Dua graduan UiTM sertai DAP

Roketkini.com

IPOH, 21 JAN: Dua graduan muda jurusan undang-undang daripada UiTM yang berminat dengan politik telah memilih untuk menyertai DAP. Mereka adalah Fairuz Azhan Amirruddin dan Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

Fairuz Azhan, 25, merupakan seorang penulis manakala Dyana Sofya, 24, seorang peguam.

Penyertaan mereka dilihat sebagai keseinambungan populariti parti tersebut di kalangan profesional Melayu yang semakin meningkat.

Kedua-dua mereka telah diperkenalkan dalam satu sidang media di ibu pejabat DAP Perak di sini hari ini.

Dalam sidang media itu, Ketua Parlimen DAP Lim Kit Siang yang mengalu-alukan penyertaan Fairuz dan Dyana berkata, kemasukan mereka ke dalam DAP mengingatkan beliau kenangan manisnya menceburi bidang politik 46 tahun yang lalu.

Katanya beliau dapat merasakan idealisme, semangat cintakan negara dan sayangkan rakyat di kalangan golongan muda yang mahu membuat apa yang mampu bagi menambah baik negara tercinta ini.

Menurutnya DAP jelas dari dulu sampai sekarang merupakan parti untuk semua kaum, malah di Perak sahaja, DAP pernah mempunyai lima wakil rakyat Melayu.

“Jadi amat tidak logik jika DAP dituduh sebagai parti anti-Raja mahu pun anti-Melayu. Jika tidak, parti ini tidak mungkin wujud hari ini kerana parti DAP sudah pasti akan diharamkan jika mempunyai matlamat tersebut.

“UMNO bertanya siapa nak membela orang Melayu, Islam, dan Raja Melayu jika UMNO kalah dalam pilihan raya?  Dan kemungkinan besar itu akan berlaku, maka kita menjawab bahawa DAP dan Pakatan Rakyatlah yang akan membela dan mempertahankan orang Melayu, agama Islam, dan kedudukan Raja Melayu seperti yang termaktub dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan,” jelas beliau.

Kit Siang yang juga Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Timur berkata dasar bersama Pakatan Rakyat jelas mempertahankan keluhuran Perlembagaan.

Pengerusi DAP Perak Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham pula berkata ramai orang Melayu telah menyertai DAP sejak penubuhannya dan banyak pula yang memegang jawatan penting dalam parti serta diletakkan sebagai calon dalam pilihan raya.

“DAP tidak pernah diskriminasi terhadap orang Melayu. Ia adalah sebuah parti yang berbilang bangsa yang terbuka untuk semua orang. Ia berusaha ke arah sebuah sistem demokrasi sosial, dan parti demokrasi sosial ini tidak pernah menjadi parti cauvinis Cina mahu pun parti komunis seperti yang sering difitnah oleh UMNO.”

“Kita memang menjangkakan serangan daripada UMNO yang akan mengatakan bahawa DAP sedang melatih orang Melayu kononnya untuk menjadi Menteri Besar di pelbagai negeri.

“Namun hari ini saya ingin sekali lagi menegaskan terutamanya bagi rakyat Perak bahawa DAP tidak mempunyai cita-cita tersebut, dan jika cerita tersebut keluar, ia hanya lagi satu fitnah daripada Barisan Nasional. DAP menyatakan sokongan penuh kepada Datuk Seri Nizar (daripada PAS) sebagai Menteri Besar untuk Perak,” katanya.

Sementara itu, Fairuz Azhan menjelaskan beliau menyertai DAP kerana tidak sanggup berdiam diri melihat negara semakin lama semakin dirosakkan oleh kerajaan UMNO-BN.

Beliau mengambil contoh kadar hutang negara yang semakin meningkat akibat sikap tidak bertanggungjawab kerajaan kini dan secara langsung menyebabkan rakyat menderita kerana pemotongan subsidi dan juga pengenalan cukai baru seperti GST yang bakal menambah beban rakyat.

“Saya juga percaya dengan ideologi yang dibawa oleh parti. Mengikut pemahaman saya, Deklarasi Setapak yang menegaskan tujuan penubuhan DAP adalah untuk mempertahankan Perlembagaan negara. Ini juga bermaksud, DAP  mempertahankan agama Islam sebagai agama rasmi, menzahirkan kedaulatan Raja, Bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa rasmi, dan kedudukan istimewa bumiputera.

“Saya juga berpegang kepada ideologi demokrasi sosial yang kejayaannya boleh dilihat di Pulau Pinang. Saya juga yakin bahawa DAP merupakan platform yang terbaik untuk membebaskan minda masyarakat daripada politik perkauman dan politik ketakutan.”

Dyana Sofya pula berpendapat bahawa kejayaan urus tadbir cekap, akauntabel dan telus (CAT) oleh kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat di Pulau Pinang yang dipimpin oleh Setiausaha Agung DAP Lim Guan Eng meyakinkan beliau untuk memilih DAP sebagai wadah politiknya.

“Bayangkan jika kejayaan CAT di Pulau Pinang boleh diketengahkan ke peringkat kerajaan pusat? Bukankah semua rakyat tanpa mengira kaum dan agama akan mendapat faedah secara lebih adil dan saksama?

“Kemiskinan tegar telah dihapuskan di Pulau Pinang dan kemakmuran negeri bertambah berlipat kali ganda. Mengapa kita tidak boleh mengimpikan itu di peringkat nasional?” katanya. – Roketkini.com

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 January 2012, 9:51 pm and is filed under
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Let Malaysian Chinese unite as one Dragon and together with other Malaysians, effect a change of power in Putrajaya in 13GE

With the closer approach of the 13th General Elections, whatever the date decided by the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament, one common aspiration uniting Malaysians is gathering momentum – the possibility and potential for change of power at the federal level for the first time in the nation’s 54 year history.

Let Malaysian Chinese unite as one Dragon in the Year of the Dragon and, together with other Malaysians, effect a change of power in Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections to fulfill Malaysia’s potential as an united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and competitive nation.

In his pre-Chinese New Year walk-about in the Federal Territory on Friday, Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that Malaysia is the best place in the world to live in as it provided the “best value for money”.

This is the strongest reason why Malaysia needs a change of federal power because the powers-of-the-day in UMNO and Barisan Nasional suffer from an incorrigible disease of denial complex in refusing the admit the failures of government and nation-building in the past few decades which have driven some two million of the best and brightest Malaysians to foreign lands for they could not get respect and recognition or able to hold their heads high as Malaysian citizens in their own homeland.

If more evidence is needed to prove how cut-off the Barisan Nasional leadership has become from the aspirations of ordinary Malaysians, one need only refer to the message by the MCA President yesterday calling on the Chinese voters not to “experiment” in the next general elections as Barisan Nasional’s (BN) leadership has allowed the community to prosper.

Just as the Malaysian economy has developed in the past few decades despite the misgovernance, corruption and abuses of power of the UMNO/BN leadership, the prosperity of the Chinese community had been achieved despite the failings of the Barisan Nasional leadership.

There is nothing that the Malaysian people need thank the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leadership for as it is the reverse – Malaysians are entitled to blame the UMNO/BN leadership for the lost opportunities of Malaysia becoming a more developed, prosperous and competitive economy and a more united and harmonious nation because of its failures of leadership and governance.

This is why a total change of power in Putrajaya is uppermost in the minds of more and more Malaysians and I call on the Malaysian Chinese to unite and rise as one dragon, together with all other Malaysians, to effect a change of power in Putrajaya in the next general elections to begin a new page of history celebrating the greatness of all Malaysians.

[
Chinese New Year (Dragon) Message on Saturday, January 21, 2012
]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 January 2012, 5:35 pm and is filed under
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On changing horses midstream and the man who can walk on water

— Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 21, 2012

JAN 21 — The prime minister told the people not to change horses midstream. So we asked, don’t we change even if the horse is limping and is running on three legs? In endurance races, riders change horses in order to arrive at the destination. Malaysians should be pragmatic when it comes to deciding their future.

Midstream for Barisan Nasional and Umno is already over 50 years. Since 1955, when the first elections took place until now, from Perikatan to BN, we have had more than 50 years of BN rule. What do we have?

We have development, for sure, but are also damaged by rampant corruption, utter disregard for the rule of law, abuses of all kinds, political manipulations, deception and lies and gross mismanagement of the economy. To all that, the PM says, we don’t change? If we don’t, we shall have another 50 years of unchecked corruption, emasculation of the judiciary, thugs running the legal institutions, abuses and gross mismanagement.

At another point in his speech, the PM says we don’t know whether the opposition knows what to do if they come into power. We don’t know whether, under Pakatan Rakyatwe, we can achieve developed status by 2020 with the fabled per capita income of US$15,000.

Of course Pakatan knows what to do. In the short years since they came into power, direct investments have been highest in Pakatan led states of Penang, Selangor and Kedah. These states have achieved balanced budgets without doing arithmetic tricks.

In Penang, which is led by a non-Muslim, grants to Islamic religious institutions have reached RM30 million a year. Compare that to Negri Sembilan, which is led by a good Muslim, where the grant is only RM 12 million a year. How is that possible? Because the state coffers have been managed better in one state than in the other managed by BN and Umno.

So, in answer to the PM’s pained exhortations, we should change horses if and when necessary. It’s now most necessary to change the tired horse. Retire him. But as a good animal lover, we won’t put it to sleep, but maybe employ it as a riding horse for children.

The other piece of news that struck me as odd was the statement from Khazanah Nasional that it didn’t make a profit from its sale of Proton shares to DRB-Hicom. If no profits were made, why sell the shares? You mean, a simple bottom-line judgement call require a phalanx of Oxbridge analysts to justify in order to sell at a profit?

