Desecrators, Not Defenders of Malay Honor

by
M. Bakri Musa

What strikes me on this latest Raja Petra saga is that the public officials involved were all Malays.  Their behaviors besmirch the good name of my race and culture.  Contrary to their conviction and assertion, they are not the defenders of Malay honor; they are the desecrators of Malay honor.

            Charging Raja Petra Kamarudin as well as author Syed Akbar Ali under the Sedition Act for what they had posted on the Internet is less a crude attempt at intimidating bloggers but more a sinister shadow play (wayang kulit) with many hidden hands each trying to make its puppets move in a particular way in order to convey its threatening message.  It is also a blatant abuse of the criminal justice system.

            While the government may wish it to be otherwise, this crass manipulation of prosecutorial power would not make citizens refrain from using this new medium, nor will it infringe on its freedom.  The Internet is now well beyond the control of any authority, least of all a corrupt and incompetent Third World government.

            More significantly, this latest spectacle reflects two unsavory and destructive traits that are fast becoming the norm among our leaders and public servants.

            One is their small mindedness and the other, their contemptible habit of misusing government assets for personal gains.  The first attribute is closely associated with incompetence; the second, corruption.  This pairing is lethal; it will destroy our society very quickly.

            There is one other observation which while abundantly clear, is rarely stated openly.  As the leadership and public service in Malaysia are increasingly under Malay control, these two odious traits (corruption and incompetence) are now viewed as an integral part of the Malay persona and culture.  This is what makes me angry, as it should every Malaysian, Malays especially.

Small Minds At Work

First were the UMNO Youth members who lodged the police report.  You can bet that they are all either on the public payroll or dependent upon government dole and contracts.  If only they had a better comprehension of the English language, they would agree with millions of Raja Petra readers that there was nothing seditious in the said article.

            Similarly, the police officers who raided Raja Petra’s home and grabbed his laptop never bothered to question those UMNO Youth leaders what was so seditious about the article.  If the police had posed this most elementary preliminary inquiry, they would more than likely discover that those UMNO blokes had not read the piece, or if they did, they did not understand a word of it.

            These police officers were not low-level sergeant types but ASPs and DSPs.  They, like UMNO Youth members and many of the present generation of “educated” Malays, are English illiterate, thanks to our abominable UMNO-inspired education system.

            As for the prosecutors and other lawyers in the Attorney General’s office who signed on to proceed with the case, as well as the presiding judge, well, that is what happens when you “massage” the scores of the Bar examinations.

            If only the police had told those UMNO Youth members to grow up, or if the prosecutors and others in the Attorney-General’s office had exercised their independent judgment that Raja Petra was no threat to public security, the nation would have been spared this spectacle.  More importantly, those police officers could then focus on solving the numerous unsolved murders, while our prosecutors could go after corrupt officials.  There is no shortage of both.

            As for the judge, if only she had exercised a modicum of diligence and read the allegedly seditious article, she would have thrown the case out.  If she had any sense of judgment, she would have dispensed with the bail and released Raja Petra on his own recognizance.  Did she really believe that he would flee?

            That judge obviously did not have the courage of her colleague, High Court Judge Hishamuddin Yunus.  In May 2001, this brave judge ordered the release of two ISA detainees on a writ of habeas corpus application when it was shown that the police officers were cavalier in carrying out their duties.  The judge went on and fearlessly declared that Parliament should review and either scrap or amend the ISA so as to reduce its potential for abuse.

            I did not expect the judge in Raja Petra’s case to lift her judicial robe and look beyond her bench, as one Judge Syed Aidid Abdullah did.  Enough that she would do it like Judge Hishamudin, in the course of her deliberation and written judgment.

            Syed Aidid was the judge who in 1996 wrote a letter to the Attorney-General alleging specific instances of corruption, abuse of power, and judicial misconduct among his colleagues on the bench.  The Attorney-General of the time dismissed it as surat layang (poison pen letter), which reflected more on his competence and integrity.  Syed Aidid was forced to resign; perhaps that was the lesson.

            No wonder none of the senior public officials involved in Raja Petra’s case paused to reflect on their actions, or do anything other than what they have been instructed to do.  They all dutifully carried out what was asked of them, robot-like, without thinking.

            In a commentary after his release, Raja Petra wrote of his decision to let his wife post bail.  He was initially determined to stay in jail until his trial to expose the rot in the system.  What made him change his mind were the words of his jailors.

            Of all the public servants, those jailors were the only ones who went beyond their prescribed duties and used their brains.  They convinced Raja Petra that he would be more useful to our nation by being outside of prison than inside.

            They were also concerned about his safety as well as that of the other prisoners.  In their wisdom, the officials had detained Raja Petra in the same prison where the accused murderers of Altantuya were held.  Again, wisdom and common sense elude our public officials!

            It is ironic that of all our public officials, only the jailors were capable of independent judgment.  One would have thought that this would be second nature for those in “higher” positions.

Abuse of Public Property

Malaysia-Today had posted many more damaging and yes, even seditious and libelous commentaries involving personalities more powerful than Najib Razak, yet the authorities had not responded in like manner.

            There was the earlier “visit” by the police after Raja Petra made highly uncomplimentary comments on the Yang Di Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan.  It was just a “visit” with the usual routine seizure of Raja Petra’s computer.  Well, at least one of the police officer’s home now has a computer!

            Malaysia-Today did not spare Prime Minister Abdullah either, with its series on UN’s “Iraq Oil For Food” corruption scandal.  Then there was the highly damaging series on the “world’s richest unemployed” (to borrow Lim Kit Siang’s inimitable phrase), the Khairy Chronicles, and the equally damning expose on the “double Muhammad,” the former Mentri Besar of Selangor who was caught at an Australian airport with millions in cash in his back pocket.  In none of these instances did the police react.

            If Najib felt that he was being libeled, he should have hired his own lawyers and bear his own legal fees.  Instead, the criminal justice system was being abused for this dirty job, for free at least to Najib.

           Sadly, treating expensive government resources as their personal assets is fast becoming a pattern among our leaders, from using the fleet of luxurious corporate jets for their political campaigns, to “privatizing” choice government-linked companies to “sell” to their cronies and families.

            There are many hidden hands and concealed causes in this latest convoluted shadow play.  They would all be instantly exposed if only someone would flip the light switch on.  Thus the fury provoked by Raja Petra’s initial lighting of a small candle.  Rest assured that this man has his hands right on the main light switch.  Keep reading!

            Individuals like Raja Petra, as well as Judge Hishamuddin Yunus, Syed Aidid and Raja Petra’s jailors, rekindle my faith.  We have eagles in our midst, but it is difficult for them to soar surrounded as they are by turkeys.  To put it in a local metaphor, it is hard for a kucing belang to show its stripes when surrounded by kucing kurap (scruffy cats).

            We have to get rid of these kucing kurap so our kucing belang could do their work in getting rid of the rats infesting our society.  We cannot remain silent as that would only encourage these kucing kurap.

            I join others in denouncing this brute behavior of the Abdullah administration.  Raja Petra suffered with dignity while detained under the ISA.  This latest clumsy act will not in the least dint this patriot’s resolve to bringing greater freedom to Malaysia.

            To Raja Petra Kamarudin, Judge Hishamuddin Yunus, Syed Aidid, and all the kucing belang in our midst, I salute you!  Hunt down ‘dem rats!

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 May 2008, 8:40 am and is filed under
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Another NS death

BY: Emergency Physician

Dear YB, please speak up for the many concerned parents regarding the deaths and deaths and deaths in the NS camps… it is very very worrying… authorities don’t seems to concern much

i am a doctor, working as a specialist in emergency department… i can somehow guess what had happened… it is ridiculous for a victim to die like that in Kem Semanggol with a simple answer of unknown fever… ridiculous!!! is a case of neglect and delay treatment..

the victim Too Hui Min… again… if not because of neglect and delay of treatment… WHY WHY WHY should a victim complaining of constipation die… it is not the answer…

i suspect it is the stupidity of the paramedic who did not refer her earlier to the hospital… believe me, i have seen many referral letters written by paramedic to the hospital with stupid diagnosis… just because he didn’t know what’s happening…he might have simply labeled her as having constipation. rather than seeing the non bowel opening as a warning sign to something sinister… he made the wrong diagnosis of keeping her in the camp further and worse still, gave her a pill which could make her worse!! If he is not qualified to make a decision like a doctor, at least he should refer!!!!

