Najib making fatal mistake of  underestimating the intelligence of Internet users in Malaysia  to be able to  differentiate  truth from falsehoods in 14GE just as Pak Lah made the fatal mistake in 12GE in 2008 in underestimating the impact of Internet

Let me preface my speech with some observations about what the distinguished panelists have said this evening.

Firstly, the special appearance of the founder of Sarawak Report, Claire Brown from United Kingdom on Skype including a question-and-answer session with the audience in this hall highlights the futility of those in power to censor or control the flow of information in the Internet era.

Secondly, thanks to the government  ban on The Malaysian Insider, more Malaysians have acquired the very simple skills of circumventing  the Internet walls erected by Putrajaya to block access to The Malaysian Insider and other websites, with The Malaysian Insider becoming The Malaysian Outsider, getting acquainted with Unblocking sites and the  “wide wide  wide” world of Internet devoted to fighting all forms of Internet censorship. This is because all the secrets of overcoming Internet censorship can be mastered in a few minutes by searching the solutions on the Internet.

The CEO of Malaysiakini, Premesh Chandran had rightly cited the “tsunami” loss of UMNO/Barisan Nasional in the 12th General Election in 2008 to the Internet as the Prime Minister at the time, Tun Abdullah had subsequently admitted his “serious misjudgment” in underestimating the power of the Internet, losing the cyberwar to  the Opposition.

For the next 14th General Election which will have to be held by 2018,  the Prime Minister,  Datuk Seri Najib Razak –  if he survives till then –  is making another “serious misjudgment” in underestimating the intelligence of Internet users in Malaysia to differentiate truth from falsehood – just as Pak Lah made the fatal mistake in the 12GE in underestimating the impact of Internet.  I believe Najib will find that just deploying an army of robotic cybertroopers flooding the Internet with meretricious lies and falsehoods about the Opposition will not win for him the cyberwar in the next polls.

The Chairman of  the Bar Council’s Young Lawyers Committee Syahredzan Johan has rightly castigated a  Minister who claimed that freedom of speech is  a privilege and not an absolute right.

Ministers are sworn in their oath of office  to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” but it is clear that many Ministers, including those directly responsible and  tasked with  safeguarding the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, expression and information, do not understand these Constitutional guarantees and safeguards and are  in fact actively violating their oath of office when  they undermine and subvert instead of discharging  their duties to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.

May be our lawyers who are in the forefront of protecting the public interest in public litigation cases can consider what legal action could be taken against these Ministers who not only do not understand the Constitution but are violating their oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.

Parti Amanah Negara MP for Parit Buntar Mujahid Yusuf Rawa has described today as the best of times for Malaysia, referring to the Citizens’ Declaration gathering earlier today to Save Malaysia.

I agree with him, but only in part.

In fact, I am reminded of this opening of Charles Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities, which was one of my literature text books in Form IV in the fifties,  which said:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

I think this describes aptly Malaysia in the year 2016 – and in particular today, March 4, 2016 – where the Citizen’s Declaration gathering can be described as “the best of times”, “the epoch of belief”, “the season of Light” and “

the spring of hope” while another event today, the Public Accounts Committee meeting where the Auditor-General’s  final audit report on  1MDB was, in a unprecedented development,  classified under the Official Secrets Act – which is a supreme insult and contempt of Parliament by the Executive – qualifies to fit the categories of “worst of times”, “the age of foolishness”, “the epoch of incredulity”, “the season of Darkness” and “the winter of despair”.

The first term of the Prime Minister Najib was all about Najib’s 1Malaysia, which he wanted to convince Malaysians is not a fake.

Najib’s second term as Prime Minister is all about the 1MDB scandal, including his RM2.6 billion “political donation” scandal, which even the world does not believe is “all over, no more an issue and  had been resolved” – when the opposite is the case, Najib’s mega financial scandals mushrooming like a nuclear cloud, ever bigger and bigger,  dragging Najib’s credibility and Malaysia’s image further down the abyss.

The subject we are gathered here tonight, “Media Shackled, Democracy Dead?” over the ham-fisted and sledgehammer ban of The Malaysian Insider by the Najib government is all because of Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals writ large  – which are also the reasons why I am sitting out the forthcoming Parliamentary meeting because of my six-month suspension from Parliament because of our persistent pursuit for answers to the twin mega scandals.

(Speech at the DAP forum “Media Shackled, Democracy Dead?” at the KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Friday, March 4, 2016 at 830 pm)

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Najib should seek a vote of confidence in forthcoming Parliament unless he is unsure of unquestioned loyalty  from UMNO/BN MPs

Shortly after the historic gathering for the signing and the proclamation of the  Citizen’s Declaration to Save Malaysia, calling for the removal of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the Prime Minister of Malaysia and democratic and institutional reforms, the Najib government came out with a swift response.

It said that a general election is the  only “existing mechanism” to change the government and the Prime Minister – “the only mechanism that is lawful, democratic and fulfil’s the people’s will” – claiming that in 2013, “the Malaysian people expressed their will and elected the current government, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak” and any change must “follow the democratic process and await the next election, in line with Malaysia’s laws and Federal Constitution”.

What balderdash!

Firstly, the government statement is more than bending history because Najib was not elected Prime Minister as a result of the support of the majority of popular votes. He is the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia as he secured only 47% of the popular vote but 60% of the parliamentary seats, a reflection of the undemocratic and unjust electoral system.

Secondly, a general election is not the only way or mechanism for a change of Prime Minister.

Surely, nobody in UMNOP/BN is suggesting that if the Attorney-General, in exercise of his constitutional and discretionary  powers under Article 145(3), is convinced that the Prime Minister is guilty of corruption or other criminal wrongdoing, the Prime Minister concerned should continue in his high office?

Or lets take another scenario. Najib is at present under probe by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Justice Department under the US Kleptocracyt Assets Recovery Initiative whether any transactions and assets in US were connected to Najib and 1MDB ill-gotten gains, and if the US Department of Justice comes to the conclusion that it has evidence there were such connections, is Najib to continue as Prime Minister until the next general election in 2018?

This would be utterly outrageous and completely unthinkable.

There is another mechanism or avenue for the change of the Prime Minister – a motion of no confidence in the Dewan Rakyat.

Is it suggested that even if Najib loses in a vote in a motion of no confidence in Dewan Rakyat, he can continue as Prime Minister until the next general election?

This will be heresy to the most fundamental notions of parliamentary democracy anywhere in the world.

In fact, after the historic and unprecedented gathering today for the signing and proclamation of the Citizens’ Declaration calling for the removal of Najib as Prime Minister and for democratic and institutional reforms, the right,  proper and honourable thing for Najib to do will be to seek a vote of confidence when Parliament reconvenes next week.

As a  motion of confidence from the Dewan Rakyat had been sought before by the third Prime Minister, Hussein Onn on January 27, 1976 after Tun Razak’s sudden death, Najib will be following and not establishing a precedent.

The Citizens’ Declaration, which had the support of the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Ministers and dignitaries as well as political and civil society leaders, is another major blow to  the crumbling credibility of Najib as Prime Minister, whether in the country or in the international arena.

Or is Najib afraid to  seek a vote of confidence in the forthcoming Parliament because he is unsure of  the unquestioned of loyalty  from UMNO/BN MPs?

Veteran journalist Kadir Jasin, the second speaker tonight, is right when he focused attention on the last paragraph of the 37-paragraph Citizens’ Declaration, which called on all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political affiliation, creed, parties, young and old, to join in a “Save Malaysia” movement  from the government headed by Najib, “to pave the way for much-needed democratic and institutional reforms, and to restore the important principle of the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary which will ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our national institutions”.

What we did today in the Citizens’ Declaration is the first step of the  Save Malaysia campaign, which have to followed up with a national consensus on democratic and institutional reforms so that all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation, can again hold their heads high and be proud of being Malaysians because of our accomplishments and achievements, instead of being ashamed because of our national failings and disasters, whether in political, economic, educational, good governance or nation-building endeavours.

[Speech (2) at the DAP forum “Media Shackled, Democracy Dead?” at the KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Friday, March 4, 2016 at 830 pm]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 March 2016, 1:13 pm and is filed under
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The Najib effect

Economist

Mar 5th 2016

Not only Malaysians should be worried about rotten politics and a divisive prime minister

ONE of South-East Asia’s richest and hitherto most stable countries, Malaysia ought to be a beacon. Its constitution is liberal, and its brand of Islam generally tolerant. Its diverse, English-speaking population, combining ethnic Malays, Chinese and Indians, gives it zest and vim. Yet under the prime minister, Najib Razak, the country is regressing at alarming speed. Its politics stinks, its economy is in trouble, and there are worrying signs that the government is not above stirring up ethnic and religious divisions.

For the past year allegations of corruption have swirled around Mr Najib. They centre around hundreds of millions of dollars that made their way into his bank accounts before the most recent general election, in 2013. Investigators are looking into whether the money is linked to a troubled state investment firm, 1MDB, whose advisory board Mr Najib chairs. He denies wrongdoing. His attorney-general has ruled that the money was a legal donation from an unnamed Saudi royal, and that much of it has been returned.

For Malaysians, the precise nature of what happened is not the main point. Mr Najib presented himself as a liberal out to remake the sleazy system of money politics by which the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has held power since independence. He was to open up a crony economy. And he was to do away with repressive colonial-era laws, such as that for sedition.

Now Mr Najib’s credibility is in tatters. Facing inquiries around 1MDB, he has engineered the retirement of a pesky police chief, replaced an attorney-general and promoted members of an inquisitive parliamentary committee into the cabinet, where they can do less harm. Far from loosening colonial laws, the government is wielding the sedition law with new zeal. It is blocking news websites and hounding opponents (the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is in prison on charges of sodomy). Even yellow T-shirts have been outlawed since citizens protesting against corruption took to wearing them. The more Mr Najib cracks down, the more he alienates those who were once inclined to support him.

