Malaysia: The People Are Fed Up

By
Farish A. Noor

At a recent Law Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, bluntly told the country’s lawyers that demonstrations and protests about the apparent mismanagement of the country will do little to change things but will only give the ‘wrong impression’ that ‘something is wrong in the country’, and that this will scare aware foreign investors. The Malaysian leader was alluding to a recent protest march organised by the country’s lawyers which saw more than two thousand lawyers march up to the Prime Minister’s office in the capital of Putrajaya demanding reform of the judicial process and serious enquiries into the conduct and election of judges in Malaysia. Perhaps the Prime Minister was also alluding to the planned march on 10th November organised by NGOs like BERSIH which have called for free and fair elections in the country, supported by opposition parties like the Peoples Justice Party (PKR), the Malaysian Islamic party (PAS) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) of Malaysia as well.

What began as a relatively small event has now grown into what may become a landmark moment in Malaysian history: The march’s organisers aim to gather 100,000 citizens at the Merdeka (Independence) Square of the city and then march on to the national palace to present their petition to the King (Agong) himself, calling for the Monarch to intervene and look into their complaints about the poor governance of the country on issues ranging from corruption to abuse of power by the leaders of the ruling UMNO party and the government. As Latheefa Koya of the People’s Justice Party notes: “BERSIH’s march marks a crucial point in Malaysian history where people from all walks of life, and not just political parties, demand free and fair elections in Malaysia. By doing so they are in fact calling for greater participation in the democratic process”. The King has already signalled that he is prepared to receive the petition, while other rulers such as Sultan Azlan Shah of the state of Perak have publicly bemoaned the state of the judiciary in Malaysia.

While it is true that Malaysia is not Burma, it is striking to note how intolerant the state is when it comes to popular expressions of the people’s will in the country. Predictably the Malaysian government has reacted to the proposed march on 10th November with the usual round of threats: Those who attend the demonstration will be regarded as trouble makers and due action will be taken, the government-controlled news agencies have already warned.

In response the President of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has called on all members of the party to attend the rally and to swell the numbers of participants instead. According to Hatta Ramli, one of the senior leaders of PAS: “This is to show that the members of the Islamic party are supportive of this move by the Malaysian NGOs to call for free and fair elections. It is going to be a peaceful demonstration, so why the need for such warnings? The Malaysian Human Rights Commission SUHAKAM) has stated that the Constitution allows for free peaceful assembly, so we are merely exercising our right to demonstrate our concern about the conduct of elections in Malaysia. This is the expression of popular democracy, of the people’s will and our intention to see that we have clean elections in Malaysia.”

Nor are the march’s organisers fazed by the threats of reprisals. According to Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who runs the country’s most widely-read online news site Malaysia-today.net, “they (the government) have been issuing such threats for more than a decade now, so why should we worry? They insist that we apply for a police permit but we know that such a permit will be refused anyway. In some cases in the past permits were given but then withdrawn at the last minute, so this time we merely informed the police that we will be having the march and we will go ahead.”

The Malaysian government is worried that such a public display of dismay over the government’s record will focus attention on Malaysia in a negative way. Instead it has tried its best to spin the story of Malaysia’s successes one by one, the latest being the achievements of the country’s first astronaut who was sent to space on board a Russian rocket to dock with the International Space Station in orbit. But special effects and cosmic stunts have not altered the realities on the ground where Malaysian politics remains dominated by news of scandals involving corrupt policemen, politicians being accused of manipulating the judiciary and alleged links between the government, police and underworld mafia triads and gang bosses. One of the latest revelations involved the corruption behind the Port Kelang Free Trade Zone project, where running costs and overheads have caused the project’s costs to skyrocket from 1.8 to 4.2 Billion Ringgit (RM), leaving ordinary Malaysians shocked and stumped on how such projects can lead to such large kickbacks for so many well-connected individuals. What is more, all of this is happening under the eyes of the Badawi government, which came to power four years ago on the promise of ridding the country of corruption once and for all.

As the crucial date of 10th November gets closer, the machinery of the state along with its security apparatus will undoubtedly be cracked up to demonise the protestors and to prevent the march from happening. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi may lament the occasion as it sends out the clear message that the people are fed up with his lacklustre performance thus far, but it will hardly be the reason why foreign investors are leaving Malaysia: Indeed, if anything is to restore the faith of others in the country it would be the freedom to demonstrate openly and peacefully without threat of violence from the state.

No, if foreign investors are giving up on Malaysia it has more to do with the plethora of corruption cases involving members of the police, the routine abuse of power by the elite and the deplorable reputation of the Malaysian judiciary and civil service at present. And the responsibility for these failures lie not in the hands of the Malaysian people, but in the Malaysian government itself- headed by none other than Badawi himself.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 12:09 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia without a Chief Justice for one day?

Right from the very beginning of today’s parliamentary sitting,  MPs were interested only in two questions — and answers to both are not to be found in Parliament, viz:

	The outcome of Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim’s application for six-month extension as Chief Justice, as he turned 66 yesterday — in view of unprecedentedly  strong objections not only from the Opposition, the Bar Council, the civil society but also by Malay Rulers; and

	Whether Commercial Crime Investigation Department  (CCID) director Datuk Ramli Yusuff, the cop alleged to have RM27 million undeclared assets,  will be charged for corruption.

News have finally come in that Ramli has been charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with three counts of failing to disclose his assets  in his sworn statement under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

There are still no news however as to the outcome of  Ahmad Fairuz’ application for extension as Chief Justice from the two-day Conference of Rulers, raising the question whether the nation is without a Chief Justice for today.

Many must be asking – Why the secrecy and mystery surrounding the appointment of Chief Justice, which is completely against the principles of accountability and transparency.

Whether  CCID director Ramli is guilty of the three charges of corruption preferred against him will have to await the forthcoming trial.  However, the spectacle of the police leadership “at war” with itself as evident in the past few months  is not calculated to enhance public confidence in the capability of the police to discharge its mission to maintain law and order as well as to keep crime low, with crime becoming as endemic as corruption in the country.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 November 2007, 4:52 pm and is filed under
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Ops Lalang onslaught on human rights, press freedom, independent judiciary – no signs of better safeguards under Abdullah

The 1987 Operation  Lalang mass Internal Security Act (ISA) dragnet of 106 detainees representing a wide spectrum of dissent, including MPs, civil rights leaders, Chinese educationists and social activists,  was not only a black day for human rights in Malaysia, but set the scene for a triple onslaught on the fundamental basis of a democratic Malaysia — human rights, press freedom and an independent judiciary.

What stemmed from a fight for political survival of the then  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad  who was  faced with  the greatest challenge  to his power position from within Umno turned into the most relentless assault on democracy in Malaysia in the nation’s 50-year history — and the country is still paying the consequences of that assault.

And what is worse, there are no signs that the triple  targets of  the  1987 Ops Lalang onslaught, viz  human rights, press freedom and an  independent judiciary,  are better safeguarded two decades later on the  fourth anniversary of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s premiership.

I am very disappointed that the  Attorney-General  Tan Sri Gani Patail had decided to appeal against the High Court decision awarding Abdul Malek Hussin RM2.5 million in damages for having been unlawfully arrested, detained and beaten up while in police custody  under the ISA in 1998.

In Parliament last week, an Umno MP even attacked High Court judge Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus for being a “problem judge” for his judgement and RM2.5 million award for Malek.

The Hishammuddin judgment had been long in coming, as human rights abuses in the form of physical violence and other forms of torture had been common treatment meted out to ISA as well as non-ISA detainees — which must be condemned in no uncertain terms and stopped forthwith.

The Internal Security Act in allowing indefinite detention without trial is itself a gross violation of human rights and should be repealed without delay — as there are adequate laws to deal with national security and law and order in the country.

I had called on the Attorney-General to take the policy decision not to appeal against the Hishamuddin judgment to send a clear message that the era of human rights has arrived in Malaysia and that the government will not countenance any violation of human rights by public servants.

The appeal by the Attorney-General challenging the RM2.5 million award by Hishamuddin for Malek is an unmistakable signal that the Malaysian government remains rooted in the old mind-set where human rights occupy a very low place in the national order of priorities.

The recent atrocious rating of Malaysia in the Freedom Without Borders (RSF)  2007 press freedom index, plunging 32 spots as compared to last year to the nation-worst ranking of 124th placing in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2020 should drive home the sad point that press freedom in Malaysia have not been able to get out of the manacles which shackled it during Operation Lalang, which saw the closure of four newspapers.

The saddest story, however, is the failure in past four years of the Abdullah premiership to restore the doctrine of separation of powers which was subverted by Operation Lalang with the judiciary subordinated as a  subservient organ of the Executive.

The 1988 judiciary crisis over the arbitrary and unconstitutional sacking of Tun Saleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges signaled the worst devastation of the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

For the past two decades,  the country has been  reeling from one judiciary crisis to another, the latest over the failure of judicial leadership of the Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, the Lingam Tape scandal, Ahmad Fairuz’ preposterous application for a six-month extension as Chief Justice and whether Malaysia will have an UMNO Chief Justice for the first time in 50 years.

Tonight, we are gathered here to remember the “black day” for democracy in Malaysia with its triple assault on human rights, press freedom and an independent judiciary, must  take cognizance that the situation today on all these three fundamentals of a democratic nation are even worse today than before Ops Lalang 20 years ago.