My heart really goes out in tears to those who have trusted their children into the hands of these people…only to bring back dead bodies

So, please YB, please speak up on our behalf..numerous letters had been written in Malaysiakini, even in other papers like the STAR, etc.. I for once, wouldn’t want to send my children, when the reach that age…to the hands of potential murderers.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 10:18 pm and is filed under
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Sabah on fire in Parliament

Sabah on fire –  that is one clear message  of the first debate of the new Parliament which ends today with the three-day Ministerial replies starting tomorrow.

Is the March 8 “political tsunami” in Peninsular Malaysia reaching Sabah?

Two outstanding examples:

1.  “We (Sabah BN MPs) have never jumped. We can move by simply forming a new party. Then we can decide where we want to sit…here or there”, he said, gesturing in the direction of the opposition and backbenchers. – Datuk Seri Ghapur Salleh (MP for Kalabakan).

2. There is no harm in Barisan Nasional MPs in Sabah defecting to the Opposition. What’s the point of moving to a terrace house if one is already living in a bungalow? However, for some of us, there seems to be no pleasure in living in this bungalow. What’s the point of living in a bungalow if one has to sleep beside the toilet?  – Datuk Anifah Aman (MP for Kimanis).

The fire rages on in Sabah to end over four decades of discrimination, marginalization and even victimisation  of Sabahans in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 6:21 pm and is filed under
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Believe it or not – Malaysia’s improved anti-corruption performance

May 14, 2008 21:28 PM

Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Performance Has Improved – Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) — Malaysia’s fight against corruption has shown a marked improvement and it is placed among countries which had succeeded in tackling the menace, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He said the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International last year showed that Malaysia had done better than 76 percent of the 179 countries listed in the report.

“There was a 73.1 per cent improvement from 2006 while from 1995 it was 43.9,” he said in reply to a question by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur).

Lim had urged the government to form a royal commission to find reasons for Malaysia’s drop in the CPI ranking from 23 in 1995 to 44 and 43 respectively in 2006 and 2007.

Abdullah said the government had no plans to form the commission as a study of the CPI showed that Malaysia had performed better.

He added even Transparency International had admitted the rise or drop in the CPI should not be based on the annual ranking.

“This is because the number of countries taking part in the index differs annually. In 1995 there were 41 participating countries, rising to 163 and 179 in 2006 and 2007.”

Abdullah said a more accurate way to gauge the performance trend was the score where Malaysia had consistently scored five points since 1995.

“It is a good and stable performance. If we calculate from the percentage of countries, Malaysia has in fact done better.

“Although public perception on corruption is taken into account, the government believed substantive efforts must be undertaken to stamp out corruption and uphold integrity among the people.”

He added the government would take positive measures in the fight against corruption including improving and restructuring the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) into a commission.

—
BERNAMA

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 10:38 pm and is filed under
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Sabah on fire in Parliament (2)

The problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah today is even worse than more than a decade ago when the resolution of the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah was proclaimed as one of the pillars of Sabah Baru 13 years ago.

In the seventies, there were 100,000 to 200,000 illegal immigrants, which have mushroomed to some one million to 1.5 million at present, to the extent that there are Sabahans who warned that they have been outnumbered as to become strangers in their own country.

At the time when Umno leaders were promising a Sabah Baru to resolve the problem of illegal immigrants in the state, they were actively involved in the racket known as Project I/C to legalise the status of illegal immigrants by issuing them false identity cards to become phantom voters determining the political destiny of Sabah.

The political turmoils in Sabah, which Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders have refused to acknowledge, must be admitted and corrected or they will undermine the international competitiveness both of Sabah and Malaysia.

What I speak represents the cries of the ordinary people of Sabah. Let it be fully heeded.

I said the
above
 in Parliament  last year during the debate on the 2007 Supplementary Estimates on 16th April 2007.

It was a voice in the wilderness and ignored by the Barisan Nasional Government.

More than a year later, as a direct result of the March 8 “political tsunami” in Peninsular Malaysia, it has become a full-throated demand in Parliament by Sabah Members of Parliament (DAP and  Barisan Nasional) as part of the larger thrust to end the discrimination, marginalization and victimization of the people of Sabah from the mainstream of Malaysian national development.

The centrality of the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah in the overall demand for justice and fair play by the people of Sabah 45 years after formation of Malaysia could be captured by the following
New Straits Times
report of yesterday’s parliamentary debate:

2008/05/14

Sabah MPs demand action on illegals

THE issue of illegal immigrants from the Philippines continued to dominate House proceedings for the second day in a row.

Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan (BN-Keningau) said over the years, the House had heard and seen the problems brought by the immigrants first-hand.

“We’ve shown evidence of detrimental effects that the foreigners had on Sabah. And yet, no one took our claims and evidence seriously,” he said.

“We need to see a positive reaction from the government.

“Those involved in letting the immigrants slip into the country should be considered as committing treason.

“The illegal immigrants had false identity cards and were even listed on the electoral rolls.”

Rosnah Rashid Shirlin (BN-Papar) called for the closure of the Kinarut refugee centre, which she described as unhygenic.

On Monday, Datuk Wilfred Bumburing (BN-Tuaran) called on the government to deal with illegal immigrants from the Philippines or face having the state being overrun by them.

Datuk Eric Majimbun (BN-Sepanggar) said the government should show its will to solve the problem by setting up a special commission to address the problem.

“If the government could set up the Lingam Royal Commission, surely it could do the same for the immigrant problem,” he said.

But are the long-suppressed voices of the people of Sabah being heard by the corridors of power in the Federal capital?

The answer must be in the negative if we go by the reply of the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar when  winding up the debate on his Ministry this evening,

This caused to me stand up to point out to Hamid just before he sat down at the end of his nearly two-hour long reply that the Home Minister had  dealt with many issues raised by MPs in the seven-day policy debate by backbenchers – except one, the important issue which is the concern of all Sabah MPs and Sabahans,  the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah

When Hamid mischievously suggested that I was trying to fan Sabahan unrest, I retorted that I supported the legitimate grievances of the people of Sabah on this issue.  In fact, I first raised the menace of the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah three decades ago in the late 70s.

Unfortunately, there was not a single  Sabah  BN MP present in Parliament who stood up to express support for my outrage at Hamid’s total disregard of the subject of illegal immigrants in Sabah, including the Project Mahathir issue, post March 8 “political tsunami”.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 10:12 pm and is filed under
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Amirsham Aziz – a  professional/technocrat in Cabinet or just a Minister under the thumb of “world’s richest unemployed”?

When banker Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in the second Abdullah Cabinet after the March 8 “political tsunami”, he was hailed as a professional and technocrat to oversee the Economic Planning Unit.

Amirsham himself pledged on his Cabinet appointment on 18th March 2008: “I will use my banking experience in the best interest of the country and exercise professionalism in every step I take.”

But what a letdown by Amirsham during question time in Parliament just now. Amirsham’s professionalism was completely absent. What is worse –  he shamed himself publicly when he was exposed  to be a Minister completely under the thumb of the “world’s richest unemployed”!

This happened when Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau MP) asked the Prime Minister a highly slanted question  on the New Economic Policy.  In a supplementary question, Khairy distorted the statement by the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng on the eradication of NEP abuses of corruption, cronyism and economic inefficiency.

This was not surprising. What created a ruckus in the House was Amirsham’s response, reading from a prepared text to the supplementary question meant to be impromptu and  extemporaneous.

It was not only a planted question but also a planted answer.

As I alleged in the House in the ruckus just now, it was clear to all that the “world’s richest unemployed” had not only asked the supplementary question, he had also prepared the answer to be read out by Amirsham!

Advice to Amirsham – Stay away from the MP for Rembau if you want to protect your professional and technocratic credentials as they will be the first casualties if  there is another parliamentary scandal of the professional and technocrat Minister under the thumb of the “world’s richest unemployed”!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 May 2008, 12:01 pm and is filed under
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KJ comes to Amirsham’s rescue

After
embarrassing
 the professional-technocrat non-politician Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Amirsham Aziz with a planted  supplementary question and a planted answer during Question Time in Parliament this morning, the Prime Minister’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin (MP for Rembau) has aggravated Amirsham’s embarrassment in coming to the former banker’s defence!

Rebutting the suspicion  that Amirsham was “under the thumb of the world’s richest unemployed” in reading out a prepared answer to a supplementary question which the Minister should have no prior knowledge, Khairy said:

“The minister is an intelligent man. He was the former CEO of Maybank and I’m sure he anticipated my question. The minister was looking at his facts to answer my question.”

