Mahathir kata bankrap, Musa kata tidak

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

March 14, 2013

14 MAC — Kenyataan Musa Hitam semalam memberikan pencerahan yang sangat baik untuk politik rakyat dan negara. Beliau tidak bersetuju apa yang didakyahkan oleh pimpinan Umno khususnya Dr Mahathir Mohamad yang negara akan bankrap jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah selepas pilihanraya yang akan datang ini.

Musa berkata Pakatan Rakyat akan bekerja keras untuk memastikan yang negara akan terus mencapai kemajuan dan tidak akan melalaikan tanggungjawab yang buat pertama kali diberikan oleh rakyat terhadap pihak pembangkang.

Musa juga tidak bersetuju dengan politik rasis yang menebal sekarang dan pihak yang memainkan sentimen perkauman itu merupakan permainan poltik bankrap yang sudah tidak relevan lagi buat masa dan zaman ini. Kenyataan Musa ini tentunya bertentangan dengan pandangan Dr Mahathir, seorang pemimpin yang boleh berjalan di atas air itu.

Dr Mahathir yang akhir-akhir ini seperti orang yang dalam ketakutan yang amat sangat itu telah membuat kenyataan-kenyataan yang menghangatkan dengan bermatlamat untuk membina dan meningkatkan sentimen perkauman di negara ini.

Beliau (Mahathir) telah meminta Felda untuk memainkan filem Tanda Putera bagi menaikkan perasaan kebencian orang Melayu terhadap kaum Cina dan ianya tentulah untuk menghalang DAP yang menjadi sasaran cemuhan Mahathir akhir-akhir ini.

Seperti yang saya sebutkan selalu Umno hanya akan kekal berkuasa jika ada perbalahan dan perpecahan. Umno tidak kekal jika rakyat dan negara dalam keadaan aman dan damai. Maka itulah sebabnya Umno sentiasa berusaha untuk meningkatkan perasaan benci-membenci di antara kaum agar parti itu terus menjadi parti pemerintah yang berkemampuan untuk melakukan rasuah secara sistematik.

Umno memerlukan sangat untuk terus memerintah kerana sudah tertanam budaya dan pemikiran pimpinan Umno di setiap peringkat yang parti itu ada modal untuk mereka berniaga dan mengumpulkan kekayaan keluarga dan kroni itu. Kejatuhan Umno merupakan kehilangan punca mereka mengumpulkan harta seperti yang dikumpulkan oleh Karun dahulu.

Umno sudah tertanam kepercayaan yang hanya Umno sahaja yang layak untuk memerintah tetapi rakyat sudah berubah dan tidak lagi termakan dengan dakyah buruk dan hina parti itu. Rakyat sudah memahami bahawa mereka adalah tuan kepada negara dan bukannya Dr Mahathir yang sentiasa berfikir bahawa hanya beliau sahaja yang berfikir. Dr Mahathir berfikir hanya pemikiran beliau sahaja yang mesti diikuti.

Justeru kenyataan Musa semalam merupakan pencerahan yang amat dinanti-nantikan oleh rakyat dan kenyataan beliau itu telah menjadi buah mulut rakyat terutamanya di negeri Johor.

Saya tidak dapat untuk menuliskan secara ‘detail’ tentang apa yang ada dalam pemikiran saya kerana saya sedang berada di Kedah dalam siri ceramah yang telah diuruskan oleh PAS untuk saya.

Saya akan menulis tentang isu yang disentuh oleh Musa ini apabila saya kembali ke Kuala Lumpur sehari dua lagi, insya-allah. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 8:48 am and is filed under
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Malaysia uses spyware against own citizens, NYT reports

By Boo Su-Lyn

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 14, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Malaysia is among 25 countries using off-the-shelf spyware to keep tabs on citizens by secretly grabbing images off computer screens, recording video chats, turning on cameras and microphones, and logging keystrokes, US newspaper the New York Times (NYT) reported yesterday.

Besides Malaysia, researchers at Citizen Lab based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs found that the United States, Singapore, Indonesia and Britain also used the surveillance software known as FinSpy.

“Rather than catching kidnappers and drug dealers, it looks more likely that it is being used for politically motivated surveillance,” security researcher Morgan Marquis-Boire was quoted by NYT as saying.

Martin J. Muench, managing director of Gamma Group — a British company that sells FinSpy — has reportedly said that Gamma Group sold its technology to governments solely to monitor criminals, and that it was most often used against “paedophiles, terrorists, organised crime, kidnapping and human trafficking”.

Marquis-Boire, however, pointed out that the software was open to abuse, saying: “If you look at the list of countries that Gamma is selling to, many do not have a robust rule of law.”

Other countries with servers running FinSpy include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Qatar, Serbia, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

Global human rights group Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 report that Malaysia has yet to ratify core human rights treaties, despite being a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

It added that Putrajaya continued to violate the rights to free association and public assembly last year, besides decreasing freedom of expression by amending the Evidence Act.

FinSpy was used in emails targeted at political dissidents in Ethiopia and on Android phones in Vietnam, according to Marquis-Boire’s report published on the Citizen Lab website yesterday.

FinSpy was also found in emails targeting Bahraini activists last July. Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Communications also ran FinSpy off its own computer system, according to the report.

Human Rights Watch called Turkmenistan last month one of the most repressive governments in the world.

“Our findings highlight the increasing dissonance between Gamma’s public claims that FinSpy is used exclusively to track ‘bad guys’ and the growing body of evidence suggesting that the tool has and continues to be used against opposition groups and human rights activists,” said the Citizen Lab report.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 4:12 pm and is filed under
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Musa Hitam says country will not go bankrupt if PR takes over

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 12:05 pm and is filed under
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Najib Makes False Claims on TV

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 12:03 pm and is filed under
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Our Fallen Heroes

by Allan CF Goh

“Theirs is not to question why,

Theirs is but to do and die.”

No more will they see the sky,

Return to earth, they will lie.

They sustain our tomorrow,

When sadly killed in action.

They are our fallen heroes,

Felled, fighting for the nation.

They die so that we can live.

May they always rest in peace.

Wrapped in honour, and our grief.

With deep gratitude, our piece.

The Nation mourns, remembers,

Your deed to posterity.

Interned with you forever,

Honour in eternity.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 8:55 am and is filed under
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Pope Captivates Crowds With 1st Words About Peace

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press

VATICAN CITY March 14, 2013 (AP)

Before they even saw his face, Pope Francis had already won over the Roman masses.

The announcement that he would be known by the same name as St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of Italy, sent the crowd into ecstasy.

He did even better with his first words, when the 76-year-old Argentine said the cardinals had reached to the “end of the earth” to find the bishop of Rome — recalling the beloved Pope John Paul II, a Polish cardinal who told his first crowd in 1978 that cardinals had called him “from a far country.”

The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is the son of an Italian immigrant and his Italian is only lightly accented.

“Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity,” he said.

The Romans weren’t the only ones who were won over.

Kim Daniels, director of Catholic Voices USA, was struck by the humility the pope exhibited when he emerged on the balcony.

“He kneeled down. He asked for the crowd’s blessing. We saw him pray along with the crowd the Our Father, the Hail Mary, joining us all in those prayers that are so familiar to Catholics,” she said.

“It was a sign of humility. It was a sign that holiness is the most important thing here. It is so, so wonderful to see someone really focus on prayer like that.”

And he sounded almost grandfatherly as he wished the crowd, “Good night and sleep well.”

His choice of dress also sent a message. Francis steered clear of the fur-trimmed red cape known as a mozzetta that popes often wear for ceremonial occasions, and put on a stole only for his blessing. That is in keeping with a personal style that has been considered the antithesis of Vatican splendor

At home in Buenos Aires, he sold the expensive archbishop’s residence and lived in a modest apartment, did his own cooking and rode the bus to work.

That is in marked contrast with the way a number of Vatican cardinals live, starting with splendid homes and chauffeured cars.

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, lived modestly. But his values clashed with Vatican officials linked to corruption and careerism and he was undermined by a scandal of leaked confidential documents that was blamed on his personal butler.

Now those issues fall on Francis to solve.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 7:10 am and is filed under
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Sabah natives: We’re losing our lives too

Alyaa Azhar | March 13, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

Media organisations are urged to highlight the misery of indigenous peoples living in the Lahad Datu area.

KUALA LUMPUR: A group representing Sabah natives has urged the media to highlight the suffering indigenous peoples have to bear as Malaysian forces battle Sulu invaders in the state.

Andrew Ambrose, who leads the Sabah Coalition of Human Rights Organisations (Sacohuro), told reporters today that the presence of security forces in the Lahad Datu area had severely disrupted the lives of locals.

He paid tribute to the soldiers and policemen fighting the invaders and offered his sympathies to the families of the fallen, but said the natives too were losing their lives in a sense.

“The presence of security forces have been greatly felt, thanks to the media, which have been showing images of them on ground zero on a daily basis,” said Ambrose.

“But the people of Sabah, especially the indigenous people, are feeling insecure and helpless.

“Our fears are justified. Recently, a gunman threatened the father of a member of one of our support organisations. We believe the stranger was one of the intruders.

“It’s hard enough to live in fear. But not only have we been deprived of our right to be safe; our freedom of movement too has been restricted.”

He said roadblocks put up by the security forces had added to the misery of the locals.

“Roadblocks have limited the people from performing their daily routines and earning their livelihood.”

Ambrose was speaking at a press conference arranged by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

He said one of the dangers faced by Lahad Datu folk came in the form of misinformation, together with the failure of authorities to give an accurate picture of the situation on the ground.

