Sworn statement on Gani’s alleged misdeeds out due to Putrajaya inaction, says former top cop

by Lionel Morais

The Malaysian Insider

November 12, 2013

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim has revealed the alleged wrongdoings of Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail after Putrajaya failed to act on the retired senior police officer’s statutory declaration which contained a litany of complaints against the Attorney General.

Mat Zain’s initial revelation about the meeting with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on Gani’s failings only amounted to two pages of his 31-page sworn statement.

He promised more disclosures soon and said he was also mulling the possibility of having the statutory declaration (SD) tendered in court.

“Since my SD was made in accordance with the Statutory Declaration Act 1960 it can be used in any judicial proceeding, civil or criminal. In that manner the SD will be considered a public document,” the former Kuala Lumpur CID chief told The Malaysian Insider.

“Putrajaya had received my SD more than a month ago but they have not acted on it. They have chosen to remain silent.”

Copies of his SD, which was filed on October 7, were sent to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, Solicitor General Datuk Idris Harun and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

“In my cover note, I informed them that I reserve the right to take whatever action necessary within the law without informing anyone,” said Mat Zain.

“I also stated that I reserve the right to make public the SD through any member of parliament.

“There was no action from any party and that is why I released parts of the SD.”

He added that the main purpose of his SD was to convince the prime minister to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate all the alleged wrongdoings of the AG which were stated in the document.

Part of SD was on what transpired in a meeting between Dr Mahathir, Shafee, former Commercial Crimes Investigation Department director Datuk Ramli Yusoff, Dr Mahathir’s former political secretary Matthias Chang and Mat Zain at the former prime minister’s residence in Seri Kembangan on August 10, on the third day of the Hari Raya festivities.

The topic of discussion was Gani’s alleged wrongdoings, including fabrication of evidence in the infamous “black eye” incident of 1998 involving former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Mat Zain, who was the investigating officer in that case, had informed Dr Mahathir that Gani, then a senior deputy public prosecutor, had allegedly fabricated evidence to suggest that the black eye injury was self-inflicted.

They had also discussed Gani’s other alleged instances of “misconduct”, including the highly publicised case of Pulau Batu Puteh – the island off Johor which the International Court of Justice awarded to Singapore following a legal dispute in 2008.

Mat Zain told The Malaysian Insider that he did not initiate the meeting but that he received a call on the first day of Hari Raya from Ramli who told him that Shafee had wanted to meet the two of them.

“I met Ramli on August 10 and the two of us went to Shafee’s office-cum-residence in Bukit Tunku where the lawyer told us that Tun M wanted to see us. I was surprised.”

He said that prior to that meeting with Dr Mahathir, the last time the two met was 15 years ago when the latter was prime minister.

“As for Shafee, this was my first meeting with him.”

Yesterday, Shafee denied suggestions that a meeting in Dr Mahathir’s house was a plot to remove Gani.

The Umno lawyer confirmed that he was at Dr Mahathir’s house, but it was to pay his respects during Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

On the conspiracy to remove Gani, he said, “Tun was definitely not involved in this rubbish”.

Shafee, however, declined to go into specifics until he read the SD, adding that he may hold a Press conference later today.

Shafee said, irrespective of what was in the SD, there was no such thing as a plot or conspiracy against the Gani because there was no reason to do that.

“Either on the black eye incident or the issue of Batu Puteh case, absolutely no reason,” he said.

“If you look at Batu Puteh, what has that got to do with Mat Zain? He was a police officer, not an international lawyer. Why should anybody discuss that issue with him?”

Dr Mahathir also decided to keep mum until he has read the SD.

In an immediate response, Mat Zain shot back: “I admit that I am not an international lawyer. In fact not even a local lawyer. But you don’t need to be a lawyer or for that matter you don’t need to have any paper qualification to tell the truth.

“More will be revealed soon,” he said, adding that he will wait until Shafee makes a statement on the issue. – November 12, 2013.

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Are We Being Served by Half-Past-Six Ministers?

By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo! News

13.11.2013

Do we have half-past-six ministers running the country? Well, from the utterances of at least three ministers in the last few days, that seems to be so.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim put his foot in his mouth when he declared in Parliament last Monday that the electricity and water bills incurred by the prime minister’s official residence in Putrajaya last year – amounting to a staggering RM2.55 million – was among the lowest in the world. And how did he come to this conclusion? Did he make comparisons with other countries?

No, he came to this conclusion based on his own “observation”!

Woooh! RM2.55 million of taxpayers’ money spent and that’s what we get? A personal observation by one of our top public servants that it’s relatively peanuts?

Asked by Opposition MPs for comparisons with the utility bills of the residences of other countries’ leaders, he said he did not have them. “If you want the specifics, you will need to give me time to collect the details,” he said. Which clearly showed he was simply tembak-ing (shooting in the dark).

But how can a minister simply tembak? Has he no regard for the intelligence of his fellow MPs and, worse, that of the rakyat? How can he say the utility bills are among the lowest in the world – in the world, mind you, don’t play-play! – without scientific evidence to back up his claim? Did he pass Form 3 or not?

