With formation of Parti Amanah Negara and Pakatan Harapan, Malaysians can now hope again for political change in next general election after the roller-coaster ride of high hopes and  virtual despair in the two years since the 13th GE

Malaysians can now hope again for political change in next general election after the roller-coaster ride of high hopes and  virtual despair in the two years since the 13th GE in May 2013.

The 13GE in May 2013 was the highest water-mark  of hopes of Malaysians for political change and the end of UMNO rule since Merdeka in 1957 and the beginning of a  new Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government with a new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Although Pakatan Rakyat comprising DAP, PKR and PAS won the majority of 53% of the popular  votes, Najib continued as the first minority Prime Minister when the UMNO/BN coalition won 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats with only 47% of the popular votes.

The two years after the nation-wide disappointment at missing the opportunity for political change in Putrajaya  on 13GE Polling Day on 5th May 3013 because of  gerrymandering and unfair, unjust and undemocratic redelineation of  parliamentary constituencies can be likened to a roller-coaster ride by Malaysians of high hopes for political change and virtual despair that such political change is possible because of an increasingly divided Pakatan Rakyat.

After the 13 general election, Pakatan Rakyat existed only in name – as PAS decided to renege on its commitment to adhere to the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework as well as the Pakatan Rakyat operational principle of consensus.

In retrospect, if Pakatan Rakyat had captured the majority of the parliamentary seats and the mandate to form the Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 13th General Election, Pakatan Rakyat would have been confronted with it first crisis  even before the Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government was formed, as  the PAS President had refused to accept Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister candidate.

With the history of the PAS President refusing not only to accept Anwar as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, but also the PKR President Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Mentri Besar of Selangor, as well as his decision to renege from th PR Common Policy Framework particularly on the hudud and local government election issues, what is the basis to hope that there could be a revival of Pakatan Rakyat co-operation and unity?

There is no doubt that Malaysians who had rooted for political change in the 13GE went into the deepest and darkest despair at the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, for they see the hopes of political change being destroyed completely, at a time when  the UMNO/BN  government has proved to be such a national liability and disaster.

The formation of Parti Amanah Negara and establishment of Pakatan Harapan comprising DAP, PKR and AMANAH have however saved the political situation, filling the political vacuum and void caused by despair  and seeming hopelessness for political change, with the country  inundated by so many political, economic, good governance and nation-building scandals under the Najib premiership.

With the vigorous and vibrant advent of Parti Amanah Negara and Pakatan Harapan, Malaysians can dare to hope again that the goal of political change is still possible and achievable in thde 14th General Election.

This is the goal all parties in Pakatan Harapan must work on with a single-minded zeal and purpose.

It is most unfortunate that PAS has decided to condemn itself to being a regional party again.

Prior to the 2008 general elections, PAS’s electoral strength was mostly in the four northern states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Even at the height of its electoral performance in the 1999 general elections where it won 27 parliament seats, only two or 7% were won outside the northern states (both in Perak).

This changed in 2008 when PAS made a breakthrough by winning seven out of its 23 parliament seats (30%) outside the northern states including winning parliament seats for the first time in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan. This percentage was increased to 33% (7 out of 21 parliament seats) in the 2013 general elections.

PAS’ performance in the state seats also shows a similar trend.

Prior to 2008, PAS’ best record in winning state seats outside the northern states was 14 (out of 98 or 14%) in the 1999 general elections. (The 20% of seats in the non-northern states in 1978 was because of the record low of 10 state seats won by PAS in that general election)

In 2008, the number and percentage of non-northern seats increased to 20 and 24% respectively. As a result of winning a record number of state seats in Perak (6) and Selangor (8), PAS was able to form the state governments in both of these states together with PKR and DAP.

What many people may not have realized is that PAS actually increased the number of state seats won from 83 in 2008 to 85 in 2013 and this increase was from the non-northern states.

In fact, PAS’s non-northern state seats increased from 20 out of 83 in 2008 (or 24%) to 29 out of 85 (or 34%). This was helped by PAS historic performance of winning 15 state seats in Selangor (from 8 in 2008) and also making a breakthrough by winning one seat in Melaka and by winning state seats in Johor (from two in 2008).

Unfortunately, PAS has most likely condemned itself to going back to being a northern- focused party after the next general election.

Even without the formation of AMANAH, PAS would have found it hard to retain the seven non-northern parliament seats it won. Out of these seven  seats, PAS only managed to win the majority of Malay support in one seat (Parit Buntar). With the high likelihood of non-Malay voters abandoning PAS in large numbers in the next general election, these seats would most likely have been lost by PAS, even if it was a straight fight against UMNO.

This scenario would have been repeated in the state seats. Of the 29 non-northern state seats won by PAS in GE2013, 23 were won with less than 50% of the Malay support including 14 out of 15 state seats in Selangor. With the expected fall in PAS support among non-Malay voters, most of these 23 state seats would be lost by PAS even without the presence of AMANAH.

The position taken by PAS to sever ties with the DAP and re-emphasizing hudud as a policy to be implemented in the present time, including its new policy position  of  co-operating with UMNO, have wasted the many years of efforts put in by the progressive leaders who were formerly in PAS. The trust in PAS among non-Malay voters, which took many decades to build up, has effectively been wiped out by the current PAS leadership led by Hadi Awang.

Furthermore, the unwillingness by the top PAS  leadership to vote against Najib’s budget and to give conflicting signals about its intentions to work with UMNO will further alienate its standing among non-Malay and even  among some Malay voters.

It would not be surprising if voters in the four northern states, the majority of whom are Malay, voting against PAS in the next GE as a result of its flip-flop position vis-à-vis UMNO and PM Najib in a context when Najib and his administration are becoming more and more unpopular by the day, even among Malay voters and UMNO members.

The dilemma that PAS is facing today is best captured by the boast by the Kelantan UMNO Chairman Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed at the UMNO Convention 2015 today that Kelantan UMNO is confident that it will wrest the state from PAS in the 14th General Election.

Can PAS reach an understanding with UMNO to allow PAS to continue to rule in Kelantan?

These are the troubled political waters Pakatan Harapan must negotiate if the end of UMNO/BN rule to save Malaysia from  rampant corruption and unchecked and widespread socio-economic injustices is to be achieved in the 14GE –  which will greatly test the wisdom of DAP, PKR and AMANAH leaders.

(Speech at the Malaysian Indian Voice (MIC) anniversary gathering  on “Bersatu Untuk Berjaya, Menuju ke Putrajaya” held at KL/Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Sunday, 29th November 2011 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 November 2015, 5:23 pm and is filed under
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Azalina’s motion to refer Nurul to Committee of Privileges a “kangaroo resolution” making a mockery of the Committee of Privileges expecting it to be a “kangaroo court” to mete out the sentence after conviction had been passed by mindless majority in Dewan Rakyat

The motion by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said to refer the PKR Vice President and MP for Lembah Pantai Nurul Izzah Anwar to the Committee of Privileges for  being photographed with Jacel Kiram in Manila is a “kangaroo resolution”, making a mockery  of the Committee of Privileges in  expecting it to be a “kangaroo court” to mete out the sentence after conviction had been passed  by a mindless majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

All over the world, the Committee of Privileges decide on whether a MP referred to it had been guilty of breach of parliamentary privilege and then decide on the proper sentence which should be adopted by Parliament commensurate with the breach, but Azalina wants the Malaysian Parliament to set a dubious world record where the Committee of Privileges is deprived of the right to decide whether Nurul is guilty of any such breach, but only to mete out the sentence concerned!

Azalina’s motion against Nurul, among other things, states:

“BAHAWA pertemuan Yang Berhormat Lembah Pantai dan Puteri Jacel Kiram tersebut menimbulkan prasangka negatif dan tidak sensitif terhadap peristiwa pencerobohan Lahad Datu yang telah mencabar kedaulatan Negara.

“BAHAWA pertemuan Yang Berhormat Lembah Pantai bersama dengan anak kepada dalang pencerobohan Negara telah dilihat bertentangan dengan angkat sumpah sebagai ahli Parlimen dan sumpah setia beliau kepada Malaysia yang telah berikrar untuk menumpahkan taat setia yang sebenar kepada Malaysia, memelihara, melindungi dan mempertahankan Perlembagaannya.

“DAN BAHAWA tindakan Yang Berhormat Lembah Pantai tersebut merupakan suatu penghinaan kepada Majlis Mesyuarat yang turut mencemarkan nama baik dan prestij Dewan Rakyat.”

Can the Committee of Privileges decide otherwise, that the whole Nurul-Jacel photograph episode had been blown out of all proportion, and that Nurul was an “innocent” party like the incident of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak being photographed having a handshake with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu in the United Nations, and that she had not, like Najib, violated her oath as Member of Parliament “to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.

It is a dangerous precedent to set for a brute mindless majority to pass judgment on any Malaysian, what more a Member of Parliament, purely on having the numbers, to declare a person a traitor, rather than on a full investigation based on the facts and which should have been left to a court of law.

Azalina’s unique contribution as a Minister in charge of parliamentary affairs is  to turn Parliament into a “Star Chamber” to declare an Opposition Member of Parliament as a “traitor”, simply based on parliamentary numbers.