“It is normal for people to sympathise with the families of servicemen who have lost their lives, but over-sympathising of one party can make the situation a lot worse,” he said.

“There are many others who are victims too, including the minority communities.”

He called on the United Nations to conduct a high-level fact-finding mission on the Sabah situation before making assumptions or deciding on a course of action.

He cautioned against militarisation of the area before the completion of such a mission.

“We want our government to guarantee our safety and security because any form of intrusion into our nation or threat to our national sovereignty would be a violation of our rights,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 9:14 am and is filed under
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The Petronas dilemma

LAWRENCE YONG

KiniBiz

MARCH 8, 2013

Oil is all about access, not production. And therefore only those who have access to the black gold can pump up extraordinary profits.

It is estimated that three quarters of the world’s 1,653 billion barrels of proven oil reserves are in the hands of national oil companies with no foreign participation. Many of them are in the OPEC cartel. That’s how they have managed to control supply and keep oil prices soaring.

Then you have the anomaly – the so-called century old multi-national oil companies, ExxonMobil Corp, The Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP and Chevron Corp  – who used to own the oil world. Now they offer their expertise and know-how to any country who will lend them access…and still make extraordinary profits (minus pollution payouts) because they have established markets everywhere…

But therein lies Petronas’ dilemma, a young upstart of 38 years which has neither full know-how nor international access or great oil assets. It is struggling between transforming into an international major oil company or staying as a national oil concern. Fairly speaking, Petronas is now neither here nor there.

One long-time observer of the company put it unkindly : “They are earning a reputation for biting off more than they can chew.”

And what’s worse…Petronas now carries the unfulfilled burden of replenishing drawn-down national oil reserves, which by most accounts, will not last beyond this generation. The pressure is real and its on for Petronas and they know it.

After getting an entire nation addicted to driving, building highways and promoting national cars to fuel oil demand, nobody will understand if Malaysia’s oil supply suddenly ran short. It is simply Petronas’ job to make sure it does not.

Should it have gone overseas at all?

With a small hydrocarbon base in Malaysia, Petronas has used it as a leverage to try and gain access to other people’s black gold. Whether it’s from the muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East or helping resource poor next-door Southeast Asians, Petronas has tried to gain a foothold everywhere possible.

In leaked U.S. government documents on WikiLeaks from years back, it is reported that a Petronas official once told U.S.officials that Petronas made the conscious decision in the mid 1990s, with the blessings of the government of Malaysia, to compete in countries where Western sanctions precluded the oil majors from competing. These were countries such as Iran, Sudan, Myanmar, and Mauritania.

Unfortunately, nationalistic forces ultimately prevail as they did in Sudan last year, as they may also do in Iraq – which some analysts had said was Petronas next big hope for big oil finds.

Petronas said Thursday that its net profits for the fourth quarter of 2012 fell by 45 percent to RM8.72 billion, with the loss of over 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production in Sudan since second quarter of 2012, and  it also wrote down RM5 billion on its investment in Egyptian gas.

President and CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbas said Sudan was its “cash cow” and previously, Petronas had reported that Sudan and Egypt accounted for nearly 70 percent of its total overseas production in 2011.

With such dismal performance in 2012, it’s no wonder that Petronas is trying something new…their latest bet on Canada, even though a long way from realising any profits, is a bet on open market forces and developed countries instead of the developing and undeveloped world. Nobody can say for sure if it will work or not.

But perhaps it’s time to stop taking extraordinary risks on behalf of Malaysians, Petronas. Why should a country whose nominal per capita income is US$10,000 a year invest in a country whose per capita income is five times higher at US$50,000 a year, to help them exploit their resources. Canada is the 14th richest country in the world, according to a recent IMF survey. Malaysia ranked 58th.

Who has ever heard of the poor helping the rich to get even richer?

And yet that’s how Calgary-based Progress Energy sold the Petronas takeover deal to Canadians who at first saw no net benefit for Canadians. Progress said they needed an investor with deep pockets and Petronas’ investment in LNG plants would provide 3,000 jobs.

Many of Petronas’ moves overseas appears to shadow PetroChina Corp, their partner in Sudan and Iraq. The same week that Petronas bought Progress Energy for US$5.3 billion, PetroChina bought Encana for US$2.2 billion and then China’s state-owned CNOOC also bought Alberta-based Nexen for US$15 billion.

But PetroChina represents a nation of 1.3 billion Chinese people, hungry for its oil supply to fuel a rapidly growing economy. Petronas represents about 28 million Malaysians. China has deep pockets but Petronas must realize it does not …before it’s too late.

What should Petronas attempt to do?

Firstly, the Petroleum Development Act needs to be revised. Petronas’ focus and mandate should be sharpened towards domestic oil and gas resources and should not be made accountable to the Prime Minister but to Parliament and an independently constituted board tasked to ensure that the national oil company acts always in accord with its legal mandate. Prime ministerial discretion to allow moves away from its stated mandate can be dangerous.

There are lots to do domestically as Petronas tries to make Malaysia the regional and maybe even the world’s top deepwater oil and gas exploration services hub. Petronas doesn’t have a choice anymore. Now is the time for hard work to dig deeper.

Malaysian hydrocarbon reserves which make up over 75 percent of Petronas’ total resource holdings have stayed stagnant for the last five years at least. Consultants said Malaysia is expected to be Asia’s top spender on offshore oil and gas services at over  RM50 billion to be committed for 2011-2015.

But the power to hand out production sharing contracts (PSC) and risk sharing contracts (RSC) cannot rest solely on Petronas, which may already have a vested interest in many oil services companies, some of whom are run by ex-Petronas employees.

The way businesses work in Malaysia, Petronas as a top government-linked corporation will inevitably feel pressured to favour other government or politically-linked businesses, especially now since Malaysia’s political landscape is shaping up to be a divide between supporters of two key political coalitions. Membership of the Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council (MOGSC) suddenly jumped exponentially – 121 of its 372 members just signed up last year. Why?

Or worse, since many RSCs are going to foreign interests, a large group of small niche players, how do we ensure that no under the table money is exchanged? A government body, separate from Petronas, perhaps under Parliament’s watch, must take over this duty to check that contracts are handed out fairly.

And Petronas itself needs to be checked to ensure that it does not have monopoly power to invest  the nation’s oil wealth. Malaysia, with exhaustible resources, deserves a prudent fund manager which does not show political preference for companies or countries or even favoured nations.

Because it is Malaysia’s top corporation, Petronas will do well to set the standard for accounting disclosures and transparency, marking a new era for other government-linked corporations. Every cent must count for Malaysia’s oil wealth should be fairly shared by all Malaysians, including the most needy.

Perhaps, to ensure that Petronas does not get pulled in all directions, Petronas needs to pay more into a fund. This will come in useful when Malaysia needs to import its oil in the future. Norway’s Oil Fund, established since 1990 to manage the country’s wealth from oil, is now worth up to US$650 billion and is one of the largest such funds in the world. Norway’s oil reserves in 2011 stood at about 6.9 billion barrels, not so far off from Malaysia’s 5.9 billion barrels.

The challenge is to maximise as well as sustain that wealth for now and for always through prudent exploration, production and investment while being socially responsible at all times. That’s not an easy task but once the parameters are set, it should be easier.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 11:44 am and is filed under
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THEIRS NOT TO REASON WHY,  THEIRS BUT TO DO AND DIE

An ode to the brave police at Sabah

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

13.3.2013

(In memory of the eight policemen who died in the line of duty on the beach at Sabah)

INTO THE LONELY SHORE AT SABAH

CAME THE SULU RAIDERS

WHO WERE ALLOWED TO ESCAPE INTO THE DARKNESS.

THEN CAME THE POLICE BRIGADE

INTO THE SCENE OF DEATH.

FORWARD THE POLICE BRIGADE

INTO LONELY VILLAGES.

FORWARD THE POLICE BRIGADE

THEIRS NOT TO MAKE REPLY

THEIRS  NOT TO REASON WHY

THEIRS BUT TO DO AND DIE

WITHIN THE VILLAGES OF DEATH.

DID NOT EIGHT POLICE DIE?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 12:13 pm and is filed under
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27-Day Countdown to 13GE – IMF Report Card warns of an austerity scenario for Malaysian economy not too dissimilar to that of several EuroZone countries

The nation is just weeks away from choosing a Government to steer the ship of state.

The upcoming General Election will be momentous and will demand a choice between Barisan Nasional,  a coalition that has ruled the nation for almost five and a half decades,  and  Pakatan Rakyat, an alternate group that offers change and a new direction.

Meaningful choices should ideally be based on full information about the current state of affairs and the alternative visions offered by the two coalitions.

The information on the state of the economy is less than transparent and that which is available is skewed in favour of the incumbent regime. The opposing coalition lacks full access to information.

Under these circumstances, it is necessary to look to alternative independent sources to arrive at objective assessments.

Such an objective and comprehensive assessment is indeed available. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted its Annual Article IV Consultations in Nov –Dec 2012. A report based on the consultations was considered by the IMF’s Board of Executive Directors in late February 2013. The Fund has released the report and posted it on its website.

The Report can be downloaded from:

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2013/cr1351.pdf

It is no surprise that neither Government officials nor the main stream media have disclosed the contents despite the fact that the Report is publicly accessible from the IMF’s website.

Like most IMF Reports, it is highly nuanced. It gives credit to the authorities for some aspects of recent economic developments but it nevertheless is critical and points to areas where reforms are needed.

The Report also touches on several policy positions that the Government has not as yet shared with the country at large.

