Is ACA chief  Zulkifli the cause for the cancellation of the PSCI meeting on Monday?

I have this morning sent an urgent fax to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (PSCI), Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, proposing that the Select Committee meeting on Monday should be held as scheduled to hear the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor and former top ACA officer and “whistleblower” Mohamad Ramli Manan or to reconsider whether to hear the duo  and the  Select Committee’s role in latest developments raising fundamental questions about national integrity, in particular in ACA and Police

I also placed on  record my shock and protest at Bernard’s  announcement yesterday arbitrarily cancelling the PSCI  meeting on Monday to hear Zulkipli  and  Ramli on serious allegations of corruption in the ACA.

I stressed that as the  March 12 meeting to hear Zulkipli and Ramli was the formal decision of the PSCI meeting on 27th  Feb. 2007, the second day of its meeting  to deal with issues concerning the scourge of the false identity card rackets in Sabah, any cancellation of the March 12  meeting could only be made by the PSCI itself and not unilaterally and arbitrarily by any one person.

Bernard said in his statement yesterday that  the decision to cancel the Select Committee meeting on Monday  was the decision of the majority of the Integrity Select Committee and
New Straits Times
today even reported that the decision was taken at a meeting of the Select Committee meeting yesterday.

There was no meeting of the Integrity Select Committee yesterday. I have checked with the MPs who attended the PSCI meeting of Feb. 27 and found that there is no clear majority in favour of the cancellation of the March 12 meeting.

Bernad phoned me on the evening of  Wednesday, 7th March 2007, to discuss whether the March 12 meeting should be cancelled. At that time, I was hospitalized at the Penang Lam Wah Ee Hospital and had just undergone an eye operation.

I made my views very clear however that the PSCI meeting of March 12 to hear both Zulkifli and Ramli should proceed as scheduled especially as both of them have publicly stated their preparedness to appear to speak the whole truth with both claiming that they have nothing to hide.

Police investigations against Zulkifli and the filing of lawsuits by Ramli against his former boss and several government agencies cannot be excuses or justification for the arbitrary and unparliamentary cancellation of the Monday meeting, as the PSCI is not intended to be a court of law but has special responsibility to address  the problem of integrity in ACA, in particular in the latest developments with ACA suffering its worst national and international crisis of confidence in its  integrity and incorruptibility.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity is not an arm of the Executive and its whole credibility, legitimacy and integrity will be at stake if it is seen as buckling down to any ulterior and  improper pressures to arbitrarily cancel its meeting on Monday to hear Zulkipli and Ramli on ACA corruption.

The very purpose  of having a Parliamentary Select Committee on  Integrity will also become an issue if it is unable to address promptly with the biggest crisis of  integrity not only in the past three years but in the 50-year history of the nation — viz the  latest developments raising fundamental questions about national integrity, in particular in ACA and Police.

As  the  notice to cancel the PSCI meeting on Monday is  improper, unparliamentary, arbitrary and  defective,  the PSCI should meet  on Monday as scheduled, especially as Zulkipli and Ramli have committed publicly to attend.

Alternatively, the PSCI should meet on March 12 to decide whether to hear Zulkipli and Ramli and  the Select Committee’s role in latest developments raising fundamental questions about national integrity, in particular in ACA and the Police.

Questions have been raised as to the real cause for the abrupt and arbitrary cancellation of Monday’s meeting.

Could it be that despite public claims of preparedness to appear before the PSCI by Zulkipli and Ramli, this is not really the case? If so, who could it be, Zulkipli or Ramli who is unwilling to appear before the Select Committee?

Ramli would not have the influence  to force the cancellation of the Monday meeting  even if he is unwilling to appear, but Zulkipli would have the leverage  to cause the cancellation of the Select Committee meeting.   Both Zulkipli and Ramli should publicly declare whether they still stand by their earlier public statements about their preparedness to appear before the Select Committee on Integrity to tell all as they have nothing to hide.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 9 March 2007, 10:43 am and is filed under
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NS mishaps and disasters – whistleblower Zulkarnain sacked instantly

Two news reports today do not inspire confidence that the trouble-prone national service (NS) training programme  has learnt from all its  weaknesses, defects, blunders, mishaps  and disasters, including 12 trainee deaths in the past three years, viz:

	The failure to notify the second batch of 35,046 trainees two months before they are to report for training on March 18, as announced in November last year. Instead,  notification was only  issued  three weeks before March 18.
(Sin Chew Daily)

	The Star report
“NS camp chief gets the boot”

on the sacking with immediate effect of Camp commandant Zulkarnain Abdullah after he criticized the management of the three-star  Kisana Beach Resort National Service (NS) camp in Kelantan, which had been described as
“camp hell”
by the first batch of trainees there. The most recent case of  national service trainee death, Prema Elenchelian, 18, from Cheras Perdana, Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 27  is from the camp. Zulkarnain alleged that he was sacked for protecting the health, safety and welfare of the 400 trainees and criticizing the shabby conditions of the resort’s management company, Rimbun Kisana Development Sdn. Bhd.

The instant sacking of “whistleblower” camp commandant Zulkarnain does not inspire confidence that the National Service Training Department is  prepared to give top priority to the interests and welfare  of the national service trainees as compared to the profiteering  camp and resort managements.

Zulkarnain, who received his dismissal letter from the NS Department on Thursday evening and was barred from attending the NS closing ceremony marking the end of the first NS programme this year, is clearly being punished for the New Straits Times report of the same day,
“Trainees say it’s hell but company begs to differ”.

The report carried the trainees’ litany of complaints, which “run from boring exercises, run-down dormitories and grubby food to camp managers who just do not care”, with horror stories such as:

	squalid dormitories which had faulty electrical appliances or no regular supply of running water;

	“There are six fans in the dorms, but only two work. The faucets let out air and mosquitoes when you open them and the only water to bathe in is groundwater. When we take our bath with the groundwater, which is infested with mosquito larvae, we will come down with rashes.”

	Food served “atrocious and laced with insects and maggots”;

	Food always “arrives late, especially now that the dining hall has been shut down, and we are given nasi bungkus (packed rice).”  The camp’s dining hall was sealed by Pasir Putih district council authorities on Feb 26 after inspectors found that it did not adhere to guidelines.

Zulkarnain said he had repeatedly raised these problems with the camp management, which had ignored the pleas.

Rimbun Kisana Holdings chairman
Tengku Azran Badrul Tengku Mohd Adnan
 denied the claims, describing them as “personal and ill-intentioned”, asking if the camp was sub-standard, how it could get a three-star rating from the  National Service Training Department.

This is a question Malaysians would want answer.  Zulkarnain should be commended for speaking out against the deplorable conditions detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the trainees.

But this is  another case of the whistleblower being punished for exposing weaknesses and defects of  national service training camps, which will completely undermine public confidence that the National Service Training Department is serious about a full revamp of the national service training programme after the recent spate of mishaps and disasters, including:

	NS transport fiasco in January;

	Two NS trainees deaths for the first batch of NS trainees – Ili Ameera, 17, from Seremban and Prema Elenchelian;

	Asilalatin Abdul Basir, 17, formerly of SMK Ibrahim I in Pasir Mas, suffering paralysis and loss of  the use of her legs  and unable to feel anything from the waist down after undergoing a routine physical exercise at Camp Teluk Rubiah in Sitiawan, Perak, last month.

Recently, public demands have escalated for the suspension of the national service training programme until there is a full review and revamp to overcome its weaknesses and defects, and even outright calls for its cancellation and for the programme to be introduced during the schooling period.

The latest developments, particularly the arbitrary sacking of whistleblower Zulkarnain, will reinforce  the public demand for the immediate suspension of the national service programme as it demonstrates the incapability of the National Service Training Department to give top priority to the  life, health, safety and welfare of the trainees above all other considerations.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 March 2007, 3:02 pm and is filed under
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PSC Integrity meeting on Monday – Zulkipli and Ramli should voluntarily attend

The Monday (March 12)  meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (PSCI) will be held as fixed although with an altered agenda.

The March 12 meeting had been decided by the PSCI at its meeting on 27th  Feb. 2007  to hear the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general, Datuk Zulkipli  Mat Noor and former  top ACA officer and “whistleblower”, Mohamad Ramli Manan on serious allegations of corruption in the ACA; but the Chairman of PSCI, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had on Thursday arbitrarily and unilaterally made a shock announcement of its cancellation in view of police investigations against Zulkifli and the filing of lawsuits by Ramli against his former boss and several government agencies.

I had
faxed a protest
to Bernard yesterday asking that the  PSCI meeting on March 12 should be held as scheduled to hear Zulkipli and Ramli or to reconsider whether to hear the duo  and the  Select Committee’s role in the  latest developments raising fundamental questions about national integrity, in particular in ACA and Police.

As the  March 12 meeting to hear Zulkipli and Ramli was the formal decision of the PSCI meeting on 27th  Feb. 2007 – the second day of its meeting  to deal with issues concerning the scourge of the false identity card rackets in Sabah – any cancellation of the March 12  meeting could only be made by the PSCI itself and not unilaterally and arbitrarily by any one person.

Bernard has agreed that the PSCI meeting on Monday should proceed as scheduled to consider whether Zulkipli and Ramli should appear before the Select Committee. A new notice from Parliament  informing all MPs on  the  PSCI of the Monday meeting had been sent out yesterday.