Secondly, Khazanah’s statement can be construed as an admission that it was given a fait acompli, take-this-and-don’t-ask-any-questions offer. In Malaysia, only one person can do that – the man who can walk on water.

I hope I can throw more light on the sale of Proton shares to DRB-Hicom. Were there any other bids besides DRB-Hicom’s that were presented to Khazanah? Is Khazanah brave enough to publish the identity of all bidders?

If it has the courage to do so, we shall not be surprised if the bidders were only the Tengku Mahaleel- Arumugam group, DRB-Hicom, plus Nadzmi Salleh and Co.

If that is the case, whoever gets the shares has only one master. The man who can walk on water. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 January 2012, 11:24 pm and is filed under
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Pengisytiharaan harta

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 21, 2012

21 JAN — Sekarang isu pengisytiharan harta oleh ahli Jemaah Kabinet menjadi bahan perbincangan rakyat ramai di mana-mana. Belum pun habis dengungan saranan yang anjurkan oleh DAP serta MACC, Nazri Aziz, seorang menteri kanan kerajaan negara, dengan pantas tidak bersetuju dengan cadangan itu.

Nazri memberikan alasan yang jika dilakukan pengisytiharan harta itu ia akan merbahayakan keselamatan individu itu. Apa bahayanya saya pun tidak tahu melainkan Nazri didapati mempunyai harta yang bertimbun secara haram.

Nazri bersetuju jika pengisytiharan harta itu hanya dibuat kepada Perdana Menteri sahaja. Lain-lain perkataan Nazri hanya sanggup memberitahu PM sahaja berapa jumlah harta beliau sejak menjadi menteri ini.

Selangor telah mengambil tindakan mengisytiharkan harta ahli Exconya dua tahun lepas dan Pulau Pinang telah mengambil tindakan mengisytiharkan harta ahli majlis mesyuarat kerajaannya dan boleh dilihat melalui internet oleh semua rakyat. Contoh-contoh baik yang dilakukan oleh kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat ini patut diikuti oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional di peringkat persekutuan dan negeri-negeri yang ditadbirnya.

Dalam kes pengisytiharan harta ini nampaknya pihak Pakatan Rakyat lebih telus dan nampak kesediaan harta mereka dilihat dan diketahui umum. Bak kata Lim Guan Eng, DAP merasakan rakyat sepatutnya tahu tentang harta-harta yang ada pada mereka yang menduduki jawatan awam terutamanya yang mewakili kumpulan legislatif dalam kerajaannya.

Keengganan Nazri dan yang lain-lain dalam Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk mengisytiharkan harta secara terbuka menunjukkan yang kumpulan pemimpin dalam BN ini mempunyai banyak perkara yang hendak dilindungi dari pengetahuan umum.

Pengisytiharan harta ini merupakan amalan yang biasa bagi negara-negara yang maju dan mengamalkan pentadbiran mengikut undang-undang dan etika yang tinggi. Di negara-negara maju memang inilah amalannya. Selagi pengisytiharan harta ini tidak dilakukan selagi itulah kerajaan itu tidak boleh dianggap sebagai negara yang telus pentadbirannya dan tinggi etika kepimpinannya.

Jika menteri-menteri kita hanya mengisytiharkan harta mereka kepada Perdana Menteri sahaja ia tidak akan membawa apa-apa makna kepada pengisytiharan harta itu. Jika cara Nazri ini dilakukan hanya Perdana Menteri sahaja yang tahu dan tidak akan dapat “public scrutiny” seperti yang berlaku di negara-negara maju.

Jika hanya Perdana Meneterri sahaja yang tahu, paling mampu yang dilakukan oleh Perdana Menteri ialah untuk membandingkan di antara jumlah harta yang dikumpulkan oleh Nazri dan harta yang dikumpulkan oleh Perdana Menteri dan isterinya.

Kenyataan Nazri itu amat mengecewakan ramai dan ia hanya memberikan gambaran yang pemimpin-pemimpin kita tidak berani untuk menunjukkan bagaimana harta-harta yang menggunung itu didapati oleh mereka. Dalam isu pengisytiharan harta ini kita akan nampak dengan jelas yang di sebelah BN dan Umno, pemimpin mereka tidak menggemari ini dilakukan dan hanya pihak Pakatan Rakyat sahaja yang berani melakukannya.

Maka stigma Umno itu adalah kumpulan perasuah semakin diyakini oleh orang ramai dan sebaliknya keyakinan rakyat terhadap Pakatan Rakyat itu bertambah utuh dan kuat. Di sini kita boleh lihat yang Umno tidak berdaya untuk meningkatkan keyakinan rakyat terhadap sahsiah dan kejujuran mereka.

Hanya satu suara dari Kabinet Negara yang menyambut pengisytiharan harta ini dengan baik, iaitu Ismail Sabri Yaacob. Secara peribadi saya juga pernah mendengar yang menteri ini tidak pandai mencari duit luar dari jawatannya. Jika Ismail mahu bersama untuk membersihkan negara dari rasuah yang keterlaluan ini, saya berharap Ismail bersama PR kali ini.

Tetapi Nazri bolehlah mengisytiharkan harta beliau kepada Perdana Menteri. Kita tahu jika itu dilakukan oleh Nazri, maka Perdana Menteri hanya akan dapat membandingkan harta yang Nazri kumpulkan dengan harta yang PM sendiri kumpulkan.

Selepas itu elok Perdana Menteri mengisytiharkan hartanya kepada Nazri pula. Nanti Nazri dan Najib sama-sama tahu jumlah harta yang mereka masing-masing kumpulkan. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 January 2012, 11:35 pm and is filed under
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Rosmah’s ‘shopping spree’ hits Aussie paper

Malaysiakini

Jan 21, 2012

The big spending habits of another member of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s family caught the attention of the Australian media again today – this time in Sydney.

In the ‘Private Sydney’ section of the Australian daily Sydney Morning Herald, columnist Andrew Horney called Rosmah the “first lady of shopping”, allegedly for spending A$100,000 (RM325,000) at a Sydney boutique.

Quoting Sydney designer Carl Kapp, the columnist reported that Kapp’s “biggest customer” had spent the astounding amount during a “private holiday” there “a little more than a fortnight ago”.

According to the column, Rosmah and Najib had during the holiday stayed at the A$20,000 (RM65,100) a night penthouse (right) at the newly-minted five-star Darling Hotel.

Headlined ‘Super Kerr Now a Model Citizen’, the column also reported that Rosmah had requested “valet parking for her limo” and was flying Kapp out to Malaysia for fittings of the clothes she ordered.

“(Kapp said) he was being flown to Malaysia next month with a collection of ‘toiles’ for (Rosmah) Mansor to try on before completing her massive order of 61 dresses, pants and tops.

“All made from the finest silk and in a variety of exotic colours and prints, Kapp said his new muse had ‘a very good eye for colour and she likes a lot of prints’,” the prominent daily’s lifestyle column reported.

PM’s wife ‘absolutely gracious’

Rosmah had recently been under fire for allegedly purchasing a diamond ring worth RM24 million, which she has vehemently denied, and for owning several Hermes handbags worth thousands of ringgit.

“In recent months, (Rosmah) Mansor… has been forced to deny reports she had bought a US$24 million diamond and a US$200,000 (RM621,000)-plus crocodile skin, bejewelled Hermes handbag,” said Horney in his SMH column.

“Kapp, who has a keen eye for such bags, having worked for Hermes, said he did not see any such handbag when he met her.”

The designer also added that Rosmah is nothing like her critics accuse her of being but was “absolutely gracious and easy to deal with”.

It noted that the alleged shopping spree of the PM’s wife was first reported on fashion blog Flockwriter, in a Jan 17 posting.

Kapp was quoted as saying that he had also met Najib, who was “relaxing, snuggling up and looking very happy together” with his wife.

“There, surrounded by samples, fabric swatches, sketches and Rosmah’s many attendants, who appeared to be gearing up for a New Year’s Eve party, Kapp was introduced to a casually-attired Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak,” it read.

Malaysiakini has contacted the PM’s office for a response.

Last October, Najib’s daughter, who was not named, was reported by the Western Australian of having spent lavishly at David Jones in Perth during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The daily later issued a correction to the report, which cited anonymous sources, after Najib said that his daughter was not in Perth at the time.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 January 2012, 9:23 pm and is filed under
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Happy Chinese New Year!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 January 2012, 2:38 am and is filed under
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Malaysia ‘falls far short’ on rights vows

AFP/Herald Sun

January 22, 2012

MALAYSIA has fallen “far short” of upholding its pledges to allow civil liberties ahead of elections widely expected to be held soon, Human Rights Watch says.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has promised to grant greater civil rights by revising or abolishing several security laws, including the Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial of those deemed security threats.

But activists and opposition leaders have dismissed his vows as ploys to regain at fresh polls expected this year votes lost in the last general election, where Najib’s Barisan Nasional had its most narrow ever win.

Human Rights Watch said on Sunday in its annual world report that the South-East Asian nation had last year “arbitrarily” detained critics, broken up a peaceful march for electoral reforms and replaced restrictions on free assembly “with even more draconian controls”.

“Malaysia’s leaders are fooling themselves by thinking they can backtrack on public promises to respect the rights to demonstrate peacefully and criticise the government without fear,” the group’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said in a release.

“The more Prime Minister Najib and government politicians play their game of big talk, little action on rights, the more they should expect popular pushback.”

A government spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

In its report, the New York-based group said that, despite government promises, human rights in Malaysia “remain tightly constrained”.

It also criticised the trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was acquitted by a high court this month of having sex with a male former aide.