Some of the key issues taken up in the Report deal with:

•	The size of the deficit and the Federal debt approaching the self-imposed ceiling of 55% of GDP; the size of debt guarantees extended by the Government  (15 % of GDP) – the contingent liabilities. If these are taken into account the ceiling has been breached.

•	The Report refers to the sharp and rapid increase in the loans extended to households by the banking sector (mainly for housing and car loans). These have grown faster than loans to businesses. The Report notes that the Banks are likely to become over exposed.

•	The Report notes that while private sector investment has increased, a sizable part has been by GLCs investing, a lot of investments being abroad.

•	The Report implicitly criticizes the pattern of spending and inefficiencies involved.

•	The Report is also critical on the over dependence on oil and gas revenues and notes the need for broadening the tax base; it calls for a removal of subsidies and their replacement by targeted transfers to households.

•	There are a number other policy recommendations e.g. about pension reforms, civil service restructuring, the need to closely monitor the new minimum wage policy etc.

The Report contains some disclosure of Government thinking and proposed actions over the near term. It is significant that there are clear indications that the Government will go forward with the introduction of the GST and removal of the fuel subsidy. There is also a sort of pledge that the deficit will be brought down to about 3% from the current level that is above 4% without an indication of how.

THE IMF REPORT CARD

The IMF Report is in a sense a Report Card on the performance of the Malaysian economy. Credit is given where appropriate; nuanced cautionary recommendations are offered; and note is taken of unpopular policy actions the Government will take, presumably, after the General Elections.

While it is not feasible to provide a comprehensive summary, it is pertinent to  highlight the following quotes from the Report, viz:

•	Consumption growth has also been vigorous, supported by a strong labor market, credit to households, and government transfers.

•	Net exports, on the other hand, have declined. This has led to a significant external rebalancing, with the current account surplus moderating by about 5 percentage points of GDP relative to 2011

•	Domestically, elevated housing prices and growing household debt may pose risks for the financial sector. Also, a slower-than-expected pace of implementation of fiscal and structural reforms could pose risks. For instance, a protracted increase in unit labor costs resulting from slower-than-envisaged medium-term productivity increases or a higher-than anticipated impact from the minimum wage could harm potential growth. Finally, the upcoming general elections could lead to some market volatility.

•	The Federal Government debt is projected to rise to about 53 percent of GDP in 2012−13, close to the authorities’ self-imposed ceiling of 55 percent of GDP. On the other hand, the overall public sector deficit is projected to have risen to 5.1 percent of GDP in 2012 (from 3.3 percent in 2011), partly reflecting higher investments by nonfinancial public enterprises (NFPEs), and is expected to widen to 6.3 percent of GDP in 2013 (Figure 5).3

•	However, the FG’s relatively high debt level affords limited space for a fiscal response in a downside scenario. Any fiscal stimulus should be well targeted, temporary, and anchored in an ambitious medium term consolidation plan.

•	Housing prices are running ahead of household incomes and housing rents. Household debt is high, as is bank exposure to households (55 percent of bank credit) (Figure 8).6 In response, the authorities have introduced a number of MPPs and fiscal measures since 2010.7 These measures have succeeded in slowing down household credit growth, particularly for unsecured loans, while preliminary data suggest housing price appreciation may have decelerated. Some pressure points do remain, however: growth in credit to households remains in double digits, the supply of low cost housing is tight, and prices are still rising strongly in some housing segments.

•	if household credit growth and housing prices remain high, additional measures could be taken, including lower loan-to-value (LTV) caps, further increases in capital gains taxes on properties, higher stamp duties on real estate transactions, and a further tightening of regulations on unsecured personal loans. As noted by the FSSA, continued efforts to capture granular data on household assets and liabilities by income segment would strengthen monitoring of risks in this sector.

•	Malaysia’s fiscal space has shrunk considerably following the global financial crisis. The FG debt to GDP ratio has increased by 12 percentage points since 2008, reflecting both substantial discretionary fiscal stimulus and declining growth and oil prices in the aftermath of the crisis. This debt ratio is elevated compared to countries with similar credit ratings. The structural fiscal position has also deteriorated, as evidenced by the persistent decline in the nonoil primary balance and the current balance. The significant increase in operating expenditures in recent years may put at risk the FG’s golden rule of maintaining a positive current fiscal balance. A weak structural fiscal position and a relatively high debt ratio reduce the ability to mount countercyclical fiscal responses in the future.

•	The baseline assumes: (i) fuel subsidy reform; (ii) introduction of the GST (to replace existing sales taxes) at a rate of 5 percent along with offsetting revenue measures, yielding net revenue gains of about 0.5 percent of GDP in the medium term; and (iii) an increase in direct transfers to low income households of ½ percent of GDP per year.

•	The FG’s revenue base is narrow and overly reliant on volatile oil and gas receipts, which account for about a third of the total. The planned introduction of the GST would help broaden the revenue base. In addition, the authorities should streamline fiscal incentives for investment, with their budgetary costs made more transparent.

•	The public sector deficit is rising, reflecting a large increase in NFPE spending (Figure 5). Due to long reporting lags, the latter is difficult to monitor and control. Contingent liabilities for the FG are also growing from the rise in government’s statutory guarantees (which increased to 15 percent of GDP, partly reflecting borrowing by special purpose vehicles set up to finance large public infrastructure projects), and from public-private partnerships (PPPs) more generally.

•	The authorities stressed their commitment to fiscal consolidation, tax reform and expenditure rationalization. They reiterated the government’s commitment to implement the GST, rationalize energy subsidies, and strengthen public financial management, including through a medium term budget framework. They also highlighted their intention to address long term spending pressures, including through reforms to the public pension scheme, to housing and student loan programs, and to the civil service.

The Report speaks for itself. It lays out in well nuanced statements that the Government will have to face up to taking measures to bring the fiscal house into order.

The Government acknowledges that this will demand measures to broaden the tax base, repeal subsidies, trim certain expenditures and adopt tighter policies to control operating expenditures.

These policies will translate into the introduction of the long delayed GST, a measure that will impact mainly on households. The removal of subsidies that is contemplated, in all probability, will be in the area of those subsidies covering consumer goods.

There is no indication that there is any intention to withdraw subsidies currently extended to Independent Power Producers or toll road operators or other recipients of “corporate welfare”.

Attempts to curb the growth in household debt will directly impact on the ability of households to borrow in order to finance housing and transport equipment.

Taken as a whole, the impact of the above policy package will largely be felt by the household sector.

The measures taken will push the country on an austerity path not too dissimilar to that adopted by several of the EUROZONE countries.

Were this scenario unfold, Malaysians will feel the pain of adjustment. No amount of “massaged”  and even  fraudulent  statistics is likely to spare the country.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 8:39 am and is filed under
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Is anybody listening to what Sabahans want?

Lucy Ahmed

Malaysiakini

Mar 4, 2013

When speaking of the recent Sabah intrusion incident, many people are trying to relate it only to the bigger picture of the Malaysian government’s political issues.

But it is much deeper than that as it has crept into the fabric of the social lives of Sabahans.

I am here talking because I am a Sabahan, and my hometown is Sandakan, which is only few kilometres from where the incidents are taking place.

I am definitely very concerned over the lingering issue of never ending claim by some non-existent sultanate that has no legitimacy at all since the Suluks “lordship” was only valid around 200 years ago.

While the main decisions are being discussed and taking place miles away from across the ocean in the peninsular Malaysia, we the people of North Borneo are all living in a tense situation and in uncertainty on our own soil.

We are not given any right at all to voice our opinions over the matter. We are just like a colony without any power to decide our future, but to simply follow orders from across the ocean.

What we strongly disagree is for other people to change our historical and cultural background.

Yes, historically a small part of North Borneo belonged to the sultan of Sulu, but they have never done anything much to North Borneo in term of developing it.

The sultanate existed around 200 years ago, and it has long been forgotten and no longer recognised anywhere in the world.

They do not have any existing kingdom thus by the international law, any claim from them is no longer valid.

Now North Borneo is an independent state, and it is part of Malaysia since the last 50 years.

Malaysia by law has to protect the welfare of the state and the people of North Borneo.

And what we want is for Malaysia to once and for all to stop all these illegal claims and intrusions from the non-existent sultanate or any pirates that come to our shore to disturb the peace of our state.

We do not want any more fruitless negotiations which have been going on for years and years since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

We are very disappointed with the marines for failing to protect the shore of our state. All those “pirates” should have been stopped at sea, disarmed and sent back to where they belong but instead they were given all kinds of leniency on our soil.

This is not a new issue at all as there has been many illegal entries from those living in the islands of Sulu.

Unfortunately, without the consent of the people of North Borneo, those illegal immigrants have been legitimised by the government of Malaysia.

The social fabric of North Borneo has now been much distorted creating the racial and religious imbalance in our state which are all to the advantage of the federal government.

We, the native people, once the majority group on our own soil have been turned into a minority group due to this legitimisation over the years.

Another complication that arises through this legitimisation is the grabbing of the “special privileges” of the native people.

Understand that all these Suluk immigrants are Muslims, and they are automatically entitled to the special privileges which all Muslims in Malaysia are entitled to.

Our poor native people of Sabah, who are not Muslims, have now become the second class citizens on our own soil.

In other words, those legitimised immigrants with their special advantage of being Muslims, have grabbed every opportunity entitled to the native people of Sabah.

Many have received all kinds of help from the government of Malaysia which has left a smaller piece of pie to the native-born.

In conclusion, had the federal government had the best interest of Sabahans in mind, those pirates would not have an easy access into our soil.

