Prospects for coalition making, post-muktamar

By Steven Sim

Malaysiakini

Jun 23, 2015

MP SPEAKS
Two months ago, Lim Kit Siang proposed a crazy idea; a post-BN post-Pakatan Rakyat “Save Malaysia” grand coalition. Many criticised him, including allies and supporters and even DAP members.

Lim, the DAP parliamentary leader, was inviting Malaysians, including Malaysian politicians, to “think the unthinkable”, going beyond the much cherished two-party system into something else.

What does this “something else” look like?

I was to discover part of the answer when I joined Lim on a trip to the Middle East.

In Egypt we met with popular political icon, the social democrat Ziad Bahaa el-Din, a one-time deputy prime minister in the post-Morsi administration.

Bahaa el-Din’s diagnosis of Egypt’s unending political instability is acute: each regime systematically alienates the supporters and members of its opponent. That works out to about 20 to 30 percent of the population each time being excluded from the political process.

Hence, successive governments since the time of General Hosni Mubarak have been paralysed by mass protests.

After the Rabaa massacre in August 2013, Bahaa el-Din proposed an initiative “to preserve the democratic path” initiative, a cabinet-level programme to facilitate national reconciliation to move Egypt away from the political stalemate since the fall of Mubarak.

All political players were invited to participate in the initiative to sort out legal and constitutional issues in order to ensure the country’s democracy will function normally. The goal is to figure a way out of the deadlock caused by stubborn political partisanship. In the initiative, partisanship does not matter as much as the preservation of democracy in Egypt.

But what about Malaysia?

The end of Pakatan is not the end of the struggle for a better Malaysia. After the 16st PAS Muktamar, it is safe to say that the opposition coalition Pakatan has ceased to exist.

I think the questions on our mind are: what about the “two-party system”? What about ending the BN’s half-a-century rule? And what’s next for our politics?

I think those questions are more relevant than to “mend the unmendable” and to fix what is already broken.

But really, what can we expect from now on?

Moving beyond labels: The substance of our struggle

First of all, we are moving from the pursuit of a two-party system to a more pluralistic party system that requires a much more dynamic coalition-making. It is no longer about a fixated coalition, nor labels.

In the old system, you pit one brand against another: “PAS ganti Umno” or “Pakatan ganti Barisan”. But if politics is just about choosing between two labels, then we run danger of choosing between two different brands of a product, but with the exact same content.

What we need is to redo the maths, to enable real change – not just the superficial change of brands.

What is more important is really the essence, rather than the form of the coalition.

No more marriage of convenience, not in BN, not in Pakatan. We must move away from asking, “who is working with who” to “what are their working principles?”

Election campaigns must not be about brands and names only, but policy and political programmes. So, campaign slogans will no longer be the simplistic, “PAS ganti Umno” but rather, “Dasar Parti X ganti Dasar Parti Y”.

As such, we have to move away from merely adversarial politics (‘I am against you, no matter what till kingdom comes’) to cooperative politics (‘Let’s reach a centrist consensus on this issue’), where the focus should not just be on party labels but on national and people’s interests.

And as Lim Kit Siang said, such a coalition “must not be an opportunistic get-together but must be based on a programme of principles and the national interests”.

For Malaysia today, the “programme of principles and national interests” is the Common Policy Platform (CPP), tried and tested and accepted by 52 percent of Malaysians in the last general election of 2013.

Today, whoever can accept the CPP is our friend, even if they are from PAS, or Umno, for that matter. If former deputy education minister Saifuddin Abdullah of Umno can accept the CPP, then he is our friend.

The party or parties that will win the next general election will be the one(s) that will uphold the CPP.

Coalition-making reflects democratic aspiration

Secondly, post-muktamar, coalition lines are not just being shifted or realigned, but they are transformed from solid lines to dotted lines. In other words, we are moving from fixed coalitions to more dynamic coalitions that will give better expression to a healthy democracy.

What do I mean by this?

Take for example in Penang, when PAS assemblyperson Mohd Salleh Man made his decision to reject PAS central committee’s order to sever ties with DAP, as well as reaffirm his commitment towards the CPP.

Mohd Salleh was merely reflecting the wishes of his local constituents who voted him in 2015, based on those principles. And as such he remained very much part of the Penang ruling coalition.

On the surface, nothing seems to change in Penang, but essentially, something radical has happened underneath. While the sole PAS assemblyperson is still in coalition with DAP in Penang, his commitment was not merely because of party lines and labels, but rather an expression of the democratic aspiration of his constituents.

In the same spirit, such should be the case for the Selangor state government – PAS assemblypersons may still be in government but not in the same way as before, because now everyone is in government by virtue of their commitment towards the principles we are fighting for, not merely because of labels or any outward forms of cooperation. This is the prospect now laid before Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali.

In fact, leaders should be like Lim Kit Siang, inaugurating a new era of coalition-making that better reflects the wishes of the people.

Decentralisation in coalition making

As we demand for greater decentralisation and strengthening of local democracy, and without resorting to creation of minute provincial parties so that there is still some kind of centripetal commitment, political parties need to allow a more dynamic coalition configuration according to the expressed wishes of the people.

Under such configuration, politicians at the local level must be allowed a sufficient amount of freedom to champion local aspirations that may not be the same in each state. For example, a DAP leader in Sarawak should be allowed to make certain policy decisions that differ from the central leadership, according to the context and needs of the state.

While party central leadership should set the broad ideological agenda, local leaders should be empowered to decide and even form (or break) alliances on sub-national issues. We can then imagine a hypothetical scenario where Party X and Party Y are in coalition in Penang but not in Sarawak, or at the federal level.

This may sound alien to us here in Malaysia, but in countries such as Germany, such coalition-making is not only possible, but also possible between traditional opponents.

This will in turn give rise to a pluralisation of ideas within a political party, such as that in the United States of America, where southern Democrats are different from northern Democrats, although ideologically both of them still share common threads that are distinct from the Republicans. What this does is to bring the party to a more centrist position, especially at the federal level.

End of EPL-type politics

Malaysians, and most people in the Westminster parliamentary system, are familiar with what I call an English Premier League (EPL)-type politics. You support your favourite football team and you hope they will win: My team, right or wrong.

In such a system, winner takes it all. It is assumed that only a strong one-party, one-man (the prime minister) government can deliver results. However, as voters become more educated and demanding, such a system may not be practical.

Take the United Kingdom for example. In 2010, voters decided that none of the two major political parties – Tory and Labour – can offer a programme inspiring enough to garner a strong majority. Hence, the Conservatives had to form a coalition government with an unlikely ally, the Liberal Democrats.

Of course, coalitions are not new in Malaysia. The BN and its predecessor, Perikatan (Alliance) were coalitions. In the 70s and 80s, BN even attempted a grand coalition together with major opposition parties such as Gerakan, which was ruling Penang, PAS that was ruling Kelantan and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which was ruling Sabah.

However, due to the dominance of Umno in the coalition, the BN, especially since the Dr Mahathir Mohamad era, operates more like a single party, reflecting mostly Umno’s views and philosophy.

Constituents and supporters must be prepared for a much more blurred line of competition. Politics is not a football field, or much less a boxing ring where the fight is zero sum. No point betting on one party, like one is betting on a football team.

The important thing is how politics can essentially work to bring about the best compromise possible in a democracy. Those who are used to the EPL politics will need to re-tweak their perspective.

STEVEN SIM is the MP for Bukit Mertajam.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 June 2015, 5:31 am and is filed under
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Will Annuar Musa resign as MARA Chairman to take responsibility for MARA’s international corruption scandal and to pioneer a culture of responsibility for government leaders and captains of statutory boards and corporations?

Will Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Annuar Musa resign as MARA Chairman to take responsibility for MARA’s international corruption scandal and to pioneer a culture of responsibility for government leaders and captains of statutory boards and corporations in Malaysia?

Annuar’s revelation today that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had approved Mara’s purchase of the  property in Australia, which has become the subject of MARA as well as Malaysia’s international scandal, can be no refuge for him or excuse that he can enjoy immunity for bringing MARA and the country to such international disrepute.

Annuar’s claim that MARA was not aware of the kickbacks and inflated price for Dudley House as reported by The Age yesterday, although committed by a subsidiary firm, Mara Inc Sdn Bhd, is can be no  defence for Annuar as MARA Chairman from taking responsibility for the corruption scandal.

The Australian paper had reported that Mara officials had used government funds to bid up the price for the Melbourne apartment block from A$17.8 million (RM51.5 million) to A$22.5 million (RM65 million).

The extra A$4.75 million (RM13.7 million) was allegedly sent back to Malaysia as kickbacks.

It does not speak well of MARA or Annuar’s professionalism or competence that they have to wait for the expose of The Age before bestirring themselves on the issue.

Annuar’s claim that “To the best of our knowledge at that point of time the value was much higher, the value by international valuers was much higher and we bought at a lower value” has compounded public disappointment with the  MARA Council Chairman and Members, establishing that they are not fit and qualified to be vested with the national  trust of directing and managing MARA’s mission and funds.

Why have  all those named  and involved in the MARA Inc. corruption in connection with Dudley House scam, bringing shame to MARA and Malaysia, not  been suspended from their posts immediately?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 June 2015, 7:14 pm and is filed under
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All  MARA Council members should collecitlvely resign  if they caanot explain why they agreed to the establishment of offshore companies in tax havens to buy properties overseas as if engaged in dubious and dishonourable transactions

Yesterday, MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa said MARA  Council has given its subsidiary, Mara Incorporated Sdn. Bhd (MARA Inc.) seven days to provide a detailed written explanation on all matters pertaining to various property deals in Australia.

