Well-funded Umno/BN Demonise/Destroy DAP (DDD) Brigade formed eight months before Parliament dissolution an abject failure

Further inquiries have shown that the well-funded UMNO/BN conspiracy to demonise and destroy the DAP (the DDD Brigade)  has a central high command and was hatched as far back as September last year or some eight months  before the dissolution of Parliament in April and not just three months in January as earlier thought.

The spawning of the outrageous allegation of a fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years is just one of tasks of  this secretive but well-funded “DDD” Brigade.

Other tasks of the “DDD” Brigade through spewing sheer lies and falsehoods include:

•	Foment internal distrust, conflict and strife in DAP;

•	Demonise and destroy public confidence, credibility and integrity of DAP leaders;

•	Paint the image of DAP as a Chinese chauvinist party which is anti-Malay and anti-Indian;

•	After the 16th DAP Congress on Dec. 15, 2013, SPEARHEAD a three-prong campaign involving party members, former party activists and outsiders to demand deregistration of DAP on the spurious  ground of party election irregularities.

Well-oiled with virtually limitless funding, this DDD Brigade, which is controlled from the inner sanctum of the 13GE Umno/BN “War Room”, launched a three-pronged offensive against the DAP since September last year, viz:

•	Nation-wide roadshow of talks and dinners to demonise and destroy DAP;

•	Massive and prolonged but unprincipled and unscrupulous campaign of lies and falsehoods in the Umno/BN owned/controlled media, Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star, to demonise and destroy DAP and DAP leaders; and

•	The Big Lie of the fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years.

This DDD Brigade had several objectives, including:

•	Ensure DAP defeat and MCA re-election  in Sungai Pelek state assembly constituency in Selangor;

•	Help BN recapture Selangor state government; and

•	Undermine DAP efforts in the national general elections.

In the event, the DDD Brigade was an abject failure, for MCA/BN not only lost in Sungai Pelek constituency, the DAP candidate Lai Nyuk Lan was able to win with a resounding victory, turning the MCA majority of 1,572 votes in 2,008 into a DAP majority of 1,972 votes in the 2013 general elections.

In Selangor, DAP won another two State Assembly seats from 13 in 2008 to 15 in 2013 while nationally DAP’s parliamentary seats increased from 28 in 2008 to 38 in the 13GE.

An  analysis of the lies and  falsehoods deployed by this DDD Brigade shows the depth and depravity the UMNO/BN “War Room” was  prepared to countenance just to demolish and destroy the DAP, completely bereft of all respect for truth, justice and ethics. But that is for another day.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 4 June 2013, 3:41 pm and is filed under
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Are the police exempt from the law?

P Ramakrishnan

Aliran

4 June 2013

Hardcore criminals are treated harshly as they should be according to the law. The full force of the law lands on them mercilessly. This is not only to punish them as they deserve to be but also to serve as a deterrent to would be criminals.

But why then does the same law fail to act against hardcore police criminals who cause death in custody? Why doesn’t the law land on them as determinedly as it does when it concerns citizens?

This selective action definitely demoralises the public and causes loss of confidence in the police. Malaysians ask with justification whether the police are a law unto themselves? Why does the long arm of the law fail to haul them up and punish them without any reservation when they are guilty of heinous crimes?

The mounting deaths under troubling circumstances are a source of worry to all law-respecting Malaysians, who are devastated that Indian Malaysian detainees, according to their perception, are dying like flies in the lockups. This perception is not without justification when facts are viewed objectively. Within 11 days three Indians have died in police custody under circumstances requiring no less than a Royal Commission of Inquiry to get to the bottom of these worrying deaths.

The death of N Dharmendran on 21 May, according to an autopsy report, suggests a wilful murder of a helpless, handcuffed detainee. The torture of this man was atrocious and demeaning. Every inch of his body had been inflicted with beatings resulting in his horrible death. His thighs and ears had been stapled revealing extreme cruelty and inhuman conduct on the part of the police.

It is unbelievable that in the inner sanctum of the police premises this abominable act of unlawful behaviour could be perpetrated with impunity! The howling and screaming of pain must surely have been heard by others on duty and those under detention unless this torture was carried out in a specially constructed sound-proof chamber of torture. Is that the reason why no one intervened to stop this mad act of violence against a human being?

In a society that respects human rights and the rule of law these criminal policemen would have been arrested and promptly charged. But in this particular case the policemen who were involved in causing Dharmendran’s death were given desk jobs instead of being suspended immediately!

For the Home Minister even to suggest that if they were to be suspended from duty it would demoralise the police force only exposes his extreme ignorance and lack of respect for human life.

It is tantamount to admitting that the entire police force condones this despicable conduct within the force. This surely cannot be true. The entire police force can never be that heartless and ruthless. It is the black sheep in the police force who are the exception. They must be weeded out and punished to safeguard the good name of the police force. These criminals must not be protected as they would only tarnish the image of the police force and cause the loss of confidence by the public in their ability to act honourably and with integrity.

This is all the more reason why we need to establish the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) urgently so that swift action can be taken against the wrong-doers in the police force. We urgently need a body that owes no allegiance to the powers that be to investigate the misdeeds of the police without any bias.

Aliran calls upon the Prime Minister to dismiss Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who seems to be ill-suited to head this important ministry. He doesn’t seem to respect the sanctity of human life and is totally incapable of inspiring trust in his leadership. Not only Dharmendran died during Zahid’s brief stewardship but there were two other deaths. On 26 May, R James Ramesh died in police custody in Penang and on 1 June, engineer P Karuna Nithi died in Tampin while in police custody – bringing the total to three custodial deaths in a span of 11 days. This is totally unacceptable.

Aliran also calls upon the PM to order the Inspector-General of Police to arrest and charge the four policemen who are implicated in the death of Dharmendran without any further delay. There should be no dragging of feet because a life has been brutally taken away – rendering a young wife a widow, a two-year-old son without a father and his parents the loss of a beloved son.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 5:50 am and is filed under
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DAP has every reason to be very afraid

Malaysiakini

9:52AM Jun 5, 2013

YOURSAY
 ‘Asking why is DAP so scared of deregistration is akin to asking an Indian why he is scared of being killed in a police lock-up.’

Zahid: Why is DAP so scared of deregistration?

Hello
: Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claims the government is not threatening DAP with de-registration, but his methodology implies he is about to do so.

DAP has every right to be afraid, not because of the threatened de-registration, but the abuse of the investigation procedures in the manner the Registrar of Societies (ROS) is going about it.

If it is an honest straightforward transparent
investigation
, DAP will have been given a clean slate.

FellowMalaysian
: Zahid is fast gaining notoriety as the home minister whose words do not match what he does. He said last week that the police force is independent from his ministry and he was
not involved
 in police’s actions.

Now, he is speaking on behalf of ROS on their stand relating to DAP’s possible de-registration.

Jaguh
: To talk like Zahid shows that our ministers have no class and finesse. It’s more like gangsters picking a fight with someone.

It’s the old saying of whoever is in power has the will to take revenge in whatever manner one chooses and this minister, for sure, is doing just that. Except, he is always in denial mode.

Justice Pao
: Zahid, when Umno contracts out their dirty work to ROS, police, Election Commission (EC) and even Malay rights group Perkasa, then it is time we need to start protesting against these fraudulent tactics.

Sinner
: Zahid, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang is a citizen of Malaysia and MP for Gelang Patah. If you do not like him, you may
emigrate
.

Hopeful123
: Malaysia is really short of ministers who have the calibre, intelligence and respect, who are farsighted, to bring the country to greater heights. They behave as if they are thugs and gangsters.

StoptheRot
: Asking why is DAP so scared of deregistration is akin to asking an Indian why his is scared of being killed in a police lock-up. Under the current administration isn’t it true that anything is possible?

Hopeful123
: Malaysia is really short of ministers who have the calibre, intelligence and respect, who are farsighted, to bring the country to greater heights. They behave as if they are thugs and gangsters.

StoptheRot
: Asking why is DAP so scared of deregistration is akin to asking an Indian why his is scared of being killed in a police lock-up. Under the current administration isn’t it true that anything is possible?

The Mask
: Zahid asked who was Lim Kit Siang? Of course, you don’t know him. You were still running round in your diapers when Lim was already in the forefront of the political arena. In view of your past history, you better talk less, otherwise all your dirt will be exposed.

Confused
: It is a well-known fact that in Malaysia, the people that are chosen for minister’s posts are cronies or friends. It has nothing to do with intelligence or capabilities. Just compare our ministers with those from other countries.

Ours have no flair and no tact at all when facing the media or public. However, I must say that the only minister that somehow has impressed me is Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar.

Tehachapi
: We have an arrogant and incompetent joker as home minister. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. I see chaos around the corner. Good luck to 1Malaysia and PM Najib Razak’s plan for national reconciliation.

Mr KJ John
: Dear minister, you have no power to de-register the DAP. Even the ROS cannot do it, even if they were found to have not followed due process at their last annual general meeting (AGM).

The point is, all the ROS can do is to order a fresh AGM to be held. So, let us be educated about all this, and Lim, let us not make a mountain out of this mole hill. DAP got full mileage from the fiasco and you should all move on.

Doc
: In the short span of a month, Zahid has repeatedly shown what moron he is and thus Lim is worried that Zahid may be stupid enough to deregister DAP.

Ahmad Said
: What is wrong with Zahid? Can he at least speak like a proper home minister?

AntaraBangsa
: I think we need to send all our politicians, especially the ones in government to learn how to speak in a manner befitting their position as ministers representing the people.

Zahid speaks in a tone as if he is the disciplinarian talking to naive school children. Respect is a two-way street, my friend.