Now the Suluks are having a strong footing on our soil due to the leniency of the federal government during the past 30 years.

The so called ‘100 gunmen’ can easily increase to 1,000 and even 2,000 gunmen because the Suluks have spread themselves into every corner of our state over these long years.

Historically, the Mahathir Mohamad government should be blamed for all the mismanagement of the state of Sabah.

He actively involved himself in the affair of the Palestinians, but failed to settle a similar basic problem of his own subjects.

Mahathir never tried to solved the long-standing problem of this Sabah claim issue, but instead had escalated it to our suffocation. Mahathir is the main devil here, all due to his hunger for power as premier for 22 long years

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 7:22 am and is filed under
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Kit Siang set to announce candidature in Johor

By
Lee Way Loon
 | 4:13PM Mar 15, 2013

Malaysiakini

In an attempt to win federal power, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who has been visiting Johor frequently of late, is expected to contest a parliamentary seat in the state in the coming general election.

It is learnt that the Ipoh Timor MP will be making an official announcement on his shift to the southern BN stronghold at DAP’s 47th anniversary celebration and ceramah in Skudai, near Johor Bharu, on Monday.

Several party insiders told Malaysiakini that the possibility of Lim contesting a Johor parliamentary seat in GE13 was “very real”.

However, it could not be confirmed that whether Lim would also name the seat he intended to contest, tough speculation has been that it could be Gelang Patah.

Lim,when contacted on this matter, refused to comment.

On Tuesday, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke (left) said a “major announcement” would be made at the party’s anniversary celebration in Skudai.

Asked for some details by Malaysiakini later, Loke refused to divulge anything, apart from saying it would be a “major announcement that relates to the party’s movements in the coming general election”.

DAP deputy president Tan Kok Wai, who also sits on the four-member panel to finalise the party’s candidates for GE13, also declined to comment.

It is learnt three parliamentary seats are being considered for the veteran DAP leader – Gelang Patah, Kulai and Kluang, with Gelang Patah being the seat most touted.

This constituency, close to Johor Bharu, comprises 54 percent Chinese voters, 34 percent Malay and 12 percent Indian. Incumbent MP and Johor Wanita MCA chief Tan Ah Eng retained the seat with a 8,851-vote majority votes in 2008.

Nevertheless, Gelang Patah is deemed to be one of the winnable seats for Pakatan Rakyat because of a strong sentiment against the BN among the Chinese community there.

[More to follow]

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 5:57 pm and is filed under
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Lahad Datu intrusion – sovereignty compromised

Through my aging eyes

By Dr Edwin Bosi

Borneo Post

3rd March 2013

I received a surprise call from DAP National Advisor Sdr Lim Kit Siang on the evening of 18th February 2013, first asking me about the “armed intrusion” in Lahad Datu and then telling me that he is flying into Tawau tomorrow and to proceed to the flash point in Kg Tanduo. I have booked my flight earlier to Tawau for the 20th to attend the Tawau DAP Chinese New Year gathering and later the next day to see some cattle in Kabalakan. Kit Siang’s plan caused me to re-schedule my flight.

Deputy DAP Chairman Fred Fung and I managed to get a flight to Tawau on 19th evening, arriving Tawau just 20 minutes earlier than Kit Siang. At the airport, DAP Chairman Jimmy Wong, Chan Foong Hin and few others were waiting for him. We went to one of Tawau best seafood restaurants where he was briefed on the plan to Lahad Datu. All along we were in the dark about the incident and could only refer to the articles in the main stream and alternative media.

We left for Lahad Datu at 6am the next day in three vehicles. We had a quick breakfast at Lahad Datu town together with DAP leaders from Sandakan Stephen Wong and George Hiew. We made contact with the District Police to make a courtesy call on the OCPD but unfortunately he was not free to meet up with Kit Siang.

There was nothing amiss in Lahad Datu town. Everything seemed to be normal as far as I can observe. I spent a lot of time in Lahad Datu when I was with the Wildlife Department and SOS Rhino (USA) and it reminded me of my lucky star when a group of armed men attacked and robbed the bank in town. That was in 1985. We had left Lahad Datu town in search for rhinos at Danum Valley and was shocked upon returning to Lahad Datu a week later to learn of the gun battle.

Seeing Kit Siang so cool and composed made me worried. My mind was at times confused. Without any arms and no Police escorts, I was practically praying that nothing bad would happen. We heard a group of journalists were inside the “battle zone” and were unable to get out. They were not allowed to leave. We did ponder what happen if Kit Siang and the group cannot leave after visiting the site? We even made some jokes of Kit Siang been kidnapped and what would happen. We refused to think of been caught in a running gun battle.

We passed through three Police road blocks and those manning them were looking serious. We settled ourselves at a coffee shop in a small town in Felda Sahabat where Kit Siang was again given a more detail information by some locals. After that we left for the Felda Sahabat Resort, about 120km from Lahad Datu where we were met by reporters from the local and national newspapers. They have been “holed up” at the Resort to cover the incident. We were surprised that they too were also in the dark about what was happening in Kg Tanduo, just 13km from the resort.

We held a press conference where Kit Siang emphasized how critical it is for the government to update the people on this important incident. He argued that the government should not keep the people in the dark. Hence his presence in the Felda Sahabat to get a better idea and picture of what was happening. Here we have a National opposition leader who is concerned about the people. He has made a trip that many would not do because of the high risk involved. Kit Siang is not impressed that the nation’s sovereignty has been compromised. He was shocked that the Prime Minister had time to go politicking in Beaufort, Tuaran and Papar but could not even find time to visit Lahad Datu and assured the people that everything is fine and well. Now that we see the security threat is in the east coast of Sabah, DAP leaders asked if the naval base and submarines should be better located in the east coast.

The armed intruders who now claimed to be the followers of the Sultan of Sulu have stayed put, saying that this land (Sabah) is their land and that the Malaysian government is still paying them “pajak” or rental. For an ordinary man in the street, this payment basically confirms their claim. But it has a long history. I was told that the payment was supposed to be in gold pieces and later it becomes monetary. I was also told that the claim is only confined to the land from Kudat down to Kunak in the east coast. I leave it to our able legal team to handle and manage this claim issue.

With the RCI on illegal immigrant hearing on-going, we heard from those who knew about this “project IC” and whose account finally put the “truth” before us. All the while we were speculating. Despite the many books written and sold openly concerning the ICs, no Police action was taken against the authors. The best part is when former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir himself admitted to give away Malaysian ICs to these illegal immigrants. His public confession was enough for the people of Sabah. His reasoning is beyond reason. As a leader he has not complied with the Federal Constitution on how Malaysian citizenships are to be granted. It was nothing but a political move, a now no more a hidden agenda to topple the PBS government and to ensure political dominance and continuity of UMNO in Sabah.

It cannot be denied that the Suluks have a place in North Borneo and Sabah. Many were in the country when Malaysia was established. Somehow they are always on the move between Sabah and the southern Philippines. Some have decided to make Sabah their home. But our Constitution says they cannot have dual citizenship. The 1963 time frame must apply and the new Suluks entering the State will not be entertained. They have to follow and respect the law of the country. Unfortunately, our Immigration department is rendered ineffective when thousands of illegal immigrants continue to flood the country. They, including those from Indonesia and Pakistan became useful politically by the BN government. Many of them are now Malaysian citizens as revealed in the RCI hearing.

The Suluks think that Sabah belongs to them and we cannot blame them for that. We learned of an incident in Lahad Datu where they flew the flags of the Sultan of Sulu in town and burned the Sabah flags. Therefore even when you talk to some of them they will give you a straight answer that Sabah belongs to them. How extensive is this view among the Suluks? Nobody knows. Nevertheless, I am surprised why the government would issue them with Mycards knowing that the claim on Sabah is not settled. Their big number in Sabah may have legitimized their claim and I dread what the outcome would be if there is a referendum for Sabahans whether they like to be in Malaysia or the Philippines. A short term political gain has led us into trouble water. We have lost precious life in this incident.   My take is that the Kg Tanduo incident will not end quietly or it may not end at all.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 8:49 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Reformed

by Allan CF Goh

The country lives in calmness,

And grows into its greatness.

People live a useful life,

Free of any racist strife.

Each is allowed his own dream,

Without nightmare or rude scream.

Each nurtures his potential,

With no obstacles racial.

We’re one nation, one people.

Malaysia Reformed has charms,

In people’s smile that disarms;

Like the beaches with tall palms,

And the breeze’s caressing balm.

Malaysia is harmony,

Sharing a common destiny,

Of one country, one nation,

With the same destination.

This is the hope of one people.

Nature is well protected,

Without being desecrated.

Nature’s beauties bless the land;

The environment is grand.

Forests grow with leniency;

Flowers bloom with ecstasy.

Native animals stay free,

They live life with nature’s glee.

They, too, have rights like all people.

People have maturity,

Appreciate diversity.

We respect our difference,

Treat that with due deference.

We detest cacophony,

That causes acrimony.

Sharing the same ambition,

We strive for our dear nation.

We are diverse, but one people.

Malaysia Reformed can boast

Of a State of people’s toast:

Answerable to justice,

Set in good, proper premise.

True justice is the day’s norm,

Dispensed in a balanced form.

Make people’s lives simple, rich;

With cherished hopes within reach.

That is the wish of one people.

Elections are transparent,

To ensure rights inherent,

Of the people’s right to vote,

To choose candidates of note,

So as to helm the nation,

To its great destination.

Voting is democracy,

Not a show of hypocrisy.

This is the right of real people.

