Kalau banyak melakukan kesalahan, memang liat hendak melepaskan kuasa

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 07, 2012

7 JUN — Hari demi hari undang-undang ketat yang menghantui rakyat semakin jelas dengan hampirnya pilihanraya umum ke-13 ini. Nampaknya kartun tidak boleh digunakan dalam pilihanraya ini, itu kata Timbalan Pengerusi SPRM. Dr Mahathir pula meminta kebebasan Internet disekat dan seperti biasa Rais Yatim dengan pantas “merawikan” kata-kata Dr Mahathir itu.

Tetapi cerita tentang pengundi haram yang didaftarkan di dalam senarai pengundi tidak juga diselesaikan oleh SPRM. Pihak berkuasa dan pemimpinnya asyik mentelaah bagaimana hendak sekat pihak pembangkang, tetapi kerja dan tanggungjawabnya untuk membersihkan senarai pengundi yang merupakan asas demokrasi itu sampai ke hari ini tidak diendahkan.

Saya dan ramai lagi telah bercakap dan bertanya kenapa kali ini sudah mula timbulnya unsur-unsur menekan seolah-olah ianya membayangkan bahawa BN tidak mahu menerima keputusan PRU jika rakyat menolaknya. Dengan penekanan ini maka jelas yang sebenarnya yang akan mewujudkan huru-hara selepas pilihanraya nanti ialah pihak BN.

Zunar, kartunis begitu berang dengan kecenderungan kartun digunakan oleh sesetengah pihak sebagai alat kempen dalam pilihanraya nanti. Zunar akan tetap melukis kartunnya dan tidak ada apa-apa pun boleh menghalang beliau melukis kartun yang menjadi bidang kegemaran dan profesionalisma nya.

Jika seruan Mahathir untuk melakukan sekatan terhadap Internet sebagai alat penyampai maklumat bagi pihak pembangkang elok kita bertanya, bagaimana pembangkang hendak menyampaikan mesejnya kepada rakyat? Kerajaan buat apa lagi kepada pembangkang? Segala-galanya hendak disekat.

Kalau takut sangat dengan kebangkitan maklumat untuk rakyat, kenapa masih hendak menjadi kerajaan?
 Rakyat hendak menggunakan Internet itu untuk mengetahui apa terjadi kepada isu Scorpene misalnya. Media arus perdana tidak akan menyiarkan perkara yang sebenarnya tentang Scorpene ini. Rakyat ingin tahu bagaimana penglibatan Altantuya dalam isu pembelian Scorpene itu.

Melalui Internetlah kita boleh mengetahui bagaimana komisyen haram yang diterima oleh pemimpin kita dalam projek membeli kapal selam yang suatu ketika dahulu tidak dapat hendak menyelam itu? Semua orang hendak tahu di mana komisyen haram itu dibayar … di Hong Kong ke atau di Singapura atau di mana?

Kita hendak tahu berapa Najib perolehi daripada pembelian kapal selam itu dan jika boleh kita hendak tahu samada isu tuntutan Najib untuk dibayar sebanyak US$1 billion sebelum wakil syarikat pembinaan kapal selam itu mendapat tempahannya. Kita juga hendak tahu berapa Altantuya sepatutnya dapat sebahagian daripada komisyen itu. Sudah dibayar atau belum lagi kepada Altantuya.

Jika belum dibayar kita hendak tahu sudahkah dibuat urusan untuk membayar waris kepada Altantuya jumlah yang sepatutnya diberikan kepadanya. Banyak lagi isu-isu yang rakyat hendak tahu apa sebenarnya yang berlaku.

Semuanya ini memerlukan maklumat dari Internet kerana media arus perdana tidak akan menyiarkannya. Kenapa kita perlu menyokong seruan Mahathir untuk membebaskan kegiatan melalui Internet itu. Jika dilaksanakan kehendak Mahathir itu ia bermakna kerajaan ingin mengikat tangan penyokong pembangkang dan melakukan “circumvention” terhadap proses demokrasi yang sebenarnya.

Apa yang BN hendak sorokkan sangat itu? Bukankah BN kata mereka tidak bersalah dalam semua tuduhan dan spekulasi rakyat seluruh dunia itu? Jika tidak bersalah kenapa takut-takut? Kalau pembangkang berbohong rakyat boleh tengok pembohongan itu melalui Internet. Kenapa takut kerana rakyat akan menghakiminya samada BN atau PR yang berbohong. Tetapi kita takut-takut yang BNlah yang berbohong, bukannya PR.

Jika pembangkang memenangi pilihanraya melalui Internet, apa salahnya. Negara ini negara demokrasi dan rakyat berhak untuk mendapatkan semua maklumat-maklumat tersebut. Kalau di negara Cina komunis pun Internet bebas untuk menjadi media pilihan rakyatnya kenapa Malaysia memilih untuk menjadi lebih buruk dari pentadbiran negara komunis itu.

Jika Myanmar sekarang sudah terbuka kepada dunia luar kenapa pula kita yang hendak menutup negara kita dari dunia luar. Mahathir juga yang telah memperjuangkan dunia tanpa sempadan tetapi apa bila “nature” hendak mengambil tempat dan melakukan perubahan BN sudah tidak dapat menerimanya. Sikap tidak dapat menerima kekalahan ini adalah sikap semula jadi politik dunia ketiga.

Tetapi pemimpin kita dengan gah ke sana ke mari bercakap tentang wawasan 2020 yang meletakkan negara setaraf dengan negara-negara maju. Negara maju apa yang hendak kita capai jika kekalahan dalam pilihanraya menjadikan mereka hilang akal dan tidak dapat menerimanya langsung, seolah-olah hendak memisahkan kulit dari daging atau hendak memisahkan kulit dengan kuku.

Parti Buruh Britain baru sahaja menerima kekalahan dan kekalahan yang terbaru ini bukannya kekalahan kali pertama. Parti Buruh bergilir-gilir memerintah dengan parti Conservative tetapi tidak pula mereka sanggup menolak asas demokrasi yang sebenar semata-mata untuk mempertahankan kuasa. Kalah kali ini mereka akan dapat semula dalam pilihanraya yang akan datang. Menang dan kalah itu perkara biasa dalam sesebuah negara maju.

Hanya BN sahaja yang merasakan seolah-olah dunia akan kiamat jika kalah dalam pilihanraya. Sebenarnya kekalahan BN jika benar berlaku, merupakan hikmah besar buat BN itu sendiri. Dalam kekalahan itu BN boleh membersihkan kekotoran yang mereka lakukan semasa memerintah. BN tidak mungkin dapat membersihkan kekotoran yang mereka lakukan jika masih berkuasa, malahan BN akan bertambah sombong dan angkuh jika terus mendapat mandat.

Jika BN menang lagi rasuah akan dilakukan dalam jumlah trillion ringgit, bukannya lagi dalam jumlah ratusan billion. Lagi pun adalah “natural” bagi sesebuah parti yang terlalu lama memerintah di mana-mana negara lain jatuh tersungkur di hadapan mata rakyat mereka.

Hanya di negara kita pengalaman ini baru sahaja hendak berlaku. Di negara lain pertukaran pemerintah ini berlaku acap kali tanpa masalah. Gordon Brown telah menyerahkan kuasa hanya dalam tempoh enam jam kepada parti Conservative dan Liberal Demokrat setelah beliau tidak berdaya menubuhkan kerajaan selepas pilihanraya Britain tahun lalu.

Jika saya yang jembel ini boleh mempelajari apa yang berlaku di negara maju, masakan Mahathir tidak dapat belajar daripada keadaan itu. Jika untuk menutup kesalahan merupakan sebab untuk mempertahankan kuasa dengan apa daya sekali pun, itu bukan masalah rakyat kita. Itu masalah mereka. Siapa suruh melakukan kerja-kerja tidak baik terhadap negara dan rakyat?

Kita mesti akui segala kerja jenayah yang dilakukan oleh pimpinan BN selama ini merupakan kerja jenayah (treason) terhadap negara dan mengkhianati negara itu adalah terlalu besar kesalahannya untuk dimaafkan rakyat. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2012, 6:24 pm and is filed under
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PEMANDU lacks transparency over ‘disappearing’ projects, says think-tank

By Lee Wei Lian

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 07, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — PEMANDU’s insistence on presenting an image of “perfection” and not disclosing issues and problems related to its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) projects could backfire later, said the Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) think-tank today.

In its latest critique of Putrajaya’s efficiency agency, the opposition-linked think-tank questioned PEMANDU’s alleged failure to be upfront with problems and progress related to three projects — the LFoundry wafer fabrication (wafer fab) plant in Kedah, Damansara City 2 in KL and the Marina Island Pangkor’s Extension.

REFSA pointed out in a report today that LFoundry had declared itself insolvent in Germany and that it was not listed as a tenant in Kulim Hi-Tech Park where the wafer fab was supposed to be built and yet PEMANDU had in its annual report for last year declared the project 100 per cent completed.

The report, which was titled “Dissecting the ETP Annual Report: Part 2 — The mystery of the disappearing entry point projects (EPPs)”, also noted that there was no mention of any progress on Damansara City 2 despite the project being one of the largest related to KL and also no information on progress on the Marina Island Pangkor Extension.

The authors of the report noted that Chris Tan, PEMANDU director for the Electrical & Electronics NKEA (National Key Economic Area), admitted that the German partners for the Kedah wafer fab were forced to pull out but the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) managed to increase wafer fab capacity via a plan B.

“Taking Mr Tan’s comments at face value, PEMANDU’s achievements are even more breathtaking. It surmounted difficulties with the original German partners and managed to find ‘other companies’ and still complete a 200mm wafer fab factory all within 12 months!” said the report. “Or is the truth more prosaic, and the reality is that there is no 200mm 100 per cent completed wafer fab as claimed in the Annual Report?”

REFSA said that if the project was completed as claimed, then PEMANDU should reveal who were the companies that had stepped in and to publish a case study on how the project was salvaged so that other Malaysians could learn from it.

It also said that it was “shocking” that the RM1.9 billion Damansara City 2 project by Guocoland, the largest project in Entry Point Project (EPP) 7, received “no mention at all” in the ETP Annual Report and instead three additional city heritage routes and the upgrading of Masjid Jamek were highlighted.

