there has been an accompanying 13.2% in the dismantling of guarded and gated communities in the country – reflecting the return of Malaysia to greater normalcy like in the first four decades of Independence!

I dare say without fear of contradiction that in the first two months of the year, there is not only no dismantling of guarded and gated communities but a sharp increase  in new guarded and gated communities – probably by more than 13.2%!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 March 2010, 4:14 pm and is filed under
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Farce and fiasco of 24-hr resignation of Titi Tinggi Assemblyman exposes total breakdown of authority of MCA leadership

The farce and fiasco of the 24-hour resignation of the MCA Perlis Assemblyman for Titi Tinggi, Yip Sun Onn, exposes the total breakdown of authority of the MCA leadership.

There was none from anyone of the Three Kingdom camps of the MCA leadership who could reach and influence Yip, which had to be done by the Umno leaders, involving not only the Perlis Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Dr. Md Isa Sabu, the Perlis Speaker Datuk Yazid Mat but also the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

No wonder Yazid as the Speaker made the most eloquent remark last evening to the Malaysian Insider reporter  “I am very tired. I think what I said is enough. The seat is not vacant” when refusing to further comment on Yip’s case apart from confirming that he had received an SMS from Yip informing him of his retraction.

Poor Yazid and the Perlis UMNO Mentri Besar, who appeared to bear the fullest brunt on the pressures arising from Yip’s letter of resignation – when it should be the MCA leaders but who appeared to be completely impotent in the matter.

It would appear that Umno is even more frightened than MCA to have a by-election in Titi Tinggi.

What a way to mark Najib’s first full year as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The Perlis Speaker may have his political duties to perform but this does not mean he is right in allowing Yip to retract his resignation – through SMS and not even through a letter!

If a Pakatan Rakyat MP or State Assembly representative is to sent in his or her resignation to the Speaker who is from the Barisan Nasional, would he or she be allowed to retract the resignation?

The answer is quite obvious.

The Speaker must rise above the fray of party politics. Yazid told Malaysiakini yesterday that Yip had “repented from his action” and gave the assurance that “Barisan Nasional did not entice him to stay put as a state assemblyperson with any kind of offers or promises”.

How does the Speaker know for sure one way or another if he stays scrupulously above the fray of party politics in the Perlis State Assembly?

The Titi Tinggi resignation farce is another setback for the doctrine of separation of powers and the cause of institutional integrity.

The Speaker’s role, upon receipt of letter of resignation is to determine if that letter were freely made, and not forged or made under coercion that would otherwise render it void.

Once that is determined Speaker’s role is that of a messenger, to notify that to Election Commission (EC) whose duty it is, under present rules, to determine if a “casual vacancy” for which a by election has to be called within 60 days.

It is no business of a Speaker to be involved in the political “fun and games” of dissuading an Assemblyman to retract his resignation – whether monetary or material inducements or otherwise.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 March 2010, 11:49 am and is filed under
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #7

By
M Bakri Musa

Chapter 2: Why Some Societies Progress, Others Regress

Biology in Human History

It is also easy to fall for the trap of biologic determinism. In surveying the globe today, the most advanced nations are in Western Europe: America, and Australia. These are, to use a familiar term, White man’s countries. Meanwhile the whole of tropical Africa is backward and primitive. The most obvious difference is the skin color of their inhabitants. Skin color thus becomes the most identifiable and ready surrogate indicator of ability. As skin color is biologically determined, it therefore follows that these other abilities must also be so determined.

The Japanese take comfort in their light skin color to give them the confidence to compete with Caucasians. In the days of apartheid South Africa, the Japanese were genuinely flattered when given the status of “Honorary Whites.” They had “made it,” at least in their own eyes as well as to the racist South Africans.

Over a century ago Japanese writers, realizing how backward their people were as compared to the exploring White men who ventured upon their shores, exhorted their countrymen to intermarry with the invading foreigners so as to infuse the beneficial “white” genes into Japanese society. Following the Meiji Reformation and the opening of Japan, the Japanese were falling all over themselves to ape the ways of the White man. A century later, Dr. Mahathir would recommend a similar remedy for Malays, exhorting us to intermarry outside our race. He had himself as exhibit number one, a vigorous leader, presumably the result of “cross breeding” between an Indian and a Malay.

These sentiments are not confined only to the Japanese and Malay leaders. In a recent survey, young Singaporeans openly declared their desire to be “white.” They went beyond, to unabashedly adopt Western ways and mannerisms. So much for the voluble exhortations of their leaders on the supposed superiority of Asian values!

To think that Singaporeans are among the most educated and “developed” of Asians. Despite that they still think that for them to be considered really “advanced” they have to be “white.” Unable to be that physically, they are reduced to simply imitating the ways of the ‘white man.’ Thus they are not content with their birth names that reflect their rich heritage, they want them anglicized. Simple Lee Boon Guan or Chin Chong Cheng would not do it; they would them “modernized” (read: anglicized) them to Robert B. G. Lee and Christopher C. C. Chin. They pay for expensive private music lessons so their children can learn to play Mozart; but ask those children to name one Chinese composer or play a bar of classical Chinese music, they will give you a puzzled look. Their repertoire runs the gamut of Bartok to Beethoven, not some tinny Chinese opera pieces. Facial plastic surgery, to create that idealized Western look, in particular the fashioning of an epicanthic eyelid fold, is consequently very popular in Asian countries to obliterate the mongoloid facial trait. But as the saying goes, it is not easy to White a Wong! Oops, right a wrong.

Recently, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister in a rare and clumsy attempt at displaying modesty, admitted how in school he had nearly failed his Chinese class. What this graduate of Cambridge and Harvard seems to say is that the study of his own language did not merit the expenditure of his considerable intellect. He would rather spend them on other worthwhile activities, like trying to be a White man.

This implicit acceptance of the superiority of the White man is found not surprisingly, among Caucasians. While crude expressions of racial supremacy are today not politically correct, at least in the West, nonetheless such ugly sentiments are now camouflaged in scholarly and sophisticated forms. Thus instead of blatantly proclaiming the superiority of the White race, they now resort to subtle statistics to demonstrate differences in the “inherent abilities” of the various groups.

In their highly controversial book, The Bell Curve, two American social scientists purported to prove that the differences in the cognitive ability (read: intelligence) of the various races in America are not the result of cultural factors but in the inherent nature of these people. Stripped of its pseudo-scientific and fluffy scholarly verbiage, these authors say in effect Blacks and other poor minorities are backward because of their inherent ability. Essentially, it is in their biology.

The problem with using biology to explain the conditions of human societies is that one finds many ready exceptions. America and Western Europe may be developed but alas a large swath of the “White man’s” land is still Third World: Russia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Viewed through the wider prism of history, this biology theory falls apart. While London was still a village in the Dark Ages, cities in the Middle East like Baghdad were already flourishing and the centers of civilizations. Similarly the Chinese had an organized system of governance when Britain was nothing but a collection of feudal fiefdoms.

The ascendancy of Western civilization is a recent phenomenon, a fact often ignored by the proponents of Eurocentric perspectives on the nature of the ideal society. Concepts such as the separation of church and state (secularism) that are viewed today as universal are nothing more than the expression of European ideals. Delving into this more deeply, one discovers that this was purely a reaction to the excesses of the church in medieval Europe. Had I been writing this in the 11th or 12th Century, at the zenith of the Islamic civilization, I would definitely be Islam-centric, with the article of faith being that there was unity of State and Faith, with no differentiation between what is due to God and Caesar.

One cannot however, ignore the defining role of biology in human history. The near wiping out of the native population in the New World with the coming of the Spanish Conquerors was not purely a function of the superior military might of the invaders. The conquistadors unwittingly brought with them the most potent of weapons – biological. The natives were nearly annihilated by the new viruses and other pathogens for which they had scant immunity. The Europeans, having been exposed to these organisms through their long contact with domesticated animals, had developed immunity, but not the poor New World natives. The reverse is also true. Many a colonialist and their families succumbed to the deadly scourge of tropical pestilence like malaria. The natives to a certain extent were protected.

At the population level, the impact of such biological traits would not be apparent for generations. Occasionally however, when they affect certain critical individuals, the impact can be both profound and immediate, as exemplified by the last Czar of Russia.

Nicholas and his Empress Alexandra were desperate for a male heir. Their prayers were finally answered with the birth of their fifth child, Alexis. Their joy however, was short-lived as Alexis was soon found to be afflicted with hemophilia. As any mother would, the Empress suffered through the pains of her beloved son, the sole heir to the throne. She became obsessively protective and consumed with the fate of the future Czar.

When there is a personal problem especially within a loving and close-knit family, all other matters become secondary. And when that happens to the first family, then matters of state become neglected. There were many reasons for the collapse of the Russian empire and the subsequent success of the Bolshevik Revolution, but it certainly did not help that the Czar was distracted by the sufferings of his beloved son. Would the fate of the Russian empire be different had the Czar and his consort not been distracted by and consumed with their frail son? In their desperations they became vulnerable to sinister and self-centered influences, exemplified by the character Rasputin, now a metaphor for all things manipulative and evil.