Foreign investors and others should be worried. The government is floundering in its responses to a sharp slowdown in the economy and to a falling currency. Cheap oil has hurt Malaysia, but its wretched politics will hold it back more in the long run. The government is now using dog-whistle politics to appeal to its ethnic-Malay, Muslim base, and is refusing to distance itself sufficiently from Islamists seeking the introduction of harsh sharia punishments. Pro-government bigots in the street have told ethnic-Chinese Malaysians to “go back to China”. This is dangerous. Malaysia has seen race riots before, and could see them again. Nearby Singapore, with its different mix of the same ethnic groups, should also be alarmed.

1 Massive Development Balls-up

Malaysia’s problems run deep. UMNO is out of ideas and seems incapable of rejuvenating itself. The fractured, rudderless opposition does not have the winning combination to overcome UMNO’s gerrymandering and harassment. And the next election is anyway still two years away. Restoring confidence will be tricky. But for as long as Malaysia is governed in the style of Mr Najib, ordinary Malaysians will suffer and their country will be deprived of the standing that it surely deserves in the world.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 March 2016, 9:15 am and is filed under
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50 years of a party and politician

BY THOR KAH HOONG

The Malaysian Insider

6 March 2016

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang looks back on 50 years of the political party he helms, in tandem with his five decades as a politician, the many ups and downs and ins (Lim was a guest of the authorities for three stretches), the time political opponents were after his blood, doing a bit of crystal-ball gazing at what’s looming, and his thoughts about finding common ground with a former nemesis, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

TMI: No better place to start than at the start. When did you become “politicised”, where was the beginning rooted?

Lim: Since my school days.

TMI: Your school days?

Lim: In the sense we were very interested in events – the school days of the 1950s lah, I was in secondary school 1955-59. Those were the times when, nationally and internationally, there were a lot of exciting developments… 1955 was the Bandung Conference, 1956 was the nationalisation of the Suez Canal and the Hungarian revolution, 1957 was our Merdeka, and in my class, there was a group who was tuned in to all these events.

I remember my last year in school, 1959, waiting for our Form Five results to come out, those days we had no IT to distract us, our only distraction was to cycle around town, to roam around.

We’d go to the deserted school at night, sit beside the longkang and yarn, and someone will say, “let’s go out into the world and form a political party”.

TMI: So, while I, further down the road, was dreaming of being the next Robin Hood or Hercules, you were dreaming of being a politician?

Lim: (Laughs.) No, not like that, not being a politician. More like being interested in what’s happening in the country. The Bandung Conference, I would say that’s the first political event that caught my attention.

(The Bandung Conference was a meeting of 29 Asian and African nations which took place on April 18-24, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The conference’s aims were to promote economic and cultural links and to oppose neo-colonialism. This conference was a milestone in the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement.)

TMI: Coming to the formation of the party (DAP was registered on March 18, 1966), were you a PAP member, like many of the other founder members, possibly from the time when you did a stint as a journalist in Singapore?

Lim: No, I was not involved in any political activities in Singapore. Though I was involved in the trade union, the NUJ, and, of course, that time the union was very politicised.

(There is also a snooty elitist whiff about it. Lim tells Thor they called themselves The Chapel. He wondered if the tradition persists. I wouldn’t advise it, what with the Catholic Church wearing a hair-shirt, genuflecting and saying multiple mea culpas for having rams amid their flock.

(Lim reminisces about his first “political campaign”, becoming secretary of the union, against “the great” (Lim’s words) incumbent A. Mahadeva. Lim felt his predecessor was preoccupied with international issues, “the higher matters of state”, and ignoring basic issues affecting people, such as rice, considering them mundane when the geopolitical landscape was undergoing major upheaval.)

Lim: I remember he was sitting not far from me. I wrote him a letter, enumerating several issues. He read it and tore it up and that started my campaign against him. (Huge laugh.)

TMI: So, one can say that was your first successful political campaign.

Lim: (Laughs.) It wasn’t politics. I just felt he wasn’t addressing issues. I wasn’t involved in politics in Singapore. I was following what was happening in Malaysia. I never felt like I was a Singaporean. I felt like a fish out of water.

I came back to cover parliament in August 1965, but with the separation, I had nothing to cover, so I went back.

(Lim goes on to talk about Devan Nair, a founding member of DAP, later president of Singapore, who enlisted him into DAP.)

Lim: I knew Devan as a trade unionist, covering him in my work. We would have drinks and arguments.

I think he considered me a rather unorthodox character… He called me and asked me to be his secretary. I was that time already in RTM, having finished with The Straits Times in Singapore, so I said okay. That’s how I started in politics.

TMI: Let’s go now to your first electoral victory, MP for Kota Melaka, in a general election that also marked a bloody episode in the country’s history – May 13, 1969. Do you think that victory parade through KL was the trigger?

Lim: (Interrupting, defensively.) Actually I knew nothing about it. I was not involved. Although I have been accused of leading the procession, making anti-Malay insults, but I was not in KL.

Anyway, even if there were such sentiments, people shouted “balik kampung”, that’s no reason to start a riot.

TMI: I read reports which said the victories of the opposition heralded the downfall of Umno. Was that the sentiment in DAP? If so, wasn’t that a bit overenthusiastic with 11.9% of the vote?

Lim: Downfall of Umno? I don’t think that was the sentiment, although there was euphoria at unexpected victories as we had not expected to do well, as well as the stalemate in Selangor.

I do not think there was a celebratory mood because the results heralded the “downfall of Umno”. That would be unrealistic

TMI: You were in Malacca at that time?

Lim: I was in Malacca for polling day, May 10. Those days not like now, separate counting centres. Those days all the boxes from everywhere were collected and brought to one place, opened up. There’s a mountain of votes. It’s very time-consuming to go through them. Your result will come out 3, 4, 5am.

So after the result, we had a celebratory breakfast and I came back to my house in PJ, tired out. On the 12th, I went back to Malacca for a thanksgiving procession, and that night I had a “thank you” rally.

Morning of the 13th, I flew to Kota Kinabalu, because the elections of the East Malaysian states were one or two weeks later, and some independent candidates had asked me to go and help them.

There was a big rally in KK. At that time, we had to deal with Tun Mustapha (Harun) who was a terror, as good as a demi-god. We don’t care-lah, the way we operate, we just go there and whack-lah. During the rally, I got word there was trouble in KL.

Morning of the 14th, Tun Mustapha sent an immigration officer to tell me to get out. At that time there was only one daily flight out, KK-Singapore, about three in the afternoon. (Laughs.) Being a rebel, a trouble-maker, I decided to miss the flight by going round KK meeting people.

And it was fortunate I missed the flight. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. When I went to the airport the Special Branch told me the Bajau horsemen had come to the airport to finish me off because I had insulted their demi-god.

On the 15th, the police took me into custody to make sure I didn’t miss the flight. I was in Singapore for three days. My family had told me not to come back because I was on the blacklist, sure kena-lah. But I told myself, just got elected, how can don’t come back?

So I came back, landed in Subang, KL still under curfew. We lined up on the tarmac to go through immigration. I asked them if they were waiting for me. That’s when they took me away.

In the car, two chaps at the back squeezing me, two chaps in front. On the way back, I could see burnt cars, and I was wondering, they could take me somewhere, finish me off, and nobody will know. They took me to Jalan Bandar and, after processing, they took me to Kuala Selangor for custodial detention.

TMI: That stretch was 18 months?

Lim: Seventeen.

TMI: What was the most tedious aspect of that experience? Was it boredom? The food? Contact with the outside world?

Lim: In the first few weeks of the 60 days, they do not allow any family visit. Then it was supposed to be once a week.

They didn’t want my family to know I was being held in Kuala Selangor, so I met them in the PJ police station. After 60 days they decided to keep me, so I was taken to Muar.

TMI: Was there anything to occupy your days in Muar?

Lim: That was when I decided to get some books and take up law.

TMI: After being called to the Bar, have you ever practised mundane cari makan lawyering like conveyancing, or have you been too busy being sued or suing?

Lim: A few months. Opened an office in Malacca, but never really got going.

TMI: After that, what one could call the wilderness years of the party, the 1970s stretching into the 1990s, scratching out victories here and there, did you ever feel you were banging your head against a wall that will never crack?

Lim: Ya… but at that time you never thought you wanted to be an MP. Forming a government was never in our minds. It was something worthwhile to do.

TMI: What was the main thing holding you all back then? A lack of finance?

Lim: We didn’t operate the way they did. They spent RM100,000, we spent RM1,000 or RM10,000. A different scale. We got things free, or somebody is a volunteer.

The 1969 elections, Chian Heng Kai, my secretary, later detained for four years, nine months under the ISA (Internal Security Act) and elected an MP in Perak while in detention, he spent less than RM500 standing for the Bandar Penggaram (Batu Pahat) state assembly seat.

We never have enough money, but money has never been a problem. This was our modus operandi for a long time – to collect small donations from supporters. Businessmen in the early decades, easily four decades, wouldn’t touch us.

DAP has always operated on a shoe-string. We do not finance our candidates for deposits and election expenses. The candidates have to pay for their election material and deposits.

Money politics is a curse. That’s why (Datuk Seri) Najib’s (Razak) RM2.6 billion (or is it RM4.2 billion?) donation scandal, which is probably part of the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal, is so corrupting. Malaysia needs effective laws to ensure transparent and accountable political contributions.

TMI: So what was holding the party back then? The perception that it was a Chinese party?

Lim: We never saw ourselves as a Chinese party. In the first few elections, we contested in Umno strongholds. The first by-election of DAP was in Kampung Baru against Razali (Tan Sri Ahmad Razali Mohamed Ali), Mahathir’s brother-in-law.

We were a party for all Malaysians. We had to go in and try. That’s where I made my first political speech. (Laughs.) I must have been terrible. The second time was in Tampoi, Johor.

The third time against (Tun) Musa Hitam. The first elections, we put up Malay candidates and got two assemblymen, one in Perak, one in Negri. Of course, we still have limitations reaching out to the Malays, but we never thought of not representing them.

TMI: Was 1999 the darkest moment in your political career? Your only loss. Not only you. Karpal, the Tiger of Jelutong, also got defanged. The party…

Lim: (Laughs.) It was dark, certainly a dark period, but whether it was the darkest, I don’t know.