What also drew derisive laughter that was so loud it could have been heard in Putrajaya was his justification for his observed conclusion. He said the utility bills were relatively low because the country’s top leaders practised the “frugal system”! He even added, “I believe the frugal spending system implemented in Seri Perdana is the best.”

Er … Shahidan, would you have any facts and figures to explain what this “frugal system” is? And why you say it is “the best”?

Does this frugality extend to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s overseas travel expenses in 2011, which amounted to RM10.1 million, and his 10-day visit to London, New York and Washington, DC, in May 2012, which cost taxpayers RM2.9 million?

Is it frugal to spend RM2.9 million on a 10-day trip?

Does it extend to the utility bills of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last year being as high as RM964,722?

In the first place, do we need an official residence for the prime minister as big as 17 hectares and that of his deputy as big as 7.3 hectares? Whom are we trying to impress? Even the White House, residence of the president of the United States of America, is smaller than both, at 7.2 hectares.

In view of all of the above, if Shahidan cannot tell us what he means by the so-called “frugal system”, what bullshit is he saying?

Meanwhile, his Cabinet colleague, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, also sounded like he was talking bullshit last Monday when he defended Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s demolition work at the Sri Muneswarar Kaliyaman Temple. He said the demolition was part of the Government’s plan to “beautify” the temple!

How does demolition reconcile with beautification? Aren’t they actions that are poles apart? Besides, there had been no previous official mention of beautification until now.

More important, is it right for the Government to go into a temple and demolish it because it wants to beautify it? Shouldn’t it discuss the beautification idea with the temple authorities first, and see if the latter are amenable to it? How can the Government simply bulldoze its way into the temple and do what it likes?

What’s the real intention behind the demolition, Adnan? Is it not to get a part of the land the temple is sited on for the developer Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd so that the latter could build something there?

If it is, why don’t you just say so? If it’s legal for Hap Seng to take that bit of land because it owns it, by all means the law must follow its course. Then you should call a spade a spade and say why KL City Hall acted as it did. What would you have to fear if you are following the law? Why must you hide behind the façade of “beautification”?

Furthermore, why must you profess to be an expert on Hindu temples by declaring that the Sri Muneswarar Kaliyaman structure is merely a shrine, not a temple –because, so you said, proper Hindu practices were not incorporated into the construction? The temple was built 100 years ago; you want to dispute the practices that went into its construction now?

In any case, if you say it’s merely a shrine, and therefore of little consequence, why bother to beautify it?

One other thing, Adnan. In saying that you wanted to turn the temple into a tourist attraction by making it like “the four-faced Buddha in Thailand”, you were clearly being insensitive. If you needed to make a comparison, you should have found a Hindu equivalent. How would you have felt if someone had made a comparison between a Malaysian Muslim mosque and a Christian church elsewhere? Would that person have had hell to pay for doing that? Would you have perhaps told that person to emigrate?

No wonder even the deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P. Waythamoorthy has come out to chide you. He says you have “no business in interpreting what constitutes a shrine or temple”. And rightly so.

He adds, pointedly, “As a federal minister, he should respect the feelings and sensitivities of Hindus, instead of justifying an unconscionable act by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall.” You should be grateful he didn’t tell you to emigrate.

Take my advice, Adnan. Next time, tell it like it is. Don’t try and play politics. We know you and your political party are scared of losing Indian support, but if you try to hide the real intention with something that sounds untrue, that’s even worse.

Come to think of it, why do some Indians still want to support your arrogant government? Why did many of them vote for Barisan Nasional (BN) at the last general election? Perhaps it’s time they considered the better option.

Your colleague Jamil Khir Baharom, another minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, is the third official who has given BN a bad name.

Last Monday, in Parliament, he appeared not to know the difference between the 20-point agreement that is supposed to protect Sabah’s rights and interests when it joined Malaysia in 1963, and the 10-point solution that Najib’s Cabinet formulated in 2011 to allow Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use the word ‘Allah’ for God.

Jamil reportedly said the 10-point solution was the one agreed upon in 1963! He had to be corrected by Opposition MPs.

After being corrected, he went on to confuse everyone by saying that the word ‘Allah’ was exclusive to Muslims in Malaysia according to State-level Islamic laws and that the matter should no longer be disputed after the Court of Appeal’s ruling made last month. He did not shed any light on how this would affect the Christians of Sabah and Sarawak, much to the frustration of Opposition MPs who wanted him to clearly state the Government’s current stand.

When reporters later asked him to state the stand, his pathetic reply was “I have already explained. Don’t confuse me more.” Hahaha! This means he was indeed confused!

If ministers can be so confused and unsure about Government matters, how did they get to be ministers in the first place? That’s something Najib will have to account for.

He will also have to ensure that his ministers are not lax and that they don’t say stupid things, as they have been doing even before the last few days. In Parliament today are among the brightest and sharpest Opposition MPs. They include Rafizi Ramli, Tian Chua, Gobind Singh Deo, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Tony Pua, N. Surendran, Khalid Samad, Liew Chin Tong, Zairil Khir Johari, Ong Kian Ming … and I’m not even mentioning the old warhorses.