Hemophilia in a Czar-to-be is only one example of the dramatic impact of biology on society. The mutation for this disease was believed to have started with Queen Victoria and spread throughout Europe’s palaces through inbreeding. This fondness for close relatives is typical of aristocrats of many societies, past and present. In Malay society too, royal inbreeding is still very much the pattern. Although there is no single disease comparable to hemophilia among the Malay sultans, nonetheless one wonders of other subtler consequences. The present aberrant and juvenile tantrums of the Brunei royal family (and some of Malaysia’s own) may well be a manifestation of one too many instances of inbreeding.

A corollary to the acceptance of biology as a determinant of human development is the concept that biology also explains individual human behavior. Only a few decades ago scientists were consumed with measuring and quantifying various skull shapes and bodily conformations in the belief that certain body forms and shapes were correlated with certain behaviors and traits. The entire discipline of criminology was once consumed with such anthropometrical studies.

“History followed different courses for different peoples,” writes Jared Diamond in his Guns, Germs, and Steel, “because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves.” I interpret the meaning of environment here broadly, to include not only the physical but also the social and cultural milieu.

To dismiss biology is not to say that there are no discernible differences among the various races. Indeed, modern biology reveals many pertinent and important variations among different populations. The distribution of certain diseases, blood and genetic tissue types, and the propensity to develop certain maladies are not randomly distributed.

Such knowledge is useful. High blood pressure in certain ethnic groups responds better with certain medications but not to others. Certain environmental conditions (for example high calorie, high fat diet) would impact some racial groups more than others. Note the beneficial use of such insights on human biology, not to aggrandize a particular race over another but to help humanity. Yet another insight of modern biology is the recognition of the considerable variations within a racial group and wide overlapping between groups and races. It is this variability that makes human stereotyping so unproductive and destructive. This diversity is also what makes human society possible. We cannot be a society if we are all clones; we would then be like a colony of bacteria.

Next: Geography As Destiny

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 March 2010, 8:36 am and is filed under
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Meeting of Sabahans in the Klang Valley at PJ Civics Centre on April 18 at 2pm

Together with DAP MPs Hiew King Cheu (Kota Kinabalu), Teo Nie Ching (Serdang) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut), and DAP Sabah State Assemblyman for Sri Tanjong Jimmy Wong, I made two visits to various parts of Sabah in the past month – Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud, Tuaran, Keningau, Tambunan, Sepanggar, Donggongon and Kampong Inobong, Penampang for first-hand information about the neglect of socio-economic development and the frustrations of the people of Sabah.

Wherever we went, we encountered concerns about the plight of Sabahans stranded in the Klang Valley, particularly following media reports early this year of homeless Sabahans who had to scavenge for food from garbage bins outside restaurants in the Klang Valley.

Sabahans back home were shocked that Sabah youths, who had gone to the national capital to seek greener pastures, were roaming the streets and relying on food served by NGOs and on leftovers in dustbins for an additional meal.

Various reasons have been given for their homeless status and these include being cheated by unscrupulous agents who brought them to Kuala Lumpur and abandoned them to cope with the bright lights on the city.

Sabahans we met in our two visits whether in Kota Belud, Tuaran, Keningau or Penambang were most concerned about the plight of thousands of Sabahans from different ethnic groups who had left their native lands to work far from home in the hope of returning one day to their villages with a pot of gold.

In response to these concerns, the DAP is organising a meeting on the socio-economic plight of Sabahans stranded in the Klang Valley  on:

Date: Sunday, April 18, 2010

Time: 2pm

Venue: Petaling Jaya Civics Centre (MBPJ, Jln Yong Shook Lin, PJ)

Enq:  03-79578022 /
[email protected]
;

 088-254987 /
[email protected]

to provide a forum to discuss and find ways and means to resolve or alleviate these problems, whether by the Federal Government or the Sabah State Government.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders and representatives of the Selangor State Government will also be invited to the meeting.

It has been estimated that there are some 150,000 Sabahans studying, working or stranded in the Klang Valley.

The meeting of Sabahans in the Klang Valley in Petaling Jaya on April 18 will also be an occasion to ventilate and seek solution to their socio-economic problems.

The meeting of Sabahans in the Klang Valley in Petaling Jaya on April 18 is convened by DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Hiew King Cheu, assisted and co-ordinated by DAP MPs Teo Nie Ching (Serdang) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut).

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 March 2010, 11:40 am and is filed under
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Broadband Shock to Most Malaysians

Letters

By
Ganesh

Yet again, Malaysians are misled with false promises. For months there was so much hype to the Government’s initiative to provide cheaper, affordable and yet very fast broadband.

Yesterday, it came as a shock to Malaysians that the so called affordable and fast broadband service starts at RM149 and ranges up to RM249. To many Malaysians, this sum is a huge commitment. Many were expecting prices from RM50 onwards.

To make matters worse, the Star reported today that in Singapore, one could get 1Gbps for RM200. Mind you, RM200 to a Singaporean is small money. Don’t just convert, see the GDP per capita. Most Singaporeans are earning 5 times more than Malaysians as Malaysia has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the region.

Thus RM200 for a 1Gbps line is small change to a Singaporean. But our mere 5Mbps at RM149 is big money to the average Malaysian. To some, its money to feed the whole family for a whole week.

Clearly the government has no idea about the purchasing power of Malaysians and the low remuneration the average Malaysian earns and the very shocking fact that the average person’s pay packet is not in proportion to the cost of living in Malaysia.

In comparison, the 6Mbps broadband in Singapore (Singtel) with unlimited downloads is S$30 per month and the 15Mbps broadband with unlimited downloads is going for S$62.

The mobile broadband with a free USB stick and with speeds of 1.2Mbps is S$14 per month with a 30GB allowance.

Again, please be reminded Singaporeans earn far more than the average Malaysian does and yet their broadband is much cheaper. In 2009 Singapore’s GDP (nominal) per capita was $35,000 whilst Malaysia was $8,000

Refer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

So, with our purchasing power so low, how can the average person afford RM$149?

Was the government ever sincere about giving affordable Internet to the public? I wonder. If it owns huge amounts of shares in the company that is providing the new High Speed Broadband service, isn’t that a conflict of interest?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 March 2010, 6:43 pm and is filed under
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Is Musa currying favour with the Prime Minister hoping to override Hishammuddin and get another year’s extension as IGP?

The Inspector-General Tan Sri Musa Hassan has acted with unusual alacrity when he announced in less than 24 hours that the police will investigate claims made by the independent Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Zulkifli Noordin in Parliament on Wednesday that he was asked to implicate the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibu.

This is in complete contrast with the foot-dragging and procrastination that top police leadership would indulge in when police reports are lodged against prominent government leaders from Umno and Barisan Nasional.

What is especially extraordinary with Musa’s high-speed response is that no police report had yet been lodged over Zulkifli’s allegation – a pre-condition always insisted on by the police before there could be any police investigation.

As MPs enjoy parliamentary privilege, they have immunity for what they say in Parliament, which bars not only prosecution but also being subject to police investigations for their parliamentary speeches – unless this is waived by the MP concerned or the MP repeated his allegation outside the precincts of Parliament as lodging a police report.

In the circumstances, shouldn’t police investigation be contingent on Zulkifli lodging a police report?  It is also useless for Musa to order a police report be lodged on Zulkifli’s speech, as the speech is protected by parliamentary privilege and immunity!

In any event, will Musa announce initiation of police investigations if an allegation is made in Parliament that the Prime Minister has murdered someone or some Minister has committed various crimes under the laws of the country?  If not, again why the double standards?

Musa’s alacrity in springing to action when there is no basis whatsoever for police action raises the question whether he is really trying to curry favour with the Prime Minister hoping to override the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammdudin Hussein and get another year’s extension as Inspector-General of Police when his one-year contract expires in September.

On 15th March, Hishammuddin had told the press in Parliament that Musa would be replaced as IGP.

He said:

“It is not only specific to the IGP but four out of the seven division directors of PDRM. I already know who is going to replace the IGP. I already know who will replace the commercial crime investigation department director.

“I already know those who will take over, so there is no use speculating or reporting without basis.”  (Sun March 16, 2010)

But Musa does not know, as for almost a week later, Musa was still hoping to get another extension as IGP when his one-year renewed contract expires in September, as obvious from Musa’s interview in the Mingguan Malaysia dated 21st March 2010, viz:

“Q – Mungkin terdapat kemungkinan Tan Sri menyambung perkhidmatan selepas September depan?

“Musa – Itu saya tidak tahu. Saya tidak boleh bercakap apa-apa. Kena tanya kerajaan atau Perdana Menteri kerana beliau saja yang tahu.”

From this answer, it is clear that Musa has not taken Hishammuddin’s announcement as the last word, despite the Home Minister’s statement that “I know who is going to replace the IGP. I know who will replace the commercial crime division director.”

Hence the speculation whether Musa was trying to curry favour with the Prime Minister hoping to override Hishammuddin and get another year’s extension as IGP come September.

But is it possible for a decision to be taken about the appointment of a new IGP come September without the present IGP knowing?

Under the Constitution and the law of the land, this is not possible.

Article 140 (4) of the Constitution on “Police Force Commission” sets out the manner  for the appointment of  the Inspector-General of Police and all top police posts.

Article 140 (4) and (5) read:

(4) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may designate as special posts the posts of Inspector General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police and any other posts in the police force which in his opinion are of similar or superior status; and the appointment to any post so designated shall not be made in accordance with Clause (1) but shall be made by the Yang di- Pertuan Agong on the recommendation of the Police Force Commission.