EPP 7 is supposed to be creating iconic places and attractions in the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley NKEA.

The report also asked if the RM600 million Marina Island Pangkor Extension which had been showcased in the 4th ETP Update in March 2011 had been “washed away” as no progress update was given.

REFSA acknowledged that uncertainty and adjustments are part and parcel of business and that it was normal for projects to be varied, postponed or even abandoned.

It added that it would be irrational to expect all the EPPs under the ETP to progress with smooth precision.

“Glossing over and ignoring issues as PEMANDU is wont to do is a terrible approach,” said REFSA. “Plans, assumptions and forecasts must accommodate changing circumstances. Pretending that all is going perfectly to plan merely results in an escalating divergence between reality and delusions of grandeur, and the facade will ultimately come crashing down.”

It also urged PEMANDU must be transparent about the EPPs which are facing difficulties so that their impact on the ETP could be addressed and the projects given special attention.

REFSA said that it rarely detects any “hints of difficulty” in PEMANDU’s “rhapsodic” reports and that by disclosing problems and remedial action, PEMANDU would be helping other Malaysians avoid mistakes.

PEMANDU was established soon after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came into office in 2009 and is tasked with spearheading efforts to reform the economy and government administration under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

It is headed by oil and gas veteran Datuk Seri Idris Jala who also served a stint as CEO of Malaysia Airlines.

Critics have often expressed doubt over whether the ETP and GTP will succeed where attempts by previous administrations have failed and have also sometimes described the ETP as merely serving the five-year plans of the country’s big businesses.

Jala responded that the ETP and GTP are different from older reform attempts as they are specific programmes with actionable goals and deadlines.

He is also known for his optimistic outlook and often urges members of the public to focus on the positives.

PEMANDU holds regular updates where it disseminates information on latest investment figures and new project details.

It also has a large communications team that reaches out via social and conventional media.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2012, 12:36 pm and is filed under
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Penang CM accuses The Star of ‘media lynching’

By Lisa J. Ariffin

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 07, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng today accused The Star of “media lynching” after the English daily ran two front-page stories highlighting Penang’s soaring property prices and uncontrolled hillside development.

“Whilst no one disputes the rising property prices in Penang, why is it that a similar rise in property prices in [Barisan Nasional]-controlled states such as Johor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur has gone unnoticed and not given front-page treatment by the Star?” Lim asked today in a press statement.

Lim was responding to The Star’s front-page story today, which reported Penang residential property prices as soaring by more than 25 per cent over the last five years.

He also “unreservedly condemn the Star for false reporting against Penang yesterday with its sensational headline of ‘The Dying Hills’”, which was the title of a report criticising the state government for environmental damages and uneven spread of construction.

“The hills in Penang are not dying because the present Penang PR state government has not approved a single project above 250 feet,” Lim explained, adding the state “has the most stringent guidelines for hill slope safety development in the country”.

“Why, then, did the Star not highlight that other BN states allows development on hills above the height of 250 feet?” he asked.

Lim pointed out a total of 31 development projects had been approved by the previous BN state government on hill land above 250 feet as compared to none by the present PR state government.

“Even the 38 hill slope projects approved the last two years for heights below 250 ft, half of them are for open space and green areas without any building structures,” he said.

Lim regretted the “stringent adherence to hill slope safety guidelines has been manipulated into a political attack against PR when other states with a clearly worse record are left off the hook”.

“Hopefully those who are interested in fair play would listen with an open mind and not allow themselves to be used by the BN agenda in view of the coming general elections.”

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2012, 6:34 pm and is filed under
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Rais’ taunting of Bersih 3.0 participants at launching of 1Malaysia moral guide most unwarranted and in  very poor taste especially when BN leaders are themselves  most lacking in moral values

The Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim’s taunting of Bersih 3.0 participants at the launching of his Ministry’s 1Malaysia moral guide today is most unwarranted and in very poor taste especially when Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders are themselves most lacking in moral values.

In making  derogatory references to the Bersih 3.0 participants on April 28 when launching his Ministry’s book, ‘Penyerlahan Amalan Nilai-Nilai Murni 1Malaysia’ (Highlighting 1Malaysia’s Values), Rais has greatly offended the  hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender who gathered  peacefully in Kuala Lumpur on April 28 as one Malaysian people and united in one common national cause for a clean election.

Up to now, neither Rais nor any UMNO/Barisan Nasional leader including  the Prime Minister has recognized or acknowledged that Bersih 3.0 was a historic and memorable national event with hundreds of thousands of Malaysians showing great  patriotism and national unity, acting selflessly for the sake of  the nation and future generations of Malaysians!

True, the Bersih 3.0 of April 28  was marred by incidents of violence and brutality, and all Malaysians want to know what went wrong after 3 pm that day  to spoil the great unifying and peaceful  carnival spirit which gave true expression to the spirit of  1Malaysia – and this is why Malaysians want a credible, independent and impartial inquiry on Bersih 3.0 like the Suhakam inquiry and not a biased and a compromised inquiry like the Hanif Omar panel.

The Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein  has said that there were more than  14,000 policemen on duty on Bersih 3.0 and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar had said that ““Just because there are hooligans in the police force does not mean that the entire organization comprises of thugs.”

I fully agree, but in the same vein, just because there were Bersih 3.0 protestors who were guilty of violence and brutality, especially under circumstances of excessive and disproportionate police violence, this does not turn the hundreds of thousands who had gathered peacefully into “rioters”.

Tun Hanif Omar said on Monday that from police briefing, a total of 140 police reports had been lodged by the public while 80 were made by the police in connection with the Bersih 3.0 rally, i.e. 140 reports against 14,000 policemen on duty that day as against 80 reports as against 200,000 protestors.

The picture is very clear – the overwhelming majority of the police personnel just like the overwhelming majority of the Bersih 3.0 had been exemplary in their conduct who should not be maligned by one brush because of the misconduct of a small number of people.

Just as credit and recognition should be given to the overwhelming majority of the police personnel on duty that day,  credit and recognition must also be given to the overwhelming majority of hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who had gathered peacefully on April 28.

Are Najib, Rais and the UMNO/BN leaders prepared to publicly give this recognition?

But the other reason why Rais’ taunting of Bersih 3.0 participants is most unwarranted and in very poor taste is because the Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders are themselves most lacking in the  moral values expounded in the new publication – moral values such as discipline, respect, meritocracy,  integrity, humility, courtesy and loyalty.

Three instances on what happened in the past few days are sufficient to illustrate the point that BN Ministers and leaders do not themselves set the example as “moral leaders” in the country, viz:

1.	The farce of the RM24,200-bid for  WWW15 plate number for the Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, which ten days later was announced as “for free”;

2.	Blatant abuse of power by the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob exempting Datuk Isa Samad from Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF)’s by-laws to enable him to become KPF Chairman, although Isa had been found guilty of corruption and money politics in UMNO.

3.	The vindictive and immoral halting of National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans to Universiti Selangor (Unisel) students – making the students the scapegoats of a UMNO/Barisan Nasional power tussle to recapture Selangor state government from Pakatan Rakyat.

Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders should first practise the 1Malaysia moral values before they take to the pulpit to preach to Malaysians.

In fact, with the UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders as   the worst models for the 1Malaysia policy causing the worst racial and religious polarisation during the three-year Najib premiership  – what can Malaysians expect from them as exemplars of 1Malaysia moral values?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2012, 5:28 pm and is filed under
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Umno and the reasonable Malay

— Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 07, 2012

JUNE 7 — The reasonable Malay doesn’t ride the Clapham Omnibus. He gets around on the LRT or the successor to Sri Jaya buses. He travels in his beat-up Proton. But he reads in between the lines. He knows the BS from the mainstream media. The reasonable Malay now reads Harakah, Roket and PKR news.

Why does the PM and Umno president procrastinate in naming an election date? He’s enjoying a good personal rating. Umno is flushed with cash. He says he feels like meeting HRH the Yang di-Pertuan Agong immediately on seeing the “huge crowd” assembled at Stadium Bukit Jalil. I hope he didn’t ask the minister of misinformation to do a headcount for that occasion. Are all lawyers bad at counting or is it Rais alone?

So why does he not name a date? He is the longest-serving PM without his own mandate. And if we were to go by the logic of the ex-MIC leader who says he will contest against Palanivel, then, Najib can also be described as an illegal government leader. Yes, he actually said that because Palanivel had the MIC presidentship handed to him and not ELECTED, so Palanivel is an illegal party president. He says he has support from thousands and thousands of MIC members just like the Umno president.

The Umno president should be wary with the numbers given by Rais who seems to have been infected with the Indian Numberititis disease. I mean no disrespect to Malaysian Indians; but think about this. Assume there are three million Malaysian Indians — MIC says it has 1.5 million members, PPP says it has 800,000, IPF says it has 900,000; Nala says he has 600,000 in his pocket. Either the Malaysian Indian is a member of all these parties simultaneously or the political parties count those Malaysian Indians not born yet. Rais has been infected by Indian Numberititis. It’s a horrible judgment-clouding disease that causes hallucinating euphoria.

The main reason is not because he fears the feedback from the ground. He has been receiving padded and curry-flavoured reports saying all is well. The minister of misinformation downplayed the opposition’s chances consistently by 30per cent so as to doctor a favourable report pleasing to the ears of the party president.

The real reason he delays and delays, huffs and puffs is because he fears revolt in Umno. The incumbents insist they are winnable. Would anyone dare replace warlord Tajudin Rahman, for example?

In all divisions he is facing potential revolt. Even if he pays the incumbents lots of money (Umno has tons of it), the people supporting the replaced incumbents will sabotage Umno. More so the incumbents who feel they are winnable but are humiliated because they are not chosen. The eager beavers who thought they would be chosen but sidelined will muster whatever they can to sabotage Umno. This is the only reason why the Umno president is delaying the election date.

Will the one million-plus Umno members, who have gone from the Dark Side to the Bright Side, come back? Maybe five per cent. That still leaves more than one million Umno members who will vote for Pakatan Rakyat.