Speechless
: I wish some of our ministers could exercise some decorum. Perhaps they should attend courses on social etiquette and protocol so that they behave in a more dignified manner.

Rayfire
: And writing in Utusan Malaysia to ask those who don’t accept poll decision to
migrate
 is a brave thing to do? Please put a sock in it before your pea-sized brains comes out of it.

Anonymous #58407721
: Malaysiakini readers are starting to miss former home minister Hishammuddin Hussein, including me. I thought Hishammuddin was terrible as home minister, but Zahid is worse.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 1:51 pm and is filed under
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Do we really need the IPCMC?

― Nicholas Chan

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 05, 2013

JUNE 5 ― The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) recently rose to infamy due to the occurrence of a slew of death in custody cases in Malaysia, once again rallying public outcry for the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC). Minister in charge of Integrity and Corruption Paul Low was quick to tout the EAIC as if it were the IPCMC we never had, reportedly saying we don’t need another independent police oversight body because the EAIC is actually the IPCMC.

This is a gross mistruth as the powers of the EAIC and the IPCMC as mooted by the Royal Commission chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah are different. The truth is, the EAIC is more of a watered down version of the IPCMC, a “reform” legacy that is kindly attributed to the retired Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, although by the time the legislation that enables the Commission to be form is gazetted, he had already stepped down.

No doubt both Commissions are mooted for the same vision of curbing police misconduct and upholding their accountability towards the public, Dzaiddin’s version of it speaks more drastically of the need to keep our police force in check as the Royal Commission report had described the force as “brutal, inept and the most corrupt among the government departments”.

As such, the Royal Commission deemed it necessary for the IPCMC to have wider investigation powers, whereby it could initiate or instruct the police to initiate investigations over reports of misconduct by the police regardless of whether a public complaint was made. The EAIC does not enjoy this privilege as it is could only investigate cases of misconduct by law enforcement bodies only after a public complaint was filed. Hence giving rise to the ironic situation that until the recent case of Dhamendran whom was allegedly beaten to death in custody, the EAIC had actually never investigated any case of death in custody nor police shootings, both known to be hallmarks of police brutality in Malaysia.

But before we jump on this and dance wildly to the all familiar old tune that “the IPCMC must be established to redeem our once highly acclaimed police force!”, we must realised that Commissions by itself are rarely the panacea towards the misfits of a law enforcement body.

The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was monitored by five oversight committees, and yet any palpable changes to the force remained as elusive as ever. Like the MACC, the IPCMC was routinely cited to be modelled upon a Hong Kong counterpart, the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC), largely due to the city state’s success in combating corruption and setting up a modern and professional police force.

Here comes the fun fact: The EAIC is actually more similar to the IPCC rather than the IPCMC. The IPCC’s major function is to investigate the reportable complaints and monitor the action taken against the officers and/or force with respect to such complaints. However, the reportable complaints towards the Hong Kong police force is first investigated by a branch within the police force, named the Complaints against Police Force (CAPO). The IPCC will then review all the investigation reports of the CAPO and is empowered to seek clarification from CAPO or order a re-investigation of the case if necessary.

Therefore, unlike the IPCMC, the IPCC actually does not contain arbitrary powers to initiate investigations against police conduct nor the legal prerogative to pursue action. It serves more as an oversight and advisory council to the police rather than a disciplinary body. Even the EAIC has wider powers of investigation as it could summon witnesses and seize evidences relevant to its investigation.

So why are we envious of the Hong Kong’s IPCC when in fact we have a more pervasive and powerful one? Or rather the question should be, how can we have an oversight body with more executive powers but still failed to achieve the police reforms everybody endears?

Like police brutality, it all boils down to the working culture. A quick research of the Hong Kong’s IPCC would have revealed their fantastic housekeeping and a culture of accountability. Annual reports, breakdown of number of cases investigated, nature of cases and the follow up actions taken on the cases are all available for the public’s scrutiny.

It would appear that the Commission is not just at work but is also proud of the work they do. This is what integrity, transparency and most importantly, competency is about.

As for our home-grown contender, the EAIC, the name does not even ring a bell until we have three deaths in custody cases in a short sprint of 11 days. There are no annual reports available at the commission’s website despite it is already the second year of the Commission’s inception and until a recent report by The Malaysian Insider, we would have no idea what the EAIC has been doing all along. How can a body that is established with the purpose of holding the police accountable to the public be effective if it itself is not accountable to the public?

So, in the end, the primary ineptness of the EAIC is not about its lacking of investigation officers (it used to have six, until recently there is only one left) or a bigger operating budget, as claimed by EAIC CEO Nor Afizah Hanum Mokhtar. A RM7 million annual budget should be enough for a body of 22 employees (as counted through the directories of its official website) and six Commissioners. Using a rather generous estimate, putting RM1.5 million per annum each for wages and emoluments for the staff and Commissioners, another RM1 million for the amenities/rental would still leave another RM3 million operating budget per annum for the Commission.

And by using this estimate, the officers of the Commission are already pretty well paid; it is only fair that we ask for results.  Out of the 124 complaint cases investigated by the EAIC, only one resulted in the recommendation of disciplinary action towards a police officer, albeit with no follow-up information available on that recommendation. Based on these results, one would have assumed a stellar performance for our police force but the Malaysian public would have known better. Detachment from reality is a dish constantly served in Malaysia.

There is no point of inflating the body in terms of manpower and budget if after two years of operation; tangible results of any signs are still in the air. More does not mean more in efficiency, sometimes less is more. Our working and management culture in the civil service does not seem to get that.

If the same complacency and incompetence is transposed to the IPCMC , if we ever have one, there is no guarantee that the police watchdog we clamoured for will be a viscous and biting Rottweiler. It will be a Chihuahua instead.

And by that time, somebody could proudly claim this, that the IPCMC is actually the EAIC.

This addendum was requested by the writer after the article was published.

Although not stated in the description of its primary roles, the EAIC as according to Section 28 of the EAIC Act 2009 does have powers to initiate investigations without having any complaints as long as the matter is of public interest or that it is in the police interest to do so. This section makes the EAIC more similar to the IPCMC in terms of power to investigate, but it also makes an even more aghast finding because despite having the power to do so, the EAIC have not initiate any investigations over any of the eight cases of death in custody that has been happened for the previous five months. Apparently what they recognised as matters of public interest is of a different league to the rakyat.

The Hong Kong’s IPCC is only one of the police oversight agencies that the mooting of the IPCMC is modelled upon. The other major one is the UK’s Independent Police Complaints Commission, also known as the IPCC. As compared to the Hong Kong’s IPCC, the UK’s IPCC has a larger role in investigation as it investigates the most serious allegations against police misconduct and abuse, like cases whereby death and serious injuries are involved, accusations of racism, organised corruptions and allegations against senior police officers. The majority of complaints against police still go back to a task force within the police, like in Hong Kong, but the UK IPCC is also empowered to serve as a guardian to that complaint system, to promote public confidence and ensure accessibility of the system. The UK’s IPCC also dealt with appeals from the public if they are not satisfied with the way the police force has acted upon their complaints.

All in all, the proposed IPCMC and EAIC in Malaysia actually has more power for policing check and balance than the countries we are supposed to emulate. It still remains a mystery why such power to oversee and discipline does not translate into a more professional and dignified police force. Perhaps it’s the Commissions that are at fault, or our obsession of setting up Commissions or Committees just for the sake of it.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 4:53 pm and is filed under
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Dr M: Umno attracting fewer talented leaders

by Sean Augustin

fz.com

Jun 04, 2013

Umno’s decreasing capable leaders have had negative consequences on the party and the government, writes former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his blog.

In a critical blog posting entitled Umno, then and now, the former prime minister said that unlike in the past, the party attracts fewer selfless and capable leaders, who instead tended to join its political rivals.

This, he said, resulted in fewer eligible candidates in a general election, while promising members fielded as parachute candidates for seats would be defeated.

Mahathir said the impact of having fewer talented people in the party was that it leads to a government made up of incapable people.

He said current leaders, from the division leaders up, are reluctant to allow new talents to come in, fearing they could pose a threat to their positions.

“They work to reduce the possibility of them being challenged, to reduce the likelihood that they will be replaced by people who are more qualified,” he said, attributing this to the party’s decline.

Malays ‘disgusted’ by party

The party, he added, did not receive the same support it did before because Malays were “disgusted” by the party and assumed it was no longer relevant and needed to be rejected.

Umno, Mahathir said, had strayed very far from its original ideals, where it fought solely for the Malay race, religion and country.

“But now, the Malays see Umno championing their individual causes instead of fighting for the race, religion and the country. Malays do not see the point of supporting those who were keener to look out for their own interest.

“If there was an alternative party, the Malays would support it. If the other parties are worse in comparison, only then would they continue supporting Umno. This is what happened in the 13th general election,” he wrote in his blog chedet.cc today.

Pouring cold water on Umno’s win in the recent GE, Mahathir said it was not because Malays still supported the party. The community, he said, had no choice.

The Malays, he said, were afraid of supporting former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the latter was allied with DAP, and this did not sit well with the Malays.

The community, he said, had therefore no choice but to support Umno.

“Umno however cannot depend on this. If it fails to purge itself from corruption and self-interest, the Malays would look for another champion,” Mahathir wrote.

Read more: http://fz.com/content/dr-m-umno-attracting-fewer-talented-leaders#ixzz2VHgba31D

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 5:17 am and is filed under
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It has started – or has it not?