Although the invitation to Zulkipli and Ramli to the Select Committee meeting on Monday  had been  cancelled  earlier and they  had accordingly  been informed,  both of them should voluntarily attend the PSCI meeting in Parliament on Monday to honour their public undertaking of their preparedness to appear and tell all about the serious corruption allegations in  the ACA.

Zulkipli had  told
Bernama
(1.3.07)

that he was ready to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on March 12 with detailed evidence against the serious corruption allegations made against him, declaring: “I have the confidence and courage to face the problem because I believe in God and only a person with guilt needs to be afraid.”

Ramli in his interview with the
New Straits Times
(2.3.07)

 “vowed to tell all” to the Select Committee, declaring: “There is nothing to hide. I will be there.”

I had forewarned in my
blog
(2.3.07)

that  Zulkipli and Ramli should honour their public undertaking “to tell all” to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity “as any refusal or reluctance by anyone of them to do so will immediately be an adverse reflection on his credibility and integrity”.

I do not know the real reason why Bernard cancelled the invitation to Zulkipli and Ramli to appear before the PSCI as I do not accept the two reasons he had given.

I can only guess that the only reason would be one or both of the duo had refused to attend as I cannot see how the PSCI could abdicate from its responsibility to hear from both of them if the duo  are fully prepared and committed to appear before the Select Committee to speak the whole truth with both claiming that they have nothing to hide.

This is why both Zulkipli and Ramli should voluntarily attend the PSCI meeting in Parliament on Monday to honour their public undertaking of their preparedness to appear and tell all about the serious corruption allegations in the ACA, as the PSCI on Monday would have to entertain their views and submissions as otherwise the Select Committee would be  guilty of gross dereliction of duties and abdication of responsibilities.

The PSCI should not interfere with the police investigations into Zulkipli or Ramli’s legal suit, but the PSCI’s responsibility to Parliament and the nation to address integrity challenges facing the country cannot be hampered or stymied by any quarter or baseless excuses.

The PSCI would be completely failing in its duty if it is utterly indifferent or unconcerned about the greatest crisis of integrity facing the country, when the very integrity of the ACA has come under national and international question with the ACA director-general himself alleged to be guilty of corruption.

The
admission
 by the  ACA deputy director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan that ACA image, credibility and staff morale had suffered a blow  by the serious corruption allegations against Zulkipli is a mere understatement.

The ACA is in fact facing its  greatest crisis of confidence in its 40-year history. In the past 39 years, the ACA had been regarded as a “paper tiger”, with  only power to go after  the “ikan bilis” but not after  the “ikan yu’s” even in the Abdullah administration as proven  by the disappearance of the 18 “big fishes” which had escaped into the “high seas”.

A fundamental  line has now been crossed by the ACA, when public doubts and skepticism are no more confined to its effectiveness or  impotence to deal with the “high-profile” corrupt despite the worsening corruption problem in the country as reflected by the 21-place drop from No. 23 to No. 44 in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index in the past 12 years from 1995 to 2006.

For the first time in its 40-year history, public doubts and skepticism about the ACA have now extended to its very core purpose, the  heart and soul of ACA  on  its  integrity and incorruptibility.

On Monday, Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M)  President Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam announced the findings of the
inaugural  Malaysian Transparency Perception Survey 2007
, that the five government agencies with perceived lowest integrity and transparency (or deemed most corrupt) among the public are the police (56 per cent), Road Transport  Department (25 per cent), Customs and Excise (19 per cent), Public Works (7 per cent) and Land Office (6 per cent).

The answer may be very different if the survey had been conducted now, with ACA probably featuring fairly prominently among the government agencies regarded by the public as lacking in integrity and transparency.

This is a development which the PSCI must view with gravity and a sense of urgency, which has nothing to do either with police investigations into Zulkifli or Ramli’s legal suits against his former boss and other government agencies as  it concerns the very credibility, legitimacy and integrity of the ACA, the government and the National Integrity Plan.

When Malaysians have lost faith in the ACA, not because of its ineffectiveness or  impotence as a “paper tiger” but over its integrity and incorruptibility, the PSCI must rise to the occasion to address such a grave  crisis of confidence in integrity facing the country in half-a-century of nationhood.  Otherwise, the 50th National Day Golden Jubilee anniversary celebrations would be rendered quite empty and  meaningless.

This is the challenge facing the PSCI on Monday.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 10 March 2007, 9:33 am and is filed under
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BN Supreme Council meeting – any BN leader dare to raise hottest topic in the country?

The
Barisan Nasional supreme council
will meet in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow where party component leaders are expected to assess their preparations for the next general election.

All the heads of the 14 component parties were informed last week to attend the meeting but they were not given any indication of its agenda.

Will there be any Barisan Nasional leader who would dare to raise at the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting tomorrow  the hottest topic in the country –the Prime Minister’s   three-year failure to deliver his  top agenda to fight corruption and how to restore public confidence that the Abdullah premiership had not abandoned its  anti-corruption pledge?

At his first Cabinet meeting as Prime Minister on 5th November 2003, Abdullah directed Ministers to set up a task force in their ministries to tighten procedures and reduce bureaucracy in efforts to fight corruption.  Nothing has been heard of these Ministerial task forces.

At the post-Cabinet press conference, Abdullah  even spoke of his hope to achieve “zero corruption” but admitted that it was going to be difficult.

Apart from the run-up to the March 2004 general election campaign, Abdullah’s focus on his priority to fight corruption had increasingly lessened with the passage of time and the  terms “zero corruption” or “zero tolerance for corruption” have disappeared from his vocabulary.

Will there be any top Barisan Nasional leader who would dare to tell Abdullah that after more than 40 months since he became  Prime Minister,  corruption in Malaysia has got worse instead of better — and that this is  from the feedback from the people and not just from Transparency International’s  (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which fell seven places from 37th to 44th ranking from 2003 to 2006 or the view of the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who said that corruption had “surfaced above the table”.

One of Abdullah’s  first promises as Prime Minister was to make the Anti-Corruption Agency “strong” under his leadership, vowing to make the ACA work faster and harder — but the ACA is today at its lowest ebb in public esteem, credibility and  integrity in its 40-year-history, with the ACA director-general himself accused of serious corruption by a former top ACA official!

Will there be any top Barisan Nasional leader who would dare to bring to the notice of the Prime Minister at the BN Supreme Council meeting that it is  a total mockery of his earlier pledge of zero tolerance for corruption to continue to have the ridiculous and untenable  situation where the ACA chief is investigated by the police for corruption while the police and the Internal Security Deputy Minister, Datuk Johari Baharom are investigated by the ACA for corruption!

Who would believe that justice would be done in such a “I scratch your back, you scratch my back” scenario?

In the past four decades, the ACA could at least strike fear among lowly government servants  though not  the well-connected, high and mighty — but today, the ACA is regarded as a object of ridicule by all and sundry when  they see the ACA director-general virtually on-the-run because of serious corruption allegations made against him.

On Friday, Abdullah said that
“it’s difficult to get rid of (negative) perception… you can’t do that in just a day, even a year”
 when referring to the inaugural  Malaysian Transparency Perception Survey 2007 of  Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M)  that the five government agencies with perceived lowest integrity and transparency (or deemed most corrupt) among the public are the police (56 per cent), Road Transport  Department (25 per cent), Customs and Excise (19 per cent), Public Works (7 per cent) and Land Office (6 per cent).

Abdullah should know that  we are not talking about
“a day, even a year”
 but over four years!  After 40 months, there should be measurable improvement in public perception about integrity of the public service, but the reverse is unfortunately  the case.

Abdullah himself realizes the importance of such measurable improvement of public perceptions about government integrity, which was why he announced in May 2004 the National Integrity Plan with the five-year objective to achieve for Malaysia at least a ranking of No. 30 next year in the TI CPI 2008  from No. 37 in 2003.

Instead of improving our TI CPI ranking, Malaysia’s placing had deteriorated and is now at No. 44 — and likely to plunge further with the recent corruption scandals involving the ACA director-general and Deputy Internal Security Minister and the equally scandalous manner of dealing with them — with both allowed to continue in their office when they should be asked to go on leave pending  independent investigations.

If the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting tomorrow dare not even touch on the greatest crisis of confidence facing ACA in 40 years  and the greatest  crisis of  integrity facing the country in 50 years, and unable to come out with a new resolve and action plan to declare an all-out war against corruption, then the Barisan Nasional leaders will be proving how out of touch they are from the deepest hopes and aspirations of the people.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 March 2007, 8:24 am and is filed under
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EPF Forgot Sime Darby’s Lesson in UMBC

EPF Forgot Sime Darby’s Lesson in UMBC

Richard Teo

The pension fund, EPF must surely think that money grows on trees when they decided to take-over RHB at a cost of $10 billion.

They have still not recovered from their early foray into Bank Islam and Bank Pertanian where they suffered massive losses.

Bank Islam alone in its audited profit of two years suffered losses of $2.3 billion.Either they are so naiive about business nvestment in the banking sector or they must be sadist looking for more punishment.

If there is any parallel investment failure in the banking sector we need not go too far for examples. Remember Sime Darby’s adventure with UMBC?Yes its brief foray caused them to lose more than $250 million in a short span of time.

Luckily in quick time UMBC was disposed off lock, stock and barrel and that was the first and last time Sime comtemplated venturing into the banking sector deemed ‘a profitable business which could bring long -term benefit’ by its CEO Mr. Azlan Zainol.