TMI: That was the party’s first attempt at a marriage with PAS.

Lim: We couldn’t reach out… MCA, Gerakan were saying a vote for DAP was a vote for PAS, an Islamic state, no Chinese school, no temples, no pork. It takes time to get the people to understand it’s not so. Of course, the final thing is whether you can win people over eventually and we have.

TMI: No regrets over the failed marriage?

Lim: No regrets over the attempt. Just regret that it failed. Finally, you have to stand by your principles. Otherwise you have to answer to the people. If it’s unavoidable.

TMI: Which did you think was going to be your toughest contest, going into it, where you thought the chances may be iffy? Was it the last one in Johor again the MB? An early one? The 1986 move to Penang?

Lim: Gelang Patah was one. No surety of winning. Big risk.

Another was in 1986 when I moved from Malacca to contest Tanjong – against strong incumbent (Tan Sri) Koh Tsu Koon. Also no surety of victory. Major risk.

Another would be the 1990 Padang Kota state assembly (Penang) contest against (Tun Lim) Chong Eu. No indication of what could be the outcome until the votes were counted.

Even the 1999 general election, when I moved from Tanjong to contest in Bukit Bendera, was a risky contest as I tried to salvage a DAP seat which had become difficult. In the event, I lost.

The same thing with the Bandar Hilir state assembly seat in Malacca in 1982, which had become a risky seat because of complaints against the DAP incumbent. I switched from Kubu to Bandar Hilir to save it, but I failed.

TMI: I must ask you this cliched question, Reporter 101: regrets not having more time for the family, particularly the kids while they were growing up?

Lim: (Laughs.) Even now, there are regrets. My house is like a hotel. Check in, check out. What more those early days. But I made it a point to call up every day to check that everything was alright.

TMI: Are you wired in all day, keeping in touch with what’s happening? Time off for gardening, jogging, television?

Lim: (Laughs.) Nope.

TMI: Do you still read books?

Lim: Hardly.

TMI: So you are a cyber-junkie mainlining on politics all day. How long more before you go cold turkey on politics?

Lim: How long more? I don’t know.

TMI: Some crystal-ball gazing. Sarawak. Can DAP move beyond its urban strongholds and establish footprints into the interior? Are reach, finance, and tribal obeisance to the patronage of the “white-haired” chieftain still insurmountable problems?

Lim: Can we reach out to interior? We are trying very hard with Impian Sarawak, etc, but it is going to be a tough election, as (Tan Sri) Adenan (Satem) is a popular CM. Finance and barely accessible distance pose great problems.

TMI: First time around with PAS, the sceptics were proven right, the marriage didn’t work. Didn’t work a second time. Throw into the mix the current spat in Penang between DAP and PKR, and who knows what other differences of opinion in future, and the sceptics are out again, nah, book seats in the divorce court. At the least, it would be a good bet there will be face-offs between DAP and PAS in the next GE. Your response?

Lim: Coalition politics, especially for the opposition, is not easy, but the political reality in Malaysia is that it’s unavoidable. But it must be based on common policies. Otherwise, it would be merely opportunistic.

TMI: Where do you see the party heading?

Lim: DAP must move on, from a party of choice for urbanites, to reach out to rural areas, to be accepted by all.

TMI: Considering the current location of the DAP headquarters (it’s right next to a flyover, crawling with traffic all day, with a gory past under a previous name and guise), do you think, in your lifetime, you’ll ever wander the marbled corridors of Putrajaya wondering what you are going to do with all that opulent space?

Lim: The opposition in Putrajaya? Ten years ago, unthinkable, an impossible dream. Now, it is not whether, but when. Hope it is during my lifetime. Hope by GE14.

TMI: Back to today. Shakespeare said misery makes for strange bedfellows. So does politics. You and Dr Mahathir – having a chat and a cuppa?

Lim: I should leave a fuller answer for the future. Except to say that in politics, we should try not to be personal, whatever our differences. It will not be easy as he not only detained me, but also Guan Eng (Kit Siang’s son, now chief minister of Penang). – March 6, 2016.

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Asia’s top debater forms new youth group, first statement is against Najib

by Ista Kyra Sharmugam

The Malaysian Insider

2 March 2016

Fed up with the government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Asia’s top debater Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and 24 other youths have put their names to a statement rejecting the current leadership.

They have also formed a group called “Challenger”, which stands for “Change Led by the Young Generation” and have just launched their Facebook page.

The 25 comprise student representatives and youth leaders from various local and international universities, with Syed Saddiq as the spokesman.

“We have lost faith in Datuk Seri Najib and his allies, as their actions have jeopardised and will sacrifice the future of Malaysia.

“Our love for Malaysia is unparalleled. It is therefore our duty to speak up against those who seek to wreck our beloved country apart.

“We, the generation that will inherit the leadership of this country, have an obligation to save the future from the present,” Syed Saddiq said in the statement posted on Challenger’s Facebook page.

The group members claim to be politically non-partisan and say they are united against Najib’s administration due to “gross mishandling” of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) crisis and investigations into the state-owned investment firm.

“This crisis transcends other cases of corruption as it involves a consistent assault upon Malaysia’s pillars of governance,” the group said, and listed as concerns the transfer of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigators, unexpected replacement of the attorney-general and the promotion of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that caused a delay to the panel’s probe into 1MDB.

“The media has not been left out from this assault. The Edge, Sarawak Report, Medium and recently, The Malaysian Insider have all been suspended due to their critical reporting on 1MDB and the prime minister’s alleged corruption scandal,” their statement added.

Syed Saddiq, 22, told The Malaysian Insider that Challenger was not unlike G25, the group of prominent and influential Malays that included educationists and former civil servants, who advocate moderation in religion and reforms for good governance.

“It is however, purely coincidental that we have started with a total 25 members.

“We decided to group up and were hastily formed last Monday. More youth leaders are expected to join,” he said in a phone interview.

He said Challenger plans to speak up on matters related to the country’s direction and would hold various awareness programmes.

“We will be discussing these among members soon,” he said.

Syed Saddiq came into the media limelight last year after a social media post in which he called Najib a “national disgrace”.

The three-time Asia debate champion was once a Perdana Fellow to Minister at the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri but said he was not a member of Umno or any party.

He has his eye on joining politics, however, and told The Malaysian Insider in an interview in November that he would decide on a party after assessing the current political situation and party leaders.

He won Asia’s Best Speaker Award at the 2015 Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship last October.

His two earlier number one titles were won at the 2015 United Asian Debating Championship and the ABP Debating Championship in 2012. – March 2, 2016.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 March 2016, 8:31 am and is filed under
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My only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible  Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals

Parliament will be opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Monday to kick off a 20-sitting of the first meeting of the 4th session of the 13th Parliament from 7th March to 7th April 2016.

I will be absent from the five weeks of Parliamentary meeting beginning on Monday as I had been suspended from Parliament for six months, not because I had committed any crime or corruption or anyway involved in the greatest corruption and financial scandal to hit the country in six decades – the 1MDB scandal and the Prime Minister’s multi-billion ringgit “donation” scandal – but because I had been in the forefront demanding full accountability and transparency on these two mega scandals.

In demanding full accountability and transparency for Najib’s twin mega scandals, I am suspended from Parliament for six months and have to sit out the 20-day meeting of Parliament from Monday, but those responsible for the twin mega scandals and for the cover-up of the twin mega scandals which have shaken the Prime Minister’s credibility and plunged Malaysia’s international image and standing to their lowest ebbs in the nation’s history do not suffer any restriction or constraint  and are able to walks the Chamber of Parliament with  immunity and impunity!

This  is indeed the supreme irony of ironies, which illustrate why  life in Malaysia, in the recent words of former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, is  “turning upside down…The end seems to justify the means and anything, anything goes. The dividing line between good and bad, right and wrong, seem blurred”.

Barring the five years from 1999 to 2004 when I was not a Member of Parliament after losing in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency in the 10th General Election, this will be the first time since I was elected Member of Parliament 47 years ago in 1969, that I will be missing the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament each year.

I have only one wish on the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament on Monday – that the Yang di Pertuan Agong will announce the establishment of a credible  Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals.

The first term of the Prime Minister Najib was all about Najib’s 1Malaysia, which he wanted to convince Malaysians was not a fake.  But Najib allowed the worst racial and religious polarization in the nation’s history to begin under his Premiership, making a total mockery of his 1Malaysia Policy.

Najib’s second term as Prime Minister is all about the 1MDB scandal, including his RM2.6 billion which has now mushroomed to RM4.2 billion  “political donation” scandal, which even the world does not believe is “all over, no more an issue and  had been resolved” – when the opposite is the case, with Najib’s mega financial scandals mushrooming like a nuclear cloud, ever bigger and bigger,  dragging Najib’s credibility and Malaysia’s image further down the abyss.

I am reminded of this opening of Charles Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities, which was one of my literature text books in Form IV in the fifties,  which said:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

I think this describes aptly Malaysia today where the  “Save Malaysia” gathering yesterday to sign and proclaim the Citizen’s Declaration involving three Tuns – including  former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir – five Tan Sris including former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri MuhyiddinYassin, several Datuk Seris and Datuks, as well as political and civil society leaders, represent “the best of times”, “the epoch of belief”, “the season of Light” and “the spring of hope” while another event yesterday, the Public Accounts Committee meeting where the Auditor-General’s  final audit report on  1MDB was, in a unprecedented development,  classified under the Official Secrets Act qualifies to fit the categories of “worst of times”, “the age of foolishness”, “the epoch of incredulity”, “the season of Darkness” and “the winter of despair”.

In fact, the latest twist in the long saga to get to the bottom of seedy tale  of Najib’s twin mega scandals has raised grave doubts that the journey could end with a full, comprehensive and no-holds-barred report by the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

It is completely unheard-of and a supreme contempt of parliamentary dignity and privileges  that Parliament could be so insulted and humiliated by the Executive that the Auditor-General’s final audit report to the PAC is announced as classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

The PAC is a committee of Parliament, and an insult and humiliation of PAC  is an insult and humiliation to Parliament and all the 222 MPs in the House, including the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers!

