Eternal blot on the reputation of MCA leadership if the three MCA Ministers dare not even ask the UMNO leadership to make open apology for the gratuitous attacks on Robert Kuok

MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai is ecstatic about the “wave of support” from the Chinese voters for the 14th general election, based on the encouraging response received by the party from the community, especially in urban areas.

Liow told reporters at the Tun Razak Division and Federal Territories level Chinese New Year 2018 open house yesterday that he had “walking and talking to the people on the ground” and it was “clearly obvious in Kuala Lumpur, many Chinese have returned to the MCA fold”.

I wish the MCA President good luck, but let me tell him that it will be an eternal blot on the reputation of the MCA leadership if the three MCA Ministers dare not even ask the UMNO leadership to make an open apology for the recent gratuitous attacks on Robert Kuok.

Let me remind Liow and the other top MCA leaders that Robert Kuok had been the benefactor, and even savior, of MCA in its trying times, and for them to stand idle while Robert Kuok was attacked gratuitously by UMNO leaders would be one of MCA’s most shameful episodes.

I said yesterday that in my 53 years in politics, I have not received a single sen from Robert Kuok, whether through his nephew James Kuok or anyone else.

But I will not stand for a grave injustice, which is what the UMNO leaders had perpetrated on Robert Kuok in their recent gratuitous attacks on Robert Kuok.

I have no personal knowledge of what Robert Kuok had done for MCA, but according to his memoir published recently, Robert Kuok had saved MCA many times, including bailing out an MCA president with RM20 million  in Singapore in 1986 and rescuing MCA’s business projects that were doomed to fail.

Robert Kuok’s memoirs recounted how he “kept getting dragged into Malaysian politics” even after he relocated to Hong Kong in the 1980s, and the recent gratuitous attacks on him is the most recent case.

From his memoirs, it is clear that Robert Kuok contributed funds to Barisan Nasional and MCA “especially when it comes to election time”.

If MC is not able to defend Robert Kuok from UMNO’s recent gratuitous attacks, may be MCA should cancel its 69th anniversary celebrations altogether.

(Media Statement at Kampong Raja, Cameron Highlands on Monday, February 26,2018)

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My 77th birthday wish is for Malaysia to become a normal democracy like Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia where voters can democratically and peacefully change the government through the ballot box by  electing Pakatan Harapan to replace UMNO/BN as the Federal Government in 14GE

Ten years go in 2018, Parliament was dissolved a week before my birthday and  I made a birthday wish that DAP would capture the Penang State Government in the 12th General Election on March 8, 2008.

I never made public my 2008 birthday wish before polling day but it was a birthday wish fulfilled as on March 8, 2008, DAP shocked the nation and replaced  Gerakan in Penang and formed the Penang State Government.

Ten years later today, the holding of the 14th General Election is again the obsession of the day, with general elections expected to be held in less than 80 days before mid-May.

I made a birthday wish during my birthday five days ago, for Malaysia to become a normal democracy like Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia where voters can democratically and peacefully change the government-of-the-day through the ballot box by  electing Pakatan Harapan to replace UMNO/BN as the Federal Government  in 14GE.

If Pakatan Harapan, a coalition of DAP, PKR, AMANAH and PPBM, captures Federal power in Putrajaya, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad will return to Putrajaya as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will follow suit as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

In the first 100 days of the new Federal government of Malaysia,  Pakatan Harapan will begin a Save Malaysia campaign to halt the country’s present trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state to achieve the Malaysian Dream first  conceived  when Merdeka was attained in 1957 and Malaysia formed in 1963 where the people of a nation comprising diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could pool their  talents and resources to transform Malaysia into a show-case to the world as to how a  plural nation could leverage on its diversity to be its unique strength and succeed as a united, harmonious, just, progressive and prosperous society.

More than anyone of the previous thirteen general elections from 1959 to 2013, the 14th General Election in April or May 2018 will be about the future of the country for the next fifty and even 100 years.

Malaysians will be asked to cast their vote on polling day in the 14GE not so much  for themselves, but  for the future of their children and children’s children   and the fate of the nation, whether we are going to be a sick nation constantly hounded and  haunted  by charlatans and extremists   or a vibrant and vigorous  nation continuously setting new international standards for the rest of the world.

For the first fifty years of the nation’s life, Malaysia had been punching beyond its weight, respected by friend and foe in the international arena.

In the last five years, however, Malaysians are embarrassed internationally because Malaysia is regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

We can try  to control the minds of the people inside the country, dismissing the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal as non-existent, even “fake news”; pretend that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) largest kleptocratic litigation on the 1MDB scandal  does not exsit; with Parliament and the Judiciary in an unholy alliance with the Executive to clamp down on all discussion or disclosures on the 1MDB scandal; but we just cannot control the minds of the international community and ban frequent world-wide developments of the 1MDB scandal in the information age where information travels at the speed of light.

In fact, I do not believe that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  could even succeed in sweeping the 1MDB scandal under the carpet inside Malaysia.

Najib can control and direct the  official television channels and the mainstream mass media, printed and electronic,  to banish all reporting about the 1MDB scandal, but all these efforts will prove in vain in  the information age, and the 14GE should be a time of reckoning of such pretence and humbug, especially over the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia’s  international  3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy.

(Speech at the AMANAH pre-14GE kopitiam ceramah in Senggerang, Batu Pahat on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 9 a.m.)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 26 February 2018, 6:58 am and is filed under
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What are the reasons for UMNO leaders  going bersek in making gratuitous, false and baseless  attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok, even resorting to lies and falsehoods?

I cannot help thinking of the Greek saying “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first  make mad” when I followed the mounting crescendo in the gratuitous attacks by UMNO leaders on tycoon Robert Kuok in the past three days.

I am utterly shocked that an UMNO Minister could even denounce Kuok as a “pondan”; “ayam betina”; “coward with no testicles”; challenged him to return to Malaysia to contest in the coming general election and even to surrender his Malaysian citizenship.

What are the reasons for UMNO leaders  going bersek in making gratuitous attacks against tycoon Robert Kuok, even resorting to lies and falsehoods?

For it is pure lie and unadulterated falsehood that Robert Kuok funded the DAP whether  from overseas or locally; and I reiterate what I said in Batu Pahat yesterday, that in my 53 years in politics, I have not received a single sen from Robert Kuok, whether through his nephew James Kuok or anyone else.

Is the whole juggernaut of the Special Branch, the Income Tax and Revenue Department and the various government agencies so incompetent that they have no clue that Robert Kuok had been funding DAP to the tune of hundreds of millions or billions of ringgit?

What could be the reasons for UMNO leaders going bersek in mounting the gratuitous, false and baseless  attacks on Robert Kuok?

Could it be that some UMNO leader approached Robert Kuok for donations and was rebuffed, as Robert Kuok had revealed in his recent memoirs that he had contributed funds to Barisan Nasional and MCA “especially when it comes to election time”.

I do not know. I am not making assertions but only trying to find answers.

But  I am utterly ashamed that the MCA leaders had stood idle for three days while UMNO leaders intensified the gratuitous, false and baseless  attacks on Robert Kuok, especially as Robert Kuok had been the benefactor and even savior of the MCA several times.

According to his memoirs published recently, Robert Kuok had saved MCA many times, including bailing out an MCA president with RM20 million  in a Singapore court in 1986 and rescuing MCA’s business projects that were doomed to fail.

Robert Kuok’s memoirs recounted how he “kept getting dragged into Malaysian politics” even after he relocated to Hong Kong in the 1980s, and the recent gratuitous attacks on him is the most recent example.

Although DAP and have not received a single sen from Robert Kuok in the past 53 years , I will not stand for any grave injustice, which is what the UMNO leaders had perpetrated on Robert Kuok in their recent gratuitous, false and baseless  attacks on Robert Kuok.

UMNO leaders who attacked Robert Kuok owes the tycoon a public apology, and this the least the MCA Ministers and leaders should do  – to raise in Cabinet and to convene a meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to ask UMNO leaders to publicly apologise to Robert Kuok.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Kampong Raja, Cameron Highland on Monday, 26th February 2018 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 26 February 2018, 7:44 pm and is filed under
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Is the PSD Director-General suggesting that 85% of Malaysian Chinese voters, 65% Indian voters and 40% of Malay voters who voted against UMNO/BN in 13GE are not loyal to Yang di Pertuan Agong and country?

I am shocked at the mindset and mentality not only of the political establishment as demonstrated by the recent furore over “quinoa politics vs rice politics” and the flurry of  gratuitous and baseless UMNO attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok but also of the top bureaucrats in the civil service, who seemed to  have forgotten  and deviated  from the vital cardinal principle of non-partisanship of the  civil service in politics and political matters.

I was utterly shocked when I read yesterday of the reminder by the Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Zainal Rahim Seman  to  1.6 million civil servants that they  should discharge their responsibilities as members of the civil service with undivided support to the government and country based on the principles of the pledge of loyalty and integrity when they first joined the service.