Najib’s ministers will have to measure up to them. If they can’t, they will be laughed out of the House. Even worse, at the next general election, they might be dropped from contesting or be duly voted out.

I don’t suppose we’d miss them.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book The Elections Bullshit, now available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, 8:37 pm and is filed under
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Based on present redelineation, Pakatan Rakyat should aim to win 135 parliamentary seats in 14GE  to capture Putrajaya with PKR, PAS and DAP each winning 45 seats , with a parliamentary majority of 48

Based on present redelineation, the Battle for Putrajaya in the 14GE will depend on the outcome in  80 marginal seats – 51 presently held by  Barisan Nasional and 29 from Pakatan Rakyat.

Taking more than 55 per cent vote secured in the 13GE as a “safe” seat, BN has 82 safe seats while Pakatan Rakyat has 60 safe seats.

In the 13GE, Pakatan Rakyat won the popular vote but robbed of Putrajaya as Barisan Nasional is the federal government with  the majority of seats – 89 for Pakatan Rakyat as against BN’s 133 seats.

If Pakatan Rakyat had won another 23 seats in the 13GE, PR would have the simple majority of 112 out of 222 seats.

In the 14GE, apart from retaining all our 89 parliamentary seats, Pakatan Rakyat should not just aim at winning 23 of the 51 BN marginal seats, but should aim to double this target to win over 46 out of the 51 BN marginal seats so that the Pakatan Rakyat can win a total of 135 out of 222 parliamentary seats with a parliamentary majority of 48 – with the seats evenly distributed among the three Pakatan Rakyat parties, i.e. PKR, PAS and DAP each having 45 parliamentary seats.

At present, DAP has 38, PKR 30 and PAS 21 MPs. This means DAP has to  win another seven parliamentary seats, PKR another 15 and PAS another 24.

I do not think this is too tall an order, considering that PAS had won 27 parliamentary seats in 1999 general elections – when the Barisan Alternative was first formed – and PAS almost quadrupled its  previous parliamentary score of seven MPs in the 1995 general elections.

PAS would not need to quadruple or increase four-fold its parliamentary numbers in the 14GE to increase from 21 parliamentary seats in the 13GE to 45 parliamentary seats in the 14GE.

The performance of the Pakatan Rakyat parties in the 2008 and 2013 GEs have shown that the three component parties have their  basic strengths and if we are prepared to persevere in a common patriotic cause to save the country from corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and exploitation of the poor and the downtrodden regardless of race, religion or region, extremism and intolerance  and put in place good governance, public integrity, accountability, respect for democracy and human rights, moderation and tolerance,  we have no reason to be pessimistic about the future of the country or the outcome of the 14GE.

Last Thursday, the country’s former top diplomat Tan Sri Razali Ismail warned that Malaysia will lose its competitive economic edge if its politics continue to cater to racial and racial extremes, as his international friends have of late started to question the divisive goings-on in the country.

He cannot be more right and the rhetoric and politics of extremism and intolerance have never been so rancorous and polarising in the nation’s history than in the past six months after the 13GE despite the Prime Minister’s talk of national reconciliation and his promotion of the Global Movement of Moderates.

The battle for the 14GE has started and concerns have rightly been expressed that taxpayers money will be raided for the Umno/BN war chests to fund a cyberwar via the social media against the Pakatan Rakyat.

Even after the 13GE on May 5, the cyberwar against the Pakatan Rakyat parties have not abated. I was recently accused of being part of the “Illuminati”, the so-called secret global organisation of the most powerful and influential elite to exercise political and economic control of the world.  After the allegation in the Umno cyberblogs, I have to search the Internet to learn about the so-called Illuminati conspiracy.

Recently, a Malay woman came up to me at a local airport when I waiting for my luggage, extending her apologies to me. I was taken by surprise and I asked her what it was all about. She said that for the first 18 years of her life, she hated me as a racist and an evil person as all that  she had learnt about me was that I was anti-Malay and anti-Islam, but when she entered society and have access to information on the Internet, she found that what  she had learnt about me were completely untrue.

This episode should be a source of inspiration for all of us, whether in DAP, PKR or PAS, who are targets of vicious lies and falsehoods seeking to divide and split the PR parties and leaders.

The information revolution will help Pakatan Rakyat to liberate minds which Umno/BN propagandists and cybertroopers are seeking to poison and imprison.

What is important is that Pakatan Rakyat parties must stay the political and electoral course until we succeed in bringing  about political change for Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or class to achieve the common Malaysian Dream – a Malaysia for all Malaysians where there is democracy, good governance and socio-economic justice and  where every Malaysian can  achieve his or her fullest potential for the collective good and greatness of the nation.