This is most shocking coming from a Minister who has legal background and should have better appreciation of the importance of upholding the rule of law.

This is most disgraceful to Parliament and should never have been allowed by a Speaker who has been preaching parliamentary reforms and the virtues of  upholding the independence, dignity and privileges of Parliament.

It is most regrettable that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has spoken up, in support of Azalina’s “kangaroo court” resolution.

In the eye of the national and international storm over the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB  twin mega scandals for the past few months, Najib has nothing to offer to end these two scandals which have wreaked many times more damage to Malaysia’s national and international reputation than Nurul’s visit to Manila, but Najib  has been  comparatively   quick to pass judgment on Nurul.

I agree with PKR President and Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail that Nurul had intended no slight to Sabahans or the security personnel who perished in the Lahad Datuk intrusion, and her act could not by any stretch of imagination be categorized as consorting with the nation’s enemies or as an act of disloyalty or treachery.

Azalina’s motion is a gross abuse of parliamentary process and practices.

Firstly, it does not comply with the requisite requirement of seven-day notice for Ministerial motions to be placed on the Order Paper.

Secondly, there could be no conceivable “public interest” to enable the Speaker to exempt the seven-day requirement for Ministerial motions.

Thirdly, the text of the motion is most improper and unparliamentary. Although

couched in the form of a reference of Nurul to the Committee of Privileges, the motion denies freedom of inquiry and finding by the Committee of Privileges as it constitutes a conviction that Nurul is guilty of the charges made by Azalina. All that the Privileges Committee could do is to suggest the penalty.

Fourthly,  it is an oppressive and dangerous precedent to condemn an MP for violating the oath of office as a Member of Parliament “to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” on the flimsiest of grounds, not based on the facts of the case but on whether a majority vote in Parliament could be summoned in favour of the motion.

Fifthly, why was Azalina’s motion given priority over the substantive motion moved by the DAP MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo to review the Speaker’s ruling which resulted in my six-month suspension from Parliament, when Gobind’s substantive motion only required two days’ notice under the Parliamentary Standing Orders.

If Azalina’s motion is adopted, it will be another stain and blackmark for Malaysian Parliament under Najib’s premiership.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 1:00 pm and is filed under
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Greatest challenge in 14GE is how to re-ignite hopes of Malaysians for change in Putrajaya after the failure of the seven-year Pakatan Rakyat experiment

The country is in unchartered waters with unprecedented fracture and fragmentation on both sides of the political divide – both with the UMNO-led coalition of Barisan Nasional and the splintered Opposition.

The gravity of the political situation in the governing coalition is best illustrated by the warning by the UMNO Deputy President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at  a gathering of 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh on Sunday that Malay support for UMNO has dwindled to 30 per cent while 78 per cent of Malaysians are dissatisfied with how the government was handling the economy.

Muhyiddin said the  level of Chinese support for the government has also dwindled, from 13 percent in the last general election to only five percent at present.

Muhyiddin blamed UMNO’s woes primarily  to Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s  RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega-scandals and warned that if the UMNO decline is not corrected within the next two years, UMNO may lose in the 14th General Election.

As Muhyiddin rightly pointed out, this is the first time approval for the government among Malays has fallen below 50 percent since Merdeka Centre began recording the data in February 2012.

These data were from an August poll by Merdeka Centre in Peninsular Malaysia   which found that that only 31 percent of Malay voters were  satisfied with the government in a survey conducted in Peninsular Malaysia, which was a drastic fall among Malay voters as it had stood at 52 percent this January.

The government’s overall approval rating also plummeted to 23 percent, the worst since the polls started in 2012. In January this year, the UMNO/BN coalition government’s approval rating remained at 38%, the same as the previous poll last October.

As for Chinese voters, only five percent approved of the government compared to 11 percent this January.

The survey found only 17 percent of respondents were satisfied with how the government was handling the economy, compared to 78 percent who were dissatisfied.

What Muhyiddin did not say was that these data were from a Merdeka Centre survey in August  and that the results today  after more than three months could be even more dismal, as public confidence in Najib as Prime Minister and the UMNO/BN coalition government had plunged further in the interval – and the Prime Minister’s popularity rating even among Malay voters could have fallen well  below 25%!

But does this mean that  the Opposition is on the verge of taking over Putrajaya in the 14th General Election?

Far from it, for the Opposition has it own woes of crisis of  confidence after the heyday of Opposition hopes in the 13th General Election.

The 13GE in May 2013 was the highest water-mark  of hopes of Malaysians for political change and the end of UMNO rule since Merdeka in 1957 and the beginning of a  new Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government with a new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Although Pakatan Rakyat comprising DAP, PKR and PAS won the majority of 53% of the popular  votes, Najib continued as the first minority Prime Minister when the UMNO/BN coalition won 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats with only 47% of the popular votes.

The two years after the nation-wide disappointment at missing the opportunity for political change in Putrajaya  on 13GE Polling Day on 5th May 2013 because of gerrymandering and unfair, unjust and undemocratic redelineation of parliamentary constituencies can be likened to a roller-coaster ride by Malaysians of high hopes for political change and virtual despair that such political change is possible because of an increasingly divided Pakatan Rakyat.

After the 13th general election, Pakatan Rakyat existed only in name – as PAS decided to renege on its commitment to adhere to the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework as well as the Pakatan Rakyat operational principle of consensus.

In retrospect, if Pakatan Rakyat had captured the majority of the parliamentary seats and the mandate to form the Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 13th General Election, Pakatan Rakyat would have been confronted with it first crisis  even before the Pakatan Rakyat Federal Government was formed, as  the PAS President had refused to accept Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister candidate.

With the history of the PAS President refusing not only to accept Anwar as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, but also the PKR President Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Mentri Besar of Selangor, as well as his decision to renege from the PR Common Policy Framework particularly on the hudud and local government election issues, what is the basis to hope that there could be a revival of Pakatan Rakyat co-operation and unity for the 14GE?

There is no doubt that Malaysians who had rooted for political change in the 13GE went into the deepest and darkest despair at the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, for they see the hopes of political change being destroyed completely, at a time when  the UMNO/BN  government has proved to be such a national liability and disaster.

The formation of Parti Amanah Negara and establishment of Pakatan Harapan comprising DAP, PKR and AMANAH have however saved the political situation, filling the political vacuum and void caused by despair  and seeming hopelessness for political change, with the country  inundated by so many political, economic, good governance and nation-building scandals under the Najib premiership.

With the vigorous and vibrant advent of Parti Amanah Negara and Pakatan Harapan, Malaysians can dare to hope again that the goal of political change in Putrajaya  is still possible and achievable in the 14th General Election.

My Ipoh  friend, Koon Yew Yin, philanthropist and Malaysian social conscience, wrote an article in the Malaysian Insider on “How the Opposition can win the next elections”, suggesting that the winning formula is to ensure a “one-to-one” electoral contest in the 14GE.

After the failed Pakatan Rakyat experiment, electoral politics is not as simple and straight-forward as in the 12th and 13th General Elections.

I had previously said that if hudud had been a hot controversial issue in the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, the Barisan Nasional would not only have regained its two-thirds parliamentary majority to redelineate electoral constituencies at will to consolidate its power hold in Putrajaya in 14GE, Pakatan Rakyat might have lost Selangor apart from Kedah,  and Johore would have reverted as an invincible Barisan Nasional “fixed-deposit” state.

The hudud issue has never been and will never be a vote winner in plural Malaysia  based on past electoral evidence.

As an example, PAS and PKR won all the eight  parliamentary seats and 28 out of 32 state seats in Terengganu in the 10th General Election in 1999 because of the backlash against UMNO arising from Anwar’s arrest and the Reformasi movement.

But despite passing the state hudud enactment in 2001 (which DAP opposed), PAS and PKR only managed to retain one out of eight parliament seats and four out of 28 state seats in the 11th General Election in 2004.

With hudud as a hot controversial issue in the 13GE, the damage for Pakatan Rakyat in terms of non-Malay support would have been very decisive.

The total number of 89 Parliamentary and 229 State Assembly seats won by the three parties in Pakatan Rakyat –  DAP, PKR and PAS – in the 13GE could have been slashed as much as to leave Pakatan Rakyat only with 46 Parliamentary seats (i.e. 23 DAP, 16 PAS and 7 PKR)  and 134 State Assembly seats (i.e. PAS 62, DAP 57 and PKR 15).

In the 14GE, would the voters forget about the hudud and local government elections controversies raised by PAS, the PAS leadership’s refusal to endorse Anwar Ibrahim as the Pakatan Rakyat candidate for Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as Selangor Mentri Besar, and the most recent developments including the PAS President readiness to be UMNO’s adviser and refusal of the PAS leadership to direct the PAS MPs to vote against Najib’s 2016 Budget?

We must not overlook the adage “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”. We may be making a fatal error of judgment  if we expect the Malaysian voters to forget these bitter lessons of the past which caused the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, if the offer we can give the Malaysian voters in the 14GE is only an opportunistic alliance to topple the UMNO-led coalition.

