Will the next two months be as disastrous for Malaysia as the past two month?

Will the next two months be as disastrous for Malaysia as the past two months?

Before the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched an offensive against his enemies inside and outside of UMNO two months ago, Malaysians were already quite punch-drunk with a myriad of scandals of high-level political corruption which included the two mega-scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts, the blocking of the whistleblower website Sarawak Report, a notice to Interpol for the arrest of editor of  Sarawak Report, Claire Rewcastle Brown, the three-month suspension of the Edge publications, and a slew of police actions under Section 124 of Penal Code against purported international plotters to “topple” Najib as Prime Minister.

On 28th July, Najib launched a multi-pronged offensives  which included:

•	abrupt sacking of his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Minister for Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal for continuing to raise questions about the 1MDB  scandal which Muhyiddin in his last speech as DPM to the Cheras UMNO Division said had ballooned from a RM42 billion to “over RM50 billion” scandal;

•	the sacking of Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, with a charge sheet appearing subsequently giving support to the speculation that Gani was preparing to prosecute Najib for corruption over the 1MDB scandal when his action  was pre-empted by Najib’s summary dismissal in the nick-of-time; and

•	sabotage of Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations into the 1MDB scandal by the elevation of the Chairman and three committee members as Minister and deputy ministers, causing PAC investigations into 1MDB scandal to grind to a halt for more than three months until the four vacancies are filled in the October meeting of Parliament.

Najib’s “Morning of Long Knives” led to various developments in the past two months, including:

•	dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force investigating into 1MDB which had comprised Bank Negara Malaysia, Royal Malaysian Police, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers;

•	an inter and even intra-agency warfare, with the police launching arrests in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency and even internal “blood-letting” in the Police force itself;

•	Najib’s failure of  leadership to embrace and dialogue with the 34-hour Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29/30 attended by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics with the common national cause of good governance and clean, free, fair elections which completely transcended race;

•	the last-minute backing out of the Prime Minister from officiating the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC)in Putrajaya from Sept. 2-4, 2015 for fear of facing “hard questions” from 1,000 delegates from over 130 countries over the twin mega-scandals on 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts;

•	the  highly racist and provocative  Sept. 16 Red Shirts Perhimpunan Maruah Melayu which desecrated Malaysia Day on the 52nd anniversary of the Malaysian ideal and vision as well as Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy on the primacy of social harmony, racial peace and national unity.

•	Allowing the Red Shirters to continue to create fear of racial unrest with the threat of an anti-Chinese riot in Petaling Street on 26th Sept., when there should have been  quick and firm action to immediately  scotch such racial threats as up to now, not a single person had been charged in court for racist incitements, threats and provocations.

As a result, the trust deficit and the crisis of confidence in the government had further worsened in the past two months, as evident by the 16% plunge in the value of the Malaysian ringgit from 3.81 to the US dollar when the Cabinet was reshuffled on July 28 to 4.40 to the greenback on Sept. 28 yesterday.

The value of the  Malaysian ringgit to the US dollar fell by some 60 sen in two months since the Cabinet reshuffle, when it had taken more than a year to fall from the level of 3.20 to 3.80 to the  US dollar.

Why did the ringgit depreciate and trust deficit dissipate so fast in the past two months?

Market analysts have forecast that the Malaysian ringgit will fall to 4.50 to the US greenback by the end of the year, but with the drastic slide in value of the Malaysian ringgit since yesterday, Malaysian ringgit may fall to 4.50 to the US greenback well before the end of the year.

In these two months, Malaysia has notched a new infamy – the first Asian-Pacific serving Prime Minister or President to be investigated for corruption and money-laundering by the US Department of Justice under its Kleptocrat Asset Recovery Initiative.

Will the next two months be as disastrous as the past two months?

Will  Najib pull out  in the last minute from officiating the Global Transformation Forum in Kuala Lumpur on 21-23 October in the same way he pulled out of the IACC in Putrajaya on Sept. 2 -4?

Will the climax of his international programme at home, the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on November 18 -22 with Malaysia as ASEAN Chair going to be more successful than his present lackluster visit to New  York and the United Nations?

But most important of all, will there be a vote of no confidence against Najib in the budget meeting of Parliament, with some UMNO/BN MPs crossing the floor of the House to join forces with the Opposition MPs?

Or will Najib, who seem so invincible and untouchable, because the support of UMNO/BN MPs have been  fully locked-up, still stumble and fall because of  extraneous developments not fully under his control – one indication of which is news report yesterday  that “Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments may refuse to invest in a RM2.5 billion rights issue by RHB Capital in a sign of disappointment among Gulf investors with economic and political instability in Malaysia”?

Will Najib’s 1MDB “empire” collapse like a house of cards?

Only time will tell.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 11:09 am and is filed under
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Congratulations in order for Malaysia moving up two spots in global competitiveness ranking but commiserations also  for “perfect storm” of  crisis of confidence with no light at end of tunnel

Congratulations are in order for Malaysia moving up two spots in terms of global competitiveness, ranking 18th from last year’s 20th position in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 released by World Economic Forum (WEF).

Malaysia is now ranked ahead of Belgium (ranked No. 19 ) and Luxembourg (No. 20). Malaysia was ranked No. 20 last year  with a score of 5.16, behind Belgium (ranked No. l8 with score of 5.18) and Luxembourg (ranked No. 19 with score of 5.17).

There is a confusion however as according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, although Malaysia is placed No. 18, it shares the same score of 5.2 with Belgium and Luxembourg both of whom also scored 5.2.

Be that as it may, congratulations should not be begrudged Malaysia’s ranking, although commiserations are also in order for Malaysia’s “perfect storm” of a  crisis of confidence in the government with no light at the end of the tunnel.

There is a lengthening list of factors to accentuate the “perfect storm” of a  crisis of confidence, such as:

•	The ringgit tumbled to a 17-year low yesterday to 4.48 to the US greenback, with the Malaysian ringgit heading for its biggest quarterly loss since 1997 – losing some 16 per cent since the Cabinet reshuffle at the end of July.

•	The country’s reserves declined the most among Southeast Asia’s five biggest economies this year and Moody’s Investors Service said last month while they were sufficient, their adequacy was the weakest in the region. Malaysia’s foreign exchange reserves are 18 per cent lower than at the end of last year.

•	With about RM11 billion worth of government bonds due to mature this week, the concerns that foreign investors could pull up to another billion dollars out of embattled Malaysia’s bond markets this week, pushing country a step closer to a currency reserves crisis.

•	The twin mega scandals of the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts, and Najib as the first serving Prime Minister or President in Asia/Pacific to be investigated by US Department of Justice (DOJ) under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative since 2010k. Has Malaysia ended up with a kleptocrat as Prime Minister?

•	The abandonment of Najib’s key policies of 1Malaysia, Global Movement of Moderates initiative and the National Transformation Programme particularly to fight corruption and uphold principles of accountability, transparency and good governance;

•	The rise of extremism, bigotry and racial hate politics as illustrated by the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally purportedly to counter the DAP-masterminded Chinese “show-of-force” in the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally, when the Bersih 4 Rally  had nothing to do with DAP, race or partisan politics but a peaceful and Carnival-like gathering of hundreds of thousands of patriotic Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics for a common cause of good governance and free, fair, clean elections which completely transcended issues of  race or politics.

•	The crisis of confidence is so prolonged and serious that for the first time in nation’s history, the issue of no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister has become a subject of serious public debate, although it is still  a great conundrum not amenable to easy solution.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, has described the economic  quandary Najib has placed the country in as “an almost perfect storm”, but claimed that Malaysia was better placed than in the 1990s Asian financial crisis to ride out the hard times.

But there is one great difference in the “almost perfect storm” today than the crisis the country faced in the late 90s – that Malaysia has now not only a minority, but the most unpopular,  Prime Minister in history heading  a fractured nation,  a fractured government and a fractured UMNO.

If Malaysia is to ride out this “almost perfect storm”, Malaysians must unite and transcend race, religion, region and politics as one Malaysian people to save Malaysia from becoming a rogue and failed state, where there is a collapse of the rule of law, continued breakdown of the independence and professionalism of key national institutions and rampant corruption and abuses of power.

The question is whether there are enough Malaysians to save Malaysia – for Malaysians  to come together, not as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks, or Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Taoists, but as Malaysians to save the Malaysian nation from the fate of a rogue and failed state.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 11:25 am and is filed under
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Pak Samad buat apa di Kuala Kubu Baru 3 hari?

Dinsman

The Malaysian Insider

30 September 2015

Suatu hari Ridzuan memberitahu saya – wakil rakyat Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) di kawasannya, Yang Berhormat Lee Kee Hiong, ingin menjemput Sasterawan Negara A Samad Said atau Pak Samad datang ke Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) dan tinggal di sana selama 3 hari.

Saya tak bertanya untuk apa atau apa tujuannya. Saya kenal siapa Ridzuan dan siapa Lee Kee Hiong, dan saya juga tahu KKB.

Jadi saya fikir saya tahulah apa tujuan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) tersebut hendak menjemput Pak Samad menjadi tetamunya di KKB selama 3 hari itu.

Ridzuan ialah aktivis seni-budaya yang aktif di KKB. Dulu, melalui Persatuan Seni dan Sastera (Sesama) yang berpusat di KKB. Dalam masa sama dia juga aktif bersama Seniman Paksi Rakyat (Paksi) yang berpusat di Gombak dan Shah Alam.

Setelah Sesama tidak lagi aktif, Ridzuan mengaktifkan Paksi di KKB, menganjurkan beberapa kegiatan seni-budaya yang mendapat dokongan daripada pihak Lee Kee Hiong. Sewaktu Paksi ber‘hening’ (retreat) 2 hari di KKB awal tahun, Ridzuan membawa Lee Kee Hiong bersembang-sembang seni-budaya sambil minum petang bersama Paksi.