(Speech at the Pakatan Rakyat fund-raising dinner at Empire Hotel Ballroom, Subang Jaya at 9.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, 1:26 am and is filed under
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Cop ‘joins’ Zachas’ JB mural to ‘pounce’ on robber

By
Aidila Razak
 | 11:59AM Nov 13, 2013

Malaysiakini

Local artists have added a Lego policeman to the controversial Johor Bahru mural by artist Ernest Zacharevic – a move that appears to soften the message and possibly, save the mural.

With his eyes set on a Lego woman carrying a Chanel handbag, the Lego mugger appears unaware that an police officer – complete with handcuffs – is ready to nab him.

It is unclear who the local artists behind the addition are, but according to the photograh uploaded by Zacharevic on his Facebook page, duo worked on the mural last night.

“Now that’s a true vandalism! Malaysia never fails to amuse me,” Zacharevic quipped in his caption.

A number of those commenting on the mural’s expansion were not too amused.

Some apologised to the Lithuanian-born artist for “spoiling” his work, while others were cross that Zacharevic saw the extension to his work as “vandalism”.

 Others, however, saw it as an attempt to save the art of Zacharevic (left) so it would not be removed by the Johor Bahru City Council as planned.

For the more cynical ones, it seems that the Lego woman now has two thieves to deal with.

“I see one thief and a robber behind the thief,” one Joshua Lui remarked.

Several versions of the mural have been suggested online, after the city mayor Ismail Kassim had, on Monday, said it would be removed following controversy over the mural that addresses the high crime rate in the city.

Rosmah ‘replaces’ Lego woman

In one version, cartoonist Zunar’s rendition of the prime minister’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, carrying a shopping bag, was inserted in the place of the Lego woman.

“I know someone doctored this picture using my cartoon. But no problem. Cool,” Zunar tweeted this morning.

 Zacharevic – internationally acclaimed for his street murals in Penang – also presented a “politically-correct” version yesterday, covering the Lego mugger’s knife with a bouquet of flowers.

He earlier told Malaysiakini that the mural is his take of what the locals tell him are the two things Johor Bahru is known for – the theme park Legoland and high crime rates.

Johor has the third highest crime rate per 10,000 people behind Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, with 70 percent of its crime perpetuated in its capital city.

However, police have said they expect the crime rate to plunge to 17,500 cases this year, compared with 26,624 cases in 2008.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, 2:12 pm and is filed under
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The relevant authorities in JB must not “do nothing” but must  use the controversy over Zachas’ “high-crime” mural to launch a new initiative to wipe out JB’s reputation as the nation’s crime capital

It is sad and tragic that while “unusual creativeness” are being exhibited to remove the “sting” of Lithuanian-born street artist Ernest Zacharevic’s “high crime” mural in Johor Bahru,  there are no signs that the relevant authorities – JB City Council, the Police and Johore State Government – are being moved to capitalise on the heightened public awareness in the past week of unacceptably  high crime rate in JB to launch a new initiative to  wipe out JB’s reputation as the nation’s crime capital.

Two local artists had worked through midnight to add a Lego policeman armed with a handcuff  to the controversial mural – a Lego man wearing a ski mask and holding a knife waiting to rob a Lego woman carrying a “Chanel” bag – but Zacharevic has dissociated himself from the addition  with the comment on his Facbook that this is  “a true vandalism”.

The authorities show a completely wrong sense of priorities, in expending  energy on how to remove the “sting” of Zachas’ “high crime” mural in JB with various “creative” ideas to allow the “offensive” mural to remain in JB, when what is  most important of all is for the authorities to  take meaningful and effective action to ensure that JB becomes a low-crime city which is safe and secure for residents, visitors and investors.

The relevant authorities in JB  – the JB City Council, the Johore Police and the Johore State Government – must not “do nothing” but must  use the controversy over Zachas’ “high-crime” mural to launch a  new initiative to wipe out JB’s reputation as the nation’s crime capital.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 November 2013, 3:35 pm and is filed under
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In Parliament, when might is right and sledgehammers rule the day

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

November 14, 2013

Parliament, the place for civilised debates and arguments, turned into an arena to put a government critic in place. Using their parliamentary majority, the Barisan Nasional lawmakers approved a motion to suspend Padang Serai MP N. Surendran for six months.

His crime? Ostensibly insulting Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia yesterday over an emergency motion Surendran tabled to discuss the demolition of a century-old Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur.

While the Speaker had rejected the first-term MP’s emergency motion, his BN colleagues’ motion to suspend Surendran was accepted amid an uproar in parliament which led to a voting boycott.

That did not stop the BN lawmakers from voting to suspend Surendran for six months.

The thing is, the BN and the Speaker can use parliament proceedings as a shield to protect the government and its actions but Malaysians are more savvy and intelligent than many of these YBs.

They know when a sledgehammer is being used and when the school yard bullies are at work.

The Pakatan Rakyat MPs argued on technicalities, claiming that the motion was illegal due to the short notice, and that it did not involve public interest and instead reflected a conflict of interest as it involved Pandikar.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Gelang Patah) pointed out that the motion did not fulfil the one-day notice criteria stated in the Standing Order.