Government lawyers are appealing against the verdict.

Human Rights Watch said the law, which makes sodomy a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, should be repealed, and Anwar should never have been tried.

Najib’s Barisan Nasional has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957 but suffered unprecedented losses to Anwar’s opposition during the last elections in 2008 amid complaints of economic mismanagement, corruption and racial discrimination.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 January 2012, 10:46 pm and is filed under
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They are going to convict Anwar – that is certain!

by
P. Ramakrishnan

22 January 2012

What wasn’t expected surprisingly happened. The High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar. That decision took everyone by surprise and they hoped that it would be the end of this sordid affair.

What the vast majority of Malaysians had hoped for following Anwar’s discharge did not happen. The Prosecution shocked everyone and appealed the High Court decision.

What will happen following this appeal is predictable. We have said as much in our previous statement on 23 December 2009. This is what we said:

“Aliran has been keeping track of recent Court decisions and with this knowledge we must warn the jubilant litigants not to get carried away easily. This is Round 1 and Round 1 usually goes in favour of truth and justice. It is here where the facts are scrutinised diligently and justice has its sway. It is as far as justice can go!

“In Round 2, this decision will almost certainly be overturned, as has been the case on many occasions. It is here where facts don’t matter but technicalities will be the overriding factor and justice will be forced to take a back seat.

“This glaring outcome is inevitable in our system of justice. We have witnessed this without fail in Anwar’s cases, in the Perak Pakatan government’s tussle for democracy, in the Kampung Buah Pala residents’ plea for justice and in the MACC case involving Tan Boon Wah’s human rights.”

Based on the track record of the Judiciary, it is not difficult to predict the outcome of Round 2. Anwar’s freedom must be curtailed and his fundamental rights must be denied to ensure the very survival of the Barisan Nasional.

The only person who can wreak havoc and destroy the entrenched power of the Barisan Nasional through Pakatan Rakyat is Anwar and therefore he must be put away. And to give this political plot a semblance of legality, knowing Malaysians argue, the Judiciary has to play the subservient role it has been accustomed to since 1988.

It is a great tragedy that the Judiciary – except for some rare occasions when a few brave and honest Judges stood firm on the side of truth and justice – had been such a terrible disappointment. It is so tainted and tarnished that it no longer commands the respect of Malaysians. By its very questionable conduct, it has brought upon itself the loss of public confidence and earned itself the disrepute that it deserves.

What is the game plan? Well, the Anwar hearing will come very near to the election in order to tie him down with his case. He has to be convicted just before the election so that he would be disqualified to contest the poll.

Alternatively, the case can drag on until the election. Or the judgment could be delayed until the election. Whatever course the case takes, the intention remains the same. Don’t give Anwar the breathing space to campaign.

All these underhanded tactics can only be prevented when there is a change of government. The only way to redeem the Judiciary is to bring about a government that will respect the separation of powers.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 January 2012, 12:32 pm and is filed under
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Top five topics of all Malaysians during the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays

What will be the top five topics of all Malaysians during the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays?

I will pick the following five:

(1)	The Attorney-General’s appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal in the Sodomy2 charge by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, expressing the determination of the top UMNO leaders to want to see Anwar in jail.

(2)	The Court of Appeal decision to overturn the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision to acquit and discharge DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh on the sedition charge relating to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic coup d’etat against the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government.

          Both these incidents have killed off public hopes that Malaysia is firmly set on the road to restoration of national and international confidence in our justice system, with a just rule of law and truly independent judiciary.

          The only inescapable conclusion is that Malaysia can only begin to seriously undo the ravages against the doctrine of separation of powers especially between the Executive and the Judiciary in the past  24 years years stemming from the arbitrary sacking of the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah in 1988.

(3)	RM300 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) “cattle condo” scandal highlighting the worsening state of corruption an cronyism in the country which even before this scandal had fallen to the worst  Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2011 ranking of No. 60 and score of 4.3 in the past 17 years with both set to plunge to new depths in 2012. This is why there is no public confidence in the independence, integrity and professionalism in the  Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which has not been able to shake off its early image as a tool of the Barisan Nasional to hound and persecute Pakatan Rakyat leaders, resulting in the cold-blooded murder of Teoh Beng Hock –  a crime which is still crying out for justice!

(4)	The fraud and hypocrisy of the International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates when racism, extremism, hate and downright falsehoods  had reached new heights under Najib’s 33-month premiership, with the chief culprit none other than the UMNO newspaper, Utusan Malaysia. What was  most significant about the Conference was what did not happen – Najib’s failure to respond to my five tests to demonstrate that the Prime Minister qualifies to be regarded as the voice of moderates in Malaysia!

(5)	These four top topics for all Malaysians in the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays lead to and merge with  the fifth – that there can only be hope and salvation for the country and real change if Malaysians regardless of race, religion and region,  grasp the first opportunity in 54 years to effect UBAH, get rid of UMNO/Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya and instal a new Pakatan Rakat  federal government with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 January 2012, 5:02 pm and is filed under
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Chapter 12:   A Prescription For Malaysia

by
Bakri Musa

Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #97

In 1969, shortly after the traumatic race riot that nearly ripped Malaysia apart, an angry and impatient young politician wrote a most unusual letter to the prime minister at the time, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Written in Malay, the letter used the most polite and deferential language, tone, and form that characterized communications between a peasant and his ruler. It was classic of a feudal Malay society, as Malaysia was at that time. Despite that, the petition could not hide its blunt and trenchant message: The Tunku must go.

            Such a frontal challenge to a leader was unprecedented in polite and highly structured traditional Malay society. Malay society prides itself in an orderly and predictable succession. That gauntlet could only have been thrown by someone either unbelievably stupid and reckless or very sure of himself and his assessment of the citizens’ mood.

            What galled the Tunku was that the challenger was a low-level politician who had lost his parliamentary seat in the elections that took place just before the riot. Most losers in combat would quietly withdraw to lick their wounds, not come out swinging looking for new adversaries, at least not so soon afterwards! Yet there it was, the impudence and impertinence of a hitherto obscure political backbencher challenging the nation’s revered leader amidst a national crisis! Incensed, the Tunku saw to it that the politician was expelled from the party. Thus was how Mahathir bin Mohamad was stripped of his UMNO’s membership.

            It was a tribute to the Tunku’s basic humanity that he did not do more. He could have easily behaved like the usual Third World leader and declared Mahathir “prejudicial to the security of Malaysia,” and thrown him into the slammer. Or worse! Many a Third World politician have met untimely fatal “accidents.” Mahathir in turn was smart enough to lay low and not further provoke the Tunku. If only some of today’s adversaries of Mahathir were as smart!

            In the end the Tunku did resign, and the ever-wise Mahathir did not crow. After a suitable grace period in deference to the Tunku’s sensibility, his successor Tun Razak “rehabilitated” Mahathir and soon after, appointed him to the important position of Minister of Education. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

            Thanks in large measure to Mahathir, today Malay society is less feudal; communications between the rulers and ruled are no longer formal, rigid, or deferential. They are direct and often frontal, dispensing with the ceremonial and reverential language of the past.

            Mahathir is no Tunku, but more to the point, I am no Mahathir. I have simply chosen the following format of a letter to the prime minister merely as a literary device to summarize my book. Nothing more and nothing less! Thus I do not expect a Tunku-like response from Mahathir, nor do I await a Mahathir-like fate.

Next:   An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 January 2012, 9:06 am and is filed under
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Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 23, 2012

23 JAN — Ada sesuatu perkara yang saya mesti kongsi dengan rakan-rakan yang mengikuti blog saya. Sejak saya menyertai parti berbagai kaum DAP baru-baru ini, saya telah mendapat kutukan dari beberapa orang termasuk seorang dua rakan blog saya yang saya kenali, dan itu memang telah saya jangkakan dari awal lagi.

Tetapi sebagai empunyai blog kecil ini saya telah mendapat lebih galakan dari yang mengkritik saya. Yang mengkritik saya itu pun adalah kebanyakannya dari mereka yang masih baru dalam Umno itu atau hanya sebagai penyokong pemimpin dan “warlords” dalam parti itu. Yang mengatakan saya seorang yang bangkerap politik itu merupakan budak hingusan belum merasakan pengalaman bergiat di dalam Umno itu.

Tetapi yang paling saya seronok ialah sokongan dari orang-orang biasa dan menzahirkan sokongan mereka melalu ribuan teks pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang datang bertalu-talu serta sokongan melalui e-mail dan sebagainya. Sembilan puluh peratus yang memberikan sokongan itu adalah dari kaum Melayu yang saya kenali dan yang saya tidak pernah mengenali mereka.

Apa yang saya seronokkan bukannya kerana saya mendapat sokongan secara peribadi, tetapi kerana mereka sudah faham sebenarnya yang DAP itu bukanlah seperti yang dimomokan oleh Umno dan media masa perdana sejak berdekad-dekad dahulu. Saya merasa sedikit bangga kerana mampu membuatkan mereka menilai secara ilmiah yang mendalam serta sudah mengetahui yang parti DAP ini telah secara deras mendapat sokongan orang Melayu akhir-akhir ini.

Sebagaimana yang saya sebutkan di dalam posting saya yang lalu, saya adalah penyokong kuat kepada slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di popularkan oleh Dr Mahathir. Tetapi apabila setelah beliau menerajui negara lebih dari dua dekad, saya tidak nampak di mana bersihnya pentadbiran beliau. Saya tidak nampak kecekapan pentadbiran kerajaan kita dan amanahnya memang jauh sekali dari penglihatan kita.