Is the Prime Minister, his Ministers and all MPs aware of the meaning and impact of the Executive insulting and humiliating PAC by stamping the OSA on the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB when presented to PAC?

I am very disappointed by the former PAC Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad who said that only supporting documents from the Auditor-General that accompany the PAC report on 1MDB are classified under the OSA.

This is completely unacceptable. The supporting documents from the Auditor-General tabled in PAC have become parliamentary documents and the OSA classification had ceased to exist, otherwise this make s a complete mockery of the assurance by the Prime Minister that the Auditor-General and PAC investigations would be a “tell all” investigations that will leave no stone unturned!

Is the Najib government seriously suggesting that supporting documents presented by the Auditor-General on 1MDB to PAC could be denied to all the 222 MPs?

The Prime Minister should announce without any ado that he has nothing to hide and that he has no objection whatsoever for the Auditor-General’s both reports, the interim and the  final audit report,  to be tabled in Parliament by the PAC without any classification under the OSA!

There are no signs that the PAC with a “cari makan” chairman will summon key personalities to its inquiry into the 1MDB, including the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali, former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the Chief Commissioner for MACC, Tan Sri Abu Kassim, the MACC director (special operations) Bahri Mohamed Zin, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar,  the former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador and of course the two most important witnesses for PAC investigations into 1MDB – the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Penang-born billionaire Jho Low.

How can the PAC wrap up its investigations into the Najib’s twin mega scandals without summoning Najib,  Jho Low and the other key personalities?

This is why my only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible  Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals – which is also the wish of the overwhelming majority of Malaysians who want Najib’s twin mega scandals to cease to haunt and hound the nation, as in  the past year.

(Speech at the DAP fund-raising dinner for Sarawak state elections 2016 held at Chung Kwo Chinese primary school hall, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 5th March 2016 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 March 2016, 7:40 am and is filed under
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There is an air of panic in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 304 Citizens’ Declaration for Najib’s removal and democratic and institutional reforms

There is an air of panic in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 304 Citizens’ Declaration for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s removal as Prime Minister and call for democratic and institutional reforms to Save Malaysia.

This was why Najib had summoned UMNO/Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament to his official residence last night – a pre-council meeting which in the past had been held either on the eve of the beginning of Parliament or on the morning of the first day of Parliament meeting, but never two days in advance!

And there are valid reasons for Najib to be concerned about the effect and impact of the 304 Citizens’ Declaration, signed not only by the longest-serving former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Ministers, but also by political and civil society leaders.

This is because the Citizens’ Declaration had crossed the great political divide and accords with the sentiments of overwhelming majority of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender  that a national call must go out to reach the maximum number of Malaysians, even to the 3.3 million UMNO members and a million PAS members, for all to stand on a united common platform to save Malaysia from the slide down the slippery slope to a failed and a rogue state.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, from inside Sungai Buloh prison, has given unequivocal support to the bridging of the political divide not to be limited to “personal agendas or political vendettas” but to “chart a new way forward to save our beloved nation”.

Anwar rightly pointed out the call for change, with the pivotal demand for Najib to resign as Prime Minister, must also necessarily involve reform at key national  institutions badly damaged by the Najib administration.

The Najib government’s panicky reaction is one reason for its “balderdash” statement it issued immediately after the signing and proclamation of the Citizens’ Declaration, lamely claiming that a general election is the only “existing mechanism” to change the Prime Minister.

Najib himself does not believe in his official statement, or he would not hurriedly summoned UMNO/BN MPs to an emergency meeting at  his official residence last night.

Najib should know that even if he seemed to have locked up support of the overwhelmin gmajority of the UMNO/BN MPs to back his premiership, if he has lost all credibility not only among the Malaysian people and voters, but even to UMNO/BN MPs though they dare not yet show their true feelings and colours, it is not whether but when Najib has to step down as Prime Minister – regardless of the date for the next general election.

I do not believe, for instance, that all the UMNO/BN MPs are so unpatriotic as to be completely unconcerned about the damage Najib’s twin mega scandals are causing, not only to the ruling coalition but also to the country.

When even a fervid Najib supporter like  Tan Sri Rais Yatim found it strange that the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB had been presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), the Prime Minister’s credibility rating among his own UMNO/BN MPs and ground had sunk to an all-time low.

Can the PAC Chairman and Najib appointee, Datuk Hasan Arifin explain why there was no 100% attendance of PAC members at Friday’s meeting when this was the reason given for the postponement for the earlier-fixed Feb. 24/25 PAC meetings?

Do the UMNO/BN MPs, leaders and grassroots buy Najib’s explanation about the twin mega scandals?

I have no doubt that if they were allowed to vote in a secret ballot, the majority of the UMNO/BN MPs will vote in the negative.

For a start, Najib should convince UMNO/BN MPs about the issues about Najib’s twin mega scandals raised in the Citizen’s Declaration, viz:

“6. In 2009 he (Najib) decided to set up a Sovereign Wealth fund to earn income for the Government.

“7. He created the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) which became indebted with RM42 billion of loans which it is unable to repay. It is no longer a Sovereign Wealth fund. It is a Sovereign Debt Fund.

“8. 1MDB borrowed approximately RM20 billion to acquire 3 power plant companies for an over-priced RM12.1 billion. Despite being awarded new power plant contracts and extensions to the expiring power-producing concessions, the 1MDB power companies were sold for RM9.83 billion, or a loss of RM2.27 billion.

“9. 1MDB invested or lent a total of US$1.83 billion to Petrosaudi International (PSI) Limited between 2009 and 2011 under the pretext of bogus projects or non-existent assets.  Bank Negara Malaysia had demanded 1MDB return of the above money to Malaysia as their approval was given based on misinformation submitted by 1MDB.  Of these sum, a total of US$1.45 billion was directly and indirectly siphoned off to Good Star Limited and other companies controlled by Low Taek Jho.

“10. 	To hide the missing funds, 1MDB ‘disposed’ its investments and loans to PSI for US$2.318 billion, claiming to have made a profit of US$488 million.  However, no money was returned to Malaysia.  Instead, 1MDB claimed it invested the funds in Cayman Islands which was subsequently found to be an unlicensed investment manager.  KPMG was sacked as 1MDB’s auditors for refusing to confirm the value of the investment in the mysterious Caymans fund.

“11.    1MDB claimed that the Cayman Island investment has been fully redeemed.  US$1.22 billion was reportedly redeemed on 5 November 2014 but was substantially utilized on the very same day to compensate Aabar Investments PJS for the termination of options granted to Aabar to acquire 49% of 1MDB’s power companies.  This is a lie because the parent of Aabar, International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) did not mention receipt of any such payments in its audited accounts published on the London Stock Exchange.  Instead the accounts stated that 1MDB owes IPIC the sum of US$481 million for the termination.

“12. 1MDB also took another loan of US$975 million from a Deutsche Bank-led consortium in September 2014, for the very same purpose of compensating Aabar for the terminated options.  The Wall Street Journal has exposed the fact that these money have been paid to a different British Virgin Islands entity with a similar name, “Aabar Investment PJS Limited”, whose beneficial owner is completely unrelated to IPIC.  The simple scam has fooled even the 1MDB auditors, Deloitte Malaysia into believing that the payments were indeed received by IPIC’s Aabar.

“13. 1MDB announced that it made a 2nd and final RM1.1 billion redemption of the Cayman Islands investment in January 2015.  Initially, the Prime Minister told the Parliament that the sum was held in cash in BSI Bank, Singapore.  However, two months later in May 2015, he informed the Parliament that it was not cash but “assets”.  Subsequently, it was explained that these assets were “units” which meant that they were never redeemed in the first place.  This proved that 1MDB and the Prime Minister have been consistently lying to the Malaysian public.  It also means that the money invested in Petrosaudi which was reinvested in Cayman Islands, are still missing and unaccounted for.”

Can Najib answer fully and  satisfactorily the questions raised in these eight paragraphs in the Citizen’s Declaration on the twin mega scandals?

If the Prime Minister cannot do so, can the UMNO/BN Members of Parliament do so?

If the answers to both are in the negative, why is Najib continuing to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 March 2016, 11:37 am and is filed under
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Call for Anwar Ibrahim’s release from Sungai Buloh prison to take part, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa in 1990, in national reconciliation talks to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and rogue state

There have both been bouquets and brickbats following 304 (March 4)  historic gathering on the signing and proclamation of the Citizens’ Declaration involving former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Cabinet Ministers and Opposition and civil society leaders.

Undoubtedly, the Citizens’ Declaration on Friday had come as a total surprise and shock to many, including journalists whose profession is to smell out trends and news breaking stories, who would never imagine as possible  such a get-together of long-time political opponents for a common cause.

I thank all for the bouquets and even welcome the brickbats, provided they are honest views and not pure venom soaked in lies and spite.

Can the Citizens’ Declaration to Save Malaysia calling on Datuk Seri Najib Razak to step down as Prime Minister and for democratic and institutional reforms succeed?

To be frank, I do not think anybody can answer that question in all sincerity. But to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and a rogue state is a deserving,  honourable and honest objective which is worth trying  to achieve and even failing, instead of not trying at all.

I have just come from  Publika Mall in Kuala Lumpur, where relatives and friends of the 239 passengers and crew of the ill-fated MH370 observed a heart-wrenching two-year remembrance of  the aviation disaster on March 8, 2014 when the Peking-bound MAS flight virtually disappeared into thin air, defying a two-year international search of the Indian Ocean.

The relatives and friends of the 239 passengers and crew of MH370 want the authorities to  “Never Give Up” and the search to  continue until the truth about the missing MH370 is revealed – an  appeal we must  all support.

But one question which had bugged me was why the international MH 370 search mission was not led by Malaysia, but instead of by Australia, when the subject of this tragedy is a Malaysian airliner.

This  is another example of how Malaysia had lost our rightful place in the global stage, suffering a  diminished international esteem and accomplishments when what should have been a natural and  automatic choice, i.e. Malaysia leading the international search mission for MH370, is also surrendered and replaced by an Australian-led search mission.