(5) Before acting in accordance with Clause (4) on the recommendation of the Police Force Commission, the Yang di- Pertuan Agong shall consider the advice of the Prime Minister, and may once refer the recommendation back to the Commission in order that it may be reconsidered.

Article 140(3) provides that the Police Force Commission shall comprise:

(a) the Minister for the time being charged with responsibility for the police, who shall be Chairman;

(b) the officer of police in general command of the police force;

(c) the person performing the duties of the office of Secretary General to the Ministry under the Minister for the time being charged with responsibility for the police;

(d) a member of the Public Services Commission appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong;

(e) not less than two nor more than six other members, appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

As the IGP is statutorily a member of the Police Force Commission which must initially make the recommendation for the appointment of a new IGP, how could Musa be unaware of who will replace him in September if the Police Force Commission chaired by the Home Minister had already met to decide on the matter, as implied by Hishammuddin.

Or was Hishammuddin merely stating that he has his candidate for the post of new IGP although the Police Force Commission had not yet met on the matter – but this will be most improper as under the Constitution, it is not the Home Minister who finally decides on the appointment of the IGP but the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister, with the option of one reference back to the Police Force Commission for reconsideration of its initial recommendation.

If a new IGP has been decided and the present IGP has no inkling of it, it is not only an unlawful and unconstitutional decision, it will the strongest proof that the speculation of a serious rift between the Home Minister and the IGP is not smoke without fire.

Is this why Musa is keeping his hopes open for another renewal as IGP – which would be in the hands of the Prime Minister, who has to make the recommendation of the appointment to the Yang di Pertuan Agong?

Hishammuddin should clarify the issue and state clearly whether the Police Force Commission has decided on who should be the new IGP, why the present IGP knows nothing about it and most important of all, who will be the next IGP.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 March 2010, 12:10 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s shame

Financial Times

24.3.2010

Malaysia presents itself as a modern, successful and democratic nation. Many western leaders have hailed the country as an example of moderate, tolerant Islam – at ease with itself and with the non-Muslim world. Malaysia does indeed have much to be proud of. But the trial of Anwar Ibrahim, which is due to restart this week, is a massive blot on the country’s reputation for tolerance and political pluralism.

Mr Anwar is a vital figure in the Malaysian opposition. The coalition of opposition forces he leads represents the most potent challenge to the ruling National Front coalition in many years. But Mr Anwar, a married man with six children, is on trial for sodomy. He has already served six years in solitary confinement on charges of sodomy and abuse of power – although the sodomy charges were later over-turned by the courts, leading to Mr Anwar’s release in 2004. If he is convicted this time, he could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The first thing to say is that – even allowing for cultural and religious sensitivities – Malaysia should be embarrassed that it is threatening to send a man to prison for consensual sex with another adult. But there are also considerable doubts about the case against Mr Anwar. The evidence against him is thin and the political context is very clear.

The government of Najib Razak sees Mr Anwar as a threat and has been trying to wreck his political career, using a variety of tactics. Aside from the criminal charges that have been brought against the opposition leader, Mr Anwar has been crudely smeared as a tool of “Jewish” interests. Asked once whether Mr Anwar would make a good prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, replied: “He would make a good prime minister of Israel.” A modern state should be ashamed of exploiting racism and homophobia to head off a legitimate political challenge.

But it is not just the Malaysian government that deserves to be chastised. Malaysia is an important market and an influential voice in the Islamic world. As a result, western governments that claim to place human rights at the centre of their foreign policy have been very circumspect in their comments on the Anwar trial. Respect for the courts, for national sovereignty and for cultural difference are all worthy ideas. But sometimes, it is important to speak clearly. The trial of Anwar Ibrahim is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 March 2010, 7:52 am and is filed under
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NEM and the spirit of the individual

By
AB Sulaiman
 | Malaysiakini

The government has just announced that the New Economic Model (NEM) slated to be the catalyst for Malaysia to put on track the elusive target of Vision 2020, will be unveiled to the public on March 30.

The Mother of all Embarrassment to the Malay polity is that despite all of the plans and policies implemented since Independence till today, the success rate of Malay involvement and participation in the wealth creation and distribution theatres (the main target of these plans) as been so dismally low; from one percent in 1959 to a most ridiculous three percent to date, plus 16 percent achieved by trusts and funds, making a paltry 19 percent. This is sacrilege, a huge blow to the Malay mertabat!

Would NEM be another failure? Surely Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (right), the NEM architect, would not want that.

As a country we have all of the fundamentals and essential features for economic progress and development not to fail. I’d list some of them.

i. The availability of land and raw materials

ii. A good total population to act as domestic market base

iii. Intelligent and well-educated people

iv. Good social and economic infrastructure like roads and bridges; education, telecommunications and health

v. Good intellectual infrastructure

vi. A high saving rate, good capital accumulation and investment

vii. Reasonable level of computer skill and use

We have been blessed with the availability of these essential features, and in great abundance too. For good measure we do not have elements that can wreck economic growth: snow, frost, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, lava flow, mudslides, typhoons, widespread flooding.

An important point to note is that sitting right at the top of these factors lies the one factor that moves them all. It’s the human factor, otherwise known as the spirit of the individual.

The individual spirit quickly defined is the wish and penchant of the individual to have a strong backbone, be independent minded and eager to develop high levels of self-confidence, self-reliance and self-worth. He is practical minded, and develops his god-given talents on his own volition.

He is full of confidence, confident in himself and in his ability to do things. And when he does things he does so with the best that his talent, ability, knowledge and skill can offer. He is the willing go-getter, willing to go the extra mile, to make sacrifices to get what he wants.

He has what social scientists say, a high achievement motivation.

A good and properly focused human resource in an otherwise barren country would able to create a sustainable economy; even when the essential fundamentals are deficient. Japan has done it; and South Korea too. As a perpetual reminder, think of Singapore as well.

But let the human factor slacken, and the engine for economic growth would begin to hiccup, and could even cause it to die. Burma (now Myanmar) and Zimbabwe have gone through this.

Ingredients for success

Malaysia thus had all the ingredients for sustainable growth from the traditional agrarian and agriculture-based economy to the modern manufacturing and services money economy. Indeed, in the late 90s Malaysia has been one of the top twenty export nations in the world and hailed as one of the major ‘Asian tiger’ economies.

With this chequered background, why on earth do we need a NEM? Or, where could it go wrong?

I venture to give a reason for this downward slide. In my view it coincides with the introduction of the NEP in 1970 stipulating that the Malay should be in control of 30 percent of the economic cake.

This has proved to be the One Big Trouble; it proved to be one big cancer in the economic sector for some obvious reasons I’d quote herewith.

Firstly, the generic Malay mind had no history of involvement, no experience in the modern economy principles. Within this context I’d say that the Malay mind has little sense of the individual, little achievement motivation.

Instead this mind is preoccupied with the status quo featured by conservatism, conformity and this particular penchant for the Hereafter. These race and religion concerns are regretfully not part of the essential fundamentals for economic growth mentioned at length above.

The generic Malay mind has a low level of self confidence and self-reliance. It depends on crutches to go about it is daily routines. Many have termed it as the kampung mentality. It’s a closed ethnocentric mind, fairly impervious to change.

Arguably this crutch and kampung mentality has been the primary cause of the failures of most, if not all, of the past economic plans and models.

No walk in the park

The crux of the matter then is that moving from the rural economy to the money economy, from the natural world to the secular world is no casual walk in the park. Obviously you cannot manage a business (whether retail, commercial or corporate) or be a trained professional neurosurgeon in an urban economic setting, with tending to the padi fields or tapping rubber trees as your curriculum vitae.

You need a whole lot of rehashing of the mindset, learning and knowledge accumulation, training and re-training, and acquiring new skills to run any business big or small. It takes literally generations to master it.

Malay leadership tries to make up for this deficiency, thus the formulation and implementation of the various past plans and models. But this conservative and orthodox mind has not responded adequately enough. Instead it tries to glorify the psychological areas where the Malay is very strong: race and religion.

This is easy enough to do.

Firstly, ‘the special position’ of the Malays stipulated in the Constitution is unilaterally deemed to mean the ‘absolute right’ of the Malays. Yes, change it from a privilege to an entitlement.

Secondly the constitution again stipulates Islam as the religion of the country has been translated into Islam as the official religion of the country.

These are contentious issues but as the Ketuanan Melayu has the upper say on the basis of ‘might is right’, its perception stays.

So, armed with these subtle and ingenious perceptions the Ketuanan Melayu elements had gotten busy:

i. The ulamas clamoured for the Islamisation of the country.

ii. The ultra-nationalists tried to Malay-ise the non-Malay population.

iii. The civil servants protected their career turfs by filling government posts with Malays.

iv. Profesional government agencies like the police and the AG’s office exceeded their professional parameters.

v. The politicians were busy drawing and redrawing the electoral boundaries to give them the best advantages.

All of them were tampering with the ideals and spirit of the individual and the principles of democracy, like eroding the rule of law, and casting aside the principle of check and balance all in the name of their private interest. All this in the name of agama, bangsa dan negara.