He said the “Aku Janji” should serve as a reminder for civil servants to always realise at all times that they should remain loyal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the government and the country as required under Regulation 4(1) of the Public officers regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993.

Is Zainal saying that a civil servant is  violating the “Aku Janji” pledge and guilty of disloyalty  to the government, country and Yang di Pertuan Agong if they vote against UMNO/BN in a general election?

In the 2013 general election, the majority of voters voted against UMNO/BN.

Is Zainal asserting that 52% of the Malaysian electorate who voted against UMNO/BN are disloyal to government, country and Yang di Pertuan Agong?

In Peninsular Malaysia in 2013 General Election, some 40% of the Malay voters, 85% of the Chinese voters and 65% of the Indian voters voted against UMNO/BN.

Were they disloyal to government, country and Yang di Pertuan Agong?

This is not the case as otherwise, why have a general election?

The vote of the  40% of the Malay voters, 85% of Chinese voters and 65% of Indian voters who rejected UMNO/BN in the 2013 General Election was a testimony of their patriotism and loyalty to the country and Yang Di Pertuan Agong, for they voted out of  their love, patriotism and vision for a better Malaysia for our children and children’s children.

I will not be surprised if such shallow and stupid  views come from bigoted and immature politicians but I am utterly shocked that it should come from the Director-General of the Public Service Department, who should know better and be a model of civil service probity, impartiality and non-partisanship.

A civil servant is not being disloyal to government, country and Yang di Pertuan Agong if he or she cast his or her vote against UMNO/BN, for he or she is only  exercising his or her constitutional right to elect the government of the day.

In my 53 years in politics, I have never come across greater  restiveness  in the civil service for as citizens in the country, civil servants are also concerned about wrong turnings which the UMNO/BN leadership has taken the country – to the extent that Malaysia is now regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

As government servants, there is nothing they can do to show their rejection of Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy. The only time they can show their disagreement with Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy is during a general election, when a civil servant exercises his or her constitutional  and citizenship right to vote for the candidate and political party which stands clearly and solidly against Malaysia continuing as a global kleptocracy.

I call on Zainal to clarify his statement and to state clearly and unequivocally that a civil servant is not being disloyal to government, country and Yang di Pertuan Agong if he or she votes against UMNO/BN in the next general election.

Zainal should also give an assurance that he will not compromise his duty as head of the Public Service Department to be a model of non-partisanship, especially in the next 80 days for the holding of the 14th General Election.

(Speech at the handling-over of membership applications by 230 Orang Asli and formation  of the Kampong Parit, Kuala Betis Branch in  Gua Musang on Monday, 26th February 2018 at 1 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, 8:17 am and is filed under
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The three MCA Ministers should raise the disgraceful episode of the gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok and ask the Prime Minister to tender a public apology to Kuok

Tomorrow is the weekly Cabinet meeting, where the three MCA Ministers should raise the disgraceful episode of the gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok and ask the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razaj to tender a public apology to  Kuok.

The performance of the top MCA leaders in the past three days was just a crying shame and a dismal disgrace.

I said in Batu Pahat two days ago that in my 53 years in politics, I have not received a single sen from Kuok, whether directly, through his nephew James Kuok or anyone else.

This is however a different kettle of fish as far as MCA and even Barisan Nasional are concerned, as Kuok had not only made large  donations to MCA and Barisan Nasional in previous general elections (according to Kuok’s memoirs), the tycoon is the benefactor and savior of MCA, having bailed out the then MCA President in 1986 in a Singapore court for the astronomical sum of RM20 million and  rescued many MCA business ventures from doom and collapse.

If I, despite not receiving a single sen from  Kuok in the past 53 years, can speak up for Kuok to ensure a flagrant injustice is not perpetrated, I think it is a crying shame that MCA which had received tens of millions of ringgit of aid from Kuok dared not speak up against the injustice of the gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks on Kuok.

I do not know Kuok intimately, but in the few times I have met him, I found him to a quintessential Malaysian!

Now that Kuok has spoken up, I can endorse his statement that any assertion that he has forgotten his roots are entirely false.

I always find him to be concerned about the future and wellbeing of Malaysia, marked by a deep appreciation for the opportunities he had in this country, fully recognising the contributions made by Malaysians of all creeds, races and religions towards the development of Malaysia. Any suggestion that Kuok wants the Chinese to rule Malaysia is not only  bizarre and far-fetched but highly defamatory.UMNO leaders should explain why they fall for this conspiracy theory against Kuok.

Let the three MCA Ministers tell Malaysians what they have done at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Bertam Valley, Camerons Highland on Tuesday, 27th February 2018 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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Top MCA leaders must speak up strongly to ask UMNO to apologise for the crescendo of gratuitous, baseless and malicious attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok and not just come out with weak and insipid statements

My media statement from Kampong Raja yesterday morning that it will be an “eternal blot” to the reputation of MCA leaders if the three MCA Ministers dare not even ask the UMNO leadership to make an open apology for the spate of gratuitous and baseless attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok has had some effect but it is not good enough.

The top MCA leaders must speak up strongly to ask UMNO to apologise for the crescendo of gratuitous, baseless and malicious attacks on  Robert Kuok and not just come out with weak and insipid statements.

This is because the attacks on Robert Kuok have increased in viciousness and malice, as illustrated by one UMNO Minister who piled abuses and invectives on Robert Kuok, denouncing him  as a “pondan”; “ayam betina”; “coward with no testicles”; challenged him to return to Malaysia to contest in the coming general election and even to surrender his Malaysian citizenship.

Examples of such MCA  lame responses are one from the Secretary-General who is also second Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who complained that an  UMNO Minister had no right to ask Robert Kuok to surrender his citizenship and another one by an MCA “ikan bilis” who complained that the attacks on Robert Kuok was not helping MCA or BN but helping DAP.

The top MCA leaders should just focus on what is right and what is wrong, and not on who will benefit from it or otherwise.

I am still mystified as to the reasons for UMNO leaders  going bersek in making  gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attacks on Robert Kuok.

This was why at the kopitiam ceramah at Kampong Raja this evening, I asked whether this spate of attacks on Robert Kuok could have been sparked by the rebuff experienced by some UMNO leaders who had approached Robert Kuok for donations for the 14GE.

MCA leaders have further embarrassed themselves with their pathetic responses when MCA’s benefactor and savior came under savage, gratuitous, baseless and malicious attacks by UMNO leaders.

Have the top MCA leaders forgotten that Robert Kuok had bailed out the then MCA President in 1986 in a Singapore court for the astronomical sum of RM20 million and who had rescued many MCA business ventures from doom and collapse?

May be one  way for the MCA to mark and celebrate the 69th MCA anniversary (established today 69 years ago on Feb. 27,1949) this coming Sunday is for it to ponder as to how the present MCA had betrayed not only the founding fathers of MCA like Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin, but also the MCA benefactors and saviours like Robert Kuok.

(Speech at the DAP Perak Retreat at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands on Monday, 26th February 2018 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, 8:25 am and is filed under
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DAP supports appointment of Orang Asli as Deputy Minister and dissolution of JAKOA and replacement by Lembaga Wakaf Orang Asli headed by an Orang Asli to spearhead Orang Asli upliftment  into mainstream of development

I have received a “Permintaan Orang Asli Daripada Pakatan Harapan (Apabila Menjadi Kerajaan)” from the Orang Asli communities at Pos Menson, Cameron Highlands on the occasion of my visit together with other DAP leaders including DAP MP for Ipoh Timor, Thomas Su, three Pahang State Assembymen Leong Ngah Ngah (Tanah Rata), Chow Yu Hui (Bilut) and Lee Chin Chen (Ketari), DAP Wanita Assistant Secretary Young Syefura Othman (Rara), Assistant National Organising Secretary Vincent Wu and DAP Pahang Deputy Chairman M. Manogaran.

“Permintaan Kedua” reads:

“Orang Asli meminta kerajaan untuk memansuhkan Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (JAKOA) ini kerana banyak masaalah/perkara yang di rujuk kepada JAKOA tidak diselesaikan. Kami juga berpendapat bahawa JAKOA tidak ada kepentingan Orang Asli dalam urusan mereka. Kami mahu kerajaan menubuhkan satu Lembaga Wakaf Orang Asli (Orang Asli Endowment Board) yang dianggotai oleh perwakilan Orang Asli untuk menjaga hak-hak Orang Asli, dan juga menyelesaikan isu-is Orang Asli.”

Let me declare my full support for the demand for the abolition of JAKOA and its replacement by a body, headed by an Orang Ali, to spearhead Orang Asli upliftment to be in the mainstream of Malaysian development.

JAKOA has become the symbol of the failure of the UMNO/BN government to uplift the Orang Asli communities to be in the mainstream of development.

To date, there are very very few Orang Asli holding senior positions in JAKOA, and indeed in the entire civil service.