This is only one of the many fields of human endeavour where Malaysia has lost out since the start of our nationhood some six decades ago – missing out  to be one of the Asian economic tigers; our universities plunging from world-class rankings  to very mundane levels; our primary and secondary schools falling from international grades to the bottom third of international rankings; degeneration from being a global show-case for successful multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual nation-building to a basket case with increasing racial and religious polarization – from an era of “Malaysia Boleh” to “Malaysia Tak Boleh”.

Even in the field of sports, Malaysians are reminded by the popular film “Ola Bola” of our national descent from a great Asian football nation in the early decades of nationhood to No.  171 in Fifa soccer rankings.

This is why the historic 304 (March 4) Citizens’ Declaration gathering  on Friday is so important, as it served as a vehicle for the expression of  patriotism of Malaysians  to Save Malaysia from hurtling towards a failed and a rogue state by  demanding the removal of Datuk Seri Najib as Prime Minister and far-reaching democratic and institutional reforms.

The 304 Citizens’ Declaration has evoked both new hopes as well as old scorns.

While many see  new hopes in  the Citizens’ Declaration as the first step to stop the rot in Malaysia and the joining of all  patriotic forces in the country, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age and gender to unite on a  common national agenda to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and a rogue state, there are also those who moved by old scorns as they do not see any likelihood of success for the Citizens’ Declaration movement, and there are those who attribute the basest and most dishonorable motives for those associated with the  Citizens’ Declaration.

I have even been accused of being opportunistic and totally bereft of political principles in appearing  with Tun Mahathir.

I have even been asked whether I still hate Mahathir.

One should not be too personal in politics and the question of personal hatred and vendetta should not intrude into the picture.

That is why I had never hated Mahathir or anybody else.

I have had a lot of differences with Mahathir in the past few decades. He was responsible for my second detention under the ISA and Guan Eng’s first ISA detention under Operation Lalang in 1987.

Guan Eng and I were among the first to be detained in the Operation Lalang dragnet on Oct. 27, 1987, and we were the last two to be released from Kamunting Detention Centre in April 1989 although all the other ISA detainees were released earlier in various batches in the intervening period.

But I never took these events personally, which was why I asked for a meeting with Mahathir after my release from detention.

I told Mahathir I was seeing him not to ask why he detained me and Guan Eng, but why he did not arrest Najib Razak who was at the time the UMNO Youth leader and played a leading role in raising political and racial tensions at the time.

But national interests and those of our children and children’s children must always be greater  and more important than personal  privations and feelings, and we must move on to secure a Malaysian future where all our children and children’s children, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender can be proud to be Malaysians instead of migrating overseas to join the world-wide Malaysian Diaspora.

Recently, Mahathir said he has lost pride in being a Malaysian. He said there was a time when people talk highly of Malaysia, but today, people abroad ask what’s happening in the country he could not explain what’s happening in the country.

Something is very wrong when a person who had been the country’s Prime Minister for 22 years, when everything seemed to  be “boleh”, comes to the view that he is not proud of being a Malaysian, where everything seems to be “tak boleh” – and what is more important, a sentiment not of one person, but shared by an increasing number of Malaysians!

This is why we must subordinate all personal interests to the national interest to Save Malaysia to make Malaysia great again, where all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender can feel proud again as Malaysians because they have all an equal place under the Malaysian sun.

The UMNO/BN cybertroopers are very busy in the last two days since the Citizens’ Declaration on Friday, dishing out a lot of lies, falsehoods and pure venom.

From the lies and falsehoods which have kept the Umno/BN cybertroopers busy in the past two days, there  appears to be three possible scenarios for the reason for Mahathir and I appearing together at the Citizens’ Declaration gathering:

Firstly, that I had become a puppet to Mahatir;

Secondly, that Mahathir had become my puppet;

Thirdly, both of us are not puppet of the other, and that we appeared together for a common national objective to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and rogue state.

In my fifty years in politics, neither money  nor political inducements  could entice, enslave or subjugate me.  Am I going to sacrifice my political principles when I have just celebrated my 75th birthday and do not have many active years of politics left?

Although the longest serving former Prime Minister, Mahathir has neither the resources nor power to entice or  seduce me – in fact, he has become so marginalised politically  that he had to quit UMNO a  second time to highlight his political concerns.

That is for the first scenario. The second scenario is equally impossible.

Do I have in money, resources  or political power to entice or seduce Mahathir to be my puppet apart from the question whether Mahathir is capable of being anybody’s puppet?

It is unthinkable that I could be Mahathir’s puppet or Mahathir my puppet.

That leaves us with the third scenario – that we make a joint appearance at the Citizens’ Declaration gathering on Friday, not because anyone of us is the puppet of the other, but because we feel the need to set the example to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age or gender, to put aside our political differences to  take a common national stand  to save our beloved  Malaysia from accelerating down the slippery slope towards a failed and rogue state.

About a week ago, I said at the launch of lawyer Tommy Thomas’ book “Anything But the Law”  in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 27 that just as  Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 to take part in the great task of national reconciliation in South Africa, Anwar Ibrahim should also released to take part in the “Save Malaysia” campaign.

What we did on Friday  in the Citizens’ Declaration is the first step of the  Save Malaysia campaign, which have to followed up with a national consensus on democratic and institutional reforms so that all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation, can again hold their heads high and be proud of being Malaysians because of our accomplishments and achievements, instead of being ashamed because of our national failings and disasters, whether in political, economic, educational, good governance or nation-building endeavours.

There is no doubt that Anwar has an indispensable role to play in this great patriotic task to Save Malaysia for Malaysia to be great again to take her rightful place on the international stage.

I urge all Malaysians to support the Citizens’ Declaration to “Save Malaysia”, and I wish to call special attention to the last paragraph of the 37-paragraph Citizens’ Declaration, which called on all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political affiliation, creed, parties, young and old, to join in a “Save Malaysia” movement  from the government headed by Najib, “to pave the way for much-needed democratic and institutional reforms, and to restore the important principle of the separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary which will ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our national institutions”.

We have much work to do to “Save Malaysia”, but we have taken the first important step on Friday.  Let us march together on the long road to “Save Malaysia”!

(Speech/Media Conference Statement at  the DAP forum kedai kopi at Taman Bukit Segar in Teratai state assembly constituency (Selangor) on Sunday, 6th March 2016 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 March 2016, 7:32 am and is filed under
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First thing MPs should do tomorrow is to redeem honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating OSA conditions on Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to PAC

The first thing that Members of Parliament, irrespective of whether from ruling coalition or the Opposition, should do tomorrow is to unite on a common platform to redeem the honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating Official Secrets Act (OSA) conditions on the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Not only is the Auditor-General’s final audit report of some 300 pages classified under the OSA, interfering with parliamentary privileges as to what Parliament intends to do about reports and documents presented to it which, in the process nullifies the principle of the supremacy of Parliament over the Executive, but even more serious, treat Members of Parliament as naughty school children prone to mischief and law-breaking who cannot be entrusted with state secrets!

It is the height of contempt of Parliament for the Executive to classify the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB as under the OSA although submitted to the PAC on Friday and later today, and what is even more humiliating, imposing the rule that PAC members cannot take home the Auditor-General’s 300-page final audit report, and PAC members can refer to the AG’s final audit report only in Parliament’s “strong-room”!

Why not lock the “cari makan” PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin together with the 13 other PAC members in the Parliament “strongroom”, requiring to digest, understand and master  the Auditor-General’s final audit report before they are allowed to leave the Parliament “strongroom”?

When Ministers have access to OSA reports and documents, are they allowed to take these reports and documents home or to their offices  to read, digest, understand and master them or are they locked in a Cabinet “strongroom” where they must complete the reading and understanding of the OSA reports concerned?

Not allowing PAC members to take home copies of the Auditor-General’s final audit report to read, understand and digest them is an intolerable and unacceptable Executive humiliation of parliamentary honour, dignity and privileges which must be purged by a special Parliamentary motion tomorrow.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Executive has got things upside down, for in a parliamentary democracy, the Executive is answerable to Parliament and not the other way round – Parliament answerable to Executive.

Najib’s premiership has not only undermined the doctrine of the separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament and Judiciary, there seems to be an attempt to reduce Parliament or at least the PAC into a department of the government!

Is the Speaker prepared to approve such a special motion tomorrow  to uphold the dignity, honour and privileges of Members of Parliament from trespass, interference and intrusion from the Executive?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 March 2016, 11:21 am and is filed under
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Najib is not invincible!

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 March 2016, 12:09 pm and is filed under
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Perjuangan 50 tahun DAP dan Lim Kit Siang

Thor Kah Hoong

The Malaysian Insider

6 March 2016

Ketua Parlimen DAP Lim Kit Siang berbual dengan THOR KAH HOONG, mengimbas kembali parti politik yang diterajuinya selama 50 tahun seiring dengan tempoh 5 dekad beliau sebagai seorang ahli politik, yang melihat banyak kenangan suka dan duka (termasuk pernah ditahan pihak berkuasa 3 kali), ketika pembangkang politik memusuhinya, meramalkan apa yang dijangka akan menjelang dan pendapatnya mengenai kemungkinan mencari titik persamaan dengan bekas musuh, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

TMI: Bila anda berminat dalam politik dan di mana ia mula berakar umbi?

Lim: Sejak zaman persekolahan saya.

TMI: Zaman persekolahan?

Lim: Dalam erti kata lain, kami sangat berminat dengan peristiwa – zaman sekolah tahun 50-an, saya berada di sekolah menengah 1955-1959 – itu adalah masa di mana terdapat banyak perkembangan yang menarik di dalam dan luar negara – ’55 ada Persidangan Bandung, ’56 ada nasionalisasi Terusan Suez dan revolusi Hungary, dan ’57 tahun kemerdekaan kita – dan di dalam kelas saya, terdapat satu kumpulan yang mengikuti semua peristiwa ini.

