Pathetic Police Play Politics in Perak

By
Martin Jalleh

Bolehland continues to boast of the world’s one and only State with two Chief Ministers (Menteris Besar), two Speakers, two State Governments and two State Assemblies conducted simultaneously under one roof.

The Prime Minister’s slogan of 1Malaysia is beginning to bear much fruit as the Government, Police, Judiciary and Election Commission bond and blend together as one to bury any political dissent and opposition.

The doctrine of the separation of powers is blighted by the usurpation of power by the PM and those willing to do his bidding. There are no longer any boundaries or checks and balances – only cheques waiting for those who bow in subservience to the political elite.

The only “boundaries” left are those separating the government from the people – barricades, blockades, barriers and barbed wires like those put up by the police at the Perak State Assembly building recently. Be prepared for more barbaric times.

It has become standard police practice to brandish a blanket court injunction a day or two before every Perak state legislative assembly sitting, thereby barring the people from their very own public arena or forum so that the police can do what the PM and Umno likes.

Beholden & Blind

On the black day of 7th May this year police had barged into the Perak State Assembly, forcibly dragged out the Speaker, and detained him for about 90 minutes. Even a disgusted Umno leader called the brutal act – “high-handedness at its foulest”.

Never before had Bolehland seen such a blatant aggressive invasion and intrusion by the police into the august chambers of a State Assembly – the highest and most sacred institution in a democracy, one which is out of bounds to even the police!

The footage of the Perak Speaker being manhandled and bundled off and the arrests of 60 opposition MPs and state representatives outside the State Assembly badly blunted the image of the Government. They were banned from being aired on all TV stations and even at a DAP dinner!.

Through the new media however, footage of the police’s public notoriety was beamed across the globe. But the police were not at all bothered by the rakyat’s perception! They were back again with their brute force before the state budget assembly sitting on 28th Oct.

The Police blindly and zealously enforced the “Emergency Rule(s)” of the fraudulent BN Speaker. Obviously beholden to the powers that be, they treated the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen like a bunch of criminals or enemies of the State.

The state assembly building bristled with about 400 men in blue armed with the latest gear, guns and gadgets. It looked like a battlefield.  The headline of a Malaysiakini article so rightly read: “BN Perak took ‘counter-terrorism’ like measures”.

Bullies in Blue

The PR assemblymen later related how they were harassed, huddled, hindered, hampered and some even hammered by the bullies in blue as they “hurdled” through three barriers and two checkpoints (!), whilst a helicopter hovered hauntingly above!

As though that was not bad enough, the Police, bent on humiliating the PR lawmakers, subjected them to a body search and a metal scan and forcibly removed their hand phones, lap-tops, cameras, video equipment, etc., before they entered the hall.

Once again Speaker Sivakumar had to bear the brunt of the police brutality. According to him, the police, in order to keep the media out of sight and to strip the official speaker’s robe off him, had planned to trap him in the basement parking lot of the State Secretariat (Malaysiakini).

(One day before the assembly sitting, the Malaysian Insider sighted notices tacked on all notice boards in the state secretariat informing the staff to keep the basement parking lot empty “to ensure the assembly proceedings ran smoothly”!)

As the PR assemblymen entered the parking lot, a horde of policemen pounced on the Speaker. He was jostled roughly, pulled in all directions, strangled with an arm lock to a point that he could not breathe and had his robe ripped off him (Malaysian Insider). Those who went to his aid were also roughed up.

Simpang Pulai assemblyman Chan Ming Kai said he was pushed to the ground and dragged by his hands on the cement floor when he tried to save Sivakumar. In his attempt to recover the Speaker’s robe he was grabbed and slammed onto the bonnet of a car (Malaysia Insider).

There were even installed video cameras transmitting live the activities of PR assemblymen to the state police headquarters and the national headquarters at Bukit Aman! (Malaysiakini) Will Bukit Aman also spy and intrude into the affairs of Parliament one day? Is it already happening?

Bull & Buffoons

In sharp contrast to the drastic and extreme measures that the PR assemblymen were subjected to, the BN assemblymen breezed through to the assembly hall. At least one of the BN assemblymen was seen using his laptop. The bogus (BN) Speaker Ganesan was protected by a wall of 22 new sergeants-at-arms! Indeed, Umno’s interests were well-protected!

The BN-installed MB Zambry brushed aside the accusations of police assault and harassment by Sivakumar and some of the PR assemblymen. He branded them “drama queens” and claimed that they “just want to dramatise everything, to create a big show…”

Perak Chief Police Officer Zulkifli Abdullah bellowed almost the same lines. No extreme force was used on Sivakumar and other PR assemblymen at the parking lot. There was no conspiracy to attack the Speaker and representatives away from media scrutiny.

When asked why the police had not attempted to confiscate the robe from the beginning, when the PR representatives were outside of the secretariat building and the media were still present, Zulkifli blarred and bulled:

“That is our job. When we choose to do things and when we decide to do it cannot be questioned. We cannot reveal our practice. You should know better. I cannot reveal when and how we want to do things.”

Zulkifli added that those PR assemblymen claiming they were attacked wrongfully could lodge reports at the police station: “If reports are lodged, we will conduct the necessary investigations” (Malaysian Insider). The Police will investigate the Police?

Little did Zambry and Zulkifli know that someone had zoomed in on the “inappropriate police action”. Pictures of what they had earlier denied were splashed in the Chinese newspapers. Malaysiakini produced online a video clip showing “Pakatan Aduns, blocked, pushed and shoved …”!

Is it any surprise that “Dr Zambry was unflappable and his team behaved with utmost decorum” (Joceline Tan, Star) in the State Assembly hall? Outside, their lapdogs in blue had done the dirty and disgraceful job of harassing and humiliating the PR Aduns.

Zambry had accused PR of creating “a big show”. Surely no one can beat Umno’s drama of “1 Malaysia, 2 Peraks and 3 Kataks! What about Zambry’s big show of police power and brute force? Was it really necessary? The Malaysian Insider provides a brilliant and related answer:

“Only those who take power illegally would go to such lengths to shore up their legitimacy to rule a state. The last time this was done was when the British locked down Northern Ireland while fighting off the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Yes, Ipoh now shares something in common with Belfast. Doesn’t make it right, though.”

The bare truth that remains is that what happened to Speaker Sivakumar and the PR assemblymen on 28th Oct is yet another example of the Police’s increasing use of the name of public order and security to protect the political security of Umno and to carry out its orders.

What the public saw on 28th Oct was in reality a bulldozed budget, the continued blatant betrayal of the wishes of the majority of the people of Perak, the most bizarre protection given to a bogus Speaker, the bloated ego of a fraudulent MB and the blind and biased subservience of the police to its political masters.

There was of course the people’s MB and Speaker and their colleagues who were bold enough to continue to stand up and refuse to buckle under to Umno’s shameless display of belligerence, brazen high-handedness and unbridled arrogance of power.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 12:17 pm and is filed under
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Revisiting the Spin of Malaysia and Indonesia as ‘Moderate’ Muslim states

By
Farish A. Noor
November 2nd, 2009.

It is now ‘moderate’ season once again when the leaders of the developed Western world are on the lookout for moderate Muslim states and leaders to engage in dialogue with as strategic, economic and political allies and partners.

Needless to say, the leaders and governments of the Muslim world are equally pleased with this open invitation, particularly from the White House, and there are plenty of Muslim leaders and governments that are prepared to bend over backwards to accommodate the demands of the man who is currently residing in the White House too.

On top of that it ought to be noted that the honour of being anointed as a ‘moderate Muslim’ leader is something that most Muslim leaders today would wish for and cherish above all else, cognisant of the fact that such an anointment would be followed by a blanket support of their own domestic policies at home as well as lashings of economic, political and military support to boot.

During the bad old days of the Bush administration, countries like Thailand and Australia were given the dubious honour of being seen as the closest allies of Washington in Asia. Thailand was given the title of being America’s ‘no.1 non-NATO ally in ASEAN’; while Australia (or rather the Howard government) was dubbed America’s sheriff in Asia- a dubious recognition indeed that merely compounded the image that both states were anti-Muslim and anti-Islam.

Now that the keys of the White House have changed hands and a new American President is scheduled to visit Indonesia in the near future, it would appear that the developed countries of the world are once again on the lookout for ‘moderate Muslim leaders’ to court and cajole. Straight off the bat Malaysia and Indonesia come to mind as the two prime candidates for the top slot of ‘most moderate’ Muslim state in Asia. (While the governments of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore et al must be cursing their luck for not having enough Muslims to make the rankings…)

But before we jump the gun, let us look at both countries – Malaysia and Indonesia – and ask ourselves if they deserve the coveted title of moderate Muslim state in the first place.

Indonesia, it has to be said, has suffered from bad press thanks to the Bali bombings and how the country was presented in the international media following the attacks of 2002. But it is sad and unfair to see how this country, which has had a long record of strife and violence, has not been given the recognition it deserves for its efforts in the long march to democracy and democratisation.

For a start, when talking about the long history of political violence in Indonesia, one needs to situate such discussion in the proper historical context and identify all the agents and actors involved. While it is true that Indonesia has a long record of political violence, let us not forget that much of that violence was sanctioned if not tacitly approved by the international community as well, who are just as guilty of condoning the rise of political gangsterism in Indonesia in the past.