Annuar said he wants not only an account of the purchase of the Dudley Street apartment block in Melbourne raised by the Australian newspaper, the Age, but also a report on the various transactions in Australia.

He said a special meeting will be held within the next two weeks to probe this matter and discuss further action, based on the report to be provided to the council by Mara Inc.

What Annuar is doing is too little and too late.

Faster pro-active action by the MARA Council is demanded, especially as events  at the Australian end are developing at a fast pace, with reports that the Australian federal police conducted raids in Melbourne over the  property scam purchases linked to Malaysian politicians.

Australian-based daily The Age today reported authorities raided a home in Vermont South, Melbourne this morning and seized computers and files to aid in their investigation.

In addition, the report said several other properties are similarly targeted by police across the city, as part of the Operation Carambola to investigate a scheme “involving Malaysians using multimillion-dollar Australian properties to launder funds and return ‘kickbacks’ to Asia.”

According to The Age there is significant political interest in Australia over alleged corruption links in foreign property purchases in the country, but the raid is the first time the  Australian police had launched a full-blow operation.

It is a slur on Malaysia’s international reputation that while Australia has Operation Carambola involving police raids, Malaysia is mounting an “Operation Continued Slumber” giving Mara Inc seven days to give a written explanation while  MARA Council is taking its sweet time to meet may be in two weeks although a scandal of first magnitude is blowing up in their faces.

The MARA Council should have convened in emergency meeting over the MARA Inc property purchase scams in Melbourne, instead of waiting for two weeks, and the MARA Inc executives should be hauled up to the MARA Council for a full accounting.

May be the MARA Council should even collectively submit resignation as all the MARA Council members must realise that they had failed MARA  and the country in allowing such property scams as exposed by The Age two days ago.

All  MARA Council members should even collectilvely resign  if they cannot explain why they agreed to the establishment of offshore companies in tax havens to buy properties overseas as if engaged in dubious and dishonourable transactions.

This is one question  Annuar Musa does not require seven days to answer: Why the  MARA Board agreed to the establishment of offshore companies in tax havens to buy properties overseas as if engaged in dubious  and dishonorable transactions?

Mara Inc. bought four properties in Australia – (I) Dudley House at an inflated price of A$22.5 million; (ii) an apartment block on Swanston Street for A$22.5 million; (iii) an office tower on Exhibition Street for A$22 million and (iv) a Queen Street property for A$20 million.

All these four property acquisitions involve highly suspicious front companies in the tax havens of Singapore or the British Virgin Islands.

Annuar must explain why as Chairman he had approved such undesirable and dishonourable practices by Mara Inc.

(Speech at the launching of the Bruce Lee 75th anniversary art exhibition to raise funds for Impian Kelantan held at KB Mall, Kota Baru on Thursday 25th June 2015 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 June 2015, 8:34 pm and is filed under
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Is there a Cabinet Minister  courageous, public-spirited  and patriotic enough to suggest at Cabinet meeting tomorrow that Najib should take leave as PM until the growing number of scandals involving 1MDB, Felda Global Venture (FGV), Tabung Haji and now MARA are resolved?

Is there a Cabinet Minister who is  courageous, public-spirited  and patriotic enough to suggest at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow that Datuk Seri Najib Razak  should take leave as Prime Minister until the growing number of scandals involving 1MDB, Felda Global Venture (FGV), Tabung Haji and now MARA are resolved?

The unusual spectacle of the Prime Minister taking to tweets to protest  that certain media had twisted the remarks by the MARA Chairman, Tan Sri Annuar Musa that he  had approved the MARA purchase of the five-storey Dudley International  House apartment block in Melbourne in  2013 has raised even more questions about the Najib premiership – including whether Najib was personally sending out the tweets or whether it was being handled by his grossly-overpaid  but misguided “Public Relations” consultants.

I have closely listened to the video recording of  Annuar’s press conference statement and I do not think it is fair on the Prime Minister’s part to blame any media for highlighting that Najib had personally approved the MARA acquisition of the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne.

May be the Prime Minister and his grossly-overpaid Public Relations consultants would like to  consider hosting a meeting of all  journalists in the country, whether print or online and  embracing all languages,  and asking them to vote by secret ballot whether Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider had twisted Annuar’s statement when they chose the headline
“Najib luluskan”
 (Najib approved) on the MARA purchase of the Melbourne property.

In tweets posted yesterday via his handle
@NajibRazak
, the Prime Minister said the Economic Council had decided by consensus to buy Dudley House in Melbourne.

Is Najib trying to disclaim personal  responsibility for the approval given to the acquisition of the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne, saying that the blame, if any, should be borne by the Economic Council and not by him, even though he is Finance Minister as well as Prime Minister?

In any event, who were on the Economic Council which decided “by consensus” to approve the MARA purchase of the Melbourne property, as everyone of them should now come forward and explain why they had agreed to the MARA purchase of the Melbourne property which has turned out to be an embarrassing scam as well as an international corruption scandal for MARA and Malaysia?

Why is Najib suddenly so sensitive about the Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider headlines that he had approved the MARA deal for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne?

May be the apparitions  of   the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal are at play.

It was only three weeks ago that the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah, suddenly pushed to the forefront as the Cabinet spokesman on the 1MDB scandal, ended the six-year pretence and admitted in his TV1 interview on “1MDB: Di mana wangnya” on 3rd June 2015 that Najib is the final approving authority for all 1MDB decisions in law and in fact – not only  because 1MDB is a government company and as the Prime Minister as well as Finance Minister he must accept full and final responsibility for all of 1MDB actions  but also responsible in fact, because under Clause 117 of the 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association Agreement (M&A), the Prime Minister must give his written approval for any of 1MDB deals, including the firm’s investments or any bid for restructuring.

Is Najib trying subtly to  redefine the meaning of being the “final approving authority “who must give “written approval” for any 1MDB deals, so as  to mean that the “final approving authority” is after all, not the final person responsible?  What gobbledygook!

President Truman of the United States is famous for having on his desk in his White House office a walnut-based painted glass sign “The Buck Stops Here.”  is Najib going to be infamous by having a sign on his Prime Ministerial desk in Sri Perdana declaring  “Pass The Buck!”?

I had expected Tan Sri Datuk Seri Annuar Musa to resign as MARA Chairman to take responsibility for MARA’s property scam in Melbourne which has  disgraced MARA and the country with an international scandal so as to  pioneer a culture of responsibility for government leaders and captains of statutory boards and corporations in Malaysia.

After all, Annuar is famous for his oratorical flourish: “It is not that I love Tun Mahathir less, but I love UMNO more”!

It is time for Annuar to prove that he is capable of an even greater oratorical flourish,  declaring that he is  first and last a Malaysian patriot with the immortal words: “It is not that I love UMNO less, but I love Malaysia more”!

Annuar should know that even if the MARA scam had been approved by Najib, whether Economic Council or Finance Ministry, he cannot shirk from his responsibility  for the Melbourne scam as MARA Chairman.

Annuar’s claim that MARA was not aware of the kickbacks and inflated price for Dudley House as reported by The Age, although committed by a subsidiary firm, Mara Inc Sdn Bhd,  can be no defence  or exculpatory factor for Annuar as MARA Chairman from taking responsibility for the MARA corruption scandal.

The Australian paper had reported that Mara officials had used government funds to bid up the price for the Melbourne apartment block from A$17.8 million (RM51.5 million) to A$22.5 million (RM65 million).

The extra A$4.75 million (RM13.7 million) was allegedly sent back to Malaysia as kickbacks.

It does not speak well of MARA or Annuar’s professionalism or competence that they have to wait for the expose of The Age before bestirring themselves on the issue.

Annuar’s claim that “To the best of our knowledge at that point of time the value was much higher, the value by international valuers was much higher and we bought at a lower value” has compounded public disappointment with the MARA Council Chairman and Members, establishing that they are not fit and qualified to be vested with the national trust of directing and managing MARA’s mission and funds.

Why have all those named and involved in the MARA Inc. corruption in connection with Dudley House scam, bringing shame to MARA and Malaysia, not been suspended from their posts immediately?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 June 2015, 9:12 am and is filed under
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Annuar must convene emergency MARA Council meeting to demand that MARA Inc Chairman Mohd Lan Allani and CEO Halim Rahman cough out the A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) bribe MARA  paid for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne

MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa is not presenting himself as a model  public servant when he refuses to convene an emergency meeting of the MARA Council following the Tuesday expose in Australian daily, The Age,  on the MARA Inc. property scams, particularly over the Dudley International House apartment block in Melbourne, which was acquired with A$22.5 million (RM65.4 million) MARA funds, but involving a bribe of A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million),  as well as investigations into MARA Inc’s  other Australian properties.

Following The Age report, the Australian Federal Police have launched Operation Carambola with  raids in Melbourne as part of an international bribery and money-laundering investigation involving high-ranking Malaysian officials, businessmen and the purchase of Melbourne property, seizing computers and files from a home in Vermont South with  several other properties targeted across Melbourne.

But it is business as usual in MARA back in Malaysia, although Malaysia has been thrust into the global stage with an international corruption scandal involving a key government statutory body and public servants.

What is most shocking is the rather indifferent reactions of the government authorities, in particular the MARA Chairman who said in a media conference yesterday that MARA will not deny the claims and allegations in the Australian newspaper report and was treating the media expose as “information” to facilitate investigations.