The Umno president-cum-BN chairman goes to Sarawak to plead for an extended lifeline. The people of Sarawak are not easily fooled any longer. Taib Mahmud is an old but wizened geezer, keen and sharp to the deceptive manoeuvres of Najib. Wasn’t Najib the Umno president who repeatedly humiliated Taib Mahmud, asking him to retire quickly? The president of a party who wasn’t able to get a 100 per cent winning record in 2008 talking down to a president of another party who got 100 per cent achievement record? That’s why Taib Mahmud sent word through an emissary, saying we shall see who leaves office first.

Najib can’t win over the reasonable Malay. The reasonable Malay is the person riding the LRT or the successor to Bas Sri Jaya. He reads in between the lines and is able to sieve through all the BS parlayed by Ustazah Ummi Hafilda, Ezam Mat Nor, Zulkifli Nordin, Hasan Aqidah and swami Nala. The reasonable Malay knows that in Utusan Malaysia, only the notification of the solat times and the 4D and Toto results are true.

The reasonable Malay is not easily blinded by the fetished sense of patriotism hawked around by Perkasa or to mouth-foaming gesticulations of Hidup Melayu by any of the Umno leaders.

Because the reasonable Malay knows it’s all much thunder but no rainfall. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

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

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2012, 7:40 pm and is filed under
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Cracking open the fixed deposits

The Economist

Jun 9th 2012 | KOTA KINABALU AND KUCHING

The next general election will be decided far from the capital

Long house in need of short wave?

A THOUSAND or so kilometres east of what is called Peninsular Malaysia, across the South China Sea, lies the other bit of Malaysia, the states of Sabah and Sarawak. The two form the northern part of the island of Borneo, encircling the oil-rich mini-kingdom of Brunei. Most Malaysians know little about the remote territories (11 of Malaysia’s 13 states lie on the peninsula). Yet Sabah and Sarawak, out of all proportion to their small populations, contribute two essential ingredients to the running of Malaysia under the long-standing national government in Kuala Lumpur: oil and votes.

Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, first started pumping oil out of the ground in Sarawak in 1910. Since Sarawak and Sabah joined Malaysia in 1963, they have sent an outsize share of oil revenues to the federal government’s coffers. That the petro-charged government has remained in the hands of the same political coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN), since independence is also largely thanks to the same two states.

On the peninsula voters have gradually forced the coalition, led by the United Malays National Organisation and dominated by ethnic Malays, to loosen its grip. On Borneo, by contrast, the BN has maintained an electoral stranglehold. Indeed, Sabah and Sarawak are known as the BN’s “fixed deposits”. With the prime minister, Najib Razak, expected at any moment to declare a general election, the opposition coalition must find a way to raid those deposits if they are to oust the BN from power. As ever, the task looks daunting for the opposition and its leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Yet this time round, Mr Anwar’s foot soldiers have a secret weapon, a clandestine radio station.

The electoral arithmetic is simple. At the previous election, in 2008, which produced the best-ever result for the opposition, Mr Anwar’s coalition of parties, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), won 82 out of 222 parliamentary seats. To take power this time, Mr Anwar needs to gain about 30 more seats. In just Sabah and Sarawak alone, 56 seats are up for grabs, a quarter of the total. In these states, the BN’s grip is near-total. In 2008 it lost two seats on Borneo (although an opposition party has since picked up another in a by-election in Sarawak). Tian Chua, an MP and strategist for the PR, acknowledges that to win the election his side must add ten or more seats in each of Sarawak, Sabah and the state of Johor, facing Singapore at the tip of the peninsula. In Johor, at least, the prospects look fair, but in Sabah and Sarawak the task is daunting. There, away from the cosmopolitan lights of Kuala Lumpur, the darker political arts hold sway.

One obvious way that the system works in favour of the ruling coalition is through the gerrymandering of constituencies. Throughout Malaysia, seats are skilfully carved up along ethnic lines to benefit the ruling party, but the practice is particularly strong on Borneo. Constituencies there tend to be rural and cover huge areas, but hold relatively few voters, usually ethnic Malays or other, local ethnic groups friendly to the BN. Potentially hostile voters such as ethnic Chinese, on the other hand, are lumped together into a smaller number of populous urban seats, where they are still often swamped by BN stalwarts. This way the BN maximises its number of seats with a minimum of voters. A local academic, Andrew Aeria, in a report submitted to the Sarawak parliament last year, underlined how the 16,000-odd voters in one rural constituency had as much clout as 67,000 voters in a semiurban one. Other countries attempt to equalise the number of voters in each constituency. The Malaysian constitution sanctions the gerrymandering.

In Sabah, which lies near the Philippines, there is a further refinement. Critics claim that hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim Filipino immigrants have been given identity cards as an inducement to vote for the BN.

The BN-controlled governments of both Sabah and Sarawak operate well-funded patronage machines. In Sarawak, which has been run by the same chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, since 1981 (when he succeeded his uncle), government funding is often linked to political affiliation. This can be quite brazen. One minister recently stopped welfare payments to a disabled man after he voted for the opposition. On the eve of elections, BN officials dole out cash to as many voters as they can find—“lunch money”, as it is known in Sabah.

Opposition politicians cannot match the cash, so instead they promise that the people of Sabah and Sarawak will in future keep a larger slice of their oil revenues. Currently, the states get only 5% of revenues, with the balance going to the federal government. The opposition offers a 20% share should it get into power. The PR’s promise to cut corruption is a message that also goes down well.

In this respect, the opposition is being greatly helped by the broadcasts of Radio Free Sarawak (RFS). Whereas most of the local media are controlled by government—and it shows—RFS, broadcasting on short wave from London, attacks the chief minister and his “cronies” for maladministration and alleged corruption. The station was founded in 2010 by a Sarawak-born British woman, Clare Rewcastle, who also happens to be the sister-in-law of a former British prime minister, Gordon Brown. A softly spoken and heavily tattooed disc jockey, Peter John Jaban, does most of the talking in a two-hour show every evening. Thousands of Iban and other ethnic groups now gather around radios in their longhouses in the forests to listen to him, which infuriates the state government. Radio Free Sarawak gives the PR a bit more hope. The opposition should pick up some urban seats in Sabah and Sarawak at the coming election. But to win it still has a mountain to climb.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 7:35 pm and is filed under
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How long more, Malaysians?

by Lucius Goon

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 08, 2012

JUNE 8 — Question: when do we know that a government policy or decision is dumb and ill-conceived?

When Muhyiddin Yassin and Noh Omar are in agreement that the decision is brilliant!

I am of course referring to the decision by the Higher Education Ministry to freeze PTPTN scholarships to Unisel students. The Umno government thinks that this move will turn students against Pakatan Rakyat and lay bare the opposition’s plan to scrap the PTPTN scheme if it wrests control of Parliament.

The thinking (if you can call it that) is that the students and their desperate parents will be so upset that they will turn out in droves to vote against Khalid Ibrahim’s government.

The freeze is wrong on so many levels that it ultimately tells us that Umno is desperate, bankrupt of ideas, deeply vindictive and morally wanting. More shockingly, it shows us that this government will go to extreme lengths to cling to power, even stir up violence should poll results not go its way.

Khaled Nordin, Muhyiddin and Noh refuse to accept certain facts: they serve the rakyat; that when the opposition put up alternative suggestions, they must counter these ideas through persuasion and that government funds belong to the rakyat.

Pakatan says that if it comes to power, it will abolish the PTPTN scheme, BN says it cannot be done. So go out there and convince Malaysians why Pakatan’s scheme is not doable.

Instead they decide to punish the students. What a morally deficient bunch of ministers we have! So are we to expect that various communities will be punished if they don’t support Umno in the polls?

Will Chinese areas be neglected? Will the Indians be marginalised?

More importantly, will Malaysians continue to suck up all the punishments and morally-suspect decisions by a government which has lost its ability to discern between right and wrong.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 1:36 pm and is filed under
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Kereta tua selalu rosak, elok kita tukar kereta baru

— Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 08, 2012

8 JUN — Saya akan bertolak ke Utara untuk memenuhi jemputan berceramah malam ini dan besok. Sebelum saya berangkat ke sana saya perturunkan sedikit komen tentang pengumuman TS Muhy dua hari yang lepas.

Tan Sri Muhy berkata berkemungkinan beberapa pemberian dalam bentuk tunai kepada rakyat akan dilakukan sebelum pilihanraya ini untuk menampung kos barangan yang tinggi dan meringankan beban rakyat yang miskin. Kemiskinan memangnya menjadi umpan untuk BN dan Umno Baru untuk berkuasa dan kemiskinan rakyat inilah yang membuatkan rakyat yang sentiasa berharap kepada kerajaan. Khabarnya lagi RM10 billion akan dibelanjakan untuk BR1M kali ini.

Tidak lama lagi akan kita saksikan rakyat beratur lagi untuk mendapatkan bantuan itu, yang akan dibahagi-bahagikan oleh pemimpin-pemimpin Umno Baru di setiap pelusuk negara kita. Entah mana Umno Baru mandapatkan wang sebesar ini tidak pula diketahui. Jika wang ini datangnya dari kantung rakyat (wang rakyat), wang itu sepatutnya dibahagi-bahagikan oleh penjawat awam dan dalam konteks ini ia sepatutnya diberikan oleh pegawai-pegawai daerah, bukannya oleh ahli-ahli politik.

Jika wang itu Umno Baru yang punya, barulah ahli-ahli politik yang membahagi-bahagikannya. Jika benar itu duit Umno Baru dan BN, di mana sumber BN mendapatkan wang itu? Ingin juga kita hendak tahu. Dalam pemberian bantuan BRIM baru-baru ini, rupa-rupanya wang itu adalah wang rakyat sendiri yang datang dari kantung kerajaan dan pemimpin-pemimpin Umno Baru telah melakukan kesalahan kerana ianya sepatutnya telah diberikan oleh pegawai-pegawai kerajaan.

Tetapi bagi Umno Baru jika kita tegur dan mengingatkan mereka itu adalah satu kesalahan, mereka akan melenting marah kerana mereka terlalu biasa dengan melanggar sistem dan undang-undang. Bagi mereka kalau tidak melanggar undang-undang maka mereka bukan ahli-ahli Umno Baru. Melanggar sistem dan undang-undang itu adalah “attribute” Umno Baru yang utama. Kerana apa mereka berani melanggar undang-undang? Jawabnya ialah kerana mereka itu Umno Baru.