During the violent and bloody counter-communist putsch in 1965 for instance, it was well known that thousands of suspected Communists of the PKI and their sympathisers were summarily wiped out by right-wing religious elements of the Nahdatul Ulama, with the tacit support (or at least non-interference) of the West.

During the violent annexation of East Timor in 1974-75 it was also the governments of the West that turned a blind eye to the violence there on the grounds that East Timor might have become the new ‘Cuba in ASEAN’ and was thus seen as the ‘red threat’ to countries like Australia and ASEAN.

Yet despite three decades of violent and arbitrary dictatorship under Suharto and his generals, Indonesia has developed to become one of the few truly democratic countries in ASEAN today with a press that is freer than most of its neighbours. We should also remember that so many of the reformasi leaders who brought down the government of Suharto and his army were also former student activists who were themselves Islamlist activists and intellectuals, contrary to the stereotypical image of Islam as a religion that works hand in glove with totalitarian forms of governance.

Today Indonesia’s Islamic universities – including the ones I am proud to be associated with – are at the forefront of modern Islamic education and are producing the first Muslim scholars who have developed a rational, objective and critical understanding of religion per se. Yet almost none of these developments feature in the international media that continues instead to harp on the idea of Indonesia being the hotbed of radical Islamist terrorism.

Conversely next door in Malaysia we see a totally different framing of Islam altogether. Malaysia has been seen and cast as a moderate Muslim state and a model state for others to follow, notably by the international media whose own exposure to the living social realities of Malaysia may stop at the poolside of the 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur.

Yet a quick survey of the country will give a very different picture of the state of normative Muslim praxis in Malaysia today: This is still the country where book banning is rife and where we have seen embarrassing contradictions such as the banning of the works of Karen Armstrong while the author herself was invited to speak at Islamic conferences in the capital. This is a country with a morality police that has become a law unto themselves; where feminist Muslim organisations like Sisters in Islam are constantly persecuted and demonised and where the space for Muslim thought, expression and social life has been shrinking since the 1970s.

Yet despite these contradictions, Malaysia is cast in a more positive light compared to Indonesia, when it is obvious to anyone who is familiar with the normative Muslim politics of both countries that the normative space for Muslims in Indonesia is infinitely much bigger.

And in terms of the discursive as well as normative-cultural frontiers to Muslim life and praxis in both countries, it is equally clear that the space of Muslim life is still bigger in Indonesia compared to Malaysia. So what gives, and why is Indonesia constantly placed in the dock?

One can only conclude that the negative image of Indonesia has more to do with the selective memory of the Western media that cannot look beyond the historical fact of the Bali bombing to recognise the realities of Indonesia today.

By appropriating Bali as a ‘tragedy for the West’ and positing it as an attack on Australians and other Westerners, the international media as well as the governments of the developed world have not only robbed the Indonesians of their right to grieve for their pain, but have also appropriated Indonesia’s identity and history in the process.

By doing do, they are in peril of overlooking the recent developments in the country that has probably gone through the most expansive and deep democratic revolution ASEAN has seen in ages, and have denied themselves the possibility of working with a truly moderate and democratic ally. That is Indonesia’s loss as well, but the bigger loss will be borne by the governments of the Western world.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 8:30 am and is filed under
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Strange, stranger, strangest – Chua is MCA deputy president

Twitter

11/03/2009 03:36 PM

MCA Greater Unity Plan – President OngTeeKeat sacks 4 Liow-aligned central committee members ChorCheeHeung GanHonSu ChaiKimSen YooWeiHow.

11/03/2009 01:34 PM

Strange, stranger, strangest – Chua is MCA deputy president: ROS shocker http://bit.ly/2AUapk

————

Chua is deputy president: ROS shocker

Nov 3, 09 1:18pm | Malaysiakini

In a dramatic turn of events, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) has declared Dr Chua Soi Lek the legitimate MCA deputy president.

The ROS’ decision was unveiled via a letter to the MCA headquarters today, just ahead of a crucial central committee (CC) meeting to discuss the current impasse in the party.

The latest development puts newly-minted deputy president Liow Tiong Lai and his faction in a fix.

Chua was sacked as deputy president on Aug 26 but the CC commuted the sacking to a four-year suspension.

Met at the MCA headquarters this afternoon, the former health minister refused to confirm the ROS’ decision and merely joked with reporters about his rapid weight loss.

He was seen with his son, Chua Tee Yong, who took over the Labis parliamentary seat from his father.

Deputy chief for 19 days

Chua is entitled to attend the 1pm CC meeting should he be reinstated as party’s deputy chief.

If Liow, who has been deputy president for only 19 days, refused to accept the stunning ROS’ decision, he could lodge an appeal against it.

Alternatively, he might press on with his campaign for another extraordinary general meeting (EGM)to decide on fresh leadership polls.

But with the new development today, which included the sacking of four members of the CC aligned to him, it appears that Liow is fighting a losing battle.

In an SMS message to Malaysiakini, Chua confirmed that ROS had informed him that he was the rightful deputy leader.

At the CC meeting which is currently being held, it is learnt that Ong informed the powerful committee that Chua was now his deputy.

Liow’s men out, Chua’s men in

Moreover, the CC was also told of the sacking of four of its appointed members – all of whom aligned to Liow.

In their place, Ong used his presidential powers to install three new faces aligned to Chua. They are Tan Chin Meng, Donald Lim and Chua’s son Tee Yong.

Ong has also replaced information chief Lee Wee Kiat, a Liow supporter, with one of his own – MCA Wanita secretary-general Heng Seai Kie.

Later, Chua was mobbed by reporters while on a toilet break during the CC meeting.

He was repeatedly pressed for comments on the ROS’ decision by journalists waiting outside the meeting room.

“I got to know about it via a letter from ROS at 11.30am this morning. It is a decision based on the party constitution,” he said.

Asked how he felt, Chua jokingly replied, “I am feeling a bit ‘hot’ surrounded by you reporters.”

Liow, who went for a toilet break before Chua, however refused to entertain questions from the press.

————

Soi Lek reinstated, Tee Keat sacks four in pre-emptive strike

By Lee Wei Lian | The MalaysianInsider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 – Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek has been reinstated as MCA deputy president by the Registrar of Societies on a day when embattled party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat sacked four central committee members pushing for fresh party elections.

These developments came just hours before the central committee met to discuss the greater unity plan for the divided party.

The four, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Hueng, Chai Kim Sen, national organising secretary Yoo Wei How and Gan Hon Su, were, ironically, appointed by Ong when he won the presidency in October 2008.

The four sacked central committee members had signed a requisition for an EGM to propose fresh polls.

A crucial central committee meeting to be held this afternoon could decide whether the EGM will be held or whether the entire central committee will resign to pave way for elections or simply fall in line behind the president’s greater unity plan.

Dr Chua was seen entering the central committee meeting this afternoon with his son and Labis MP Chua Tee Yong.

It is speculated that the junior Tee has been appointed a central committee member to replace one of the new vacancies along with two others. However, no official announcement has been made.

In a press conference at the MCA headquarters, the four ex-central committee members said that they were not given a reason for the sacking when told this morning but suspected that is was “revenge” for pushing for fresh polls.

A disdainful Chor criticisised Ong as “ungentlemanly” for allegedly going back on his word that he would resign and that he could not “stomach” it.

“He has to resort to all kinds of methods to safeguard his position, by hook or by crook,” said Chor.

Asked about whether his cabinet post would be affected, Chor said that it was up to the prime minister.

“You have to separate party from cabinet,” he said.

Asked whether they would support the so-called “greater unity plan”, all four protested that they had no idea what it was.

“It was never communicated to the central committee,” said Chor.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 4:51 pm and is filed under
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Attorney-General Gani Patail should resign unless he can explain why he failed to take action against former Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy for criminal breach of trust

At long last, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the mother of all scandals, the
RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ)
, has been tabled in Parliament, together with several tombs of documents, viz verbatim minutes of 13 PAC meetings on the subject from 11th June to 3rd September 2009, Price Waterhouse Coopers’ report on position review of PKFZ and its appendices.

The PAC report has confirmed and vindicated my statements and allegations about the PKFZ not only as “a can of worms” but a “swamp of crocodiles” that I have made in Parliament since the last session, and raises the question why no action had been taken very much earlier to avoid the rotten state of the PKFZ scandal today.

The PAC report has confirmed that RM645.87 million would have been saved if the PKFZ land had been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1960, for then it would have cost only RM442.13 million and not RM1.088 billion before interest.

PAC recommended that former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy be investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Police for unlawfully issuing three Letters of Support which has landed the country with the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, citing the offence of criminal breach of trust under Section 14(1) of the Financial Procedure Act 1957 read together with Section 409B Penal Code.

I commend PAC for taking such a clear stand but I cannot wonder what is the use of such a reference to the MACC, when the MACC  and previously the Anti-Corruption Agency had been aware of these facts as I had spoken about them many times in Parliament in the past three years.