Sementara itu Ridzuan juga mengambil alih pimpinan Persatuan Sejarah Kuala Kubu, berikutan meninggalnya pimpinan utama persatuan itu beberapa bulan lalu. Di bawah pimpinannya, misalnya, masyarakat KKB kini menjadi biasa dengan acara pelancaran buku dan juga bicara buku.

Ridzuan pun tak memberitahu tujuan apa A Samad Said hendak dibawa ke KKB itu. Maka saya kira tidaklah mereka ada tujuan tertentu yang istimewa. Hanya tujuan biasa sahajalah. Kalau ada tujuan istimewa tentulah Ridzuan akan bercerita.

Dia hanya tanya saya: “Boleh ke? Pak Samad mahu ke?”

Saya jawab: “Kalau ada program-program yang sesuai, saya rasa dia mahu. Baru-baru ini pun di Tanjung Sedili, program Hening Puisi, dia duduk bersama kita di sana 4 hari penuh.”

Maka selang beberapa hari kemudian Ridzuan memberitahu yang Pak Samad bersetuju. Hanya tarikh yang dicadangkan minggu pertama Oktober itu terpaksa ditunda ke minggu kedua, kerana beliau sudah ada acara lain di Kelantan.

Tarikhnya ialah 8, 9 dan 10 Oktober. “9 Oktober itu Jumaat kedua. Itu tarikh BPMS – Baca Puisi Madrasah Seni.”

Saya menjelaskan kepada Lee Kee Hiong, yang memang sudah mengetahui Paksi mempunyai program tetap baca puisi setiap bulan di Madrasah Tarbiyah Jalan Gombak itu. Dia pun hadir membaca puisi dalam BPMS September.

“Bawalah BPMS ke Dataran KKB, untuk bulan Oktober,” kata Lee. Nampak dia bersungguh-sungguh mahu menjayakan acara “Malam Ekspresi Seni” yang dicadangkan akan dibuat di Dataran KKB, sebagai satu acara dalam program 3 hari bersama Pak Samad di KKB itu.

Program 3 hari itu dinamakan “Seni & Masyarakat” (dengan tajuk kecilnya “3 hari bersama SN A Samad Said di KKB”). Idea di sebalik penamaan itu ialah untuk mendekatkan masyarakat kepada seni-budaya.

Bagaimanapun, ia dimulakan dengan acara yang agak ditujukan lebih kepada mereka yang sedia meminati seni-budaya, iaitu wacana mengenai “Falsafah dan Pemikiran Pak Samad”.

Acara ini dikendalikan oleh Dr Napiee Mat, penyair berasal Kelantan yang lama menetap di KKB, dan menjadi pensyarah di Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (Upsi), Tanjung Malim.

Dr Napiee akan memulakan bicara mengenai falsafah dan pemikiran Pak Samad, berdasarkan karya-karyanya, dan kemudian akan meminta beliau sendiri menjelaskan beberapa perkara yang difikirnya penting. Acara pemula ini diadakan pada Khamis, 8 haribulan, 9 malam, bertempat di Galeri Sejarah KKB (Jalan Syed Mashor).

Acara kedua pada pagi Jumaat, 9.00 pagi, bertempat di Galeri Seni dan Sastera KKB, (ya ia sebuah pekan kecil tetapi ada galeri sejarahnya dan ada juga galeri seni dan sasteranya), akan berlangsung perasmian Pameran Lukisan Mansor A.Aziz.

Ini uniknya KKB. Bukan saja ada banyak bangunan-bangunan lama dengan pelbagai bentuk arkitekturnya, banyak pokok-pokok besar dan tinggi di sekitarnya, tetapi ada pula seorang pelukis yang setiap hari duduk melukis di bawah teduhan sebuah pohon berhampiran stesen bas dan pasar pagi pekan itu.

Dialah Mansor Aziz, yang diangkat oleh Persatuan Sejarah Kuala Kubu untuk mempamerkan karya-karyanya sempena kehadiran Pak Samad di pekan ini.

Selepas meraikan Mansor dengan karya-karyanya itu, Pak Samad akan di bawa oleh Lee Kee Hiong berjalan-jalan sekitar pekan KKB, dan kemudian ke perkampungan Orang Asal di Pertak, dan bertemu dengan seniman Antares (Kit Leee) yang menghuni di perkampungan tersebut sejak sekian lama.

Petangnya selepas solat Jumaat di Masjid Kuala Kubu Baru, 3.00 petang, saya akan bersama dengan Pak Samad, Lee Kee Hiong dan Kassim Muhamad (timbalan presiden Paksi) mengambil bahagian dalam forum “Bicara Tekad Budaya”, yang akan berlangsung di Dewan Merdeka KKB.

Tekad Budaya ialah suatu konsep yang sudah hampir sinonim dengan Seniman Paksi Rakyat.

Ia suatu fahaman yang percaya akan pentingnya peranan seni-budaya dalam masyarakat, bukan semata-mata untuk kepentingan seni-budaya itu sendiri tetapi untuk menimbulkan keharmonian dan keseimbangan antara kecenderongan berpolitik berlebih-lebih, dengan keperluan-keperluan lain dalam kehidupan manusia bermasyarakat dan bernegara.

Malamnya acara persembahan Ekspresi Seni, di Dataran KKB. Selain bacaan puisi oleh beberapa penyair jemputan (termasuk Pak Samad dan Prof Irwan) dan nyanyian lagu puisi, yang paling menariknya saya jangka ialah persembahan teater pendek (sekitar 30 minit), di bawah arahan Lena Farida Chin, pensyarah teater di Upsi.

Teater oleh Lena ini diharapkan dapat menghidupkan ingatan atau pencerahan terhadap sejarah awal Kuala Kubu, dengan memfokus kepada peranan dan perwatakan Syed Mashor.

Saya antara orang yang jahil mengenai peranan dan perwatakan Syed Mashor. Makanya tentulah menunggu-nunggu untuk menyaksikan persembahan ini.

Adapun faktor utamanya ialah kerana Lena itu sendiri. Saya pernah menonton “Nur” karyanya yang dipentaskan di Upsi, 5 Disember 2014, dan saya menulis mengenainya dalam kolum ini (31 Disember 2014), dan kerana itulah saya mahu menonton lagi teater yang dihasilkannya.

Program “Seni & Masyarakat” anjuran bersama Persatuan Sejarah Kuala Kubu dengan Seniman Paksi Rakyat (Paksi) ini diakhiri dengan acara “Santai Seniman Bersama Pak Samad”, di The Woods, Ulu Yam, pukul 10.00 pagi hingga 12.00 tengahari, 10 Oktober.

Lalu di mana menariknya program ini? Bagi saya yang menariknya ialah peranan yang dimainkan oleh seorang Adun (Lee Kee Hiong), bagi melaksanakan sebuah program seni-budaya seperti ini. Beliau yang membuat inisiatif dan mencetuskan idea untuk membawa Pak Samad ke kawasannya.

Beliau memulakan sesuatu yang selaras dengan Tekad Budaya yang diperjuangkan oleh Paksi. Maka siapakah pula YB Adun selepas Lee Kee Hiong – menginisiatifkan sebuah program seni-budaya yang seperti ini? – 30 September, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 6:23 pm and is filed under
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Salleh should ask himself: What he can do for ICT in Malaysia and not what ICT can do for him!

Former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz hit the nail on the head when she advised the new Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak to improve Internet services instead of shooting himself  in the foot by saying Malaysians prefer slower Internet.

She said: “That is embarrassing if the world has the perception that most Malaysians prefer the slower option, and that the government is happy with that!”

Let us see whether Salleh could make amends for his  howler that 71 percent of Malaysian Internet users preferred the slower Streamyx broadband package that offered speeds of between 384 kilobyte per second (Kbps) to 1 megabyte per second (Mbps) because Malaysians could not afford faster Internet plans that were more expensive.

There are no countries  in the world which would  prefer slower Internet unless it is peopled by cretins and idiots.

Let me refer to some of the points raised in Salleh’s two blog posts.

The Minister should refer to the Internet Users Survey 2014 report uploaded to MCMC website on 2 September 2015 which quoted  71.2% of respondent as saying that their mobile Internet is “sometimes good, sometimes bad” which means it is unreliable.

When Internet service is not reliable at the time when users need it, it is as good as rubbish. The report published by MCMC also states that 7.4% of home Internet users experience “mostly bad” quality of service.

Internet service which is unreliable causes slow Internet experience, wastes bandwidth and increases cost of usage in today’s limited data packages.

Why is there no focus on quality of service?

From Salleh’s two blog posts, let me inform Salleh that TM no longer offers Streamyx packages at the speed of 384kbps (not 386kbps as he said in Sept 29 post) and 512kbps. The minimum speed package available is 1Mbps for Streamyx as advertised on TM’s website. (
https://www.tm.com.my/Home/Broadband/Streamyx/Pages/Home.aspx
)

TM has removed the lowest and second lowest priced Streamyx packages at RM60/month (384kbps) and RM90/month (512kbps) from the market and left the 1Mbps package priced at RM116.60/month. TM has made it twice as expensive to have wired connection at home for entry level package. Why had the MCMC and the Ministry of Communications allowed such fleecing of the public?

TM’s pricing on Streamyx packages has virtually not changed since it’s introduction except for slight adjustment for 2Mbps and 4Mbps packages when Unifi was introduced. This is not the way to promote affordability.

