PAS now a ‘closed group’, says Faiz Fadzil

By Hafiz Yatim and Yap Jia Hee

Malaysiakini

Jun 30, 2015

INTERVIEW
Although the struggle of PAS is still centred around Islam, the party now has deviated from what was envisioned by its late president Fadzil Noor.

Faiz Fadzil, the fifth child of Fadzil –  who passed away suddenly in 2002 – said the openness advocated by his father has resulted in the party entering the mainstream of politics in the country.

“Now PAS is backward, closed. I believe my father, if he was here, would not be happy.

“I remember the statement of my late father during the PAS muktamar of 2000 or 2001. He said PAS had to be open and cooperate with other political parties as we cannot do it alone.

“By doing this, it would not put PAS outside the orbit of the Islamic struggle but we should not narrow Islam to only focus on hudud,” Faiz said in an interview with Malaysiakini last week.

The strategy adopted by PAS now, following the election of the conservative ulama group as party leaders, has taken the party backwards, to where it was in the 1970s and 1980s, Faiz, 38, said.

PAS was now ‘a closed group’ following the muktamar and the party elections held early this month.

Faiz, lawyer by profession who graduated from the International Islamic University (IIU), said in the past, PAS was considered a rural party,  but since the late 1980s, there has been a shift in the party paradigm, with a more open concept that attracted the professionals to join.

Following this, there came political cooperation which formed the then Barisan Alternatif and similar pacts with other opposition parties.

“The openness and slogan ‘PAS For All’, where PAS was open to all races, has ceased. I see the new leaders now are more closed, focusing only on religious issues, without thinking of the importance of openness and cooperation.

Nik Aziz left a huge vacuum

Faiz, the former PAS Negeri Sembilan leader, pointed out that the ulama hardliners within the party do not understand the political reality of Malaysia.

“They view Islam from a narrow perspective whereas Islam’s sphere is much more wide,” he stressed.

The present ulama leadership, he added, also failed to realise that Malaysians live in a multi-racial society, plus the fact that the Chinese now prefer DAP over BN’s MCA or Gerakan.

For this reason, Faiz said, he could not see any reason for PAS to be enemies with DAP when there were political benefits to be reaped.

Faiz also noted that the death last February of former Kelantan menteri besar, the late Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (photo), who was also the party’s influential spiritual adviser, had left a huge vacuum which has yet to be filled.

Nik Aziz, he added, was highly respected within the party.

“His views and advice were respected and adopted by the party faithful and his hard stance against the so-called unity government (with Umno) was respected. That is why the idea was abandoned.

“At present, there is no senior figure in the party to give advice. Anwar (Ibrahim, the PKR de facto leader) is considered a public figure and opposition leader, and Nik Aziz’s loss along, with Anwar’s jailing, has affected the dynamics within the opposition as there are no middlemen,” he said.

The young PAS leader said when his father led PAS, he (Fadzil) attracted many professionals, such as Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and Khalid Samad, who are not only professionals but also have in-depth knowledge of the religion.

This, the continued entry of professions into the party, he warned, could lessen under the new leadership.

A different political strategy

“The move to ‘meng-ulama professional’ (moulding professionals with expertise in religion) is successful. At that time, there were not many religious scholars who were active in politics as they preferred to concentrate on propagating and teaching Islam.

“However, with the formation of Pakatan Rakyat governments, we see these young ustaz (teachers of Islam) becoming active in politics. From the 1990s to 2008, there were not many ulama and we saw the rise in professionals.

“However, with the emergence of more ustaz, they have a special place in the party. That is why we see the struggle between them and the professionals, resulting in the professionals being sidelined,” he said.

Asked about his views as to where PAS went wrong, Faiz opined that the presence of more ustaz or religious scholars who had returned from studies in the Middle East as the main reason.

“They were more active in PAS when the opposition governments were formed post-2008. As religious scholars, they have a special place in the party, but they do not understand the intricacies of Malaysian politics.

“They try to bring the Middle Eastern influence back to Malaysia, whereas the situation is different in Malaysia. The Arabs may have many tribes but they are quite united as one in terms of being Arabs.

“In Malaysia, we have the Malays and even then they are subdivided into various groups. And we have the Chinese and the Indians, and others. Certainly then, our political strategy has to change,” he said.

Faiz emphasised the need to return to the philosophy of his late father and Nik Aziz, which he said the present leadership has failed to realise.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 4:11 pm and is filed under
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Annuar Musa should be sacked  as MARA Chairman as he had failed the MARA Vision for MARA to be “an outstanding organization of trust,  upholding the nation’s pride” and spearhead new breakthroughs for Bumiputeras

The AGE report last Tuesday (23 June) on the MARA Inc. property scams, particularly over the Dudley International House apartment block in Melbourne, which was acquired with A$22.5 million (RM65.4 million) MARA funds, but involving a bribe of A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million),  as well as investigations into MARA Inc’s  other Australian properties, has opened up a can of worms of abuses of power, criminal breach of trust and corruption in MARA.

I had earlier asked whether Datuk Seri Annuar Musa would resign as MARA Chairman to take responsibility for MARA’s international corruption scandal and to pioneer a culture of responsibility for government leaders and captains of statutory boards and corporations.

In his response on Saturday, Annuar said there was no need for him to quit over the allegations of corruption of MARA’s property purchases in Australia, as his term as MARA chairperson would expire in two weeks’ time.

True, Annuar’s tenure as MARA Chairman ends on July 18, but the events of the past eight days since The Age expose last Tuesday seem to point inexorably to one conclusion: that Annuar should be sacked as MARA Chairman as he has failed the mission entrusted to him to fulfil the  MARA Vision to ensure that under his chairmanship, MARA is an “outstanding organization of trust, upholding the nation’s pride” and spearhead new breakthroughs for bumiputeras in the fields of entrepreneurship, education and investment.

The abuses, malpractices and criminal offences in the MARA property scams in Australia  are  gross violations of  the MARA Vision to be “an outstanding organization of trust, upholding the nation’s pride” – as under Annuar‘s chairmanship, MARA has degenerated  into  a “disgraceful organisation in criminal breach of trust, representing the nation’s shame” not only in Malaysia but in the international arena!

Even worse, the MARA property corruption scandal   has dragged into the international mud not only the reputation of MARA, but also  the good name of Malaysia and the  Federal Government, as well as the professionalism and integrity of the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

At first, Annuar feigned ignorance about MARA property purchase hanky-panky in Australia and the use of off-shore companies to purchase the four MARA properties in Melbourne.

However, Annuar’s pretence had been debunked by the PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli who revealed that Annuar and his team in their visit to  Melbourne  on May 20 last year had been briefed of these property purchases and the extraordinary practices using offshore companies  to acquire the properties.

MARA Inc had acquired four properties in Melbourne in 2012 and 2013 for a total of RM375.4 million, viz:

1.	 746 Swanston Street (Aug 2012) – 281-unit student accommodation: A$41.8 million/ RM138.6 million

2.	333 Exhibition Street (March 2013) – six-storey modern CBD office building: A$31 million/ RM99.2 million

3.	51 Queens Street (March 2013) – office and commercial building: A$22 million/  RM70.4 million

4.	Dudley International House (June 2013) – 112-room student accommodation: A$22.6 million/RM67.2 million

From available sources, both from The Age report of June 23  and the expose by the  National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) directors Rafizi Ramli and Akmal Nasir in the past two days,   MARA had overpaid some RM62  million for three of the four property purchases in Melbourne, viz:

*Dudley International House – RM 13.8 million;

*333 Exhibition Street – RM 30 million;

*51 Queens Street – RM 18 million.

From the MARA Inc modus operandi of using offshore companies to purchase the Melbourne properties at overpriced rates, it is relevant to ask what was the over-price for the Swanston Street property.

Going by the modus operandi where some 25% of the final price went to “kickbacks”, then we are looking at over RM90 million for  the four MARA Inc property purchases Melbourne being gobbled up by “kickbacks”.

Where is the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)?

The elaborate structure using offshore companies to purchase the MARA properties in Melbourne, with at least eight different companies used for the purchase of the four Melbourne properties, so as to be as opaque as possible instead of being as open, transparent and accountable, are contrary to all principles of transparency, accountability and integrity in the use of public funds.

In fact, the highly incestuous and multi-layered structure in the  ownership and purchase of the four MARA Melbourne properties may hide even more secrets and what has been learnt so far may just be  “tip of the iceberg” of the MARA Inc Melbourne properties corruption scandal.

Annuar Musa must bear full responsibility for this deplorable state of MARA affairs as the MARA Chairman, as he has failed his paramount duty in the  MARA Vision for MARA to be a be “an outstanding organisation of trust, upholding the nation’s pride”.

MARA is not the only casualty in this sorry and sordid state of affairs arising from the corruption scandal of the MARA Inc purchase of four Melbourne properties, as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had also failed in its mission to combat corruption.

With the eruption of the MARA Inc property corruption scandal in Melbourne, Annuar has undoubtedly brought most shame and dishonour to MARA since its establishment in 1966 as compared to all other MARA Chairmen.

If Annuar is not prepared to resign, then he must be sacked as MARA Chairman even though his tenure ends on July 18.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 1 July 2015, 2:58 pm and is filed under
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Is it the   Prime Minister’s idea to direct the Auditor-General to audit the 1MDB accounts accompanied by a secret directive to   the AG not to make the interim  report public?

Is it the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s idea to direct the Auditor-General to audit the debt-laden 1MDB accounts, accompanied by a secret directive to the Auditor-General not to make the report public?