Kenapa bantuan ini diberikan secara begini dan di waktu ini? Tentulah jawapan yang hakiki, ialah kerana pilihanraya hampir tiba dan pemberian ini merupakan pemberian pilihanraya, dan untuk memancing undi. Saya yakin pemberian ini tidak akan dilakukan selepas pilihanraya nanti. Jika dicampurkan jumlah wang yang terlibat ia akan mencecah RM20 billion.

Oleh itu elok kita hendak bertanya, kenapa untuk memberikan pendidikan percuma seperti yang diusulkan oleh PR itu akan menjadikan negara ini bankrap seperti yang dibahaskan oleh pembahas Umno Baru. Kalau jumlah peruntukan BR1M ini sahaja mencecah RM20 billion dan dicampurkan dengan ketirisan yang berlaku dalam kerajaan sebanyak RM28 billion setahun itu, maka jumlahnya melebihi daripada jumlah perbelanjaan untuk memberikan pendidikan percuma kepada anak-anak muda.

Kenapa jika PR hendak memberikan pendidikan percuma kepada rakyat itu dikatakan akan membankrapkan negara sedangkan ketirisan (rasuah) yang berlaku di dalam kerajaan berjumlah RM28 billion setahun dan pemberian BR1M sebanyak RM20 billion oleh BN itu tidak pula menjadikan negara kita bankrap?

Jawapannya kepada soalan ini amat mudah, kerana wang ini bukannya wang Umno Baru, maka mereka tidak merasa bersalah membelanjakan wang-wang ini setelah membuat keputusan secara “ad hoc” tanpa rasa bersalah.

Kalau beginilah caranya Najib berbelanja wang rakyat dengan jumlah yang sebegini besar maka ia merupakan petanda yang negara kita akan menghadapi krisis kewangan tidak berapa lama lagi. Najib tidak boleh mentadbir negara seperti mentadbir Umno bahagian Pekan….jika ada masalah bayar sana, bayar sini.

Pendeknya dengan cara yang Najib/Muhy berbelanja wang rakyat, maka kita tunggu sahajalah bencana yang akan menimpa negara. Maka benarlah analogi yang pernah saya buat tidak berapa lama dahulu: BN ini sudah terlalu tua dan berpenyakit. Ia ibarat kereta tua yang sangat tinggi kos penyelenggaraannya. Jika kita masih memandu kereta tua ini maka kita akan asyik-asyik ke bengkel kereta setiap waktu untuk menyelenggara kereta tua ini.

Elok kita buat “trade in”, kita ambil dan beli kereta baru. Setidak-tidaknya kita akan terhindar dari berbelanja penyelenggaraan yang tinggi beberapa ketika. Asap yang keluar dari kereta baru ini pun tidaklah sekotor asap yang keluar dari kereta tua yang kita telah pandu selama 55 tahun itu.

Setelah mendapatkan kereta baru yang kos penyelenggaraannya rendah itu, kereta tua yang kita hentikan perkhidmatannya ini kita masukkan ke dalam bengkel untuk dibaikpulih sepenuhnya. Kereta tua ini ada lima tahun untuk diperbaiki yang mana yang rosak dan alat-alat mana yang perlu diganti. Mungkin kereta ini boleh dipakai kembali jika kereta baru yang kita beli itu rosak pula lima tahun yang akan datang. Kereta tua ini boleh kita jadikan kereta “spare”.

Tetapi buat masa ini kereta tua itu mesti direhatkan kerana sejak hampir tiga dekad yang lalu kereta ini telah dipandu secara lasak oleh setidak-tidaknya tiga orang pemandu sehingga punah-ranah dan terlalu tinggi kos untuk menyelenggaranya. Pemandu-pemandu yang tiga orang ini telah memandu terlalu lasak. Segala lubang dan selut dilanggarnya dan kerosakannya terlalu banyak. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 10:23 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia: UN experts call for protection of civil organizations seeking electoral reforms

UN News Center

7 June 2012 – United Nations independent experts today called on the Malaysian Government to protect the members of a group of civil society organizations campaigning for electoral process reform, who have been the target of harassment and intimidation.

The members of the umbrella group Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (also known by the Malay name Bersih) have received threats because of their advocacy work, which calls for reform of the electoral process ahead of the country’s general election, set to take place in April next year. The director of the organization, Ambiga Sreenevasan, has been particularly threatened.

“I am seriously concerned by these disturbing acts of harassment against a prominent woman human rights defender who is being targeted because of her legitimate human rights activities in Malaysia,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya. “I urge the authorities to investigate thoroughly these allegations, hold the perpetrators accountable, and effectively protect Ms. Sreenevasan, and more generally, Bersih members.”

Ms. Sekaggya was joined in her call by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of opinion, Maina Kiai, and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ms. Sreenevasan has received credible threats against her life in the past months, and has been labelled by various groups as an enemy of the State and a traitor, who should be expelled from the country, because of her work with Bersih. Effigies of Ms. Sreenevasan have also been set alight, and recently, she had to cancel her participation in a public event because of fears for her safety.

In addition, Ms. Sreenevasan, along with other organizers from Bersih, has been sued by the federal Government in relation to property which was allegedly damaged during a rally organized by the coalition of non-governmental organizations in April.

“Holding assembly organizers liable for the alleged unlawful conduct of others is not compatible with standards governing the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and has a detrimental effect on the exercise of this right,” said Special Rapporteur Kiai. “I urge the Government of Malaysia to withdraw the complaint against her.”

“The Government of Malaysia should fully guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression of those advocating for electoral reform, and should ensure a safe and conducive environment for journalists and those monitoring and reporting on demonstrations,” added Special Rapporteur La Rue. “The rights to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly are fundamental pillars of democracy.”

Mr. Kiai and Ms. Sekaggya also reminded the Government of their requests to visit the country given the urgency of the situation.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not United Nations staff, nor are they paid for their work.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 5:53 pm and is filed under
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PTPTN freeze a public breach of trust, Kit Siang tells PM

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 08, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Lim Kit Siang has called on the prime minister to put an end to the National Higher Education Fund Corporation’s (PTPTN) freeze on loans to Universiti Selangor (Unisel) applicants, saying there was no justification for the move.

The DAP parliamentary leader said today Datuk Seri Najib Razak should intervene and end the “politics of intimidation and bullying.”

“It is a criminal breach of trust. Public funds are meant for the interests of the public, not politicking,” Lim told reporters in Parliament.

“Barisan Nasional (BN) should not sacrifice the future of Unisel students; there is no excuse or justification for the freeze,” he added.

The Ipoh Timor MP said the loan freeze was an example of “power play” between Umno and BN and that it was a tactic to capture Selangor in the next general election.

“They (BN) have been in power too long; they have forgotten the meaning of trust.

“All Malaysians must deliver a very severe lesson to Umno and BN; their shelf life as government of the day has well past,” Lim stressed.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin had been quoted by The Star as saying the loan freeze was a temporary move that was made following “political pressure” from the opposition over free education.

“PTPTN wants to determine how serious the opposition is in wanting to provide free education. If it is serious, then students in state-owned private institutes of higher learning like Unisel need not apply for study loans from PTPTN because education will be provided free to them,” he said.

Khaled had also referred to the matter on his Twitter account on Tuesday night, suggesting that Unisel scrap its student fees to “fulfil” PR’s and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s promise to offer free education for all and to abolish PTPTN should it come to power.

In response, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli flayed the minister for punishing the students to take “revenge” against PR over the ongoing PTPTN debacle.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has since said it was “fair” of the PTPTN to freeze loans to Unisel applicants to “test” if PR could provide free education as claimed.

According to The Star Online, the deputy prime minister gave his assurance that the loan freeze was only temporary, saying that if Unisel students really needed the loans, this would prove PR’s vow to abolish PTPTN was not made in the group’s interest.

Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said yesterday Unisel will be liquidating some assets to assist students who are unable to access PTPTN study loans, and that the said assets were accrued following the restructuring of debts of Talam Corporation.

PR and BN leaders have been at loggerheads over the federal student loan scheme PTPTN, which the opposition claims should be abolished before the country is saddled with a massive education loan debt in the future.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 12:49 pm and is filed under
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PTPTN/Unisel farce – half-past6 Cabinet, half-past6 DPM/Education Minister, half-past6 Higher Education Minister

The lifting of the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loan freeze for Universiti Selangor (Unisel) and Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis) students is most welcome as it is downright wrong, immoral and criminal and  should never have been imposed in the first place by a government which claims to live by the slogan of “People First, Performance Now”!

The question however is whether the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin would have the decency to apologise for such bullying and criminal breach of trust (cbt) tactics as they had publicly endorsed the unethical, vindictive and vengeful PTPTN freeze of loans to Unisel and Kuis students.

This is a pertinent question as it is only yesterday that the Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim launched his Ministry’s 1Malaysia moral guide extolling 21 moral values such as patience, discipline, respect, meritocracy, cleanliness, integrity, humility, courtesy, and loyalty.

Or is Rais’ 1Malaysia moral guide as stillborn as other 1Malaysia gimmicry, or are the  Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders to be exempt from these 21 moral values as they are only meant for the common Malaysian populace?

I reiterate that the attempt to freeze the PTPTN loans to Unisel and Kuis students is completely unthinkable and unforgivable as it is  reflective of a ruling coalition which had been too long in power for over five decades  and has completely forgotten the third Prime Minister, Tun Husseins Onn’s most important advice – that power is a public trust that must never be abused in any form!

How can Muhyiddin and Khaled behave as if public funds in PTPTF are like their grandfather’s monies which they could spend as they like, including victimising and penalising Unisel and Kuis students by turning them into scapegoats in the power play by Umno/Barisan Nasional in its desperate attempt to wrest back the Selangor state government from Pakatan Rakyat?

This is most undemocratic, unethical, immoral and unconscionable!

But this PTPTN/Unisel fiasco is only the latest idiocy of the Najib’s administration had recently been plagued by one idiocy after another.