The Writest Thing by Mohsin Abdullah

fz.com

Jun 04, 2013

OUT of the blue, Johor Umno leader Datuk Puad Zarkashi came up and said the two top posts in Umno should not be contested when the party holds its elections later this year.

The call by Puad was carried by Umno-linked newspaper Berita Harian. And the former minister gave all the whys.

That call raised many an eyebrow. Was there any talk of contest for the top two posts in the first place, to warrant Puad to come up with such a call?

And as if right on cue, a few days after Puad’s call, Negeri Sembilan Umno passed a no contest resolution for the post of president and deputy president. The reason being to strengthen Umno in preparation for GE14.

Of course, post-GE13 talk has been centred on Datuk Seri Najib Razak – whether he would be “safe” to continue as Umno president and PM. Whether he would be challenged in Umno polls.

Meanwhile, Najib himself is open to being challenged, saying: “We are a democratic party – we have to accept Umno’s openness unlike certain other parties.”

But many in Umno feel Najib will not be challenged. Although his Barisan Nasional (BN) fared worse than Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s did in 2008, Umno did well – winning 88 seats.

And Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad opined Najib would remain party president due to lack of “alternative” in the party. This despite saying much earlier, Najib will have to bear the consequences in the event of a poor BN performance.

Whatever it is, an Umno strategist said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is “loyal and is not one who will challenge his boss”. Muhyiddin has been low-key since the elections. Others have not.

Datuk Zahid Hamidi, for example, is making headlines. For the right or wrong reasons, depending on who you talk to.

His statements, thus far, have attracted controversies to say the least. And the Umno strategist admits the newly-appointed home minister “has and is scoring points among Umno members for what he is doing as minister”.

Knowingly or unknowingly, planned or otherwise, Zahid has managed “to show he is a strong leader, one that Umno needs, and that Umno under Najib is equally strong”, according to the strategist. Something very beneficial come Umno polls.

To PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar, it is all planned, of course. To her, “Umno’s internal politics is dictating the country’s domestic policies”, citing the recent crackdown on Opposition leaders and activists as a “clear sign Najib is looking at the Umno general assembly, addressing his key base and the internal dynamics being played out”.

If what the Lembah Pantai MP says is true, expect lots of statements and action from Umno leaders which will be “appealing to Umno members”. The party will deny all that surely – if not already.

As far as contests are concerned, so far Zahid is said to be only wanting to defend his VP position and “will not go higher”.

Said the strategist: “I can’t be sure and we can only assume. But so far we are not hearing anything about such a thing and also nothing from meetings with grassroots as well.”

Zahid apart, the other vice-presidents are Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Datuk Shafei Apdal.

But the race for VP can or will be a crowded field – with party strongmen like Datuk Seri Ali Rustam and Tan Sri Isa Samad possibly joining in the fray.

Missing the boat this time would not do their Umno career any good. Their age being one of the considerations.

Perhaps former Johor menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Othman might fancy his chances after having lost the Gelang Patah seat in GE13.

Khairy Jamaluddin, meanwhile, is expected to defend his post as youth chief, and his appointment as youth and sports minister will definitely carry a lot of weight.

And many say the challenger will be Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the Kedah MB – a formidable opponent.

And at least one political commentator is talking about what is known as the “Menteris Besar Club”. The MB Club used to be a powerful political pact as far as Umno elections went. But the club somehow “fizzled out” in recent years.

Now this political commentator is saying in the event the MB Club is revived, there is a possibility all the menteris besar and chief ministers (from Umno of course) might opt for Mukhriz to be their choice for one of the VP posts.

In such a scenario will Khairy decide to try to move one step up as well and join the fight for VP?

Then will the current VPs, Zahid in particular, be “forced” to move a rung up and take a shot at the deputy presidency? And in turn “force” Muhyiddin to go for number one?

Such a move would shred Puad’s call (also, the Negeri Sembilan Umno resolution) for a no top-two post contests in Umno wouldn’t it? Was Puad pre-empting everything by making such an early call?

All these are speculations, posers and theories – of course. For now.

But then politics is the art of the possible. So people say, so people say.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 5:39 am and is filed under
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Utusan Malaysia stands head and shoulders above all media, not only in Malaysia but worldwide, as champion serial liar  as the centrepiece of the well-funded DDD Brigade to demolish and destroy DAP

I must congratulate the editorial chiefs of Utusan Malaysia – the official mouthpiece of UMNO – for achieving something no other media in Malaysia could ever achieve. In fact, it will not be easy to find international competitors for Utusan Malaysia in the whole wide world of global journalism.

Undoubtedly, Utusan Malaysia stands head and shoulders above all media, not only in Malaysia but world-wide, as the champion serial liar as the centrepiece of the Demolish/Destroy DAP (DDD) Brigade in the 13GE.

During the past eight months it was the centrepiece of the DDD Brigade, Utusan Malaysia outdid itself in the volume, venom and venality of the lies and falsehoods it had been spewing in the past – like the front-page Utusan Malaysia lie in May 2011 that DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia!

But as the centrepiece of the DDD Brigade to demolish and destroy the DAP, Utusan Malaysia had broken all records in the number and viciousness of the lies and falsehoods it had packed into the Utusan  pages (as well as New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star) in the past eight months.

For this malevolent objective, Utusan has recruited and trained an army of  serial liars, who are prepared to tell lies without batting an eyelid – even from the aristocratic rank!

The modus operandi of the Utusan in the DDD Brigade is quite unique, for in the past, newspapers may innocently publish falsehoods of serial liars.

But in this DDD operation, it is the Utusan masterminds who concoct and apportion the lies and falsehoods to be published in the names of the individual operatives from its army of serial liars.

The Utusan’s DDD army of serial liars are divided into at least four categories:

From the editorial ranks of Utusan, as it has trained a generation not of  journalists but serial liars;

From some DAP renegades who are prepared to become serial liars for a price;

From a select group of BN part hacks, who are required to spout the lies concocted by the DDD high command; and

From guest-serial liars – just as there are guest columnists and guest speakers, DDD have pioneered “guest serial liars”.

Utusan Malaysia was caught red-handed today churning out lies against the DAP on its front-page, alleging that the DAP was now holding branch-level elections to pre-empt any action by the Registrar of Societies.

As DAP National Organising Secretary, Anthony Loke has pointed out, branch-level elections are an annual affair for the party and this year it was held back from April/May to June, because of the 13th general election.

Among the lies spread by Utusan Malaysia and the DDD Brigade in the past eight months include:

The lie that 753 of the 2,576 DAP delegates who were absent for  the DAP party congress on Dec. 15 had not been notified of the congress and denied the right to vote in the Congress;

The further lie that 753 of these delegates were all Indians, in order to fortify the image that the DAP is on an anti-Indian binge – when in actual fact, out of the 753 delegates who were absent, Indians represent only some 100.

The ludicrous  lie that a DAP leader had tried to bribe an officer from the Registry of Societies to get the DAP deregistered so as to avoid  party re-elections.

There is no logic, but there is madness, in the campaign of the DDD Brigade to smear and defame the DAP in the blackest hues but unfortunately to UMNO/BN War Room which housed this DDD Brigade – completely to no avail.

The gargantuan investments in the Umno/BN DDD Brigade, with Utusan Malaysia as the centrepiece, had been a total waste of money for it had proved to be singularly ineffective and even counter-productive in terms of the outcome of the 13GE.

This explains the stubbornness with which the DDD Brigade centrepiece operatives in Utusan Malaysia are sticking to their lies about the DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers, with a budget from RM108 million to RM1 billion in the past six years, as it gives them an excuse for their big-time tactical and strategic failures in the 13GE.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 3:48 pm and is filed under
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Will the Cabinet today decide or dilly-dally on IPCMC?

All eyes are on the Cabinet this morning – will the Cabinet decide or dilly-dally on the issue of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)?

The issue of IPCMC was first proposed by the Dzaiddin Royal Royal Police Commission eight years ago in 2005 as the most important of its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional and world-class police force, with even the Prime Minister at the time, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi publicly pledging to implement the IPCMC recommendation.

It was the then UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, who later became Home Minister,  who led the opposition to the establishment of the IPCMC, teaming up with the then police leadership to force Abdullah to backtrack and finally scuttle the IPCMC proposal.  Instead an ineffective Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) was substituted.

Did the new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, who  was a Deputy Minister in the first Abdullah administration 2004-2008, support or oppose the IPCMC at the time.

The IPCMC was one effective proposal to address the high rate of deaths in police custody, with 80 cases from January 2000 to December 2004, or an annual average of 16 deaths in police custody in those five years –  which was regarded as unacceptably high.

Unfortunately, the scandal of deaths in police custody have worsened after the Dzaiddin Report. The rate of deaths in police custody has increased albeit slightly in the eight and a half years since the IPCMC Report – with 141 deaths from January 2005 to May 2013 (with three deaths in just 11 days in the first month after the 13th general elections on May 5) or a higher annual average of 16.6 deaths since the Dzaiddin RCI report.

Zahid is now playing “Tai Chi” by stating that his ministry is “open” to the setting up of IPCMC but asks for time to study public feedback to such a proposal.

There is no need for any more study as I do not believe there is any subject which had been more studied, whether by the Cabinet or the police force in the past eight years than the IPCMC proposal. Or is the intention to study the IPCMC proposal “to death”?

Let the Cabinet set up a Cabinet committee which is given two weeks to submit final recommendations to the Cabinet on June 19 for the acceptance and implementation of the IPCMC proposal – so that the Cabinet policy decision could be announced as part of the  spate of new government policies and proposals in the Royal Address in Parliament on June 25.

Alternatively, the Cabinet should agree today to allow MPs to have a free vote on the IPCMC proposal in the first meeting of the 13th Parliament which is to meet for 16 days from June 24 to July 18.