If it was profitable why did Sime’s investment in UMBC resulted in such a massive loss?

By his own admission Mr Azlan Zainol said they have no experience in Banking but they were going to engage professionals to run the bank.

Does this imply that UMBC was not run by experts in the banking field?

Surely not, because we would assume that Sime would have carefully selected a team of banking experts and yet they came up with a loss.

With the benefit of such banking failure one would have thought EPF would have been more cautious and prudent in their choice of Banking as an investment.

What really boggles the mind is that RHB is a debt-laden banking group and the bottom line is that if it was so profitable as claimed by its CEO then why is it heavily in debt?

One simple test why it is a poor investment is to ask yourself why RHB owners are selling? Try asking owners of Hong Leong Bank or Public Bank to sell and see their response.

The recent forage into risky investments which yielded considerable losses in many of its portfolios reflects bad management.

For too long the govt has regarded EPF as one of its GLC and like all GLC’s poor management by key personnel has resulted in huge losses. And like all GLCs they are run by political cronies and supporters rather then for their expertise and experience.

If the pension fund is to recoup some of its earlier losses especially in MBSB (Malaysia Building society) where its losses are  more than a billion dollars then some sanity must prevail.

The money collected from employees are sacrosanct and not meant to be indulged in risky speculative ventures nor should it be used to bail out UMNO cronies in failed busineses.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 March 2007, 6:46 am and is filed under
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“Free fall of institutions” – can PSCI prove Tun Hanif wrong?

The longest-serving former Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, in his Sunday Star column
“Point of View”
 today dealt  the serious corruption allegations which had been made against the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor by  former top ACA officer and “whistleblower” Mohamad Ramli Manan in July last year.

Entitled
“Panta Rei — It’s inexorable”
, Hanif wrote:

If we recall the reported course of events in the ACA director-general’s case, an ACA director had reported by letter to the IGP on July 4 last year against his DG and another, asking the IGP to treat the letter as a first information report. It is reported that he had also sent copies of the letter to the AG, among others…

In this particular case, there was no apparent useful response from the police or the others from July 4, 2006, to perhaps early March 2007. It would be interesting to know why. This inordinate delay could have been the cause of the complainant reporting to Parliament’s Select Committee on Integrity and Corruption. To the credit of the PSC, it acted expeditiously to make known that it would convene an enquiry into the allegations on March 12 by calling both complainant, the ACA director-general, as well as the previous IGP to clarify the situation. This was a far-reaching decision that could have made an enormous impact on the current battle against malfeasance and injustice.

The action of the PSC has served notice that proper redress must be given to a citizen’s grievances and that Parliament would hold the public services to account. In one fell stroke it had brought the tipping point closer.

No doubt the PSC itself has no punitive power: it doesn’t need it. It can act like the US Grand Jury; its ventilation of the problem by its grilling power will shine the light on the human or procedural weaknesses in the public services or on the malice or unreasonableness of the complainant. It can also provide other institutions with the cause and evidence to force the necessary remedial action.

But alas, the Select Committee chairman is reported to have called off its March 12 session because of the latest developments in the case, including the investigations by the police and the AG. So, we won’t know for a while, if ever, what action the police and the AG had taken in the seven over months since the report was first lodged.

I was hoping to end this column by proclaiming the PSC’s original move as proactive boldness on the part of Parliament to prevent our institutions from its perceived voluntary free fall, but the calling off of the case has put paid to that.

Despite some minor errors, such as wrongly stating that the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (PSCI) had also called the “previous IGP”, i.e. Tan Sri Bakri Musa, Hanif had given expression to the hope by Malaysians that the PSCI would act with originality, creativity and  “pro-active boldness” on behalf of Parliament “to prevent our institutions from its perceived free-fall”.

The PSCI, when its meets at Parliament Committee Room Two tomorrow at 9.30 am to review its earlier decision whether to call and hear Zulkipli and Ramli, should not disappoint the  former IGP and Malaysians who expect it to rise to the national challenge to help the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to honour his pledge to uphold integrity and fight corruption in the serious  allegations against the ACA chief.

At present, Abdullah is hampered by institutional obstacles and has not been able to deliver his pledge to make anti-corruption the top agenda of his administration.

Malaysians have lost faith in the ACA, not only because of its ineffectiveness or  impotence as a “paper tiger”  against the high and mighty but  what is unprecedented in the past 40 years – over its integrity and incorruptibility, when the ACA director-general himself is  the subject of serious corruption allegations.

The  ACA is faced with a  great crisis of confidence in 40 years and the nation the greatest crisis of integrity  in 50 years of nationhood,  which ordinary Malaysians are fully aware of  (including former IGP Hanif) –   except the authorities, whether the Prime Minister, the ACA or the Police, pretending that such a double crises do not exist.

The PSCI must step into the void to save the day for the nation, quoting Hanif Omar, ” to prevent our institutions from a voluntary free fall” and restore national and international confidence in the integrity of our institutions.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 11 March 2007, 2:34 pm and is filed under
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Corrupt to the core!

Corrupt to the core!

Azly Rahman

[email protected]

Hai orang-orang yang beriman, makanlah di antara rezeki yang baik yang Kami berikan kepadamu dan bersyukurlah kepada Allah, jika benar hanya kepada-Nya kamu berserah (Al-Baqarah:172).

This comes from the website of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), whose slogan is Tingkatkan integriti, Hapuskan rasuah.

I am tired of contradictions. And of slogans. The nation is tired of them too.

Who but the ACA can we turn to report corrupt people, corrupt practices? We have become a pathetic nation made helpless by the revelations we are reading daily. Things are falling apart.

Yet we have a general election coming – one in which even the Election Commissions itself cannot claim to be independent. How many dozen ‘Royal Commissions’ of Inquiry have we asked to be set up since Independence to help us uncover truths – how many have materialised?

We no longer have any shame as a nation. Even worse, we still vote for vultures.

Corruption runs in the veins of the body politic – in business, politics, religion, education, culture, etc. Even in our mind. Even in our language.

Consider the Approved Permit issue, the half-bridge to Sinagpore, the ECM Libra-Avenue Capital merger, you name it…we do not know where these cases are going. History tells us that we will not see consequences, nor see anyone resigning voluntarily. We do not have any shame. Unlike the Japanese.

Even our universities are seeing corrupt practices. We see students thrown out for speaking up, academicians axed for taking a stand, lecturers made to feel good about how moral and benevolent the government is, and how academic-cronyism is taking shape.

Conferences in public universities are about discussing feel-good themes, presenting papers to make feel-good communalistic ideologies feel elevated, and going into academic detail of how to parrot government propaganda better. How do we expect to produce critical thinkers among graduates when critical analyses about our society are seldom produced and presented. From our public universities to our think tanks, we see lethargy in the way we view society and politics.

Our consciousness has been corrupted by the fear, fantasy and fetish we have structured into our mind though a funneling process of depthlessness of thought. Only if we had the Malaysian version of the great Argentine medical-doctor turned social messiah, Che Guevara, as education minister, We would see true transformation of the education to fight corruption of the soul, mind, and flesh.

Experience with ACA

Two years ago, I wrote a letter to the ACA head calling for an investigation into possible corrupt practice and abuse of power of the administration of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). I asked for investigation into the nature of promotion of academic staff and how personal preferences are made, and into the composition of committees responsible for dismissal.

I wanted to know what transpires during meetings and how political the decisions are. How could a committee consisting of learned men and women throw out lecturers who were merely seeking explanation of the contents of a letter that demand their kowtowing to leaders known to be abusing power? How could the higher education minister refuse to deal with the issue and allow the universities to breed fear?

I am still waiting for the ACA director-general to reply. I want him to carry out investigations. As a citizen, I have the right to know what happened in those two instances in my career.

I wanted to go this route before seeking legal help. My claim was that abuse of power had been committed in the two cases. I knew that I could not get any help from the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, prime minster nd several other ministers I had written to, requesting investigation into the political nature of the dismissals.

Like many citizens, I now do not have much trust in the ACA. I do not think the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Rulers, prime minister and elected representatives are interested in seeing UUM being investigated for corruption of power and abuse of privileges.

I do not think the government is interested in investigating how agencies like Biro Tata Negara are corrupting the minds of youth in a systematic pogrom, programme and process of closing of the Malaysian mind. I do not think these people are interested in fighting corruption. I do not know what they are interested in, for that matter.

Are agencies such as the ACA and National Integrity Institute merely interested in helping the government blind the people with the idea that corruption need to be battled?

I think we are turning into the Philippines of Marcos and the Indonesia of Suharto. Or into a Colombia. Or a Nigeria. This is frightening. Especially when the system has evolved into a corrupt one.

Our nation does not even know where to begin in dealing with this issue. People are busy making ends meet while the powerful are busy satisfying their greed.

What then must we do? Dare we dismantle this system entire?

I am tired of contradictions and slogans. So is the nation.

Dr. Azly Rahman,

Educator & Adjunct Professor;

Foundations of Civilizations, Education, & Politics

                This entry was posted on Monday, 12 March 2007, 12:10 pm and is filed under
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PM – deliver Mission 2004 before trotting out Mission 2057!