Saya masih ingat tahun akhir saya di sekolah, ’59, menunggu keputusan peperiksaan tingkatan 5 kami, zaman di mana kami tidak ada IT untuk mengalihkan perhatian kami, yang ada hanya kami berbasikal sekitar bandar. Kami akan pergi ke sekolah yang sunyi pada malam, duduk di tepi longkang dan bendang, dan seseorang akan berkata, ‘mari kita pergi ke dunia luar dan tubuhkan parti politik’.

TMI: Jadi, semasa saya bermimpi untuk menjadi Robin Hood atau Hercules, anda bermimpi untuk menjadi seorang ahli politik?

Lim: (Ketawa) Tidak, tidak begitu, bukan menjadi seorang ahli politik. Ia lebih kepada berminat dengan apa yang berlaku di negara ini. Persidangan Bandung – saya katakan ia adalah acara politik pertama yang menarik perhatian saya.

(NB: Persidangan Bandung adalah mesyuarat 29 negara-negara Asia dan Afrika yang berlangsung pada April 18-24, 1955 di Bandung, Indonesia. Tujuan persidangan adalah untuk menggalakkan hubungan ekonomi dan kebudayaan dan menentang neo/penjajahan. Persidangan ini adalah peristiwa penting dalam pembentukan Pergerakan Negara-negara Berkecuali.)

Selepas menjadi setiausaha kepada ahli pengasas DAP, Devan Nair, Lim Kit Siang mula berkecimpung dalam politik secara serius. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

Selepas menjadi setiausaha kepada ahli pengasas DAP, Devan Nair, Lim Kit Siang mula berkecimpung dalam politik secara serius. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

TMI: Beralih kepada pembentukan parti (DAP didaftarkan pada 18 Mac 1966), adakah anda ahli PAP, seperti ramai ahli pengasas lain, mungkin sejak anda menjadi wartawan di Singapura?

Lim: Tidak, saya tidak terlibat dalam apa-apa aktiviti politik di Singapura. Walaupun saya terlibat dalam kesatuan sekerja, NUJ, dan, sudah tentu, masa itu kesatuan itu amat dipolitikkan.

(Lim membayangkan tentang “kempen politik” pertama beliau bertanding sebagai setiausaha NUJ menentang penyandangnya Mahadeva. Lim merasakan Mahadeva lebih sibuk dengan isu antarabangsa dan kepentingan tinggi negara tetapi mengabaikan isu asas melibatkan orang biasa seperti beras, menganggapnya isu biasa, ketika landskap geopolitik negara mengalami pergolakan.)

Lim: Saya masih ingat, dia duduk tidak jauh dari saya. Saya menulis surat kepadanya, memberi butiran mengenai beberapa isu. Dia baca surat itu dan mengoyaknya. Itu memulakan kempen saya terhadapnya.

TMI: Jadi, boleh dikatakan itu kempen politik pertama anda yang berjaya?

LIM: (Ketawa) Ia bukan politik. Saya cuma rasa dia tidak menangani isu yang perlu. Saya tidak terlibat dalam politik di Singapura. Saya mengikuti apa yang berlaku di Malaysia. Saya tidak pernah berasa seperti seorang warga Singapura. Saya rasa canggung di sana.

Saya pulang untuk membuat liputan persidangan Parlimen pada Ogos ’65, tetapi dengan pemisahan (Singapura dari Malaysia), tidak ada apa-apa lagi untuk saya buat liputan, jadi saya balik.

(Lim kemudiannya menyentuh mengenai Devan Nair, ahli pengasas DAP yang kemudiannya menjadi presiden Singapura, yang menyenaraikan dia ke dalam DAP.)

Lim: Saya kenal Devan sebagai aktivis kesatuan sekerja, membuat liputan mengenainya. Kami akan minum-minum dan saling berhujah. Saya rasa, dia anggap saya seorang yang agak ortodoks… Dia menghubungi saya, minta saya jadi setiausahanya. Saya ketika itu sudah di RTM, setelah selesai dengan The Straits Times di Singapura, jadi saya kata ‘okay’. Begitulah bagaimana saya mula berkecimpung dalam politik.

TMI: Mari kita bercakap tentang kemenangan pilihan raya pertama anda, sebagai ahli Parlimen Kota Melaka, dalam pilihan raya umum yang juga menandakan episod berdarah dalam sejarah negara ini – 13 Mei 1969. Adakah anda fikir perarakan kemenangan melalui KL itu yang mencetuskannya?

Lim: Sebenarnya saya tidak tahu apa-apa mengenainya. Saya tidak terlibat. Walaupun saya dituduh mengetuai perarakan itu, membuat penghinaan anti-Melayu, tetapi saya tidak berada di KL ketika itu. Bagimanapun, walaupun sekiranya wujud sentimen itu, orang menjerit “balik kampung”, itu bukan alasan memulakan rusuhan.

TMI: Terdapat laporan menyatakan kemenangan pembangkang menandakan kejatuhan Umno. Adakah itu sentimen dalam DAP? Jika ya, bukankah sedikit terlebih ghairah dengan hanya 11.9% undi?

Lim: Kejatuhan Umno? Saya tidak fikir sentimennya begitu, walaupun wujud keghairahan pada kemenangan yang kita tidak jangka akan perolehi, serta kebuntuan di Selangor. Saya tidak fikir ada mood perayaan kerana keputusan itu dikatakan menandakan “kejatuhan Umno”. Ia tidak realistik

Sebagai seorang pemberontak, pembawa masalah, saya mengambil keputusan tidak mengambil penerbangan itu (dari KK ke KL) dan pergi berjumpa orang ramai. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

Sebagai seorang pemberontak, pembawa masalah, saya mengambil keputusan tidak mengambil penerbangan itu (dari KK ke KL) dan pergi berjumpa orang ramai. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

TMI: Anda berada di Melaka pada masa itu?

Lim: Saya berada di Melaka pada hari mengundi, 10 Mei. Dulu tidak seperti sekarang, pusat kiraan undi berasingan. Dulu semua peti undian dikumpul dari semua tempat dan dibawa ke 1 tempat untuk dibuka. Kertas undi bertimbun. Memakan masa amat lama untuk mengira. Keputusan hanya akan diumum jam 3, 4, 5 pagi.

Jadi, selepas keputusan diumumkan, kami adakan sambutan kemenangan semasa sarapan dan saya pulang ke rumah saya di PJ. Kepenatan. Pada 12 haribulan, saya kembali ke Melaka untuk perarakan kesyukuran, dan malam itu saya menghadiri perhimpunan tanda terima kasih.

Pagi 13 haribulan saya terbang ke Kota Kinabalu (KK), kerana pilihan raya di negeri Malaysia Timur diadakan 1 atau 2 minggu kemudian, dan beberapa calon bebas meminta saya datang membantu mereka.

Ada perhimpunan besar di KK waktu itu. Pada masa itu kita terpaksa berdepan dengan Tun Mustapha (Harun) yang digeruni, dianggap seperti tuhan. Kami tidak pedulilah itu semua. Cara kami beroperasi, kami pergi sana dan hentam apa saja. Semasa perhimpunan itu, saya dengar ada kejadian di KL.

Pagi 14 haribulan, Mustapha menghantar seorang pegawai imigresen meminta saya keluar dari sana. Pada masa itu hanya ada 1 penerbangan harian KK-Singapura, kira-kira jam 3 petang. Sebagai seorang pemberontak, pembawa masalah, saya mengambil keputusan tidak mengambil penerbangan itu dan pergi berjumpa orang ramai di KK.

Nasib baik juga saya terlepas penerbangan itu. Jika tidak, saya tidak akan berada di sini. Apabila saya pergi ke lapangan terbang, Cawangan Khas memberitahu saya, seorang Bajau berkuda datang ke lapangan terbang cari saya nak bunuh saya kerana saya hina ‘tuhan’ mereka.

Pada 15 haribulan, polis tahan saya bagi memastikan saya tidak terlepas penerbangan. Saya berada di Singapura selama 3 hari. Keluarga saya meminta saya jangan pulang kerana saya disenarai hitam, pasti kena lah. Tetapi saya beritahu diri saya, saya baru saja dipilih, bagaimana untuk tidak balik?

Jadi saya pulang, mendarat di Subang, KL masih di bawah perintah berkurung. Kami berbaris di landasan menuju pihak imigresen. Saya bertanya kepada mereka jika mereka sedang menunggu saya. Ketika itulah mereka bawa saya pergi.

Dalam kereta, 2 orang di belakang saya, dan 2 orang di hadapan. Saya terhimpit. Dalam perjalanan pulang saya nampak kereta terbakar, dan saya terfikir, mereka ini boleh saja membawa saya ke suatu tempat, bunuh saya, dan tiada siapa yang akan tahu. Mereka membawa saya ke Jalan Bandar dan selepas pemprosesan, mereka membawa saya ke Kuala Selangor untuk ditahan.

TMI: Tahanan selama 18 bulan?

Lim: 17

TMI: Apakah yang paling membosankan dalam tempoh itu? Adakah kebosanan itu sendiri? Makanan? Komunikasi dengan dunia luar?

Lim: Dalam beberapa minggu pertama daripada 60 hari itu, mereka tidak membenarkan sebarang lawatan keluarga. Kemudian ia sepatutnya menjadi sekali seminggu. Mereka tidak mahu keluarga saya tahu saya ditahan di Kuala Selangor, jadi saya bertemu mereka di balai polis PJ. Selepas 60 hari mereka mengambil keputusan untuk menahan saya, jadi saya dibawa ke Muar.

TMI: Bagaimanakah anda mengisi masa anda di Muar?

Lim: Ketika itulah saya buat keputusan untuk mencari beberapa buku dan belajar undang-undang.

TMI: Setelah menyertai Badan Peguam, adakah anda pernah berkerja sebagai peguam atau anda terlalu sibuk disaman atau menyaman?

Lim: Beberapa bulan. Saya buka sebuah pejabat di Melaka. Tetapi tidak benar-benar mengusahakannya.

TMI: Selepas itu, apa yang boleh dikatakan mengenai beberapa tahun kemerosotan dialami parti, sejak tahun 70-an hingga 90-an, kemenangan kecil di sini sana, adakah anda pernah rasa seperti sedang menghantuk kepala ke dinding yang tidak akan retak?

