Pakatan to back ‘Bersih 3.0’ if polls reform fails

By Lisa J. Ariffin

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 18, 2012

Aunty Bersih takes to the streets in the quest for electoral reforms during the Bersih rally last year.- file picKUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have declared their support for a “Bersih 3.0” rally in the capital city if the Najib administration fail to implement meaningful electoral reforms before polls are held.

The leaders stressed that Putrajaya could avoid a tumultuous rally like last July 9 if their demands are met and recommendations by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for electoral reforms are implemented by the Election Commission (EC).

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said the EC’s “snail pace movements” with implementing the PSC’s recommendations gives credence to demands for a Bersih 3.0 rally, which will be country’s third since 2007.

“The rakyat shouldn’t be fooled by mere pledges and public relations’ showpieces. The EC must be pushed to implement reforms,” Nurul Izzah told The Malaysian Insider.

“Else, we’re left with no choice but to take the demand for free and fair elections to the streets,” she said.

Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad mirrored Nurul’s sentiment, saying if the EC does not address the issues put forward by the PSC soon, “then obviously the statement by Datuk Ambiga will be considered seriously by our party”.

“The acid test for any matured democracy is when change occurs through the electoral process. Malaysia has for the past 55 years never experienced change in power,” he said, adding that the BN government must give way to the people who are interested in bringing about this change.

“As long as no change in the government occurs, particularly at the federal level, then the status of democracy will always be in question.”

Additionally, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said: “If there is no progress made in the reforms, then the Bersih committee and those responsible will have to look into the possibility of another rally.”

This said, Khalid pointed out that there is time for the EC to come clean and win back the confidence of the Malaysian public

“There is still time for the EC to come clean and win our confidence by showing us what they’ve done as far as all comments and complains were raised,” he said.

“I hope it doesn’t have to come to that (another rally) and that the government will be responsible enough to ensure the coming election will be as clean and transparent as possible,” he added.

Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan had today warned Putrajaya of a potential “Bersih 3.0” rally, pointing to lagging polls reforms and reports of a sudden surge of voters in some parliamentary constituencies.

“Looking at the way things are going now, we may have no choice. Do not rule out Bersih 3.0,” Ambiga told The Malaysian Insider.

“If the government is not serious about electoral reform the public will have to make itself heard,” she added.

Thousands of Malaysians took to the streets on July 9 to join Bersih 2.0’s rally for free and fair elections but the protest turned ugly at midday when riot police launched tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse participants.

The widespread clampdown, which saw more than 1,000 people arrested even before the rally, earned the Najib administration a whiplashing in the international media.

Under pressure, the government had then promised a slew of reform measures, which included the formation of the PSC and the enactment of the highly-criticised Peaceful Assembly Act last year.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 March 2012, 9:06 am and is filed under
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The pointless Lynas PSC

— Lucius Goon

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 18, 2012

MARCH 18 — Finally, the Prime Minister has come clean on something — last night he said that the parliamentary select committee on Lynas will not have the final say on the project.

Thank you, Najib Razak for this rare piece of honesty because now I will urge the Opposition and fair-minded Malaysians to boycott this committee and see it for what it really is: a public relations exercise by a government which is big on symbolism and gimmicks and nothing else.

According to Najib, the committee is supposed to engage the public and allay their fears about a project which has raised concerns about toxic waste and waste management.

Here is where the duplicity of the government shines through: they have given Lynas a temporary operating licence, have allowed the Australian company to build a plant, given them 12 years tax holiday, have rubbished fears from PKR’s Fuziah Salleh, have given the anti-Lynas movement almost no coverage in the media and have allowed the Atomic Energy Licensing Board to become a partisan outfit and now they want to have a process of consultation.

This is like a parent punishing a child for allegedly playing truant and then asking later if the child actually did play truant.

Najib is not serious about Lynas. He wasn’t serious about justice for Teoh Beng Hock. He wasn’t serious about tackling the National Feedlot Corporation. He certainly is not serious about finding where the money went in the Port Klang Free Trade Zone.

It is all about closure, about being able to tell the voters that his government did something. Not the right thing, mind you. Just something.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 March 2012, 2:28 pm and is filed under
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‘Useless’ to hold another rally, Muhyiddin tells Bersih 2.0

By Lisa J. Ariffin

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 18, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dismissed today warnings that Bersih 2.0 may launch another rally, telling the election watchdog that street demonstrations are “useless”.

“To me, it is useless to do so (hold another rally),” Muhyiddin told a press conference today after attending the Federal Territory Umno Election Assembly here.

“Demonstrations won’t solve problems, they are just to show how much support you have,” he added, saying that if Barisan Nasional (BN) was to hold a similar demonstration, the pact could easily rally one million supporters.

Muhyiddin was speaking today in response to Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, who yesterday warned Putrajaya of a potential “Bersih 3.0” rally in light of lagging polls reforms and reports of a sudden surge of voters in some parliamentary constituencies.

Muhyiddin pointed out that although Ambiga had many times said Bersih was not politically motivated, “we all know it is political”.

“The main problem here is with the electoral roll and the government has taken many steps to rectify this issue,” he said, citing the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for electoral reforms.

Muhyiddin added that the BN government was an open government, and that there was nothing to hide.

“Whoever is unhappy can voice their discontent to the government, not take it out on the streets,” he said.

“We know the people don’t like demonstrations.”

Following Ambiga’s announcement, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have declared their support for a “Bersih 3.0” rally in the capital city if the Najib administration fail to implement meaningful electoral reforms before polls are held.

The opposition leaders stressed that Putrajaya could avoid a tumultuous rally like last July 9 if their demands are met and recommendations by the PSC for electoral reforms are implemented by the Election Commission (EC).

Thousands of Malaysians took to the streets on July 9 to join Bersih 2.0’s rally for free and fair elections but the protest turned ugly at midday when riot police launched tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse participants.

The widespread clampdown, which saw more than 1,000 people arrested even before the rally, earned the Najib administration a whiplashing in the international media.

Under pressure, the government had then promised a slew of reform measures, which included the formation of the PSC and the enactment of the highly-criticised Peaceful Assembly Act last year.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 March 2012, 2:09 pm and is filed under
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BR1M=BN’S money politics

by Jeswan Kaur

Free Malaysia Today

March 19, 2012

Where did the government obtain the additional funds for the programme as only RM1.8 billion was allocated in the budget approved last year?

COMMENT

A meagre RM500 packaged under the guise of Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) might not do the trick in influencing the country’s voters to sway in favour of Barisan Nasional. The alm was nothing more than a trickery, conceived by the federal government to make sure the people’s nambikei or trust is bought at the cheapest price possible.

To hypothesise that the BN government is prihatin or sensitive towards the high cost of living plaguing the rakyat would be wrong; if BN was bona fide in its concern, its chairman and Prime Minister Najb Tun Razak would have more prudent with his monthly electricity and water bills, both amounting to RM160,000 and RM66,000 respectively.

Likewise, if Najib was sincere in wanting to assist the people, he would not have used money from the national purse to finance his daughter’s engagement ceremonies, as claimed by opposition PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli.

Rafizi said he had receipts to prove how RM409,767, which was the cost to hold a luxurious dinner event at a five-star hotel in central Kuala Lumpur, was billed to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The bill, for an event on June 13 last year, showed that RM18,792 was spent for 36 VIPs and RM309,975 for 862 attendees while handling cost amounted to RM81,000.

Among the dishes in the menu were an array of lavish Wagyu beef, smoked salmon, lobster bisque and scallops.

The receipts, circulated to the media, indicated that the booking was made by one of Najib’s confidant Mohd Po’ad Jelani who was also implicated in another corruption allegation.

Making matters worse was the claim that the PMO had also footed the bill for Najib’s birthday bash. In exposing this unbecoming act of Najib, Rafizi said the premier’s birthday party on June 24 last year cost RM79,053 and was billed to the PMO.

Acccording to the banquent event order from Shangri-La Hotel, which supplied the food, the bill was not only addressed to the PMO but was also billed under the PMO’s account.

Has the PMO become a “Najib and family” entity or does the premier care two hoots about abusing the “privileges” that come his way?

With his own family’s “expenses” unaccounted for, how does the country’s leader expect to lend a helping hand to the needy?

BR1M no trump card for Najib and BN

Did the RM500 aid really reach deserving hands or was it something of a “bonus” given out to just about anyone who had filled up the application form correctly?

Or was the BR1M a political gimmick to pressure the rakyat into voting for BN in the coming general election? Some of the recipients who turned up to collect their vouchers were allegedly shown pictures of opposition party DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and that of Najib and asked whom they would support in the 13th general election. Does this reflect sincerity on the part of the federal government in helping the rakyat?

Maybe BN was hoping to “use” the BR1M as its trump card to secure hope of making an impressive comeback in the next polls. But looking at the premier’s “breach of trust” as far as public funds go, there is no reason for recipients of the BR1M to accord heartfelt gratitude to BN.

Clearly, the keikhlasan or sincerity behind the RM500 alm is missing. The BR1M is being used as an ammunition by the BN government to bring down its enemy, Pakatan Rakyat.

This was evident when Najib bragged that Pakatan-controlled states – Selangor and Kelantan – have the highest number of households which were allocated aid under BR1M.

The premier said Selangor took up 13% of the national allocation and Kelantan 84%.

“This shows that the government is unbiased towards race, religion and political leanings,” Najib had said.

If indeed the federal government under BN does not discriminate, why does it matter which state received the most number of BR1M? Is the objective via BR1M to offer aid or to make a political statement, that is, to send the message home that both Selangor and Kelantan under the Pakatan-ledership have failed to look after the welfare of its people?

Pertinent question

It is still hard to believe that the BN leadership cares about the rakyat. The conviction is hard to come by, especially when news about Najib’s extragavant lifestyle abounds, that too at the expense of the national coffers.

As of March 1, there were 4.78 million applications for the RM500 aid, of which 3.74 million were approved. Twenty percent of the applications were rejected for incomplete information, among other reasons.