“The motion was distributed yesterday evening and you want to debate this now? Such motion should be referred to the Rights and Privileges committee. Parliament is being made a laughing stock,” he charged.

Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) said the Speaker’s decision in fast tracking the motion showed that it was clearly personal.

Is this what the Parliament is for then? To settle personal scores or to discuss and debate issues of interest to Malaysians? Or is it just a rubber-stamp for the government of the day?

Surendran is the first MP to be ejected and suspended from Parliament since the May 5 general elections, but he probably won’t be the last.

The question is, can the majority in parliament stop the bullying and instead refer errant or recalcitrant lawmakers to the appropriate committee instead of becoming judge, jury and executioner.

That has no place in a parliamentary democracy.

Unless we want to perpetuate the idea that Malaysia is a joke, from using legal means to restrict words used in prayer to suspending lawmakers for personal reasons. – November 14, 2013

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 November 2013, 5:11 pm and is filed under
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NST to apologise for ‘plot to destablise gov’t’ report

Lawrence Yong

Malaysiakini

Nov 13, 2013

It was a victory for responsible journalism in Malaysia today when mainstream daily New Straits Times (NST) had to bend to demands from four NGOs to apologise for publishing a fabricated story.

The apology was part of the conditions set by polls reform movement Bersih 2.0, human rights group Suaram, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and pollster Merdeka Centre, for dropping their defamation suit against the “oldest English newspaper in the country”.

NST’s website claims that it  has been publishing since 1845.

NST also agreed to pay RM120,000 to the four parties, for reporting more than a year ago that the NGOs were plotting to overthrow the BN government.

“The damage was done at that time… I certainly hope this doesn’t become a habit for the NST to write a fabricated story and then apologise for it later,” Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan told reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

“The apology is not the end of the matter. What we want to see is responsible journalism.”

NST agreed to publish an apology, in bold, on Page 3 of its issue within the next 14 days, except on a Saturday. It will also have to retract its online article and publish the same apology.

Lawyers for the plaintiff read out the full apology they are demanding before the judge. In it, NST is to admit that it made “groundless allegations” that were “false and without foundation”.

NST would acknowledge that “we had no proof whatsoever to substantiate  any of the said allegations and that we did not verify the information and facts relied on with Bersih 2.0, CIJ, Suaram and Merdeka Center”.

It would retract the article, and state that “the article ought not to have been published”.

High Court judge Lee Heng Cheong agreed to let the suit be withdrawn after meeting the lawyers for both parties.

“It’s not about the money… I just want to emphasise here that what we are interested in is a suitable apology,” said lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, who appeared for Suaram.

The NST article, published on its front page on Sept 21 last year, accused Bersih and the other NGOs of plotting a conspiracy to destabilise the BN government.

In February this year, after Bersih’s plea for the retraction of the article was not entertained, the electoral reform group filed the defamation suit for an unspecified sum, naming the article author Farrah Naz Karim and New Straits Times Press Bhd as respondents.

The struggle continues

According to the NST report, Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) had allegedly channelled almost RM20 million to a number of NGOs as well as Malaysiakini over a period of seven years since 2005.

The report accuses Bersih, along with several other groups such as Malaysiakini, Suaram, CIJ, Merdeka Centre and Lawyers for Liberty, of receiving foreign funding meant to “destabilise the government”.

In the wake of the settlement, the four NGOs said a “vibrant and free press that reports with integrity is key to achieving our goals for a strong democracy”.

“Anything less must be condemned to the fullest extent as a betrayal of a sacred duty to the rakyat to report fairly and objectively.

“Today, truth has prevailed over lies. It always will, ultimately. However, the fight for the truth has not ended and will not end until the changes that we are struggling for are implemented in a full and proper manner.

“All of us throughout Malaysia must continue to work to achieve these aims.”

NSTP Bhd is part of the Media Prima Group which also publishes other national newspapers such as Berita Harian and Harian Metro and also owns several radio and TV stations in the country.

Media Prima is a listed company and one of its major shareholders is the Employees Provident Fund.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 November 2013, 7:04 am and is filed under
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Trending: Ernest Zacharevic, Malaysia’s answer to Banksy

By
BBC Trending

What’s popular and why

13 November 2013 Last updated at 18:40

Malaysia has its own version of Banksy – street artist Ernest Zacharevic. His latest piece of work, which highlights the problem of crime, has been painted over by the authorities – but not before being widely shared on social media.

Across the water from wealthy Singapore is the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru, known as one of the country’s crime hot spots. Late last Thursday evening, 27-year-old street artist Ernest Zacharevic was at work on a wall there with his spray can. Zacharevic is from Lithuania but is a permanent resident of Malaysia, and is well-known in the region for his street art.

The mural he painted that night depicts a Lego woman carrying an expensive Chanel bag with a knife-wielding mugger Lego man lurking around the corner (the Lego reference can be explained by the fact that Malaysia’s branch of Legoland is also in Johor).

The image rapidly became a hit on Facebook. “Pictures speak a thousand words of truth,” reads one of the comments. Tens of thousands of people have “liked” or shared it. Many have added their stories of muggings and vented frustration at the police.