Malaysian citizens must dare to exercise their constitutional and political rights particularly in the next general election  to hold the present government to account for its failures in the past four years  to “walk the talk” to restore to Malaysians the three democratic fundamentals of human rights, press freedom and the independence of the judiciary which succumbed to Executive assaults during Operation Lalang.

(Speech at a  public forum “Remembering Operation Lalang (1987-2007)” held at KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur on 31st October 2007 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 November 2007, 3:21 pm and is filed under
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Fairuz CJ no more, but crisis of judiciary continues – appoint RCI to end Haidar Panel charade

It is a big sigh of relief all round that Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim has indeed
retired
 as Chief Justice and his application for the customary six-month extension had been rejected.

But why should it take a “shadow”  constitutional crisis to effect something which is right and proper for the country?

It bespeaks of a constitution and  system of justice which have gone seriously awry and should be put right without any more delay.

The  following quotes from the 14th Law Conference are more than sufficient to demand bold and far-reaching reforms to restore public confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary, viz:

“It is time for the judiciary to regain the public’s confidence and bring back the glory years.” —

Sultan Azlan Shah

“The golden era of the judiciary was before 1988.

“Then came the watershed in 1988 and the system deteriorated so rapidly, so much so that I gratefully retired in 1995.” — former Court of Appeal judge

Datuk V.C.George
.

“What does the Constitution mean to me? It means nothing to me at the moment, because it can be changed at any time.”

Raja Aziz Addruse
, senior lawyer.

Although Fairuz is no more Chief Justice averting a constitutional crisis, the  prolonged  crisis of judiciary  reaching its full second decade continues  without any let up — reason why the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should end the charade of Haidar Panel into Lingam Tape scandal  and establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to restore confidence in  the independence, integrity and quality of judiciary to its golden era before 1988.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 November 2007, 3:49 pm and is filed under
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RM27 million cop charged – call for end to “headless administration” and multi-millionaire cops

The
charging
 of the  Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Ramli Yusuff in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday with two counts of failing to make a full disclosure of his assets and another for involvement in business which entail a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted has raised the curtain for public view of something very rotten both in the police force as well as the government.

It warrants an urgent  call for an end to the “headless administration” presently prevalent in the country in  the past four years, as it is most disheartening to the Malaysian public that despite the Royal Police Commission Report and its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and respect human rights, the rot both in the police and government have got worse rather than improve for the better.

The prosecution of the “RM27 million cop” reminds Malaysians of two serious allegations about corruption in the police force  –

	The allegation by former top cop who was the country’s longest-serving Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar in August that 40% of senior police officers could be arrested for corruption without further investigations strictly on the basis of their lifestyles;

	The Royal Police Commission Report in May 2005 which found that “corruption is still widespread among police personnel” (p 9), recounting the case  from a complainant of a senior police officer who made an asset declaration amounting to RM34 million but no action had been taken.

The Ramli prosecution has refocused public  attention on the problem of  police corruption and millionaire and multi-millionaire plice officers — and the failure to implement the recommendations of Royal Police Commission for zero tolerance for corruption in the police force.

A question that is being asked by Malaysians is  whether Ramli would have been prosecuted by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) if the CCID Director had not been caught in a fratricidal warfare with the Inspector-General of Police.

This leads to the second grave concern about the police force — with the police at war with itself as well as with the Internal Security Ministry, paralyzing a concentrated and an all-out war to keep crime low,  the first of three major recommendations of the Royal Police Commission.

With the Police at war with itself for months on end, it is no surprise that crime in Malaysia has become as endemic as corruption in the country — failing to achieve the Royal Police Commission objective to safeguard the country’s reputation as a safe country for the sake of its citizens, tourists and foreign investors with the immediate target of “a minimum 20 per cent decrease in crimes” within the first 12 months after the Report.

This target has not been achieved as the opposite has taken place.

The Royal Police Commission has referred to the “alarming” and  “dramatic increase” in the crime index from 121,176 cases in 1997 to 156,455 cases in 2004, which registered an increase of 29 per cent in eight years.

Instead of reducing the crime incidence of 156,455 cases in 2004 to a level “no longer alarming”, crime incidence is set to break the 200,000 mark this year — which would be a hefty increase of some 30% of the crime incidence of 2004!

With the crime index increasing by leaps and bounds, proving that crime and corruption have become even more endemic that during the inquiry of the Royal Police Commission, it is shocking and outrageous  that  the top police leadership is at war with itself with external agencies like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the ACA and  the Internal Security Ministry taking sides.

What is even more shocking is that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is the Minister for Internal Security  had allowed such fratricidal warfare to be waged in the Police Force  for such a prolonged period, undermining all efforts to create a world-class professional police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and respect human rights.

This was why I was so angry when the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Fu Ah Kiow, trvialised the whole incident by giving a standard and meaningless reply about the internal police warfare, when he had earlier promised to give an informed, proper and satisfactory explanation to Parliament and the nation.

Parliament and the country are entitled to know what is happening in the Police force when its mission to keep crime low and root out corruption have been gravely undermined by the internal police warfare, with the Attorney-General’s Chamber, the ACA and the Internal Security Ministry taking sides and making the Royal Police Commission quite a wasted effort in terms of its three  objectives — for the police to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and respect human rights.

For this reason, I urgently call for an end to a “headless administration” and  establishment of a new Royal Commission of Inquiry into police corruption and police at war with itself with crime becoming as endemic as corruption in the country in the past two years.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 November 2007, 10:43 am and is filed under
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Will the crisis of judiciary balloon into Abdullah’s first major crisis of confidence because of government attempt to bury the Lingam Tape scandal as a non-issue?

With five days to go for the three-man Haidar Panel to complete its finding, the Panel will go down in the nation’s history as the most useless and  impotent inquiry with the least to do and the least expected of it in view of its  ridiculously narrow and restricted term of reference to establish the authenticity of the Lingam Tape with its explosive expose of the perversion of the course of justice with serious allegations of fixing of judicial appointments and court decisions.

With the retirement of Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim  as Chief Justice without any extension, the powers-that-be may be minded to think that  this is opportune time to lay  to rest the controversy of the  Lingam Tape  which was released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Sept. 18.

Two weeks ago, the de facto Law Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz  appeared to be coaching the Haidar Panel on its finding when he said that it would be “unfortunate if the mechanism (Haidar Panel) set up is not used by the people” as
“we may conclude there is no case”
!

Is  the Haidar Panel being coached by Nazri to come out with  the finding that the Lingam Tape is a non-issue  as no witness has come forward to vouch for its authenticity?

Although such a  final finding by  the Haidar Panel would come as no surprise, it would nonetheless be a scandal of the first magnitude for it is just outrageous that a panel to establish the authenticity of the Lingam Tape had no independent powers of investigations but must depend solely on the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for its technical expertise and forensic finding.

When Osama bin Laden occasionally emerged from his hideout to issue dire warnings to the United States government in his videotapes, no one from the White House, FBI or CIA would take the position that unless Osama or some witness surface to vouch for their authenticity, or unless the original tape is produced,  the tapes concerned would be regarded as fakes!

Why then are the Malaysian Cabinet Ministers and the various government agencies, including the Haidar Panel, taking such a ridiculous stand?

In the process of establishing the authenticity of a tape, forensic investigations including voice and image matching  to determine whether there had been any “doctoring” are important, but equally pertinent is content-analysis with regard to the issues discussed.

As the Haidar Panel has been stripped of all powers to call witnesses to undertake a “content analysis” of the Lingam Tape to help establish its authenticity, it is no exaggeration to describe the Haidar Panel as having both its hands and feet fully  tied from the first day of its formation.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will be making a fatal error of judgment if he thinks that just because Fairuz, believed to be the other person at the other end of the Lingam Tape, is no more Chief Justice, the entire Lingam Tape  scandal can be buried with the  Haidar Panel finding that it could not establish the authenticity of the tape — and burying in the process all the serious allegations about the perversion of the course of justice in recent years  which have brought the Malaysian judiciary and system of justice to such  disrepute,  both nationally and internationally.

The Haidar Panel cannot establish the authenticity of the Lingam Tape. It also cannot establish that the Lingam Tape is not authentic, of being a fake or having been tampered or doctored.

It is the latter fact that is important, as in the absence of any finding that the Lingam Tape is fake or “doctored”, there should be no further delay for the Prime Minister to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape as well as the restoration of public confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary.

Otherwise, what is a scandal affecting the judiciary and directly Lingam and Fairuz would balloon to a major  national  crisis of confidence implicating the government and the Prime Minister, making it the first mega Abdullah scandal.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 November 2007, 12:39 pm and is filed under
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Cabinet should halt all temple demolitions – set up RCI on Kampung Rimba Jaya Sri Maha Mariaman Temple demolition

The Cabinet on Wednesday  should issue a directive for a total halt to all temple demolitions in the country and set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Tuesday’s  Kampung Rimba Jaya Sri Maha Mariaman Temple demolition in Shah Alam  and to draw up national  guidelines for all future demolitions to ensure they  do not trample on religious and cultural sensitivities.

All temple demolitions should stop until the Royal Commission of Inquiry has come out with its report and recommendations for national guidelines for all future demolitions of places of worship which take fully into account the Merdeka social contract 50 years ago which assured all religions a rightful place in the country, the first Rukunegara principle of “Belief in God” as well as the  religious and cultural sensitivities of  a multi-religious and multi-racial Malaysia.

