DAP against following BN for snap polls this year

By
Clara Chooi
 | May 24, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The DAP announced today that it would not agree to holding concurrent elections in Pakatan Rakyat-led (PR) states should the federal government call for snap polls this year.

Secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the DAP’s central executive committee (CEC) agreed on the position at its meeting yesterday as the party preferred for all four PR governments to complete their full five-year term.

“But if snap polls are called next year, then there is a greater likelihood that we would agree to hold concurrent elections,” he told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here this morning.

Lim (picture) however stressed that the party’s decision was still subject to further discussion among PR parties.

PR currently runs the Penang, Selangor, Kelantan and Kedah state governments.

Last July, the Selangor PR also announced its preference to use its full five-year mandate and would not hold concurrent elections.

“In terms of the position of our confidence, it must also be subject to public interest. Also, we want to win… not just alone but together. I think that is critical. It is not just DAP winning… it is also PR winning,” Lim said when asked if the party lacked confidence.

Asked if the DAP’s decision was influenced by its partner PKR’s depleting voter support, Lim pointed out that even Barisan Nasional’s (BN) popularity was weakening due to the spate of price hikes.

“If you look at the other side… all these present price hikes are also unfavourable towards the BN government,” he said.

He said the purpose of holding snap polls was merely to entrench the position of “one leader”.

He was likely referring to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was installed into his post only when his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepped down after Elections 2008.

Lim said if polls were to be held later, it would help PR place itself in a better position to recapture Perak, a state formerly helmed by the pact but later fell to BN during the 2009 constitutional impasse.

He said the DAP’s CEC also agreed yesterday to endorse the Perak DAP’s stand to support the re-appointment of PAS leader Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the Perak mentri besar should PR recapture the northern state in the coming polls.

Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, who was also present at the press conference today, admitted that public anger against BN during the 2009 power grab has since dissipated, saying PR hoped to remind Perak folk of the events.

In a recent PR opinion poll, it was discovered that the pact would only win 33 of the 59 seats in the state assembly if an election is called now. A similar poll conducted in 2009 showed that PR would have won 40 seats.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 2:40 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Elections
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


DAP launches Malay portal Roketkini

By
S Pathmawathy
 | May 24, 11

Malaysiakini

In an attempt to bolster its image as an all inclusive party and shed its Chinese-centric tag, DAP launched its Malay-language web-portal,
Roketkini
, today.

The portal, which focuses on daily news and analysis, is particularly aimed at drawing support from the Malay electorate, often described as being antagonistic toward the DAP.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (right), who is also the party’s secretary-general, officially launched the portal and announced that Wan Hamidi Hamid will operate the portal as its editor.

Lim told reporters that Roketkini would serve as a platform to convey and rectify issues that have been exploited by the opposition Umno to undermine DAP’s image.

“The BN media has successfully manipulated a false perception that DAP is anti-Malay. We accept that they have succeeded… so we are making an effort to rectify the perspective.

“This is an effort to prove that DAP’s struggles are for all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion,” said Lim.

PKR, PAS organs to help out

Roketkini will serve as an alternative to DAP’s monthly publication the Rocket and focus on promoting polices of the Pakatan Rakyat government as well as counter reports in the BN-controlled mainstream news media.

It will also be assisted by PKR’s Suara Keadilan and the Harakah Daily of PAS, which has been operating an online news portal for a while now.

Lim said since the opposition managed to wrest power in five states after the 2008 general election, BN has been mounting attacks that the DAP, in particular, is anti-Malay, a community that makes up 50.4 percent of the population.

Even DAP vice-chairperson Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim has commented that the party had failed to attract Malay support, despite the appointment of Zairil Khir Johari, son of Umno stalwart Mohd Khir Johari.

BN’s Umno has of late heightened its offensive against the opposition after word that DAP planned to name Malay candidates in several states in the next general election got out.

According to news reports, DAP is in the midst of identifying suitable Malay candidates to contest seats in Perak, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan.

Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia reported that DAP is focussing its efforts to regain Perak, which BN took back after a coup that toppled the Pakatan Rakyat government, by naming more Malay candidates to widen its chances of winning and naming one of its own as menteri besar.

DAP plans direct engagement

Asked whether the party was targeting to improve on its Malay membership, Lim said this was an ongoing effort and that there were plans to engage with the community directly.

It was also not fair for DAP to rely on PKR and PAS to continuously strengthen the coalition’s base.

“Direct human engagement is the best way. What we want to do is to create hardcore ground support,” said Lim but added that this also required substantial funds.

DAP leaders were recently dragged into a controversy in which they were accused of linking up with Christian leaders to make Christianity the official religion of the federation and to instal a Christian as prime minister.

Lim said the negative image severely impacted the Penang government’s efforts to promote pro-Malay policies.

“It has come to a stage where even the media does not know what we have done for the Malays in Penang… they (the BN) may not have had success in implementing their policies, but they have succeeded in creating this perception against us,” he said.

Roketkini, which is already up and running, is managed by a three-man crew that includes Wan Hamidi (above, right) and Zairil.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 2:42 pm and is filed under
DAP
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


DAP-SNAP merger on the cards

By
Clara Chooi
 | May 24, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Despite strong opposition from PKR, a DAP-SNAP merger in Sarawak appears to be on the cards.

Sarawak DAP chief Wong Ho Leng told reporters today that the party held discussions last Thursday with SNAP’s merger committee, which was recently formed to study the proposal.

He said that following the discussions, which centred specifically on the mechanics of such a merger, the matter was raised at the DAP’s national leadership at its central executive committee (CEC) meeting yesterday.

“It looks positive,” said Wong (picture).

He declined to reveal the details of the DAP’s meeting with SNAP but reiterated that both parties had discussed how to go about such a merger.

Asked if discussions touched on issues like whether both parties would come together under one name and contest on one party ticket, Wong smiled and drew his fingers across his lips, indicating the expression that his “lips are sealed”.

He admitted later that the question was “spot on”.

MORE TO COME

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 2:45 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Sarawak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Istimewa sangatkah Roketkini?

Oleh
Aspan Alias
 | 24 May 2011

Roketkini

24 MEI – Saya mengucapkan selamat maju jaya kepada Roketkini yang sedang melangkah setapak lagi dalam usaha membetulkan persepsi yang sebenarnya tentang DAP sebuah parti halal yang dibenarkan menjalankan kegiatan mengikut undang-undang negara kita. Roketkini akan berusaha untuk memberikan gambaran sebenar tentang DAP dan tidak payah mendengar pandangan dari pihak lain.

Sesungguhnya usaha ini sepatutnya telah dilakukan oleh DAP dari awal-awal lagi kerana DAP telah dimomokan oleh pihak yang tertentu sebagai parti yang buruk dan ada pula yang memberikan panggilan sebagai parti chauvinis dan berbagai lagi panggilan yang tidak menyelerakan. DAP, melalui Roketkini akan mampu memberikan segala kesedaran kepada rakyat bagaimana parti ini telah menempuh badai yang begitu hebat dengan jatuh bangunnya dalam perjuangannya.

Mendekati semua rakyat berbilang kaum melalui roketkini akan dapat membantu DAP membersihkan dari persepsi negatif dan buruk sangka orang ramai terhadapnya. Saya sendiri telah meminta DAP memberikan saya naskah perlembagaan parti itu dan saya telah meneliti setiap ayat dan perkataannya. Saya ingin tahu apakah benar DAP ini begitu buruk seperti yang digambarkan oleh seteru-seterunya.

Apakah benar DAP merupakan parti yang hanya boleh disertai oleh kaum Cina semata-mata dan mempunyai niat yang begitu buruk terhadap negara yang mereka sendiri adalah rakyatnya. Saya telah membaca perlembagaan parti itu berulang kali dan akhirnya saya membuat kesimpulan momokan terhadapnya selama ini merupakan momokan politik pihak yang tidak mahu parti ini berkembang.

Membaca dan memahami perjuangan sesebuah parti itu tidak semestinya kita bersama tetapi yang pentingnya pemahaman itu akan memberikan rakyat cara pengadilan terhadap nilai kewujudannya itu diberikan pertimbangan yang baik oleh semua pihak.

Saya cenderung untuk memahami DAP dengan lebih dekat kerana apa yang dimomokan oleh pihak tertentu terhadapnya tidak sama dengan apa yang telah dibuktikan oleh DAP kepada pihak ramai. Hanya media massa sahaja tidak mahu mengakui hakikat kebenaran itu kerana pertimbangan politik dan tidak berdasarkan kepada pertimbangan siasah yang betul.

Dengan pelancaran Roketkini pada hari ini, ianya merupakan langkah yang paling sesuai dan kena pada waktunya dalam keadaan rakyat sedang melakukan ‘soul-searching’ yang serius tentang masa depan negara dan rakyat.

Saya sendiri tidak keberatan untuk menulis di dalam ruang Roketkini jika diberikan kesempatan itu. Saya dapat merasakan yang Roketkini akan menjadi bahan bacaan siasah yang akan mendapat sambutan kerana rakyat mempunyai perasaan ‘ingin tahu’ yang tinggi terhadap DAP apatah lagi setelah parti itu berjaya menjadi pentadbir kerajaan negari yang secara relatifnya lebih baik dari pentadbiran sebelumnya.

Rakyat mahu mengkaji apakah sebenarnya formula yang digunakan oleh DAP di Pulau Pinang yang telah membawa pembaharuan dengan kos perbelanjaan negeri yang jauh dari rendah dari kerajaan sebelumnya.

Apakah ‘attribute-attribute’ yang baik yang ada pada DAP yang telah mampu menunjukan kecekapan dan kemampuan untuk mentadbir negeri P Pinang dan sokongan parti itu mentadbir kerajaan negeri Selangor dan beberapa buah negeri yang lain. Tentu ada nilai-nilai yang baik yang menyebabkan DAP berkeupayaan mentadbir kerajaan negeri dengan baik.