The great issue in Malaysian politics is good governance and an end to all the economic and political scandals, and if before the 14GE, the UMNO-led coalition can promise to reform to focus on good governance, an opportunistic Opposition alliance just to ensure “one-to-one” electoral fight against BN could suffer a severe electoral debacle.

For these same reasons, the model of a two-opposition front formula used in 1990 when there was Gagasan Rakyat and Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah with Parti Semangat 46 as the one party in both alliances cannot be replicated.

The greatest challenge in the run-up to the 14GE is how to re-ignite hopes of Malaysians for meaningful change in Putrajaya after the failure of the seven-year Pakatan Rakyat experiment, in other words, how  in the 14 GE, Pakatan Harapan can fully play the role of Pakatan Rakyat in the 13 GE.

(Speech at the joint  launch of DAP Sekolah Demokrasi (Zone Utara) and “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” gathering at Taman Ipoh Timor, Ipoh on Monday, 30th November 2015 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 9:00 am and is filed under
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How Najib could win the next election

– Murray Hunter

The Malaysian Insider

30 November 2015

With the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and RM2.6 billion ‘political donation’ crises looming and anti-Najib (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) forces aiming to remove him from office, there is one strategy open to the prime minister – a snap election, should he feel cornered.

This is a remote scenario, but one that is currently being drawn up now as a contingency in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The forces of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – who Najib fired as deputy prime minister – have largely been neutralized, as well as the opposition, primarily through botched votes of no confidence and the attempt to block a second budget reading.

No Barisan Nasional (BN) votes drifted over to the opposition, indicating that this group’s influence within Umno/BN is negligible.

Dr Mahathir’s attempts to get BN members of Parliament to cross the floor on the budget were disappointing.

This shows how little influence the 90-year-old former prime minister really has within Umno today.

Consequently, it appears resistance to Najib has almost been destroyed before the Umno General Assembly, due to be held next month.

What made it worse was that PAS’ votes may have drifted over to BN’s side, through abstaining on these make-or-break votes as far as the opposition was concerned.

Only 77 of the 88 opposition votes were cast against the budget, showing complete loss of discipline and strategy.

The opposition has fallen into disarray ever since the jailing of former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim earlier this year.

His jailing didn’t make him a martyr or garner any massive groundswell of support for the Pakatan Rakyat, as Anwar had hoped, rather, it sowed seeds of destruction for the coalition, which doesn’t even exist today.

Furthermore, the death of former Kelantan chief minister Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has been very damaging.

With the destruction of progressive faction of PAS at party elections last July, and the Shura Council directive to cut ties with the Chinese-dominated DAP has destroyed the Pakatan Rakyat.

With PAS now split into two, the animosity with breakaway party Parti Amanah led by Mohamad Sabu (Mat Sabu), is leading to more hate than there is between PAS and Umno.

The death of Karpal Singh, long-time DAP secretary-general, is allowing some of the younger generation to voice out more.

However, the performance of Tony Pua has been an embarrassment to say the least. Lim Kit Siang has been neutralized with his six month suspension from Parliament.

The opposition has zero strategy and the Dr Mahathir forces appear lame. A man supposedly implicated in the murder of the Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu, massive financial scandals and gross unpopularity actually appears stronger now than he did three months ago.

Voters are almost just as much disillusioned with the Pakatan Rakyat as they are with BN. The only thing that the opposition has going for them is their good governance in Penang and Selangor.

However, the effects of the PAS/Amanah split in Kelantan and the “Kajang Move” on voting intentions is yet to be seen.

What’s more, it looks like PAS is quickly distancing itself away from the opposition, and how Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang will play the next election is still a big question, but three-cornered electoral fights, which will hurt the opposition, are a possibility.

How quickly PAS is losing ground to Amanah is not really known yet.

The only advantage of the PAS/Amanah split for the opposition is that they can leave behind the hudud bogey. PAS’ efforts to implement harsh Islamic law in Kelantan has caused so much damage to the opposition coalition.

Although few political pundits foresee an early election, there are some definite signs that this option is on the table due to the way the 2016 budget was framed, and some of the rhetoric the prime minister has been making at both the Gerakan and MIC AGMs recently.

It is the writer’s belief that if an election were held in the near future, it is possible the prime minister could pull off a victory for Umno and BN.

There are great advantages for Najib should he call and win an election.

*He would be able to finally eliminate the anti-Najib forces from Parliamentary positions within Umno through his power to select candidates, and/or place candidates in unwinnable contests. There is no effective opposition leader at present.

*He would be able to put in a final blow to crush the opposition (except DAP) and weaken them electorally.

*Upon winning an election, he would have five years in office until 2021.

*1MDB and the RM2.6 Billion ‘political donation’ issue would sink into the background of a new Parliamentary term.

*An election would be a good method to ‘unify’ Umno behind him.

*The timing of an election, sooner rather than later, would put it out of the way before ‘harder’ economic times are upon us.

However, there are also a number of risks in the electoral strategy:

*Anything can happen in politics, especially an election:

*There is great likely of sabotage within Umno in many quarters, all across the country.

*Najib is going through a period of intense low popularity (although this does not necessary mean it will be reflected in voting patterns).

*The goods and services tax (GST) and devaluation of the ringgit are already causing great suffering in the electorate.

Having an early election is a major effort that would require great financial resources, organization, and effort. It’s also high risk, but the rewards would be great should Najib pull off a victory.

Certainly some signs of an election exist, the recent budget could be framed as an election budget, a national election could be coordinated with the Sarawak election due next year, the recent rhetoric coming from Najib concerning Chinese are not ‘pendatang’ to Malaysia, a divided opposition at present, the arrests of opposition members, and even the visit of US President Barak Obama to Malaysia has put out a positive signal for Najib.

Najib doesn’t need an election to defeat any external opposition. An election is the best method for him to eliminate opposition within his own party Umno.

Najib cannot win GE14, but the opposition can lose it, as we can see state by state.

Perlis:
The BN looks set to retain the state of Perlis and hold three Parliamentary seats.

Parti Amanah Negeri will probably have difficulty organizing themselves in time for the next election, leaving the Arau Parliamentary seat open for the cashed up Umno warlord Shahidan Kassim to hold.

The only surprise in Perlis could be in the Kangar Parliamentary seat if locally popular PKR state member Chan Ming Kai opts to run in the seat.

Najib will most probably select a new chief minister candidate to replace the unpopular and lacklustre performer Azlan Man, who has put the local Chinese community offside.

Kedah:
The Prime Ministers Department put in massive resources before the last election to win-over Kedah from a weak PAS Chief Minister Azizan Abdul Razak.

Kedah people have been very reluctant to accept ‘outsiders’ as chief ministers and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir is sharing the same affliction.

There is even some probability that Najib may select another candidate as chief minister this time round as well, especially as Mukhriz is the son of Mahathir.

Umno holds 10 Parliamentary seats in Kedah which should stand firm. PKR holds four and PAS one. With poor organization on the ground, PKR and PAS seats could be vulnerable. The Alor Seter seat may best be defended by a DAP candidate to hold on this time round. The DAP may be able to pick up three state seats, not enough to wrest government from the BN.

Penang:
 With a good showing Pakatan could pick up three BN seats in Penang, thereby wiping out all BN seats within that state.

Perak:
 Perak will be an interesting state with a number of seats in for possible change.

Bagan Serai will probably change hands to the opposition. Last election Kuala Kangsar didn’t turn over to the opposition because there was a three way contest.

This election the result may be different. Expect Bukit Gantang to see a three way contest with PAS and Amanah involved. Two other seats that have a remote chance of changing hands are Bagan Datok and Tanjong Malim.

Selangor:
 The Selangor Chief Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali is still holding the Pakatan Rakyat coalition together in running the government.

Due to the delicate balance of seats, it is necessary for him to do so. How Azmin faces the next election is something that even he hasn’t thought through at this point.

Although the effects of the ‘Kajang move’ are yet to be felt electorally, there is a high probability that the Pakatan coalition will hold Selangor and that not many seats will change between Pakatan and BN.

The complexity of the situation for Azmin is that PAS won state seats in constituencies with a high proportion of Chinese voters.

PAS cannot rely on this support this time around and it would be assumed that Amanah would take them over. PAS discussions with Perkasa and Umno, along with their unpopular hudud policy among Selangor voters will probably make the party irrelevant.

DAP could also pick up another two state seats, Semenyih and Kota Damasara which would make them the dominant party in the state chamber. Federally, BN stands to lose three seats, Hulu Selangor, Sungei Besar, and Kuala Selangor if there is even a slight swing away from them.

Hulu Selangor is particularly susceptible, held by the MIC where two independents spoiled the opposition vote last time around.

Negri Sembilan:
Although there has been some reported discontent at branch level within Umno, there are unlikely to be any major seat changes within Negri Sembilan, unless massive sabotage occurs.

Melaka:
 There are unlikely to be any seat changes in Melaka.

Johor:
 Johor is a potential Achilles heel for the BN. Any swing against the BN could easily lead to a loss of up to 7 seats. The Muyhiddin factor will be crucial here, and it is unlikely that he would be running for Parliament under the BN banner.