What happened at Kampung Rimba Jaya on Tuesday, where brute and naked  force  was displayed by the Shah Alam City Hall (MBSA)  enforcement authorities in utter disregard of proper procedures, religious and cultural sensitivities in the demolition of  the 40-year-old Sri Maha Mariaman Temple,  resulting in many injured, 20 people including four lawyers arrested, has caused great damage to Malaysian nation-building and  is most shameful especially in a year when the country is celebrating 50 years of independent nationhood.

The highhanded and reckless manner in which the Sri Maha Mariaman Temple was demolished had raised the question, not only in Malaysia but internationally, whether Malaysia really respects the fundamental and constitutional rights of Malaysians to “freedom of religion” as enshrined in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

It is no exaggeration to say that to a significant section of the Malaysian population, the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations have been rendered meaningless by such arbitrary actions by those in authority which are completely contemptuous of the legitimate rights and sensitivities of different communities and religions in the country.

This is why SUHAKAM, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikkhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), Malaysia Hindu Sangam  and various organizations including political parties had deplored and condemned  the MBSA demolition actions.

This was also  why DAP MP for Ipoh Barat and National Vice Chairman M. Kulasegaran had sought to have an emergency debate in Parliament on the temple demolition on Thursday but his motion was rejected by the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Lim Si Cheng on completely unacceptable grounds.

The Cabinet can go a long way to make amends for the great harm done to Malaysian nation-building and the country’s reputation of respect for all religions by Tuesday’s temple demolition by issuing a directive on Wednesday  for an immediate halt to all demolitions of temples and places of worship, as well as establishing a Royal Commission of Inquiry tasked with two terms of reference:

	To inquire into Tuesday’s high-handed demolition of the Sri Maha Mariaman temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya near Shah Alam and to identify the state and local authority officials responsible for abuses and excesses of power; and

	To  draw up national  guidelines for all future demolitions of places of worship which do not trample on religious and cultural sensitivities by taking fully into account the fundamental right of “freedom of religion” assured to all Malaysians.

If the Cabinet on Wednesday can issue such a directive and set up such a Royal Commission of Inquiry, it will be the best Deepavali gift of the Malaysian government.

Let all Cabinet Ministers, whether MIC, MCA, Gerakan, UMNO or from the Sabah and Sarawak Barisan Nasional parties, prove that they can act in unison in the larger Malaysian interest on the occasion of the nation’s 50th Merdeka anniversary to lay a firm basis for a plural nation by ending all high-handed  demolitions of temples and places of worship which trample on  religious and cultural sensitivities, and in so doing, making a magnificent Deepavali present not only to Malaysian  Hindus but to all Malaysians as well.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 November 2007, 12:05 am and is filed under
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Will Abdullah dissolve Parliament in mid-session for polls?

Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dissolve Parliament to enable the 12th general election to be held this month, although Parliament is in mid-session, rendering six weeks of parliamentary meeting (four of which are on the ongoing debate on the 2008 budget) going to waste?

Almost eight years ago, on November 10, 1999, when it was obvious that the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was going to dissolve Parliament when Parliament was in mid-session debating the 2000 Budget, I had issued the following statement:

“There is nothing in law and constitution against the dissolution of Parliament in mid-session.  However, it is scandalous and outrageous for the present Parliament to be dissolved in mid-session when there is no constitutional or political crisis, as Mahathir has a rock-like five-sixth parliamentary majority, for this would mean that the four weeks of parliamentary meeting since Oct. 18 and the public expenses incurred would go to waste, with Ministers avoiding accountability for  two weeks of debate on the 2,000 budget.

“Such contempt for Parliamentary conventions and proprieties and insensitivity to public concerns about  abuses of power and waste of public funds — and the dissolution of  Parliament wasting  four weeks of parliamentary meetings is the most recent example — is the result of political arrogance,  irresponsibility and  political hegemony  of the Barisan Nasional after 42-year uninterrupted two-thirds parliamentary majority.”

If Parliament is dissolved this week or when it is in mid-session, the same critique of  arrogance of power, utter contempt of Parliamentary conventions and proprieties and insensitivity to public concerns about waste of public funds would apply with even greater force to Abdullah.

There can be no excuse or redeeming justification for dissolving Parliament in mid-session when there is no constitutional or political crisis arising from the loss or expected loss of parliamentary majority for the government-of-the-day, although Mahathir had mitigating circumstances for his action which is completely absent for Abdullah.

In 1999, Mahathir was fighting for his political life in the wake of the revolt in the Malay heartland as a result of  the Anwar Ibrahim reformasi campaign, and he was pressed to choose a timing for the 10th general election which was most advantageous for his political survival — in utter disregard of constitutional conventions and proprieties.

Is Abdullah fighting for his political life like Mahathir in 1999 when pondering on the timing for the 10th general election eight years ago?

As nobody would suggest that Abdullah is fighting for his political survival in the next general election after winning the unprecedented 91% of parliamentary seats in the last polls, his cynical and opportunistic emulation  of one of Mahathir’s worst examples as Prime Minister, will be even more  deplorable and inexcusable — as all the debate and expenses incurred in the current parliamentary meeting since August 27 would go down the drain.

If Abdullah could  emulate Mahathir’s worst deeds at the very beginning  of his premiership what Mahathir only did at the end of his premiership, and when totally without the mitigating though not redeeming circumstances facing Mahahtir, it must set off alarm bells that the real decision-makers of the Abdullah administration are probably the most  opportunistic and power-crazy in the 50-year history of the nation –  to whom the ends justified the means.

This does not bode well for the future of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 5 November 2007, 11:34 am and is filed under
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Hishammuddin’s keris desensitization and  the Boiling-Frog syndrome

National unity is one of the challenges of the Prime Minister’s Department but it is sad and scandalous that on the occasion of the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebration, there have been an escalation of incidents which further undermine national unity and polarize race and religious relations.

The most recent incident was the demolition of a 40-year-old Hindu temple at Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam, Selangor last week, showing  utter contempt of the Selangor State and Shah Alam Municipal authorities for legitimate and constitutional rights and sensitivities to the extent that even the MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had yesterday to momentarily announce the cancellation of all MIC Deepavali Open Houses, to be reversed a few hours later.

Why couldn’t the demolition of the Kampung Rimba Jaya Hindu temple wait for a week for Deepavali to be celebrated by the Hindu devotees?  Why couldn’t the Selangor and Shah Alam municipal authorities allow time for the Hindu temple to be relocated?

What action would be taken against the Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Khir Toyo and the Shah Alam Municipal authorities for their insensitivities in demolishing the Hindu temple in Shah Alam, seriously damaging the  process of nation-building?

Another grave setback to national unity and nation-building took place just today — at the Umno Youth General Assembly, where for the third year consecutively, the Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein wielded the keris and attacked those who had criticized him for his keris-antics in the past two years as “real racists”.

Last week, Hishammuddin said that despite nation-wide controversy and protests he would continue to unsheath the keris at the Umno Youth general assembly this year until the non-Malays become “desensitized” to it.

I am reminded of the Boiling-Frog Syndrome.  If you put a frog into boiling water, the frog will immediately jump out.  But if you put the frog in cold war and increase the heat of the water slowly, it will get accustomed to the increasing heat.

This is not the first instance of the “desensitization” strategy, using the Boiling-Frog Syndrome, in nation-building which will result only in greater disunity and polarization in plural Malaysia.

We can see this  “desensitization” strategy in  the  Islamic state issue, where  the arbitrary and unconstitutional revision of the Merdeka Constitution and social contract to make Malaysia an Islamic State  is periodically repeatedly hoping  that over the passage of time, Malaysians will get desensitized  to it from their initial outrage and indignation and begin to accept Malaysia as an Islamic state.

Another is the New Economic Policy, which was meant to be a 20-year policy from 1970 to 1990. Today, we read of the latest demand by the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam that bumiputra quota should be 40 to 50 per cent — another example of “desensitization” of Umno policies!

What is most objectionable about the NEP is that it is eventually a  small section of Umnoputras who benefit at the expense of the Malay masses.

Let me make it very clear that non-Malays in Malaysia fully accept the keris as a symbol of justice whether at national or state government level.

In his opening speech of the Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri Assemblies yesterday, Deputy Umno President and Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said:

“When Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj declared that the date of Merdeka would be Aug 31, 1957 at a special rally held in Bandar Hilir Malacca on Feb 20, 1956, he was handed a symbolic 100-year-old kris by Wanita Umno which the Tunku then unsheathed, kissed and thrust towards the sky. This act was witnessed with great jubilation and pride by all races who were overjoyed about the forthcoming independence. At that instance, the kris was a symbol of the success of a united struggle.

“And so when Umno Youth produced the Panca Warisan kris and raised it symbolically, it was quite unfair for the opposition to turn it into a political issue. The Umno Youth was not declaring hostilities but was instead reaffirming its struggle within the boundaries of the Federal Constitution.”

This is precisely the point.  Tunku’s unsheathing of the keris was the symbol of national unity and accepted by all communities, but Hishamuddin’s unsheathing of the keris was the symbol of national disunity which was why it was so divisive and polarizing.