The Oxford graduate is being most condescending in conceding the intelligence of Amirsham.  But he was talking bunkum as there were no “facts” for  Amirsham to  “look at” in his answer to Khairy’s supplementary question. Amirsham was just reading word-for-word the “planted” answer to Khairy’s “planted” supplementary, as if afraid that he might miss out some words or phrases painstakingly prepared for him  beforehand!

With such a friend, Amirsham does not need enemies!

KJ’s “kiss of death” is to be found in today’s online  New Straits Times
“Dewan Dispatches”
, as follows:

DEWAN DISPATCHES:

The NEP question – locked, loaded and planted

By : Azmi Anshar

2008/05/15

DEWAN RAKYAT, Thurs:

THIRTY-EIGHT years gone and the New Economic Policy – while technically defunct, replaced in 1990 by the newer, too unfamiliar National Development Policy that continued engaging fundamental NEP principles – has aggrandised itself in socio-political realm and influence, still as trendy as wayfarer sunglasses in the way they keep making grand comebacks. And the NEP, in its acronym and far-reaching consequences, is “locked” as troublesome and controversial in its polemic and implementation.

Political-minded people have been cautioned that the NEP can be a multi-edged sword of political expediency and partitionary weapon – its advocators will use it to good effect to sustain a certain political advantage to impress a certain partisan crowd, but its critics can also demonise it, also for a certain political advantage for a certain partisan crowd. And that’s the blessing…and the curse of the NEP.

And in the 20 years of the NEP’s implementation (1970-1990) and 18 years since the NDP’s, has it attained its twin goals, basically to reduce absolute poverty irrespective of race and restructure society to correct economic imbalances? Well, depending on your political persuasion, the answer is a perennial yes…and no, plus some added spice of disparaging effect.

People say the NEP was ambitious and controversial for its time but its affirmative action programmes may have fulfilled some measure of the twin goals in reducing socio-economic disparity between the races while others strongly felt that it tantamount to nothing more than exalting racial supremacy.

But here’s why the NEP had also been troublesome, given the political divide over the “loaded” nature of the policy. There’s a set of politicians who think that the share of the economy for a one race, though substantially larger, was not even close to the quota fixed earlier, and that was reason enough to prolong the policy.

Then there are politicians of all stripes who express concern that one set of race may remain too reliant on another race for pure economic advancement if the NEP continues unabated. Mirror that with another group of politicians who charge that only a handful of privileged people benefited after they hijacked the policy’s noble principles and twisted it into a cesspool of endless wealth exclusive for themselves, their cronies and their families.

It’s all just too confusing. In the meantime, the NEP (anybody want to at least dabble in the NDP for a change?) is still a charm in its flavour of the moment ubiquity, every moment for many moments in the past two generations. Its mileage is extremely high and durable, it is not going to fade away but it is also not going to change any arguments, pros and cons, anytime soon. Unless politicians of all divisive segments can sit down and agree to some consensus of its success and failure.

But argumentative the NEP still is and nowhere is it more argumentative than inside the Dewan Rakyat, not just in the last 38 years, but also today, when the NEP’s linear but ageless process was subverted into a fight over the furtive nature of a supplementary question offered by Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) over an original question he posed to rookie Cabinet Minister, Datuk Amirsham Aziz, replying in his capacity as Minister in Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit.

In his supplementary question, Khairy asked Amirsham what he thought of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s (DAP-Bagan) bid to abolish the use of the NEP in the state because it breeds corruption and cronyism. “Is it fair for Lim to make a general conclusion that people who benefit from the NEP, which involved millions of students and Bumiputera professionals like yourself, a product of the policy who rose to became the CEO of the biggest bank in Malaysia, as though we are all cronies and kaki rasuah (corruptors)?” he demanded.

Amirsham duly replied that Lim’s statement was inaccurate, asserting that the Penang CM did not understand the objective of the NEP. “If that is his conclusion, then anyone who received assistance, whether in loans, job opportunities, scholarships, entrepreneurship opportunities and others, are cronies and corruptors,” he said, never mind that Guan Eng didn’t want to eradicate the NEP, only the NEP’s abuses like corruption, cronyism and economic inefficiency, besides pushing for open tenders on all Penang government contracts.

Amirsham’s reply was actually run-of-the-mill substance, all nice and proper, but the Opposition MPs noticed that the ex-Maybank CEO’s mode of answer was “too formal” when an informal, off-the-cuff reply laced with some flair and colour, was expected.

That was enough to trigger a ruckus: first from “I-can-smell-a-rat anytime” Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur), who protested that the answer was “prepared”.

Other opposition MPs offered loudly their definitions of the “planted” question”:

? Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) shouted the P word. “It’s a planted question,” she huffed;

? Khalid Abdul Samad (PAS-Shah Alam) claimed that the question was “leaked”;

? Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) phrased Amirsham’s reply as “mana boleh ini macam” (how can it be like this);

? Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) marvelled at “siap jawapan sampai dua muka” (a reply so well-prepared it ran into two pages).

Blessed Amirsham for either being blasé or oblivious to the ruckus because he simply continued droning on into his prepared response while Deputy speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee tried to impose some order with limited success. But the Minister did stop to give way to Dr P. Ramasamy (DAP-Batu Kawan) who asked whether Amirsham understood the true spirit of affirmative action policy. “In other countries, affirmative action is enjoyed by the minority but here in Malaysia, it is enjoyed by the majority,” Ramasamy said to a chorus of approval from his Opposition colleagues.

The Deputy Speaker made an anticipatory rebuke of the MPs for their antics and after it simmered down, everyone’s attention was on Amirsham who had to spontaneously answer Ramasamy. “Affirmative action is to help the poor and the lower-income group. It had eliminated poverty and gave equal opportunities to all,” Amirsham deadpanned a reply which merely provoked the Opposition MPs into reacting with jeers.

This prompted a rather indignant Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan) to remark that the House had turned into a market. “Can we have some control in the House?” he asked the deputy Speaker, who riposte that the House was under control.

Then Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak), who was in line to ask the next question, quipped that the House had turned into a market because the chairman was from Rembau, compelling Barisan backbenchers to hit back vociferously, lead by Khairy who demanded that Azmin retract the name-calling (What is it about KJ that attracts all these sobriquets?). Again, the deputy Speaker had to smoothen proceedings before it degenerated, restoring calm by dismissing all protests and ordering Azmin to proceed with his question.

Then again, was it a “planted” question the first place, not that it was unprecedented? Khairy denied it. “The minister is an intelligent man. He was the former CEO of Maybank and I’m sure he anticipated my question. The minister was looking at his facts to answer my question.”

However, Khairy dismissed the relevance or importance if a question was planted, insisting that the substance of the answer was far more crucial. “It’s clear the Opposition was trying to create trouble again because they are afraid of the answers.”

Like a vicious cycle, the NEP – acronym and substance and all – gets sluiced into a bum rap and made to be troublesome again. In any case, everyone suspects that at anytime soon, this explosive issue will get another round of spat for yet another round of endless entanglement. Locked, loaded or planted, it’s all just too confusing.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 May 2008, 10:11 pm and is filed under
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Three Molotov cocktails thrown at Perak DAP premises must be deplored by all

The three  homemade Mototov cocktails thrown at the Perak DAP premises in Ipoh opposite the Perak state assembly at 2.20 am must be deplored by all political parties, the civil society and all Malaysians.

Although no great harm was done, such  contemptible action must be nipped in the bud and not be condoned in any manner by any party or individual as all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political belief must demonstrate their democratic credentials and commitment to uphold the system of parliamentary democracy in the country and to peaceful democratic change.

Bernama
 report on the petrol bomb incident follows:

May 15, 2008 14:42 PM

Perak DAP HQ Damaged By Petrol Bomb This Morning

IPOH, May 15 (Bernama) — The Perak DAP headquarters in Bandar Ipoh Raya here was damaged when two unidentified men hurled a petrol bomb at it early this morning.

The incident, which happened at 2.20am, was witnessed by a security guard, Ammeri Ahmad, 45, who was on duty at a nearby school and who then called the police.

There were no injuries reported as the building was empty and only two windows were damaged, said Ammeri who was on the night shift.

The DAP office is located on the top floor of a two-storey shophouse. On the ground floor is a Indian-Muslim restaurant.

Ammeri said he saw two men throwing something at the windows of the DAP office that caused two loud explosions.

He said when he approached the shophouse the two men took off on a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, Perak DAP chairman, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, said the incident appeared to be poltically motivated and called on the police to conduct immediate investigation into the incident.