Such an arrangement defeats the very purpose and principles of an open, accountable and transparent governance which have “Nothing2Hide” as far the controversial 1MDB’s affairs are concerned as well as destroys the original rationale of asking the Auditor-General to vet 1MDB’s finances to demonstrate that  the Prime Minister and his Government are prepared to withstand the most intense scrutiny.

Earlier Auditor General, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang has said that the interim report of the audit of the 1MDB would be ready in June.

This is 1st July  and the interim report of the Auditor-General on the 1MDB is still being awaited.

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad has said that the Auditor-General’s interim report on the 1MDB would not be made public, but only to  be distributed to the PAC members.

This is unsatisfactory and unacceptable.

Although this is only the Auditor-General’s interim report on the 1MDB, and that there will be a  final report, there is no good enough reason why the interim report should be withheld from the public or MPs who are not on the PAC.

Again, this is a slap in the face of Najib’s “Nothing2Hide” slogan which had been trotted out  in connection with the 1MDB controversy, and I ask the Prime Minister to demonstrate that the catchphrase of “Nothing2Hide” is not an empty slogan, but a guiding principle of his administration, particularly on the 1MDB controversy.

If Najib is not prepared to ensure that the Auditor-General’s interim report on the 1MDB is immediately made available to the public, he can junk all the slogans about “Nothing2Hide” henceforth, and be ready to face a new phase of his premiership as a “Everything2Hide” Prime Minister.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 1 July 2015, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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What WILL break the camel’s back?

Hussein Hamid

30/06/2015

Scandal after scandal but still the ruling party and its leaders continue to hold control over us. What make Malaysians wake up to the rot that is now all around them?

Last week saw the Mara Dudley House corruption story break in Melbourne and the arrest of Xavier Justo Andre in Bangkok. As in all things Malaysian, however tenuous and fragile the link, all things lead back to the Prime Minister Najib Razak – and rightly so.

The troubles that beset Najib’s administration are self inflicted. They are not caused by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, not by Lim Kit Siang or by Hadi Awang. Nor were the Chinese or the Christians responsible.

The state of the global economy can be labelled a contributing factor only because in good times corruption and bad governance by inept politicians can be ignored or simply papered over as the rakyat’s attention can be distracted by the feel good spending by the government on projects that seemingly benefit the public.

But at a time when money is a premium and the lack of it is already being felt by those most in need of it – the millions being lost through capers such as the Mara Dudley House purchase and the 1MDB stretches the ability of the rakyat to tolerate anymore what Barisan Nasional is doing in the name of government.

The question is without doubt more pressing when the ailing opposition Pakatan Rakyat is in no position to offer a credible alternative.

Pakatan by the admission of its component parties has ceased to exist and like Najib, Umno and BN, the woes of Pakatan’s are also self inflicted.

So wither goes our future?

Millions of Malaysian have left Malaysia for Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia – anywhere they are needed, wanted and welcomed.

One would indeed be a glutton for punishment if one chooses to stay in a Malaysia that prosecutes, persecutes and punishes one for their skin colour, spiritual beliefs or the lack of it and for one’s political leanings.

Even as Malaysia loses these migrants that they really cannot afford to lose, those that are left behind have to deal with a government in denial of good governance, in denial of being accountable and responsible to the people for what it does in the name of governance.

And a government in denial of its inability to hold on to political power by the day.

But to whom will this BN government lose political power to? Certainly not to Pakatan for it no longer exists!

And so by default BN is still the political entity that we have to work with. This reality gives Umno time to work itself out of what would be an untenable situation if only there is a viable opposition.

Hence we see no sense of urgency on Umno’s part to understand the aspiration of the rakyat for good governance and for it to seek another leader in place of Najib.

If you think this is only an Umno’s and BN’s problem, perish that thought. The Malaysian public is also faced with the same dilemma.

A new Pakatan

By the day we see DAP emerging as the most credible amongst those in opposition. Their stature grows with every credible Malay that declares himself to be with DAP.

And it is so simply because there really is no other party for these credible Malays to join other than DAP. But that does not make DAP a better political party. Like Umno, DAP is where it is now by default.

Again the rakyat gets shafted by political entities that have become what they are by default and not by making themselves into the image of the political entities that the rakyat aspire to.

Maybe DAP tries harder than Umno at being what the rakyat wants them to be but trying is not enough. DAP must succeed.

In fact what we all want is for DAP, PKR and whatever elements of PAS that are still left within the old Pakatan Rakyat coalition – all of them must now only be a new Pakatan Rakyat.

A single political entity in opposition that will be the focus of the opposition critical mass within our people – to coalesce and be organised into and be that viable opposition that Pakatan has strived to be but never achieved.

At best an impossible task to achieve given that race and religion already divides our people and at worse it would result in the formation of a new Pakatan so fractious in its composition and so divided in its focus that it would never be able to be that credible opposition to face Umno and BN.

Damn if we do. Damn if we don’t.

I wonder what will eventually be the straw that will break the camels back and make Malaysians wake up to the rot that is now all around them.

Hussein Hamid is blogger steadyaku47 and has been blogging since 2009. He writes on all things social and political in Malaysia. He resides in Melbourne and maintains contact with acquaintances in Malaysia to keep abreast of developments.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 1 July 2015, 6:48 am and is filed under
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Cabinet Ministers must individually and collectively explain when and why they had approved a further  US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) government  guarantee for IPIC loans as latest bailout for 1MDB

1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has lost out in the public argument with DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua over whether there is a government guarantee amounting to   US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) with regard to  IPIC loans in the latest bailout of IMDB.

This is also the judgment of the founding editor of KiniBiz, P. Gunasegaram who, in his article “A new RM17.8 bil twist in 1MDB ‘guarantee’” on Monday, concluded:

“On all accounts, Pua is right and 1MDB is wrong – it is 1MDB which is misleading the people, not Pua.”

Gunasegaram fully agreed with Pua that IPIC’s statement to London Stock Exchange on 10th June meant that the Ministry of Finance now also assumes the obligation together with 1MDB to transfer assets totalling US$4.71 billion, which means “the MOF is effectively undertaking to fulfil the obligation, not just 1MDB”.

Even Gunasegaram asked:
“Why was such an important point not disclosed?”

It is most  reprehensible  that the 1MDB is  denying the undeniable – that the MOF or the government of Malaysia have provided guarantees that 1MDB and/or MOF will transfer to IPIC US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) in  assets for the IPIC loans in the latest bailout of 1MDB.

But such reprehensible corporate misconduct pales into insignificance when compared to the deafening silence by the Malaysian Government, whether the Ministry of Finance (with Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah now appointed as the Cabinet spokesman for 1MDB woes) or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself, as one who is in law and fact the final approving authority for 1MDB deals.

In fact, why should there be a public ding-dong argument between 1MDB and Pua  over whether the government had given an additional guarantee of US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) to IPIC over the 1MDB’s latest bail-out loans as a statement  by the Najib  Government would have ended the public debate.

Why is the Najib Government, after committing Malaysians funds to further guarantee of US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) guarantee for IPIC’s latest bailout loans to 1MDB,  shy of admitting it publicly despite IPIC public statement to the London Stock Exchange some three weeks ago?

Was the additional  US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) of government  guarantee for 1MDB the Save 1MDB Roadmap which Cabinet approved on May 29, where Najib asked Ministers to quit if they don’t support him on 1MDB issue?

Are all the Cabinet Ministers aware that they had individually and collectively approved US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) as further government guarantee for IPIC’s latest bailout for 1MDB, or they had given their approval without knowing what they had done?

Every one of the Cabinet Ministers must be questioned by the Malaysian taxpayers why they have continued to be so irresponsible and indisciplined with public funds as to approve another US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) government guarantee to bailout 1MDB?

Or are the Cabinet Ministers denying that they had approved another US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) guarantee of IPIC loans to bailout 1MDB and that this was solely the decision of Najib and Husni which  was never referred to the Cabinet?

Whatever the true position,  the option of government silence of the further guarantee of US$4.71  billion (RM17.8 billion) for 1MDB for IPIC loans to bail out 1MDB is no more  sustainable.

Malaysian taxpayers are entitled to a statement and  full explanation by the government of whether and why the Government had given another guarantee of US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) to what appears to be 1MDB  bottomless pit.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 2:27 pm and is filed under
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Call on progressive UMNO leaders to support the patriotic call for the scrapping of auction rights of “Patriot” number plates to Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia (YPNM)

I am pleasantly surprised that an UMNO State Assemblyman, Tengku Putra Haron Aminurrashid (Kempas – Johor) has spoken up against the ludicrous, disgraceful and most unpatriotic decision granting auction rights of “Patriot” number plates to Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia (YPNM) purportedly to promote “patriotism”.

Although the language used by the Kempas UMNO Assemblyman is rather down-to-earth, he undoubtedly expressed the feelings of the majority of Malaysians when he said that the Ministers who allowed an NGO to auction the “Patriot” vanity plates have effectively put “patriotism” on their “backside”.

Have decency, civility and  good sense in Malaysia at the Cabinet level gone to the dogs that Ministers can approve such a mercenary and cheap-skate idea of auctioning “Patriot” number plates, as if those who used money to use the “Patriot” number plates are the greatest patriots in the country – even more “patriotic” than the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and ordinary Cabinet Ministers?

Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (who approved the hare-brained scheme when he was Acting Transport Minister) and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves  for the “Patriot” number plates auction decision and I fully agree with Tengku Putra Haron that “the application should have been shot down upon presentation”.