Malahan dalam pentadbiran beliaulah bermulanya isu-isu rasuah yang besar dan tidak ada bersihnya. Melalui projek raksaksa runding terus itu telah mengembangkan budaya rasuah yang besar malahan ahli keluarga beliau sama-sama menggunakan kedudukan beliau untuk mengumpul kekayaan. Malahan kecekapan pentadbiran terdahulu itu bertambah lemah dengan isu-isu yang buruk yang tidak pernah kita lihat telah berlaku. Keseluruhan jentera kerajaan tidak beramanah.

Pendeknya Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu hanyalah retorik besar yang di ungkapkan semasa Perhimpunan Agong Umno sahaja guna untuk membuatkan perwakilan bertepuk tangan sehingga merah-merah tapak tangan. Dr Mahathir bijak memainkan sentimen orang Umno kerana beliau amat faham kelemahan yang ada pada kebanyakkan orang Melayu yang mudah terlena dengan alunan lagu yang berlirik indah dan mengkagumkan.

Tetapi sebahagian rakyat di negara ini telah mendapatkan nikmat dari slogan itu akhir-akhir ini. Kerajaan PR yang di tunjangi oleh DAP telah berjaya melaksanakan slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah anjuran Dr Mahathir itu. Walaupun kerajaan tunjangan DAP itu baru menghampiri empat tahun sahaja, banyak dari apa yang dimaksudkan oleh slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu telah dapat dilaksanakan dengan sepenuhnya.

DAP tidak pandai untuk mewujudkan retorik dan slogan besar, tetapi parti ini pandai untuk mencapai matlamat kepimpinannya; iaitu pentadbiran yang Bersih, Cekap dan Beramanah.

Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di wujudkan oleh Dr Mahathir ini, di amalkan oleh DAP kerana DAP mengikut formulanya dengan betul. Seperti kita menjawab soalan ilmu hisab, kita mesti mengikut formula ilmu hisab itu. Jika kita hanya menghafal formula tersebut tetapi tidak mengikut formulanya dengan terperinci, kita tidak akan mendapat jawapannya dengan betul dan tepat.

Itulah sebabnya Umno tidak berjaya mendapatkan jawapan kepada soalan-soalan penting dengan betul kerana tidak mengikut formula yang mereka wujudkan sendiri itu. Dalam formula Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu tidak ada terselit elemen rasuah dan salahguna kuasa.

Tetapi apabila perlaksanaannya formula ini telah dikotori oleh rasuah dan salahguna kuasa itu, maka slogan BCA itu telah gagal sama sekali, malah wujud pula elemen-elemen negatif yang melumpuhkan negara dan pentadbirannya dengan rasuah yang begitu besar dan menakutkan rakyat. Maka slogan BCA itu hanya tinggal slogan dan telah pun dilupakan dan tidak hidup lagi dalam pentadbiran negara di bawah Umno ini.

Rupa-rupanya slogan itu tidak mati. Ia masih hidup segar. Rupa-rupanya DAP Pulau Pinang dan PKR Selangor dan kerajaan-kerajaan pimpinan PR telah berjaya melaksanakannya dengan baik dan penuh dengan ketelusan. Perlaksanaannya tidak diheboh dan di gembar gemburkan. Dalam diam-diam DAP Pulau Pinang bersama rakan-rakan PRnya telah melaksanakan segala-gala yang di impikan oleh rakyat melalui slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu.

Sekarang kita lihat yang fitnah serta momokan terhadap parti DAP yang “multi-racial” ini ternyata kian menumpul. Pulau Pinang merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam Malaysia yang akan bebas dari miskin tegar di kalangan rakyatnya dalam setahun dua lagi. Adalah dijangkakan yang Pulau Pinang akan merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam mana apa yang dikatakan sebagai perpaduan berbilang kaum itu akan tercapai dengan sepenuhnya.

Pulau Pinang juga merupakan sebuah negeri yang akan melupuskan segala hutangnya kepada Kerajaan Pusat. Dari RM630 juta hutang Kerajaan BN Pulau Pinang dahulu, Kerajaan PR Pulau Pinang telah mengembalikan sebanyak RM600 juta kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam tempoh tiga tahun pentadbirannya. Kejayaan ini bukannya kejayaan yang kecil tetapi ia merupakan satu pencapaian yang “outstanding” jika dibandingkan dengan negeri-negeri lain di Malaysia ini.

Walaupun begitu besar tohmahan terhadap DAP dan kerajaan Pulau Pinang oleh seterunya dalam BN, Kerajaan Negeri tetap melaksanakan apa-apa yang telah di juruskan oleh Perlembagaan Negara. Dikatakan oleh Umno yang DAP adalah anti Islam, tetapi dalam jangkamasa hampir empat tahun DAP dan PR mentadbir Pulau Pinang peruntukan untuk majlis agama Islam telah meningkat kepada RM62 juta dari RM12 juta semasa BN memerintah dahulu.

Kerajaan Pulau Pinang telah diperakukan oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa sebagai sebuah negeri yang paling bersih dan beretika kepimpinannya. Pandangan ini bukan diberikan oleh saya atau sesiapa dalam PR, tetapi oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa yang terkenal di peringkat antarabangsa.

Banyak lagi yang dicapai oleh pentadbiran Lim Guan Eng tetapi satu soalan yang mesti diketahui umum; kenapa PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukan segala-galanya ini? Apa yang berjaya dilakukan oleh Lim Guan Eng ini jugalah janji-janji Umno sejak 30 tahun yang lalu, tetapi tidak juga kunjung berjaya. Apabila PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukannya dalam tempoh kurang dari empat tahun, ia tidak menyenangkan Umno pula.

Daripada berlumba-lumba untuk menjadikan kejayaan kerajaan Pulau Pinang sebagai contoh yang patut diikuti, Umno dan BN mengambil sikap menafikan kenyataan yang jelas tentang kejayaan PR (DAP) itu. Kejayaan DAP di Pulau Pinang dan PKR di Selangor dan PAS di dua buah negeri yang lain itu amat menyakitkan hati pimpinan dan penyokong Umno dan BN. Tetapi orang ramai faham, kejayaan PR itu adalah kegagalan bagi BN/ Umno.

Kita sama-sama menilainya dan ambilalih keputusan setelah berfikir dan berfikir. Asalkan kita mengambil sesuatu tindakan setelah berfikir dengan sungguh-sungguh, apa-apa keputusan itu kita hormati.

Kata agama kita, “berfikir sejenak itu lebih baik dari beramal sepanjang malam”. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 January 2012, 3:31 pm and is filed under
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Suu Kyi becomes key to complex Myanmar politics

By Didier Lauras (AFP)

23rd Jan 2012

YANGON — Aung San Suu Kyi is playing an increasingly important role in Myanmar, helping shore up a fragile alliance of former junta generals whose recent reforms have amazed observers, analysts say.

After half a century of total military domination, the Southeast Asian nation held widely-criticised elections in 2010 after ordering some of its members to shed their army uniforms to lead a “civilian” government.

Suu Kyi, released from house arrest days after that poll, has since taken a pivotal position, following talks with President Thein Sein last summer and her subsequent decision to run in an April 1 by-election.

The 66-year-old’s participation in the upcoming vote is one of a series of positive changes that have marked a break with the old junta approach to leadership and led to thawing relations with the West, which has imposed tough sanctions on the isolated nation.

Observers say power in the new regime balances between two key former generals turned eager reformers — the president and Shwe Mann, the speaker of the lower house of parliament — with Suu Kyi becoming a third key player.

“The new generation (of military leaders) has come to terms with her and she has come to terms with the new generation,” said Aung Tun Thet, who works as an advisor for the UN in Yangon after many years abroad.

“For the first time now, I see an opportunity for change you get once in a lifetime.”

Shwe Mann, previously the junta number three, has on several occasions said Suu Kyi would be welcome in parliament.

The comments mark a dramatic political rebirth for a woman who was so hated by former strongman Than Shwe that she spent most of the last two decades locked up.

Than Shwe is officially described as retired, but many believe he is still relatively influential.

Observers stress that the current reform process is very fragile, with a small minority in the army outraged — or scared — by the changes.

While a cabal close to Myanmar’s top leaders pushes for more transformations, many are cautiously waiting to see whether the reformers will succeed.

The new system will soon need economic success and investment to win stronger popular backing — hence the regime’s desire for Western support and the lifting of sanctions.

And this gives massive leverage to Suu Kyi, whose iconic status both in the European Union and the United States has given her a very powerful influence on public opinion.

“I wouldn’t say we’re giving her a total veto but to the extent that she has confidence in the process, we will have confidence in the process of change in Myanmar,” US Senator Joe Lieberman told reporters in Bangkok recently.

In recent months, the opposition party leader has been an indispensable interlocutor during the visits of foreign dignitaries. And she is careful not to criticise the government.

“She transformed from an icon to a politician with all the risks and contradictions that entails,” said an observer who visits her regularly.

Shwe Mann’s son Toe Naing Mann, who is helping his father in his new role, believes that the common political goals uniting Suu Kyi and the two top regime reformers, all in their late 60s, are the key to the country’s future.

“The three of them can work now together for about five years. It is their first chance and also their only chance. If they cannot cash in this opportunity, they will be held responsible,” he told AFP.

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) decided in May 2010 to boycott the general elections that year.

Her talks with Thein Sein have since convinced her to rejoin mainstream politics, to the point of rumours she will soon be in the government, speculation that she has not ruled out.

As the generals become heralds of parliamentary democracy, albeit with a legislature still dominated by the army, she is quickly learning a new role. “Suu Kyi is in uncharted waters,” said the observer.

But she is clearly determined to remain leader of the democracy movement.