This is why the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council at its meeting on Monday has set up a six-member IPCMC Parliamentary Task Force  to spearhead the establishment of the  IPCMC in the  13th Parliament.

The establishment of the IPCMC can become a reality if there are 23 Barisan Nasional MPs who are prepared to join the 89 Pakatan Rakyat MPs to support the establishment of the IPCMC when the 13th Parliament starts its meeting on June 24.

MIC, which has four MPs,  has declared its support for IPCMC. MCA Vice President, Gan Peng Sieu has said that MCA supports IPCMC. Can we expect the seven MCA MPs to support the IPCMC proposal in Parliament?

With  the support of  4 MIC MPs and 7 MCA MPs, all that is needed for IPCMC to become law and for an end to the scandalous  deaths in police custody in Malaysia is another 12 votes from the other Barisan Nasional MPs. Is this an impossible dream?

The six MPs in the Pakatan Rakyat IPCMC Parliamentary Task Force are:

M. Kulasegaran (DAP – Ipoh Barat)

Gobind Singh Deo (DAP – Puchong)

N. Surendran  – (PKR – Padang Serai)

Shamsul Iskandar – (PKR – Bukit Katil)

Mohamed Hanifa Maidin – (PAS – Sepang)

Siti Mariah Mahmud  – (PAS – Kota Raja)

We welcome the 133 Barisan Nasional MPs forming a similar IPCMC Parliamentary Task Force to work in tandem with the PR IPCMC Parliamentary Task Force to see the establishment of IPCMC.

I have asked Kulasegaran as the most senior MP to convene the  first meeting of the PR IPCMC Task Force as immediately as possible.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 5 June 2013, 6:59 am and is filed under
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Tugas pertama Zahid, KPN baru tangkap

Subky Abdul Latif

The Malaysian Insider

Jun 05, 2013

5 JUN ― Seorang menteri baru dan mana-mana pemegang jawatan baru diperhatikan akan tindakan pertamanya mengambil jawatan.

Tunku Abdul Rahan Putra semasa menjadi Ketua Menteri Tanah Melayu tahun 1955 tindakan pertamanya memperkenalkan undang-undang pengayuh basikal tidak boleh berpayung.

Tindakan pertama Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad mula jadi Perdana Menteri membebaskan tahanan ISA yang ditangkap Tun Hussein Onn seperti Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad Kok Lanas. Lama kemudian baru dia tangkap orang. Ramai!

Tun Abdullah Badawi pula tindakan pertamanya jadi Menteri Dalam Negara, menyekat Harakah dari dua kali seminggu kepada dua kali sebulan.

Kerja pertama Datuk Seri Najib Razak jadi Perdana Menteri, membenarkan semula Harakah terbit dua kali seminggu. Dia tidak kisah juallah Harakah di mana-mana dan kepada sesiapa.

Mari Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi jadi Menteri Dalam Negara dan Ketua Polisnya yang baru, langkah sulung kedua-duanya tangkap pembangkang dan rampas Harakah, KeADILan dan Roket.

Sama ada kedua-duanya berpakat atau tidak, tetapi mereka memulakan kerja dengan menangkap orang yang pada mereka ada salahnya. Empat tahun Najib jadi Perdana Menteri dengan dua KPN, Tan Sri Musa Hasan dan Tan Sri Ismail Omar, tidak dipedulikannya kepada siapa Harakah dijual dan diedar. Tak perasan dia ada menangkap pembangkang.

Tak sampai sepuluh hari Zahid jadi Menteri Dalam Negeri, kurang seminggu dia ada KPN baru, ditangkapnya tiga aktivis pembangkang termasuk Tamrin Ghafar dan Tian Chua atas nama undang-undang. Ketika sama mereka rampas Harakah dan lain-lain kerana langgar undang-undang.

Begitu banyak jenayah dan pelangaran undang-undang yang menyebabkan kematian, hilang harta benda, melari anak dan membuang anak, mengedar dadah dan lain-lain, yang mereka dulukan menyerbu Harakah dari pengedarnya. Benda-benda yang lebih besar tidak didulukan, penjualan Harakah secara terbuka yang diutamakan.

Ditanya Zahid tentang kejadian itu, katanya dia tidak tahu kerana ia tindakan polis. Sama ada polis maklumkan tindakan mendulukan benda yang boleh dikemudiankan, tindakan polis itu dilihat mencerminkan dasar dan sikapnya. Tanggungjawab dan akauntibiliti tetap kepadanya.

Polis ada kuasa tangkap sesiapa; sendiket dadah, tipu dan lain-lain tetapi polis tentu maklumkan kepada menteri terhadap tindakan yang melibatkan politik. Silap polis tangkap perompak dan penyamun tidak banyak melibatkan sikap menteri, tetapi tindakan tepat menangkap orang politik tetap menyentuh kebijaksanaan menteri.

Jika tangkapan keatas Tamrin dan Tian Chua itu menyebabkan kerajaan dan menteri boleh dicerca, maka menterilah yang lebih banyak dicerca. Dr Mahathir boleh salahkan Tan Sri Rahim Nor kerana mempelupuh Anwar Ibrahim sampai pengsan, walaupun Rahim Nor pikul akibatnya, tetapi tetap Mahathir dipersoal atas kekejaman Rahim itu.

Saya tidak mahu menyamakan Zahid dengan Dr Mahathir dan KPN baru dengan Rahim Nor, tetapi mereka telah memulakan tugasnya penuh kontroversi. Payah hendak membela mereka terutama semasa kerajaan, pemimpinnya dan polis dipertikai oleh banyak pihak.

Kedua mereka akan mengambil masa untuk menjadi pemimpin dan pegawai mesra rakyat kerena memerka memilih tindakan yang tidak popular sebagai tindakan pertama. Dr Mahathir dan Tun Hanif Omar sebagai KPN banyak tangkap orang di bawah ISA terutama peristiwa Operasi Lalang dan Memali. Tetapi dia memulakan tugas PM dengan membebas tahanan ISA yang membabitkan dakwaan komunis.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 6 June 2013, 7:47 am and is filed under
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Who is Zahid? Do we have a criminal as a new Home Minister?

I thank Malaysians who have expressed their outrage at the arrogance and cockiness of the new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was shown on television on Tuesday questioning: “Who is Lim Kit Siang? I don’t know who he is.”

What is important is not “Who is Lim Kit Siang” but “Who is Ahmad Zahid Hamidi” who has become the new Home Minister.

This has become particularly important following the call by the Chairman of the DAP Legal Bureau and MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo, to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to suspend Zahid from the Cabinet to prove the Prime Minister is serious about government reform.

Gobind has told the Prime Minister that it is “improper” to put a man who has been ordered to answer a civil suit for assault to be in charge of the powerful home ministry where his actions and conduct could invite conflict, which would reflect on his Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

What is Najib’s response to Gobind’s contention that putting Zahid in charge of the Home Ministry, which is responsible for the police, is to create  a position of conflict as the Home Ministry is one of the most powerful ministries, with significant influence over various bodies including the police and prisons.

Ahmad Zahid had been sued by businessman Amir Abdullah Bazli for allegedly punching him in the eye on January 16, 2006 at the Country Heights recreational club in Kajang, Selangor causing the latter to suffer a nasal bone fracture and a swollen left eye.

Then a deputy information minister, Ahmad Zahid had denied the allegation and applied to the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the case to be thrown out. The application was dismissed by the same court on April 21, 2010.

He later filed a countersuit against the 41-year-old, claiming to have suffered humiliation and emotional trauma as a result of the accusation.

But last year, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled against Zahid’s bid to strike out the assault suit and ordered the minister to pay RM5,000 in costs. It also ordered Zahid to respond to the action.

A response from Najib to Gobind’s query is in order, especially as he is the first Prime Minister to specifically appoint a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to be specifically responsible for “integrity” and “good governance”.

Najib should specifically explain whether he knew of the serious allegations of assault against Zahid when the latter was deputy information minister, and whether the Prime Minister had inquired why the police had not charged Zahid for criminal assault in 2006, and the answers that he received.

Paul Low, who is the Minister with the specific briefs of “integrity” and “good governance” should also declare whether he agrees that Zahid should stand down as Home Minister until he has fully cleared himself of the serious charges of assault going back to January 2006 when he was deputy information minister.

The case raises the pertinent question why Zahid had not been charged by the Police for the criminal offence of assault.

This raises the further question whether Malaysia has a criminal as the new Home Minister.

Is Zahid or Najib prepared to answer this issue, on Zahid’s suitability as Home Minister with the serious allegation of criminal assault hanging over Zahid when he was deputy information minister and the failure of the police then to charge Zahid, on the first working day of Parliament on June 26?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 6 June 2013, 8:42 am and is filed under
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Should one cry or laugh at Mahathir’s latest and most preposterous racist fulminations about  Chinese wanting to oust political power of Malays and dominate Malaysian politics?

Should one cry or laugh at Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s latest racist fulminations, making the preposterous claim that the 13th General Election is proof that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays and to  dominate Malaysian politics?

Cry because a former Prime Minister could be so racist, reckless and irresponsible as to continue to  try to set the Malays against the Chinese, outdoing his preposterous claim during the 13th General Elections that I was contesting in Gelang Patah to create a “racial confrontation” and that I was inciting the Chinese to hate the Malays.

There was not an ounce of truth in Mahathir’s allegations, but what is significant is that Mahathir’s allegations  failed to make any impression on the voters, particularly the Malay voters, as I could not have won Gelang Patah with a majority of over 14,000 votes without the support of the Malay voters.