The winners here would be the DAP.

Pahang:
 Najib’s home state of Pahang will be another battlefield with the possibility of five seats changing hands. At risk for the BN are the seats of Bentong, Bera, Cameron Highlands, and Lipis.

PAS holds Temerloh by a very small margin and a three way contest could bring this seat back to the BN.

Terengganu:
 The vote in Terengganu will be more interesting to see what happens to PAS. Most PAS seats, except for Kuala Terengganu were won by slender margins.

Three way contests in Teregganu could be a disaster for PAS/Amanah. Being PAS leader Hadi’s home state, it will be interesting what voters think about his political positioning over the last few months. Umno could even gain seats in Terengganu.

Kelantan:
 The nightmare scenario for Pakatan would be where PAS and Amanah contest each seat and the BN wins by default.

That could wrest the state and allow to BN to pick up nine extra seats in the most optimistic scenario for them. This is an Achilles heel for the Pakatan Harapan.

In a straight fight scenario, PAS/Amanah could pick up to three BN seats, Machang, Ketereh, and Kuala Krai. With the retirement of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the seat would also be up for grabs by Pas/Amanah.

Sabah:
 The division of the opposition in Sabah is Chief Minister Musa Aman’s biggest asset. STAR, SAPP, and the Pakatan parties are running against each other ensuring a BN win.

If three and four cornered contests could be avoided seats like Kota Maruda held by federal minister Maximus Ongkili could fall.

Chief Minister Musa Aman has done a fair job governing Sabah and without any agreement within the opposition parties, there should be no upsets.

Sarawak:
 According to Medeka Centre research, the approval rating for the new Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem is 75%, while 68% are satisfied with the state government’s performance.

Approval rates of the CM are 68% within the Chinese community, and if these figures are any indication, it will be difficult for the opposition to make many inroads in Sarawak.

Federal Territories:
 It would be hard to see Putrajaya changing hands. However within the Klang Valley both Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa are two possible opposition gains.

Labuan
should remain BN.

The current parliament comprises 133 BN seats (88 Umno, PBB 14, MCA 7, PRS 6, PBS 4, MIC 3, SPDP 3, UPKO 3, Gerakan2, PBRS 1, and SUPP1),  opposition Pakatan Harapan, comprising (DAP 37, PKR 29, PAN 60, with other opposition parties including (PAS 14, PSM 1, TERAS 1, and independent 2).

A new Parliament after an election will probably look something like 124 seats for the BN and 98 seats for the opposition.

However this doesn’t factor in the current troubles for Pas/Amanah in Kelantan and Terengganu, where BN could make massive gains, if three way contests occur.

If the three corner fight scenario occurs, PAS could deliver the BN a landslide victory.

One must remember that in Malaysia there is very little polling done, and the few public polls that come out are biased towards urban voters.

So, unlike other ‘democracies’ in Malaysia most political pundits and strategists are almost blind to public voter intentions, which makes any predictions difficult.

The only hope for both the opposition and anti-Najib forces to bring down the Prime Minister is through an election.

However the above analysis shows that this would not be an easy task.

An opposition win would require a new leader to appear out of nowhere, a rapid deployment of a branch network for Parti Amanah Negara, trust in the DAP with more seats allocated to them this time round, a high level of sabotage within Umno itself, and a minimum of three corner electoral fights with PAS.

Najib has complete control of the government, judiciary, and police.

All checks and balances have been broken down, which makes him secure. Short of a revolt emanating from branch level, nothing can remove Najib. Any hints of a revolt are being suppressed as I write.

This is his only Achilles heel.

This election, Najib will have to carefully select his candidates and pay people to undertake the electioneering, rather than rely upon party workers.

He has a number of dirty tricks up his shelve like potentially prosecuting Nurul Izzah Anwar for her fopar over her meeting with Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s daughter Jacel H. Kiram.

An election will be necessary for Najib at some time in the future to safeguard the business interests of his family and cronies, which is extensive.

This is so with nobody to trust in handing the reins of power to, and no possibility of immunity from prosecution.

An election is more a Dr Mahathir strategy than Najib’s style. He ran a full term after taking over from former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi back in 2009.

The option is ready in case it becomes a necessity, and Najib is ready. – November 30, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 2:35 am and is filed under
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How the opposition can win the next elections

– Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

30 November 2015

By now it is clear that the 1MDB financial scandal, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s campaign against Datuk Seri Najib Razak, GST pain and numerous examples of corruption, abuse and mismanagement of the economy and governance, are not going to win the next election for the opposition coalition.

This is not to say that we should underestimate the average Malaysian’s disillusionment with, and distrust of, Umno and its partner parties in Barisan Nasional (BN).

Even the most simpleton Umno member is fully aware of how the division chiefs have enriched themselves with fat contracts, scholarships for their children, jobs in the civil service for their relatives and friends, etc.

Umno members are no fools. They know that the higher one gets to be in the Umno leadership hierarchy, the more the goodies and wealth they can accumulate.

So they are not surprised that RM2.6 billion was deposited in Najib’s personal account.

Many of the more ethical and principled Umno members agree that this is wrong. But will this mean that they will not vote for Umno in the next election?

I hope they listen to their conscience and I am sure many other Malaysians will join me in wishing the same.

But hope is not enough.

What will win the next general election is not Umno leaders and members such as Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr Mahathir turning against or forsaking the party and voting for the opposition.

Nor will it be the public anger, disgust and revulsion against the present government that alone can be enough to bring Umno and BN down.

What will win the elections is a strong, solid and unified opposition. This is such a no-brainer that one would have thought that all the parties in the opposition, especially the more progressive DAP and PKR, would make this the first of the five or 10 commandments that they agree to.

However, recent events give the impression that this pre-condition of opposition electoral success has either been forgotten or sidelined.

Hence it is reassuring to know that this is the main message that has emerged from the recent PKR congress.

Common sense and history tell us that without a unified opposition and especially whenever three or more cornered fights take place in any election in Malaysia, BN is invariably the winner.

We know that even before the election proper, gerrymandering has already given the BN candidate, especially in rural areas, a head start.

This BN advantage will become impossible to overcome should there be two or three candidates from the opposition taking on a BN candidate.

The other major message from the PKR congress, that it will work to ensure only two-way fights take place during the next election, is very assuring to those of us who want to see change, or at least the continuation of a strong opposition to provide check and balance in our political system.

The possibility of three or more cornered fights is strongest in East Malaysia where the opposition parties have been bickering openly as well as stabbing each other in the back.

The latest recruit into PKR’s leadership ranks, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who has been given the job of mediating and resolving the competing seat claims of PKR and DAP in the coming Sarawak state elections, has a big challenge in front of him.

But if he is successful and the opposition goes into the state elections as a unified coalition, this can be the game changer for politics not only in Sarawak but for the entire country.

I also hope that Saifuddin can use his mediation skills in ensuring that most PAS grassroots members will remain within the opposition fold, although PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Awang Hadi appears bent on pursuing some kind of electoral pact with Umno.

I and others have written to express our support for the new Islamic grouping under Parti Amanah Negara. However, it is clear that Pakatan will need the support of both factions of the old and new PAS if it is to overcome Umno in the vote count.

There is a saying that politics is not the art of the possible but of making the impossible, possible.

We should also remind PAS that if it wants to remain a viable political force in Malaysia or at least in Kelantan, it will need to avoid three-cornerned fights which will end up with Umno being the big winner.

It will be up to Saifuddin and other PKR leaders to make the impossible, possible. – November 30, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 2:47 am and is filed under
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US, Malaysia and the War Against the Islamic State

By Prashanth Parameswaran

Diplomat

November 25, 2015

An inside look at ongoing cooperation between Washington and Kuala Lumpur.

It has happened quickly and quietly. But over the past few months, Malaysia has cemented itself as one of the key American partners in the ongoing war on the Islamic State.

This is not a natural or easy position for the Muslim-majority nation to take. U.S. and Malaysian counterterrorism approaches differ in some significant ways, and aspects of American foreign policy in the Middle East – including lingering memories of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks – remain deeply unpopular in Malaysia.

But Kuala Lumpur’s current commitment, which was highlighted recently during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the country for the latest round of Asian summitry, reflects the seriousness of the Islamic State threat both generally and for Malaysia in particular.

The Threat

U.S. officials estimate that over 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries have now coalesced around Iraq and Syria, about double the number that went into Afghanistan during the 1980s that came from just a handful of nations.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Brett McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, told reporters in a special briefing on the Islamic State on November 20.

Meanwhile, Malaysian officials say they have arrested over 100 citizens suspected of links to the Islamic State, with 39 identified as traveling to the Middle East to join the grouping. Alarmingly, recruits have included not just ordinary citizens, but lecturers, civil servants, and even security forces. With several deadly plots already foiled domestically and reports of militants seeking to unite groups in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to form a Southeast Asian branch of the Islamic State, some officials say it is only a matter of time before a major attack occurs.