Recent idiocies include:

•	The fiasco of the RM24,200 bid for WWW15 plate number for the Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, which the Transport Minister, Datuk Kong Cho Ha announced ten days later as “for free”.  Kong’s two-year tenure as Transporft Minister  will now be remembered for the WWW15 fiasco and nothing else.

•	The blatant abuse of power by the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob exempting Datuk Isa Samad from Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF) by-laws to enable him to become KPF Chairman, although Isa had been found guilty of corruption and money politics in UMNO.

•	The  high-powered demonization campaign against the 200,000 Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender who gathered peacefully in Kuala Lumpur in support of the Bersih 3.0 rally for a clean election. The biased and one-sided  Hanif “independent advisory panel” is perceived as part of this continuing “demonization” campaign against Bersih 3.0.

Today’s episode reminds me of Tun Mahathir’s dismissal of the  former Cabinet of Tun Abdullah as a “half-past six” Cabinet as well as his admission earlier this year that UMNO faced a scarcity of competent leaders at the top for decades due to the unwritten policy of restraining those with brains from joining the party.

Clearly, Malaysia not only has still a “half-past six” Cabinet under the Najib administration, the country also has a “half-past six” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister as well as a “half-past six” Higher Education Minister to co-produce the PTPTN/Unisel farce!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 3:55 pm and is filed under
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PTPTN/Unisel farce

Tweets
@limkitsiang

Jun 07, 11:06pm

Utter shame UMNO/BN leaders victimising Unisel students with PTPTN freeze goo.gl/I5qJl S’gor stands firm, Unisel 2liquidate assets

Jun 07, 11:08pm

Let all voters in Selangor n Msia punish Umno/BN in 13GE 4such petty vindictive bullying tactics sacrificing Unisel students 4selfish ends

Jun 07, 11:12pm

PTPTN/Unisel latest example UMNO/BN must be voted out of power in Putrajaya in 13GE – lost moral right/legitimacy 2continue as govt

Jun 07, 11:22pm

After slashing PTPTN loans 4Unisel students? How irresponsible! goo.gl/3XwHB Gov’t mulls second round of RM500 handout (Mkini)

Jun 07, 11:27pm

No one in Cabinet 2speak up 4Unisel students n condemn criminal breach of trust in halting PTPTN loans?Will Saifuddin Abdullah take a stand?

Jun 07, 11:39pm

13GE not in July. All Msians must use extra months available 2spread msg – UMNO/BN govt cruel/vindictive/irresponsible shown by PTPTN/Unisel

Jun 07, 11:46pm

All UMNO/BN leaders/politicians who played the fool with educational rights of our children -PTPTN/Unisel case- must be taught severe lesson

Jun 08, 12:06am

Umno/BN govt too long in power – forgotten meaning of TRUST goo.gl/5wgJI Another S’gor college risks PTPTN loan freeze?(Mkini) Kuis?

Jun 08, 12:11am

When a govt treats public funds as if grandfather’s money, discriminating agnst young generation eg Unisel, time 2end its mandate to govern

Jun 08, 12:42am

Both DPM Muhyiddin/Higher Education Minister Khaled shd publicly apologise 4PTPTN loan freeze 4Unisel students. PM Najib shd declare stand

Jun 08, 12:46am

Let student/youth power explode on social media 2denounce dirty politics of PTPTN loan freeze 4Unisel students & demand retraction/apology

Jun 08, 12:51pm

PTPTN freeze a public breach of trust, Kit Siang tells PM – by Shazwan Mustafa Kamal (TMI) goo.gl/kvSlo

Jun 08, 12:54pm

PTPTN/Unisel: “It is cbt. Public funds r meant 4interests of public not politicking” Lim told reporters in Parliament. goo.gl/kvSlo

Jun 08, 12:59pm

PTPTN/Unisel: Najib shd intervene/end “politics of intimidation/bullying” – “shelf life” of UMN/BN as govt “well past” goo.gl/kvSlo

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 1:31 pm and is filed under
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The silence of our friends

— Dennis Ignatius

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 08, 2012

JUNE 8 — According to local media reports, US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, who came visiting recently, expressed their admiration for Malaysia’s democratic model and even went so far as to suggest that it might serve as a template for other Muslim countries.

There was only the barest hint of reservation during their press conference when they made vague and passing references to foreign election observers and further democratic reforms.

It may well be that they raised democracy and human rights issues with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Foreign Minister Anifah Aman when they met in private but it is their public positions that are disturbing.

First, though they must surely have learned from their meetings with the leader of the opposition and other civil society groups about the real and serious challenges to democracy in Malaysia, they chose not to reference these issues in their public comments. Their silence concerning the deeply flawed electoral system, restrictions on the media, and on public gatherings and the absence of a lot of other democracy essentials is troubling.

Unsurprisingly, the senators’ comments were immediately taken as American endorsement of both the government’s reform agenda and Malaysia’s governance model. Their comments were even absurdly stretched to suggest that Malaysia’s political system might even be superior to that of the United States.

Second, they saw the gleaming towers and shiny limousines and were understandably impressed. There is, after all, much to be impressed about Kuala Lumpur. To them it was probably a vindication of the free enterprise system at whose altar Americans love to blindly worship. Did they, however, also learn about the massive corruption, the system of crony capitalism and the exploitation and abuse of migrant labour that fester beneath the surface? If they had, they might have been more nuanced in their assessment.

Thirdly, their comment that Malaysia could serve as a democratic model for other Muslim countries is both condescending and insulting. Malaysia is, at best, a quasi-democracy. Our democratic space is already diminishing rapidly as a result of increasing limitations on press freedom, free expression and public assembly.

Is this the kind of system that should serve as a template for democracy in other Muslim countries? Are the senators suggesting that this is the best that we are capable of or that the world expects no more from Muslim countries? Why shouldn’t all governments, east or west, secular or religious, developed or developing not be expected to live up to minimum standards of freedom, human rights and good governance?

Whatever the honourable senators might think, they should know that the flawed political system that masquerades as democracy has been found wanting by the people of Malaysia; just ask the tens of thousands of people who thronged Dataran Merdeka in April. By endorsing this stunted quasi-democratic model and, indeed, promoting it as an example to the Muslim world, the senators did a great disservice to the struggle for freedom and democracy everywhere.

The problem with all too many American leaders is that they tend to view everything through the prism of their own narrow interests. For so long as foreign rulers toe the American line, buy American weapons and keep their markets open to American businessmen, they can do no wrong.

American leaders get excited about freedom and democracy when it suits them but turn away when it is inconvenient. The principles and the ideals of their own constitution apparently are not heartfelt enough to be incontrovertible always and everywhere.

At the height of the so-called war on terror, for example, US senators and congressmen regularly trooped to Putrajaya to praise the way the Mahathir administration dealt with suspected Islamic terrorists via the Internal Security Act. One senator even lamented the absence of ISA-like legislation in other Asian countries. The fact that detention without trial is contrary to the most basic principles of justice and that it was used to silence critics was conveniently ignored.

I recall, as well, a meeting with then US Secretary of State Colin Powell in mid-2001 at the State Department in Washington DC. Much to the chagrin of our foreign minister, Powell began by taking us to task on human rights and anti-Semitism. However, to our minister’s relief, Powell quickly shifted track and then excitedly went on to talk about the sale of the latest American fighter jets to Malaysia. It was immediately clear that he had raised the issue of human rights and anti-Semitism purely for the record, and without conviction.

It was, of course, business as usual for the country that Ronald Reagan, in a fit of triumphalism, called “a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”

Martin Luther King Jr, a great and heroic American leader, once said, with reference to the struggle for civil rights in America, that “in the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”

The silence of McCain and Lieberman concerning our struggle to build a better democracy in Malaysia is hugely disappointing. Worse still, their naive and ill-considered endorsement of Malaysia’s flawed and stunted governance model is a betrayal of the very ideals that America claims to champion across the world.

* Dennis Ignatius is a retired Malaysian diplomat.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2012, 1:46 pm and is filed under
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Contest of credibility before Malaysia’s elections

by Shankaran Nambiar

East Asia Forum

June 8th, 2012

Credibility is a prized asset for any government, and with general elections fast approaching in Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak is no exception to this rule.

Najib has an onerous task ahead of him because the Barisan Nasional coalition, which he heads, won only 140 out of 222 lower house seats in the last election in 2008. This simple majority of 63.5 per cent was the coalition’s worst performance since Malaysian independence in 1957.

Najib’s leadership qualities will be severely tested this time around, but he is well aware of the daunting challenge ahead. In fact, his awareness of the problems on the ground might be his strongest suit. So far, it has enabled him to take the first steps toward repairing the damage the Barisan Nasional suffered over the years since the 2008 debacle.

Two notable efforts in this direction were the launching of the New Economic Model and the 1Malaysia concept, both in 2010. These campaigns show that Najib understands that addressing issues relating to inclusiveness and governance are key to winning the upcoming 13th general elections by a convincing margin.

1Malaysia was an initiative to foster ethnic harmony, national unity and efficient governance, but the idea was strongly criticised by detractors from within Najib’s own party, the United Malays National Organisation, and by Perkasa, a group that focuses mainly on Malay rights. In short, 1Malaysia was a worthy project that could not grow for lack of support.

By contrast, the New Economic Model started off with a bang. The initial document (Part One) was published in 2010, and was a frank admission of where Malaysia stood, and what needed to be done to get it moving forward. Part Two, however, was less than spectacular, and it lacked the vision and candour that characterised its predecessor.

The discrepancies between the two documents indicate that Najib’s high expectations were crippled by political realities that he had no way of navigating. It shows that Najib has a clear picture of what ails the country, but has equal difficulty in executing his vision.

The April 2012 protests by Bersih 3.0 and recent claims of gerrymandering, malapportionment of constituencies and irregularities in the voter lists do not make the situation any easier for Najib. The Bersih 3.0 attempt to gather at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) was a sign that the election process has lost some of its credibility — a view that many seem to share. The fact that 80,000 people (250,000 according to non-official sources) are willing to run the risk of being arrested or beaten by the police to attend a demonstration is a clear sign that public discontent is on the rise.

In addition to underscoring the need for electoral reform, the protests also cast doubt on Najib’s commitment to free speech and assembly rights. Najib has raised these issues in the past, and has voiced his support for the abolishment of the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial or criminal charges. The allegations of police harassment of media personnel at the Bersih 3.0 rally do not show Najib in a good light, despite the fact that police excesses — even if true — need not have been on his direction.