The following are the pricing and speed of TM’s packages:

Table 1 – Selected TM packages

Package / Tech

Customer Type

Speed (download)

RM / month

Streamyx / ADSL

Home

384kbps*

60.00

Streamyx / ADSL

Home

512kbps*

90.00

Streamyx / ADSL

Home

1Mbps

116.60

Unifi / FTTx

Home

5Mbps

157.94

Unifi / FTTx

Home

10mbps

210.94

Unifi / FTTx

Home

20Mbps

264.94

Unifi / FTTx

Business

30Mbps

Price not listed

Unifi / FTTx

Business

50mbps

Price not listed

Unifi / FTTx

Business

100Mbps

Price not listed

*Package no longer available for new subscription

Singapore and Thailand have the following packages (not exhaustive) in Table 2 (Singapore) and Table 3 (Thailand).

Table 2 – Home (wired) Internet Packages in Singapore

Singapore Telco

Lowest speed package available

SG$/month

M1

100Mbps (12 mnth contract)

39.00

M1

200Mbps (24 mnth contract)*

29.00

Myrepublic

1Gbps

49.90

Starhub

200Mbps (fibre) / 100Mbps (cable)

39.90

Viewquest

1Gbps

65.00

*cheapest option

Table 3 – Home (wired) Internet Packages in Thailand

Thai Telco

Lowest Speed Package Available

Baht/month

RM/month

CS loxinfo

18Mbps

450

55

3BB

10Mbps

590

72

True online

15Mbps

599

73

AIS fibre

30Mbps

790

97

A quick survey of packages available in Thailand – 18Mbps for 450 Baht/month (RM55) by CS loxinfo, 3BB offering 10Mbps at 590 Baht/month (RM72) and AIS fibre 30Mbps for only 790 Baht/month (RM97) – show all these packages are cheaper than TM’s 1Mbps Streamyx package at RM116.60/month and  yet the Thai packages offer ten to thirty times the speed.

According to Internet Users Survey 2014, over 50% of Internet users spend more than RM50/month on Internet fees. If the packages in Thailand were available in Malaysia, over 50% of current Internet users will enjoy Internet at the speed of at least 18Mbps.

In the case of Singapore, the lowest Internet speed package for home appears to be  100Mbps at SG$39.00/month (RM122 – exchange rate of SG$1 = RM3.12884) which is just RM5.40 more than Streamyx’s 1Mbps package by TM.

If Salleh could do this for Malaysia, we will be getting 100 times the speed at about the same price as Streamyx’s 1Mbps package. Also just for Salleh’s information one can get 1Gbps at SG$49.90/month in Singapore.

Salleh had said, “
It is estimated that if Britain wants to improve the communications infrastructure it would need to spend about RM200bil
.

An Internet search shows UK “
has invested over £1.7billion (RM11.524 billion) to extend superfast coverage (download speeds of 24Mbps and above) to 95% premises in the UK by the end of 2017.
”

Malaysia has spent RM11.3billion on HSBB project and a further RM3.4 billion for HSBB2 project or a  grand total of RM14.7 billion as compared to Britain’s RM11.524 billion (current exchange rate: £1= RM6.77885 ), a cool RM3.176 billion more than Britain.

Yet, UK’s average speed is 11.77Mbps vs Malaysia’s 5.04Mbps as at Q2 of 2015 according to Akamai’s State of the Internet (Soti) report.

Britain is spending less and ensuring near universal coverage of superfast broadband while Malaysia is thinking of 95% Internet access by 2020. Britain by spending RM3.176 billion less than Malaysia is targeting 95% coverage of superfast Internet by end of 2017. Malaysia is spending more but not getting bang for the buck!

All in all, we are outspending Britain on broadband initiative while achieving rather modest targets in a longer term!

Coverage

Focus on coverage is an important issue as I have highlighted in my budget 2010 speech and I had even proposed free universal broadband access for all Malaysians back in October 2009. (Ref:
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/10/30/broadband-penetration-vs-broadband-quality-vs-hsbb/
 ).

Let us look back to Malaysia’s Internet toddler years of 1997-1998.
In 1998, Malaysia’s Internet penetration was ahead of Brunei (6.3%) and on par with South Korea at 6.8% (refer to Table 4)
.

A snapshot of the situation seven years later puts Malaysia (42.3%) with relatively big lead over Brunei (29.7%). However, South Korea has pulled away leaving a big gap of 30.4% between us. In 2014, the data by World Bank shows that South Korea stands at 84.3%, Brunei 68.8% and Malaysia at 67.5%.

The sad story on Malaysia’s Internet coverage does not end there. Countries that started later than Malaysia is catching up fast – like countries China, Vietnam and Thailand which even have higher average Internet speed than Malaysia.

Table 4 – Internet users (per 100 people) according to Country

Country Name

1997

1998

2004

2014

United States

21.6

30.1

64.8

87.4

Singapore

13.5

19.6

62.0

82.0

Japan

9.2

13.4

62.4

90.6

United Kingdom

7.4

13.7

65.6

91.6

Brunei Darussalam

4.8

6.3

29.7

68.8

South Korea

3.6

6.8

72.7

84.3

Malaysia

2.3

6.8

42.3

67.5

Thailand

0.4

1.1

10.7

34.9

Indonesia

0.2

0.3

2.6

17.1

Philippines

0.1

1.1

5.2

39.7

China

0.0

0.2

7.3

49.3

Vietnam

0.0

0.0

7.6

48.3

Laos

0.0

0.4

14.3

Myanmar

0.0

2.1

Data source: World Development Indicators, World Bank

Salleh should ask himself: What he could do for ICT as Minister in charge of Communications and Multimedia and not what ICT can do for him. I am sure all Malaysians await his answer.

What is his vision for ICT in Malaysia as Minister responsible for this portfolio?

What is he doing to track the cost and affordability of ICT services to close the digital divides in the country, to increase ICT uptake in the nation’s least connected regions and enhance the role of ICT as a development enabler for the less-developed areas?

At the micro level, he should have read of the many complaints in the past two days about Internet speed, coverage and affordability, and whether he would set up a special committee to address the complaints highlighted by the readers in the various media, whether electronic or printed?

For a start,  Can Salleh respond and  take action to address the four folloiwing complaints (from among Malaysiakini readers) about Internet services, two from Kota Kinabalu?

“I live just 2.5km from Kk city centre but yet my internet connection is only 1. Most days it doesn’t even get up to 1. I would love to upgrade and even pay the exorbitant price but how can I when the network cables in my area do no support what it says  on TM’s system. … Many people I know pay for internet connections that they don’t get -pay for 8 but get barely 2. TM has been silently robbing people of their money, do you know or even care Salleh? You should know your house in Likas.”

“I have been paying RM199 for 10Mbps since it started. More than a year ago Maxis offered 30Mbps for about the same cost. Unifi did not respond to my comment on this disparity in pricing. It is only recently (last month) that Unifi upgraded my Internet from 10Mbps to 30Mbps at the same subscription. This means that for over a year I have been paying for internet speed at significant higher rates than the next competitor in the market. Where is the multimedia commission, whose task is to regulate the industry including setting and approving tariffs. A liberalised market (meaning many players) does not mean deregulation. The regulator is supposed to protect consumers and at the same time stimulate data usage and infrastructure for national development. WHERE IS THE REGULATOR??”

“TM charges RM264 pm including GST for Unifi with download speed of 20 Mbps and download volume of 120GB (currently unlimited) plus access to HyppTV. A relative of mine in the US pays only USD60 pm (about RM260 now or RM180 previously) for 75 Mbps and 300GB respectively! With such speed and capacity, one doesn’t even need cable or satellite TV. I live in the capital of Sabah and my housing estate does not have Unifi although it is less than 5km from the city centre!”

“The minister is mollycoddling TM and other broadband service providers. The internet service guidelines require sustaining a high percentage of download speeds (I believe it is around 70%). So even at 1mbs, a user should be expecting to download at speeds of at least 700kbs. But almost all internet users will tell you that at 1mbs package, they can’t even get it up to 200kbs unless you’re talking about completely off peak hours like 3am in the morning! So firstly, it is a failure to enforce MCMC’s own standards, and secondly, maybe the question is whether the standard is too high in the first place and if so why – because the government and the service providers are misleading the public in order to show comparable standards with overseas services. At the end of the day, Salleh should just come out and say UMNO has no intention of giving wider access to the public because a smarter public means even less support for UMNO.”

Has Salleh got any vision for ICT in Malaysia as Minister for Communications and Multimedia, or his only job specification is to blog to praise Najib and be his chief propagandist?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 2:36 pm and is filed under
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Najib will split the country

K. Siladass

1st October 2015

Prime Minister cum President of UMNO Dato Seri Najib Razak has now openly supported the Red Shirt claiming that the Malays have been slapped many times and the 16th September Red shirt rally was the answer. This goes to show, Najib was from the beginning supporting the Red shirt rally and his initial reaction of an innocent bystander was all a gimmick.

What Najib has conveniently ignored is the fact that the non-Malays have been knocked on their heads many times and what we have is inaction to bring the culprits to the books. Leaving this aside, it would have been expected of Najib to come up with sound reasoning rather than this “slap” allegation which is closer to infantile attitude.

Now it is clear that Najib needed this Rally to show those who opposed him here and the whole world that he has a large following who support him. Sadly, the actual fact is that the Malays themselves find Najib’s attitude shocking, if not embarrassing.

Najib and his supporters cannot deny that the allegations against him are very serious.  As far as the RM2.6 billion donation that found its way into Najib’s bank account, Bank Negara’s Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Abdul Aziz has made it very clear that the Malaysians deserve answers about it.

We cannot overlook the most important fact that the charges against the Prime minister are charges against the whole country and its people.

Najib should not use his power and money to muster support within UMNO and whip up racial frenzy to stay in power and conceal the wrongs.

With all the accumulating allegations against him including the fact that he blocked the promotion of Justice Hishamudin Mohd Yunos to the Federal Court recommended by the Judicial Appointments Commission puts him in a very defensive position.