“I think the Paris situation can also be transplanted here, in Southeast Asia,” Nur Jazlan Mohamed, Malaysia’s deputy home minister, admitted to Reuters in an interview last week, referring to coordinated terror attacks in the French capital on November 13 that killed 130 people.

He was speaking before a series of meetings held in Kuala Lumpur which Malaysia led as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Those meetings saw tougher security measures and a heavily armed police presence amid unconfirmed reports of an imminent terrorist threat, with more than 4,500 soldiers deployed or on standby, in addition to thousands of police.

Joining the Global Coalition

On September 29, Malaysia, together with Nigeria and Tunisia, were officially welcomed as the three new members of the now 65-strong, U.S.-led Global Coalition to Counter ISIL amid a summit meeting of the group in New York hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama. That was a significant development as it meant one of Southeast Asia’s three Muslim-majority countries would be part of the Coalition in addition to Singapore (Indonesia and Brunei, the others, have yet to join).

What that exactly entails, however, is less clear. At this point in time, The Diplomat understands from sources familiar with the matter that Malaysia has only been welcomed as an observer and supporter of the coalition. But moving forward, U.S. officials are hoping that Kuala Lumpur will become a member and subsequently a co-lead in one of the five existing coalition working groups, each of which correspond with a particular strategy or approach: political-military; foreign terrorist fighters; counter-finance; stabilization support; and counter-messaging.

For now, Malaysia has determined that it would do best within the counter-messaging group – currently co-led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Put simply, counter-messaging seeks to erode ISIL’s appeal by exposing the group’s message of hate and violence while presenting an alternative and inclusive vision of hope for a better future. The idea, the then-special presidential envoy for the Coalition General John R. Allen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, is to “defeat ISIL as an idea.”

That sort of role fits Malaysia well. It dovetails with Najib’s idea of a Global Movement of Moderates, an approach that emphasizes moderation to realize world peace and harmony which he called for in an earlier United Nations (UN) speech back in 2010. The Malaysian government has been taking steps to realize this vision. As Najib detailed in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Malaysia had convened an international group of Sunni and Shia scholars in Kuala Lumpur to define what an actual Islamic State should look like based on centuries of Islamic thought, emphasizing principles like justice, compassion, and humility. In May, the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation and Google also organized the Content Creators’ Workshop on Countering the Narrative of Violent Extremism.

The Malaysian government has also emphasized the Islamic State issue during the country’s ASEAN chairmanship this year and will continue to do so next year, including by hosting an international conference on deradicalization in January (See: “Malaysia to Host New Conference to Tackle Islamic State Challenge“).

In return for its Coalition membership, The Diplomat understands that Malaysia will be entitled to several benefits, including access to the so-called Coalition Collaboration Workspace (CCW), an online, private portal that offers a secure work-space for exclusive use by coalition partners. Getting full access to that will require, among other things, identifying a point of contact back home in Malaysia to correspond with the Coalition secretariat and access the CCW.

A New Data Center

As part of its counter-messaging focus, Malaysia has also agreed to set up a joint messaging center with the United States known as the Regional Digital Counter-Messaging Communication Center (RDC3) (See: “US, Malaysia to Set Up New Center to Counter Islamic State by End of 2015”). In doing so, the Southeast Asian state will become the hub for coordinating and driving counter-ISIL messaging activity in the region.

As of now, few specifics have been publicized. General Allen, the then-special presidential envoy, said in his testimony to Congress that Washington intends to use lessons learned from the Sawab or “Right Path” Center it has set up with the UAE in Abu Dhabi to set up new messaging centers in Malaysia in addition to Nigeria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia with the OIC, and in Brussels with the EU.

Several issues still need to be resolved. The United States and Malaysia have agreed to split the cost, with Washington happy to help provide some technology and other expertise. Still, some estimates of the construction of the facility, one Malaysian official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Diplomat, run up to a few billion dollars, which is quite a hefty price tag.

Another issue is where exactly the facility would be located and which agencies will be involved, including the Home Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, and the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism (SEARCCT), which was finally set up in 2003 during the years of George W. Bush following controversy about the extent of U.S. involvement.

“We are still deciding on the specifics,” the official emphasized when pressed for further details including a realistic timeline. “It will take time.”

Visa Waiver Program

Another important part of ongoing U.S.-Malaysia cooperation on Islamic State is the visa waiver program (VWP). While the program itself is about eventually enabling Malaysians to travel to the United States without a visa for 90 days for tourism and business, there are several components along the way that tie in to cooperation on the Islamic State as well.

Last week, ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Malaysia, Washington and Kuala Lumpur inked the second of two documents which are vital prerequisites to Malaysia’s participation in the VWP. The document, called the Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC), provides for the mutual exchange of relevant information, including biometric and DNA data, for law enforcement purposes.

“The data will be used fully by PDRM [Polis Diraja Malaysia or Royal Malaysian Police] in studying the suspect list to determine terrorists or suspected terrorists in the country and foreign terrorists suspected of using Malaysia as a transit,” Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Zahid Hamidi explained in Kuala Lumpur after overseeing the signing ceremony with Home Ministry Secretary General Alwi Ibrahim and U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Joseph Yun.

When Zahid, who is also home minister, visited the United States last month, the two sides had signed the other key agreement – Homeland Security Presidential Directive No. 6 (HSPD) – an arrangement that helps establish appropriate procedures for access to and exchange of terrorist screening information critical to protect against terrorism.

Yet problems still remain. Part of the issue, The Diplomat understands, is differences over how both countries report the same information that will be shared, such as whether to include only convicted criminals or suspects more generally.

Malaysia will also have to comply with certain conditions. These include uploading information about stolen passports to Interpol within 24 hours (no small feat, officials say, given the time needed to gather and transmit the information back to Kuala Lumpur and input it into the database), and figuring out which of the agencies involved will take the lead in uploading that information back in Malaysia. Currently, the High Level Committee established to monitor Malaysia’s progress is headed by Zahid, but involves ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Royal Malaysian Police, and the Department of Immigration.

“On our end, we still have a lot of work left to do,” one Malaysian official told The Diplomat.

Still another issue is Malaysia’s record on human trafficking, which is linked to the VWP. While the Southeast Asian state was upgraded in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report earlier this year, U.S. officials have been stressing that improvements on trafficking will be needed in order for Malaysia’s full admission into the VWP (See: “US Upgrades Malaysia in Trafficking Report: Boost for TPP, Blow to Rights?”).

“If you have a big trafficking issue, that speaks to the vulnerabilities of the candidate country,” Yun, the U.S. envoy, told The Star, a Malaysian daily, earlier this year. As if to underscore the centrality of the trafficking issue in ongoing U.S.-Malaysia cooperation, Obama himself visited a refugee center that included victims of human trafficking during his trip to Malaysia.

Malaysian officials privately admit that there are still challenges in spite of the efforts the country has undertaken thus far.

The Road Ahead

While issues remain, there is little doubt that with a series of moves Malaysia has emerged as one of Washington’s key partners in the war against the Islamic State and that the issue has become a central pillar of ongoing U.S.-Malaysia cooperation.

“Malaysia is part of the coalition to fight (Islamic State) and can be extraordinarily helpful on issues like countering the destructive and perverse narrative that’s developed,” Obama acknowledged Friday following his meeting with Najib.

What the future holds, however, is less certain. Part of this will be determined by how the Islamic State threat itself evolves and how central it remains to both countries. Leadership also matters. It is an open secret that U.S.-Malaysia relations, which were elevated to the level of a comprehensive partnership last year, have advanced in no small part due to the personal relationship that Najib and Obama enjoy, with the two leaders even golfing together in Hawaii last December.

But with Najib’s political future hanging in the balance amid an ongoing corruption scandal and Obama’s second term winding down, that relationship is approaching its end. That is important for an area like counter-terrorism because small shifts in the way Kuala Lumpur deals with rights or how much Washington chooses to push its Southeast Asian partner on freedoms can make a big difference in how much cooperation is realized.

For now at least, the two sides are happy to emphasize the importance of the substantial cooperation they do enjoy.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 7:05 pm and is filed under
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Hasan Arifin should let Dr. Tan Seng Giaw head PAC probe into 1MDB as he is too keen to demonstrate his “cari makan” characteristics

Datuk Hasan Arifin is too keen to demonstrate his “cari makan” characteristics to be a suitable Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman heading the PAC probe into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB scandal.

He should make way for the Deputy PAC Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw to head the PAC inquiry into the 1MDB scandal so that the PAC inquiry would not be sullied by his “cari makan” propensities.

Hasan exhibited such a “cari makan” propensity yesterday when he jumped the gun and declared that he was “satisfied” with the testimony given by the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy to the PAC, although Arul had not completed his testimony nor did Hasan had the authority of the PAC to declare publicly that the PAC was satisfied with Arul’s testimony.

Hasan’s statement yesterday has only reinforced concern whether Hasan was elected PAC Chairman to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal or to ensure that the PAC probe into the 1MDB scandal would end up as a “cover up” or end  inconclusively.

Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament asked over 90 questions  about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB  twin mega scandals, but despite six weeks of parliamentary meetings, Najib has succeeded in evading giving full and satisfactory accountability for both scandals.