DAP berjaya mentadbir Pulau Pinang dengan baik dengan hanya satu sebab yang besar selain dari sebab-sebab yang lain; iaitu memastikan tidak ada ketirisan yang menjolok mata dan telinga rakyat. Kita wajar menghilangkan sikap prejudis terhadap mana-mana pihak dan dengan pelancaran Roketkini ia memungkinkan rakyat mengetahui apa yang mereka tidak tahu tentang DAP selama ini. Dari dahulu lagi kita hanya disajikan dengan perkara-perkara dan elemen yang negatif tentang parti ini.

Saya berharap Roketkini akan menjadi lidah yang menghubungi parti ini dengan rakyat yang berada di seluruh negara. – Roketkini.com

Aspan Alias adalah seorang pemerhati politik veteran and blogger terkenal

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 6:37 pm and is filed under
DAP
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


KJ, why send your boys to a Perkasa rally?

Comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers

‘Khairy is slowly being edged out of the mainstream politics in Umno by an unseen hand to be replaced by the unseen hand’s son.’

Khairy ‘whacked’ for not supporting Perkasa

Swipenter:
 We have heard so much about ‘Malay unity’ from Umno, Perkasa, Pekida, Pembela, etc. Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ), can you confirm to us that ‘Malay unity’ means that the Malays need to be united against the non-Malays and non-Muslims?

Why and for what reasons? What have the non-Malays and non-Muslims done to the Malays that they are perceived to be their enemies? Have they stolen the Malays’ birthrights, their lands, their wealth, colonised their minds, denied them opportunities and education, enslaved them…?

What have they done except that Malays and the non-Malays have been thrown together due to historical circumstances?

Khaira:
 Khairy is a manipulative hypocrite. Note how he said, “I never sanctioned or condoned (it as) an Umno Youth-Perkasa demonstration. I just sent my boys there.”

So you don’t sanction it but you send your members there? Also, “Umno is enough without the need to be racist or racial” – wake up, Khairy, Umno is already racial.

Jimmy Ng:
 KJ, at the very least, when you are doing the right thing, you can sleep peacefully at night because your conscience is clear. Those who choose to disagree and refute your thinking are only to be pitied.

Ramakrishnan:
 Khairy, while your stand is appreciated, it is not enough. As long as you are in Umno, you are deemed supporting Perkasa. You and your bunch of supporters in MIC, MCA and Gerakan, are supporters of racist politics propagated by Umno.

Kgen:
 Khairy is smart enough to realise that Perkasa doesn’t bring BN any extra votes; in fact it causes BN to lose votes. This racist outfit drives away non-Malays and moderate Malays. Right-wing Malays who support Perkasa are already Umno supporters, so where is the gain?

Mohd Zaini Husin:
 Umno and BN have been weakened by the unnecessary rhetoric by Perkasa. BN and Umno used to be powerful and everyone use to respect them but not anymore. They have been led astray and have lost so much ground of late due to the unnecessary interference of Perkasa and Utusan.

If popular votes are lost they have no one but themselves to be blamed. Many now feel that the opposition is more appealing to the multiracial set up of Malaysia.

Righteous:
 Khairy is slowly and progressively being edged out of the mainstream politics of Umno by an unseen hand, to be replaced by his (the unseen hand’s) son.

EugeneT:
 This goes beyond just gaining or losing votes. It has to be about eradicating racism and extremism, none of which has been done by Najib Razak’s administration so far despite his 1Malaysia rhetoric.

In fact, the opposite is true; Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein empathising the cow-head protests, flip-flopping in the Bible and Christian ‘conspiracy’ issues, and defending Utusan Malaysia’s lies. DPM Muhyiddin Yassin declaring he is Malay first and Malaysian second.

These are just a few of the many incidents that we Malaysians have grown tired of. If the rot does not stop, Umno and BN can be sure they will lose way more votes despite whatever Khairy believes in or not.

Anti-Racism:
 Khairy, let’s come to your point. If you are against the ‘katak’ man, then why did you send your men to support Utusan?

Jefferson76:
 Why don’t you help all Malaysians in need? Who cares what race they are. If you help everyone that needs help, then why would there be a problem with certain communities falling behind?

Allowing Umno Youth members to go and support Utusan is racist too. And it’s no different than supporting Perkasa. That’s the problem with Umno politicians. You just can’t get past race. It’s so imprinted in your DNA that it has become second nature and you don’t even realise you’re doing it.

ONG:
 “I said they could support Utusan but they should also tell them that they were wrong. Internally, we have told the newspaper that they were wrong with regard to their front-page report on the Christian state issue,” said Khairy.

He acknowledges that Utusan is wrong, but Utusan has refused to admit they are wrong, and still he supports Utusan.

I am confused. Am I too stupid to understand Khairy’s logic or is Khairy too stupid to make a logical statement?

Who do you believe – Anwar or Perkasa?

Alan Goh:
 What a question to ask. Anwar of course, and Malaysians know who those behind Perkasa are and what that party stands for, which is anarchy and destruction.

What to expect when you have a dishonourable MP from Pasir Mas, standing on PAS ticket, lompat (leap) like a frog, shamelessly holding on to the MP post and is president of Perkasa.

He is someone who has totally lost his integrity, The question ‘who do you believe’, does not arise at all. I trust my faithful dog more than this Raja Katak.

People Power:
 Perkasa should change its name soon. Perkacau seems more like it. Either we change the constitution or change Perkasa.

Believe Perkasa? How on earth can anyone believe a clown like Ibrahim Ali who said Malaysia is going to get a Christian PM?

Meranti Kepong:
 Birds of the same feathers. I believe in none of them.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 11:26 am and is filed under
Perkasa
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Muhyiddin ingatkan orang Melayu jangan terpedaya helah DAP

Muhyiddin Tells Malays Not Be Hoodwinked by DAP

Bernama

MUAR, 24 MAY, 2011: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today reminded the Malays not to fall for the tricks of the DAP which is said to be planning to field Malay candidates in the next general election (GE).

Muhyiddin, who is also Umno deputy president, said it was just an attempt by the DAP to hoodwink the Malays when in reality it was a chauvinistic party which had never cared about the wellbeing of the Malays.

“I wish to remind the Malays, this (DAP) is the most chauvinistic party. They claim to champion the Malaysian Malaysia agenda but from its inception till now, I know they are the most chauvinistic kind,” he told reporters.

He said this after holding a “meet-the-people” session with the residents of Kampung Tulang Gajah, Lenga, Pagoh near here where he also received membership application forms to join Umno from villagers of Kampung Sentosa, an Orang Asli village.

Muhyiddin was commenting on statements made by Defence Minister and Umno vice president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently that DAP was drawing up plans to field Malay candidates in the GE.

Muhyiddin said the move by DAP was just a tactic to garner support from the Malays although it had never fielded Malay candidates in previous elections.

He said DAP was trying to show it it was a party that championed the interests of all race when it was not the case.

“Malays must take note, do no become disunited just because someone says they will champion their plight. We have never heard of the DAP fighting for the Malay cause, in fact they are only good at disputing policies aimed at helping the Malays,” he said, adding that despite only contesting in Chinese-majority areas in elections, the party chose to brand Umno a racist party.

This was furthest from the truth as Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) championed the interests of all Malaysians irrespective of race, he added.

On Umno’s preparations for the GE, Muhyiddin said members must consolidate solidarity and avoid any type of infighting to ensure a big victory for the BN.

– Bernama

Bernama
 | May 24, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

MUAR: Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mengingatkan orang Melayu supaya tidak terpedaya dengan helah DAP yang didakwa bercadang meletakkan calon-calonnya di kalangan orang Melayu pada pilihan raya umum akan datang.

Muhyiddin yang juga Timbalan Presiden Umno berkata, tindakan DAP itu hanya untuk mengabui orang Melayu kerana hakikat sebenarnya ia adalah sebuah parti cauvinis yang tidak pernah memperjuangkan nasib orang Melayu.

“Saya hendak ingatkan orang Melayu, inilah parti (DAP) yang paling cauvinis. Dia berkata dia berjuang untuk Malaysian Malaysia tetapi sejarah perjuangan DAP dari dulu hingga sekarang saya tahu terlalu cauvinistik,” katanya kepada pemberita hari ini.

Beliau berkata demikian selepas menghadiri majlis ramah mesra dengan penduduk Kampung Tulang Gajah, Lenga, Pagoh dan menerima borang keanggotaan Umno daripada penduduk Orang Asli Kampung Sentosa.

Calon Melayu

Muhyiddin mengulas kenyataan Menteri Pertahanan dan Naib Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi baru-baru ini yang mengatakan DAP berhasrat untuk meletakkan calon Melayu pada pilihan raya umum akan datang.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri berkata, cadangan oleh DAP itu hanya merupakan satu taktik untuk menarik sokongan orang Melayu walaupun parti itu tidak pernah meletakkan calon Melayu sebelum ini.

Parti DAP sebelum ini, menurutnya, hanya mahu mengabui mata orang Melayu untuk menunjukkan bahawa ia merupakan sebuah parti yang berjuang untuk semua kaum, sedangkan hakikatnya tidak sedemikian.

“(Orang) Melayu kena sedar, jangan dipecahbelahkan hanya kerana ada pihak yang kata mereka berjuang untuk orang Melayu. Kita tidak pernah dengar DAP memperjuangkan (hak orang) Melayu, malah mereka hanya mempertikaikan (dasar membantu orang Melayu),” katanya.

Makoriti pengundi Cina

Menurutnya, DAP yang hanya bertanding di kawasan yang majoriti pengundinya adalah daripada kaum Cina, tidak pernah bersetuju dengan dasar membantu orang Melayu yang dianggap oleh parti pembangkang itu sebagai perkauman.