But as we have seen, agama, bangsa dan negara are not in the list of fundamentals for economic growth. The glaring connotation therefore is that the Malay leadership, often referred to as Ketuanan Melayu has been doing the complete opposite to what it should be doing to progress, develop and prosper in the modern economy!

Unintended consequences

A lot of unfortunate unintended consequences then took place, and again I’d mention only some few obvious ones:

i. The 30 percent allocation and target has resulted in huge wastage of resources. Barry Wain a respected journalist claims that as much as 100 billion (US or ringgit does not matter for the enormity is beyond normal human comprehension) has been wasted by former Prime Minister Mahathir alone. Mahathir (right) did not deny this, but instead charged his successor Abdullah Badawi did worse!

ii. The breaking down of institutions, especially of the judiciary and education.

iii. Corruption at the highest possible level and at the highest possible amount.

iv. Domestic capital flight.

v. Drying up of foreign investment.

vi. Marginalising and alienating the productive segments of the population.

vii. Human migration away from this self-destructing madhouse.

Each of these points spell disaster for the country, and together they point the way to Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

Perils of power

How did this happen? My rationale for this blatant mismanagement is that the Ketuanan Melayu was experiencing power for the first time since the fall of Malacca. It forgot that in the modern setting, power comes with responsibility and accountability. As power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely it was too easy for it to forget its responsibility to the Malaysian polity but instead to institutionalise racism and by degrees to introduce theocracy.

They did everything under the ambit of agama, bangsa dan negara while mismanaging the economic fundamentals that would sustain the well being of the country in the world community.

For whatever it is worth I’d list down some items which I’d love to see in NEM come March 30.

i. Encourage secularism especially among Malays by encouraging the development of the individual spirit. This might just be the tool to break Malay ethnocentrism and hopefully opening their eyes to the world at large.

ii. Deinstitutionalising racism and theology. Scientifically, race is becoming an increasingly obsolete term, while religion is a matter of faith between one person and his god with no third party in between.

iii. Re-establishing the rule of law; be rid of the rule of private individuals. It is the law who’s king, not the king who’s the law.

iv. Promoting true people-orientated democracy.

Will NEM address these issues?

Early indications state the negative. For example an article in Malaysiakini (Mar 17) under the headline ‘Bumi rights to stay in New Economic Model’ hinted that all the racist and theological elements will stay.

sapp chua soon bui nazri abdul aziz parliament 070708 03Apparently Mohamed Nazri Aziz (left), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department stated in Parliament that NEM “will not abolish bumiputera special rights, but will lay more stress on inter-communal cooperation”.

Then the latest enfant terrible (bad boy) of Malaysian life, Ibrahim Ali, via his Perkasa and ably supported by countless NGOs are clamouring for the protection of Islam and ‘Malay rights’ in NEM.

Such words and phrases are pretty standard euphemisms for more of the same.

In the event of which I say this to Najib: good luck to you but I can’t say that your NEM would be successful.

Repeating past mistakes again and again is somehow not the best way to heal and strengthen the sick economy.

—

AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. He hopes to provide some understanding to the issues at hand and wherever possible, suggest some solutions. He holds a Bachelor in Social Sciences (Leicester, UK) and a Diploma in Public Administration, Universiti Malaya.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 March 2010, 8:51 am and is filed under
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1Malaysia clinic: is the Health Ministry above the law?

Letter

By RS

It is distressing to learn from Dr. T. Jayabalan, the health adviser to the Consumers Association of Penang that medical assistants are giving out prescriptions for the wrong medicines or prescribing medicines which they are not allowed to prescribe and they have also been found to have wrongfully diagnosed patients at a study conducted at Kampar, Perak. And feedback thus far, from the MOH regarding the validity of MCs (Medical Certificates) issued by 1Malaysia Clinics have been unsatisfactory. The explanation issued by the Health Ministry’s Medical Practice Division officer, Dr Noraini Baba, stating that according to an internal MOH circular,  MAs are allowed to issue MCs seems to suggest that she either doesn’t know the law or thinks she can actually circumvent a law through a department circular.

But perhaps CAP too should share of the blame for this vague situation. The last time they made so much noise, it resulted in ignorant officers at the Health Ministry rushing to pass an reckless legislation called the Private Healthcare, Facilities and Services Act (PHFSA) which was conjured up in the dark corners of the Health Ministry and stamped with the Official Secrets Act (OSA) effectively excluding the stake holders from taking part in the discussions. The Act is surely unconstitutional.

A doctor today with an Annual Practicing Certificate (APC) is legal under the Medical Act 1971 but becomes illegal if his premise is unregistered under the PHFSA 2006. But a Hospital Assistant (HA) working in a presumably legal PHFSA premise, 1Malaysia Clinic, becomes immediately illegal
as he has committed a felony under the Medical Act 1971 since under this Act only registered medical practitioners are allowed to work in medical clinics. This is the end result of people like SM Idris who give half-baked ideas to our poorly trained civil servants who then create silly laws in a knee-jerk unthinking fashion, which ultimately not only endanger people’s lives but place the government eventually in a legal quandary. Worrying statistics of wrong prescriptions and misdiagnoses seeping out of 1Malaysia Clinics maybe just the tip of a disaster waiting to happen.

If we keep making up unending rules and regulations for the delivery of healthcare in this country, the whole of Sabah and Sarawak will soon be paralyzed as HAs there run many of our rural clinics and even provide anesthesia for many of the rural hospitals there. And anesthesia is no child’s play as even propofol; supposedly a very safe anesthetic can kill as it did the late Michael Jackson. In a country with limited trained medical human resources we have to initially stratify the levels of care that we can offer and much depends on both the quantity and today, the quality of medical professionals we have at hand.

Our rural health clinics are still run by midwives termed “Jururawat Desa“ while our health clinics are run by a combination of staff nurses, medical assistants and doctors. Our hospitals are run by all of these people and specialists. But specialists alone are not good enough if we want to deliver quality care as we need the help of physiotherapists, lab technologists, radiographers, biomedical personnel, critical care nurses, operating room technicians, anesthetic technicians and a whole gamut of other health personnel. Some of the monster hospitals that this government has built like Sungai Buloh, Ampang and Serdang are today nothing more then glorified nursing homes. Patients rush in thinking they are in for high-tech care, but a quick glimpse of the ICU will show 20 beds with 5 junior nurses trying desperately to man the 20 beds with no respiratory therapists, technicians, doctors or even the critical care specialists or anesthetists around.

A great many of the Malaysian population, especially in urban areas are very dependant on the General Practitioner who are the lynchpins in healthcare both in the UK and Australia . In the UK , GPs are today credited in reducing smoking in the general population, monitoring and preventing strokes and heart attacks from modern day epidemics such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension. In Mexico , Singapore , the US and in Europe , GPs were in the forefront in stopping the spread of the deadly influenza virus H1N1. GPs there were provided training, test kits and eventually Tamiflu to check the disease. Amazingly, in direct contrast, the MOH in Malaysia decided to bypass the resourceful neighborhood GP and instruct likely infected patients to rush to the Sungai Buloh Hospital with disastrous results where hundreds of patients mulled around at its lobby with staff stretched to their limits. Only after a huge public outcry in the face of mounting unacceptable mortalities did the MOH rescind and supply the generic version of Tamiflu to GPs.

For chaps like Idris, GPs in Malaysia are there only to make money and must therefore be shackled with draconian laws and treated as common criminals if they cross the line. They should be jailed or fined if their premises are unlicensed. In fact one doctor, Basmullah Khan, was needlessly jailed for three months just because his premise license was technically “not approved”. Only a malicious government would close down any health facility where hundreds of patients have been depending upon the expertise of the doctor for treatment and follow-up simply based on a bureaucratic edict. No country in this world treats its doctors this way except for Malaysia , another Malaysian first I guess.

But what are the repercussions of this sought of enactments on medical practitioners? A GP in Sungai Pelek, who once used to put up a drip for a dehydrated patient suffering from diarrhea due to food poisoning, refers the patient because he doesn’t want to take a risk under the PHFSA. He has even been told to remove the two beds he always keeps for such emergencies at this remote town. A GP in Triang seeing a dengue patient, lethargic, nauseated with a platelet count of 80,000 decides to refer when previously he would have asked the patient to come for a daily course of IV fluids and monitored his clinical features and platelet counts. And a GP out in Gemas refuses to deliver a full-term patient in labour with an almost full cervical opening for fear the baby may be born ‘flat’ and he would have to face the draconian PHFSA. So he decides to be safe and call for the ambulance to Segamat, 20 miles away. The baby is of course born in the ambulance.

And right here in Penang, a GP sees a diabetic patient suffering a coronary, lies him flat and places a couple of GTN tablets under his tongue when previously he himself would have administered crushed aspirin to the patient and given him a bolus of heparin which he always keeps for emergencies of this nature and perhaps some morphine. Of course he could have administered all of this and nothing would have happened if everything went well. But if the patient developed a complication, lo and behold he would be criminally charged and the MOH would tell him to speak to the judge if he wanted a lesser sentence. The GP doesn’t need this. It’s better to play safe. Is there any wonder why our government hospitals and their outpatient departments are overflowing. This is the type of defensive medicine that placed America into trouble.