Neither  Najib nor  his Ministers dared to contradict  the last speech of  Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister on July 26 when Muhyiddin said that the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal had already mushroomed to debts exceeding RM50 billion.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said, has said that the government would reply on the controversial RM2.6 billion “donation” that went into Najib’s personal bank accounts on the last day of the 25-day budget meeting tomorrow.

There were some 30 questions asked by MPs  in the present meeting of Parliament relating directly to Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal and over 90 questions relating to the twin mega scandals.

How are these questions to be answered satisfactorily in one go during Question Time tomorrow, when only two supplementary questions would be permitted.

Even more important, would Najib himself appear in Parliament tomorrow to give a full and satisfactory accounting of his twin mega scandals, which have brought such shame and humiliation to Malaysians – particularly in having the Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by seven foreign countries for corruption and other financial irregularities!

Will Najib be in Parliament to finally end the cat-and-mouse game over his twin mega scandals?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 December 2015, 1:36 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia Vainly Seeks to Keep Lid on Scandal

By John Berthelsen

Asia Sentinel

November 30, 2015

Latest involves attempt to intimidate prominent KL lawyer

The lengths Malaysian authorities are willing to go in the effort to keep a lid on continuing financial scandals involving Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, has taken a new turn with a threat to arrest a prominent lawyer for assisting a US businessman in making a sworn statement on his brother’s reported involvement into the stalled probe.

Police are demanding that Americk Sidhu, who assisted in writing the sworn statement by Atlanta-based businessman Charles Morais of his murdered brother’s reported involvement in the stalled Najib investigation, come in for questioning. Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police, told local media on Nov. 30 that “we are giving Americk two days to step forward and have his statement recorded.”

On Nov. 26, Morais read a sworn statement to a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that his brother Anthony Kevin Morais, a Malaysian deputy prosecutor whose body was found in a cement-filled oil drum that had been dumped in a river, had said he was assisting in the investigation of Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, before he disappeared. Morais said he had also received a USB drive from his dead brother, to be kept for safekeeping. But he gave no details about what was on the USB drive. Almost immediately after holding the press conference, Charles Morais left the country to go back to the US.

The investigation into allegations of an unexplained US$681 million infusion into Najib’s bank accounts, and the money’s subsequent disappearance, plus irregularities involving the ill-starred 1Malaysia Development Bhd. state-backed investment fund, have metamorphosed into one of Asia’s biggest potential scandals.

Minutely detailed stories of the financial transactions have appeared in the Sarawak Report, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Asia Sentinel.  They have had no apparent effect on his viability as prime minister, with all stories met with denials or charges that the publications were biased despite the fact that Najib and his grasping wife are beginning to attain the legendary status of such outsized kleptomaniacs as the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Suharto in Indonesia.

To a semi-public request by US President Barack Obama that Najib free opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was imprisoned on what are widely considered trumped up charges, Najib replied only that Malaysia must follow the law. Anwar has been labeled a prisoner of conscience by a United Nations committee, which has also demanded that he be freed.

Beyond that, however, multiple allegations involving Najib run back for a more than a decade to the purchases when he was defense minister of a cornucopia of military gear including Russian jets, helicopters, patrol boats and submarines, all of which involved allegations of overpayment of substantial amounts of money that were kicked back to the United Malays National Organization or went into top cadres’ own pockets.

The biggest – until the onset of the state-backed 1Malaysia Development Bhd investment fund – involved the purchase of French submarines and kickbacks of €114 million to UMNO and the murder of a 28-year-old Mongolian national, Altantuya Shaariibuu, who may have known too much about that scandal. If anything they are an illustration of the lengths to which the leaders of UMNO, a corruption-ridden and sclerotic party that has held power in Malaysia since it became a country, are willing to go to stay in power.

So far, Najib has ridden out the both the French controversy, despite the fact that French authorities developed voluminous evidence of the scandal and made it public, and the current one  by threatening scores of critics with sedition and other charges.

He has fired critical officials including his own deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, and Abdul Gani Patail, the attorney general, among others. He retains the backing of the 192 cadres of the United Malays National Organization whose support is crucial by pouring vast amounts of money into bribes or make-work jobs to maintain their loyalty. On Dec. 8-10, that loyalty is expected to be tested at the UMNO annual general meeting, where scores of lower-ranking division chiefs, especially from Johor – Muhyiddin’s home state – have demanded answers over the twin scandals.  Longtime political analysts in Malaysia believe there will be no answers at the AGM and that Najib is prepared to ride out the storm until at least 2018, when the next general election is expected.

Americk has been an increasing thorn in the side of Malaysian authorities since 2008, when he helped to write a sworn declaration for a private detective named Perumal Balasubramaniam that raised spectacular allegations that Najib had had an affair with Altantuya, who was murdered in 2006 by two of Najib’s bodyguards when Najib was defense minister and involved in the corruption-riddled purchase of two submarines from the subsidiary of France’s biggest defense company DCN.

Sidhu later played a key role in Balasubramaniam’s subsequent declarations that one of Najib’s brothers and an Indian businessman had collaborated in paying him hundreds of thousands of Malaysian ringgit to rescind his allegations, accompanied with a threat to leave the country hurriedly.  Bala, as he was known, returned to Malaysia to deliver a volley of charges involving Najib’s supposed dalliance with Altantuya and other allegations of corruption, only to die suddenly of a heart attack in 2013.

Charles Morais delivered his sworn statement of his brother’s involvement in the now-stalled investigation and almost immediately left the country to go back to Atlanta, Ga., in the US, where he is involved in the hotel business. The police chief told local media the police want to know “among other questions, why did Charles select this lawyer to represent him…and as a lawyer, Americk should know his client’s whereabouts.”

To the police chief’s public remark that it wasn’t the first time an Americk client had disappeared after making a sworn statement, the defiant lawyer replied that “at least this time, my client had the choice of ‘disappearing’ voluntarily.”

Americk “has a bad reputation when it comes to statutory declarations,” the police chief said, impelling a defiant Americk to issue a public statement that the official’s remarks were “clearly defamatory of me and I am in consultation with my lawyers on my legal options in this respect.”

Eric Paulson, the executive director of Lawyers for Liberty – who himself has been threatened with sedition charges  for criticizing the Malaysian Islamic Development Department for spreading extremism — called on the police to rescind their intention to question Americk over Morais’s statement, saying such an act amounted to harassment of a lawyer who was merely performing his duties in acting for his client.

“Needless to say, Americk, like any other lawyer, must be allowed to carry out his work freely and without improper interference, Paulson said in a prepared statement. “We further call upon the police to recognize and respect the vital function played by lawyers in upholding the rule of law and constitutional rights, including the right to legal representation as guaranteed by Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.”

Americk is expected to be questioned by the police tomorrow, according to authorities in Kuala Lumpur. Paulsen, in his statement, said the move to investigate lawyers representing clients is a serious assault on the independence of the Bar and the fundamental principle of lawyer-client privilege, upon which all lawyers are bound.

“It is basic that all communications and consultations between lawyers and their clients within their professional relationship are confidential and privileged,” he said. “Further, lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their client’s causes as a result of discharging their functions.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 December 2015, 7:07 am and is filed under
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My six-month suspension from Parliament a most symbolic way to mark my  50 years in politics in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream

Fifty years ago, I started my involvement in Malaysian politics and my current six-month suspension from Parliament in  a most  symbolic way  marked my half-century of political work and patriotism where I dedicated  virtually my whole life to the pursuit of  the Malaysian Dream of an united, inclusive, progressive, just and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, language, culture, region, politics or class.

My six-month suspension from Parliament is a salutary reminder that the pursuit of the Malaysian Dream is not a completed journey but very much a  work-in-progress, that it is not a smooth-sailing venture but requires courage, commitment and vision to overcome the trials and tribulations  of  an upstream, against-the-current struggle to build a better Malaysia for all Malaysians, where good governance and justice is the order of the day and an end to the ever-lengthening list of political and economic scandals suffocating the country.

There are many episodes in the past five decades which highlight the ups-and-downs of my 50-year political struggle for democracy, justice and an united Malaysian nation, but I will mention three of them.

Firstly, there was an occasion in the seventies when a powerful UMNO Minister stood up in Parliament to interrupt my speech on the political, economic, good governance and nation-building failures of the UMNO-led government and told me haughtily  that if I did not like Umno/BN  government policies, I could leave the country to a foreign land.  Without hesitation, I immediately responded by telling this Minister that if he did not like to hear what I had said, which represented the voice of the electorate who had elected me into Parliament, he could leave the country himself!  That shut him up. A lesson in democracy as well as in Malaysian nation-building.

The second episode happened in Parliament last  month, when an UMNO Member of Parliament told DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Jimmy Wong, to ”balik tongsan” or to “return to mainland China”.

It is Members of Parliament with such narrow-minded, extremist and intolerant mindsets  after 58 years of nation-building, completely at odds with the Malaysian Dream,  who have really violated their oath as a Member of Parliament “to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and not Nurul Izzah Anwar, the PKR Vice President and MP for Lembah Pantai, whom the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs want to persecute and penalize in Parliament.