His question whether the Cabinet had approved the “Patriot” number plate auction scheme deserves an answer from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself.

I fully endorse Tengku Putra’s call to Putrajaya to scrap the auction rights given to YPNM as the government should not allow profiteering in the name of patriotism.

It has been reported that YPNM expects to earn between RM10 million and RM15 million through the auction of the “Patriot” number plates and the proceeds would be used to promote “patriotism”.

There is nothing more unpatriotic and mercenary than such a notion, cheapening the patriotism in Malaysia and the contributions and sacrifices of genuine patriots in the country.

It must be a matter of grave concern by Malaysians that public ethics and morality are reaching a new low in the nation’s history.

The growing feeling that the Umno/BN coalition will be voted out of Putrajaya  in the 14th general election has caused  the spread of the syndrome to  “make hay while the sun shines” and grab whatever one could before the sinking of “Titanic”, is undermining and probably the main cause why public ethics and morality have reached their nadir in the nation’s history.

Those who want to “make hay while the sun shines” and grab whatever they could before the sinking of “Titanic” are not patriots at all.

The Malaysian people must not allow their rights and the future of the nation to be pawned or sold by these unpatriotic mercenaries, which is why I find reports that a handful of highly-placed persons are capable, in utter impunity,  of mulcting the nation of over RM100 million in a matter of a few years most  disturbing.

But what is even more disconcerting is that as of now, there is no proper recourse available, as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) can only go after the “ikan bilis” but not the sharks in the country.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 4:07 pm and is filed under
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IKRAM Iltizam Cakna Perkembangan Politik Semasa

Ustaz Haji Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus

Timbalan Presiden

Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia

1.7.2015

Mengikuti perkembangan politik dan pembangunan semasa negara, Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia (IKRAM) sebagai sebuah pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang prihatin dan cakna kepada keadilan sejagat, keharmonian masyarakat dan kesatuan umat selaras dengan perjuangan IKRAM untuk memastikan ‘Malaysia Menuju Negara Rahmah’, ingin menegaskan pendirian-pendirian berikut untuk kebaikan bersama warga Malaysia:

IKRAM meyakini bahawa sistem pemerintahan berteraskan konsep dwiparti merupakan satu keperluan demi memastikan proses tatakelola kerajaan yang baik berteraskan akauntabiliti, ketelusan dan proses semak dan imbang sentiasa menepati prinsip-prinsip ‘Siyasah Syar’iyyah’ (politik berinspirasikan Syariah).

IKRAM yang bergerak atas dasar  prinsip menyuruh yang makruf mencegah yang mungkar (amar makruf nahi munkar) akan terus menjadi kumpulan pendesak dan pengimbang kepada semua pihak samada daripada pihak pemerintah atau pembangkang, agensi kerajaan atau swasta terutamanya yang melibatkan organisasi yang mengendalikan amanah kepentingan awam dan yang melibatkan penyalahgunaan kuasa pentadbiran, ketirisan dalam penggunaan wang awam dan seumpamanya.

IKRAM sentiasa terbuka tetapi berpandangan kritis terhadap sebarang usaha kolektif untuk mewujudkan arus baru gerakan rakyat selagi mana ianya tidak bertentangan dengan hukum-hakam Syarak dan Maqasid al-Syariah.

Atas pendirian ini, IKRAM menyatakan kesediaan untuk menjadi sebahagian dari gelombang harapan baru untuk membina Malaysia yang lebih rahmah, demokratik dan sejahtera.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 7:16 am and is filed under
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ISIS-affiliated militants launch wave of assaults in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula

By Erin Cunningham and Loveday Morris

Washington Post

July 1

CAIRO — Militants linked with the Islamic State unleashed a wave of coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday, the latest strike in a global surge in violence by the group’s sympathizers and one that threatened to push Egypt into a wider conflict with the jihadists.

As many as 70 soldiers and civilians may have been killed in the fighting, officials and local media said. But the Egyptian army said late Wednesday that 17 soldiers and 100 militants died in the clashes. The differing death tolls could not be immediately reconciled.

Wednesday’s attacks came two days after Egypt’s top prosecutor was assassinated in a bombing in the capital, Cairo. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on Tuesday vowed revenge for his murder, pledging to swiftly implement death sentences against militants and bring down the “heavy hand of the state” on anyone who threatens the country’s stability.

Sissi, a former defense minister who campaigned for president on a platform of security and stability, has so far failed to rein in an insurgency that mushroomed following his military coup in 2013 against an elected government led by members of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Late last month, an Islamic State spokesman called for a “month of fire” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, urging suicide bomb attacks against “infidels.” Operations by the group and its affiliates or suspected sympathizers have since shaken France, Kuwait, and Tunisia.

The assault on the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, which was claimed by the local branch of the Islamic State, was one of the most sophisticated attacks on the Egyptian military in years, analysts said. In a statement posted online, the militant group Sinai Province claimed to have attacked 15 checkpoints with car bombs and heavy weapons. Later Wednesday, an army spokesman said Egyptian warplanes were launching airstrikes against militants in the town, which is about 115 miles east of Cairo.

The nature of the attack on Sheikh Zuweid is “new and worrying”, said Zack Gold, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv who specializes in the Sinai Peninsula.

“This isn’t one of their regular hit and run attacks. They seem to be setting up for the longer haul,” Gold said, adding that it was unclear whether the group wanted to take the town or draw the military into urban warfare. “Either one is unprecedented.”

Egypt has grappled for years with unrest in the Sinai Peninsula, home to a native Bedouin population that has long accused the central government of neglect. The area has served as a conduit for drugs, weapons and migrants going to Israel and the Gaza Strip.

In recent years, Islamist militancy has flourished in the desert regions near Gaza, where Egyptian militants have armed themselves with weapons flows from nearby Libya. In November, the militant group Ansar Baytal-Maqdes — now known as Sinai Province — pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The group has carried out a number of deadly attacks on security forces in recent years, including a similar assault on the army in January that left 44 army and police personnel dead.

An Egyptian army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Samir Abdel Aziz, said in a statement Wednesday that around 70 militants launched attacks on five checkpoints in Sheikh Zuweid.

The militants said they had surrounded the police station in the town. The siege was confirmed to Egyptian media by a local police commander.

The army dispatched reinforcements to the area, but highways were laced with roadside bombs, Egypt’s al-Ahram newspaper reported. It said injured soldiers were evacuated in armored vehicles because ambulances could not reach the town.

North Sinai has been the site of heated battles between Egyptian government forces and militant Islamists for years. But attacks have been increasing in frequency since the military backed the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. According to some military experts, the attacks also have been increasing in sophistication.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 10:17 am and is filed under
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‘Move towards new, progressive Islamist party’

Hafiz Yatim and Yap Jia Hee

Malaysiakini

Jul 1, 2015

INTERVIEW
 Following the uncertainty plaguing the future of PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, the son of a former party president hopes the PAS offshoot that is being mooted will accept Muslims and non-Muslims as members – as long as they support the Islamic cause and are allowed to vote in the new party.

Faiz Fadzil, 38, son of the late Fadzil Noor, who was PAS president from 1989 to 2002, voiced this in light of the fact that there has been no sign of any acknowledgement for the progressives in the party who were defeated in the 61st PAS Muktamar at the beginning of June.

“The new party’s struggle and policy must still be Islam and it should also be pragmatic, progressive and inclusive for all races. There is no compulsion to embrace Islam but individuals, namely non-Muslims, who see the goodness of Islam can join (the new party).

“As I have said, Islam is comprehensive religion and we should see it in the context of administration, justice, good governance and the welfare of the citizens and not merely hudud.

“As for members, it should be open to all Muslims and non-Muslims who support the Islamic struggle This is unlike the current PAS, where they only have the party supporters’ wing, which is not an open membership.

“The new party, I hope, will open its membership to non-Muslims, who should also be allowed to vote,” Faiz told Malaysiakini in an interview last week.

Faiz, who runs his own law firm in Negeri Sembilan, said at present the non-Muslim supporters in PAS are not allowed to vote and are not given any position within the party.

He said this was because PAS was not prepared to open its membership to non-Muslims and this has resulted in the PAS Supporters Wing having a limited role.

“However, in the new party (I propose) that the non-Muslims be placed in the party administration,” said Faiz, a graduate from the International Islamic University (IIU).

Faiz added that he supported the formation of the new party by the present PAS progressives as the new PAS leadership has shown that it is not changing its hardline stance since taking over the party last month.

He said it is the new party’s responsibility to fill the vacuum left by PAS, adding, “I will support the formation of the new party, looking at the present trend in PAS now.”

‘Pakatan is technically dead’

Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad mooted the formation of a new party by PAS progressives, should the present batch of conservative leaders not change their outlook following the ouster of the faction of professionals during last month’s party elections.

Asked whether the PAS Supporters Wing was happy with the present leadership, Faiz said from what he gathered, they are equally unhappy as the progressives as the new leaders were focusing strictly on religion, not on the realities of Malaysian politics.

He said the present PAS leaders do not think that the votes of people of other races are important.

“However, we (the progressives) think otherwise. If getting the Malay and Muslim vote is difficult (for PAS), how can the present leadership expect to get the backing of non-Muslims (if they continue to behave like this)?” he warned.

As to whether he agreed with party president Abdul Hadi Awang, that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition was still alive, Faiz said technically it was dead as the coalition, formed after the 2008 general election, involved three parties.