This is from the verbatim report of the PAC meeting of 23rd June 2009 in the exchange between PAC member and DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua and the MACC Director of Investigations  Datuk Haji Mohd Shukri bin Abdull:

Pua Kiam Wee
 : Akan tetapi, sebelum ini, sebelum 2007 pun isu-isu salah guna kuasa telah pun dikemukakan dengan jelas terutamanya mengenai isu letter of support yang telah ditandatangani oleh pihak Menteri pada masa itu telah pun jelas dan telah pun diakui oleh ramai termasuk pihak-pihak daripada kerajaan bahawa seseorang Menteri Pengangkutan tidak mempunyai kuasa untuk memberikan apa-apa jaminan kewangan kepada pihak sesiapa dan apakah tindakan yang diambil pada masa itu? Kenapa pada masa itu tiada siasatan diambil untuk menyiasat sekiranya ada unsur-unsur salah guna kuasa. Sekurang-kurangnya salah guna kuasa dan boleh jadi isu penyelewengan pada masa itu.

Datuk Haji Mohd Shukri bin Abdull
 : Okey, Tuan Pengerusi dan Yang Berhormat, Letter of Support yang dikatakan dikeluarkan oleh Menteri kepada OSK untuk pinjam kepada Kuala Dimensi juga merupakan salah satu isu yang kita siasat dan kita complete siasatan itu dan Timbalan Pendakwa Raya berpendapat bahawa tiada kesalahan salah guna kuasa berlaku. Itu pendapat yang dikeluarkan oleh Timbalan Pendakwa Raya. Itu satu isu yang kita siasat Tuan Pengerusi.

From the above verbatim record, it is crystal clear that the fact of Chan Kong Choy having abused his powers as Transport Minister  and committed breach of trust in unlawfully issuing the three letters of support were not new information to the MACC, as it  had investigated them and found that no offence had been committed.

What purpose can be served by PAC recommending that SPRM should further investigate into Chan Kong Choy for the offence of  criminal breach of trust when it had already investigated and cleared him of having committed any such offence?

What is urgently needed is a Royal Commission of Inquiry to build on the PAC findings as well as to investigate why the MACC,  the Attorney-General and other key institutions and important officials had failed to discharge their duties in allowing the PKFZ scandal  to reach the present astronomical scale.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail had appeared before the PAC to reiterate that Chan had unlawfully given an implicit government guarantee in the three Letters of Support which he had no power to give as Transport Minister. The question is why the Attorney-General had failed to take action against Chan for abuse of power or criminal breach of trust in illegally issuing three Letters of Support landing the country with the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

Gani Patail should resign as Attorney-General if he cannot give a satisfactory explanation.

Parliament should have a special debate on the PAC report on the PKFZ scandal, but the first step is for MPs to go through the tomb of PKFZ documents tabled in Parliament today.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2009, 1:04 pm and is filed under
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PAC report on PKFZ scandal revealed ongoing high-level conspiracy to suppress pertinent information about Ministerial and top governmental abuses of power and malpractices

The Public Accounts Committee Report on the Port Klang Free Zone scandal does not reveal enough although it had revealed inadvertently what it had not intended to reveal – the ongoing high-level conspiracy to suppress pertinent information about Ministerial and top government abuses of power and malpractices landing the country with a RM12.5 “mother of all scandals”.

This is why the statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the special task force set up by the Cabinet in September on the PKFZ scandal would look into the PAC findings and would take action is greeted with widespread skepticism and disbelief.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is competing with the Prime Minister as to who can make a more incredulous statement on this subject.

Muhyiddin said PAC had the power to recommend that former transport minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy and former Port Klang Authority general Datin Paduka Phang Oi Choo be investigated for criminal breach of trust in the PKFZ, and that the government’s stand on the PKFZ scandal had been clear from the start,viz:

“We want to reach the bottom of the issue, that is, to look into how the scandal took place. We want to be transparent.”

The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet are all putting up a great pretence as if they are learning about the abuses of power, criminal breach of trust, illegalities and improprieties in various aspects of the PKFZ scandal for the first time, when most of this information had been in their possession for quite some time.

In fact, I had raised many of these issues in the previous Parliament whether by way of abortive emergency motion under Section 18 of the Standing Orders or speeches during budget and other debates.

The PAC has issued a  damning report against Chan and Phang and wants the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Police to initiate investigations against them and several others for criminal breaches of trust.

The PAC should have issued a damning report against the MACC and the Police for failing in their duties to uphold the law, for if the government is really serious as claimed by Najib and Muhyiddin in wanting get to the bottom of the PKFZ scandal, the various errant personalities would already have been hauled to court and standing trial for a multitude of criminal offences.

But even up to now, the government is still continuing with the conspiracy of pretences, presenting a front as if they knew nothing about the various revelations in the PAC report and that the Special Task into the PKFZ scandal recently set up by the Cabinet and headed by the  Chief Secretary would work on the revelations of the PAC report.

Such pretences are  most shocking and even outrageous. This is why my immediate response to Najib’s announcement on  the super task force into the PKFZ scandal in September was to ask whether it would be a “super cover-up” task force into the PKFZ scandal.

I will just give one example – the unlawful issue of the Letters of Support by the former  Transport Ministers for the RM4.6 billion bonds which have landed in the country with the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

The PAC Report said in p 22:

“4.3.4. Pada 27 June 2007, Kerajaan telah memberi kelulusan secara retrospetik berhubung dengan peningkatan kos projek PKFZ kepada RM4.63 billion dan jaminan kerajaan bagi penerbitan bon bernilai RM4.63 billion termasuk kupon oleh KDSB. Kelulusan ini telah diberi kerana pengeluaran beberapa siri letter of support oleh Menteri Pengangkutan yang secara implicit merupakan jaminan daripada kerajaan dari segi undang-undang. LPK diberi pinjaman mudah sehingga RM4.63 billion untuk membiayai projek PKFZ. Kerajaan juga memutuskan supaya pegawai terlibat dalam perbuatan melanggar prosedur yang serious sehingga meletakkan kerajaan dalam keadaan serba salah wajar dikenakan tindakan.”

This 27 June 2007 decision to retrospectively validate that RM4.6 billion bond because of unlawful issue of Letters of Support by the Transport Ministers concerned was made by the Cabinet, but up to now, for more than two years, the Malaysian public and Parliament have not been told the truth – with Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers continuing to mislead Parliament by denying the legal status of these Letters of Support.

The Chief Secretary Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan now heading the Special Task Force into the PKFZ scandal, was directed by the Cabinet in June 2007 to conduct an inquiry as to how the Letters of Support could have issued unlawfully and to take the necessary disciplinary actions against the culprits who have now landed the country with a RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

The Chief Secretary should explain why this had not been done for more than two years. Why didn’t PAC summon the Chief Secretary to report on the status of such investigations since June 2007?

It is time to end the high-level conspiracy to cover up a full disclosure of all aspects and levels of the PKFZ scandal. Let the full can of worms and swamp of crocodiles in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal be fully exposed.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2009, 11:10 am and is filed under
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The Asri problematique and the rise of denominational Islam?

By
Azly Rahman

The current uproar over the arrest of Dr. Asri, former Mufti of Perlis interests me. I am not particularly interested in the political and ideological dimension of it; rather in how this issue will develop in this hypermodern country plagued with internal contradictions. “The center cannot hold” as the Irish poet W.B. Yeats once said, and “Things Fall Apart” as the title of the great African novel of Chinua Achebe suggests – these describe the Malaysian theological dilemma, a dilemma that has a history and a future.

Malaysian Muslims are yet faced with another challenging situation; one which presents an interesting extrapolation of the historical dilemma the Muslims have been facing intellectually. Coming soon would be a public intellectual crisis that involves the Grand and subaltern voices in Islam. Those of the Wahabbi, Salafi, Sunni, Syiah, Sufi, and the “denominations derived from traditional and indigenous practices” (the tariqats primarily) will come out in the open to assert the “truth-ness” of their perspective and practice of Islam.

Essentially now, Islam seems to have many ‘denominations’ based on cultural, geographical, political, economic, and intellectual factors
—as a consequence of globalization. Muslims are all part and products of the various authorships of these ‘denominations’ — thanks to the power/knowledge matrix of the evolution of Islam. These denominations are even mutating, depending on class and consciousness of the adherents.

On a crude psychological plane in Malaysia, here is the situation, stated in simple terms:

The subaltern voices in Islam are clashing with each other. Examples abound. The Sufis are saying that the Wahabbis are on the wrong path, the Wahabbis claim they are preaching the one and true tauhid and that Sufism is a strange invention, the Shiahs in Iran are probably building more powerful weapons against the Sunnis the Mid-east over, the Malaysian government is propagating Hadhari and the halal hub in a haram casino-capitalistic environment, the Malays have produced their own messiahs or Rasul Melayu (Malay prophets) and their variants of  Ayah Pins and their Sky Kingdoms, the anti-hadiths are roaming cyberspace declaring themselves Quranic-only Muslims, the liberal Muslims are at loggerheads with the strict ones bent on moral policing, the gangsta-rapper-Busta Rhymes-type Muslims are angry with the soft-spoken Raihan-acapella-type- Muslims, the Sisters in Islam are angry with the Malaysian Brotherhood of Islam or the Ikhwanul Muslims, the Death Metallists are having a field day with all these chaos amongst Muslim ideologues, the Catholics are fighting in court over the issue of the “Allah” ban, the whirling dervishes are still whirling…. it is a postmodern situation in the field of Islam in Malaysia. I hope this is a useful sketch of the postmodern Muslim condition.

Are Muslims then better off reading the Quran hermeneutically? Is it better for them to remove themselves from the philological, historical, and most importantly cultural context, take the scripture in whatever meaningful language it has been translated into, and take only the spirit of it, and like a Prometheus unbound, soar to greater theological heights? This is a challenging question.

