Amid political crisis, Malaysia sees Asia’s fastest foreign exodus as stocks sink

Bloomberg

The Malay Mal Online

August 7, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 ― International investors are selling Malaysian stocks at the quickest pace in Asia as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak struggles to contain a political scandal and doubts grow over the outlook for the economy.

Foreign funds have pulled a net RM11.7 billion of the nation’s shares this year as the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index retreated 4.1 per cent. The ringgit has slumped to its lowest level since 1998 after tumbling 11 per cent against the dollar, the biggest decline among Asian currencies.

Overseas money managers are paring holdings amid concern the crisis will distract Najib as a commodities rout and the prospect of higher US interest rates threaten economic growth. The prime minister is fighting off a scandal linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a debt-ridden state investment company. A probe into about RM2.6 billion that was deposited into Najib’s personal accounts found that the funds were legal donations from the Middle East.

“Already shaky trust of foreign investors is being eroded,” said Mixo Das, a strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Singapore. “Further outflows are possible.”

Net foreign sales in Malaysian stocks this year are almost double the RM6.9 billion for the whole of 2014, exchange data show. Overseas investors have been net sellers for 14 straight weeks through the week ended July 31, the longest selloff since 2008, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd.

Rising volatility

The KLCI has slumped 9.3 per cent from its April 21 high, including a 1.8 per cent decline yesterday that was the biggest this year. The gauge lost 0.5 per cent at 9.13am in Kuala Lumpur today. The ringgit dropped 0.1 per cent, taking its weekly decline to 2.4 per cent. That would be the biggest slump in eight months.

Volatility is increasing, with a gauge of 30-day price swings rising to its highest level in six months. The stock measure trades at 15.2 times projected 12-month earnings, or about 10 per cent higher than the MSCI Southeast Asia Index.

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 3 that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) may have moved through government agencies and state-linked companies to accounts bearing Najib’s name. The premier has denied taking money for personal gain and has described the furor as part of a campaign to remove him from office.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said it won’t disclose the identities of the donors to Najib and plans to question him to seek an explanation on the funds.

Stability threatened

For Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn’s Gerald Ambrose, the political crisis means Malaysia risks losing its status as a safe haven in the region.

The ruling National Front coalition has dominated power since the country gained independence in 1957. Neighbouring Thailand is under military rule after a coup, while in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo is struggling to push through policies following the closest election in more than a decade.

“Long-term political stability has long been one of Malaysia’s trump cards, but it’s not so easy to say that nowadays,” said Ambrose, who oversees about US$3.6 billion as managing director of Aberdeen Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur. “Uncertainties surrounding 1MDB and the quite public political spat has clearly not helped foreign investors’ sentiment towards the country.”

Najib chairs the advisory board of 1MDB and has resisted calls from ex-premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to quit over the fund’s performance as it amassed about RM42 billion of debt in less than five years. Najib on July 28 sacked his deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had called for answers on the 1MDB imbroglio including its investment decisions.

Buying opportunities

Franklin Templeton Investment is sticking with its investments in the nation’s stocks.

“We actually stayed in and we will continue to stay in,” Mark Mobius, chairman of the emerging markets group at Franklin Templeton Investment, said by phone from Singapore. “We are still finding opportunities in that market and particularly when there are concerns there, you can see some possibilities.”

Foreign outflows may accelerate if the political scandal prevents the government from tackling the issues affecting the economy, says Alan Richardson, a Hong Kong-based money manager at Samsung Asset Management, which oversees about US$112 billion.

Malaysia’s foreign-exchange reserves have dropped to the lowest level since the 2008 global credit crunch, reducing ammunition to shore up the currency. A plunge in Brent crude is cutting revenue for Asia’s only major net oil exporter, while the Federal Reserve is mulling its first increase since 2006 as soon as next month.

Earnings impact

The government forecasts the economy will expand 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent this year, down from its earlier projection of as much as 6 per cent. Earnings at companies on the KLCI are projected to grow 11 per cent in the next 12 months, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That compares with a 41 per cent gain in Thailand and an increase of 82 per cent in Indonesia.

“Investors are worried,” said Richardson, who has been underweight Malaysian equities since November. Stocks in the nation would only start to look attractive “if some of the adverse developments” are resolved, he said. ― Bloomberg

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 August 2015, 9:46 pm and is filed under
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First thing Najib should do this morning is to countermand the transfer orders to two MACC directors Bahri and Rohaizad  to PM’s Dept with immediate effect

The first thing the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should do this morning is to countermand yesterday’s transfer orders to two Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) directors, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin (special operations division) and Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob (strategic communications division) to the Prime Minister’s Department with immediate effect, for the duo to report to the PM’s Office on Monday.

The biggest financial scandal in the country, the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal which Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said may have exceeded RM50 billion by now because of the turmoils of exchange and interest rates in his last speech  to UMNO Cheras Division before he was sacked  as Deputy Prime Minister on July 28, 2015, continues to wreak destruction in its wake, and Bahri and Rohaizad are the two latest victims of the 1MDB (1Malaysia Disaster Bhd) catastrophe.

The outrageous, vindictive and vengeful transfer of Bahri and Rohaizad to the PM’s Department cannot stand unless Najib wants to see the total destruction of his entire six-year National Transformation Programmes – which had listed the  war against corruption  as one of the seven NKRAs (National Key Result Areas) of his Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

For the past six years, the Najib had been boasting about  “big results” of  its GTP on its  anti-corruption  front, and undoubtedly the two unchallenged  “big results” on the anti-corruption NKRA  are the two issues of 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion deposited into the Prime Minister’s personal banking accounts before the 13th General Election.

A multi-agency Special Task Force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Royal Malaysian Police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) had been formed to spearhead investigations into these twin issues, but  these two issues are so toxic they have already subverted and gravely damaged three of these four agencies – BNM, MACC and ABC.

Are Malaysians going to allow these twin “horrors” of the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion deposited in the PM’s personal accounts to undermine and destroy what is left of the independence, integrity and professionalism of our key national institutions?

Rohaizad received a delegation of DAP, PKR and Gerakan Harapan Baru Members of Parliament to support MACC in its anti-corruption efforts, and Rohaizad pledged that the MACC was “grateful for the support shown” by the leaders and vowed to “continue to do our best work”.

Is this a heinous crime and  an act of  disloyalty and treachery to warrant summary disciplinary action?

Many conscientious and patriotic Malaysians should not be able to sleep well last night following the latest developments in the attack on the key national institutions.

The Prime Minister should be one of them.

Did he order the Public Service Department director Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal to issue the “immediate” transfers orders to the  two MACC directors last evening, as if they had committed some heinous crime of insubordination and disloyalty to the country, when these MACC duo  should be lauded and commended for sterling performance of public and national duty to get to the bottom of the two mega-scandals of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion deposited into the Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts?

Or was Najib completely unaware that orders for immediate transfers for the two MACC Directors to the PM’s Department had been issued yesterday, in which case, the first thing he should do today is to countermand these improper and indefensible orders.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi is another person who  should not be able to sleep well last night, for it made nonsense of his assurance and guarantee early yesterday that there would be no more arrests of MACC officers by the police, only to take their statements, as if there would be an end of the “seven days of madness in Putrajaya” with the Police and the MACC on “war footing” agaisnt each other.

Did Zahid know that while he was giving a public assurance that there would be cessation of the “warfare” between the Police and the MACC, a new front had been decided upon to harass, hound and intimidate  the MACC officers via “immediate transfers” for the two MACC directors out of MACC to the PM Deparment?

This is why the WhatsApp message by the MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull from the United States last night urging Putrajaya to rescind the transfer orders for Bahri and Rohaizad, and offering to take their places instead, is not only very  touching but also most pathetic about the terrible state of governance which Malaysia has descended into.

Shukri said: “Please return both of my officers immediately. Take me as a replacement. They did what they did and acted based on my instructions.”

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of integrity and governance, Datuk  Paul Low, should also have spent a sleepless night.

Low had vowed to protect the agencies in the Special Task Force investigating the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion in the Prime Minister’s personal accounts, declaring that he was brought into the federal cabinet specifically to promote good governance and to strengthen transparency and accountability in government.

Yet Low was completely “at sea” when MACC officers were intimidated, interrogated and arrested by the police for carrying out MACC duties.

He was equally “at sea” about the sudden transfer of the two MACC directors, declaring: “I don’t know the reason. I am going to find out the reason (for the transfer).

“I cannot contact anyone (to verify the transfer reason) tonight. I need to know the reason before I comment.”

Clearly Low  is not the only Cabinet Minister who is not aware that we are in the information era of 24/7 and not in the pre-information age where nothing could be done in off-working hours and weekends!

Shabas. Najib could not have found a more suitable “protector” for MACC and other agencies related to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance than Paul Low.

But it is not just the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department who should have spent a sleepless night last night, as all the members of the five so-called independent oversight panels of the MACC should not be able to sleep last night, especially as they had come out with  a strong statement that  there  should be no interference or pressure on the special task force investigating 1MDB.

Are all the members of the five oversight panels of the MACC going to collectively resign in protest at the latest  interference with MACC’s anti-corruption duties in the transfer of the two MACC directors?

The tragedy in Malaysia is that probably all of them, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prme Minister,  the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of integrity and governance, as well as members  of the five oversight MACC panels, had not lost any sleep last night – and that they had slept well and soundly.

I am prepared to be proven wrong in my prognostication.