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced yesterday that the Barisan Nasional (BN) Supreme Council has decided on “Mission 2057” to ensure continued development in all aspects since independence and after Vision 2020 had been achieved.
“Mission 2057”
 would become the development guideline for another 50 years.

It sounded a rather tall tale that the BN Supreme Council met yesterday to take the policy decision to formulate Mission 2057, when  it is not only  dubious that Vision 2020 could be achieved but very clear that Abdullah’s Mission 2004 is heading towards a big flop.

Before  Abdullah trots  out Mission 2057 about Malaysia in another half-a-century, he  should deliver Mission 2004 which he had promised in the 2004 general election to lead an efficient, clean,  incorruptible, accountable, transparent, just, democratic  and progressive administration which is prepared to hear the truth from the people — and for which he had won the unprecedented victory of 91 per cent of parliamentary seats which had never been achieved by the previous four Prime Ministers.

When he became the fifth Prime Minister in November 2003, Abdullah pledged to make anti-corruption the top agenda and proclaimed  “zero tolerance for corruption”.

To mark the first three months of his premiership, Abdullah reiterated in an interview with senior editors of major newspapers his  priority commitment to change the mindset of Malaysians to match the country’s first-class infrastructure with a first-class mentality, including the eradication of public and private sector corruption.

On his first 100 days as Prime Minister, Abdullah declared in his address to the Cambridge Foundation on 10th February 2004:  “My first 100 days was my statement of intent.  Now we get to work and walk the talk.”

However, after the unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority victory in the March 2004 general election, Abdullah had  forgotten his declaration of “zero tolerance for corruption” or his  pledge to make the fight against corruption as the top priority of his administration, as his “statement of intent” of his first 100 days remained mere  “statement of intent” for the next 1,115 days till today without any “walk the talk” whatsoever.

Some 40 months after Abdullah’s pledge to “walk the talk” to eradicate corruption, Malaysia is faced with the worst crisis of national integrity in the 40-year history of the Anti-Corruption Agency and 50-year history of the nation, with a spate of corruption scandals  in the past two weeks, viz:

	Serious corruption allegations against the Anti-Corruption Agency director-general Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor;

	Serious corruption allegations against the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Mohd Johari Baharun; in the “freedom for sale” scandal; and

	Serious allegation by the Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim of
judges who accept bribes
.

The Prime Minister should personally attend Parliament next Tuesday (March 20) to explain during Question  Time the reasons for the failures of his administration to live up to the high hopes of Malaysians to “walk the talk” to honour the pledges of reform agenda he had made when coming into office.

Abdullah will have the chance to do so as I have an oral question on the first working day of Parliament next  Tuesday, listed as No. 3, asking him  “to give a progress report on  his reform pledges in the past 40 months, highlighting the reasons for the failures/shortfalls and how he could assure Malaysians disappointed that he had failed to ‘walk the talk’ on his reform agenda”.

What is really significant about Abdullah’s remarks after the BN Supreme Council meeting yesterday is his first public admission of
not ruling out the possibility of general election this year
— as previously, he had taken the stance that he had not given any thought to general election before March next year.

The Prime Minister appears to have lost touch with reality when he said:
“People feel good now, better than before, but when the election comes, they will feel even better.”

It is no exaggeration to say that in the history of the past 11 general election, voters never had a better “feel good” environment and euphoria than during the March 2004 general election.  It is most astounding  that Abdullah is suggesting that there is now such “feel good” factor which is even better than before the March 2004 general election which  would be even better when the next general election is held.

Abdullah is only  fooling himself if he believes that the country is suffused with a “feel good” factor.  What Malaysians have today is not “feel good” but “feel not good” after all the disappointments and disillusionments at the failures of the Abdullah administration to “walk the talk” to deliver the reform pledges and agenda in the past 40 months.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 13 March 2007, 10:59 am and is filed under
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Corruption ranking – Malaysia heading south: No 50 in TI CPI 2007 on Malaysia’s 50th national anniversary?

More bad news for the country and the 40-month Abdullah premiership on the anti-corruption front, although some media, whether intentionally or otherwise, seems to be presenting it as a plus and positive for Malaysia.

The Hong Kong-based
Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) 2007 corruption table in Asia
,  which is released every year based on a poll of expatriates working in Asia on their perceptions on corruption, is bad and grim news for all Malaysians concerned about national integrity, good governance and international competitiveness.

In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 as the worst, Malaysia was ranked sixth in Asia  with a score of 6.25 by PERC Corruption Asia 2007.

In 1996, Malaysia was ranked No. 4 with a score of 5, a reflection of the relentless deterioration of the corruption problem in the country over the years.

As the PERC annual corruption ranking is one of the polls used by Transparency International (TI) for its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI), this is very bad news as the PERC 2007 Corruption Table is a forewarning that Malaysia is heading south towards No. 50 placing in TI CPI 2007 on the occasion of Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka anniversary this year.

There are many grim warnings from the 2007 PERC Corruption Table (Asia) that Malaysia is losing out in our international competitiveness because of  our failure to enhance our good governance indicators, particularly in the war against corruption.

It will not be long before Malaysia slips further in the Asian and international corruption rankings, as we are also losing out to China and India.

In 1996, China was ranked the No.12 in Asia with a score of  8, but it has now leapt to No. 7,  breathing down the neck of Malaysia, with a score of 6.29, only 0.04 marginally less than Malaysia’s score of 6.25. India was ranked No. 8 with a score of 6.86 in 1996, and although it is ranked No. 9,  its score has improved to 6.67, or 0.42 behind Malaysia.

If Malaysia does not pull up our bootstraps in the fight against corruption, we will soon be losing out to China and India — and it must be regarded as a national shame and tragedy if in any  future international corruption ranking, Malaysia is regarded as so corrupt as even to lose out to China and India!

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 14 March 2007, 9:17 am and is filed under
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Of Little Napoleons…the Health Ministry and… the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star

OF LITTLE NAPOLEONS… ..THE HEALTH MINISTRY AND… ..THE SULTANAH BAHIYAH HOSPITAL IN ALOR STAR

AHMAD SOBRI

It is appalling that the Malaysian public had to witness yet again another squabble between the Works Minister and Health Minister about the unending controversy of the still uncompleted new Alor Star General Hospital.

Earlier, the Deputy Minister of Health Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad apparently accepted blame on behalf of the Health Ministry saying delays were necessary so infrastructural changes could be made to accommodate the latest technological changes in medicine.

Not so, said the Health Minister Chua Soi Lek still insistent that the Works Ministry with its changing contractors were to blame for the mess. Samy Velu, obviously peeved with the finger-pointing, sarcastically accepted blame for the delays,

In Operation Desert Storm, shortly after Iraqi troops rolled into Kuwait in 1990, the United States deployed to Saudi Arabia more than 20,000 medical personnel to provide medical care to coalition forces.

The medical infrastructure for the war included 50 to 500-bedded combat zone fleet hospitals deployed in various parts of the war zone. The scope of treatment available at these facilities mirrored fully-staffed hospitals in the United States. The first 500-bedded Fleet Hospital was built in just 16 days, with the help of Navy Construction Battalion Units complete with operating rooms that can handle general surgical cases, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, intensive care units and radiological facilities.

These facilities were further supported by 1000-bedded hospital ships, each of which  were equipped with 50 trauma stations that form the casualty receiving area, 12 operating rooms, a 20-bedded recovery room and 80 intensive care beds. The entire medical network comprising 60 hospitals and infrastructure to take in both military and civilian casualties was ready in three months so war against Saddam Hussein could commence.

This level of efficiency appears to elude our health planners and hospital builders in Malaysia. Granted we are in peace time and all these hospitals are Malaysia’s version of “super-hospitals” designed to last us generations, it still doesn’t absolve the persons involved in this muddle for wasting hard-earned tax payer’s money.

The existing 800-bedded Alor Star Hospital was built in 1907. The previous hospital had all the major specialties but in particular was noted for its work in the subspecialty of Urology. In view of Alor Star’s half a million population and indeed Kedah and Perlis 3 million population, more medical facilities were required for the states.

But true to the current penchant of the MOH in wanting to build unwieldy hospitals of dinosauric proportions, clearly outdated in today’s medical world where information technology has ensured that hospitals should be more compact and modular, a new hospital located at Jalan Langgar to be built at a cost of more than RM550 million ringgit started construction in October 2000 and was scheduled to be completed in 2003. So why the 4-year delay?

Health Minister Chua Soi Lek had reportedly commented that JKR is basically to blame as building hospitals are “agak rumit” (can be difficult). It appears the Health Minister is quite unaware that as far as engineering technology is concerned the building industry in Malaysia can surpass world standards if they put their mind to it and are indeed tendering for jobs around the world. The same sadly cannot be said for our Ministry of Health who can’t attract even our own Malaysian doctors to come home.

Architects and engineers design and build what the customer wants. And what the customer wants is detailed out in specifications. And what were the specifications that the MOH gave that these builders had such difficulty delivering? Was it the RM47/sf vinyl seamless flooring instead of the RM2/sf marble flooring? Or was it the Class 100 instead of the Class10,000 Operating Rooms that confused the contractors? Or perhaps the suppliers realized that the space allocated to them for the installation of their supercon MRI was too small too late? Or it could just be the landscape where instead of lilies the contractors planted orchids.

Or…  maybe someone realized that there is more money to be made if new specialties like neurosurgery and cardiac surgery were added on? So what if I, the Pengarah, sign off a few extra VOs (Variation Orders) and set the whole project back.

