Rulers’ Conference special statement – testimony of nation-building in crisis

The Conference of Rulers issued a
special joint press statement
at its 215th  meeting in Kuala Terengganu on the social contract as the bedrock of the formation of Malaysia, in particular “on the role of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers regarding the special privileges, position, eminence or greatness of the Malay rulers, Islam, Malay as the national language, the special position of the Malays, and genuine interests of the other communities in accordance with the Federal Constitution”.

This is an unprecedented document and is testimony of Malaysian nation-building facing a crisis of confidence after half-a-century of nationhood – in particular after the March 8 “political tsunami” seven months ago.

This was the theme of my 2009 budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday, where I raised many issues on the  tsunami of crisis of confidence afflicting Malaysia –  affecting the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister-in-waiting, the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General, the judiciary and  on a whole spectrum of issues whether on anti-corruption, human rights or nation-building.

The special press statement of the Conference of Rulers should be seriously studied by all Malaysians, whether political parties, civic organizations or ordinary citizens for the unity, harmony, prosperity and greatness of the Malaysian nation must be regarded as the responsibility and challenge of every Malaysian citizen, regardless of race, religion or territory so that we can enhance our national competitiveness in the borderless era of information technology and globalization.

Following is the
special  press statement of the Conference of Ruler
s on several matters enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

“Press statement issued by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal on the role of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers regarding the special privileges, position, eminence or greatness of the Malay rulers, Islam, Malay as the national language, the special position of the Malays, and genuine interests of the other communities in accordance with the Federal Constitution.

“The Malay rulers who attended the meeting of the Conference of Rulers conferred on the issuing of this special joint press statement.

“The Malay rulers hold the constitutional role to safeguard the special privileges, position, eminence and greatness of the Malay rulers, safeguard Islam, Malay as the national language, and the genuine interests of the other communities in Malaysia.

“The actions of certain quarters in disputing and questioning these matters, which formed the primary basis for the formation of Malaysia and are enshrined in the Federal Constitution, had caused provocation and uneasiness among the people.

“In retaliation, several quarters particularly Malay leaders whether in the government or non-governmental organisations as well as individuals had expressed their dissatisfaction and anger against those who had made the statements and reports and organised the forums.

“Among the reasons identified for these to have occurred is the cursory knowledge of those concerned regarding the historical background as to why these provisions were enshrined in the Federal Constitution and the influence of their attempts to implicate the principles of impartiality and justice without regard for the historical background and social condition of this country. Narrow political interests are also a cause.

“Unless this phenomenon is arrested immediately, it can lead to disunity and racial strife that can undermine the peace and harmony which has all this while brought progress, development and success to the nation.

“As such, it is necessary for the Conference of Rulers to emphasise and remind all quarters of these constitutional provisions besides giving emphasis to the assurance of safeguarding the genuine rights of other communities.

“It has to be emphasised that each provision in the Federal Constitution has undergone the process of discussion, consideration, consultation, sacrifice and compromise of the highest degree for what has been championed, discussed, considered, benefited from as well as agreed to by all quarters concerned, until the realisation of the provisions in the Federal Constitution which are known as the Social Contract.

“It is not proper to dispute and question this Social Contract and more so to subject it to a review or change because it is the primary basis of the formation of Malaysia. Therefore, it is appropriate for the Malay rulers to remind that there should never be any attempt ever to test and challenge issues related to the Social Contract.

“Truly, the leaders of the pre-independence era were insightful, far-sighted. They brought along with them the Malay rulers for the negotiations to claim independence. The institution of the rulers was retained and legally enshrined in the Constitution of an independent Malaysia.

“The institution of the Rulers was accorded eminence, was positioned at the apex of government, as the head of the country and the states, as a protective umbrella, ensuring impartiality among the citizens. The institution of rulers takes on the role of being a check-and-balance to untangle complications, if any.

“The Conference of Rulers also calls on the Malays to be united to safeguard the privileges, position, eminence and greatness of the Malay rulers, safeguard Islam, Malay as the national language, and the genuine interests of the other communities in Malaysia as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. It has to be emphasised that this agenda is more important and foremost than political or factional interests.

“Non-Malays should not harbour any apprehension or worry over their genuine rights because these rights are guaranteed under the Federal Constitution and provisions of the state constitutions of Malaysia contained in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

“It is hoped that with this emphasis, all confusion among the people regarding these matters can be contained and an atmosphere of peace, harmony and mutual respect can continue to exist among the people for the maintenance of order in the country.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 17 October 2008, 4:51 pm and is filed under
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Zaki’s CJ appointment –  last nail in coffin of Abdullah’s judicial reform?

When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi finally bowed down to irresistible pressures in UMNO to scuttle his mid-2010 power transition plan and announced on October 8 that would not defend the post of Umno President, he said he would complete three reforms, including judicial reform, before he steps down as Prime Minister next March.

Is the appointment of Tan Sri Zaki Azmi as the Chief Justice to take over from Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamed, who retires compulsorily tomorrow,  the last nail in the coffin of Abdullah’s pledge of judicial reform?

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department after the March 8 general election by Abdullah to shepherd the reforms into reality,  had implied that the appointment of a new Chief Justice to replace Hamid would be made under the new reform format and regime of a Judicial Appointment Commission.

But this is not to be and Zaid had resigned as the de facto Law Minister last month not only over the undemocratic abuses of power in the arbitrary use of the Internal Security Act to detain a senior woman Parliamentarian Teresa Kok, a senior  Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Ching  and blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin but also at  the “resistance” he encountered in Cabinet when trying to translate the promises of judicial reform into legislative reality.

Was Abdullah completely unaware of the Cabinet “resistance” to judicial reforms which dogged Zaid’s efforts, and if not, what did he do to smoothen and facilitate the passage of the necessary legislation for judicial reforms in the six months after the March 8 “political tsunami”?

With Abdullah’s promise that judicial reform would nonetheless be pushed through into fruition as it was his original pledge and not Zaid’s, one would have thought that the appointment of the new Chief Justice would be in the spirit of reformist consultation with the relevant stakeholders under the promised regime of judicial reforms.

This is not only not so, the Prime Minister has  shown utter disregard and contempt  for the widespread objections of the legal community and civil society to the appointment of the first Umno Chief Justice in the 51-year history of the nation!

In the circumstances, it is most regrettable and deplorable that Abdullah had stuck to his guns that Zaki be appointed the new Chief Justice, despite being forewarned that it would plunge the country into a new  judicial crisis of confidence and a new era of judicial darkness.

Is Zaki capable of providing the necessary judicial leadership to ensure that Malaysia can rise above the past two decades of judicial darkness, plunging from one judicial scandal and crisis of confidence to another, and which reduced  the Malaysian judiciary from its previous high international standing into a laughing stock for lack of independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary?

Pakatan Rakyat MPs must now decide whether to invoke Article 127 of the Malaysian Constitution which empowers the tabling in Parliament a substantive motion to debate the suitability and the merits/demerits  of Zaki as the new Chief Justice provided it has the support of at t least  a quarter of the Members of Parliament, i.e. 55 MPs.

If such a substantive motion is presented in Parliament, it would be the first time in Malaysian parliamentary and constitutional history.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 17 October 2008, 3:55 pm and is filed under
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Game’s Up, Gani, Time To Go!

By
Martin Jalleh

Lady Justice haunts and hounds Bolehland’s Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail over his hidden hand in Anwar Ibrahim’s trials 10 years ago. The skeletons in his cupboard hang out. He can no longer hide behind the skirt of the Executive. The naked truth has caught up with him.

The latest expose on the AG having abused his power to fabricate evidence in Anwar’s trials was made by Lim Kit Siang in Parliament yesterday
(Malaysiakini, 15.10.08)
. The veteran politician likened Gani to a “criminal” and demanded that he “resign immediately”.

Quoting unnamed sources, Kit Siang said that he understands that solicitor-general Idrus Harun had carried out an investigation into the claims (in a police report filed by Anwar) in July and “has concluded that the AG had indeed abused his power to fabricate evidence” against Anwar.

Several days before Kit Siang’s revelation, the public got to hear the startling claims by Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired senior police officer who probed the infamous “black eye” incident involving Anwar in 1998, on Gani having allegedly tampered with evidence in the case
(Malaysiakini, 10.10.08)
.

In a set of court documents Mat Zain Ibrahim implied that the actions of Gani, then a senior deputy public prosecutor, had delayed the investigation process and concealed facts from the then AG, the late Mohtar Abdullah.

Mat Zain’s claims were first made public during Anwar’s current sodomy trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court . Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah had read out the document in court during submissions on why Gani should not be involved in any aspect of the sodomy case.

(So serious were Mat Zain’s allegations that Sessions judge SM Komathy Suppiah ruled that the details, which were read out in court, were admissible in the ongoing proceedings of Anwar’s sodomy trial. She also lifted an initial gag order that prevented the media from publishing the details.)