This is acknowledged, despite some bitterness, by members of the National Democratic Force (NDF), which split from the NLD in 2010 to contest the November election, convinced that the boycott was a mistake.

NDF head Khin Maung Swe, who was in prison for around 20 years for his involvement in the NLD, does not understand why Suu Kyi has not been in contact since she decided to run in the April by-election.

He said he would have appreciated her admission that he was probably right, a year and a half ago.

“They have no guts to say to us: ‘Guys you were right, we were wrong at the time’,” he said. “She is too far away above our heads, she has no time to see us.”

But he admits she is “of course” the patron saint of the opposition.

“She is the only person who can have an influence all over the people.”

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 January 2012, 2:37 pm and is filed under
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Azmi Khalid should resign as PAC Chairman and not be an obstacle to an urgent PAC investigation into RM300 million NFC scandal to table report to Parliament on March 12

Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid should resign as Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman and not be an obstacle to an immediate and urgent PAC investigation into the RM300 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal so as to be able to table a report of its findings and recommendations to Parliament when it reconvenes on March 12.

It will be a gross remiss of its responsibility if the PAC is empty-handed when Parliament reconvenes on March 12 when the “cattle condo” scandal is  undoubtedly the No. 1 scandal of the country for the past three months since the delayed tabling of the Auditor-General Report 2010 last October.

I had occasion to criticise the “tardiness” of the PAC to plunge into full-scale investigation into the NFC scandal and Azmi has responded saying that he prefers the PAC to wait for the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to complete their investigations of suspected corruption in the NFC scandal before deciding if it should continue with its own probe.

The  decision that the PAC refrain or  suspend investigation into the Auditor-General’s exposes of the NFC scandal  is only the personal inclination of Azmi and cannot be the  collective decision of the PAC, as the PAC has not met after the start of the police and MACC investigations into the NFC.

Azmi should not impose his personal preference on the PAC when national interests demand that the PAC performs its duty to conduct an urgent and immediate investigation into the NFC scandal.

I have expressed my reservations about the propriety of Azmi heading any PAC probe into the NFC scandal because there could be a conflict-of-interest as Azmi was a member of the Cabinet when government approval was given for the scandal-ridden NFC project before the March 2008 general election.

Among the issues to be probed by PAC are the involvement of various Cabinet Ministers in the approval of the NFC project, referring to all Cabinet Ministers in general but also specifically to Tun Abdullah, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the respective Prime Minister, Chairman of Cabinet Committee on High Impact Projects and the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries at the time.

 The last thing Azmi should do is to be responsible for the PAC playing “truant” from performing its parliamentary and national duty to conduct immediate and urgent probe into the NFC scandal and to submit its report to Parliament when it reconvenes on March 12.

The role of the PAC has gain new pertinence and relevance following the improper pressures and arm-twisting by Perkasa and the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) that the Auditor-General issue a statement to clarify and exonerate the NFCorp  from being embroiled in the scandal. The NF Corp is run by the family of Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

As the very credibility of the Auditor-General 2010 Report about the RM300 million NFC scandal  is being impugned, the PAC is duty-bound to convene in the next few days whether it should continue to “play truant” by ducking full investigations into the NFC scandal or whether  it should rise to its duty to work over-time to conduct immediate and urgent investigations into the NFC scandal as to be able to report to Parliament on March 12.

Will Azmi convene an emergency PAC in the next few days to make this crucial decision?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 3:44 pm and is filed under
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DAP, please pay no mind to flip-flop KJ

by Haris Ibrahim

The People’s Parliament

January 24, 2012

From the time I was in secondary school until about 2 years ago, if ever I was to join a political party, it would have been the Democratic Action Party.

Yes, the DAP.

Guan Eng well knows this.

Since 2010, though, I am pleased to say that my options have increased.

Today, besides DAP, if ever I was inclined to join a political party, I would have no reservations in filling a membership application form and submitting the same to the Parti Sosialis Malaysia or the Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

These parties are not multiracial. In my view, the term ‘multiracial’ still places emphasis on ‘race’.

They are non-race based.

They champion issues, are advocates of meritocracy and champion the lot of the downtrodden.

This, for me, is the direction this nation must take.

Malaysiakini reports that KJ wants DAP to disclose the number of Malays it has in its ranks of members to prove it is multiracial.

Now anyone who has followed KJ’s ascent through the corridors of power in UMNO will have noticed this young, ambitious man flip-flopping between being a Malay nationalist firebrand, whilst serving as Kerismudin’s errand boy as deputy youth chief, then trying to re-brand himself as the voice of moderation in UMNO after his flip-flop father-in-law got dislodged by Dr M who then installed Jibby as PM, and now not quite sure where he needs to park himself in order to continue to be relevant in a divided UMNO.

His UMNO youth has 100,000 members?

Including this low life whose only claim to fame was leading the mob in Klang on Saturday to disrupt the ABU ceramah?

Is this hoodlum the standard bearer of KJ’s 100,000?

When you understand the kind of membership that UMNO has in its ranks, then you appreciate that quantity is not the be all and end all.

In these last few days, DAP has had some excellent anak Bangsa Malaysia join their ranks.

In the coming, days, weeks, and months, I am told, more will be joining DAP.

DAP should just ignore this flip-flopping chameleon who is desperately trying to remain relevant.

In fact, I expect DAP to show him the door if he ever comes seeking to join their ranks!

And, for the avoidance of any doubt this post might have occasioned, I am still determined to serve the people outside of the frame work of any political party.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 11:02 am and is filed under
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‘Elite Malay leadership cheating community’

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 22, 2012

Free Malaysia Today

The majority of grassroots successful Malays have succeed on their own account, with no Umno help.

COMMENT

Many have realised that the struggle to preserve the 30% quota of privileges has never expanded into the universal struggle for the economic emancipation of Malays.

I want to repeat this observation. The penury of the majority Malays is not the result of greedy others (read non-Malays) taking a larger share of the economic pie.

We have been taken for a ride believing in this.

The causes for the continued misdevelopment of Malays are likely to be found in the actions and behaviour of the Malay leadership.

The Malay leadership at all levels have not acted in the interest of Malays actually.

Please look around you. The top leadership of Malays from kings to district officers, to head of departments, the army, the police down to the lowly paid peons and thambys, are all Malays. They have the means to develop Malays.

Yet the lot of the majority Malays hasn’t improved substantially. But the lot of our own (Malay) Super 30 (as in ruling elite) has improved tremendously.

There can only be one conclusion – the elite leadership calling for the magic number of 30 has been helping themselves to the pie and excluding the majority of Malays.

Umno’s bribed sycophants

The majority Malays have improved on account of themselves.

They have turned themselves into capital goods in the sense of having acquired the skills and education to pull themselves up.

It is strange – the Umno progressives who fight vehemently against the dismantling of the 30% are in fact fighting on behalf of the real exploiters of the Malays.

Hence, it is they, not those who decry and call for economic liberalisations who are the bribed sycophants of the old bourgeoisie.

These people are hiding behind the tired and over-used phrase of Malay supremacy. The real supremacy of Malays must be fought in the realm of economics.

The answer to Malay prosperity may well lie in the basic building blocks of economic advancement.

These can be summarised into four broad headings – mass production, the application of science to production, the passion for productivity and the spirit of competition.

These were the views by a leading teacher of economics at Harvard University, William E Rappard.

Malays must ‘want’ prosperity

Rappard noted these four headings when explaining the secret behind America’s prosperity.

Hence instead of the sabre rattling and kris wielding, maybe we Malays need to go back to the first principles of economics.

Once we accept these general observations as to what lay behind prosperity, we then begin to understand the political significance of the conclusions.

It is that, our prosperity and conversely our penury lie within us.

Our own salvation will be the result of our own efforts and will be a purely Malay phenomenon.

It is no way caused or furthered by external factors, principal among them the greedy appropriation of other races from us.

I cannot dispute when professor Rappard says the wealth of a country very largely depends on the will of the nation.

“Other things being equal, then, a country and its economy will be more productive in proportion as its inhabitants want it to be.”

Malay community will be prosperous if the Malays want prosperity and lay down policies fitted for the purpose. The ‘want to’ must be there first.

The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman who has now joined the DAP, and is a FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 1:32 pm and is filed under
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For its own sake, Greece needs to declare default

by Costas Lapavitsas

Sydney Morning Herald

January 25, 2012

The dreadful debt saga will only come to a close when Athens takes charge of its predicament, writes Costas Lapavitsas.

Negotiations to reduce Greek debt have been suspended after no agreement could be reached last week. At some point in the near future, Greece seems certain to default on its obligations. But the drama surrounding the talks in Athens, Berlin and Paris shows that there will be nothing co-operative about a Greek default. It is a ruthless contest dominated by the so-called troika: the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

At every turn, the interests and rights of people across Europe have been disregarded. Negotiations have proceeded in secrecy. Greece, whose government is led by an unelected central banker, is represented by a team of politicians and technocrats who have performed lamentably during the crisis. Those who are owed money by Greece have been represented by the Institute of International Finance, a self-styled mouthpiece for bankers.

The troika has accepted that Greek debt must be reduced to sustainable levels. However, it also wants the reduction to appear voluntary because, if the lenders were coerced, Greece would be declared in formal default, and banks and financial markets would be thrown into crisis.

The troika would also like the reduction to be on terms that would allow immediate fresh loans to Greece, and wants Greek debt held by official bodies, including the ECB, to remain intact. Not surprisingly, the circle is proving hard to square.

The debt in question is €200 billion ($246 billion). About half belongs to Greeks – banks, social security funds and others – who are first in line to bear the costs of reduction (the ”haircut”). Less than a quarter belongs to international banks, and a good part of the rest to hedge funds.