Was Mahathir’s failure to make an impact on the 13GE with his racist fulminations the reason why he has upped the ante to make even more racist  and most preposterous fulminations that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays so as to dominate Malaysian politics?

Laugh that a former Prime Minister could go to such desperate lengths because his racist message is facing a diminishing market among the Malays that he had to concoct such wild lies that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays so as to dominate Malaysian politics!

Does Mahathir really believe his own allegations?  Does Mahathir expect any sane and rational Malaysian, regardless of race, to believe in his latest racist fulminations that the Chinese are out to oust the political power of the Malays and to dominate Malaysian politics – which are complete figments of his imagination like his earlier wild allegations that I  contested in Gelang Patah to create a racial confrontation and to incite Chinese to hate the Malays?

The most dismaying development in Malaysian politics is the reckless racist fulminations of Mahathir, but there is no need for Malaysians to despair.

It is said that “every cloud has a silver lining” and the silver lining is that Mahathir  is facing a diminishing market for his racist fulminations which will foil his attempt to pit the Malays against the Chinese.

Although Mahathir has repudiated his Vision 2020 and a Bangsa Malaysia, and Datuk Seri Najib Razak has yet to prove that he is serious and sincere about 1Malaysia, the 13GE has shown that more and more Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, are united by a common Malaysian Dream to want a  Malaysia which  transcends the politics of race, corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and all forms of injustices to take the country towards a new tomorrow where all Malaysians can hold their heads high as proud citizens of a Malaysian nation where there is freedom, justice, good governance, prosperity for all Malaysians where the politics of race is a nightmare of the past.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 7 June 2013, 5:50 pm and is filed under
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Will we stagnate with the status quo?

Zan Azlee

The Malaysian Insider

June 07, 2013

JUNE 7 — During the election period last month, I was pretty adamant about wanting to see change, whether it be a change in government, or at least a change in governance.

I had many discussions, conversations and even debates with fellow journalism colleagues, friends and family about this.

One of the conversations I had was about how if the federal government were to change, or even if certain ministers or MPs were to lose, what effect it would have.

One of the first things that came to my mind was that many businessmen who operated because of their “network” in the government would be out of business.

Say, for example, if a local businessman was awarded a project by the local MP because they were friends or acquaintances.

What would happen then if that MP lost during the election and the opposing party took power in that area? Would that local businessman lose business?

A lot of people I spoke to said that Malaysia being Malaysia, then of course that businessman would lose his opportunity to do business.

Obviously, this deduction is based on the assumption that the businessman was awarded projects due to cronyism and not merit.

I stated very strongly that these are the kinds of business operations that we do not need in Malaysia and we should get rid of them.

Can you imagine that some people could actually say to me that we should not try to “kacau periuk nasi orang”, and that these people actually chose the status quo based on this reason?

First of all, businesses like these actually kill off the many who conduct ethical operations. What about their “periuk nasi” then?

And, if there was a proper governance system in place, do you think a change in government would actually affect your “periuk nasi” if you were doing business the right way?

The way I see it is that what we’re lacking is a proper system in place that would safeguard and protect businesses and operations, or “periuk nasi.”

A company’s dealings with the government should not change just because the government representative changes.

They are supposed to deal with the government and not an individual. So a good system would not jeopardise anything if someone new takes over (unless it was unethical deal in the first place, as I had mentioned before).

So it strikes me as unthinkable when people claim that we need to maintain stability with the status quo because the change would be too much of a difference.

These are the same people who would go around uttering things such as “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

I also find it baseless when people say that by voting a new coalition into the government, we would be voting in the inexperience.

And, recently, when Umno’s Datuk Ahmad Maslan promoted the idea that the top two leadership positions in the party should not be contested, I became totally irritated.

Why? Because his reasons were that stability in Umno would mean stability in BN, and stability in BN would mean stability in the stock market.

Now, readers, you tell me if this is a valid and legit enough reason for keeping the country’s top leaders in power?

The way I look at it is that Malaysia is just in desperate need of a change. And that change that we so desperately need is a change from stagnation to progression.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 7 June 2013, 7:24 pm and is filed under
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Accepting criticism with an open mind

 — Douglas Teoh

The Malaysian Insider

June 07, 2013

JUNE 7 — I have little difficulty in confessing that I am a Pakatan Rakyat supporter.

After weighing the pros and cons of either coalition, the answer that emerges seems rather intuitive in nature. The current Barisan Nasional (BN) is corrupt, greedy and tyrannical — the worst kind of democratic government possible. Compare that to Pakatan — freedom fighters, typical wage-earning leaders, who also happen to be the electoral underdog.

In this battle, Pakatan occupies the moral high-ground, strengthening their discourse with populism and calls for social justice. Consequentially, any attack on Pakatan’s “character” by BN supporters seems ludicrous and invalid.

So what’s the issue here? Some might say that this is after all a classic good-versus-evil political narrative. Our sentiments (as with any good story) often lie with the struggling underdog who champions a good cause.

But there’s a catch. The trouble with this kind of dichotomous division of political parties is that we over-sympathise with and to some extent even victimise our party of choice.

Indeed, the sacrifices of some Pakatan leaders are awe-inspiring. To say that Tian Chua is less than a hero for lying in front of the FRU is “obviously” ethically wrong. I respect Pakatan leaders and what they have done for the country.

But their contributions do not absolve them of responsibility and legitimate criticism. This is based on my observations of comments in various news portals with regards to criticism of Pakatan. A good example would be the proposition by the Penang Malay Congress to delay the salary increment of state representatives. This is an instance where perfectly sound criticism is met with unreasonable responses by some pro-Pakatan supporters, who view it as an attack to gain “infamy points”.

Why should a populist coalition be immune to populist considerations in the first place? In essence, some Pakatan supporters may be subscribing to heuristics in order to make simplified judgments — BN is always wrong, and Pakatan, standing on the other side of the divide, is always right.

It results in the downplaying of criticism of the coalition we support. This is a negative outcome; after all, we would no longer be able to judge actions and policies in a constructive manner.

My suggestion is simple. The people have to be open about dialogue directed towards their chosen representatives. We should give credit where it is well deserved, and criticism where necessary. It is only with such a mindset that people can truly begin to regain ownership of their country and help to chart its future instead of relying on “heroes” (who are not immune to mistakes), in order to oppose the villains (who may not always be completely wrong).

Malaysia needs heroes for a revolution — but its development has to be driven by a synergy comprising a good leader and a sound public. — aliran.com

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 June 2013, 5:58 am and is filed under
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Mahathir trying to be King Canute a thousand years ago to stop the rise of the tide in the way he is trying to foment racial conflict and tensions when the tide is for the end of race politics

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is trying to be King Canute a thousand years ago to stop the rise of the tide in the way he is trying to stem the new tide in Malaysian politics after the 13th General Elections – growing support from Malaysians regardless of race for an end to  the politics of race, corruption and abuses of power and their replacement by the politics of the Malaysian Dream rising above race, corruption and cronyism.

It is most shocking and outrageous that after 22 years as Prime Minister and after fathering Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia, Mahathir should return to his racist roots during and after the 13th General Elections to foment racial conflict and tensions.

His latest racist fulmination that the 13th General Election is proof that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays and to  dominate Malaysian politics is totally outrageous, reckless and irresponsible, and most unbecoming and unworthy of a person who had been Prime Minister for 22 years – and worst of all, a person who fathered Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia.

Mahathir was already at his racist worst during the 13th General Elections when he made the preposterous  and baseless allegation that I was contesting in Gelang Patah to create a “racial confrontation” and that I was inciting the Chinese to hate the Malays.

There was not an ounce of truth in Mahathir’s allegations.

But what was most significant was that Mahathir’s allegations  failed to make any impression on the voters, particularly the Malay voters, as I could not have won Gelang Patah with a majority of over 14,000 votes without the support of the Malay voters.

Now Mahathir has come out with an even more proposterous allegation that  the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays so as to dominate Malaysian politics!

Mahathir has become the greatest enemy of a multi-racial Malaysia.

Let me advise Mahathir to stop being an inveterate racist and learn to be a Malaysian. I would even remind him of the Bangsa Malaysia objectie of his Vision 2020. Has Mahathir completely repudiated his Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia concept?

While I am completey outraged by Mahathir’s latest racist fulminations, I feel nontheless encouraged that he is speaking to a diminishing crowd, for the results of the 13th General Elections is the best proof that the young generation of Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Dayaks, have become more Malaysian-minded than Mahathir, and they are spearheading a new political wave to demand an end to the politics of race and corruption.

What they want is a new politics of a Malaysian Dream which could unite all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region, in a common national purpose to build a new  Malaysia where all Malaysians can hold their heads high as proud citizens of a Malaysian nation where there is freedom, justice, good governance, prosperity for all Malaysians where the politics of race is a nightmare of the past.

This is why I say Mahathir is trying to be King Canute a thousand years ago to command that the tide should not rise – in the same way as he is setting his face against the rising tide of the politics of a Malaysian Dream and an end to the politics of race.

[Media Conference Statement on arrival at the Kota Kinabalu Airport on Saturday, 8th June 2013 at 10am]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 8 June 2013, 2:27 pm and is filed under
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A ‘C.I.D’ Cabinet

 — The Malaysian Insider

Jun 09, 2013

JUNE 9 — Compromised. Insulting. Dangerous.

These three words describe aptly members of the Malaysian Cabinet formed following GE13.

* Compromised

Tengku Adnan Mansor is the least qualified to speak about the rule of law and following the law. This politician was found guilty by the Royal Commission of Inquiry of subverting the course of justice by trying to fix the appointment of judges.