We must have education

For the nation’s salvation,

To equip our citizens,

To be fruitful denizens;

Able to utilize skills,

With true intelligence spills;

To stand on their very own,

Reliable and well known.

This is the need of all people.

Education needs to gain

The facts of the knowledge train,

To produce the thinking men,

Burnished with the honour-mien.

Who can discern right from wrong,

Not being led and strung along.

They will support “Right is might”,

Never bow to might is right.

It’s the moral of one people.

This will produce folks courteous,

Firmly moral and righteous,

Really learned and humble,

Without the wild loud grumble.

Let this our Malaysia be,

Industrious, busy as the bee,

But who find time for leisure,

In things fine for their pleasure.

This is the peaceful one people.

Malaysia Reformed exists,

If citizens can resist

All the discriminations,

And all the vile corruptions.

Correct all the wrongs to right.

Let not this the nation blight.

Malaysia must have fairness,

The only way to greatness.

This is the dream of one people.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 7:36 am and is filed under
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Malaysian government using spyware against citizens? No, not really.

By
Keith Rozario
 | march 15, 2013

keithrozario.com

I’ve been pretty busy the past few months, and my post count has been pretty low, and although I just returned from a 2 week trip abroad and am now flushed full of work, I decided to burn a bit of the midnight oil today because the Malaysian Insider completely pissed me off.

It all started with an article from Lim Kit Siangs blog, which read “
Malaysia uses spyware against citizens, NYT reports
“. The post was merely a cut-and-copy reproduction of a Malaysian Insider article that had the same headline. The headline really got my blood churning and it was followed up with an even more mouth watering opening paragraph:

Malaysia is among 25 countries using off-the-shelf spyware to keep tabs on citizens by secretly grabbing images off computer screens, recording video chats, turning on cameras and microphones, and logging keystrokes, US newspaper the New York Times (NYT) reported yesterday.

….

Global human rights group Human Rights Watch said in its 2013 report that Malaysia has yet to ratify core human rights treaties, despite being a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

It added that Putrajaya continued to violate the rights to free association and public assembly last year, besides decreasing freedom of expression by amending the Evidence Act.

….

Unfortunately folks–this article is dead wrong. Not only is it deceiving and irresponsible, the fact that it appears on a news portal (rather than a personal blog) is terribly upsetting. The author of the article Boo Su-Lyn isn’t a freshie journalist either–you might remember here from the time
 she snuck into a Puteri UMNO
 meeting to report on what was said behind the walled-doors of UMNO, that was an impressive piece of journalism. This article however, is just a pile of bullshit–topped up with ignorance and sprinkled with deception.

*I’m just guessing of course that the Boo Su-Lyn that snuck into UMNO is the same Boo Su-Lyn here.

An Introduction to Spyware and FinSpy

Probably good to start with a short intro on Spyware and Finspy. Spyware is merely a generic term used to refer to malicious software that tries to infect your computer and perform various ‘nasty’ things. These ‘nasty’ things range from the harmless pop-ups of adverts to the not-so harmless stealing of personal data. Spyware has been around almost as long as the internet, and usually spreads via emails and thumb-drives, but mostly it rears its ugly head when you visit free porn sites — somebody has to pay the hosting bill for all those videos right?

FinSpy however is in a class of it’s own. According to the
NYT article
 “FinSpy is spyware sold by the
Gamma Group
, a British company that says it sells monitoring software to governments solely for criminal investigations.”

The only problem is, some governments view political opposition as a criminal offence, and Gamma Group has sold this piece of spyware to these ‘questionable’ governments. The spyware is professionally built and masquerades as a JPEG picture. We aren’t talking about some high school kid writing code here, this is hardcore Enterprise-level spyware. For the more technical understanding of FinSpy, take a look at a full blown report by
Citizen Lab here
. (note: this is not meant for the layman).

In fact, Citizen Labs are the people to first break the news about Malaysia being involved in all this hullubala!!

So what has Malaysia got to do with it

FinSpy wouldn’t be any good unless it was sending data back to its master, all that spying would be worthless unless the spy-er got a hold of the data it wanted to spy on in the first place. On the internet, the most sensible way to send the data back would be to route it to a server somewhere (let’s call them FinSpy servers), and it’s here that the Glorious Name of our Marvellous nation gets sullied.

Back in August 2012, the New York Times reported that
FinSpy servers were popping up in 10 countries
–fortunately Malaysia
wasn’t
 on that list. Things have changed though, the latest report from Citizen Lab reports that they found a FinSpy server–on a Malaysian IP!!

That single factoid, that a FinSpy server was hosted on a Malaysian IP is all the evidence we have that the Malaysian Government is spying on it’s citizens. Needless to say that’s not exactly a solid foundation for such a dramatic accusation.

Boo Su-Lyn needs to read the reports properly

So let’s get this straight. I’m a part-time blogger, up to my neck in assignments, and in about 1 hour on Google I can easily say that there is no evidence to say that Malaysian government was using spyware on its Citizens. Just because one FinSpy server (out of 25 found) happens to be hosted in Malaysia doesn’t mean the government is using it. How is it then, that a journalist–possibly a full time one– can’t find the time to properly check her facts before making such accusations–when I can do it in 1 hour.

Nowhere in the NYT article does it say Malaysia was spying on it’s citizens–although to be fair, the title of the NYT post did say “Researchers Find 25 Countries Using Surveillance Software” which isn’t accurate either. The accurate title would be “Researchers find FinSpy servers in 25 countries”. Just because a country is hosting a server doesn’t mean it is spying on it’s citizens.

So let’s look at the facts:

Facts About FinFisher & FinSpy in Malaysia

Fact 1:
Citizen Lab reported that they found 33 servers in 25 countries
.

Fact 2: By their own admission they admit the list is possibly incomplete “due to the large diversity of ports used by FinSpy servers, as well as other efforts at concealment”

Fact 3: Citizen Labs goes on to clearly disclaim that “ a discovery of a FinSpy command and control server in a given country is not a sufficient indicator to conclude the use of FinFisher by that country’s law enforcement or intelligence agencies. In some cases, servers were found running on facilities provided by commercial hosting providers that could have been purchased by actors from any country”

Fact 4: The initial NYT report that found the first 10 servers–
found them hosted on Amazon EC2 instances
. Instances even I can procure with a credit card.

Fact 5: The Malaysian IP (though not published in full) belongs to a company called GPL host.

Fact 6:
GPL Host has a partnership with TM in Malaysia
 for their hosting (which explains the Malaysian IP).

Fact 7: Eight FinSpy servers out of the 33 found were hosted by GPL Host.
Only one of these servers was from Malaysia

Fact 8: The Malaysian IP is in the
117.121.240.X
 range. The other 7 FinSpy servers exist in nearby ranges, and are hosted in the US, Singapore and Australia. All of the servers in the 117.121.X.X range are hosted by GPLHost.

Fact 9: GPL Host is a Hosting company, which means anyone with a credit card can procure a server within their IP range for use. (which includes their Malaysian IP range).

Fact 10: Just to reiterate, Citizen Lab (who’ve done extensive research here) claim “
in some cases, servers were found running on facilities provided by commercial hosting providers that could be purchased by actors from any country
“. These include commercial hosting providers just like GPLHost.

Conclusion

It’s far more likely, that there is just one actor here, procuring servers from GPLHost and running FinSpy for one operation in (possibly) just one country–than it is that each of the 8 GPLHost servers are run by 8 separate individuals across 4 different countries–and all 8 of them just ‘so happened’ to pick this one obscure hosting company instead of something more common like Amazon EC2.

It’s also far-fetched, based on this data to conclude that “Malaysia is using spyware on it’s citizens” when it’s far more likely that Malaysia is merely a hosting ground for an overseas operation. I could be wrong–but as far as I can tell–no one has found an instance of FinFisher targeting Malaysian citizens. Let’s be honest la, do you really think the BN government has the technical know-how to pull this off?

Finally, the entire article was written with an intention to deceive. There is no way a definitive conclusion could be made from the data given and then Boo Su-Lyn goes on to sprinkle excerpts from the Human Rights Watch–which is valid but obviously has nothing to do with the article in question. The Human Rights quote isn’t mentioned anywhere in either the NYT article or in Citizen Lab. The allusion is clearly present, and I for one don’t appreciate it.

Now you all know me, I’m by no means the biggest supporter of the government. In fact, I much rather vote a Parang Wielding Rhesus Monkey than anyone from BN, but reporters have to be fair–and when they mis-report news on technology, I view it as my responsibility to set them straight!! (and it’s not a responsibility I take lightly).

So take note Ladies and Gentlemen–there’s about as much proof that your friendly neighbourhood BN government is spying on you as there is proof of a human colony on Mars. It is POSSIBLE, and indeed quite exciting to think about–but ultimately the evidence is inconclusive and nothing suggest it exist.

*
image shamelessly stolen from the Amazing people at Citizen Labs who wrote the original report
https://citizenlab.org/2013/03/you-only-click-twice-finfishers-global-proliferation-2/

—

**Emphasis and links by the author.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 12:47 pm and is filed under
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‘Najib’s economic figures are fictional’

By
Ong Kian Ming
 | 4:56PM Mar 14, 2013

Malaysiakini

COMMENT Yesterday, March 13, 2013, national news agency Bernama
quoted
 Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as saying:

“We have been able to buck the external global economic trend. In the last quarter, we achieved 6.4 percent growth, which indicates the resilience of the national economy.

