Umno Baru at a crossroads again

—
Nur Jazlan Mohamed

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 10, 2011

DEC 10 — The recently concluded Umno General Assembly came and went and offered little in terms of the new manifesto of the party. The public were disappointed with the lack of new policy initiatives. Many Umno delegates who had to sit through many stale and uninspiring speeches were left with little enthusiasm to return to their respective constituencies to rally their fellow members in preparation for the impending 13th General Election soon.

The uninspiring lack of ideas put forward by the members best describes the state of the party at the moment. Umno has the largest base of members and voters of any political party in the country. It is the party that claims to have the most support from the Malay population which is the largest ethnic group and expected to be about sixty per cent of the population by 2020.

But as a party that claims to represent the majority race in the country , it doesn’t seem to able to break away from the “Malay under siege mentality” rethoric it has used since the fight for independence to attract support from the public. The party is frozen in time and is paralysed to steer the nation through a more challenging future.

The party has failed to offer new ideas to attract the young Malays to support its idealogy which in recent years has drifted more to the right. The Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, through the concept of One Malaysia has tried to bring Umno back to the centre space of national politics where race and religious tolerance is at equilibrium.

But his message doesn’t seem to resonate with the majority of the delegates and even among his bench of Supreme Council members who may have come to a conclusion that another event of racial and religious strife in the country is the best way to retain Malay power.

The underlying message from many of the speakers at this years General Assembly was that the Malays were under threat from the minority group of non Malays who were trying to grab power and overcome Malay supremacy by defeating Umno and Barisan Nasional. The statements made by many of the delegates had strong racial and religious undertones aimed at the Malay population to alert them to the threat posed by the non Malays especially the Chinese who are determined to take power.

Many of them were not even subtle in communicating their extreme views especially when attacking the DAP , the everlasting bogeyman of Malaysian politics. The DAP were accused of playing racial politics and inciting the Chinese to hate Umno and hence the Malays which interests it protects.

But the speakers failed to mention that it is impossible for the Chinese who represent about a quarter of the country’s population to take power in the country without the support of the Malays. None of them offered any explanation on why many Malays shunned Umno and had decided to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in 2008. None of them wanted to admit the weaknesses of Umno that caused a significant number of Malays to choose Pakatan as their preferred government.

None of the speakers and the top leaders of the party bothered to raise the issue of corruption and financial mismanagement which is the main reason for many Malays especially young to reject the party. The silence on the issue was deafening in the light of the revelations from the National Feedlot centre issue which involves a senior leader of the party.

The DAP is in an excellent position to take advantage of the situation. The anti-Chinese message from Umno is driving more and more Chinese voters away from it. If this situation continues , the DAP can expect to win the forty five Chinese majority seats in the country’s parliament and claim legitimacy to represent the Chinese community in the country.

The Chinese community may decide to dump MCA and Gerakan for the DAP. The MCA and Gerakan would be history and the Barisan Nasional would consist of Umno and the Sabah and Sarawak coalition partners. Barisan Nasional would lose its legitimacy as the party that represents all the races and religions in the country.

Dato Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak would become the first Prime Minister in history to be elected without a majority of Chinese support. He would have to consider the risks of being the leader of Barisan Nasional and Prime Minister without the support of the majority of the Chinese population.

He may have to consider extending the olive branch to the DAP just as his late father Tun Abd Razak Hussein did to the then opposition Gerakan party in 1970 for the sake of achieving overall national unity. If that happens, will it come at a price that Umno can accept?

Will Umno have to swallow its pride again?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 December 2011, 7:35 pm and is filed under
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Umno/BN no joy for babies

Dean Johns | Dec 7, 2011

Malaysiakini

I’ve always had a soft spot for babies, and thus have found the fathering and nurturing of several in the course of my somewhat chequered marital career to be life-enhancing experiences.

So I was far from surprised that, of all the lovely people I was privileged to meet at the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia dinner in KL last Saturday night, the new acquaintance I found most utterly enchanting was the youngest ‘member’ or at least attendee, a three-year-old aptly named Joy.

There were two reasons why my heart went out to this delightful little sprite. Firstly, her spirit of frolic and fun that inspired me to play so many silly games with her that I ended up limp with exhaustion and soaking with sweat, while she was still as fresh as the proverbial daisy and ready for more.

And secondly, she reminded me of my own similarly joyful daughter Sammie, whose birth in Malaysia 16 years ago transformed me from an appalled but passive expatriate observer of the local political scene to an outraged critic of the evils I saw her as having to face if she stayed in Umno/BN’s Bolehland.

Happily she’s been spared most of such problems, thanks first to the efforts of her mother, maternal grandparents and some very good teachers in Malaysia, and also her subsequent relocation into the admittedly far-from-perfect but at least somewhat more progressive Australian educational system.

But as is perhaps evident in the columns I write for Malaysiakini, I’ve maintained the protective rage that her arrival in my life generated, and remain inspired to vent this emotion on behalf of Malaysian sons and daughters of all ages, races, genders and religions.

Rage at the fact that, as almost everybody in this nation with even a shred of awareness knows by now, Umno/BN, behind its pretence of promoting and protecting Malay rights, religious beliefs and prosperity, has been misleading, suppressing and shamelessly ripping-off the Malaysian people, Malay and non-Malay alike, for decades.

Defective ‘growing-up’ milk powder

And perhaps most reprehensible, at least in the long-term, is this kleptocratic regime’s depriving millions of young Malaysians of the truly excellent and enlightened education they need and deserve, while sending its own pampered offspring overseas or, in flagrant breach of its own rules, to local international schools.

And now, apparently no longer content with educationally and otherwise victimising children and adolescents, now Umno/BN has been cheating toddlers and babes in arms by selling sub-standard milk powder to their unsuspecting parents through its lavishly publicly-funded chain of ‘discount’ stores known as Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, or KR1M.

Investigations by Tony Pua and other diligent opposition politicians have revealed that the now-discontinued 1Malaysia ‘growing-up’ milk powder previously sold for months in KR1M outlets contained no trace whatever of 15 essential nutrients, vitamins and trace elements, and provided a mere 4.5 percent of the calcium and just 7.4 percent of the iron that the relevant food regulations deem necessary for healthy growth and development of young bodies and minds.

And arguably even more disgraceful was that this same product for babies and toddlers was found to contain many times the maximum permitted level of Vitamin A, which in excess can lead to symptoms including liver dysfunction, reduced bone mineral density, skin discolouration and hair loss.

Yet, when faced with these shocking revelations, the Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai, the same Lai who lied when he denied that police fired water cannons and teargas grenades into the grounds of a hospital during the Bersih 2.0 rally earlier this year, rather than apologising or better yet resigning, attacked Tony Pua for revealing the truth to the previously unsuspecting public.

In fact, Lai had the hide to accuse Pua of “trying to politicise the matter”.

Fraudulent concept

Which was hypocritical in the extreme in light of the plainly evident reality that the entire KR1M operation is just another cheap and shabby attempt by Najib Razak and his Umno/BN colleagues and cronies to use their fraudulent ‘1Malaysia’ concept to politicise every possible aspect of society.

And speaking of trying to kid the Malaysian people, the head of Wanita Umno and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, was apparently too busy defending her husband and children against allegations of impropriety in their involvement in the notorious National Feedlot Corporation scandal to bother about such trifles as dangerously defective milk powder.

Though admittedly her department did lavish heaps of cash on full-page colour ads in the mainstream newspapers showing her interacting with children with disabilities to demonstrate was a truly caring person she would like to be perceived as.

But there was precious little concern shown by Shahrizat or anyone else for mothers, babies or children by, or indeed for any Malaysian families other than those of members and cronies of the ruling regime, in the recent Umno general assembly.

All we saw and heard was one infantile rant after another against the opposition, and juvenile calls for oaths of loyalty to the ever-predatory party.

Not a word about any plans to address any of the countless genuine concerns confronting Malaysian families, like the rising cost of living, the worsening of the nation’s corruption index, the massive wastages, frauds and thefts revealed by the recent auditor-general’s report, and the budget cuts on education and health to enable the purchase of outrageously-overpriced ‘defence’ items like the world’s most expensive patrol boats, and a fleet of armoured personnel carriers whose prices have mysteriously multiplied several times between their purchase in Turkey and delivery to the Malaysian army.

So it’s as clear today as it has been for generations that, for as bright a future as possible for my young friend Joy and her contemporaries, and for even younger and as-yet-unborn babies, it’s vital to put an end to the criminal misrule of Malaysia by this gang of Umno/BN boobies.

_____________________________________________________

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’ and ‘1Malaysia.con’.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 December 2011, 12:32 pm and is filed under
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A single spark starts the prairie fire?

— Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 11, 2011

DEC 11 —
Dengar cerita CEO NFC (suami Sharizat) dpt gaji 100k sebulan, anak sulung (age 31) dpt gaji 45k sebulan, anak kedua (age 27)dpt 35k sebulan, anak ketiga (age 25) dpt 35k sebulan. Jika ini betul, ia sesungguhnya memalukan. Ambil duit rakyat buat bayar gaji besar.

Anak saya pun graduate juga. UPSR, PMR, SPM dapat semua A. Umur 24 tahun. Kerja swasta. Dia pun work hard. Balik kerja paling awal jam 9 malam. Kadang2 sampai 1 pagi. Gaji dia RM2,700/sebulan. Adakah anak saya akan sokong BN/Umno kalau begini keadaannya? Saya dah tahu jawapannya. Umno tak boleh kelentong orang cerdik. Umno is not capable of changing, not with the current leaders.