It would appear that Annuar was not surprised at all by the expose in The Age, which completely undermines his claim that he was not aware that the value of Dudley House property had been inflated until he read the reports.

Was Annuar telling the truth and could he be so ignorant about the MARA Inc property scams in Australia?

If Annuar was really utterly unaware that the Dudley House property acquired by Mara Inc had been inflated, with a payment of RM13.8 million bribe, then this is ground enough for Annuar to be sacked as MARA Chairman for sheer incompetence and ineptitude, as it has  been reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had started investigations as early as six months ago into irregularities into the purchase of Australian properties by MARA Inc.

With the Australian authorities all-systems go in the Operation Carambola following investigations by the Australian media group, Fairfax Media, into the scheme involving Malaysians using multi-million dollar Australian properties to launder funds and return “kickbacks” to their home countries, MARA and the Malaysian Government cannot continue to adopt a tidak-apa attitude without a major operation of its own to get to the bottom of the Mara Inc. property scams in Australia.

For a start, Annuar should convene an emergency meeting of the MARA Council and demand that the two MARA Inc. executives implicated in the allegations, MARA Inc Chairman Mohd Lan Allani and MARA Inc CEO Halim Rahman should cough out the A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) bribe paid for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne.

Annuar claimed yesterday that the controversial Melbourne real estate deal was made before he was appointed MARA Chairman in July 2013 and that the purchase was discussed in 2012 and approved by the MARA Council on Feb. 21, 2013.

The onus is on  Annuar to prove his claim that he had absolutely no knowledge about the MARA Inc property scams after he became MARA Chairman.

There were three other Australian properties bought by MARA Inc – (i) an apartment block on Swanston Street for A$22.5 million; (ii) an office tower on Exhibition Street for A$22 million and (iii) a Queen Street property for A$20 million.

When were the deals for these properties finalized and can Annuar give an assurance that the MARA Inc purchase of these three properties were honest and above-board and not tainted by hanky-panky  and crimes like corruption, money-laundering and tax evasions like the Dudley House deal?

At the relevant time of the Mara Inc acquisition of the four Australian properties, the relevant Minister responsible for MARA was and still is  Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal who helmed the Ministry of Rural Regional Development since 10th April 2009.

Why the silence from Shafie?

Was he completely in the dark about  the MARA Inc property acquisition hanky-panky in Australia, which has now stained Malaysia’s international reputation?

If Annuar is right that the decisions on the MARA Inc property scams in Australia were decided before his time, then his predecessor must speak up.

Why is the MARA Chairman before Annuar, the Education and Higher Learning Minister II, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, so silent about the MARA Inc scandals in Australia?

Furthermore, can Malaysians expect the Cabinet to announce decisions at its meeting today, like the sacking of Annuar as MARA Chairman, to demonstrate to Malaysians and the world that it is taking seriously the international corruption expose of MARA Inc’s corrupt property deals in Australia?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 9:18 am and is filed under
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Call for brave new thinking under Impian Malaysia – case for greater fiscal decentralisation to restructure new Federal-State relations

Impian Kelantan, as part of Impian Malaysia, is dedicated to the fulfilment of an inclusive vision where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, are bonded together under an united Malaysian identity and consciousness where they have more in common as citizens of this country than the differences that divide them whether over race, religion or region.

Over the decades, more and more Malaysians should feel that they are increasingly Malaysian-minded finding more common ground with other Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, although their racial characteristics, religious identities and regional stakes will continue to be an integral part of their lives.

Otherwise, Malaysian nation-building would be on a trajectory of failure since Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia Agreement in 1963.

The December 2014 Great Floods which led to the loss of 25 lives, created a million flood victims with a quarter of million flood evacuees and caused billions of ringgit of damages had one silver lining – the coming together of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or politics, whether as NGOs (non-government organizations) or NGIs (non-government individuals) on a humanitarian cause to help the flood victims.

It is in this crucible of flood catastrophe but wellspring of Malaysian humanity and unit that Gabungan Impian Kelantan comprising over 40 NGOs and political groups was born.

The three-day Bruce Lee 75th anniversary art exhibition by over 100 artists now being held at KB Mall, Kota Bahru, which is to last stop of month-long programme which has taken the exhibition to Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru, is to raise funds for Gabungan Impian Kelantan projects in aid of the Kelantan flood victims.

The target of the month-long four-stop exhibition is to raise RM200,000 for Gabungan Impian projects, but with the great support of the Malaysian people, regardless of race, religion or region it  may come close to double the target of close to RM400,000.

Impian Kelantan like Impian Malaysia is motivated by the universal values of justice, integrity, unity and solidarity of the human race.

It is opposed to all forms of oppression, repression, injustice, and of course, corruption and abuses of power – whether the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal or the latest of scandals in Malaysia, the criminal breach of trust in the corruption and money-laundering of MARA acquisition of properties in Melbourne, which brought international shame and disgrace to Malaysia.

Impian Kelantan must also be grounded in brave new thinking in setting Malaysia on a new course of nation-building, as the country seemed to have lost its way in recent years, with worsening of racial and religious polarisation; deviation from the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity; as well as  increasingly undemocratic governance, whether in between the government and the governed or in Federal-state relations.

Among the brave new thinking Malaysians must wrestle with in Impian Malaysia must be the need and case for greater fiscal decentralisation to restructure new Federal-State relations.

There are at least three reasons for this:

1. Development allocation to the states have been falling steadily from the 3rd to the 8th Malaysian Plans

Table 1: Allocation for development expenditure for each individual state compared to total federal government revenue (RMK3-RMK9)

Total Allocation to Individual States (Development Expenditure) (RM billion)

Total Federal Government Revenue (Estimates) (RM billion)

% Allocation to the States / Total Government Revenue

RMK3 (1976-1980)

16.5

43.3

38.0%

RMK4 (1981-1985)

31.5

98.5

32.0%

RMK5 (1986-1990)

24.7

130.4

19.0%

RMK6 (1991-1995)

35.8

183.2

19.6%

RMK7 (1996-2000)

45.5

294.0

15.5%

RMK8 (2001-2005)

59.7

396.7

15.1%

RMK9 (2006-2010)*

141.6

683.1

20.7%

Note: Not including multi-state development allocation

(*) Not including Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs)

In the earlier RMKs 3 and 4, the percentage of the development allocation which were allocated for projects in individual states were 38.0% and 32.0% of projected federal government revenue over a five-year period.

By RMK6, this percentage had dropped to 19.0% and hit a low of 15.1% in RMK8. Only in RMK9 was it somewhat ‘revived’ to 20.7%.

These figures were not made available in RMK10 and the recently announced RMK11 perhaps because the federal government does not want to show how little it is allocating for development projects to individual states.

2.               Allocation to Kelantan fell significantly after the PAS government won control of the state in the 1990 general elections

Table 2: Amount and % of RMK development spending going to Kelantan (RMK3 to RMK9)

Total Allocation to Individual States (Development Expenditure) (RM billion)

Allocation to Kelantan (RM billion)

Allocation to Kelantan as % of total allocation to individual states

RMK3 (1976-1980)

16.5

1.02

6.2%

RMK4 (1981-1985)

31.5

2.85

9.0%

RMK5 (1986-1990)

24.7

1.93

7.8%

RMK6 (1991-1995)

35.8

2.06

5.8%

RMK7 (1996-2000)

45.5

1.89

4.2%

RMK8 (2001-2005)

59.7

2.31

3.9%

RMK9 (2006-2010)*

141.6

6.65

4.7%

(*) Not including Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs)

Under RMK5, Kelantan received 7.8% of the planned total development expenditure.

Right after PAS won control of the state government in the 1990 general elections, under RMK6, Kelantan’s share of the allocation decreased to 5.8%. It fell further to 4.2% and 3.9% under RMK7 and RMK8 respectively and only somewhat “revived” back to 4.7% in RMK9.

Again, similar figures were not published under RMK10 and RMK11.

The Kelantan state government, especially under PAS, has clearly lost under this BN regime, especially over oil royalties of which the Kelantan state government receives a negligible amount.

3.               Federal government revenue has increased much more than the state government revenues

According to figures in the RMK4, the total state government revenue for 1981 to 1985 was estimated at RM14.4 billion compared to the federal government revenue for the same time period of RM98.5 billion.

This means that in the early 1980s, the state government revenue was approximately 15% of federal government revenue.

In 2013, estimated state government revenue was RM20.1 billion, an increase of RM5.7 billion or 40%.

In comparison, the estimated federal government revenue in 2013 was RM220.4 billion, an increase of RM121.9 billion or 124%. In 2013, the state government revenue was a mere 9.1% of federal government revenue.

This system is clearly unfair to the states since the federal government takes in the lion’s share of revenue and is giving a smaller % back to the states.

At the same time, states in Peninsular Malaysia are not allowed to issue bonds and borrow money in the markets, which deprives them of the ability to finance new infrastructure projects which the federal government is unable to or unwilling to fund.

One way to overcome this imbalance is to allow for greater fiscal decentralization whereby the state governments are allowed to raise more revenue through the use of a wider array of tax instruments and also borrowing money via the market via state government bonds.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 2:41 pm and is filed under
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Fear-mongering in Malaysia

Syerleena Abdul Rashid

The Malaysian Insider

26 June 2015

Most recently, a group of angry… very angry men stormed Penang government’s administrative building and proceeded to express their dissatisfaction over an issue involving an illegal signage in the heart of George Town.