“Saya fikir DAP adalah sebuah parti perkauman berbanding parti-parti lain, ada rekod dan sejarahnya, memang begitulah,” kata Muhyiddin sambil menambah, DAP mempunyai perjuangan yang sempit.

Muhyiddin berkata sejarah telah membuktikan bahawa DAP tidak pernah memperjuangkan nasib semua kaum berbanding Barisan Nasional (BN) yang telah lama memperjuangkannya.

“Jangan terpedaya dengan helah DAP,” katanya.

Pilihan raya umum

Mengenai persediaan Umno untuk menghadapi pilihan raya umum akan datang pula, Timbalan Presiden parti itu berkata, soal perpaduan merupakan isu paling utama yang perlu dititikberatkan oleh anggota dan pemimpin.

Cabaran pada pilihan raya akan datang itu dijangka agak sengit dan cabaran daripada parti-parti pembangkang adalah jauh lebih sengit berikutan rancangan mereka untuk mengambilalih Putrajaya, katanya.

Sehubungan dengan itu, beliau meminta sebarang permasalahan di peringkat bahagian diselesaikan dan meminta campur tangan positif daripada Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan bagi membantu menyelesaikannya.

– Bernama

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 6:39 pm and is filed under
DAP
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Talent Corp or Talent Corpse?

Letter

by
Gemilang

24.5.11

Dear Fellow Malaysians:

I am compelled to write to you regarding Talent Corp. road tour in the U.S. I have just attended one of their events at Marriott, Santa Clara. Let me tell you, the turn out was good. I believe there about 200 Malaysians living in the Bay Area attended this event hoping to hear what they have to offer.

It is not surprising that the event was such a let down. Talent Corp. sent amateurs to speak on behalf of Johan Merican where no where to be found. The speaker was a young kid, Hidayat who was very proud to tell the audience that there is nothing wrong with Malaysian education, because he graduated from MIT. Let me share with you that this kid was so naive, speaks poor English, have no business acumen, lack of respects for Malaysian professionals, and lack of understanding of American business etiquette.

For someone who claimed to be MIT graduate and used to work overseas as consultants — he definitely did not have the MIT qualities. He forgot that he just spent his few years completing his undergraduate degree here in the US, but have never been living and working for many years in America. The reason I pointed out this, is that it makes huge differences in life experiences. As an alumni of MIT does not mean that he is fits to talk down on professionals like us here in the Bay Area.

When it comes to questions and answers sessions. He does not have any substances to support his slides presentation. For instance, on the slides it features one of the benefits for luring back Malaysian abroad is by extending 15% income tax reduction, and two cars, furniture, and so on. When asked about whether he really thinks that it is competitive package as opposed to other countries. He honestly believed it was competitive. This kid is so gullible and blindly followed what the government said was good. Yes I understand that I should take his words at the grain of salts. But, it is so intimidating to listen to bunch of amateurs representing Malaysia — what a shame!

Another thing, when some fellow Malaysian asked about what the government will do about immigration-laws, such as dual-citizenship, spouses able to find a job in Malaysia, education for the children, insurance, diversity and inclusiveness, and so on — none of these issues Hidayat able to address at intellectual levels.

Okay, the delegation was consist of representation from Northern Corridor (Dato’ Reza) and his team, MSC (Dato’ Sham) and his team, two young ladies from Khazanah Group, and Mr. Pang from MIDA Malaysia. Imagine you are sitting and listening to bunch of preachers telling us we should consider to come back to Malaysia. Well for haven-sake, for who’s benefits? The government or the people? When are they going to realize that they are wasting so much Malaysian tax payers money by traveling to the US in the name of business conference.

They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They come here in the name of conference, but in reality they took their children for shopping abroad, sight-seeing. Why they have to bring their wife and children during official trips with Malaysian tax payers money? Let me tell you, Dato’ Sham from MSC even came late to the event, showing no apology or remorse. It is another sign of lack of respects for others. Excuse me sir, though you are attending Malaysian event where most Malaysian will be there — that does not give a good reason for you to be late. He simply have this don’t care attitude!

I personally says to them that this is just another campaign for Talent Corp. from the government. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not really serious about it “hangat-hangat tahi ayam aje”.

That’s all for now.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 10:32 am and is filed under
Brain drain
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The Malay nuisance

By
Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
 | May 24, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

MAY 24 — After 54 years of independence, the insecurities faced by the Malay community is no longer a dilemma but becoming more like a nuisance, hampering the country’s growth and well-being.

It is utterly irresponsible for middle class Malays to continue harping about self righteous Malay or “Muslim” agenda while the poor are still struggling with bread and butter issues like unemployment and proper education.

Having graduated from a local Islamic university, I am well aware of the conspiracy theories that continue to bog down the Malay psyche with self defeatist mentality.

The vicious cycle of hate and animosity will not benefit anyone and certainly not the Malays. It saddens me when prophecies of hate are being professed by so called “intellectuals” of the community.

What is even more sickening is their answer to an intellectual discourse of blaming others instead of trying to find real solutions that will solve real problems.

Despite being a majority in the country, why are we still obsessed with this siege mentality?

Our country did not gain independence yesterday. We should not be questioning the patriotism or rights of our fellow Malaysians but question what our “Malay” government has done to help elevate the dire economic situation of the poor?

Why blame the Chinese or Indians when the leaders of our country have always been a Malay? What has “ketuanan melayu” or the Malay agenda brought to the villages or urban villages after Merdeka?

Yes, the government has brought us development but that is our right as citizens of the country. That is the right of every community in the country, not the Malays alone.

Why talk about hudud or implementing syariah law when we cannot fulfill the basic tenant of Islamic jurisprudence which is justice.

Why cut the hand of a man that steals bread when leaders continue to swindle our riches?

Is the objective of Islamic law to only punish? I think not.

Islam is not a about grand mosques or prayer rooms but the people.

Where were the so called Muslim or Malay NGOs when the Lynas plant was announced or more recently the landslide that killed so many innocent children?

The call for an Islamic state is a luxury when the poor continue to beg for mercy.

We should stop questioning other races but start questioning ourselves and what have we contributed the country.

* Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani is a reporter with The Malaysian Insider.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 10:41 am and is filed under
nation building
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The MIT factor: celebrating 150 years of maverick genius

By
Ed Pilkington
 | Wednesday 18 May 2011

The Guardian

Yo-Yo Ma’s cello may not be the obvious starting point for a journey into one of the world’s great universities. But, as you quickly realise when you step inside the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), there’s precious little about the place that is obvious.

The cello is resting in a corner of MIT’s celebrated media lab, a hub of techy creativity. There’s a British red telephone kiosk standing in the middle of one of its laboratories, while another room is signposted: “Lego learning lab – Lifelong kindergarten.”

The cello is part of the Opera of the Future lab run by the infectiously energetic Tod Machover. A renaissance man for the 21st – or perhaps 22nd – century, Machover is a composer, inventor and teacher rolled into one. He sweeps into the office 10 minutes late, which is odd because his watch is permanently set 20 minutes ahead in a patently vain effort to be punctual. Then, with the urgency of the White Rabbit, he rushes me across the room to show me the cello. It looks like any other electric classical instrument, with a solid wood body and jack socket. But it is much more. Machover calls it a “hyperinstrument”, a sort of thinking machine that allows Ma and his cello to interact with one another and make music together.

“The aim is to build an instrument worthy of a great musician like Yo-Yo Ma that can understand what he is trying to do and respond to it,” Machover says. The cello has numerous sensors across its body, fret and along the bow. By measuring the pressure, speed and angle of the virtuoso’s performance it can interpret his mood and engage with it, producing extraordinary new sounds. The virtuoso cellist frequently performs on the instrument as he tours around the world.

When Machover was developing the instrument, he found that the sound it made was distorted by Ma’s hand as it absorbed electric current flowing from the bow. Machover had a eureka moment. What if you reversed that? What if you channelled the electricity flowing from the performer’s body and turned it into music?

Armed with that new idea, Machover designed an interactive system for Prince that the rock star deployed on stage at Wembley Stadium a few years ago, conjuring up haunting sounds through touch and gesture. Later, two of Machover’s students at the media lab had the idea of devising an interactive game out of the technology. They went on to set up a company called Harmonix, based just down the road from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which they developed Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

From Ma’s cello, via Prince, to one of the most popular video games ever invented. And all stemming from Machover’s passion for pushing at the boundaries of the existing world to extend and unleash human potential. That’s not a bad description of MIT as a whole. This maverick community, on the other side of the Charles River from Boston, brings highly gifted, highly motivated individuals together from a vast range of disciplines but united by a common desire: to leap into the dark and reach for the unknown.

The result of that single unifying ambition is visible all around us. For the past 150 years, MIT has been leading us into the future. The discoveries of its teachers and students have become the warp and weft of modernity, the stuff of daily life that we now all take for granted. The telephone, electromagnets, radars, high-speed photography, office photocopiers, cancer treatments, pocket calculators, computers, the internet, the decoding of the human genome, lasers, space travel . . . the list of innovations that involved essential contributions from MIT and its faculty goes on and on.

And with that drive into modernity MIT has played no small part in building western, and particularly US, global dominance. Its explosive innovations have helped to secure America’s military and cultural supremacy, and with it the country’s status as the world’s sole superpower.

As the school marks its 150th anniversary this month, it seems the US has never needed MIT’s help more than it does today. The voices of the nay-sayers are in the ascendancy, questioning the US’s ability to reinvent itself, to heal its wounded economy and sustain its leadership in the face of a burgeoning China. Questions too, are increasingly being asked about the ability of science and technology to address the world’s problems, as optimism about the future slides into doubt. “There is a profound cynicism around the role of science that is debilitating for those in the enterprise, and devastating for this country,” says MIT’s president, Susan Hockfield. “If we can’t figure out how to make technological innovation the path to the future, then America is not going to have invented the future, some other country will have.”