Clear & Consistent Allegations

The above allegations are very “consistent” with the serious allegations of prosecutorial impropriety and the obstruction of justice, made against Gani Patail in the past, particularly during Anwar’s corruption case and the related Zainur Zakaria contempt case.

Zainur was sentenced to three months’ jail by High Court judge Augustine Paul on 30 Nov. 1998 for contempt of court when he made an application on Anwar’s behalf to stop Gani and Azahar Mohamad (then senior prosecutors) from further prosecuting in Anwar’s corruption case.

Anwar’s application was based on a statutory declaration made by lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon and a letter he wrote to the then AG accusing Gani and Azahar of threatening his client, S. Nallakaruppan, and asking the latter to fabricate evidence against Anwar.

Manjit did not mince his words: “I was shocked that Dato Gani even had the gall to make such a suggestion to me.  He obviously does not know me.  I do not approve of such extraction of evidence against ANYONE, not even, or should I say least of all, a beggar picked up off the streets.

“
A man’s life, or for that matter even his freedom, is not a tool for prosecution agencies to use as a bargaining chip.  No jurisprudential system will condone such an act
(my emphasis)
.

“
It is blackmail and extortion of the highest culpability

(my emphasis)
and my greatest disappointment is that a once independent agency that I worked with some 25 years ago and of which I have such satisfying memories has descended to such levels in the creation and collection of evidence.

“To use the death threat as a means to the extortion of evidence that is otherwise not there (why else make such a demand?)
It is unforgivable and surely must in itself be a crime, leave alone a sin, of the greatest magnitude
(my emphasis)
.  Whether his means justify the end that he seeks are matters that Dato Gani will have to wrestle with within his own conscience.”

The Federal Court that heard the Zainur Zakaria (contempt) case freed Zainur from the contempt of court conviction. Presiding Justice Steve Shim said Gani should have given his personal explanation on the allegation that he had threatened Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence against Anwar.

(The Federal Court was appalled by Augustine Paul’s conduct. They said it   “gave the picture that he was behaving as though he was acting as counsel for the two prosecutors in  the motion”. A pall had then hung over the judiciary and country.)

There was also the serious allegation by Anwar in his police report in July 1999 that the late Mohtar Abdullah and Gani had “subverted the cause of justice and violated the law” by not prosecuting then Minister for International Trade and Industry (MITI) Rafidah Aziz for corruption.

Anwar had attached a document signed by Gani (which was handed to Anwar when he was the DPM by the then AG) stipulating that a prima facie case had been made against Rafidah Aziz on five counts of corruption under Section  2(2),Ordinance 22, 1970.

Gani’s gall & guts

In spite of the alleged “blackmailing and extortion of the highest culpability” and the alleged interference of justice in shielding Rafidah Aziz, Gani was rewarded for allowing himself to be used and his position to be abused.

Commenting on Gani’s promotion to AG in 2001, Steven Gan of Malaysiakini would write: “Abdul Gani Patail is today tapped as Malaysia ’s top legal officer. The legal fraternity, and the rest of the country, cannot but be flabbergasted by this astounding appointment.

“This is, after all, the man – who as chief prosecutor in former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s trials – was unable to get the dates of the alleged sodomy acts right, not once but twice. This is the man who was responsible for parading the infamous semen-stained mattress during the court hearings.

“More importantly, this is the man who the Federal Court said should provide ‘some answers to the allegations on the fabrication of evidence’ when it threw out the Zainur Zakaria’s contempt of court case.”

Karpal Singh had this to say then: “In the public’s interest, it is vital that the A-G, who is the highest legal officer in the country, be like ‘Caesar’s wife’, above suspicion” (Star, 19.12.91). Alas, no office has been viewed with more suspicion by the public than the AG’s Chambers!

De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has denied Kit Siang’s claims, stating that an investigation on the matter was still underway. He added that it was the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and not the solicitor general who was probing the matter (Malaysiakini, 15.10.08).

What the defective de facto law minister says no longer matters to most Malaysians. Public perception of the office of the AG continues to deteriorate from suspicion and skepticism to scorn.  With each added glaring revelation and allegation, Gani gains more contempt from the court of public opinion.

The recent claim by ex-deputy president of Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) Raymond Tan that he had been instrumental in stopping the PM from ordering the ACA’s arrest of party president Yong Teck Lee, makes Nazri’s implicit insistence that the ACA will be independent, very laughable and ludicrous!

Abdul Gani Patail can no longer be trusted to honour his oath of office. He should go. But in Bolehland only the courageous (like Zaid Ibrahim) who hold on to their principles are willing to let go of high position.

Will Gani have the guts to give up and to salvage whatever honour he has left? Highly improbable! Perhaps the PM, who, with the invaluable help of Umno recently, will be riding off into the sunset quite soon, could assist the Attorney General on to his high horse?

(16 Oct. 2008)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 18 October 2008, 6:02 am and is filed under
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Martin Jalleh
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Indians given a Deepavali present by government, yet again

by
Jaya

A week prior to Deepavali 2007, can you remember how the Indian community were greeted by their BN leaders? Their adored place of worship, the Padang Jawa Temple in Klang was cruelly demolished.  Wonder if it is a decision that the previous Selangor MB regrets? Many Indians believe that it was ‘divine wrath and punishment’ that gave a trashing defeat to BN in the State of Selangor.

Now fast forward to 2008, this year the community got a wonderful present for their  Deepavali festival. Our Government has banned and declared Hindraf illegal!!! None can say it better than F E Smith “There is more credit in being abused by fools than praised by rogues .”

One wonders if all this came about because the Big Boys were not happy that Indian families went to PMs open house in their orange Tee-Shirts.  The delegation was led by a little 6 year old girl who handed over a greeting card and a teddy bear!!! By Gosh, by a stretch of any imagination, could the Malaysian population consider a little stuffed toy, as a threat to national security??

What is Hindraf then if it is not a surge of years of pent up frustrations of Malaysian Indians being marginalized in Education, in Government – the biggest employer in the country or even in business.  Yet the world over, the Indian Diaspora economically does better than most other nationalities.  So a question that Indians and others ask, how come in Malaysia, Indians are left behind???

Frankly do the Big Bosses realize that Hindraf is not a mere society that they can close down? Can you curb the pent up emotions of a people, generations who worked for this country and are now faced with difficulties.  These simple people would have been happy to meet up with the PM and would have been his most ardent fan for life. Hey, I thought Governments are elected by the people, for the people and of the people, its hard to fathom, how come our leaders do not engage in dialogue? Yet, see how these simple Indian people, have been demonized?

Actually if the media have given an accurate report of the 27th September 2008, Candle light vigil, those big bullies in high places would have understood “the spirit of a people united”.  That vigil was a true example of the Hindraf Spirit, organized for the release of the ISA detainees, most of whom are Malays, it was a call sent out before Raya, in hope that the Muslim brothers will get released prior to their festival Hari Raya.  Many who led the Hindraf procession, and those who led the chants for  Makkal Shakti and Hindraf Valage, were Chinese youth who came in full support the Indian cause.  If it wasn’t the puasa month, for sure we would have seen many more of our Malay family there.

So then how can the spirit, the emotion, the soul, or the inner force, the oneness, the unity, the very essence of Malaysian Life be stilled, by a mere Government declaring it illegal?? Never and we loudly say never can the spirit of Bangsa Malaysia be snuffed out.

Now, like never before we Malaysians are bound together in one spirit, Malay, Chinese, Indian and others, have come together as one.  You see it at the courts in solidarity for RPK, you see it on the blogs and  websites, you see it at the vigils, we saw in the 8th March elections.

Yes my brothers and sisters, we are all bound together in one spirit. The spirit of unity cannot be declared illegal and cannot be banned.  This time the wave of change is bigger than the Tsunami and it is sweeping our beautiful country.  It’s a call for change, a call to wipe out all forms of racism that is being raised for political hegemony.  It’s a call against corruption, scam and cheating of the Rakyat.

Let me jog your memory a bit to what our RPK said in one of the last few messages to us, before he got interned, albeit unfairly. I think briefly it meant that we Malaysians should give our lives to protect each other, so that not one drop of Malaysian blood is shed.  We have to ensure that no one can divide us and protect this sprit of unity that binds us.

Maybe it indeed is a blessing, look back, last year’s Deepavali present resulted in March 8th Tsunami, five states landed into opposition hands and it was this refusal of the leaders to heed the voices of their own citizenry that gave them the defeat. This time one wonders what’s in store for the Big Boys in High Places!!

We the people of Malaysia are called together to ensure that we and the future generations, will live in peace, in harmony, entrusting our Country to the Good Governance of Honest Leaders called to be accountable by a Rakyat United.