“In total, 59% of households nationwide or 3.8 million households were given the aid. The government spent a total of RM1.92 billion on the programme,” Najib had said during an answer- and-question session in Parliament on March 13.

He also did not rule out the possibility of continuing the BR1M in time to come, all depending on the government’s income.

The premier keeps dismissing claims that the government had used public funds or sought help from the World Bank to implement the BR1M.

The BR1M has also been extended to enable those living in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak to apply for the aid.

The prompted Azan Ismail (Indera Mahkota-PKR) to raise a pertinent question: where did the government obtain the additional funds for the programme as only RM1.8 billion was allocated in the budget approved last year.

“In the budget, it is stated that RM1.8 billion would be allocated for the programme. But now Najib announced that RM1.92 billion was spent. Where did the government get the extra funding from?

“What’s worse, he is now saying that the deadline may be extended,” Azan said. He said no applications were made for a supplementary budget to meet the additional expenses.

Azan added: “We are not against the programme to assist the poor but one can’t use public funds lackadaisically.” He said a full audit of the BR1M programme was necessary.

Is it therefore wrong to think that the BR1M is yet another form of “money politics” devised by BN in its desperation to win the coming general election, seen as the most challenging ever?

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 7:50 pm and is filed under
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DAP to stay out of Lynas PSC

By Clara Chooi

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 19, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The DAP will abstain from participating in the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on the Lynas issue, its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today, calling the panel a “sham”.

He charged that the PSC, expected to be proposed in Parliament tomorrow, was the Najib administration’s way of legitimising the controversial Lynas Corporation plant, which activists claim would be an environmental hazard.

“DAP will not participate in a sham PSC which serves to deliver a ‘fait accompli’ by endorsing the Lynas plant and forcing public acceptance without any due regard for safety, environmental and health concerns,” Lim said in a media statement here.

The Cabinet agreed last week for form a bipartisan PSC to look into the Lynas controversy but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak irked the project’s detractors when he said on Saturday the panel’s purpose was not to decide on the fate of the plant in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Instead, Najib had said the PSC was part of Putrajaya’s engagement process to ensure the public understood the issues at hand.

“It has to do with the process of engagement with the people and for them (the select committee) to look at all aspects of the project, especially the safety factor and any possible threats to health,” he told reporters in Ipoh.

Today, Lim said this implied the panel’s conclusion was already predetermined.

“In other words, this whole exercise is merely to help the project gain acceptance and to help the BN government convince Malaysians that there is no threat from the Lynas rare earth plant and its potentially hazardous radioactive waste,” Lim said.

Given that the PSC is unlikely to decide the fate of the Lynas plant, Lim said it would be a “complete waste of time” for DAP to participate in it.

Lim also urged other Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component parties to join DAP in abstaining from joining the PSC.

“We should not be used as tools in the BN’s bid to fool the people and to justify the setting up of the Lynas rare earth plant,” he said.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said on Saturday that the bipartisan panel would comprise nine members — four BN lawmakers, three PR MPs, one independent and with Umno minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin as chairman.

He said the panel would be tasked with getting feedback from stakeholders such as authorities and citizens groups, and deliver its findings within three months.

Thousands of anti-Lynas protestors attended an opposition-backed rally by Himpunan Hijau last month in the largest protest yet against the rare earth plant that is expected to fire up later this year.

Critics of the refinery want Putrajaya to direct the nation’s nuclear regulator to reverse its decision to approve Lynas’s temporary operating licence (TOL), which will let the Australian miner embark on a two-year trial run.

They allege that Lynas has not given enough assurances on how it will handle the low-level radioactive waste that will be produced at the refinery.

The government has been under pressure from groups to shut down the rare earth project over safety fears, but Putrajaya has stood its ground on the project that was first earmarked for Terengganu.

Lynas maintains that waste from the Gebeng plant — which will be the largest rare earth refinery in the world upon completion — will not be hazardous and can be recycled for commercial applications.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 7:26 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia – through the eyes of a patriot

Lynn D’Cruz | Mar 18, 2012

Malaysiakini

As one flicks through the early pages of Kee Thuan Chye’s second yet profoundly articulate book ‘No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians’, one cannot help but stare in wonder at the last two names in the dedication.

Soraya Sunitra Kee Xiang Yin and Jebat Arjuna Kee Jia Liang fly off the pages like a flag in the wind.

One knows instantly that beyond it’s ability to provoke change, this is a book by a true patriot. A patriot who believes that Malaysia is worth fighting for.

To the reader’s delight a whole chapter is dedicated to explaining the names of his children leaves the message “I am Malaysian first, Chinese second,” resonating deeply with the reader.

Having the layman understand the political climate in Malaysia is not an easy feat. Kee, manages to illustrate the political climate, the discrepancies and struggles Malaysians who harbour a love for her country face – in easy to understand logic.

He begins the book trying to convince his friends who intent to emigrate to stay back and fight for Malaysia. He ends his first chapter – with a resigned reply by his friends “but does this country really cares if we stay or go.”

Fight for reform

However, the whole book, including plays the writer had produced, is intelligently designed to convince people to stay back and fight for reform.

He discloses everyday run-ins with authorities, how the country is bullied by a minority and the infantile disregard for arts and culture.

Kee masterfully highlights how the national language is politicised to sideline and marginalise non-Malay writers. How, although their works speak volumes of patriotism and love for the country – yet, when written in English, are not respected as national literature.

He speaks about senseless censorship – in and around the performing arts industry and how a mere mention of a particular pharmacy may be the reason your permit is revoked.

“There is precious little that artists can do to defend their rights; not while the government and the people give in to tyranny.”

Kee names the autocratic former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the biggest mess maker in the country. His interference in press freedom, the judiciary, his building of the white elephant, Putrajaya and last but not least his Ketuanan Melayu ideology are all different degrees of Mahathir’s dirty linen aired in Kee’s masterful ‘No more Bullshit’.

This book will tamper with your conscience. It will not let you rest or feel indifferent – it points out, highlights and defines what a democracy truly means. It puts to shame the 54 years of feigned independence.

It is a book with acute documentation of Malaysian history since March 8, 2012. The author intricately outlines race-related incidents, political implications, dialectical struggles and highlights repeatedly the strength in people’s power.

This is a book one has to read in order to remember every single affliction Malaysia has faced in the last four years. It will solidify the reader’s resolution to want to make a difference in the next general elections.

It is a book every Malaysian should possess.

——————————————————————————–

‘No More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians’ is available in all leading bookstores at RM39.90.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 10:14 am and is filed under
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Penang shining, thanks to Guan Eng

Free Malaysia Today

March 18, 2012

P
enang CM Lim Guan Eng gets a good mark for his manner of governing the state.

By Dan Martin

AFP

GEORGETOWN: Former political detainee Lim Guan Eng wasted no time leaving his mark on Penang after the brash opposition politician won power in the Malaysian state in 2008 general election.

He quickly balanced the books of the former British colonial outpost, which were stained red after a half-century under the control of Malaysia’s authoritarian ruling coalition.

He has virtually eliminated its debt, launched a campaign to halt official corruption, and has, by most accounts, injected new vigour and efficiency into the government of the important economic hub.

Today, Penang — a colorful mix of colonial architecture, pre-war Chinese shophouses, tropical beaches and high-tech factories — is on the up, as property values soar and foreign investment rolls in.

With potentially pivotal new elections expected to be called within months, Lim — a 51-year-old ethnic Chinese former banker with slicked-back hair and a wide chin — says the implications of his record are clear.

“If you can show that you can govern well, it will be a model, a showcase… a precursor of governing the federal government,” he said, pointing to the possibility of the opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim taking power.

Malaysia’s long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition faces voter unease over allegations of misgovernance, corruption, and racial tension, the latter often blamed on policies that promote majority Malays over minority Chinese and Indians.

But the BN insists the Anwar-led opposition can do no better.

Lim’s success in Penang has called that claim into question, however, and his outspokenness mark him as the country’s most potent symbol of minority impatience.

Lim earned a one-year jail term in 1998 for sedition after he criticised the dropping of rape charges against a Malay top ruling party politician and he launches regular broadsides against the BN over its frequent financial and other scandals.

His detractors call him a domineering self-promoter who is benefiting from UNESCO’s 2008 listing of Penang’s capital Georgetown as a World Heritage Site, a bid launched before he took over.

But even opponents acknowledge he gets results.

Bureaucracy more efficient under Lim

“He is very clever, very authoritarian,” said Teng Hock Nan, Penang’s top official for Gerakan, the ruling coalition partner ousted by Lim’s DAP in 2008. “When he gives a directive, it gets done.”

One of Britain’s oldest Asian settlements, Penang was a cosmopolitan trading hub in its 19th-century heyday before going into what Lim calls a “graceful decline”.

Today, run-down Georgetown shophouses — the distinctive rows of buildings seen in parts of Southeast Asia — are being transformed into trendy hotels, cafes and art galleries injecting new life into old neighbourhoods.

A federally-backed grant programme provides seed money for such renovations.

Many credit Lim’s attempts to clean up the rampant backroom deals and political patronage that are typical of Malaysia, whose rating by Transparency International on corruption in recent years has steadily sunk.

Lim launched an unprecedented system of open tenders for state projects and his top officials this year took the unheard-of step of declaring their assets.

Business figures privately say once-routine demands for payoffs are now rare and the bureaucracy more efficient.

“What is sad about Malaysia is that things that are the international norm (clean government) are abnormal,” Lim said.

Foreign investors have signalled their approval. Home to much of Malaysia’s high-tech industry, Penang led the nation in luring manufacturing investment the past two years.

Lim’s moves have been “very substantive in managing finances, cleaning up the government, and initiating green policies”, said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia politics analyst with Singapore Management University.

“I’ve gone there for years and can tell you there is a big difference.”

Australian investors Karl Steinberg and Christopher Ong, who is Penang-born, have restored an Edwardian bungalow and other decaying heritage properties into boutique hotels, lured by the new energy and official “cleanliness”.

“There are places where corruption can make it hard to get things done. Penang is relatively free of that,” Steinberg said.