Or maybe religious sentimentality and critical sensibility must come from one’s own exploration using a triad of sense awareness, intellect, and intuition, drawn from purely cultural sources? — We can then be free from cultural biases and these “geographically and politically- bound” schools of thoughts?

In that case then we will be going into the realm of what I consider “truly spiritual democracy” and use reason and rationality to read the Quran (or any religious text) for that matter. Will the collection of hadiths be necessary anymore? I think this question has been answered by the subaltern Muslims that has already begun their systematic critique of the narratives of the Great Prophet.

There is a growing number of Muslims who are beginning to assert that the highest faculty is human reason, which we must exercise in order for us to be truly human. This is the essence of the Enlightenment and of the Renaissance in that only through reason and feeling that we can arrive at an understanding the meaning of who we are. Some say through lots of zikir, chanting, and even dancing (whirling dervishes included) that one can reach what needs to be reached mystically. The dancer danceth the dance of the dance itself (like what Michael Jackson lived for, maybe), and in his/her dance, as she whirls and twirls, he loses himself into the abyss of nothingness … profound … even looking from  the outside.

But in all these and applicable to all religions, the question remains: at what point is innovation in religion allowed, acceptable, and tolerated? At what point is the “denominationalization” of Islam acceptable without the religion being demonized by those who think they have understood the Divine presence but actually clutched by the Devil’s right hand?

We are prisoners of language, trapped in a prison-house of language. We can avoid the answers but we can never run away from more questions. Like in the song Hotel California (by the California rock group Eagles) that goes “you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave”.

Perhaps, in all these lie a possible marriage between philosophy and religion — finally. In Malaysia though, is this at all possible?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2009, 3:30 pm and is filed under
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Entertainment vs Empowerment

By
Augustine Anthony

A few of us were chatting and one in the group quipped, “Hey did you see the video footage of that parliamentarian?” To this curiosity, another friend seated next to us immediately raised his voice, “THAT goon?  If he can become our parliamentarian, then Popeye can also become our Prime Minister”. Before anyone rushes to think that that reference must always be reserved for the Barisan Nasional politicians, please hold your horses for it was a sharp riposte against one of the opposition parliamentarians.

Entertainment: The art in which even garbage can be glamorized

With our football standards declining to a state where very soon the remote pacific island of Vanuatu might give Malaysia a good drubbing, the disappointed Malaysians can now hope on our politicians for a good weekend entertainment. And have faith and believe that our politicians can truly deliver.

The habit of distracting the nation with entertainments is not something new. It has been happening for as long as we can remember. The only thing is, the methods employed keep changing to suit the flavor of the day.

The Roman Empire, sure we all know was mighty.  I mean mighty boorish. And in the declining years, in order to distract and misdirect its unsuspecting nation, the leaders gave them great entertainments.  But unlike any other entertainments these were certain to bring death. The Gladiators fought to death. The persecuted Christians were mauled by hungry lions.  But there were no tears, only cheers for the departed souls. The defeated gladiators and persecuted Christians were given a less than honorable send off from the grand Coliseum to eternal Elysium.

The unique thing about anything that is deemed entertaining is that, the form is more important compared to its substance. Some repulsive examples in the form of songs that enjoyed phenomenal success as chart toppers in the 1980’s are worth mentioning here.

The Rock Band
Def Leppard
 and its song
“Love Bites”
 with its lyrics, “
When you make love, do you look in the mirror? Who do you think of? Does he look like me?
” though is a catchy ballad but the substance is nauseating.

The  pop song called “
Last Christmas
” from the group
Wham
 with its lyrics “
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away, this year, to save me from tears I’ll give it to someone special
” though having a lovely melody but can cause serious drop in our  intelligence quotient.

I am sure many including members of PDRM will still remember the group called
The Police
 and their song “
Every Breath You Take
” and its lyrics – “
Every breath you take, Every move you make, Every bond you break, Every step you take, Ill be watching you, Every single day, Every word you say, Every game you play, Every night you stay, Ill be watching you…. Oh   can’t you see you belong to me……..

If the musicians think that they had perfected the art of glamorizing garbage, then they must really reinvent themselves for they now have serious competitors in politicians. Just look at the buffet of political filth that is being spread everyday with limitless choices and variations. In short we are amazed. Soon politicians with flower adorned home made crowns with sashes befitting beauty queens will be dancing to the tune of “
Karma Chameleon
” by
Culture Club
 to hoodwink the gullible voters.

Politicians who have read the people well are cunning enough to give the people what they want. Entertainment.  They do not care that many of these people who come to them are ordinary people looking for guidance, assistance and leadership. Selfish personal interests particularly their continuous survival in this political poker game that gambles away the nation’s interest draws veils of deceit against these unsuspecting people.

Many politicians are no longer interested in disseminating gainful information to the people which can empower but are more interested  in entertaining the  people regardless of how obnoxious and reprehensible these acts are. These irresponsible politicians do not understand that the information transmitted through various ways and means though instantly forgotten by the conscious mind after the given period of entertainment but are nevertheless permanently stored in the unconscious minds (not to be confused with sub conscious mind) of the recipients, particularly youthful recipients, who may later bring to bear when circumstances necessitate, the full devastating effects of these contaminated details  embedded  in the minds of these gullible people.

The events from nomination day to polling day of any election, the usual ceramahs every now and then, the senseless tussle for power in political parties, the Parliamentary debates which are tastelessly ornamented and even the State Assembly proceedings with strange show of power by enforcement agencies, all make eerie entertainments with little or no value for our progress towards a better and greater future.

Reasons had given way to rowdy rendezvous and ridiculous rhetoric. Looking at the present and bigger picture it is apparent that some of our politicians are in reality nurturing a very dangerous and destructive mindset in people.

If only these politicians are honest, their communication skills can be put to great use in educating the general public so that informed choices will be the order of the day.

Education: A beginning with end in mind

Before an organisation embarks on the topic of empowerment, it must first impress upon the general public on the educational endeavours and the educational tools that are already in place. Empowerment is a natural progression of a state of mind that pursues knowledge which corrects our course from ignorance to illumination, from silly haughtiness (bodoh sombong) to dignified confidence and from glib con men to grand statesmen.

A society in education is a society with purpose. There must be a gathered and codified knowledge in structured state ready for dissemination.  There must be a beginning with end in mind. There must be a common goal with essential tools to achieve it.  There must be a time frame for the ultimate realization of that common goal with regular short term targets to achieve and ascertain progress. There must be understanding and appreciation that some may take longer time than others to attain the desired knowledge. There are bound to be temporary setbacks but there must be perseverance and fortitude. Above all we need honest people to be the educators who take pride in the progress that they see in those receiving the education rather than the steady increase in the stipend they receive as remuneration.

Though there is a beginning with end in mind however there will be challenges. The initiators of this education may never see the end result in their lifetime but their initiative will become an ageless jewel that will sparkle for generations to come. Their legacy will be the cornerstone of the elusive knowledge based society that may for now seem intimidating and unachievable.

Yes! The education process can be a daunting task. Not all who need the education are lucky enough to drive or be driven to classrooms, workshops and seminars.  Educators sometime need to cross rivers and lakes, wade in streams, trek hills and slide down valleys. If unlucky one can bleed through ones clothing as a result of injuries, be stung by wasps and bitten by strange insects, slip and plunge in deep falls, and in all these times only hoping to return home safe, satisfied that the message is carried to the people in need.

But this process can be great fun too. It is just that one needs to find the element of fun in these adventures and when it is found, it can be exciting as much as exhilarating. Whoever created human beings knew too well that even the most important characteristic of human existence that depends on procreation must be complemented with elements of fun and excitement for otherwise there will be no human race to sustain continuity.

A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down! So the saying goes.

Empowerment

Marginalisation can take many forms.  It can be social, political and economic.  A national empowerment process cannot exist if there is a deliberate or even an unintended isolation of the general mass into segregated groupings. In a segregated state of existence, empowerment remains nothing but a superfluous pronouncement with empty rhetoric.

Empowerment is the epitome of conscientious and honest efforts where trust and confidence reign and marginalisation and segregation voluntarily withdraws, its ultimate realization being a knowledge based society.

Knowledge Based Society

In knowledge based society empowerment nears redundancy. Entertainments will remain entertainments without misdirecting the nation. And above all comedians, clowns and conmen will not be mistaken for politicians, parliamentarians and leaders.

 “
Karma Chameleon
” by
Culture Club

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 November 2009, 8:56 pm and is filed under
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MACC should be censured for failing to bring to court those guilty of abuses of power and corruption in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal although the first report was lodged as far back as 2004

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should be censured for failing to bring to court even a single person of those guilty of abuses of power and corruption in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal though the first corruption report was lodged as far back as 2004.

How can MACC convince Malaysians that it is now a Malaysian version of Hong Kong’s ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) when all it has demonstrated is its overzealousness and even abuses of power in investigating a RM2,400 Pakatan Rakyat state assembly constituency allocation resulting in the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock, while it has completely nothing to show and totally impotent in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ “mother of all scandals’?

An exchange between Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member and DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and the MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan at the PAC meeting on 23rd June 2009 highlighted the hypocrisy of the MACC.