The Spirit of Hindraf and Bangsa Malaysia will always live.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 18 October 2008, 6:15 am and is filed under
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The Poverty of Riches and the Riches of Poverty

By
Farish A Noor

As an aside to the academic work I normally do, last week I was given the opportunity to meet with Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the Spiritual Leader (Murshidul Am) of the Malaysian Islamic Party PAS at his office in northern Malaysia.

Despite the frail health of the man and his taxing schedule, we managed to pack in close to two hours worth of interview on tape and this will now be my headache for the next week as all of this information has to be transcribed for publication purposes.

One thing, however, struck me somewhere during the second half of our meeting. I remarked to the Ulama that his home was suprisingly similar to that of Ho Chi Minh’s in Hanoi, Vietnam, and that both he and the revered ‘Uncle Ho’ chose to give up their stately government mansions to live in humble wooden houses.

 I also remarked to him that he was using the same cheap, plastic BIC ballpoint pen that I had seen him use when we first met in 1999. This occassioned a laugh and a smile from him, but it struck us both that these observations were far from pedestrian.

The truth is that for both revolutionary Islamic and Communist movements alike the world over, the democratic impetus and the drive for revolutionary politics was accompanied by a strong sense of disdain for worldliness, and a respect for a spartan way of life.

Whatever you may say about Ho Chi Minh, one thing you could never accuse him of was corruption and the easy life. The same applies to Nik Aziz as the spiritual leader of the Islamic party of Malaysia.

The same however cannot be said of the secular modernising elites of so many post colonial societies that rather quickly got used to the comfy life of the former colonial masters they condemned and demonised, so what gives?

As someone who studies the various modes of religio-political behaviour in the Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist worlds respectively, I am left with the rather simple conclusion that the ‘moral economy of the peasant’ that was talked about in the 1970s is as relevant now as it was then.

With the global economy in a tailspin and many an Asian economy precariously hanging in the balance, we already see the repeat of the mistakes of the past.

The list of errors and complaints sound surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly) similar to those that came to the fore during the asian crisis of 1998: indiscriminate credit expansion, contracts given to government contractors or those close to power, etc.

Time will tell whether this imminent global recession will see political heads roll as it did in  1998, when public protests brought down the governments of Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia, and rocked the political foundations of Malaysia too.

Then, it was apparent that the economic crisis was as much a political one as it was financial, due to the murky dealings of political fixers and the unfettered role of political parties and elites in so many Asian countries.

If this were to happen though, the credibility of religio-political leaders like Tuan Guru Nik Aziz will remain intact, for the man himself has nothing to lose in the first place.

Nik Aziz, above all, understands the meaning of the poverty of riches and the riches of poverty.

His wealth lies in his cultural capital as a pious man whose hands are clean. And in any case he has no luxury items to give up: After all, he still uses the same plastic BIC pen today that he used ten years ago!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 18 October 2008, 6:02 am and is filed under
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PAS
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Can Abdullah’s last five months as PM survive the return of Mahathirism?

“Who is he, asks Abdullah”

 is the
New Sunday Times
headline for the report of  what it described as “The gloves came off yesterday.”

The New Sunday Times reported  from Kota Kinabalu yesterday that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s “patience finally wore off and he lambasted his predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad”, viz:

Abdullah said Dr Mahathir was acting as if it was he (Dr Mahathir) who should determine who played what role in the party.

“Who is he? He has left Umno but he still issues orders to members of Umno. The party does not need to take orders from anyone who is no longer a member of the party,” said Abdullah who was here to attend the Hari Malaysia and closing of the Merdeka month celebrations.

“He is trying to create a rift and (incite) anger and hatred. What is wrong with people who work with me? He is trying to teach people to hate one another.”

The Umno president said this in referring to a posting on Dr Mahathir’s blog, calling on Umno to rid itself of all those who supported Abdullah, referring to them as “toadies”.

“Who is he when he is no longer a member of UMNO?”

Abdullah cannot be naïve in not knowing the answer to his own query, although his rhetorical question is meant to convey his frustration, impotence and bitterness than to elicit a real answer.

The answer is clear for all – the country is witnessing the return of Mahathirism with the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad seen as having become the single most  powerful and influential individual to  UMNO although he is “no longer a member of the party”.

In fact it would be more congruent with the power reality for Mahathir to ask, “Who is he” when referring to Abdullah, than for Abdullah to pose this question vis-à-vis Mahahtrir.

This is because Mahathir was transformed from a gadfly into “king-maker” on October 8 the instant Abdullah announced that he had buckled down to pressures in Umno Supreme Council for an early exit as Prime Minister next March and would not defend the post of Umno President.

This is obvious from the following incidents:

·	Cabinet Ministers beginning to distance themselves from Abdullah after the Oct. 8 announcement as observed and deplored  by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Johari Baharom earlier this week;

·	Overnight reversal of role with  Abdullah’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin transformed from  “top dog” to “underdog” in Umno Youth chief election – while  Mukhriz Mahathir swept nominations including securing the requisite 39 nominations to contest Umno Youth chief in the first of four weekends for nominations while Khairy is still struggling to get his “passport” to contest even after a second weekend of nominations.  Mukhriz would be in Khairy’s shoes, struggling to get the requisite 39 nominations, if not for Abdullah’s Oct. 8 announcement.

·	The landmark Hari Raya Open House of Umno stalwart Rauf Yusoh on Tuesday evening, where the guests and guests-of-honour signal the real wielders of power in Umno and Barisan Nasional government today – Najib Razak, Muhyiddin Yasin, Syed Hamid Albar, Shafie Apdal together with Mahathir.

Abdullah also zeroed in on Muhyiddin in his lambasting in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, as the International Trade and Industry Minister had called for the Umno party elections  to revert back from March next year to December, as it is also  tantamount to forcing Abdullah to an earlier exit as Prime Minister in December as well.

In fact, Mahathir had never hidden his position  that he wants Abdullah to step down immediately, claiming that there is nothing Abdullah could achieve as  Prime Minister in the next five months.

Abdullah should know that his writ has now shrunk to very limited power, scope and effect – whether in government or even in Cabinet.

Although in response to Abdullah’s uncharacteristic outburst, Muhyiddin has backed off and denied  that his call for early Umno party elections meant that Abdullah speed up the transfer of power to Najib, Abdullah should have a healthy cynicism and skepticism when his original June 2010 power transition plan had been scuttled repeatedly by the same tactics.

The question Abdullah faces is: can his last five months as Prime Minister survive the return of Mahathirism?

Will the Umno Supreme Council meeting tomorrow decide another modification of the power-transition plan, reverting the Umno party elections to December and shortening Abdullah’s five-month exit as Prime Minister by another three months?

Even if Umno Supreme Council just decide on reverting back the Umno party elections to December without any mention about the power-transition plan, what is there to stop a resolution by acclamation at the Umno General Assembly in December demanding the immediate transfer of power for Najib to take over as the sixth Prime Minister instantly  after the Umno general assembly?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 19 October 2008, 2:33 pm and is filed under
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When will petrol pump price revert to RM1.92?

It was only last week that the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said that the price of petrol would
revert
 to the old price of RM1.92 a litre which motorists had enjoyed before the 41% hike in June if the world crude oil price continued to dip to below US$72 a barrel.

At the time (October 10), the crude oil price was around US$88 a barrel.

Over the weekend, the world oil prices closed at a new 14-month low beneath US$70 a barrel, bringing its price to less than half its July record high – dipping to as low as US$68.57 a barrel.

Why hasn’t the petrol pump price reverted back to RM1.92?

Will this be announced tomorrow when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak release his
economic stabilisation plan
 to prepare Malaysia to face the world’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s?

At least the criticisms of the Opposition in Parliament in the past week that Najib should have presented a revised 2009 Budget before the start of a parliamentary budget debate are bearing some fruit.

But will Najib table the economic stabilisation plan in Parliament tomorrow in the form of a Ministerial statement or will Parliament suffer another act of contempt and disrespect by the Barisan Nasional Government?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 19 October 2008, 5:31 pm and is filed under
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Why DAP blamed for Ka Ting’s  “Umno is bully in BN” speech?

Why is the DAP blamed for the outgoing MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting’s “Umno is bully in Barisan Nasional” speech at the MCA General Assembly opening ceremony yesterday?

Ong’s speech led to denials by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resulting in newspaper frontpage  headlines like

“UMNO IS NO BULLY”

(New Sunday Times)
 and

“Umno bukan pembuli: PM”
 (Berita Minggu), who instead blamed the DAP for “stirring up the issue to see the split of the MCA or Gerakan” as well as Hindraf  for targetting  the MIC.

Abdullah caught everyone by surprise by his bald denial.

He said Umno “is not a ‘bully’ party” or many component parties would have left BN by now, and asked:

“Do you think Ka Ting allows himself to be bullied? You think (MIC president) Samy (Vellu) can be bullied?  You think (Gerakan president Dr. Koh) Tsu Koon wants to be bullied?”