The issue is not the use of the keris but the context in which the keris was used.  When Hishammuddin unsheathed the keris, it was not to unify Malaysians regardless of race but in a confrontational, combative and hostile manner which tramples on the rights and sensitivities of the other communities.

For instance, Hishammuddin’s unsheathing of the keris at the Umno Youth General Assembly last year was made in the context of extremist, incendiary and seditious utterances such as:

	“when tension rises, the blood of Malay warriors will run in our veins”;

	“Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris, kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham when is he going to use it”; and

	“Hak Orang Melayu tidak boleh dicabar,  jika tidak orang Melayu akan mengamok, peristiwa Mei 13 akan berulang yang ianya akan lebih teruk daripada tahun 1969 yang akan menjadikan Kuala Lumpur padang terkukur”.

Even MCA and Gerakan had initially strongly protested against the symbolism and implications of Hishamuddin’s keris antics, although MCA Youth was later reducing to waving the Malaysian Constitution and Gerakan to proclaiming the Rukunegara principles!

For the sake of national unity, such Hishamuddin keris-antics and “desensitization” should end forthwith.

(Speech 2  on the Prime Minister’s Department in the committee stage debate on the 2008 Budget in Parliament on Tuesday, 6th November 2007)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 November 2007, 10:48 pm and is filed under
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In the six mintues sequel of Lingam Tape, Lingam admitted he was talking to Fairuz

The three-man Haidar Panel to determine the authenticity of the Lingam Tape has come out with a shock decision to submit three separate reports to the government.

This is the explanation given by the Panel Chairman Tan Sri Haidar Mohd Noor for this extraordinary turn of events:  “In view of the time constraints, it would not be fair to load one member with the task of preparing the report.  That is why we have decided to submit separate reports instead.”

Even a school-child  can see that  Haidar is not telling the truth, and that the real reason is that the three-man panel cannot reach agreement on its finding and recommendation.

As no witness had appeared before the Haidar Panel, which had only the report of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA to go by, what is the heavy task about preparing the report which Haidar is talking about?  It must be the easiest report in the nation’s 50 year history for any inquiry committee to write, as there is very little to say — since all that is required of the Panel is to determine whether the Lingam Tape is authentic or not.

There are only  three possible answers to the very narrow and restricted terms of reference of the Haidar Panel, that the Lingam Tape is authentic, not authentic or no way to establish either way.

If all the three members are agreed that the Lingam Tape agreed on anyone of these three answers,  and that is all they want to say, then there is no need for three separate reports.

It is only when there is disagreement among the three members that there is need for three separate reports.

I can envisage the following scenarios  to warrant the writing of three separate reports:

Scenario One — The three-man Panel divided into two camps, whether two-one or one-two, with one camp holding a position on these three variations  different from that of another.

Scenario Two — The panel divided into two camps — one holding that although the Panel cannot determine whether the tape is authentic, the government should nonetheless, in view of overriding national interests,  establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into it and the serious allegations of perversion of the course of justice on fixing of judicial appointments, particularly in view of the recent proceedings of the 14th Law Conference and the opening speech by the former Lord President and Perak Sultan Azlan Shah calling for return of the judiciary to its former golden days.  The other camp objecting  to such a recommendation.

It is possible that there is a member of the Haidar Panel who felt that the panel should not be used to justify any government  “cover up” of the Lingam Tape scandal, so as not to probe the shocking disclosures about the perversion of the course of justice which had done so much harm in undermining public confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary.

It is ridiculous that those in authority are insisting on getting the original copy of the Lingam Tape.  Why isn’t a copy of the tape adequate for the purpose? When Osama bin Laden occasionally emerged from his hideout to issue dire warnings to the United States government in his videotapes, no one from the White House, FBI or CIA would take the position that unless Osama or some witness surface to vouch for their authenticity, or unless the original tape is produced, the tapes concerned would be regarded as fakes!

As the MP for Bukit Glugor Karpal Singh had pointed out in this House, a copy of the Vijandran tape was adequate in the past and a Japanese expert could testify in court as to its authenticity.

In determining the authenticity of a tape, there should not only be forensic investigation on voice and image matching, but also content analysis as to whether it is consistent or reveals contradictions or anomalies to show doctoring and tampering. Why was this not done with the Lingam Tape?  A content-analysis of the Lingam Tape will show that they were consistent with the facts, whether with regard to Fairuz’s promotion to Court of Appeal President and later Chief Justice of Malaysia or his being conferred as a Tan Sri.

Why didn’t the Haider Panel undertake a content-analysis, including calling up the witnesses including the senior lawyer involved, V.T. Lingam?

Questions have been raised whether the Lingam Tape revealed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim really lasted 14 minutes, with  six minutes not yet made public, or whether there were only eight minutes.

I can vouch the existence of another six-minute sequel to the eight minutes of Lingam Tape  released by Anwar Ibrahim is true as I have seen it.

In the six minutes,  Lingam had finished the telephone conversation and it recorded a conversation between Lingam and another  person who asked who was Lingam  who he was speaking to on the phone, and Lingam distinctly answered that he  was talking to Ahmad Fairuz, at the time Chief Judge Malaya.

In the six-minute tape, Lingam mentioned that former Chief Justice, Tun Dzaiddin had wanted Justice Abdul Malek Ahmad (who died on 31st May 2007 as Court of Appeal President) to be the Chief Judge of Malaya but this was averted in a “power play” which resulted in Ahmad Fairuz being appointed the Chief Judge of Malaya instead.

Justice Abdul Malek was five years senior to Ahmad Fairuz in the judiciary, as he was appointed High Court judge in January 1985 while Ahmad Fairuz was appointed High Court judge only in August 1990.

In the second segment, Anwar’s name was mentioned.

The government should be reminded that it should not proscrastinate any further and establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape and the crisis of confidence in the judiciary, or a judicial crisis will become a crisis of confidence of the entire government.

(Speech on Prime Minister’s Department’s during committee stage debate on the 2008 Budget in Parliament on Tuesday, 6th November 2007)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 November 2007, 5:12 pm and is filed under
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ECM-Libra/Avenue merger and approval of Air Asia Singapore route

Letter

by Richard Teo

I wish to refer to the Malaysiakini article ‘Air Asia: Its like going to the Moon.’

Yes, Tony Fernandez and Air Asia has every right to be in a jubilant mood after having obtained the rights to fly the Kuala lumpur to Singapore route. After all its a gold mine route previously the monopoly of our MAS airline.

But why the sudden change of mind to give this lucrative route to Air Asia when the logical decision would be to allow the status quo to remain and let MAS reap the profits while it is on its path to recovery?

The answer can be found by referring to the ECM-Libra and the Avenue merger. Prior to the merger, Kallimullah and Khairy Jamalluddin (son-in Law of P.M) bought a block of shares in ECM-Libra  and lo and behold one month later ECM-LIibra  sealed the deal with the cash-rich Avenue merger. Of course someone at the Ministry of Finance had to approve the deal and guess

who?

If we were to recall a few months earlier, Kallimullah bought a stake in Air Asia. I am not sure whether Khairy has a stake in this deal but the deal is certainly very suspicious if not a bit

fishy because one month later, a smiling Tony Fernadez was gushing with pride and annoucing to the world that the Singapore route was like Air Asia going to the moon. And why not? It was like manna from heaven.

CEO of MAS, Idris Jala could not conceal his disappointment and who could blame him? It was a

lucrative and profitable route which MAS had prevously had sole monopoly and now it was to be shared with Air Asia.

Perhaps it would be appropriate to ask the P.M why the interest of the country’s own airline was sacrificed and why a public owned airline was given a share of the lucrative route?

The ECM-Libra and the Air Asia episodes seem to reveal a very ingeniuos and systematic way of plundering our nation’s wealth by our leaders.

Well done P.M. I didnt know you could do so well while sleeping on your job. Perhaps I was wrong.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 November 2007, 10:50 am and is filed under
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Zam sees red in being called “monkey” in this blog

On Monday, in the winding-up on the Information Ministry during the 2008 Budget policy debate, Information Minister, Datuk Zainuddin Maidin saw red  at being called “monkey” in this blog.

At first he accused me for calling him a “monkey” — but when confronted, he backed down and admitted that it was a comment left on my blog. But he said I must bear responsibility as moderator of the blog.

I said I regretted that such a term was used but it was definitely not used by me. I did a search of the reference which he had objected to and found it was a post by
ENDANGERED HORNBILL
on 28th October 2007 in the thread

“Zam – Info Minister under coconut shell or bidding to be Mat Rempit “Godfather”?”
, viz:

“ZAM is behaving like a BN monkey that’s gone bananas over NUTs.”

ZAM has legitimate grievance at being called “monkey” but it is no justification for him to become the Cabinet’s premier anti-blogger, and this was why I told him in Parliament why he should not behave like a “frog under the coconut shell” in expressing satisfaction at Malaysia’s 32-spot plunge in the Freedom Without Borders (RSF) 2007 press freedom index, from No. 92 last year to 124,  which is  the nation-worst ranking in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2002.

From Monday’s parliamentary exchange, it is clear that although ZAM is the government’s chief anti-blogger, he reads this blog and I would urge all posters to use proper language to express their views hoping that they will have some influence on government thinking and direction.