This happened when Ahmad Said hid behind the secrecy provisions of the MACC Act to refuse to disclose any details about the outcome of MACC investigations into the PKFZ scandal.

This led to an outburst by Pua protesting at Ahmad Said’s refusal to give any information to the PAC about MACC investigations into the PKFZ scandal, pointing out that Ahmad Said had no such qualms when he had said publicly that MACC had “good and strong evidence” of corruption against the Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid over the “car and cow” controversy.

As Pua rightly told Ahmad Said at the PAC exchange, what the MACC Chief Commissioner did amounted to “contempt” of Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 November 2009, 12:12 pm and is filed under
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1Malaysia: A victim of mental fatigue

By
Tunku Aziz

Najib’s 1Malaysia propaganda campaign, now in full swing, has taken on the uncanny appearance of a blitzkrieg that would have the Fuehrer of the Third Reich double up in the Reichstag in uncontrollable ecstasy. It really is that funny. The single-minded mindless saturation bombardment of the media, at what financial cost we will never know, has already begun to show all the tell tale signs of mental fatigue and psychological rejection. I am told that it is not unlike the metal fatigue that put a premature end to the promising start of the world’s first commercial jetliner, the Comet operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation more than four decades ago. Perhaps there is a lesson the 1Malaysia strategists could learn from history about over indulgence. There can be too much of a good thing for their own good.

I have been asking our prime minister, as indeed many others, to venture beyond sloganeering and spell out in terms that are concise and clear what he has in mind when pontificating on what appears to thinking Malaysians to be nothing more than a party dogma being shoved down their throats as part of a ploy to regain the non-Bumi electoral support. If Najib really believes that voters are going to buy his half-baked1Malaysia cake as an article of faith- that is more form than substance, he should put it to the test by going back to the country for a fresh authority or mandate to govern. His legitimacy is in serious doubt. The UMNO process of succession is open to question.

The unfortunate impression I get is that 1Malaysia is all about the pathetic charade of bonhomie and back-slapping of the ‘open house’ variety. Please do not get me wrong: I am not an unsociable sloth. I do like some people, believe it or not. My point is that if it is national unity that the admirable prime minister really wants for Malaysia’s sustainable future, then the trick is to work towards achieving smooth and seamless integration that will stand the test of time.

National unity is not a product that can be created by legislation or administrative edict or order; it is a process that requires a complete change of behaviour and attitude, a mental overhaul that can only be achieved through a dynamic social, economic and political regime that puts equality of opportunity at the very top of our national agenda. We need to put great store by equal opportunity in education in particular because to me it is immoral and ethically unacceptable to discriminate against the innocent and vulnerable young by depriving them of their rights to higher education. How, in heaven’s name can we expect them to identify themselves with the country of their birth if, in spite of their achieving more than the standards set, still fail to gain a place? A policy of exclusiveness can produce only one outcome–disaster! There is plenty of evidence to be seen in our society of the futility of pursuing this evil policy. Equal opportunity must be the cornerstone of national unity.

While I can readily understand the underlying imperatives of the New Economic Policy, I do not accept that you can justify positive discrimination except by implementing it in strict observance of its aim which is to alleviate poverty of Malaysians irrespective of ethnicity or religious leanings. But as we all know, the spirit of what was intended to be a great social leveller has from its inception been blatantly violated for the benefit of the few politically connected self-proclaimed Melayu Baru, a breed happily mired in corruption in all its manifestations.

For true national unity to emerge, we must go back to basics, revisiting the freedoms and rights guaranteed for all Malaysians. The NEP must be applied to all who need support. The draconian Internal Security Act as applied to date has no place in our society. Enact a new Anti-Terrorism Act for that specific application, and not to use it to terrorise and inflict pain and suffering on our own people. I wonder if Najib’s ideas which underpin his 1Malaysia will ever converge with the modest and legitimate expectations of our multi-cultural society.

I am inclined to believe that people should be left to their own devices, and just as water eventually finds its own level, so do people. The duty of the government is to govern in ways that put the welfare and the interests of the people above all other considerations. In effect this means a system of governance based on best universal practice that, by implication, is free from corruption which according to Transparency International is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Could the founding fathers of TI in 1993 have been thinking about our political leadership when they developed this formulation? I wonder.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2009, 11:12 am and is filed under
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Is the Opposition wasting a historic opportunity?

By
Tunku Aziz

A mere footnote at the bottom of a page of Malaysia’s political history or a tome on political change that recreated and revitalised a sick and openly corrupt society into a vibrant and prosperous democracy for all? Pakatan Rakyat must decide quickly where it wants to be. On present showing, it has not a ghost of a chance to ever breach and occupy the still impregnable Putrajaya citadel, in spite of the credible 8 March 2008 electoral onslaught. It does not have to look far to find out why it is in such a sorry state. Lim Kit Siang’s warning of a “one term miracle” could well become self-fulfilling and Putra Jaya would be just a gleam in the eye if his words are not taken to heart.

Pakatan Rakyat leaders must come to terms with the reality that is Barisan Nasional. We may despise its politics of immorality, of corruption and injustice, but even the most rabid alternative political practitioners must readily concede that it is still a formidable organisation with an armoury of unsavoury tricks they have to contend with. Remember Perak, and the bad after taste that lingers on and on. Pakatan must wake up from its euphoric pie in the sky self-induced dream that the one off massive voter handouts would be there for the asking at the next general elections. There will be no repeat performance until and unless it gets its act together. The electorate owes PR nothing. The truth is that Pakatan Rakyat owes their supporters everything.

PR leaders must lead by putting the larger interests of the nation above individual parochial party issues with their tendency to be unnecessarily divisive, emotive and controversial. Are these issues really so fundamental that they are incapable being discussed rationally without adding to the fragility of a coalition that is apparently about to be torn asunder? I wrote some time ago about the difficulty of reconciling the conflicting claims of the many different ideological and doctrinal sacred cows represented by the PR partners, but they must direct their intellectual energies to finding a solution to what the people of multi-racial Malaysia will and will not put up with.

They must open their minds to the larger, and therefore, more relevant social, economic, political, religious and cultural concerns of our people than to insist on playing the same old race and religious cards with their declining appeal to right thinking people. These are barriers to overcome. If PR is, as it seems, incapable of even getting to the most important item on the new national agenda, then it is offering nothing better to the people of this nation than what BN has been doing for half a century and more. More of the same is an unworthy option for a long suffering people who deserve better. PR leaders must, in all good conscience, ask themselves whether they can lead this complex and difficult nation if they themselves are apparently incapable of agreeing on basic fundamental principles of cooperative engagement to deepen their commitment to values of justice in its widest sense for every Malaysian.

If PK leaders feel that they have neither the will nor the stomach for the sacrifices they are expected to make in order to take the new national non-race based agenda forward on the long march to Putrajaya, they should come out with a straight answer that should leave the people of this country in no doubt where they stand. There is no place for personal agendas in the national scheme of things; certainly not where it is a matter of saving the people from a particularly rotten and unjust system of governance.

Pakatan Rakyat has a great deal to offer by way of a commitment to a clean corruption-intolerant administration and it deserves to be given a chance to govern Malaysia. It cannot be worse than the Umno dominated administration. But then the political game is not about sentimental nonsense. It is determined solely by the dictum “Perform or Perish”, and the PR state governments must prove to the satisfaction of the people in those states, and by extension the nation, that they can be trusted to govern good, and to govern well.

This coalition, even if it were made in heaven, could still come a cropper. PR leaders have themselves to blame in the event.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2009, 2:23 pm and is filed under
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Time For MCA To Ask Najib To Step In – Hishammuddin

KLUANG, Nov 7
(Bernama)
 — The time has come for MCA to ask Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to step in to resolve the crisis the party is facing, said Umno vice president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

Hishammuddin said he believed the Prime Minister would not hesitate to assist MCA in trying to resolve its problems as the BN was also affected by what was happening in the party.

“I do not want to interfere in MCA’s internal matters but I am concerned about our (Umno’s) friends. If previously the BN chairman only gave advice, now it is time he stepped in to help out.

“I feel the public also feels the same way. Umno is also not happy with the turn of events in MCA. The people in the end will become bored with us (BN component parties) and look elsewhere for leadership, which will not only be a loss for MCA but the BN overall,” he told reporters after attending a youth carnival here on Saturday.

Hishammuddin, who is also Home Minister and the MP for Sembrong, said all MCA leaders need to be concerned about the overall interests of the party and the BN and not act according to emotions.

The MCA, which is the second largest party in the BN coalition, has been embroiled in a leadership crisis for over a year now. An extrordinary general meeting was held by the party on Oct 10 to resolve the impasse but the feuds amongst the warring factions took numerous twists and turns since then and have only caused it to be mired in deeper trouble.

— BERNAMA

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2009, 9:54 pm and is filed under
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When will MACC command public confidence to the extent that Malaysians will publicly rally to its support against any obstruction of anti-corruption efforts as is happening in Indonesia?

I have been asking myself – When will MACC command public confidence to the extent that Malaysians will publicly rally to its support against any obstruction of anti-corruption efforts as is happening in Indonesia?

In Indonesia, we are seeing the phenomenon of the
Indonesian people publicly rallying to the support of the Indonesian anti-corruption agency
, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to protest moves to frame KPK investigators and cripple the KPK anti-corruption campaign.