“It is an attempt to burn the DAP office and is believed to be done by those who have elements of mischief towards the party,” he said when visiting the office.

Ngeh, who is also a senior state executive councillor, said this was the first incident of its type since the formation of the state coalition government after the March general election.

He urged the people to respect the coalition government as it was the people’s choice.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 May 2008, 3:50 pm and is filed under
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Amirsham’s Embarrassment – Thanks to KJ

                This entry was posted on Friday, 16 May 2008, 3:26 pm and is filed under
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Donation drive for China and Burma disasters

At 11.30 am this morning, DAP National Treasurer Fong Kui Lun (MP for Bukit Bintang) accompanied by DAP National Organising Secretary Tan Kok Wai (MP for Cheras) and DAP Selangor State Chairman Ean Yong Hian Wah (Exco member and SA for Seri Kembangan) presented a cheque for RM20,000 to the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of DAP MPs and Assembly members as humanitarian aid to the victims of the massive earthquak disaster in Sichuan, China.

Fong, who heads the DAP Donation Drive for China and Burma Disaster Victims, announced a week-long nation-wide humanitarian aid collection drive by  DAP State committees . Public donation drives would be launched in Ipoh Timor and Ipoh Barat tonight.

Public can hand their donations to  DAP
MPs
,
SAs
 and the respective DAP
State Offices
. Receipts would be issued on request.

(Media Statement by DAP Headquarters on 16.5.05)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 16 May 2008, 3:23 pm and is filed under
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Revocation of passport of Hindraf Chairman – Hamid should make ministerial statement in Parliament

The revocation of the passport of the Hindraf Chairman P. Waytha Moorthy by the Malaysian government is most undemocratic and deplorable.

The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar should make a ministerial statement for the government’s high-handed action when Parliament reconvenes next Tuesday.

The following is Waytha Moorth’s statement on the revocation of his passport:

I was travelling back to London from Geneva after the HINDRAF briefing with the United Nations High Commissioner’s office on Human Rights on April 21, 2008 and was totally shocked to be informed by the UK immigration officer at Gatwick Airport that the Malaysian government had revoked my passport thus making me de facto stateless.

I see only one purpose. The Malaysian Government had intended that I be deported back to Malaysia by the British authorities so that I too could be arrested under the draconian Internal Security Act and be detained for unspecified period of time without trial and be subject to torture and inhumane treatment for my political beliefs.  I have not committed any offence or crime other than to champion the cause of the systematically marginalized, discriminated and alienated ethnic Indian community in Malaysia who remained a permanently colonized community despite achieving independence 51 years ago.

It is most distressing to learn that, the  land that my forefathers toiled as indentured labourers and one that I had been made citizen by the will of the unavoidable circumstances  has decided to banish and exile me for speaking and advocating the truth that was never spoken off before.

The government has once again  acted  according to its whims and fancy without a second thought of the public or for the good of the public.

The Malaysian government repetitively had oppressed , suppressed and persecuted all causes of HINDRAF by their act of totalitarianism from the very beginning but nevertheless the will and spirit of the HINDRAF supporters have  been the beacon of hope for the new strength founded upon our new found  MAKKAL SAKTHI (people power).

The callous and cowardly acts of the government against me not only undermine their credibility domestically but also internationally. The government needs to realize that the Malaysian public can no longer be cowed as the public are no longer the sheeps that begets the government wolves.

The government may use its best weapon in attempting to stall and break me but they fail to realize that I derive my strength from my MAKKAL SAKTHI and that is all that I need to carry on the torch and fight for the unjust cause of the ethnic Indians in Malaysia even if it means championing my cause from exile.

As much as I have been coerced, castigated by the Malaysian government, so have the HINDRAF supporters. HINDRAF supporters have shown unprecedented courage and character for the truth. It only motivates me further to pursue our goals.

The revocation of my passport is probably the last ditch desperate effort by the Malaysian government in crippling my international lobby for the cause of the Malaysian Indians. This unwarranted act has given me a greater “inner” strength to continue to fight for the struggle of the Malaysian Indians and for the unconditional release of my fellow brothers held unjustly  in Kamunting. The government can unleash all the man made mechanism to stifle and silence me, but I have the backing of  MAKKAL SAKTHI and that alone is sufficient for me to continue my fight for the people.

In MAKKAL SAKTHI, I have found the truthness of my cause for the people.  In today’s world, utterance of truth is seen as a revolutionary action, and my quest for the truthness has resulted as a hindrance for the government. My judge is the people not the government.

I will continue this struggle until my last breath. They may break me but they will never be able to break my will and spirit that is derived from the people for the truthness is  in it.

I shall continue the struggle for the “freedom” of the ethnic Malaysian Indians from London and urge all HINDRAF supporters to remain calm as they have always been. I shall forever remain a loyal Malaysian and will return to Malaysia soon to continue and accomplish what I had started.

P.Waytha Moorthy

Chairman

HINDRAF

                This entry was posted on Friday, 16 May 2008, 3:58 pm and is filed under
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Et tu Zaid Ibrahim?

While the Cabinet decision to make public the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip is to be applauded,  one jarring note is the  police report lodged by the Prime Minister’s Department against several newspapers under the Official Secrets Act (OSA)  for publishing earlier  the findings of the inquiry and its recommendations.

Et tu Zaid Ibrahim?

Before his reprieve from the political wilderness as a result of the March 8 “political tsunami” and surprise appointment to the Cabinet,  Zaid had called for a purge of the  culture of secrecy “once and for all”, proposing that “official secrets” should be defined and limited to matters of “real” national security such as inter-governmental communications, information from the police and military intelligence, issues affecting public order and Cabinet minutes – “that is, where harm to the nation is actual and probable, not according to the whim and fancy of the government”.

What actual and probable harm had been done to national security or public order by  the New Straits Times, the Star, Berita Harian and Sin Chew Daily and others for  the publication of the findings of the Lingam Video Tape Royal Commission of Inquiry before Friday’s Cabinet decision to make the report public, as to justify Zaid Ibrahim’s directive to the Prime Minister’s Department to lodge police report against the newspapers concerned.

The police report against the newspapers also runs counter to the renewed  pledge by the Prime Minister after the March 8 “political tsunami” for a more open, accountable and transparent society including the promise to introduce Whistleblowers’ Protection legislation.

Just as corruption breeds on too many unnecessary regulations, an open, accountable and transparent society is stifled by too many draconian laws like the Official Secrets Act – most of which should be repealed.

Instead of invoking the OSA, Zaid should withdraw the police report against the newspapers for performing a national service in publishing findings of the Lingam Video Tape Royal Commission of Inquiry.

It is the Cabinet which should change its mindset to  keep abreast of international benchmarks and best practices common in  first-world developed nations – to make public Royal Commission of Inquiry reports simultaneously as they are submitted to the appointing authorities, without having to go through the sieve or censorship  of the Prime Minister or Cabinet, as they  must serve the public and national interests and not the interests of  any individual or even the Cabinet of the day.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 May 2008, 5:53 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir’s challenge – dare Abdullah pick up the gauntlet?

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has challenged the government to charge him following the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Video Clip scandal.

Dare the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, pick up the gauntlet?

This is the AFP report of Mahathir’s cdare:

Malaysia’s Mahathir challenges govt to charge him

JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday challenged the government to charge him for his alleged involvement in a judge-fixing scandal during his rule.

The government on Friday released a report that found evidence of an “insidious” conspiracy to influence the appointment of judges and had listed Mahathir, along with other top figures, as being involved.

Following the release of the report, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s cabinet agreed for the attorney-general’s chambers to immediately investigate the allegations against those identified in the report, including Mahathir.

“I welcome it,” the 82-year-old influential leader said at a meeting in southern Johor state.

“I want them to charge me in court. Only then will I have the opportunity to expose more conflicts faced by the judges, including those who have implicated me,” he told reporters.

The report was prepared by a royal commission that investigated a video clip allegedly showing top lawyer V.K. Lingam brokering judge appointments.

“We are of the view that there was, conceivably, an insidious movement by (V.K. Lingam) with the covert assistance of his close friends,” it said, citing business tycoon Vincent Tan — Mahathir’s close associate — and secretary general of the ruling United Malays National Organisation, Tengku Adnan.

“In the process, Tun Mahathir Mohamad was also entangled,” the report said, referring to the man who ruled Malaysia with an iron fist for 22 years.

The report said there was “sufficient cause” to invoke laws including those on sedition and corruption against “some of the principal individuals involved.” But it did not specify who should face prosecution.