But Lim’s directness rubs many raw and he faces criticism for overly fast growth as soaring property prices have worsened a low-cost housing shortage. Plans for huge infrastructure projects have fuelled the concerns.

Gerakan accuses him of stoking racial tensions, and national leaders including premier Najib Tun Razak have warned vaguely of threats to Malay dominance, widely seen as referring to ambitious non-Malays like Lim.

Strong grip of Penang

But Francis Loh, head of independent Penang-based democratic rights group Aliran, says Lim’s government has been racially inclusive.

“They represent the opening up of government in Malaysia,” he said.

Leading Malaysia pollster Ibrahim Suffian said Lim looks so secure that the ruling coalition likely views Penang as a “lost cause” in the next polls.

Nationally, the picture is less clear.

Lim doubles as national head of the Chinese-dominated DAP, one of three members of the opposition front, including Anwar’s multi-racial party and an Islamic party.

The alliance won historic gains over the BN in 2008 but remains fractious and its performance is mixed in three other states — Malaysia has 13 — it won four years ago.

But Lim remains hopeful. He relaxes by reading British historian Niall Ferguson’s works on the failures of past national governments through history, in case the opposition wins control.

“If we win… I need to know what are the pitfalls,” he said.

– AFP

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 12:05 am and is filed under
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Show BN the door

— Gomen Man

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 18, 2012

MARCH 18 — We should punish Umno/Barisan Nasional for their arrogance and must pay heed every time their politicians show their arrogance and let other Malaysians know about it.

And it is even more imperative that we act decisively when those who portray their arrogance and deign to lecture us are anything but role models. Just listen to Najib Razak and Muhyiddin Yassin.

Today, the PM says that his government’s reforms will fail if states under the Opposition are not back in the BN fold. What a sham.

Look, his so-called reforms are dead, and have been for some time. Fearful of losing his party warlords, there have not been any open tenders, or move to push Malaysia up the income level, or more transparency in government procurement.

And let us not talk about Pemandu and Idris Jala. This is the man who supposedly turned around Malaysia Airlines and look at where the carrier is now. Pemandu have come out with a wish list of projects and their estimates are so incredible that most senior civil servants roll their eyes whenever anyone mentions Pemandu.

Our national debt is more than 55 per cent of the GDP, the highest it has ever been. It would seem the crony capitalism of the Mahathir years is back.

But Najib still is in la la land and now says that his transformation programme will be in jeopardy if Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan do not return to BN control. We can tolerate grandstanding but we should not accept lies.

Selangor and Penang are more efficiently run and have undergone more significant transformation than any BN-run state, with better surpluses and stronger foreign investor interest. Kelantan is among the poorest states because the federal government has deprived the state of funds, including oil royalty.

If anything, it is the Opposition-run states which have shown an appetite for reform, whether through the Freedom of Information Act, etc.

But Najib is prepared to lie to former Malay civil servants and that is his prerogative. We don’t have to put up with these lies anymore.

Now let me discuss his deputy. The man dismisses the threat of Bersih 3.0 and says that demos don’t change anything. Serious? Why did his boss push through the lame duck Peaceful Assembly Act if not for pressure from Bersih 2.0? Why did Najib change the Internal Security Act if not for pressure from Bersih 2.0?

But we should not be surprised about Muhyiddin. The guy rarely talks sense. It is a wonder he is still a national leader given his legal troubles with a group of Singapore investors back in the days when he was the Johor MB. Just Google Stamford and Muhyiddin.

He was also the agriculture minister when Shahrizat Jalil’s family hit the jackpot aka the NFC project.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 10:25 am and is filed under
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Similar Scandals, Different Treatment

By
M. Bakri Musa

To assert that the Malaysian mass media is nothing more than propaganda arm of the ruling Barisan coalition is no revelation. The personnel in the mainstream dailies, the national news agency Bernama, and the government broadcasting channel RTM are less journalists and editors, more political hacks and spinmeisters. They are, to borrow National Laureate Samad Ismail’s word, the carma (contraction for cari makan, seeking a livelihood) variety.

            Less appreciated is the fact that they are hired hands not of the Barisan government but of whatever faction in it that is currently dominant, or trying to be so. Thus one can surmise the tensions and the dynamics of the current swing of the political pendulum within Barisan, specifically UMNO, from perusing the headlines. Perusing is exactly the right word, for there is nothing much worth reading in those dailies.

            Consider the contrasting treatment in the mainstream media of the two currently unfolding financial scandals. The first is the National Feedlot Corporation mess (“cow-gate”) that is now ensnaring the husband and family of Women’s Minister Shahrizat Jalil; it had also led to her resignation from her cabinet post. The other is the nearly half-a-million ringgit engagement party for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s daughter and an equally expensive birthday bash for himself that he allegedly tried to on to Treasury, and thus the taxpayers.

            Both scandals were first exposed in the Internet through the diligent investigations of Rafizi Ramli, the chief strategist for Pakatan Rakyat. With the first scandal, the mainstream media were quick to pick up on and embellish the story; on the second, there was no mention at all. One can safely conclude that the respective primary players in both scandals, Shahrizat with the first and Najib for the second, are from different factions within UMNO. No marks for guessing which side is on the ascendance.

            Rafizi is no rabble rouser throwing off wild accusations here and there. His first exposé of the “cow-gate” was initially dismissed by no less than the chief of police; today the principal player, Shahrizat’s husband, is charged with criminal breach of trust and she was caught in the ensuing wake.

            With Rafizi’s track record, you would think that those investigative journalists in the mainstream media would be eager to pursue his leads. At the very least their curiosity should have been piqued. Thus for them to completely ignore the story of the alleged publicly-paid engagement and birthday parties meant that they are journalists only in name, and that they are told what to do.

            In terms of monetary value, Najib’s birthday bash and his daughter’s engagement party, both totaling at about “just” half a million ringgit, are but a small change compared to the cow-gate’s RM250 million price tag; cow-gate in turn pales in comparison to the multibillion billion ringgit Port Kang Free Zone Development debacle or the “commission” paid on acquiring the second-hand French submarines that would not submerge.

            While the price tag may vary, the underlying mindset of contempt for taxpayers’ money remains. To these leaders the concept of integrity or the diligent exercise of fiduciary responsibility is foreign. At best they are but slogans uttered during election campaigns and then conveniently ignored.

            To be sure, this is not a weakness unique only unto Malaysian politicians. In some countries these wayward politicians are caught and brought to justice; in others, well, they continue on business as well, their greed feeding on itself. There is no limit to their avarice. Their “success” would then be celebrated, and they would then become the new role models. Unfortunately that is where Malaysia is today.

            What struck me most about this latest scandal, the one involving Najib’s birthday party in particular, was the utter lack of class. Najib has made more than a few UMNOPutras rich through his giving away many lucrative contracts. Surely at least one of them would be generous or grateful enough to host the party for him.

            Alas that is the problem with greed; there is literally no boundary to it. Najib’s many rich friends are still expecting to sponge off him! Likewise with Shahrizat’s husband; if he had spread the bounty around just a wee bit as, for example, to include the head of Utusan, Bernama or The New Straits Times to be on the board of directors of his Feedlot Corporation, Rafizi’s accusation would never have gone beyond cyberspace.

            Greedy and unscrupulous politicians alone would and could not do in Malaysia. It would take more. There would have to be a general failure of our institutions to allow such abuses and corruption to go on and be tolerated. Toleration soon degenerates into encouragement, and a new cultural norm is established.

            This is what happens when the institutions of our society have been let to deteriorate. They are no longer able to function as effective defenders of citizens’ interests. We expect members of the fourth estate to be aware of their awesome responsibility to keep citizens informed. We expect these journalists to be on the vanguard of this sacred task. Alas they too have been taken in; they have prostituted themselves to those in power.

            There is an honorable place in this world for cheerleaders, spinmeisters, or even court jesters and others who see themselves doing the bidding of those who hired them, but reporters and journalists they are not. If those in the mainstream media feel that they have to cari makan, then I suggest that they join the advertising and pubic relations industry. If they are talented enough in that endeavor there will get plenty of rewards. They do not need to soil and degrade the hallowed traditions and functions of the fourth estate.

            This degradation of our mainstream media is of course not a recent phenomenon, nor is it a subtle. RTM has only a few hundred followers on its Twitter. As for The New Straits Times, if not for its highly subsidized distributions and subscriptions, its circulation would down in the dumps. And if not for the government-paid announcements and advertisements and paid press releases of government-linked corporations, so too would be the paper’s revenue.

            Just as the shifts in fortune among the politically powerful are reflected in the coverage of the mainstream media, so too is the dysfunctional leadership among them. We saw this played out during the early days of barely-under-the-surface rivalry between Mahathir and his then deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Their supporters take their cue from how their patrons were covered in the mainstream media. The New Straits Times rivaled Pravda in this regard. This was repeated when Abdullah Badawi took over; then it was Mahathir’s turn to be at the receiving end.

            There is no honor among UMNO leaders. Theirs is a world of hyenas; a world of winner takes all, right to last bit of morsel of their prey. Mahathir did it to Tengku Razaleigh when the latter lost a closely contested leadership contest back in the 1980s. Mahathir did it again later, this time at a more vicious level, with Anwar Ibrahim. Then Abdullah Badawi tried to do it to Mahathir, and learned to regret it.

            You would expect the women of UMNO to show some gentleness. Yet there was Shahrizat and Rafidah still at it with their cat fight, now more openly and much uglier.

            There is plenty of blame to go around for the present pathetic state in Malaysia. Our callous acceptance of wrong doing among our leaders did not develop overnight. We have been taught, and taught well, to accept these misdeeds as anything but that, aided by those cheerleaders and spinmeisters in the mainstream media. —
www.bakrimusa.com

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2012, 3:06 pm and is filed under
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Kadir Sheikh Fadzir sempat keluar Umno sebelum parti itu diketepikan

Oleh
Aspan Alias
 | March 20, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

20 MAC — Tan Sri Kadir Sheikh Fadzir telah rasmi meninggalkan Umno. Ini disahkan oleh Setiausaha Agung Umno Tengku Datuk Seri Adnan Mansor. Tindakan beliau itu telah dijangkakan dari awal lagi kerana beliau telah meluahkan banyak perkara yang beliau tidak persetujui berlaku didalam Umno. Beliau telah menyertai Umno pada tahun 1956 dan bersama-sama menyertai Umno Baru pada bulan Februari 1988 yang lalu.