As Pengarah I may be awarded a Datukship for bringing new technology to the state and may be even rewarded by being promoted to being Director-General of Health someday and of course I will win the lasting adulation of my clinical colleagues who will be doing multiple overseas trips to choose new equipment and attend numerous courses and conferences to learn about these new medical marvels all on tax-payers money and sometimes by courtesy of the supplier himself who will of course would have no qualms marking up the equipment cost to accommodate these trips. So what’s a few years and a couple of million extra? Shortage of staff and specialists? That wouldn’t be my problem because by then I would have retired.

Puzzling indeed are media reports commenting that the new hospital would have state of the art cardiac surgical facilities. Because of the rising incidence of heart disease and the very gratifying results of surgical treatment more of these cardiac units were planned for Ipoh, Kuantan, Kota Kinabalu, Malacca and Kuala Trengganu (Though maybe not in this order).

Priority of course will be based on population statistics, incidence of disease, logistics, etc. But surprisingly the next cardiac unit due to open is in ALOR STAR. This appears to be mind boggling, as Alor Star is very close to the nation’s Northern regional center based in Penang when surely places like Kota Kinabalu, Ipoh or Malacca with a larger population base require these units more.

On closer investigation the decision to have it there may be the problem of Pak Lah’s favorite theory of Little Napoleon’s trying to sabotage the government’s efforts to have more equitable health care by hijacking health funds.

Granted everyone wants his or her hometown developed but healthcare cannot usually be rationed this way. Tax payer’s funds must be invested carefully based on need rather then parochialism.

For those in the know, Latiff, is of course, right. For individuals who advocate that the MOH should still be health managers of our health resources in this day and age, the saga and problems of the new Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star, the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani, Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johore, the never-ending upgrading work in the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johore and the now crumbling Ampang Hospital should be a revelation of what happens when there is little accountability when projects of first world infrastructure are managed by a third world mentality.

If anything else, it should remind the public how callous officials are when public funds are involved.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 March 2007, 8:18 am and is filed under
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Ramli’s “cold-storage” for investigating Kasitah – Mahathir should agree to appear before PSCI to promote culture of integrity

Former Prime Minister,
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
yesterday denied allegations that he was behind the move to “cold storage” former Sabah Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director Mohd Ramli Abdul Manan for investigating a minister, Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam.

In an earlier interview with
Malaysiakini
, Ramli said he believed that it was the former premier who ordered him to be transferred out of Sabah and was put in “cold storage” at the ACA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur for investigating allegations of corruption involving former land and co-operative development minister Kasitah Gaddam.

He said he moved out of his post as Sabah ACA chief soon after he and his team of 15 officers had completed the probe on Kasitah Gaddam.

This is from Ramli’s interview with
Malaysiakini
:

Q. Was the ACA happy with the investigation?

They were not happy because a lot of political figures and a government company were involved.

Q. What happened after you finished your investigation?

We file it to the ACA headquarters.

Q. Who gave the orders to move you out of Sabah?

I think (it was ex-Prime Minister Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) because when I ask them (ACA officers), they said it was orders from high up. That was in 2000.

A few Sabah ministers went to see Mahathir but I have no proof (of that). I asked ‘why are you all treating me like this’, and they said orders from the top. Who else? And they were afraid to put me in an important position (after that). Why were they afraid?

Q. Like (ACA chief) Zulkipli (Mat Noor), attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail is also from Sabah.

That was what I told the police officer (who was investigating the Zulkipli case). Gani Patail should not be involved in the (Zulkipli) case because they (Abdul Gani and Zulkipli) are quite close.

Both were recruited by Mahathir. At that time, Gani Patail was the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) and Zul was the Special Branch chief in Sabah.

Q. It was reported recently that Zulkipli’s term would expire this month. Do you think they’ll forget about it after he steps down?

Probably.

Q. Do you still have friends in ACA now that you have become ‘persona non grata’?

I don’t know. I don’t care about the ACA because I felt let down. They should back me up as I was doing my job. When they pulled me out of Sabah, ACA officers, directors or the DG (director-general) should have backed me up because I didn’t do anything wrong – I was just doing my job.

You (ACA officers) must tell the chief, “You can’t penalise your officers who are performing their job.” I’m particularly sore with the senior officers. The junior officers can’t do much, but then the DG (director-general) or deputy DG should have backed me up. After all, I was doing my job in Sabah.

Q. When you were in ACA, was the agency independent?

They have to get Mahathir’s permission first. That’s why Kasitah Gaddam’s case took so many years (before the ex-minister was charged). If Mahathir was around, Kasitah would have been discharged.

This should not be the case because (Abdul Gani) as the AG should look at the evidence. If there is evidence, they should act on it. The decision must be based on the evidence. If the evidence is sufficient, (and the AG can) prove that there is a prima facie case, you cannot withhold consent.

In his response yesterday, Mahahitr described Ramli’s claims as “baseless” and asked Ramli to “Show evidence that I have done this”.

It is noteworthy that
Mahathir’s reaction
 to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) report that Malaysia was perceived to be more corrupt than the previous year in its annual Asia Corruption Survey 2007 was that “it showed that efforts to reduce corruption had failed”.

While corruption has worsened in the past three years under the Abdullah premiership, as evidenced by the seven-placing drop from No. 37 to 44 in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 2003 to 2006, Mahathir cannot disclaim responsibility for corruption surfacing as a grave national scourge for the first time in his country during his 22-year administration — as testified by the 14-placing drop in Malaysia’s TI CPI from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 when he stepped down as Prime Minister.

For this reason, Mahathir must bear responsibility for the breakdown in good governance in general and  the ethics and culture of integrity in particular in in the country  since the eighties.

Mahathir should now promote a culture of accountability, transparency and integrity  by agreeing to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity on Ramli’s charges that the former Prime Minister was behind the move to  “cold-storage” the former Sabah ACA director for investigating former Minister Kasitah Gaddam.

By doing so, Mahathir will be setting a good example requiring top government leaders, past and present, to account for their good governance practices or the lack thereof — including the appearance of the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharom over the serious corruption allegations and scandal  of “Freedom For Sale” under the Emergency Ordinance.

With the ACA Director-General Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Nor and Ramli appearing before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity  (PSCI) next Thursday over the serious corruption allegations of the latter against the former, and Mahathir’s preparedness to appear before the PSCI, there may finally be a redeeming feature in the present gloomy scenario of worsening corruption if the stage is set for Johari as well as other high-profile personalities to appear before the PSCI to underline the general acceptance of the national importance and priority that must be given to accountabillity, transparency and integrity.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 15 March 2007, 10:08 am and is filed under
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RM2 billion spent on National Service – be a model of integrity

Nanyang Siang Pau
has reported that the National Service Training Council at its meeting yesterday had recommended that the national service training programme should not be made compulsory for girls.

It has taken three long years for the National Service Training Council to take up
my public call to the Cabinet in April 2004
that if the Cabinet was not prepared to suspend the national service training programme, although it was “half-baked, ill-conceived and premature” from  poor conception, formulation and execution right from the beginning, the least the Cabinet should do was to make the national service training programme voluntary for girls, allowing parents who wish to do so  to immediately withdraw their daughters from the programme and bring them home.

The call followed the  spate of fights, sexual harassment (including rape)  and breakdown of discipline in the national service programme. I had also pointed out at the time that out of 1,000 national service trainers, only 15 per cent were women when the ratio of male and female trainees were almost equal.

But this call three years ago  fell on deaf ears, including women Cabinet Ministers and the National Service Training Council.

Public confidence in the national service  training programme has continued to plummet in the past three years because of the unending  incidents, mishaps and  disasters including avoidable deaths of trainees, to the extent that quite a substantial number of parents would agree with the sentiments of the  letter-to-the editor in the Malay Mail yesterday:

“I would gladly be slapped with the RM3,000 fine rather than be compensated the same amount for the untimely death of my son or daughter.”

Some 365,000 18-year-olds would have undergone the three-month national service training programme by September  this year since it was launched in 2004, and over RM2 billion of taxpayers’ money  spent.

The National Service Training programme should be a model of transparency and integrity with a full public accounting of the more than RM2 billion spent in the past four years to prove that every sen had been honestly used  for the welfare of the trainees.

I had expressed this concern even before the launching of the national service training programme in 2004. In
August 2003
, I had warned that the RM500 million national service training programme to start the follow year should be “a model of integrity, accountability and transparency without a whiff of scandal”, raising  two specific questions:

	Firstly, the identity of the private company which had been given the contract to design and implement the computer programme to select 85,000 18-year-olds for the national service training programme, whether there had been an open tender, the value and full details of the contract.

	Secondly, the  full details about the award of the multi-million ringgit contract for the uniforms for  100,000 recruits  for the national service training  programme every year, and whether there was an open tender exercise.

As the Defence Minister in direct charge of the national service training programme, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should present a White Paper at next week’s Parliament to give a detailed breakdown of the RM500 million expenditure a year since 2004  for the national service training programme,  showing what,   how, where,  who and when expenditures under the programme were made.

Had the National Service Training Council ever focused on the accountability, transparency and integrity of the national service training programme, spending over RM2 billion since its inception?

The time has come for a total review of the national service training programme, including:

	The defects, flaws, mishaps, crimes  and tragedies of the national service training programme since its inception and costing RM500 million a year;

	End the cult of secrecy and  to allow elected representatives free and full access to the training camps to allay parental concerns about the welfare and safety of their children.