“In the concept of a partnership, if there are two partners that relinquish their ties, then what is left in Pakatan is only PKR. It is not right to say that PAS still cooperates with PKR or DAP still cooperates with PKR. For me, this is not Pakatan.

“Technically, for me, Pakatan is already dead and I think we have to move forward, Insya’Allah, with a new force and party. And along with a new coalition, we will move forward,” he said.

Asked to comment on PAS acting spiritual adviser Haron Din’s statement that past experience showed a splinter PAS party would not do well, Faiz said that may be true of splinter parties like Hamim and Berjasa, which were political parties aligned to Umno.

At present, he said, PAS was leaning towards Umno and it would ‘drift away’ if the new party mooted is formed and remains close with the opposition.

‘PAS cannot replace Umno’

“The new party when formed will save PAS members as I believe there are many who are confused with the party’s direction now, and they are not confident if they can combine with Umno or otherwise.

“Maybe this is premature, but the gentle statements issued so far by the PAS leadership have given an advantage to Umno. They have not made any statements attacking Umno over their cruelty and abuse of power and as such, the people are wondering as to where PAS stands now,” he said.

Faiz warned  that if PAS was now pro-Umno, it would be the one that would drift away, not the new party.

He also acknowledged that if the new party is formed, the voters may see a tight competition for votes.

However, he said, he had confidence in the people in that they would know that PAS cannot be relied upon to replace Umno.

“I believe that, within a year or two after the formation of the new party, and if PAS continues its current hardline stance, then it will take a back seat in the political landscape.

“The people will choose the new party over Umno and PAS,” Faiz said, noting that expressions of support for the formation of a new party by the PAS progressives have been good.

“I was at a talk in Seremban recently, where I tried to gauge the support of non-Muslims for PAS and I received only a lukewarm response.

“But when I said a new party could be  formed, they clapped hard,” Faiz said.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 6:40 am and is filed under
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Why Egypt’s crackdown on Islamists will lead to bloodshed

Mohamad Bazzi

Reuters

Hindustani Times

Jul 02, 2015

On June 29, Egypt’s top prosecutor was killed in a car bomb attack as he left his home in Cairo. He was the most senior official to be assassinated since Islamic militants launched an insurgency two years ago after the Egyptian military ousted Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president.

The assassination of the prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, is a tragedy but it’s not surprising. Egypt spiraled into a cycle of state-sanctioned violence, repression and vengeance as soon as the military removed Morsi from power in July 2013. The new military-backed government launched an aggressive campaign to suppress all political opponents, hunt down leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who fled after the coup and undo many of the gains made during the 2011 uprising that toppled then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

That is the danger many in the Arab world and in the West failed to grasp when they remained silent after Egypt’s coup: while authoritarian rule appears to provide stability over the short term, it breeds discontent and affirms the idea that the only way to achieve political power is through violence.

On June 16, an Egyptian court upheld the death penalty against Morsi, the first Brotherhood leader to assume the presidency of an Arab country. He was initially sentenced to death in May, along with more than 100 co-defendants, for taking part in an alleged prison break. It was the latest in a series of sham trials and mass death sentences decreed by the judiciary since the military coup. If the former president is ultimately hanged, it would be a grave miscarriage of justice that would make Mursi a martyr for millions throughout the Muslim world.

Beyond Morsi’s fate, the mass death sentences send a dangerous signal to Islamists throughout the region: that election results will not be respected. The Brotherhood’s recent experience in Egypt shows that authoritarian and secular forces, which often fare poorly at the ballot box, will mobilize to undermine the Islamists before they have had a chance to rule. Ultimately, Egypt cannot be a viable democracy without the Brotherhood’s participation.

When it deposed Morsi in 2013, the military insisted it was acting on the will of the Egyptian people, who had grown disenchanted with his clumsy rule and disastrous economic policies. But the army didn’t stop there: It arrested Morsi along with thousands of other Brotherhood leaders and activists, shut down media outlets sympathetic to the Islamists and banned the Brotherhood from Egyptian political life entirely. Then, in August 2013, the army and security forces opened fire on thousands of Mursi’s supporters who were engaged in a peaceful sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya square, killing at least 1,000 people. Human Rights Watch called the massacre “one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history.”

Morsi’s defence minister and the coup’s main instigator, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is now President. He has restored many elements of military rule and returned officials from Mubarak’s former regime to power. Sisi is the latest in a line of military strongmen to rule Egypt, since the charismatic Gamal Adel Nasser overthrew the British-backed monarchy in 1952.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest and most influential Islamist movement in the Arab and Muslim worlds; it has inspired branches and affiliates throughout the Middle East. Over several decades, Islamist parties across the region renounced violence and committed to participating in electoral politics.

But now Islamists view the Egyptian military’s coup and subsequent crackdown as a signal that election results will not be respected. The process can spiral out of control: In 1992, the Islamic Salvation Front was on the verge on winning parliamentary elections in Algeria, when the military intervened and cancelled the results. That coup set off an eight-war civil war that killed more than 100,000 people.

Today, the Egyptian military can continue its repression with impunity partly because the United States and other Western powers made clear that they favor stability over democracy. Much of the West accepted the coup and has remained largely silent about the sham trials and mass death sentences being handed down by the Egyptian judiciary. The United States provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year, but it has been reluctant to use that aid as leverage against the Egyptian regime.

Founded in 1928 by a school teacher named Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood was initially focused on preaching and providing social services. When Nasser and his Free Officers Movement took power in 1952, they were nominally allied with the Brotherhood. But after a member of the group tried to assassinate Nasser in 1954, the new military regime moved to crush the Islamists by arresting, executing and banishing thousands.

The suppression of the Brotherhood under Nasser in the 1950s and 60s helped lay the ideological foundations for the emergence of violent Islamic movements in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. The most militant thinker of that period was Sayyid Qutb, a Brotherhood ideologue who published a manifesto, Milestones Along the Road, arguing that the secular Arab nationalism of Nasser had led to authoritarianism and a new period of jahiliyya, a term that has particular resonance for Islamists because it refers to the pre-Islamic “dark ages.” Nasser’s regime executed Qutb in 1966, and he joined the pantheon of Islamist martyrs.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood chant slogans against the Egyptian government, as authorities has declared the day a national holiday, two years after the mass protests that preceded the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, while marching on a street in Cairo’s Matariya district, Egypt. (AP Photo)

Most of the Brotherhood’s surviving leadership renounced violence in the 1960s, and urged accommodation with the secular regime. But Qutb’s ideas flourished, and his disciples abandoned the Brotherhood and splintered into violent factions. The two most important offshoots were the Islamic Group and Egyptian Islamic Jihad. In 1981, members of Islamic Jihad infiltrated the Egyptian army and assassinated President Anwar Sadat. Mubarak succeeded Sadat as president, and he launched a new crackdown on both the violent Islamists and the Brotherhood.

In the 1980s, another wave of Egyptian Islamists were forced into exile, and many ended up joining the CIA-backed jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Egyptians -many of them followers of Qutb, including Ayman al-Zawahiri (a leader of Islamic Jihad at the time of Sadat’s assassination) -would later form the backbone of al Qaeda.

In the late 80s and 90s, the Islamic Group launched intensive attacks on police, government officials, tourists and intellectuals throughout Egypt, killing nearly 2,500 people and paralyzing the economy. Mubarak’s regime responded with a severe crackdown, arresting, executing or deporting thousands of suspected Islamists. Egyptians rejected the violent Islamists, while the Brotherhood adhered to nonviolence.

Unfortunately, this cycle of state repression that leads to radicalization and violence is being repeated today in Egypt. For Egyptian Islamists – and indeed Islamists throughout the region – there were two paths after Morsi’s ouster: the jihadism advocated by Qutb and his disciples, or the peaceful choice made by Islamists in Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. These groups committed themselves to the slow work of building a social base, providing services to their constituents and participating in electoral politics.

That is the ultimate danger of an authoritarian government demonizing all Islamists as terrorists who must be suppressed: It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Egypt’s crackdown proves to those who advocate violence that it is the only way to protect themselves and achieve power. We must not allow regimes such as Sisi’s to breed new resentments, or to repeat the pattern of repression that leads to more radicalization.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 July 2015, 6:26 pm and is filed under
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Can Najib start by being fair to Malaysians and answer all the questions about the RM42billion 1MDB scandal?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is depressed, complaining that the media had not been   fair to him, giving as an example the news reports about Tabung Haji’s purchase of Tun Razak Exchange land from 1MDB on the last day of campaigning for the Permatang Pauh by-election which  affected votes.

Either Najib has a short memory or he has again allowed his highly-paid “P.R. consultants” to mislead him, for the news story of Tabung Haji’s purchase of Tun Razak Exchange land broke too late on the social media on the last day of the Permatang Pauh by-election to have significant impact.

This is why all the post-Permatang Pauh by-election result analysis unanimously omitted reference to the impact  of the story of the  Tabung Haji purchase of TRX land, or Umno/Barisan Nasional would have lost by a shattering margin, with the PKR candidate Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Ismail winning with a majority ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 votes and not just 8,841 votes in the by-election.

I agree  that Najib is entitled to fair treatment by the media but what is he doing to ensure that the Barisan Nasional-owned and controlled media, both print and online, are fair to Opposition leaders?

I have been accused all these years by Umno/BN owned and controlled media of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, a  chauvinist, a communist and responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur when I was not even in Kuala Lumpur from May 10 – 13, 1969 but in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah on May 13, 1969, and the DAP accused of wanting to achieve a Christian Malaysia – all of which are downright lies and falsehoods.