Saya memahami apa yang dirasakan oleh TS Kadir itu kerana beliau sudah begitu lama terlibat didalam kedua-dua parti (Umno asal dan Umno Baru), dan tentulah beliau nampak dan merasakan perbezaan diantara dahulu dengan sekarang. Saya menganggap dan boleh mengagak yang beliau lebih selesa berada diluar Umno untuk bersama-sama menyatukan Melayu diluar parti yang kian hari kian lemah itu.

Tindakan TS Kadir keluar dari parti itu merupakan bayangan menifestasi sebenarnya yang berlaku didalam Umno. Sebagai seorang yang telah bersama dengan parti itu selama 5 dekad lebih itu, tindakan beliau itu tentunya didasarkan kepada masalah-masalah yang berlaku didalam Umno kerana saya secara peribadi merasakan apa yang diresahkan oleh TS Kadir itu.

Meninggalkan parti itu adalah satu-satunya pilihan TS Kadir kerana tidak ada maknanya jika berada didalam parti yang meresahkan beliau. Tentulah berbagai-bagai tohmahan akan dilemparkan kepada beliau oleh penyokong dan penjilat pimpinan parti itu tetapi biarkan sahaja mereka berbuat apa yang mereka suka. Kita sahaja yang tahu perbezaan berada diluar parti yang kini sedang menuju kepada penghujung perjuangannya.

Saya telah dihubungi oleh ramai juga rakan-rakan kenalan dan yang tidak saya kenali bertanyakan tentang tindakan TS Kadir ini untuk mendapat komen saya. Saya hanya memberikan pandangan yang berlainan. Orang lain biarlah dengan pandangan mereka. Ia bergantung kepada matlamat masing-masing. Jika matlamatnya ialah untuk meneruskan agenda memusnahkan rasuah tegar dan menjauhi dari penjajahan pemikiran oleh pimpinan yang hanya mementing perut mereka sahaja, meninggalkan Umno itu merupakan jalan yang terbaik.

Menentang kegiatan rasuah didalam parti dan kerajaan didalam Umno akan hanya mengundang diri kita dihina dan dinesta kerana mereka didalam parti itu tidak lagi mahu melihat rasuah itu dihapuskan. Saya pernah menyatakan dengan jelas yang Umno dan rasuah itu ibarat aur dengan tebing yang saling menyandar diantara satu dengan lain. Rasuah tidak akan berkembang pesat tanpa Umno dan Umno pula tidak akan hidup tanpa rasuah. Rasuah itu sudah menjadi pakaian kepada pemimpin-pemimpin Umno disetiap peringkat.

Isu negara sejak tiga dekad dahulu adalah rasuah. Rasuah inilah yang membawa kepada masalah-masalah yang lain kerana apabila pemimpin politik dan pelaksana mengamalkan rasuah mereka tidak akan membuat keputusan dengan baik lagi. Bagi melindungi rasuah maka pimpinan terpaksa berbohong dengan rakyat. Mereka terpaksa berbohong beribu kali kerana bohong mereka yang pertama dahulu.

Dulu mereka boleh berbohong sekehendak hati, tetapi apabila rakyat sudah menjadi rakyat yang bermaklumat maka pimpinan sudah tidak lagi boleh melindungi perkara mungkar yang mereka lakukan.

Kini TS Kadir meninggalkan parti dan beliau tidak kesaorangan. Ratusan ribu “card-carrying members” Umno tidak memberikan sokongan terhadap parti itu lagi. Mereka adalah diantara ahli yang sudah merasa jemu dengan kerenah pemimpin-pemimpin mereka. Minggu ke minggu, tahun berganti tahun, pemimpin-pemimpin Umno telah memberikan masalah kepada parti. Sepatutnya pemimpin yang menahan ragam ahli-ahli yang ramai ini.

Tetapi sekarang keadaan sudah terbalik. Pemimpin-pemimpin mereka pula yang memberi masalah kepada parti. Pemimpin parti sekarang tidak berkelayakan untuk dituakan (hormati). Sepatutnya kita ikut perbilangan; yang muda membuat ragam dan yang tua menahan ragam. Banyak kritikan terhadap TS Kadir ini datangnya dari orang-orang baru, yang sedang cuba-cuba mengenali Umno itu.

Kebanyakkan dari mereka ini jika diperbandingkan dengan usia dan pengalaman dalam Umno ini tidak lebih dari orang yang masih belum mengenali yang mana satu tangan kanan untuk makan dan yang mana tangan kiri untuk beristinjak. Umno kata orang, Umno kata mereka. Tetapi mereka tidak tahu dan masih belum mengenali Umno yang sebenarnya.

Itulah sebabnya ramai diantara yang menulis dialam maya ini menulis mempertahankan Umno itu bukan kerana mereka mengenali parti itu sebaliknya kerana mempertahankan apa yang mereka ada atau apa yang mereka boleh perolehi. Malahan setengahnya mendapat imbuhan untuk mencarut dan menggunakan bahasa yang tidak menunjukkan ketamaddunan mereka.

Tindakan TS Kadir keluar parti itu merupakan cebisan dari perasaan tidak puas hati dengan “conduct” Umno sekarang ini. Perasaan itu dirasakan juga oleh ramai ahli-ahli Umno yang lain. Hanya mereka tidak berani bersuara kerana salah satu kejayaan Umno ialah untuk membentuk sindrom bisu dikalangan ahli-ahlinya. Ada mata pandang ada telinga dengar sahaja.

Dalam keadaan beginilah yang membuatkan orang Melayu terbantut daya pemikiran mereka. Itu jelas merupakan sumbangan besar Umno terhadap orang Melayu. Saya berkeyakinan ramai lagi ahli-ahli Umno akan mengikut jejak langkah TS Kadir itu. Seperti pilihanraya 2008 yang lalu, lebih dari sejuta ahli Umno keluar parti di dalam bilik mengundi disaluran masing-masing nanti.

Lain-lain perkataan TS Kadir sempat keluar sebelum parti itu diketepikan oleh rakyat tidak lama lagi. —
aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 March 2012, 5:12 pm and is filed under
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Pakatan: No point to Lynas PSC

Patrick Lee
 | March 20, 2012

Free Malaysia Today

A PSC investigating Lynas’ purported radiation will have no effect, with Pakatan MPs scoffing at its advent.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) investigating the Lynas rare earth plant near Kuantan will come to naught, opposition lawmakers said.

Pakatan Rakyat politicians said the government had no intention to scrap the controversial plant, hence it was pointless to form a PSC to study the plant’s safety standards.

They said this after opposition MPs marched out of the Dewan Rakyat, moments after a motion tabling the PSC was approved.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Kuantan MP (PKR) Fuziah Salleh said: “It is my wish that the PSC is fair. I wish it was a platform to hear the concerns of the people in Kuantan, that it is able to understand the issue of safety.”

“…I wish the PSC was a channel (for Kuantan people) to come out with their anguish and concerns… But after we heard the winding-up by the minister (in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz), I have come to the conclusion that we cannot put our hope in the PSC,” she said.

Fuziah was also accompanied by a host of Pakatan MPs, including Kuala Selangor MP (PAS) Dzulkefly Ahmad, Batu MP (PKR) Tian Chua and Klang MP (DAP) Charles Santiago.

Earlier today, Nazri tabled a motion that would form a PSC to investigate public concerns on the controversial rare earth plant.

Chaired by Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin, the committee would study the plant’s safety standards, which was currently on-site at Gebeng, near Kuantan.

It would have three months to fulfil its objectives. Five BN, three Pakatan and one Independent MPs would sit in the committee.

However, during today’s debate on the matter, Pakatan MPs were unhappy with the PSC, which they claimed was flawed before it was even formed.

In one example, Kuala Krai MP (PAS) Hatta Ramli told the Dewan Rakyat that the PSC chairman previously hoped to “change the negative, baseless perception on Lynas and LAMP”.

Many BN MPs were also convinced that the plant was safe, and accused the opposition of politicking.

Nazri would later wind up the speech, before the motion was passed by an oral vote. Frustrated at supposedly being ignored, Pakatan lawmakers then walked out en masse.

They would later claim that the minister had no intention of answering their concerns.

General election looming

One of the issues they raised was that the PSC would not have the final say over Lynas.

According to a recent Bernama report, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said that the PSC would not decide on the fate of the project.

This irked Fuziah, who said: “At the end of the day, the PM can say whatever he wants, decide whatever he wants… It seems that they are determined to push it through.”

Chiming in, Santiago said that it did not make sense to form a PSC when 90% of the plant had already been constructed.

He also asked where the “radioactive material” would be disposed in Malaysia, after it was refined by the plant.

Another concern was the looming general election, speculated for a June date.

“The chances of Parliament to be dissolved by the end of May for June are very high… It cannot do justice, even if it (the PSC) comes out with report, (it will have no) mandate,” said Santiago.

Asked what Pakatan would do next, Dzulkfely said: “We will go against (Lynas)… with the power of the people to decide.”

Additionally, both PAS and PKR MPs present did not appear confident about sitting on the committee.

Previously, DAP boycotted the PSC, adding that the panel was a “sham”.

Lynas spokespersons claimed that the plant – and its operations – would not be harmful to the local Kuantan population; a claim shared by government MPs.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 March 2012, 6:43 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s political reform: Academic freedom

— Ahmad Iskandar

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 21, 2012

MARCH 21 — Towards the end of 2011, several incidents unfolded bringing the issue of academic freedom to the fore of Malaysia’s public discourse. Among them were the demonstrations held to oppose University and University College Act (UUCA 1975), one in PWTC and another in UPSI. Adam Adli and Safwan Anang, emerged as voices to champion the cause. However, we will not discuss demonstrations here, but we will explore briefly the main issue underlying the demonstrations, which is academic freedom. Systematically, we will look into its definition, the examples of the lack of freedom, the solutions and their implications.