When more than 50 per cent of our working population is earning less than RM2k/month, tak tahu malu ke mereka-mereka ini. Merompak siang dan malam, 7 hari seminggu. Perompak Ali Baba P. Ramli pun ada cuti hujung minggu.

8 December 2011 15:12

Even if we refuse to admit it, the above is an outpouring of bitterness. Although Umno people will wish it’s confined, it’s personal anecdotes such as this that strikes fear in Umno. Maybe it’s already that single initial spark that has ignited the prairie fire.

Shahrizat Jalil can huff and puff and weave her tales as her mythical namesake did in 1,001 Nights. While she can fool Umno delegates by employing attack as the best form of defence, her actions are only an exercise in futility. For her, the writing is already on the wall. Whatever she does will not extinguish her blackened image.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called for her exit from Umno politics. She’s finished. Incidentally, the 1001 Nights contained the story of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, which the writer of the comment cited.  Perhaps, Ali Baba and the thieves aptly describe what Umno has become.

This kind of anecdotal and very personalised tale of feeling marginalised and alienated reflects the wider bitterness of Malays with Umno. There is nothing that Umno can do about it now.

It’s a discredited brand. It’s synonymous with pillage and plunder, corruption, arrogance that can only be the result of being far too long in power. It’s the manifestation of the political dictum — power corrupts absolutely and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Last year, every big idea thrown up by the Umno president was rejected by Umno delegates. When he spoke about 1 Malaysia, delegates insisted on Malay first, Malaysia second. The deputy Umno president was even forthright in affirming that line of thinking, which is more in common with the Umno ground.

Even as Umno members deny it, there is worrisome disconnect between the Umno president and the rest of his team. When he spoke about his nebulous New Economic Model, delegates spoke about more NEP like policies.

In the end, what has Najib Razak got to defend himself?

He has only the claim that he is the son of Tun Razak, imagining such pedigree is testimony that he won’t abandon principles dear to Umno. When a person has nothing else to defend himself with but lays bare his bloodline credentials, it’s a sign he is in trouble. No one can deny that biological connection. The similarities end just there, as people are arguing whether he has inherited the leadership talent of the father.

This year, what has Umno got? It didn’t encourage delegates speaking about economic achievements. No talk on vision, policies and so forth. No one debated about how Shahrizat got the RM 250 million. No one spoke about the ETP, EPP, GTP and whatever labels the Umno president gave to his string of initiatives. None.

The Umno president pleads for continued mandate from the people as the Malay Agenda has not finished. No one spoke or elaborated about the agenda.

How is it that the agenda can only be achieved through Umno, if at all? No one puts forth convincing arguments telling us why Umno is the only qualified instrument for Malays to achieve their collective agenda.

Najib is confused about the concept that he came up when he took over from Pak Lah, which is the claim that the age of government knows best is over. Yet, by asking the nation to give him the mandate to enable him to continue the agenda, he is reaffirming the exact opposite. The government and the party is the deity and dispenser of what is good to the people.

The 2011 Umno general assembly was an occasion for an orgy of vituperative shouting matches. Umno does nothing but direct themselves to attacking and insulting its political opponents. Umno does two things actually; one, heighten the morbid patriotism and nationalistic urges of Malays. And two, it did what it hasn’t done before: speak about Malays’ greatest fear — assault on the religion of Islam.

But here is the irony, just as Najib — who last year had nothing to offer but to invoke the name of his father — similarly too this year, Umno hasn’t got anything.

Listening to the maddening speeches by Umno delegates, I am reminded of what Arthur Schopenhauer in his Essays and Aphorisms said:

“Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.”

That is what has Umno become: an inferior good. It is a good that decreases in demand as social awareness increases. Malays in rural areas are not exactly insular in their outlook. They read the papers, understand what’s written in between the lines. Their children come back and inform parents. Umno can’t fool all the people all the time with its scare mongering tactics.

Every speaker comes up before the podium, trying to outdo the previous in terms of bellicosity and vehemence. The spectre of the Yellow Peril is upon us; the Chinese will take away Malay rights, turn Malays into Christians, abolish the monarchy and so forth. It’s not going to work because of millions of people are thinking like the person sending in the comment posted above.

People know. They talk among themselves. It has become a huge money making juggernaut. The ones making money are the Umno chieftains, cronies, families. Umno operates a giant Ponzi scheme, not dissimilar to Harry Madoff’s multi-level marketing.

It can’t defend itself on its track record other than reminding people that Umno has done much for the people and country. That claim sounds hollow because ALL governments in the world carry out programmes and implement policies.

Hosni Mubarak of Egypt did the same thing. Muammar Gaddafi gave Libyans much development and personal help to people. The Tunisian president did much development for Tunisia. Therefore, what Umno did, is not unique in that it is sufficient for people to feel beholden and enslaved by Umno.

I feel sorry for the people who think of the widespread disenchantment with Umno since 2008 and that has been building up as a flash in the pan, and regarded — for self-assuring purposes — as mere protest votes.

This time it’s real. Ordinary Malays are disputing Umno’s empty claims of fighting for the interest of Malays. And Umno people realise this. This is what Umno fears most, when Malays themselves start disputing what Umno says and does.

The facts are these: the people who are ripping off Malays are the Umno elites. Since Dr Mahathir took over, Umno has evolved into a company doing a gigantic Ponzi scheme. The elite, the Umno chieftains, their families and cronies have been ripping the Malays.

Who threatened the royal houses? Umno did, during the constitutional crisis years. Umno leaders were the ones who proposed to tie up royal members on trees and let the fire ants sting them. Umno was behind the exposure of scandalous behaviour of members of the royal family.

It wasn’t the Chinese who so much as besmirched the reputation of Malay rulers. I have said it before: The entrepreneurial Chinese would want to befriend the royalty so that, through the royal houses, they can corner more businesses.

How can a numerically smaller group dominate a larger group? How can DAP convert Muslims to Christianity when the majority of DAP members are themselves not Christians?

The only way Malays lose everything, is the result of the rot in Umno. And Umno, says Dr Mahathir, is rotten to the core. It’s rotten as a result of endemic corruption. We now speak of billions and not a few hundred thousand being ripped off.

How does Umno rally Malays into its fraternity? By preying on irrational prejudices, fear and probably some bad personal experience. This is the only way Umno can rally the Malays.

It’s a reaction that reflects the fear and paranoia that is enveloping Umno now. It hasn’t got any big ideas or visionary elements to bind the beliefs of Malays anymore. So, it’s only way out is to sound and represent itself as the uncompromising champion of Malay extremism.

That approach will fail simply because extremism and the patriotism promoted by Umno are seen as measures by leaders to preserve themselves.

“Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, conscience, and a slavish enthrallment to those in power.”

Leo Tolstoy said that a long time ago. — 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 Monday, 12 December 2011, 9:39 am and is filed under
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Chameleon politics

— Tan Teck Huat

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 12, 2011

DEC 12 — If anyone wants to know the chameleon nature of the Najib government or perhaps even the prime minister, you just have to look at the government’s attitude towards Singapore.

On one hand, Najib talks about closer ties with Singapore and his upcoming retreat with Lee Hsien Loong, where some great announcement is going to be made about a joint announcement in Iskandar.

We are supposed to be good pals after years of difficult ties. But before anyone starts celebrating, there is Najib’s good friend, Senator Ezam Noor, warning undergraduates that the DAP is bent on turning Malaysia into Singapore!

Let there be no illusion about Ezam’s close connection to the establishment. A political maverick like Ezam can only be accepted back into the system and be appointed as a senator only with the blessings of the prime minister.

His job designation is clear, attack Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat and in that order, and do and say anything which will make the electorate frightened of the opposition.

That is why a few days ago he was allowed to speak to undergraduates and took up the Umno message of demonising the DAP. The only difference was that he dragged in another bogeyman: Singapore.

Singapore equates to Chinese equates to bad.

Don’t expect Hsien Loong to do or say anything to defend Singapore. He and his wife don’t have the gumption or the fight of Lee Kuan Yew and will roll over and play dead for a few deals. In that regard, Najib is smarter than Hsien Loong.

He knows that Hsien Loong treasures cordial relations with Malaysia with a few deals like the railway land issue thrown in and will not kick up a fuss even though the government’s attack dogs are making Singapore a bogeyman. As such, Najib will continue with his chameleon-like strategy, of talking up bilateral ties and allowing his soldiers to paint Singapore in less than desirable light.

A bit like praising the Chinese for their diligence and then allowing Perkasa to hammer the Chinese. Or like visiting the Vatican but allowing Umno to belittle Christianity.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 December 2011, 4:37 pm and is filed under
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Essential national intellectual capital: What is needed more, a genius or two, or good academic institutions?

— Clive Kessler

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 12, 2011

DEC 12 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has recognised that a country’s intellectual capital is its primary asset.

Its “brainpower”, he understands, is the major determinant of its international standing, of its prospects of achieving success and prosperity (Melissa Chi, “PM says intellectual capital determines success of a country”, The Malaysian Insider, December 10, 2011).

So far, so good.

But it is wishful thinking to imagine that all can be saved and made good by the production, in isolation — in a cultural and intellectual vacuum — of a couple of world-class geniuses.

There are many small countries that, against the odds, have surprisingly produced the odd “world-beater.”

But unless these intellectual giants inhabit what may be called a “culturally hospitable environment” in their own countries (and provided, too, that they do not become part of the great international “brain drain”), little will come of their achievements.

Their own mother countries will get little benefit, so past experience suggests, from what, as scholars, they may manage to accomplish.

So forget about producing, as a puzzling exception, the odd stupendously “high flyer.”