The Prime Minister may have meant well in wanting to provide free outpatient care for poor urbanites. And the MOH could have advised him of a multitude of options including opening their own current urban health care clinics, even for 24 hours using their own doctors or outsource the service to GPs for an appropriate price. Why did the MOH choose to break the law by allowing unregistered medical practitioners to treat patients when surely they know that this is wrong? Were they politically pressured or were they plain ignorant. How would the Ministry defend itself in the event a patient sues for malpractice? It is an irony in itself that the MOH goes around closing clinics run by registered medical practitioners while they themselves use unregistered medical practitioners to run clinics in urban areas where there are an abundance of doctors. Is the Ministry of Health above the law?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 March 2010, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Mahathir has come full circle – from an ultra back again to an ultra repudiating Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020

Two events held almost simultaneously today highlighted the two facets in the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysians – the launching of neo-NEP Perkasa by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at PWTC and the launching of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s book “I, too, am a Malay” (Chinese edition) by Dr. Chen Man Hin in Subang Jaya.

Almost at the same time that the former Prime Minister was awarded the
Bintang Perkasa Pribumi Negara
 after launching Perkasa, Dr. Chen formally launched Zaid book.

What a sharp contrast in the imageries evoked in the two events – the launching of Zaid’s book invoking an inclusive and all-embracing hopes of all Malaysians for a progressive, prosperous common future regardless of race, religion or region with the launching of Perkasa anchored in a hankering for the past, oblivious of 52-years of nation-building, even dismissive of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept, all to allow Umno-putras to perpetuate the abuses of NEP by exploiting the name of bumiputras.

As the press have contacted me for my reactions to the Perkasa launch and its inflammatory speeches, this is my preliminary response until I have full access to the speeches concerned.

From the incendiary speech of the Perkasa President, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, it is clear that Perkasa is built on stilts of lies.

It is a lie that DAP and the Malaysian Malaysia slogan were among the main factors that caused the May 13 riots.

Has Ibrahim Ali taken 41 years after the 1969 tragedy to make this “discovery”.

If DAP and Malaysian Malaysia were the causes of May 13 in 1969, DAP would have been banned long ago and DAP leaders would have languished in jail and unable to participate in Malaysian electoral politics in the past nine general elections.

Or is Ibrahim suggesting that the Special Branch and the past five Prime Ministers had been remiss in their national duties in failing to take action against DAP, which he alleged as a threat to national security and perpetrator of May 13 riots?

It is a lie that the DAP is against the Malays, Islam and wants to do away with the Malay Rulers.

In the seventies, Ibrahim frantically sought my help as Parliamentary Opposition Leader when he was trying to escape detention under the Internal Security Act for his activities as a student leader.

Why sought my help if DAP leaders were so anti-national and disloyal as he now wants to depict?

Ibrahim Ali is not important. What concerns me more is the patronage given to the neo-NEP Perkasa by Mahathir.

Mahathir has come full circle, from an ultra back again to an ultra – repudiating Bangsa Malaysia and Vision 2020 which he enunciated in 1991.

This is the greatest tragedy.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 March 2010, 5:33 pm and is filed under
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Shattering an old time myth

By
Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser

THE UNIQUE SUCCESS STORY OF ZAID IBRAHIM HAS SHATTERRED OLD MALAY MYTHS

I am deeply honoured to be asked by Zaid Ibrahim to sponsor the launching of the Mandarin version of his book ‘I TOO AM MALAY’

The book narrates the story of a series of unique achievements by Zaid Ibrahim, which make very interesting reading.

Basically, he was a poor kampong boy from Kelantan. His father moved around on a bicycle as there was no family car. At Kota Bahru he enrolled first at the Sultan Ismail primary school, joined the Sultan Ismail college at the age of 13. He was an avid reader and he knew how to choose his schools.

Next he chose to study at English College in Johore Bahru, a big jump from Kota Bahru. He chose the college because it was the ‘best college’ and had a mixture of students of different races, and besides it was near to Singapore where the action was.

From there he emigrated with a scholarship to Mara Institute of Technology in Kuala Lumpur, graduating in Law. With a Mara degree he went to London to read for the BAR exam.

His foray into a law career started well when he formed his own law firm  Zaid Ibrahim & Co. By dint of hard wark and business savvy he landed a fat client PLUS. From then on he rocketed upwards and his firm became the largest in the country.

Although at the top of his profession, Zaid was not ready to rest on his laurels. His intelligence and quest for new challenges led him into politics which was in a political ferment.

The call of politics landed him first into PAS. He next joined UMNO, and here he was picked to be Minister of Law with the task to institute judiciary reforms.

However, he could not stomach PM moves on the ISA and his decision to exonerate Lingam on the graft videotape on judicial hanky panky. He resigned his law portfolio. This goes to show that Zaid is no ordinary man, but a person of high moral stature and principles.

He is now with PR and I think he would be happy in the company of like minded people with the common objective of working for a better country for all malaysians.

To sum up, Zaid Ibrahim is a typical Malay. He had a kampong upbringing in Kelantan. His family was poor and did not own a car.

He had a good education in government schools and colleges. Mara college turned him to be a lawyer.

After that he was on his own. Living by his wits, and built up a top class legal practice.

He was made a minister but gave it back on matters of principle. But now is in the opposition for a sacred cause — justice, democracy and transparency.

He has shattered an old myth which claimed Malays tend to be backward, laidback, lazy, no initiative and dependent on handouts.

Zaid has shown that the Malay are smart, keen to learn for knowledge, are dynamic and capable of hard work.

Hundreds of Malays have graduated as professionals, entrepreneurs and owners of businesses. There is a large Malay middle class.

The impression that Malsys are laidback is being propagated by Umno cronies who want more handouts so that they can hijack them for their own bank accounts.

Umno’s cronies who insist on
Ketuanan Melayu
 and handouts as necessary for the of the Malay race, are actually creating a mental handicap for the Malays. It will cause the Malay to feel inferior, and they may not be able to survive in a global society where survival means one has to be competitive, efficient and disciplined.

Zaid Ibrahim has shown the modern global way for Malays to advance –  through confidence, education, competitiveness and hard work.

[
Speech by Dr Chen Man Hin during the launch of Zaid Ibrahim book on ‘I too am Malay’ (Mandarin version) in Kuala Lumpur on 27th March 2010
]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 March 2010, 11:30 am and is filed under
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Soi Lek MCA president, Liow deputy president

Star Online

Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek is the new MCA president.

The former MCA deputy president polled 901 votes. His nearest challenger was Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting, who received 833 votes while incumbent party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat garnered 578 votes.

In the straight fight for the deputy presidency, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai won over Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha. Liow received 1,171 votes to Kong’s 1,106 votes.

Vice-presidents: Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen (1528 votes), Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai (1469), Datuk Chor Chee Heung (1202) and Gan Ping Sieu (1202).

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 March 2010, 7:38 pm and is filed under
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Perkasa, GLCs and the New Economic Model

by
Dr Lim Teck Ghee

During the recent Perkasa inaugural meeting, Ibrahim Ali expressed his displeasure with Malay heads of government-linked companies (GLCs) for not attending his Malay rights group inaugural congress. He also criticised the GLC heads for being interested in personal interests instead of the interests of the Malay community.

Introducing a note of intimidation, he warned that Perkasa will monitor the GLCs.  According to him, “we will scrutinise the GLCs. We are not only looking at their performance but also the role they play in helping Malay entrepreneurs.”

The rebuff is indicative of a rejection of the Perkasa agenda by the Malay captains of industry who recognize the negative implications of the policies being espoused. It is also salutary that apart from Mukhriz no other member of the Government took part in the gathering of the ultras.

The Malay and Malaysian public should look forward to hearing the outcome of the Perkasa monitoring of the GLCs and learning the truth about how these bodies are standing in the way of, or seriously implementing, their mission of fulfilling the Malay agenda.

The importance of GLCs to the Malay agenda can be ascertained from the following facts:

GLCs are major shareholders of corporate equity. They comprise 36% and 54% of the market capitalization of Bursa Malaysia and the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index

7 out of the top 10 listed companies are under majority ownership of the Government

Senior GLC positions are largely determined along ethnic lines. GLC directors, management and staff are largely Bumiputeras

Non-Malay owners of listed and unlisted companies often have no choice but to work with influential Bumiputera and GLCs to help protect their interests through obtaining sub-contracts or becoming suppliers of goods and services.

Non-Malays may own 40% of corporate equity based on the Government’s flawed calculations but GLCs are the major players and have control over the economy.

Because they have done very well for the Malays (including the likes of Ibrahim Ali and many of his supporters who have benefitted from GLC patronage and largesse), it is rather dumb of Ibrahim Ali to expect these GLC leaders to openly attend the meeting and to proclaim to Perkasa members and the world the various ways in which they are protecting and advancing the Malay socio-economic position.

In fact, Ibrahim Ali and many GLC Malay leaders may be on the same wavelength on the issue of enhancing the Malay socio-economic position.  The main difference may be that the Perkasa head is a politician using crude racist tactics whilst shouting from the top of his voice at the Putra World Trade Centre. The GLC chiefs are likely to pursue the Malay cause through more subtle means as they recognize that growth is a prerequisite to fulfillment of long term Malay and national goals.