During the commission inquiry, Mahathir testified that he was not influenced by his associates when he selected judges.

His arch foe and former deputy premier, Anwar Ibrahim, unleashed a furore last year by releasing the clip, which apparently showed Lingam telling a person identified as former chief justice Ahmad Fairuz that that he would put him forward for a top job.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 May 2008, 7:44 pm and is filed under
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RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah can be established after Tuesday

I have given notice that I will move an amendment on Tuesday  to the motion of thanks for the Royal Address in the name of the MP for Kulai,  YB Ong Ka Ting, as follows:

“ by adding the following words  ‘and resolves that a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be established to resolve the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah to the extent that there is legitimate fear that  Sabahans are being outnumbered by foreigners in their own state’  after the words  ‘Penggal Pertama Parlimen Yang Kedua Belas’”.

If Sabah and Sarawak MPs  from Barisan Nasional support the amendment motion on Tuesday, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah – a call which had been made in Sabah and in Parliament down the decades – would finally be established.

Are BN MPs from Sabah and Sarawak as well as from Peninsular Malaysia prepared to do what is right?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 May 2008, 2:02 pm and is filed under
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AG’s role in two decades of judicial darkness

The Star

Monday May 19, 2008

Call to order withdrawal of report against press

KOTA KINABALU: The Prime Minister should order the withdrawal of a police report made against several newspapers for publishing the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on the V.K. Lingam video clip before it was made public.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said the Government’s police report over alleged contravention of the Official Secrets Act by the media was incorrect.

The Act could only be used if any leaked government confidential information had threatened national security, he said.

Lim said the contents of the Royal Commission of Inquiry findings into the video clip was of public interest.

He noted that in other countries, royal commission reports were immediately made public.

He also said the Cabinet’s decision in instructing the Attorney-General’s Chambers to investigate the various individuals named in the commission’s report was insufficient.

For more than 20 years, the Attorney-General’s Chambers had failed to defend the impartiality of the judiciary and “nobody expects the AG to play a rightful role in the aftermath of the Lingam report,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 10:05 am and is filed under
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Kampong Don Quixotes And Their Enemies

by M. Bakri Musa

Leaders of Kongress Permuafakatan Melayu (Malay Solidarity Congress) are obsessed with fighting imagined enemies of so-called Ketuanan Melayu.  These kampong Don Quixotes are consumed with slaying foes that exist only in their florid imaginations.  Like the deluded knight-errant de La Mancha, these leaders are oblivious to the fact that the world mocks them with undisguised contempt.

            It saddens me that this Congress was led by Ismail Hussein and Osman Bakar, intellectual giants for whom I have the greatest respect.  Ismail was the long-time head of the Malay Studies Department at the University of Malaya, while Osman was a former professor at Georgetown University.

            It seems that every few years the Malay elite, as well as those who think that they belong there, go into spasms of agony and feel compelled to gather and pontificate on what ills our people.

            The pattern is also predictable:  a flood of shrill press releases, followed by an elaborate congress officiated by some “has-been” leaders, and the ensuing slew of high-minded resolutions calling on the government to “do something!”  The hue and cry would persist for a few weeks, at most.

            A few months later and all would be forgotten.  Give a few more years and those same issues would again be resurrected, and the whole pattern repeated.

            A few years ago there was the Badan Tindakan Melayu (Malay Action Front) led by Ghaffar Baba, after he lost his chance to be the country’s number one.  A few years prior to that, there was the Forum of Malay Professionals.

Not-So-Hidden Hands

This latest congress was sponsored by GAPENA, the Malay acronym for the National Writers Association.  Despite its pretentious “national” label, GAPENA is essentially a Malay entity.

            Writing is not exactly a well-paying profession, more so for Malay writers.  So for GAPENA to sponsor this event at an upscale facility and pay for the accommodations of the attendees must mean that it had a sugar daddy.  Even the Bar Council, the body for a more lucrative profession, depended on the government to pay for its recent gala dinner for Prime Minister Abdullah and the fired judges.

            Reading the papers presented and resolutions adopted, I am persuaded by the wisdom, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”  It is obvious who funds these pipers at the Congress.  The papers and resolutions were so shamelessly pro-UMNO that they could have been ghost written by its operatives.

            The congress attracted over 200 Malay NGOs.  Many were sham organizations created overnight so their “president” and “secretary” could enjoy a three-day paid syok sendiri (self indulgence) stay in Johore Baru.

            The more than two dozen resolutions adopted dealt with Islam, politics, education, as well as Malay language and culture, among others.  These folks obviously confused the problems of Malays with those of UMNO.  Or perhaps this was a clumsy attempt by UMNO to use politically naïve and all-too-willing academics to advance its cause.

            The participants obviously did not ponder a simple thought.  If after over five decades of UMNO rule the “Malay problem” is getting worse (as this congress tried to impress upon us), would it not make sense now to let others take over?

            This Congress also decided to set up a permanent secretariate, Majlis Muafakat Melayu Malaysia (4M) – Malay Solidarity Council of Malaysia.  They initially decided to form “3M” without the “Malaysia,” but seeing that the famous trademark was already taken, they belatedly added the fourth “M.”  In so doing they also revealed their insularity, for the problems afflicting us are also shared by others in the greater Malay world.

            Their amateurism again showed when they failed to flesh out important details like how the secretariate would be funded.

My Resolutions San Congress

Malays do not have to create phantom enemies out there; our problems are real, and right in front of and within us.  Peruse the daily headlines of abandoned babies and rampaging Mat Rempits, as well as the statistics on child and spousal abuses, school dropout rates, and other socioeconomic indices.

            Besides, nobody is suggesting doing away with Malay sultans, language, or culture.  Abolishing Malay special privileges – the mortal and eternal fear of these folks – would require a constitutional amendment.  The votes are just not there, now or in the future.

            These congresses serve only to divert our attention; they offer no thoughtful solutions.  For contrast, I offer my own resolutions, san an expensive elaborate congress.

Resolution # 1  Education:
  On the evening of every school day, I would turn off the television set, help my children with their schoolwork, and read to them at bedtime.  I would attend parent-teachers’ conferences and other school events.  On special occasions like Hari Rayas, I would give gifts of books.

            The cost of my proposition ranges from zero (bedtime reading) to modest (books); the benefits, immense and everlasting.

Resolution #2  Islam:
  I would teach my children the tenets of Islam.  The central message of our faith is, “Command good, and forbid evil!”  The rest is commentary.  I would have them strive to live, and not merely recite, the words of the Quran.

            Before undertaking a pilgrimage, I would first make sure that my children’s education was taken care of, my debts paid, and my old age provided for so I would not be a burden to others.  I would not sell my land to fund my pilgrimage.

            Instead of undertaking an umrah or another pilgrimage, I would donate the funds to an orphanage.  I do not know whether Allah would consider this to be more meritorious, but I am certain those orphans would benefit greatly.

Resolution #3  Halal and Haram:
  I will teach my children to follow the injuctions of the Quran, to discern halal from haram.  For example, if they get paid a dollar, they should give three dollars worth of work; one dollar to cover the salary, another for the overhead, and the third for the employer’s profit.  Anything less and they would be earning gaji buta (“blind salary”), and that is haram.  Corruption is also haram, and so too breach of faith and cheating your customers.

Resolution #4  Economy:
  To be economically successful we must emulate those who are.  Meaning, we have to save and invest, individually and as a society.  When we spend, we have to be mindul of its opportunity cost and earning equivalent.  Would it be better to spend RM50,000 on your daughter’s ostentatious wedding or on a payment towards her first house?  At a societal level, is it better to spend the billions of Wang Ehsan to host the Monsoon Cup or build a university?  That’s opportunity cost, or foregone opportunities.

            As you smoke that expensive Cuban cigar in a posh restaurant, ponder how many days a villager would have to work to pay for it.  As most high-flying Malays today are only a generation removed from the grinding poverty of the kampong, that thought ought to restrain their flamboyance.  This earning equivalent is also what bankers consider before giving out loans, as for example, mortgage payments not exceeding a third of your income.  That is being prudent.  It will also save you from the lethal clutches of the Ah Longs.

            My resolutions do not require a permanent secretariate or a massive bureaucracy; each of us can implement them.  My resolutions would also go a long way in ameliorating the “Malay problem,” and certainly more useful than those hifalutin ideas thrown about at this and previous congresses.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 7:30 am and is filed under
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Mahathir playing racial card

The Star

Monday May 19, 2008

Kit Siang: Leaders shouldn’t play racial card

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysian leaders including those who have retired should focus on enhancing unity among the nation’s diverse communities and not play up racial issues.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said results of the March 8 polls showed that Malaysians wanted unity instead of being divided by race, religion or political creed.