Abdullah has forgotten an elementary rule of life – “don’t ask if you don’t want the answer”!

Does he really want the answer to that loaded question of his? Don’t have to ask the Malaysian public. Just ask the MCA, Gerakan and MIC delegates or members through secret ballot whether they think their leaders have been bullied by Umno in Barisan Nasional, and I have no doubt that the answer would be a resounding and thundering “yes’!

In fact, one of the saddest political episodes of Barisan Nasional post-March 8 “political tsunami” is the response of the leaders of the BN component parties when asked by the press for their response to Abdullah’s “Umno is no bully” response.

Neither Tsu Koon nor Samy Vellu dared to fully back up Ka Ting, who himself backed off subsequently by saying that he never said Umno is a bully!

What I find most disturbing  is Abdullah’s statement: “People say that Umno is a party that likes to bully. I actually have no idea how to bully.  There is no such thing as bullying.”

I believe Abdullah was speaking the truth that  there is not a bone of a bully in him.

That is what is frightening.  After half-a-century of Umno political hegemony, Umno bullying in BN has become so institutionalized to perpetuate and increasingly aggravate  such travesty of “power sharing”,  even though the top No. 1 UMNO leader like Abdullah does not know how to be a bully!

There is no need for the top No. 1 or No. 2 Umno leader to be a bully, when the UMNO bullies at the various hierarchies of the party are allowed  a field day!

Abdullah’s denial  about Umno bullying in BN  does not bear scrutiny – as there is a long catalogue from the recent past, whether the keris-wielding by Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein or the offensive and insensitive statements by the Deputy Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin or to the most recent times, such as Umno Bukit  Bendera division chairman, Ahmad Ismail’s  “Chinese are penumpang” outburst or the tearing up of Tsu Koon’s photograph by Penang Umno leaders.

In fact, Abdullah gave an illustration of the irrelevance of the views of top leaders of MCA and other BN leaders yesterday when he summarily dismissed the MCA President’s call for a review of the Internal Security Act,  as it is “obsolete and should be replaced with one that is not subject to abuse or cause people to feel insecure”.

Last week, the 37th Gerakan national delegates conference also adopted a resolution calling for a review of the ISA.

If the Barisan Nasional is a coalition of equals, and Umno is not a bully, will the considered views of  leaders of BN component parties and the resolutions of their party conferences be dismissed so derisively and summarily, like the call for the review of the ISA?

What happened yesterday at the MCA General Assembly was  doubly pathetic:

+firstly, no leader  of the BN component parties dared to stand up to admit boldly about Umno being a bully which should  end it “bully” ways in BN; and

+secondly, none of them dared to correct Abdullah by pointing out that was  most unfair to use the DAP as a “scapegoat” for the public perception that MCA, Gerakan and the other BN component parties were  being  bullied by Umno when it represented the true situation.

Maybe the MCA delegates in their debate in the 55th MCA General Assembly would dare to speak up what their leaders have failed to do about the truth of Umno being a bully in BN and the need to end such lop-sided power relationship in the BN coalition.

Be that as it may, it is  quite obvious from the MCA party election results that Ong Ka Ting was well-advised to withdraw from the MCA presidential contest, for he would have been defeated – and quite decisively –  had he decided to defend his post as MCA President.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 19 October 2008, 10:32 am and is filed under
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“Assassinating a YB” vs Press Freedom

Public Forum: “Assassinating a YB” vs Press Freedom

Date
: 23.10.08 (Thursday)

Time
: 8.00pm

Venue
: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Jalan Maharajalela, KL

Speakers
:

   1.      Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader

   2.      Khalid Samad, Member of Parliament

   3.      Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer

   4.      Azmi Sharom, Academician

   5.      Wan Hamidi Hamid, Senior Journalist

   6.      Teresa Kok, Selangor Senior Exco

All Are Welcome!

Live Broadcast :

http://tv.dapmalaysia.org

Watch live video from DAP Malaysia on tv.dapmalaysia.org

                This entry was posted on Monday, 20 October 2008, 8:14 pm and is filed under
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Challenge to MCA/Gerakan MPs – support parliamentary debate on ISA review

DAP MP for Seputeh and Selangor Senior Exco, Teresa Kok Suh Sim has given notice to move a motion deploring the Internal Security Act (ISA) detention of Sin Chew senior reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin and herself last month and to call for the repeal of the draconian and undemocratic detention-without-trial law.

Teresa’s motion on the ISA is listed No. 41 on today’s Order Paper. Together with 33 other private member’s motion, Teresa’s ISA motion  would not have a chance to see the light of day and  being debated in Parliament unless the Barisan Nasional government agrees to amend the Order Paper  to give it priority over all other parliamentary business.

Yesterday, the
MCA’s 55th annual general assembly
 adopted a resolution urging the Government to review the Internal Security Act and establish a check and balance system to ensure that it strictly applies to terrorism and cases with subversive elements.

A week ago, the Gerakan’s 37th national delegates conference passed the resolution calling for the repeal of the ISA and the introduction of an anti-terrorism law in accordance with a proposal by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

The main burden  of the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his capacity as Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman at his last outing at the MCA general assembly on Saturday was to scoff at suggestions that Umno is the domineering partner in BN and to deny that UMNO is a “bully” vis-à-vis other parties  in BN.

However, Abdullah’s denial totally  lacked credibility not only from the rich catalogue of past instances of Umno as “bully in BN”, but in the summary and cavalier manner in which he rejected the MCA call for review of the ISA – stating categorically that there are no plans to review the ISA.

Are the  other BN component parties “equal partners” in BN, or are they just supplicants or “beggars” to quote former Gerakan President, Tun Dr. Lim Keng Yaik after his retirement from politics to describe the relationship of the other BN component parties to UMNO after his retirement from politics?

If “power sharing” among the BN component parties is meaningful and genuine, and not just empty talk, then the considered proposals of the BN component parties, particularly resolutions adopted at their respective annual conferences, should be given serious consideration by the government-of-the-day.

If resolutions adopted at Umno general assemblies are virtually adopted as government policy of the day, while resolutions of MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and the BN Sabah and Sarawak component parties are completely ignored and dismissed with contempt, how can Umno claim that it is not “domineering” and not a “bully in BN”?

As both the MCA and Gerakan national conferences have adopted resolutions calling for the review and even repeal of the ISA, this has become a test of whether power sharing in BN continues to be a farce,   Umno continues  with its domineering and bully ways in BN while  MCA and Gerakan continue as  supplicants and beggars – or whether the BN coalition is to be reconstituted on a more equitable basis to reflect a meaningful power-sharing concept.

If MCA and Gerakan MPs (including Ministers/Deputy Ministers) dare not support a parliamentary debate on review of ISA, what is the use of MCA and Gerakan passing resolutions on ISA in their national conferences?

I am raising this point as I am calling on all MPs, whether Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional, to support a joint call to the Prime Minister to give government consent to move Teresa’s ISA motion from No. 41 to the very top of the parliamentary business, so that it could be debated in Parliament.

Abdullah should not usurp the powers of Parliament and  allow Parliament to decide whether there should be a review and repeal of ISA, especially in view of the resolutions passed by both MCA and Gerakan annual conferences making the very same call.

I have no doubt that the majority of the 13-party BN coalition would support the review and repeal of the ISA.

In fact, if a vote is taken in the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council on whether to review and repeal the ISA, allowing each component party to vote according to its mandate given by its national congress,  the outcome could be 12-1 or 11-2 in favour of review and repeal.

Isn’t Umno behaving like the “big bully in BN ” in refusing  to consider review and repeal of ISA when Umno is outnumbered by 12-1 or 11-2 in BN  on this important question about human rights and democracy in Malaysia?

Furthermore, the call for the abolition of ISA  has the support of the civil society as demonstrated by the endorsement of 363 organisations for the mass petition to repeal the ISA in a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The “Free MP Teresa Kok” parliamentary caucus will meet tomorrow and I will suggest that the caucus, apart from broadening the scope of its terms of reference to work for the repeal of the ISA as Teresa has been released after a eight-day ISA stint, endorse the campaign to get all MPs genuinely concerned about ISA and shocked by the gross abuses of the draconian law to sign a joint petition to the Prime Minister to bring up Teresa’s ISA motion so that it could be debated when Parliament reconvenes after the Deepavali holidays on Oct. 29.

This would be particularly significant as a debate on Teresa’s ISA motion on Oct. 29 could serve as Parliament marking the 21st anniversary of the infamous Operation Lalang in 1987 when four MPs at the time and who are still in Parliament were among 106 persons detained arbitrarily under the ISA  – namely Karpal Singh, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw, Lim Guan Eng and myself.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 20 October 2008, 11:36 am and is filed under
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Looking For UMNO’s Next Ex-Leader

by
M. Bakri Musa

At a recent gregarious social gathering a colleague, whose luck in personal relationships could best be described as challenged, was teased on whether she was scouting for her next ex-husband!  With the current frenzied UMNO divisional nominating meetings, I am tempted to ask a similar question of its members.  Are they too looking for their next ex-leader?