I am surprised that RTM last night telecast the parliamentary exchange between ZAM and me. Those who have seen it may wish to offer their feedback.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 November 2007, 11:54 am and is filed under
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Deepavali greetings to all!

It is customary to send out “Happy Deepavali” greetings to all Hindus on this auspicious day marking the triumph of  light over darkness, good over evil.

This year however many Malaysians, both  Hindus and non-Hindus  are not in a mood to feel “happy”,  as they are in “protest” mode  with increasing signs of lack of proper respect for all religions in the country and especially after the insensitive  and sacrilegious demolition of the 40-year-old Sri Maha Mariaman Temple in  Kampung Rimba Jaya  in Shah Alam when Deepavali was just a week away.

Such a backdrop makes Deepavali even more significant for it must be a day to fortify resolve for light to overcome darkness and good to triumph over evil in order to end the long list of injustices and wrongs in our nation, 50 years after Merdeka.

Deepavali greetings to all.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 November 2007, 9:45 am and is filed under
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Even UMNO’s Morons Are Teachable

by
M. Bakri Musa

Hishammuddin’s decidedly subdued speech to UMNO Youth at the party’s recent General Assembly was in mark contrast to his racist histrionics of last year.  This showed one thing:  even these morons in UMNO are teachable after all.

            Last year we witnessed the revolting spectacle of Hishammuddin repeatedly stabbing the sterile chilled air of the PWTC Conference Hall.  The only thing missing was the foam frothing from his wide, open mouth to make that silly scene really complete as a sandiwara (shadow play).

            Hishammuddin of course received a rousing response in that hall for his piece of titillating theatrics.  That prompted me to write then that we should expect his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin to outdo Hishammuddin at this year’s gathering.  Meaning, Khairy would probably attempt a silat with his keris instead of merely jabbing an imagined enemy in the air.  I also wrote that the only way to end such silly stunts would be to have the klutz Khairy accidentally stab himself.  Only through such divine interventions would these latter day Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat pretenders be taught a memorable lesson.

            Fortunately, thanks to the outrage expressed by ordinary Malaysians to last year’s crudities, we were thankfully spared similar stupid spectacles this year.  The good lord need not have to intervene after all to stop these childish charades.

To be sure, such outrages were expressed only in cyberspace in the various web blogs and Internet portals like Malaysiakini.com and Malaysia-Today.net.  Our intellectuals and pussy footing pundits remained curiously silent.  I interpreted that to mean that they must have approved of the stunts and the accompanying venomous messages spewed by these characters.

In contrast to the furor in the Malaysian blogosphere, there were apologias galore in the mainstream media.  One sycophantic columnist excused the whole ugly episode as nothing more than “party politics as usual.”  She duly noted, with approval undoubtedly, that Najib Razak had many years earlier dripped his keris with tomato ketchup to emphasize a particularly racist point when he was UMNO Youth leader addressing a similar crowd.

Seeing that Najib is now UMNO’s Deputy President and thus the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister, a mark of success by any measure, Hishammuddin must have taken his cue from his beres (brother-in-law by marriage).  Thus it was not far fetched of me to predict last year that Khairy would, in a “monkey see, monkey do” style, ape Hishammuddin.

The Greater Lesson

             There is a greater lesson here.  That is, despite the government’s (UMNO specifically) repeated attempts at ignoring and dismissing the role of bloggers and the Internet generally, we who use cyberspace to spread our message are making an impact, whether the establishment acknowledges it or not.

If the likes of Hishammuddin truly believe in their own message that cyberspace is irrelevant or that it is the limited only to the fringes of Malaysian society, they would have continued behaving like the mischievous monkeys that they were last year.  Nor for that matter would UMNO establish its halfwit “cyber troopers” to try and shut down some of the highly influential websites like Malaysia-Today.

To commentators in the Barisan-controlled media, the current mellowness of UMNO leaders is not the consequence of the severe criticisms in cyberspace rather to their being pragmatic and wanting to appear “moderate” and “rational” ahead of a soon-to-be-expected general election.  That is the mainstream media’s spin, their way of ingratiating themselves to the establishment, their paymaster.

Never mind that such a portrayal merely exposes the cynicism and scheming nature of these UMNO operatives.  Such a characterization means that they have not really changed, merely put on a cosmetic cover over their ugly racist stripes, mascara as it were, to make themselves presentable to voters.

If that were so, it would be even more important for voters to disabuse these UMNO operatives of their collective delusion.  Even if they were to be minimally successful in the elections, that would only embolden them to be even more cynical the next time.  They would then think that they could hoodwink and manipulate voters at will, like just before an election.  Their contempt for citizens would only be reinforced.

That being the case it is all the more crucial that we should teach them a more memorable lesson, one that would stick with them forever. We know that morons are slow learners, but then as we have seen even UMNO morons are teachable.  We just have to repeat the lessons more often, and increasing the punishment more severe each time they regress or forget their earlier lessons.

If enough voters were to teach these UMNO operatives a lesson, they might just learn to behave themselves for the better permanently.  That would be good for them and for us, as well as for the nation.

Power of the Blogosphere

Meanwhile until that election comes, we in blogosphere must continue teaching them their much-needed lessons.  That is our obligation, especially now that those whose traditional job is to keep those in power in check and the public informed — the journalists, reporters, and others in the fourth estate — have betrayed themselves and their profession.

            Ours is not a hopeless cause.  We have seen Chief Justice Ahmad Feiruz unceremoniously rebuffed for extension of his tenure.  Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has done more to cleanse the rot that is the Malaysian judiciary with his release of that explosive tape (showing a senior lawyer attempting to fix a judicial appointment) than when he was in power!

The mainstream media may have ignored Anwar and that tape, but thanks to bloggers and citizen journalists of the ‘Net, Ahmad Feiruz is now out.  He joins former director of the Anti Corruption Agency, Zulkipli Mat Noor, another deserved casualty of cyberspace journalism.  Our job is to make sure that this gallery of rogues keeps expanding.

            Earlier, Raja Petra exposed the profligate spending of our “humble” and “pious” Prime Minister Abdullah in acquiring a RM200 million corporate jet for his use, financed of course by taxpayers’ money.  Thanks to Raja Petra’s diligent work and pungent expose, Abdullah had to backtrack his earlier denial by clarifying that the government did not acquire the aircraft, rather a government-owned “private” entity did.  Such semantic gymnastics and nuances of language!

            As for the mainstream commentators, editors and journalists, they are busy transcribing ministers’ press releases.  Such flagrant abuses of power by the powerful do not interest these journalists.

            Already through the power of the Internet, BERSIH, a coalition of NGOs, will be organizing this Saturday, November 10th a massive display of civic dissatisfaction with the government.  Specifically their petition will address a longstanding problem:  fair and honest conduct of elections, that basic prerequisite of democracy.  While I will not be able to physically take part in this worthy rally, I will be there in spirit.  Already the Istana has berkenan (consented) to receive the citizens’ petition!

            Meanwhile UMNO Youth Deputy Leader Khairy has stated his opposition to the proposed rally.  He has asked the government to “come down hard” on the citizens.  Presumably his model is Pakistan’s Musharraf.  Someone ought to remind Khairy that it is the basic freedom of citizens in a democracy to petition their government.  We are also free to associate.  One wonders what did he learn at Oxford?

            My objective as a committed cyberspace commentator is to make that rouge gallery bigger.  I will not be satisfied, nor will I stop, until that gallery has the country’s biggest rogue included in its rooster.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 November 2007, 2:39 pm and is filed under
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Hisham’s keris-wielding – Is Abdullah PM for all Malaysians or just UMNO President?

The mass media are in a swoon with adulation for the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Umno General Assembly  in his  capacity  as Umno President.

However, they had completely glossed over the most disappointing parts of Abdullah’s  speech, as in  coming out to defend and validate Umno Youth Leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s
keris-wielding antics in the past two years
, Abdullah had shown that he has subordinated his promise to be the Prime Minister for all Malaysians to his position as Umno President.

When Abdullah lashed out at those who had criticized Hishammuddin for the brandishing of the keris at the last two Umno Youth general assemblies, claiming that such criticism was done to spread fears among the non-Malays, Abdullah had chosen to ignore or forget that among those who objected strongly to Hishamuddin’s keris-wielding in the last two Umno Youth general assemblies were component parties of the Barisan Nasional, particularly MCA, Gerakan and MIC.

Or have MCA, Gerakan and MIC been
“desensitized”
to accept that there was nothing wrong with  Hishamuddin’s keris-wielding antics in the last  two Umno general assemblies and that it was MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders who were being irresponsible and immature in expressing strong  protests  against such keris-wielding?

Last week, Hishammuddin had said that despite nation-wide controversy and protests he would continue to unsheath the keris at the Umno Youth general assembly this year until the non-Malays become “desensitized” to it.

Had Hishammuddin been given an assurance by MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders that they have become “desensitized” to the keris-wielding antics to encourage Hishamuddin to wield the keris for the third year consecutively at the Umno Youth general assembly on Wednesday?

In Parliament later on Wednesday, I had criticized Hishammuddin’s “desensitization” stance as akin to the
Boiling Frog Syndrome
.

This is what I said in Parliament during the debate on national unity in the debate on the 2008 Budget on the Prime Minister’s Department:

“If you put a frog into boiling water, the frog will immediately jump out.  But if you put the frog in cold war and increase the heat of the water slowly, it will get accustomed to the increasing heat.