	End the misnomer of calling  it a “national service” programme  as it has nothing to do with national defence or fighting a war but to instill national unity, patriotism and discipline.

Confucius had had warned  2,500 years ago when he said:

“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. hence, there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.”

The appropriate term is not “national service training programme” but “national youth service training programme” with the objectives of inculcating national unity, patriotism and discipline.

But even for the limited objective of the national youth service training programme to inculcate national unity, patriotism and discipline, a review must be done whether such limited goals had been achieved and whether such a programme should be organized  for all students during their school years instead of have a very costly and most dubious one affecting only one-fifth of  school-leavers.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 16 March 2007, 2:46 pm and is filed under
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Living in Kasar Times

Living in Kasar Times

by
Farish A. Noor

Its quite rare for a talcum-powdered, linen-clad bloke like me to get angry in public, and so I write this piece with a hint of embarrassment to begin with. During one of my antique hunts around Central Market recently, I experienced something that raised my blood pressure high enough to warrant an article being written about it.

While trawling through the mountains of made-for-tourists kitsch that passes as contemporary Southeast Asian folk art and handicrafts (nursing the futile hope of actually chancing upon something worth buying, in vain), I overheard a conversation among some young kutu types.

They were looking at some wayang kulit puppets hanging by the door of one of the shops in the market, and pointing to the figures of the Mahabharata heroes Yudistira and Arjuna, two of the five Pandawa brothers of lore.

The punk-headed kutu said to his skin-headed friend with a ring in his nose: “Apalah hero wayang ni. Kurus, ramping macam mak nyah lah. Tangan tak de muscle pun, macam mana nak jadi hero? Nampak macam bapok saja!”

Under normal circumstances I would have let such an untutored remark pass. If Malaysians can’t be bothered to read a little bit more about their own culture and history, then why should we feel offended when tourists say similar things and think similar thoughts?

Who would care to explain to the kutu braders why the heroic figures in the Nusantara rendition of the Mahabharata were and remain so slender, so fine, almost feminine? And even if I had set up my soapbox to deliver an impromptu lecture of Southeast Asian masculine aesthetics, who would have listened?

I cursed my luck for not being able to find a single decent piece of nyonya jewellery instead…

But one month on, events have prompted me to go back to that episode. Like some pathetic gesture of trying to regain lost time, I regret that I had not stood my ground and defended the slender arms of dear ol’ Arjuna, he of the long eyelashes and warm pouting lips.

I regret the fact that I had not defended the value of halus against the unwavering, relentless, smelly tide of kasar and kasarism instead. For indeed, we live in kasar times.

Signs of kasar-ness are all around us today: Politicians lose their cool and reach for their daggers, shouting slogans of blood and triumphalism as soon as they see a microphone.

Powerful men on the make assume that their powers are so limitless that the mansions they build have to reflect their largess as well, to the point where their homes rival the palaces of kings both in size and vulgarity.

Arguments are no longer met with counter-arguments, but with lawsuits or death threats instead. So much for our beloved ‘Asian values’ that are supposed to be ever so halus, refined and sophisticated.

But a reading of the Hikayat Pandawa Lima (The Epic of the Five Pandawas, the Malay rendition of the Mahabharata) points to another age when power was seen and understood not in terms of violent pyrotechnics; but rather the opposite: As restraint, control, poise and demeanour.

The figures of Yudistira and Arjuna embody this aesthetic and moral ideal in its essence. In the Hikayat Pandawa (as is the case of many other ancient Nusantara epics) the ideal hero is the man who restrains himself, rather than let his ego and libido run riot.

The ideal hero meditates (there are often long episodes of meditation in caves and mountains, making for good scenic shots), eats little (hence the slender waistline, nothing to do with pilates), speaks even less (another Bergmanesque touch, ideally filmed in grainy black-and-white) and when he has to fight is often forced to battle with his conscience before, during and after the bloody deed.

While the ugly, pug-faced, muscle-bound, lumbering baddies are the first to reach for their kerises, the ideal hero unsheathes his weapon with all the finesse of a tea ceremony, fully aware of the consequences of the act he is performing and the cost of his actions soon after.

That is why all of the bad characters we see in the wayang performances tend to have bulbous eyes, thick lips, exaggerated noses, pot bellies, heavy muscular arms and legs, thick wrists and ankles: Practically everything about them and their bodies speaks the language of excess and overkill: Too much passion, too much anger, too much testosterone, too much facial hair, too much chilli in their diet.

Halus versus kasar: The moral dialectic of the Southeast Asian universe was staged on a number of registers, including aesthetic, moral and political. The Kasar villain oppresses, bullies, intimidates, pushes his weight around, doesn’t listen to others. The modern equivalent shares surface similarities: he hogs the road, his palatial home dwarfs that of his neighbour’s, his Krakatoa-strength karaoke set leaves his friends deaf and dumb, his SUV and bling-bling make gangsta pimps look like Church wardens.

Conversely, the Halus hero resists, and finds his strength in consistency, persistence and quiet determination. While the marauding kasar armies rape and pillage, he meditates on the rock, concentrating all the power of the universe in his little finger, waiting to unleash his slender feminine keris that will fly through the sky and lay waste to the unwashed horde. The modern equivalent would be the politician who holds his tongue, who tempers his discourse, who calms the crowd — rather than reving up the hate machine. The modern halus hero knows that what matters to the nation is not another fat ugly megamall or skyscraper, but clean accounts and efficient auditing instead. He knows that its not what sort of car he drives that matters, but rather how he drives it.

We were once a people who were halus. (Well, not all of us were I’m sure, but I’m trying to be generous in self-flattery here.) This was a region where power was seen not through the prism of violence and bloodshed, but was demonstrated through calculated restraint that evolved and expressed itself in a manner that was elegant, dignified, civilised. Damn, we had class then.

Now our halus heroes are dismissed as bapoks, Mat Rempits have become patriots overnight and hysterical demagogues and hate-mongers become public figures instead. What a low blow to a nation that could have aimed higher. We live in kasar times, and everything seems so koman and chekai now…

Dr. Farish Ahmad-Noor (Dr. Badrol Hisham Ahmad-Noor)

Academic Researcher

Centre for Modern Orient Studies (ZMO)
33 Kirchweg,

14129 Berlin

Germany

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 March 2007, 6:25 am and is filed under
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Royal Address Monday – will PM redeem failures of past 40 months to “walk the talk” of reform?

Every March, the Yang di Pertuan Agong will officially launch Parliament with a Royal Address which spells out the government’s programme for the new year.

The Royal Address is not the personal speech of the Yang di Pertuan Agong but the policy presentation of the government-of-the-day for the next 12 months.

The  official opening of the third session of the current 11th Parliament will be on Monday (19th March) by the new Yang di Pertuan Agong for the first time, and Malaysians are entitled to know whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will redeem his failures in the past 40 months to “walk the talk” of reform agenda to spell out the government’s policy initiatives and legislation programme for the coming year to finally deliver his reform pledge.

Let me touch on three areas which should be top priority in the Abdullah government’s policy initiatives and legislation programme for the coming year, if Abdullah is to retain credibility and even legitimacy for his unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority in the March 2004 general election.

Firstly, announce a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and why corruption had worsened in the past three years instead of improving — as reflected not only by the seven-placing drop from No. 37 to 44 in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 2003 to 2006 but also  the latest corruption survey last week of Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) that Malaysia is perceived to be more corrupt than the previous year and that Malaysia would soon lose out and be overtaken by China and India in anti-corruption rankings.

The Royal Address on Monday should also incorporate the Abdullah premiership’s commitment to introduce legislation to confer full autonomy to the ACA, removing it from the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office and making it fully independent and answerable only to Parliament.

Secondly, announce that a Bill to establish the independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) will be taken through all three readings in the forthcoming meeting of Parliament, in view of the worsening crime index as well as the repeated blows to public confidence in the ability of the police to implement the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission to become an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to combat crime, uphold law and order and respect human rights.

The
public reprimand
 of the Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharom by Abdullah, who is also the Internal Security Minister, telling the latter that he  should just answer the allegations of bribery without accusing or blaming others has come as another blow to public confidence in the efficiency, effectiveness, professionalism and integrity of  the forces with the responsibility  to maintain law and order.

Abdullah’s response – “Now that there are allegations, answer the allegations one by one. No need to accuse other people. Just answer all the questions.” — when asked to  comment  on the ACA  investigation into allegations that Johari had received more than RM5mil to release at least three suspects arrested under the Emergency Ordinance raises many questions, including:

Firstly, why has Abdullah taken two long weeks to come out with such a response, which should have been made at most after 24 hours.

Secondly, Abdullah’s unusual comment testifies to the unsatisfactory nature of Johari’s response to the allegations on Internet websites implicating him in a RM5.5 million “freedom for sale” scandal involving Emergency Ordinance (EO) detentions.

There was clearly a finger-pointing exercise between Johari and the police, with Johari loudly proclaiming his innocence while accusing the police of being sloppy, slipshod and using the EO as a “short cut to detain suspects who have insufficient incriminating evidence against them”.