Let Najib  halt this rush to madness and immediately countermand the transfer orders to the two MACC directors,  Bahri and Rohaizad to the PM’s Department!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 August 2015, 8:21 am and is filed under
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How Low Can Malaysia’s Ringgit Go?

By ANJANI TRIVEDI

Wall Street Journal

Aug. 7, 2015

Malaysia’s ringgit is plumbing new lows and foreign-exchange reserves are dwindling

Malaysia’s tumbling ringgit, heading toward its weakest level in two decades, is highlighting the mounting pressure its central bank faces to stem the slide.

The currency has reset its 17-year trough for five consecutive days this week, losing 2.8% of its value in that period. It last traded at 3.9280 against the U.S. dollar Friday.

After weeks of pouring foreign-exchange reserves into currency markets to prop up the currency, the central bank’s pool of resources is dwindling. Foreign exchange reserves have fallen by almost $15 billion over the last six months and a half months, with the ringgit down 12.2% for the year so far. The pace of deterioration of Malaysia’s foreign reserves is unsustainable, analysts say.

Foreign-exchange reserves data for the two weeks ended July 31, due later Friday, likely will show the degree of the central bank’s worries.

Escalating rhetoric hasn’t worked either: The central bank frequently tells traders and dealers to avoid speculative trades that would put pressure on the ringgit.

The rapidly falling ringgit has been a lucrative bet for currency traders since its decline began last month. A notional bet of $10 million that the ringgit would weaken over a month placed in July would have earned close to $300,000.

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Between July 7 and July 27, Malaysia’s ringgit hovered at a level close to its decade-old peg, with traders citing the central bank selling U.S. dollars and buying the ringgit to support the currency around 3.80. As it withdrew support, this week the currency fell sharply, hitting fresh lows on each day as market pressure mounted.

Malaysia’s ringgit has reset its 17-year trough for five consecutive days this week. ENLARGE

Malaysia’s ringgit has reset its 17-year trough for five consecutive days this week. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

“Although recent efforts by [Bank Negara Malaysia] have helped to smooth spot movements, the pressure on the currency is evident in [foreign exchange] forwards,” analysts from Barclays wrote in a note Thursday.

Forwards contracts, a gauge of future expected value of the currency, suggest investors remain wary of further depreciation, and of potential moves by the central bank to tighten monetary conditions and stabilize its rapidly declining currency. Such moves could also act to throw out speculators in its currency.

Central banks in emerging markets like Malaysia built up their war chests in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis to defend their currencies and buffer them from capital outflows. In recent months, many of those currencies have tumbled amid the increasing likelihood the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and a stronger U.S. dollar. Declining reserves raise risks for the ability of emerging-market economies to ride out financial turmoil.

To be sure, intervening in markets doesn’t always work. Steps by Asian central banks to support their exchange rates can encourage further speculative activity, a recent study by the Bank of International Settlements found.

For Malaysia, the struggles with its sinking currency are reminiscent of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, when Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed announced sweeping capital controls on the ringgit, including an end to trading the currency and pegging it to 3.80 against the U.S. dollar. Mr. Mahathir even blamed financier George Soros for making large speculative bets on the ringgit and exacerbating the fall. At the time, the sharpest fall in Malaysia’s currency and stock markets came after Mr. Mahathir imposed restrictions.

While a stronger dollar and the prospects of higher U.S. interest rates have pressured other emerging-market currencies recently, Malaysia has its own set of troubles, too. Heightened worries about political instability amid an investigation into the country’s debt-laden state investment fund and cratering oil prices, which threaten oil-linked revenues, have added to pressure.

Still, the central bank maintains that the currency is falling faster than warranted. In written comments to The Wall Street Journal on June 9, Malaysia’s central bank Gov. Zeti Akhtar Aziz said, “the ringgit is now trading at levels that are not reflective of the fundamentals of the Malaysian economy.” At that point, the currency closed in toward 3.80, falling to its weakest in almost a decade.

Gov. Zeti said the ringgit last traded at these levels during the Asian financial crisis, “when Malaysia was experiencing a major recession, when our reserve levels were low, when financial markets had plummeted” along with distressed financial institutions and a current account in deficit. She added that the economic situation is markedly different now and “none of these extreme conditions are prevailing today.”

Gov. Zeti also noted that the country’s foreign-exchange reserves remain significant and the current account remains in surplus.

For months, the southeast Asian nation’s bond market, almost half of which is held by foreign investors, had been relatively resilient. While some investors pulled out of short-term bonds, many held on to their longer-term bonds, reflecting confidence that Malaysia’s current bout of turbulence would be short-lived. But investor sentiment has shown signs of nervousness over the past week. Yields, which move inversely to prices, have surged 0.238 percentage points to 3.74% on five-year bonds.

Traders say speculative activity against emerging-market currencies has broadly risen, with the Brazilian real, Turkish Lira and South African rand hovering at multiyear lows against the dollar. They expect such trading to continue for the near-term.

Write to Anjani Trivedi at
[email protected]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 August 2015, 9:55 pm and is filed under
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Political Scandal Consumes Malaysia at Time of Flight 370 Inquiry

by Michael Forsythe

New York Times

AUG. 7, 2015

HONG KONG — It was a breakthrough in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. When a wing part belonging to a Boeing 777 was found last week on the remote Indian Ocean island of Réunion, the world took notice, echoing the intense news media coverage that followed the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on March 8, 2014.

But in the nation where the ill-fated flight originated, where its crew members were from and whose government owned the plane, the people’s attention was focused elsewhere: on a huge political scandal involving almost $700 million in funds that mysteriously appeared in bank accounts belonging to Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak.

Even Mr. Najib’s solemn announcement in the early hours of Thursday claiming that the wing part, called a flaperon, was “conclusively confirmed” to have been from Flight 370 “looks to have been aimed at bolstering his standing in Malaysia,” said Clive Kessler, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who has studied Malaysia since the mid-1960s.

As the scandal consumed the nation in July, Mr. Najib went “virtually into hiding” and refused to answer questions about it, Mr. Kessler said.

“This give him a chance for him to get out there and get out early and to be the griever in chief and the father of the nation,” Mr. Kessler said by telephone from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The revelation of the funds, described this week by Malaysia’s anticorruption commission as a gift to the prime minister from unknown sources, has shaken popular confidence in Mr. Najib’s government. So, too, have his administration’s heavy-handed attempts to stifle public comment about the affair and the official inquiries into it, including shutting down newspapers, dismissing members of his cabinet and ordering police searches of anticorruption officials. According to Malaysian news reports, the government has been investigating leaks of documents related to the revelation.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, for its part, is investigating the heavily indebted state development fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, which has been the focus of news media attention as the possible source of the funds. On Monday, the commission said that the 2.6 billion ringgit, or $663.5 million, transferred to Mr. Najib’s accounts was not from 1MDB but instead “merely from donors.” In the same statement, the commission said that none of its officers were involved in a “conspiracy to overthrow the government,” suggesting how strong it believed the repercussions from the scandal might be.

“The Malaysian population pays a lot of attention to the 1MDB issue as expected,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore who was Mr. Najib’s political secretary from 2009 to 2011. “I don’t think a lot of people really pay a lot of attention to the MH370 investigations.”

Indeed, the prime minister’s statement on Thursday about the discovery of the wing part was given extensive and positive coverage by the official news media, noted Mr. Kessler, the Australian academic. Those outlets included Utusan Malaysia, the mouthpiece of Mr. Najib’s United Malays National Organization, the party that has dominated Malaysia’s politics since the country attained independence from Britain in 1957.

But that was not the case internationally, and Mr. Najib’s announcement also raised tensions with French officials, who were analyzing the part because it was found on Réunion, a French department. His statement went further than what French and American experts would say about the wing part, with the French saying only that they had “very strong presumptions” that the flaperon was from Flight 370.

French ire was further raised on Thursday when Malaysia’s transport minister said a Malaysian team in Réunion had found more aircraft debris, a claim quickly denied by the French.

On Friday, the minister, Liow Tiong Lai, speaking in an interview with CNN, described the differences between Mr. Najib’s statement and that of the French as “a choice of words,” and repeated the claim that the Malaysian team had found additional plane debris on Réunion.

Still, there seemed little chance that developments regarding the missing airliner would overshadow the political scandal at home, said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, an independent research institute in Kuala Lumpur.

“When it comes to an issue like this, unless he gives some proper answers in full, it’s almost impossible to divert elsewhere,” he said of Mr. Najib.

While some members of the governing establishment, including the former longtime prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, have turned against him, many political analysts say Mr. Najib’s position remains safe at the moment. But there are concerns about government institutions being increasingly drawn into the political fray as the authorities pursue an investigation of possible leaks from the anticorruption commission. The transfers to Mr. Najib’s bank accounts were reported last month in The Wall Street Journal and the British-based Sarawak Report.

“The relative independence of the bureaucracy may be affected,” said Ibrahim Suffian, program director at Merdeka Center, an independent polling and research firm in Malaysia.

A representative of the prime minister’s office was not available to comment.

Zaid Ibrahim, a former minister in charge of legal affairs and the founder of the country’s biggest private law firm, said in a blog post dated Thursday that Mr. Najib’s efforts to hinder efforts to investigate 1MDB and his own finances were undermining Malaysian society.

“The government is actively engaging in doing everything in their power to cover up mismanagement, corruption, abuse of power,” Mr. Zaid wrote. “The people, especially the opposition leaders and those active in social media today live in fear of the Prime Minister and his hatchet men. Our public institutions are in disarray and their independence is under assault.”