The Indonesian public believe that that the KPK has become the target of the police and the attorney-general’s office because of its reputation of putting corrupt officials behind bars – even those in high places.

Indonesians respect the KPK but have little faith in the police or the judiciary.

Two KPK anti-graft investigators became the cause célèbre in Indonesia, with a million people joining Facebook supporting them, over a conspiracy by Indonesia’s top detective and the country’s chief prosecutor to falsely imprison them over extortion and abuse of power.

Indonesians across the archipelago sat transfixed for hours as wire-tapped recordings were broadcast on national television of discussions between members of the police, the attorney-general’s office and a businessman in a conspiracy to weaken the KPK by framing the anti-corruption agency.

When will such a phenomenon take place in Malaysia with the Malaysian public rallying to the defence of MACC to support its anti-corruption campaign?

In Malaysia, if there is a public demonstration it will be against  the MACC and not in support for the anti-corruption agency – as in the case of the mysterious plunge to death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock on July 16 after he went to the 14th floor MACC headquarters in Shah Alam to help in MACC investigations over a RM2,400 constituency allocation.

The  Indonesian KPK has won the trust and confidence of Indonesians as it had made enemies across the spectrum of Indonesian government and administration for its successful prosecutions and its far-reaching powers to wiretap suspects and probe their bank accounts.

MACC however achieved the exact reverse, forfeiting even more public support and confidence than the Anti-Corruption Agency which it replaced on January 1 this year as it has proved to be even more of a catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional masters to further their political agenda against the Pakatan Rakyat.

(Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang at the Pakatan Rakyat Deepavali reception at Teluk Intan on Sunday, 8th November 2009)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 8 November 2009, 6:07 pm and is filed under
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PAC proposal to investigate CKC for cbt – testimony of MACC impotence/failure

Why must Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) wait for Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommendation for further investigation into former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy for possible offence of  criminal breach of trust in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal when the first report was lodged with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) as far back as 2004?

Isn’t this  testimony of the failure, ineffectiveness and impotence of MACC and its predecessor ACA?

These are the questions I posed to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in the ten minutes he touched on corruption in the government winding-up on the budget  before he ended his reply for lunch-break  today.

I remarked that Nazri was defending the status quo of a worsening corruption problem in Malaysia instead of spearheading an attack on corruption, as is  happening in Indonesia.

Nazri was in his classic mode of denial and also disagreed that there is need for a parliamentary motion to adopt the PAC report on the PKFZ scandal for all MPs to take a stand on the PAC recommendations.

Earlier in his reply, Nazri created an uproar when he said that V.K. Lingam of “correct, correct, correct” infamy had not broken any law in brokering the appointment of judges.

As
Malaysian Insider
reported:

Now Nazri says VK Lingam broke no law

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz sparked an uproar in Parliament today when he said “judiciary fixer” V.K. Lingam had been let off the hook “because he had broken no law”.

Nazri also suggested that Lingam breached no laws as he might “have just acted to fix the appointment of judges as if he was brokering the appointment of senior judges to impress people”.

“I am not denying that it was Lingam in the tape. But I am also saying that there are a lot of conmen in this world. Who knows he might have just acted when he was calling the so-called judges to impress,” said Nazri in his ministerial winding-up speech on the 2010 Budget debate.

Nazri argued that from the legal perspective Lingam could have merely made a suggestion as to who should be appointed to senior posts in the judiciary.

“I am here to stress that there is nothing to stop the prime minister from receiving suggestions from any parties. Should anyone act to advise the prime minister on the appointment of judges, this act itself cannot be taken as an offence.

“Unless it’s clear that the action (by Lingam) was clearly aimed at conspiring to subvert the judiciary or made to get favours… (but) the findings of the commission found none of this,” said the minister.

Opposition MPs had during the debate session demanded answers as to why the Attorney-General had decided to take “no further action” towards Lingam despite the findings of a royal commission set up to probe the infamous “correct, correct, correct” video recording that allegedly saw the senior lawyer brokering the appointment of judges.

The royal commission had proposed that action be taken against Lingam and several others purportedly involved in the recording including former Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, a close friend of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Nazri revealed that investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the figures named also found no conclusive evidence that there was any form of power abuse by any of them.

His remarks invited scathing criticism from the opposition benches.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 9 November 2009, 6:53 pm and is filed under
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Neglect Sabah at your own peril, BN told

Two Sabah Barisan Nasional leaders issued the same warning about the heavy price that Barisan Nasional will have to pay for the continued neglect, discrimination and marginalisation of Sabah, but is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak really listening?

These are extracts from Malaysiakini reports on the PBS and UPKO annual general meetings  opened by Najib in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday:

(1)
Neglect Sabah at your own peril, BN told

Joe Fernandez

Nov 10, 09

Former Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) hawk Bernard Giluk Dompok fears that if the Barisan Nasional may pay a heavy price if it continues to pay scant attention to important issues in Sabah.

He foresees the political tsunami that swept Peninsular Malaysia on March 8, 2008 being repeated in Sabah and Sarawak if local issues are not addressed urgently.

“It is not an easy task to identify the root causes of a problem,” said Dompok, who broke away from PBS in1994 to head United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko).

Dompok, who is federal minister for plantation industries and commodities, is of the view that the more things seem to change in Sabah, the more they tend to remain the same.

“This brings the ruling coalition back to Square One each time, and is testing the people’s patience,” he said.

“It is not that voters have any particular love for the opposition. But they are frustrated with the lackadaisical attitude of the federal government in dealing with the issues brought to its attention.”

Dompok identified the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah and religious issues as among the many aspects underlining BN’s inability to change with the times.

“The perennial problem of illegal immigration has long been the issue in Sabah and the federal government has given a commitment to settle this issue,” said Dompok.

The people understand the obvious need for immigrant labour but the real issue, he said, is with foreigners with illegal Mykad who are now eligible to vote.

“This is the hardest for Sabahans to accept. There are also thousands who have sneaked in through the back door and acquired Malaysian personal documents.”

An idea of the scale of the problem can be discerned from recent figures released by the Home Ministry in Parliament. Of the 610,104 foreigners currently in Sabah, 317, 837 are illegals and 57,197 are considered refugees by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Upko chief reiterated that his party wants a royal commission of inquiry, a long-standing demand, into the real issues brought on by the presence of foreign labour in Sabah.

He said that although Upko is a small party – four MPs, six state assemblypersons and one senator – its role in propping up BN should not be underestimated.

“Upko is prepared to face difficulties and setbacks in elections in defence of a just cause. We will stand up against injustices. Upko is committed to ensuring a place for every citizen under the Malaysian sun.”

‘End the discrimination’

Dompok also said discrimination is rampant in religious matters.

“Several Christian churches which have brought in Bibles from Indonesia are still waiting for their Holy Books to be released to them. There are two court cases waiting to be heard with regard to the word ‘Allah’. These are unnecessary cases.”

Among other issues, Dompok highlighted the uncertain fate of the memorandum that he submitted to Najib in June on the problems of mission schools in Malaysia.

(2)
Sabah BN’s fixed deposit but at a price

Joe Fernandez

November 8, 2009

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), the state’s oldest at 24 years, is in a festive mood again this year, notes party president Joseph Pairin Kitingan, “but it is also a time to call a spade, a spade”.

However, the bouquets came first, the brickbats very much later, in true Dusun (and Malay) tradition. ..

For starters, Pairin pointed out that many schools in the rural areas and the deep interior regions are in a dire state of neglect.

He added that Chinese and missionary schools needed help too and not just the government schools in the towns.

The result was that educational standards in Sabah were far below national standards and this was something that warranted the immediate and serious attention of the federal government.

“There are untold difficulties in raising educational standards in Sabah and Sarawak,” said Pairin in stressing on the theme that “our children are our treasure and our future”.

“This (education) is where nothing can be achieved without political will and the longterm commitment of the federal government.”

Pairin also dwelt at some length on the increasing public complaints about the state of the roads, power blackouts, water shortages, the less than satisfactory penetration of telecommunication services, and the ‘appalling’ public healthcare system. BMW XPo. 3 days only. Click for details.

Kota Kinabalu, for example, is still without a general hospital. Needless to say, he pointed out, all these issues obviously provide political ammunition for the opposition in the forthcoming general election.

No equal treatment

There’s the popular public perception that Sabah and Sarawak were not being equally treated as Peninsular Malaysia, noted Pairin.

For example, the poverty eradication programmes look good on paper but implementation has been lagging and downplays the key role of women.

“One way out of the poverty trap is through the contract farming system in the rural areas. But this is something that needs the understanding and support of the federal government.”

Elsewhere, he raised the burning question of the longstanding illegal immigrant menace in Sabah.

“It is clear than we need a once and for all solution to the problem of the illegal immigrants in Sabah. So far, there have been no serious and concrete actions taken to deal with the menace. Only piecemeal and temporary solutions have been taken so far,” he observed.

The PBS leader pointed out that hordes of illegal immigrants can be seen wandering around everywhere in Sabah, right before the eyes of the law, “as if they own the place.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10:50 pm and is filed under
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UMNO MPs’ “ambush” for OTK foiled by Minister’s absence

The ambush by several UMNO MPs for MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat  last night during his Ministry’s reply in  the government winding-up of the 2010 budget debate was foiled when the Minister was absent.