Borrowing from The Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutions of Higher Education, academic freedom is defined as “the freedom of members of the academic community individually or collectively, in the pursuit, development and transmission of knowledge, through research, study, discussion, documentation, production, creation, teaching, lecturing and writing.” To ascertain whether academic freedom was observed or not, we will use four categories of relationship– academic freedom between government and institutions, administrators and academics, among peers and finally by external factors. By looking at these four categories, we can conclude that academic freedom is rarely observed in Malaysia.

Generally, there are two clear factors that show the absence of academic freedom in local universities.

Firstly, academic institutions are not free politically. Underlying this is the infamous University and University College Act (UUCA 1975). University students and staffs have been denied the right to express support or opposition towards any political organisation. They could also be placed under constant monitoring if they are suspect of violation[1]. Moreover, under the discipline of staff rules, academics are prevented from taking public stands on controversial issues. Imagine the tragedy that befalls a nation when great minds like these are disallowed from steering the political discourse towards a more intellectual tune. Perhaps this is the reason why such hilarity and absurdity is expected when national policies are discussed publicly.

Second, academic institutions are not free administratively. Despite the numerous plans from the Ministry of Higher Education to grant more autonomy to the academic institutions, the practice on the ground shows another story entirely. The power of the state, often times, override the university constitution or by-laws. It is also not unusual for the state to determine the compulsory subjects taught in universities such as Islamic & Asian Civilisation, Thinking Skills and Ethnic Relations which effectiveness are questionable[2]. Furthermore, the issue that academics should worry most is the banning of research topics by the government under the pretext of racial sensitivity and national security. Topics like ethnic conflicts, religious issues and local corruption are amongst them. This is a shame as only with such discourse, will Malaysia be one step closer in resolving long standing contentious issues.

Despite the pessimism, the government has been taking a more liberal stance. In light of recent determined pressure from certain quarters, Prime Minister Najib’s administration in his address to the nation during Malaysia Day 2011, has promised to look into amending section 15 of the act to allow students and faculty members to be members of a political organisations. An exercise which his supporters have claimed to be staying true to the ruling coalition’s pledge of political reform. But this ‘reform’ only scratches the tip of the iceberg, instead of addressing the crux of the matter. Sure, one could argue that this is a departure from the orthodox method of ‘Government Knows Best’ but if the Prime Minister were to listen very carefully to the people, what they really clamour for is the freedom to express their opinions, exercise their right to take position in controversial national issues and further liberalisation of the academic institution which requires more than the amendment of section 15 of UUCA or repealing it altogether.

Proponents of UUCA often argue that any involvement in politics will only distract students from their true purpose of university education, getting good results in the university exams. This view is highly patronising and does not accord young people their due credit. The main purpose of university education is to attain knowledge broadly and in many ways. If one argues that these graduates lack the basic skill of time management, there is no better way to teach them than to let them manage their own time in universities. Policing them like primary and secondary student will just not do.

Besides that, if the purpose of curbing political activism among students is to create world class Malaysian universities, we should have seen them among the top of the Times Higher Education ranking by now, after more than 30 years of UUCA in effect. The absence of such evidence dispels such notion that focusing on solely academic achievements can propel universities to be at par with world leading universities.

Maybe it is time to learn a thing or two from the top universities by liberalising the restrictions and regulations in local universities and facilitate healthy debates among the university community. One could not deny that we might finally see improvements in their quality once these liberating measures are adopted.

Here, I like propose another solution. As cliché as this might sound, maybe it is time for a real paradigm shift. It is about time that we move away from the mindset that if things go bad, only the government ought to do something about it. Malaysians should realise that each and every one of them is capable of becoming agents of change.

Individuals need to foster or promote academic freedom in their own capacity. Encourage our own children to think freely, ask without fear and discuss rationally. Facilitate their inquisitive mind to reach its full and true potential. At first, they become habits, then they become norms and consequently they will become our culture. When critical mass is reached, no longer will academic freedom be regarded as an alien or a western notion. It will be firmly ingrained as a Malaysian value and fighting for the cause of academic freedom will no longer be a major hurdle.

Here we have touched briefly on the issue of academic freedom. To delve further into the matter would require a more rigorous discussion that would be impossible fit in a short article like this. I hope that with the rest of 2012 yet to unveil itself, my fellow Malaysians will continue to discuss policies that will affect most of us. I hope with further discussion more people will understand this issue and Malaysia will finally have a taste of academic freedom. — http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au

[1]  John A. Lent, 1979, “ Social Change and the Human Right of Freedom of Expression in Malaysia”

[2] Wan A. Manan (2008), “The Malaysian National Higher Education Action Plan:  Redefining Autonomy and Academic Freedom Under the APEX Experiment”

* Raja Ahmad Iskandar Fareez Raja Shamsul is a recent graduate from the Australian National University and former chairperson of the Malaysian Student’s Council of Australia — Australian Capital Territory Chapter.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 12:04 pm and is filed under
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Sejak Merdeka isu Melayu berkumandang, Melayu tidak ke mana juga

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 21, 2012

21 MAC — Isu Melayu tetap menjadi bahan kempen Umno dan Barisan Nasional semasa kita sedang menanti tarikh muktamad pilihanraya yang akan datang. PRU boleh jadi hampir atau mungkin lambat lagi. Mungkin Najib Razak menangguhkan PRU ke13 ini sampai akhir penggal pada bulan Mac 2013. Terpulang kepada beliau untuk menentukannya.

Yang saya hendak sebut hanya tentang isu yang dimainkan oleh Umno dan BN sekarang ini dan isu yang paling jelas ialah isu keselamatan dan masa depan orang Melayu. Isu ini digunakan setiap kali pilihanraya di adakan. Ia semata-mata untuk menakutkan orang Melayu untuk meninggalkan Umno dan memberikan sokongan ke pihak lain. Ia menunjukan kegagalan Umno untuk memberikan penyelesaian terhadap isu Melayu ini.

Sejak mencapai kemerdekaan ini sahajalah isu yang dimainkan. Ia merupakan lagu lama yang sudah jarang didengar. Lagu ini kita dengar bermusim sahaja, iaitu semasa pilihanraya diadakan. Ianya adalah seperti lagu lama nyanyian Momok Latif dan anak muda sekarang ini sudah tidak suka mendengarnya lagi.

BN sudah kehilangan isu dalam keadaan “defensive” yang sedang mereka alami sekarang ini. Sejak berpuluh tahun dahulu kita mendengar isu ini tetapi Melayu tetap dalam keadaan ketinggalan. Pemimpin-pemimpin besar negara adalah orang Melayu. Ketua Setiausaha kementerian-kementerian orang Melayu. KSN orang Melayu, Ketua Polis Negara orang Melayu, Ketua Turus Angkatan Tentera orang Melayu, pegawai-pegawai daerah orang Melayu.

Apa lagi? Wakil-wakil rakyat dan penggubal dasar majoritinya orang Melayu. Tetapi kenapa Melayu masih layu? Segala-gala kuasa dan kemudahan diberikan kepada penggubal dasar Melayu serta pelaksana Melayu tetapi Melayu tetap ketinggalan.

Pemimpin-pemimpin dan parti yang sama juga yang terus menerus melaungkan isu untung nasib Melayu tetapi sedarkah mereka yang mereka yang yang bertanggungjawab di atas kegagalan Melayu untuk berdiri sama tinggi dan duduk sama rendah dengan bangsa bukan Melayu.

Kini pilihanraya sudah hampir dan isu ini kembali berkumandang. Umno mengakui yang mereka merupakan segala-galanya untuk orang Melayu. Kalau benar Umno itu adalah segala-galanya kenapa Melayu masih menjadi pengemis bukan sahaja kepada bangsa asing malahan kepada parti mereka sendiri yang bernama Umno itu. Kenapa orang Melayu masih begitu takut untuk berubah sedangkan Umno begitu nyata telah gagal untuk memperjuangkan orang Melayu?

Sampai bila Melayu hendak menunggu kejayaan pemimpin yang merupakan pemimpin-pemimpin Melayu dalam Umno itu? Melayu diseru bersatu untuk kesinambungan dan kemajuan masa depan dan Melayu telah bersatu selama lima dekad. Tetapi semasa Melayu bersatu bersama mereka mereka menggunakan kesempatan untuk kepintingan politik peribadi. Ramai yang tidak berkelayakan untuk pemimpin telah menjadi pemimpin kerana Melayu bersatu.

Tak kemana juga orang Melayu. Maka sekarang Melayu telah ramai yang mengambil keputusan untuk masih bersatu, tetapi kali ini mereka mahu bersatu di luar Umno. Orang melayu kini sudah menjadi Melayu yang bermaklumat. Maka mereka mula mengubah haluan bukan kerana saja-saja untuk mengubah haluan tetapi Umno telah memaksa mereka untuk meninggalkan keyakinan terhadap Umno itu untuk mencari penyelesaian untung nasib mereka diluar Umno yang telah mencengkam pemikiran mereka sejak berdekad-dekad yang lampau.

Umno tidak boleh diyakini lagi untuk menggalas tanggungjawab untuk memajukan mereka. Hanya pengundi-pengundi di desa-desa pedalaman sahaja yang masih cekal dengan Umno atau pun mereka yang masih mempunyai mentality desa itu. Ahmad mungkin telah keluar bandar meninggalkan desanya tetapi Ahmad tidak mampu untuk mengeluarkan “mentality” desanya untuk bersama-sama untuk mengayuh kehadapan untuk mencari kemajuan dalam dunia yang begitu “competitive” ini.

Apabila Umno sedar yang Melayu dan rakyat tidak lagi memberikan.dukongan kepada mereka, maka Umno menggunakan segala tektik kotor untuk mengekalkan kuasa. Cara dan sikap pimpinan Umno disetiap peringkat ini menampakan tanda-tanda yang mereka akan menjadi pembangkang.

Berbalik kepada isu Melayu tadi, kita ingin bertanya kepada semua umat Melayu, kenapa Umno gagal memperjuangkan Melayu sedangkan inilah isu yang kononnya diperjuangkan mereka sejak lama dahulu.