Mr. Oh, the former aide to Mr. Najib, said that the uproar over the funds was laying bare the shortcomings of the Malaysian political system, which gives extraordinary powers to the prime minister’s office.

“Separation of powers in theory is there, but in practice Malaysia is still very much what we would call an executive-dominated type of pseudo-democracy,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 August 2015, 9:38 pm and is filed under
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A very long day at MACC

By Radzi Razak

Malaysiakini

Aug 8, 2015

It was a long day at the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday as uncertainty lingered in wake of a ‘crackdown’ over its probe on SRC International Sdn Bhd’s money allegedly found in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts.

However work continued at the commission with some departments holding a Hari Raya gathering in the last week of the Syawal month.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an officer said while many heard about the impending transfers, they didn’t know who among them would get the order to pack their bags.

“That is until late in the evening when we finally get the news,” the officer told Malaysiakini.

True enough, the directive came late yesterday with MACC special operations division director Bahri Mohamad Zin and strategic communication director Rohaizad Yaakob told to clear their desks.

The pair was unceremoniously transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department purportedly for disciplinary reasons. However, there has been no official confirmation on the transfers.

Bahri did not mince his words in slamming the police for interfering in the MACC probe on SRC International, a Finance Ministry-owned firm.

He blamed hidden hands for the police action and vowed to uncover the culprits.

His division’s probe focused on the transfer of RM42 million from a couple of SRC International subsidiaries to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts between late 2014 and early this year.

Rohaizad meanwhile was publicly seen receiving opposition leaders including Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Lim Kit Siang on Thursday, thanking them for their support.

Staff morale at rock bottom

Not surprisingly, a number of other rumours ran rampant inside the under sieged graft-fighters’ headquarters.

Among them include Special Branch police shadowing several top MACC officers and phones being tapped to uncover a ‘plot to topple a democratically elected leader.’

“We are just trying to do our job. We don’t understand why we were viewed as enemies by certain quarters. We are government servants, not politicians,” an officer lamented.

As expected, morale at the headquarters is at rock bottom. There are talks of other officers on the transfer list as well.

Another officer thanked the media for reporting MACC’s side of the story, admitting this was the first time they felt the commission had backing from the majority of the population.

“Thank you for being here,” the officer said, echoing Rohaizad’s parting shot to the press as he walked to his car yesterday.

Support for MACC was almost unanimous in the social media, with comments in Facebook, Twitter and news portals hailing its investigations.

That said, the MACC saga is still unfolding and the transfer orders of the two key MACC officers yesterday could be the beginning, not the end, of this unprecedented crisis.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 5:39 am and is filed under
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All UMNO members must form the first line of defence of national institutions and hold Najib personally responsible for the punitive transfer of the two MACC Directors Bahri and Rohaizad out of MACC  if he does not countermand the order to the duo to report to the PMO tomorrow

(Scroll down for English text)

Semua ahli UMNO mesti berdiri di barisan pertahanan paling depan untuk mempertahankan institusi-institusi negara dan menuntut Najib untuk secara peribadi bertanggungjawab atas pertukaran dua orang Pengarah SPRM, iaitu Bahri dan Rohaizad, dari SPRM jika beliau enggan membatalkan arahan kepada kedua-dua mereka untuk melaporkan diri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri esok

Negara mana dalam dunia ini yang perdana menterinya berikrar untuk menjadikan pembanterasan rasuah sebagai dasar utamanya tetapi dia sendiri dituduh memiliki segunung wang, dalam kes ini sebanyak RM2.6 bilion, yang disalurkan medalam akaun peribadinya sejurus sebelum Parlimen dibubarkan untuk membuka jalan kepada pilihanraya umum?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini yang perdana menterinya dituduh melakukan korupsi melibatkan wang sebanyak RM2.6 bilion yang disalurkan ke dalam akaun perbankan peribadinya tetapi membisukan diri selama lebih sebulan tanpa mengatakan hatta semudah “Ya” atau “Tidak” untuk mengesahkan sama ada wang sejumlah itu pernah diterimanya atau tidak, sebaliknya terpaksa meluangkan masa yang lama untuk menyusun strategi bersama-sama para penasihat komunikasi beliau untuk mencari cara bagi menjelaskan deposit sebanyak RM2.6 bilion tersebut sebelum akhirnya membuat pengakuan – lima minggu selepas tuduhan berkenaan kali pertama muncul dalam Wall Street Journal pada 3 Julai 2015?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini yang mempunyai Pasukan Petugas Khas yang melibatkan pelbagai agensi, termasuk Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) dan Pejabat Peguam Negara, yang berperanan menyiasat skandal kewangan terbesar negara ini, iaitu skandal RM42 bilion 1MDB dan penyaluran wang sebanyak RM2.6 bilion ke dalam akaun peribadi PM, tetapi tidak dibenarkan menyempurnakan penyiasatan apabila tiga daripada empat agensi terbabit dilumpuhkan oleh penguasa, iaitu apabila Peguam Negara dipecat, Gabenor Bank Negara pula “kurang sihat” dan pegawai-pegawai SPRM ditangkap dan ditukar jabatan serta-merta?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini mempunyai agensi pencegahan rasuah yang terpaksa memilih jalan akhir dengan meminta pertolongan tuhan menerusi solat hajat untuk menjalankan tugas pencegahan rasuah dan memelihara diri mereka, memandangkan ada kuasa lebih kuat yang masuk campur dalam tugas mereka untuk membasmi rasuah?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini yang demokrasi berparlimennya menyaksikan beberapa institusi utama negara dilanda gelombang serangan yang mengancam kebebasan, kesaksamaan, integriti, dan profesionalisme institusi terbabit sehingga hampir membuka tirai Zaman Gelap yang menjejaskan akhbar, Parlimen, Kabinet, sayap Eksekutif, dan institusi-institusi lain seperti Pejabat Peguam Negara, polis, agensi pencegahan rasuah dan bank pusat – semuanya ditimpa syak-wasangka berasaskan teori mengarut kononnya ada konspirasi antarabangsa untuk mengaitkan Perdana Menteri dengan jenayah dan menjatuhkan kerajaan Malaysia yang dipilih oleh rakyat?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini mempunyai perdana menteri yang sanggup memperkenalkan versi baru ajaran “Saya tolong awak, awak tolong saya” dengan menyuruh pemimpin dan ahli UMNO untuk tidak menyerangnya setelah mengambil wang daripadanya?

Negara mana dalam dunia ini mempunyai perdana menteri yang duba memusatkan pada dirinya sendiri kuasa dan peranan sebagai hakim, juri dan pendakwaraya, bagi membersihkan dirinya daripada tuduhan korupsi sebelum agensi pencegahan rasuah menemubual dan menyoalnya, apatah lagi untuk membiarkan letak-duduk perkara diputuskan oleh Peguam Negara dan mahkamah?

Hanya ada satu jawapan bagi ketujuh-tujuh pertanyaan di atas – Malaysia.

Pertanyaan dan jawapan di atas menunjukkan betapa Malaysia telah jauh tersasar daripada landasan menuju negara moderat dan demokratik yang menjunjung keluhuran undang-undang, tadbir-urus yang baik dan amalan demokrasi berparlimen yang mantap.

Saya setuju dengan Danny Quah, profesor kelahiran Pulau Pinang dalam bidang Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Antarabangsa di London School of Economics and Political Science, yang menulis dalam The Diplomat awal minggu ini bahawa Malaysia telah “terbabas” – melencong daripada ideal demokrasi, keluhuran undang-undang, kebebasan bersuara dan kesetaraan.

Kita wajib mencegah Malaysia daripada terus terjerumus ke jurang dan akhirnya menjadi sebuah negara gagal, ditadbir oleh kerajaan yang menyasar, Parlimen yang menyasar dan demokrasi berpalimen yang menyasar.

Sebagai langkah pertama menyelamatkan Malaysia daripada menjadi sebuah negara yang terbabas dan gagal, saya menyeru semua ahli UMNO untuk membentuk barisan pertahanan paling depan bagi mempertahankan institusi-institusi negara dan menuntut Najib untuk secara peribadi bertanggungjawab atas pertukaran bersifat menghukum ke atas dua orang Pengarah SPRM, iaitu Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin dan Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob, dari SPRM sekiranya beliau enggan membatalkan arahan kepada kedua-dua mereka untuk melaporkan diri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri esok.

Mesyuarat bahagian UMNO seluruh negara perlu mengisi baris terdepan dalam barisan pertahanan itu bagi mempertahankan institusi-institusi negara daripada satu lagi gelombang serangan ke atas kebebasan, kesaksamaan, integriti, dan profesionalisme institusi-institusi terbabit.

Bolehkah “arahan pertukaran serta-merta” Bahri dan Rohaizad ke Jabatan Perdana Menteri yang bersifat menghukum, sembarangan dan sama sekali tidak boleh dipertahankan itu dibatalkan?

Jika tidak, langkah seterusnya dan barisan pertahanan kedua bagi institusi negara ialah dengan para menteri yang berhemah dan patriotik, dalam mesyuarat Jemaah Menteri pada hari Rabu ini, menuntut agar arahan pertukaran Bahri dan Rohaizad dibatalkan serta-merta.

Mereka malah perlu menuntut agar pihak yang bertanggungjawab mengeluarkan arahan berkenaan, termasuk Ketua Setiausaha Negara Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, digantung daripada tugas.