One does not produce geniuses in isolation.

Truly outstanding minds are cultivated within, and emerge from, a conducive environment.

They take shape and grow most, and best, in countries where the intellectual capacities and potential of all its citizens are supported, encouraged and cultivated.

In places where, among those offered the chance to pursue a scholarly path, “the life of the mind” in its broad, most humanly inclusive senses is respected and promoted.

In other words, the production of a few geniuses and of a larger number of internationally-ranking “near-geniuses” depends upon the creation of a sound, progressive and internationally competitive primary and secondary education system.

“Internationally competitive”? That means, in the first instance, one that respects the intellectual autonomy and encourages the individual critical capacities of as many young students as may be able to respond to that invitation and to those incentives to learn.

It also rests upon the development, at the next level up, of a tertiary or university system that seeks not simply to produce isolated geniuses or identify, from within the anonymous and mediocre pack, a few potential “winners.”

It can only be done by building up a university system based upon general and ever-rising levels of intellectual, scholarly and academic competence.

If you want to produce geniuses, don’t think “genius”, think “competence” — generalised, overall, “system-wide” competence; think of steadily increasing and ever higher levels of scholarly competence.

It is by insisting, without compromise, upon the universal or “system-wide” international academic competence and respectability of all of its staff that a university can create the conditions under which all will — and can, and must — do better, where the better will perhaps go on to do some work of distinction, and where the best will achieve a level where genius may even, just perhaps, become a feasible objective and a realisable achievement.

That is what universities, particularly universities in “non-metropolitan” and especially formerly colonialised countries should be focusing upon.

On that, and not the ultimately subjective, mechanically generated, and always dubious ranking systems that are produced under scholarly conditions and auspices that are themselves of questionable rather than truly authentic, well-attested international scholarly credibility.

The prime minister has expressed the hope of perhaps producing one or two genuine Malaysian geniuses.

His favoured strategy, in other words, is that of “building upon the few” — rather than of working towards eventually producing a few, perhaps even more than a few, really outstanding scholars by a strategy of “building upon, building up, and encouraging the many.”

Yet top-level or “elite” educational achievement is only ever realised from a quality mass educational foundation or basis. It is not produced by seeking, from the outset, to identify “promise” and then to “cosset” a supposedly promising yet narrow elite.

The world’s high mountains stand upon and emerge from massive, high mountain ranges. They do not rise, splendidly and unpredictably, from the monotonous flatlands of vast, featureless coastal plains.

Arguments by metaphor and analogy — by ibarat and kias — are never absolutely compelling. But here the comparison is appropriate, the geographical image is indicative.

Genius rises from a broad terrain that itself stands high.

Building up the many, raising the overall level of the multitude, steadily raising the scholarly quality of the nation’s academic legions?

Is this what Malaysia, during all these long years since 1957 and especially in the years of vast expansion since 1970, has been doing?

I think not.

It is very hard, if not impossible, to produce that kind of high-quality national intellectual armoury in a country whose public universities, between them, cannot show just one internationally credible, or reputable, school or department of modern world philosophy and logic, not one plausible academic “unit” devoted to the study and teaching modern global intellectual and cultural history, not one adequate (or even inadequate!) department of modern political studies, theory and philosophy.

Why are these things important? Why do they matter?

Do they matter to a nation’s ability even to produce good scientists and technicians?

Yes.

Why?

Because academic and scholarly competence — at any serious international level, and certainly at the highest — requires, and emerges from, and can only be fostered within a context, and as an aspect, of a generalised “cultural modernity.”

Was Einstein the product of a closed, intellectually isolated, and narrowly inward-looking scientific community? Of a culture of unworldly and vulgar “tech-nerds”?

No. It was the great breadth and cultural richness of the German scholarly community during the Weimar Republic years that enabled not only Einstein but a whole vast “cohort” of world-class scientists to emerge.

Germany was foolish, once it fell captive to the political mystique of Blut und Boden (“Blood and those with national identities grounded in the native land”), to drive so many of those great scientists into exile, where they ended up contributing massively to the defeat of Hitler’s Reich. But that is another story …

Instead of focusing on that intellectually foolish and humanly tragic waste, I prefer to think of one of the truly humbling experiences of my life.

That was, some 12 years ago in Berlin, when I entered the great rotunda of the main building of that city’s main university: once (including when my mother had been a student there in the early 1930s) the Friedrich-Wilhelm Universitaet; now, since the years of the old German Democratic Republic, and still, felicitously named the Humboldt University after the two great early nineteenth–century German scholarly brothers of that name.

Along the wide spiral stairs of that grand central rotunda are displayed the photographic portraits of more than 50 Nobel Prize winners, mainly in medicine and the physical sciences, whom that one university produced, mainly in the pre-Nazi era.

Has Malaysia any prospects for registering such an achievement?

Perhaps, ultimately.

But one must start with realistic steps and proper measures, based upon an accurate analysis of the problem and an appropriate assessment of what its pursuit may require.

Some countries — let us be honest, many countries, all too many, including some that do not lack the necessary means, the wealth and material resources — have realistically no chance of ever registering such a scholarly success.

Some simply lack the material means that might enable such success to be realised. Poverty delivers its cruel verdict in many ways, both individually and collectively, including at the level of national accomplishment.

This, happily, has never been Malaysia’s problem.

It not only has the resources.

It has also allocated and spent them.

But has it spent them well?

Again, I think not.

Some countries have the necessary resources but lack the will to spend them on, and to invest massively, in public education.

That failure follows from a lack of wisdom, a poverty that is mental and moral, or cultural, rather than material.

But that, again, has not been Malaysia’s problem. There has been no mean-spirited limitation here upon the government’s readiness to devote national resources to the educational sector.

But has success that might be commensurate with that great expenditure been registered? Have the foundations for overall excellence, perhaps even for the production of some Malaysian geniuses, been laid down and consolidated?

I fear not.

After years of close-up, sympathetic and friendly involvement in this country’s leading academic institutions, I shake my head in dismay.

Toward the end of his days, my good friend, the late and great Malay scholar and writer Rustam A. Sani, from a much closer and deeper record of involvement in Malaysian university life, used to shed bitter tears over this matter, over what might have been achieved but never was.

At the end he surveyed what he saw as a failed public and intellectual culture, nurtured and now wrongfully protected and promiscuously reproduced within failed public universities. In sum, a failure of Malay, and Malaysian, cultural modernity.

That combination, he feared, threatened to produce, half a century after Merdeka, a “failed nation.”

When I think of the situation of expensively produced intellectual desolation that so pained Rustam, I can only agree.

I can only think — with apologies to the memory of those who died in the Battle of Britain to save England from a Germany that, without the tempering presence of the best and most generous minds it has ever produced, went wild — of Churchill’s evocative tribute.

I recall, and perhaps shamefully adapt for my own ends, those famous words of Winston Churchill to express my dismay at the meagre scholarly life and at the mediocre quality of the array of academic institutions that Malaysia has so generously, but ever so unrewardingly, created.

Never before in the field of human educational endeavour — I am forced painfully to conclude — has so much been spent so liberally upon so many, with so little in the way of quality results to show for the money: with such a lack of distinguished accomplishment, with such a dismal lack of quality result, both specifically academic and broadly cultural, to justify that vast outlay of national wealth and precious resources.

The prime minister would like one or two geniuses.

Perhaps one or two genuinely good, internationally credible universities would be a beginning.

A more modest goal. But a necessary first step towards the stellar achievement of which he dares to have Malaysia dream.

* Clive S. Kessler is Emeritus Professor Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Before returning to his “native” Australia in 1980 to a professorship in that university, he had held academic lecturing positions at the London School of Economics and Political Science (The University of London) and at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. He has been a Visiting Fellow at The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In recognition of his scholarly work and standing he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He has been a Visiting Professor and External Examiner at leading Malaysian universities.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 December 2011, 11:06 am and is filed under
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #92

By
M. Bakri Musa

Chapter11:     Embracing Free Enterprise

Malaysian Capitalism

Moral Arguments For Free Trade

Daniel Griswold of the conservative Cato Institute in Washington, DC, argues that free trade is morally right, quite apart from the benefits that accrue upon the participants. Free trade respects individual dignity and sovereignty. When one engages in honest work, one has the basic right to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor. No authority has the power to forbid someone from exchanging the fruits of that labor with something else produced by another person, whether that person is in the next village or across the globe. Ibn Khaldun first expressed these views in the 14th Century. Protectionism is just another form of stealing; taking from one group of people (consumers) and giving the spoils to another (usually domestic producers and others who are politically powerful).

            Free trade also encourages individuals to cultivate moral virtues. To be successful in trade, one must be reliable and provide the goods and services that are needed and at a price that is affordable. Rewards go to those who are trustworthy, reliable, and deliver on their promises. These are the same qualities that are regarded as virtues in any religion. For Muslims, it is instructive that Muhammad (pbuh) was a trustworthy merchant who brought great profits to his employer before he received his prophethood.

            Free trade brings people together through their mutual interests. It is not surprising that inhabitants of port cities and trade centers are very cosmopolitan and receptive to new ideas. Malacca was for a long time a trading center along the East-West maritime trade route, and their people were welcoming of the ways of both East and West. They readily accepted Islam because they were open to new ideas. Residents of inland areas and others not exposed to the outside world tend to be xenophobic and insular.

            Another important consequent of free trade is that it encourages other basic human rights. With the free exchange of goods and services comes the free exchange of ideas. This encourages tolerance. The wealth created through trade helps nurture civil institutions. People tend to be more tolerant and less selfish when they are prosperous. Today race relations are so much better in Malaysia than Indonesia because Malaysians are so much more affluent. They have a lot more at stake should disturbances of any kind develop. Similarly as China and South Korea become more open and prosperous through trade, democratic and civil institutions there will be strengthened.