By his conduct he has not only brought the office of the prime minister to shame but the whole country.

Needless to say, instead of being the Prime Minister of all Malaysians he has effectively alienated the non-Malays thus subscribing to the notion of racial politics. He has indeed sown the seeds for Malaysia’s disintegration.

Najib has split the country by openly associating himself with the racial contents expressed in the Red Shirt Rally. Those who support him must realise quickly he should not act in the matter he does as it does not auger well for the country.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 October 2015, 5:29 pm and is filed under
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Soft spot for the British

– M. Bakri Musa

The Malaysian Insider

30 September 2015

The British replaced the Iberians and Dutch in Malaysia. Those colonialists carved up the Malay world among themselves, with Malaysia fortunately falling under the British while the larger archipelago going to the Dutch and the Philippines to the Spaniards.

I say “fortunately”, considering the fate of the Indonesians and Filipinos. For whatever reason the British were much more benign, or less malevolent.

Among the consequential differences, while our Indonesian brethren had to fight for their independence, Malaysians opted for the more civilised and considerably less traumatic route of negotiations.

While Malays still harbour fond memories of their former colonial masters, with more than a few being unabashed anglophiles, no such sentiment exists among the Indonesians for the Dutch, or the Filipinos for the Spaniards.

The British legacies in Malaysia were significant, among them a first class civil service, an independent judiciary, and a school system that later proved fortuitous with English becoming the language of science and commerce.

The British also introduced rubber plantations. The country is still reaping the economic bonanza from that initiative.

Again here, the credit for the positive consequences of this particular colonial encounter cannot go entirely to the British or the Malays, anymore than the blame for the fiasco in Indonesia could be heaped upon the Dutch or the Indonesians. Instead the answer lies with the unique dynamics of the interactions.

While Malays had plenty of derogatory caricatures of the Dutch, no such epithets existed for the British. Perhaps the British had perfected the art of indirect rule while still maintaining their tight and uncompromising grip.

Whereas with the earlier encounter with the Muslim traders, our acceptance of and integration with them were both “down-up” (from the peasants and rising up to the aristocrats and sultans) and “up-down” (from the rulers downwards), with the British it was strictly up-down, from the sultans to the rakyats. Because of the feudal nature of Malay society, the transformation was rapid.

It could be that the British found kinship with our Malay system of nobility and felt compelled to preserve it. Granted, our Orang Kaya Di Hilir Perak (Wealthy Lord) is not quite on par socially, intellectually or wealth-wise (despite what the title implies) with the Earl of Lancashire, nonetheless the social pattern and dynamics remain the same.

The British were wise to appreciate that a system of subtle indirect rule was more in tune with the “halus” (delicate) ways of our culture than brute occupation a la the Dutch or Japanese.

The British charade was greatly eased by their heaping honours on our sultans, such as the Knighthoods of some ancient British Order or the occasional invitations to Buckingham Palace.

This was the same insight that General McArthur effectively used in post-war Japan, except that he did not feel compelled to honour the Japanese Emperor with a Presidential Medal of any sort.

The British must have learned a thing or two from observing how our grandfathers controlled their buffaloes.

Tie a rope to the ring through the nose of the lead bull, then even a toddler could control the herd. The ring may be of gold and the rope spun of silk, but the underlying dynamics remain the same.

Although the Malay masses did not embrace the British colonials with as much enthusiasm as we did the earlier Muslim traders, we were not entirely hostile either, at least not to the level the Indonesians had for the Dutch.

There were scattered armed insurrections and a few colonial advisors assassinated, but for the most part we were quite docile under the British. The British not interfering in matters pertaining to our faith (leaving that entirely and exclusively to the sultans) may have had something to do with our resigned acceptance of their rule. We did not protest much even when the British inundated the country with immigrant labourers from China and India.

Of course the British had to justify bringing in those hordes of indentured labourers; thus was born the myth of the lazy native.

To put things in perspective, this unwillingness of the natives to take on dirty scud jobs in their own country is not unique to Malays. How else to explain the glut of Indians in Britain, Turks in Germany, and Mexicans in America?

It was only after the children of those tin mine labourers and rubber tappers became lawyers and doctors, having benefited from the superior education afforded by the colonials, did Malays become concerned that their country would soon be taken over by these immigrants.

Some would argue that those same superior colonial educational facilities were also available to Malays. This myth, like others, had just a tinge of truth to it to be accepted by many as the all-encompassing explanation for Malay educational laggardness during colonial rule.

Yes, there were schools. The first was Penang Free School (PFS) that despite its name was not free. In addition to tuition fees there were other substantial ancillary fees.

Being located in the city, for rural Malay students there would also be the additional and substantial costs for transportation. Urban-dwelling immigrants were spared such expenses.

In my case back in the 1950s, nearly 150 years after the setting of PFS, bus fare was the single biggest cost for my schooling, far exceeding the cost of tuition, books, and uniforms.

It did not help that the British built just enough schools to sooth their social conscience after raking in obscene profits from the country. It would have helped entice Malays to enroll in these English schools if they had been named after our heroes and sultans, or in any way pay homage to our cultural sensitivity. Instead those schools had names like King George V School and Victoria Institution.

Just to make sure that Malays got the message that they were not welcomed, there were the Anglo-Chinese Schools. It was not coincidental that there were no Anglo-Malay Schools.

Most were not government schools but set up by missionaries expelled from China. They were eager to continue their evangelical mission among the Chinese, only this time in Malaysia.

Such schools sported names like Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. The surprise was that there were still Malay parents who willingly enrolled their children in such schools, as with the parents of the wives of the second and third prime ministers.

Then there was the colonial mindset that fervently believed that the best education for Malays would be one that would allow us to continue with our subsistence living as peasant farmers and fishermen.

If all of those were not enough, then there was the attitude of Malay parents who thought that sending their children to English schools was tantamount to turning them into brown Mat Salleh (White Man) and, horror of horrors, Christians. They would then sport such names as Matthew and Thomas instead of Mahmud and Tahir.

Those conditions created the perfect storm that prevented Malays from partaking in modern Western education.

Later, when we realised that our children and community were left far behind, we suddenly became aware of our precarious situation in our own country. Then we started looking at those immigrants who hitherto had been content confining themselves to the tin mines and rubber estates in a radically different light.

The Malay reaction to British colonialists could best be described as grudging accommodation, in marked contrast to our earlier enthusiastic embrace of Muslim traders.

Our pseudo or resigned acceptance of British colonial rule was smoothed over by the willing co-operation (or more correctly, co-optation) of our elite, especially our sultans. The most unabashedly anglophile was the late Sultan Ibrahim of Johor. He must have loved the English very much; he married at least two of them.

If there were to be any segment of the Malaysian community that unabashedly embraced British colonialism it would be the so-called Queen’s Chinese. That term today sounds odd and quaint. They were the early Chinese immigrants who settled in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore.

They easily assimilated into British colonial society, complete with their billiard playing and brandy swirling which seemed so out of place with their mandarin dresses, conical hats, and black pigtails.

Like the sultans, these “Queen’s Chinese” were opposed to Malaysia’s independence. Unlike the sultans who kept their opposition silent, those Chinese were very vocal.

There were also many Malays who were similarly not too enthused about independence, in particular Datuk Onn. His opposition however, was not with the principle but the timing, feeling that the country was not as yet ready.

In many ways the Queen’s Chinese embrace of colonialism was akin to the earlier Malay acceptance of Islam. Those Chinese successfully integrated into colonial life while maintaining at least outwardly their Chinese traditions. Consequently they were among the most successful communities at the time of independence.

We can only speculate as to the reasons for the muted Malay reaction to British colonialism. Perhaps our earlier enthusiastic embrace of Islam “immunised” us against the subsequent influences of similar monotheistic faiths.

Or perhaps after our earlier sour experiences with the Portuguese and Dutch (typified by the expression “Dutch deal”) the British looked so much more tolerable in comparison.

At any rate it was enough for a critical commentator at the time, Munshi Abdullah, to lament what it was that which made Malays not in the least curious and eager to learn from a society that was so far ahead of us.

We were not even in awe at how British minds could build such wonderful things as a steel warship. They could make steel float!

This lack of curiosity prevented Malays from taking advantage of what the colonials had to offer. And they had a lot!  We would subsequently pay dearly for that neglect. – September 30, 2015.

* Adapted from Dr M. Bakri Musa’s book, Liberating The Malay Mind, ZI Publications Sdn Bhd, Petaling Jaya (2013).

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 October 2015, 6:01 am and is filed under
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The 1965 genocide and rise of Suharto

– Tommy Thomas

The Malaysian Insider

1 October 2015

Fifty years ago, as a young student, I was saddened to learn of an attempted coup in Indonesia, which within a few months overthrew President Sukarno.

Although the newly established Malaysia (Singapore had just exited the Federation) was under Confrontation, and Indonesia was the enemy, I was always a fan of Sukarno.

During the dark days of the Cold War – the Cuban missiles crisis occurred less than 3 years earlier – Sukarno, together with Nehru, led the non-aligned movement.

In fact, he hosted a most impressive non-aligned conference in Bandung in 1955. He was a brave foe of imperialism and neo-colonialism. He opposed American involvement in the Vietnam war. Sukarno was a true patriot and nationalist. Finally, a colourful character, never short of words.

What happened in Jakarta in the early hours of October 1, 1965 were tolerably clear.

Lt. Col. Untung, the Commander of the Presidential Guards, led a small group of disaffected junior officers who kidnapped and killed six generals, including General Achmad Yani, the Army Commander. General Haris Nasution, the defence minister, narrowly escaped, but his young daughter was killed.

On the morning of October 1, Untung made a radio announcement stating he was taking power to protect Sukarno from army generals whom Untung claimed was organising a coup d’etat to overthrow Sukarno.