“When we talk about benefits to the people from 2009 to 2011, our gross national income (GNI) per capita has grown from US$6,670 to US$9,970, roughly about 49 percent. There is no country in the world that has achieved this kind of result.”

Najib said this in the ‘Conversation with the PM’ programme aired by Media Prima group’s TV3 on Tuesday night (March 12).

Where did our prime minister-cum-finance minister get these figures from? I suspect that it’s from none other than Idris Jala (left), the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), which comes under the PM’s Department.

Idris
wrote
 in his official website, on Feb 18, 2013, after attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland:

“In just two years, we increased our GNI per capita by 45 percent from US$6,700 in December 2009 to US$9,700 in December 2011, a rare feat in today’s world.”

But Idris’ figures were wrong to begin with. He understated the 2009 GNI figure and overstated the 2011 GNI figure to exaggerate the overall GNI growth.

To give an exaggerated analogy to illustrate this point, it’s as if the 2009 figure was actually ‘5′ while the 2011 was actually ‘9′, but Idris changed the 2009 figure to ‘4′ and the 2011 figure to ‘10′. Suddenly, the growth rate suddenly increased from 80 percent to 150 percent!

Look at GNI increase in ringgit terms

One should actually look at the increase in GNI in ringgit terms in order to have a more accurate picture of how much GNI per capita has increased.

If we use GNI in US dollar terms, it would be influenced by changes in the exchange rate that reflects little of whether Malaysians have become better off or not.

If the ringgit strengthens by 10 percent against the US dollar, it doesn’t mean that Malaysians have experienced a 10 percent increase in their income (except for those who travel overseas often for shopping and such).

According to the latest Bank Negara Monthly Statistical Bulletin (
Table 3.3.1a, January 2013 MSB
), Malaysia’s nominal GNI per capita (or GNI per capita in current prices) was RM23,850 in 2009 and RM29,094 in 2011 respectively.

This means that the GNI per capita increased by RM5,244 from 2009 to 2011, an increase of only 22 percent, which is less than half of the 45 percent quoted by Idris Jala and definitely nowhere near the 49 percent increase that Najib was reported to have said during his TV interview a few days ago.

Let’s say we want to compare the US dollar increase in GNI per capita using the Bank Negara MSB figures, just for argument’s sake.

According to the BNM statistics (
January 2013 MSB exchange rate data
), the exchange rate was RM3.4245 to US$1 in 2009 and RM3.117 to US$1 in 2011, representing a 10 percent appreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar.

Even with the appreciation in the RM/US dollar exchange rate, Malaysia’s GNI per capita in US dollar increased by only 34 percent, from US$6,964 to US$9,334, as this table shows:

 What we have here is Idris misrepresenting the GNI figures in US dollar in 2009 and 2011 to show a ‘fantastic’ growth rate from 2009 to 2011 and our finance minister and prime minister further exaggerating Idris’s figures to show an even more ‘fantastic’ world record breaking result.

With two of our esteemed ministers who are in charge of the economy trying to misrepresent basic economic figures, it is no wonder that the people are sceptical about the supposed benefits that the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) has brought to them.

In light of the Bank Negara statistics shown here, PM Najib should clarify the origin of the figures he quoted in the TV3 programme and apologise for misrepresenting the facts and figures.

____

ONG KIAN MING is a DAP election strategist.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 12:30 pm and is filed under
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The most probable date for long-awaited Parliament dissolution is Monday, March 25 although it could be later or even earlier

The most probable date for the long-awaited dissolution of the 12th Parliament is Monday, March 25 although it could be earlier in the next ten days or even later.

The automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Assembly on midnight on 26th March 2013 should under ordinary circumstances be the last cut-off date for the dissolution of Parliament, but these are not ordinary times, and Parliament can be dissolved earlier in the next 10 days or even later, exhausting another 32 days to lead up to the unprecedented automatic dissolution of Parliament on midnight April 27, 2013.

It is precisely because these are not ordinary times that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has put the country for nearly four long years on an election mode ever since he became the sixth Prime Minister on April 3, 2009, spending more time campaigning to get an elected mandate of his own instead of uniting and inspiring Malaysians with an overarching vision and governing the country efficiently and professionally, with integrity and full commitment to democracy, human rights and the environment.

If we are in ordinary times, the 13th general elections would have been held already and Malaysians would have known whether Najib has finally his own mandate to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia or whether Malaysia has got a new Pakatan Rakyat federal government in Putrajaya with a new Prime Minister in the person of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

But after the 12th Parliament has exceeded its five-year natural life on March 8, 2013, raising grave questions about the legitimacy of the Najib premiership and Cabinet, the Prime Minister in his “Conversation with the PM” over television on Tuesday could still be pleading for “More time needed to show results before polls” (Bernama).

How long more does Najib really need to enable him to show the success of his four-year National Transformation Programme when recent weeks  have furiously produced one example after another of the abject failures of his alleged “transformation” agenda.

For instance, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today that it is OK to show the May 13 film “Tanda Putera” behind closed doors – not to the general public but to a certain group only.

In one fell swoop, Muhyiddin has done two things:

Made an utter mockery of the Cabinet by destroying the integrity and credibility of the Ministers who decided last November that the publicly-funded RM5 million film was “inappropriate” to be screened to the Malaysian public because of its racist, unfactual and unhistorical portrayal of the causes of May 13 riots of 1969; and

Demolished the legitimacy of Najib’s signature 1Malaysia policy to create a Malaysia where Malaysians regard themselves first as Malaysians and their race, religion, region and socio-economic status second.

It is sad Najib does not seem to realise that he totally  lacked credibility and conviction when he said in “Conversation with the PM” that he needs more time to show the success of his national transformation agenda to achieve Vision 2020, as Malaysians are being shown more and more examples of the failures of the Vision 2020, with even former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, the “Father of Vision 2020”,  coming out openly against the most important Vision 2020 objective of a Bangsa Malaysia!

The seven-hour marathon meeting yesterday between the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Barisan Nasional Secretary-General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor on the one hand and the Barisan Nasional leaders and Barisan Nasional Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar is an indication that it is unlikely that Najib wants to invite further ridicule as the most  indecisive PM in the nation’s history who is afraid to face voters by going all the way to automatic dissolution of Parliament on April 27.

Finally, the battle of the century in the 13GE should begin in a matter of days rather than weeks.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 March 2013, 1:53 pm and is filed under
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26-Day Countdown to 13GE – Federal Government Deficits and Debts

Unlike many developing countries, Malaysia had until the last 15 years, avoided deficit funding and the accumulation of high levels of external and internal debt that culminated in debt crises of the type that afflicted Argentina, Mexico and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Federal Government followed prudent policies and followed fiscal policies that were viewed favorably. Both Foreign Direct Investment flows and the domestic private sector contributed to growth.

Thus, through the early 1970s and the decade of the 1980s small deficits were recorded, indeed in the early 1990s small surpluses were recorded. The size of the public debt was largely stable and did not exceed RM 100 billion.

However, the 1997 East Asia crisis, triggered by contagion effects of the crisis in Thailand, led to a radical change in fiscal policy. The Federal Government embarked on a pump priming effort to revive the economy.

Many large scale projects were mounted; many heavily indebted crony corporations were bailed out. The public sector surplus of RM 6.6 billion recorded in 1997 evaporated and became a deficit of RM 5 billion in 1998.

Since 1998, despite the recovery, the Barisan Nasional (BN)  Government has continued to run deficits ever increasing deficits which peaked under the Prime Ministership of Datuk Seri Najib to RM 47 billion.

Indeed, during his tenure, deficits have exceeded RM 40 billion a level double that in the previous years under Abdullah Badawi.

Much of the deficit can be attributed to the launch of mega projects handed over to crony capitalists, the increase in the size of the public services, and rampant abuses in procurements of equipment and services.

The total debt (domestic and foreign) of the Federal Government now stands at over RM 500 billion. This amount is close to the Debt/GDP ratio of 53 percent.

That percentage represents the limit to which the Government is permitted to borrow. Indeed, that limit has in all probability been breached if account is taken of the partial disclosure of contingent liabilities said to amount to over RM 100 billion.

These amouts of debt do not take account of the unknown levels of debt accumulated by the GLCs.

Therefore, taken as a whole, the overall debt situation is reaching critical levels and placing the Malaysian economy in grave circumstances.

Malaysia now risks facing a serious debt crisis of the type confronting several EU countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal etc.

It may be compelled to embark on an austerity program that would have devastating implications for all Malaysians.

Despite repeated pledges made in successive Budgets to curb the deficits and to check the growth of debt, the BN government has been on a reckless spending binge, the main beneficiaries of which have been a selected group of cronies and well-connected individuals.

The policies that are being followed have also contributed to a massive out-flow of capital, estimated at over a RM 1 trillion by a respected Washington DC-based think-tank.

The BN Government has offered no clear policy statement as to how it proposes to reverse current policies and change the trajectory of its highly irresponsible fiscal policies that result in unsustainable level of deficits and a ballooning debt level.

Correction of these policies is critical if Malaysia is to avoid a calamitous economic crisis and more mired in the middle income trap.

The present policies if continued will led to a severe fall in confidence and a collapse of the private sector as markets and the rating agencies downgrade Malaysia.

There is also a clear and present danger that a re-elected BN government will make a belated attempt to change course and attempt to curb the deficit.

It is most likely to do so by taking steps to bring about a so-called “widening of the tax base”.

This will be attempted via the introduction of the long announced Goods and Services Tax (GST).

This regressive tax effort is likely to be accompanied with a withdrawal of a number of consumer subsidies and the further privatization of government services.