            Free trade also fosters peace. It does not guarantee peace but as nations become more integrated and interdependent, they have more to lose with the disruptions of trade. Granted, when Japanese imports were flooding America and American workers were displaced as a result, Japan bashing was rampant among union workers and opportunistic politicians. The spectacle of senior members of Congress smashing Japanese cars on the steps of the Capitol in the 1980s was indeed pathetic. What is often forgotten in such crass displays of patriotism is that most Americans do not share those views. Those scenes are prominently replayed on television screens purely for ratings. The fact is for every factory worker laid off, there are many more jobs created in west coast ports to cater for the increased imports. Besides, as the Japanese become more affluent, their disposable income is spent traveling to America and playing golf at expensive resorts. And to cater for the flood of tourists, Japan Airlines had to buy more 747 jets from Boeing. Trade is a “win-win” encounter.

            As for the effect of those politicians smashing Japanese cars, Nissans and Toyotas are still very popular in America. Check those hyperventilating politicians; many drive Japanese cars.

            Lastly, free trade helps those at the very bottom of the economic pile, those most deserving of help. Americans may sniff at the peanut wages paid to Indonesian Nike factory workers, nonetheless that same income enables the workers to feed and clothe their families. The income may be peanuts by American standards, but it is a heck of a lot more than what the Indonesians would have earned planting rice or pulling rickshaws. Americans, by buying Nike shoes made in Indonesia, do a lot more good for the Indonesians than all the foreign aids that were poured to that country. Lord Bauer was a strong proponent of trade instead of aid as an effective route for developing a country. The success of South Korea, Taiwan, and hosts of other countries is testimony to that wisdom.

            The difficulty in understanding free trade, especially international trade, is that we are burdened by the traditional concept characterized for example, by America buying Malaysian rubber and Malaysians in turn buying American planes. These kinds of trading still go on, but modern trading is much more complicated. For example, according to US Department of Commerce figures, 40 percent of American “exports” are not actual trading as described, rather transfers of goods and services to foreign affiliates and subsidiaries of American companies. These are not trade in the traditional sense but more correctly intra-company transfers, even though they occur across borders.

            International trade today is also increasingly not in goods but services like management consultancies, insurance, and professional services. An increasingly important component in this service trade is of course tourism. With countries like Jamaica, it is the major source of foreign exchange earnings. Even in Malaysia tourism is now the second leading foreign exchange earner, after manufacturing. For America, a major source of foreign funds is the tuition and living expenses incurred by foreign students studying on American campuses. That can be in excess of US $30,000.00 per student annually. Malaysia is aggressively trying to tap into that market.

            Within the last decade yet another wrinkle has appeared that would dwarf all previous activities of international trade. Today the transfer of funds across borders has less to do with the trading of goods and services, as with traditional trading, but more with trading on money itself. That is, currency speculators trying to take maximal advantage of infinitesimal differences in exchange rates. As the Indian-born Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati noted, while the clear benefits of traditional free trade in goods and services have been clearly demonstrated, no such gains have been demonstrated by the free flow of capital. In his words, “The claims of enormous benefits from free capital mobility are not persuasive. Substantial gains have been asserted, not demonstrated, and most of the payoff can be obtained by direct equity investment. [This] myth…has been created by the…Wall Street-Treasury complex.” Mahathir could not have expressed it better!

            Bhagwati’s and Mahathir’s views notwithstanding, nonetheless to those with the money (portfolio and other money managers of the First World) trade is trade, whether it involves widgets, services, or currency. Until the world’s financial architecture can decouple currency trading from other forms of “genuine” trade, this perception will persist.

            When Malaysia imposed capital and currency controls in 1998, the investment world took that to mean that the country was no longer open to all trade and foreign investments. The ensuing government’s campaign to prove otherwise came to naught.

            Malaysia’s decision to impose capital controls came at the worst possible time, just as the competition for foreign investments became very intense brought on by two confluent events. One, with the breakdown of the former Soviet empire, there are many more newly independent countries all clamoring for the same investment funds. Two, also with the collapse of communism, many countries are now discovering the wonders of free enterprise. They too are clamoring for foreign investments.

            For Malaysia, the stiffest competition comes from China and India. They have huge domestic market that is very alluring to investors. China is effectively exploiting that advantage while India remains smug, believing that its large domestic market is attraction enough. Another major competitor is Mexico. Since the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico has been the recipient of the bulk of foreign investments from America and elsewhere. Even Malaysian manufacturers are setting up plants in Mexico to position themselves more competitively in catering for the American market.

            When capital control was imposed, foreign investors deserted Malaysia for countries like China and Mexico. Although those controls are now effectively dismantled, at least for foreigners, the distaste still lingers.

            A major misconception not only in the Third World but also in the West is to equate free enterprise with big businesses, in particular large multinational corporations. Much of the criticisms and purported failures attributed to capitalism are more accurately the failures and excesses of big businesses. In America (and also in Japan and Europe), big businesses collude with big government and powerful labor organizations to thwart free enterprise and free trade.

            Earlier I referred to the massive agricultural subsidies given to European, American, and Japanese farmers. Similarly, with the giant America steel companies whose inept managers are more adept at lobbying Congress than making their plants more efficient. Their unionized workers too are more skillful at milking featherbedding work rules rather than being productive. The industry is thus forever seeking government help with import quotas and substantial tariffs. President Bush, his commitment to free enterprise notwithstanding, recently buckled to their lobbying and in April 2002 granted the industry substantial tariff protection. There will be other subsidies coming up, with the farm sector next in line. The shipbuilding and cruise industries in America are essentially moribund, unable to compete outside of fat government contracts and subsidies.

            Unfortunately many Third World leaders like Mahathir seized upon such behaviors to justify their own retreat from free trade. After all if leaders of capitalism see fit to protect their own industries, why should not Third World countries do the same? I suggest that America progresses despite and not because of these protectionist measures.

            Malaysia should rightly challenge America, Japan, and Europe to live to their commitment of free enterprise and free trade. It should not use their protectionist maneuvers as excuses for Malaysia’s own retreat.

            Under Mahathir, Malaysians saw their standard of living improved dramatically, despite the 1997 economic crisis. Not coincidentally this occurred at the same time that the country was committed to foreign trade and investments. Under Mahathir, the nation leaped to be among the top twenty trading nations. Malaysia’s experience is by no means unique.

            A study by the World Bank showed that in the past two decades the “globalizing” group of nations, that is those nations that had a significant portion of their GDP in foreign trade and investment, grew at the rate of 5 percent annually as compared to about 2 percent for the developed world. That is, they grew over twice as fast. In contrast, the “non-globalized” nations grew at barely 1 percent annually, a rate half of that of the developed world and a fifth of that of the globalized world. This is a remarkably strong correlation that Malaysian leaders simply cannot ignore.

            Malaysia should follow the example of Mexico and other countries and seek a free trade agreement with America. Surely Malaysians can compete with the Americans in many sectors. The lives of Mexicans have improved immensely since the adoption of NAFTA. Singapore is also desperately trying to get a similar agreement with America.

            Capitalism has served Malaysia well; she should not abandon a proven successful strategy. Malaysia should continue to embrace free enterprise and trade and not take any step that the world may perceive rightly or wrongly as a diminution in her commitment to this cause.

Next:   Encouraging Entrepreneurialism

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 December 2011, 2:45 pm and is filed under
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Christians used as ‘pawns’ for votes, say church leaders

By
Clara Chooi
 | December 13, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Many Christians feel victimised and are convinced they are being used as political pawns to win Muslim votes in the next general election, a number of church leaders have said.

The church leaders told the New York Times in a report published today that there was generally a feeling of Christian-bashing among the community which makes up less than 10 per cent of the population and consists of most major denominations.

“I think Christians are generally feeling that there is kind of a Christian-bashing going on,” Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) vice-president Rev Thomas Philips told the newspaper.

The report pointed out that recent events had worsened religious tension here, particularly after the controversial August 3 raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya.

During the incident, Islamic religious authorities had moved in on a dinner function held at the church premises after receiving complaints that Christians were proselytising to Muslims there.

While no concrete proof was found and no action taken, Muslim politicians here and Muslim group Himpun had continued to claim of a plot by opposition parties and Christian organisations to Christianise the country.

The NYT pointed to Himpun’s series of planned nationwide rallies to “save and protect” Islam and cited Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s recent statement as examples of the continuing accusations causing “unease” in the Christian community even as they prepare for Christmas.

During the just-concluded Umno annual general assembly, Ahmad had warned that Islam would be “lost” if Pakatan Rakyat  (PR) made significant gains in the polls and had called the DAP “agents of Christianisation”.

Under fire for his words later and dubbed as “Hitler” by his opposition foes, Ahmad chose to stick to his guns, insisting that his statement was nothing but the truth.

“It’s unfortunate that the authorities don’t take the relevant action against those making such wild allegations. We are upset about that. There’s a sense of justice is not done. We have not done anything wrong,” the NYT quoted Bishop Jason Selvaraj of St Mary’s Anglican Cathedral as saying.

The daily noted that although Malaysia’s Constitution provides for freedom of religion and designates Islam as the religion of the federation, Muslims here are free to proselytise to others while those of other faiths are barred from doing so to Muslims.

But Christians here, it said, have denied attempting to proselytise.

“The present climate and mood is more political than anything else. They are thinking that it will unite the Muslims together, but I don’t think that any Malaysians buy it. It’s a political game,” Catholic weekly The Herald’s editor Rev Lawrence Andrew told the newspaper.