The reason given by the Deputy Transport Minister, Datuk Robert Lau, who stood in for the Minister,  that Ong  was “busy” with the official visit of the Chinese President Hu Jintao as Ong is the “Minister-in-attendance”, did not go down well with the UMNO MPs concerned as Hu’s visit would only begin the  next day.

Led by Umno MP for Sri Gading, Datuk Mohamad Aziz, at least three UMNO MPs questioned Ong for the RM28 million purchase of second-hand DMUs (diesel multiple units) by Keretapi  Melayu Bhd (KTMB) instead of EMUs (electrical multiple units).

Mohamad even asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the Transport Minister for the DMU decision, which is the first time a Barisan Nasional backbencher had called for anti-corruption investigation into a Barisan Nasional Minister.

With Ong’s absence, no proper answer was forthcoming from the Deputy Transport Minister.

On the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal, Lau hid behind “sub judice”  as excuse to decline any explanation or  accountability on the “mother of all scandals”.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10:47 am and is filed under
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Hishammuddin “rubbishes” Home Ministry website opinion poll on crime

I was  floored.

In response to my questioning on the deplorable crime situation when winding-up his Ministry in Parliament in the 2010 Budget debate, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the Home Ministry official website poll of some 10,000 respondents on crime in Malaysia do not reflect the actual situation as the number of persons involved do not come to even .01 per cent of the Malaysian population of 27 million.

I told Hishammuddin that this was a most shameful answer and demonstrated that the government was in serious denial, raising grave questions about its commitment to end the endemic crime situation to restore a safe country where citizens, tourists and investors can feel safe and secure.

The three findings of the recent  Home Ministry website opinion polls were:

*97% or 9,729 out of 10,060 respondents felt unsafe because of the high crime rate, with only 1% or 89 respondents felt safe and 2% or 242 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

*95% or 8,883 out of 9,319 respondents felt that the safety of the people was not guaranteed as compared to 3% or 248 respondents who felt it was still guaranteed, with 2% or 188 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

*94% or 8,743 out of 9,261 respondents felt that government had not done its best to ensure that the safety of the people was at the best level with 2% or 185 respondents felt that the government had done its best, and 4% or 333 persons “uncertain”.

I asked Hishammuddin what is the use of the Home Ministry putting up such opinion polls on its website if he as Minister was going to “rubbish” them.

Hishammuddin’s denial that he was rejecting the findings of the opinion polls on the Home Ministry website lacked all  credibility.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 9:42 pm and is filed under
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Hishammuddin blames demonization of police for high crime rate – as outrageous as his keris-wielding in the past

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s blaming of the country’s high crime rate on the demonization of institutions such as the police is as outrageous as his keris-wielding before the 2008 general election as Umno Youth leader.

This is
Malaysian Insider’s
report on Hishammuddin’s speech in Parliament yesterday in the winding-up of his Ministry during the 2010 Budget debate:

Hishammuddin: Demonisation of police main cause of high crime rate

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein blamed the country’s high crime rate on the demonisation of institutions such as the police.

He said this in Parliament yesterday evening, immediately drawing stinging criticisms from members of the Opposition.

“Institutions such as the police force are made to be seen as irresponsible, as bad when they are also at the same time just trying to do their jobs. Besides PDRM, the delay in the various trials and judging process is also one of the factors for the escalation of the nation’s crime rate,” said Hishammuddin.

He said one of the ways to deal with the matter is to speed up the legal process.

He also identified four major states in the country as havens for criminal activities — Penang, Selangor, the Federal Territory and Johor. However, he said that the crime wave in Selangor and the Federal Territory has gone down drastically due to measures taken by the ministry as well as the police.

Among these measures are the increase in police presence and surveillance in 50 identified hot spots (crime-riddled areas). This has apparently been effective in minimising the number of criminal cases.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua hit out at this plan, saying that while crime in the hot spots had indeed decreased, the crime wave in the other “peaceful” areas in the country had in effect increased as police officers from these stations were relocated to help assist those in the hot spot areas.

The government also plans to install CCTV cameras in several areas..

“Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) plans to install an additional 100 CCTV cameras to the existing 82 units in Kuala Lumpur by the year 2010. A total of 496 units will be installed by the Local Government Ministry (JKT) in all the states in Peninsular Malaysia,” stated the Home Minister.

The police will also be given RM90 million to upgrade facilities and police stations throughout the country.

DAP secretary-general Lim Kit Siang lashed out at Hishammuddin for failing to provide a complete sense of security to the public.

“In the Home Ministry website there is an online poll which states 90 per cent of visitors to the site do not feel safe at all with regards to the crime rate in Malaysia.

“No one wants to politicise people’s safety. We need to admit that this country’s crime problem is serious,” said Lim.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 12 November 2009, 3:15 pm and is filed under
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Higher education: The worst aspect of policy discrimination of private universitie

By
Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, Director CPI

Where is the public money for R&D going?

The following recent article caught my attention: “Universiti Malaysia Pahang has invested RM5 million in a state-of-the-art central laboratory that will focus on developmental research and industrial collaborations …. On financial grants for researchers, Prof Daing Nasir [Vice Chancellor] said they were entitled to a sum of up to RM40,000.” (The Star, 5 November 2009)

Whilst UMP is to be congratulated for having secured generous public funding, the article also raises a number of questions that are of interest to the public in view of the recent concerns raised by the Auditor General’s report focusing on irregularities in the procurement process and supply of equipment at illogically high prices.

These questions include:

What is the selection process used to determine investment in R & D in the country’s universities?

Is there a fully competitive, transparent and accountable process in determining which universities/individuals receive funding?

Who are involved in the selection process and how rigorous are the selection procedures at the university and individual researcher level?

How is the monitoring of the scientific and commercial outcomes and deliverables conducted?

What has been the return on investment in the R & D allocations to date?

Are there issues related to leakages, wastage or inefficiencies of the allocations?

Are reforms necessary in the way public funds are being disbursed for R & D in the universities?

Who has benefitted from massive R and D allocations?

These questions are applicable not only to the universities but also to all the privileged institutional recipients of public funds for R & D. If these questions are not asked and answered then the danger of such allocations becoming part of an unaccountable public gravy train rapidly going downhill is going to be very real, if it has not already happened. We know that closed non-competitive tenders have for a long time been the norm in the Government and that this has led to cronyism and corruption on a massive scale. Is this also the case with R & D allocations?

These questions are more urgent now in view of the substantial increase in public funding for R & D. With the quantum increase comes also an increase in the scope for possible abuse. The allocation provided to UMP of $5 million is just a miniscule part of the allocations provided in the past decade for R & D, much of which has gone to the public universities.

Budget for R&D (9th Malaysia Plan)

Area

Period (year)

Amount (RM)

Science & technology and innovation

	2001-2010

8.59 billion

Public expenditure on R&D

2005

1.5 billion

IRPA programme

2005

837 million

Increased expenditure on biotechnology initiatives

Period (year)

	Amount (RM)

2000-2005

574.4 million

2006-2010

2.02 billion

Note: It cannot be ascertained whether these figures overlap or not.

According to the 9th Malaysia Plan document, RM574.4 million was allocated between 2000-2005 solely for biotechnology initiatives with the allocation soaring to RM2.02 billion for 2006-2010 (Table 6-3, p.168). How much of this went into R and D specifically allocated to the public universities is not easy to work out. Other data in the 9th Plan document indicate that sectors other than biotechnology also received similarly generous support. Though it is not possible to compute the exact allocations provided to public universities on the basis of currently available data, there is some evidence that the sums are not small or inconsequential.

In the year 2005 alone, for example, public expenditure on R and D was estimated at RM1.5 billion (Table 12-1, p.264). At the same time, the Intensification of Research in Priority Areas (IRPA) programme funding mechanism approved RM837 million to fund 2,139 research projects (Table 12-2, p.265). Finally, it should be noted that the total development expenditure and allocation for science and technology and innovation for the period 2001-2010 amounted to RM8.59 billion! By way of comparison the sector budget for housing – a basic need in short supply for millions of poor Malaysians – was only RM17 billion for the same period.

Marginalized private higher educational institutions

Questions of how much funding allocation has gone to the public universities for R and D; the impact of these allocations; and related issues of possible leakages and inefficiencies are not the only ones that should receive scrutiny. The treatment meted out to the private higher educational system in the allocation of R & D funding also deserves re-examination.

Despite the role of the private higher education system in providing higher educational opportunities to a very large number of young Malaysians, it is a well known – though not widely discussed – fact that the private system is discriminated against in the higher education policies of the country.

Lack of support or discriminatory treatment of the private universities is manifested in many ways including in the array of unnecessary or unreasonable administrative requirements and processes, delays in government approval of courses, over stringent requirements relating to teaching permits, the accreditation process and other important areas.

One of the most important areas of policy discrimination is the lack of equitable access of the private universities to the public expenditure on R & D. Discrimination against private universities or bias in favour of the public universities takes the following forms.

Most selection committees for R and D funding are dominated by public sector officials, including representatives from the public universities

Private universities receive little or no support for the construction of research laboratories or other similar infrastructure such as that provided for public universities.

Academic staff from private universities are not available for the same generous public sector scholarships or leave time to undertake post-graduate studies.