Saya yakin, sekarang ini sudah ramai yang mampu untuk memberikan jawapannya serta penyelesaian terhadap isu ini. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 10:39 pm and is filed under
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An incident that ‘should not have happened’

by Dina Zaman

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 21, 2012

MARCH 21 — Excerpt from Memali incident chapter.

Tunku Muszaffar Shah Tunku Ibrahim’s book, Memali: A Policeman Remembers is a first-hand account of the tragedy. It is an emotional book, written by a man with deep regrets. It may have served as a cathartic tool for the writer, but nevertheless has mythologised Ibrahim Mahmood nee Libya, and Memali as a martyr and a victim of a political bung-up.

On page 49, he wrote, “… the instruction given by those higher up that under no circumstances were the police to use force. Instead, they were to withdraw if there was retaliation.” This sentence was published, in bold. On page 71, he and the Director of Internal Security and Public Order entered Libya’s home, after the fracas, and Tunku found a woman and a child hiding under a bed. No weapons were found in the house.

“It would have been more appropriate for the Special Branch to arrest (Libya) when he was on his way to give political talks in Selama Kedah/Perak,” instead of attacking the man and his people in his stronghold (Page 79).

The book also included the infamous White Paper which tabled out 79 points of facts and dates leading up to the Memali Tragedy. It was signed by the then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia of 1986, then Datuk (now Tun) Musa Hitam.

 ***

Tun Musa Hitam

Ibrahim Hussein paintings line the spacious walls which reach up to a skylight in the roof. This is a mark of success: the higher one is in his station in life, the higher the office is, and the ceiling.  The waiting room is spacious, and the chairs luxuriously comfortable. One could just sit, and be forgotten for as long as he liked. Hardly anyone passed by the office.

It was through Tan Sri Datuk Ahmad Fuzi Razak, the Secretary General of the World Islamic Economic Forum, that an appointment had been arranged. Tun Musa would be pleased to talk about Ibrahim Libya.

Tun Musa hasn’t aged. He is a spry corporate man these days, and still consults on various organisations and boards on politics and trade. There is an old world charm to his mannerisms, a refinement that one sees only in the gentlemen politicians of the old. Men like Tun have been immortalised in books, such as Kam Raslan’s Confessions of An Old Boy, and talked about by very senior and genteel civil servants when they reminisce about a Malaysia that is non-existent today.

Seeing the man, who once was so much a part of Malaysian politics, glorified and also heckled in the media once upon a time, smiling and very contented with his life, sitting down with you, to talk about Memali, is surreal. At the same time, this man emanates joie de vivre. In short, he is a jolly man.

“I am not a rich man, but I have many experiences and I have a clear conscience. I may not be the most religious man, but I sleep well, because I have ethics. Come, let’s talk, and tell me a little bit about yourself,” he beams.

But first, even before we talk Memali, he says, he must tell me about one of his accomplishments. One that he is very proud of. And that too, happened in Baling.

He was the Minister of Primary Industries from 1974 to 1978, and around 1976, the rubber crisis happened; inflation was high and Anwar Ibrahim was actively demonstrating in Kuala Lumpur.  He was called by Tun Razak to go to Baling, to avert the crisis as the rubber price was low. He studied, analysed the situation, and went to Baling to face a demonstration.

“This Baling affair is little known to people! I had to take a helicopter there, to face a huge demonstration. Baling at that time was exciting — there were Communists still living in the area… they were shouting ‘Musa Hitam tak dengar cakap dengan kita!’ “ He laughs, and elaborates on his Baling mediation.

“When I became Minister of Home Affairs, I had to deal with security. I was also the Deputy Prime Minister.  My Ibrahim Libya story is very short. We can perhaps have another session. Now in Majlis Tinggi Umno, the only man who is accepted with authority by Umno, who had knowledge about PAS was Wan Mokhtar, the former MB of Terengganu. Very respected man, Al Azhar educated.

“As Minister of Home Affairs, I was also getting reports from the police about this man in Baling, Kedah. The crowd he attracted was blocking roads, people were getting agitated. There was a report by an OCPD, there were some incidents which had the police involved. No violence. To me, it’s very simple. I didn’t know Ibrahim Libya from Adam. Later on, I found out he had been recruited by Jabatan Penerangan, but there were hundreds of men like him employed by the Jabatan.

“Only later, during that incident, did I learn of him. No details about him, nothing operational, all we did was to ensure security. If he went against the law, we would take action against him, but no violence would happen. I brought this matter to the Supreme Council. I briefed them on the situation, and nobody was interested except Wan Mokhtar. He knew about PAS, he knew of the activities. My instructions were to ensure orderliness, and only if something happened would we take action. That was the only involvement I had.”

One fine morning, he was in the office, and the Inspector General of Police called him to say something serious had happened. Tun then called then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.  They were told of the casualties in Dr Mahathir’s office. Two days later, Dr Mahathir had to go to China. Musa advised him not to go. “But it’s a state visit, I have to go,” Dr. Mahathir said.

“It is not extraordinary for a head of government to cancel because of an important issue.” Musa told him why. “One. This is happening in Kedah, and that is your constituency. Two. The Malays are killing each other. Three. If you don’t go (to China), it shows that you take this very seriously. He said he would think about it.”

In the meantime he prepared for a press briefing, and requested for them to give him 24 hours.  He briefed Parliament, and called for a Cabinet meeting. “That was why when I was in court and suing a writer, who had accused me of pocketing money… a lawyer raised the issue of Memali. ‘Tan Sri, when Memali took place, you were the Acting Prime Minister yes?’’ No, my Lord’, I said. ‘Are you sure Tan Sri?’ ‘Yes, my Lord.’ ‘Then where was the Prime Minister then?’ ‘The Prime Minister was in his office, my Lord.’ ‘But the newspaper report said…’ ‘No. That was hearsay.’”

“The point is that the public thought I was the acting Prime Minister. Dr Mahathir was the Prime Minister. When it all happened, I went to the police station… as far as I was concerned that was the role I played. I was absolutely not involved in the operations. Ministers don’t do that, we don’t micromanage. But if people blame me, I am accountable. As Minister of Home Affairs. Do I know Ibrahim Libya? No. I only found out later. Fiery orator. Educated. You know, budak Melayu when they go to Sekolah Arab, public speaking was a subject.

“What can I do (for being maligned for the tragedy)? When I am innocent, people twist the truth. They say that Musa killed, some people actually twisted up to that point. What can I do? Sue them? If you bring this to court, I will not win. So I let it be.”

He is pensive. He tells me he is writing a memoir, and that incident, which he will touch on,  “… should not have happened.”

***

I am back to square one. I read the last chapter of the book, an afterword written by Tunku Abdul Aziz.  “Musa Hitam, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs responsible for internal security and public order, had made it clear that he did not want any spilling of blood.”

Ibrahim Libya is a martyr. The less we know of him, the more he is immortalised.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 March 2012, 12:06 am and is filed under
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Get real Mr Prime Minister!

By
Sakmongkol AK47
 | March 22, 2012

The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 22 — Like many others, I read somewhat amused at PM Najib’s war cry that he is confident of getting back the states now under the opposition. I say war cry because here we have a PM seized by an extreme bout of paranoia declaring that we are at war. With who?

He has to stop the charade. It’s not like Umno and BN people are gifted with extraordinary talent that reserves them the right to govern the country. Who can argue against facts? The top three states which drew the highest FDI are Pakatan-led states. Just under one term, Pakatan governments can achieve these good things which no other BN lead states have ever achieved is an incontestable testimony that Pakatan people are more talented.

This is what Umno and BN and the Umno president fear most. That people are slowly but surely realising that there is life without Umno and what’s better, there is a better life without Umno. Let’s repeat this once more there’s life without Umno and there’s a better life without Umno indeed. Tell your friends, neighbours about this; let us kick out the kleptocratic maniacs out of Putrajaya and forge a new future. Let’s square off with Najib as the opposition leader. We will see he is a paper tiger who, without a scripted text, cannot respond to out-of-pre-approved questions.

I felt vindicated somewhat when Daim came out with his only three states are safe for BN. I have been writing about what the Oracle of Syed Putera has been saying to me every month. My views culled from my interviews with the Oracle of Syed Putera are like the moving instances in a video camera. The interview by Utusan Malaysia and the other mainstream papers are snapshot views of an instance. So when we compare instances with an instance, I would say that the conclusions reached out of instances are more valid than conclusions arrived from just one instance. I meet the Oracle almost every month; Utusan people meet Daim once a year. You judge which observations carry more legitimacy. By the way, just so one feller doesn’t lose sleep; The Oracle isn’t the earthy Sanusi Junid. Can we imagine Charles Bronson playing the role of Superman?

It was also the Oracle who told me BN can lose as many as 16 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and up to 12 parliamentary seats in Sabah. Almost every state in Peninsular Malaysia — Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kelantan, Terengganu —are tough battle grounds for BN. So they can talk big for all they want, when they go to the battlefield, they will get a reception never known to them before. The era of paying your way through to win elections is over. Now, as the Oracle told me, people are asking where you are taking this country to. For over 50 years you have lost you way; how can we believe you now know where to go?

A few months ago he mentioned about even if our bodies are crushed, we must defend Putrajaya at all costs and if others dispute the position of Malays, there will be ethnic cleansing. Let us, the people, answer him this way.

He does not own Putrajaya and the only people harping about the imagined assault on the Malay position are Umno people themselves. Its Murphy’s war adopted by Umno apparatchiks. The only people who have violated the trust given them by the Malays is Umno!

Is this the type of PM we want who thinks he can transform Malaysia? He can’t even transform Umno with its culture of warlordism and tenderpreneurship. The fact is Umno does not have a cause; they make things up as they go along. Umno is like Jack Sparrow. A pirate to the core. Yesterday Malay supremacy, today champion of Islam, yesterday royal basher, today royal bootlickers.