            If there is any lesson UMNO members should have learned is that the way they pick their leaders needs to be revamped.  By now they should have realized the devastating consequences of the “no contest rule” for the two top positions and the onerous nomination quota system, as well as the equally atrocious track record of any one leader (no matter how seemingly wise and brilliant at the time) in anointing his or her successor.

            There are indications that this reality is now gradually sinking in, at least on the brave and perceptive few.  Thus far that is all there is, only a realization, and nothing more.

            Shahrir Samad, cabinet minister and UMNO Supreme Council member, called for “a generational change” in his party’s leadership.  He viewed UMNO as becoming overly bureaucratic, with heavy emphasis on seniority and hierarchy.  At age 58, Shahrir considered himself too late and too old to go for a top post.

            Whether that is a statement of reality or merely an undisguised expression of lack of confidence on the current generation of leaders is for Shahrir to clarify.  Both Najib Razak and Muhyyidin Yassin, leading candidates for the number one and two slots respectively, are of the same vintage as Shahrir.

            If Shahrir was expressing his low opinion of current UMNO leaders, then he is on to something.  There are no jantans among them.  In the current leadership fiasco they have chosen to remain quiet and dutiful until it becomes quite obvious that their leader has become the butt of jokes.  Only then did they finally dare speak up.

            Of course there are exceptions but few, and Shahrir is not among them.  The caliber of present UMNO leaders, in the cabinet as well as the party’s Supreme Council, is such that were they to see their leader stark naked, they would more likely compliment him for his nice tan instead of throwing a sarong at the hapless man!

            Among the few and ready exceptions are Tengku Razaleigh and Zaid Ibrahim.  The Tengku saw through Abdullah very early on and challenged him for the leadership.  Only the onerous burden of the quota on nominations prevented Ku Li from contesting; the same hurdle that may confront him now.  Zaid Ibrahim remains the only Malaysian minister to have resigned over a matter of principle.

            There have been many ministerial resignations in the past, as Abdullah’s dutiful spinmeisters in The New Straits Times pointed out in an attempt to soften the impact of Zaid’s action.  What those media supplicants pointedly failed to differentiate is that all those earlier resignations were essentially forced upon or out of shame.

            Incidentally neither the Tengku nor Zaid is on UMNO Supreme Council.  That speaks volume as to the caliber of individuals attracted and voted to the party’s top leadership.

            The current frenzy of divisional nominating activities is likened by that keen observer of UMNO politics, Kadir Jasin, to the behaviors of passengers stranded on the freeway by their broken-down chartered bus.  In their desperation, they are less interested in the comfort, safety or reliability of their replacement vehicle, only with reaching their destination on time.  They reason that once they get there they could then leisurely shop for a better and more comfortable substitute for the return trip.  It would never cross their mind that in their haste and less-than-prudent choice now, they could end up in a ditch or worse, before reaching their destination.

            Soon after Abdullah assumed power and was searching for a deputy, I suggested that he picked Tengku Razaleigh.  As both are at about the same age it would be unlikely for the Tengku to pose as a potential succession threat.  They would also complement each other in skills and temperament.  Together they could then revamp UMNO so as to attract fresh young new talent and then completely bypass the current crop of ineffective and parochial leaders as represented by Najib, Hishamuddin and Muhyyidin.

            Had Abdullah done that his fate today, as well as that of Malaysia, would be far different!  It is still not too late for him to recoup.  As President he could summon a special General Assembly of UMNO specifically to dismantle the nomination quota.  In so doing Abdullah would effectively undo one of Mahathir’s less-than-laudatory legacies.

            Abdullah would effectively make the current nominating exercise mute, and simultaneously open up the party elections.  That could prove beneficial especially if his son-in-law were to be unsuccessful in securing his quota of nominations, which now appears increasingly possible.  Abdullah would also then have the great pleasure of watching Najib Razak desperately scrambling to fend off a strong challenge from Tengku Razaleigh.  There is little love lost between Najib and Abdullah, and that single maneuver would be the perfect finale from Abdullah to Najib:  Don’t get mad, get even!

Muhyyidin the Meek

Recently Muhyyidin had been incessantly clamoring for change in UMNO’s top leadership.  Much earlier, as head of the party’s committee tasked with changing its rules, he was forceful in advocating removing the current nomination quota system.  On meeting a not-unexpected resistance from Abdullah, Muhyyidin readily yielded.

            Now with the man he is rooting to replace Abdullah slated to win san competition, Muhyyidin has chosen to remain uncharacteristically passive.  He even urged all divisions to unanimously nominate Najib Razak as party president, and only Najib, as a “show of party unity.”  Quite a remarkable and considerable shift in position, and a very quick one at that!  Obviously Muhyyidin is banking on riding Najib’s coattail to the top, and doing so unopposed!  As an aside, someone should now ask him what he thinks of the nomination quota system.

            With that tantalizing prospect, Muhyyidin is now pathetically reduced to mouthing sycophantic praises for Najib, claiming, “I have no doubt that I will work very well with Najib ….”  As a preview of the kind of leader he would be, Muhyyidin reassured everyone that he “would not dictate policies.”  Rather as Deputy President, his is “to support and follow whatever directions and visions the president has spelled out.”  In short, a glorified office boy in the highest office of the land!

            Muhyyidin does not see a higher responsibility to the party or country; his loyalty is strictly to the president, a latter-day Hang Tuah.  Thankfully thus far he has refrained from dripping his keris with ketchup in defense of Najib.

            Muhyyidin was the chief executive (Mentri Besar) of Johor for a decade before Mahathir “promoted” him to the federal level.  In the UMNO scheme of things, a mentri besar is a major “warlord,” certainly more so than a minister, especially for a state like Johore.  Back then he grabbed headlines in a regional publication over his tussle with a foreign developer with substantial holdings in his state.  I believe firmly in the ability of individuals to change, for the better as well for the worse.  My retelling this old story is merely to temper the fast growing enthusiasm for him shown by local commentators.

Najib No “More Bettah!”

Assured of being unopposed for the top slot, Najib wisely chose not to be a part of this emerging attempt at setting up a mutual admiration society with Muhyiddin, declaring that he (Najib) “has not decided if Muhyiddin would be his running mate.”  That is quite a rebuff!  Najib went further and remarked “the more the merrier” when others like the double Muhammad Taib declared their intention to seek the number two position to compete directly with Muhyyidin.

            However, when Perlis UMNO Youth leader Ismail Hashim had the temerity to consider competing directly with Najib, he (Najib) abruptly changed his tune, expressing doubt whether Ismail could even muster the necessary nominations.

            Najib would like to have the top prize handed to him on a silver platter, as has been the pattern throughout his political career.  To ensure that, Najib expressed his definite lack of enthusiasm for dismantling the current nomination quota rule even though his mentor and champion Tun Mahathir has called for it.  Najib did not rule out doing so eventually, once he is gone!

            With all his sordid baggage Najib is understandably sacred stiff in getting not only a formidable competitor in Tengku Razaleigh but also insignificant ones like Ismail Hashim.  Najib is scared that Ismail would provide an avenue for protest votes.

            Do not expect a change the UMNO’s leadership come March 2009, merely a change of faces.  The insular attitude and feudal mindset behind those familair faces remain the same; likewise the corruption and incompetence.  Unfortunately that would be bad for Malaysia, unless Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakayt were to be successful.

            Meanwhile enjoy the spectacle of UMNO members now frantically searching for their next ex-leader.  Try not to let your concerns about the future of Malaysia detract you from enjoying the frivolity!

                This entry was posted on Monday, 20 October 2008, 6:21 am and is filed under
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Will Abdullah again be humiliated at Umno Supreme Council meeting tonight?

Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi again be humiliated at the Umno Supreme Council meeting tonight or will he able to redeem dignity of his office after repeated battering in the past few months?

Abdullah will again be humiliated if the Umno Supreme Council ends tonight with a final modification of his original mid-2010 power transition plan, shortening it from June 2010 to March 2009 and then to December this year!

The mounting call led by Umno Vice President and Minister for International Trade and Industry, Tan Sri Muhyideen Yassin, and the Umno eminence grise Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that the Umno party elections revert back from March next year to December is a subtle subterfuge to shorten Abdullah’s remaining five months as Prime Minister by another three months.

Will Abdullah be able to fob off the latest attempt in Umno to shorten his premiership and even to redeem the dignity of his office by getting full endorsement by the entire Umno leadership for meaningful reforms on the judiciary, police force and anti-corruption before he steps down as Prime Minister?

In his latest interview televised on CNBC last night, when  asked about his agenda for reforms and what he could possibly do over the next five months, Abdullah  said: “I wanted to reform; people liked the idea of reform. I was not just responding to them because they needed reform.”