After awhile, the group split up into two; one group went to the third floor to deliver a memorandum and the other group stayed on the ground floor where the latter, in a fit of rage mixed with adrenalin, brazenly decided to desecrate a few flags.

Unfortunately for us, these acts of intimidation are becoming a permanent fixture in our local society.

Such incidences are almost expected where conflicts arise between opposing political parties, though sometimes, some groups will bear the façade of being a non-governmental body.

Let’s get one thing clear: systemic injustice is rife in our country and constitutional rights simply no longer matter, unless it benefits a particular group but other than that – for the rest of us, it simply doesn’t exist.

Most of us have come to the conclusion a long time ago that our country’s system is becoming too accommodating to the bigots and hate mongers.

It’s a free-for-all scheme instigated by those in power, in particularly, those who understand the powerful lure of imposing strict conservative ideas and we have numerous reports that support such claims.

The idea of fear, sin and ostracism are being drilled into our minds.

We can no longer voice our opinions or embrace personal liberty without raising a few eyebrows, or in the case of the 21st century social media laden society, garnering a few unpleasant comments from your average internet trolls ire highly probable, only if you dare to break down the walls of conformity.

Our society is slowly but surely recognizing this newfound culture of violence. We tell each other that this is to be expected or this is nothing new, well, whatever it is, Malaysians are definitely becoming quite a desensitise lot.

Fear-mongering, sometimes also known as scaremongering, is defined as the use of “fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end”.

Although, the level of fear used vary from individual cases and sometimes exaggerated; the methods executed by the fear-mongers are often repeated where the continuous onslaught will only serve as reinforcement.

A majority of Malaysians are bothered by the rising tide of conservatism and hypocrisy but sometimes, some of us may find it difficult to voice our concerns and grievances.

These fear mongers sham their way into our society by hiding behind the walls of piety, holiness and exert hostility.

Those in the corridors of power continue to play the race card and bigoted “flavour of the week” while masquerading moderation and egalitarianism.

The ruling elite’s race card bigotry is often displayed in overstatements and theatrical dialogue; they continue to showcase anger, resentment and violence as they continue down the slippery road of faltering political longevity.

Such fear-mongering performances and hate-mongering manners attempt to brand Malaysian liberals and political opposition as intolerant and prejudiced to the “institution”.

Malaysia’s culture of violence and fear-mongering ethos does not just come with a box of matches and a can of lighter fluid – it goes much deeper than that.

The bottom line is that extremism, fanaticism and never ending hypocrisy – all in the name of religion and race, is a major cause for concern for us all.

Violence and fear-mongering can be seen as an essential political tool for survival which is an “art form” by itself but these continued acts of hooliganism and mob aggression must stop.

It’s just simply too nauseating for us to allow to continue, so maybe it is time for us to talk about fear, violence and redefine our definition of piousness. It’s time for us reflect events that spur such vile hatred and animosity.

My fellow Malaysians, it’s time for us to talk about this and a whole lot more. .

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 7:26 am and is filed under
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The Jihadist Trap of Here and Now

By Scott Stewart

Security Weekly

Stratfor Global Intelligence

JUNE 25, 2015

In recent weeks, I have found myself spending a lot of time thinking about the jihadist strategy of al Qaeda and how it compares to that of the Islamic State. Earlier this month, I wrote about the possibility that the al Qaeda brand of jihadism could outlast that of the Islamic State. Last week, I wrote about how ideologies are harder to kill than individuals, focusing on the effect that the death of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Nasir al-Wahayshi will have on the group and the wider global jihadist movement.

But beyond the impact of leaders like al-Wahayshi, there are other facets of strategy that will influence the war for the soul of jihadism. Specifically, I am talking about time and place. Both al Qaeda and the Islamic State seek to establish a global caliphate, but both differ quite starkly in how to accomplish this task and how soon it can be achieved.

Al Qaeda argues that the caliphate can be established only after the United States and its European allies have been defeated, to the extent that they can no longer interfere in Muslim lands — either because of a lack of ability or a lack of desire. The organization pursues a long-war approach that emphasizes the need to attack the United States, “the far enemy,” before focusing on overthrowing local governments. The Islamic State takes the opposite tack. It has adopted a more urgent “why wait?” approach and concentrates its efforts on immediately taking, holding and governing territory. This strategy banks on being able to use any conquered territory and resources for the purposes of continued expansion. The direct approach explains the Islamic State’s decision to quickly proclaim a caliphate at the beginning of Ramadan last year, after it had captured a large portion of Iraq and Syria. The group’s message to the Muslim world is that the caliphate is here and now, and there is nothing the world can do to stop its inexorable expansion.

Since the fall of the Taliban’s emirate in Afghanistan, several jihadist organizations have attempted to create Islamist polities, with the current attempt by the Islamic State (the organization’s second try) being the most recent. So far, each of these attempts has ended in a spectacular failure and in each case, including the Taliban’s emirate, western military intervention has played a key role in the downfall of the jihadist polity — and it will do so again in the case of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate.

Recent Jihadist Polities

In 2006, an array of jihadist groups led by al Qaeda in Iraq announced that they were forming an Islamic state in Iraq. They even began to refer to themselves as the Islamic State in Iraq. While the group initially eclipsed the al Qaeda core in terms of attracting foreign fighters, outside funding and publicity, the U.S. surge in Iraq and the Anbar Awakening greatly weakened the group. By 2010, when a U.S. airstrike killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri — the group’s top two leaders — the organization had become only a shadow of its former self. The 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the sectarian policies of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government allowed the group to survive, and the civil war in Syria helped the organization recover its strength and grow into what it is today.

In 2011, as Yemen was struggling through a crisis that pitted elements of the military against each other, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula seized the opportunity afforded by the chaos to grab large quantities of weapons, while also extending its influence over large areas of territory in Yemen’s south. However, by mid-2012, Yemeni forces aided by U.S. intelligence and training (and some air support) were able to recapture most of the territory taken by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

A unique window into the thoughts of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula during this period was revealed with the discovery of letters sent by al-Wahayshi to Abu Musab Abdel al-Wadoud, the leader of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. In the letters, which journalist Rukmini Callimachi discovered in the Malian city of Timbuktu, al-Wahayshi shared some of the lessons he learned — and mistakes his organization had made — so that al-Wadoud and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb would not repeat them.

According to one of al-Wahayshi’s letters, his group suffered significant losses of men, materiel and money in 2012, far surpassing what they had gained in 2011. The group’s higher profile and level of operational activity also resulted in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula losing a number of important members to U.S. airstrikes, including Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.

In another of the letters, al-Wahayshi explained why his group purposefully did not proclaim an emirate in southern Yemen: “As soon as we took control of the areas, we were advised by the General Command here not to declare the establishment of an Islamic principality, or state, for a number of reasons: We wouldn’t be able to treat people on the basis of a state since we would not be able to provide for all their needs, mainly because our state is vulnerable. Second: Fear of failure, in the event that the world conspires against us. If this were to happen, people may start to despair and believe that jihad is fruitless.”

He encouraged al-Wadoud to also refrain from proclaiming an Islamic polity, but his advice went unheeded. Shortly after receiving the letter from al Wahayshi, jihadists aligned with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb declared an Islamic state called Azawad in northern Mali in April 2012. But the French intervention in Mali in January 2013 rapidly pushed the jihadists out of the territory they had conquered, ending the short-lived jihadist state of Azawad.

Past attempts to create an Islamic polity in Somalia were also thwarted by an international coalition. And in recent months Boko Haram, which now calls itself Wilayat al Sudan al Gharbi after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, lost most of the territory the group had previously seized in northern Nigeria.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula made another land grab in 2015 as the country fell into chaos. In April, the group took control of Mukalla, Yemen’s fifth largest city and the capital of Hadramawt province. Meanwhile, jihadist groups in Libya, such as Ansar al-Sharia, the Mujahideen Shura Council and the Islamic State’s three Libyan Wilayats (or provinces) are all fighting with secular, nationalist and tribal forces for control of the country.

And of course, the Islamic State took control of large portions of Iraq and Syria last year and declared the re-establishment of the caliphate there. The group’s theatrical, genocidal violence resulted in the formation of the coalition that began an air campaign against it in September 2014. Since then, the group has lost much of its strategic momentum, as well as a great deal of its economic infrastructure and many weapons and personnel. The Islamic State also lost control of a good deal of territory in Iraq and Syria, including places such as Tikrit, Kobani and, most recently, Tal Abyad. Still, the Islamic State has taken control of the cities of Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria, though the group is under attack from the international air campaign, as well as local ground forces.

Bin Laden’s Strategy

The United States and the West played a critical role in the downfall of recent jihadist polities in Iraq, Yemen, Mali and Somalia. This fact would certainly not surprise Osama bin Laden, who lived to witness such events. From the beginning of his public campaign to establish the caliphate, and in his 1996 “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,” bin Laden warned that the United States had to be driven out of the region before progress could be made. Bin Laden noted the way that Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon had driven U.S. and French forces out of the Levant, which gave the group space to become a powerful player in the region. He sought to replicate that success elsewhere.

It was a strategic vision bin Laden held until his death. In a letter written to his assistant, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman — likely around March or April 2011, based upon the events commented on — he asked al-Rahman to dispatch a letter to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb asking it to focus on attacking U.S. embassies and oil companies, rather than local security forces. Bin Laden also wanted to warn the franchise about the dangers of prematurely proclaiming a caliphate:

We should stress on the importance of timing in establishing the Islamic state. We should be aware that planning for the establishment of the state begins with exhausting the main influential power that enforced the siege on the Hamas government, and that overthrew the Islamic emirate in Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact this power was depleted. We should keep in mind that this main power still has the capacity to lay siege on any Islamic state, and that such a siege might force the people to overthrow their duly elected governments.