She fears the US is increasingly suffering from what she calls a deficit of ambition. While 85% of MIT students are studying science and engineering, in the US as a whole the proportion is just 15%. That leaves the world’s creative powerhouse vulnerable. “If you travel to Asia, to Shanghai or Bangalore, you feel the pulse of people racing to a future they are going to invent. You feel that rarely any more in the US.”

Which makes MIT’s mission all the more essential. “MIT has an enormous responsibility right now,” Hockfield says. “We feel that deeply. It needs to be a beacon of inspiration around the power of science and technology to create a brighter future for the world.”

No pressure, then.

From the moment MIT was founded by William Barton Rogers in 1861 it was clear what it was not. It was not like the other school up the river. While Harvard stuck to the English model of an Oxbridge classical education, with its emphasis on Latin and Greek as befitted the landed aristocracy, MIT would look to the German system of learning based on research and hands-on experimentation, championing meritocracy and industry where Harvard preferred the privileges of birth. Knowledge was at a premium, yes, but it had to be useful.

This gritty, down-to-earth quality, in keeping with the industrialisation that was spreading through the US at the time, was enshrined in the school motto, Mens et Manus – Mind and Hand – as well as its logo, which showed a gowned scholar standing beside an ironmonger bearing a hammer and anvil. That symbiosis of intellect and craftsmanship still suffuses the institute’s classrooms, where students are not so much taught as engaged and inspired. There is a famous film of one of MIT’s star professors, the physicist Walter Lewin, demonstrating the relationship between an oscillating metal ball and mass. Halfway through the experiment he climbs on to the ball and starts swinging himself around the lecture theatre in a huge oscillating arch as though he were appearing in Spider-Man on Broadway.

When Emily Dunne, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering student from Bermuda, was taking a course in differential equations recently, she was startled when her professor started singing in the middle of the lecture. “He was trying to show us how to understand overtones. It was kind of weird, but then everyone here is a little quirky,” she says.

Mind and Hand applies too to MIT’s belief that theory and practice go together; neither is superior to the other, and the two are stronger when combined. That conviction is as strongly held by the lowliest student as it is by its Nobel laureates (there have been 50 of them).

Take Christopher Merrill, 21, a third-year undergraduate in computer science. He is spending most of his time on a competition set in his robotics class. The contest is to see which student can most effectively programme a robot to build a house out of blocks in under 10 minutes. Merrill says he could have gone for the easiest route – designing a simple robot that would build the house quickly. But he wanted to try to master an area of robotics that remains unconquered – adaptability, the ability of the robot to rethink its plans as the environment around it changes, as would a human. “I like to take on things that have never been done before rather than to work in an iterative way just making small steps forward,” he explains. “It’s much more exciting to go out into the unknown.”

Merrill is already planning the start-up he wants to set up when he graduates in a year’s time. He has an idea for a new type of contact lens that would augment reality by allowing consumers to see additional visual information. He is fearful that he might be just too late in taking his concept to market, as he has heard that a Silicon Valley firm is already developing similar technology. As such, he might become one of many MIT graduates who go on to form companies that fail.

Alternatively, he might become one of those who go on to succeed, in spectacular fashion. And there are many of them. A survey of living MIT alumni found that they have formed 25,800 companies, employing more than three million people including about a quarter of the workforce of Silicon Valley. Those firms between them generate global revenues of about $1.9tn (£1.2tn) a year. If MIT was a country, it would have the 11th highest GDP of any nation in the world.

Ed Roberts, MIT’s professor of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, says such figures belie the fact that the institute is actually quite small, with just 10,000 students and about 1,000 faculty. “That’s not big. But when all those people sign up to a mission to forward entrepreneurship, you have a dramatically bigger impact. In MIT, people are encouraged not just to think bold, but to do it boldly.

“If you come up with a brilliant idea, that’s OK. If you win a Nobel prize for your research, that’s fine. But if you take that idea and apply it and make something transformative happen, then in MIT that’s deeply admired.”

Inevitably, perhaps, there is a nerdy quality to the place that is reflected in one of its much cherished traditions – the student “hack”. Hack is a misleading word here, as it is less to do with cracking into computers than with hi-tech high-jinks. “Prank” is a better description.

In the student canteen you can see two of the most famous MIT hacks preserved for prosperity – a police car that was balanced on top of the institute’s great dome, and a functioning fire hydrant that was erected in one of the lobbies. The latter hack, dating from 1991, was a wry comment on a former president’s remark that “getting an education from MIT is like taking a drink from a fire hose”. Then there is the Baker House Piano Drop, an annual institution ever since students first dropped a stand-up piano from a sixth-storey dormitory in 1972, then measured the impact that it made when it crashed on the pavement below.

Wacky, perhaps. Geeky, certainly. But also extraordinarily difficult technically and requiring great imagination and ingenuity. MIT in a nutshell.

The current president offers two other important clues to MIT’s success as a cauldron of innovation. The first is meritocracy. Hockfield is MIT’s first female president, which is significant for an institution that since the 1990s has been battling against its own in-built discrimination against women. Women still make up only 21% of the faculty. But the gender balance of its students is almost 50:50, and about 40% of its staff members were born outside the US, underlying how MIT remains a huge magnet for talented individuals around the world. “It’s one thing to talk about fostering creativity, but unless you strive for a true meritocracy you are driving away the best people, and what would be the point of that?” Hockfield says.

MIT delights in taking brilliant minds in vastly diverse disciplines and flinging them together. You can see that in its sparkling new David Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, which brings scientists, engineers and clinicians under one roof. Or in its Energy Initiative, which acts as a bridge for MIT’s combined firepower across all its five schools, channelling huge resources into the search for a solution to global warming. It works to improve the efficiency of existing energy sources, including nuclear power as it has its own nuclear reactor, a lesser-known fact that MIT prefers not to brag about. It is also forging ahead with alternative energies from solar to wind and geothermal, and has recently developed the use of viruses to synthesise batteries that could prove crucial in the advancement of electric cars.

Before my tour of MIT ends I am given a taste of what this astonishing abundance of riches means in practice. In the space of half an hour I enjoy the company – in the flesh and spacially – of three of the towering figures of the modern age.

I begin by dragging Tim Berners-Lee away from his computer screen to talk to me about how he ended up here. The Briton who invented the world wide web is part of the global brain drain to MIT. He created the web by linking hypertext with the internet in 1989 while he was at Cern in Geneva, but then felt he had no option but to cross the Atlantic. “There were a couple of reasons I had to come – one was because the web spread much faster in America than it did in Europe and the other was because there was no MIT over there.”

What is it about MIT that Europe could not offer him?

“It’s not just another university, it has this pre-eminent reputation and that in turn sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy: as soon as it becomes seen as the cool place to go for technology, then people will head there as I did. Even though I spend my time with my head buried in the details of web technology, or travelling the world, the nice thing is that when I do walk the corridors I bump into people who are working in other fields that are fascinating, and that keeps me intellectually alive.”

Berners-Lee offers to take me to my next appointment, and in so doing makes his point about MIT’s self-fulfilling prophecy even more eloquently. We walk along the squiggly corridors of MIT’s Stata Centre, which was designed by Frank Gehry. It is a classic Gehry structure, formed from undulating polished steel and tumbling blocks of brushed aluminium that reminds Berners-Lee, he tells me, of the higgledy-piggledy Italian village one of his relatives grew up in. After negotiating a maze of passageways Berners-Lee delivers me at the door of Noam Chomsky. It sums up this wild place: the inventor of the web leads me through the work of a titan of modern architecture to one of the world’s foremost linguists and anti-war activists.

Chomsky is in a hurry. On the night of our meeting he will appear on stage alongside the Kronos Quartet at the world premiere of a new piece of music dedicated to him. The composer? Tod Machover, he of the Yo-Yo Ma cello.

I put it to Chomsky that it’s a revealing paradox that he, as a leading critic of the US’s overweening military might, has been based, since the 1950s, at an institution that was centrally involved in erecting the burgeoning military-industrial complex he so incisively opposes. After all, MIT has long been a leader in military research and development, receiving huge sums in grants from the Pentagon. It was core to America’s prosecution of the cold war, developing ever more sophisticated guidance systems for ballistic missiles trained on Moscow.

“What people don’t understand is that the role of the Pentagon,” Chomsky says, “to a large extent was developing the technology of the future. There were some odd things about it. This building was also one of the centres of the antiwar resistance, and it was right in there, 100% funded by the Pentagon. But they didn’t care.”

What does that tell us about MIT?

“I was just left alone to my own devices. Other people took days off to run their businesses; I went off as an antiwar activist. But no one ever objected. MIT is a very free and open place.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 7:00 am and is filed under
university
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Time to Curb Malaysia’s Racial Attack Dogs

By
Salim Osman – The Jakarta Globe
 | May 23, 2011

As racial tensions rise in Malaysia, one organization causing ripples in the country is Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa).

The group pushed the political temperature to a new high when its president, Ibrahim Ali, on May 14 threatened to wage a crusade against Christians if they turned Malaysia into a Christian state, as claimed by Utusan Malaysia newspaper in a report on an alleged Christian conspiracy.

Christian leaders accused the newspaper of fabrication. Utusan, which is owned by the United Malays National Organisation, the dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, is being investigated for the report, which it maintains is true.

Perkasa has become the new player in race politics with Ibrahim, 59, a maverick politician, able to make seditious remarks with impunity.

The group emerged in the aftermath of the March 2008 general election, when UMNO’s hold on power was threatened by the loss of substantial Malay votes to the opposition. Perkasa became the answer to the Malay search for a new entity to represent them as their pressure group, UMNO Youth, was in lethargy.

Ibrahim, an independent Member of Parliament, said in interviews that the group was set up to protect the Malays’ special position as stated in Article 153 of the Constitution. “If Malays do not come out and defend themselves, others will climb on our heads,” said the former UMNO politician.