But according to political analysts interviewed by the daily, capitalising on religious sensitivities in this manner could prove detrimental to the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in the long run.

Quoting Nanyang Technological University political science professor Farish Ahmad Noor, the daily wrote that the move could alienate Umno’s non-Muslim affiliates in BN as well as ward off Christian support.

“If this (conservative) fringe in Umno thinks this is the only way they can secure the Malay vote, they have to understand that the coalition as a whole has to secure the votes of as many Malaysians as they can, and that includes Christians,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 11:55 am and is filed under
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Kalau Malaysia jadi seperti Singapura, apa yang Ezam takutkan?

By
Aspan Alias
 | December 13, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

13 DIS — Senator Ezam Mohd Nor berkata kalau PR memerintah PR akan dipengaruhi DAP dan Malaysia akan menjadi seperti Singapura. Apa maksud beliau susah hendak difahami dan itu tidak menjadi hal, kerana Umno memangnya sebuah parti yang pemimpin-pemimpinnya selalu bercakap yang susah hendak difahami oleh orang ramai. Apa yang tidak eloknya di Singapura itu mungkin Ezam sahaja yang tahu.

Apa yang Ezam takut jika Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura? Adakah Ezam takut Malaysia tidak lagi kaya rasuah seperti di Singapura? Adakah Ezam takut Malaysia akan menjadi negara maju jika negara ini menjadi seperti Singapura? Adakah Ezam takut jika Malaysia menjadi negara yang mempunyai kepimpinan yang beretika dan pemimpin-pemimpinnya tidak berlumba-lumba untuk menakluki segala harta kekayaan negara?

Atau mungkin kah Ezam takut jika Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura pemimpin-pemimpinnya terpaksa menjadi pemimpin-pemimpin yang berdisiplin dan penuh dengan etika kerja yang tinggi? Elok bertanya kepada Ezam, adakah beliau akan merasa kerugian jika tidak ada lagi pemimpin-pemimpin kerajaan yang menggunakan pengaruh dan kuasa untuk mendapatkan pinjaman kerajaan dalam jumlah ratusan juta ringgit?

Wang yang sepatutnya digunakan untuk membiayai perniagaan lembu itu digunakan untuk membeli kondominium dan Mercedez walaupun pengerusi syarikat itu mengakui yang perniagaannya belum berjalan lancar. Kalau Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura ini kah yang amat ditakuti oleh Ezam?

Adakah Ezam takut jika Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura PMnya tidak boleh lagi menggunakan wang berbillion ringgit untuk menyelamatkan anaknya yang kerugian besar dalam perniagaannya?

Kenapa Ezam takut jika Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura kerajaannya tidak mengamalkan rasuah? Atau Ezam takut Malaysia akan menjadi financial hub jika negara ini menjadi seperti Singapura? Atau Ezam takut jika tidak ada lagi pegawai penguat kuasa rasuah dari MACC tidak lagi tertangkap merompak penggurup wang di KLIA?

Jika Malaysia menjadi seperti Singapura ramai berkeyakinan yang tidak akan berlaku ibu segala rasuah seperti isu PKFZ yang melibatkan jumlah wang rakyat yang berbelas billion ringgit yang mengaitkan pemimpin Umno Selangor dan ahli jemaah kabinet Persekutuan dari MCA dan Umno? Adakah ini yang Ezam takutkan?

Saya rasakan jika Malaysia jadi seperti Singapura tidak akan terjadi seorang setiausaha politik menteri ditangkap dengan wang tunai RM2 juta di pangsapurinya di P. Pinang. Ezam takut jika perkara seperti ini tidak berulang lagi?

Apa lagi Ezam. Apa yang saudara takutkan? Cuba cerita sikit. Orang ramai di negara ini semuanya bodoh. Dah saudara yang pandai boleh tolong beri sedikit jawapan? — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 10:08 am and is filed under
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New CBN head stirs up concern

by Stephanie Sta Maria

Free Malaysia Today

13th December 2011

Past pupils and the Catholic Archdiocese want the Education Ministry to explain why it appointed a principal whose name wasn’t on the candidate list.

PETALING JAYA: The appointment of SMK Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN’s) new principal has triggered concern among its Old Girl’s Association and the Kuala Lumpur Catholic Archdiocese.

According to representatives from both sides, Zavirah Mohd Shaari’s name was not on the list of candidates submitted by the mission school authority to the Education Ministry and was “plucked out of the blue” to take over from CBN’s former head, Ann Khoo.

In a press statement, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Murphy Pakiam expressed his disappointment over the matter which he said was in contradiction with the government’s policy of maximum consultation.

This policy was enunciated by the government in the report of the Royal Commision on the Teaching Services, West Malaysia, repeated in 1976 by the then education minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir further reaffirmed the policy in his capacity as prime minister in 1998 when he announced that the government would continue consulting mission school authorities in appointing principals and teachers of mission schools.

“The appointment of the CBN principal is not only contrary to the government policy but has also given the impression that it is the government’s strategy to take over missions schools in total disregard for the status, ethos and special character of these schools especially CBN,” Pakiam was quoted as saying in the Catholic weekly publication, The Herald.

He had since appealed to the Director-General of Education Abdul Ghafar Mahmud to reconsider this decision and appoint an appropriately qualified principal who is nominated by the school owners.

‘Her race or religion is not an issue’

A CBN Old Girl who asked to remain anonymous told FMT the prime dissatisfaction revolved around the ministry breaking the longstanding agreement and bypassing the CBN board in appointing Zavirah.

“What usually happens is that the Catholic Education Council will submit the names of potential heads to the ministry,” she said.

“The ministry then has a dialogue with the nuns and the Council to determine the best candidate for the post. But they have often cheated with other schools whereby a head is appointed without maximum consultation.”

She added that the missionary was not notified of Zavirah’s appointment until she reported for duty last week and even then it was a senior teacher at CBN who alerted them.

Zavirah is also the school’s first Muslim head but the Old Girl stressed that Zavirah’s race and religion was less relevant than the fact that she was selected “from nowhere”.

“Five laypersons took on the role as CBN head after Reverend Mother St. Brede retired in 1976 and all five were appointed based on the maximum consultation policy,” she pointed out.

“We are not troubled that she is a Muslim only that the ministry chose its own candidate and failed to consult with the school owners on her appointment.”

But another CBN Old Girl raised concerns over the fact that this was noy an isolated case nor the first of its kind.

Also declining to be named, she said that various missionary schools in Teluk Intan and Setiawan now had heads who were single-handedly selected by the ministry.

“CBN is different because it is a flagship Catholic school,” she emphasised. “St John’s could be next and then that would be it.”

“The other schools have had their Catholic symbols eradicated. CBN has many such symbols and we worry whether Muslim heads would be comfortable being surrounded by them.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 5:36 pm and is filed under
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Parallels between Russia and M’sia

By
Mariam Mokhtar
 | Dec 12, 2011

Malaysiakini

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received the brunt of the wrath of former KGB spy and ex-president Vladimir Putin, when he blamed her for encouraging Russian street protests.

When BN cranks up its dirty tricks, will Clinton risk the fragile relationship of trade and investment with the Malaysian government by telling its people to take to the streets, as she did in Russia?

Premier Putin’s desire to return to power as president next year, with the United Russia party ‘winning’ the elections, reminds us of Umno wanting to prolong its 54 years of power. The parallels between Malaysia and Russia are too many to ignore.

With reports of ballot box-stuffing and ‘carousel voting’ fueling their anger, Russians took to the streets to protest. Carousel voting is when people are driven from polling-station to polling-station to vote time and time again.

If and when the time comes for Malaysians to march, will Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak blame western powers for a conspiracy to overthrow the BN government? Or will he assume full responsibility and wish that he had listened to the demands of the people, to undertake meaningful reforms, tackle corruption and stop wealth being amassed by a coterie of Umno sympathisers?

Members of the Malaysian public and the opposition coalition have exposed several instances of electoral fraud.

In one case, former soldiers admitted that they had been made to mark thousands of postal votes in various general elections. Instead of investigating the allegations, Gen Zulkifeli Mohd Zin of the Armed Forces condemned them for their ‘act of betrayal’.

Manipulation of the postal votes is just the tip of the iceberg. Other revelations included migrant workers being given voting rights in exchange for citizenship; voters who are long dead; false voter rolls; voters who are over 100 years old; and discrepancies in the voter registration details.

If not for the power of the Internet, Malaysians would have gone to the polls thinking that the elections would be conducted fairly.

Umno unable to change

Critics claim that relatively affluent Malaysians had little in comparison with the very poor Tunisians or Egyptians, and that conditions for a Malaysian inspired ‘Arab Spring’ are absent.

The same critics assert that the Russians are more like the Malaysians, in that the liberated (from communist rule) Russians enjoy a comfortable standard of living and would refuse to jeopardise their lifestyle by protesting.

But that didn’t stop Malaysians from taking to the streets last July. Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad wrongly asserted that Bersih 2.0 was a ‘Malay versus non-Malay’ issue. He was proven wrong when Bersih 2.0 attracted people from all levels of society, many of whom are Malay.

In Russia, the electoral cheating sparked nationwide rallies and prompted calls for the election to be re-run. But in reality, the protests are directly aimed at Putin. In 2008, Putin had been barred for a third term and so he passed the baton on to Dmitry Medvedev.

Despite cultivating a macho image, Putin’s popularity has waned and he is seen as the power behind the throne. Moreover, his party has not managed to tackle corruption or stimulate growth.