This anomaly is found not only in the field of science and technology but also in the social sciences. For example, millions of dollars of public funds have been lavished on various special programmes and projects benefitting primarily researchers and staff of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Perhaps the most distressing development in this sorry state of affairs is that students in the private sector universities appear to be subject to the same discriminatory treatment that their lecturers and professors are subject to. Not only are these undergraduates not subsidized by public funds in the same way in which students in the public universities are in terms of tuition fees but they are also excluded from funds allocated for undergraduate research, etc. Such institutionalized discrimination going all the way down to the undergraduate level is deplorable and cannot be justified in any way.

We are fully cognizant that the development of the private higher education industry has not taken place solely due to altruistic reasons of wanting to spread knowledge or education. Nor are our educational entrepreneurs engaging in some kind of national or personal mission. The same may be said about the public higher education system even though its mission statement is more couched in the spin of serving national development objectives.

The owners of the private education industry in Malaysia are in the industry to generate profits for themselves and their shareholders. In the process of running a business and profit making, let us not forget that these entrepreneurs have taken enormous risks and also helped hundreds of thousands of young Malaysians who for various reasons were not able to find admission into the public universities. They are also responsible for attracting a growing number of international students to Malaysia; they pay taxes on their profits and they generate much needed income and jobs.

Level the playing field

At the same time as providing private educational institutions fair and equitable scope to expand, it is also necessary for our policy makers not to marginalize or discriminate against them especially in the vital area of R and D support and training.

It is not simply the interests of the owners of capital that will be served by fair government policies. Many tens of thousands of capable academic staff members and undergraduates of these institutions – some of them with higher research potential or capability when compared with their counterparts in the public universities will benefit – and when they benefit so too will the nation.

Most academic staff members from private universities already experience inferior service conditions compared to their counterparts from the public universities. These differences in job security, remuneration, leave and other career provisions could be made more bearable if they were provided equal opportunity to public funds for R and D. By way of example, it should be emphasized that many private universities elsewhere in the world routinely receive huge grants from Governments on the basis of competitive bidding.

A new policy that provides an even playing field for staff and researchers from public and private universities in R and D needs to be urgently implemented if the country is to fully harness and optimally utilize its higher level human resources.

This new policy needs to be based on principles of competence and performance. It should not be based on non-transparent politicized agendas of exclusion or whether the institution or individual is from the public or private sector higher education institution. When is this long overdue policy reform coming?

Note: This is the first of a two part commentary. The second will provide proposals for policy reform of R & D and private higher educational institutions.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 13 November 2009, 10:44 am and is filed under
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MACC probing RM1.43 billion cost escalation of Rawang-Ipoh double-tracking rail project based on phantom PAC investigations?

The statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will investigate the double-tracking rail project that has resulted in more than RM1 billion losses, as reported by Malaysian Insider “
Nazri confirms MACC to probe double-tracking project
”  yesterday, is intriguing and perplexing.

The Malaysian Insider reported:

The MACC investigations come after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) announced last week it wanted to probe the RM6 billion double-tracking project when the Auditor-General’s Report said poor project management led to the losses.

“MACC will investigate PAC‘s minutes. PAC is the parliament’s committee so certainly … As I have said, MACC has informed me that they will investigate based on the allegations made by the PAC so there will be no dispute so don’t worry,” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told reporters in Parliament.

Nazri said that the MACC had assured him that they would pursue the PAC’s recommendations.

“The fact that it was tabled in the Parliament and there is no debate about it because the PAC is a extension of the Parliament and their decision is our decision,” he added.

MACC cannot possibly be probing the  double-tracking rail project based on PAC proceedings as the PAC has yet to start investigation into the RM1.43 billion escalation of the Rawang-Ipoh double-tracking contract and there is neither any PAC meeting nor PAC minutes on it.

What is this phantom PAC proceeding on the Rawang-Ipoh double tracking project that Nazri and MACC are talking about?

Former Transport Minister, Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy had mentioned that the double-tracking project was “three times the size” of the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) when he appeared before the PAC on PAC probe into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

As Chan had told the PAC: “No, it is not the biggest (project under the Ministry of Transport). Double-tracking project is much bigger. It is 12 almost 13 billion? It is three times the size of this project (PKFZ).”

Is this tangential reference by Chan in his testimony about the double-tracking project  before the PAC sufficient to found a MACC investigation purportedly based on the PAC minutes?

In any event, why is it necessary for the MACC to wait and depend on the PAC minutes and recommendations to initiate anti-corruption investigations?

Or was Nazri actually referring to the calls by UMNO MPs for MACC investigation into the current Transport Minister and MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat for purchasing four 20-year-old diesel multiple unit (DMUs) trains at RM30 million for the Rawang-Ipoh double-tracking route?

Nazri should make a proper clarification.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 13 November 2009, 1:53 pm and is filed under
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Premier Seeks His Mandate in Malaysia

By
PATRICK BARTA | Wall Street Journal

SINGAPORE — The pace of social and economic reform in Malaysia is likely to slow over the coming months but the country remains committed to opening its heavily regulated economy to more competition in the long term, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Friday.

In a rare private interview, Mr. Najib said that steps he has taken since assuming power in April, including relaxing rules for foreign investment in business services and tourism, are “quite unprecedented” for Malaysia.

But more dramatic overhauls, including major restructuring of a race-based political system that reserves ownership of much of Malaysia’s economy for ethnic Malays, will likely have to wait.

“For the next few months, we want to deliver what we have promised” rather than focus on big new reforms, he said. Short-term efforts will include achieving “performance indicators” announced by the government this year to curb crime and improve government services and infrastructure — a program Mr. Najib hopes will further bolster the popularity of his government.

“I need the political support, I need the political base” if more dramatic reform is to be achieved, said the premier, who was chosen for the post by his predecessor, and installed by his party.

Like many emerging economies in Asia, Malaysia has seen its export-oriented economic model — it is Asia’s third-most trade-dependent economy after Hong Kong and Singapore — suffer badly over the past year. Growth contracted sharply in the first half of the year, and while there have been signs of a recovery, Malaysia’s position as one of Asia’s manufacturing hubs faces increasingly tough competition from China and Vietnam, where wages are often cheaper.

Malaysia also faces rising political discord after years of stability, with deep dissatisfaction over its affirmative-action program. Established in the 1970s to help put 30% of the economy in the hands of ethnic Malays, who make up 60% of Malaysia’s 27 million people, the program has left many ethnic Chinese and Indian residents feeling disadvantaged.

Dissatisfaction, led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, spread last year, and the governing National Front coalition — which has ruled Malaysia since 1957 — lost its long-held two-thirds majority in Malaysia’s parliament. That forced former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to accelerate a handover of power to Mr. Najib, his deputy.

The soft-spoken, British-educated son of Malaysia’s second prime minister surprised many investors by moving quickly to placate critics, despite having a reputation as a defender of Malay privilege.

Mr. Najib’s government relaxed rules requiring companies to allocate 30% of their equity to Malays when listing on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, and eliminated the need for foreigners to take ethnic Malay partners in certain sectors such as health and tourism.

“I read the signals from the last general election, and a responsible government has to respond,” Mr. Najib said in the interview Friday, held between meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore. “I’ve made necessary changes,” he said.

But the changes didn’t include politically sensitive industries such as air travel, utilities and retail, and some investors have argued the government needs to force more competition.

The changes so far are “just PR spin,” says James Chin, a political-science professor at the Malaysian campus of Australia’s Monash University. “My impression is that this guy wants to do reforms but he cannot until he goes to an election and gets an election mandate.”

Mr. Chin says he suspects Mr. Najib will call an election next year if the economy recovers, though he isn’t obliged to do so by law until 2013.

Mr. Najib said he agrees Malaysia needs to take bolder steps eventually. He said he is planning to unveil a new economic plan to diversify the local economy. While he declined to say exactly what it would entail, he said Malaysia needs to boost the role of services and encourage more domestic consumption to reduce over-reliance on exports.

He said he would also like to promote niche industries such as Islamic finance, which now accounts for a sizable part of the country’s banking assets.

The government will also aim to rein in its sizable spending on consumer subsidy programs next year, potentially freeing up cash for more productive investments, he said. Malaysia allocates nearly $200 million a year subsidizing the price of sugar, for instance.

The government is working with a local bank to create “smart cards” that will allow it to direct subsidies only to low-income consumers who need them, he said, while redirecting government assistance away “from people who drive Ferraris.”

Whether these additional steps will be enough to appease investors is uncertain.

Mr. Najib’s ideas are “a good start,” says Ed Teather, an economist at UBS in Singapore, especially the bid to cut subsidies. “The concern is that the promises of the government aren’t always followed through on.” He says he believes Malaysia’s growth will rebound to 6% next year before easing to 5% the following year — lower than what some economists think Malaysia must maintain to significantly increase living standards.

Mr. Najib said he also intends to rein in corruption, which has long been an issue of concern for foreign investors. Corruption “is a problem,” Mr. Najib said, but added, “it’s a problem of many countries.”

The country’s progress on that front, he said, may well be judged on how it handles a few high-profile cases working through the system, including one in which a former transport minister and another top executive are accused of committing fraud during the development of a debt-ridden port and industrial facility. A parliamentary committee recently recommended that police and other authorities pursue investigations against the officials.

Mr. Najib said he would support prosecutions of the officials, if the investigations indicate such prosecutions are warranted. But “we cannot rush into it,” he said.

—Celine Fernandez contributed to this article.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 14 November 2009, 11:03 am and is filed under
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