The RCI recommended action against Tengku Adnan and five others for offences under the Sedition Act, Official Secrets Acts, Penal Code and the Legal Profession Act. The government disregarded the findings of the RCI, allowing Tengku Adnan to continue his political career. So today, he is a minister, giving him the platform to preach and lecture Malaysians, as he did when he chastised the Opposition for continuing its mass rallies.

“I would like to advise that we live in a place with law and order…we do not follow the laws of the jungle, “ he said, explaining why the police refused to grant a permit for the Opposition rally in Padang Merbok.

Can someone found guilty of subverting the rule of law talk about law and order? Can a compromised individual take the moral high ground?

* Insulting

Paul Low is a fast learner. He has adopted the preferred method of speaking to Malaysians by those in power: insult them.

He says that there is no need to place the MACC under the Special Parliamentary Committee as the anti-corruption agency is already independent.

“We agree that the MACC is performing its duties well and professionally but we also accept that many have an unclear perception towards the role of the MACC, “ said Low.

Let us get this fact clear: the only person who has an unclear perception on the role of the MACC is Low and his friends in Cabinet. The MACC should throw the book on those who enrich themselves in a corrupt manner. The growing consensus among many Malaysians is that the rich and connected get a free pass from the MACC. We repeat the consensus, not the perception. Low probably believes that the more times you repeat a mantra, the less ridiculous the statement sounds. Never mind if millions of Malaysians are insulted in the process.

* Dangerous

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the government will focus on rewarding the communities which supported the BN in GE13, naming the Malays, Indians, Siamese, etc.

Basically, he is intent of driving a wedge between different races in the country; a kind of them versus us and thereby, all but consigning reconciliation to the rubbish heap.

And this man has pretensions of becoming the Umno president and Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Muhyiddin should study what happened down south in Singapore. For years, the PAP, which bears close resemblance to Umno in how it dismisses dissenting opinion, threatened the voters of Singapore: vote for the Opposition and upgrading of your HDB estates will be on a slower track.

Guess what happened? Singaporeans were not cowed and in the last elections in the island republic, PAP were give a major jolt.

So, does Muhyiddin believe that 51 per cent of Malaysians who voted for Pakatan Rakyat will be cowed by his threats to marginalise them? If anything, the prevailing mood will be bring it on.

The unfortunate and dangerous fact is this: Muhyiddin’s statement shows that 1 Malaysia is dead, so is Bangsa Malaysia and all other inclusive initiatives.

Yes, we are being led by Compromised, Insulting and Dangerous individuals.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 June 2013, 8:11 pm and is filed under
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DAP leaders and members to start preparing for the 14th General Elections with two-fold objective – to effect change both at the Federal and Sabah state government levels

Sabah did not achieve our Pakatan Rakyat objectives of winning at least one third of the 26 parliamentary seats in Sabah so that in the three “fixed deposit” states of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore, PR can win 33 parliamentary seats to help Pakatan Rakyat to provide the final cluster of parliamentary seats to win Putrajaya for Pakatan Rakyat.

In the event, the three “fixed deposit” states of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore won for Pakatan Rakyat a total of 14 Parliamentary seats (Sabah 3, Sarawak 6 and Johore 5), out of a total of 83 seats, i.e. 16.9% instead of the 33.3% targetted.

Although this target for the three “fixed deposit” states of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore to achieve a total of 33 parliamentary seats for Pakatan Rakyat had not been realised, one ineluctable fact to emerge from the 13GE is that none of the three states of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore can now be regarded as a “fixed deposit” state for Barisan Nasional and the contest and competition for the hearts and minds of the people of Sabah, Sarawak and Johore are now fully out in the open arena.

For Sabah, a lively and strong Opposition presence has now been restored to the Sabah State Assembly after an absence of two decades, with 11 State Assemblymen (DAP 4 and PKR 7) from Pakatan Rakyat and one from Star.

However, the May 5 general elections is  an expensive lesson for the Opposition in Sabah, for the Barisan Nasional would have lost in another four parliamentary and eight state assembly seats if not for split votes among the Opposition candidates.

The  four parliamentary constituencies are P. 168 Kota Marudu, P. 180 Keningau, P. 181 Tenom and P. 182 Pensiangan while the eight state assembly seats are No. 11 Kiulu, N.29 Kundasang, N. 31 Paginatan, N. 32 Tambunan, N. 34 Liawan, No. 35 Melalap, N.38 Nabawan and N.45 Elopura.

In fact, an united Opposition could have brought the total score of Parliamentary and State Assembly seats for the Opposition in Sabah to 11  Parliamentary (I.e the present three, plus four lost due to split votes and another four, viz. P. 177 Beaufort, P. 170 Tuaran, P. 179 Ranau and P. 169 Kota Belud) and 26 State Assembly seats (i.e. the present 12, plus eight lost due to split votes and another six, viz. N.2 Tanjong Kapor, N.30 Karanaan, N.36 Kemabong, N. 37 Sook, N. 44 Karamunting and N.46 Tanjong Papat).

For the 13GE, I have always believed that it is easier for Pakatan Rakyat to win the Federal Government in Putrajaya than to win the Sabah State Government.

However, the challenges for Pakatan Rakyat in the 14GE is very different, for we will have a two-fold objective – to win the Federal Government in Putrajaya as well as the Sabah state government.

For this reason, my message to DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders, member and supporters is that there is no time for rest as we must work immediately to achieve what we failed in the 13GE as well as to ensure that we build a solid foundation to also win the Sabah State Governmment in the 14GE.

For this reason, apart from the four existing DAP State Assembly seats, DAP Sabah will immediately focus on 13 areas to help Pakatan Rakyat achieve the two-fold objectives for the 14GE – namely Elopura, Karamunting, Tanjong Papat, Tanjong Aru, Karanaan, Paginatan, Tanjong Kapor, Melalap, Kemabong, Liaiwan, Sook, Tambunan and  Merotai.

To help in the DAP and PR campaign in Sabah for the 14GE, DAP MPs and State Assemblymen, whether in or out of Sabah,  will be encouraged to “adopt”  these targetted 13 Sabah constituencies.  The Sabah State Committee, together with the CEC co-ordinator for Sabah and Sarawak, Teresa Kok, will work out the details of these “adoption” programmes, which can have more than one DAP elected representative being appointed to adopt each of the 13 constituencies.

For a start, I will adopt Karanaan state constituency as I visited Ranau for the Kg Sarapong Pesta Kaamatan yesterday.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 June 2013, 10:10 am and is filed under
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Mahathir should be a model Malaysian and not be a stereotypical racist in the evening of his days

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has shocked and outraged many Malaysians with his recent conduct where both during and after the 13GE, he had been one of the most extremist and racist voices in the country.

In the evening of his days, Mahathir should be a model Malaysian instead of being a stereotypical racist, seeking to pit the Malays against the Chinese.

Immediately after the May 5 general election results, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak talked about the need for a programme of “national reconciliation” but if there is an independent study and investigation into the speeches and statements made during and after the 13th General Elections, I have no doubt that it would be found that all the racist and chauvinist utterances, inciting racial conflict and hatred, emanate from the Umno/Barisan Nasional side whether from the UMNO/BN leaders or from their mouthpieces whether official or unofficial, like Mahathir himself.

If all the racist and chauvinistic appeals, trying to incite communal distrust and discord, whether during or after the 13GE, emanate from the UMNO/BN side, how can the UMNO/BN leaders have the temerity of trying to put the blame of worsening racial relations on Pakatan Rakyat?

In the 1999 general elections, it was the Chinese voters who saved Mahathir and UMNO from the Barisan Alternative comprising DAP, Parti Keadilan, Parti Rakyat Malaysia and PAS when Anwar was first sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister and jailed in Sungai Buloh prison.

Why didn’t Mahathir accuse the Chinese voters at the time of trying to oust the political power of the Malays and to dominate politics in Malaysia?

Mahathir should stop undermining all his advocacy of Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia in his final 13 years as Prime Minister from 1991-2003, as he should be a model Malaysian if he is sincere and serious about his Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia concept.

I would urge Mahathir to put national and Malaysian interests above his petty personal interests and considerations.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 June 2013, 12:54 pm and is filed under
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There should be total revamp of the election system and the Election Commission, whose three functions should be carried out by three  separate bodies

The 13th General Election has highlighted that the country has a very ineffective and  inefficient election system which is incapable of conducting  a  clean, free, fair or democratic elections in the country, resulting for the first time in the nation’s 56-year history in a Prime Minister and a government whose legitimacy is under widespread doubt.

The time has come for a total revamp of the election system and the Election Commission, whose three functions should be carried out by three separate bodies.

Under the Constitution, the Election Commission has three functions, viz:

(i)	To conduct elections to Parliament and the State Assemblies;

(ii)	To register voters and prepare and revise electoral rolls;

(iii)	To delimit constituencies.

In other democratic countries, these three functions are carried out by separate bodies and this is something we  can emulate if it will lead to a cleaner, more just and fairer electoral system.

I have always contended in Parliament in the past four decades that the Election Commission has a constitutional duty to conduct a clean, free and fair elections and  not just to mechanically conduct an election process.

The recently-held 13GE witnessed the most massive use of money politics to buy and influence voters, but the indifference, apathy and inability of the Election Commission to curb such electoral abuses and corrupt practices is a sad reflection of the Election Commission’s failure and inability to conduct clean, free and fair elections.

Thousands of electoral offences, including abuses and corrupt  practices from money politics, are committed in every general elections, but nobody has been charged for such electoral offences.