Quite apart from this, many of these GLC leaders recognize the realities and implications of policies that have contributed to capital flight, the virtual drying up of FDI flows, a sizable brain drain and a general loss of competitiveness. These negatives have been acknowledged by the Second Minister of Finance and are indeed implicit in the call by the Prime Minister to adopt a New Economic Model.

A New Economic Model devoid of a course correction via adoption of more market friendly and less racially skewed policies would be an exercise in futility. Ibrahim’s formula constitutes an abandonment of much needed pro-growth strategies in favor of a discredited policy package that is centered round the distribution of existing wealth. No country in the world in this era of globalization and liberalization has chosen such an economic strategy.

Similarly, with UMNO’s refusal to respond to Ibrahim Ali’s unfounded charges that the Malays have been marginalized in the country.  All UMNO leaders (except perhaps Mukhriz who attended the meeting) are aware of the overwhelming dominance of Malay power in the country.  Far from Malay constitutional rights being eroded or usurped by other communities, it is the other way round. This is acknowledged by many Malay leaders including Anwar Ibrahim and Tengku Razaleigh.

If one is using a purely racial lens approach it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Malay hegemony has never been so strong or firmly entrenched as it is today. Ibrahim Ali and his cohorts are opportunistically disillusional and appear to be living in a cocoon of their own. They fail to factor in the fact that the political and economic model that they espouse will bring irreparable harm to the nation and future generations of Malaysians, including Malays.

Tackling Malay Poverty

In the economic sphere whilst there is still much work to be done to uplift the lot of the poor Malays, the task is less formidable than official statistics may make it out to be.  This is because Malay poverty – as distinct from Bumiputra poverty – is likely to be considerably over estimated by the present statistical practice whereby the Malay figures are lumped together with the figures of recent migrants from Indonesia who have obtained bumiputra status as well as the other bumiputra from East Malaysia.

The great majority of the former group – Javanese, Sumatrans, etc – who have now assimilated into the country’s population in very large numbers especially after the 1970’s came with virtually nothing in terms of assets or income.  Inclusion of these poor “pendatang”, despite their upward mobility after settlement, has had much impact in distorting the racial distribution of household income.  Without them (and also East Malaysia Bumiputra communities) ‘native’ or ‘indigenous’ or ‘local’ Malay achievement as distinct from Bumiputra achievement will be much higher on all the social and economic indicators used by the Department of Statistics to measure inter-ethnic differences.

At the same time, Ibrahim and his supporters are wholly mistaken in their view of poverty. The Government’s own statistics indicate that poverty, however defined, has been drastically reduced. The stark issue is the unconscionable and widening income disparities that prevail within the Bumiputra community. Ibrahim and his keris waving Umnoputra supporters are totally silent on this aspect of the Malay dilemma.

Malay Wealth

UMNO leaders are also fully aware that much of the new wealth in the country is in Malay hands.  These sources of wealth include the plantation sector which is dominated by FELDA and PNB companies;  the smallholding agricultural sector where the Malays are the major group amongst the 112,635 FELDA settlers; the hi-tech aerospace industry; the highly lucrative defense industry; the petroleum and gas industry where apart from Petronas and MMC, the Malays have substantial holdings in key MNCs such as Shell, Exxon, BP;  the finance and banking sector where 8 out of 10 banks are Bumiputra owned and controlled; the automotive sector where Malay interests are dominant in Proton, Perodua, DRB Hicom, UMW and Naza and where the system of APs ensures a steady stream of income for select Bumiputras; the energy and utilities sector where TNB and Malakoff are key players; and so on.

Perhaps the ace in the pack in UMNO’s claim to have successfully stood up for Malay interests (besides its own) is that a key target of the NEP restructuring program – the building of a strong Malay professional and technical elite class – was attained some years ago.  From a very small base of professional and technical workers in 1970 (Bumiputera comprised 4.9% of registered professionals at that time) the Malay component of the country’s professional and technical workers today is the biggest amongst the various racial groups. According to the Malaysian Government’s Third Outline Perspective Plan (2001-2010) the Bumiputera community comprised 63.5 per cent of the Professional and Technical category of employment in 2000.

This growth of a strong Malay professional class within a short period of 30 years is possibly the fastest recorded by any marginalized community anywhere in the world. That this information is not widely known or disseminated is not due to modesty but due to carefully controlled political spin aimed at under-reporting Malay achievement and emphasizing non-Malay dominance of the economy.

Meanwhile, the employment pattern in the public sector at all levels is overwhelmingly Malay because of discriminatory policies in hiring and in promotions. If there is any prong of the New Economic Policy that has not been fulfilled, it is the restructuring of the public sector.

The New Economic Model and the Country’s Future

In a few days time, the Prime Minister will unveil the New Economic Model which is intended to replace the New Economic Policy and its racially divisive policies.  At that point, we will be able to see if Perkasa, Dr. Mahathir and other carpet baggers have been able to successfully hijack the NEM and set the country up for another round of Malay preference policies that will destroy the promises contained in 1Malaysia.

Were these fears to come to pass, Malaysia will take another step downwards to joining countries such as Burma and Zimbabwe which squandered their prospects for prosperity because of the greed of a small elite group that hijacked national wealth.

It is time for all Malaysians to firmly and clearly reject the strident siren calls of Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali to return to policies that hold no hope of serving Malaysia’s needs. It is also important that the NEM reflects the aspirations of all Malaysians rather than the myopic views of yesterdays’ men. Najib has a solemn duty to resist those that would derail moves to put right what has been wrong.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 March 2010, 4:51 pm and is filed under
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Private or public wings are but a fallacy

Letter by JT

It appears that yet again, CAP’s SM Idris has decided to go on a frolic of his own. This time by stating that Private Wings in Government Hospitals are the wrong things to do. Sometimes one really have to suspect if this guy truly knows what he is talking about or goes about criticizing everything and anything sundry just to occupy his time. There are only three components to a hospital bill: 1) Doctor’s fees 2) Hospital charges (Bed, Nursing, Utilities, Investigations, etc) and 3) Consumables (Medicines, gloves, catheters, stents, etc).

This government has been benevolent enough in providing and perhaps in the case of Sabah trying to provide, items 2 and 3 but cannot match up to 1. Idris wants equitable healthcare for everyone. When he says equitable what does he mean? If he means placing a few GTN tablets under the tongue for a heart attack, or placing a plaster of Paris cast for a broken tibia, or delivering the 3rd child in a mother with no co-morbidities, or putting up a drip for a dehydrated patient or placing a few stitches on a wound caused by the neighbor’s dog, that’s fine. This government would have no problems accommodating them.

But if he is talking about plating/nailing every fracture of a victim of a high speed polytraumatized patient, reconstructing all the facial bones in an accident victim, or doing a bypass for a coronary patient with recurrent pain or ballooning and placing an emergency stent in a patient with a heart attack or doing a liver transplant in a patient with liver cirrhosis, then Idris must surely know that even all of Malaysia’s
GDP and PETRONAS’s reserves will not be able to cure this country’s health woes. The US belatedly learned that medical technology and its ensuing advanced care can indeed bankrupt the nation causing Obama to desperately apply the brakes on its run away healthcare program that is highly sophisticated but yet cannot provide for almost 40 million Americans.

The reason why the government cannot match up to No. 1 is simple. To train specialists and retain experienced ones is not a simple issue. There are only so many who can operate on the brain or heart safely, a few who can carry out liver transplants with little mortality and even fewer who are interested in doing and following up bone-marrow transplants or manage and handle complex equipment to save critically ill neonates.  Yes, these specialists can choose to go to the private sector or emigrate to the Western world but many would prefer to serve. But the service conditions and pay, really, for lack of a better term “suck” – especially the service terms.

Attending umpteen mindless meetings with no endings, going for compulsory ceramahs and believe it or not, even assembling in the sun to witness flag raising ceremonies just after clocking in and putting up with lunatic, disinterested head of departments interested only in conferencing and resorting wears your patience – precious time that could be well spent managing and treating patients. Idris and CAP should look closely into the poor management styles of our government hospitals wherein all our healthcare problems actually lie.

Our Government hospitals are akin to state hospitals in the UK that Aneurin Bevan, Britain’s NHS architect, once had to put up with after World War 2 before Margaret Thatcher straightened out their managements in the 1980s by converting them to Trusts. Even though Bevan had famously won over doctors “by stuffing their mouths with gold”, rampant mismanagement and poor accountability in hospitals continued till the time Thatcher stepped in. The fault of mismanaging our health resources lies not with the Prime Minister. It does not lie with Parliament, the Cabinet, the Public Services Department nor the Public Services Commission, but entirely with the Ministry of Health or elements within it. Failure to correct these faults is causing healthcare delivery in Malaysia dear.

Tell me Idris, why do we need a “Director-General” of Health. Are we still in wartime? Hospitals must be professionally managed by CEO’s with a strong founding in hospital administration, law and human resource. Ask any hospital group worth its salt out in the private sector, be it Pantai, KPJ, Parkway or Fortis what they look for in a capable Hospital CEO. You can also take it from me that none of these fellas will employ an ex-Kementerian Kesihatan Pengarah to run their hospitals simply because you must be well-versed with customer requirements, billing, accounts, auditing, purchasing, cash-flows, budgets, maintenance, training and dealing with specialists and staff. Can you name even one Government Hospital here in Malaysia that is run by such a CEO? If you don’t manage an outfit professionally, this healthcare nightmare you and your organization keep harping about is never going to end.