The latter in all likelihood would include the handing over of health services to BN-linked corporate entities. Taken as a whole, these measures would impact adversely on the middle and working classes. These measures will be regressive and burden ordinary citizens.

The Pakatan Rakyat promise

The Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto has outlined in clear terms as to how it will protect living standards and provide a safety net for all vulnerable groups. It will adopt responsible policies to achieve these goals and restore fiscal responsibility and take steps to stop the unsustainable growth in debt. It is appropriate to further spell out some of the strategies it will adopt.

As a first and urgent step, the Pakatan Rakyat Government upon assuming office will appoint an independent panel to undertake a Public Expenditure Review.

The Review will identify areas where savings can be made through elimination of waste and inefficiencies.

So-called new “development” or mega projects will be strictly evaluated to assess rates of return that are commensurate.  There would appear to be ample scope for such savings. An area with particular promise, are the procurement policies of the Government.

Transparency in procurements with competitive bidding and elimination of rent seeking offer considerable prospects. The experience of the Pakatan Rakyat-run state governments will be applied at the Federal level.

Another area that will offer savings is that concerning payments and subsidies provided to corporate entities such as toll operators and Independent Power Producers.

These “corporate welfare” payments do not have a place in the fiscal system. Loss making GLCs will be restructured and will be hived off by way of management buy outs.

The present fiscal regime on the revenue side has not been reviewed. There are numerous tax exemptions and so-called incentives that have been granted. Their actual impact for private sector growth has not been examined.

There is a case for a review and the adoption of a revenue neutral system. Pakatan Rakyat is committed to creation of a business friendly environment that is pro-growth and supportive of Small and Medium sized Enterprises.  Pakatan Rakyat is of the view that the introduction of a GST is inappropriate ant unwarranted in the current circumstances and stage of development.

The extent of the contingent liabilities that add to the stock of public debt will be studied. Certain of these liabilities can be transferred to the commercial banking sector. An effort will be made to do so in an orderly manner.

The Pakatan Rakyat experience and record in prudent management of public finances at the state level is indicative of how a Pakatan Rakyat administration would perform its fiscal responsibilities.

It is a proud record of effective financial management commended by the Auditor General. That record includes the absence of scandals and inappropriate behavior. It also demonstrates the professional competence of those in public office and confirms their commitment to high standards of integrity and honesty.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013, 7:33 am and is filed under
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Has Umno helped Malays?

P Gunasegaram

Malaysiakini

Mar 14, 2013

QUESTION TIME
 When former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in typical acerbic but unsubstantiated fashion that Malay rights, privileges and its position would be affected if the opposition were returned in Selangor, it begged two other questions.

What did he do for the ordinary Malay during the long 22 years he was in power from 1981 to 2003, and how much was he responsible for the lack of their progress? And to broaden the question further, how much has Umno done for the Malay on the street and in the kampung?

A good starting point to answer the question is to look back at the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the seventies which provided the framework and target for economic redress between the races. The noble twin aims of the policy which few argued with were the eradication of poverty irrespective of race and the elimination of race identification with economic function.

This restructuring was supposed to have come from an increasing economic cake so that no community would feel deprived from the process which would be made over 20 years.

But the reality was different. While there was much effort in equalisation of opportunities initially through the education of Malays and giving them chances for jobs in the government service and the private sector, the policy morphed into one that focused on the equalisation of outcomes instead.

This resulted in drops in educational standards and minimum qualifications to accommodate weaker students instead of helping weaker students to cross existing bars by increased and better tuition.

The push to get more Malay teachers into the education system by lowering standards resulted in a plunge in teaching standards and led to the current problem that we have of poor teaching to weak students. Standards had to be dropped to ensure more students passed, resulting in a deteriorating public education system right from the bottom to the top.

The national education system now is much worse than it was before and directly affected Malays – most of whom depend on this system to get their educational qualifications. The quality of graduates from our public universities deteriorated so much so that thousands of them, mostly Malays, are unemployable.

There was a misplaced emphasis on displacing English in the education system, a role prominently played by Mahathir in the early years, eventually to the detriment of the Malays, most of whom were in the national schools. Even as Umno politicians decried English, many of them sent their children to private schools and overseas for an English-based education.

In government, Malays were prematurely promoted over their non-Malay counterparts, many of whom were much more experienced and competent, to the detriment and efficiency of the civil service. The imbalance has been more than rectified with the scales now tipping in the opposite direction with much less non-Malays in government especially at top levels.

The perversion of the NEP

The NEP, in the process, was perverted and the common standard for its success became the 30 percent target for Malay/bumiputera ownership in companies, the measurement of which remains substantially flawed. For most Malays, this figure was meaningless because they had no corporate ownership, except perhaps for those who were able to subscribe for shares in the national unit trust scheme, Amanah Saham Nasional.

In the corporate sector, companies were forced to divest 30 percent of their stakes to bumiputeras, thus raising the possibility of abuses through patronage and front companies which were bumiputera only in name.

Government contracts were given to Malay companies, many of whom did not have the capability or capacity to undertake them, bringing in other partners to do the job instead. They earned the moniker “Ali Baba” whereby the contracts are obtained by Malay companies while the work was actually done by others.

Standards were dropped to enable bumiputera contractors to get approval for the projects and there was a substantial fall in the quality of work done over the years even as costs increased.

Mahathir himself lamented that there were as many as half a dozen sub-contracts, leaving the final person who does the job very little profit margins, and therefore turning out substandard work. But he did nothing to stop it during his time.

Instead he quite publicly stated that there was a need to create a bumiputera business class, including some billionaires. He went about assiduously to do just that, with initial prime beneficiaries being the former finance minister Daim Zainuddin and his cronies and subsequently extending to others during his later years in power as he reportedly fell out with Daim.

Mahathir deliberately used the privatisation process to dish out prime concessions such as roads, mobile licences, independent power production, water services and others to private businessmen at concessionary rates, directly putting valuable government resources into private hands at very low prices.

Corruption and patronage led to leakages of government resources to an array of favoured businessmen – Malay and non-Malay – through negotiated tenders, outright granting (instead of auction) of licences, and land transfers and conversions. Instant millionaires, and some billionaires, were created in matter of a few years.

The goal of re-distributing an increasing economic pie were subverted through these leakages as much of the government resources which should have been channelled back to the people – and especially the poor, most of whom were Malays – were diverted to the moneyed class.

Over the years, Umno has transformed from a party of teachers to one dominated by businessmen most of whom are dependent on government contracts and handouts for their income and lavish lifestyles.

The Umno elites still champion Malay rights, but they do so to remain in power so that they will get the benefits of all the perversion of the NEP that has happened. Even if it means that they would deprive and impoverish the very race that they purport to help.

Has Umno helped Malays? Yes, but some of them very much more so than others. The tragedy of Umno is that it has neglected the vast majority of Malays, despite the huge mandate that the community has given the party all these years.

The reason for that in one word is this: Corruption.

P GUNASEGARAM is founding editor of business news portal KiniBiz, a joint venture with Malaysiakini. He believes many sins were and are being committed in the name of championing Malay rights, position and privileges.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013, 6:57 am and is filed under
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Lahad Datu – a bizarre crisis

Iskandar Dzulkarnain |	 March 16, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

The sultan should seriously get a life and or get a job. How long can he and his band of merry men last if they continue to go around pretending to be royal consorts of an imaginary kingdom?

COMMENT

Apparently, our billion-ringgit jet fighters missed their targets, as mopped-up operations failed to turn in any bodies, while the chief of the militant group, “Prince” Agbimuddin Kiram, has appeared on Philippine national TV live in a telephone interview.

So, there was no total victory as reported and the siege has not ended. The stand-off is turning more bizarre as the Philippine media reported a conspiracy involving the Philippine opposition under former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Coincidentally, the Malaysian government is also pointing its fingers at the involvement of the opposition here. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Sultan Jamalul Kiram III were alleged to have attended the Umno annual general assembly last year, while some Sabah Umno representatives are alleged to have close ties with the Sulu Sultanate.

So, it is not merely the case of a simple band of 200 opportunistic marauders landing on Sabah’s shores with the high hopes of staking a claim on Sabah. Apparently, there is more at stake involving the governments or opposition of both countries.

“Princess” Jacel Karim of the Sulu Sultanate has come up with contradicting statements, adamant that the Malaysian government has agreed in principle to pay compensation to the Sulu Sultanate, a few months before the onset of this conflict. She is also reportedly unhappy with the terrorist label and claims that the intruders are armed with the “truth”.

“Sultan” Jamalul Kiram III describes the 200 intruders as the “Royal Sulu Army” – men of honour, disciplined, peace-loving, who have returned to stake their claim on their long-lost homeland. They want to live among Sabahans, share their land with us including the riches and spoils of Sabah.

They also want to install a Sultanate and enforce the Syariah code. Sabahans can also look forward to a Sultanate and become his loyal subjects.

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chief Nur Misuari seems to be taking a great interest in the crisis by initially offering to mediate a ceasefire. Later, he warned that MNLF will not sit idly by and watch the Malaysian army annihilate the intruders.

President Benigno Aquino III will not be forgiven for standing back while Malaysia rained bombs on Filipino citizens in Sabah, Nur Misuari has said.

“Aquino should be more decisive and stop Malaysia’s attack on Jamalul’s men in Sabah instead of siding with his southern neighbour. What he has done is very bad.”

“And for what reason is he [Aquino] aligning this country with Malaysia, a colonial power occupying the land of our people? I am totally against that with all my soul. The country will be in total chaos if they [Malaysia] arrest the Sultan, I promise you.”