“This is not the first instance of the ‘desensitization’ strategy, using the Boiling-Frog Syndrome, in nation-building which will result only in greater disunity and polarization in plural Malaysia.

“We can see this  ‘desensitization’ strategy in  the  Islamic state issue, where  the arbitrary and unconstitutional revision of the Merdeka Constitution and social contract to make Malaysia an Islamic State  is periodically repeatedly hoping  that over the passage of time, Malaysians will get desensitized  to it from their initial outrage and indignation and to  begin to accept Malaysia as an Islamic state.

“Another is the New Economic Policy, which was meant to be a 20-year policy from 1970 to 1990. Today, we read of the latest demand by the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam that bumiputra quota should be 40 to 50 per cent — another example of ‘desensitization’ of Umno policies!

“What is most objectionable about the NEP is that it is eventually a  small section of Umnoputras who benefit at the expense of the Malay masses.

“Let me make it very clear that non-Malays in Malaysia fully accept  keris as a symbol of justice whether at national or state government level.

In his opening speech of the Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri Assemblies yesterday, Deputy Umno President and Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said:

”When Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj declared that the date of Merdeka would be Aug 31, 1957 at a special rally held in Bandar Hilir Malacca on Feb 20, 1956, he was handed a symbolic 100-year-old kris by Wanita Umno which the Tunku then unsheathed, kissed and thrust towards the sky. This act was witnessed with great jubilation and pride by all races who were overjoyed about the forthcoming independence. At that instance, the kris was a symbol of the success of a united struggle.

“‘And so when Umno Youth produced the Panca Warisan kris and raised it symbolically, it was quite unfair for the opposition to turn it into a political issue. The Umno Youth was not declaring hostilities but was instead reaffirming its struggle within the boundaries of the Federal Constitution.’

“This is precisely the point.  Tunku’s unsheathing of the keris was the symbol of national unity and accepted by all communities, but Hishamuddin’s unsheathing of the keris was the symbol of national disunity which was why it was so divisive and polarizing.

“The issue is not the use of the keris but the context in which the keris was used.  When Hishammuddin unsheathed the keris, it was not to unify Malaysians regardless of race but in a confrontational, combative and hostile manner which tramples on the rights and sensitivities of the other communities.

“For instance, Hishammuddin’s unsheathing of the keris at the Umno Youth General Assembly was made in the contest of extremist, incendiary and seditious utterances such as:

	“when tension rises, the blood of Malay warriors will run in our veins”;

	“Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris, kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham when is he going to use it”; and

	“Hak Orang Melayu tidak boleh dicabar,  jika tidak orang Melayu akan mengamok, peristiwa Mei 13 akan berulang yang ianya akan lebih teruk daripada tahun 1969 yang akan menjadikan Kuala Lumpur padang terkukur”.

 “Even MCA and Gerakan had initially strongly protested against the symbolism and implications of Hishamuddin’s keris antics, although MCA Youth was later reducing to waving the Malaysian Constitution and Gerakan to proclaiming the Rukunegara principles!

“For the sake of national unity, such Hishamuddin keris-antics and “desensitization” should end forthwith.”

It is most regrettable that instead of keeping his distance from Hishamuddin’s keris-wielding antics, Abdullah has now decided to fully embrace Hishamuddin’s divisive and polarizing antics.

It is a great error of judgment for any Umno leader to assume that just because MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders can easily be “desensitized” on any issue in a the Boiling-Frog Syndrome, that this “desensitization” and Boiling Frog Syndrome  should be the new modus operandi for the nation-building process in plural Malaysia.

I call on the Prime Minister to dismiss all notion of the Boiling Frog Syndrome as modus operandi for nation-building in plural Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 November 2007, 4:09 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia: Normalising the Unacceptable

By
Farish A. Noor

The dangerous thing about sectarian politics is how it becomes normalised so easily and quickly. Taking a leaf from the book of Speer and Goebels, the old Fascist maxim proves itself true time and again: Once the public is made to realise that they are impotent and unable to affect change, the ruling elite can hoist almost anything upon them. One affront leads to another, and the common tactic is to follow-up a public outrage with yet another that is even more outrageous. Hence when politicians issue their sexist slurs and the the media reacts to them, the tactic often favoured by some is to reply with a racist slur even more unpalatable to most right-minded adults.

We have seen this strategy employed so often by now: The rise of the extreme Hindu right in India was a case of leap-frogging from one insulting comment against Muslims, Christians and other minorities to the next. Likewise the shift to the right that is seen in Europe today was occasioned by extreme right-wing politicians vying for media attention and out-doing themselves by playing to the gallery.

Malaysia of course is no exception to the rule and during the last five decades the tone and tenor of Malaysian politics has been set by the standards of racialised communitarian politics that is divisive to the country. Again and again we have seen Malaysian politicians come to power by playing the race – and now increasingly religion – card above all else, pandering to their own communities at the expense of the rest. And over the past three years in particular the country has witnessed the rising of its political temperature thanks to the amateurish pyrotechnics of loud politicians standing on the soapbox to play to the communitarians in their midst. The precedent was set three years ago when the leader of the Youth Wing of the ruling UMNO party – Hishamuddin Hussein – brandished a keris – the traditional Malay dagger – in a symbolic act of defiance that many regarded as frothy bravado and little else. In the context of multi-racial Malaysia where racial sensitivities run deep, such gestures can have the effect of antagonising the non-Malay and non-Muslim communities further and deepening the racial divide that already splits the country in many ways.

At this years General Assembly of the UMNO party the leaders of the UMNO Youth Wing were once again seen playing with their toys in public, claiming that their gesture was intended to symbolise UMNO’s fighting spirit (odd to say the least, considering the UMNO did not engage in armed struggle against the colonial powers of the past but rather opted for a more docile form of negotiation instead) and commitment to the country. Needless to say the expected reaction has ensued, with many members of the non-Malay and non-Muslim communities worried about the growing assertion of Mlalay-Muslim dominance in the country.

Ironically, the spin-doctors of UMNO have been hard at work to justify the symbolic unsheathing of the keris and the hysterical screaming and yelling of slogans that often follows. Cognisant of the fact that the juvenile antics of the party’s leaders are under scrutiny, at this years UMNO assembly the leaders of the party went to great lengths to explain how and why the keris was unsheathed and brandished in public on stage. The UMNO party’s deputy leader Najib Razak went as far as claiming that the waving of the keris should not be interpreted by the non-Malays as a declaration of war, but rather as the party’s defence of the Malay race. Where, pray tell, is the difference?

No matter how hard the spin-doctors of UMNO try to pass off this episode as another harmless escapade in the party’s sorry history, the fact remains that racial and communal tensions are high in the country at the moment. While the ethno-nationalist Malay communitarians of UMNO claim that their party is merely there to defend the Malay race, the fact remains that this defence of ‘Malayness’ is couched in terms of a rhetoric and discourse of Malay supremacy. Furthermore the non-Malays of Malaysia are left with the stark reality that while UMNO caters primarily to Malay demands, dozens of Hindu temples have been demolished all over the country and the non-Muslim NGOs of Malaysia are increasingly vocal in their defence of the rights of non-Muslim citizens.

But UMNO’s hotheads have been caught in a trap of their own making. During a previous assembly the very same leader of UMNO Youth was challenged by an UMNO delegate who asked him : ‘Now that you have unsheathed the keris, when will you use it?’ This is the real context against which such puerile and shameless theatrics are being enacted: of a party that is becoming increasingly insecure, defensive and unsure of its future, edged and goaded by irresponsible politicians who have let the genie of communitarianism out of the bottle and are now unable to put it back in. One is reminded of the likewise violent symbolism of the extreme right wing BJP and RSS in India, whose leaders brandished Indian swords – tulwars and shamsirs – before their supporters and potential voters, and who later claimed that they were not responsible for unleashing the racial and religious terror that swept across states like Gujarat.

Malaysia’s politicians would do better to grow up and behave like matured adults who can deal with real issues such as corruption, abuse of power and the crisis of confidence in the judiciary rather than playing with knives on the stage. The growing income disparity in Malaysia, the low ranking of Malaysia in the press freedom index, the brain drain which is leading to the loss of thousands of intelligent and educated professionals; are all real problems that need real solutions put forward by sincere politicians with real intelligence. Leave the knife in the kitchen, and try to manage the country instead: That would be sage advice to Youth leaders who should have grown up long ago.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 November 2007, 1:12 am and is filed under
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PM AAB is PM for his family only

Letter

by Loh Meng Kow

PM AAB is reported to have said to the UMNO GA yesterday that since the list of richest individuals in the country was not led by Malays, NEP targets had still not been achieved. On record, the NEP objectives did not have the objective of making Malays the richest persons in the country. The PM’s statement shows that UMNO leaders can add to the list of NEP targets as it wishes, and hence NEP should read never ending policies.

Clearly the PM did not utter those words without having thought about the issues. NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest Malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the PM, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual Malay in the country.

There were complaints that MITI issued a large number of APs to a few selected persons. The practice is now declared as correctly meeting the objectives in making Malays the richest individuals in the country. Since the son of the PM has now the potential to become the richest individual, no government effort should be spared to make him achieving the new NEP target. Accordingly, ACA should take note that Malays who are on the way to making the list of the richest individuals are immune to ACA regulations. For them, they were only performing the national service of meeting NEP targets should they be involved in activities categorized as corruption for the ordinary persons.