The deal proposed by the troika is geared to the interests of lenders, particularly international banks. The face value of the debt would be reduced by 50 per cent, and the remaining debt would be replaced by new long-term bonds bearing a low interest rate, perhaps less than 4 per cent.

The losses for international banks would be modest. Even so, they are angling for a higher interest rate. The real blow would fall on Greek banks, which would effectively go bankrupt. The Greek state is thus desperately seeking fresh loans to replenish its banks’ capital. Much of the expected reduction of its debt would, therefore, be immediately voided. A cruel blow would also fall on Greek social security funds and small bondholders, with losses probably passing on to pensions and savings.

Meanwhile, hedge funds have been buying Greek debt at low prices in the hope of being paid at, or near, full value. Since Greece has to make debt repayments of almost €15 billion in March, huge amounts of European taxpayers’ money could potentially be transferred to these vulture funds. The speculators could possibly be coerced into the deal by applying Greek law, but if the reduction were not voluntary, there could be a chain reaction across financial markets.

The worst aspect of the deal is that it is unlikely to benefit Greece in the long term. The original plan was to bring debt down to 120 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020, but ”rescue” programs have forced the country into a real depression. The IMF now thinks Greek debt will be on a much higher level by 2020 – clearly unsustainable. It is seeking deeper reductions, but the price would be even harsher cuts in wages, pensions, and public spending. The social repercussions on an already weakened country would be horrendous.

It is clear that Greece has little to expect from a debt-reduction process led by the troika. It should take charge of its own predicament, abandoning the charade of voluntary haircuts. For that, it needs to default in a sovereign and democratic way by immediately declaring a cessation of payments. It should then publicly audit its debts to decide what should be paid and how. The objective should be to restart economic growth and to avoid disruption of basic social services. Debt would inevitably be cancelled, and there should be negotiations with the lenders under full public scrutiny. Only then could this dreadful saga come to a close, allowing Greek society to take the first steps on the long path to recovery.

Guardian News & Media

Costas Lapavitsas is a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and member of Research on Money and Finance.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:21 pm and is filed under
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Freedom works both ways, Faekah

— Yow Hong Chieh

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 24, 2012

JAN 24 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) promotes equality for all, regardless of religion or race, and stronger civil liberties as the bedrock for a more modern, progressive Malaysia.

The pact says all basic rights enshrined in the Constitution will be upheld when it takes power, rights that Barisan Nasional (BN) has denied to the people on more than one occasion.

Among the fundamental rights that PR trumpets whenever it wishes to rally its supporters is the freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of movement.

But if the opposition believes in these freedoms, why is it we still see people like Faekah Husin, political secretary to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, proposing that the outspoken Datuk Ibrahim Ali be banned from the state for being a nuisance?

Freedom is for everyone, not just those who happen to agree with you.

Faekah, you and many others may not like what Ibrahim says, but suggesting that a state-wide embargo be put on the Perkasa chief smacks of the very same petulance PR has accused BN of many a time.

“I don’t like you so I don’t friend you” is not the kind of response I’d hoped for from a high-level representative of a coalition which champions rule of law.

Whatever happened to defending to the death someone’s right to speak even if you disagree with what they’re saying? By all means, if you think it’s slander or libel, sue. At least that’s a legal matter for the court to decide, not a half-baked idea born out of political vendetta.

We are all entitled to our opinions. And there’s a terribly good chance our views will not be shared by all or even most.

So we start to ban everyone whose speech we find distasteful because we think we have the power to do so? Let’s just say the Selangor state assembly hall will be half-empty.

Fortunately, PKR legal affairs director Latheefa Koya had the good sense to rebuke her colleague on Twitter last night: “PKR strongly believes in freedom of movmnt 4 all msians including obnoxious ppl. we dont agree w any move 2 ban anybody-unprincipled &illegal.”

But I can’t help but wonder now just how many PKR veterans will readily resort to the same unfair tactics BN has deployed to stifle dissenting views once they make it to Putrajaya, if Faekah is any measure.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:35 pm and is filed under
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Perkasa’s perverted paranoia

— David Martin

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 24, 2012

JAN 24 — January is almost up and we’re already a few days into the year of the Dragon. Seems like it’s same old same old as the business of hate mongering are abound, at least where the self appointed moral guardians Perkasa are concerned.

Today, Perkasa’s secretary general claimed that the appointment of Selangor’s Menteri Besar as the state’s Executive Councillor in charge of Islam would result in a bigger threat to Islam from the Christians in the state.

Now Mr Attorney General, Mr Inspector General of Police & Mr Home Minister, if such unsubstantiated accusations are not seditious in nature, what is?

What’s with Perkasa’s paranoia with Christianity anyway?

Why are the Christians made the bogeyman for any & all threats to Islam in this country in the last few years?

A few that came to mind was of course the supposed conversions in Silibin, Perak a few years back which was spread via text messaging services. Then came the usage of the word “Allah” in Christian publications. Who could forget the security threat posed by a consignment of Alkitabs which led to the “righteous” act of defacement of the holy scriptures of Christians. Oh, lest I forget, there’s the “miraculous” solar powered bible that could entice a Muslim to convert. And the list goes on and on and on.

In fact, if I wasn’t the least affected by these developments as a Christian, I’d find them highly amusing, the insecurities & paranoia of some quarters. Here’s the thing… I believe in my god & you believe in yours period I could never understand the need to compel someone to remain in a faith they do not believe in.

If I no longer believe that Jesus was the son of god who came into the world to free me from the bondage of sin, I’d just walk off into the sunset & find a faith that I believe in.

Why is it criminally wrong to change one’s views on a faith that he or she professes? Is there real freedom in a country where some are outlawed to convert out of their religion?

The remarks made by a number of our so called “defenders of Islam” in the country reveals a deep seated hatred for Christianity in this country. And recent events lend credence to this assumption. In 2011 alone, there were accusations that there are plans afoot for Christianity to replace Islam as the Federation’s official religion.

Also, a number of accusations were thrown at Christian charities for their attempts to convert Muslims by offering financial aid to the needy. It came as no surprise that all these accusations were debunked gamely.

The truth will eventually prevail no matter how many lies are used to cover it up.

Also of no surprise would be the inaction by the powers that be over the actions of the hate mongering by certain quarters. In fact, it would appear to the average man in the streets that the authorities are cowered by these “defenders of Islam”. I believe that when one falls out of the faith, many factors contribute to that.

Amongst others would be a lack of understanding of the faith they profess and more importantly, the lack of support from their brethren. Instead of merely pointing fingers at other quarters, Perkasa and all their bigoted supporters should look into the mirror and ask themselves what have they done to support their brethren in Islam.

Placing the blame on others for your people’s lack own of faith is not just irresponsible, it is a failure of your own faith. And for that, even the Almighty cannot be happy at your contributions to the faith.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:07 pm and is filed under
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Saudi: no cash from emerging economies until given more clout

By Andrew Torchia

Reuters

Mon, Jan 23 2012

RIYADH (Reuters) – Big emerging economies such as China, India and Saudi Arabia will not aid the West in its financial crisis unless they are given more influence in running the global economy, a senior figure from Saudi Arabia’s ruling establishment said on Monday.

“The financial crisis and great recession were born in the West, developed in the West yet hit hard throughout the world,” former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said in a speech to a business conference in Riyadh.

He said this showed the need to give emerging economies more representation and more authority in global bodies such as the Group of 20 nations, a forum of the world’s major industrialized countries, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which discusses regulation of banks and financial markets.

So far, however, organizations such as the FSB “have yet to take these new realities into consideration,” while the G20 is making little headway in coordinating economic policymaking around the world, he said.

Big emerging economies’ lack of influence in international bodies reduces their willingness to contribute money to fight the global crisis, the prince warned.

The International Monetary Fund is seeking to more than double its war chest by raising $600 billion in new resources to help countries deal with the fallout of the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.

“What we can be certain of is that large developing nations will not agree to provide additional funds without a greater say in the IMF, and this applies to all global economic governance organizations,” Prince Turki said.

The prince, who chairs the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, a major think tank, no longer holds government office but is still seen as influential, and his position outside government may give him room to speak more frankly in public than current Saudi officials.

He is a former ambassador to the United States and Britain.

ECHOES OF CHINESE CRITICISM

His speech criticized Western governments for “leveraging up” their economies over the past six decades and letting their financial sectors spiral out of control, saying the United States and the European Union would continue to struggle with debt problems for five or 10 years.

Much of his criticism echoed comments by officials in China, another emerging economy that is being asked to help fight the global financial crisis.

Oman’s central bank governor told Reuters last week that his country was prepared to increase its contribution to the IMF.

In general, however, officials in the Gulf’s rich oil exporters have indicated they are in no rush to contribute funds to bail out the West, and expect Europe first to do more to resolve its debt crisis.

Prince Turki noted that the Saudi central bank’s holdings of roughly $360 billion in foreign securities, most of them in the form of U.S. Treasuries, helped to underpin the value of the U.S. dollar and the stability of the global economy.

He said his country would continue to play a stabilizing role but added that because it faced its own challenges, including the need to create jobs for a young population and cope with political strains across the Arab world, it would need in the future to focus more of its resources domestically and within the Middle East.

The Arab Monetary Fund, a regional body which lends to governments, and Saudi development funds such as the Islamic Development Bank need to be strengthened to help the Middle East develop economically, he said.

“We will continue to support our neighbors where we are able, including financially, but now we also face new exigencies of our own,” Turki said.

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:47 pm and is filed under
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UMNO fears DAP beachhead

KTemoc Konsiders ……..

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lim Guan Eng and his Penang government, and not Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor government, represent the greatest threat to Najib and UMNO, and therefore every attempt must be launched to destroy it, impossible as this task may seem.