According to a recent parliamentary reply, out of a total 998 staffs in JAKOA, only 111 are Orang Aslis. TOnly One is in the “Management and Professional” rank, the rest are all supporting/lower rank staffs.

This is most disgraceful and shows the utter failure of JAKOA to represent a vibrant Orang Asli community.

After six decades of the country’s nationhood, at least three quarters of the JOKOA staff should be Orang Aslis, and not just a puny 11% as at present, and an Orang Asli should have been appointed as head of JOKOA in the past two decades and not just one in the management and professional rank of JAKOA

In the entire civil service, there are 1,352 Orang Asli, but only 172 of them are in the Management/Professional rank (mostly in the teaching service). Only One is in the Top Management position.

This another disgrace for the country after six decades of talking about the upliftment and development of the Orang Aslis.

This is why DAP will go one step further, and we will propose to the Pakatan Harapan, if we can capture Putrajaya in the 14th General Election, to appoint an Orang Asli as Deputy Minister who, with the Orang Asli head of the new board which will replace JAKOA, be jointly responsible to spearhead the mainstream development of the Orang Asli communities.

Yesterday I was in Gua Musang and 230 Orang Asli applied to become DAP members in a new DAP branch in Kampong Parit, Kuala Betis, Gua Musang and visited the blockade erected by the Orang Asli Temiar  people in the area to protect their livelihood.

I call on the Federal Government and the Kelantan State Government to set up a joint Commission of Inquiry to ensure that there is just and equitable solution to the anti-logging grievances of the Orang Asli Temiars in Gua Musang.

The Orang Asli Temiar community must not be regarded or treated as criminals or bad people when they are only peacefully protecting their legitimate rights as Malaysian citizens.

Both the Federal and State Government should not forget that the Orang Asli, in particular the Temiars, played pivotal role in the war against communist insurgents.

Hundreds of Temiars were recruited by the British and later the Malayan government to form the Senoi Praaq force, which is a special unit in the Malaysian police tasked with tracking down Communists guerillas in the dense forest along Thai-Malaysian border.

Today, it is still common to meet with Senoi Praaq veterans among the elders in Temiar villages in Kelantan, as they are in their 60s and 70s.

What in a nutshell is the reason why there must be a change of government in Putrajaya in the next 14th General Election?

Has Malaysia fulfilled our Merdeka Dream 1957 and Malaysia Dream 1963 to be a shining example to the world of an united, successful, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures?

We have not, as we are wracked by growing extremism, intolerance and bigotry resulting in the worst racial and religious polarization in the nation’s history and the continued marginalization of the Orang Asli community,  with more and more Malaysians, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, questioning the violations of the bedrock principles of the Malaysian constitution and nation-building.

What is worse, we have become a global kleptocracy – and this is the first time in the 14 general elections in 60 years of the nation’s history.

A Pakatran Harapan Government in Putrajaya will prove in five years that it is better than UMNO/BN government for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli or the voters can re-elect a UMNO/BN government in 15th General Election whether in 2022 or 2023.

(Speech at a dialogue with Orang Asli at Kampong Ranau, Tanah Rata,  Cameron Highlands on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 2 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 28 February 2018, 9:04 am and is filed under
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If no more ‘Chinese tsunami’, will the MCA’s three top leaders come out of UMNO “protectorates”  to contest in constituencies where Chinese voters are least 50%?

MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has declared that there will not be a Chinese tsunami in the 14th General Election, expected to  be held within 80 days by mid-May.

In the first place, let me correct Liow as there was no “Chinese tsunami” in the 13th GE but an “urban tsunami”, where Malaysian urban voters regardless of race or colour banded together to effect  a change of government in Putrajaya.

However if Liow is convinced that there is not going to be no a “Chinese tsunami” in the 14GE, will he and the three top MCA leaders come out of UMNO ‘protectorates’ and contest in constituencies where the Chinese voters represent more than 50%, since MCA claims to be a party representing the Chinese in Malaysia?

Let such an announcement be made at the 69th MCA Anniversary on Sunday, which would make the anniversary significant, as having the three top MCA leaders contesting in UMNO “protectorates”  where Malay voters exceed the Chinese voters is not  something MCA can be  proud.

It is like the three top UMNO leaders have to get into Parliament and Cabinet by contesting in constituencies dependent on MCA’s Chinese votes!

Malay voters represent the largest ethnic group in six of the seven parliamentary constituencies won by MCA in the 13th General Election in 2013.

Is the MCA representing the Chinese in Barisan Nasional or is it representing UMNO to the Malaysian Chinese? Or is MCA representing all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion?

In Bentong, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the single biggest ethnic bloc of voters are 46.1% Malay voters, as Chinese voters represent 42.4%, Indians 9.0% and Others 2.5%.

In Ayer Hitam, the parliamentary constituency of MCA Deputy President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, the largest ethnic group of voters are the 57.6% Malay voters, with the Chinese 38.3%; Indians 3.9% and Others 0.2%.

In Tanjong Malim, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA Secretary-General and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, the largest ethnic group of voters are again the Malays 55.4% with Chinese 25.8%, Indians 13.2% and Orang Asli 5.6%.

The previous worst General Election outing of MCA before the 2013 General Election was the 1969 General Election, when MCA won 13 parliamentary seats.

But in 1969, only three of the 13 Parliamentary seats won by MCA had Malay voters more than Chinese voters, as compared to six of the seven parliamentary seats won by the MCA in the 2013 General Election.

In the 1969 General Election, both the then MCA Deputy President, Tan Sri Khaw Kai Boh  and the then MCA Secretary-General Kam Woop Wah contested in constituencies where Chinese voters were the largest ethnic group i.e. Chinese voters more than Malay voters.

Khaw Kai Boh won Ulu Selangor and continued as Cabinet Minister while Kam Woon Wah lost in Sitiawan.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang in Ringlet, Cameron Highlands on Wednesday, 28th February 2018)

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Past seven days were a week of PR disasters for Malaysia plunging our international reputation to lowest stock ever in nation’s 61-year history

The gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok in the past four days was one of the PR disasters for Malaysia – and there were a long battery of  PR disasters  in the past week – which plunged Malaysia’s international reputation to the lowest stocks in the 61-year history of the nation.

Another PR disaster for Malaysia was the claim by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that his quinoa diet was cheaper than Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s horse feed.

His  revelation last Thursday  that he does not eat rice but eat quinoa made world headlines, reported worldwide, not only Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, but also United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

I know nothing about Mahathir’s horse feed, but I do not think Tun Siti Hasmah  or any wife of a Prime Minister or President in  the world could boast of a RM117 million 22-carat pink diamond necklace!

The other PR disasters for the country in the past week which brought Malaysia’s international reputation, apart from the gratuitous and savage UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok and Najib’s quinoa diet would include the following:

· The conviction and a month’s jail sentence and RM30,000 fine for graphic designer Fahmi Reza for a caricature depicting Najib as a clown;

· The judgment of the Court of Appeal taking judicial notice of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali  that Najib did not commit any wrongdoing with regard to 1MDB despite the United State Department of Justice (DoJ)’s largest kleptocratic litigation against 1MDB –  a decision which shocked the local and international community;

· The Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 where Malaysia plunged to the lowest ranking of 62 out of 180 countries, while other countries which had been far behind Malaysia in earlier TI CPIs poised to overtake Malaysia, eg. China likely to overtake  Malaysia  in eight years and Indonesia likely to overtake Malaysia in 14 years;

· Declaration by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad of plans to create its own corruption index to downplay the TI CPI – a shocking admission of anti-corruption failure and abdication  by the MACC;

· The Azalina Fake Committee on Fake News, with Communications  and Multimedia Corporation (MCMC) proposing a ten-fold increase in penalties for fake news – 10 years’ jail and RM500,000 fine – to harass Pakatan Harapan and civil society while giving UMNO/BN cybertroopers “immunity” and “impunity” to carry out their dirty work.

· The warning by the Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Zainal Rahim Seman to the 1.6 million civil servants that a vote against UMNO/BN in the 14GE is an act of disloyalty to government, country and Yang di Pertuan – a gross violation of the tradition of non-partisan position of the civil service and the constitutional rights of the civil servants.

· The warning by Pekan UMNO that there would be “problems” and “fights” if Pakatan Harapan Chairman Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad visits Pekan tomorrow.

Such a list of PR disasters for Malaysia, making the country the laughing-stock of the world, is a long and sorry one.

When can we stop these PR disasters which cause shame and humiliation to Malaysians in the world?

This is one important reason why there must be a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 14GE – for the first act of the PR Federal Government is to end these PR disasters and make Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, proud again to be Malaysians.

(Speech (2) at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Bertam Valley, Cameron Highlands on Tuesday, 27th February 2018 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 28 February 2018, 6:45 am and is filed under
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The gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attacks on  Robert Kuok by UMNO cybertroopers, Ministers and leaders in the past four days is a classic case of “If you play with fire, you get burned”

The gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attack on tycoon Robert Kuok by UMNO cybertroopers, Ministers and leaders  in the past four days is a classic case of “If you play with fire, you get burned”.