The role of modern governments lies in maintaining law and order, in creating an environment for social and economic advancement and in helping the needy meeting basic needs for living. The assistance for the poor through social transfer has always been based on needs rather than creed. In Malaya, for want of basic data, Malays who were considered to have the higher proportions that needed help when compared to other communities were designated as beneficiaries under article 153 of the constitution.

The implementation of Article 153 provided UMNO captive votes in general elections. The cause of May 13 in 1969 is still being debated. The official version was well known, and UMNO government claimed that to assuage the said sense of jealousy of Malays towards non-Malays, NEP was formulated with clear objectives of decoupling race with economic functions, and to eradicate poverty.  NEP was to be implemented to uplift the economic capacity of the Malays.

TDM declared that NEP would have met its objective when the government was able to create a millionaire among the Malays. It was the first time he extended the objective of NEP to make Malays millionaire, and he legitimized the award of government contracts from public tender to negotiated contracts, and facilitated the use of public funds to enrich his cronies. PM AAB now extends the creation of Malay millionaires to become Malay billionaires, and also to lead in the list of the richest individuals in the country. Never has public funds been made to enrich so few at the expense of the general public. PM AAB’s declaration makes it national objective when public funds are placed in his son’s pocket.

It is clear to the whole world that NEP created unfair hardships to the non-Malays no matter how UMNO wanted to justify it. Unlike article 153 which was supposed to be reviewed after 15 years from 1957, NEP was to be implemented for 20 years from 1970. There was no provision for extension, and the only clearly stated quantitative target was that Malays were to achieve 30% of corporate ownership after 20 years.

Had the UMNO government kept to its promise, the government should have revealed the actual net-worth of Malay ownership in percentage term in 1990 when NEP had been implemented for 20 years. Other than a specific programme to bridge the gap for Malays to achieve the 30% target, all regulations originated from the implementation for NEP should have ceased. TDM conveniently changed the name of NEP to NDP while retaining all the NEP programmes. And worse, New Non-Malays enfeebling policies and regulations were introduced.

PM AAB pretended that he wanted to be a PM for all Malaysians, and called for Malays to forgo crutches. At the same time, he conveniently resurrected NEP and extended it to 2020, and his deputy suggested the continuation until 2057, for the present. PM and his deputy promised a year ago to reveal the methodology adopted by EPU, to challenge the results of ASLI’s finding that the 30% target had been achieved.  His recent announcement makes ASLI’s finding irrelevant since NEP will continue, forever, whatever the actual results show.

Even though it is clear to the ordinary Malays that NEP has been exploited to enrich UMNOputras, they were grateful for the preferential treatment at the expense of non-Malays. Ordinary Malays appear to accept to pay a higher price for their motor vehicles when AP system which was exploited to enrich the well connected Malays, they appear  happy that NEP is continued even though NEP has caused a decline to their standard of living and level of earnings. They accept that as a cost for enabling Malays to lead the list of the richest individuals in the country.

Clearly Malays harbour no sense of jealousy against the success of other individuals. How was it possible for UMNO to create the myth, and keep telling the lies for half a century?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 8 November 2007, 9:06 am and is filed under
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Bersih Gathering/Petition to Agong – PM should show the world that Malaysia is a democratic country

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should show the world that Malaysia is a democratic country by allowing the peaceful gathering organized by Bersih (Coalition for Free and Fair Elections) at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to submit a memorandum to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on electoral reforms.

Malaysia will become the laughing-stock in the international arena if Malaysians are not even allowed the fundamental and constitutional right provided in the Malaysian Constitution for 50 years to gather peacefully to submit a petition to the Royal Palace, not to advocate any violence or even  for an overthrow of the government, but for electoral reforms to ensure that the next general election is clean, free and fair and the election results are   not marred by electoral abuses, fraud and other malpractices.

Bersih officials have appealed to the Kuala Lumpur City Chief Police Officer,  Datuk Zul Hasnan Najib against the rejection by the Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Mohd Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman for a permit  the gathering at Dataran Merdeka.

The  Police  should be mindful of the important declaration in the  Rukunegara that Malaysia is dedicated “to maintaining a democratic way of life”, and as such,  it is one of the national objectives which the Police should be duly committed to protect and promote — by allowing the peaceful gathering to submit a petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on electoral reforms.

There is no basis whatsoever for the Inspector-General of Police,
Tan Sri Musa Hassan
to be  “doubtful of the intentions” of Bersih or the peaceful character of the gathering as its  sole purpose is to submit a petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong.

I for one can vouch for the bona fide of the peaceful gathering tomorrow and that there is no intention whatsoever by anyone to create any untoward incident.

I call on the Police to work with patriotic Malaysians who are concerned about fulfilling the Rukunegara objective to maintain a meaningful democratic way of life by  allowing  the peaceful submission of a petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to be carried out smoothly without any impediment from any quarter.

The Police has announced that 4,000 police personnel have been mobilized at Dataran Merdeka to keep the peace.  This is clearly an over-reaction and over-mobilisation, but with 4,000 police personnel, the police should have all the necessary assurances to ensure   that the peaceful gathering to submit the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong will indeed be a peaceful one or something is very wrong with the status of law and order in Malaysia.

Let tomorrow be a day where all Malaysians can hold their heads high  that democracy in Malaysia is observed in practice and not just in words.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 November 2007, 3:32 pm and is filed under
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Khairy has made “Unhappy Deepavali” into “Angry Deepavali”

Umno Deputy Youth Leader and the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin made the “Unhappy Deepavali” yesterday into an “Angry Deepavali” for many when his uncalled-for attack on the Indian community at the Umno General Assembly was telecast on RTM in the afternoon.

Malaysians, both Hindus and non-Hindus, were taken aback and outraged  when they saw the telecast of Khairy blaming the Indians as the cause why the Umno President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s presidential address at the Umno General Assembly was not published yesterday, apart from Utusan Malaysia and Oriental Daily.

Khairy
 had said in the Umno General Asembly debate yesterday morning: “Today is the first time the Umno president’s speech is not being read by the masses because a particular ethnic group controls the distribution line of newspapers and they are on holiday.”

Already, Hindus were not in much  celebratory mood although it was Deepavali yesterday. In fact, there were those who were in “protest” mode because of the increasing signs of lack of proper respect for all religions in the country and especially after the insensitive and sacrilegious demolition of the 40-year-old Sri Maha Mariaman Temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam when Deepavali was just a week away.

The holding of the Umno General Assembly during Deepavali, a gazetted public holiday, had also upset many Malaysians, both Hindus and non-Hindus, as it seems to point to a growing pattern of insensitivity by the powers-that-be in the country.

If the MIC, MCA or Gerakan had held their annual party assemblies during Hari Raya holidays, it would have been regarded as highly insensitive, offensive and unacceptable — and undoubtedly pressures would have been brought to bear to move such assemblies to another date.

Why wasn’t the same consideration given in the case of this year’s Umno General Assembly clashing with Deepavali — as the excuse that Abdullah had a
“tight schedule”
 is simply just unacceptable?

Adding insult to injury, Deepavali and the Indian news vendors are now being blamed for their “lack of respect” for the Umno President for having a  press holiday on the day  after Abdullah’s Umno Presidential address!

What is even more  galling is Khairy’s criticism of “a particular ethnic group” for its “control of the distribution line of newspapers” when the Indian community as a whole has become the most marginalized group, even a new underclass, 50 years after Merdeka — a fact admitted by none other than the MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

Instead of ensuring that the Indians in Malaysia can participate equitably and fully in the economic development of the country, is Khairy suggesting further marginalization of the Indian community?

Khairy should apologise to the Indian community for his uncalled-for and most unwarranted aspersions on the Indian community yesterday.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 November 2007, 1:30 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia completely out of THES-QC 200 Top Universities Ranking – a national shame

Malaysia has fallen completely out of the list of the world’s Top  200 Universities this year  in the
2007 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)-Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings
.

This is  a national shame, especially as occurring during the nation’s 50th Merdeka anniversary and it must serve as the latest warning to the national leaders to end their complacency and delusion that Malaysia is becoming more competitive globally when the reverse is actually the case.

Last year, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) were listed at the tail-end of the Top 200 in the THES-QS ranking, and I had repeatedly warned both in and out of Parliament that Malaysia risks being pushed out of the 200 Top Universities ranking unless there is the political will to check brain-drain and restore meritocracy and excellence to Malaysian academia.

It gives me no satisfaction but extreme sadness to see my dire prediction come true!

UKM was ranked 185th last year, up from 289th spot in 2005, but has now fallen to 309th place.

For UM, once the nation’s  premier university, it is a sorry tale of continuous decline.  It was ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in 2004 at 89th position, fell to 169th in 2005 and 192nd placings in 2006, and is now out of the Top 200 league, having fallen to 246th spot!

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which was ranked as the only “outstanding” five-star university in a recent government survey, has fallen to 307th spot from 277 last year. In 2005, USM was in the 326th spot.

It is pathethic that the reaction from the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim is just one of excuses as to why UM had been thrown out of the top 200 Top Universities league  rather than a commitment to check the decline and restore the nation’s former premier university to its previous  repute as one of the world’s top universities .