This was exactly the reaction the artist had intended. “My paintings are always a response to whatever social environment I get exposed to,” Zacharevic told the BBC. “I noticed many people just feel extremely unsafe. Everyone I talked to – no matter what their situation – would say, ‘Take care of yourself and hide your bag.'”

Local officials didn’t see the funny side and six days on, they sent workers to paint over it. “We cannot simply allow people to come and paint murals on the wall,” Abdul Aziz at Johor Bahru City Council told the BBC. He insists crime rates are actually falling in the city, thanks to measures like improved street lighting.

The whitewashing of the walls happened despite an attempt by two local artists to make it more acceptable by adding a policeman about to handcuff the mugger to the mural.

Many on social media have been playing around with the image of the mural online too – adding flowers and other twists to it. One person has even posted an image suggesting a reproduction of the mural may have been re-painted back on the same wall – though it’s unclear if this is genuine.

Reporting by Lucy Proctor

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 November 2013, 9:14 pm and is filed under
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Don’t Talk Big, Mahathir, You Brought Down Our English

By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo! News

15.11.2013

Not that I want to knock Mahathir Mohamad, you know, I’ve knocked him so many times before, but I cannot tahan laa when he tries to act innocent and say things should be like this or that now when he never did anything when he was prime minister to do the right things himself. In fact, for some things, he did the opposite.

Take what he now says about our graduates not being able to get jobs because they fail at interviews – because their English is poor. Now, let me ask him, when he was PM, did he do anything to make Malaysian students learn the language seriously other than learning Maths and Science in English? No, he didn’t!

He didn’t have the guts to go one step further and give more emphasis to learning English in schools. He floated the idea of bringing back English-medium schools but that petered out. He was only testing the idea. When it didn’t work, he pulled back, like a tortoise head into its shell.

He didn’t even make passing English at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam compulsory. In fact, English ceased to be a must-pass subject in 1974, when he was education minister. He said Malay students might fail the whole SPM if English was a must-pass. Instead of spurring them on to master the language so that they would pass it and SPM as well, he gave them the easy way out. After that, succeeding generations of students couldn’t be bothered with English. He was responsible for that mistake. The National Union of Teachers protested, but did he care?

Well, Mahathir was education minister from 1974 to 1977, and during that time, Malay neo-nationalism was on the rise. Even Malay creative writers like Muhammad Haji Salleh and Syed Alwi who were originally writing in English were feeling uneasy about writing in the colonial language and decided to switch to writing in Malay. So Mahathir was going with the flow. He promoted Malay to please the nationalistic herd, and he had no qualms about letting our standard of English slide.

But now he says Malay language nationalists are wrong in thinking that nationalism is about being able to speak the national language well. Now he says, “Nationalism is about becoming successful in all fields of life, being able to contribute towards the growth and the development of your country and your race. Being able to stand tall … that is true nationalism.” And therefore the use of Malay, which is “not yet the language of maths and science”, should not be equated to nationalism.

Why didn’t he stand up and tell them that in the 1970s? In those days, Malay was even less of a language of maths and science. He was education minister, for crying out loud. He was a leader, he was supposed to lead with the right ideas. Of course lah, he didn’t because he was scared he would lose his position. In those days, if he had tried to champion English, he might have got lynched! And Mahathir must have loved his neck too much.

We know, however, what he was not scared of doing. In fact, it was one of the first things he did when he became education minister – the sort of thing he does best. Yes, exert control. Mahathir the control freak bulldozed university campuses and forced academia to be subjected to Government control. He kicked aside academics who opposed the move and placed his own men in vice-chancellor positions. I know that he replaced the excellent VC of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Hamzah Sendut, with a civil servant. What did civil servants know about administering universities except how to behave like feudal lords?

Mahathir took away academic freedom and politics in universities. He emasculated academics and threatened to withdraw the scholarships of students who were politically active. He introduced the culture of fear in campuses.

I also know for a fact that during his time as education minister, Malay gradually became the medium of instruction in our universities. When I entered university in 1973, students already had to answer exam questions and write essays up to 30 per cent in Malay, but as time went on, the percentage increased, until everything became totally Malay. Although Mahathir believed that English was important, he did nothing to reverse that. But imagine this, I did subjects like Shakespeare – and of course studying his plays in the original English – and still had to write essays and answer exam questions on Shakespeare at least 30 per cent in Malay! Sounds crazy, no?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for promoting Malay as the national language, but there are also limits and realities, don’t you think? And certainly not at the expense of losing our edge in English in the Asian region.

When Mahathir became PM, he could still have redeemed himself as far as English was concerned by bringing it back in a big way – to help Malaysian students. After all, he was head honcho now, and everyone was shit scared of him. Remember those bad old days when he was in charge? But he didn’t.