I welcome the statement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, acknowledging that Robert Kuok’s accomplishment as a success story for the country and an inspiration for other entrepreneurs to succeed.

Malaysians  breathe a sigh of relief that the completely unwarranted  four-day agony, trial and travail  which the country’s political process and nation-building underwent had ended, but the question is why the Prime Minister had allowed the whole ugly episode to drag out for four days, with UMNO Ministers  like Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, Datuk Seri   Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and Deputy Minister Datuk  Tajuddin Abdul Rahman stoking the fires of lies, fake news and false information, with the Prime Minister himself contributing to the whole ugly incident with his own statement about Robert Kuok.

But have the UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders really learned a lesson from the ugly episode and can Malaysians be given an assurance that the UMNO/BN leaders will not put the country’s political process and nation-building through another such an agony, trial and tribulation?

I hope that Najib and the UMNO/BN leaders have  become wiser after the ugly four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attack on Robert Kuok and that they will not put plural Malaysia under such an agony, trial and travail again, as they must always remember that “If you play with fire, you get burned”.

As I said at the DAP kopitiam ceramah at Bertam Valley yesterday morning, although I have not received a single sen  from  Kuok in the past 53 years, whether directly or through his nephew James Kuok, I do not hesitate in speaking up for Robert Kuok when he was the subject of gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks.

I do not know Kuok intimately, but in the few times I have met him, I found him to a quintessential Malaysian!

I can endorse Kuok statement that any assertion that he has forgotten his roots are entirely false.

I always find Kuok to be concerned about the future and wellbeing of Malaysia, marked by a deep appreciation for the opportunities he had in this country, fully recognising the contributions made by Malaysians of all creeds, races and religions towards the development of Malaysia.

Any suggestion that Kuok wants the Chinese to rule Malaysia is not only  bizarre and far-fetched but highly  wicked, evil  and defamatory.

(Media Statement in Ringlet, Cameron Highlands on Wednesday, February 28, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 28 February 2018, 12:12 pm and is filed under
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Call on all MPs to demand in the policy debate next week that the Malaysian Government should lay a strong claim on behalf of Malaysian people to the RM400 million 1MDB-related funds in Swiss banks and  the billion-ringgit  Equanimity Luxury Yacht seized by  Indonesia, the RM120 million Bombardier Jet seized by Singapore and the RM120 million pink diamond necklace as they are all purchased from 1MDB-linked funds

I call on all MPs, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan, should take an united common stand in the policy debate in the Motion of Thanks for the Yang di Pertuan Agong for this policy address to demand that the Malaysian Government should lay a strong claim on behalf of the Malaysian people to the RM400 million 1MDB-related funds in Swiss banks as well as the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht seized by the Indonesian authorities yesterday, the RM120 million Bombadier jet seized by the Singapore authorities in early February and the RM120 million pink diamond necklace as they were all purchased from 1MDB-linked funds.

We are living in the era of fake news, alternative facts and post-truths where the Malaysian Government under the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is doing its utmost to convince Malaysians that the 1MDB scandal, openly described  by the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as the world’s worst kleptocracy, does not exist  and is nothing but “fake news”.

This is the reason for the Malaysian government’s inaction over the RM400 million in 1MDB-related funds seized by the Swiss government, with the  Swiss press reporting that the Swiss government is looking to pocket CHF95 million (RM400 million) from 1MDB-linked funds from several banks in Switzerland.

This is also the reason for the extraordinary reaction of the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali, who said that the government would not claim 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s luxury yacht that was seized by Indonesian authorities in a joint effort with US Federal Bureau of Investigation yesterday.

When asked by  Malaysiakini whether the government would seek the return of Jho Low’s yacht, the Equanimity, Apandi retorted: “Why would the government claim something that does not belong to them?”

This is a shocking display of the disease of “frog in  the well” aggravated by the super “fake news” complex especially when the  1MDB scandal is mentioned.

This is completely unacceptable and Malaysian Parliamentarians must redeem themselves and the honour and reputation of the country when Parliament reconvenes next week by bravely addressing Malaysia’s infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy in the past few years, resulting in Malaysia’s lowest ranking in the recent release of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017.

I call on all MPs, whether Pakatan Harapan or Barisan Nasional,  to demand in the policy debate next week that the Malaysian Government should lay a strong claim to the RM400 million 1MDB-related funds in Swiss banks and  the billion-ringgit  Equanimity Luxury Yacht seized by  Indonesia, the RM120 million Bombardier Jet seized by Singapore and the RM120 million pink diamond necklace as they were all purchased from 1MDB-linked funds.

I would suggest to the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail the possibility of her moving next Tuesday an amendment to the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address which is the first item of parliamentary business next week to demand that the Malaysian government lay a strong claim to the RM400 million 1MDB-related funds in Swiss banks and  the billion-ringgit  Equanimity Luxury Yacht seized by  Indonesia, the RM120 million Bombardier Jet seized by Singapore and the RM120 million pink diamond necklace.

(Media Conference Statement after lodging a MCMC report on fake news against him at MCMC, Putrajaya on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 12 noon)

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Call on Najib to give open apology for the four-day UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok and DAP  and to explain why UMNO Ministers  chose to believe RPK’s lies against Robert Kuok and DAP

I have met two senior Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) officers, namely the Chief Officer of Network Security and Enforcement Sector, Zulkarnan Mohd Yasin and Datuk Mohd Shafie Harun, Ketua, Bahagian Penguatkuasan dan Siasatan, to lodge complaint of violation of Communications and Multimedia Act in connection with the posting “Stop lying, Kit Siang. You got paid by Robert Kuok” which appeared on the website The Third  Force (www.thethirdforce.net) on Feb. 25, 2018, which among other things  said:

“1. Lim Kit Siang did receive funding from Robert Kuok

“2. The funding post GE13 was to the tune of RM100 million and handed in stages over the span of four years.

“3. The senior Lim is a closet evangelist responsible for activities by a group of radical evangelists, who, since the mid eighties, organised various activities to turn the Chinese against Muslims.

“4. For this reason and some others previously mentioned, he is positively anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, and without a doubt planning to effect a form of de facto Chinese rule in Malaysia.

“Now, assuming that Kit Siang does not respond to this article, we can take it to mean that he agrees with each and every point I’ve raised. Should he, however, deny the validity to all these claims, I dare him to trigger action pursuant to law against me, failing which we can safely conclude that he’s indeed a closet evangelist who not only received millions from Kuok, he’s positively anti-Islam and most certainly anti-Malay.

“Last but not least, I would like the ‘honourable’ Kit Siang to know that this article is being boosted to kingdom come.”

This was in response to my statement in Batu Pahat on 25th February that in my 53 years of politics, I had not received a single sen from Robert Kuok, whether through his nephew James Kuok or anybody else.

The whole Robert Kuok caper, where UMNO launched a four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attack on tycoon Robert Kuok, not only a quintessential Malaysian but also a quintessential gentleman, has collapsed, with several UMNO leaders, including the Prime Minister, learning the lesson “If you play with fire, you get burned”.

The whole Robert Kuok caper collapsed because it was based on wicked lies and falsehoods, among others, that Robert Kuok funded DAP and that Robert Kuok wanted the Chines to rule Malaysia which appeared on RPK’s blog.

The four-day UMNO attack on Robert Kuok and on DAP  involved three UMNO Ministers and one UMNO deputy minister with the Prime Minister himself fanning the flames.

The whole Cabinet, as well as Barisan Nasional, including UMNO, MCA and Gerakan (a Gerakan stalwart plays a prominent role on RPK’s website) owes Robert Kuok, the DAP  and the Malaysian nation an open apology for their irresponsible political caper.

They should explain why they chose to believe in RPK’s  lies and falsehoods.

Everybody knows that in the past, RPK had made terrible allegations against Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah among others.  Are these allegations against Najib, including circumstances in the murder of Mongolian Shaariibuu  Altantunya, to be believed?

I call on the MCMC to investigate into all the lies and falsehoods which had  been made by RPK, including Najib and top UMNO leaders.

Najib should give a positive response to my call to him to give open apology for the four-day UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok and DAP  and to explain why UMNO Ministers  chose to believe RPK’s lies against Robert Kuok and DAP.

(Media Conference Statement (2) after lodging a MCMC report on fake news against him at MCMC, Putrajaya on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 12 noon)

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In blacking out the seizure of the Equanimity luxury yacht in Bali yesterday, UMNO/BN printed media proven they  are not newspapers but fake papers

MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon is catching up on the MCA Chief Liow Tiong Lai in being quite adept in “fire cannons after the cavalry have passed by”, and this is what both are competing to do after the four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok, although he is a success story for Malaysia and an inspiration for entrepreneurs.

It would be more useful for Liow  to revisit his “Citizens” National Day Video and tell Malaysians whether its all just pure humbug and hypocrisy.