These lies and falsehoods have intensified especially during the six years of Najib’s premiership.

Will Umno/BN media start being fair to Opposition leaders?

Even more important, can Najib start by being fair to Malaysians,  stop feinting, hiding and running in the past five years but to start answering all the questions about the RM42billion 1MDB scandal as he is the person, both in law and fact, who is the final approving authority of all 1MDB deals?

Last month, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan announced that nation-wide roadshows to explain the 1MDB scandal and other government controversies would be launched at the state levels during the second week or Syawal.

Has Najib cancelled these roadshows because has is just unable to answer teeming questions which pile up by the day, like the three  latest ones:

•	When and why the Government had approved a further  US$4.71 billion (RM17.8 billion) government  guarantee for Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) with regard to  IPIC loans in the latest bailout of IMDB.

•	A detailed and convincing rebuttal to the Wall Street Journal report of June 19, 2015 that 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit had been used to bankroll his 13th General Election campaign through the artifice of 1MDB making overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012, paying RM2.3 billion or around five times for a power plant that was only worth RM400 million, with Genting make a subsequent donation to a foundation –   Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M), which lists Najib as chairperson on its website – for Najib’s  13GE campaigning purposes.

•	Najib had assured UMNO division information chiefs and selected NGO representatives at Putra World Trade Centre on 14th June 2015 that the 1MDB controversy would be resolved by year end.  Would Najib and the entire Cabinet  resign if the 1MDB scandal and all-related 1MDB issues are not resolved within the next six months by 31st December 2015?

A month ago, I had composed “10 Questions on 1MDB for dummies” to help Cabinet Ministers and the Malaysian public understand the issues about the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, but up to now, none of these 10 Dummy questions have been satisfactorily answered.

Can Najib be fair to Malaysians by answering these 10 Questions on 1MDB for Dummies, like the following:

•	Is 1MDB being wound down by next year and its operations transferred to three separate companies as part of the deal with IPIC and its Aabar Investments unit to remove another RM17 billion debt from 1MDB – as reported by the government mouthpiece Bernama but subsequently denied by Husni?

•	Why is IPIC’s US1 billion (not “loan, debt or bailout”) necessary in the first place? Does this mean that the consortium of banks led by Deutsche Bank was right when they rescinded their US$975 million loan to 1MDB ahead of their due date on August 31 because 1MDB provided “incomplete documents” as security, i.e. “false bank statements” on the US$1.103 billion being held by 1MDB’s Brazen Sky unit in BSI Singapore, originally from a tranche of offshore deposits it previously kept in the Cayman Islands.

•	What punitive action had been taken against the 1MDB officials for such irresponsible and criminal mismanagement resulting in the consortium of banks rescinding 1MDB’s US$975 million ahead of its due date?

•	How 1MDB could pile up RM42 billion debts in six years when Najib is the final approving authority for all these transactions?

•	The full relationship of Najib and the “mover and shaker” of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, Jho Low.

Will Najib start being fair to all Malaysians and start answering these among the  thousand-and-one questions about the 1MDB scandal?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 3 July 2015, 7:19 am and is filed under
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Muhyiddin should ask Najib to go on leave and to let a three-man committee of national elders comprising Tuns Mahathir, Abdullah and Musa to  decide whether, and the  conditions, for Najib to resume duties as PM before resolution of WSJ  allegations

Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should ask for a meeting with Prime Minister,  Datuk Seri Najib Razak not only behalf of the Cabinet, but also of Parliament and the country to ask him to go on leave as Prime Minister following the sensational allegations of the Wall Street Journal against Najib.

The WSJ allegations  that Malaysian investigators have traced nearly US$700 million of deposits into what they believe are personal bank accounts of  Najib, marking the first time Najib has been directly connected to investigation into the troubled state investment fund, 1MDB.

“The government probe documents what investigators believe to be the movement of cash among government agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before it ended up in Mr Najib’s personal accounts,” WSJ reports.

“Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal include bank transfer forms and flow charts put together by government investigators that reflect their understanding of the path of the cash.”

These allegations are most far-reaching in scope and implication, in particular on good governance and public integrity and accountability, plunging the country into an unprecedented crisis which had never been experienced in Malaysia, as no Prime Minister in Malaysia  had ever been singled out in the fashion like Najib for Prime Ministerial misconduct.

The comment  by a governent spokesperson to WSJ that Prime Minister Najib had not used any funds for his personal use ,  the short Prime Minister’s Office statement today describing the WSJ revelation as “a continuation of the political sabotage against Najib”  and the denial by 1MDB are too flimsy for the occasion – the first time such a grave, serious and even heinous  charges of abuse of power  and Prime Ministerial misconduct have been levelled  by a reputable international publication.

Prime Ministers in developed parliamentary democracies would  have no  hesitation in going on leave until the serious allegations are cleared, and there is no reason why Najib should be an exception.

In the circumstances, Muhyiddin should personally meet up with Najib today to ask him to go on leave and to let a three-man committee of national elders, comprising two former Prime Ministers Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, to decide whether and the conditions on which Najib should return to resume as Prime Minister before resolution of the WSJ allegation.

Alternatively, Najib should agree to the convening of an emergency meeting of Parliament  next seek in view of the unprecedented political crisis facing the country arising form the WSJ allegations.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 3 July 2015, 2:48 pm and is filed under
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Najib should show leadership and  just scrap the silly and and unpatriotic  idea of auctioning “Patriot” number plates and not allow the national shame and dishonour to prolong any further

Defence Minister and former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has disclaimed responsibility for the idea of granting auction rights over the “Patriot” number plates to Yayasan Patriot Negara Malaysia (YPNM).

He said he had no knowledge about the award of the “Patriot” plates auction rights  to YPNM, stressing categorically that he did not approve anything related to the Patriot licence plates when he was acting Transport Minister.

If so, the current Transport Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai must bear full responsibility for awarding the auction rights over the “Patriot” plates to YPNM, and he must explain the rationale for this silly  and unpatriotic idea in putting up “patriotism” on the auction block!

In fact, the Deputy Transport Minister, Abdul Aziz Kaprawi had admitted that it was Liow who had approved the “Patriot” number plates to be auctioned by an obscure NGO, hoping to raise from RM10 million to RM15 million.

There should be no need to drag out this “Patriot” plates  farce and fiasco, which display not only  a shocking absence of good and proper judgment by our Ministers but even a perverted understanding of the meaning of “patriotism” where everything has a price!

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should show leadership and just scrap the silly and unpatriotic  idea of putting “patriotism” on the auction block with the whole exercise of auctioning “Patriot” number plate.

If further arguments are needed, there is no better case against the “Patriot” numbers plate which has been  put up by the UMNO State Assemblyman, Tengku Putra Haron Aminurrashid (Kempas – Johor) who in his blog “Patriot”,

likened the selling of the ‘Patriot’ vanity car registration number plates to prostitution.

Tengku Putra said: “This act of selling the plates is akin to ‘prostituting’ the sacred word to the highest bidder making them pimps, not patriots.

He  asked whether YPNM understood the word “patriot” and whether it conducted background checks on those bidding for the plates, posing the following questions:

“Among those who win the bid could be known economic traitors who have sabotaged the nation to make a fast buck. Are they worthy of carrying these plates?

“Don’t the organisers want to ascertain or ensure first that the bearers are true patriots?”

Tengku Putra said this would be even worse if the winning bidders were not Malaysian citizens.

“If a foreigner wins the bid for “Patriot 1”, symbolically, the organisers have sold our country.

“When it is open to any Tom, Dick and Harry with money, we might end up with a Dick who could have sold his mother not to mention his country with those plates flashed on his car!”

Why is Najib allowing the farce and fiasco of putting “Patriotism” on the auction block by granting YPNM the rights to auction “Patriot” number plates to prolong which can only bring  shame and dishonour to Malaysia and the genuine patriots in the country?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 3 July 2015, 8:18 am and is filed under
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Pak Samad pens bold new chapter in politics

By
 Yap Jia Hee & Radzi Razak
 | 9:38AM Jul 3, 2015

Malaysiakini

The sight of A Samad Said – a slight figure with snow white long hair and beard, clad in his signature white – addressing thousands of protesters at rallies is nothing short of inspiring,

It would not be an exaggeration to say that many – especially young people from all ethnic backgrounds – think of him as a living legend. He also has another nickname – Gandalf – a nod to the wise wizard in white from author JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece Lord of the Rings.

At 80, Pak Samad, as he is affectionately known, has achieved much accolade and recognition not just in Malaysia but also in the region. He is a writer, poet, novelist, journalist, playwright, and painter. He is among five regional writers to win the prestigious SEA Write Award in its inaugural year in 1979.

His books are on the literature syllabus reading list. He is arguably the only person with a datukship who can be seen riding the LRT or bus on a regular basis. In 1985, in appreciation of his contribution to the nation’s literary heritage, he was awarded the title ‘sasterawan negara’ (national laureate).

Of late, the national laureate is remembered also as an advocate for Malaysia’s progressive future, a diminutive figure thrown into the forefront of seemingly insurmountable struggles, much like his namesake from Middle Earth.

In 2009, he braved the Federal Reserve Unit’s water cannons for causes he believed in – the anti-PPSMI movement to oppose the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, and the electoral reform movement Bersih, which he co-chaired with senior lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Bolt from the blue

Three weeks ago, on June 11, Samad delivered a jolt to the nation’s psyche when he became the newest member of DAP. Not PKR, or the old PAS, or new PasMa, but DAP, a party trying hard to shake off the ‘Chinese chauvinist’ label given to it by the BN-controlled mainstream media and right-wing politicians, presumably for its lack of support and popularity among the country’s sizeable Malay population.