Perkasa’s supporters are assertive in their defense of Malay rights. They are uncompromising on Islam, the Malay language and the royalty ‑ the core of Malay identity.

While Ibrahim argues that he is merely defending Malay rights, others find his views extreme and say Perkasa does not fit in a civil society.

Tacitly backed by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Najib Razak, Perkasa and its 300,000 members was initially viewed as an extension of UMNO used to galvanize the Malays, which could take on a more radically pro-Malay stance than the party.

And despite its vociferous articulation of Malay rights that borders on racism and extremism, Perkasa as avoided the plight of Hindraf, the Hindu rights group, which has been outlawed.

While top UMNO leaders back it, other party leaders have warned that the Barisan could lose non-Malay support if UMNO does not dissociate itself from Perkasa.

Concerns have been expressed about Perkasa’s agenda. For one, it agreed to spearhead a movement that aims to mobilize Malays and Bumiputeras to counter the Chinese shift to the opposition in the recent Sarawak state election.

The group also set up a paramilitary wing, Briged Setia Negara, or National Loyalty Brigade, to look after security earlier this month. This has raised eyebrows, especially since Ibrahim has vowed to defend Islam even if Perkasa members have to die “sprawling in blood.”

There are thus grounds for the Najib administration to review its policy towards Perkasa and rein in the group before it causes more damage to already fragile ethnic ties.

First, although its agenda is to champion Malay rights, Perkasa is riding roughshod in pushing for them, trampling the rights of other communities.

Perkasa is pitting UMNO against its partner, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), in the aftermath of the Sarawak election. It accused the MCA of not delivering the Chinese votes and lambasted the Chinese as ungrateful because they supported the opposition.

Second, the Malay group stands in the way of reforms Najib promised when he became prime minister in 2009.

Perkasa led several Malay groups to oppose the New Economic Model (NEM) mooted by Najib to transform Malaysia into a high-income and high-growth economy by 2020. They objected to the NEM goal of shifting the affirmative action strategy from ethnic- to needs-based, forcing the prime minister to backtrack.

Due to such pressures, the government introduced Teraju, a new unit for the Malays and Bumiputeras, which critics say would dilute the NEM and likely send the wrong message to foreign investors who have been hopeful of reform.

Third, Perkasa appears to have its own agenda that may be different from that of UMNO. It has redefined the 1Malaysia policy by demanding that the concept be based on Malay privileges, which will polarize the country.

Fourth, the group is becoming less tolerant of others and takes extremist positions as reflected by its reaction to the alleged Christian conspiracy report and the row over the Christian use of the word Allah in Malay bibles.

The prime minister needs to deal with the Perkasa problem firmly. Ignoring it will affect his credibility and let the Malay ultra rights group hijack UMNO’s agenda to the detriment of the country.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 6:43 pm and is filed under
nation building
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Top 7 Reasons NOT To Vote BN Come GE13

by
Damien Murphy Denis

May 24, 2011

Reading the latest happenings about our country is a pain for many of us. Seeing the kind of filth BN politicians churning day in and day out makes you think that Malaysia is in a state of anarchy.

Would anyone disagree? Politically, economically and socially our nation is sinking lower and it seems we are reaching the point of no return.

We were considered to be a model country at one time but today we are on the way to become the “Next Sick Man of Asia” or the next Somalia.

Can we re-claim our country  from these corrupt and good for nothing BN politicians? I say we have too. And we need too.

 And we need to do it this coming GE13. Personally, I have 7 good reasons to kick BN out of Putrajaya come GE13:-

1)      When BN is voted out you vote out  people like Ibrahim Ali, Dr M, Perkasa and the likes. When you vote these people out you too vote out extremism, racism and bigotry from our nation. This is something we need to do as the current regime under Najib has failed to reprimand these racist politicians. In fact, Najib and his crony has been giving tacit support and approval by giving some of the most ridiculous statements in our nations history. Let us remember that “Perkasa adalah Perkakas UMNO” (Perkasa is UMNO’s tool).

2)      When you vote BN out you vote against corruption. This is a curse our nation has to endure since money politics has become so entrenched in our system. Every contract and business awarded has to be accompanied by a certain cut or percentage for those who walk in the corridors of power. Heard of the 10% men and his allegedly Maika shares? Of course, you have the BMF scandal, Perwaja and the latest PKFZ issue which is the hottest topic today but the current BN government seems to be dragging its feet to take those responsible to court. Why??? We can never expect BN to provide us with good governance as this is such an alien word to this bunch of crooks.

3)      When you vote BN out you vote against all that stands for freedom and justice. What justice can a man on the street find for himself whenever his NCR land is taken over by BN cronies? What good is freedom if tomorrow he gets up to find his son has been gun down by the police in the wee hours of the morning? We not only need a dedicated and corrupt free cops/courts but also cops/courts who are able to perform their duty without fear or favor!

4)      Vote BN out and you vote out an education system that supports mediocrity and second or third best. Look at our education system which is tainted with racism in the form of Biro Tata Negara (BTN) &  quota system for university entry etc. If you look at our schools these days we will not fail to see how the standard has dropped from, let’s say 15-20 years ago to today. Our teachers are not equipped to teach English well and this is causing our future graduates to suffer in the employment market. Yet, BN leaders especially the Education Minister has been giving us excuses after excuses till today and the young ones are the most affected. So, why keep these incompetent BN ministers in power? Get rid of them to redeem our education system NOW!

5)      When you vote BN out you vote against the likes of  Utusan, The Star, TV3 and many other mainstream media which has been controlled, manipulated and shackled by the powers that be. These newspapers especially Utusan has been spewing lies after lies and are still doing so as their political masters are the ones dictating to them what should be the menu of the week. Responsible journalism is such a foreign word to this big time corporate liars. Their recent report on the Christian state and PM is a case in point! They must be stop at all cost and we are the ones who will do it by bringing down BN in the next GE13.

6)     Under BN rule Malaysia is facing a serious brain drain in the last few years. The major factors are the lethargic country’s economy, educational opportunities, lack of religious freedom, social inequality and BN’s affirmative policy in the form of NEP. These factors has made many young Malaysians fed-up with the current state of affairs and this has brought about the a wave of brain drain which is already affecting our economy today. The best brains in our country feels they are not being appreciated and welcomed as most of them are not of the Bumiputera group. Between 2008 & 2009 a total of 300,000 Malaysians has emigrated overseas just after the 2008 tsunami election. We need to put a stop to this brain drain and the starting point is to get rid of BN and vote in a government which is more inclusive and fair in its administration.

7)      When we vote BN out, we vote for a better livelihood for all. And I mean for all and not just for the selected few cronies or the elites. Since the Asian Financial Crisis and Anwar’s sacking in the late 1990’s our ecomony has never really prospered well. The BN government is planning for another round of petrol price hike come this June 2011. And Najib has the gall to say that subsidy has become an opium to the masses. Little did he realise that corruption and money politics in his own party UMNO is the real opium and the root of all evil!

And the list goes on. I’m very sure sure you have your own reason/s not to vote BN this time around. Do add in and see how long the list goes.

I’m convinced that for our country to move forward we need to put BN in its right place which is OUT of Putrajaya. As of now, I can only imagine Pakatan Rakyat as the only viable party to take over this government.

I have made my decision. How about you?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 10:20 pm and is filed under
1Malaysia
,
Brain drain
,
PKFZ
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Top UN official says ‘Malaysia solution’ illegal

The Malaysian Insider
 | May 24, 2011

SYDNEY, May 24 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has slammed the Australian government’s asylum seeker deal with Malaysia as illegal, the Australian Associated Press reported today.

Navi Pillay, who is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra today, reportedly told a forum in Sydney that asylum seekers are not adequately protected in Malaysia.

“If Australia is serious … about sending 800 people out to Malaysia then I think it violates refugee law,” she was quoted by AAP as saying.

“It cannot send individuals to a country that has not ratified the torture convention, the convention on refugees.”

Canberra plans to send 800 asylum seekers who try to come to Australia by boat to Malaysia for processing.

In exchange, Australia will resettle 4,000 genuine refugees currently residing in Malaysia.

The Malaysia-Australia refugee swap can potentially “break the business model” of people smugglers, Australian Immigration and Citizenship Minister Clive Bowen argued last week.

He said the deal, dubbed the “Malaysian solution”, will have “the same (or better) practical effect as ‘turning back the boats’” as most refugees heading to Australia first fly to Kuala Lumpur before starting their boat journey to Australia via Indonesia.

“The logic of the Malaysian arrangement is simple. Why would you pay a substantial amount of money and risk your life only to be returned to where you began your boat journey?” Bowen said in an op-ed piece in The Australian last week.

He added that the solution would also help avoid danger to both asylum seekers and navy crew during turn-backs in “rough seas”.

Australia currently tries to intercept boat people in the Indian Ocean, who are then detained on its remote Christmas Island for processing, preventing asylum seekers from gaining greater legal rights by landing on the Australian mainland.

Bowen also slammed “predictable flak from both the left and the right” as neither has suggested an alternative that will increase Australia’s role in settling refugees while clamping down on people-smuggling.

He said the Greens, who said asylum seekers should not be sent to Malaysia because of poor conditions here, should welcome the deal if refugee welfare is the party’s concern as the swap deal will increase Australia’s commitment to resettle refugees by almost three-fold.

“If the Greens and others are concerned about the situation for asylum seekers in Malaysia, then the net transfer of 3,200 from people from Malaysia to Australia should be something they welcome,” Bowen said.

He added that by reducing boat arrivals, slightly more than half of whom were not genuine asylum seekers, Australia would be able to resettle 93,509 refugees — including 18,750 children — who fled “very difficult environments” in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, now registered in Malaysia.

Australia’s Parliament is set to censure the refugee-swapping deal after its Senate approved a motion by the Greens last Wednesday calling on the government to abandon the deal.

Under the deal revealed a week ago, Australia and Malaysia agreed to deport 800 asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores to Malaysia for processing.