Similarly, Umno refuses to accept that not all Malays support it. Neither can it tolerate being irrelevant in today’s world. Umno is seen as big and lumbering, and filled with hardliners and extremists. In contrast, the opposition is viewed as liberal, inclusive and reformist.

The recently Umno general assembly saw a return of Umno’s ‘3R’ strategy of using race, religion and royalty, to undermine the opposition.

There was no mention of tackling corruption, of real policy or reform. There was no talk about jump-starting the economy or of creating jobs.

Instead, Najib warned Malaysians that they could not exercise their right to peaceful protest. How can he hope to convince the rakyat if he only pays lip- service to reform and pushes through two hastily-written Bills on detention without trial, to replace the former controversial Internal Security Act?

Mahathir still pulling strings

BN has become complacent after 54 years of rule. Despite controlling the press and TV stations, arresting dissenters and obstructing the opposition from doing its job, BN lost five states in the last election.

But in GE13, BN must win at all costs. Too much is at stake for a great many people. Even Mahathir risks losing both political and physical freedom.

Mahathir has admitted to irregularities in elections: “I must stress that it is also not as rampant as in other countries where the government gets 90 percent of the vote… here the opposition has even won some states.”

Mahathir is wrong. If elections were truly clean, the opposition would have scored victories in more states.

During Umno canvassing, its supporters are allegedly bus-ed in from villages and paid from RM30-300 to attend rallies. Others are given an all-expenses trip to regional locations like Haadyai, Medan or Langkawi as an inducement to vote.

According to one Kelab Umno member in the UK, he is given GBP100 just to attend an Umno function. Many are disillusioned because “nothing much happens apart from eating”.

One participant commented.” Sometimes, I wonder why I come, but the money does come in handy.”

Umno’s excesses and insecurities have been exposed for all to see. Najib is in a quandary and will find excuses to reject the demands of Bersih 2.0 before GE-13.

The security, livelihood and physical well-being of BN politicians, and those who have received their patronage and protection, appear to depend on one man: Najib.

Not true. The person pulling the strings is Mahathir. So, who would he wish to bring in after GE13?

Over in Russia, Putin is the real power behind the throne. He will probably make Medvedev the scapegoat, for his decreasing popularity.

Similarly, Mahathir will replace Najib.

You can stand idle while the legacy of one man dominates your life and that of your children. Or prepare, as a Malaysian, to take control of your life and vote for change. The opposition is not perfect, but offers the best hope for change.

________

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

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 10:06 am and is filed under
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Pengucapan bebal disana sini

By
Sakmongkol 47
 | December 12, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

12 DIS — Dalam dua minggu ini, saya ingat saya sudah mendengar semua kenyataan tolol dan bebal dalam negara kita. Rupa2 nya saya salah. Tiba2 senator Ezam Mohd Nor mengeluarkan suatu kenyataan yang mengatasi kebebalan kenyataan2 yang sudah2.

Mula saya ingat Muhyiddin Yassin sudah tebiat bila menakutkan orang Melayu mengenai ancaman keatas Melayu oleh bangsa lain. Setelah itu, ketua penerangan Umno mengukuhkan lagi rasa cemas pemimpin parti yang kian tenat bila menyatakan pandangan bebal yang sama. Jika DAP dan orang Cina memerintah negara habis lah orang Melayu, habis lah Islam dan habislah Raja2 Melayu.

Sana sini orang bercakap. Adakah pemimpin Umno sudah jadi bingung? DAP yang bukan Kristian mahu mengkristiankan orang Melayu? Yang sepatutnya di soalkan orang Melayu ialah mengapa terjadi nya murtad di kalangan orang Melayu? Adakah kebajikan mereka tidak di jaga oleh pihak yang berwajib? Mengapa aqidah mereka teruk sedangkan masyarakat Melayu di lemaskan dengan 1,001 program keIslaman?

Islam yang sudah sempurna berada dalam ancaman? Hello, yang terancam dan berada dalam keadaan yang teruk ialah orang Muslim dan majoriti Muslim dalam negara kita ialah orang Melayu. Keadaan mereka terjadi demikian disebabkan sistem pemerintahan dan cara orang Umno berpolitik.

Orang Cina yang berjumlah lebih kecil mahu menjatuhkan orang Melayu yang merupakan 65 peratus penduduk negara ini? Tauke Cina kalau dapat, hendak lagi baik dengan raja2 Melayu sebab melalui sistem raja, mereka dapat menguasai lebih banyak bisnes dan pengaruh. Sebab itu, saya menganggap bila dua pemimpin Umno dari Johor ini mengeluarkan kenyataan bebal tersebut, Umno sudah cemas dan kebingungan.

Tapi, bila Ezam Mohd Noor yang mendakwa DAP akan menjadikan Malaysia sebuah Singapura, saya rasa trademark Umno dan orang2 yang menyokong nya, ialah mereka semua sudah buang tebiat. Mengikut hemat orang Melayu, orang yang buang tebiat, ialah orang yang hampir mati. Demikian agaknya, yang terjadi keatas Umno sekarang.

Elok rasanya kita jawab kenyataan Ezam. Apa salahnya jika Malaysia jadi kaya dan kekayaan tersebut di nikmati oleh semua berbanding pada masa sekarang dimana kekayaan dan nikmat ekonomi di monopoli oleh segelintir orang yang rasuah? Apa salahnya negara kita menjadi negara macam Singapura di mana perkhidmatan awamnya kelas pertama? Dan apa salahnya negara kita jadi macam Singapura yang mengenakan disiplin yang ketat keatas rasuah?

Bila kita bercakap pasal rasuah, di manakah kotak2 yang pernah di laungkan oleh Ezam Mohd Nor yang di katakan mengandungi maklumat mengenai kes2 rasuah oleh pimpinan Umno? Rasuahlah yang merupakan kezaliman yang paling teruk merosakkan orang Melayu. Apabila sesebuah negara rasuah, amat sukarlah untuk pemimpin yang berada dalam sistem tersebut, melakukan perubahan.

Tidakkah kamu lihat apa jadi kepada orang Melayu di Singapura? Maka saya jawab apa yang terjadi kepada mereka? Walaupun kita enggan mengakuinya, pandangan dunia Melayu Singapura berbeza dengan pandangan Melayu Malaysia. Orang Melayu Singapura sedar bahawa mau tidak mahu, mereka terpaksa cultivate diri dengan ciri2 menjayakan diri melalui kerja keras dan mengelokkan diri dari segi mental. Orang Melayu Singapura merupakan hanya 15 peratus dari penduduk di sana. Mustahillah suatu kumpulan minoriti dapat menguasai kumpulan yang majoriti. Apatah lagi jika yang majoriti juga kuat dari segi ekonomi dan dari segi mempunyai kelompok kuasa intelek yang lebih tinggi.

Bahkan apa yang terjadi keatas orang Melayu di Singapura patut menjadi peringatan dan pengajaran kepada orang Melayu Malaysia. Satu bangsa yang meletakkan masa depan mereka keatas kepercayaan mutlak dalam tangan orang lain hanya menempah masa depan yang sengsara. Orang Melayu Singapura sepatutnya mengingatkan orang Melayu di Malaysia peri pentingnya bergantung kepada kekuatan diri sendiri.

Dan orang Melayu di Singapura, mengingat kita di Malaysia, kita mesti menolak pemimpin yang bodoh. Kita mesti tolak pemimpin yang rasuah. Orang Melayu Singapura mentertatwakan orang Melayu Malaysia sebab sejak 13 tahun kebelakangan ini, orang Melayu Malaysia di penjarai oleh soal seks pemimpin Melayu lain. Bangsa lain hendak maju, kita asyik obsess dengan citarasa seks Anwar Ibrahim. — 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 Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 10:12 am and is filed under
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PM, MACC, AG and IGP must respond to demands by environmental groups and activists from Malaysia, Europe and Australia for the arrest/criminal prosecution of Sarawak CM and 13 family members for massive graft/plundering of Sarawak’s rich natural resources

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police must respond to the public demands by environmental groups and activisits from  Malaysia, Europe and Australia for the arrest and criminal prosecution of Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and his 13 family members for massive graft and plundering of Sarawak’s rich natural resources.

Seventeen non-government organisations and activists, including Greenpeace,  the Swiss-based Bruno Manser,  Europe-based forest advocate group FERN, the Borneo Resources Institute and the Japan Tropical Forest Action Network, today released a letter to the MACC, the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police urging the immediate arrest of Taib, alleging crimes including illegal appropriation of public funds and land, abuse of office, fraud, money-laundering “and conspiracy to form a criminal organisation”.

The 10-page letter includes 16 exhibits that document  the accusations against the Taib  and his immediate family members, alleging that they have a stake in 332 Malaysian and 85 foreign companies worth several billion US dollars.

The letter which alleged Taib family stakes in 14 large Malaysian companies alone exceed RM4.6 billion or US$1.46 b illion, said:

“We allege that only the systematic breach of the law and the use of illegal methods has enabled Taib and his family members to acquire such massive corporate assets.”

The NGOs said immediate arrests were needed to prevent the accused destroying evidence.

The signatores reminded the Malaysian authorities that Malaysia, as a signatory to the UN Convention against corruption and the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, has “a strong international obligation to fight corruption and organised crime in an efficient, timely and expedient manner”.

The letter concluded: “We are thus asking you, Gentlemen, to fulfill your duty as leading prosecuting officials of Malaysia and take immediate action against Abdul Taib Mahmud and his 13 co-conspiring family members.

“Malaysia’s international credibility is at stake over the Taib’s case.”