Bolehkah kita mengharapkan Khairy Jamaluddin, Paul Low, dan malahan juga Shahidan Kassim untuk memainkan peranan utama dalam barisan pertahanan kedua ini dalam Jemaah Menteri untuk mempertahankan SPRM walaupun ia akan menyebabkan mereka hilang jawatan sebagai menteri?

Kata Najib, selepas rombakan Jemaah Menteri beliau tidak mahu “Yes Men” di kalangan menterinya, maka kes Bahri dan Rohaizad akan menjadi ujian sama ada Jemaah Menteri Najib yang baru dirombak itu tidak lain adalah “Yes Cabinet”!

Barisah pertahanan institusi negara ketiga adalah anggota-anggota panel pemantau bebas SPRM yang seharusnya bersuara mempertahankan SPRM daripada tekanan atau campurtangan dari luar agensi itu dalam menjalankan tugas berkanunnya untuk membasmi rasuah.

Saya memuji tindakan panel perundingan dan pencegahan rasuah SPRM yang menuntut supaya dua pegawai yang ditukar dari SPRM itu dikembalikan. Pengerusi panel tersebut, Johan Jaafar, menyebut bahawa pertukaran mendadak itu hanya akan membangkitkan lebih banyak kecurigaan dan memarakkan teori konspirasi.

Apakah semua anggota panel pemantau SPRM itu sepakat dengan Johan dan bersedia untuk meletak jawatan beramai-ramai sebagai tanda bantahan sekiranya mereka gagal menyelamatkan SPRM dan memastikan Bahri dan Rohaizad dikembalikan segera ke SPRM?

Parlimen akan menjadi barisan pertahanan keempat institusi negara dan rakyat Malaysia, manakala rakyat Malaysia, khususnya dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-14, akan membentuk barisan pertahanan kelima bagi mempertahankan SPRM dan institusi negara daripada terus dilanda serangan.

Isteri Bahri, Datin Noor Haslina Abdullah, telah menyertai anak perempuan mereka, Elia Bahri, membela suaminya menerusi catatan di Facebook.

Dalam catatan Facebook, Haslina menyatakan bahawa beliau masih tidak dapat menerima perkara yang berlaku ke atas suaminya dan akan terus berdoa untuknya serta berharap agar orang lain turut berdoa bagi Bahri dan pasukannya kerana mereka telah “dianiaya”.

Dapatkah bahagian, cawangan, dan tiga juta ahli UMNO menyelamatkan Bahri dan Rohaizad dengan membentuk barisan pertahanan pertama institusi negara Malaysia?

Esok rakyat Malaysia akan mendapat jawapannya.

(Kenyataan Media pada Ahad, 9 Ogos 2015 di Gelang Patah)

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(English text)

Which country in the world  is there a  Prime Minister who  had pledged to make anti-corruption one of his chief planks of policies but is himself accused of having an astronomical sum of money, in this case RM2.6 billion or a figure with nine zeroes,  deposited into his private banking accounts just before Parliament was dissolved for holding of general elections?

Which country in the world has a Prime Minister who is  accused of a major corruption malpractice, involving RM2.6 billion deposited into his personal banking accounts, but who could not for over a month say a simple  “Yes” or “No” to confirm whether there was such a RM2.6 billion deposit, and had to strategize  long and hard with his communications advisers on how to explain the RM2.6 billion deposit  before finally making the admission  – five full weeks after the allegation first appeared in the Wall Street Journal on July 3, 2015?

Which country in the world has  a multi-agency Special Task Force formed,  comprising Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) and the Attorney-

General’s Chambers (AGC), to investigate into the country’s biggest financial scandal, the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion deposited into the PM’s personal banking accounts, but which is not allowed to complete its investigations when three of the four agencies in the Special Task Force was  crippled by the powers-that-be –  the Attorney-General sacked, the Bank Negara Governor under a “cloud” and the MACC officers arrested and transferred out with immediate effect?

Which country in the world has an anti-corruption agency whose officers  had to make a final resort to seek divine intervention through special prayers (solat hajat) to carry out their anti-corruption duties and to protect themselves as they were  overpowered by stronger forces which interfered with their anti-corruption duties?

Which country in the world of parliamentary democracy has seen key national institutions coming  under a second wave of attacks on their independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism with the coming of a New Dark Age, affecting the press, Parliament, the Cabinet and Executive, and institutions including the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the police, anti-corruption agency, the central bank  – all suspect under a ridiculous theory of an  international conspiracy to “criminalise” the Prime Minister and topple the elected government of Malaysia?

Which country has a Prime Minister who can introduce a new version of  his “I help you, you help me” credo by virtually telling UMNO leaders and members not to attack him after taking money from him?

Which country in the world is there a Prime Minister who arrogates to himself all the powers and roles of judge, jury and prosecutor, clearing himself of the charge of corruption even before the anti-corruption agency had interviewed and questioned him, let alone the matter  being decided by the Attorney-General and courts.

The answer for all these seven questions are one and the same – Malaysia.

They illustrate how far Malaysia had deviated from the path of a moderate and normal democratic country which upholds the rule of law, good governance and sound practices of parliamentary democracy.

I agree with Danny Quah, the Penang-born Professor of Economics and International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who wrote in The Diplomat early this week that Malaysia has “gone rogue” – deviating from the ideals of democracy, rule of law, free speech and egalitarianism.

We must stop Malaysia from sliding down the slippery slope and end up as a failed state with a rogue government, a rogue Parliament and a rogue parliamentary democracy.

As the   first step to save Malaysia from ending up as a rogue and failed state, I call on all  UMNO members to form the first line of defence of national institutions and   hold Najib personally responsible for the punitive transfer of the two MACC Directors Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin  and Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob out of MACC if he does not countermand the order to the duo to report to the PMO tomorrow.

The UMNO divisional meetings all over the country should be in the forefront of this first line of defence of the national institutions from another wave of assault on their independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism.

Can the high-handed, punitive, arbitrary and completely indefensible “immediate transfer orders” to Bahri and Rohaizad to the Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow be rescinded?

If not, the next step and the second line of defence for national institutions is for conscientious and patriotic Ministers to demand in Cabinet on Wednesday for  Bahri and Rohaizad’s transfer orders to be rescinded immediately.

The conscientious and patriotic Ministers should even demand the suspension of those responsible for the transfer orders, including the Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.

Can we expect Khairy Jamaluddin, Paul Low and even Shahidan Kassim to play key roles in this second line of defence of the institutions in Cabinet to defend MACC, even at the risk of losing their Ministerial posts?

Najib has said after the Cabinet reshuffle that he does not want “Yes Men” in his Cabinet, but the Bahri and Rohaizad cases will be an acid test whether Najib’s reshuffled Cabinet is nothing but a “Yes Cabinet”!

The third line of defence of the national institutions are the members of the five so-called independent oversight panels of the MACC who should speak up to protect the MACC from pressure or interference  in carrying out its statutory duties to combat corruption.

I commend the MACC’s consultation and corruption prevention panel (PPPR) demanding that two officers transferred out of MACC  be returned.

PPPR chairperson Johan Jaafar said the abrupt transfers would only raise more suspicion and fuel conspiracy theories.

Are all the members of the five oversight panels of MACC  on the same page as Johan and prepared to resign collectively in protest if they cannot save MACC and secure Bahri and Rohaizad’s immediate return to MACC?

Parliament will be the fourth line of defence of national institutions  and the Malaysian public especially in the 14th General Election  constitute the fifth line of defence to protect MACC and national institutions from another wave of attacks, starting with the immediate return of Bahri and Rohaizad to MACC tomorrow!

Bahri’s wife, Datin Noor Haslina Abdullah has joind her daughter, Elia Bahri in her FaceBook in protesting her husband’s innocence.

She posted in  her Facebook page that she still could not believe what had happened to her husband, and  she would continue holding special prayers for him and hoped that others would also do the same for Bahri and his team as  they had been “persecuted”.

Can UMNO divisions, branches and the three million UMNO members save Bahri and Rohaizad in the first line of defence of national institutions in Malaysia?

Malaysians will know by tomorrow.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 8:12 am and is filed under
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Call for public inquiry into “nine days of madness in Putrajaya” with Police and MACC on “war footing” against each other

The statement by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police will  temporarily postpone the investigations on Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) alleged leakage of information which was published in the Sarawak Report portal is neither satisfactory nor acceptable.

Khalid said that although more people would be called to facilitate in the investigation, the case was postponed to avoid numerous assumptions and public perception.

When asked how long the investigation would be postponed, Khalid said: “We’ll see…I don’t want my friends at the MACC to think we are making some kind of harassment.”

This must be the understatement of the year, for in the past nine days, MACC officers were not treated as “friends” but virtually as “enemies of the state” by the police, as they were more than just “harassed”, but were hounded, arrested and – to use the words of the wife of MACC director of special operations division Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin, Datin Noor Haslina Abdullah on her FaceBook – “persecuted” by the police, to the extent that the MACC officers had to hold a special prayer session to seek  divine intervention to carry out their anti-corruption duties and to protect themselves from Police attacks.

For nine days, Malaysians and the world saw Putrajaya succumbed to a mad frenzy, with Police and the MACC on war footing with each other.

There must be a full inquiry of who were responsible and whether there were “hidden hands” behind the “nine-day of madness in Putrajaya”, when there was a complete breakdown of orderly governance and the rule of law in the country.

This inquiry into the “nine-day madness in Putrajaya” of Police-MACC “warring” must be a full, independent and comprehensive one, even in the form of a Royal Commission of Inquiry or by way of a Parliamentary Inquiry, to ensure that there could be recurrence of this “nine-day madness in Putrajaya”.