We have to continue with exhausting and depleting them until they become so weak that they can’t overthrow any state that we establish. That will be the time to commence with forming the Islamic state.

Bin Laden understood that while the United States struggles with ephemeral, ambiguous entities, it is very good at attacking a well-defined enemy that it can identify and locate. Declaring an Islamic polity and attempting to hold and govern territory automatically makes an organization a fixed target on which the United States and its allies can focus their formidable power.

Yet, even knowing this fact, al Qaeda has not been immune to the trap of place. The al Qaeda core has always needed a sanctuary to operate effectively, like Sudan or the Taliban’s Afghanistan. Lacking a suitable sanctuary, the group’s operations since the invasion of Afghanistan have been limited. There are reports that the al Qaeda core sent a group of operatives from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area to Syria to attempt to establish a base there — the so-called Khorasan group. That group was struck by some of the first U.S. airstrikes in Syria in September 2014. Evidently, having an address has its downside.

It is also not entirely surprising that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has lost three senior leaders in Mukalla since the group conquered the city in April. After the loss of two of his lieutenants, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader al-Wahayshi still visited the city for some unknown reason — and it must have been an important reason to override security concerns. In the aforementioned letter to al-Rahman, bin Laden asked him to “send a letter to the brothers in Yemen to have them implement security measures, avoid moving about except for dire need.”

Bin Laden knew that controlling territory is a dangerous trap, unless the United States and its allies are vanquished from a given region. But there are times when even groups affiliated with al Qaeda need to run the risk of exposing themselves in contested territory.

The Eventual Progression

When the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant broke from al Qaeda and declared a caliphate in a specific location, the organization once again made itself a fixed target. Its ideology and claims also serve to tie the group to a specific piece of terrain. It suffered major losses the last time it was so bold, surviving only by abandoning territory, reducing the group’s overall profile and returning to a low-level insurgency and terrorism campaign. Of course, the group’s survival was also greatly aided by Sunni sheikhs in Iraq who did not trust the government of former Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki government and thus sought to maintain some sort of jihadist presence as a tool to wield against Shiite sectarianism. Allowing the Islamic Sate to survive in Iraq is something those sheikhs surely regret now.

Despite the criticism that U.S. President Barack Obama has received over his administration’s policy toward the Islamic State, the organization’s expansion has been stopped and is beginning to be rolled back. There are some who would claim that the organization has not been contained, as demonstrated by the proliferation of existing jihadist groups and factions that have declared allegiance to the Islamic State. But make no mistake, these franchises clearly lack the resources and leadership of the Islamic State core, and they have not gained any capacity previously lacking. They are essentially the same groups with the same capabilities. Only their names have changed, as well as perhaps a little bit of their operational and media philosophies.

It may take some time, but eventually U.S. air power paired with local ground forces will drive the Islamic State from its perch in the same manner as the Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq. It took seven years to cripple the group last time with U.S. forces on the ground. It will likely take years this time — especially without the presence of a reliable allied ground force in Syria. But there is little doubt that the group will slowly be strangled on the ground as it is repeatedly pummeled by precision airstrikes.

The Islamic State, consequently, will eventually follow the same strategy as the Taliban, al Shabaab, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The group will abandon its territorial gains to return to an amorphous, low-level insurgency and terrorism campaign. It is, of course, the same strategic shift the group made in 2010. If it had not done so, it would not be here today. If the Islamic State does not abandon its here and now attitude, deciding to stand its ground and defend its caliphate to the end, it will be destroyed.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 5:57 am and is filed under
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Unappreciated in my own country

Dina Zaman

The Malaysian Insider

26 June 2015

I never thought I would say this but when I arrived home from Singapore, and had a long drawn out battle with baggage delays at KLIA, and then touts at KL Sentral, I looked up to the dark evening sky and thought how Malaysia had become a third world country.

As I stood there with my bags, observing fellow Malaysians shouting at the touts, while the security guards looked away, and then seeing a poor, hapless foreign porter being heckled by a lazy plonker of a Malaysian, I said to myself, there has to be a better way of living and to live.

While I wrestled with anger and contempt at the touts, the Malay in me, the Muslim in me felt dismayed to see much older Malay men wearing the kopiahs (skullcaps) touting cab rides and swearing at those who declined their offers.

 Apa dah jadi dengan orang Melayu kita ni (What’s happening to the Malays), I said to myself.

Writing about Malaysians renouncing their citizenship for Singaporean citizenship came at a time when I saw those very dear to me, leaving for better lives abroad or coming back to Malaysia for a holiday and horrified by the corporate and political landscape.

They were not Chinese or Indians. They are Malay professionals.

It’s no wonder my family and friends, and yes, they are Malays and very observant Muslims, have decided to look for work elsewhere. You can’t thrive or live here.

Like the people I interviewed for a feature, the Malay professionals I am related to have left Malaysia and have taken PR statuses for better lives for themselves and their families.

Some have taken up foreign citizenships. It was a relief to be recognised as able professionals, instead of “Malays who probably got their jobs through connections or because they’re Malays”, because they were neither.

It was also a relief not to have to work side by side their own brethren and countrymen who got their positions through their network.

In Europe and elsewhere, they were being hired and appreciated because they were good at their work.

“You also don’t have to deal with the bitchiness (of the Malays) in KL,” a cousin smirked. KL, or Malaysia will not allow capable Malays to thrive. It’s a small pond, and far be from it for you to outshine lesser Malays.

For us Malays/Muslims, working and living abroad is not about not really about Islamic fascism but about opportunities. Why not?

I sat on a bench watching the hullabaloo among tired passengers, touts and executive cabs wrangling for rides.

An old friend’s ever oft repeated phrase came to mind: it’s so hard (here).

Two reasons as to why I have been quiet – not writing columns – are because I, with my friends, have been busy marketing our research start-up (more on that in another column) and I have been searching for funding for a postgraduate programme. I already have a conditional offer abroad.

I had been told to try for funding from local universities; upon finishing my PhD, I would be bonded to the university. No problem, I said.

Rejection from University A:

“Your niche area might be useful for the English Language section or the Literature section. The thing that might work against you is your age (no offence, this is simply stating the reality that heads of departments prefer younger staff so as to ensure continuity.”

I wrote back, my intended study is in the field of sociology or anthropology, not literature.

Unless you count my study on the class divide among Muslims as FICTION. And my age has nothing to do with it.

Rejection from University B, because even though I have a Masters in Literature, it’s not in Sociology.

I am willing to take up another Masters, I said.

“I am sorry but we are unable to offer you a position.”

I also was rebuffed by a private organisation which funds postgraduate studies, solely because I am in my mid-40s.

“You need to be below the age of 40 as you will be bonded to us.”

“Just because I’ll be 50 by then it doesn’t mean I can’t serve the organisation or country. Why are you so ageist.”

“Er, er, er… I am just following orders.”

What a marked difference when it comes to responses from foreign universities: when I apply to foreign universities, I am always floored to know that the supervisors I approached have read my book and works published in news websites.

When I visited the National University of Singapore, I was shocked to find that my work had been studied and written about in a journal they published!

What am I doing here, when my country does not even appreciate me?

Finally a taxi came to my rescue. The driver was a fellow Kelantanese. He was 65 years old and had been driving a taxi for 20 years.

We talked about GST, disappearing jungles, living among concrete, and our families as if our friendship was like that of dear, old friends, but knew the moment my destination arrived, our confidences would be over.

“What do you think will make things better, pakcik?” I asked.

Perhaps, he said, it would make things easier if we saw work as ibadah, and living is ibadah too, for everything is difficult these days.

If we saw these as ibadah – submission to God – and that heaven is our only solace and goal, it would be less stressful for us all.

As we sat in the jam, he spoke of his life as boy, living by a river in Kelantan. He remembered all the things he and his friends did for play. That was how he survived working, by remembering.

“You could be right, pakcik. If we view all this as ibadah, maybe it will get easier.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

So tell me, what am I doing here?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 7:38 am and is filed under
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Why did Annuar make the U-turn in 48 hours from National Economic Council chaired by Najib approving the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by Mara Inc to Najib  opposing the Melbourne purchase?

MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa should explain why he made the U-turn in 48 hours from saying at his media conference on Wednesday that the National Economic Council chaired by the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had approved the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by MARA Inc. to his statement today that Najib had actually opposed the Melbourne purchase?

Annuar should know that this is  the 21st century and Information Age and  he cannot just behave like monarchs of olden days when information could be controlled and manipulated for him to wilfully and arbitrarily insist that he had never said what he had  actually uttered, or that he had been misunderstood or his statements had been twisted when what he said was crystal-clear.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  and Annuar could complain that the latter’s statement had been “twisted” by news portals like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider to mean that Najib had personally approved the purchase, when the  decision to buy Dudley House in Melbourne was made by the National Economic Council by consensus.

Or in the subsequent words of Annuar in his Facebook: ‘There is no question of approval by any individual, including the prime minister. As I said, it was approved by the National Economic Council and done according to procedure. I hope this is clear.”

Najib and Annuar were only  trying to quibble that it is wrong to say that Najib had given approval for the Dudley House purchase when it was decided by the National Economic Council by consensus although  chaired by Najib.