In the “Citizens” video, Liow the Minister admitted to Liow the citizen: “The last ten years have been hard for everyone. I know we haven’t done enough”.

Was Liow the Minister speaking from the heart? If so, could he list out the things the MCA Ministers and leaders had not “done enough” and would now remedy?

The video tried to present the dilemma and malaise Malaysians had been feeling for the past decade or so, the great disappointment over the state of the nation – rampant corruption, political instability and a crippling economy.

Had Liow and the two MCA Ministers ever raised the 1MDB scandal in Cabinet since the “Citizens” video?

Would Liow support me that Parliament next month must address the nation’s infamy and ignominy as a “global kleptocracy” as Members of Parliament, regardless of political party, cannot continue to pretend that the 1MDB scandal does not exist – especially after the recent episodes concerning RM400 million of 1MDB-related funds in Switzerland, the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht seized by the Indonesian authorities yesterday, the RM120 millionBombardier jet seized by the Singapore authorities last month, not the mention the RM120 million pink diamond necklace.

In the “Citizens” video, Liow the politician came face-to-face with Citizen Liow, who angrily asked him, “What do you want?” to which Liow replied, “I know, you think I’m irrelevant, nothing I do is good enough. Of course I’m hurt by that, but now is not the time to discuss that. “

Liow the Minister said: “I’m only here to ask you to not give up on this country.

“Running the country isn’t easy. But the starting point of any solution is never give up hope.”

Liow the Minister said:

“The dream of Malaysia is beautiful and worthy of our perseverance.

“I believe every citizen and leader wish for a better Malaysia. Provided you follow your conscience, I don’t mind which party you support. I earnestly urge you to, once again, believe in Malaysia.”

Liow must state clearly and unequivocally whether he is sincere in what he said in the video, that provided Malaysians, including MCA members, follow their conscience in their Malaysian dream, he does not mind which political party they support and vote in the 14th General Election.

Today provides an important lesson for all Malaysians, where printed mainstream media owned by UMNO/BN blacked out the seizure of the Equanimity luxury yacht in Bali – proof that these printed UMNO/BN media are not newspapers, but fake papers.

Malaysians, including MCA members, not to lose hope, and in the 14GE to unite with all Malaysians, whether MCA, UMNO, Gerakan, MIC or even PAS members, for the achievement of the Malaysian Dream by voting for a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya for Malaysia to take the first step to become a normal democracy – an integral part of the Malaysian Dream.

Dare Liow send out this message at the 69th MCA Anniversary celebration this Sunday?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 1st March 2018)

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Call on Najib to give assurance that there will be no contempt of  the Yang di Pertuan Agong and that Parliament officially opened on Monday will not be dissolved mid-session for 14GE

The sixth meeting of the 13th Parliament will be officially opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Monday with a policy address  on  the government policy measures in the pipeline.

The  Parliamentary meeting scheduled from March 5 to April 5 is quite odd and most unprecedented as there had never been a sixth annual official opening of Parliament in the  nation’s 61-year history under the first five Prime Ministers.

This is because under our political system, Parliament has a tenure of five years and it is never intended to have a sixth annual parliamentary meeting.

Furthermore, the policy address of the Yang di Pertuan Agong is meant to outline the government’s policy direction and specifics for the next 12 months

But the present Najib does not have 12 months, as its term will expire in less than six months.

As Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who will be Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th General Election,  will be released from the Sungai Buloh  prison in less than 100 days, Najib should be holding 14th General Election before Anwar can freely tour the country to campaign for Pakatan Harapan and the election of Tun Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister.

This would mean that the 14th General Election should be held in less than 75 days before mid-May.

But there are those who expect Parliament to be dissolved this month itself, after the Election Commission has rushed its  report and proposals on the redelineation of parliamentary constituencies to the Prime Minister for adoption by Parliament.

I call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to give an assurance that there will be no contempt of  the Yang di Pertuan Agong and that Parliament officially opened on Monday will not be dissolved mid-session for  the holding of the 14GE.

Otherwise, Parliament will only be a plaything in the hands of the Prime Minister, which clearly is not the intention of the nation’s founders who deliberated and agreed on the fundamental principles of the country’s Constitution.

(Speech at the Chinese New Year Open House of DAP Johore State Assemblyman for Stulang, Andrew Chen in Johor Baru on Thursday, 1st March 2018 at 7 pm)

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Najib government has finally come out of the cold, openly claiming that the 1MDB scandal is “fake news”,  even embracing Jho Loh becoming his defender and apologist

The Najib government has finally come out of the cold, openly claiming that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal is “fake news”, even embracing 1MDB mastermind Jho Low becoming his defender and apologist.

The Minister for Multimedia and Communications, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak has out-Jho Loh even Jho Loh himself in asserting that there is no proof that the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht seized by the Indonesian authorities in Bali on Wednesday belonged to Jho Low.

This is because Jho Low had as good as admitted to the ownership of Equanimity yacht when in his reaction to the yacht’s seizure by the Indonesian authorities in Wednesday, the 1MDB mastermind accused the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) of  “global overreach”.’

Through his spokesperson, Jho Low said:

“The US Department of Justice has stayed asset forfeiture proceedings in this case and has still not taken any steps to prove that any impropriety has occurred.

“It is therefore disappointing that, rather than reflecting on the deeply flawed and politically-motivated allegations, the DOJ is continuing with its pattern of global overreach – all based on entirely unsupported claims of wrongdoing.”

The superyacht, reportedly worth US$250 million (RM1 billion), is among several assets being sought by the DOJ for allegedly being acquired using funds it says were misappropriated from Malaysian state fund 1MDB.

The DOJ believes that at least US$4.5 billion has been misappropriated from 1MDB by Malaysian government officials among others and is looking to recover around US$1.7 billion of in assets allegedly acquired using these stolen funds.

The DOJ’s involvement was in response to the funds being laundered through the US financial system.

The DOJ has temporarily filed for a stay on the forfeiture of these assets, which is through a civil suit, pending a parallel criminal case.

Salleh said  the furore raised  over the seizure of the yacht is yet another failed attempt by the Opposition to mislead Malaysians using fake news’.

Salleh also said there was also no proof that funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd were used to purchase the RM1 billion vessel, the Equanimity.

He said the source of the allegations was the DoJ civil suit, which had been on hold since last August.

Salleh said: “Until today, apart from bare allegations contained in the suit, the DoJ has not shown any tangible proof that Low is the actual owner of the yacht or that it was purchased with funds from 1MDB.

“Furthermore, the DoJ has yet to prove any of its allegations in a court of law, despite nearly two years passing since its sensationalised press conference of July 2016.”

Salleh’s statement is virtually a mea culpa by the Najib administration on the 1MDB scandal, and reveals the  real character of the Azalina Committee on Fake News as no more than Azalina Committee to Suppress the 1MDB Scandal as Fake News.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Friday, March 2, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 March 2018, 11:47 am and is filed under
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We must not allow fake news to steal the next general election in Malaysia

In other countries, authoritarian leaders are using fake news to explain away atrocities and human rights violations as in Syria, Venezuela and even Myanmar.

Malaysia, however, is providing the world a new example where fake news are being used to explain away corruption and abuses of power, particularly the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which has been described by the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as the world’s worst case of kleptocracy and earned for Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

Has Parliament ever discussed Malaysia’s epithet of being regarded by the world as a global kleptocracy?

Of course not, because the powers-that-be in Malaysia, led by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak does not want the country to acknowledge that Malaysia has an international 1MDB kleptocracy scandal but instead want 30 million Malaysians to have eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not and pretend that a scandal that continues to make international headlines simply does not exist within  the four walls of Malaysia.

As far as Najib and the Malaysian Cabinet and Government are  concerned, the so-called 1MDB scandal is no different from “fake news”.

This is why  RM400 million 1MDB-related funds in the Swiss banks may end up the Swiss government coffers when the RM400 million belong to the people of Malaysia but the Malaysian Government wants to be the world’s “Great Pretender”, and why the seizure of 1MDB mastermind Jho Loh’s billion-ringgit luxury yacht, Equanimity, in Bali this evening by the Indonesian authorities is treated as a “non-event”.

I urge all Malaysians to be particularly vigilant in the coming 14th General Election to ensure that the election results are  not stolen by a variety of dirty and undemocratic measures – including  the mass manufacture and peddling of fake news by the powers-that-be.

I have long been the victim of the campaign of fake news and false information, both in the Barisan Nasional owned and controlled “mainstream” mass media and recently the social media.

Tomorrow I will go to the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to lodge a  complaint against the latest fake news and false information made against me, claiming that I had received RM100 million from Robert Kuok since the 13th General Election and that I am a  “closet evangelist responsible for activities by a group of radical evangelists, who since the eighties, organized various activities to turn the Chinese against Muslims”.

May be I should complain to Robert Kuok why he is only giving me RM100 million when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is accused of giving me RM1 billion so that his party, PPBM, could be admitted into Pakatan Harapan.