In the immortal words of Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman, “Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed).

Thus, to UMNO, in similar thinking, DAP in Penang must be destroyed …….. well, as much as is practically possible, given that an overwhelming majority of Penangites has rejected Gerakan and MCA parties as their political representatives.

Hence we have witnessed the relentless waves of terrible fabrications against Lim’s government in general, and Lim GE in particular, even down to the shameful sleazy salacious lies about his teenage son. Those fabricators surely threw their religious God-fearing beliefs and values out of the windows.

It has been anti-DAP carpet bombing all the way by both UMNO apparatus and affiliated bloggers (either sympathizing with UMNO or just being anti-DAP).

They have used not C4 but ‘C3’, namely, the alleged evils of Lim GE’s Christianity, Chinese ethnicity and Charborkooi (devil women) DAP colleagues, where the lies cover:

(a) Lim’s alleged Christian evangelism and proselytizing,

(b) Lim’s alleged ultra Chinese ethnicity, thus making him anti-Melayu in his governing of Penang, and depriving Penang Malays of their due rights and privileges, and

(c) by some bloggers spreading the net around the DAP wider than just Penang for the 3rd ‘C’, Charborkooi-ism, namely, the alleged evil DAP woman MPs & ADUNs in such personalities as Teo Nie Ching, Hannah Yeo, Teresa Kok, etc (who the bloggers take pains to point out, are not only Chinese Charborkoois but also the dreaded Christian evangelists).

But why has there been such an identification of the Penang’s DAP as its principal foe and the unprincipled, unceasing, unscrupulous campaign of lies against a political party which UMNO once sneeringly dismissed as a kutu irritant and only a MCA/Gerakan’s problem?

Is it because Lim’s Pakatan government in Penang is Chinese dominated? Or, has it been Lim’s C.A.T policy that’s embarrassing UMNO? Or, has either Koh TK or CSL, or both, been crying on Najib’s shoulders until the BN Chairman has to resort to the campaign to spare his shirt from those wet hot tears (and yucky, the discharges from runny noses, wakakaka)?

No, but I reckon it’s DAP’s beachhead in the heartland that’s terrifying UMNO.

Aspan Alias, Mohd Ariff Sabri (Sakmongkol AK47) and Hata Wahari have joined party VP Tunku Abdul Aziz and many other Malays in the DAP.

The three new DAP members are high profile political/journalist personalities once affiliated with UMNO, where all are formidable communicators with the last being a former Utusan Malaysia journalist. This constitutes a DAP’s Normandy-like beachhead not just in UMNO’s membership, but more terrifying for UMNO, the heartland.

Recently, a pro Pakatan (PKR?) blogger lamented on why Hata Wahari opted for DAP instead of PKR, but ’twas a rhetorical question it seemed because the same blogger evoked the possibility of Hata being put off by the PKR marginalization of Zaid Ibrahim. As Zaid had openly mulled prior to his decision, he did consider DAP but alas for him, opted for PKR instead.

But that Hata Wahari, a former Utusan Malaysia journalist and the former president of the National Union of Jorunalists (NUJ), has joined DAP has sent chills down UMNO’s corporate spine. Hata’s decision will be a force multiplier for DAP’s voice of C.A.T and good governance in the heartland.

And to prove this point, Aspan Alias has just penned Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang — Aspan Alias in The Malaysian Insider, where he wrote (extracts):

Kerajaan PR yang di tunjangi oleh DAP telah berjaya melaksanakan slogan Bersih Cekap dan Amanah anjuran Dr Mahathir itu. Walaupun kerajaan tunjangan DAP itu baru menghampiri empat tahun sahaja banyak dari apa yang dimaksudkan oleh slogan Bersih Cekap dan Amanah itu telah dapat dilaksanakan dengan sepenuhnya.

DAP tidak pandai untuk mewujudkan retorik dan slogan besar tetapi parti ini pandai untuk mencapai matlamat kepimpinannya iaitu pentadbiran yang Bersih Cekap dan Beramanah.

Bersih Cekap dan Amanah yang di wujudkan oleh Dr Mahathir ini di amalkan oleh DAP kerana DAP mengikut formulanya dengan betul.

Seperti kita menjawab soalan ilmu hisab kita mesti mengikut formula ilmu hisab itu. Jika kita hanya menghafal formula tersebut tetapi tidak mengikut formulanya dengan terperinci kita tidak akan mendapat jawapannya dengan betul dan tepat. Itulah sebabnya Umno tidak berjaya mendapatkan jawapan kepada soalan-soalan penting dengan betul kerana tidak mengikut formula yang mereka wujudkan sendiri itu.

Wakakaka, after rubbing UMNO’s nose into the ground about the DAP-led government of Penang successfully implementing Dr M’s concept of Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah after a mere 4 years, whereas UMNO only mouthed them (NATO – no action, talk only) for 30+ years, Aspan continued:

Kerajaan Pulau Pinang telah diperakukan oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa sebagai sebuah negeri yang paling bersih dan beretika kepimpinannya. Pandangan ini bukan diberikan oleh saya atau sesiapa dalam PR tetapi oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa yang terkenal di peringkat antarabangsa.

Banyak lagi yang dicapai oleh pentadbiran Lim Guan Eng tetapi satu soalan yang mesti diketahui umum kenapa PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukan segala-galanya ini.

Apa yang berjaya dilakukan oleh Lim Guan Eng ini jugalah janji-janji Umno sejak 30 tahun yang lalu tetapi tidak juga kunjung Berjaya.

Apabila PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukannya dalam tempoh kurang dari empat tahun ia tidak menyenangkan Umno pula. Daripada berlumba-lumba untuk menjadikan kejayaan kerajaan Pulau Pinang sebagai contoh yang patut diikuti, Umno dan BN mengambil sikap menafikan kenyataan yang jelas tentang kejayaan PR DAP itu.

And that’s why the DAP’s beachhead in the heartland must be destroyed before it makes further inroads in making the rakyat realize that DAP is truly a multiracial party which can deliver its promises in a C.A.T fashion, and thus successfully secures the invasion of good governance.

Thus, to UMNO’s thinking, “Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed) where it sees DAP as Carthage.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 1:24 pm and is filed under
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Upshot of attacks on Anwar, ABU

Mariam Mokhtar | Jan 23, 2012

Malaysiakini

This is not an auspicious start to the Year of the Dragon for the PM. The person who controls events in Malaysia and who will undoubtedly shape its future, is one effete man called Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is wrong to think he leads the country.

Malaysians thought that after 9 January, the nation would move on, but their dream was shortlived. Only in Malaysia would the government and its institutions, like the judiciary, be preoccupied with Saiful’s posterior, just as his face will always be associated with Sodomy II.

So now, instead of the nation concentrating on a way forward, of improving our lives, of revitalising the economy and of making sure our politicians do the work we elected them for, we are trapped in Sodomy II, Scene 2.

Both Saiful and his father had pleaded with the attorney-general to appeal against the acquittal, for the sake of Saiful and their family’s ‘dignity’. What dignity?

When Anwar was acquitted, the government machinery was quick to make as much political mileage out of it. Within 24 hours of the acquittal, Cabinet ministers proclaimed that Anwar’s acquittal was proof that the judiciary was independent.

 Myth missed

This is one myth that the eminent historian, Professor Khoo Kay Kim missed. Last week, after dismissing the existence of the Chinese princess Hang Li Po or the Malay warriors Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, Khoo forgot to mention Malaysia’s other myth: That the judiciary is independent.

Nevertheless, can someone in government list how many man hours, how many government departments and how many millions of taxpayers’ money has been spent on Sodomy II?

To put things into perspective, could they also give a similar breakdown for Sodomy I?

Only the naïve would have believed that with Anwar’s acquittal, came the end of Sodomy II.

Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah said that “the court cannot be 100 percent certain that DNA was not contaminated.” We should have told him that “the rakyat cannot be 100 percent certain that the judiciary is independent.”

Zabidin delivered Anwar’s acquittal in 90 seconds flat and yet for months, led us to believe that Anwar was doomed.

In June 2011, Anwar failed in his third attempt to have Zabidin recused. Anwar’s first attempt was when Zabidin failed to take action against Utusan Malaysia for unfair reporting. Zabidin had also threatened to cite Karpal Singh for contempt of court.

The judge called Saiful a “truthful and credible witness” and the court agreed that the testimonies of the doctors and chemists supported the findings.

Then, after relying solely on Saiful’s “reliable” testimony and that the court would “establish all the facts required to prove the charge against the accused”, Zabidin did a U-turn and acquitted Anwar.

Note that Zabidin did not say that Anwar was innocent of the charges. He said that the prosecution did a bad job. To date, it is alleged that Zabidin has yet to complete his written judgment of the acquittal.

 Spotlight on ineptitude

If Najib thought that after the acquittal, the world would go away and think well of his administration, he is wrong. The spotlight is again on his ineptitude.

The world must think Malaysia a nation of sodomisers. The rakyat is fed up with the continuing saga of Sodomy II, but Umno/BN leaders feel it necessary to shaft them.

Perhaps, Najib is aware that his so-called reforms are not widely believed by Malaysians. In truth, they are not reforms. Not when draconian laws are replaced by others, even more severe. Not when Malaysians are denied the right to freedom of assembly.

Last week, Najib addressed about 1,000 foreign delegates at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and talked about 1Malaysia and the nation’s values of moderation.

He said, “We know that we are best and strongest when we actively embrace our differences rather than just putting up with them…..We need to hear from moderates of all religions in all countries and from all walks of life.”