In exchange, Australia will expand its humanitarian intake and resettle 4,000 refugees from Malaysia over four years at a cost of A$292 million (RM935.39 million).

Australia currently detains more than 6,000 asylum seekers — originating from countries like Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Both the press and lawmakers in Australia have slammed Gillard and her government for the refugee trade, with Canberra being accused of abdicating its duty towards human rights by “outsourcing” its refugee problem to Malaysia.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has raised humanitarian concerns about Gillard’s deal with Malaysia, which has been accused whipping and deporting asylum seekers.

The AAP reported today that Pillay said Australia’s asylum seeker processing policy should be legal and made more efficient.

“The first option should not be how best to turn away people, the first option should be how to receive people.”

Human Rights Law Centre executive director Phil Lynch called on Labor to walk away from the deal, which hasn’t been officially signed yet by both nations, the AAP said.

“Australia’s obligation is to provide protection to those people who lawfully seek asylum under the refugees convention,” Lynch told ABC Radio.

“That is Australia’s international obligation, it is our moral obligation, it is our human obligation.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 12:13 pm and is filed under
Foreign
,
Human Rights
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Transparency of IPP contracts ‘long overdue’

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng | May 24, 11

Malaysiakini

Calls to reveal ‘secret contracts’ with independent power producers (IPPs) have regained momentum with the announcement by Idris Jala that the government is reviewing gas subsidies provided to this sector.

Idris, a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, told Malaysiakini last week that some of the contracts are expiring and that the subsidies offered will come up for review.

“It’s being renegotiated. The negotiations are going on and we’ve concluded some of them. In due course, we’ll be making an announcement,” Idris had said.

However, one reason for lopsided contracts signed in the early 1990s with first-generation IPPs was the lack of transparency and scrutiny.

It now appears that the mistake may be repeated, as information has not been disclosed on the review of existing contracts or the negotiation of new contracts.

“All contracts relating to subsidies and the public interest, especially in the areas of public utilities, must be made public,” said Klang MP Charles Santiago of the DAP.

He suggested that Parliament should be given a say in the negotiation process with IPPs.

“The government should come up with a proposed agreement that has to be scrutinised by a parliamentary select committee. Only after it is endorsed by the Parliament should it be officially signed by both the government and private companies,” he said when contacted.

“This provides two levels of scrutiny – the government and Parliament – to ensure that such contracts are in the best interests of the people.”

An observer pointed out that disclosing the details of IPP contracts would put the issue under the spotlight and lead to early reduction of subsidies as well as the electricity tariff.

In January 2009, 16 highway concession agreements had been declassified and made public after persistent demands from the opposition and civil society groups.

This was followed by discounts on certain toll highways or certain stretches of highways, a freeze on toll hikes and early closure of a few toll plazas.

However, PKR’s Batu MP Tian Chua is of the view that the government will not compromise on IPP contracts.

“The government is not sincere about increasing transparency. When (the Selangor government) wanted to publish the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide report, the BN federal government blocked us,” he said when contacted.

Best of both worlds

IPPs have been enjoying privileges on both sides of their operations. They purchase gas from national oil producer Petronas at a subsidised price and sell electricity to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) at a high price.

Former Energy, Water and Communications Minister Shaziman Mansor disclosed in 2008 that Petronas was selling gas to IPPs at RM6.40/mm BTU when the production cost was RM15/mm BTU to RM16/mm BTU. It was reviewed to RM10.70/mm BTU in 2009, but this is still lower than the market price.

The agreements between TNB and IPPs, also known as power purchase agreements (PPAs), compel TNB to purchase all electricity produced by IPPs regardless of demand, causing Malaysia to hold some 40 percent of excess electricity.

On top of that, the PPAs, described by former TNB executive chairperson Ani Arope as “grossly unfair”, allow IPPs to sell electricity to TNB at price higher than TNB’s own generation cost.

Re-negotiations with several IPPs began in 2006, to correct certain weaknesses in the PPAs.

However, the talks halted in March 2007 when the principles for negotiation could not be established and there were concerns that the review would have a significant impact on the local stock exchange, since one-fifth of the bonds in the country were issued by the IPPs.

The negotiations resumed in 2008, but by last year, no progress had been reported – until the recent announcement by Idris.

Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin once said that it was not the government’s policy to withdraw business contracts that had been signed.

“Do you want Malaysia to be known throughout the world as a country that can take back contracts that have been signed?” he was quoted as saying in a media report.

Unable to review the PPAs, the government in June 2008 imposed a 30 percent windfall tax on IPPs – but this only lasted three months.

The tax was scrapped after protests by the IPPs, which again warned that the local stock market would be heavily affected. The government then replaced the windfall tax with a one-off payment that was equivalent to the tax for one year.

According to figures released by government in July 2008, total profits before tax of 13 IPPs in 2007 amounted to RM3.37 billion. This figure was later denied by the IPPs, which claimed the figure was overstated by RM499.316 million.

The lucrative profits are obtained at the expense of TNB, which is then forced to transfer its financial burden to end-users whenever there is a hike in fuel prices.

It is reported that TNB forked out RM19 billion to the IPPs from 2001-2010. In its 2008 financial year, the payment to IPPs amounted to over RM9 billion, forming 45 percent of TNB’s costs.

The IPPs, however, enjoyed nearly RM8 billion in subsidies from Petronas in the financial year ending March 2010.

Santiago pointed out that an independent international study had shown that the IPPs’ rate of returns had reached 22 percent, an exceptional figure for the public utilities industry.

“It is too high… 22 percent is just madness. The rate of return for any power producer and provider of utilities must be capped. The best strategy is to set up a commission to bring down the profit to reasonable level.”

Santiago also questioned if the IPPs’ contracts, signed during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as premier, included any kickback for political parties and politicians.

“There is no reason not to make the contracts public, unless they want to hide something,” he added.

Chua also expressed reservations over Idris’s announcement that the IPPs’ subsidies would be cut.

“I believe that after enjoying years of subsidies, they would demand compensation should their subsidies be cut, such as increasing the price of electricity sold to TNB,” he said.

The earliest PPAs, signed in the early 1990s, will expire in stages from the end of 2014, 2015 and 2017.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 7:56 pm and is filed under
Energy
,
Good Governance
,
Public policy
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Umno must make its mind on DAP’s ‘racism’

Comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers

‘Umno has been accusing DAP as a racist party, so now who is racist? While DAP is openly accepting all races, Umno is still practising 1Race politics.’

Umno VP spooked by DAP’s move into Malay territory

Disbeliever:
 DAP has always maintained itself as a multi-racial party despite there being more non-Malays. The way it is being put, “… (Umno vice-president) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has exposed a plan by the DAP…” sounds as if the DAP has done something ‘evil’.

Come on Ahmad Zahid, get real. This is a democratic country and the DAP, or any other party for that matter, has a right to put up whoever they want to contest in the general elections. Umno/BN is like a team in a football game about to become sore losers.

Wira: First, Umno attacked DAP for being a chauvinistic Chinese party. Now they attack DAP for appealing to the Malays. Get your brains right, Umno. DAP is not into dividing this country by race.

DAP is an urban party. It is natural that they should reach out to all urbanites, regardless of race.

M’siaKiniFan:
 Umno has been accusing DAP as a racist party, so now who is racist? While DAP is openly accepting all races into their fold, Umno is still practising 1Race politics, just like the 1Malaysia scam.

As the voters are getting mature, decisions are no longer based on race or religion, it more on transparency and good performance.

Ramachandran Muniandy:
 Umno should understand that the Malays are not Umno’s sole property. When Umno can bend their laws to take in Chinese and Sino-Kadazans (Christian) in Sabah, why can’t DAP recruit Malays? It is multiracial party.

Even PAS is planning to change its constitution to recruit Indians and Chinese. Perhaps Umno should change. Who knows, you might have an Umno Chinese as Penang CM; that’s what Umno has dreamt for more than 20 years.

Southpaw:
 Zahid, if you really worth your salt and has been in politics long enough, you would have known that DAP has had experienced in fielding its Malay members in past general elections. Why is it a surprise to you?

Lover Boy:
 DAP is directly fielding Malay candidate. However, Umno uses their component parties like MCA and Gerakan to put up a multiracial front. Now who is more multiracial?

Anonymous222:
 Zahid, you should encourage Umno to follow DAP’s example and become a non-racial party instead of trying to stop DAP from becoming a truly multiracial party in Malaysia.

2cts Worth:
 Zahid’s mentality is antiquated and outdated, and has a mindset set as hard as cement. It is difficult to change these dinosaurs in government – Malaysia will regress in every which way to become a failed third world nation.

Faz:
 We know that, from time immemorial, the Malays were not blessed with good leaders, but Ahmad Zahid is joining the elite of spoofs thrown into our midst, who are mere clowns imitating the intellectual thinkers.

Ahmad Zahid, there a world of difference between a knowledgeable intellectual and a person who happens to hold a PhD. He is not going to grow up as Umno thinks it is the centre of the world.

The only remedy to change them is for Umno to lose a general election. Let us go for it. It is not the end of the world for us, especially the Malays, but just may be the end of Umno, since there will be mass desertions when the gravy trains are stopped.

People Power:
 Umno used clowns like S Nallakaruppan, RS Thanenthiran and the latest N Gobalakrishnan to split the Indians and sell them out. Umno has been using Indians without the knowledge and consent of MIC – so Umno boleh, DAP tak boleh kah?

ForTheNation:
 If DAP is open enough to accept Malays and other races in their party, isn’t this good for 1Malaysia?

DAP: Sugar price hiked to boost Felda profits

BTN Barang Naik:
 This is the consequence of voting for Umno and its useless lackeys. They will find whatever way possible to make money not for the benefit of the rakyat but for themselves. You choose them, so don’t complain thereafter.