There  is of course  no truth, logic or consistency in such conspiracy of fake news and false information.

For instance, Robert Kuok is accused of funding me so that the Chinese could dominate Malaysian politics by dividing the Malays among UMNO, PAS, PKR, AMANAH and Bersatu.

But if there is logic and consistency in this tall tale then I should be giving Mahathir RM1 billion and not Mahathir giving me RM1 billion!  Why is Mahathir giving me RM1 billion?

But only a crazy person will try to find truth, logic or consistency in such ridiculous tales.

I am accused of being a “closet evangelist” since the eighties. If true, I must be the only person in the world to be an evangelist without being a Christian.

Be that as it may, Malaysians should be very discerning what they are told not only in the social media, but in the fake papers which pass off as newspapers like Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, New Straits Times and even the Star – the lies they publish and the truths which they black out.

They must always check and verify the truth of what they learn,  whether in the newspapers, fake papers, radio, television or the social media.

(Speech at the DAP forum “GE 14: Battle of Fake News” at Summit, Subang Jaya on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2018 at 9 pm)

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1MDB  literally  “raining cats and dogs” worldwide for Najib

The international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal has literally been “raining cats and dogs” worldwide for the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Malaysian government since the seizure of the Bombadier jet in Singapore early February culminating in the seizure of Equanimity luxury super-yacht  in Indonesia and in a CNBC special programme on “What happened to Malaysia’s 1MDB money” in the United States on March 1.

Najib must be very disappointed that he could not dictate international developments and world media coverage of the 1MDB scandal that he seemed able to do within the four corners of Malaysia, like the blacking out of news about the seizure of the billion-ringgit luxury superyacht in Bali by the Indonesian authorities.

The 1MDB scandal has not only gained for Malaysia the supreme international opprobrium of a global kleptocracy, it provides a classic case of how Malaysia had fallen short of the Malaysian Dream and how the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the various national institutions had been undermined and subverted, e.g.

· Parliament’s failure to conduct a grand inquest into the 1MDB scandal; in fact, the Parliament Speaker  has refused to allow  a full debate and comprehensive accounting of the 1MDB scandal although it had made Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy”;

· The judgment of the Court of Appeal taking judicial notice of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali’s stand  that Najib did not commit any wrongdoing with regard to 1MDB despite the United State Department of Justice (DoJ)’s largest kleptocratic litigation against 1MDB –  a decision which shocked the local and international community;

· Bank Negara’s failure to lay claim to some US$400 million 1MDB-linked funds seized by the Swiss monetary authorities from several Swiss banks;

· Refusal of the Attorney-General to initiate proceedings to lay claim to the Equanimity luxury superyacht seized by the Indonesian authorities, or for that matter  the seized Bombardier from the Singapore authorities or the impounded US$400 million 1MDB-linked funds from the Swiss authorities.

· Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 where Malaysia plunged to the lowest ranking of 62 out of 180 countries, while other countries which had been far behind Malaysia in earlier TI CPIs poised to overtake Malaysia, eg. China likely to overtake  Malaysia  in eight years and Indonesia likely to overtake Malaysia in 14 years;

· Declaration by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad of plans to create its own corruption index to downplay the TI CPI and which does not recognise the existence of the 1MDB scandal – a shocking admission of anti-corruption failure and abdication  by the MACC;

· The Azalina Committee on Fake News, with Communications  and Multimedia Corporation (MCMC) proposing a ten-fold increase in penalties for fake news – 10 years’ jail and RM500,000 fine – clearly designed to give “immunity” and “impunity” to UMNO/BN leaders and their “quinoa cybertroopers” to carry out their dirty work while harassing Pakatan Harapan and civil society with charges of fake news.

The Minister for Communications and Multimedia Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak committed a major faux pax when he inadvertently  made a premature admission that the whole Najib Internet strategy was to paint the 1MDB scandal as  “fake news” with his statement that there is no proof that the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht seized by the Indonesian authorities in Bali  belonged to Jho Low, when Jho Low himself had as good as admitted to the ownership of Equanimity yacht  in his reaction to the yacht’s seizure by the Indonesian authorities.

The 14th General Election will be a test as to whether the Najib administration of UMNO/BN can get away with the biggest electoral fraud in Malaysian history, viz to paint the 1MDB scandal as just “fake news”!

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Satureay, 3rd March 2018)

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Past MCA Presidents  turning in their grave or holding their heads in shame that the 69th MCA anniversary degenerating into a brawl with a middling UMNO Minister instead of speaking up for the 6.5 million Chinese in Malaysia

Past MCA Presidents must be turning in their grave, or for those still living, holding their heads in shame that the 69th MCA Anniversary had degenerated  into a brawl with a middling UMNO Minister instead of speaking up for 6.5 million Chinese in Malaysia, which MCA claims to represent, or better still, the 30 million Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or politics if the MCA leadership is conscious of its national responsibilities!

It is a sorry tale  that I have to remind MCA leaders  to defend the MCA’s benefactor and even saviour, Robert Kuok, when the tycoon came under unfair and unwarranted attacks – I had used the term “gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attacks” – by UMNO Ministers and leaders, but to turn the entire 69th MCA anniversary into an attack on a middling UMNO Minister is to desecrate the memory, services and contributions of MCA founders like Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin.

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is only a middling UMNO Minister, and if the entire MCA,  with three Cabinet Ministers and claiming to be the world’s third largest ethnic Chinese political party with over one million members, cannot even handle Nazri, how are they to cope with the extremists in UMNO or more senior UMNO leaders?

MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai accused Nazri of “colluding with the Opposition from within BN”.

Liow should spell it out and not hide himself in riddles – spell out how Nazri is colluding with the Opposition.

Is the MCA President asking for an emergency Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting to ask for the sacking of Nazri  from the Cabinet for the capital crime of  “colluding with the opposition from within BN”

The MCA Youth protest at the MCA anniversary took on quite a comical character.

Why don’t the MCA hold a demonstration against Nazri and UMNO at the official opening of Parliament on Monday?

Better still, let Liow spell out what the three MCA Ministers would do if Nazri continues to sit as a Minister in the Cabinet – will the three MCA Ministers boycott all Cabinet Ministers until Nazri is sacked from the Cabinet?

Or are the three MCA Ministers not even equal to a middling UMNO Minister, Nazri Aziz?

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Satureay,  3rd March 2018)

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Najib should end his “smoke and mirrors” game and announce formation of Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal chaired by Tun Mahathir  in King’s  policy speech at the official opening of Parliament tomorrow

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should end his “smoke and mirrors” game in the past few years, undermining the doctrine of separation of powers of the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary, and announce in the King’s government policy speech at the official opening of Parliament tomorrow  the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal which had given Malaysia the ignominy, infamy and iniquity of a global kleptoracy.

And to demonstrate to Malaysians and the world that the Malaysian Prime Minister  has nothing to hide, that he is aboveboard and beyond reproach in the morass of 1MDB international money-laundering scandal, which had been described by the US Attorney-General as the world’s “worst kleptocracy”, and that he is open to investiglation by anyone, let him announce that the RCI into the 1MDB scandal would be headed by his new nemesis  Tun Mahathir, and comprising Commissioners half of which would be nominated by Pakatan Harapan.

I have said that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal has literally been “raining cats and dogs” worldwide with bad news  for the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Malaysian government since the seizure of the Bombadier jet in Singapore early February culminating in the seizure of Equanimity luxury super-yacht  in Indonesia on Wednesday and in a CNBC special programme on “What happened to Malaysia’s 1MDB money” in the United States on March 1.

The latest instalment of the prolonged international  “water torture” suffered by Malaysians is the report in the Wall Street Journal that a close ally of US President Donald Trump had sought millions from 1MDB mastermind Jho Low to influence the dropping of US Department of Justice (DoJ) investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

What is even more stunning is the new role of the Minister for Communications and Multimedia Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak as a spokesman, apologist and defender  for Jho Low, claiming that there is no proof that the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht seized by the Indonesian authorities in Bali  belonged to Jho Low, when Jho Low himself had as good as admitted to the ownership of Equanimity yacht

This has not only attracted the criticisms by Pakatan Harapan leaders, led by the Pakatan Harapan Chairman, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, but also by former UMNO Minister and current Special Adviser to the Malaysian Government on socio-cultural matters with ministerial status, Tan Sri Rais Yatim.

Rais had asked in a Twitter posting:

“Why so hasty in defending Jho Low? (He) should defend justice.”

The DOJ believes that at least US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB and is seeking to seize US$1.7 billion in assets allegedly acquired using the stolen funds.

The Swiss government is going to impound some US$400 million 1MDB-linked funds seized  from several Swiss banks as the Malaysian government is not staking any claim for the monies, which would be against the “smoke and mirrors” strategy directed from Putrajaya.

In Singapore, four bank officials had been convicted, with one person jailed for 4 years and six months, for breaches related to the 1MDB scandal, while  eight people were  issued with  prohibition orders from managing financial firms and advisory activities in the island republic.