The  Friday statement by the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi  as good as confirmed that the wanton arrests of MACC officers in the past week were related to the leakage of information on social media, most notably the alleged final draft of the charge sheet against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the offence of corruption.

This has now been confirmed by Khalid who said the action against MACC directors and two senior officers was taken because there was a need to find how the copy of a charge sheet could be uploaded into the Sarawak Report portal.

The new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali had in the first instance dismissed the draft charge sheet as false, and if so, this should be the end of the story.

When the police arrested and interrogated MACC officers in relation to the draft charge sheet, does it mean that there was in fact such a draft corruption charge sheet against Najib in the premises of MACC, and that this draft charge sheet had leaked out to the social media?

Which is which?

Let the Inspector-General of Police, the new  Attorney-General and even the Home Minister Zahid fully explain to the people whether there was such a draft charge sheet against the Prime Minister for corruption, and that it had been leaked to the social media in violation of the Official Secrets Act?

Does this mean that the draft charge sheet against Najib for the offence of corruption is not false or figment of the imagination?

Why then did the new Attorney-General tell an untruth denying as a fake the draft charge sheet.

It is indeed a sad day for Malaysia that the first act of the new Attorney-General was to tell an untruth to the people of Malaysia.

Khalid should  explain why several MACC officers were being investigated under Section 124B of the Penal Code, which concerns ‘activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy’.

Khalid has said that the police never intended to interfere with any investigations, let alone targetting any particular institution, especially the MACC.

The fact for all in Malaysia and the world to see is that the Police had acted as if MACC had become an “enemy” sanctuary, interfering with the MACC investigations, which will sow bad blood between the two agencies for a  long time to come.

The first step for the restoration of good Police-MACC relations is for the immediate transfer of the  two MACC directors, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin and strategic communications director Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob the Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow onwards to be rescinded immediately.

Can the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister ensure that both Bahri and Rohaizad do not have to report to the Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow, and are returned immediately to MACC?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 5:18 pm and is filed under
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Has Malaysia become a police state?

By John R Malott

Malaysiakini

Aug 9, 2015

COMMENT
 How ironic it is that many Malaysians are now being threatened for taking actions that are “detrimental to parliamentary democracy.” Actually, they are the very people who are struggling for democracy and political freedom.

As someone who follows developments in Malaysia closely, I believe that the greatest threat to parliamentary democracy in Malaysia today is Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the head of the national police force that he controls, Khalid Abu Bakar.

It is Najib and Khalid who actually should be investigated for violating Section 124B of the Penal Code.

Najib wants to stay in power, no matter what. For any politician, that is understandable.

For whatever reason, Khalid has chosen to be Najib’s lackey. He is ready to do Najib’s bidding and deploy his police force in wilful violation of the law and the fundamental guarantees of Malaysia’s constitution.

Najib as Macbeth

A good friend who also follows developments in Malaysia closely recently compared the situation in Malaysia to Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, “Macbeth.”

Macbeth, pushed by his evil wife’s ambition, would stop at nothing – even murder – to gain power. And to accomplish his ends, Macbeth would depict evil as good, and good as evil.

So it is in Malaysia today. Those who seek democracy are called the enemies of democracy.

Meanwhile, those who really are the enemies of democracy – the people who close newspapers, charge opposition politicians with sedition, round up the leaders of peaceful protests, and arrest government officials who are investigating corruption at the highest levels – call themselves the “patriots” of the nation and the defenders of parliamentary democracy.

How perverse it all has become under Najib.

Reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion that Malaysia has now become a police state.

One should not use words like “police state” carelessly. So I consulted the definitions that political scientists and academics use.

A police state is when police power is used to suppress any action that opposes the government, and to suppress any person who dares to criticise the government.

That sounds like Malaysia today. Najib is turning Malaysia into an authoritarian government and a police state. And Khalid is his willing accomplice, a law unto himself, a man who renders justice through Twitter.

Who will save Malaysia?

Because of Najib’s actions, Malaysia can no longer claim to be a democracy.

Democracy means freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of assembly. It means that there are checks and balances – that the judiciary, the press, the parliament, and so on, can comment and criticise what the government is doing.

But today in Malaysia, none of that exists. There is no check on Najib’s power. There is no institution that can balance his power, especially when the police are so ready to arrest anyone who dares to criticise Najib, including government officials who are investigating the many allegations of corruption against him and his wife.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad already destroyed most of Malaysia’s checks and balances against the abuse of power, and Najib has now finished it off for good.

Will Najib get away with this? It seems that no one stands in Najib’s way.

Malaysia’s elder statesmen – Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Musa Hitam, and so on are curiously silent. They claim that they care about Malaysia and its people, yet they do nothing about Najib’s abuses.

Only Mahathir has spoken out. But Mahathir is the man who corrupted the entire system that Najib has used to his advantage.

And now even Mahathir has become silent.

Where are the sultans? They also are supposed to be the defenders of the nation. Yet we only know, indirectly, the views of the Sultan of Johor and his son. The others are silent as Najib destroys Malaysia’s future, the great country that the Sultans have pledged to defend.

We know what Najib wants

Najib has decided that his personal survival is more important than the fate of his country. He and his wife care only about themselves, not Malaysia.

So the stock market tumbles, and the ringgit falls to its lowest point in almost 20 years. Malaysia’s bank reserves have dropped by over US$40 billion in just one year. Foreign investors are shunning Malaysia, and Malaysians themselves are sending their money overseas. It is the worst situation for Malaysia’s economy in 20 years.

But Najib doesn’t care. His personal survival is more important than his country’s economic fate.

Najib is now a desperate man. He will continue his relentless quest to stay in power, utilising every means possible, both within and outside his party.

The leaders of Bersih 4.0 and others who think that street demonstrations will force him to resign are naVve. He already has shown that he has no hesitation to turn tear gas and billy clubs on his own people. That is what they will face on Aug 29.

As things now stand, I cannot think of a good outcome. It is only going to get worse.

Cry, the beloved country. I can only weep when I think of Malaysia’s future, when one man is able to subvert the institutions of government and thwart the will of the people. And when the great majority of the Malaysian people, from former leaders to the man in the street, stand by silently, and let him do it.

JOHN R MALOTT is former United States ambassador to Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 6:47 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s Prime Minister: A Dead Man Walking?

Greg Lopez

Forbe
s

8.8.2015

Malaysia’s Prime  Minister broke a cardinal rule in politics. He inadvertently admitted ‘guilt’ when the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission cleared him of any wrong doing in accepting a political donation. His position – vulnerable since his ascent to premiership – is no longer tenable as Malaysians question his sincerity and trustworthiness.

On 2 July 2015, the Wall Street Journal alleged that $700 million had gone into a personal bank account of Malaysia’s Prime Minister. The Prime Minister offered a non-denial denial :

Let me be very clear: 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.

The Prime Minister also labelled the report a political sabotage and threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal (more than a month after the allegation was made, at time of publishing this article, the Prime Minister has yet to sue).

As the noose tightened around his neck, the Prime Minister went for broke.

On 20 July 2015, the Sarawak Report, a blog that had been systematically publishing reports on corruption and abuse of power in Malaysia was blocked by ‘the government’. An arrest warrant for its founder-editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown was subsequently issued.

On 24 July 2015, ‘the government’ announced that The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly that had been reporting extensively on the 1MDB issue were to be suspended for three months.

On 28 July 2015, the prime minister sacked his deputy and four other ministers in a cabinet reshuffle in an effort to strengthen his control of the government and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). With the cabinet reshuffle, the Prime Minister also neutralized the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that had been vigorously investigating the 1MDB affair. He also removed the attorney-general, who as part of a high-level task force (involving the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Central Bank of Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Royal Malaysian Police) was believed to have been preparing to charge the prime minister for corruption.

After pulling off this brazen act skilfully, the Prime Minister blinked.

On 3 August 2015, the ‘MACC’ announced that the $700 million channelled into the Prime Minister’s personal bank account came from donors. In doing this, the Prime Minister inadvertently confirmed the Wall Street Journal’s report and opened Pandora ’s Box .

This admission of ‘guilt’ has taken the toxicity of the Prime Minister to an all-time high. More damaging than the legality of the matter (i.e. was it corrupt for the Prime Minister to solicit donations on behalf of UMNO; is it certain that the donations were for UMNO; who donated; what were the donations for; were the donations used at the 2013 general elections; did the donation break Malaysian laws; etc) is the question of trust and legitimacy.

Malaysians will now once again question the Prime Minister’s honesty and sincerity in denying all other allegations made against him, his family and his administration. After all, if the Wall Street Journal’s  preposterous allegation is correct, could all other preposterous allegations be true?

Malaysians will begin to wonder if there is truth to the preposterous allegations made by the suspended The Edge Finance Daily and The Edge Weekly.

Malaysians will begin to wonder if there is truth to the numerous preposterous allegations made by the blocked Sarawak Report.

Malaysians will begin to wonder if there is truth to the many preposterous allegations on 1MDB by members of the opposition.

Malaysians may also begin to wonder if there is truth to all other preposterous allegations made about the Prime Minister, his wife and his family.

Malaysians will begin to wonder if there is truth to the preposterous claims being made by Bersih 2.0, namely that elections are neither free nor fair in Malaysia.

UMNO members will begin to wonder if there is truth to the sacked Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin’s preposterous premonitions about UMNO’s future.