Let Najib and Annuar understand loud and clear – that both are guilty of sophistry and even deceit, in trying to dispute that the Prime Minister had given approval for the Dudley Street purchase on the ground that it was a decision of the National Economic Council chaired by Najib.

That is sheer dishonesty and I am sure the Malaysian public will not allow Najib to escape his Prime Ministerial responsibility and pass the buck so easily.

But this is completely different from Annuar’s U-turn today to say that Najib had  opposed the Dudley Street purchase, and that his statement had been twisted as clearly rebutted by video recording of Annuar’s media conference statement on Wednesday.

Annuar should have the decency and honesty to admit a mistake which he had  himself committed.

But can  Annuar explain how he could  make such a colossal mistake, to clearly imply that Najib had approved the Dudley Street deal when chairing the National Economic Council when Najib had in fact opposed it?

Was Annuar wrongly briefed – and if so, would the MARA officer responsible for misleading him be penalised?

What is most intriguing is that Annuar did not seem to know that Najib had opposed the Dudley Street deal until today, or Annuar would have mentioned it yesterday when he claimed that the controversial Melbourne real estate deal was made before he was appointed MARA Chairman in July 2013 and that the purchase was discussed in 2012 and approved by the MARA Council on Feb. 21, 2013.

Annuar now says that Najib had initially opposed the Dudley House purchase, as was stated in a May 10 letter, which forced MARA to appeal against Najib’s decision, and the purchase was eventually approved by the National Economic Council, which was  also chaired by the prime minister.

Annuar should explain whether he played any role in the appeal, whether he was already appointed MARA Chairman during MARA’s appeal against Najib’s initial opposition to the Dudley Street purchase.

Annuar said that in the appeal,  the National Economic Council only approved 30 per cent of MARA funds to be used for the purchase of Dudley Street property as it involved foreign loans. Why was this condition of the National Economic Council not complied with.

Furthermore, did Najib give his approval for the other three Australian properties bought by MARA Inc, namely (i) an apartment block on Swanston Street for A$22.5 million; (ii) an office tower on Exhibition Street for A$22 million and (iii) a Queen Street property for A$20 million; whether they also violated the National Economic Council condition on limitation on foreign loans, whether they were bought through offshore companies and whether there were also  multi-million ringgit “kickbacks” like the Dudley Street purchase?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 June 2015, 5:23 pm and is filed under
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1MDB Scandal – The Empire Strikes Back after four months

Since the arrest of the former PetroSaudi International (PSI) IT executive in Koh Samui, Thailand at around 3 pm on Monday (June 22)  for attempting to blackmail his former employer on leaked information, we have seen “The Empire Strikes Back” on the six-year 1MDB scandal in Malaysia.

Suddenly, some  Ministers have  becoming quite articulate on the 1MDB scandal, with the Home Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi claiming ominously that the former PSI executive Xavier Andre Justo in his interrogation by Thai police had implicated several Malaysians who had asked him to manipulate the leaked information which was passed to whistleblower site Sarawak Report.

He even said Putrajaya was prepared to extradite these individuals if there is request from Bangkok.

Zahid  also threatened to act against local media that used the leaked information which had been the source of unremitting embarrassment to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak since the end of February when the Sarawak Report website and London’s Sunday Times newspaper reported  in-depth investigations into the trail of the missing 1MDB missing billions after gaining access to thousands of documents and emails relating to transactions by 1MDB, including its initial joint venture with the little known oil company PetroSaudi International from 2009.

PSI’s leaked information included communications with 1MDB that had embroiled the latter in controversy as it highlighted questionable transfer of funds to a company controlled by Malaysian billionaire Jho Low, who is close to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s family.

PSI and 1MDB have yet to deny these allegations but both insisted that it is based on “tampered” evidence.

Zahid appears to be unfazed when a police source from Thailand’s crime suppression division, which arrested Justo, told Malaysiakini that  Interpol and the Malaysian authorities were not involved in the investigation.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek also made no mention of the blackmail and instead pledged to act against those who circulated the “tampered” information.

“We will not only work together with the police and the Thai authorities but against those who spread false information,” he said.

I do not see any zeal on Shabery’s part to take action against those who had spread not just “tampered” but downright lies and false and baseless allegations against the Opposition, like the baseless allegations that I was in Kuala Lumpur and had caused the May 13, 1969 riots when I was in fact in Kota Kinabalu and that the DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also echoed this line of “tampered” information, calling the allegations levelled against 1MDB as being based on “distorted facts”.

Was Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, victim of this “tampered” leaked information when he told a meeting of  UMNO Divisional leaders that the 1MDB scandal was the “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” (would  Muhyiddin enlighten Malaysians  what were the other “straws”?) and demanded that the “entire 1MDB Board” should be sacked.  ( Did  Muhyiddin know that this would include Najib as the final approving authority, in law and fact, for 1MDB decisions?)

Was the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, another such victim when he protested last month against the claim that the entire Cabinet should be held responsible for the 1MDB scandal as he and his Cabinet colleagues were just as unclear as the public over the 1MDB’s controversial and opaque deals?

Now, Shafie’s lips are sealed forever as finds himself suddenly in  the vortex of another fast-breaking UMNO scandal of the first order  – the MARA properties acquisition corruption in Melbourne.

I have never heard of the existence of Justo until news report of his arrest in Thailand, but nobody really believes that his arrest would be able to save Najib and 1MDB.

I dare say that the overwhelming majority of Malaysians agree with former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that Justo’s arrest was “suspicious and appears planned”, and that “very  clever propagandists were hard at work”, especially as Justo did not commit a crime in Thailand but in Saudi Arabia, and “Usually, other countries don’t care unless he is a terrorist.”

Mahathir should know what he is talking about as he had walked the corridors of power as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years!

Imagine Mahathir as a traitor hand-in-glove with Justo to tamper with leaked information?

I wonder whether Zahid was thinking of the country’s fourth Prime Minister when he toyed with the idea of “extraditing” Malaysians to Thailand to facilitate the Thai police in their interrogation of Justo.

Malaysians are not simpletons who can be easily fooled by latest turn-and-twist of the 1MDB scandal, as the question many are asking is: If  1MDB claims emails were tampered, why didn’t they lodge a report when Sarawak Report first published them?

It has also not escaped notice that in March, the police report lodged in the  United Kingdom was  over ‘stolen email’, not falsified information.

But most important of all, Najib and 1MDB had not been able to  satisfy Parliament and the country of the thousand-and-one questions that have been raised about the viability, veracity and accountability of the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history.

Sarawak Report has  responded to the offensive by Cabinet Ministers in “The Empire Strikes Back after four months”, insisting that regardless of the circumstances of how the leaked information was obtained, its content was not compromised and remained unchanged.

What is the “Empire Strikes Back”’s response to the  challenge by Sarawak Report as well as concerned and patriotic  Malaysians that Najib and 1MDB should  show the proof how the emails were tampered with and how it clears Najib and 1MDB of responsibility for the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 June 2015, 11:44 am and is filed under
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Both Annuar Musa and MACC should explain whether MARA and MACC have received earlier tip-off  about corruption of MARA Inc property purchase in Melbourne, and if so, why no action until The Age expose on Tuesday

The Najib administration continues to tie itself in knots, in one scandal after another.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that MARA officials named in Australian newspaper The Age’s report on the Melbourne property scandal are innocent until proven guilty.

He said  no action can be taken against them based on a “trial by media” as they must be thoroughly investigated first.

“No action has been taken against them yet. Investigation must be done to determine whether they broke the law,” Najib told a press conference after chairing Umno’s supreme council meeting.

“We cannot take action based on suspicion or a trial by media or social media. It must be based on the rule of law. You are deemed innocent until proven guilty.”

He said the government would remain transparent over the case and assured that the scandal would be thoroughly investigated.

This is very different from the tenor of the statement made by the MARA Chairman, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday to submit  several documents relating to the purchase of properties in Australia by MARA Inc.

Annuar said he wanted the MARA Inc corruption issue to be given priority and expedited.

Asked if the culprit behind the case had been identified, Annuar replied: “More or less”.

If the “culprits” behind the multi-million ringgit property scam of MARA Inc had been “more or less” identified, what is Najib talking about “innocent until proven guilty”?

The MACC investigation director Datuk Mohd Jamidah has announced that MACC  has dispatched an officer to Melbourne as part of the agency’s probe into the corruption of MARA Inc  property purchase in Melbourne.

MACC should explain whether it is true that it had received information about the corruption of MARA Inc property purchase in Melbourne last year which was the reason why the MACC investigations on this matter was initiated some six months ago, and it should explain why MACC action appeared to be more of a “cover up” instead of a “bust up” to bring the corrupt culprits to book.

In fact, both MACC  and the MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa should explain whether it is true that both MARA and MACC had earlier received tip-off  about the corruption of MARA Inc property purchase in Melbourne, and if so, whey they had not acted until the The Age expose on Tuesday.

Would MACC and MARA continue to ignore information about corruption of MARA Inc property purchase in Melbourne if The Age had not exposed the corruption on Tuesday?

Mara’s controversial property buy was highlighted this week by Australian newspaper The Age which reported that a “top” Mara officer, senior official and former politician had allegedly spent millions of government funds to buy an apartment block in Melbourne in a property scam.

The report alleged that “a group of super-rich Malaysian officials” overpaid by A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) for an apartment block in the city in 2013.

The trio had allegedly “overbid” for the building, called Dudley International House, from A$17.8 million to A$22.5 million, with the difference pocketed as bribes back home.