Calling himself the head of the September 30 movement, Untung also announced the formation of a Revolutionary Council.

Within a few hours, General Suharto who apparently was not a target of Untung, marshalled his troops, overpowered Untung and his band by nightfall. The uprising was crushed in less than a day.

But what was unleashed was one of 20th century’s worst genocides: the lowest estimates of state organised massacres was 500,000 deaths, and the highest, one million victims.

Because Indonesia’s communist party, the PKI, then the largest outside the Soviet Union and China, was regarded by Suharto and the army as orchestrating the Untung power grab the facts (that Untung was an army man and the killing of the generals were committed by the army units were totally disregarded), PKI was banned, and its leader D.N. Aidit shot.

In the previous decade, Sukarno balanced power between himself, the army and PKI. By definition, this triumvirate was lop-sided because the army had the guns.

Untung’s putsch gave the army the opportunity of destroying and decimating once and for all the PKI and its followers, side-lining Sukarno and taking over power completely.

Regardless of whether one was a communist, a fellow-traveller, a sympathiser, or if members of the Army were only settling scores, one was killed, tortured or detained in harsh conditions.

Thousands of innocent Indonesians were brutally murdered, especially in Java and Bali. Much blood was spilled. Even in the bloody 20th century, with the two World Wars, the Holocaust and the Pol Pot’s Zero Hour in Cambodia, the Indonesian genocide was a terrible blot on humanity.

The passing of half a century gives an independent observer sufficient time and distance to reflect on the reasons for the killing by the state of its own people on such a scale and magnitude.

If the bare events that unfolded on the night of September 30 and early hours of October 1, 1965 are not the subject of much dispute, the origins of the coup and counter-coup and the organisations behind them have remained murky. This is neither the place or time to consider the various theories.

It would suffice to recall the Latin phrase used by Cicero “cui bono”: who benefitted from the conspiracy and crime?

There is only one answer: Suharto.

When it emerged that Colonel Latief, an Untung supporter and main plotter, tipped off Suharto on September 29 and 30 of the imminent coup, the fact that Suharto was not on Untung’s list, and that within hours he could marshall the troops to crush Untung’s band, the evidence and motive pointed to Suharto.

But all the facts have never been uncovered, and with the passage of time and the death of all those directly involved, the truth may not emerge.

The far-reaching consequences:

1. Genocide of its own people, ranging from half a million to a million victims.

2. Torture and detention of hundreds of thousands, and the imposition of terror.

3. The overthrow of Sukarno: he became a lame-duck president by mid-October 1965 and all power was transferred to Suharto by March 1966. Sukarno was placed under house arrest until his death in 1970.

4. Army rule until 1998 when Habibie became the first civilian president.

5. Suharto remained a dictator for some 35 years, and he and his family were enriched beyond belief. Madam Suharto becoming the original 10% lady.

6. The PKI was banned – communism, socialism and any idealogy left of centre died with Aidit, and never resurfaced. They remain taboo in Indonesia.

7. In Cold War terms, the greatest beneficiary was the United States, at the expense of the Communist bloc, particularly China. Sukarno’s fall was heralded in Johnson’s White House, and Suharto, the “smiling general ”, became the darling of the US Press. Suharto’s Indonesia remained a loyal US ally throughout his rule. CIA and Pentagon reaped benefits from the Sukarno fall.

8. Great Britain, as the major power in the Commonwealth forces which came to Malaysia’s aid in meeting Indonesian Confrontation, exited South East Asia, as was its objective in the wake of decolonisation, although it controlled and directed large portions of the economy in the region. But the expensive aspects of its direct political control ceased.

9. Indonesia moved firmly into the clutches of western capitalism. In fact, the Berkeley mafia ran its economy in the early Suharto days. Cronyism and nepotism were the inevitable by-products of unbridled capitalism. It was ironic that Suharto was finally brought down in 1998 by unimaginable foreign debt.

With the benefit of hindsight, a case can be made that the most transformative event in post-World War II Indonesia was not its independence from the Dutch in 1947, but the revolutionary changes brought by the events of October 1, 1965.

The consequences, some deliberately designed by the army, and others unintended, destroyed democracy in Indonesia for 4 decades.

By any yardstick, Suharto was a dictator, and his family benefitted from kleptocracy. A tiny elite benefitted in billions, a small class exercised power and influence, but the vast majority of Indonesians suffered.

The gap between the very rich and the rest of society widened substantially during army junta rule. The violent regime change from Sukarno to Suharto was in consequence a national tragedy of gigantic proportions.

It is sad that the five presidents who followed Suharto in the 17 years since his resignation have not taken any concrete steps to deal with the events of 1965.

Neither is there a public recognition of wrongs done to millions, followed by an apology (as had happened in Germany after the Second World War) nor an appointment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (like Mandela’s South Africa).

Even Sukarno’s daughter, Megawati, pretended as if 1965 did not happen. The principal reason for their reluctance is the military’s continued power and influence.

The army may not have direct political power, elections may be held from time to time, but 1965 is a sacred cow for the army, and no one dares to incur its wrath, even half a century later and in a changed world.

But right thinking people across the globe must press their governments to put pressure on Indonesia to carry out quickly independent investigations into the origins, causes and consequences of its 1965 national tragedy and to publish the findings thereafter.

That much is owed to the memory of millions killed, tortured or who suffered in silence. – October 1, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 October 2015, 5:17 pm and is filed under
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Twitter Plans to Go Beyond Its 140-Character Limit

By Kurt Wagner and Jason Del Rey

ReCode

September 29, 2015

Twitter is building a new product that will allow users to share tweets that are longer than the company’s 140-character limit, according to multiple people familiar with the company’s plans.

It’s unclear what the product will look like, but sources say it would enable Twitter users to publish long-form content to the service. Users can already tweet out blocks of text with products like OneShot, but those are simply images, not actual text published on Twitter. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment.

The 140-character limit has been one of Twitter’s trademark features since day one. It has long been scrutinized by those outside the company, and many have argued over the years that Twitter should expand it. It has also been a topic of discussion internally at Twitter for years, according to multiple sources, and has resurfaced in recent months under interim CEO Jack Dorsey as the company has been exploring new ways to grow its user base.

In addition to the long-form product, execs have been openly discussing the idea of tweaking how Twitter measures its 140-character limit by removing things like links and user handles from the count, multiple sources say. In the past, Twitter has tinkered with the limit in other ways. Twitter Cards are still beholden to the 140-character limit but are intended to help people (and advertisers) share lots of information, and Twitter added a “retweet with comment” option in April to give people more room to comment on tweets they share. The company also lifted the 140-character rule on private messages back in June.

Dorsey is apparently supportive of a potential change, a bold stance and yet another sign that he isn’t simply keeping the CEO seat warm until Twitter finds someone permanent.

“People have been very precious at Twitter about what Twitter can be and how much it can be evolved,” said one current senior employee. “Having Jack come in and say it’s okay makes all the difference in the world.”

Twitter is desperate to find new ways to attract users to the product. On his first earnings call as CEO, Dorsey was critical of some of the company’s most recent product changes and expressed the need for Twitter to reach a more mainstream audience. Tweaking the character count or allowing for longer tweets are ways to try and do that. The question is whether or not a long-form option would actually increase Twitter’s audience. It might encourage publishers to share directly to Twitter more often, but long-form publishing on other platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn is typically more of a power feature.

As with all early products, there’s a chance the long-form feature may never make it to consumers. But Twitter is looking to mix things up, and tweaking its character limit would certainly do the trick.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 October 2015, 5:52 am and is filed under
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With the approach of a  “perfect storm” of  combined  political, economic and nation-building crises, Malaysia needs statesmen and stateswomen from both sides of the political divide to save Malaysia and not racists, opportunists and charlatans

The signs of the coming of a  “perfect storm” of combined political, economic and nation-building crises hitting Malaysia are to be seen  everywhere except to the blind and bigots.

The latest sign of the coming of the “perfect storm” in Malaysia  is the Reuters report yesterday quoting the Indonesian Finance Minister, Bambang Brodjonegoro saying that Indonesia will seek to shield itself from the spread of any financial contagion from Malaysia by improving market sentiment and using government borrowing to boost dollar inflows.

He expressed  worries of Indonesian investors as the twin declines in the rupiah and reserves had revived memories of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, as well as  concerns about contagion from Malaysia “which is in the grips of an escalating political and financial crisis linked to a struggling state investment fund”.

This is evidence that  the Malaysian governance has become not only a threat to our own national well-being but also a threat to the economic well-being of neighbouring ASEAN nations.

We should stop the pretence that everything is fine with Malaysia, what with Malaysia climbing two spots in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, (which is nothing much to boast about in a closer study of the latest  World Economic Forum ranking) or that there is nothing for Malaysians to be shy or ashamed in having their Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak as  the first serving head of government  in the world to be investigated as a kleptocrat under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative 2010 with the twin scandals of the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts.

The tragedy of MH370 last year was bad enough, when for several months Malaysians could not hold their heads high when abroad and dared not admit that they were Malaysians, but the infamy of the Malaysian Prime Minister under investigation as a kleptocrat in the United States has completely overshadowed the MH 370 episode.

Leaders from both sides of the political divide must demonstrate that they are capable of being Malaysian statesmen and stateswomen who could rise above personal and party differences to unite as Malaysian patriots to save Malaysia from the “perfect storm” of combined political, economic and nation-building crises and not a time for racists, opportunists and charlatans.

I will cite three examples.

Firstly, the “comedy of errors” which is the unfortunate controversy caused by the visit of the China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Hui Kuang to Petaling Street, which should be allowed to rest now that the Cabinet at its meeting yesterday agreed that the ambassador had no intention to interfere in domestic affairs.