As even the Prime Minister-cum-Internal Security Minister is not satisfied with Johari’s public response, the Deputy Internal Security Minister should present a ministerial statement when Parliament meets on Tuesday to start its working session to give a full and satisfactory accounting of his rebuttal of the RM5.5 million “freedom for sale” allegations.  It is clearly invidious and untenable for Johari to continue a single day as Deputy Internal Security  Minister when the Prime Minister is not satisfied with his public explanation.

Thirdly, in keeping with Abdullah’s pledge to lead an open, accountable and transparent government, the Royal Address on Monday should contain the government’s commitment to introduce a Freedom of Information Act to replace the Official Secrets Act(OSA).  There should also be a firm commitment to remove from the OSA all privatization contracts, whether toll and water concessions, to put them in the public domain for the scrutiny of the Malaysian public.

(Speech at opening of Wisma DAP Perak in Ipoh on Saturday, 17.3.07)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 17 March 2007, 4:23 pm and is filed under
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Imparting soft skills or promoting direct sales?

A final-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University of Malaya complained that  a workshop purportedly  to impart soft skills was actually a direct-sales commercial programme.

This is the email:

I’m a final year student from Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Unversity of Malaya. I had a disappointment and felt been cheated with what had happened yesterday (17th March 2007) and I would like to tell you here.

Yesterday, all the final year students from the Faculty of Arts and Social Science were told to attend a workshop called ‘Bengkel Pendedahan dan Penilaian Kemahiran Keusahawan’. It is a soft skill program which is set by the government to improve our presentation skill in the future.

At first, from the workshop title, I thought it was an entrepreneur course that gives us some guide line on what entreprise is all about. There were 2 talks in the morning session, and some programmes and activities in the evening. Pertaining to the talk, they invited a company called ‘Aznita Mgt (M) Sdn. Bhd. to talk about financial industry perspective. To me, it was only a DIRECT SALES program. During their talks, they had told us it is pointless and useless to study so hard, no use to be a teacher, doctor or lawyer, as the money earn is much lesser if compare to them. They can live in a big house and drive luxury cars.

In the second part of the speech, actually the person who gave the talk is the husband to the first person who gave speech. They are from the same company. In this session, he told us about his product, Amcash. It is related with the insurance product. He talked about how good the product is. For instant, if we invest in Amcash, we can obtain scholarship every 3 years, the payer will get insurance benefit and so on. We had a very bad impression about those speech.

In the evening session, all the final year students have to do a project. Actually they wanted us to pursuade people to get involve in their business. They wanted us to plan some activities to promote the AmCash. We have to collect and record the information for those who are interested. We were told that if we failed to do so, we were not able to graduate from our course. So, I feel that we are their ‘free’ employees to help them to promote their products and we cannot get any things.

Furthermore, I do not think this is sufficient to evaluate our soft skills by putting us going through this kind of activity.

Do government really want local university students attend such compulsory and “beneficial activity”?

From,

A very sad, disappointed, frustrated UM student.

(sorry, i don’t want to expose myself)

Anyone else to verify the above complaint and what is the response from the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor or the Higher Education Minister?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 March 2007, 12:32 pm and is filed under
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Malaysian diaspora contd – Po Kuan’s blog

Po Kuan
blogs a heart-rending story in the continuing creation of a
Malaysian diaspora
which has happened to more than a million Malaysians in the past four decades — whether to uproot and migrate overseas and later to take up foreign citizenship.

Although human migration is a common phenomenon in human history and prehistory, the migration of over a million Malaysians in the past four decades was  more because of push rather than pull-factors, with the country losing many of her best talents and human resources stunting and undermining Malaysia’s achievement of her full potential in national development and international competitiveness.

Malaysia on her 50th anniversary would have been a  more developed, equitable and more competitive nation if more than a million of the most talented , enterprising and resourceful Malaysians had not been driven away  from our shores in the past four decades because of unfair discriminatory nation-building policies and measures by myopic politicians.

After nearly four decades of such self-inflicted injuries, the heart-rending story which Po Kuan blogs should have come to an end with the abandonment of unfair discriminatory policies among Malaysians.

But this is not the case. It would appear that the “Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish” reflex and mentality to the problem of emigration of Malaysians, though not publicly stated as in the seventies and eighties, is still quite prevalent today.

There is not much that can be done about the pull-factors of human migration but a government which refuses to address the problem of the push-factors, which are the result of the failures of just and good governance, cannot claim to be a good government.

Visit Po Kuan’s three-part
blog
 and share your thoughts.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 18 March 2007, 2:25 pm and is filed under
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Stop glorifying Mat Rempits!

Stop glorifying Mat Rempits!

ILLUMINATIONS

Azly Rahman

The (North Pole Free Fall) expedition is among the latest controversial moves by Umno to engage youths, especially mat rempit, in a series of baffling activities… . This includes a 50,000-strong carnival gathering which never took off, a road trip tainted by sex and booze allegations and a proposed programme to reward mat rempit for nabbing snatch thieves

                                                            — Malaysiakini newsreport March 10, 2007

Again and again we are sending a wrong message to the children of tomorrow concerning what good behavior for our youth should be. Wrong model.

Why are we allowing UMNO Putera to glorify Mat Rempits and reward them with something they do not deserve? Don’t these youth leaders know what education means and how to educate these ‘damaged’ youth? We do not understand what being “fair but firm” means in educating troubled youth. Worse, we do not understand the root cause of why children fail in school but graduate to become Mat and Minah Rempits or “Alongs” and all kinds of human beings alienated by the system we built together.

The 50,000 strong gathering, the name-change to Mat Cemerlang, the proposed drag race circuit, and now the North Pole jump — what are these for in the name of ‘education for good citizenship’? How many will 50,000 mat rempits multiply into in a decade? What will be the consequence for our nation already falling apart from corruption and mismanagement?

We need more than just quick fix solution to the issue of ‘juvenile delinquency’ that is getting out of control. We need a “zero-tolerance policy” on “rempitizing behaviors”.

Don’t the ministry of education know what the taxpayers want for the education system? Why not spend money preparing good teachers to prepare good curriculum and teaching strategies to deal with the children of the Millennium generation? Why not spend money making sure that all schools meet the minimum standards of technology, resources, safety, and teacher competency? Why not beef up the “rempit division” of the police force?

Why continue to arrogantly trumpet pseudo-humanistic approach to curing the disease of rempitism when there are better long-lasting ways we can employ to make sure students do not become what they shouldn’t be becoming?

The wrong model

Mat Rempit wannabes will think that even if they do not do well in school and not be disruptive, they will still grow up protected by the system created by those who want to continue to preach the “welfare mentality”. There will be youth political parties trying hard enough to negotiate with the “motorcycle gang” so that the latter can be of help in maintaining the hegemony of the ruling party. The compromising approach towards those who “terrorize” neighborhoods, law-abiding citizens, or even rob and maim others will give more and more power to many others to follow the footsteps of the motorcycled mob. “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse” said Don Vito Corleone of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather fame — would be the best way to describe the philosophy of how we reward these troubled youth.

A wrong model of youth education will produce more youth who will see national development through wrong lens.

Perhaps our minister of education need to spend one class period a month in different classroom settings, as an undercover substitute teacher, to understand the culture of the classroom and to make sense of why many things are failing.

Perhaps top ranking officials of the ministry without classroom experience need to take turns doing this undercover job to see why we are not producing the graduates we want. Perhaps these officials can be given a class period to teach in the urban schools and where Mat and Minah Rempits reign — schools in Puchong for example. Or they can sit in classroom in Arau Perlis where broken door, blackboard, windowpanes, ceilings ands walls welcome new students daily.

These are the real stuff of teaching — ones that ministers do not see. Many are merely interested in ‘officiating’ smart schools and have photo sessions with Microsoft’s Bill Gates or Netscape’s Scott McNealy in Dengkil — schools that will produce no Mat and Minah Rempits. Many do not even want their children near National Service camps that has taken the lives of 19 of our precious youth to date! We now have a movement towards the three school system — public, private, and international — each catering to the degree of fear parents have towards their children’s education.

This is the lifeboat mentality we have cultivated as a nation.

But education is about hope and love. It is about modeling best practice. Where do we begin then?

The right model

First, we need to stop sending the wrong message. We need to reward those who are doing well academically regardless of race, and help channel their creativity through the spectrum of their educational experience.

We need to create classrooms with smaller sizes so that the needs of these children can be met according to their interest. The “small schools” movement that identify children’s career interest at an early age can be a good model to work from — schools modeled after the concept of “academies”. Let experts from the MRSM (Maktab Rendah Sains MARA) system for example help suggest good ideas on how to help our troubled youth. Next, get funding to create alternative schools for troubled youth, that would also include a course in ‘motorcycle education’.

We need to study the “ecology” of the child and the “anthropology of the modern Malaysian school” and classroom in order to ascertain why children become disillusioned in schools and declare their freedom and irresponsibility on the streets, past midnight. We need to find out where their parents are .

We need to study the socio-economic make-up of the youth at risk and ascertain the nature of psychological emotional, and even spiritual derangement that is plaguing our  youth. We need to hold parents accountable for their children’s behavior, not just leave already stressed and poorly-paid teachers to become “correctional officers”, while trying to create success for all. Parents must be given trainings in what matters for their children in school and how to monitor behaviors.  Schooling should be a peaceful partnership between the child, parents, teachers, and the society we wish to create. It is not about stealing the minds of children of tomorrow or the benefit of politics of the here and now

We need to study the ecology of the media and the nature of fast changing economy to see the impact of it on the youth of today. What are the youth watching on TV? Who produces junk programs that produces the “GIGO” (garbage-in-garbage-out) mind? How does the media exploit the insecurities of our youth?