Lim: Ya… tetapi pada masa itu, anda tidak fikir anda mahu menjadi seorang ahli Parlimen. Membentuk kerajaan tidak pernah wujud dalam fikiran kami. Ia sesuatu yang berbaloi untuk dilakukan.

TMI: Apakah perkara utama yang menjadi penghalang anda ketika itu? Kekurangan kewangan?

Lim: Kami tidak beroperasi seperti mereka beroperasi. Mereka habiskan RM100, 000, kami habiskan RM1, 000 atau RM10, 000.  Skala yang berbeza. Kami memperolehi benda percuma, atau melalui khidmat sukarelawan.

Pilihan raya tahun ’69 – Chian Heng Kai, setiausaha saya – yang kemudian ditahan selama 4 tahun, 9 bulan di bawah ISA dan dipilih menjadi ahli Parlimen di Perak semasa dalam tahanan – dia membelanjakan kurang daripada RM500 untuk menjadi ahli Parlimen Bandar Penggaram (Batu Pahat) kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri .

Kami tidak mempunyai wang yang cukup, tetapi wang tidak pernah menjadi masalah. Itu ialah modus operandi kami dalam jangka masa yang lama – mengumpul sumbangan kecil daripada penyokong. Ahli perniagaan zaman dahulu, selama hampir 4 dekad, tidak mahu melibatkan diri dengan kami.

Operasi DAP sentiasa berdikari. Kami tidak membiayai calon kami untuk bayaran deposit dan perbelanjaan pilihan raya. Calon perlu membayar untuk bahan pilihan raya dan deposit mereka.

Politik wang adalah satu sumpahan. Itulah sebabnya skandal kewangan RM2.6 bilion Najib (atau adakah ia RM4.2 bilion?) yang mungkin sebahagian daripada RM55 bilion yang melibatkan 1MDB, begitu korup sekali. Malaysia memerlukan undang-undang yang berkesan untuk memastikan sumbangan politik yang telus dan bertanggungjawab.

TMI: Apa yang menahan kemaraan parti itu ketika itu? Persepsi mengenainya sebagai sebuah parti Cina?

Lim: Kami tidak menganggap diri kami sebuah parti Cina. Pada pilihan raya awal, kami bertanding di kubu kuat Umno. Pilihan raya kecil pertama ditandingi DAP ialah di Kampung Baru menentang Razali (Tan Sri Ahmad Razali Mohamed Ali), abang ipar Dr Mahathir.

Kami sebuah parti untuk semua rakyat Malaysia. Kami perlu masuk ke kawasan itu dan mencuba. Di situlah saya memberikan ceramah politik yang pertama. Ketika itu saya sangat teruk. Kali ke-2 ialah di Tampoi, Johor.

Kali ke-3 menentang (Tun) Musa Hitam. Pada awalnya, kami meletakkan calon Melayu di kerusi negeri dan memenangi 2 kerusi, 1 di Perak, 1 di Negeri Sembilan. Sudah tentu kami mempunyai halangan untuk meraih sokongan orang Melayu, tapi kami tidak pernah terfikir untuk meninggalkan mereka.

TMI: Adakah tahun 1999 detik paling perit dalam karier politik anda? Satu-satunya pilihan raya di mana anda tewas. Bukan sahaja anda, tetapi Karpal, harimau Jelutong juga tersungkur. Dan DAP…

Tiada penyesalan dalam percubaan gabungan dengan PAS. Cuma kesal yang ia gagal. Akhirnya, kami berpegang teguh pada prinsip. Sekiranya tidak, kami terpaksa menjawab kepada rakyat. Itu tidak dapat dielakkan, kata Lim Kit Siang menyentuh isu kegagalan gabungan dengan PAS. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

Tiada penyesalan dalam percubaan gabungan dengan PAS. Cuma kesal yang ia gagal. Akhirnya, kami berpegang teguh pada prinsip. Sekiranya tidak, kami terpaksa menjawab kepada rakyat. Itu tidak dapat dielakkan, kata Lim Kit Siang menyentuh isu kegagalan gabungan dengan PAS. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

Lim: (Ketawa) Ia perit, sememangnya detik yang perit, tetapi saya tak pasti sama ada ia paling perit.

TMI: Ia juga merupakan usaha terawal DAP bergabung dengan PAS.

Lim: Kami tidak dapat menarik hati pengundi… MCA, Gerakan mendakwa 1 undi untuk DAP ialah undi untuk PAS, untuk negara Islam, untuk menghapuskan sekolah Cina, tiada lagi tokong, tiada lagi babi. Ia mengambil masa bagi rakyat memahami yang itu tanggapan salah. Sebab yang paling penting di akhirnya ialah samada kita dapat memikat hati rakyat, dan kita berjaya.

TMI: Tiada penyesalan kegagalan gabungan dengan PAS?

Lim: Tiada penyesalan dalam percubaan sebegitu. Cuma kesal yang ia gagal. Akhirnya, kami berpegang teguh pada prinsip. Sekiranya tidak, kami terpaksa menjawab kepada rakyat. Itu tidak dapat dielakkan.

TMI: Menurut anda pertandingan mana yang paling sengit, bertanding juga walaupun anda merasakan tiada peluang langsung untuk menang? Adakah di Johor ketika pilihan raya terakhir, menentang menteri besar? Mungkin lebih awal daripada itu? Berhijrah ke Pulau Pinang pada 1986?

Lim: Gelang Patah merupakan salah satu daripadanya. Tiada jaminan menang. Risikonya besar.

Satu lagi pada 1986, apabila saya berpindah dari Melaka ke Pulau Pinang bertanding di Tanjong menentang penyandang kuatnya, (Tan Sri) Koh Tsu Koon. Juga tiada jaminan menang. Risiko besar.

Satu lagi ialah pada 1990 di kerusi negeri Padang Kota menentang Chong Eu. Tidak dapat meramal keputusannya sehinggalah undi dikira.

Malah, pada pilihan raya umum 1999, berpindah dari Tanjong ke Bukit Bendera merupakan risiko besar kerana cuba menyelamatkan kerusi DAP,ianya sesuatu yang sukar. Saya tewas. Begitu juga di kerusi DUN Bandar Hilir di Melaka pada 1982, yang dipenuhi risiko disebabkan rungutan penduduk terhadap penyandang kerusi wakil DAP. Saya berpindah dari Kubu ke Bandar Hilir bagi menyelamatkan kerusi itu, tetapi gagal.

TMI: Saya perlu bertanya soalan klise ini: adakah anda menyesal tidak dapat meluangkan masa untuk keluarga, terutama anak yang sedang membesar?

Lim: (Ketawa) Sekarang pun masih ada penyesalan. Rumah saya macam hotel. Check in, check out. Apatah lagi pada zaman dahulu. Tetapi saya selalu pastikan saya hubungi mereka setiap hari untuk pastikan semuanya baik.

TMI: Adakah anda sepanjang masa mengikuti perkembangan semasa? Bagaimana pula dengan waktu riadah seperti berkebun, bersenam, televisyen?

Lim: (Ketawa) Tidak.

TMI: Masih membaca buku?

Lim: Jarang sekali.

TMI: Jadi anda ketagih Internet mengikuti politik sepanjang hari. Berapa lama lagi agaknya sampai anda akan bosan dengan politik?

Lim: Berapa lama lagi? Saya sendiri tidak tahu.

TMI: Baik, kita buat ramalan suka-suka. Sarawak. Bolehkah DAP beralih daripada kubu kuat di kawasan bandar dan mula bertapak di pedalaman? Apakah faktor capaian, kewangan dan kesetiaan penduduk setempat terhadap si panglima “berambut putih” itu masih menjadi masalah besar?

Lim: Apakah kami dapat bertapak di pedalaman? Kami sedang mencuba sedaya upaya melalui Impian Sarawak, dan sebagainya, tetapi pilihan raya ini akan menjadi sukar kerana (Tan Sri) Adenan (Satem) seorang ketua menteri yang popular. Kewangan serta masalah capaian ke kawasan pendalaman juga menjadi halangan besar.

Dalam politik, kita tidak perlu menjadikan semua perkara soal peribadi, walaupun perbezaan yang wujud sangat besar, kata Lim Kit Siang.  – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

Dalam politik, kita tidak perlu menjadikan semua perkara soal peribadi, walaupun perbezaan yang wujud sangat besar, kata Lim Kit Siang. – Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider, 6 Mac, 2016.

TMI: Sewaktu mula-mula bekerjasama dengan PAS, mereka yang curiga terbukti benar, gabungan itu tidak berjaya. Tidak juga berjaya kali ke-2. Melihatkan pertikaian terbaru di Pulau Pinang antara DAP dan PKR, entah apa lagi perbezaan pendapatan yang bakal datang, dan golongan yang curiga kini muncul lagi, kekal percaya yang gabungan ini akan gagal lagi. Malah sudah ada cakap-cakap yang akan wujud pertembungan bersemuka antara DAP dan PAS dalam PRU akan datang. Respon anda?

Lim: Pakatan politik, terutama bagi pembangkang, bukan mudah, tetapi realiti politik di Malaysia menjadikannya sesuatu yang tidak dapat dielakkan. Tetapi ia perlu bersandarkan dasar bersama. Jika tidak, ia hanya bersifat mengambil kesempatan saja.

TMI: Bagi anda, ke mana hala tuju parti ini sekarang?

Lim: DAP perlu terus bergerak ke depan, daripada parti pilihan penduduk bandar sehinggalah melebarkan sayap ke kawasan luar bandar, dan akhirnya dapat diterima semua pihak.

TMI: Melihat kepada lokasi ibu pejabat DAP (bersebelahan jejambat yang sepanjang masa sesak, ditambah pula kenangan berdarah kawasan ini pada waktu dahulu), adakah anda pernah terfikir, sewaktu hayat anda, anda akan dapat menjejak kaki di atas lantai marmar Putrajaya sambil tertanya-tanya bagaimana menggunakan segala ruang dan peluang besar yang ada di situ?