Although the Dewan Rakyat has been adjourned, the Senate is currently in session. The unprecedented international and national joint charges against the Sarawak Chief Minister for being guilty of heinous crimes warrants  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak making a special appearance in the Dewan Negara to give a Prime Ministerial statement on the status of investigations which had been conducted by the various enforcment agencies against Taib to date.

As Chairman of Barisan Nasional, he should also declare whether in view of the very serious allegations made by the battery of  prestigious international and national environmental groups and activists,  he would ask Taib to step as Sarawak Chief Minister until Taib has fully cleared himself of the allegations.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 3:23 pm and is filed under
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The Call of Democracy

By Allan C. F. Goh

Patriots, stand up and be counted,

In the quest for real nationhood.

Let us not be fooled or courted

By glitz-mirages of falsehood.

Politics of chicanery

Must be objected with courage.

Exploitative machinery

Needs rejection with damning rage!

Unfounded incarceration

Of rightful civil liberty

Must be unshackled with gumption

With honourable decency.

Democracy means the people:

Of, by and for the people’s good.

Not empty words canned in tipple,

By leaders grossed with people’s loot.

The meaning of democracy

Is entrenched in meaningful truth;

Not on blatant hypocrisy,

Nor any senseless legal ruth!

Let’s ensure real democracy

Grows and blooms in our tradition,

Nurtured by meritocracy,

Wisdom and civil conditions.

Defend it with free elections,

Where diverse ideas must contend,

Where people make their selections

To enrich the nation’s content.

Freedom thrives in verbosity;

Ideas can’t grow with censored word.

The press must vow veracity;

With truths, move the nation forward!

Freedom dies as mere allusions;

It must live its own vibrant life.

It cannot lie as illusions,

That does not suffice to survive.

Voting is the citizen’s right.

Citizens must do this duty

To elect people, sane and bright,

For the country’s safe amity.

Good laws must be applied with care,

And discharged with full clarity.

Only then can the country flare

With creations and maturity.

Resist unfair imposition.

Implement good social justice.

Uphold the wise constitution.

Commit these as daily practice.

Democracy will surely die

Without citizens’ commitment;

Our responsibilities lie,

In protecting its fulfillment!

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, 12:13 pm and is filed under
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Glum economic outlook nudges Najib closer to polls

By
Clara Chooi
 | December 14, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak may have to rush into elections within three months, analysts have predicted, due to a bleak economic outlook and a world backdrop that is more hostile towards “strongmen and corrupt establishments”.

“The economic dynamics will be most crucial in determining the election (timing), and the window is narrowing,” one analyst, Singapore Management University associate professor Bridget Welsh, told Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper in a report published today.

The article noted that Malaysia’s economy is expected to expand by just three per cent next year, according to Nomura International, well below this year’s targeted 4.7 per cent growth rate and the government’s five per cent forecast.

Others have also noted that Malaysia’s rising federal debt load and over-reliance on commodity exports could see the country’s economy hit the hardest among its Southeast Asian neighbours.

Malaysia’s federal government debt, the article reported, soared by 88 per cent over the last six years to RM407 billion from RM217 billion in 2004, an outcome that would only limit spending, particularly in an environment of weaker commodity prices.

With the country’s oil and gas revenues accounting for 40 per cent of total revenue, “any fall in commodity prices will hit the government’s finances directly”.

But analysts told the ST that Najib’s administration could ill-afford further economic hardship, particularly as the prime minister — described in the report as “a risk-averse politician whose rise to the top was rooted in a play-it-safe approach” — badly needs to outperform his predecessor to prove himself.

“That is why the window of about six months that Mr Najib has been toying with is likely to narrow to three, said those close to the PM,” ST reported.

“He (Najib) had already signalled the election will be (held) soon at the recent Umno general assembly. With the uncertainty over the economy, he is likely to call it earlier,” the daily quoted an unnamed close aide as saying.

Najib sounded the election war drums during the ruling party’s annual meet last month, urging his partymen to prepare for what he dubbed as the “most critical” polls to date, adding that losing to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would result in “tragedy”.

Analysts have said, however, that most of the country’s non-Malay voters, who make up about 40 per cent of the electoral roll, prefer the federal opposition pact while the dominant ethnic Malays are divided in their support, ST wrote.

The daily noted that Najib also faces another challenge in the coming polls — to “ensure enough of his supporters are selected as candidates… to ensure that his own position in Umno is secure”.

The candidate-selection process will be most crucial to determine this, failing which the prime minister could face internal sabotage by disgruntled members.

“Whatever the case, most analysts and government politicians acknowledge that Malaysia, post- election, is in for a bumpy ride,” the article said.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 December 2011, 2:45 pm and is filed under
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Najib risks Malaysia’s reputation in his treatment of Anwar Ibrahim

By
Simon Tisdall
 | 13 December 2011

The Guardian

The portents do not look good for Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial on highly dubious sodomy charges draws to a close this week. If Anwar is found guilty – and the trial judge seems to have made up his mind already – he will not be the only or even the most important victim of an egregious, politically suspect injustice. Malaysia’s democratic reputation will have been critically wounded, and for that outrage, Malaysians will have their prime minister, Najib Razak, to thank.

The plodding Najib’s overriding objective is winning the general election expected next year, possibly within a few months. The son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, the nephew of its third, president of the dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno), and a former defence minister, Najib was born to power and is accustomed to wielding it. As the charismatic leader of the opposition coalition, Anwar represents the biggest challenge to his continuing ascendancy.

It hardly seems coincidental that the sodomy charges were levelled at Anwar shortly after the opposition inflicted unprecedented defeats on Umno and its allies in the 2008 elections. Anwar’s main campaign plank – combating the official, institutionalised discrimination that favours ethnic Malays over the country’s large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities – threatened the post-colonial order that has kept Umno and its National Front coalition on top since 1957.

In a court appearance earlier this year, Anwar, 64, a married father of six, denied accusations he had had sexual relations with a former male aide. Homosexuality is punishable by law in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years in jail. The allegations were “a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination” and a “blatant and vicious lie” spread by his political enemies, he said. “This entire process is nothing but a conspiracy by Najib Razak to send me into political oblivion by attempting once again to put me behind bars.”

Najib flatly rejects the idea of a political vendetta. But the recycling of sodomy accusations – Anwar was jailed on a similar charge in 1998 and detained until the conviction was quashed in 2004 – suggests a lack of originality characteristic of the prime minister. The case turns on the testimony of the alleged victim and DNA evidence produced by the prosecution. Defence lawyers suggested this week that Anwar’s accuser was a “compulsive and consummate liar” who may have been put up to it. Yet the trial judge has already declared the prosecution’s evidence “reliable” and credible”, leading Anwar to claim he is being denied a fair trial.

Najib gives every appearance of preparing for snap polls on the assumption that Anwar will be out of the way and the opposition decapitated. He told Umno’s annual congress to prepare for battle because “the time is near” and urged delegates to work harder, for example by using social media, to attract a “new generation of Malaysians who are more critical and have rising expectations of the government”. The party must adapt or face “tragedy”, he warned.

To Najib’s evident alarm, that tragedy almost occurred in July when tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The highly unusual public display of discontent was spurred by a range of factors: spending cuts, official corruption and cronyism, a defective electoral system, curbs on public assembly and debate, and state-imposed censorship considered draconian even by regional standards. The example of recent political upheavals in neighbouring Thailand and Singapore also played a part. In response, thousands were beaten and detained by police.

Now Najib is taking no chances as his lieutenants warn that Anwar is fomenting an Arab spring-style uprising – a so-called “hibiscus revolution”. Having more or less reneged on shaky, post-July promises of civil rights reform, Najib is now pushing through remodelled restrictions in the form of the Peaceful Assembly act.

The act effectively makes peaceful assembly impossible by restricting it to undefined “designated places”. No gatherings are permitted within 50 meters of prohibited places including hospitals, schools or places of worship. The police can dictate the date, time and place. Najib’s idea of engaging the “new generation” of young Malaysians is to ban anyone under the age of 21 from organising a protest.

Opposition parties, lawyers and activist groups have condemned the new law, as has Amnesty International. But Najib Khairy Jamaluddin, Umno’s youth-wing leader, articulated Najib’s paranoia last month when he accused Anwar’s coalition of “trying hard to manufacture panic and disorder” by promoting street rallies instead of elections. “The opposition often quotes social movements in the Middle East to instigate people to take part in street revolutions and in the process manufacture a Malaysian version of the Arab spring,” Khairy said.

Najib’s authoritarian tendencies, blatant political scaremongering, and the judicial travesty that is Anwar’s trial all suggest Malaysia’s western allies, including Britain and the US, should take a closer look at their friend. Malaysia is valued as a trading partner, counterproliferation collaborator, and noncombatant member of the Afghanistan coalition. But the government’s human rights record and democratic practices merit closer scrutiny.

In a visit last year, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton extracted a promise that Anwar would receive a fair trial. “The US believes it is important for all aspects of the case to be conducted fairly and transparently and in a way that increases confidence in the rule of law in Malaysia,” she said. In a recent speech, Clinton urged all states to end discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

As Anwar’s ordeal approaches an ugly climax, it seems increasingly unlikely that these benchmarks will be met. The next question is: what will Malaysians and their friends do about it?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 December 2011, 2:42 pm and is filed under
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As UMNO President and Prime Minister, will Najib apologise for Utusan Malaysia’s  racist and defamatory attacks on Lim Guan Eng and rein in Utusan’s extremist and anti-1Malaysia rampage of lies and falsehoods?