A blog today has even published an account of how the RM13.8 million corruption had been distributed among six persons, with RM5 million to one, RM3 million to another, RM2 million to two persons, RM1 million to one person  and RM800,000 to one with the least “largesse”.

 Can MARA and MACC confirm this blog report?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 June 2015, 1:04 pm and is filed under
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Which is in worse shape: BN or opposition?

– Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

26 June 2015

Although it is a long way to the next general election, the current developments we are seeing will, in my opinion, be decisive in shaping the outcome and winner of the next elections. Firstly, we have seen a lot of adverse publicity given the break up of opposition pact, Pakatan Rakyat.

Pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) observers and also some disillusioned opposition supporters are claiming this is dealing a death blow to the opposition’s election hopes. But is this so? I beg to differ from them.

What is happening to the Pakatan is actually a blessing in disguise for them. In fact, it is a big blessing. This is because if we look at the political configuration closely, it is not that the opposition coalition is breaking up. It is the hard line faction of Pas that is splitting from the rest of the Pakatan. This faction wants to chart a future for the country based on Islamic law and a more rigid Islamic state. But can they succeed?

 Well, despite the conservative candidates sweeping all the leadership positions in the recent Pas elections, deep down I am sure that they realise that they represent only a minority of the Malay Muslim population. My reading is that the majority of Muslims do not want a more fundamentalist Islamic society. They may have concerns about some aspects of modern life and western values. But even the less educated among them know what has been happening in fundamentalist Islamic nations.

All Islamic nations are getting worse: how can religious preachers rule?

Without any exception, all the Muslims in Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, etc., are killing one and other. These Islamic states have all gone downhill; their economies have gone kaput; their educated and best people have migrated and the ordinary people and middle class have suffered most. In this 21st century, how can you have preachers and religious interpreters of a holy book written many centuries ago run a government based on their interpretation of the Quran?

Can these ulama claim that that they are the right people to lead the country when it is clear that they are only fit to lead religious ceremonies and institutions, and no more? They may be able to fool some uneducated rural communities but not the majority of Malaysians.

So with the belated departure of the ulama faction what has remained in the opposition now is the core DAP and PKR parties which are united by their moderate, secular and pro-rakyat common policy platform. This platform – which I should point out was supported by more than half the country’s electorate during the last elections – only needs a bit of refining for it to convince Malaysians that they are voting for the right party committed to modern development, justice and good governance.

No need for the two core parties to reinvent the wheel. There should be no religious content in it, no religious salesmanship or one-upmanship needed! No need to devote any attention to hudud. Just keep cool and let PAS and Umno battle it out on the hudud and Islamic state issue in the next elections.

I am especially encouraged and excited by the prospect of a breakaway group of Pas moderates linking up with the opposition. This is a development that I have advocated and written about on several occasions. PAS moderates presently in Parliament have an impeccable track record of service. If they contest in the next elections under a new Islamic party or as part of a re-engineered Pakatan, I am sure that they will be returned with greater majorities.

It is not only PAS breakaway groups that will help break the BN monopoly of power. The potential for a larger opposition win exists because of what is happening in Sabah and Sarawak. In those states Najib and Barisan are scrambling to undo the harm caused by BN misrule and Umno colonialism of the two states. Treated like step children in the past, swarmed by hundreds of thousands of foreign migrants as a result of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “close two eyes” immigration policy, exploited of their natural wealth, I predict that the electorate in East Malaysia will deal the death blow to the BN.

Why do I say this? I know that Najib is throwing hundreds of million – some say, billions – of ringgit in the direction of Sabah and Sarawak in an effort to make up for the BN’s past sins. But I am confident that the young generation of voters know that as long as Umno calls the shot in national politics, their future will never improve.

Ketuanan Melayu and ketuanan Islam will mean that those in Sabah and Sarawak, and their livelihoods, culture, language and religion will always have to take second place and they will be provided with inferior positions and resources. Just look at the latest Malaysia Plan and budget.

Umno’s dominance of Barisan will mean that however good Sabah and Sarawak are, an Umno sponsored or affiliated candidate – in school, university, employment, government service, private sector – will always be top dog. They will be left the crumbs after Umno and its collaborators such as former Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud have creamed off billions of ringgit.

Barisan’s death Spiral

Even if it is argued that the opposition is in bad shape, the BN is in far worse shape. It is in a downward death spiral from which I can see no recovery. The Dr Mahathir-Najib power struggle has exposed so much dirt which is being disseminated through the BN – not the opposition –  mass media! This dirt can be used by the opposition as ammunition for the next elections.

Meanwhile the 1Malaysia Development Berhad financial scandal and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) have made ordinary people see clearly the direct connection between their rising cost of living and the BN Government’s mismanagement, abuses and stupidity. Come election day, we can be sure that there is no way the Barisan government can bring down the price of essential goods, food and utilities.

Everything has gone up since the GST was introduced and the falling ringgit has made it even worse. The falling ringgit and higher cost of living have been blamed by Dr Mahathir on Najib’s bad economic policies. But according to Bank Negara it is because of Dr Mahathir’s big mouth. I am sure that ordinary Malaysians know that it has been a combination of Dr Mahathir’s and Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s leadership and Barisan “misgovernance” that accounts for why the public are suffering.

I predict the next elections will see the voters punish the BN by giving them their worst defeat ever. – June 26, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 June 2015, 8:17 am and is filed under
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Emails are not the cause of 1MDB’s financial troubles, but we will defer to the home minister

BY THE EDGE MALAYSIA

The Malaysian Insider

27 June 2015

There are now allegations that emails published by The Edge in recent months about certain dealings between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International were doctored and forged.

This follows the arrest of a former top PetroSaudi executive in Thailand on accusations that he extorted his ex-employer.

Certain media have also quoted unnamed security experts as saying the emails were tampered with or forged.

As a consequence, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has issued a warning that The Edge could be suspended.

We have published some of the emails since the start of the year to accompany reports on the dealings between 1MDB and PetroSaudi that date back to 2009 and 2011. Very little was known about what had happened back then and those emails and other documents helped us piece together the chain of events surrounding 1MDB’s US$1.83 billion deals with PetroSaudi.

We were not cavalier in our approach and we only published what we believed were authentic after very careful consideration. Throughout these past five months, no one has challenged the authenticity of the emails and we have offered our help to all the authorities looking into the problems at 1MDB, including passing them what we have.

As a media company, we are guided by the principle that we are here to serve the public interest. And with over RM40 billion of public money at stake, 1MDB and its struggles to service its massive debts is the single most important public issue we face today.

What is a fact is that the emails ARE NOT the source of 1MDB’s problems.

That lies elsewhere and, hopefully, we can get to the bottom of it through the various ongoing investigations.

Nonetheless, we will defer to the Home Minister and will not refer to the emails again in any of our reports until the air is cleared about them.

The Edge welcomes any comprehensive investigation into this matter and will offer assistance to any authorities tasked with verifying the authenticity of the information we previously used. – June 27, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 June 2015, 1:08 am and is filed under
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Empire Strikes Back (Part IV)  – is the script for 1MDB executives Arul and Shahrol to walk out of PAC hearings, probably escorted by Shafee as their counsel, and boycott of  PAC proceedings on 1MDB  on the ground that Tony Pua has not stepped down as PAC member?

The highly-paid Public Relations Consultants of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and 1MDB (as Najib is both in law and fact the final approving authority of 1MDB) have gone into an overdrive of offensives since the arrest of former PetroSaudi International (PSI) IT executive, Xavier Andre Justo in Thailand six days ago for attempting to blackmail his former employer on leaked information.

One can already discern four chapters in  “The Empire Strikes Back” offensives overdrive:

Chapter 1 –  the arrest of the 49-year-old Justo, a Swiss national and former PSI IT executive at around 3 pm on Monday (June 22)  at a house in Koh Samui, Thailand with computers, hard drives and other data storage devices.

Chapter 2 –  Campaign of demonisation and character-assassination of Justo led by UMNO media like the New Straits Times portraying Justo as a “hedonistic” and “greedy” blackmailer  with a photograph of him covered in tattoos on its front-page.

Chapter 3 –  Vague  and unsubstantiated allegations by Malaysian Cabinet Ministers of tampered leaked information about the 1MDB scandal and threats by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi against the media under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) for reporting “tampered” and inaccurate facts about the 1MDB scandal, again without any substantiation of these allegations.

Are we now in Chapter 4 of  “The Empire Strikes Back”, featuring Najib’s choice prosecutor Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah who accomplished the mission to ensure that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is now incarcerated in Sungai Buloh prison as a result of  Anwar’s Sodomy II trial.

Is the script of Part IV of “The “Empire Strikes Back” for  the 1MDB president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi to walk out of Parliament Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings on 1MDB, probably escorted by Shafee as their counsel, and boycotting all PAC proceedings on 1MDB  on the ground that DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua is “biased” and has not steppe down as PAC member?

If the 1MDB current and former executives walked out and boycotted PAC’s 1MDB  hearings because the PAC is “biased” in having “biased” members like Tony Pua, it would provide  an  excellent precedent for Najib, though in law and fact the final approving authority for 1MDB, not to  appear before the PAC to answer the thousand-and-one queries about the Prime Minister  presiding over the  biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history.

The scenario of Arul and Shahrol walking out of PAC hearings on 1MDB, with Shafee in tow, setting the precedent for Najib’s boycott of PAC,  flitted through my mind yesterday when I read about Shafee insisting that PAC members who continue to issue statements on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) be removed from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Why is 1MDB and Shafee (and of course their principal Najib) so afraid of Tony Pua’s membership of PAC to inquire into the 1MDB scandal, if 1MDB is a sterling example of Najib’s administration “Nothing2Hide” philosophy?