Having realised this faux pas, the Prime Minister and UMNO are currently engaged in rear-guard action to correct the mistake. But for an embattled Prime Minister already suffering serious trust and legitimacy deficit, this may be too late.

One should not however dismiss the Prime Minister outright. It goes without saying that a dead man walking can be very unpredictable and dangerous.

Note: It appears that ‘the government’ and its ‘agencies’ (e.g. the Attorney General’s Office, the MACC, the Central Bank) are divided on 1MDB. It appears that some are aligned to protecting the Prime Minister, others intent on removing him, and some who are just doing their work. I discuss this in next week’s article.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 6:14 pm and is filed under
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Reading the tea leaves of 1MDB

 – Meredith Weiss

The Malaysian Insider

9 August 2015

The 1MDB scandal shows that Malaysia is in desperate need of political finance reform. But can the country clean up its messy “money politics”?

By the time this piece comes out, even if it’s only a few hours from the writing, the array of known facts about Malaysia’s bewilderingly complex 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal will almost certainly have changed.

There may well be another conspiracy theory or two making the rounds by then, and some creative new threat/spin/bombast from one or another of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s currently trusted spokesmen.

I have no special powers to exhume the real story of where the money came from or where it went, so I will leave that archaeology to others. Instead, I will focus on what the unfolding of this drama indicates politically.

First, a brief sketch of the 1MDB saga, for those who have been spared or have been ignoring the gory details.

Problems with 1MDB, a state investment fund, are not new. Until recently, it was missed payments toward the fund’s USD11 billion in debt, as well as murky managerial roles and practices, that worried investors and rankled observers.

Yet reports over the past several months, particularly by UK-based Sarawak Report, Malaysia’s The Edge Financial Daily, and The Wall Street Journal, have also unearthed the convoluted path of roughly US$700 million into accounts under Najib’s name, most of it shortly before Malaysia’s May 2013 general election.

After initial quasi-denials and bluster, Najib’s camp has all but admitted that yes, the PM’s accounts did receive these funds, but they were perfectly legal donations from some astoundingly generous supporter(s), not from 1MDB. (By now, “1MDB” stands synecdochically for a huge mess of issues.)

In the meantime, most of the officials investigating the saga have been early-retired, snap-promoted, detained for investigations themselves, or otherwise shunted off the task; critical activists and media have been whacked more forcefully, with threats of wilder punches yet to come.

What does this debacle tell us about the workings of Najib’s Umno and its Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, or Malaysia’s wider political framework?

In some ways, the saga confirms what we know: commitment to civil liberties is tenuous, for instance, and “authoritarian backsliding” is appealingly easy (and difficult to reverse), given the lack of effective checks and balances in Malaysia’s political system. Three other factors are worth highlighting.

First, while Umno is a strongly institutionalised party, it is also deeply personalised, not least due to patronage ties within the party itself. No one should have been shocked by Najib’s acknowledgement that he “will evaluate people based on their loyalty”, rather than on how ‘smart’ they are—even at a time when clear thinking would be a real help.

Nor is this emphasis on loyalty unique to Umno; other BN as well as opposition parties, too, are known for their “warlords” and “camps”, for dynastic tendencies, for entrenching leaders as symbols, and for offering little latitude to threateningly clever upstarts.

Fault Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s long, self-aggrandising durée, the feudal sultanates of Malaysia’s past, or the structure of intraparty elections—but the point remains that if loyalty to people trumps loyalty to principles, parties will lack the political will to fix problems beyond sacrificing boat-rockers and whistle-blowers.

At this point, Umno appears to be floundering, searching for direction. Maintain the BN’s power-sharing model, however shallow? Ally with PAS for a Malay-unity government? Rally round Najib and hope memories are short? Reshuffle the spoils by flocking to a new supreme leader—or back to Dr Mahathir (his own sullied slate wiped magically clean)?

Second, Malaysian civil society is in a weak position to intervene. On a macro level, the rise (and decline) of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition and its component parties has been at the expense of autonomous voices; ever more political space has become effectively partisan.

Creative solutions are in short supply, too. Mass street protests clearly hold appeal; the organisers of Bersih 4 are hard at work as outrage mounts. Yet the impetus for participation seems to be more frustration and anger than a sense of empowerment to effect change.

At best, street protest is a blunt tool, however elaborate the demands expressed. As one poster to an email news list quipped, beyond repression, the risk in breaking the proverbial camel’s back is that you might end up with just another camel.

Moreover, the key problems at issue are not ones that civil societal actors are structurally positioned to address. Changing UMNO such that dissidents can unseat a party president requires action within the party.

Disassembling patronage politics is a long-term process, requiring civic education as well as a stepped-up regulatory framework. Putting in place effective electoral reforms requires substantial legislative action; it is up to parliament, too, to call a vote of confidence or put in place a transitional government.

On that note, lastly, Malaysia is in desperate need of political finance reform.

Najib’s supporters are correct in insisting that even a ridiculously large, anonymous donation to a political party is not illegal in Malaysia, so long as it does not come with strings or from public funds.

Even spending much of that money on electioneering would be above-board; what the Election Commission regulates is spending by candidates themselves, during the (very brief) official campaign period.

Government and opposition parties alike benefit from being not required to tally up and report contributions, and able to spend fairly freely between elections (although recent efforts to pin the lack of reform on opposition parties and their shadowy supporters are risible).

Unfortunately, Malaysia cannot readily borrow reform ideas from elsewhere; context matters. Suggestions for public funding of campaigns, for instance, are gaining traction among opposition strategists—yet such fixes may miss the point.

“Money politics” in Malaysia refers less to desperate fundraising and the debts so incurred than to parties’ direct involvement in and ties with business, as well as cronyism and kickbacks in awarding government contracts.

The priority instead should be such steps as establishing and enforcing more realistic limits for campaign expenditures than are currently in place; keeping track of at least large donations; enforcing open tender and transparency; establishing and empowering a competent administrative apparatus to monitor total election spending; and ensuring key agencies like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission maintain (or regain) authority and independence.

Without doubt, “1MDB” is a fiasco on all counts.

We may never know the full story, particularly given the pace of efforts to stymie investigations. But Malaysia has no choice but to move forward somehow, and when the rot is at the roots, merely pruning the tree won’t suffice.

Much depends on where the impetus comes from… but only the tea leaves can tell whether the end result will be another limping camel or a fresh new ride. – New Mandala, August 9, 2015.

* Meredith L. Weiss is Associate Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Albany.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 August 2015, 6:26 pm and is filed under
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DAP calls for Emergency Parliament before Merdeka Day to appoint PAC chairman to allow continued parliamentary investigations into 1MDB and RM2.6 billion scandals

The twin scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts have led a new round of attacks on the independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions, including the Press, Parliament and the four key government  agencies comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

In Parliament, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  had been sabotaged from continuing with its investigations into 1MDB scandal simply because the PAC Chairman and three BN MPs on the PAC had been promoted Minister or Deputy Minister in the recent Cabinret reshuffle.

I am glad to see that the Chairman of the  Barisan Nasional BackBenchers Club, Tan Sri Shahrir Samad has expressed support for a one-day special sitting of Parliament so that there would be no undue delay in continuing investigations into 1MDB.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammudin Hussein has also publicly expressed support for a one-day special Parliament to fill the post of PAC Chairman.

However, they are thinking of a special one-day sitting of Parliament some time next month – which would cause inordinate and unjustifiable delay in allowing  the new PAC Chairman to be appointed, and PAC to resume its investigations into  1MDB.

There is no reason why the  special Parliament meeting could not be held this month before Merdeka Day celebrations as the some 75 Members of Parliament from DAP, PKR and Gerakan Harapan Baru stand in readiness to attend a special Parliamentary meeting for this purpose  before August 31 – and there is  no reason why Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs are not prepared to have the Special Parliament to be held this month.

The Speaker has spoken about wanting a first-world Parliament, and in this spirit, Malaysia should practise what is the good parliamentary practice in the majority of Commonwealth Parliaments – appointing an Opposition MP to chair the PAC.

Is the Najib government prepared for such a parliamentary innovation and transformation?

The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday should decide on the convening of an Emergency Parliament before August 31 to appoint the new PAC Chairman.

(Media Conference Statement (2)  at Penang DAP Hqrs  at Jalan Rangoon, Penang on Monday, August 10, 2015 at 11 am)

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How a missing plane and graft scandal are testing Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak

South China Morning Post

09 August, 2015

Would a government manipulate news of a devastating plane crash in an attempt to save its political skin?

 No one is directly accusing Malaysia of doing that. But Prime Minister Najib Razak’s crisis-plagued government’s controversial statements about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash investigation make some wonder.

 Three days after Razak’s middle-of-the-night announcement that a wing flap that washed ashore in the southern Indian Ocean was definitely part of the missing plane, investigators from France, the U.S., Australia and other countries have not backed up his assertion.

 Things got stranger after Razak’s transport minister said Malaysian searchers found a window, seat cushions and other plane debris on the French island of Reunion and gave them to French investigators. But French officials told news agencies Friday they had not received the parts.

 During the worst financial scandal in Malaysian history, the confusion surrounding the multinational flight investigation seemed, for some, to thicken the gloom enveloping this country, long a bulwark of stability and wealth in Southeast Asia.

 For months, Razak’s government has been dealing with much more than the mystery over Flight 370, which went missing in March 2014 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people aboard, most of them Chinese. All are presumed dead.