Parliament should stop being Rip Van Winkle of world parliaments, sleeping while the whole world is awake to the global kleptocracy of the 1MDB scandal, and what better way to cleanse and purge Malaysia of the ignominy, infamy and iniquity of the 1MDB scandal than a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal headed by Tun Mahathir?

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 4th March 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 March 2018, 9:48 am and is filed under
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What credibility has Liow’s claim that MCA represents the Chinese when the top three MCA leaders have to depend on UMNO’s Malay votes to get into Parliament and Cabinet?

Although I had a fall in my Gelang Patah house, causing me five stitches on the right forehead and cancellation of my weekend programmes in Johor and Selangor – and I am not sure  whether I would be able to attend tomorrow’s Parliamentary opening by the Yang di Pertuan Agong with the ugly blue-blacks around my right eye – I just cannot stand the MCA humbug, cant and hypocrisy at the 69th MCA anniversary yesterday.

MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, should explain what credibility he possesses when claiming at the 69th MCA anniversary press conference that MCA represents the Chinese when the top three MCA leaders, i.e. the President, Deputy President and Secretary-General, depend on UMNO’s Malay votes to get into Parliament and the Cabinet?

Is the MCA representing the Chinese in Barisan Nasional or is it representing UMNO to the Malaysian Chinese? Or is MCA representing all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion?

In Bentong, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the single biggest ethnic bloc of voters are 46.1% Malay voters, as Chinese voters represent 42.4%, Indians 9.0% and Others 2.5%.

In Ayer Hitam, the parliamentary constituency of MCA Deputy President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, the largest ethnic group of voters are the 57.6% Malay voters, with the Chinese 38.3%; Indians 3.9% and Others 0.2%.

In Tanjong Malim, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA Secretary-General and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, the largest ethnic group of voters are again the Malays 55.4% with Chinese 25.8%, Indians 13.2% and Orang Asli 5.6%.

Furthermore, Malay voters represent the largest ethnic group in six of the seven parliamentary constituencies won by MCA in the 13th General Election in 2013.

I have said that past MCA Presidents with sense of honour and self-respect  must be turning in their grave, or for those still living, holding their heads in shame that the 69thMCA Anniversary had degenerated  into a brawl with a middling UMNO Minister instead of speaking up for 6.5 million Chinese in Malaysia.

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is only a middling UMNO Minister, and if the entire MCA,  with three Cabinet Ministers and claiming to be the world’s third largest ethnic Chinese political party with over one million members, cannot even handle Nazri, how are they to cope with the extremists in UMNO or more senior UMNO leaders?

An MCA national leader asked what the Lim Kit Siang father-and-son are waiting for and not asking Nazr to apologise?

A simple political lesson for all  MCA leaders is to read DAP websites if they want to know what DAP leaders are saying, and not to just depend on MCA/UMNO/Barisan Nasional media, whether printed, electronic or social, or the highly funded “quinoa cybertroopers” for they will not get the truth!

MCA leaders have very short memory, that if no for my prodding, MCA leaders would not have defended  Robert Kuok from the four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attacks – not only from Nazri, but also three other UMNO leaders who were either Minister or Deputy Minister.

Without “green light” from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, would there be such a gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attack on Robert Kuok lasting four days?

This is why I had said right from the beginning that it is not Nazri alone, but the entire UMNO and Barisan Nasional which must apologise to Robert Kuok.

When I was in Kampong Raja, Camerons Highla ds on Monday, Feb. 26, I told  the MCA leadership that it would be “an eternal blot on MCA reputation” if the three MCA Ministers dare not even ask the UMNO leadership to make an open apology for their attacks on Robert Kuok.

I reminded the MCA leaders that  Robert Kuok had been the benefactor, and even savior, of MCA in its trying times, and for them to stand idle while Robert Kuok was attacked gratuitously by UMNO leaders would be one of MCA’s most shameful episodes.

I even said that MCA should cancel its 69th anniversary celebrations if MCA leaders dared not defend Robert Kuok.

I said I have no personal knowledge of what Robert Kuok had done for MCA, but according to his memoir published recently, Robert Kuok had saved MCA many times, including bailing out an MCA president with RM20 million  in Singapore in 1986 and rescuing MCA’s business projects that were doomed to fail.

It was only then that the MCA leaders plucked up courage and  began to speak up.

Later  the same day, at a DAP kopitiam ceramah at Kampong Raja, I specifically condemned an UMNO Minister for “going bersek” in using unacceptable language to denounce Robert Kuok, quoting a Greek saying: “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first made mad”.

I asked whether the spate of gratuitous  and savage attacks on Robert Kuok was because “some UMNO leader approached Robert Kuok for donations and was rebuffed” as Robert Kuok had revealed in his recent memoirs that he had contributed substantial funds to Barisan Nasional and MCA “especially when it comes to election time”.

However, the initial MCA statements defending Robert Kuok were weak and insipid, and it was after I pointed this out that MCA leaders came out with stronger statements.

I am glad that three MCA Ministers acted on my call during my speech at the Bertam Valley kopitiam dialogue to raise the UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok at the Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, but they restricted their attention to Nazri instead of asking for an apology from UMNO as a whole.

Nazri must apologise for the gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage attacks on Robert Kuok, but it is not just Nazri, but Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Azalina Othman, Tajuddin Rahman and finally Najib himself!

Have the three MCA Ministers ever asked for aplology from Tengku Adnan, Azalina Othman, Tajuddin Rahman and Najib himself?

Today the MCA newspaper the Star carried a report headlined: “DAP’s Wong slammed over corruption remark”, where DAP’s Wong Tack was attacked for reportedly saying that the Chinese could accept some form of corruption as long as everyone lives prosperously together and those in power do not steal everything.

Those who know and supported the DAP for 52 years know that this is not the DAP stand, which stands for a Malaysia with zero tolerance for corruption – and this is why over the decades, DAP leaders had spoken up fearlessly against all forms of corruption and abuses of power.

I spoke to Wong Tack this morning, and he clarified  he was misreported, as he said there were those who were of the view that the Chinese could accept some form of corruption provided everyone lives prosperously and those-in-power do not steal everything – but this had never been the DAP position.

Liow Tiong Lai and Wee Ka Siong had been in Parliament and Cabinet for the last two decades, when Malaysia’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) plunged from 32nd ranking in 1999 (when Liow was first elected to Parliament) to No. 39 in 2004 (when Wee was first elected to Parliament) to the sorry ranking of No. 62 out of 180 countries  in the latest TI CPI 2017!

Did Liow and Wee  ever speak up in Parliament and Cabinet about continuous plunge of Malaysia in the TI CPI from 1999 to 2017?

Did Liow and Wee ever speak up about the 1MDB scandal which made Malaysia a global kleptocracy in their years in Parliament and Cabinet?

But I congratulate Wee Ka Siong for becoming UMNO’s catspaw to tar and stain the reputation of the Penang Pakatan Harapan State Government, when he has no concern whatsoever for integrity or good governance as demonstrated MCA’s spineless position on the 1MDB scandal or Malaysia’s infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 4th March 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 March 2018, 12:21 pm and is filed under
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Is MCA preparing for a worse electoral performance in the 14GE and using Nazri as a scapegoat?

An MCA national leader said that if the Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz does not takes responsibility for his mistake, Barisan Nasional may have to pay the price in the forthcoming 14th General Election.

The MCA-owned online Star headlined this story: “Barisan could pay the price if Nazri doesn’t apologise“.

The MCA national leadership cannot be more wrong, as Barisan Nasional would have to pay the price if UMNO does not apologise, as it is not just Nazri alone, but other UMNO Ministers and  leaders as well  who launched the malicious and savage  attacks on Robert Kuok in a four-day spree, all on a false and baseless accusation that Kuok was funding the DAP to topple the Barisan Nasional government.

Why is UMNO/BN so afraid that Robert Kuok would giving donations to DAP, and isn’t this the democratic right of Robert Kuok to donate to any political party he chooses?

But what is really intriguing in this comment is whether the MCA National leadership is preparing  for a worse electoral showing in the 14th general election as compared to the 13th general election, when the MCA was reduced to a 7/11 party winning only seven parliamentary and eleven state assembly seats, and was preparing the grounds for blaming a worse MCA performance in the 14th General Election on  UMNO, using Nazri as a scapegoat?

In a way, the MCA leadership may not be wrong.

For instance, whether the three top MCA leaders, MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong and MCA Secretary-General Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan can be re-elected to Parliament and continue as Ministers will be solely dependent on UMNO’s Malay votes – as the trio’s  constituencies of  Bentong, Ayer Hitam and Tanjong Malim respectively share one thing in common in having more Malay voters than  Chinese voters.

In fact, this applies to six of the seven parliamentary  seats won by MCA in the 13th General Election, although MCA claims to be the only poltical  party in the country which exclusively represents the Chinese!