Samad’s breaking news however was not entirely shocking, given his movement in opposition circles. Samad even argued it’s a logical leap.

He told Malaysiakini that his friendship with DAP and party supremo Lim Kit Siang has convinced him to do it, two years after co-chairing the Bersih 2 coalition.

He joins a number of other Malays young enough to be his grandchildren – activists Young Syefura Othman, Jamila Rahim (also known as Melati Rahim), and Syeikh Omar Ali, to name a few – who have entered DAP in the past six months.

Admitting that the problem with DAP-haters is because of the chauvinist label, Samad said it has become his duty to demolish the stigma.

“I think the chauvinist label is being touted by the Malay media. I don’t know about the Chinese media, but the (English) media played it off and on too,” he said during the interview last week.

“I have known Lim Kit Siang and (former Selangor state assemblyperson) Ronny Liew for a while; all of them, I know as individuals.

“From these people, I saw that this is a suitable party for me. I wanted to contribute to a party that is being called chauvinist, but its spirit says otherwise,” he said.

He said Malays and bumiputera, especially in the rural or semi-rural areas which form the backbone of Umno-BN support in the country, should by now realise the broken promises spat out to them and how ineffective the government handling of bumiputera issues is.

Breaching barriers

Samad has already succeeded in making a growing number of non-Malay speakers pick up Malay poetry; his work at least. But the ease with which he tears down racial barriers on the pages of literature and on the streets of Kuala Lumpur during rallies, is not so easily translated to political life.

His entry into DAP, for example, spliced right in the middle of a controversy on June 15 when Anthony Loke, the party’s national organising secretary, was criticised for the party’s plan to help locals in Gua Musang build a mosque.

A former journalist with Utusan Melayu and Berita Harian, Samad painted a different picture from what had been reported about the ‘cool’ reception meted out to the party by the rural Malay heartland.

“I was surprised Lim Kit Siang was accepted well (by the locals). DAP friends did not feel they came as Chinese but as Malaysians. The villagers themselves asked whether DAP could help build a mosque.

“Usually, if non-Muslim money is used (to build a mosque), it is considered haram but this (money) comes from the heart. So it is not haram, but harum (fragrant),” he said with his soft voice and ever-present smile.

Still political newbie

DAP is currently bussing Samad around the peninsular to attend functions in Kelantan, Perak, and Selangor.

“Frankly, I became the PRO (public relations officer) to build a bridge between DAP and the Malays. If they (the Malays) don’t understand, they would see me and I would elaborate to them effectively (about DAP),” he explained.

Samad takes his new membership in a political party seriously, refusing to comment on the big political questions plaguing the scene.

One query he channelled to those with more experience is the current crisis in the opposition coalition formerly known as Pakatan Rakyat.

Samad in response said DAP’s top leadership would be better suited to answer the party policy on such issues, and not a newbie such as him.

“I am still new in politics. I returned (the question about Pakatan) to Lim Kit Siang. He knows better. As I said, I am still a student. Now I am starting to read politics. Before this, I only read literature,” he said.

Samad nonetheless remained optimistic commenting that PAS or any opposition Islamic party needs the non-Muslims’ support to win elections.

“I don’t know the impact (of DAP’s severed ties with PAS). PAS must have their own reason and motive, while DAP too wants to preserve its stand.

“I don’t see a very clear picture now. So maybe it will become clearer when the election is closer and you can see, because PAS, I think, cannot survive on its own, and they have to combine and look for partners, especially from the non-Malay communities,” he said.

Tomorrow: A call to activist friends to join DAP

                This entry was posted on Friday, 3 July 2015, 10:39 am and is filed under
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Could this be the Smoking Gun for Malaysia’s PM?

By John Berthelsen

Asia Sentinel

July 3, 2015

Najib said by Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report to divert US$700 million in 1MDB funds into his own accounts

The publication today, Friday July 3, of devastating articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Sarawak Report tying Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the diversion of nearly US$700 million from the state-backed 1Malaysia Development Bhd into his own accounts could be the final blow to bring down a leader who has been bullet proof from years of charges against his integrity.

The danger is that there have been so many smoking guns in the past, including detailed evidence by French investigators of bribes to buy French submarines when Najib was defense minister, that yet another won’t matter. Nonetheless, according to the two publications, government investigators in Malaysia have traced the money in deposits from 1MDB into Najib’s personal bank accounts. The investigators’ findings apparently were leaked, possibly through former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has been on a two-year crusade to drive Najib from office and put him in jail.

Given the considerable details of the information now in print, he may well succeed. Indeed sources in Kuala Lumpur have told Asia Sentinel that Mahathir has considerably more information. Attempts to reach the former premier in the past have been uniformly unsuccessful.

“If this is true, it’s a TKO for Najib,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based lawyer. “Go to jail, do not pass go. It looks like the Tun [Mahathir] has dropped the nuke.”

It’s all a plot

A spokesman for Najib denied any wrongdoing to the Wall Street Journal and said the allegations had been fabricated by his political enemies. Nonetheless, the investigation documents, made available to the two publications, mark the first time Najib has been connected personally to irregularities over the fund, which has amassed RM43 billion [US$11.3 billion] in liabilities, as much as RM25 billion of it believed to be unfunded.

Four separate Malaysian agencies are probing the fund. But government agencies are notoriously beholden to the United Malays National Organization, the leading component of the Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition. According to the reports, the bulk of the money was transferred by wire from the Singapore branch of the Swiss Falcon private bank, owned by the Abu Dhabi- based Aabar fund, into Najib’s private AmBank account in Kuala Lumpur in March 2013, just prior to the government’s calling the last general election.

Najib has withstood a continuing barrage of difficult questions about the fund for more than two years, blaming political enemies and repeatedly rounding up the divisional warlords of UMNO to back him, primarily because he has provided them with vast amounts of money for their personal operations, much of it flowing from the 1Malaysia Foundation. Equally devastating stories about the activities of Najib’s wife and money steered to the 2013 election in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal respectively have been shrugged off without apparent serious damage to the prime minister although he recently delayed the UMNO party elections for 18 months to forestall any challenge from Mahathir’s forces in the party.

The 90-year-old Mahathir has become the point man in the effort to bring Najib down. According to sources in Kuala Lumpur, he has amassed a substantial amount of information in addition to what hs been leaked to him by government investigators who have not been able to break through the UMNO embargo.

Crescendo

The confrontation between Mahathir and Najib has reached a crescendo in recent weeks with the arrest by Thai police of a Swiss national named Xavier Justo. The arrest was closely orchestrated by a Middle Eastern oil exploration firm called PetroSaudi, to which 1MDB loaned at least US$1 billion. Justo had been an official with PetroSaudi and left the company several years ago with a mysterious US$5 million payoff. Two years after he left, he was able to break into PetroSaudi’s computers and download 2 million emails.

Those emails were passed to Clare Rewcastle Brown, the editor of Sarawak Report, and reportedly to Mahathir. Justo’s arrest and accusations that he had tampered with them to make them more damaging is considered to be part of a move by Najib to discredit Mahathir before he could feed more documents and evidence to the press. Mahathir is believed to have additional evidence of illegal transfers of money out of the country by Rosmah Mansor, Najib’s wife, with the help of Jho Taek Low, the flamboyant young financier who helped Najib set up 1MDB in 2009.

He is said to also have additional information about the mysterious death of Altantuya Shaariibuu, the Mongolian translator and party girl who was shot to death by two of Najib’s bodyguards in 2006. The murder remains one of the most sensational in recent Malaysian history.

Given the gossip in Kuala Lumpur, Najib’s forces know what Mahathir has and are seeking to discredit him, Brown and The Edge Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur-based financial publication, which has aggressively pursued the 1MDB story. The Edge has been issued a show-cause letter by the Home Ministry for allegedly publishing articles “that have created confusion and doubt about the government and financial institutions” and relying on Sarawak Report for its articles.

Articles in the UMNO-owned New Straits Times have accused the “heavily-tattooed” Justo of maliciously attempting to bring down the Malaysian government by altering emails to incriminate Jho Low, as he is known, and other 1MDB and PetroSaudi officials. The din over Justo has been immense in the government-owned press as Najib’s forces have attempted to discredit his enemies in the press and politics. Both the UMNO-owned television and radio have also vilified Justo.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 July 2015, 5:33 am and is filed under
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Investigators Believe Money Flowed to Malaysian Leader’s Accounts Amid 1MDB Probe

By Tom Wright And Simon Clark

Wall Street Journal

July 2, 2015

Prime Minister Najib’s bank accounts are scrutinized in probe of investment fund 1MDB

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysian investigators scrutinizing a controversial government investment fund have traced nearly $700 million of deposits into what investigators believe are the personal bank accounts of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, according to documents from a government probe.

The investigation documents mark the first time Mr. Najib has been directly connected to the probes into state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB.

Mr. Najib, who founded 1MDB and heads its board of advisors, has been under growing political pressure over the fund, which amassed $11 billion in debt it is struggling to repay.

The government probe documents what investigators believe to be the movement of cash among government agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before it ended up in Mr. Najib’s personal accounts. Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal include bank transfer forms and flow charts put together by government investigators that reflect their understanding of the path of the cash.

The original source of the money is unclear and the government investigation doesn’t detail what happened to the money that went into Mr. Najib’s personal accounts.