 Malaysian officials have been investigating a troubled government-owned investment fund that Razak founded, known as 1MDB, which has racked up $11 billion in debt and might need a public bailout. The prime minister’s problems worsened last month after The Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report, a British-based website, obtained leaked documents showing that nearly $700 million from entities linked to 1MDB ended up in his personal bank accounts.

A supporter #TangkapNajib (Arrest Najib) is arrested by the Royal Malaysian Police during a protest in Kuala Lumpur, on August 1. Najib has come under increasing pressure to resign since the 1MDB scandal broke. Photo: EPA

 Razak has not explained the source of the funds, although in the past, he has denied taking money from 1MDB for personal gain.

 Some of his recent moves have appeared panicky. Authorities suspended two newspapers that reported on the scandal, and last month, Razak fired the deputy prime minister, who had publicly raised questions about the government’s handling of the matter.

 This was the backdrop of the 1:45 a.m. news conference that Razak called Thursday, where he announced that the wing flap found on Reunion was definitely part of Flight 370. State-run Malaysia Airlines contacted family members of the passengers and crew, calling the news “a major breakthrough for us in resolving the disappearance of MH370.”

 Relatives accused the airline and the Malaysian government of trying to close the book on the incident without definitive evidence. Malaysian authorities had already come under fire after the plane’s disappearance for a series of contradictory statements, including about the jet’s flight path, that critics say hampered the initial search.

 Opposition lawmaker Liew Chin Tong called on the transportation minister to explain “the haste and hurry” to declare that the wreckage belonged to Flight 370.

 Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country of 30 million, is not used to crisis. Its people are better educated and wealthier than most of their neighbours, and it has been ruled since independence in 1957 by one party, the United Malays National Organisation.

 But this year, the most prominent opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was jailed on sodomy charges that many say were politically motivated. Dozens of other politicians, human rights advocates and journalists have since been detained.

 Malaysia also faced scrutiny after winning a slight upgrade last month in the State Department’s annual global report on human trafficking – despite the discovery earlier this year of mass graves near the Thai border that were believed to contain the remains of Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

 Malaysia has long been criticised for its policies toward Asian migrants, and human rights groups questioned whether the Obama administration did the government a favor to secure its participation in a U.S.-backed regional trade agreement.

 In Kuala Lumpur last week for a summit of Southeast Asian countries, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the upgrade, saying Malaysia “has made significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards” on fighting human trafficking.

 All this is overshadowed domestically, however, by 1MDB, which comes as Malaysia’s oil-dependent currency slides to its lowest value in nearly two decades and the cost of living rises sharply. The prospect that the government will have to bail out 1MDB – and that the country’s top leaders may have gotten rich while ordinary people suffer – have deepened the sense of crisis.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 August 2015, 4:22 am and is filed under
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Long overdue for Najib to  give detailed explanation about 1MDB and RM2.6 billion bank deposits scandals – stop his “lieutenants”  concocting imaginary enemies like “Jewish and Christian agenda” and “international conspiracy to topple elected PM”

The new Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi said in Tanah Merah on Saturday that UMNO members will be given a detailed explanation on the issues 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion political fund soon.

This is a cop-out and completely unacceptable for two reasons:

Firstly, why only to the three million UMNO members? What about the 27 million non-Umno Malaysians – or does Zahid think they are not entitled to a “detailed explanation” on these two issues, which are making their rounds not only in Malaysia but world-wide as examples of how a  show-case to the world of a successful, modern, democratic  plural society can almost overnight  virtually become an object of international  scorn and mockery of a nation with great promise which has  taken a wrong turn to become  a rogue and failed state.

Secondly, why the government had failed to give proper and satisfactory explanation about the 1MDB scandal in the past five years since questions were asked by the DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and the PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli; or for the past five weeks since the Wall Street Journal shocked Malaysians and the world that government investigators had found US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013, just before the 13th General Elections.

Those who had advised Najib to avoid giving a full and detailed explanation about the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion deposits into Najib’s private bank accounts had not only committed major strategic errors but done a grave disservice to Najib, but most unfortunately, those have ascended to new influence to deal with these two issues are people of such inclination – most notably the newly-minted Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director!

What Najib should do, instead of going on a national road show to elicit sympathy and support at UMNO divisional meetings, is to start giving detailed explanations about the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion deposit scandals.

However, there are no signs that Najib is prepared to come clean, or his newly-promoted lieutenants would not remain obsessed with fighting fictitious or imaginary enemies – like the new Education Minister Datuk Seri Madzir Khalid accusing a “Jewish and Christian agenda aimed at splitting the Malays” as behind the demands for accountability for the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion scandals.

I am very worried for the educational future of the new generation of Malaysians when we have an Education Minister of such ilk.

Other Najib “loyalists” are spinning the theory of an international conspiracy to “criminalise” Najib and to topple the elected government of Malaysia, resulting in the most fractured government in the nation’s history, the “Nine Days of Madness in Putrajaya” with the Police and the Malaysian  Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on “war footing” against each other for nine days – even with a prayer session by MACC officers seeking divine intervention when they find themselves overwhelmed by the “force and might” of the Police.

In such a hot-house atmosphere in the top reaches of government created by a so-called “international conspiracy” to topple Najib as the elected Prime Minister, there appeared to be an enemy behind every bush and stone, as if traitors were crawling all over the key national positions, in particular in three of the four agencies constituting the Special Task Force investigating 1MDB and RM2.6 billion deposits – the Attorney-General Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia and MACC.

In this connection, the Prime Minister or the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali owes Malaysians a full and satisfactory explanation as whether Tan Sri Gani Patail was suddenly and shockingly sacked as Attorney-General on July 27 – whether he was involved, among other things, with the  draft charge sheet to prosecute the Prime Minister for corruption.

When the draft charge sheet against Najib on corruption offence first appeared on Sarawak Report website, the new Attorney-General  Apandi Ali had in the first instance dismissed the draft charge sheet as false and a fake, and if so, this matter  should be the end there.l

However, the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that police actions against MACC directors and two senior officers were taken because there was a need to find how the copy of the  charge sheet could be uploaded into the Sarawak Report portal.

This would mean that there was in fact such a draft corruption charge sheet against Najib in the premises of MACC, and that this draft charge sheet had leaked out to the Sarawak Report website?

If not, why were the MACC directors and officers arrested or investigated in connection with this draft charge sheet against  Najib for corruption?

With these new developments, which points to the new Attorney-General not speaking the truth in his first public statement when he denied there was a draft charge sheet against the Prime Minister  and that it  was  a fake,  Malaysians want to know whether Gani was sacked because he was in some way implicated in the draft charge sheet on corruption against Najib.

(Media Conference Statement [1] at Penang DAP Hqrs  at Jalan Rangoon, Penang on Monday, August 10, 2015 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 August 2015, 2:00 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia can learn from Singapore’s governance

Financial Times

August 9, 2015

UMNO should lance scandal and overhaul the nation’s rotten system

Fifty years ago, Malaysia expelled Singapore from the federation and the two entities went their separate ways. So distraught was Lee Kuan Yew, then Singapore’s chief minister, that he shed tears in public for the first and last time in his long and extraordinary career. Half a century later, it should be Malaysians who are crying.

Undoubtedly, Singapore has its problems. Its brand of authoritarian guided development has delivered prosperity and produced the world’s slickest city state. But many Singaporeans feel something is missing in their controlled society, a hole that cannot be filled by economic growth. Yet whatever difficulties Singapore faces, these pale in comparison with those of Malaysia. Not only is Malaysia going through its worst political crisis in years after hundreds of millions of dollars found their way into the bank account of Najib Razak, the prime minister. More critically, Malaysia has been undergoing a long-term meltdown in which the political, religious and ethnic compact that has underpinned the country since independence groans under its own rotten contradictions.

For all the doubts that nag at Singapore, from democracy to demography, the city has been an incredible success. Its per capita gross domestic product, $56,000 in nominal terms, is more than five times that of Malaysia’s $11,000.

True, in the post-Lee era, Singapore’s People’s Action party, which has held power since independence, has lost its aura of infallibility. Nearly 40 per cent of Singaporeans voted against it in the last elections. Yet, the PAP is still widely regarded as honest and competent. The same cannot be said for the United Malays National Organisation, which has clung on to power for nearly six decades. Its leader is now embroiled in a scandal linked to state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which has racked up $11bn in debt. The country’s anti-corruption agency has denied media allegations that $675m in Mr Razak’s account came from 1MDB — it says the money came from an unnamed Middle East donor. Mr Razak denies any wrongdoing. But whatever the truth in that case, UMNO has long fronted a thoroughly corrupt political system. Malaysia’s public senses this. In the 2013 election, UMNO lost the popular vote but scraped into power thanks to an electoral system stacked in its favour. Since then, the state, too often synonymous with UMNO, has turned its guns on the opposition, jailing its leader Anwar Ibrahim, on charges of sodomy.

In one sense comparing the two countries is unfair. Singapore, with a population of only 5m, is a city. Malaysia, with 450 times the land area and a population of 30m, is harder to govern. Lee, Singapore’s founding father who died in March, held Singapore tightly in his mostly benevolent grip. It is hard to see how such micromanagement could have worked in a much bigger country.