Onyourtoes:
 Consider this – when Robert Kuok was in control of MSM, the price of sugar was not allowed to increase easily, yet he was able to continue to do business and make a profit. The moment MSM was taken over, the price was allowed to increase sharply which burdened everybody, including the Malays.

Can you see now it was never about race? It is self-interest, the good life and the gravy train that Umno, together with its cohorts, have been enjoying all these years at the expense of 28 million Malaysians.

Keturunan Malaysia:
 If what DAP said is true, then the general election is indeed fast approaching and they need plenty of money quick because their coffer is dry. They surely must have taken a calculated risk to raise prices of fuel and essential items with all the side effects well included.

With very few options in hand, they take the easiest and well-tested way out, a ‘buy election’ with “you help me and I help you”. Which better place to apply this than in Felda where they are banking most of the hope on to secure large chunks of sweet votes. So, it is down to by hook or by crook indeed.

Ketuanan Rakyat:
 Umnoputras need the people’s money to buy the people’s votes in coming general election. Let us make all Malaysians realise that Umnoputras are using our money to pay us for our votes.

Anwar:
 Power tariff should go down, not up

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/164900

Keturunan Malaysia:
 I just got this in my mail box:

Malaysia’s petrol price:
 RM2.90 per litre, Malaysia ranks 27th in world’s oil production.

Egypt’s price: RM1.06, ranks 29

Oman’s price: RM1.00, ranks 28

Qatar’s price: RM0.75, ranks 22

Iran’s price: RM0.35, ranks 8

Rakyat didahulukan, kekayaan Umno dikekalkan (People first, Umno enriched now)

Loyal Malaysian:
 Thank you Anwar, for giving us a good basis for comparison of our electricity tariff rates. Of course, the Umnoputras are not interested, it is their cronies who are bleeding the rakyat with the exorbitant rates through the IPPs.

Mohd Zaini Husin:
 Everyone is unhappy in Malaysia. Lately even the teachers were seen to be disappointed. They were promised ‘berita baik’ (good news) by Utusan Malaysia and later learned that only the school administration was being rewarded.

Many are now saying that they may vote the opposition as Pakatan Rakyat had promised every teacher RM500 should they win. I think they are convinced.

Righteous:
 Let everything go up for the BN to fill up their war chest. We will make sure the only thing that comes down will be Umno. Wasalam.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 10:07 am and is filed under
DAP
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Utusan warns of DAP entrapment

By
Debra Chong
 | May 24, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Umno’s Utusan Malaysia warned today the Malay community against falling for the DAP’s Malay spiel, saying it was an election ruse for the party to capture Putrajaya.

In its editorial today titled “Jangan terperangkap ‘hajat besar’ DAP” (“Don’t be trapped by DAP’s ‘grand intent’”), the Malay daily said the Chinese-majority party had grand ambitions that stretched all the way to ruling Malaysia.

The paper was riding on Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s reported “expose” yesterday of a presumed systematic movement to capture Perak, Malacca amd Negri Sembilan in the coming 13th general election.

It noted some might find the allegation hard to believe because it sounds illogical as the DAP is not widely received by the majority and has been publicly rejected especially among the Malays.

But it insisted the reality remained as the DAP was planning a systematic move to “capture Malaysia as was carried out by its ‘big brother’, the PAP, in Singapore”.

“It’s not only the Malays in the three states but the entire country who must be careful with that DAP move.

“The DAP is looking for Malays as candidates only to ensure if it wins, a mentri besar or chief minister in a Malay-majority state hails from the party,” Utusan said in its opinion piece that seemed for all intents and purposes to rouse racial sentiments among its readers.

It claimed the Chinese-led opposition party has never been comfortable nor honest with the Malays and Muslims in Malaysia.

“In the name of democracy and equal rights, the DAP has frequently and openly questioned the special rights of the Malays,” it said, adding in order to achieve its goal to capture even more state governments and ultimately the federal government, the party was “willing to do anything including pretending to champion the Malays”.

It stressed that whoever from the Malay race was willing to stand on a DAP ticket in GE 13 will become a tool that will betray his own race only to fulfil the DAP’s political goal.

“Malays in the opposition parties including PAS and PKR should see and realise the DAP’s honesty here,” it said.

It said the DAP does not care about its partners in planning this systematic move, and that once again Malays have no excuse to allow themselves to be trapped into fulfilling the DAP’s “grand desire.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 11:31 am and is filed under
DAP
,
Media
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Why I chose Australia

By
Alan Roy
 | May 24, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

MAY 24 — Twenty-two years ago, I set out for Australia with my wife and three young kids in tow, braving an unknown future but confident that life would be fine in my adopted country.

Equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws protect every new immigrant. Social security and educational benefits help the disadvantaged. You turn on the tap, the water runs. You flip the switch, the power comes on. Above all, good governance, honesty, courtesy and civic-mindedness are striking qualities that contribute to the enviable Australian quality of life.

In the first decade, there were the occasional pangs of regret, especially when I made the frequent trips home. Looking back now, I have absolutely no regrets. I don’t relish what I have left behind — a muddle-headed educational system, a corrupt and incompetent government, racial polarisation engendered by government policies, discrimination in educational enrolment and scholarships, public sector employment and an environment increasingly intolerant of the non-Malay, non-Muslim races.

Personally, I suffered directly from the discriminatory policy on scholarships. At the outbreak of May 13, I arrived at the University of Singapore with RM800. Miraculously, I survived the first year with that paltry sum, paying for tuition fees, transport, food and lodging. It was two roti canai downed with a teh tarik to start every day which ended with an 80 sen “chap fan” dinner.

The subsequent three years were financed by a private loan from a Chinese philanthropist. I received not a single sen from the government. My three children have all graduated from Australian universities, no thanks to the Malaysian government.

A bright future awaits them in a land of, what the Australians call, Fair Go.

* We asked readers who have migrated to tell us in their own words why they left. This is one of the stories.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 5:19 pm and is filed under
Brain drain
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Zunar gets ‘courage in editorial cartooning’ award

Malaysiakini
 | May 24, 11

Cartoonist Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, popularly known as Zunar, will receive an international award for his work, featuring unyielding criticism of political follies in Malaysia.

The US-based Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) has chosen Zunar as this year’s recipient of its Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning at its annual gala event on July 7 in St Petersburg, Florida.

In a press statement today, Zunar said he is “thankful and deeply honoured” for having been selected for the award, which is in recognition of his fight for freedom of expression and a free press in Malaysia.

Zunar caught the CRNI’s eye after both he and Malaysiakini filed law suits against the Home Ministry over the banning of two books on his works, 1Funny Malaysia and Perak Darul Kartun.

He was arrested just hours before the launch of one of his publications Cartoon-o-phobia last September.

The CRNI claims to represent over 600 cartoonists globally, with 21 affiliates mainly in developing countries in eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It is also a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.

Its supporters include the New York-based Challenge Fund in Journalism and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 2:56 pm and is filed under
Zunar
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


10 Days in May (31)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Who is Msia’s No1 Hack Journalist? Utusan editor w unrepentant remorseless irresponsible seditious treasonous “ChristianMsia” bogey on 6May

Utusan professsionalism credibility integrity never sunk so low in its 72-yr history which had produced journalistic greats like SaidZahari

No wonder Utusan circulation plunged from 1mil (Sunday) to 169,000 bcos Malays lost confidence in it. It is not a paper 4Malays but 4UMNO!

In national interest 4 Msia 2sasfeguard international competitiveness, action must be taken agnst seditious Utusan “Christian Msia” bogey

If no firm action, Utusan “ChristianMsia” bogey will also drag down credibility integrity professionalism of Police AG Cabinet PM UMNO/BN

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 11:03 am and is filed under
Media
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


10 Days in May (32)

Tweets
@limkitsiang
:-

TBH RCI – Does MACC accept this fact instead of wanting 2do a OJSimpson criminal trial http://bit.ly/komu4m Teoh’s death IS abt MACC (TMI)

If TBH RCI cannot restore public confidence in MACC, w Sarbani MACC-fall-from-height death, radical measures needed in anti-corruption fight

Two options – 1 major shakeup of MACC n appoint new leadership 2 dissolve MACC 2set up new institution/mechanism as MACC is worse than ACA

Will MACC support reinstatement original term of reference TBH RCI 2enable inquiry into Sarbani’s death? Or will MACC support separate RCI?

Australian forensic psychiatrist 30-yr DrPaulMullen opined TBH not suicidal. MACC toyed even w “honour suicide”. Y MACC excluded homicide?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 5:23 pm and is filed under
Teoh Beng Hock
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Can They Win, One Tweet at a Time?

By
Michael Scherer

Time

Monday, May. 30, 2011

When Barack Obama traveled to Texas this month to talk immigration, David Plouffe, his top message guru, decided to stay home and watch Twitter instead. While Obama spoke, Plouffe sat before two flat-screen televisions in the White House complex. One showed live footage of Obama in El Paso. The other flickered with a lightning-quick vertical ticker tape of people tweeting with the #immigration hashtag, reacting line by line to the President in real time. “I find it useful,” Plouffe says, “to see what’s penetrating.”

When Obama went off script to joke that Republicans would soon demand a border moat filled with alligators, a blur of Twitter messages showed people sending the quote to friends and followers, signaling a messaging victory of sorts. “It’s kind of the next evolution,” Plouffe explains. “Remember back in 2008, you’d have the presidential debate, and then most of the networks would have some sort of dial going up and down. That seems very Jurassic Park–like compared to this.” (Read Joel Stein’s essay: “Following the Leader.”)

It is hard to imagine David Axelrod, who preceded Plouffe as senior adviser to the President, getting quite so excited about Twitter. Axelrod, a rumpled ex-hack, approached his task like a humanities professor, always retelling and refining the Obama narrative. Plouffe, who served as Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, is an engineer, more interested in data, numbers and quantifiable metrics than in storytelling. He uses the word cume as a verb — meaning “to build up a cumulative audience” — and describes other people as “influence hubs.”