Rafiah
 attributes UM’s poor placing  to the new methodology used to calculate rankings this year, pointing out that “Even the National University of Singapore (NUS) has dropped to the 33rd spot when it was within the top 10”.

Rafiah is right that NUS has dropped in this year’s ranking but wrong in saying that NUS was “within the top 10” last year.

NUS was ranked No. 19 last year and has dropped to No. 33 — a fall of 14 placings.  In contrast, UM has dropped 54 places.

Even more pertinent, UM at 246th spot  is now 213 places behind NUS (No. 33)!  Why is this so when both universities had started off on almost the same footing half-a-century ago?

Despite the use of a new methodology in calculating the ranking this year, Singapore has been able to maintain  two universities in the Top 200 list — NUS at No. 33 and Nanyang Technological University at 69th, while Malaysia’s two universities in the Top 200 list last year had been edged out completely.  Why is this so?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 November 2007, 11:32 am and is filed under
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Challenge to Zam – Update regularly the  RTM website on my blog postings

I challenge the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin to regularly update the
RTM website
 with my blog postings to let the Malaysian public evaluate their quality and veracity.

Yesterday, on the sidelines of the Umno General Assembly, Zainuddin announced the RTM website www.rtm.net.my  will publish selected comments from blog.limkitsiang.com  to let readers judge for themselves my  blog.

He said:
“From today, you can expect to see whatever sensationalized, racist and chauvinistic comments in the blog because we will publish them on the RTM and other agencies’ websites.”

Yesterday, the RTM website started a new
“Media Baru”
 section which carried a
YouTube video
 of the parliamentary exchange between Zainuddin and myself on press freedom and two of my blog postings,
Zam – Info Minister under coconut shell or bidding to be Mat Rempit “Godfather”?

(26th October 2007)
 and

Zam sees red in being called “monkey” in this blog

(November 7, 2007)
.

Let Zainuddin state where I had made “sensationalized, racist and chauvinistic comments” in these two blog postings.

In my Oct. 26 posting, I said that Zainuddin “has provided proof that he runs the Information Ministry like a frog under the coconut shell blissfully unaware that in the era of globalization and international competitiveness Malaysia cannot turn a blind eye to complaints, whether by Malaysians or foreigners, about misgovernance”.

This was in connection with the complaint by a visiting Canadian consultant, Manjit Sokhai, who had complained to the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance “about the menace of Mat Remptism, of which he was the most recent victim”.

Manjit , 43, from Montreal visits Malaysia three to four times a year in connection with his work. He was driving his four-wheel drive along Jalan Rasah, Seremban at about 11pm on Oct 20, with three friends from India when he was confronted by some 40 Mat Rempits on motorcycles, who assaulted him and went on to damage his vehicle, smashing the rear lights, wipers and number plate.

At the media conference at the Parliament lobby, where Manjit attended, I cited the recent crimes of Mat Rempitism, including murder, where even police and road transport officials had become victims, and called on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to give his personal attention to wipe out the Mat Rempit menace subverting law and order, creating fear among Malaysians and visitors about their personal safety, giving the country a bad name internationally and undermining Malaysia’s international competitiveness.

In my November 7 posting, I referred to the parliamentary exchange on 5th November 2007 where Zainuddin  started by accusing me of calling him a “monkey” in  my blog, but backing down when confronted and admitting it was a comment left on the blog.

Zainuddin had distorted what transpired in the parliamentary exchange by claiming that I had apologized for the comment. I did not apologise. I did express regret at the language used which was brought about by the low level of discourse caused by Zainuddin’s mischievous and irresponsible utterances.

Yes, I had said in my blog that I was surprised that the RTM on 6th November had telecast the parliamentary exchange.  Why? This is explained by one email which I received on the parliamentary telecast:

“Dear Mr Lim:

“I hardly watch TV but made it a point to watch last night’s telecast of your debate with Zam.

 “Since Zam (I presume) controls RTM, I can only conclude that he had the debate shown as it would (he thought) make him look good.

“This really perplexes me – I would be ashamed, if I were him, to behave like that as a Minister. He demonstrated his stupidity and shallowness of thought to the whole country on national TV, seems to me that calling him a monkey is less an insult to him and more of an insult to the real monkeys in the forest, and you may quote me!

 “Richard Teoh”

Zainuddin should stop misleading the Malaysian public. I never called him a monkey in my blog as he had first alleged in the parliamentary exchange, as borne out by the Hansard, viz:

Datuk Seri Zainuddin bin Maidin:
 Bagaimana kredibiliti, bagaimana kualitinya DAP apa yang ditulis tentang saya dalam DAP. Say baca… .. “Zam is behaving like BN  monkey that gone bananas over nuts”… .

[Dewan riuh]

Datuk Seri Zainuddin bin Maidin
: Malu! Malu! Seorang anggota Parlimen menulis macam ini di sini, malu!

Tuan Lim Kit Siang [Ipoh Timur]
: Siapa tulis itu?

Datuk Seri Zainuddin bin Maidin:
 You tulis, tapi tak usahlah… you tak usah kata you tak tulis, ini Lim Kit Siang blog.

Tuan Lim Kit Siang [Ipoh Timur]:
 Itu komen atau saya tulis?  Bukan, adakah saya menulis? Itu komen pelawat-pelawat.

[Dewan riuh]

Zainuddin should be educated about blogs, which consist of two parts — my postings and comments from visitors.

I am responsible for every word of  my own postings. As for the comments from visitors, I accept responsibility for providing the platform for divergent views expressed but I do not accept responsibility for every view expressed — which will be most ridiculous when diametrically contrary views are aired!

Just as I never called Zainuddin a “monkey”, the Information Minister was very mischievous and irresponsible in alleging that I wanted him and Khairy Jamaluddin to be killed by Mat Rempits.

The comment he referred to was not any  incitement to kill Zam and Khairy but an expression of disgust  at their irresponsibility in ignoring the menace of Mat Remptism whose depredations are race-blind,  causing the poster to give expression to the despair that both of them would only realize the nefarious nature of Mat Rempitism if they themselves suffer the criminal  worst in the hands of the Mat Rempits.

Again, it is regrettable that such a comment is posted, but does  Zainuddin understand why  his indifference to the menace of Mat Rempitism has driven many Malaysians to despair?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 November 2007, 11:36 am and is filed under
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Can we trust PM AAB to keep his promise on the limit placed on NEP continuation?

Letter

by Loh Meng Kow

PM AAB said the New Economic Policy (NEP) was being continued to help develop professional classes among the Malays and eradicate poverty among Malaysians regardless of race, and it was never intended to make Malays rich by seizing the wealth of non-Malays. (
The Sun, 9 November 2007)

If PM AAB is sincere that he wanted only to implement what he has stated in the paragraph above, through the extension of NEP, then he should declare that two new programmes, namely one, Development of Malay Professional Class, and two, Eradication of Poverty for Malaysians are hereby established, and NEP is abolished forthwith. Indeed a policy which was established 37 years ago can hardly be known as New.

PM AAB will not be truthful if he does not accept the fact that implementations of NEP until now, beginning especially from the reign of TDM 26 years ago have deviated from the stated objectives. By retaining the name NEP, PM AAB will not be able to stop government departments continuing with what they have been wrongly doing in the name of NEP. It is not unlike a mouse carrying an elephant through the gate of NEP. If he retains NEP, then PM AAB shows his intention of speaking with a fork tongue, and of utilizing skillfully the boiling frog syndrome.

PM AAB might have his subordinate BN component parties believed that for the sake of political expediency, he had to retain the term NEP. If he does not have the political will to remove NEP, then he would not have the political guts to stop UMNO continue with the old practices in the name of two programmes he has identified.

PM AAB should realize the true meaning of the words ‘develop professional classes among the Malays’. It should mean that those among the Malays who wish to take up professions as a means of living should excel in the knowledge and skills expected of their professions. It would not mean dishing out professional degrees and certificates to Malays so that the number of Malays can increase, and also in terms of percentage against other races. Hence, the number of professionals among other races has no relationship at all with regards to the success in the development of professional classes among the Malays. Consequently admission to local universities for professional courses should be based purely on merits. Indeed, the old policy of NEP in creating quantity rather than quality of Malay professionals runs counter to the objective of developing Malay professionals.

Eradication of poverty has been an important role of any government which claims to be a government for the people. In a multi racial country, it is only natural that assistance to eradicate poverty should be for all races. It is only the governments which provide assistance limited to a particular sector of the population are seen to be involved in large scale corruption, in terms of creating captive votes from electorates. There is no need to name a policy when it was the intention of the government to help the poor of all races. Much less to specify that NEP would help eradicate all of the poor when it spells out races in policy actions, and it has been misused since its inception.

PM AAB was playing with words in saying that it was never intended (by the government) to make Malays rich by seizing the wealth of the non-Malays. Yes, the laws of the land guaranteed that people have protection of their wealth. But private agricultural land had been forcibly acquired so that Bumiputra companies can make use of them for business ventures. This was in the name of developing Bumiputra entrepreneurship. In terms of semantic, the wealth of non-Malays was not seized. It was only the potential value of the plot of land that had been terminated.

Do you think PM AAB is sincere and able to use NEP only for the two programmes? If he is, then NEP should cease forthwith.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 November 2007, 1:11 pm and is filed under
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