On the economic front, there has been a great deal of prevarication on fiscal responsibility. Najib had promised to work toward fiscal balance, but the record suggests scant regard for Malaysia’s continuing fiscal deficit. For instance, Malaysia’s 1.3 million civil servants have benefitted from a salary increase in the range of 7 to 13 per cent. Then there was the RM500 (US$162) one-off cash aid for households earning less than RM3000 (US$974) per month, which was announced under the 2012 budget. It is estimated that 3.4 million households will have benefitted from the handout, amounting to RM1.8 billion (US$583 million).

The generosity on the expenditure side has not been matched with equal agility in increasing revenue. The proposed goods and services tax (GST) has been kept on hold, and will not be introduced before the forthcoming elections. An instrument as unpopular as a GST cannot be introduced in an election year and, moreover, the moral right to introduce this tax is called into question when allegations of corruption abound.

A case in point is the scandal surrounding the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), which was run by the husband of the then-cabinet minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat. It has been alleged that NFC funds were used to purchase two luxury condominium units and pay for Shahrizat’s family’s credit card bills in 2009, to the tune of RM600,000 (US$194,500).

Najib might have a clear idea of what needs to be done to revitalise Malaysia, but his credibility will be questioned in the months leading up to the elections. And that is his greatest challenge, because voters will judge Najib on the strength of his performance, rather than on his good, but unrealised, intentions.

Shankaran Nambiar is an economist who has consulted for various national and international agencies. He lives in Kuala Lumpur.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 7:03 pm and is filed under
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Correcting the civil service racial imbalance

Dr Lim Teck Ghee

CPI

Can the government promise that all young Malaysians will be given fair treatment, and racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated in order to encourage non-Malay recruitment into the civil service?

Once more the government appears to be clueless and befuddled as to why the non-Malay young do not want to take up civil service jobs. Once more, there will be a taskforce and a high-level committee at work to produce yet another report on how to attract non-Malays to join the service.

Once more the almost obligatory letters are appearing in the mainstream papers applauding the government (in this case) the Public Service Commission new chairman for his bold initiative in proposing a study “to nail down…the reasons for the poor number of applications from non-Bumiputeras for public and civil service jobs”.

Do we need more studies?

Come on, we already have a plethora of research and studies on the subject. We have more than enough figures and data showing that the severely racially imbalanced civil service is not a recent problem but one going back more than 30 years. Do we need some more studies?

Everyone – well – just about, everyone knows the reason why non-Malays are avoiding joining what one of the top Barisan Nasional leaders has described as the best civil service in the world. As one cynic in the blog world recently remarked,

“Even the … office boys in those departments can see the unfairness [in promotions], and we have top civil servants wondering why. Please, just practice fairness and they (non-Malays) will come.”

Rampant racial discrimination

The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises. This explains why the numbers applying have dropped dramatically. If there is going to be an uneven playing field and if others less qualified or less capable than you are promoted ahead of you – and this is perceived to be a standard practice – why stay in the job, even if it may be a well paying or secure one.

Factors of pride, dignity and self-respect also come into play which explains why non-Malays refuse to remain in the service even when they have a good position. After a few years of frustration and alienation with racially structured obstacles when they apply for promotion or other career opportunities, many see the writing on the wall and opt to strike out for the private sector or self employment even though they may have to make sacrifices.

This game of pretending not to know why non-Malay recruitment and enrolment is so low in the civil service has been going on for so long that many of its practitioners appear to believe their own fairy tales and prejudices about non-Malays being less patriotic (explaining their low enrolment in the military and police); or more grasping and calculating (hence, less attracted to teaching or other service occupations); etc.

Solution

Let’s do away with the pretense and acting dumb on this long-standing blot in our societal make up. The steps to ensure higher non-Malay (and East Malaysian bumiputera) participation in the civil service are simple:

1.	Firstly, there must be a solemn declaration and promise by the prime minister and government that racial intake as well as all treatment after recruitment in the civil service will be fair and transparent and that racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated.

2.	Secondly, the Public Services Commission and Public Services Department must be a party to this declaration and should mainstream this declaration into all service manuals and directives. It is a fact that some of the major obstacles to making the civil service more racially representative comes from within the civil service itself.

3.	Thirdly, all recruitment, appointment, promotion and other service related committees and boards should have full multi-racial representation. Inclusion of token non-Malays as we have seen in the past does not work.

4.	Fourthly, a new civil service quota system – in this case specifically used as a temporary affirmative action tool to increase non-Malay numbers and reduce marginalization – should be formulated. This can be done in a way as to meet with the constitutional provisions providing for the special position of the Malays and bumiputera groups of Sabah and Sarawak. A 60-40 recruitment system would be relatively easy and painless to implement. It would guarantee Malay dominance but not over-dominance and help to bring about a gradual increase in the number and proportion of non-Malay civil servants in the country.

5.	Finally, we need a civil service ombudsman to act on cases of racial discrimination within the service as well as to respond to allegations of racially biased policies and programmes.

Make or break the nation

It is a truism that the civil service can make or break a nation, more especially in the case of multiracial societies such as ours where neutral stake players are necessary to play a critical role in balancing complex and contentious racial demands.

Democratic norms call for a representative, impartial and neutral bureaucracy to ensure that public policies are responsive to the needs of all citizens in a fair and equitable fashion. A genuinely multi-racial civil service is also necessary to ensure that there is an absence of racial bias in the individual or collective manner in which civil servants formulate policies and conduct their work.

Unfortunately, we have moved away from these democratic norms for so long that nothing but a radical change in the mindsets and actions of our politicians and civil service elites can stop the rot. A mono-ethnic civil service – which is what we are fast moving towards – is the single biggest obstacle to the goal of 1Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 3:58 pm and is filed under
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Gruesome reminders of failure of Najib premiership in one of its most important tasks – to reduce crime and eradicate the fear of crime

The bloody mugging of Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat while jogging near his home in Section 18, Petaling Jaya this morning, and the serious case of Bandar Kinrara, Puchong  teacher Teoh Soo Kim, 51, fighting for her life after she suffered severe head injuries and lost consciousness in an abduction on Wednesday are gruesome reminders to Malaysians that the Najib administration has failed in one of  its most important tasks – to reduce crime and to eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians.

It is no use the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the CEO of Pemandu and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala boasting about Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and National Key Result Areas (NKRA) successes, such as claiming that the overall crime index for 2011 had dropped by 11.1%, while street crime decreased significantly by 39.7% compared with 35% in 2010 – and a marked improvement from the 15% reduction in street crime set under the NKRA in 2010 – when Malaysians still do not feel safe from the fear of crime whether in the privacy of their homes, or outside in the streets and public places.

The mobilisation of over 14,00 police personnel on April 28 to deal with the peaceful  Bersih 3.0 rally, and the continued demonisation of 200,000 Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class, region, age or gender who had gathered peacefully for a common national cause for a clean election have made the failure of the Najib government to reduce crime and eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians in the  urban areas even more unacceptable.

Seven years after the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry which made 125 recommendations in 2005  to transform the Malaysian police force into an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service focussed on three core functions to reduce crime, eradicate corruption and protect human rights, the Malaysian police force has still to undergo a total change of its mindset to transform its function from regime policing to democratic policing –  i.e. changing its priority from protecting the government, Ministers and leaders of the day to protecting the citizenry and their fundamental rights, including the fundamental right to a  low crime rate and to be free from crime, as well as the human rights which a modern citizen is entitled in a democratic society.

The alphabet soup of GTP, NKRAs, ETPs, PTPs etc popularised by the Najib premiership has no meaning to ordinary Malaysians who want to know what the government is doing to ensure that  Wong Chin Huat  can jog safely near his home in Section 18 PJ and citizens like Teoh Soo Kim can safely go about her work and life without fear of being a victim of a dastardly criminal attack.

Let Hishammuddin and the Inspector-General of Police tell Malaysians what they are doing to deliver low crime rate and eradicate the fear of crime among Malaysians!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 3:46 pm and is filed under
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“Malaysia has fallen off the investment map”

Extract from book review of Ruchi Sharma’s “Breakout Nations: In pursuit of the next economic miracles” by John Loh published in
StarBizWeek
  today

In his chapter on Malaysia, Sharma has a more stark prognosis.

“Malaysia’s economy slowed dramatically after the Asian crisis,” he writes, adding, “There is a widespread sense in Kuala Lumpur that the economy has been growing because of extensive government spending and fortunate circumstances rising global commodity prices have been a huge boost to its rubber and palm oil exports not from smart choices.”

The dramatic reforms taking place in Indonesia, Sharma argues, have “no parallel” in Malaysia, putting it at risk of sliding backward.

Malaysia, he points out, is the only Asian country where FDI is declining as at the last quarter of 2011, it was flowing out at a rate of 2.5% of GDP.

Sharma also tells SBW that the country is obsessed with central planning and grand schemes, but has often fallen short on execution.

“This is the biggest difference with other South-East Asian markets such as Indonesia: Malaysia has fallen off the investment map,” he writes.

“Malaysia needs to move on and rebuild the institutions damaged during the later stages of Mahathir’s rule. Nearly a decade after his retirement, Mahathir should not be casting such a long shadow on the country.”

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 1:24 pm and is filed under
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Schoolboy antics over PTPTN

— The Malaysian Insider

Jun 09, 2012

JUNE 9 —  Are schoolboys in charge of education in Malaysia? It sure seems that way when Putrajaya’s education czars decide to sulk and pull back scholarships for those studying in Selangor’s Universiti Selangor (Unisel) this past week.

Only to flip flop, be wishy-washy, do a volte-face and overturn that emotional decision a day later. Is that how a government runs things? Aren’t these ministers — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin — an embarrassment to Datuk Seri Najib Razak?

They can’t even be gracious and admit their mistake. Take Khaled’s statement that Unisel’s appeal for National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans to be restored showed that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could not deliver its promise of free education.

Is that how a Barisan Nasional (BN) minister behaves? Use state facilities to prove a point? And let students seeking a better future be at his whim and fancy?