Similarly, the absence  of media freedom, particularly the misuse and abuse of the government ownership and control of  radio and television channels, highlights another major flaw of the Election Commission in it failure to carry out clean, free and fair elections.

We want a totally revamped Election Commission which must have full powers and responsibilities to conduct a clean, free and fair elections, including taking action to curb electoral abuses like money politics and unfair media coverage during the election period.

May be it is time that Malaysia has an Election Commission whose sole duty is to conduct clean, free and fair elections, while the task of registering voters and preparing the electoral roll as well as the delimitation of constituencies are given to other bodies.

In other countries, the registration of voters is a very simple process – but in Malaysia, it is a very complicated and elaborate affair. Why should this be so?

In New Zealand, voters could register on the eve of polling day to enable them to cast their vote the next day; but in Malaysia, the Election Commission takes three to six months before a new voter could register on the electoral roll, which is further tainted by bogus or phantom voters.

With information technology, it is time that Malaysia introduces automatic registration of voters when they come of age.

Other countries have also different commissions for the delimitation of constituencies. This will  help Election Commission to maintain its independent, impartial and professional character as Commissioners would not be involved in political machinations like gerrymandering of constituencies to benefit the ruling parties.

The revamp of the electoral system and the Election Commission should be top priority in the first meeting of the 13th Parliament starting on June 24.

In fact, it should be  one of the major terms of reference of a Royal Commission of Inquiry which should be set up to inquire into the 13th General Election, how the 13GE had failed to measure up to the standards of clean, free and clean elections criteria and what immediate measure should be be taken to restore public confidence in the electoral system and the Election Commission.

(Media Conference Statement in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday, 9th June 2013 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 9 June 2013, 6:35 pm and is filed under
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Dr. Mahathir should look within himself and within his own party UMNO to discover who the real ‘racists’ are

In Dr. Mahathir’s chequered career as a politician, he has always looked for ‘bogeymen’ in order to divert attention from his own shortcomings and that of UMNO as well as the Barisan Nasional coalition. It seems that he has now come full circle by once again blaming the Chinese and also the DAP for increasing racial polarization in Malaysia and for being ‘chauvinists’.

One can only guess if Dr. Mahathir’s post-GE13 barrage against the Chinese and the DAP is driven by his own blind prejudices or by fears that his true legacy will be revealed for all to see if Pakatan wins power in Putrajaya or by growing senility or perhaps all of the above.

What we do know is that his accusations that DAP is a chauvinist party that plays on racial sentiment to draw Chinese support away from the BN is nothing but a pack of lies that is totally divorced from reality.

The fact that Dr. Mahathir can say that ‘When it (DAP) held elections to its Central Committee recently other than Karpal Singh all the members elected were Chinese’ shows his utter disregard for facts in his crazed attempts to ‘brand’ DAP as a ‘chauvinist’ party.[1] A simple ‘google check’ would have shown Dr. Mahathir that M.Kulasegaran (current MP for Ipoh Barat), Gobind Singh Deo (current MP for Puchong) and Zairil Khir Johari (current MP for Bukit Bendera) were all elected into the Central Committee. The records will also show that DAP has had Indian and Malay leaders elected into the Central Executive Committee (CEC) in every single party elections since the formation of the party in 1966.

If Dr. Mahathir had bothered to examine the current DAP leadership line-up on our website[2], he would see that we have Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban and Kadazan members in our Central Executive Committee. Rather than pointing the finger at the DAP, Dr. Mahathir should ask himself how many non-Malay leaders have been elected or appointed into the UMNO Supreme Council to answer the question of who the real racists are.

Since Dr. Mahathir seems incapable of using the internet to check facts or perhaps he lacks the resources to hire a proper research assistant, let me highlight to him DAP’s record as a multiracial party that has competed in 11 general elections since 1969.

The DAP has fielded non-Chinese candidates in each general election since 1969 at the parliament and state levels (See Table 1 below). In fact, in some of these elections, DAP’s Malay candidates at the parliament (1995) and state (1974, 1978, 1982) outnumbered the Indian candidates.

With the exception of the 1999 general elections, the DAP has had at least one non-Chinese MP or ADUN. Prior to the 2013 GE, DAP Malay candidates were successful in winning state seats in the 1969, 1974, 1982, 1986 and 1990 general elections and in winning a parliament seat in the 1990 general elections.

In the 1969 GE, Ibrahim bin Singgeh defeated an UMNO candidate in N39 Tapah in Perak while Haji Hassan bin Haji Ahmad defeated an UMNO candidate in N14 Si Rusa in Negeri Sembilan.

In the 1974 GE, Daing Ibrahim bin Othman defeated an MCA candidate in N23 Pasir Puteh in Perak.

In the 1982 GE, Mohd Fadzlan bin Yahya defeated an MCA candidate in N37 Pasir Bedamar in Perak. He retained this seat in the 1986 GE.

In the 1990 GE, Ahmad Nor became the first DAP Malay MP by defeating an MCA candidate in the P47 Bayan Baru seat. In the same elections, Fadzlan Yahya defeated an MCA candidate in N24 Lahat while Mohd Asri defeated a GERAKAN candidate in N19 Dermawan, both in Perak.

Table 1: Number of non-Chinese candidates fielded by DAP from 1969 to 2013 general elections

                    Parliament

                    State

                    Year

                    Indian*

                    Malay

                    Others**

                    Total

                    Indian*

                    Malay

                    Others**

                    Total

                    1969

                    3

                    1

                    4

                    6

                    9

                    15

                    1974

                    7

                    5

                    12

                    15

                    31

                    46

                    1978

                    9

                    9

                    18

                    14

                    21

                    35

                    1982

                    9

                    8

                    17

                    15

                    19

                    34

                    1986

                    8

                    3

                    11

                    15

                    12

                    27

                    1990

                    7

                    4

                    11

                    15

                    5

                    20

                    1995

                    6

                    8

                    14

                    16

                    13

                    29

                    1999

                    8

                    4

                    12

                    16

                    3

                    19

                    2004

                    5

                    3

                    8

                    6

                    2

                    8

                    2008

                    8

                    2

                    10

                    16

                    1

                    17

                    2013

                    8

                    3

                    7

                    18

                    16

                    1

                    1

                    18

*Including Eurasions ** Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera

The DAP broke new ground in 2013 by fielding 7 Sabah and Sarawak Bumiputera parliamentary candidates. In fact, DAP fielded more Sarawak Bumiputera candidates (6) compared to Chinese candidates (5) in Sarawak.

The DAP also broke new ground in 2013 with the successful election of 2 Malay MPs (Zairil Khair Johari in Bukit Bendera, Penang and Mohd Ariff Sabri bin Abdul Aziz in Raub, Pahang), 1 Malay ADUN (Tengku Zulpuri Shah bin Raja Puji in Mentakab in Pahang) and 1 Kadazan ADUN (Dr. Edwin Bosi in Kepayan in Sabah).

In terms of Indian representation, DAP now has more Indian MPs (6) and ADUNs (14) compared to MIC (4 MPs and 5 ADUNs).

Dr. Mahathir also accused the DAP of fielding Chinese candidates only in Chinese majority constituencies. Again, Dr. Mahathir has failed miserably to do his homework. The DAP fielded 8 Chinese candidates in non-Chinese majority parliamentary seats including P135 Alor Gajah which is 58% Malay. DAP won 7 of these mixed parliament seats including P128 Seremban which is 44% Malay, 41% Chinese and 14% Indian.

DAP also fielded 12 Chinese candidates in non-Chinese majority state seats including N1 Titi Tinggi in Perlis which is 76% Malay and N14 Kelebang in Melaka which is 60% Malay. The DAP won 10 out of these 12 state seats including N11 Derga in Kedah which is 56% Malay and N21 Duyong which is 50% Malay.

All in all, DAP won 9 parliament and 17 state seats which were non-Chinese majority (<50% Chinese voters) including P80 Raub which is a 50% Malay parliament seat and also N30 Mentakab, which is a 50% Malay state seat. Both of these seats were contested and won by DAP Malay candidates.

In contrast, of the 73 of the parliament seats held by UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia, only 2 were non Malay majority (Pasir Gudang and Pulai in Johor) (<50% Malay). And of the 210 state seats held by UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia, only 3 were non-Malay majority seats (N5 Tenang, N27 Layang Layang and N49 Nusa Jaya)(<50% Malay).  None were Chinese majority seats. If Dr. Mahathir wants to accuse DAP Chinese candidates of contesting only in non-Chinese majority seats, perhaps he should first start by looking at UMNO and ask why UMNO is contesting in only Malay majority seats. In fact, the only time that UMNO has contested in a Chinese majority seat is when UMNO ‘sacrificed’ former Johor Menteri Besar, Abdul Ghani Othman, by sending him to compete in the 52% Chinese majority seat of Gelang Patah where I was contesting.

The so-called ‘indisputable fact’ alleged by Dr. Mahathir that ‘DAP has succeeded in destroying the collaboration or sharing between the difference races as exemplified by the BN coalition’ is nothing but a flight of fantasy. What is indisputable is the fact that within the BN, there is no true collaboration but rather domination by UMNO. This was seen in the recent 13th general elections when MCA was forced to give up three of its parliament seats to UMNO – Kuantan, Wangsa Maju and Gelang Patah – all of which was lost by UMNO. Whenever UMNO says ‘jump’, the BN component parties will say ‘how high’. This domination by UMNO will only grow as it loses confidence in its coalition partners’ ability to deliver seats.