Lim: Pembangkang di Putrajaya? 10 tahun lepas, impian itu tidak pernah dimimpikan. Sekarang, soalnya bukan lagi sama ada, tetapi bila. Saya berharap ia berlaku ketika saya masih hidup. Harap-harapnya ketika PRU ke -14 nanti.

TMI: Kembali berjejak ke realiti. Ada ungkapan Shakespeare yang mengatakan kesengsaraan memesrakan mereka yang asing dan berbeza. Begitu juga politik. Anda dan Dr Mahathir, bersembang sambil minum-minum?

Lim: Saya perlu membiarkan jawapan lebih lengkap wujud selari dengan perkembangan masa depan. Tetapi saya ingin katakan yang dalam politik, kita tidak perlu menjadikan semua perkara soal peribadi, walaupun  perbezaan yang wujud sangat besar. Perkara itu bukan mudah, kerana beliau bukan sahaja pernah memenjarakan saya, tetapi juga Guan Eng (anak Kit Siang, ketua menteri Pulau Pinang). – 6 Mac, 2016.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 March 2016, 5:52 am and is filed under
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A hasty coalition?

Emmanuel Joseph

The Malaysian Insider

8 March 2016

It is often said that in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. The Malaysian scenario is no different. Alliances, both long term (as is often the case with Barisan Nasional), and short term (as is often the case with the opposition), would often see friend turn foe turn friend again with each passing election.

But I believe, even as recent as a few days ago, no one would have been able to foresee old arch nemeses sitting and smiling at the same table, reaching an agreement to oust a newer “arch nemesis”.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s former prime minister and long-time Umno president; his long-time Parliament duelling partner Lim Kit Siang; Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, whose party was ironically formed mainly to oust Dr Mahathir; his former rival in Kubang Pasu and current Parti Amanah Negara president, Mohamad Sabu; one of his strongest critics, Hishamuddin Rais; and 53 other leaders from Umno, Pakatan Harapan and various NGOs had signed a declaration seeking to remove the current Prime Minister alongside other demands for reforms.

Even the most seasoned political analysts appeared to fumble for words. The more blunt commentators called it hypocritical. The more polite, called it hasty.

After all, these are parties that have been at each other’s throats, swearing to never work with each other. On one end, you’ve got the parties that have come up with names like “Mahafiraun” and “Mahazalim” and on the other, the party that came up with “DAPig” and “Anwar Al-Juburi”.

After all, it had only been days since Dr Mahathir left Umno for a second time in recent memory. Certainly, there wasn’t enough time for the grassroots of Bersih, or Pakatan parties or even the Umno dissidents to have their opinions even heard, much less considered.

While the coalition itself would appear to be a little of both, are not the judgement calls against it too?

Yes, longtime supporters, especially those of the opposition, would naturally feel betrayed. After all, supporters of either side, very likely grew up hating the other. You feel betrayed because these are the people you rooted for, and they are now in the pitching field together with the very people you rooted against, because of them.

You may feel as though you now have to lick your own spit from all those years of condemning the other side, because here was your leader, sitting and merrily smiling with the man they had for so many years held responsible for their misery.

Many of those who agreed to the joint declaration had struggled a long time against the powers that be, often at great personal cost.

Take for instance Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He’s been torn away from his family and thrown into jail more than once (he’s still in jail) and many hold the government, particularly Dr Mahathir, responsible for it, and for the system that allowed him to be imprisoned.

Or Lim Kit Siang, who was thrown into Kamunting prison when detained under the ISA  together with his son – again an incident that occurred under Dr Mahathir’s administration.

What do you think it would have taken them to endorse the declaration?

You feel they have abandoned you.

But are you abandoning them arguably when they need you most?

I personally do not think they would have come together had it not been the only way they saw.

Many believe the individuals are doing it for their own agenda.

But of course they are. That’s what politics is all about, no? To further one’s own agenda.

But I’m not entirely convinced that they have desperate personal reasons to do this.

For Dr Mahathir, he is happily retired, with a cushy position in Proton and a few other organisations. His children are mostly successful in business and even the one he is often accused of doing this for, Datuk Seri Mukhriz, seemed to be in the good books of the prime minister – he was chosen as a deputy minister in 2009 despite losing the Umno Youth chief race, and was chosen as Kedah menteri besar in 2013, and reportedly offered a federal ministry position when he fell out of favour with the Kedah Umno leadership. At 90, Dr Mahathir should be retired and enjoying it.

Same goes for Kit Siang – he went from political detainee to a member of a coalition that won in five states, one of them led by his son. He lived to see the party he led from a fringe PAP remnant to a party that won more seats than even most Barisan components, save Umno.

As for political activists like Maria Chin Abdullah or Ambiga Sreenevasan or Hishamuddin Rais, power has never been their motivation.

So, was it a wise political decision? Maybe not. After all, they do run a very real risk of alienating their respective traditional support base, sending them running to the other side.

Will anything come out of it? Maybe nothing. After all, it’s just a petition, like the hundreds of petitions signed before to little or no outcome.

The 58 people sitting there that day come from many different backgrounds – but they are all passionate and experienced hands at what they do.

Between Kit Siang and Dr Mahathir alone, there is over a century of political leadership experience, and over 50 of those are as the top leader of either side of the political divide.

Between Tian Chua and Hishamuddin Rais there are about half that number of years dodging bullets, both of the legal/criminal and rubber variety, and inhaling plenty of tear gas in the process.

That’s a lot of wisdom, and a lot of heart. And I wouldn’t discount either yet. – March 8, 2016.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 8:58 am and is filed under
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Ex-Goldman Banker to Malaysia Fund Subpoenaed in U.S. Probe

Greg Farrell & Keri Geiger

Bloomberg

March 7, 2016

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker has become entangled in a sprawling investigation of the Malaysian state investment fund as U.S. authorities turn to him for information.

Tim Leissner was issued a subpoena about the Malaysia matter in late February, according to three people briefed on the matter, just days after Goldman Sachs confirmed he had left the firm.

Leissner, a German national, was most recently chairman of the firm’s Southeast Asia operations but had taken personal leave and relocated to Los Angeles by early this year, according to people with knowledge of the move.

From Malaysia to Switzerland to the U.S. investigators have been trying to trace whether money might have flowed out of the fund and illegally into personal accounts. Accusations have boomeranged and been called politically motivated even as authorities outside Malaysia press ahead with their inquiries.

Prosecutors in the Justice Department’s kleptocracy asset-recovery unit are investigating whether funds were embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Bhd., known as 1MDB, by politically connected people in Malaysia, the people said. The FBI’s New York office is leading the investigation and is trying to determine if any U.S. laws were broken, according to one of the people briefed on the subpoena issued to Leissner.

At this point, it is unclear what information Leissner might be able to provide. Leissner’s attorney, Jonathan Cogan of Kobre & Kim, didn’t respond to a phone call and e-mail requesting comment. At a Beverly Hills, California, residence linked in public records to Leissner’s family, a woman who answered the intercom said Leissner wasn’t at home. He didn’t respond to written questions left there.

At the Justice Department, spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment, as did Kelly Langmesser, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office.

Local Projects

Leissner championed a series of bond sales that raised $6.5 billion for the Malaysian fund and were notable for the above average fees generated for Goldman. Since the fund’s beginning in 2009, controversy has raged over whether money was spent as intended for local projects like a financial center in Kuala Lumpur or siphoned off for personal benefit. The finger-pointing within Malaysia intensified with the early 2015 news report that the fund had missed a loan payment, which it later paid.

Goldman Sachs is working with an outside law firm to conduct an internal examination and is reviewing its own role in helping 1MDB raise capital, according to two of the people. There is no indication that Goldman engaged in any wrongdoing, according to the two. The bank is cooperating with the Justice Department’s efforts to gather information, they said.

Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Goldman, declined to comment.

Putting its own capital at risk, Goldman earned commissions and expenses of $593 million for its role issuing bonds for 1MDB, or more than 9 percent of the proceeds, well above the industry norm.

Citing its policy not to discuss personnel matters, Goldman declined to provide any information about the departure of Leissner, who had worked at the firm 18 years and is married to former U.S. fashion model and designer Kimora Lee Simmons.

Leissner was named head of investment banking in Singapore in August 2002 and became a partner in 2006. He was instrumental in building business in Malaysia and the region.

Investment Woes

Since Prime Minister Najib Razak started 1MDB seven years ago, the fund’s debt levels have swelled amid allegations of financial irregularities lodged by opposition officials. The fund, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, said in February 2015 that it would wind down its assets.

The prime minister has said accusations of misappropriations are politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing. The allegations have sparked a feud with former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has called for Najib to step down, citing what he characterized as Najib’s mismanagement of the economy as well as 1MDB.

In July, the Malaysian attorney general said a special task force investigating 1MDB looked into deposits into Najib’s bank account amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars ahead of the 2013 general election. The prime minister has said the funds were not used for private benefit and Malaysia’s Attorney General said the money was a political contribution from the Saudi royal family.

The Attorney General said Najib returned $620 million to the Saudi donors. In January, the official, Mohamed Apandi Ali, cleared Najib of any corruption charges related to the Saudi donation.

Representatives of 1MDB have denied transferring funds to Najib’s personal accounts. Najib’s office, the attorney-general’s office and the country’s anti-graft agency were not immediately available for comment. A spokesperson for 1MDB referred queries to a February statement that the fund had not been contacted by any foreign legal authorities on matters related to the company.

Switzerland and Singapore

Investigators outside Malaysia are still trying to trace where money from the investment funds might have gone. The Swiss Attorney General froze accounts holding tens of millions of dollars last year as part of a criminal investigation into whether $4 billion was embezzled from state-linked Malaysian companies, with some of it making its way into Swiss accounts of former Malaysian officials.

“The monies believed to have been misappropriated would have been earmarked for investment in economic and social development projects in Malaysia,” the Swiss authority said in a statement in January.

The Swiss officials asked for assistance from Malaysia, and subsequently said the Malaysian prime minister wasn’t one of the public officials accused in the matter.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in February that it froze a large number of accounts linked to possible money laundering of 1MDB funds.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 6:30 pm and is filed under
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Happy International Women’s Day!

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 11:37 am and is filed under
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