The New Straits Times report on Abdullah’s CNBC interview continued:

The prime minister said that he too certainly thought that the country’s judiciary, police force and Anti-Corruption Agency needed reforms.

“I was not able to do it for the first four years (while in power).

“I was able to do it only after we had already been returned to power after the last election.

“So I want this reform in place and I can do it. Even in five months.”

If Abdullah is required to shorten his premiership further by retiring in December, that will be the end of his final fling with reforms.

Even if he is allowed five months before going into the political sunset, very few believe that Abdullah is capable of  implementing in a meaningful manner the three reform measures which he had failed to accomplish in the past five years.

Can Abdullah secure full endorsement from the Umno Supreme Council tonight and the Cabinet on Wednesday for  meaningful reforms for the judiciary, the police force and anti-corruption in the next five months – as no one, whether in the Umno top leadership and in the Cabinet, seemed really committed or even interested in  ensuring meaningful reforms in these three areas, in particular the establishment of the long-delayed and much-maligned Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 20 October 2008, 4:01 pm and is filed under
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Another case of  Deepavali insensitivity  by Education Ministry under Hishammuddin

Letters

by
Disappointed Teacher

I’m currently teaching in a secondary school in Johor and I am totally dissatisfied with an issue so I am writing this complain hoping that it will make a difference.

As most of you are aware of, we had just completed the PMR examinations throughout Malaysia. We as teachers also look forward to marking the PMR papers, as we will be able to gain experience and insights, which will be useful when conducting the Form 3 classes for the coming year.

However, all the hopes of Indian teachers are dashed to the ground as the meeting with the heads of the marking group is being held on the eve of Deepavali in some places.

These meetings are held over a span of two to three days so that each group is able to discuss with their respective group leaders on issues concerning the marking of the papers.

The examiners will also be given their scripts and briefed on the issues of marking. These meetings are essential and if they are held during the preparations for Deepavali, many Indian teachers will not be able to attend and thus they lose out as they won’t have the chance to mark the papers.

Some may argue that these meetings are not long, and the teachers will be able to attend the meeting and then go back home to continue with the preparations, but I ask you is it fair?

Some of us are sent to different states away from our hometowns and we dedicate ourselves to our work but during the holidays we would like to spend time with our loved ones.

I’m not surprised that this sort of incident is taking place as we have come across many incidents like this over the years but I would seriously like to pose this question.

Is this what we call BANGSA MALAYSIA? This ignorance of the celebration that is going to take place and the importance of this celebration to a small group of people who are a part of Malaysia.

I can only hope that things will get better and even though we are a small group of people we still contribute to the development of this nation and thus our voices should be heard.

The meeting could have been held during the weekday since we already know beforehand when the examinations are going to take place and when it’s going to be over.

There is no logical explanation on why the meeting is held on the eve of Deepavali unless it has been done on purpose.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 5:27 pm and is filed under
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Govt to pump extra RM5b into Valuecap

Letters

by
WYT

First and foremost, I’m just a one of those silient supporters of yours and this is my first time voice up on issue such as the above subject mentioned.

I am really bugged to hear the goverment is pump in additional RM5b into the equity market. I’m not complaint the intention but the general public does not know where the money come from and where the profit goes. I would assume the money is drawed from us, the tax payers and my next question is why in this 5 years since ValueCap setup, there is no news about how is the fund performance and where is the profit earned (from KLCI index 700+ to 1400+ before the US credit crisis kick in) gone? This is not fair to us if we do not know this ValueCap performance.

I do not see the point why injection of additional fund is necessary when there is profit when KLCI climb to 1400 point and it will even be ridiculous if the fund fails to profit during the period and certainly an excuse should they say the gain has been wiped out because of the crisis, then where is our iniatial injection when the fund is being setup up.

This is just my personal opinion of the issue and you may have a different coming. Nonetheless, I hope you can bring this issue up to parliament and question the cabinet. I believe the general public deserve an answer for this ValueCap and an audit maybe good.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 5:21 pm and is filed under
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Hamid should do his homework as Home Minister by reading/digesting 2005 Royal Police Commission Report

I am very disappointed by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar’s response to complaints by Taiwanese investors about the serious crime situation in the country which affects investment confidence.

In fact, this is not just the concern of Taiwanese  investors but all foreign and local investors as well as ordinary Malaysians and visitors, as crime in Malaysia has become one of the biggest problems in Malaysia – with the exception of the Home Minister.

In fact, the problem of rising crime index has been a staple subject of DAP MPs in Parliament in the last two Parliaments.

I just cannot imagine how Hamid could be so unresponsive and irresponsible as to dismiss the Taiwanese investors’ complaints about the crime situation in Malaysia, claiming that the law-and-order situation in Malaysia has not reached a “red danger alert”.

Let me advise Hamid to do his homework by first reading and digesting the 2005 Royal Police Commission Report, or  he would not have committed another faux pax like his earlier ridiculous statement that the Sin Chew senior reporter Tan Hoon Ching was arrested under the Internal Security Act for her own protection and safety!

When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  became Prime Minister in October 2003, the crime situation was already out of control which was why one of his first reform promises and measures which won him all-round plaudits and support among Malaysians was the establishment of the Royal Police Commission to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their twin fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes.

The Royal Police Commission in its May 2005 Report had referred to the “alarming” and “dramatic increase” in the crime index from 121,176 cases in 1997 to 156,455 cases in 2004, an increase of 29 per cent in eight years, and recommended a reduction by 20% in the crime index in the first 12 months.

In actual fact, the reverse took place. In the past four years, the crime index had worsened from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 224,298 cases in 2007 – a sharp rise of some 45% when it should have gone down as recommended by the Royal Police Commission which proposed a 20% drop in the crime index in the first 12 months of its report.

For the first time in the nation’s 50-year history, the crime index last year crashed through the 200,000 psychological barrier. Women in Malaysia are now more unsafe today than four years ago – as the incidence of rape had more than doubled from a daily average of four women in 2003 to 8.5 women last year!

Has Hamid forgotten the Barisan Nasional’s 2008 general election manifesto where it promised: “Bring down the country’s crime index”.

What has Hamid as Home Minister done in the past seven months to fulfil the BN 2008 manifesto to “Improve the level of personal safety for every individual”?

Hamid has nothing to show as Malaysia today is even more unsafe to its citizens, visitors, tourists and investors because of endemic crime as compared to the start of the Abdullah premiership in 2003 or even just March this year.

Has Hamid forgotten the spate of crime in the country like the robbery-cum-murder of Thor Joo Lee, wife of former Penang State Assemblyman for Bukit Tambun, Lai Chew Hock at her Tambun Indah house in Penang and the robbery of Datin Chang Lee Lee, wife of former Penang Exco and Pulau Tikus Assemblyman Datuk Dr. Teng Hock Nan in her Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman house in Penang among other outrages?

Malaysians are paying a terrible cost in terms of the personal safety of its citizens, tourists and investors  and the nation’s  investment climate because of  the unchecked rising crime index and lack of leadership and commitment to declare an all-out-war against crime whether by the Home Minister or the Inspector-General of Police.

In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that crime in Malaysia has become so endemic as to scare away tourists and investors precisely because the most important recommendation of the Police Royal Commission to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, professional and world-class police service to keep crime low in the country had not been implemented or heeded.

Is Hamd prepared to support the establishment of a full-fledged IPCMC and not a tooth-less and clawless Special Complaints Commission (SCC) which is a mockery of the Royal Police Commission’s IPCMC proposal, as there will be police representatives on the SCC!

[Media Conference Statement (2) in Parliament on Tuesday, 21st October 2008]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 12:08 pm and is filed under
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LGE on Maybank BII scandal

This is a segment of speech by Penang Chief Minister and Bagan MP, Lim Guan Eng on the 2009 Budget in Parliament today.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 8:58 pm and is filed under
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LGE on Utusan Malaysia/Chamil Wariya

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 9:01 pm and is filed under
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Medical Graduates Unemployed!

(Now that Datuk Liow Tiong Lai has secured the second highest votes and elected as MCA Vice President, it is time that he returns quickly and diligently to his duties as Health Minister which he had considerably neglected of late.

As a result,  Malaysians face  many grave medical and health problems whether the dengue epidemic which has  so have claimed at least 78 lives  or the first major outbreak of chikungunya in the country, or the continued bumbling in the administration of the Health Ministry.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I remember when Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek was the Health Minister, he promised to end the long-standing hassle of new doctors having to wait for months on end to get their first posting after their graduation – which is criminal negligence when there  is acute shortage of doctors in the public service.

Liow Tiong  Lai has been sleeping on his job as seen from the following complaint emailed to me. Time for the Health Minister to wake up!  I expect him to explain in Parliament this deplorable state of affairs)

I am a fresh medical graduate who is not satisfied with the way the MOH is working.