Late in his premiership – in fact, when he was just about to step down – in 2003, he introduced the teaching of Maths and Science in English, but what’s the point of having just those subjects taught in English? It’s only a half-measure. It doesn’t help students to gain proficiency in the language. They must use the language a lot of the time to be good at it. I should know. I went to English-medium schools, primary and secondary. We used the language all the time. That’s how to become good at it.

He should have brought back the English-medium schools, instead of just talk about it. But of course he was scared. We all knew that if he did that, his Umno ultras would have dunked him in English tea. And maybe even chewed him up. Hmmm … like biskut jari.

So, please, Mahathir, don’t act like you were so great and talk big now. For not laying the foundation when you were education minister and then PM, you are responsible for our graduates’ failure today to get jobs because they can’t speak proper English. You didn’t do your job. You didn’t lead. In fact, you brought down our standard of English. Yes, you! You were more concerned about keeping your position, exerting control over people, making people scared.

You did that by creating a Frankenstein – Islamisation. Because you were worried about PAS. You wanted Umno to appear more holy than any other body. You politicised not only the issue of race – with your Ketuanan Melayu concept – but also religion. You used religion to get Muslim support. In 2002, you told Parliament that Malaysia was an “Islamic state”. That was a shocker. I guess it must have even shocked the jubah off every PAS member!

And now you have the cheek to tell Malaysian Muslims to acquire technical and scientific knowledge rather than focus on religious knowledge. What laa? After all that Islamisation, now this? Are you schizophrenic or what? Or are you still trying to screw up the minds of the people you once ruled over?

OK la, you’ve caused enough damage already laa, old man. Just lay off and go into a quiet corner and roll over. Don’t open your big trap again. You’re grounded.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book The Elections Bullshit, now available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 November 2013, 11:36 am and is filed under
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Najib should give Ministerial statement in Parliament on the Esscom security lapses resulting in a Taiwanese tourist shot dead and  his wife abducted by suspected  Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Pom Pom island off Semporna

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give a Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday on the Esscom security lapses resulting in a Taiwanese tourist shot dead and his wife abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Pom Pom island off Semporna early this morning.

Najib should tell Parliament what actions would be taken by Esscom to tighten security to  ensure that such killing and kidnap by Filipino terrorists would not be allowed to recur in Sabah.

Initial reports indicated a group of heavily armed men arrived at the Mandur Pom Pom island resort and stormed into the resort restaurant, where the Taiwanese couple were the only customers and fired several shots.

The victim Lim Min Hsu, 57, was shot twice in the chest and ribs. He died at the scene. His wife, Lim Min Hsu, 57, was taken away by the gunmen who fled in a pump boat towards southern Philippines.

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has confirmed this incident saying that it occurred at about 1 am.

The Pom Pom island  killing and kidnap of the tourists is a major blow to efforts to restore tourist and public confidence in the security of Sabah after the intrusion of the Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datuk in February.

When launching the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) in April this year, Najib had outlined a four-pronged strategic and technical approach to be taken by Esscom in order to maintain peace and security along 1,400 km of the Sabah’s coastline in the east of Sabah, viz:

•	enhancement of intelligence capacity;

•	effective coastal surveillance 24-hours a day;

•	boosting the country’s capability to intercept incoming threats from the sea; and

•	strict enforcement of the law with immediate action taken once the threats reached the shores.

All the Esscom’s four-pronged strategy had been seriously compromised for the tragic, criminal and terrorist Pom Pom island incident to occur, resulting in the  killing of a tourist and kidnap of another.

The  establishment and the huge allocations for  Esscom have not brought peace and security to the East Coast of Sabah, as the three objectives of Esscom set out by the Prime Minister, namely “fully guaranteed security”, “the confidence of the people to return to normal life” and “restoring confidence among tourists”  after the Sulu terrorist intrusions in Lahad Datuk appear  as remote as ever!

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                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 November 2013, 6:35 pm and is filed under
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Penang Lang, get to know your state better.

Richard Loh

15th Nov 2013

The questions often asked nowadays by your friends and relatives from other states when you met them are;

Is Penang really performing better than the pre 308 government?

Has Penang really change in every aspect of governance under Pakatan Rakyat?

Some can give their answers straight away while some will have to ponder a while or could not know really how to answer.

Those who can answer will most probably have daily involvement directly or indirectly in the state, i.e being part and parcel of the working force (private or civil servants), moving and seeing the actual transformation going on.

For those who could not answer are most probably those staying at home, not mixing or less interacting with others etc. Even for me who is well connected online seldom realised what is actually happening to the state.

You cannot find much news about the state progress on the internet and worst is the total silence from the MSM. Those online news portals are more interested in reporting political oriented news, especially when they got winds of political fights within internal parties from both sides or rumors of PR wrong doings spread by the other side.

So how are you to know what is Pakatan Rakyat state government being doing all these years? READ the
BULETIN MUTIARA
that is delivered to your house every now and then by the state government. You will be surprised to read and see so much ongoing and the progress that have been implemented by the PR state government inside the
BULETIN MUTIARA
.

BULETIN MUTIARA
is the state government news bulletin providing information about the state progress and NOT a political newspaper as some people might think. Some may question that since it is a PR state government bulletin surely they will only print all the good side of them. This is a good question indeed. Let me try to answer it this way.