I have dedicated 50 years of my life to the political betterment of Malaysia, for like all patriotic Malaysians regardless of race, religion, politics or region, our homeland or “tongsan” in the lingo of extremists and chauvinists  is Malaysia and nowhere else, not to mainland China, Indian sub-continent or any other foreign land!

The third episode refers to the recent statement  by the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir that no party should rule forever  and that “the best way is for the country to have two political parties; this would ensure that one or the other would win a majority to form the government”.

This is a far cry from his earlier statement that he was only interested in getting the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, replaced.

This is the dilemma faced by all Malaysians, the need for a new mindset when they are confronted with the gravity of the multitude of national crisis plaguing the country – that the real issue is  not whether to save an individual even if he is the Prime Minister or a political party even though it had been the backbone of the ruling coalition for the past 58 years since Merdeka in 1957, but how to save Malaysia from becoming a rogue and failed state where there is a  breakdown of the rule of law and collapse of the good governance and the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity in public life – especially when UMNO leaders have lost the national purpose and forsaken the Malaysian Dream.

The Malaysian Dream is unfinished business and only Malaysians, particularly the youths of Malaysia, can decide whether it would become a completed business or an abandoned project.

I started on this political journey when I was 24 years old.

I became DAP National Organising Secretary and Editor of the Rocket, the DAP party journal,  when I was 25 years old.

I was first elected  a Member of Parliament (Bandar Melaka),  experienced my first Internal Security Act detention as well as elected DAP Secretary-General when in detention,  when I was 28 years old.

Although I have continued the political journey for 50 years, the future of Malaysia rests with the youths of Malaysia, who constitute almost half the total population of Malaysia.

I call on the youths of Malaysia, regardless of race, religion or region, to continue to carry  the torch of a Malaysian Dream to light up the country and be the exemplars of a Malaysian Dream mind-set, for as a critical demographic group in the country, only the youths of Malaysia can save and determine the future of Malaysia.

(Speech at a DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” gathering in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 1st December 2015 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 December 2015, 8:02 am and is filed under
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The new National Security Council Bill should be withdrawn from debate tomorrow to allow MPs and civil society adequate time to study its far-reaching implications on civil liberties

The new National Security Council (NSC) Bill should be withdrawn from debate and passage tomorrow and deferred until Parliament next month to allow Members of Parliament and the civil society adequate time to study its far-reaching implications on human rights and democratic freedoms in Malaysia.

The 33-page Bill, in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, was only presented in Dewan Rakyat for first reading and it is really ridiculous and outrageous to rush through the second and third readings for the Bill tomorrow, without giving MPs and the civil society the opportunity to study its far-reaching implications on human rights and democratic freedoms in the country.

Members of Parliament may not be required to understand the real implications of the law, as their only requirement is to vote in support of any bill which the government tables in Parliament, but it is an insult to the intelligence of Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament and discerning members of the public to expect them to behave like unthinking and obedient robots or digits to give blank cheque support to whatever is decided by the Cabinet.

In fact, I believe the majority of the Ministers may not even understand the far-reaching implications of the National Security Bill although they all nodded in agreement when the Bill presented for Cabinet consent by the  relevant Ministry and department concerned.

As Parliament is meeting in special session next month to debate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), the NSC Bill can be included as a second item for the Special Parliament in January if the government is prepared to make out  a case for urgency for the NSC Bill to be passed.

Concerns that the NSC Bill will give excessive, extensive and arbitrary powers to the Prime Minister and endanger civil liberties must be fully studied and addressed before the Bill is rushed through to become law.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 December 2015, 3:16 pm and is filed under
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Azalina would have committed hara-kiri or seppuku  in Parliament today if she upholds  the bushido code of honour above life

Datuk Azalina Othman Said would have committed hara-kiri or seppuku in Parliament today if she upholds the bushido code of honour above life.

This is because the Order Paper in the last sitting of Parliament today – ending the 25-day six-week parliamentary budget meeting – proves that Azalina had been caught out committing  the unparliamentary and dishonourable act of telling outright lies as Minister responsible for Parliamentary Affairs.

On the very first day of the current meeting of Parliament on Oct. 19, Azalina evaded the questions by DAP Members of Parliament, Lim Guan Eng (Bagan) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut), and said in written reply that the government would answer questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” received by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other related questions during the current meeting of Parliament.

However, Azalina said  the exact date for this would be determined later.

Guan Eng had asked Najib on the source of the RM2.6 billion donation, how was it spent and how much balance is left; who the money was spent on, if taxes were paid and if there was a formal declaration.

Lip Eng’s question with regard to  the donation and the missing US$1 billion payment to International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC) also received the same reply.

Then, in an act of great “benevolence” and “magnanimity”, Azalina told the media on Nov. 5 that the Prime Minister or a Minister will explain on the last day of the parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 on the controversial RM2.6 billion donation that went into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

She told the media assembled before her:

“I will entertain you by telling you we will answer at the end of session on Dec 3” during the question-and-answer time on the last day of the parliamentary meeting, though she refused to confirm if Najib would be answering the issue himself.

She said:

“Whether the prime minister will answer or anyone in the Prime Minister’s Department, it is still the prerogative of the prime minister.”

What Azalina should realize is  that neither the Prime Minister nor any Minister has the prerogative to tell lies in Parliament.

Today is Dec. 3, the last day of the 25-day parliamentary budget meeting and Azalina has been caught red-handed telling lies in Parliament when promising MPs that all the questions about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal would be answered in one-go today.

There are two questions today related to Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MBD scandals – but they will not be answered at all as they are at the bottom of the question queue, one occupying No. 43 and the other No. 49, the last question on today’s Question Time.

Question No. 43 is by the DAP MP for Raub, Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri bin Abdul Aziz who asked the Minister for Finance to state: (a) senarai nilai bon-bon yang telah diterbitkan oleh 1MDB secara kronologi; dan (b) berapakah nilai hutang yang ditanggung oleh 1MDB sebenarnya dengan nilai ringgit semasa.

Question No. 49, the last on the today’s list, is by the PKR MP for Lembah Pantai who asked the Prime Minister “menyatakan apakah yang berlaku kepada US$650 juta yang didakwa dipindahkan ke sebuah akaun kawalan Tanore Finance Corporation, Bank Falcon di Singapura yang akhirnya ditutup menurut laporan Sarawak Report, dan mengapakah wang tersebut dipindahkan ke akaun syarikat sekiranya wang itu merupakan wang derma”.

There are no other question in today’s Question Time apart from these two questions which are related to Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” or RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals to allow either the Prime Minister or any other Minister to give full and satisfactory accountability for Najib’s role in these two scandals, which have made Malaysia the object of scorn, mockery and ridicule in international circles – as at least seven foreign countries have launched independent investigations into these twin mega scandals whether on corruption or other aspects of financial irregularities and improprieties.

There are some 90 questions related to Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB – submitted mostly by Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament for the 25-day parliamentary budget meeting, but they were all shunted aside by Azalina on the ground that they would all be answered in “one go” on the last day of the budget meeting today.

This is the height of parliamentary contempt and disrespect for Parliament by the Minister who should upholding parliamentary honour, dignity and ethics instead of undermining and destroying them.

Nobody expects Azalina to uphold the  Bushido code of honour above life and commit hara-kiri or  ceremonial disembowelment  in Parliament to redeem shame for the dishonour to Parliament, but where is she going to hide her face?

Would she move a motion to refer herself to the Committee of Privileges to ascertain  as to whether she had committed a gross breach of parliamentary privilege and what penalities that is commensurate that should  be meted out to her?

From today’s Order Paper, it is clear that Azalina is not only completely without  a sense of  contrition or remorse  for the dishonour she had done to Parliament, she want to commit another parliamentary outrage by turning Parliament into a “kangaroo court” to convict the PKR Vice Chairman and MP for Lembah Pantai Nurul Izzah Anwar of breach of parliamentary privilege over the Nurul-Jacel photograph episode, and referring Nurul to the Committee of Privilege for it to determine the penalties to be meted out to Nurul!

Azalina is the worst Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department entrusted with the specific task of parliamentary affairs since such a portfolio was specifically assigned to a Minister – which was introduced by the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2004.

The first two Ministers assigned specifically to the portfolio of parliamentary affairs , Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz from 2004 to 2013 and Datuk Shahidan Kassim 2013-2015 would not have committed the parliamentary faux pax which Azalina had been guilty of – the blatant cover-up of Najib’s twin mega scandals in disregard of parliamentary tradition, conventions and practices and the outrageous parliamentary offensive against Nurul.

The events of the 25-day parliamentary budget meeting point to one disturbing conclusion, that Azalina’s appointment as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, just like the appointment of  “cari makan” MP for Rompin, Datuk Hasan Arifin  as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), was  made solely on one criteria s – how loyal, effective  even if blatant they are prepared to act to “cover up” any expose of Najib’s twin mega scandals in Parliament.

There is no sense of urgency, for instance, in the PAC chaired  by Hasan to complete the long-delayed  PAC investigations into the  1MDB scandal in the shortest possible time.