“We saw voters voting as one, regardless of race and religion. We had Malays, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan voters rising above their ethnic stereotype and voting as Malaysians,” he said.

Lim said that 50 years after the nation’s independence, Malaysians should be more “Malaysian-minded” instead of retreating into their “communal selves.”

The veteran politician was commenting on former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks in Johor on Saturday that Malays stood to lose much in the new political environment where non-Malays were unafraid to make demands.

Dr Mahathir told the crowd of some 1,000 in Johor Baru that if Malays keep quiet they will lose their rights and other races will take over.

Lim said the former prime minister who had introduced the Bangsa Malaysia concept now appeared to be backtracking on his stand.

“We should be talking more about Bangsa Malaysia rather than Malay, Chinese or Indian rights,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 9:57 am and is filed under
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Mahathir says it again – others are more guilty

The nub of Tun Dr. Mahathir’s response to the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Video Tape scandal – whose finding can be summed up as “He looks like Lingam, he sounds like Lingam, he is Lingam!” – is that the offensive is the best defence.

As shown by the following press report, Mahathir is not putting up any defence that he has done no wrong but the ominous rebuttal that others, including judges were  even more guilty than him if what he had done was deemed to be wrong or criminal.  And he appeared to be implicating the former judges on the Lingam Video Tape Royal Commission of Inquiry.

As Prime Minister for 22 years, it is both pathetic and tragic Mahathir failed to see that while it is commonplace to lobby for appointments to be Ministers and Deputy Ministers, it is just not acceptable for any lobbying to be done for judicial appointments or promotions.

This is why the Judicial Appointments Commission must be set up immediately, which must affect every new judicial appointment and promotion including that of the next new Chief Justice, with the highest judicial office falling vacant in five months’ time in October.

The Prime Minister’s decisions on  the appointment and promotion of judges must be based on the recommendations of the Judicial Appointment Commission.

Sunday Star

May 18, 2008

Dr M: Take me to court

By FARIK ZOLKEPLI and GLADYS TAY

JOHOR BARU: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is prepared to be charged in court so that he can reveal many things about the judiciary.

“By charging me in court, I will have the opportunity to explain many things that the judges did, including lobbying,” Dr Mahathir said.

“I hope the investigation will not end with no case. In that case, I will have no opportunity to explain what had happened.

“I want to tell about the judges who had come to me to lobby. If lobbying is wrong, then these judges should be probed,” he said when commenting on the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. It held there was evidence that he, lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former chief justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim were involved in a conspiracy to manipulate the appointment of judges.

The Cabinet had agreed with the commission’s recommendation that the A-G’s Chambers investigate allegations against the six.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Dr Mahathir said he would also suggest for more such commissions, including one to investigate Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should he (Dr Mahathir) get his day in court.

“In England, they investigated (former British Prime Minister Tony) Blair, and he was forced to step down,” he told pressmen after attending a forum and dialogue on the recent general elections organised by Johor Umno grassroots and MYKMU.NET here yesterday.

He explained that many had lobbied to become ministers and deputy ministers but the appointments were based on his own assessment of the candidates.

“If I feel a person should be appointed, then I will appoint him. I will not appoint a person if I don’t feel he is qualified, even if a judge suggested he be appointed,” he said, adding that Lingam could not fix the appointment of judges but only claimed that he could.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 6:56 am and is filed under
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Sabah illegal immigrants – D-Day in Parliament tomorrow

The Star

Monday May 19, 2008

Lim to bring up Sabah’s problem

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s longstanding illegal immigrant problem may be discussed at length in Parliament this week if a motion concerning the issue is allowed.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said yesterday he would table a motion to amend the motion of thanks on the royal address on tomorrow’s sitting.

The amendment, he said, called for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to resolve the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, to the extent that there was legitimate fear that Sabahans were being outnumbered by foreigners in their own state.

Lim, the Ipoh Timur MP, said he had given notice to Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia on the motion on Friday.

He said the establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry would become a reality if Barisan MPs lent their support to the motion.

“It can be considered somewhat a test for the Barisan MPs who have voiced their concerns in and out of Parliament over the Government’s complete indifference to the problem.

“Malaysians will be watching to see what the Sabah and other MPs will do,” he said Sunday after launching the Sabah DAP Kaamatan (harvest festival).

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 10:01 am and is filed under
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Sabah/Sarawak should get 10-11 Ministers and not just 5 in Cabinet

After the March 8 “political tsunami”,  Sabah has been in the eye of the political storm in Malaysia, when the political leaders, MPs and people  of Sabah woke up to the realisation of the completely new and critical role they play in Barisan Nasional politics.

For 45 years, Sabah politicians and people have been treated as step-children and progressively marginalised  by the Barisan Nasional in its  political chessboard.

I remember that when I spoke in Parliament in April last year about the discrimination and marginalisation of Sabah, with the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut community emerging as the new underclass in the state, the long-standing problems of illegal immigrants and the state having the highest rate of poverty in the country, no Barisan Nasional MP dared to speak up in support although privately outside Parliament they acknowledged the pertinence and relevancy of my speech.

The Barisan Nasional MPs and politicians from Sabah had not expected any change in their marginalised political role in the recent general election, but they were thrust into a completely unexpected status as a result of the March 8 “political tsunami” which saw Barisan Nasional suffering an  ignominous debacle in Peninsular Malaysia – losing two-thirds parliamentary majority as well as power in five states, viz Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan.

Overnight, from a weak position of the marginalised, Sabah and Sarawak found themselves in the role of “king-makers” in Barisan Nasional  in Malaysian politics for their 54 MPs from the two states were the crucial and critical ones which saved Barisan Nasional from becoming the Opposition at the federal level.

Sabah and Sarawak should have 10 – 11 Ministers in the  Federal Cabinet of 27 not only because 38.5%  or 54 of the 140 BN MPs come from the two states (Sabah 24, Sarawak 30), but also for saving the BN from becoming an Opposition in Parliament!

When this new critical role of Sabah and Sarawak dawned on the Barisan MPs and politicians from the two states, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had already formed his Cabinet, appointing three Ministers from Sabah and two from Sarawak.

When Abdullah tried to respond to heightened  Sabah demands for a fair and just deal for Sabah under the Malaysian sun, particularly in the distribution of political offices, the Prime Minister offered the Parliament Speakership to a Sabahan and the two  Deputy Speaker posts to another  Sabahan and a Sarawakian.

However, such an accommodation was most inadequate and unsatisfactory to ameliorate the Sabah discontents as evident from the speeches of BN and DAP MPs in the current  parliamentary debate on the first policy debate after the March general election.

One Barisan Nasional Sabah MP after another, and one BN leader after another one like Bernard Dompok and  Yong Teck Lee, are beginning to speak out, whether in Parliament or outside, on the host of Sabah grievances, whether on illegal immigrants; the crime and security situation; the lack of proper infrastructure like provision of  reliable water and electricity supply; the Sabah “localisation” of government and quasi-government posts in Sabah whether federal, state or GLCs; the regression of Sabah from one of the richest states in Malaysia in the 70s to one of the poorest states three decades later and the abysmal five per cent oil royalty for Sabah.

These Sabah discontents, which  had been in existence for the past four decades though  hidden away in subterranean channels, suddenly found expression after the March 8 “political tsunami”, creating a ferment which has led to rampant speculation that there could even be a change of federal power.

The  Prime Minister is coming to Sabah again at the end of the month. The question is whether Abdullah is capable of mollifying the Sabah discontents with acceptable concessions like the political will to resolve the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in the state, the quadrupling of the five per cent oil royalty to Sabah to 20 per cent; the appointment of Sabahans to lead federal and state government as well as quasi-government bodies, like Sabah Petronas.

[Speech  when opening the DAP Sabah Ka’amatan (Harvest) Festival 2008 at Tanjong Aru, Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, 18th May 2008 at 11 am]

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 May 2008, 1:16 am and is filed under
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Fulfilment of 30-year dream of Sabahans in the hands of Sabah BN MPs

The three-decade dream of Sabahans for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in the state will be realized tomorrow if the 24 Barisan Nasional Sabah  MPs join the 82 Pakatan Rakyat MPs to support the amendment to the Motion of Thanks for the establishment of such a Royal Commission.

For the past thirty years, calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the illegal immigrant problem had been made in Parliament, the Sabah State Assembly as well as in the public domain but they had been totally ignored.