I have sent and went through all the necessary processes required to apply to work with the ministry. It was about 3 months ago and until now i have no reply from the ministry.

I tried calling the ministry and was told to refer to their Bahagian Latihan and i did as told and after countless time calling (with them refusing to pick up the phone); they finally took my call and the reply I got was that they themselves don’t know when the “kursus induksi” will start!!

I am now lost since I can do nothing for the past three months; just content to staying at home waiting for the letter everyday for the past three months from the ministry.

I can’t go on a holiday or find a part time job since i don’t really know when the letter will arrive and when i will be called up by the ministry.

I think I have wasted a lot of time when i can do a lot more worthy things but instead I am stuck in this situation together with all my other batch mates. We have been stuck in this situation for the past three months and we  hope that the ministry will have a more convincing answer as to when our induksi will begin, so that we dont have to keep on staying at home everyday, waiting for the letter; hence not being able to do other things.

This blog will shed some light on our situation.

Excerpts from the above-mentioned blog:

It is now the 15th of October. None of my friends (except the few who registered in early or mid of July) have started work.

 We are all waiting for our induction letters. Many have tried calling the MOH and asking about the induction course. Here are some of the responses they got:

-call back in November

-you should be getting your letter anytime soon

-no budget for induction course this year

-it will be at the end of November

-we are waiting for the top people to ‘luluskan’ the induction course

-we don’t know

-the application has not been processed yet

It’s been 3 months since I’ve got back. I have been jobless for 3 months. How long more do I have to wait? I thought that Malaysia has a shortage of doctors. Is this how they choose to handle the problem? By making us sit at home and do nothing?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 8:23 am and is filed under
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LGE on 2009 Budget proposals

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 10:34 am and is filed under
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LGE on Energy Prices

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 10:49 am and is filed under
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LGE on IPP windfalls & Khairy

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 12:02 pm and is filed under
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LGE on Petronas

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 12:01 pm and is filed under
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LGE on Second Penang Bridge

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 10:48 am and is filed under
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Obama for Putrajaya

by
Azly Rahman

“…Haji Ramli Street was a dirt lane where Obama used to while away the hours kicking a soccer ball. In the long rainy season, it turned to thick, mucky soup; Obama and his friends wore plastic bags over their shoes to walk though it,” said Adi, who at 46 is the same age as Obama….

“Neighborhood Muslims worshiped in a nearby house, which has since been replaced by a larger mosque. Sometimes, when the muezzin sounded the call to prayer, Lolo and Barry would walk to the makeshift mosque together.

… “His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong,” said Adi. –
reported by Paul Watson in The Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007

“… given the increasing diversity of America’s population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers. …

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?

Would we go with James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination?

How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defence Department would survive its application?”

– Barack Obama Call to renewal: keynote address June 28, 2006

Barack Hussein Obama for prime minister of Malaysia?

Of course this is a silly proposition, unless Malaysia is USA’s 52nd state!

We would like to see Malaysia evolve into a country in which race nor religion matter in the appointment of prime ministers.

What matter one’s moral righteousness, intellectual depth, uncompromising multiculturalist outlook, undying championing of the Constitution, prioritising of needs versus wants, and commitment to a two-term (eight year) prime ministership.

Obama’s America votes

With less than two weeks before the most exciting US Presidential election, Americans are again, as in the tradition of its democracy, getting an education of what it takes to be a president and what it means to be a voter.

Will the United States see her first “most hybridised”, “hypertextualised”, “heteroglossic” president in Barack Obama?  And how can Malaysia learn from yet another interesting episode in American history?

No, I am not campaigning for Obama, McCain, Biden, or Palin. Being a permanent resident, I cannot vote for America’s president anyway – not yet. Nor have I campaigned for any prime ministerial candidate of Malaysia – not yet,  as I am still waiting for a leader Malaysia deserves.

At this moment, I am more interested in analysing phenomena and to write about what is dear to my heart: the possibility of a republic of virtue that begins with a republic of the self.

Barack is a phenomena America is coming to terms with. He is an embodiment of America the absurd – of a white America wishing to move away from “whiteness” and dropping the “knapsack of white privilege”.

Barack means ‘barkath’ or ‘blessings’ perhaps this country needs to escape from a military-industrial complex it created.

Barack is a product of two of America’ best Ivy League traditions; a Columbia University graduate in Politics and International Relations and a Harvard graduate in Law.

He is “hybridised,” with a Kansas-born white mother and a Kenyan father and an Indonesian stepfather. He is also said to be a distant cousin of Vice President Dick Cheney whose ancestors are said to be great monarchs of Europe.

Barack has lived in Hawaii, Indonesia, New York, and Illinois. His Indonesian childhood experience as Barry Soetoro, son of Lolo Soetoro,  has brought him fond memories of growing up Javanese and mingling with Muslims children in a secular school mistaken as ‘radical madrasah’ by right-wing Republican Islamophobic media spinmasters.

Hey, but what if Barack is a Muslim and proud of it – should Middle America freak out? Such is testament  of how racialised this country is and how uncultured and ignorant Middle America can be. But that experience makes Barack Hussein Obama a deeply kaleidoscopic, hybridised, and cosmopolitan America citizen of the world, I presume.

Barack, Harlem, and the Bronx

Barack’s New York years at West 116th Street, at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) put him in touch with the reality of the “Harlem-ness and the Bronx-ness” of America.

A few more blocks down West 120th Amsterdam and Broadway, one sees a different reality of a Third World America.

America of the ‘projects’ against the backdrop of graffiti, ever-new dance forms, and gangsta rap, hip hop, and reggaeton

Barack’s education at Columbia must have accorded him with the nurturing of empathy especially for the multicultural poor. His Harvard years must have trained his mind in the cognitive tradition of John F. Kennedy.

He is an articulate man whose oratorical skills can even surpass that of the accomplished African-American actor Denzel Washington’s. Barack can even appear cameo in Denzel’s next movie perhaps called Abraham Lincoln Resurrected; the story of Barack Obama.

Barack represents the emergence of America the radical multicultural; a breakdown of grand narrative and hopefully a shift from America the warmonger to America the diplomat and peacemaker.

John McCain, a former prisoner of war, represents what America must evolve out of, replaced by a young and sensible man of all seasons and all reasons: Barack Obama.

United States of America must now be called United Socialist America, with the disappearance of Wall Street and the nationalisation of the US “central” bank.

A demise of the financial system that has propped up the Evil Empire in its crusade for global reach through gunboat diplomacy and democracy for the few.

Casino capitalism which has gambled away the lives of many locally and nationally is making way for a form of capitalism we do not yet know its name.

The American Century Project is cut short by 95 years.

What Malaysia deserves

Malaysia need a new Barack Obama as prime minister.

Well not necessarily a Columbia and Harvard graduate but someone with a good education and a good heart and a good set of analytical skills.

Most importantly Malaysia needs a prime minister for all Malaysians, not only for this or that race.

In Malaysia’s Barack will lie a man or woman who can dismantle all race-base policies.

Malaysia do not need a John McCain as prime minister.

In the Malaysia of John McCain, we will have a system of control akin to militarism, in which secret patronage politics, authoritarianism, and regimentation of a synthesis of Oriental Despotism and modern corporate crony capitalism reigns.

In McCain’s Malaysia, we have the institutionalisation of the war system, in which the regime is at war with its people and institutions and ideologues have been taken as prisoners of war.

Especially in this difficult times of “transition” of power that is giving Malaysians a cruel choice of a hegemonic flow.

If we are to have an Obamanised Malaysia, we will have longer campaigns that makes the prime-ministerial race more intelligent.

Creating more respect for our democratic institutions  more respect for the rule of law, more informed citizenry whom will not tolerate civil rights violation and more articulated promise for radical educational reform.

Most importantly a prime minister committed to dismantling any form of race-base political parties – politics  that will always be the root of  Malaysia’s postmodern/hypermodern ethic and religious conflicts.

Of course Barack Obama will never become a prime minister of Malaysia. It is a silly proposition.

But may Malaysia be blessed with a leader it deserves at a time when the old regime, with its own “Bush-ism and Reaganomics as twin ideology, is rudely demanding for its rights to continue to rule a restless and radicalised multicultural nation.

Of course Obama would not want to belong in any of Malaysia’s race-based party – something that’ll painfully remind him of Jim Crow, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 7:00 am and is filed under
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The RM2.3 billion 12 Cougar EC725 helicopter deal should be suspended until the outcome of PAC scrutiny

When the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Pekan on Sunday that the Cabinet had agreed that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scrutinise the acquisition of the Eurocopter EC725 helicopters to replace the aging Nuri helicopters, it raises the serious question whether the Prime Minister-in-waiting fully understands and respects the principle and practice of parliamentary democracy  and the  doctrine of separation of powers.