The Institute Jantung Negara (IJN) is run by a pro and they do function efficiently. However there is no one in accounting at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to whom the hospital belongs to, who have the ability to check the IJN’s double and sometimes quadruple billing. The MOF has learnt the hard way what a health monopoly can do to your budget.  Irate MOF officials suggested that IJN’s management be hived off to Sime Darby’’s health arm who are tough on accounting so that the leakages can be plugged and the savings be used to help even more patients. But an ignorant public only saw IJN as a government hospital and Sime Darby as an evil money machine.

Similarly, do you really think all these massive hospital infrastructure and expensive medical equipment are properly researched before being requisitioned? The answer is of course an emphatic NO! Due to both political and corrupt leakages, precious money meant for treatment is hived off. The Public vs Private divide is but a fallacy. There never was nor is there such a divide. The only distinction one has to make is the level and quality of healthcare delivery and who has to pay for it.  Make the service efficient and get the government to pay for it. It works pretty well in the UK. There is no Einstein involved in this at all.

And how do we do that? The best way to avoid a Full Paying Patients’ program (FPP) is to make certain our hospitals are professionally run. There are only three hospitals in this country that are not run by the MOH (excluding the Armed Forces Hospitals and the Orang Asli Hospital). They are the University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), HUKM (Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia) and HUSM (Hospital University Sains Malaysia). All of them have private wings. The private wings at both UMMC and HUKM are doing much better then HUSM. But private wings only form a portion of the income these hospitals survive on. Other sources of income include rentals to food and sundry outlets, income from parking fees, from pharmaceuticals, research grants and from the various courses and conferences conducted by the lecturers.

It’s true that there is subtle soliciting by some specialists; it’s true that some of these specialists are posting their cases even earlier then they should and it is also true that they delegate some of the work at the public wing to their Registrars. It’s further true that even top doctors applying to be lecturers are sometimes blatantly prevented from joining the University for fear their capabilities would “cut” into their private income, to the detriment of patient care as a whole for the University. But a sharp CEO can put a stop to all this easily. Private hospital CEO’s manage these sought of problems on a daily basis. But the system has undoubtedly worked for these universities. You see, unlike the bottomless pit of unaccounted money that government hospitals are usually lavished with, all these hospitals under the Ministry of Education now have to look for additional sources of income to keep their operations afloat. And this process is teaching them to be efficient.

Key to their goals are the retention of their top doctors by incentivising them so that they still remain to provide at least the input and expertise in teaching both undergraduates and postgraduates in addition to providing good patient care. The nursing standards in the UMMC in particular are excellent and with all the paramedical support available at this hospital, patients who make it to this hospital are indeed a privileged lot. The care provided in this particular hospital has got a lot to do with the design of the hospital itself and the training programs laid down by its pioneering founders.

But the specialists are a different matter altogether. Their numbers are limited and their expertise even more scarce, which means an astute CEO, must know how to utilize their abilities to the maximum for the benefit of as many patients as possible. Contrast this with the specialists at the MOH who keep getting transferred every now and then. How in heavens is this going to benefit long term patient care and follow-up? Further, private wings were built at these University hospitals to not only retain the current specialists but in the hope that even private, experienced specialists will bring in their expertise to collectively benefit patients  in exchange for help in teaching. But this remains largely an unfulfilled pipe dream.

Everyone forgets that almost half the country’s most senior and experienced specialists available in the private sector take on only not so ill patients because they cannot match the infrastructure required and available in Government Hospitals for such patients.  At the same time, these same experienced specialists are not available to the very ill patients being managed by less experienced specialists in government hospitals.  How do we tap their expertise and amalgamate them into the government healthcare system so that all Malaysians benefit?

Private wings in University Hospitals have remained largely the personal domain of University Specialists, defeating one of the key aims of the hospital’s investment effectively reducing both income and the incorporation of external expertise into the University. A tough CEO would have put this right. Similarly if Private Wings in government hospitals are going to be for the exclusive use of only government doctors, then expect another hijacking of the facility by government doctors with no external doctors using the facility. Again it will be a monopoly and with monopoly will come all the other unsavory practices associated with it.

Thus far the MOH has been hoodwinking this government and public by throwing this Public vs Private divide. All invitations to “help out” are insincere or come with strings attached such as “You must be MMC registered…. and 10 other conditions in fine print”. The challenge in fact is to not only get these specialists to lend their expertise for instance through private wings but also to open the door to even foreign specialists in the areas of expertise this country lacks in. This way Malaysians get the best care as both infrastructure and the expertise becomes available. Our Sultans need not go to Singapore for treatment nor our kids to India for surgery.

The reality of the manpower situation is, this country is extremely short of qualified, experienced technical staff. It’s high time the government takes the role of computing costs diligently including the various fees for doctors and other medical professionals now widely published in various government and insurance schedules. Every Malaysian patient must have the availability of the best medical care this country can offer. And every Malaysian patient need not pay a cent. You only need to properly manage the system. Surely we don’t need to call in Margaret Thatcher to help us do that. For intelligent accountants, like PETRONAS ex-CEO, Hassan Merican, matching the infrastructure to manpower would be a cinch.  Surely there are many more accountants of Hassan Merican’s caliber that can lead the Health Ministry in providing efficient services.

The Academy of Medicine and the various colleges incorporated in it including the MMA and its subcommittees have tried in vain to match and incorporate the entry of this country’s experienced and senior consultants in the private sector to the sometimes excellent medical infrastructure the government has invested in but invariably failed. Perhaps the CAP or other similar organizations can do what thus far the Academy of Medicine and MMA have failed to accomplish. Keeping the public and private divide wide apart is detrimental to the healthcare delivery in this country. Equitable access to quality healthcare care paid for by the government is what CAP and other NGOs should target for. And this can only be achieved by aggressive integration of both the public and private sectors with the government footing the budget.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 March 2010, 6:39 pm and is filed under
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The Labu and Labi Team of Najib and Muhyiddin

By
M. Bakri Musa

[First of Four Parts]

The dynamics between Prime Minister Najib Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin is one of rivalry.  They compete rather than complement each other.  They give every indication to be the least productive and most dysfunctional ‘team,’ if I can stretch that term.  Their relationship has awful feng shui and exudes bad karma.

            They are politics’ Labu and Labi, the bumbling hired hands in P. Ramlee’s comedy movie of the same name, who spent their time fantasizing about their employer’s daughter while neglecting their chores.

            Alas, leading the nation is anything but a comedic act; it is an awesome responsibility.  Najib and Muhyiddin however, are treating their position as they would a trophy wife; with Najib consumed with displaying it while Muhyiddin is busy licking at the chops barely concealing his own desires.

            Najib has nothing substantive to show after a year in office.  It is emblematic of his inept leadership that when the recently-acquired new Scorpene submarine could finally dive, it made the headlines!  Incidentally, that sub was bought during Najib’s tenure as Defense Minister.

            We have significantly lowered the bar for and expectations of our leaders.  Next, we will be excited if Najib were just to show up!  Consider that former Prime Minister Mahathir had praised Najib merely for not dozing off at meetings!  As for Najib’s much ballyhooed “1Malaysia,” a check on its website today showed that it is still inviting readers to register to join him for tea on March 13th, a good two weeks ago!  Well at least that is better than the fate of his deputy’s blog.

            On the major issues, from the teaching of science and mathematics in English to the controversy over the “Allah” terminology, the two are not even on the same page.  They are complete opposites.  Often that is the catalyst for a dynamic and creative relationship.  That however, is true only with highly-accomplished and self-confident personalities.  Najib and Muhyiddin are far from being that!

            I will compare the current duo of Najib and Muhyiddin to their predecessors, and then suggest a course of action Najib should take to salvage his tattering leadership.  I will focus on three preceding pairs:  the best and ideal team of Tun Razak and Dr. Ismail; the longest and most enduring partnership of Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak; and the destructive and dysfunctional combination of Mahathir and Anwar.  These three examples (two positive and one negative) provide many relevant lessons for Najib.

            Unaltered the present course will lead to a breakup of the two, with destructive consequences to them, their party, and their country.  The scale would be many times worse than the Mahathir-Anwar explosion of 1998.  The latter crippled the party and deeply divided the country, but only temporarily.  In that ruinous split there was a definite victor, the mercurial Mahathir, which made the conflict mercifully not protracted.

            If Najib and Muhyiddin were to split, it would come at a time when their party is at its weakest and most vulnerable; likewise the nation.  As neither Najib nor Muhyiddin is strong enough or commands sufficient respect and support within the party and country, their split could consume both of them, as well as fatally cripple UMNO.

            As for Malaysia, it has come a long way since the traumatic events of 1998 and could thus take the Najib-Muhyiddin breakup in stride.  Indeed I would argue that the split would be good for the nation.

            Nothing however, is preordained; prophecies need not be self fulfilling.  Even bad karma and ill feng shui can be ameliorated.  Najib’s future is in his own hands and in the fateful decisions he makes, not with the alignment of the stars or the tea-leaf reading of some village soothsayers.

Earlier Teams

The first and longest pair was that of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak.  It spanned over 15 years and was the most successful the country has ever seen, or likely to see again.  Even when the duo broke up following the 1969 race riots, it was done discretely and with minimal public repercussions.  The pair remained unique in that they maintained their respect for each other long after one exited the stage.  They never uttered an unkind word for the other, at least not publicly.  It was a class act right to the end.