What is most deplorable however is the continued attempt to exploit the issue with the escalation of the rhetoric of race, which had caused so much damage to social peace, racial harmony and national unity in recent months.

For instance, the chief organiser of the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally has used the occasion to try to drum up support for his call for “Malays Unite” as  Malays  must “unite to defend every inch of Malay land” on the baseless ground that the Malaysian Chinese citizens have a “land of origin” to seek protection.

This is a most irresponsible, divisive, destructive and  racist rhetoric, negating six decades of nation-building to make every citizen, whether Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Dayak  a  Malaysian  first and foremost as they are born, bred and will die in Malaysia and have no other motherland in the world.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied  in Kuching last Friday that he is a racist and declared that racism does not exist in Malaysia.

Lets not talk about the past, but the present and the future.

Is  Zahid prepared  to fully commit himself, the UMNO/BN government and coalition parties to forswear playing the race card or any form of racialism to resolve the multitude of political, economic, good governance and nation building crisis confronting the country.

Secondly, the defence of the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally by the Defence Minister, Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein, saying that it was a “balanced reaction” to the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally on  August 29/30 when it was a completely irresponsible and uncalled-for response.

I am not really surprised by Hishammuddin’s poor judgement, considering what he had done in the past as UMNO Youth leader, but he cannot be more wrong.

Hishammuddin would be  right if the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally had been a Chinese “show-of-force” to challenge Malay political power, but Hishammuddin should know better than anyone else that there is no basis for such calumny and lies.

In his speech after the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally, the  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said:

“Slapped once, we did not do anything. The second time… nothing… the third time… nothing… but the fourth time had crossed the limit. Malays also have rights.

“The Malays will stand up when their pride is scarred, when their leader is insulted, condemned and humiliated. It’s enough, do not repeat such vengeful acts.”

But Najib was misinformed, as all these four instances of “slapping” never took place whether in Bersih 1, 2, 3 or 4.

In fact, apart from Bersih 4, Malays were the majority in the three previous Bersih rallies –  80% Malays in Bersih 1 in 2007; 70% Malays in Bersih 2 in 2011; 60% Malays in Bersih 3 in 2012 and 40% Malays in Bersih 4.

As former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir had said, UMNO was behind the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally, which was most irresponsible and unbecoming of a government representing all Malaysians and races in the country.

The third example is the joint MCA-Gerakan press conference yesterday demanding that DAP repent and be responsible for the political provocations that caused racial tension in the country, and justifying the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally on the ground the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally, allegedly hijacked and masterminded by DAP, had provoked the Red Shirts racialism.

I thank the Gerakan Secretary-General Datuk Liang Teck Meng and the MCA religious harmony bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker for answering what had intrigued me for a month and vindicating my suspicion right from the beginning, viz:

(1)	 that the MCA and Gerakan were not only too cowardly to speak truth to power to inform UMNO leaders that the 34-hour Bersih 4 overnight rally had nothing to do with race or politics, but was a genuine grassroots demand by Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age, gender or politics for good governance and clean, free, fair elections; and

(2)	But even worse, they instigated UMNO elements  to respond to the Bersih 4 Rally in a racist and chauvinist manner, like the Sept. 16  Red Shirts Rally, spreading the lie that DAP had hijacked and masterminded the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally to stage a Chinese “show-of-force” to challenge Malay political authority.

If MCA and Gerakan dared not speak the truth that the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally had nothing to do with race or politics but a genuine demand by Malaysians for good governance and clean, free, fair elections, at least they should not be so opportunistic and irresponsible as  to provoke  and instigate racist and chauvinist UMNO responses like the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally with lies and falsehoods.

With the “perfect storm” of combined political, economic and nation-building crises approaching ever closer, are there statesmen and stateswomen on both sides of the political divide to save Malaysia, or there are only racists, political opportunists and charlatans?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 October 2015, 11:06 am and is filed under
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Challenge to  Najib to commission Global Movement of Moderates to report on  who were the extremists and who were the moderates in the  events surrounding 34-hour Bersih 4 rally and the 4-hour Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally

At the beginning of his fourth speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recounted how five years ago he had stood before the same assembly and called for a Global Movement – of Moderates of all religions and all countries – to marginalize extremists, reclaim the centre, and shape the agenda towards peace and pragmatism.

He said Malaysia had followed up his call with both practical action and by building intellectual capacity.

Unfortunately in the past five years, the world has become a more dangerous place accentuated  by the recent warning of  a German journalist, Jurgen Todenhofer,  who was embedded on the frontline with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group for 10 days in the northern town of Mosul in 2014, in his new book
“Inside IS – Ten Days in the Islamic State”
, that millions of people in the West may perish in a nuclear tsunami the IS in planning to launch.

In Malaysia, although Najib has incorporated the Global Movement of Moderates, the cause of moderation is in retreat with extremism raising its ugly head, aided and abetted by the powers-that-be and causing a “perfect storm” of a national crisis to be formed!

If Najib is sincere and truthful about his commitment to the cause of moderation and the Global Movement of Moderates, he must walk the talk and stop preaching moderation in international forums about sharing Malaysia’s experience as a showcase of successful multi-ethnic and multi-religious society  while condoning extremism causing the worst racial and religious polarisation the country and  seeking to revive the race card and the irresponsible politics of hatred and lies.

I challenge Najib to commission the Global Movement of Moderates headed by its CEO Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah  to report on who were the extremists and who were the  moderates in the  events surrounding the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally and the 4-hour Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally in time for the 2016 budget debate in Parliament beginning on Oct. 26 – to save Malaysia from the  unprecedented “perfect storm” of political, economic and nation-building crises  confronting Malaysia.

How can Najib expect credibility and even legitimacy to be preaching a global movement of moderates to marginalize extremism when his government tolerates and condones the worst excesses of  extremism, hatred and intolerance of race supremacy and communal politics?

Najib’s Cabinet had not apologized for the “extremism” of the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally which was clearly organized by UMNO despite the passage of two Cabinet meetings.

Instead of speaking truth to power to inform the UMNO leaders that the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally had nothing to do with race or politics, but a genuine national grassroots movement for good governance and clean, free and fair elections, transcending race altogether, MCA and Gerakan leaders have been caught red-handed in having instigated extremist UMNO leaders to respond in a racialist and extremist fashion like the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay Rally and the aborted Sept. 26 demonstration at Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

The joint MCA-Gerakan press conference two days ago making the ludicrous demand that DAP repent and be responsible for the political provocations that caused racial tension in the country, is the “smoking gun” of the irresponsible and treacherous role played by MCA and Gerakan leaders in helping to manufacture the “perfect storm” now confronting Malaysia.

If Najib dare to accept the challenge to commission the Global Movement of Moderates headed by its CEO Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah  to report on who were the extremists and who were the  moderates over the  events surrounding the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally and the 4-hour Sept. 16 Red Shirts Rally, DAP leaders are prepared to appear before the Global Movement of Moderates to submit evidence that:

(i)	that the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally on August 29/30 was not a Chinese “show-of-force” to challenge Malay political authority;

(ii)	that the DAP had not hijacked or masterminded the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally, as alleged by irresponsible UMNO/BN leaders and media; and

(iii)	that the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally was a serious manifestation of extremism which should be “marginalized” in a global movement of moderates; and

(iv)	the role of MCA and Gerakan in instigating UMNO extremist fringes to respond in a most dishonest, provocative, confrontational and racist manner to the Bersih 4 rally like the Sept. 16 Red Shirt rally when they should have the courage to speak truth to power to inform UMNO leaders that the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally was not about race or politics, but the yearnings of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region for good governance and clean, free, fair elections.

Let the Global Movement of Moderates also outline the blueprint to save Malaysia for moderates by marginalizing extremists!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 12:59 pm and is filed under
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IS planning nuclear tsunami, says German journalist who spent 10 days with them

Asia Times

September 30, 2015

Millions of people in the West may perish in a nuclear tsunami the Islamic State (IS) is planning to launch, warns a German journalist who embedded on the frontline with the terror group for 10 days in the northern Iraq town of Mosul in 2014, agencies report.

Recounting his impressions about IS in his new book Inside IS – Ten Days in the Islamic State, former German MP and noted journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer says the IS want to wipe out all those opposed to their plans for an Islamic caliphate and enslave their women and children.

According to him, the West is underestimating the power of IS which is trying to get its hands on nuclear weapons.

With more countries obtaining nukes, the chances of this terror group obtaining such weapons and using them against the West are more, the Munich native says.

The main people IS are planning to target are Shiites, Yazidis, Hindus, atheists and polytheists.

Moderate Muslims who believe in democracy too may be killed as they promote human laws over the laws of God from IS point of view.

The IS problem cannot be solved militarily or through other means of intervention because with every bomb dropped and hitting civilians, the number of terrorists will keep increasing.

“I don’t see anyone who has a real chance to stop them. Only Arabs can stop IS. I came back very pessimistic,” he says in the book.

The IS now control land greater in size than the United Kingdom.

“They are supported by an almost ecstatic enthusiasm the like of which I’ve never encountered before in a war zone. Every day, hundreds of willing fighters from all over the world come. They are the most brutal and most dangerous enemy I have ever seen in my life,” he says.

What made the meeting between Todenhöfer and his IS hosts possible was his highly critical view of America’s military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That did not, however,  give him or his son, who accompanied him, the liberty to use their cell phones during their ten-day stay with them. Their phones remained in the custody of their hosts until they left them.

Todenhöfer slept on the floor in the sleeping bag he had carried with him along with his suitcase and backpack.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 8:05 am and is filed under
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Malaysia and the Race Card

Wall Street Journal

29th Sept 2015

Minorities become scapegoats as Najib tries to keep power.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s fight for political survival has divided the ruling United Malay National Organization and hurt the nation’s economy. Now it is sparking racial discord. Malaysia’s history of ethnic strife, including the 1969 riots in which hundreds of Chinese were killed, makes this development especially troubling.