For Dr. Mahathir to say that ‘Pakatan is not a true coalition’ is another example of his increasing delusion and control of facts. There is no first among equals among Pakatan parties. PKR, DAP and PAS are co-equals at the table unlike the BN. There is a genuine negotiation between all three parties unlike the BN. The selection of Anwar Ibrahim as the leader of the opposition was unanimous among the Pakatan parties even though PKR did not win the most number of parliament seats. PAS and DAP supported Khalid Ibrahim as the Menteri Besar of Selangor even though each party won more state seats (15 each) compared to PKR (14). All three Pakatan parties won more state seats in the 13th general election, something which Dr. Mahathir has conveniently forgotten. There is no intention for any one Pakatan party to ‘dominate’ the politics within Pakatan much less so at the national level as alleged by Dr Mahathir.

Dr. Mahathir should instead point the finger at himself, at UMNO and at the BN coalition for being the true culprits behind increasing racial polarization. It was Dr. Mahathir who worked behind the scenes as Perkasa advisor to all PERKASA leaders – Zulkifli Nordin and Ibrahim Ali – to run as de factor candidates in GE13. It was Utusan who played up racial sentiment to increase the fear among the Malays by creating lies and fiction about the DAP. It was MCA who published fear mongering advertisements in the English and Chinese press and in the Chinese radio stations in order to increase racial polarization between the Chinese and the Muslims in Malaysia.

If there is one thing that I can agree with Dr. Mahathir on is this statement that ‘racial polarization has become more pronounced’ and that ‘it will become more so in the future’. The blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of BN leaders including past leaders like Dr. Mahathir. The only way for us to move away from ‘racial polarization’ is not to continue to support the BN but to look at Pakatan as the hope for the future and to PKR, PAS and DAP as multiracial parties who fielded candidates from not just one race during the 13th general election and who continues to fight for the rights of Malaysians regardless of race, language, religion and background.

[1]
http://chedet.cc/?p=1010

[2]
http://dapmalaysia.org/newenglish/au_l_n.htm

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 June 2013, 7:11 pm and is filed under
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Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks

By Barton Gellman, Aaron Blake and Greg Miller

Washington Post

Monday, June 10

Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former undercover CIA employee, unmasked himself Sunday as the principal source of recent Washington Post and Guardian disclosures about top-secret National Security Agency programs.

Snowden, who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, denounced what he described as systematic surveillance of innocent citizens and said in an interview that “it’s important to send a message to government that people will not be intimidated.”

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said Saturday that the NSA had initiated a Justice Department investigation into who leaked the information — an investigation supported by intelligence officials in Congress.

Snowden, whose full name is Edward Joseph Snowden, said he understands the risks of disclosing the information but felt it was important to do.

“I’m not going to hide,” Snowden told The Post from Hong Kong, where he has been staying. The Guardian was the first to publicly identify Snowden, at his request. “Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”

Asked whether he believed his disclosures would change anything, he said: “I think they already have. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”

Snowden said nobody was aware of his actions, including those closest to him. He said there wasn’t a single event that spurred his decision to leak the information.

“It was more of a slow realization that presidents could openly lie to secure the office and then break public promises without consequence,” he said.

Snowden said President Obama hasn’t lived up to his pledges of transparency. He blamed a lack of accountability in the Bush administration for continued abuses. The White House did not respond to multiple e-mails seeking comment and spokesman Josh Earnest, who was traveling with the president, said the White House would have no comment Sunday.

“It set an example that when powerful figures are suspected of wrongdoing, releasing them from the accountability of law is ‘for our own good,’ ” Snowden said. “That’s corrosive to the basic fairness of society.”

Snowden also expressed hope that the NSA surveillance programs would now be open to legal challenge for the first time. Earlier this year, in Amnesty International v. Clapper, the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the mass collection of phone records because the plaintiffs could not prove exactly what the program did or that they were personally subject to surveillance.

“The government can’t reasonably assert the state secrets privilege for a program it has acknowledged. The courts can now allow challenges to be heard on that basis,” Snowden said.

Snowden said he is seeking “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy,” but the law appears to provide for his extradition from Hong Kong to the United States.

Hong Kong is a semiautonomous territory of China, but while the United States doesn’t have an extradition agreement with China, it has had one with Hong Kong since 1998. This means that the U.S. government could indict Snowden and seek to bring him back to American soil.

Such proceedings can take months and even years, but extradition expert Douglas McNabb said Snowden has not put himself in a favorable position.

“The fact that he outed himself and basically said, from what I understand he has said, ‘I feel very comfortable with what I have done’ . . . that’s not going to help him in his extradition contest,” McNabb said. “I am very surprised by the way that he’s handled it.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said the revelation of Snowden’s role in the leaks would lead to a sweeping re-examination of security measures at the CIA and NSA, and described his apparent decision to come forward as a stunning conclusion to a week of disclosures that had already rattled the intelligence community.

“This is significant on a number of fronts: the scope, the range. It’s major, it’s major,” said John Rizzo, former general counsel of the CIA, who worked at the agency for decades. “And then to have him out himself . . . I can’t think of any previous leak case involving a CIA officer where the officer raised his hand and said, ‘I’m the guy.’ ”

A half-dozen former intelligence officials, including one who now works at Booz Allen Hamilton, said they did not know Snowden or anything about his background. Still, several former officials said that he easily could have been part of a surge in the number of computer experts and technical hires brought in by the agency in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as its budget and mission swelled.

“Like a lot of things after 9/11, they just went on a hiring binge and in the technical arena young smart nerds were in high demand,” a former U.S. intelligence official said. “There were battalions of them.”

Officials said that the CIA and other spy agencies did not relax their screening measures as the workforce expanded. Still, several officials said that the agency would undoubtedly now begin reviewing the process by which Snowden was hired, seeking to determine whether there were any missed signs that he might one day betray national secrets.

More broadly, the CIA and NSA may be forced to reexamine their relationships with contractors, who were employed in roles ranging from technical support to paramilitary operations before concerns about the outsourcing of such sensitive assignments prompted a backlash in Congress and pledges from the agencies to begin thinning their contracting ranks.

Some former CIA officials said they were troubled by aspects of Snowden’s background, at least as he described it in his comments to the Guardian. Snowden said he did not even have a high school degree.

One former CIA official said it was extremely unusual for the agency to have hired someone with such thin academic credentials, particularly for a technical job, and that the terms Snowden used to describe his agency positions didn’t match internal job descriptions.

Snowden’s claim to have been placed under diplomatic cover for a position in Switzerland after an apparently brief stint at the CIA as a systems administrator also raised suspicions. “I just have never heard of anyone being hired with so little academic credentials,” the former CIA official said. The agency does employ technical specialists in overseas stations, the former official said, “but their breadth of experience is huge and they tend not to start out as systems administrators.”

Snowden’s name surfaced as top intelligence officials in the Obama administration and Congress pushed back against the journalists responsible for revealing the existence of sensitive surveillance programs and called for an investigation into the leaks.

The Guardian initially reported the existence of a program that collects data on all phone calls made on the Verizon network. Later in the week, the Guardian and The Post reported the existence of a separate program, code-named PRISM, that collects the Internet data of foreigners from major Internet companies.

Clapper, in an interview with NBC that aired Saturday night, condemned the leaker’s actions but also sought to spotlight the media who first reported the programs, calling their disclosures irresponsible and full of “hyperbole.” Earlier Saturday, he had issued a statement accusing the media of a “rush to publish.”

“For me, it is literally — not figuratively — literally gut-wrenching to see this happen because of the huge, grave damage it does to our intelligence capabilities,” Clapper said.

On Sunday morning, prior to Snowden’s unmasking, Clapper got some backup from the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees, who appeared jointly on ABC’s “This Week” to espouse the values of the programs.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) had harsh words for the then-unnamed leaker and for the journalist who first reported the NSA’s collection of phone records, The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald.

“[Greenwald] doesn’t have a clue how this thing works; nether did the person who released just enough information to literally be dangerous,” Rogers said, adding, “I absolutely think [the leaker] should be prosecuted.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) agreed that whoever had leaked the information should be prosecuted, and she sought to beat back media reports that suggest the Obama administration overplayed the impact of the programs.

Greenwald, who appeared earlier on the same show, said the secrecy is the reason the programs must be laid bare.

After opponents of the programs questioned their value last week, anonymous administration officials pointed to the thwarting of a bomb plot targeting the New York City subway system in 2009. Soon after, though, reporters noted that public documents suggested regular police work was responsible for thwarting the attack rather than a secret government intelligence program.

Feinstein confirmed that the programs were invaluable in both the New York case and another one involving an American plotting to bomb a hotel in India in 2008.

“One of them is the case of David Headley, who went to Mumbai to the Taj [Mahal] Hotel and scoped it out for the terrorist attack,” Feinstein said. “The second is Najibullah Zazi, who lived in Colorado, who made the decision that he was going to blow up a New York subway.”

Feinstein noted that she could talk about those two cases because they have been declassified, but she suggested the surveillance programs also assisted in other terrorism-related cases.

That explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy some critics of the programs. Her Senate Intelligence Committee colleague, Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), agreed that the PRISM program has “been very effective.” But he said the collection of Americans’ phone metadata has not proven so.

“It’s unclear to me that we’ve developed any intelligence through the metadata program that’s led to the disruption of plots that we couldn’t obtain through other programs,” Udall said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Udall and two Democrats from Oregon — Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley — have emerged as key voices critical of the phone record collection.

Another chief critic of the efforts, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said he is looking at filing a lawsuit against the government and called on Americans to join in.

“I’m going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone companies, ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit,” Paul said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If we get 10 million Americans saying we don’t want our phone records looked at, then somebody will wake up and say things will change in Washington.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 10 June 2013, 7:01 am and is filed under
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