“The prime minister has not taken any funds for personal use,” said a Malaysian government spokesman. “The prime minister’s political opponents, unwilling to accept his record or the facts, continue to try to undermine him with baseless smears and rumours for pure political gain.”

Mr. Najib has previously denied wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB and has urged critics to wait for the conclusion of four official investigations that are ongoing into 1MDB’s activities.

Investigators have identified five separate deposits into Mr. Najib’s accounts that came from two sources, according to the documents viewed by the Journal.

By far the largest transactions were two deposits of $620 million and $61 million in March 2013, during a heated election campaign in Malaysia, the documents show. The cash came from a company registered in the British Virgin Islands via a Swiss bank owned by an Abu Dhabi state fund. The fund, International Petroleum Investment Co., or IPIC, has guaranteed billions of dollars of 1MDB’s bonds and in May injected $1 billion in capital into the fund to help meet looming debt repayments. A spokeswoman for IPIC couldn’t be reached for comment. The British Virgin Islands company, Tanore Finance Corp., couldn’t be reached.

Another set of transfers, totaling 42 million ringgit ($11.1 million), originated within the Malaysian government, according to the investigation. Investigators believe the money came from an entity known as SRC International Sdn. Bhd., an energy company that originally was controlled by 1MDB but was transferred to the Finance Ministry in 2012. Mr. Najib is also the finance minister.

The money moved through another company owned by SRC International and then to a company that works exclusively for 1MDB, and finally to Mr. Najib’s personal accounts in three separate deposits, the government documents show.

Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, a director of SRC International, declined to comment. Mr. Kamil had power of attorney over Mr. Najib’s accounts, according to documents that were part of the government investigation.

A 1MDB spokesman said, referring to the transfers into Mr. Najib’s account: “1MDB is not aware of any such transactions, nor has it seen any documents to this effect.” The spokesman cautioned that doctored documents have been used in the past to discredit 1MDB and the government.

For months, concerns about 1MDB’s debt and lack of transparency have dominated political discussion in Malaysia, a close ally of the U.S. and a counterweight to China in Southeast Asia.

When he founded 1MDB in 2009, Mr. Najib promised it would kick-start new industries and turn Kuala Lumpur into a global financial center. Instead, the fund bought power plants overseas and invested in energy joint ventures that failed to get off the ground. The fund this year has rescheduled debt payments.

The Journal last month detailed how 1MDB had been used to indirectly help Mr. Najib’s election campaign in 2013. The fund appeared to overpay for a power plant from a Malaysian company. The company then donated money to a Najib-linked charity that made donations, including to local schools, which Mr. Najib was able to tout as he campaigned.

“We only acquire assets when we are convinced that they represent long-term value, and to suggest that any of our acquisitions were driven by political considerations is simply false,” 1MDB said last month.

The four probes into 1MDB are being conducted by the nation’s central bank, a parliamentary committee, the auditor general and police. A spokeswoman for Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, declined to comment. Malaysia’s police chief and a member of the parliamentary committee also had no comment. The auditor general said this week it had completed an interim report on 1MDB’s accounts and would hand it to the parliament on July 9.

The prime minister is facing increasing pressure over 1MDB. The country’s longest-serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who left office in 2003, publicly has urged Mr. Najib to resign.

This week, Malaysia’s home minister threatened to withdraw publishing licenses from a local media group, citing what he said were inaccurate reports on 1MDB.

This week, Malaysia’s home minister threatened to withdraw publishing licenses from a local media group, citing what he said were inaccurate reports on 1MDB.

The $11.1 million of transfers to Mr. Najib’s bank account occurred at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, according to the government investigation. Among the companies that investigators say it passed through was Ihsan Perdana Sdn. Bhd., which provides corporate social responsibility programs for 1MDB’s charitable foundation, according to company registration documents. Attempts to reach the managing director of Ihsan Perdana weren’t successful.

Documents tied to the transfer said its purpose was for “CSR,” or corporate social responsibility, programs. The Wall Street Journal examination of the use of funds tied to 1MDB for Mr. Najib’s election campaign showed that the money was slated to be used for corporate social responsibility programs as well.

The government probe documents detail how investigators believe SRC International transferred 40 million ringgit on Dec. 24 last year to a wholly owned subsidiary. This company on the same day wired the money to Ihsan Perdana, according to the documents. Two days after receiving the money, Ihsan Perdana wired 27 million ringgit and five million ringgit in two separate transfers to two different bank accounts owned by Mr. Najib, the government documents show.

In February, 10 million ringgit entered the prime minister’s account, also from SRC International via Ihsan Perdana, the documents show.

The remittance documents don’t name Mr. Najib as the beneficiary but detail account numbers at a branch of AmIslamic Bank Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. Two flow charts from the government investigation name the owner of these accounts as “Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Hj Abd Razak,” the prime minister’s official name. A spokesman for AmIslamic Bank declined to comment.

In another transaction, Tanore Finance, the British Virgin Islands-based company, transferred $681 million in two tranches to a different account at another Kuala Lumpur branch of AmIslamic Bank. The government probe said the account was owned by Mr. Najib, according to the documents.

The transfers came from an account held by Tanore Finance at a Singapore branch of Falcon Private Bank, a Swiss bank which is owned by IPIC, the Abu Dhabi fund, according to the documents. A spokesman for Falcon Private Bank declined to comment.

The $681 million was transferred to Mr. Najib’s accounts on March 21 and March 25, 2013, the government documents show.

Write to Tom Wright at
[email protected]
 and Simon Clark at
[email protected]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 July 2015, 5:55 am and is filed under
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More heads in MARA, including that of Annuar Musa, should roll as the MARA INC property corruption scandal probably cost MARA over RM100 million or more than ten times the total sum and magnitude as initially exposed by The Age

For nine days  national attention was transfixed by the roiling MARA  property corruption scandal which was blown open by the Australian daily, The Age, on June 23, 2015 with its report “Corrupt Malaysia money distorts Melbourne market”, on the outcome  of an eight-month Fairfax Media investigation tracing suspicious money flows, court files and corporate records across three continents as part of a global money laundering and bribery scheme turning Australia into an “investment hot spot for the crooked and corrupt”.

The Fairfax Media investigation had zeroed in on MARA Inc’s purchase of the Dudley House property, and found that “greedy local developers and powerful officials overseas” pocketted A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) in bribes on this single deal.

But this was only the “tip of an iceberg” of the MARA INC property scams in Melbourne, with the Australian Federal Police swinging into action with Operation Carambola after The Age report, raiding houses and seizing computers and files, while the Malaysian authorities continued its  Operation Tidak Apa and Business as Usual, with even the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar declaring that there is no element of criminal breach of trust in the MARA property scams in Australia.

Over the next nine days, Malaysians were in turned troubled and shocked by a series of revelations, including:

*Dudley House was only one of four Melbourne properties purchased by MARA Inc where there was gross improprieties involving corruption, money laundering and tax evasion crimes;

*MARA Chairman Annuar Musa, who visited Melbourne in May last year to be  briefed about the MARA Inc purchase of the four Melbourne properties,  was remiss and negligent in his duties as MARA Chairman in not taking immediate corrective action to stop the hanky-panky in the MARA Inc property purchase corruption scandal;

*The elaborate structure using offshore companies to purchase the MARA Inc properties in Melbourne, with at least eight different companies used for the purchase of the four Melbourne properties so as to be as opaque as possible instead of being open, transparent and accountable in the expenditure of public funds – which Annuar should have known after the Melbourne visit in May last year although he feigned ignorance when The Age expose blew up on June 23;

*Violation of the MARA Vision for  MARA to be a be “an outstanding organisation of trust, upholding the nation’s pride” and betrayal of the hopes and trust of bumiputeras;

*Another example of the failure, ineffectiveness and impotence of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in it statutory mission to combat corruption.

The MARA Melbourne property corruption scandal was reaching crescendo, with almost daily revelations by  the NGO, National Oversight & Whistleblowers (NOW) that MARA’s Dudley House buy was not the only scam but that the other three Melbourne properties bought by MARA Inc were probably even bigger scams, with the 333 Exhibition Street bought for A$31 million (RM99.2 million) involving a price mark-up of  A$9 million (RM33 million); 51 Queen Street bought for A$22 million (RM70.4 million)  with  a mark-up of A$5.35 million (RM18 million) and 745, Swanston Street for A$41.8 million (RM138.6 million)  with a mark-up of A$18.3 million (RM62.9 million).

This means that we are looking not only at a MARA Inc property corruption scandal of Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne in the region of RM13.8 million but  more than  RM100 million quadruplet corruption of four Melbourne properties or even more, when the multi-layered and incestuous structure of offshore companies used to buy the Melbourne properties are finally dismantled.

It is for this reason that the suspension  on Thursday of the two MARA INC top officials, Datuk Mohammad Lan Allani (MARA INC chairman) and Abdul Halim Abdul Rahim (MARA INC CEO), though right and proper but which should have been done in May last year after  Annuar visited Melbourne, is grossly inadequate.

More heads in MARA, including that of Annuar Musa, should roll as the MARA INC property corruption scandal probably cost MARA over RM100 million or more than ten times the total sum and  magnitude as initially exposed by The Age.