At the end of August, a series of rallies by the reform movement Bersih demanded that Mr. Najib resign because of corruption allegations that he denies. The main Malay opposition party PAS didn’t take part as it did in past Bersih rallies, so the crowd of at least 50,000 was mostly made up of Chinese and Indian minorities.

That gave Mr. Najib’s supporters a pretext to claim that the main ethnic Chinese opposition party, the Democratic Action Party, is part of a conspiracy to bring down the Prime Minister and take away the affirmative-action privileges reserved for the Malay majority. On Sept. 16 the most radical hotheads, known as red shirts, tried to rally in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, scene of the worst violence in 1969.

To the government’s credit, the police have largely kept the red shirts out of Chinatown and prevented violence. But UMNO politicians lead the red-shirt movement, which is well funded and organized. UMNO-controlled media outlets have joined in the portrayal of opposition reformers as a threat to the Malays. Mr. Najib defended the rally as a response to insults against Malay leaders.

On Friday Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang waded into the controversy. Speaking at a holiday event in Chinatown as the red shirts planned another foray into the area, he said that the Chinese government opposed terrorism, extremism and discrimination based on race. “But with regard to the infringement on China’s national interests, violations of legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens and businesses, which may damage the friendly relationship between China and the host country, we will not sit by idly,” he warned.

The threat came as a surprise because it broke Beijing’s usual policy on noninterference in other countries’ internal affairs. Malaysia has steadily moved closer to China, and the two countries began their first joint military exercise the day before the Ambassador’s remarks.

As China feuds with the Philippines and Vietnam over islands in the South China Sea, Malaysia has helped deflect pressure for multilateral talks involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But the rising nationalism that drives Chinese aggression in the South China Sea also means that Beijing will speak up for ethnic Chinese under attack in the region. China has plenty of economic leverage, with annual two-way trade exceeding $100 billion and Chinese investment in Malaysia booming.

If race riots do recur, retaliation from China wouldn’t be the biggest cost. Ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians still dominate the economy and could move their capital and management know-how offshore. Prominent Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group, recently cited deteriorating race relations as one of his biggest worries.

The system of racial preferences created after the 1969 riots to mollify Malay anger have had a perverse effect. The benefits fostered corruption among UMNO politicians who channeled public funds to their cronies. The struggling Malaysian economy means the competition for spoils is even more vicious.

Even if Mr. Najib steps down, tensions are likely to increase for some time. After the Prime Minister sacked his deputy and rival, Muhyiddin Yassin, in July and purged other reformers from UMNO, Malay chauvinists have moved into positions of power. Malaysia’s minorities have good reason to fear they will again be scapegoats in the country’s power struggles.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 7:19 am and is filed under
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Salleh should not be a spineless Minister who dare not own up and apologise for his mistakes but want his innocent subordinates to eat “dead cat”

The Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak should not be a spineless Minister who dare not own up and apologise for his mistakes but want his innocent subordinates to eat “dead cat”!

Salleh yesterday started the blame-game in Kuching and claimed that it was the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) which provided him with the information that 71 per cent of Malaysian Internet users preferred the slower Streamyx, even as slow as 384 kilobyte per second (kpbs), instead of the faster broadband of multi-megabyte per second.

Let me tell Salleh to stop talking rubbish, and I want to reiterate that there is no country  in the world which would  prefer slower Internet unless it is peopled by cretins and idiots.

I do not believe anyone in MCMC would be so dense and unprofessional as to tell Salleh that 71 per cent of Malaysian Internet users preferred the slower Streamyx to faster multi-megabyte broadband.

Can he produce black-and-white to establish that he had been advised by MCMC that 71 per cent of Malaysian Internet users preferred the slower Steamyx to faster broadband, and I would agree that such a MCMC officer should be disciplined.

But if Salleh could not produce black-and-white to prove that he had been so advised by the MCMC, would he tender a double apology, one for making a most stupid and senile statement and secondly, for the cowardice and spinelessness of trying to pass the buck of his mistake to MCMC?

It would not only make no sense, but would be a total waste of the billions of ringgit and a complete failure of the government ICT programme to date if after two decades of the launching of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) to position the country in the forefront of ICT in the world, there are still 71% of Internet users who prefer  crawling on the Internet at 384 kbps!

Are Malaysians so masochistic?

This is definitely not the case.  The MCMC’s Industry  Performance Report 2014 reported that Streamyx subscribers amounted to 1.52 million,  representing 65% of the fixed broadband subscribers,  are  a minority representing only 7.3% of total Internet subscribers. This is because the total number of Internet subscribers in 2014 stood at 20.7 million, comprising 14.8% fixed broadband and 85.2% mobile broadband subscribers (and Streamyx subscribers are only 65% of 14.8% – i.e. some 7.3%).

How can Salleh make the elementary mistake of claiming that Streamyx subscribers represent 71% of Internet users when in fact they only represent some 7.3%?

The MCMC Industry Performance Report 2014 was uploaded onto the MCMC website on Sept. 15, 2015, and it is indeed a tragedy that we have a Minister for Communications and Multimedia who does not understand the report of agencies under his own Ministry.

It is clear that Salleh is quite out of his depth when dealing with ICT problems and  challenges and he should be humble to  learn quick and fast if he is not going to be a disaster of a Minister for Communications and Multimedia in the nation’s history – a burden instead of a boon to Malaysia’s ICT industry.

In fact, it is only now after being a Minister for two months  that Salleh is paying attention to the problems of speed, coverage, affordability and quality of ICT infrastructure and facilities – which should be his priority agenda right from the beginning.

Instead, Salleh was quite lost as Minister for Communications and Multimedia for the two months, understanding his job merely to be the Prime Minister’s chief propagandist and blogger.

Salleh should make amends and prove to Malaysians that he is a worthy Minister for Communications and Multimedia by introduce a New Deal for Superfast Broadband in the 2016 Budget to be announced by the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister when tabling the budget in Parliament on October 23.

This New Deal for Superfast Broadband should upgrade all the “legacy” subscriptions whether for RM38 or 384 kbps to at least 2Mbps download speed and to generally lower the prices for Internet access.

This new package of faster broadband at lower costs should be the first phase of a New Deal for Superfast Broadband which should be ready for incorporation into the 2016 budget in three weeks’ time.

Can Salleh learn and learn fast in the next 21 days?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 5:40 pm and is filed under
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Scandal-hit Malaysia investment fund files accounts late

Michael Peel in Bangkok

Financial Times

October 1, 2015

The Malaysian state investment fund at the centre of an international corruption scandal has failed to file its accounts on time.

1 Malaysia Development Berhad blamed the delay on a lack of access to documents held by investigators.

The fund said it was given permission by the companies regulator to miss the September 30 deadline, adding that two of its subsidiaries also wanted to submit their accounts late.

Critics said the delay was the latest example of a lack of transparency in the face of a large debt burden and allegations of misappropriation of funds that have also engulfed Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister. Both 1MDB and Mr Najib have denied wrongdoing.

“Such complete disregard for timely regulatory compliance demonstrates 1MDB’s contempt for good corporate governance and financial accountability,” said Tony Pua, an opposition MP who was barred from travelling outside Malaysia after he raised questions about the fund.

1MDB said it was “currently finalising” its accounts for the year to March 31 but did not have “original financial files and other information” which are now with investigators. The affair has spawned multiple probes in Malaysia and sparked investigations in the US, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

The fund did not respond to questions about how long an extension it had been granted. The Companies Commission of Malaysia, the regulator, could not be reached for comment.

1MDB also refused to comment on whether Deloitte, its auditor, had even started its work on last year’s accounts. Deloitte, the fund’s third big four auditor in six years, declined to discuss its position, citing client confidentiality.

Concerns about 1MDB, which is 100 per cent-owned by Malaysia’s finance ministry and was set up by Najib Razak in 2009, have intensified. The fund, created to develop new industries and turn the capital, Kuala Lumpur, into a global financial hub, financed itself through issuing debt, and today owes more than $11bn.

The fund said its Edra Energy and 1MDB Real Estate subsidiaries were also seeking an extension to their account filing deadlines for “further clarifications” and input from “additional third-party documents” as a result of official investigations and media reports. Edra is being examined by four shortlisted bidders in a quick auction of more than $2bn of energy assets that is aimed at cutting 1MDB’s debt pile of more than $11bn.

1MDB’s accounts have attracted increasing scrutiny as more details have emerged of its opaque multibillion-dollar international dealings with partners in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Ipic, the Abu Dhabi state wealth fund, is investigating what happened to at least $1.4bn that was reported in previous 1MDB financial statements as being paid to it — but was never recorded as received in Ipic’s own accounts.

In a BBC interview broadcast on Thursday, Arul Kanda, the former Abu Dhabi banker drafted in to restructure 1MDB at the start of this year, denied the fund had done anything improper. But he admitted: “Perceptions . . . are poor and a lot of effort needs to be made to fix that.”

The 1MDB affair has rocked Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, and prompted a campaign by both the opposition and Mahathir Mohamad, the influential former prime minister, to oust Mr Najib.

The premier and 1MDB have denied allegations that almost $700m linked to the fund was paid into a bank account in his name. Mr Najib says the money came from an unnamed Middle East donor.

Critics say the Malaysian government is trying to stifle scrutiny through detentions, travel bans and by removing investigators from their posts. But after the launch of international investigations, the case has proved difficult to contain.

Additional reporting by Ben McLannahan in New York

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 7:36 am and is filed under
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Umno Baru’s descent into savagery

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

28 Sep 2015

Observing Umno Baru under Najib Abdul Razak is like watching the party’s descent into tribalism and savagery. Najib forgets that he represents all Malaysians, not just a tiny minority of Umno Baruputras. Najib uses the ‘psychology of fear’ to motivate the insecure ultra-Malays to act in unconscionable ways.