ABU meet disrupted

A few days after this convention, a meeting jointly organised by Anything But Umno (ABU) and the Hindu Rakyat Action Force (Hindraf), was cancelled at the last minute when it was disrupted by several youths wearing T-shirts emblazoned with BN and Umno logos, and armed with sticks.

One thug shouted, “Berambus. Dah hidup senang dekat sini, nak banyak cakap. Aku bagi chance lagi. Kalau aku datang sekali lagi, mampus semua orang.”

This threat means, “Get lost! Despite having a good life here, you complain too much. I’m giving you another chance. If I return, you will all die.”

These thugs were Malay men. Any true Malay present would have been ashamed. One Malay lady who was at the ceramah left presumably because she feared further violence. A boy was beaten up, a motorcycle was driven into the hall, the thugs acted menacingly throwing leaflets and chairs around.

Are we so naïve to think that these thugs acted alone, without the directive of a higher authority?

So much for Najib’s moderation. Malay values? Islamic ideals?

Later, Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah (right) denied that anyone had been injured.

“Nothing happened, the residents were unhappy, that’s all. No BN or Umno supporters disturbed them.”

Is it any wonder that Najib’s administration is treated with derision and mockery?

The public is repulsed by a judiciary that claims to be independent and then sets out to destroy the very fabric of fairness and justice.

The government plays silly games with the rakyat because they know their days are numbered.

The Umnoputeras get richer and are immune from prosecution even when there is compelling evidence that laws have been broken.

The police fail in enforcing the law and fail to keep public order.

Umno/BN politicians have no clue about what goes on in the everyday world of the middle or lower classes. The politicians rob the public purse and treat it as their personal kitty. Laws do not apply to them.

The injustice which afflicts normal Malaysians and affects opposition politicians who pose a threat to Umno/BN, is glaring.

Najib said he wanted to pursue moderation in “democracy, rule of law, education, human dignity and social justice”. What a shame that he lied and feels it unnecessary to practise such noble values in his own backyard.

That is why Saiful’s appeal and the ABU attack may finally focus the rakyat’s minds on justice, and galvanise them to vote for their own freedom in GE-13.

——————————————————————————–

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 1:41 am and is filed under
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What Say You – Mengapa Saya Masuk DAP ? – Hata Wahari

What Say You – Mengapa Saya Masuk DAP ? – Hata Wahari

mobtv.my

Watch the interview –>

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 11:05 am and is filed under
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Auditor General forewarned that he would be destroying credibility of the sole national institution which had kept its reputation intact in past few decades if …

The Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang must be forewarned that he would be destroying the credibility of the sole national institution which had kept its reputation intact in the past few decades if he succumbed to improper pressures to “whitewash” the RM300 million “cattle condo” scandal, whether the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) or the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).

The NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail –  husband of Woman, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – has claimed that the Auditor-General in his 2010 Report had confused NFCorp, a private entity, with the NFC, which is owned by the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry.

Salleh  said NFCorp is not the entity criticized in the Auditor-General’s Report for being “a mess”.

I have re-read the Auditor-General’s 2010 Report on the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project and there is nothing to justify Salleh’s claim that the Auditor General had made the most elementary mistake of confusing the two entities, mistaking NFC for NFCorp or vice versa.

Salleh should not try to escape responsibility and accountability for the RM300 million NFC/NFCorp “cattle condo” on such a technical and ridiculous ground.

Buang is right when he clarified today that the word “mess” was never used by him to describe the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), but was made by media reports on the Auditor-General’s criticisms on the NFC project, and  very rightly so.

The whole NFC/NFCorp scandal later ballooned to outrageous  proportions with the expose of one scandal after another relating the financial hanky-panky of the NFCorp in the disbursement of the RM250 million government loan for the NFC project when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was chairman of the Cabinet Committee on High Impact Projects and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was Agriculture and Agro-based Industry under Prime Minister Tun Abdullah in 2006/7.

Ambrin Buang should be very jealous of the efforts (and very successful ones) by previous Auditor-Generals like Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin who became a legend and was  synonymous with accountability and integrity in his lifetime,  to protect the credibility and integrity of the Office of Auditor-General.

These efforts by a whole line of sterling Auditor-Generals have resulted in the Auditor-General’s Office remaining as  the only national institution to keep its reputation, credibility and integrity intact unlike other key institutions whether the judiciary, the Elections Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Police, etc who have lost their professionalism and integrity.

The proper place for the Auditor-General to make clarification on his 2010 Report particularly with reference to the NFC/NFCorp scandal, is  the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and not as a result of improper pressures applied by NFCorp or various organisations or individuals with a political agenda of their own.

This is also why I am shocked that the PAC had been so tardy and not met urgently to conduct immediate investigations into the NFC scandal, when it has virtually become a daily staple scandal for Malaysians in the past three months.

Attempts to undermine the credibility and reputation of the Auditor-General should be new and added reason why the PAC Chairman, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid should convene a meeting of the PAC in the next few days to decide whether the PAC is to rise up to the challenge to conduct immediate and full investigations into the NFC scandal or face censure in March meeting of Parliament for gross failure and irresponsibility.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 6:09 pm and is filed under
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One Saturday with The Oracle of Syed Putera

— Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

Jan 25, 2012

JAN 25 — We are going to ignore the doomsday statements from Perkasa about Islam being threatened with Khalid in charge of Islam. How is Islam threatened? Khalid is a closet Christian evangelist? He is not Islamic enough?  He can’t manage properly? It is more reasonable to assume Khalid can do a better job since he has managed Selangor financially better than previous BN MBs.

Islam is threatened simply because the majority of Umno members shy away from mosques and suraus. They don’t ‘prosper’ the masjids and suraus. They want positions as chairmen of suraus and masjid for the prestige but are sorely deficient and wanting when it comes to evangelical programmes.

But then that is the basic leadership philosophy of the majority of Umno people — positions without accountability and responsibility. Kedudukan mau, kerja tak mau.

They want to become boss of suraus or mosques, they want to become chairman of PTA even though they themselves are elementary educated. So on so forth. So when things go afoul, the answers are not difficult to identify and can immediately be found. They somehow originate from Umno.

The DAP people whom the majority are not Christians want to proselytise on Islam? This is the biggest gobbledygook thus far pedalled by Perkasa. Islam is under threat precisely because Umno has carried out ruinous business policies and economic predation that so impoverished the Malays leaving them vulnerable and seeking help from the inefficient Islamic bodies. If Malays convert then the fault lies firstly with the institutions charged with keeping the faith.

What are they doing? We have weekly sermons, Islamic evangelical programmes are a dime a dozen airing almost daily — why should any Muslim become converted then? If any do, then the Islamic bodies must have underperformed and haven’t done enough to keep Malays within the faith.

Placing Khalid in charge of Islamic affairs in Selangor is the best decision the PR government did. Khalid will lend the prestige and stature of the MB’s office to Islamic affairs.  Since he has managed the state financially well, he can keep a look out on the zakat money too.

All the Muslim MBs from Umno couldn’t even come close when providing allocations to Islamic institutions as does Lim Guang Eng in Penang for example. Guan Eng has allocated a budget of RM30 million for Penang. Compare that with a measly RM 12 million allocated yearly in Negeri Sembilan headed by- horrors of horrors — a Malay Muslim MB who is from Umno. Selangor can give out better allocations to Islamic bodies under Khalid.

Sadly, that is not the issue I want to write now. But I felt compelled to rebut the statement made by an office bearer of Perkasa. I actually want to respond to an article I read about waiting for the predictions from Tun Daim Zainudin.

It’s ironic- when Daim gave his predictions before the 2008 elections, not a few Umno leaders castigated and demeaned Daim. He is past shelf life, he’s senile, and he doesn’t know about politics and so forth. When the predictions made by Daim became true, every Umno leader now regards Daim as the Oracle of Delphi. More so, if they can persuade Daim to give encouraging if not forced optimism of Umno’s prospects. They are not going to get that.

Not that I know what Daim is thinking. I only know what his alter ego is thinking. He may not be the Oracle of Delphi. He is just the Oracle of Syed Putera.  His assessment of Najib as PM when I asked him as recently as last 2 Saturdays was startling the say the least. He said Najib has simply lost the plot on how to run and manage this country.

What about those polls about Najib being popular? Surveyors and those surveyed can be paid to elicit the politically correct statements. No big deal.

The oracle appeared subdued. Although I directed my questions to the Oracle and he gives answers, readers must assume they were directed to and answered by Tun Daim himself. As I mentioned some time ago, The Oracle of Syed Putera is the alter ego of Daim Zaindudin. As for the man himself, he remains as elusive as before.

I asked the reasons for the countenance. He says he has been suffering from flu. He may have been. But I suspect he is more affected by the state of politics on Malaysia.

I asked whether he knew that Dr Mahathir had gone to speak at a function in Shah Alam. He said he didn’t know. But if Dr Mahathir has gone down there, The Oracle said that is a sign of bigger problems in Selangor. He heard the message that Dr Mahathir brought to the Umno people in Shah Alam and therefore Selangor is to accept any candidates selected by the top leadership. Even if the candidates have never been Umno members. Umno must be scrapping the barrel. No one in Umno is winnable enough and that is the profound indictment on the state of the quality of Umno leadership.

How do you see the outcome of the next elections? As of now, Sarawak can lose up to 16 parliamentary seats. Over in Sabah, BN can lose up to 12 seats, 8 of which will be from Umno. The state is imploding.

The Oracle Continued:- I was hoping the losses can be compensated by BN winning back Selangor and Kedah provided Umno is united. Umno is not and that probably, was the reason why The Oracle was somewhat subdued.

I couldn’t even encourage him to come up with the usual lewd jokes about Umno leaders.

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 6:53 pm and is filed under
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