It is unfortunate after nine days commanding national attention about the unfolding MARA property corruption in Melbourne, with Annuar announcing not only the immediate suspension of MARA Chairman and MARA CEO bur clearly expressing disagreement with the Police in concluding that there was no criminal breach of trust involved, the whole MARA property scams in Australia was completely overshadowed by a bigger expose – the Wall Street Journal report yesterday  on the latest development in the 1MDB scandal that Malaysian investigators have traced nearly US$700 million of deposits into what they believe are personal bank accounts of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Reports of RM2.6 billion in the Prime Minister’s private bank account just before the 13th General Elections is a definitely a bigger story than the RM100 million MARA property corruption scandal in Melbourne – with the latter completely dwarfed by the former not only in terms of the quantum of monies involved, but the  magnitude of the political implications and consequences.

However, this must not mean that the enormity of the  corruption, moral turpitude and political chicanery in the RM100 million MARA property corruption scandal should be ignored because it pales in insignificance as compared to the allegations of RM2.6 billion in the Prime Minister’s private bank account as the latest chapter in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal.

Just like the 1MDB scandal, Malaysians are entitled to demand that full attention are  given by all the relevant authorities to bring to book the culprits responsible for the MARA property corruption scandal, and that the handful who pocketted some  RM100 million in the four MARA Melbourne purchases should be made to cough out the full amount back to public coffers, whether MARA or the public treasury.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 July 2015, 10:55 am and is filed under
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Najib: Dr M behind WSJ report

The Malay Mail Online

Friday July 3, 2015 11:49 PM GMT+8

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak accused Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of working with foreigners to produce the Wall Street Journal report accusing the former of receiving funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

In arguably the most direct attack against his most vocal critic, Najib said the latest allegation against him was just another in the series of claims made by Dr Mahathir in his campaign to oust the prime minister.

“The latest allegation is that I have taken state-linked funds for personal gain. I believe Tun, working hand in glove with foreign nationals, including the now discredited political attack blog Sarawak Report, is behind this latest lie,” Najib wrote on Facebook today.

“These attacks began when I refused to implement Tun Mahathir’s personal demands. I refused, because I do not believe it is right for Malaysia to be ruled by proxy.”

Pointing out that all the attacks against him and 1MDB were not been backed by evidence, Najib said it was clear that they were part of a concerted campaign to sabotage and remove him as the democratically-elected prime minister of Malaysia.

He then cited the arrest of a former PetroSaudi International executive who is accused of blackmailing the firm and tampering with documents of its deals with 1MDB that he later leaked, Najib added that revelations revealed much about those who used the documents to target his administration.

“Those who continue to mount these attacks should be prepared to face the consequences of their actions,” Najib continued.

“These gutter tactics — in some cases criminal tactics — to overthrow the government will fail. Where appropriate, they will be met with the full force of the law.”

Najib then repeated the denial issued by the Prime Minister’s Office in response to the WSJ report, and noted similar denials by the companies implicated.

In its report today, the WSJ, citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that the money trail shows that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) were moved between government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.

These documents, the international business paper claimed, include bank transfer forms and flowcharts put together by investigators to shed light on 1MDB’s cash flow.

The paper said this is the first time a direct connection to Najib has been established in the probe on 1MDB.

This evening, Dr Mahathir asked the Inland Revenue Board to state the amount of taxes that 1MBD executives as well as personalities linked to the firm have paid and to examine what he categorised as their lavish lifestyles.

Dr Mahathir has been on a campaign against Najib, using allegations against 1MDB — the prime minister’s brainchild — as the cornerstone of his bid to remove the latter from power.

1MDB is currently under investigation by at least four federal agencies.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 July 2015, 5:21 am and is filed under
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Pak Samad hopes Ambiga will join DAP, too

By Y
ap Jia Hee and Radzi Razak
 | 9:15AM Jul 4, 2015

Malaysiakini

DAP latest star recruit, national laureate A Samad Said is of the opinion that his former co-chair in electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 Ambiga Sreenevasan and student leader Adam Adli Abdul Halim could do more in politics after having served for many years in the civil society.

“I welcome her (Ambiga). She is very good. She is very knowledgeable, so I hope she joins DAP.

“I hope Adam too will join DAP as will most of the student leaders because I think they can contribute more […] to the young generation,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview last Saturday.

Samad and Ambiga, the former Bar Council president were the joint chair of Bersih 2.0 and the duo launched two of the biggest rallies for parliamentary reform the country has ever seen.

Both of them stepped down in November last year from heading the umbrella body for the 90-member group, which is now firmly stamped on the Malaysian political map.

Samad, or Pak Samad as he is affectionately known, said Ambiga had told him she saluted him for taking the plunge into politics.

“Actually, Ambiga is also being courted by DAP. But she can choose any party she wants because she is a legend in her own right.

“As an individual, I think she can contribute more effectively if she is in politics…,” he said.

Samad added there is no problem for activists to make the jump from an NGO to a political party as they could use their skills and knowledge to further their righteous cause.

‘I don’t need anything anymore’

The 80-year-old writer also dismissed allegations that NGOs were merely a platform for those with political ambitions, pointing out that more and more people were joining NGOs purely to fight for the betterment of the society.

“Everyone has their own perceptions. To me, there is nothing wrong for someone who has been active within an NGO to join a political body. I don’t feel at all troubled by people’s perceptions.

“For NGO activists, there will always be people who will step up to replace them if they leave their respective groups and join DAP.

On a related matter, Samad explained that he chose DAP because the party to him is the “most Malaysian” party compared to other opposition parties.

He revealed that both PKR and PAS did not represent his idea of being truly “Malaysian”.

“I’ve been involved for a long time with both PAS and PKR. Most of them know me. In the last general election, I was campaigning for them even when I was not a member.

“It is not because I think the two parties do not suit me. I just think that they do not represent the whole Malaysia.

“DAP represents Malaysia, so I think this is a good tool for me. I did not ask for anything, I just want to contribute. At my age, I don’t need anything anymore.”

Part 1: Pak Samad pens bold new chapter in politics

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Why can’t Najib just say “yes” or “no” to the grave  WSJ allegation that almost US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) were deposited into Najib’s personal accounts before the 13th General Election

All mainstream media blared that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has vehemently “denied” the  report by Wall Street Journal, entitled “Investigators Believe Money Flowed to Malaysian Leader’s Accounts Amid 1MDB Probe”.

But Najib deny the WSJ report?

What Najib said last night was “I have never taken funds for personal gain as alleged by my political opponents – whether from 1MDB, SRC International or other entities, as these companies have confirmed.”

Why can’t Najib just say “yes” or “no” to the grave  WSJ allegation that almost US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) were deposited into Najib’s personal accounts before the 13th General Election.

WSJ had reported that documents show that  “By far the largest transactions were two deposits of US$620 million and US$61 million in March 2013, during a heated election campaign in Malaysia”.

Is Najib denying that the two deposits of US$620 million and US$61 million were deposited into his personal bank accounts in March 2013, or he is admitting that there were such deposits but he had never taken the funds for personal gain – whatever Najib’s definition of “personal gain”?

The very fact that up to now, Najib is ambivalent in not making an outright denial that there had been deposits of some US$700 million into his personal bank accounts – as distinct from his quick but ambiguous denial in declaring that he “have never taken funds for personal gain” raises red flags and presumptions adverse to Najib’s cause, whether about his  innocence, probity and integrity

Najib should come out with a straight-forward statement denying that there had been two deposits of US$620 million and US$61 million into his personal account in March 2013 – or everybody can only conclude that Najib could not deny such vast deposits into his personal bank account and the Prime Minister could only turn and twist about the use of the deposits concerned.

I had suggested yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should ask Najib not only behalf of the Cabinet, but also of Parliament and the country to  go on leave as Prime Minister following the sensational allegations of the Wall Street Journal against him and to let  a three-man committee of national elders, comprising two former Prime Ministers Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, to decide whether and the conditions on which Najib should return to resume as Prime Minister if the WSJ allegations remain unresolved.

It is clear that Muhyiddin does not have the political temerity to ask Najib to go to leave.

Furthermore, it would appear that  Najib does not agree with the idea of a three-man committee of national elders comprising Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah and Tun Musa Hitam to  recommend on what Najib should do in the face of the serious and unprecedented allegation of Prime Ministerial misconduct as contained in the WSJ report – especially as Najib is  accusing  Mahathir of masterminding the latest allegation of him siphoning money from 1MDB.

Najib cannot just rely on an ambivalent and ambiguous denial as sufficient response to the WSJ report yesterday, especially as WSJ today stood by its report and  defended its investigative article accusing the prime minister of embezzlement, saying it was based on government investigations the report of which was seen by Najib  himself.

Even more serious, WSJ said the documents  it saw, which were the basis of its report ,  have been shared with the Attorney-General and others in the Government.

Who is telling a bare-faced lie – WSJ or Najib the Prime Minister?

Raising red flags is Najib’s threat to take legal action against WSJ – why it was not  stated by Najib himself but by his political secretary?

And why only threat, instead of immediate legal action against WSJ.

In this connection, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail owes an explanation to the country and people why he has taken no action to protect the integrity of the government and Malaysia when he had seen the damning documents concerned against the Prime Minister?

Furthermore, has the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission seen the incriminating documents concerned or is it just totally irrelevant in the larger scheme of things?

Malaysia cannot be rudderless, with a Prime Minister accused to serious and even heinous Prime Ministerial misconduct who is not prepared to do anything, apart from uttering “sweet nothings”, to establish his innocence and integrity.

Under the circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet must act, and must be prepared even to stage a “mutiny”, by convening an emergency meeting of Parliament next week.

If Najib cannot secure  a confidence vote in the emergency meeting of Parliament, he should gracefully resign as Prime Minister.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 July 2015, 12:14 pm and is filed under
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