From the moment he arrived in January, Plouffe changed the way the White House unfolds each morning. He demanded far more precision and repetition in the language used by the President and his surrogates. (“Win the future,” ad nauseam.) He sought greater outreach to state and local media outlets. (West Wing aides now get news summaries from regional papers and local 6 o’clock news broadcasts, not just national publications.) And he doubled down on efforts by the White House to use social media to spread its message. (Plouffe, who turns 44 this month, also removed the clutter on Axelrod’s desk; his desk is spit-shine clean.) (See why Obama is not a lock in 2012.)

Plouffe points to the recent announcement of the Osama bin Laden raid. By the time Obama spoke, shortly after 11:35 p.m. E.T. on a Sunday, 56.5 million Americans had their televisions on to watch the speech — Obama’s largest audience as President, according to Nielsen. An additional million-plus people watched the speech stream on WhiteHouse.gov. Word had traveled fast in two hours. “People were texting each other and tweeting and on Facebook and doing some old-fashioned landline calling, I’m sure,” Plouffe says. “That’s how the world works these days.”

With the 2012 campaign approaching, Plouffe is looking for every opportunity to sharpen Obama’s edge. He has leaned heavily on the 10-person department that handles digital outreach and launched efforts to interact with the public, including a series called Advise the Adviser, in which citizens are invited to write in policy recommendations. He has also issued calls for Americans to organize roundtables, using online White House tools, to discuss immigration policy. “There is no guarantee that you are going to get any of those people through any other means,” he says, noting shrinking audiences for TV news.

Sometimes, Plouffe just creates his own news. For the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Plouffe’s team created a fake movie trailer in the spirit of the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, hoping it might go viral. The YouTube video of Obama’s remarks has already been watched more than 8 million times, a bigger audience than that of most nightly network newscasts. “People saw that and said, ‘I am going to share it with my family and friends,'” Plouffe says proudly. “You have to find ways to compound what you are doing.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 6:19 am and is filed under
IT
,
Politics
,
Twitter
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Economists sceptical of Lynas plant multiplier effect

By
Yow Hong Chieh
 | May 25, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Economists doubt Lynas Corp’s claim that its Kuantan rare earth plant will have a tenfold multiplier effect as its regional economy impact is limited.

Pahang welcomes the RM700 million refinery which the Australian mining giant said earlier this month will create an annual RM4 billion multiplier effect and turn the Gebeng industrial zone into the centre of a “rare earth ecosystem”.

RAM Holdings Bhd chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said multiplier effect for industrial projects usually range from 1.2 to 1.4 times, depending on the extent of upstream and downstream “inter-industry linkages”.

“You’re basically taking the raw material from Australia and producing rare earth,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He pointed out commodities-based operations like the rare earth plant usually yielded lower multiplier effects as there was little need for locally-manufactured parts and components.

But Yeah added the multiplier effect depended on employment generated by the plant and conceded that the income multiplier could be stronger if the capital labour intensity of the plant was “reasonably high”.

“It’s a high-value commodity so it could be possible, and the value-added is also high,” he said.

In a video posted on the Lynas Facebook page on May 9, executive vice president Matthew James said the company will pour an initial A$350 million (RM1.1 billion) into the first phase of its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) before an ongoing annual expenditure of A$130 million.

“Given the business ecosystem and multiplier effect of that, that’s equivalent to generation of about A$1.3 billion worth of turnover in the region,” he said, applying a tenfold multiplier effect.

“Advanced chemical companies are looking to locate or co-locate around a stable, long-term, secure, safe supply of rare earths and there is already interest from customers in this aspect.”

LAMP will require 350 skilled workers, including senior leadership positions, Lynas has said, adding that 99 per cent of those employed will be Malaysians.

OSK Research head of research Chris Eng, however, said the plant will be highly automated like aluminium and manganese smelting plants, and described the project as a “low employment yielding business” that would have limited impact on the local economy.

He said this was particularly true of the rare earth plant as the raw materials would be imported from Australia and the finished product exported overseas.

“It (the plant) continues with this exploitation of Malaysia’s national resources to provide cheap utilities to low value-adding industries,” he said, pointing out that Lynas only set up shop here to take advantage of cheap gas, water and land.

JP Morgan economist Matthew Hildebrandt was equally doubtful of the tenfold multiplier effect claim, pointing out that to do so the plant would have to “create a lot of business elsewhere”.

“My gut feeling is ten times is a pretty big number,” he said.

“The bigger the output of that factory… the more spill-over they have to have.”

OSK-DMG regional economist Enrico Tanuwidjaya said that while the multiplier effect could be as high as seven to eight times, much depended on how the government handles opposition to the plant.

“The local opposition means it might not go as smoothly,” he said, adding that political opposition will not be easy to resolve.

But he added that the project should benefit Malaysia “regardless of multiplier” if it was part of the Najib administration’s efforts to broaden the country’s growth base away from exports under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

“I think for Malaysia itself, it should be positive if the political consideration can be resolved,” he said.

The government estimates investment spinoffs of RM2.3 billion from the plant that will be operable in September after over two years of construction.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Maximus Johnity Ongkili told Parliament last month that RM300 million has already been poured into two factories in Gebeng that will produce the hydrochloric and sulphuric acid needed to extract the rare earth metals.

But critics have questioned the real economic benefit of the project despite reports that the plant may generate up to one per cent of national GDP, citing the 12-year tax holiday Lynas is set to get as a pioneer status company.

The government has agreed to set up a panel headed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to review LAMP’s operations following mounting criticism from green groups here and in Australia.

Lynas has assured that the month-long review will not disrupt the plant’s scheduled September start date.

The company declined to comment on the multiplier effect despite repeated requests from The Malaysian Insider.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 11:01 am and is filed under
environment
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


First love, long lost

by
AC

The Malaysian Insider

May 24, 2011

MAY 24 — I have long stopped feeling any loyalty or affection to Malaysia, my old homeland that I left some 15 years ago for the United States. Like anyone’s first love, I do feel some affection and nostalgia towards my old homeland but like any old flame, what little affection or loyalty I have has long faded.

I came to the US like so many others via a twinning programme with a US university.

I meandered along in secondary school, earning decent but never outstanding scores. This I mostly blame on my utter apathy and lack of interest in learning Bahasa Malaysia (or is it Bahasa Melayu again?). As a teen I found absolutely no use for the language beyond using it to communicate with some of my neighbours and friends.

It was impractical and its terrible mess of borrowed words for science subjects was a constant joke. My English was also pretty bad. I used a whole host of bad grammar and local Manglish terms. When I got into a private twinning programme, I finally got to learn in English, the language of trade, finance and science.

I found my horizons expanded by my literature teacher. Finally, I started to read the great works of literature; Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, James Joyce and Ralph Emerson, to name a few. Many Malaysians do not realise how limited their English and their local patois (Manglish) have actually made them.

Bahasa Malaysia has actually insulated Malaysians instead of expanding artistic and scientific horizons. It has actually hampered integration and especially held back many Malays and even our fellow Malaysians from outside beliefs and ideas.

Finally making it to the US, I excelled beyond other international students or even many Americans. I managed amazingly well at a Boston university and got awarded a scholarship that put me on track for medical school there. And like so many other Malaysians at that time, I had a desire to return back to my homeland after I was done with my studies. Of course that never occurred.

Why didn’t I come back? Cowardice? Greed?

No. Life occurred.

Before I knew it, I was married to my beloved wife who is Hispanic-Irish American and like me a physician. How was I supposed to bring her back to Malaysia with its meandering and rather bigoted immigration policies? Would she be able to work? Would she be deported?

Before I knew it, I was chief resident and had been offered a job to practise medicine and also conduct research in one of the top medical centres in the world. How could I leave a job that I love? To be to rub shoulders with some of the top researchers at conferences and to be able to teach medical students and residents while being paid many times what I would be paid in Malaysia? It was a great job that Malaysia could never offer.

Before I knew it, I had somehow volunteered to serve in the US Army Reserves. Yeah, it was scary but I wanted to serve my adopted country (and they also helped pay back some of my student loans). I was given the rank of captain in the Medical Corps and served a short stint in Iraq during Bush’s idiotic crusade. I was never in harm’s way so I claim no great or brave service.

Despite that, I was treated as part of the team. I was saluted and respected, not for the colour of my skin or my slanty eyes but my skills and abilities. I earned the respect of white, black, Hispanic, Korean, Chinese and even Arab soldiers; all of whom identified with being called an American as opposed to whatever colour their skin was.

Is there racism? Yes, there is, things are never fair even in the US but unlike Malaysia, the US outright makes such racism illegal in the government and military. Racism and bigotry is not institutionalised like in Malaysia.

Some would call me a coward for leaving Malaysia instead of fighting for change. Some would call me a traitor for volunteering to fight in another country’s army. But is it cowardice or disloyalty for no longer caring to change a country that I no longer hold any affection or love for?

Is it cowardice to leave a country that abuses the trust of its citizens and treats over a third of its population as second-class citizens? Is it disloyalty to fall in love with a new country and to feel a strong desire to serve, to fight and even to die to protect it?

Tomorrow, I’ll be getting together for dinner with a Petaling Jaya native who is currently a programmer at Google; a pair of Penang natives who are a researcher at Johnson & Johnson and a scientist at Nasa, and a psychiatrist who grew up in Kota Kinabalu. We even have our token apostate Malay engineer who grew up in Pahang.

We will talk about the old times in Malaysia and like always there will be a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. We will talk about old times but go on with our new and better lives in California. Later I will call my parents who are still in Malaysia via Skype to catch up.

While I no longer love Malaysia, you never forget your first love. I could say I no longer care about Malaysia but then I’d be lying… I’m writing this, aren’t I?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 6:57 am and is filed under
1Malaysia
,
Brain drain
,
nation building
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.