His ETPs are nothing but a compilation of five-year business plans of various leading businesses, artfully re-packaged by Idris Jala and his team of kopi-O pemandus. Oh yes, maybe here and there re-touched by Mckinsey boys and Ethos people.

Are we at war? Perhaps we are because Najib and the BN stand on the side of the oppressors, we from the Pakatan Rakyat stand on the side of the oppressed. Elsewhere, everywhere in the world, the oppressors are taking a beating and are on the retreat. We will fight them on the beaches, in the trenches, everywhere.

But who are the opposition? In five states, he and BN are. In other words, what he’s saying, if he retains the states now ruled by BN that would be a relief. When he speaks in Selangor, he forgets that the BN and he ARE the opposition.

I won’t join others who challenged Najib to call for elections if he is so confident. I wanted to ask a similar question but from a different perspective. If Najib is so upbeat, I want to ask him why are his business friends cashing out?

Thirty years ago, when Proton was culled up from the fertile imagination of the then PM, the great Dr Mahathir, the birth of Proton was hailed as a national project. Proton was justified on the basis of pride of the nation, and of course the fruits of Mahathir’s loins. Since its inception generations of Malaysians have been drilled and instructed with the idea that Proton is a national project. Now, in 2012, Proton, our national project was sold to a BN-friendly party by the name of Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhari. Word on the ground has it that what really happened is that Proton was actually sold to the man who thought about the idea — Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

How can you say that about the great helmsman, the man who can walk on water? That’s blasphemous. It can cause some fat slob with a lard-layered brain to lose sleep the entire night. How vicious!

Why, because friends in the know about the sale of Proton tell me the price tag at which Proton was sold was dictated by Dr Mahathir himself. This is the price, you take it. Now, who is to dismiss the suspicions that after the sale the buyer gives Umno some reimbursements?

What about the cannibalisation of MAS. I wrote about this some time ago in an article titled “A Sting in the Air”. The idea of dismembering MAS so that a group of people can make a lot of money was thought of two years before the press conference about the share swap took place. This means the idea of cutting up MAS was planned a long time ago and was done even during the time Idris Al Dunlap Jala did his famous hatchet clean-up-the-book scam in MAS. This is another question I want to repeat — what did Idris Jala actually do during his tenure as MAS CEO? If he has done a splendid job as everyone claimed, why is MAS in its present mess? If Jala was seen doing a sterling job, why was the disembowelling of MAS planned by some people while holidaying in the land of fish and chips imperialism?

When I asked the Oracle of Syed Putera about the AA-MAS share swap, he had no hesitation, saying it was all an elaborate scam of insider trading. Of course, as in the sale of Proton, the buck returns to Umno and BN coffers.

What of the upbeat note that PM Najib appears to play up? It’s funny that he said those words in Selangor. Many people hold the perception that when it comes to Selangor, despite PM Najib being the liaison committee chairman, he doesn’t know what’s going on in Selangor. Selangor is a case where there are too many cooks spoiling the broth. Zain Badak, who hails from Malacca, can’t dream of becoming the MB. Noh Omar is embroiled in so many personal issues with the other Selangor warlords that he will be stopped in his tracks en route to becoming MB. The other warlord, Satim Diman, can’t be considered a winnable candidate as he has been proven to be behind many dubious land transactions.

Where is the candidate in Selangor hailing from Selangor who can take over as MB for the opposition BN camp? There seems to be none. FD Iskandar, the man leading the Glomac property development giant, could have been a winnable candidate had he been born in Selangor. And Najib has proven to be totally ignorant of the groundswell among Malay Selangorians, disgruntled at the overwhelming Java-nising of Selangor Umno. Hence it’s true, like what the Oracle of Syed Putera told me some time ago, as far as Selangor goes, Najib isn’t aware of what is really going on.

He gets an A++ in the art of posturing. Substance? Nyet! Nahi! Nein! —
sakmongkol.blogspot.com

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

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 March 2012, 10:31 am and is filed under
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“I was born in Malaysia and I shall die in Malaysia” – I am proud I have stood by my statement of commitment and patriotism to Malaysia when I was 28 years old under my first ISA detention 43 years ago in 1969

Recently, there has been a coarsening and vulgarisation of politics in Malaysia, even in this august House of Parliament, where lies and falsehoods are disseminated without conscience or compunction whatsoever.

During the present and past meetings of Parliament, the most irresponsible and despicable falsehoods had been made against me, accusing me of having instigated the deplorable May 13 riots 43 years ago in 1969.

For four decades, the police, the security forces and the government could not pinpoint who caused the May 13 riots in 1969, but suddenly, somebody knew who caused the May 13 riots – and I have been accused in this House of having caused May 13, through making the most racist slogans in the streets of  Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969.

As a result, these lies and falsehoods that I had incited and sparked the May 13 riots, particularly in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969 had been blazoned on the blogs of UMNO cybertroopers.

In fact, I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969. I contested in Bandar Melaka, was in the counting centre in Malacca  until the early hours of May 11 , 1969 for the results, returning to my family in  Petaling Jaya later on May 11 (Sunday). On Monday, May 12, 1969, I returned to Bandar Melaka constituency for a thank-the-voters procession  in the evening and a thank-the-voters public rally on Monday night, both of which were peacefully conducted.

I must have the signal honour of being the only elected representative in 1969 to have both a thank-you procession and public rally as I was booked to fly to Sabah on the morning on Tuesday, May 13, 1969 to help campaign for the Independent candidates as the Sabah and Sarawak polling days were to be held a week  after the Peninsular election results.

I was speaking at a public rally in Kota Kinabalu on the night of May 13 when I first learnt of May 13 troubles in Kuala Lumpur.

To accuse me of inciting the May 13 riots with racist outbursts and abuses in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13 are the most irresponsible and despicable of lies.

In my first speech in Parliament on Feb. 23, 1971 after my release from my first Internal Security Act detention and the restoration of Parliament, on the Constitution Amendment Bill 1971, I called for the establishment of a Parliamentary Commission, which should include non-MP Malaysians eminent in their respective fields, to among other things, “find out the cause of the May 13 racial riots” and “to make recommendations as to how to prevent a recurrence of May 13 racial riots and arrest the racial polarisation in Malaysia”.

This was what I said in July 1969 in response to my detention under the Internal Security Act, record of which I am sure are still in the Home Ministry archives:

“My every public statement and stand was motivated by my sense of Malaysian nationalism and patriotism. I was born in Malaysia and I shall die in Malaysia. I have no other land as my home. I have children who are growing up in Malaysia and who are going to live in Malaysia. I feel it is my duty to do my part to build a multi-racial and harmonious Malaysia for, without such a society, all Malaysians will suffer.

“I believe that the policy followed by the Alliance is not producing or generating a sense of Malaysian consciousness and identity transcending all racial language and cultural differences. I believe that the only formula to build a Malaysian nation is to give every Malaysian regardless of his race, language or culture, a stake in the political economic social and cultural development of the country, where no group feels that it is being discriminated against on racial, cultural, language or religious grounds. It is this philosophy which guided all my public actions and utterances.”

This was my statement of  love, loyalty, commitment, nationalism and patriotism when I was 28 years old. I am proud to say that I have stood by this statement.

My children are all in Malaysia, making their contribution towards the building of a modern, progressive, competitive, democratic and just Malaysia.

The next general elections will be a great test for Malaysia whether we can become a normal democratic country, where Malaysians have the right and power to peacefully effect a change of power and government through the ballot box.

I invite the Prime Minister and all Barisan Nasional leaders to join Pakatan Rakyat to prove that we are all Malaysian nationalists and patriots who could work together by establishing a Joint Commission to ensure that the 13th General Elections is the most clean, free and fair in the nation’s history in the process to prove to the world and ourselves that we have graduated to become a normal democratic ountry.

In his campaign rounds, Najib recently extended an apology for past Barisan Nasional (BN) mistakes resulting in its loss of several states and electoral seats in the last general elections.

Some three weeks have passed but nobody knows what mistakes Najib was apologizing for.

There are many past UMNO/BN mistakes he needs to tender an apology, but there are also many of his own mistakes made during his 35-month premiership which he needs to apologise for.

Time does not permit me to enumerate these mistakes made by Najib. I will just mention one – his failure to restore public confidence in the efficiency, independence and  professionalism of key national institutions, whether the judiciary, police, the Attorney-Generals Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Elections Commission.

The refusal of the Prime Minister to set up a judicial tribunal into grave allegations of  abuses of power, subversion of the rule of law and the perversion of the course of justice, made against the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail and the former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan, made by former top police officers, including former CCID Director Datuk Ramli Yusof and the former KL CID Director Datuk Mat Zain, going back to the fabrication of evidence in the Anwar Ibrahim “black eye” incident, the Anwar trials in 1998, the Tajudin Ramli MAS bailouts, and the new information on the “ “bizarre five-year-old case allegedly involving the country’s most powerful police officer, the attorney-general and an underworld figure”, implicating even the Deputy Home Minister at the time, Datuk Johari Baharum, raises grave questions about the Prime Minister’s commitment to the rule of law.

 Is the Prime Minister going to avoid taking a stand when it is seriously alleged that only very recently, the country’s topmost legal and police officers in the land, the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, were  criminals – and the same AG is still in office?

(Speech in the debate on the royal address in Parliament on Thursday, March 22, 2012)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 March 2012, 3:20 pm and is filed under
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Before being known as “Bapa Transformasi”, Najib must show he is not “Bapa U-Turn” first

Less than 3 years into his term as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak has already been showered with the accolade of “Bapa Transformasi” courtesy of his many transformation programs. The litany of acronyms associated with Najib is like a never-ending alphabet soup – GTP, ETP, PTP, NEM, NKEA, NKRA, NEAC, EPP, SRIs.

One almost needs a reference dictionary to keep track of them. But despite his many programs, he is still very, very far from being a transformative Prime Minister. And his many programs are still very, very far from being transformative.

On the eve of what will be the most tightly contested general election in our history, Najib has shown a greater willingness to make U-Turns when faced with tough decisions that would have made Malaysia into a more progressive, liberal and vibrant country.