If UMNO loses support from the electorate, and unable to swing Malay voter support for UMNO candidates, let alone the three top MCA leaders,  because of a swing of previous Malay  support for UMNO   to Pakatan Harapan, are we going to have a spectacle of the MCA blaming UMNO for failing to get the three top MCA leaders elected to Parliament and the Cabinet?

Somehow, it is just unthinkable to envisage the three top UMNO leaders, the UMNO President, UMNO Deputy President and UMNO Secretary-General having to depend  solely on MCA’S Chinese votes to win!

An online newspaper has quoted a Barisan Nasional insider  as saying that the 14th General Election will be held by the third week of April, which would mean the week ending on Saturday on April 21.

The 11th General Election in 2004 was held  19 days after dissolution of Parliament, while there was a 24-day period between dissolution of Parliament and polling for the 12th General Election in 2008 and 32-day period between dissolution of Parliament and polling for the 13th General Election in 2013.

If the 14th GE is held in the third week of April, Parliament is likely to be dissolved before the end of  the present parliamentary meeting, which  is scheduled to  be on April 5.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 5th March 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 5 March 2018, 1:47 pm and is filed under
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MPs whether Pakatan Harapan or Barisan Nasional should learn the two important lessons from Robert Kuok – regain the moral compass and restore the rule of law

For the first time in my decades in Parliament since 1969 (with a break in the Tenth Parliament from 1999 to 2004), I would be missing the official opening of Parliament by the Yang di Pertuan Agong because of my fall in my Gelang Patah house and the blue-black swelling around my right eye have not fully cleared.

This is the official opening of sixth meeting of the 13th Parliament, which is expected to be dissolved soon after for the 14th General Election to bd held within 70 days before mid-May.

There is no better way for MPs, whether Pakatan Harapan or Barisan Nasional, to prepare for the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament than to read the memoir of tycoon, Robert Kuok, who was recently demonized and subject to a four-day gratuitous, baseless, malicious and savage UMNO attack over the  false accusation that Robert Kuok had funded the DAP against the Barisan Nasional.

Robert Kuok cannily pinpointed  in his memoir the reasons why Malaysia had lost its way in the last six decades degenerating from a country respected and admired by the world into one which is scorned and held in increasing contempt because we have become a shameless global kleptocracy.

In fact, former Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz dealt with these same important points in her recent FaceBook postings.

Firstly, Rafidah asked  why the Malaysian authorities had not been able to find 1MDB mastermind Jho Low’s billion-ringgit luxury superyacht when she herself could spot it while on a diving trip in Thailand.

She mocked the “equanimity” of “impotent” Malaysian enforcement agencies and rubbished claims from BN leaders that there was no proof that the superyacht belonged to Jho Low.

Rafidah said the episode was shameful to Malaysia, particularly when other countries involved are taking action against 1MDB-linked scandals.

She posted:

“Please… Let us not make the world see us as a basket case… We don’t deserve to be shamed as we have been.

“With all the Malaysian kleptocracy scandals which are being addressed, very expeditiously and effectively, in the US, Australia, Middle East, Switzerland, Singapore, just to name a few countries…

“People have been jailed, companies fined and barred from operating, properties and assets impounded, even ill-gotten gifts have been returned by those who do not want to be linked to this infamous yacht owner.”

Rafidah said the silence over the scandal from those in power reminded her of Hans Christian Andersen’s short tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, where “No one dared to admit they actually could not see the ‘clothes’ the emperor was supposed to be wearing, and that the emperor was without any clothes on” as “They did not want to be regarded as being stupid and unfit for their positions”.

Secondly, Rafidah’s revelation that she had asked tycoon Robert Kuok to talk to her children about ethics as Kuok was such a respectable figure.

Rafidah said:

“Kuok, who I have known personally since the early 1980s, (is) a person with whom I often discussed integrity, honesty and ethics.

“I never saw him in any light other than as a person whose principles and values the young generation should try to emulate.

“I even got Kuok to talk to my kids when they were younger about ethics”.

She lamented the UMNO attacks on Robert Kuok for the false accusation that he had been funding DAP, lamenting:

“Please, this nation is already mired in enough muck arising from the many horrors of the kleptocracy issue.

“There is no need to divert attention from them through disgusting and destructive distraction.”

If only the present Ministers, whether from UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC, have a quarter of Rafidah’s guts, gumption and forthrightness, Malaysia would be not in such a parlous state today of being shamed as a global kleptocracy.

It will be serve Members of Parliament and even the Najib Cabinet well if they all read Robert Kuok’s Memoir, in particular  Chapter 22 on “Strength of Culture” in final Part VII on “In Closing”, where he pinpointed two factors deciding the rise and fall of nations:

– A nation with moral compass; and

– Rule of Law.

Robert Kuok said:

“The leaders must be politician-statesmen willing to put the good of their nations and the people above their individual self-interest. I recoil from politicians who are there for  fame and glory, or to line their pockets. True leaders are those who    come out of the community and govern to raise the people to greater heights.”

Robert Kuok’s memoir also said:

“A moral society cannot be attained through policing. You must begin at the beginning, and infuse the young with a strong sense of morality from a young age, both at home and at school.”

He said:

“It is a  basic principle of the rule of law that everyone is equal before the law. In China today we have rule by man. Under the rule of law, even the General Secretary of the Communist Party is not above the law.”

If Malaysia has not  lost its moral compass and the rule of law had not deteriorated because of the creeping loss of the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the key  national institutions, the Malaysian Dream which had motivated all Malaysians six decades ago would not have been dimmed or seemed to have been lost for good unless and until Malaysia could be saved in the 14th General Election.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 5th Marh 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 5 March 2018, 11:06 am and is filed under
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Is Wee Ka Siong’s efforts to distract attention from 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy by attacking Penang undersea tunnel project and tarnish Lim Guan Eng’s image a quid pro quo for UMNO helping the three top MCA leaders to get elected into Parliament on UMNO’s Malay votes?

MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong has suddenly put on the garb as an anti-corruption crusader although neither Wee nor any MCA Minister, Member of Parliament or leader had done or said anything to check the downward slide of Malaysia on the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the past two decades.

Both Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the MCA President, and Wee Ka, the MCA Deputy President, had been in Parliament and Cabinet for the last two decades, when Malaysia’s TI  CPI plunged from 32ndranking in 1999 (when Liow was first elected to Parliament) to No. 39 in 2004 (when Wee was first elected to Parliament), and today,  to the lowest TI CPI ranking of all –  No. 62 out of 180 countries  in the latest TI CPI 2017!

But both Liow and Wee’s records in the past two decades in the fight against corruption and abuses of power were a total blank sheet!

But in the past month, Wee had put on the garb of an anti-corruption crusader, although he dared not breathe a word about international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and Malaysia’s world-wide infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy!

All Wee was interested was to rain almost daily attacks on Penang Pakatan Harapan State Government’s undersea tunnel project and to tar and stain the image of the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng.

Is this the quid pro quo for the top three MCA leaders contesting in Malay-majority constituencies and dependence on UMNO’s Malay votes for the trio to get into Parliament and Cabinet?

The question that Wee must answer is whether Wee’s efforts to distract attention from 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy by attacking Penang undersea tunnel project and tarnish Lim Guan Eng’s image a quid pro quo for UMNO helping the three top MCA leaders to get elected into Parliament on UMNO’s Malay votes?

I had noted that the MCA leadership had created history never before in the 69-year history of MCA, where all the three top MCA leaders, the MCA President, MCA Deputy President and MCA  Secretary-General have to depend on UMNO’s Malay votes to be re-elected to Parliament and be appointed Minister in the Cabinet.

In Bentong, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, the single biggest ethnic bloc of voters are 46.1% Malay voters, as Chinese voters represent 42.4%, Indians 9.0% and Others 2.5%.

In Ayer Hitam, Wee’s parliamentary constituency, the largest ethnic group of voters are the 57.6% Malay voters, with the Chinese 38.3%; Indians 3.9% and Others 0.2%.

In Tanjong Malim, the parliamentary constituency of the MCA Secretary-General and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, the largest ethnic group of voters are again the Malays 55.4% with Chinese 25.8%, Indians 13.2% and Orang Asli 5.6%.

In fact, this applies to six of the seven parliamentary  seats won by MCA in the 13th General Election, although MCA claims to be the only political  party in the country which exclusively represents the Chinese!

But there is a strong possibility that the MCA leadership may be making the wrong political chess moves.

If there is a Malay political tsunami in the 14th General Election, then UMNO will not be able to swing Malay voter support even  for UMNO candidates, let alone the three top MCA leaders,  as the  swing of Malay votes in the 14th General Election will be  to Pakatan Harapan!

Are we then going to have a spectacle of the MCA blaming UMNO for failing to get the three top MCA leaders elected to Parliament and the Cabinet?

(Media Statement in Parliament on Tuesday, 6th March 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 March 2018, 5:25 pm and is filed under
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