In a country truly founded on parliamentary democracy, where the Cabinet is answerable to Parliament and not vice versa, the question of the Cabinet approving a parliamentary scrutiny of an Executive decision would not have arisen – as this is the unquestioned right and prerogative of Parliament in the discharge of its tasks to exercise check-and-balance on executive power.

As the PAC has decided last Wednesday to scrutinise the three mega-scandals highlighted by Pakatan Rakyat in the 2009 budget debate, the RM5 billion Maybank purchase of Bank International Indonesia (BII) at five times the book value, the RM2.3 billion defense deal for 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters and the awarding of the RM11.3 billion high-speed broadband contract to TM Bhd, is Najib suggesting that the Cabinet would only agree to the  PAC scrutiny of the Eurocopter deal but not the two other mega-scandals?

Furthermore, what does Najib mean when he said the Cabinet has agreed to the the PAC scrutiny of the Cougar EC725 helicopter deal?

Last Friday, the Defence Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah issued a totally unsatisfactory statement to claim that the decision to procure the Europcopters was done following proper procedure and was not influenced by any party, as no satisfactory answer had  been given to queries as to why the full technical evaluation process had not followed standard international practices and lacked  transparency.

Abu Bakar claims that the tender documents by seven bidders were evaluated in three parts – the technical evaluation committee, offset evaluation committee and price evaluation committee.

All information and data must be presented to the PAC for its scrutiny, including the outcome of the respective  technical, offset and price evaluations for each tender  bid – with representives from each of the tender bidders invited to appear before the PAC as only they will know how the tender process had disadvantaged or sidelined their aircraft.

In its scrutiny, the PAC should have the benefit of independent expert advice and not be totally dependent on the Defence Ministry or Royal Malaysian Air Force.

Parliament should empower PAC to engage consultants who is knowledgeable in the aviation field especially the helicopter industry and profession.

The PAC should also scrutinize the way the tender team has carried out he selection and check the scoring system to ensure there is no partiality in the grading.

Of particular interest to the PAC is the price differential in the Eurocopter deal by Malaysia as compared to Brazil, which is acquiring 50 ‘Super Cougar’ units from Eurocopter at a price consideration of US$1.2 billion of which the first unit will be delivered in 2010, giving an average unit price of RM84 million as compared to the average unit price of RM193 million for the RMAF’s 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters.

In this connection, I call on the Cabinet to take a definitive decision at its Friday meeting that the Letter of Intent awarded to Eurocopter is suspended until the outcome of the scrutiny of the PAC on the helicopter deal.

The PAC should have a greater sense of urgency  and seriousness in its decision to scrutinize the Eurocopter deal as well as the other two mega-scandals, the Maybank BII and Telecom HSBB scandals. I understand the PAC has  has not scheduled any meeting dates to begin its examination of the three scandals, which is most shocking, as the PAC should be prepared to work extra hard to scrutinize the three mega deals without any delay.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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Will CJ Zaki vindicate all doubters or prove them wrong by bold leadership of judicial reforms?

Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi’s
 appointment as Chief Justice of the Federal Court is the most controversial appointment of the head of the judiciary in the nation’s 51-year history.

Never before in Malaysian judiciary had the possible appointment of the new head of the judiciary been marked by more widespread reservations and public objections than Zaki’s elevation as Chief Justice, because of legitimate concerns about its adverse impact on fumbling efforts so far to restore national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary.

This was because of two reasons:

·	Firstly, Zaki’s quintuple or five-step jump up the judicial hierarchy in slightly over a year, being appointed straight to the Federal Court without any earlier appointment as High Court Judge and Court of Appeal Judge, then elevation as Court of Appeal President and now Federal Court Chief Justice; and

·	Secondly, Zaki’s close and long association with UMNO as UMNO lawyer both for the  party and its very intricate and complex corporate network and affairs, as well as head of UMNO disciplinary board.

In the past two decades after  the arbitrarily sacking of Tun Salleh Abas as Lord President in the 1988 “Mother of Judicial Crisis”, the country has had five heads of the judiciary.

Unfortunately, three of the five, Tun Hamid Omar, Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz had mired the judiciary and country even deeper in national shame and international infamy  – making efforts to restore national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and return to its  previous high international esteem a most Herculean one.

This is why for instance the latest survey among expatriate business executives in Asia by  the Hong-Kong based
Political and Economic Risks Consultancy (Perc)
 last month found that Malaysia lagged behind even South Korea, Taiwan  and the Philippines on which Asian country has the best judicial system.  Malaysia was ranked seventh while the first three places went to Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

Yesterday, a local survey of lawyers’ perception of the judiciary conducted by
Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M)
 gave a grim picture of the state of public confidence in the judiciary.

According to findings of a survey of 339 lawyers conducted in March and April, the judicial process and judicial appointments are greatly subject to undue influence and judicial authorities subject to corruption and bribery.

From the survey, 91% felt that the judicial process in the superior courts (High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court) was subject to various levels of undue influence from the Government or others.

As to whether judicial authorities were susceptible to accepting bribes to give favourable judgments, 94% said yes.

However, only 15% thought they always took bribes.

The survey also found that 96% thought judicial appointments were subject to influence.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had promised judicial reform to top his final short-list of three  reforms, but  it is like shutting the stable door after the horses have bolted to now talk about a Judicial Appointment Commission when  Zaki’s appointment  as Chief Justice had been made without any  nod or concession  to the spirit of judicial reform.

With the most controversial appointment as head of judiciary in nation’s 51-year history now a fait accompli –  the question is whether Zaki will  vindicate all doubters with the worst-scene judicial scenario or  he would prove them wrong by providing  bold and visionary leadership for judicial reform in the  next five years.

Objectors to Zaki’s  fast-track appointment as Chief Justice have two options: firstly to invoke Article 127 of the Constitution to move a substantive motion in Parliament with the support of at least one-quarter of Members of Parliament, i.e. 55 MPs to discuss Zaki’s appointment; or  two, to give Zaki the opportunity to acquit  himself and prove  that he is  capable of taking full account of the widespread reservations about his appointment to the process to restore public confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary after two decades of judicial darkness.

I am inclined to the latter but a public debate on the best option before the country in the challenge to restore national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary would be useful, pertinent and timely.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 5:12 pm and is filed under
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Another White Elephant for Putrajaya?

Letters

by
Moaz Yusuf Ahmad

Subang Jaya,

Selangor

RE: Putrajaya monorail report and Putrajaya Corp. bus purchases

When it was announced in early 2008 that the government was taking another look at the Putrajaya monorail, it could hardly have come at a better time.  This was in late April/early May, and I had just finished participating in the Majlis Bajet Consultation 2009.  My experience trying to get from Persiaran Putrajaya (the site of the Finance Ministry) to Putrajaya Sentral was ironic.  Though the bus fleet had improved (in terms of size) information about bus services and bus shelters was still non-existent on the main island.

My comments about the poor infrastructure for the bus services and the lack of demand to justify a monorail would strike a chord with many people. They agreed with me about the irony of investing millions of RM to build a monorail instead of investing a few thousand RM to build bus shelters that could be enjoyed by many.

Now that the report on the monorail has been completed it would be very interesting to hear what it has to say.  Sadly, the government is keeping quiet about the report.

Fortunately, there is an interesting clue in the announcement about the Putrajaya Corporation’s plan to buy 15 buses soon and 104 buses with the allocation from the 9MP.

At the moment the Putrajaya corporation has 25 or more 12m buses, powered by clean natural gas.  It is anyone’s guess how many of these buses are actually operating under the NadiPutra service at any given time, but the fleet size is certainly adequate for the needs of Putrajaya.

With the addition of 15 buses, the fleet would be more than 50 buses, which would certainly be more than adequate for Putrajaya, as well as Cyberjaya and probably Kajang and Sepang as well.  In fact, with a fleet of 50 buses, NadiPutra might even be capable of running direct services to KL, using the KL-Putrajaya highway.  Such a service would be quite competitive against the existing RapidKL and Metrobus and even against the KLIA Transit.  And with a fleet of 50 buses, the monorail would be quite unnecessary for Putrajaya.  Hence, perhaps the intent to purchase the buses is a clue that the monorail will not be built anytime soon.

But that may not be the case.  The intent to purchase 104 more buses is quite strange because I cannot imagine that the Putrajaya Corporation would need 150 buses to operate bus services in and around Putrajaya.  I am even afraid to imagine that they might build the monorail and have a fleet of 150 buses.

The whole thing sounds like a massive mis-allocation of funds which could be used to improve public transport services in other communities.  As I stated more than 2 years ago, it is highly unfair that KL, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Penang, Johor Bahru, and many other Malaysian communities are suffering from pollution and traffic congestion and poor public transport while a small city like Putrajaya gets a fleet of all-CNG buses that is far larger than what it actually needs.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 23 October 2008, 5:29 pm and is filed under
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