His various transformation programs are nothing more than expensive tax funded PR exercises that masks the business and politics as usual way of doing things that is taking place behind the scenes within the corridors of Putrajaya and within UMNO’s headquarters at PWTC.

Before Najib can earn the title of ‘Bapa Transformasi’, he needs to show that he is not ‘Bapa U-Turn’ first.

Najib’s U-Turn on Religious Freedom in Malaysia makes a mockery of his 1 Malaysia Slogan

Lets start with the most tragic U-turns made by our Prime Minister. Najib made a total mockery of his 1 Malaysia slogan when he not only failed to respect the High Court ruling against the Home Ministry for banning the Herald, a publication of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, for using the word Allah, he made matters worse by appearing to condone protests against this ruling.

The result was an unprecedented 10 attacks against churches (four in the Klang Valley, one in Taiping, two in Negeri Sembilan, one in Melaka, one in Johor, one in Miri), an attack against a Sikh temple (in KL) as well as one surau in Klang.

Najib could have done the right thing by not appealing against the decision of the High Court. Instead, he allowed his Attorney General to appeal this decision. Meanwhile, he tried to do damage control by contributing funds to the Metro Tabernacle church in Kajang, which was badly damaged by a petrol bomb.

This issue would raise its ugly head again in March 2011, just prior to the Sarawak state elections when custom officials refused to release 30,000 Indonesian bibles in Kuching and 5100 Indonesian bibles in Port Klang.

All this could have been prevented if Najib had not U-turned on his 1 Malaysia slogan but had respected the right of Christians, especially the native populations in Sabah and Sarawak, to use the word Allah, as they have done for generations.

Najib’s meeting with the Pope and his push for a Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) are nothing but empty gestures if the basic religious freedoms of Malaysian Christians are not respected.

Najib’s U-Turn on the New Economic Model shows that he is afraid of taking on groups like Perkasa in order to fundamentally transform our economy

Part 1 of the New Economic Model (NEM) was widely praised by a cross-section of society because it emphasized market friendly affirmative action programs that would target the bottom 40% of households, the large majority of whom are Bumiputera.

The move towards an income based affirmative action policy was a strategic departure from the race based affirmative action policy, which includes the 30% Bumiputera equity policy that has been a constant feature in past government policy documents.

One of the strategic initiatives required for this policy to be implemented was the establishment of an Equal Opportunities Commission to ‘ensure fairness and address undue discrimination where occasional abuses by dominant groups are counter’.

Instead of supporting Part 1 of the NEM, Najib caved in to pressures from Perkasa and re-instated the language of the NEP in the 10th Malaysian Plan. The language of market friendly affirmative action policies was significantly watered down in the concluding part of the NEM.

More significantly, the Equal Opportunities Commission was shelved much to the disappointed of the late Dr Zainal Aznam Yusof, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council was drafted the NEM.

Where courage was required, Najib instead choose the path of cowardice.

If the proposals of the NEM were carried out in a comprehensive manner, our country would have been put on the path towards fundamental and necessary economic transformation.

Instead, what we have seen is the lack of political will and courage to do the economically necessary in favor of political expediency.

We have seen Najib making similar U-turns in favor of political expediency because he is scared of groups like Perkasa and also of elements within his own party, UMNO.

He failed to rein in the UMNO owned newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, which made baseless accusations against the opposition and civil society groups and individuals in order to create fear and feeling of ill-will among the Malays towards the non-Malays.

His wife, Datin Seri Rosmah, was also the guest of honor at a recent fund raising dinner for Perkasa, lending support to the accusation that Perkasa is an arm of UMNO.

This only goes to show that Najib will only be too glad to make further U-turns when any of these groups protest against economic policies which are in the interest of the country as a whole but not in their own narrow economic interests.

Najib’s U-Turns on Economic Policies makes a mockery of his statement that ‘the era of government knows best is over”

Najib’s predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi made a mockery of the phrase ‘Work with me, not for me’. Similarly, Najib is making a mockery of his often repeated phrase that ‘the era of government knows best is over’. So many of his government policies contradict this philosophy that it would take the entire parliamentary session to list out and to debate. Here, I will just list a few for the attention of the Dewan.

The NEM outlines a strategy of government divestment in order to decrease the involvement of the government in the economy. But at the same time, we continue to see the establishment of new government agencies which are involved in significant sectors of the economy.

The most notable of these is 1MDB which has no property development experience or track record whatsoever but has been given the mandate to develop two major parcels of prime land in the heart of Kuala Lumpur – the site of the TUDM air base in Sungai Besi and a major plot of land between Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Sultan Ismail.

Why did Najib not parcel out these lots of land via open tender to the private sector instead of handing these lots over to a government agency? The sale of these plots via open tender would not only raise more revenue for the government but also allow different players from the private sector (including GLCs) which have more experience in property development to participate.

1MDB is not only looking at ventures in property development but is also interested in opportunities in the energy, tourism and agri business. Most recently, 1MDB paid RM8.5 billion to acquire the power assets of Tanjong Energy Sdn Bhd from Ananda Krishnan.

Another initiative announced by Najib is the establishment of the RM500 million government owned private equity fund called Ekuinas which has been tasked to take strategic stakes in certain companies in order to increase bumiputera participation in the economy.

Again, it is not clear how another government agency can add value to the many already existing programs including many which are run by various government ministries can contribute to the goal of increasing bumiputera participation in the economy.

Yet another agency called TERAJU, endowed with RM2 billion in taxpayer funds, was established in order to promote even more Bumiputera participation in the economy. Again, one fails to see how another such agency can add further value to this objective beyond the purview of existing programs and organizations.

These are just a few examples of how Najib’s actions are a U-turn of his statement that “the era of government knows best is over”.

Najib’s propensity to make U-Turns has also infected Senator Idris Jala who now says that Malaysia is no longer in danger of being bankrupt

Senator Idris Jala, who is the CEO of PEMANDU, infamously warned that Malaysia would be bankrupt by 2019 if the country did not deviate from its spending patterns and decrease its dependence on subsidies.

But in a recent column, he seems to think that these dangers have subsided since ‘by all measures the Malaysian government finances are good’.

Sadly, even a consummate and apolitical professional like Idris Jala cannot run away from playing politics. The truth is that there are even more reasons today for us to worry about the state of the government finances compared to May 2010 when Idris first made his dire warning.

Our spending on subsidies have actually increased from RM23.1 billion in 2010 to RM32.8 billion in 2011. Our spending on sugar subsidies have actually doubled from RM262 million to RM567 million despite a fall in global sugar prices.

The government’s operating expenditure was projected to grow at 18.9% from 2010 to 2011 compared to revenue growth of only 14.9% in the same period. This operating expenditure will grow even faster under the newly revised salary scheme which some reports indicate will cost the government an additional RM6 billion per annum.

And all this does not even take into account the rise in contingent liabilities due to the bonds which have been issued by Prasarana for the LRT extension project and the bonds which will be issued by MRT Co for the massive MRT project, by far the largest public infrastructure project in our nation’s history.

At the same time, our economy grew at 5.1% which is at the lower range of the 5% to 5.5% projected growth rate by the Ministry of Finance. This is below the 6% target set by PEMANDU.

A significant proportion of this growth was driven by increases in government spending and government activity. For example, final government consumption increased by 16.8% in 2011 compared to a 6.9% increase in private sector consumption.

During the same period, output of the government services sector grew by 11.6% compared to just 4.5% for the manufacturing sector and 6.8% for the entire services sector.

This kind of government sector led growth is obviously not sustainable in the long run since it is growth in the private sector that will contribute to economic growth and increased tax revenues.

In other words, our country’s public finance outlook has worsened over the past 1 1/2 years without any noticeable improvement in the economic growth outlook of our country, the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) not withstanding.

One cannot help but wonder if Senator Jala has spent too much time with Prime Minister Najib and in doing so, has caught the U-Turn bug.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 23 March 2012, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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Guan Eng: PM must halt Lynas plant construction

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

The Malaysian Insider

Mar 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak should immediately halt the construction of the Lynas refinery in Gebeng to prove his commitment to public safety, Lim Guan Eng said today.

Penang Chief Minister Lim accused the prime minister of contradicting himself during an interview with radio station 988FM yesterday, where Najib had said he would scrap the Lynas plant construction if there was scientific evidence to prove it was hazardous.

This, according to Lim, was different from what Najib had said last week — that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the Lynas rare earths plant could not decide on whether the refinery would be built.

“Datuk Seri Najib Razak should publicly withdraw his March 17 remarks, order an immediate stop-work order on Lynas and declare the Barisan Nasional’s government willingness to pay compensation of at least RM700 million which Lynas spent on building the plant,” Lim said in a statement.

Putrajaya announced that it would set up the PSC on the Lynas plant in Kuantan, which has stoked fears of radiation pollution.

The committee was approved in the Dewan Rakyat this week amid opposition furore over the alleged lack of terms of reference and suspicion that the nine-man panel would be used to “whitewash” the issue.

PR lawmakers also questioned the point of the select committee given that Najib had already said the government will not be bound by the panel’s findings.

They subsequently announced a boycott of the panel, saying it has no power to decide the fate of the RM2.3 billion project.

“For Datuk Seri Najib to change his tune to say that the PSC was a ‘strong basis for us to make a decision’ on Lynas is a flip-flop from his March 17 remarks.

“Clearly this change is the result of PR’s boycott of the PSC. However such a flip-flop only raises more questions whether the prime minister is serious and sincere about following through on closing down Lynas in the face of evidence and proof of environmental damage and threats to public health and safety,” Lim added.

The decision to set up the panel came after months of fierce opposition to the project from PR, civil society groups and the public.

Thousands of anti-Lynas protestors attended an opposition-backed rally by Himpunan Hijau last month in the largest protest yet against the refinery, which is expected to fire up later this year.

Critics allege that Lynas Corp has failed to give enough assurances on how it will handle the low-level radioactive waste that will be produced at the plant, 25km from Kuantan city centre.

But the Australian miner maintains that waste from the Gebeng plant will not be hazardous and can be easily recycled for commercial applications.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 23 March 2012, 5:24 pm and is filed under
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