In fact, the PAC chaired by Hasan has not called key operatives of 1MDB which had not been summoned by the previous Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed – like all the former 1MDB CEOs as well as the Chairmen and Board members of 1MDB and even more important the Chairmen and Members of the 1MDB Advisory Board.

Azalina and Hasan must prove that their loyalty is not to one person, be he the Prime Minister, or one party, be it UMNO, but to the country Malaysia as their oath of office as MP and Minister commit them “to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and not just to be loyal to Najib, UMNO or Barisan Nasional!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 December 2015, 9:30 am and is filed under
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Zahid’s three-minute statement on Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation in his personal  banking accounts  the greatest cop-out in Parliament in nation’s history

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s three-minute statement on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion donation in his personal banking accounts is the greatest cop-out in Parliament in the nation’s history.

What happened in Parliament this morning will go down in the Malaysian parliamentary annals as another disgraceful episode as to why parliamentary reform is urgently needed – but meaningful parliamentary reforms cannot come from “sweet words” from the Speaker’s Chair  but only from restoration of the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary.

Parliament was made to  commit a most cowardly and unchilvarous act today – to blow up the Nurul-Jacel photograph incident in the hope of covering up Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal.

Clearly,  the UMNO/BN Government needed desperately to distract attention from Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, especially as national and international attention had been building up for  weeks to expect the Prime Minister to give a full and satisfactory accounting of his RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal today, the last day of the 25-day six-week parliamentary budget meeting.

What better distraction for Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal  than the furore over the outrageous motion to convict the PKR Vice President and MP for Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar, of the heinous charge of breach of oath as an MP “to bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and to refer her to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges for the penalties to be meted out.

It is now clear why the Dewan Rakyat adjourned yesterday at the unusually early hour of 4.30 p.m. after adopting the motion on the redelineation of Sarawak electoral constituencies, when there was a long list of official business to be transacted, with the government motion on Nurul next in line, followed by  13 government bills and three Treasury motions on the Order Paper.

The reason was simple.  If the government motion to refer Nurul to the Committee of Privileges had been passed yesterday – and going by the one-hour debate given to the motion today, this  could have  been done by the usual adjournment time of from 5.30 pm to 5.45 pm even without the daily extension of the sitting into the night – there would be no major issue like the Nurul motion to distract attention from the RM2.6 billion Najib “donation” scandal today.

Right from the first day of the 25-day parliamentary meeting, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk  Azalina Othman Said, was in the forefront building  up national and international attention and  pressure for full and satisfactory government accounting on the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib personal banking accounts by declaring on the very first day on Oct. 19 that the government would answer questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” received by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other related questions during the current meeting of Parliament although the exact date would only be determined later.

On Nov. 5,  Azalina even announced to the  media that the Prime Minister or a Minister will explain on the last day of the parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 during the question-and-answer session on the controversial RM2.6 billion donation that went into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

This was why there was so much publicity and interest, not only in the country but internationally, whether Najib could really give a full and satisfactory accounting of the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal.

This was also  why as the last day of the parliamentary meeting approached, there was so much interest and pressure for the government to honour its undertaking to give full and satisfactory accounting on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, and the reason for the deep and widespread frustration and even anger when late last night, it was found that there was no question on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal which could get answered in the 90 minute Question Time!

The most pertinent question by Nurul was placed as the last of the Question List, No. 49, which was addressed to the Prime Minister for him to “menyatakan apakah yang berlaku kepada US$650 juta yang didakwa dipindahkan ke sebuah akaun kawalan Tanore Finance Corporation, Bank Falcon di Singapura yang akhirnya ditutup menurut laporan Sarawak Report, dan mengapakah wang tersebut dipindahkan ke akaun syarikat sekiranya wang itu merupakan wang derma”.

If Azalina was sincere that all the questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal would be answered on the last day of the 25-day parliamentary sitting, why wasn’t Nurul’s question on the RM2.6 billion “donation” placed among the top three questions of today?

This morning, before Parliament met at 10 am, I issued a statement remarking that Azalina would have committed hara-kiri or seppuku in Parliament if she were in Japan and upholds the Bushido code of honour above life, as she had been caught red-handed telling lies in Parliament about the government giving answers about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal during Question Time today.

We have then the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi standing up in Parliament after Question time today to make a controversial Ministerial statement on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal – firstly, because the DPM should not be making any such Ministerial statement as  the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal was not within the portfolios of responsibilities of  the Deputy Prime Minister and secondly, because Zahid gave a cop-out which was no answer whatsoever.

Zahid’s three-minute statement was a total “cop out”, as he did not say anything new and merely reiterated that the RM2.6 billion was a political donation, that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had identified the donor and that Putrajaya could not elaborate on the RM2.6 billion deposited in Najib’s personal bank accounts as it would prejudice investigations by the authorities.

If this is the obstructionist and unco-operative attitude the government was going to take on all queries on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, why then didn’t Azalina and all Ministers say so right away, instead of leading all MPs, the country and the world up the garden’s path for six weeks of parliamentary meeting that the government would answer all questions about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in “one go”, on the last day of the parliamentary budget meeting on Dec. 3?

For instance, on the very first day of the parliamentary budget meeting on Oct. 19, the DAP MP for Bagan Lim Guan Eng asked Najib on the source of the RM2.6 billion donation, how was it spent and how much balance is left; who the money was spent on, if taxes were paid and if there was a formal declaration.

Why didn’t Azalina answer straightaway on Oct. 19 that the government was not going to answer such questions, claiming that it would prejudice ongoing investigations by the authorities – instead of holding out hope to the whole country and the world that answers would be forthcoming on the last day of parliamentary budget meeting today, and to end up in completely empty-handed?

Members of Parliament from Pakatan Harapan had submitted some 90 questions in the current meeting of Parliament related to Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB – and they have been given the “run-around” waiting for answers on the last day of the parliamentary budget meeting today.

This is the height of parliamentary irresponsibility and Azalina should  refer herself to the Committee of Privileges for gross breach of parliamentary privilege in performing her duties as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 December 2015, 4:15 pm and is filed under
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China’s generous 1MDB bid seen reaping it big returns

Praveen Menon & Anshuman Daga

Reuters

Malaysiakini

3 Dec 2015

A generous winning bid from a state-owned Chinese firm for a scandal-ridden Malaysian fund’s power assets will help Beijing find favour as it seeks more deals in the country and to extend its influence in South-East Asia, financial and diplomatic sources say.

China’s South-East Asia push is widely seen as having come at a perfect time for embattled Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who chairs the advisory board of state fund 1MDB and has been grappling with international probes and public outrage over allegations of graft at the fund.

The US$2.3 billion offer from China General Nuclear Corp, a surprise winner in the bidding, and its assumption of US$1.8 billion in 1MDB debt will result in Chinese firms having pole positions as key rail, port and road projects come up for grabs, sources said.

“Increasingly, Chinese investors will be important players not only for Malaysia but also South-East Asia,” said a person involved in the 1MDB sale process.

“They are paying good value to solve a problem. This deal will give them impetus to score big in infrastructure assets,” he said. Like other sources interviewed by Reuters, he declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The stakes have been high for Najib to make progress in resolving the 1MDB scandal after the Wall Street Journal reported in July that investigators looking into the fund had found nearly US$700 million was deposited into Najib’s private bank account. Reuters has not verified the report.

Najib has denied taking any money for personal gain.

Strategically important

The biggest single direct foreign investment in Malaysia was far above a rival bid from Tenaga Nasional, banking sources said, and was announced just hours after Najib and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ended bilateral talks in Kuala Lumpur. 1MDB president Arul Kanda told Reuters, however, there was no government involvement in the deal.

Beijing has been keen to improve relations with South-East Asian countries as some of them, backed by the United States, object to China’s building up of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea.

Last week also saw Li telling businessmen in Kuala Lumpur that Chinese firms will buy Malaysian treasury bonds to help stabilise its financial markets, and Beijing offering US$10 billion in infrastructure loans to South-East Asia.

“Malaysia is strategically important for China because it… encircles the southern-most riches of the South China Sea,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the S Rajaratanam School of International Studies in Singapore.

For China, the moves go hand in glove with its ambitions to develop infrastructure along its so-called 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which extends through the Malacca Strait to India, the Middle East and East Africa.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying declined comment on the 1MDB case but said Malaysia was an important partner for China.

“China and Malaysia maintain close economic and trade cooperation. We hope to see Chinese enterprises, in line with commercial principles and on the basis of mutual benefit, legally conduct cooperation with Malaysia,” she told a regular press briefing.

Key infrastructure projects that China has said its firms will bid for include a high speed rail project between Malaysia and Singapore that could be finalised next year. The project, estimated by local media as being worth more than US$10 billion, is also expected to attract Japanese and European bidders.

Chinese firms are also set to vie for contracts to upgrade Malaysian ports including one in Malacca, in the south and another in Kuantan, in the east, banking sources said.

Outside Malaysia, other regional targets include a US$31 billion economic zone on China’s border with Laos, as well as rail and highway projects in Indonesia and Thailand.

– Reuters

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 December 2015, 7:55 am and is filed under
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