Today there is a complete blackout in  Utusan Malaysia of yesterday’s Penang High Court judgment against the UMNO-owned newspaper for defamation against Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng for its article “Kebiadaban Lim Guan Eng” published on 20th December 2010 and the order by the  judge Justice George Varughese that Utusan pay general and aggravated damages of RM200,000 plus costs of RM25,000.

Who would have doubted that it would be front-page headline story in Utusan Malaysia today if Utusan had won the defamation suit against Guan Eng?

Although the Utusan Malaysia’s irresponsible blackout of the Varughese judgment because it was not in its favour  is not unexpected, it serves to confirm how irresponsible and trashy a newpaper Utusan Malaysia has become in the past three years.

Isn’t the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be responsible for how extremist,  unprofessional, racist  and anti-1Malaysia  the 	UMNO newspaper Utusan Malaysia had degenerated to in the past 32 months  since he became UMNO President and Prime Minister in April 2009, coining his “1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” slogan?

As UMNO President and Prime Minister, will Najib apologise for Utusan Malaysia’s  racist and defamatory attack on Lim Guan Eng and rein in Utusan’s extremist and anti-1Malaysia rampage of lies and falsehoods?

Najib must take serious note that Penang High Court judge Justice Varughese has  found that that neither the Penang Chief Minister, the DAP nor the Pakatan Rakyat Penang  State Government are anti-Malay or anti-Islam as falsely and maliciously claimed by Utusan Malaysia.

In his judgment, Justice Varghese found that there was no basis for Utusan’s  “rash and irresponsible” claim that the Chief Minister was a racist and opposed anything connected with the Malays.

The judge found that the claim that the Chief Minister made a racist speech attacking the Malays and Malay institutions was clearly unbelievable, when there was no evidence that the audience, which mainly consisted of Malays, were offended by the speech.

In addition, the judge found that Utusan’s seven allegations that the Chief Minister:

*was oppressing the Malays and was wiping out Penang Malay villages one by one from the face of the earth;

*had cancelled or prevented the Maulidur Rasul procession in 2010 (which actually took place);

*had prevented Malay traders from operating in KOMTAR during Ramadan;

*had demolished the stalls of Malay traders;

*had used money from gambling to fund the RM100 payments to warga emas;

*had demolished Malay villages at Kg Jalan Pokok Asam and Kg Genting, Balik Pulau; and

*had evicted Indian villagers from Kg Buah Pala;

were all unsupported by the facts, and were based on distorted information and “half-truths”.

The judge also found that such “half-truths” were in fact “no truth at all”,  held that the allegations were malicious, intended to mislead readers, made in bad faith and that Utusan Malaysia had practised a “selective vendetta” to unfairly malign the Chief Minister and the DAP.

As Utusan Malaysia is UMNO newspaper, Malaysians are entitled to know from Najib as the UMNO President whether he proposes to “clean house” to ensure that Utusan Malaysia stop its extremist, racist and anti-1Malaysia rampage of lies and falsehoods against DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders or he remains exposed as a Prime Minister who does not walk the talk with UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia the biggest national opponent of his 1Malaysia campaign.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 December 2011, 4:32 pm and is filed under
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Jakim used to create false fear over non-Muslim threat, says Mat Zain

By Clara Chooi

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 15, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Former senior police officer Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim today berated Datuk Seri Najib Razak for allegedly “misusing” the country’s religious authorities to create false fear over threats by non-Muslims against Islam and the Malay rulers.

He told the prime minister in an email released to the media that such threats only come from the Malays and Muslims themselves, adding that he has “never experienced or known of” situations where the non-Malays came together to conspire against anyone.

“The ones who dare to be rude and rebel in such a manner against him (Ruler) come from among the Malays themselves,” he wrote.

The outspoken ex-KL CID chief even singled out Umno politicians as those who often squabble among themselves “not due to differences in opinion or to protect the fates and futures of the Malays or uphold Islamic teachings but to fight over millions and billions of the people’s money”.

“Do not, YAB Datuk Seri (Najib) create issues that could create havoc among us as Malays, just to divert attention away from your personal problems and those who surround you.

“The people know that YAB (Najib) is currently going through a period of instability and uncertainty, confusion and worry. But this does not mean YAB and your personal advisers are fit to misuse a certain government institution to present a Friday sermon like the one recited last week,” he said.

The sermon, delivered at all mosques last Friday and prepared by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), suggested that the position of Islam and the royal institution was being questioned because Muslims were selling out the religion to “certain quarters” which it did not name.

It appeared to note that Muslims who associate with non-Muslims or stand up for non-Muslim causes were betraying their faith, and echoed some of the racially divisive views espoused at the recent Umno general assembly.

A copy of the sermon — sighted by The Malaysian Insider — also seemed to hit out at Muslims who “conspire with certain groups in questioning Islam as the official religion in this country on the excuse of defending the fundamental rights of others” for personal gain.

It described those Muslims as “deviating from the teachings” of Prophet Muhammad, as well as “committing a big sin, oppressing Muslims and threatening national harmony” in the sermon that was to mark the end of Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin’s five year reign as Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

“Remember, if Muslims lose their integrity, their pride and are manipulated by others, in the end, Islam in this country will suffer the same fate that has befallen other nations where their people were insulted and driven from the country of their birth,” it said.

The sermon did not directly refer to any one person in particular but appeared to echo the political rhetoric heard at the Umno general assembly last week.

Slamming the sermon, Mat Zain told Najib that its words could cause chaos among the country’s religious communities and among the Muslims.

“We are not worried about fights between the Malays and non-Malays or between Muslims and Christians or those of other fates. This is unlikely to happen in this country is the Muslims do not start it.

“What we should fear is a clash between the Malays and the Muslims… the Felda Lubuk Merbau and Memali incidents (in 1985), if they are repeated, would injure the Malays and Muslims multiple times more,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 December 2011, 6:33 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia rises in illegal money chart, RM150b lost in 2009

By Shannon Teoh

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 15, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Malaysia lost RM150 billion in illicit outflows in 2009, the fourth highest in the developing world, says US-based watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI).

According to its report on illicit financial flows from developing countries released today, Malaysia lost a total of US$338 billion (RM1.08 trillion) over the first decade of the century.

“This report should be a wake-up call to world leaders that more must be done to address these harmful outflows,” GFI director Raymond Baker said in a press release.

GFI had reported in January that RM930 billion flowed out of Malaysia from 2000 to 2008, growing to RM218 billion per year from an initial RM71 billion in that period.

It said the increase was “at a scale seen in few Asian countries.”

“The volume of illegal capital flight from Malaysia has come to dwarf legitimate capital inflows into the country in recent years,” it said earlier this year.

Today’s report titled “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries Over the Decade Ending 2009” sees Malaysia maintaining its fifth place in the world in terms of total illicit outflows since the turn of the century.

In March, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the Money Business Services Act would be tabled this year to enable the central bank to address the outflow of funds from the country.

The Act came into force on December 1.

The new law supports the development of a more dynamic, competitive and professional money services business industry, while strengthening safeguards against money laundering, terrorist financing and illegal activities, according to Bank Negara.

It said the new law introduces strengthened prudential requirements, focusing particularly on ensuring the effective oversight and control of the conduct and operations of licensed entities to safeguard the integrity of, and confidence in the money services business industry.

The GFI report, penned by economists Sarah Freitas and Dev Kar, a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund, saw China maintain its position at the top with US$2.5 trillion in illegal outflows.

Malaysia’s closest-ranked regional neighbour was the Philippines, in 13th spot at US$121 billion.

Others like Zimbabwe (79th) and Myanmar (83rd) recorded US$3.9 billion and US$3.05 billion respectively in the list of 116 countries that GFI had full data on.

The Finance Ministry had said early this year that Bank Negara was probing the matter.

But the central bank has yet to make any statement on the progress of its investigations despite GFI offering its assistance.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 December 2011, 6:21 pm and is filed under
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MCA: A gallery of rogues

— Lucius Goon

The Malaysian Insider

Dec 14, 2011

DEC 14 — I read with amusement the account of Dr Ling Liong Sik’s trial yesterday. His lawyer argued that the former MCA president did not mislead the Cabinet over the inflated cost of acquiring land for the PKFZ because at all relevant times he was briefed by his ministry officials and did not conceal any documents from the Cabinet.

Dr Ling’s lawyer also said that at relevant time in question of the charge against his client, Ong Ka Ting was the minister of transport.

You know what? I think many Malaysians expect Dr Ling to walk because the prosecution’s case against him has been a joke. They have not been able to make even major points of the charges of misleading and cheating stick.

We also have grown tired of so-called “big fish” being hauled to court for corruption and then only to see it end in acquittal. Witness the trials of Eric Chia, Kasitah Gaddam and others.

But let us not get distracted here because, till today, no one is talking about how the billions of taxpayers’ money can be recovered.

It is also important for us to remember these names and join the dots. Dr Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy, Ting Chiew Peh, Chor Chee Heung, Ong Ka Ting, Wee Ka Siong…

All these are senior MCA politicians whose names have been linked to the PKFZ scandal, the mother of all scandals in Malaysia.

In short, the political party that says it has our interest at heart has been at the centre of the biggest rip-off in Malaysian history.

This same political party now is trying to scare us about PAS, DAP and hudud laws.

Just imagine the temerity of Dr Chua Soi Lek and friends. The MCA have been at the centre of the biggest scandal of all time and they want us to support them.

The party of rascals and scoundrels may not have to face justice in the Malaysian court system but we the voters must mete out our justice at the ballot box.

Would you allow thieves to go unpunished after they have emptied your house and you know their identities?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 December 2011, 9:29 am and is filed under
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