Does he think these students will think highly of him? Or be “grateful” to the federal government? If anything, Khaled has pushed Selangor to prove it can fund these students with RM30 million from the sale of UniSel land. And if Selangor can do it, why the need for PTPTN? Or a BN government minister who is vindictive?

One would expect a better performance from Khaled. He isn’t some junior minister out to impress his superiors or his followers with such an emotional response to PR’s promises.

In a marketplace of idea, Khaled and those of his ilk should try to out-think PR, not resort to a schoolyard scrap over who is better or stronger and the loser walking off in a huff vowing not to friend the victor.

Why has politics in Malaysia gone down to just being mean spirited, grumpy and sulking in a corner by some of the BN chaps? Especially these two from Johor, the birthplace of Umno. One expects a lot more from a state that gave Umno its founding president, Datuk Onn Jaafar.

Perhaps Khaled might think he won this round against PR. In reality, its a fiasco, an own goal for BN. This childish decision and about-turn is the latest in a long line of blunders that won’t endear some of these ministers to the people. What more students who will vote in the future and can influence their parents to vote for the opposing side

These BN ministers are undermining the prime minister’s strategy of winning back support for his personal mandate to make a better Malaysia. They are petty-minded and just fumbling in scoring points at the expense of goodwill.

What a pity. If this is how they see “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.”, then they have gone opposite of the concept’s tagline, like schoolboys who don’t understand anything and make it up as they go along.

We don’t need schoolboys in the Cabinet. We need real men, and gentlemen at that with the nation’s interests in their hearts.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 7:27 pm and is filed under
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Anti-Taib deejay says safe, will stay in Sarawak to fight for change

By Shannon Teoh

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 09, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — The radio host for Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) who went missing on May 31, has finally announced he is safe after fears he was abducted in Miri due to his criticism of Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s administration in the state.

Peter John Jaban, had entered a Proton Saga along with three unidentified men after landing in Miri from Kota Kinabalu under mysterious circumstances with friends, family and colleagues left unaware of his whereabouts for the past 10 days.

But the presenter for RFS said in a statement today “I am safer here than in any other country.”

“I’ve decided that my future is here. I was born here and I intend to remain here. There is so much work to be done especially with crucial elections just round the corner.

“This is our chance is to bring about real change in Sarawak politics. My struggle for Sarawak will continue where it’s needed most,” he said.

RFS and its sister website Sarawak Report had in the months leading up to April 2011’s state election ramped up accusations of widespread corruption against Abdul Taib during his 30-year administration.

Although the chief minister’s coalition won the election, opposition parties managed to double their representation in the 71-seat state assembly.

This has led to speculation that the 75-year-old is behind the kidnapping of Jaban.

But other theories abound, with some saying Jaban, after being hounded by authorities, chose to disappear, or even fake his own abduction.

The Iban Sarawak native’s phone had been unreachable since, according to local opposition leaders and his boss Clare Rewcastle-Brown, who is former British prime minister Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law.

Attempts by The Malaysian Insider to reach Jaban had also failed to elicit a ringtone.

But he explained today that when he was waiting for his flight from Kota Kinabalu to Miri on May 31, immigration officers had hauled him into an office and told to wait for Special Branch officers.

“Special Branch… photocopied my documents and they took pictures of me from every angle, again very politely. Then, they informed me that I was being ‘referred’ to the Sarawak Police and escorted me to the aircraft,” he said.

According to his statement, he asked to be taken to Miri PKR chief Dr Michael Teo’s clinic as he was feeling unwell.

“As I sat, a car pulled up beside us on the fast lane. Two men got out — I recognised one of them from my flight — and told me that the police were chasing our car. So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to follow them.

“There was no time to update Dr Teo who was otherwise engaged on the phone anyway and I’m sorry for that but I had to make my move. These three men were genuine Samaritans — they sought only to help me and I thank them for that. They then dropped me somewhere safe,” he said.

He said he remained unreachable for the next three days as his phone was damaged in the heavy rain. He had travelled on foot and hitchhiked his way out of Miri until he was given a new phone.

“As for claims in the press that I ‘staged’ the whole thing, I suggest those journalists verify my version of events with Special Branch in KK.

“With regards the near future, I will continue to take action, fighting on the ground for the people of Sarawak. I fly no flag but theirs, as I have always done. I know that Radio Free Sarawak will carry on, business as usual, spreading the message to where it is needed and, of course, I will give them every assistance in that,” he added.

Jaban has been a key member of RFS as he worked for Sarawak’s Land Survey Department up to 2006 and has said “there is much that is very wrong with the way this chief minister has been taking away the land from the natives and handing it out to his family and political cronies.”

He helped launched the London-based radio station in 2010 first went to London in 2010 after working for private station Cats Radio in Sarawak, which he has said is “controlled by Barisan Nasional and it is owned and run by Taib’s own family members.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2012, 2:13 pm and is filed under
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Jangan tunjukkan sangat sikap ‘inferiority’ itu

 — Aspan Alias

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 10, 2012

10 JUN — Sampai bila pemimpin-pemimpin kerajaan (BN) hendak berperang dengan rakyat? Perbalahan tentang isu PTPTN berlarutan sehinggakan TS Muhyiddin dan Menteri Pendidikan Tinggi telah bertindak untuk menjadikan mahasiswa Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) mangsa pertembungan diantara kerajaan dan PR dengan melakukan tindakan yang paling bodoh (maaf kerana menggunakan istilah bodoh) yang dipamerkan oleh pemimpin-pemimpin setinggi Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri yang bertanggungjawab terhadap pendidikan tinggi negara.

Kalau kita amati secara halus ramai pemimpin yang pandai-pandai telah menjadi bodoh apabila menjadi pemimpin Umno Baru. Terlalu jelas yang pimpinan tertinggi Umno Baru yang mengaku untuk mendahului rakyat tidak mampu untuk mempertahankan janji-janji untuk menjadi pemimpin yang ‘magnanimous’ sepenuhnya jika dimandatkan oleh rakyat lagi sekali.

Membekukan permohonan pelajar UNISEL untuk mendapatkan PTPTN ini menunjukkan yang pemimpin-pemimpin yang terlibat sesungguhnya tidak mempunyai daya kepimpinan yang sejajar dengan cita-cita untuk menjadi pemimpin negara yang berangan-angan untuk menjadikan negara ini sebagai negara maju. Kemajuan negara bermula dengan kemajuan cara berfikir dan tindakan yang setanding dengan pemikiran pemimpin negara maju yang demokratik.

Alih-alih hari ini keputusan untuk membekukan itu telah ditarik balik oleh kerajaan pusat setelah membekukannya selepas tiga empat hari selepas arahan pembekuan itu. Ini merupakan tindakan yang amat memalukan yang tidak terperi dan ramai tidak menyangkakan yang tindakan ini boleh diambil oleh pemimpin kerajaan yang beriya-iya untuk menandingi kewibawaan pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat.

Sikap pemimpin kerajaan persekutuan nampaknya lebih keanak-anakan.dan bagaimana rakyat hendak meletakkan kepercayaan kepada pimpinan seperti itu untuk mendapatkan jaminan yang generasi yang akan datang tidak ditadbir oleh pemimpin-pemimpin yang kurang kemampuan untuk berfikir.

Tindakan pembekuan itu diterima oleh kerajaan Selangor dengan tenang dan Menteri Besarnya telah mengambil tindakan untuk mencairkan eset UNISEL bagi penyelesaian hasil dari tindakan gila pemimpin persekutuan ini. Kerajaan Selangor pimpinan TS Khalid Ibrahim boleh menyelesaikan isu ini walaupun pemimpin persekutuan telah melakukan berbagai tekanan terhadap Selangor.

Apabila sudah menyedari kesilapan kerajaan persekutuan telah mendabik dada yang kononnya PR tidak mampu untuk memberikan pelajaran percuma seperti yang dijanjikan. Pimpinan mengambil isu pembekuan dan penarikan balik pembekuan itu sebagai permainan politik yang sangat  rendah darjatnya. Mengakui menang yang disuarakan oleh Khaled Nordin merupakan satu kenyataan keanak-anakan.

Tiada siapa yang menang tetapi yang sudah pasti mampu menyelesaikannya ialah TS Khalid Ibrahim yang bersedia mengambil tindakan pantas untuk menyelesaikan isu pembekuan itu dengan mencairkan aset universiti itu untuk memberikan penyelesaian kepada pelajar-pelajar yang dianiayai oleh pimpinan persekutuan itu. Penarikan balik pembekuan itu merupakan satu tindakan ‘damage control’ bagi pimpinan persekutuan kerana mereka menyedari yang pembekuan PTPTN oleh pimpinan persekutuan itu akan dapat diatasi oleh kebijaksanaan pimpinan negeri Selangor.

Saya amat percaya TS Khalid mampu mengatasi isu itu dengan baik kerana saya tahu beliau boleh lakukannya. Inilah yang tidak mahu dilihat oleh pimpinan persekutuan. Lama juga saya berkhidmat dibawah TS Khalid ini dan saya amat berkeyakinan beliau akan buktikan kemampuan beliau mengatasi isu ini jika kerajaan persekutuan tidak menarik balik pembekuan itu.

Jika isu ini sudah selesai, pimpinan persekutan dari sekarang jangan menjadikan pelajar sebagai mangsa kepada politik ‘desperate’ mereka dalam menghadapi pilihanraya umum yang akan datang ini. Apabila bertindak tanpa berfikir dan bercakap lebih pantas dari berfikir inilah jadinya.

Janji pemansuhan PTPTN atau pun pendidikan percuma itu merupakan usaha dan janji PR jika dapat dan berjaya menganjak pimpinan BN dari Putrajaya dan itu merupakan komitmen Pakatan Rakyat. Saya dan ramai lagi percaya yang PR mampu untuk menjadikan pendidikan itu tanggungan kerajaan jika mendapat kuasa.

Pimpinan BN pun percaya ia akan mampu dilakukan oleh PR jika PR berkuasa tetapi mereka (BN) juga tahu mereka (BN) tidak akan mampu untuk melakukannya. Inilah yang menjadikan pimpinan BN tidak senang duduk dan tidak nyenyak tidur kerana ketidakmampuan mereka untuk mengatasi komitmen Pakatan Rakyat itu.