Now, for the first time in three decades, it is possible for such a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the long-standing and intractable problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, which had reduced Sabahans into a minority to foreigners, to be established provided the 24 Barisan Nasional MPs  from Sabah walk the talk about their concerns about this issue and support my amendment to the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address to set up such a Royal Commission.

The support of the 24 BN MPs is all that is needed to secure the necessary majority in Parliament to direct the Cabinet to set up such a Royal Commission of Inquiry as there will be 82 Pakatan Rakyat MPs in support of the proposal.

Although the Parliament has a total of 222 MPs, I do not expect more than 200 MPs to be in Parliament during the voting, which means that with the support of 82 Pakatan Rakyat MPs together with the 24 BN Sabah MPs, there will be a majority of at least 106 votes to carry the amendment motion.

Whether a Royal Commission of Inquiry on the long-standing and intractable problem of Sabah illegal immigrants, which had turned the “land below the wind” from a paradise on earth before the sixties into quite a nightmarish land, is now completely in the hands of Sabahans, in particular the BN Sabah MPs.

The amendment motion, which was expected to come up for decision in Parliament today, will now be dealt with tomorrow as the debate on the Royal Address motion is extended till tomorrow.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 7:50 pm and is filed under
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Idiotic pride displayed for all to see

by
Dr. Azly Rahman

Recently, Johoreans formulated a resolution on ketuanan Melayu. I do not know what this means at a time when our political-psychological landscape has changed.

They met at a time when Umno is so messed up and its old and new presidents are fighting like the Jacobins and the Girondins, and Parliament looks like the trading floor of the New York Stock exchange in the days of ticker-tape.

The Johoreans are doing the ketuanan Bahasa Melayu thing when Malays and Malaysians are in need of powerful mastery of the English Language to not only progress but also to understand why the majority of Malays are digressing while the powerful few are plundering.

Is this what Johor Malays are good at, in their critical analysis of society? Or is this the hypocritical sensibility the Melayu Bangsawan Johor possesses?

I do not know. Having been born and raised in Johor, I have a different view of this Johor hegemony.

This is the Berita Harian report on the resolution, as cited on the Malaysian Bar Council website on May 5, 2008:

Kongres Permuafakatan Melayu bertemakan ‘Kedaulatan Melayu Paksi Kewujudan Bangsa’ selama tiga hari di Johor Bahru yang berakhir semalam, menyaksikan usaha bersungguh-sungguh lebih 2,000 peserta mewakili 200 pertubuhan bukan kerajaan Melayu dari seluruh negara mahu bangsa Melayu terus unggul…. Mereka mahu kuasa, kedaulatan dan ketuanan Melayu terus dipelihara, bukan membiarkannya diancam oleh pihak lain.

It’s a very powerful resolution. Sounds like a reiteration of the ideology of the Biro Tata Negara. There is nothing wrong with holding a conference to reiterate the need to feel good about oneself from time to time. But I wonder if it is about critical sensibility or hypocritical one-dimensionality.

I am familiar with the mind of the Johor Malay, having being raised in that sub-culture. It has its progressive streak but it has its digressive streak as well.

The resolution highlights very critical issues for the ‘survival’ of the Johor Malays, as they would contend.

The real threats

I believe that these are the real issues that need to be urgently addressed:

•    Investigation into the cultural breakdown of the Malays and its relationship to the ideology of development brought about by Johor Umno

•    The nature of controlling interests in the Iskandar Development Region; who will benefit in the large scale hyper-modernised development projects and what is the nature of inter-locking directorateship?

•    The issue of distribution of wealth and uneven development since Independence and since the rule of Barisan Nasional

•    The stand of the Johor leadership vis-a-vis the crisis plaguing the premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and what the Johoreans are going to do about it

•    The potential wave of crossovers of Johor Umno members due the nature of meltdown in party leadership

•    The attractiveness of the idea of radical multi-cultural politics and how this is influencing the younger generation of Johoreans and what this will do the future of BN in Johor.

•    The weakness of Johor Umno itself in addressing the growing interest in the ideology of Pakatan Rakyat

•    The issue of the use of the English language in the teaching of Mathematics and Science

•    The idea that non-Malays are threatening the ‘sovereignty’ of Malays – and notice that ketuanan Melayu is being replaced by kedaulatan melayu

•    The increasing number of high-level, high profile unresolved corruption cases over the last 30 years

I believe that the aim of the congress is not to strengthen the will of the Malays but to mask the real issue of oppression that has plagued the Malays of Johor.

The Malays of Johor and other states need to fight to end all forms of totalitarianism against Malaysians – those that are in the form of Biro Tata Negara, National Service, Internal Security Act, Universities and University Colleges Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, and all kinds of acts that repress.

Johor Malays should have better things to do than to mask the real issue of a nation in need of education and socialisation for religious and racial understanding, instead of passing resolutions to warn against other races against ‘challenging ketuanan Melayu’.

Malay dignity lies in wisdom and not in war-mongering nor in idiotic pride. A good resolution in any congress should reflect this, not renew hatred and instill unfounded or dumbfounded fear among younger Malays.

We need to grow wiser as we grow older. We see so many senile Malay leaders who are growing old with hatred, so that they may hide their insecurities and perhaps escape prosecution for unwise decisions they have implemented.

Johoreans, have another congress. This time, discuss the real issue of why the Malays are now deeply depressed.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 8:49 am and is filed under
Azly Rahman
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Mahathir ups the ante

Three immediate questions on Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s shock decision to quit Umno:

1.	Was it the direct result of the Cabinet decision on the Lingam Video Clip Royal Commission of Inquiry report directing the Attorney-General to investigate Mahathir and five others for any offences committed by them?

2.	Was it part of a larger grand plan to escalate pressure both inside and outside Umno  to force Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down as Prime Minister and Umno President?

3.	Was it an act of desperation at his failure to influence events in Umno so far?

Time will soon tell.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 9:16 am and is filed under
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
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It was 30 years ago that I first raised the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah

A
hostile posting
 in yesterday’s thread

“Fulfilment of 30-year dream of Sabahans in the hands of Sabah BN MPs”
  reminded me that the first time I raised the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah was exactly 30 years ago.

I referred to this in my
speech
 in Kota Kinabalu at the 37th DAP anniversary dinner on 4th July 2003, which is worth revisiting, viz:

This is the 40th anniversary of Sabah when together with Sarawak and Singapore,  Malaysia was formed in 1963 from an expanded Malaya.  It is also a time for an assessment of the successes and failures of nationhood and political development in the past four decades in Sabah.

There is probably no better start for such an assessment than an encounter with a taxi-driver in Kota Kinabalu.  In the past few days, the planes are beginning to be full again, hotel room occupancy rates up and travel business and local economy  starting to revive  after  the crippling effects of the SARS outbreak.

But the comment of a Kota Kinabalu taxi-driver was most perceptive and meaningful, when he posed the question:  “What is the SARS outbreak for three months when the people of Sabah had been suffering from SARS for seven long years!”

I was at first mystified by what the taxi-driver meant, whether Sabah had secretly been the victim of the fatal SARS outbreak for seven long years without the knowledge of the people in Malaysia ,  the world and the WHO!

The taxi-driver enlightened me that the SARS outbreak which had afflicted Sabah for seven years is not the frightening new disease which had killed hundreds of people in China, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia but stands for  “Saham Amanah Rakyat Sabah” syndrome!

In 1996, the then Sabah Chief Minister Yong Teck Lee persuaded  57,000 Sabahans to invest in SAS – Saham Amanah Sabah – convincing them that it was a great buy which would multiply its value twice or thrice its original price of one ringgit!  Today, SAS has reached the point of no return, dropped from RM1 to below 20 sen, with some telling me that it is now worth only 19 sen while others putting it as low as 12 sen – incurring over RM400 million losses!

DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng and the DAP MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan had just given a multimedia presentation of the great deterioration of law and order in the country resulting in the high rate of crime and the fear of crime, recently illustrated by the brutal Canny Ong abduction-rape-murder in Kuala Lumpur, marking the end of an era of public security and citizen safety in the streets, public spaces and even homes.

Sabah lost that innocence more than 30 years ago – when Sabah was transformed from a very safe and law-abiding state where people had no qualms or fears to leave their houses unlocked because of a non-existing crime rate to a a very  unsafe place because of the influx of illegal immigrants.

The following judgment could serve as a verdict of 40 years of nationhood and development in Sabah:

“The management of Sabah’s resources, civil service and political situation are among the factors contributing to the state’s lackluster economic performance.  Sabah was once a wealthy state but it has reached a point of no return and is now in the same economic league as Kelantan.”