            Compare that to the nasty things the Tunku and Hussein Onn heaped upon Mahathir when he was Prime Minister, or the scorn and contempt Mahathir poured on his chosen successor, Abdullah.

            At the other extreme, we had the initially very promising and dynamic but later proved to be highly destructive and dysfunctional pairing of Mahathir and Anwar.  The nation is still playing the price for that ugly split.  The pair was like an unstable radioisotope; when it split it continued spewing its toxic radiation, defying all attempts at containment.

            The team of Tun Razak and Dr. Ismail that succeeded the Rahman-Razak duo was easily the best and ideal.  Perhaps the brevity of their tenure spared them from the inevitable tensions and rivalries.  Malaysians today look forlornly to that team, especially considering what is being served to us today.

            The Razak-Ismail team was not the briefest; that distinction (if it can be called that) belongs to the immediately succeeding team of Razak and Hussein Onn.  That was also the most forgettable pairing.  The Razak and Huseein duo demonstrates that it would take both sides to make a great or at least workable team.  It is not enough to have only one member shine; a laggard partner would bring the pair down.  This observation would be validated many times later, as with the Mahathir-Musa Hitam and Mahathir-Ghaffar Baba pairings.

            When both members are lightweights, then we would have a laughing stock of a team, a political Labu and Labi team.  At worse it would be a disaster, for them as well as the country.  We had that with the Abdullah and Najib; we are now we re-living it with Najib and Muhyiddin.

Next:   The Best Team

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 March 2010, 10:38 am and is filed under
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Where are RM52 billion Bumi shares, asks Guan Eng

By
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng wants the government to investigate why RM52 billion worth of shares in public listed companies allocated for Bumiputeras under affirmative action policies were no longer in their hands.

He told reporters in Parliament today that the fact that the shares were no longer in the hands of Bumiputeras was an act of betrayal.

The Penang Chief Minister suggested a Royal Commission be set up to investigate such leakages.

He said that out of RM54 billion in shares allocated for Bumiputeras, only RM2 billion were still in their hands.

“According to a Bernama report, the Prime Minister had been quoted as saying that of the RM54 billion in shares allocated, only RM2 billion worth of shares were left in the hands of Bumiputeras,” said Lim.

“There is a leakage of RM52 billion which is not in the hands of the Bumiputeras. This is a betrayal. The government has to arrest and take action against the people who have hijacked the money,” he added.

When asked by a reporter whether Pakatan Rakyat had any ideas or leads as to who now held the shares, Lim smiled and claimed that PR knew who had control of them, and also why there was inaction from the part of the government.

“We in PR know who has the shares, it is held by the cronies of Barisan Nasional, that’s why the government have not taken any action. If the government really cares, they need to send a message to show their seriousness in taking action.”

“The government should set up a Royal Commission on the Bumi equity. This is an admission from the Prime Minister himself,” asserted the Penang CM.

Lim’s initial response was towards a newspaper report on which Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had commented on the distribution of wealth among Malaysians.

“He is talking about the distribution of wealth among Malaysians, who has got what and who did not, the ones who have got nothing are the rakyat,” said Lim.

The total Bumiputera equity currently stands at 19.4 per cent from its targeted 30 per cent some 19 years ago.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 March 2010, 7:25 pm and is filed under
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Dr M, The Father of Re-Colonisation

Mahathir forgets easily (I)

By Martin Jalleh

Recently, Dr Mahathir (Dr M) reminded the younger generation, who will one day lead the nation, not to be taken in by the subtle tactics of foreigners who want to bring about neo-colonialism in the country.

He said that “foreign forces would take advantage on the basis of globalisation and liberalisation to fulfil their agenda. We are now “faced with various challenges from abroad…(and) threats from blog sites”.

He was speaking at the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Statesman Discussion organised by the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) of the Ministry of Information Communication and Culture (Bernama, 27.03.10).

It was one amongst the many of Dr M’s anti-re-colonisation rhetoric. Once when he was in power (in reality, he still is!) he declared that the rakyat must ensure that the BN “is returned to power with a big majority in the next general election so that the nation will be ruled by a strong Government capable of standing against any attempt by foreign powers to re-colonise the country”.

Alas, Dr M forgets very easily these days. Re-colonisation had in fact taken place in 1981 when he became PM. He had donned the mantle of British supremacy and with his Executive supremacy even outdid the white colonial master in many ways during the 22 years that followed!

Dr M and his cohorts who once detested the oppressive laws of the British, brandished a gamut of harsh executive powers during his reign which were deeply and undeniably derivative of authoritarian colonialism.

Many laws left behind by the British were amended and made even more draconian to contain, cripple and crush legitimate dissent by citizens and the Opposition. There were countless examples of this.

British “propaganda” was replaced by a powerful broadcast media owned by the Government and allied companies, and regulated by the Broadcasting Act, 1987, which gives the Information Minister vast powers of control and manipulation.

The Sedition Act (1948) was a British law used to stifle Malay nationalists (especially those in UMNO, a party born two years before the Act came to be). The Act was amended and made use of by Dr  for selective prosecution of political opponents and to protect UMNO.

The Internal Security Act (ISA) (1960), a relic of colonialism, meant to combat the then communists, was amended more than 20 times to make it more repressive than the original. Its powers were abused to protect the “security” of Umno. Known as ‘white terror’, the ISA was and is still used by Malaysians on Malaysians.

The Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) originated from the Printing Press Act (1948). Amended in 1987 by Dr M’s regime to exclude judicial review of the Executive’s action vis-a-vis publications it served as a stranglehold on the press and opposition publications.

The Official Secrets Act (OSA) (1972) was based on the British OSA of 1911. Amended in 1986 to provide for mandatory jail sentences, Dr M used it to reinforce the cult of secrecy and to hide his many misdeeds. It resulted in self-censorship by the press.

The Police Act (1963) was amended in 1967, 1981 and 1987 to enhance the wide array of police powers, thus making the constitutional right of assembly absolutely “irrelevant”. The late Tunku Abdul Rahman died a disillusioned man on seeing his independent Malaysia reduced to, in his very own words, a “Police State” by Dr M.

Even the Special Branch was a creation of Britain in 1887. It was meant as a direct response to Irish anarchist terrorism. It was perfected by the Malaysian police to “trace”, threaten, torture and “turn over” political dissidents, an infamous fact glaringly highlighted during the first sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim whom Dr M was bent on getting rid of!

Every trick and treachery by Dr M during his 22 years as PM – “divide-and-rule”, purveying a “culture of fear” or creating a “siege mentality”, manipulating ethnic and religious fears, trotting out a bogey –  were tools of British Colonialism. Now the supposed “Statesman” tells the young to be wary of re-colonisation!

Alas, how can UMNO “re-invent” itself when its leaders who were the once-oppressed have now become the oppressors? As it happened to the all-powerful supreme British Empire, the day will come when the sun will set on UMNO….

(30 March 2010)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, 10:17 am and is filed under
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Najib’s NEM has not been able to come out of the long shadow cast by the Perkasa inaugural congress

The general consensus is that the New Economic Model announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak pledging long-promised economic reforms is singularly short of details as to convince Malaysians that there is the political will to match words with deeds.

Even more serious, Najib’s unveiling of the New Economic Model has not been able to come out of the long shadow cast by the Perkasa inaugural congress spouting neo-NEP Malay communalism as it was attended by several Umno Deputy Ministers.

DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng asked yesterday why RM52 billion worth of shares of public-listed companies allocated for bumiputeras under the New Economic Policy were no longer in their hands.

Raja Petra Kamaruddin  has estimated in his portal Malaysia-Today that the real cost of the New Economic Policy may be the colossal figure of RM500 billion, saying that this could be a low estimate.

Unless there is a political will to admit that the chief cause why Malaysia has become internationally uncompetitive, plagued by  multiple problems such as brain drain, galloping corruption, falling FDIs  and crisis of confidence in key national institutions as compared to neighbouring countries is the NEP – its abuses and in particular its perpetuation after 1990 – nobody believes that the Najib administration has the political will to craft and implement a New Economic Model fundamentally different from the NEP.

For instance, “Zero tolerance for corruption” is among the highlights of the measures in the New Economic Model  announced by Najib to propel Malaysia to developed nation status by 2020.

There would be greater credibility in such a measure and in the New Economic Model if Malaysians can see greater seriousness in the fight against corruption in the first year of the Najib premiership but this is not the case.

In fact, Malaysia had never fallen as low as the present in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index annual ranking, where Malaysia is placed in the  56th placing last November – lowest ever   in 15 years since 1995 when Malaysia was ranked No. 23.

In this context of worsening corruption, any talk of “zero tolerance for corruption” only highlights the utter lack of reality or seriousness of the New Economic Model.

For this reason, the biggest problem faced by Najib’s New Economic Model is the same faced by his 1Malaysia concept – whether he is prepared to walk the talk.

For a start, is Najib prepared to demonstrate seriousness in far-reaching reforms of national institutions starting with appointing new heads for the three key institutions in the country most in need of restoring national and international confidence  – Inspector-General of Police, the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, 4:11 pm and is filed under
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