Still, both countries have potentially combustible ethnic mixes. Singapore has done better at forging a sense of fairness and national unity, through language, meritocracy and incorruptibility. Malaysia, in the name of protecting Malays through positive discrimination, has by contrast created a crony capitalist state. It should learn from Singapore. It should show zero tolerance for corruption, starting with Mr Najib, who must clear his name or step down. Preferential treatment for Malays should be phased out and the government should forge policies of national unity, not ones of division based on religion or Malay ethnicity. Singapore has created a strong foundation from which it can move forward. Malaysia must stop the rot, or slip disastrously backwards.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 August 2015, 3:42 am and is filed under
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Malaysia will not be in throes of a bumper political, economic and leadership confidence crisis if Anwar is Prime Minister of Malaysia today

Malaysia will not be in the throes of a bumper political, economic and leadership confidence crisis if Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the Prime Minister of Malaysia today.

Firstly, there will not be a 1MDB crisis, which for the past five years, had sapped national and international confidence  in the economic and investment climate in Malaysia.

Secondly, there will not be the scandal of RM2.6 billion deposited into the personal banking accounts of the Prime Minister, whether from 1MDB or any other source, as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 has made it very clear that the definition of gratification in the Act included donations and  that any form of gratification was presumed to have been corruptly received, unless proven otherwise.

Thirdly, there will not be the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which has caused great economic hardships to the people, small businesses and traders, causing Hari Raya sales this year to drop by some 50% and even the closure of shops and businesses.

Fourthly, economic confidence would not have nosedived causing the Malaysian ringgit to slump to its weakest in 17 years since 1998, tumbling 11 percent against the dollar, the biggest decline among Asian currencies.  The devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit from 3.80 to 3.90 against the US dollar occurred in just one month. At this rate of devaluation, the ringgit will break the level of RM4 to the US dollar in September or horror of horrors, before the 58th Merdeka Day anniversary on August 31!

Fifthly, the economic crisis will not have reached the dire straits where Malaysia’s foreign-exchange reserves dropped below US$100 billion (RM392 billion) for the first time since 2010.

Sixthly, the government and the country will never be so fractured and divided that the people and the world saw the “nine-day madness in Putrajaya” with the “war” between the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) with the latter forced to hold a prayer session to intercede for divine intervention to protect MACC staff from the Police!

We can go on and on as the list will be a long one – including the start of serious political, economic, educational and nation-building reforms to combat corruption, restore the  rule of law, uphold the independence and integrity of national institutions, support free press, entrench good governance – all of which will help restore  Malaysia international competitiveness and reputation.

It is therefore  a great loss to the people and nation of Malaysia that Anwar Ibrahim is not the Prime Minister of the country, but languishing in the Sungai Buloh prison!

The present government suffers  from a monumental denial syndrome refusing to admit  that the country is facing the nation’s worst and a multiple crisis of confidence.

It is therefore refreshing that there is at least one Minister who is beginning to see the light, and who warned that Umno must not avoid dealing with the “crisis of confidence” caused by ongoing issues or Umno will  lose support in the next general election.

At the 9th Malaysian Student Leader’s Summit, UMNO Youth leader and Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin warned that the crisis of confidence is just among the triple threat Umno is currently facing, which also includes trust deficit and a perception problem.

The pertinent question which Khairy posed was: “Either you fix the message or messenger. Is it the message that people don’t trust, or is it the messenger?”

In the 13th General Election, Anwar was Pakatan Rakyat’s candidate as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Although Pakatan Rakyat is dead and buried, Anwar is still the candidate as Prime Minister as the new Pakatan Rakyat, whether PR Baru, PR 2.0 or Harapan Rakyat or any other name to be decided upon after the formation of the new Islamist Party arising from Gerakan Harapan Baru, will continue to support Anwar as the Prime Minister-designate in the 14th General Election.

(Speech  at the Penang Chief Minister’s Hari Raya Open House at Sebarang Perai Arena, Penang on Sunday, 9th August 2015 at 9 pm)

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The True Measure Of A Culture

M. Bakri Musa

(www.bakrimusa.com)

The true measure of a culture is how well it prepares its members to sudden changes and challenges, especially when those are unanticipated or imposed from the outside. That different societies react very differently is obvious.

       Consider the March 2011 tsunami that demolished the coastal areas of Northern Japan. Thousands were killed and billions worth of properties damaged, with whole villages and families wiped out. Compare the reactions of the Japanese to that tragedy of August 2005 when Katrina hurricane devastated the southern coast of United States.

       The differences in reactions could not be more profound. Today only a few years after the tragedy, Northern Japan is almost fully recovered. In Louisiana they are still entangled in massive lawsuits, and the finger pointing has not yet stopped. Both Japan and America are developed societies, so we cannot account the difference to socioeconomic status, only to culture.

        Then there was the Southeast Asian tsunami of Christmas 2004 that devastated western Sumatra and elsewhere. In terms of human toll, that tragedy was a universe beyond Katrina.

         International relief workers involved in both tragedies observed how remarkably quickly those Indonesians resumed their “normal” routine. When hundreds of thousands of your countrymen had perished and whole towns and villages vanished, swept into the deep blue Indian Ocean, normalcy is hard to fathom. “Normal” is not quite the appropriate term. Nonetheless only a few months after the tragedy, school children were resuming their classes and singing their national anthem as they gathered underneath the shade of the lone surviving angsana tree.

         You would expect that to happen in America, a nation with vastly greater resources and much superior manpower and administrative machinery at its disposal, not Indonesia. Yes, America’s industrial might was able to produce hundreds of portable homes and classrooms on short order, alas they were left sitting on empty lots to this day. The displaced residents are still unable to return home.

          Again, only culture can explain the difference in the two reactions.

          The Southeast Asian tsunami was also instrumental in ending the generations-long Aceh civil war. The iconic image of the tsunami devastation was the lone mosque that stood serenely in a sea of destruction. The sophisticated would attribute the catastrophe to shifts in ancient tectonic plates in the deep ocean floor, but to the science-illiterate Indonesians it was Allah sending them a powerful message. The Aceh civil war ended soon after.

          That is the supreme value of a culture; to help us react in positive ways to events that are beyond our control. That is the only true measure of a culture.

          Today in discussions on the “Malay problem,” specifically the lack of economic development, much is made of the supposed deficiencies of our culture. To me that is not a valid measure of the value of a culture. America is the most economically and socially developed society on Earth, yet it could not handle the Katrina tragedy. We have to stop blaming culture as the explanation for everything especially when we are having glaring deficits elsewhere, as with our corrupt and incompetent leaders.

           Besides, there are just too many and obvious examples to debunk such a simplistic “explanation” as culture. Consider the Koreans. Those in North Korea share the same culture (including religion and language) as their brethren in the South. Today those two societies and countries could not be more different not only socio-economically and but also in mindset and many other ways.

           Incidentally, the Koreans would serve as a ready example to debunk those who would resort to blaming our “genes” or biology to explain our backwardness, the pet “explanation” offered by the likes of Mahathir.

           Then there is the current fascination and exaltation of Confucian ethics and system of values to “explain” the rapid rise of East Asia, first with Japan and later South Korea. What is conveniently forgotten is that this same culture was responsible for the monumental tragedies on the Chinese mainland during much of the 20th Century, and the militaristic rise of Japan and the consequent catastrophe inflicted on much of Asia during World War II.

            So quit blaming culture to “explain” Malay backwardness. As a mental exercise, imagine if Malay leaders (specifically those in UMNO as they have been in charge for over half a century) are not corrupt, and all the funds and resources that they have hogged unto themselves had been spent on improving our lot as with building better schools and having properly trained teachers and professors, we would be much better off today. We would also be spared those sordid financial scandals, from the Bank Bumiputra debacle of yore to the current 1MDB mess.

            Consider the opportunity cost of the current RM2 billion “donation” to Prime Minister Najib Razak. Had he spent that money to endow a university in honor of his late father in the fashion of the industrialist James Buchanan Duke (Duke University), imagine the good that would do to Malaysia. For one, the Razak name would forever be held in high esteem for not only being an exemplary leader of the country but also for producing a son with such farsightedness and philanthropy.  For another, Najib would have been spared the current humiliation of just another corrupt Third World leader who could be bought with a mere billion or two in devalued Malaysian ringgit.

            At another level, if only Malaysian leaders had been a wee bit competent in addition to being honest, there would be no limit to the nation’s achievements.

            This week, Najib and his wife were guests at Singapore’s 50th anniversary. When Tun Razak and the senior Lee were Prime Ministers of their respective nations, the ringgit and Singapore dollar were on par in value. Today with their sons in charge, the ringgit has fallen to a third of the Singapore dollar, and continues to fall.

             The devaluation of the ringgit is at least quantifiable, not so the devaluation of the nation’s maruah( respect).

            Getting honest and competent leaders has nothing to do with culture. Nor are you born corrupt or incompetent; rather you become one.

            There is yet another reason to be weary of those who resort to blaming culture to “explain” everything about a society. Strip off the sophistry and the underlying racism is exposed in all its ugliness.

             In the following few chapters I will recap the three defining moments in Malay culture: the arrival of Islam upon our shores, the subsequent series of European intrusions into our world, and the path we had chosen towards independence. I will examine how our culture had prepared us for those tumultuous changes. As is apparent we are still here, and that says something about the value and endurance of our culture. In the final analysis that is what counts; all else are but footnotes.

             There are critical and valuable lessons to be learned from those transformational experiences that are applicable to our current challenges.

Adapted from the author’s latest book, Liberating The Malay Mind, ZI Publications Sdn Bhd, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia , 2013.

Next Excerpt:  Arrival of Islam as a Momentous Event in Malay Culture

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 August 2015, 9:25 am and is filed under
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