Itulah sebabnya saya telah menulis dalam posting saya beberapa hari yang lepas yang pada hakikatnya BN lah yang sedang berusaha menandingi PR dan bukannya PR yang menandingi BN. Pimpinan BN tahu yang jika Pilihanraya diadakan besuk hari, PR lah yang akan mendapatkan mandat itu.

Maka itulah sebabnya pimpinan BN sedang berada di dalam keadaan ‘defensive’ kerana mereka juga sedar yang rakyat secara majoritinya sedang bersama PR. Hanya menunggu tarikh pilihanraya sahaja.

Isu pendidikan percuma merupakan isu yang mampu dilakukan oleh PR kerana jika negara Scandinavia boleh memberikan pendidikan percuma walaupun tidak mempunyai hasil minyak dan hasil mahsul seperti yang kita ada, kita tidak nampak kenapa isu ini tidak boleh dilakukan oleh PR.

Maka tindakan kerajaan persekutuan untuk menjadikan pelajar sebagai mangsa kerana ketakutan dan keresahan mereka yang takut dengan kehilangan kuasa itu merupakan satu tindakan yang tidak pernah terlintas dalam pemikiran ramai orang.

Sememangnya seseorang yang sudah tidak tenang itu akan melakukan perkara-perkara yang tidak betul dan sentiasa ‘flip-flop’ dalam semua tindakan mereka. Hendak tidur tidak lena, hendak makan tidak lalu dan mandi pun tidak basah. Oleh itu segala tindakan mereka tidak berdasarkan kepada pemikiran yang stabil dan tenang.

Inilah bahayanya jika kita mandatkan pimpinan negara kepada pimpinan BN kerana pimpinan yang tidak berfikiran yang tenang akhirnya akan memudharatkan rakyat lebih-lebih lagi bagi generasi yang akan datang. Penyakit ‘inferiority complex’ pimpinan persekutuan ini kian  jelas.

Rakyat Selangor mesti ingat itu. Jangan perjudikan nasib anak-anak kita dengan memberikan sokongan kepada pimpinan yang ‘perongos’ ini. — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2012, 9:15 am and is filed under
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Muhyiddin has confirmed that the greatest threat to  Najib’s signature  1Malaysia policy is the “Malay first, Malaysian second” DPM

Tan Sri Muhyiddinm Yassin has confirmed that the greatest threat to Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s signature 1Malaysia policy is his “Malay first, Malaysian second” Deputy Prime Minister.

In his speech yesterday, Muhyiddin said Malaysians cannot refute the fact that the future of the nation depended on the unity of the Malays and Muslims, who  formed the majority.

Muhyiddin said if the Muslims split due to differences in politics or other fundamental issues related to religion, then it would be difficult to achieve peace and unity for the nation as a whole.

Muhyiddin is wrong as forming a greater majority than Malays and Muslims in the country are Malaysians regardless of religious faiths.

Muhyiddin yesterday completely repudiated Najib’s signature 1Malaysia policy, which is defined by the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap launched by Najib in his first year as Prime Minister, viz:

“The goal of 1Malaysia is to make Malaysia more vibrant, more productive and more competitive – and ultimately a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society.”

It is clear that after 39 months as Najib’s Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin has not become more 1Malaysia-minded but instead has remained as racist as ever as when he declared in his response to my challenge on April 1, 2010 that he was “a Malay first and then only a Malaysian”.

Muhyiddin had said: “How can I say I’m Malaysian first and Malay second? All the Malays will shun me and say that it is not proper.”

He even challenged me to declare that I was Malaysian first and Chinese second.

I never had hesitation to declare both inside Parliament and outside that I am Malaysian first and Chinese second.

It is a reflection of the failure of the Malaysian nation-building process as well as the hollowness of the 1Malaysia Policy that up to now, Najib dared not set the example to declare that he is Malaysian first and Malay second.

Just as a Malaysian who declared that he is Malaysian first and Chinese second does not make him or her less of a Chinese, similarly a person who declared that he is Malaysian first and Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban second does not make him or her less of a Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban!

If Muhyiddin still maintains that it is wrong for a Malay leader to declare that he is “Malaysian first and Malay second”, is he going to take the next logical step and propose in Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to scrap the 1Malaysia Policy as a total failure after three years?

Or worse, that it is a complete fraud on Malaysians for the past three years especially as the objective of the 1Malaysia policy has not found unanimity or  consensus in Barisan Nasional let alone majority support of UMNO, the political hegemon in Barisan Nasional!

Even the de facto Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir and other UMNO leaders have  criticised the 1Malaysia slogan as “hollow” and “inconsistent”.

When is Najib going to be frank with Malaysians – that his signature 1Malaysia Policy is just an empty slogan without serious purpose or meaning whatsoever?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2012, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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The big PTPTN blunder

 — Stephen Ng

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 10, 2012

JUNE 10 — I have been following the news about the PTPTN, and had previously written about it as well.

The latest development by the minister of higher education, Khaled Nordin, is one of the worst of Umno’s political games.

From the shared script with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the victims were apparently the students and their parents.

This ploy did not take into consideration the younger generation of Malaysians who cannot afford the higher education under the present Barisan Nasional regime.

To play on their sentiments is something that most Malaysians will not forgive.

Sometimes, silence is golden. In this case, it only became worse when Khaled Nordin had the cheek to say that the freeze on PTPTN loans to Selangor-owned tertiary education institutions “was sparked by the Selangor government’s failure to find a permanent solution for providing free education.”

As an observer, I seriously doubt Khaled’s integrity as a minister. His remarks came when the Selangor government was prepared to set aside RM30 million to provide free education to the students of both universities.

In my opinion, Khaled has lost his credibility and the people’s confidence in his ability to run an important ministry, no thanks to all the dirty politics that he and his comrades are willing to play in order to stay in power.

I wish to remind Khaled, Muhyiddin, and the rest of Umno’s ministers under the leadership of Najib Razak, of one of Bersih’s eight demands: Stop the dirty politics.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2012, 8:07 pm and is filed under
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Elections
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Muhyiddin Yassin
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How Malaysia’s Leader Is Damaging His Reformist Reputation

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has styled himself a reformer, but his government’s prosecution of protesters shows he still has a long way to go.

By
Robert Horn

Time

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appears determined to give himself a political black eye. On June 13, government prosecutors will haul into court 10 leaders of Bersih, a coalition of civil society groups campaigning to clean up the country’s corrupt elections commission. The government is demanding damages for destruction to public property during a clash between Bersih demonstrators and police in Kuala Lumpur on April 28. At least 100,000 people marched for clean elections in the Malaysian capital that day, while tens of thousands more joined protests in 11 other cities across the country and 80 cities around the world. Whether or not the government wins compensation in court, however, no amount of money will undo the damage it is inflicting upon its own reputation by pursuing the case.

The April 28 demonstrations were a stunning show of discontent in a country where protests are rarely tolerated. In half a century, Malaysia has advanced from a poor British colony with a plantation economy to an ambitious, middle-income nation with science parks, cybercities and skyscrapers. But in a trade-off typical of Asia, the Barisan National coalition, which has ruled the country since independence in 1957, curtails civil liberties and keeps a tight rein on political opposition in exchange for delivering prosperity. That governing model, however, contains the seeds of its own decay. Malaysia’s successful development “translates into a better-educated electorate who have more sophisticated demands and expectations,” political scientist Prof. Farish Noor tells TIME.

(MORE: Malaysia Opposition Leader Cleared of Sodomy, Paving Way for Fierce Election Fight)

In recent years, the government has found it increasingly difficult to meet those expectations. According to World Bank data on the Gini coefficient, a measure of wealth inequality, the gap between rich and poor in Malaysia is larger than it is in neighboring Thailand, where inequality has been a factor driving civil unrest and political violence in recent years. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis in late 2008, Noor says there is also a “growing anxiety” among the middle classes in Malaysia “who feel their jobs and economic opportunities are threatened.”

Keenly aware of the escalating problems, Najib has tried to present himself as a reformer. The steps he has taken so far, however, haven’t done much to improve BN’s image as increasingly corrupt, ill-equipped to deal with global economic complexities and out of touch with the aspirations of significant segments of the population. In 2008, BN was shocked when opposition parties captured five of the country’s 13 states in national elections—the worst showing in the coalition’s history. If voters are more dissatisfied now, they are also more frustrated: few can see how real change can be achieved as long as the BN controls access to the media and elections continue to be riddled with irregularities. Najib’s attempts at reform “ring hollow when the electoral system remains flawed,” Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan, Bersih chairperson one of the defendants in the case brought by the government, tells TIME. “The stark reality is that genuine reform will not benefit those in power.”

Najib has received credit for repealing the draconian Internal Security Act that was used to suppress dissent. But he then turned around and decided to prosecute Bersih leaders over the violence on April 28. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch contends that video evidence shows security forces were actually responsible for the clashes. The forces initially allowed demonstrators into Merdeka (Independence) Square, which the government had previously declared off limits, and then began attacking the demonstrators with tear gas and batons for breaching the area. “If the prime minister was a true reformer, he would have condemned this violence and called for an independent inquiry by the Human Rights Commission,’’ Sreenavasan says.

The irony is that Sreenavsan believes Najib truly wants to be a reformer, but is constrained by the realities of his governing coalition–he relies heavily on the support of politicians who control rural provinces in a semi-feudal style. To appease rural voters, Najib and his coalition have showered them with populist policies, such as a new minimum wage that will raise incomes for an estimated 3.2 million people and a 13% pay rise for civil servants. By contrast, they have ignored Bersih’s eight demands for freer and fairer elections, such as cleaning the voter rolls of fake names.

Enacting electoral reforms would benefit the government. The coalition would probably still prevail at the ballot box because of its populism and emerge with a stronger mandate because it obtained its victory fair and square. Instead, the rulers are opting to suppress Bersih. That will only serve to stoke a political pressure cooker, deepen divisions and undercut the legitimacy of the government. “This is nothing less than a battle for the political soul of Malaysia,’’ Robertson says. No matter the outcome of the court case, it’s a battle that is far from over.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 11 June 2012, 5:14 pm and is filed under
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