This indictment of  40 years of  development of Sabah did not come from the DAP or the Opposition but was made by an UMNO national leader who would have been the country’s Finance Minister if he had not lost the 1999 general election – Datuk Mustapha Mohamad, now the National Economic Action Council executive director at a dialogue at Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Kota Kinabalu in February this year!

Sabah has reached such economic doldrums not because of inefficient and bungling Opposition rule – but after nine years of Barisan Nasional government with its special brand of rotation of the post of Sabah Chief Minister.

Sabah is a special state and has a long list of “firsts”, though many with dubious honour,  in Malaysia.

One such dubious  “first” is in having the most number of Chief Ministers in the past 40 years as compared, for instance, with Sarawak – both of which joined together to form Malaysia 40 years ago.  In the past 40 years, Sarawak had four Chief Ministers but Sabah had as many as 13 Chief Ministers!

Having so many Chief Ministers  should be a blessing and a boon to the people of Sabah, in particular seven Chief Ministers in the past nine years, if Chief Ministers competed as to who can serve the people and state better – but it would undeniably be a curse for Sabah if  so many Chief Ministers in so short a span of time only resulted in the competition  as to who  could serve themselves and their cronies better at the expense of the people and the state.

Barisan Nasional’s rotation of the Sabah Chief Minister system has proved to be a double disaster for Sabah.  It was introduced  by the Barisan Nasional as a gambit to wrest state power from the PBS of Datuk Seri Josteph Pairin Kitingan, allegedly to prove a higher commitment to the principles of multi-racialism and political pluralism.

It has not worked out as promised as in the past nine years, there had been four Chief Ministers from UMNO, two Chinese Chief Ministers claiming to represent the Chinese community, while the Kadazandusun community had only one Chief Minister who lasted only 14 months!

The system of rotation of the post of Sabah Chief Minister has left the people and state of Sabah even more worse-off with every rotation.

When I came to Sabah in the seventies, I highlighted three burning issues close to the heart of the people –  the issues of illegal immigrants, corruption and democracy!

In all these three issues, the situation today is even worse than they were three decades ago.  In fact, democracy in Sabah had gone back by some 20 years, with the Sabah State Assembly reduced to a one-party chamber where the voice, grievances and aspirations of the ordinary people could no more be heard!   To restore democracy, the  people of Sabah have to go back 20 years to the “Spirit of Tambunan” in the Tambunan by-election in 1984 marking the the beginning of an   awakening and commitment to end  unpopular rule, corruption and misgovernance in the state.

The issue of illegal immigrants has become so serious over the decades that it has fundamentally altered the demographic, political, economic and even constitutional landscape in the state, to the extent that many Sabahans are very disturbed and alienated  that the majority of the state’s population of 2.6 million are not genuine Sabahans or Malaysians!

Kota Kinabalu, for instance, has become  the capital of unaccountability, untransparency and bad governance not only in Sabah but also in Malaysia.  The scandal of the most exorbitant municipal car-parking rates remained unresolved, as despite the various adjustments to the regime of the highest car-parking rates in the country topping RM38.50 a day, the KK Municipal Council is slated to up its overall car-park collection by 30%.

From Wisma Merdeka to Centrepoint, there are 22 Twentieth Century Lamp-posts which are the symbols of Kota Kinabalu as the capital of unaccountability, untransparency and bad governance in Malaysia – as they cost the people RM2.1 million or RM46,000 each when their cost was only RM5,000 each.

But there can be no more blatant symbol of Kota Kinabalu as the capital of unaccountability, untransparency and bad governance than the outrageous scandal of the closure of a public road for a private purpose, the closure of the Jalan Jati for the Sugar Bun operation.

Although the issue has been taken to court in a legal challenge as  to the   legality of the closure of Jalan Jati by the KK Municipality for a private purpose, I find it most shocking that this issue has remained unresolved whether by the KK Municipality or the Sabah State Government for the past four years since mid-2000.

I am not talking about the law, but the public morality and good governance of the decision.  The refusal of the authorities concerned to revoke the closure of Jalan Jati and return it from private use to common public use is the height of unaccountability, untransparency and bad governance of the Kota Kinabalu Municipality and the Sabah State Government.

A survey and assessment of the political development and nation building of Sabah in the past 40 years reminds one of the imagery of swarm of locusts laying barren a rich and verdant land – that in the past 40 years,  Sabah had been had been laid bare by swarms of  “political locusts” downgrading   it from a “once wealthy state to the same economic league as Kelantan” reaching  “a point of no return”!

This is why the forthcoming Sabah state general election and the 11th national general election are so  critical and unlike previous general elections  – for the voters of Kota Kinabalu and Sabah must unite to open up Jalan Jati, open up Kota Kinabalu, open up Sabah and open up Malaysia to democracy, justice, fair play and good governance!

There is a further reason why the coming elections are two crucial tests for democracy  and nation-building in Sabah and Malaysia – as the very basis of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement which constitutes the basis for the formation of Malaysia is facing unprecedented challenge.

The Cobbold Commission Report 1963, the founding document of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, published the memorandum which was submitted by the Donald Stephens as Chairman of the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee on 23rd February 1962, which said:  “It is satisfied that the acceptance of Islam as the religion of  the Federation would not endanger religious freedom within Malaysia nor will it make Malaysia a State less secular”.

The “929 Declaration” by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on Sept. 29, 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic State goes against the very fundamentals of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement of a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation where Islam is the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic State – whether ala-UMNO or ala-PAS.

The fathers of the Merdeka Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement were not  anti-Islam or any religion  when they declared  Islam as the official religion would not in anyway undermine or compromise the secular basis and character of multi-religious Malaysia – that “it will make Malaysia a State less secular”.

This is the fundamental constitutional principle and  nation-building  cornerstone which has been challenged by the “929 Declaration” and why Sabahans should stand in the very forefront with all other like-minded Malaysians to defend and uphold the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement to preserve, defend and uphold the democratic, secular and multi-religious basis and character of Sabah and Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 11:00 pm and is filed under
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Motion on RCI on illegal immigrants in Sabah – likely tomorrow

It is now 10.30 p.m.

Waiting in Parliament for the whole day – second one – for the end of the front-bench speeches in the Ministerial winding-up to move the amendment to the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address to propose the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the long-standing and intractable  illegal immigrant problem in Sabah.

The Minister for Housing and Local Government, Ong Ka Chuan, is replying. I stood up to remark that it was all “a political sandiwara” when he replied to the MP for Kulai who is not only his brother but was the Housing and Local Government Minister  (Ong Ka Ting) and should have the answers on his fingertips as the Minister responsible for the portfolio for two terms.

There are still two more Ministries before coming to the Prime Minister’s Department, which has four Ministers who should be replying individually on their respective portfolios.

Do not expect the ministerial winding-up to end by midnight – which means my amendment motion for the establishment of a RCI on the illegal immigrants in Sabah will be deferred until tomorrow.

More time for Sabahans and concerned Malaysians to contact MPs, particularly the Sabah Barisan Nasional MPs, to support the amendment motion to bring into being a Royal Commission of Inquiry to resolve the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah and fulfil their dream of Sabahans for three decades to end their nightmare in the state.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 10:36 pm and is filed under
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Motion to establish RCI on Sabah illegal immigrants sabotaged

The amendment motion in Parliament to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to realize the three-decade dream of the people of Sabah to end their nightmare of the long-standing problem of   illegal immigrants in the state was sabotaged when it was disallowed on the most flippant and unacceptable of grounds.

I had sought to move the amendment to the Motion of Thanks in Parliament by proposing the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah at the end of the winding-up speeches by all the Ministers, which was about 6.30  p.m., but the  Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee disallowed it on the ground that it was irrelevant.

How could the long-standing and intractable 30-year  problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah be irrelevant to what should be the policy concerns of the Federal government for the next 12 months – which in a nutshell is what the Royal Address is all about.

I had previously moved an amendment to a Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address which is the conventional and acceptable practice in all Commonwealth Parliaments as it is an opportunity for a policy debate and resolution – but the Malaysian Parliament is  regressing backwards instead of striking forward to become a First-World Parliament.

I feel sad at the shocking disallowance of the amending motion for it also sends out the message that after 30 years, the primary concern of Sabahans –  the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah –  is still not taken seriously at the national level and merely  treated as a peripheral issue!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 May 2008, 7:38 pm and is filed under
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