Certainly a lot to study and act upon.

But first and foremost, we must study ourselves as a nation–where are we going?  And–we need to stop political parties from further nurturing ‘rempitism’. There are better ways–by being fair yet firm.

Let us pray that those with “rempitised” minds do not become the next generation of our political leaders. Better still, let us curb their enthusiasm.!

                This entry was posted on Monday, 19 March 2007, 3:45 pm and is filed under
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Class of “forgotten Malaysians”

Hi Kit Siang

I’m not sure if you’ll be reading this, or even why exactly I’m writing to you; but like other times after reading about the happenings in Malaysia through your blog, I am saddened and moved from deep within.

Allow me to introduce myself. I was born in Johor, in 1983 – making me 24 years of age this year. From a young age, from primary (or standard one) I studied in Singapore. Instantly, this placed me into a group of ‘forgotten Malaysians’ of which I still belong to today – do read on. I did not study in Singapore by choice, my parents decided to see put me there when I was 7, because being part of the Malaysia school system when the British system was employed -they were alarmed by the perceived drops in the levels of education in Malaysia at that time – and they really wanted me to grow up speaking good English…and Singapore was the closest country to have its curriculum in English at that time. I’m sure you can appreciate the incredible irony in Malaysia reversing on its decision years ago and teaching Math and Science in English now. And while I am most capable of invoking my own commentary and discourse on the subject and others like it, I shall resist the urge and refrain from doing so on this occasion, as I nevertheless will find myself doing throughout the rest of this email – as each instance of the incredulous policies and politicians that dominate our country come up.

But I digress. I studied in Singapore a full ten years, travelling DAILY from Johor Bahru, not residing in Singapore because, I guess, my parents wanted me to retain my unique Malaysian identity and “Malaysianess”. I do not have fond memories of my time in the country, although I did well at school, I guess, I dislike autocratic and freedom-curbing societies where the rights of the individual are sacrificed for the whims of the elected collective in the name of nation-building. That is not to say I do not understand the need for such measures at certain times – but I suppose I do not function well in countries where such practices are the norm.

At the end of my high school studies in Singapore, I made the decision to return to Malaysia. To study at a private college in KL. I had tried on past occasions when I was in high school, to do so, only to find out that I was not eligible to do so because I did not take Bahasa Melayu as my primary subject. As a result of studies in Singapore, where English was the medium of instruction and Mandarin was my ‘mother tongue’, I cannot speak fluent Malay to this day nor do I have the ability to write in it. Therefore, according to some quarters, I am not considered Malaysian. But was I to blame? I remained in KL a full 3 years, was one of the top students at my college for a worldwide course, until it was time for me to pursue my education overseas.

I love Malaysia. I consider myself patriotic. I was and remain a staunch defender of its uniqueness and the beauty of the country and its people. Well, most of them. I grew up reading The Star, NSTP and the like. I read most of our former PM’s books and took in every shred of reasoning he and others gave for the obvious disparity between the races. I quoted and defended the NEP on the classic grounds the policy being of “wealth creation” and not “wealth redistribution.” My family and friends would laugh, sniggle and sigh.  Up till then, I was colour-blind, but as case after case of blatant discrimination occurred, our dear politicians made me unsure for a good deal of time.

Then I made the move overseas…and realised what I had left behind. I had left behind a country full of life and colour, of some of the best examples of racial harmony and understanding anywhere in the world. Malaysia at her best is truly a beautiful country.  But living in a different country opened my eyes to what I had also left behind; a flawed and made-up democracy, weak institutions, institutionalized racism, hypocrisy and worse of all – a country living in denial. The former can be defended on the grounds of “a country in progress”, the latter is indefensible. I liken it to a child growing out of his adolescence. When a young child behaves badly, you can excuse him on the grounds of “he doesn’t know any better.”  For example, if he throws tantrums and has no regard for authority, that can be instructed in the child as he  grows. But the realisation and acknowledgement of his wrongdoing is vitally important – as he gets older, the same excuses simply cannot be sustained. Granted, we are a young country – but it has been close to 50 years of denial. Of the fact that it is a democracy. That its media is free. That its institutions are fair. That everyone has similar opportunities. That it respects and abides by the Constitution and rule of law.  That there exists freedom of religion and speech – and I’m just brushing the tip of the iceberg here. Doubtless, some would say I have been ‘corrupted by Western influences’ – but to confine such  basic  human elements to a Western nature is the classic disservice that Malaysians do unto themselves. At the expense of  the discomfort and fear of change, such people choose to remain myopic and backward.

It took a lot for me to critically examine my own country for its failings and admit to them. To study political science and understand the true meanings and contexts of  fundamental political concepts, frameworks of democracy, rule of law and associated concepts. I measured where Malaysia was in relation to these fundamental principles – and the result was a gut-wrenching, painful admission from a proud Malaysian that his country wasn’t all he thought it was – or likely to be if the culture of apathy and denial prevails.

As long as the ‘minority’ ethnic community in Malaysia continues to remain inert, apathetic, uneducated and disempowered to evoke even the most fundamental of changes (by voting in the right manner), wherein lies the mechanism and hope for change? How many more UMNO general assemblies do we need to see the true intentions of the ruling party? That last word is deliberately in the form of the singular. If only the MCA, Gerakan, MIC etc had more guts – and stop just surviving – and start living.

My intentions and comments do not come out of a desire to establish a race-dominated government of any sort. It is to create a truly representative and responsible government, one that recognises the importance of the abidance and adherence to the sovereign Constitution, that respects the rule of law, where all have access to equal educational, job and wealth opportunities and is colour-blind to the extent that it does not discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation — and yet, celebrates the incredible cultural diversity our country has been blessed with – and not use it to instil fear and bigotry in its people. It is in fact, repulsive and disappointing to me that close to 50 years after independence, we continue to have political parties that are divided along racial lines and not on solid ideology and sound policies.

Until then, what IS there for a Malaysian like me to go back to? Pray tell. I belong to a “minority” ethnic group, I do not speak strong BM and as a result, I’m sure the opportunities in my own country are vast indeed. Yet, I was the one top students at my university, hold a B.Econs (Hons), a M.A (International Relations), have been published academically and am working for the Australian government in delivering policies and bottom-line savings to the economy. And I’m just at the beginning of my career. I say all this not out of pride, but out of disappointment – where I want to be and can be most effective, my land of birth – I have little future.

I have great admiration and utmost respect for your work and all that you’ve laboured/struggled for Kit Siang. Sure you’ve made mistakes – we all have – but I respect the way you’ve come out of them. I’ve always belonged to a class of ‘forgotten Malaysians’ – once when I studied in Singapore, because I can’t speak BM, because I left my country to study abroad and haven’t returned. But I haven’t forgotten my country; I never will. But as much as I love Malaysia, does it remember me…and the many others like me? I do not expect an answer to that question.

I’m not expecting a response – I guess I now understand why I’ve taken the trouble to write such a long email to you. I want you to know, you have people on your side of the struggle. That as much as it holds nothing for me to go back, perhaps one day, I will…because at the heart of me, I am Malaysian… and stand for all things truly Malaysian.

Kind regards,

W.O.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 March 2007, 6:35 am and is filed under
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RM9 billion double-tracking project – penny-wise and pound-foolish

RM9 BIL DOUBLE-TRACKING PROJECT — PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH

Z. IBRAHIM

Klang

I refer to the  report stating that the Government now intends to go ahead with the RM9 billion double-track electrified railway which it earlier shelved 3 years ago. That this project is being revived so close to the elections only seems to increase rumors that the ruling party needs the money for the elections in the form of kickbacks. The project itself is poorly thought through.

KTM since British colonial times has been running services on meter-gauge tracks. Meter gauge tracks were basically designed at least during those days for industrial use and in Malaysia’s case — to transport tin.

However we failed to modernize and completely neglected our rail services in favour of road transport and continued using these meter gauges even for our passenger services.

In most parts of the world passenger services started running on standard or broad gauge.

To achieve decent transit times between KL and Penang etc, double tracking on a meter gauge will be slow and clearly will not be competitive.

Obviously this is a half measure as it seems the project is trying to avoid investing in rolling stock as would be the case if standard or broad gauge are adopted instead.

Simply put you cannot run a train fast if your tracks are not broad enough for stability at high speeds. For you to achieve speed and stability you need standard or broad gauge.

Despite double tracking Rawang-KL, Seremban-KL and Port Klang-KL, the services still remain as “commuter services”. Passengers will not hop onto trains if you cannot make KL-Seremban in half an hour. A train ride even from Port Klang to KL easily takes an hour. Even if there were direct Port Klang-KL services I doubt they can do it in half an hour on our meter gauge tracks and signaling systems.

The best-run conventional railway systems are still in India as British Rail almost always fishes technical staff from there. But the current project would be a complete waste of money and is doomed to fail if the meter gauge stays and the entire project at the end of construction risks being obsolete.

While the whole world including India and China moved forward in rail transport, all 1,699 km of Malaysia’s tracks have been narrow gauged which can only support low speed trains. This project does not make sense.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 March 2007, 6:51 am and is filed under
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