A mischief-maker

From his statement, Nur Misuari is adamant on prolonging this conflict for whatever reason best known to him. And basing on his actions, Nur Misuari has proven himself to be a mischief-maker bent on war and destruction.

Why would anyone want to quote him defies the imagination. The Philippines and Malaysia should leave him alone to his little toys and avid imaginations of grandeur.

Ironically, the Christian Filipino government has just signed a peace treaty with the Muslim rebels, signalling a ceasefire in the Southern Philippines. Are the restless freedom-fighters now eyeing other easy targets to the South?

About 800,000 Filipinos from the Tausog tribe are known to be residing in East Malaysia with many holding blue ICs and citizenship. The MNLF has warned that another 10,000 Tausogs have set sailed for the coast of Sabah to reinforce the 200 intruding militants.

The USS Guardian, an American warship that ran aground in the Sulu Sea three weeks before the invasion, has set off speculation that the US may be involved, and equated the incident to the migration of the Sulu militants to Sabah.

Whatever it is, Sabah has chosen to unite under the Malaysian federation in 1963 and it is an undeniable part of Malaysia.

Malaysia should not entertain any opportunists, whether the Sultan of Sulu or the Filipino government, that are trying to stake a vague claim on Sabah.

Whether there was any conspiracy in the Lahad Datu stand-off, the Malaysian government must move quickly to resolve this crisis before it blows out of proportion.

An alternative is to provide a safety corridor for all the militants to return to the sea peacefully.

Porous borders

All foreigners without valid documents should be asked to leave Sabah before our government embarks on a high-profile operation to crack down and rein in all the illegals. Besides, there should not be any illegals residing in Sabah or anywhere else in Malaysia, according to the law.

Secondly, the Malaysian navy should take concrete steps to seal our porous borders against any future illegal intrusions.

Trade can continue as long as foreigners are in possession of legal documents. It is time to solve Sabah’s longstanding immigrant problems once and for all.

We believe that the majority of legal Filipino Malaysians residing in Sabah would be loyal to Malaysia and would not want any conflict to jeopardise the peace and tranquillity of the state which they have chosen to call their homeland.

In short, they are no more Filipinos but legal Malaysian citizens who speak the Malay language, like what former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said.

Malaysia should call for the extradition of the Sultan of Sulu for wreaking untold damage on the economy of Sabah as well as being responsible for the unnecessary deaths stemming from a totally foolish venture.

He should be made to reimburse every sen and to pay for his heinous crimes against this country. There should be no two “buts” about it.

Malaysia must issue a stern warning to everyone out there, including the Suluks and the MNLF, that Malaysia would not entertain any dubious claims, however small it may be, on Sabah.

Strong signal

We must send a strong signal to all the royal sultanate wannabes, now totalling over 50 claimants, that it would be foolhardy to test the resolve of Malaysians who would not sacrifice an inch of our territory to anyone.

There are allegations that Malaysia has been paying a token sum of RM5,300 a year to the Sulu Sultanate for the cessation of Sabah. We are very sure that if the sum is increased, in accordance with former chief minister Harris Salleh’s proposal, to RM200 million, the Sultanate will gladly drop its claims again.

This, of course, amounts to daylight extortion and modern-day piracy as these freedom-fighters are famed for.

The Sultan should seriously get a life and or get a job. How long can he and his band of merry men last if they continue to go around pretending to be royal consorts of an imaginary kingdom, waiting for his subjects to continue feeding his enlarged ego?

Malaysians should stop taking sides and stop pointing fingers. We should rally around our troops and police personnel and give them our moral support.

We should remain united against an enemy who still believes in fairy tales and who is bent on invading our homeland.

Let’s start the ball rolling by contributing to the slain warriors’ fund for those who have gone down in the line of fire.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013, 8:14 am and is filed under
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Selangor skewers Dr M’s record in defending Malay interests

By Ida Lim

The Malaysian Insider

March 13, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 ― Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s political secretary today slammed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s for his inconsistent defence of Malay and Bumiputera interests, following the former prime minister’s plea for the group to back Barisan Nasional in Election 2013.

Faekah Husin also defended the state’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration from Dr Mahathir’s recent remarks that the special rights of Malays and the position of Islam will be threatened if the pact retains its hold on Selangor in Election 2013.

“Dr Mahathir is still singing an old song; song of racism and to frighten Malays and to refresh racial clashes, after he planted seeds of hatred towards other races and adherents of other faiths among the people during his 22 years of rule,” she wrote in an open letter to Dr Mahathir dated today.

Faekah pointed to Umno’s alleged abuses when it had been in power in Selangor, saying that the party once led by Dr Mahathir owns hundreds of acres of land in the state that they allegedly only paid a minimum premium of RM100 per acre.

She said that much of these plots of land were sold for hefty profits to private development firms owned by non-Bumiputeras, adding that this pointed to the hypocrisy of Umno. But she was quick to say she was not questioning the non-Bumiputeras’ ownership of land.

“We also found out that during Umno’s rule in Selangor, thousands of acres of Malay Reserve Land in the city were retracted and converted to freehold status,” she said, claiming that the plots of Malay Reserve Land were shifted to those in the rural areas such as Panchang Bedena, Sabak Bernam and Hulu Selangor.

She then highlighted the PR administration’s success in collecting a RM390-million debt from Talam Corporation and returning it to the poor community in Selangor, which she said was largely Malay.

“Why is Mahathir quiet when we revealed Talam owed RM392 million to the people of Selangor for almost a decade which Umno failed to claim? Does Dr Mahathir knows that the Pakatan Rakyat government has the political strength to collect these debts?” she asked.

Faekah also disputed Dr Mahathir’s remarks on religion, saying that the PR administration in Selangor did not interfere in Islamic affairs but left these in the hands of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS).

She also listed Selangor’s efforts to look after the interests of the Muslims, saying that JAIS receives funds of over RM130 million annually ― the highest allocation in the budget of the country’s wealthiest state.

She also said the Selangor government had from 2008 to 2012 spent over RM405 million to build mosques and religious schools and RM46 million to restore the same, before pointing out that the allowance of Fardhu Ain Class (KAFA) school teachers were revised from RM400 during Dr Mahathir’s rule to RM1,300.

Faekah then claimed that there were frequent threats to do away with religious schools during Dr Mahathir’s rule, saying that the former Umno president had made many offensive statements, including purportedly saying that Malays are weak in their studies because they are tired after going for religious classes in the afternoon.

The Malay community ― the largest group of voters in both Selangor and Malaysia ― is also Muslim by law, and both BN’s Umno and PR’s PAS have sought to woo them ahead of Election 2013.

Last Sunday, Dr Mahathir said Selangor needed to be saved from PR, saying that the Malays and Bumiputeras in the state had fared better when BN had been in power.

“If the opposition wins and administers Selangor, the position of the Malays and Bumiputeras will be shunted aside. Because of this, we must act quickly to convince the people of Selangor to topple the opposition government and replace it with BN which is led by Umno.

“Our sacrifices will be in vain if Selangor cannot be saved,” Dr Mahathir said at the closing of the convoy ‘Save Selangor’ organised by Selangor Perkasa.

Dr Mahathir also said the weakness of the two Malay parties in the opposition resulted in disrespect for the race and risked the special privileges of the Malays and Bumiputera being done away with.

“We also want to stress that Bahasa Melayu and Islam are the official language and religion of our nation. So they must respect our rights as how we respect their rights.

“But, because the leadership of the Malays in the opposition pact is very weak, they often just follow their colleagues including when pressed for the word Allah to be used (in the Bible).

“When they proposed to strip the special privileges of the Malays, the opposition, which purportedly had two parties with Malay leadership, willingly complied. If we are not careful, we will lose altogether our rights on our own soil and they (opposition) will get rid of all efforts to develop the Malays and Bumiputeras,” he had said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013, 6:21 am and is filed under
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Swift action on Tian Chua, snail’s pace for Ibrahim Ali, Ridhuan Tee

 ― The Malaysian Insider

March 14, 2013

MARCH 14 ― PKR’s Chua Tian Chang was charged with sedition today for allegedly linking Umno to the on-going Sulu intrusion into Sabah.

Two surprises here.

One, that the Sedition Act is being used despite Putrajaya saying that the law will be repealed.

Two, allegedly offensive statements to burn Malay-language bibles by Datuk Ibrahim Ali and that against Hindus by academic Datuk Dr Ridhuan Tee have yet to see the police working as hard as they have with the Batu MP.

What does that say about double standards?

And what does that say about the priority of the powers-that-be in taking action against those who criticise the government rather than those who wound the feelings of fellow Malaysians?

Aren’t all of us supposed to be equal before the law? Is there a law for opposition MPs and one for those friendly with the government of the day?

Every Malaysian expects the police and the prosecutors to be above politics. To act without fear or favour. To investigate every case thoroughly and bring to court those who they believe have committed an offence.

In this case, the police and prosecutors have done a swift job with Tian Chua, taking him to court even as the Sulu incursion continues. Malaysians can only leave it to the wisdom of the judiciary to decide whether Tian Chua has committed sedition.

But we are in the dark over action taken against the Perkasa president and the lecturer in the National Defence University. How is it that their cases are still being investigated and no action taken?

Even if there is no case to answer, shouldn’t the people be told? At least then, they know the police are doing their job.

Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. The swift action against Tian Chua is glaring when compared to the snail’s pace in investigating both Ibrahim and Tee.

And it lends credence to Tian Chua’s assertion that this is all political and nothing to do with what is right or wrong.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013, 6:29 am and is filed under
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