In fact, Najib, 1MDB and Shafee should welcome even more MPs  like Tony Pua who have strong views but not a closed mind  on 1MDB scandal, like PKR MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli, to come onboard the PAC hearing as “guest PAC members” to demonstrate that 1MDB has absolutely “Nothing2Hide” and is capable of winning over all MPs who are “doubting Thomases” with facts and figures.

What is the use of having a PAC stuffed with “Yes Men” on the 1MDB scandal whose finding would have no credibility whatsoever?

I am surprised that the BN Backbenchers Club Chairman Datuk Seri Shahrir Abdul Samad, a  veteran Parliamentarian and former PAC Chairman, could be enlisted by Shafee to support the demand that Tony Pua should step down from PAC in the 1MDB hearing.

The PAC is appointed by Parliament to examine public accounts and to submit its report to Parliament.

Is Shahrir seriously suggesting that if the PAC report on the 1MDB scandal is debated in Parliament, Tony Pua and  other MPs (from both sides of the House) who have critical views of the 1MDB scandal, should withdraw and not participate in the debate?

If not, what is the basis for the demand for Tony Pua to be removed from the PAC’s 1MDB  hearing, when the PAC is neither judge, jury nor prosecutor, but a committee of Parliament to investigate and report on the 1MDB scandal?

Shahrir should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for joining in the Shafee, 1MDB and Najib  chorus to demand that Tony be dropped from the PAC’s 1MDB hearing.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 June 2015, 7:36 am and is filed under
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In recurring religious conflicts, Muslim MPs ask where Malaysia is headed

by Joseph Sipalan

Malay Mail Online

June 27, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 ― Muslim lawmakers from both sides of the political divide have raised concerns over the seeming trend of Muslims imposing their beliefs on others, questioning if this is reflective of a wider agenda that is backed by Putrajaya to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state.

The federal lawmakers noted that the federal government appeared either unable to stop or even condoning of incidents in which Islamic sensibilities are imposed on the larger society by religious authorities and individuals.

“This issue bothers me because as our forefathers taught us, religion should be about faith and (is) personal,” Umno’s Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told Malay Mail Online via text message.

“I suspect the longer-term objective of these groups is to usurp power through religious means and therefore avoid being legitimately elected.

“While I respect their motives and intentions, the elected government of the day must control the actions of these groups and act in the interest of all the citizens of the country,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Malaysian Bar criticised Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap for reportedly saying that non-Muslims should consume food and drink discreetly and outside the view of fasting Muslims, in response to outrage over a “joke” told by a teacher in Kedah to non-Muslim students about drinking urine.

The Kedah incident is reminiscent of a 2013 incident in which a Sungai Buloh primary school encountered controversy after non-Muslim students were pictured eating in a toilet during Ramadan.

DAP’s Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari argued that such posturing over religion would ultimately lead up to ridiculous rulings that benefit no one.

“Should we ban Ramadan bazaars so Muslims don’t need to look at food?

“When our Hindu friends fast for Thaipusam, do we go out of our way to accommodate them by not drinking or eating in front of them?” he said when contacted.

Zairil admitted that there is “no quick solution” to the religious polarisation the country is facing, but stressed that the first step to fixing the situation is to take governments and political parties out of the equation.

“It’s not even about tolerance here. The problems are cropping up today because of the incessant politicising of ethno-religious nationalism, so much so that the state flexes hegemony, thus influencing the people.

“Why do we even have Jakim (Malaysia’s federal Department of Islamic Development) when Islam is a state issue? That’s a fundamental question because the authority of Jakim appears to go against the 9th schedule of the Federal Constitution.

“I am suggesting that matters of faith should belong in the realm of civil society and not the state,” he said.

Nur Jazlan insisted that there is no place in Malaysia for state-sanctioned enforcement of Islam, claiming that the “collapse” of Islamist party PAS ― which is facing a split after delegates elected a new leadership made up entirely of the ulama or clergy class at their recent Muktamar – is proof that the public wants moderation over religious orthodoxy.

“The best way to develop Islam is to teach and encourage personal observations, and not enforce it to the whims of others, especially unelected ones,” he said, without referring to any group or individuals.

The Kedah school incident cropped up amid growing concerns of creeping Islamisation in Malaysia, in which the norms of the increasingly conservative Muslim majority are gradually being imposed on the rest of the country both directly and covertly.

Incidents that support the view include Muslim protests against Oktoberfest-themed events open only to non-Muslims, uproar over a gold-medallist Muslim gymnast over her leotard, and at least four reported cases of arbitrary dress codes at government departments and agencies that denied entry to non-Muslims over their dressing that was deemed indecent.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 June 2015, 12:47 am and is filed under
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LAGU PASIR

A. Samad Said

26.6.2015

Jalan bersama Waibi Kit Siang

di Pasir Tumboh di suatu petang

cepat terimbas papan dan paku,

palang jendela dan ensel pintu.

Petang sejarah langit yang lusuh

waktu unggas menghindari ribut,

gema guruh di ufuk nan jauh

mengerdip kisah banjir yang kalut.

Di Pasir Tumboh letih dan mengah

mereka julang panji maruah

sementara pondok dipulihkan

watikah qalbu pun dimasyurkan.

Rakyat menjulang panji negara

sesasa hasrat seakrab hati

rumah gantian comel dan mesra

tekun, tenang mereka baiki.

Jalan di sisi saudara Kit Siang

menjengah sejarah Pasir Tumboh

obor cecita makin benderang

memulai impian yang utuh.

Ikhlas dikibar panji negara,

tulus dibisik idaman bangsa,

Impian Kelantan pun bermula

setasik rindu, selaut cinta.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 June 2015, 7:54 am and is filed under
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MACC may be guilty of gross incompetence and inefficiency if after tip-off in March, it still have to sent officer to Melbourne to investigate MARA Inc property corruption as if fresh from scratch

I could not believe my eyes when I read the Bernama report in The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

Entitled “Mara Inc to open doors to Melbourne property deal probe”, the report quoted the MARA Inc Chairman Datuk Mohammad Lan Allani and the MARA Inc Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Halim Rahim in a joint statement as saying:

“We welcome any investigation or inquiry in respect to our investment, locally and internationally.

“We will pledge our full cooperation and assistance to the relevant authorities for a fair and transparent investigation on the matter or any other matters in respect of MARA Incorporated Sdn Bhd”.

What impertinence! What impudence!

Probably finding courage from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s assurance that MARA officials named in the Australian newspaper The Age’s expose of the MARA Inc. property scandal are innocent until proven guilty, and the Minister for Rural and Regional Development Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s supportive statement  that MARA Inc’s  property purchase in Australia was in “accordance with procedures” and there was no element of inflated price as reported  by The Age, the two key MARA Inc. executives are strutting the world stage claiming total innocence and welcoming “full, fair and transparent” investigation into any corruption scandals.

What Mohammad Lan Allani and Abdul Halim Rahim failed to do was to explain why they  had  so remiss and  negligent in protecting their integrity and reputation in failing to slap The Age with defamation proceedings for naming them in its report about MARA Inc property corruption in Melbourne, which punctured their pretence of innocence!

In fact, Mohd Lan Allani was reported as having told The Age that he was involved in setting up offshore companies in tax havens as “convenient” way of selling property bought by the Malaysian government.

Mohd Lan Allani had not denied that he had made such a statement to The Age, and if so, can be explain when he was assigned the task by the Malaysian government (and by who) to set up offshore companies in tax havens as convenient way of selling property bought by the Malaysian Government?

Was this his secret mission when he was appointed Chairman of MARA Inc, and if so, let him give a full accounting as to the number of offshore companies in tax havens he had set up, and the number and nature of Malaysian government properties which he had sold through this most extraordinary modus operandi of offshore companies in tax haven for a government!

The cheeky and impudent statement by Mohammad Lan Allani and Abdul Halim Rahim is also a slap in the face of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), which claims that it was moving in on MARA even before allegations of corruption in MARA Inc’s purchase of property in Australia became public.

Replying to my query, the MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Mohd Shukri Abdull said in a press statement yesterday that “as soon as receiving information from the public in March 2015, MACC began the process of profiling the individuals and companies involved in the property purchase”.

He said that even before The Age reported about the matter on June 23, the MACC had already deployed its officers to Australia to probe the matter.

MACC is at risk of being perceived by Malaysians as guilty of gross incompetence and inefficiency if after tip-off in March, it still have to sent an officer to Melbourne to investigate MARA Inc property corruption as if fresh from scratch after the publication of The Age expose on Tuesday.

Or is the MACC on a “wild goose’s chase”, as implied by the joint statement by Mohd Lan Allani and Abdul Halim Rahim, which as good as claimed innocence of any impropriety, let alone corruption, money laundering and Australian tax evasion?

This makes a complete mockery of MACC claims that its investigation into MARA property corruption was still ongoing, and asking for co-operation and space to probe the matter.

The MACC, which is asking for parliamentary support for more powers requiring an amendment to the Malaysian Constitution, must realise that its performance in the investigations into the MARA Inc property corruption in Australia is a great disappointment and  not impressive at all.

I would consider visiting the MACC headquarters with MPs concerned about MACC’s poor performance in fighting corruption if we can be assured of satisfactory explanation or briefing by the MACC Chief Commissioner.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 June 2015, 12:30 pm and is filed under
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