The speech he made at the National Silat Council (Silat Pesaka Malaysia), in which he defended the ‘red shirt’ rally or Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu was inflammatory and seditious. That he made the speech is wrong. That he has not yet been charged with sedition is not surprising.

Najib does not know how to be the leader of a nation. Under Najib, Malaysia has degenerated into racial conflict and class struggle, and is ruled by fear and violence; rural folk vs urbanites. Malays vs non-Malays. The rich vs the poor. Umno Baru vs the rest of Malaysia. East Malaysia vs peninsular Malaysia. The true indigenous people vs the pseudo indigenous people (Malays) and mamaks.

In his speech supporting the ‘red shirt rally’, Najib praised the 15,000 attendees. In a voice charged with emotion, he said that there were three types of supporters. The first and second are the “weak supporters”, and the “hardcore supporters”. His reference to the third type, which is “supporters who are willing to die”, was dangerous and tantamount to treason.

The link is here.

Drowned-out by claps and hoots of support, with a beaming Ali Rustam by his side, he said, “We are willing to die, because ours is the rightful government to lead the nation.”

What is Najib suggesting? Is he preparing for civil war?

Najib said that Malays are law-abiding and can assemble peacefully without causing any trouble. He claimed that Malays did not incite violence and that Malaysians lived in a nation which was becoming more peaceful and more harmonious.

He said, “Malays are tolerant, law-abiding and can live with non-Malays!” He also warned “others” not to insult Malay dignity, or be disrespectful towards the Malays. He said that Malays also have emotions and rights.

Giving his full support to the ‘red shirt’ rally, Najib said, “There are no pictures of blood stained keris, or photos of people stamping on the pictures of leaders. We respect parliamentary democracy. We were elected by the rakyat. We respect the constitution.”

So, who, or what, does Najib claim to represent? He appears to be torn by internal conflict, with glimpses of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde surfacing. He does not comprehend the rules of a democracy.

Publicity stunt

The ‘red shirt’ rally was a publicity stunt to give the impression that there is support for Najib. More importantly, the rally is to divert our attention from the 1MDB scandal and the alleged RM2.6 billion donation by an Arab.

To the west, Najib preaches moderation. At home, Najib displays the persona of one who only acts to gratify his own desire for absolute power. He champions groups, within his circle, who use violence to dominate others, who threaten, bully, harass and intimidate.

In short, the nation is at the mercy of Najib’s internal conflict; of democracy versus autocracy, order vs chaos, law vs anarchy, logic vs impulse, and good vs bad.

Everyone has some measure of innate evil. The power-hungry Najib, who wants a free hand to dip into the wealth of the nation and to use Umno Baru as a vehicle to wield power, has allowed Malaysia to degenerate into lawlessness.

The rakyat appear to be helpless to remove him, because successive leaders have managed to emasculate the institutions, like the judiciary and the anti-corruption agency, which could have checked their abuses of power.

At the Malaysia Economic Update 2015 dialogue last week, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed (photo), or Tok Pa as he is popularly known, criticised leaders for spewing racially-charged sentiments to gain popularity and votes.

Tok Pa said, “They are some who think that, until a lot want to be popular by being seen as being vocal in racial issues. We must go back to our humanity. As long as this is not resolved once and for all, it will be very worrying.

“In politics, there are those who believe that they can get votes by being extremists, and there are those who don’t.” (sic)

Were his remarks directed at Najib and the coterie of like-minded Umno Baru figureheads, such as Annuar Musa, Ali Rustam, Syed Ali Alhabshee, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Jamal Yunos?

At a meeting with Malaysians in London the previous week, Tok Pa asked a group of young professionals how they would “improve Malaysia’s reputation in the international arena, and increase trade between Britain and Malaysia.”

The answer should have been obvious. Remove Najib, and see the magical effect!

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 October 2015, 12:46 am and is filed under
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Najib will be Prime Minister for full term until 14GE in 2018? Don’t  count chickens before they hatched

On his final day in New York just before his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak sent a very specific message back home to friends and foes alike that he would serve out in full his second term as Prime Minister of Malaysia and that the next 14th General Election would be held in 2018 and not earlier.

This is to pierce the balloon of the hottest topic in conversational circuits in the country –  the possibility of a no-confidence motion against Najib as Prime Minister when Parliament reconvenes for the 2016 Budget on Oct. 19.

Najib was so satisfied with his nine-day visit to New York and the United Nations and the speech he was to deliver in the UN in the next few hours, that he allowed hubris to set in, telling US business leaders that “the government is here to stay”, that he was “not in a hurry to go back home for fear of losing my job or something like that” and that he will call for a general election when his mandate expires in 2018.

Has the danger passed that Najib might not survive this year as Prime Minister of Malaysia and the possibility of passage of a no confidence motion in the forthcoming Parliament?

It will be wise to fall back on the adage that one should not count the chickens until they are hatched, and the same applies to the possibility, for the first time in Malaysian history, of a no confidence motion against the Prime Minister.

On sheer numbers alone, this seems an impossibility, as although the Prime Minister is a minority Prime Minister securing only 47% of the popular vote in the 13th General Election in May 2013, he is head of the Umno/BN coalition which commands 133 MPs or 60% of the parliamentary seats.

Furthermore, there are reasons to believe that Najib may have been assured of parliamentary support in any “no confidence” motion from outside his cluster of 133 parliamentary seats – except that nobody really knows how solid are these 133 MPs behind Najib if faced with a vote in a “no confidence” motion.

Malaysia is today facing a “perfect storm” of a multitude of political, economic and nation-building crises.

The ringgit has dropped 21 per cent so far in 2015 and is Asia’s underperformer.

Najib asked the US investors to ignore the “noise” back home in Malaysia related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MD) and look instead at the “real” fundamentals of a resilient economy despite the current economic volatility, but unless Najib come clean on the two major scandals on the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal bank accounts, confidence of both local and foreign investors are not going to be restored.

However unlikely or even “impossible” at present  to envisage a scenario in the forthcoming Parliament where a vote of no confidence against Najib as Prime Minister become the subject-matter of MPs, there are powerful factors and forces gathering momentum heading in this direction.

Openly, the Prime Minister and UMNO President for 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir had called for Najib’s removal as Prime Minister.

He has today been joined by the longest-serving MCA President, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik who has joined Mahathir’s campaign for the ouster of Najib as Prime Minister.

Liong Sik said he  attended the Bersih 4 rally in Perth, Australia to support a vote of no confidence against Najib, as he had taken people’s money and put it into his personal accounts which  should not happen.

Will there be more veteran UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders who will come out into the open to support the call for a new Prime Minister and who will dare to be the first from the present batch of 133 UMNO/BN MPs to step forward to “bell the cat” by supporting the call for a new Prime Minister?

This will be a moral and political dilemma facing every UMNO/BN MP, especially with the worsening of the multitude of political, economic and nation-building crisis caused by the deliberate revival of the race card after the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally, which was a  patriotic carnival of human rights attended  by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or politics in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream for good governance and clean, free, fair elections transcending race and party politics.

Najib’s speech to the UN General Assembly was a big let-down, for it  was a reminder to Malaysians of the wide gulf between the Prime Minister’s international speeches about the virtues of moderation and the need to margnialise extremists and the sad reality back home where the politics of extremism, hatred and lies  are rearing their ugly heads, aided and abetted by the powers-that-be.

The next few weeks will  be interesting times for Malaysian politics and governance.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 October 2015, 4:46 pm and is filed under
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Ringgit Retreats as Malaysian Budget Woes Add to China Concern

by Y-Sing Liau

Bloomberg

October 2, 2015

The ringgit fell and stocks retreated as concern Malaysia may miss its target of balancing the budget by 2020 hurt a currency already reeling from a worsening slowdown in China and allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The fiscal shortfall may be “in the region” of 1 percent of gross domestic product at the end of the decade, compared with a current deficit of 3.2 percent, the New Straits Times reported Thursday, citing comments by Najib to fund managers and investors in New York. Malaysia derives 22 percent of government revenue from oil-related sources and its finances have been sapped by a 49 percent drop in Brent crude over the past 12 months.

The ringgit fell as much as 1.2 percent before closing 0.3 percent down at 4.4152 a dollar in Kuala Lumpur, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It’s dropped 21 percent so far in 2015, trailing only the Brazilian real, Turkish lira and Colombian peso among 24 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg amid a deepening slowdown in China and the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates.

“The ringgit seems to continue to be Asia’s underperformer,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of foreign-exchange and rates strategy for Asia at Barclays Plc in Singapore. “There are generalized factors which have been China, the Federal Reserve and slowing growth. If there are concerns about the budget balancing, that clearly could be an issue as well.”

Political Situation

Reports last month in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times over alleged money laundering and overseas property purchases relating to state-owned investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd. and Prime Minister Najib Razak have further weighed on sentiment toward Malaysia.

Investors in the U.S. shouldn’t be concerned with the political situation in Malaysia as there is “stability,” Najib was cited by the New Straits Times as saying. 1MDB will sort out its financial issues before year-end and is expected to further reduce its debt by 16 billion ringgit ($3.6 billion) very soon, Najib said, without elaborating. The country also remains committed to achieving a balanced budget by 2020, he said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index of stocks retreated 0.3 percent on Friday, after two days of gains. The gauge has fallen 7.5 percent this year as foreign funds pulled $4 billion from Malaysian shares. The yield on five-year sovereign bonds declined two basis points to 3.77 percent on Friday and is down 10 basis points this week, according to prices from Bursa Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 October 2015, 7:14 am and is filed under
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