For over five years the whole force of umno/bn including various federal authorities and their party owned msm have been trying their very best to find a single wrong or fault that PR government may have done. From corruptions, land developments, open tenders, questioning the CAT system to almost everything even trying to spin, create something out of nothing but till date found none.

Secondly, why worry that the state government will not report their wrong doings. Should there be any or even a single ringgit corruption you will never miss out this news as they will be front paged by all newspapers and repeated over and over again on RTM & TV3. Till today the eager angry hawks are still hawking around in search for the slightest mistake by PR government. Just relax and let these hawks do the dirty jobs.

Do seriously read the
BULETIN MUTIARA
to know your state better, its full of information and it comes in four different languages. You want a government that cares and works for the rakyat equally and fairly, this is it,

 Pakatan Rakyat!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 November 2013, 8:53 pm and is filed under
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A double blot of shame for Malaysian Parliament – all thanks to BN MPs

What happened in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, 14th November 2013 was a double blot of shame for the Malaysian Parliament – all thanks to Barisan Nasional MPs.

The first blot occurred in the morning session when in utter disregard of the Parliamentary Standing Orders and conventions, the Barisan Nasional used its majority in Parliament to bulldoze through an irregular,  improper and “haram” motion to suspend the PKR/PR MP for Padang Serai, N. Surendran for six months for his championing of the 101-year old Sri Muneswarar Kaliyamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur.

The motion to suspend Surendran violated the Parliamentary Standing Orders and conventions on at least four  grounds.

Standing Order 27 (3) reads: “Except as provided in Standing Order 43 and in paragraph (5) of the Standing Order 86 and 26(1), not less than fourteen days’ notice of any motion shall be given unless it is in the name of a Minister, in which case seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient”.

As the exceptions in the Standing Orders 43, 86 and 26 do not apply, the motion to suspend Surendran, which is in the name of a Minister, would require “seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient”.

The four grounds which the motion to suspend Surendran by six months ran afoul of the Standing Orders and parliamentary conventions were:

1.	There was no compliance with the “one day’s notice” required of the Minister’s motion, as even if “one day” is interpreted as “24 hours”,  the earliest the motion could be debated would be after 6 pm on Thursday as notice was only given to MPs on Wednesday after 6 pm.

2.	There was no “public interest” requiring the motion to be debated after one day’s notice instead of after seven days’ notice. In fact, up to now no Minister can explain what was this “public interest” that warranted the debate and decision to be held immediately instead of complying with “seven days’ notice” – in fact, even without the requisite one day’s notice.

3.	Clear conflict of interest as the Tuan Yang di Pertua who allowed the Minister’s motion to be debated without seven days’ notice was a party to the issue in dispute, as the motion was over Surendran’s alleged “insult” to the Speaker.

4.	In any event, the proper procedure to be followed in this case was to refer Surendran to the Committee of Privileges as it affected the “powers and privileges of the House”, and the Committee of Privileges should investigate and report to the House on the allegations made against Surendran.

The refrain by the Chair that any MP not satisfied with the Speaker’s ruling can invoke Standing Order 43 to move a substantive motion for a review of the decision, which would require not more than two days’ notice, was entirely hollow and meaningless as in the history of Malaysian Parliament, no such motion had ever been allowed time for debate in the House. It is  as good as a “dead letter”.

This was why no Pakatan Rakyat MP spared a  thought for  S.O 43 when earlier in the morning, the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia wrongly ordered Surendran to leave the Chamber on the ground that he was still suspended.

This was a violation of S.O. 44(2) which clearly stated that when the Speaker had not determined the period of a MP’s suspension, “such period shall be deemed to be two days inclusive of the day of the incident”.

Surendran was suspended on the morning of Tuesday 12th November 2013 and as the Speaker had not specified the period of his suspension , his two-day suspension should be Tuesday – “the day of the incident” – and Wednesday should expire on Thursday itself!  The Speaker’s ejection of Surendran on Thursday morning was therefore wrong and against the Standing Orders.

A newspaper had alleged  two days in succession (New Straits Times) that DAP/PR MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo and I virtually chased Pandikar Amin from the House because we “joined in the fray and shouted for clarification” for Surendran’s ejection that morning.

Such a report  is totally baseless and a figment of the journalist’s fevered imagination, highlighting the low and sorry professional standards suffered by the country at various levels of our professions – including the mass media – more than half-a-century of our nation’s Independence.

Together with other PR leaders  – like Azmin Ali (PKR/PR Gombak) and Mahfuz Omar (PAS/PR Pokok Sena), I had suggested to the Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee for an adjournment of the House for both sides to work out  a “win-win” solution to resolve the deadlock and pandemonium  in the House, whether it be a seven-day notice for the motion, reference of Surendran to the Committee of Privileges or an undertaking that a substantive motion under S.O. 43 to review the decisions of the Chair would be allotted time for debate and not just expire in cold storage.

But contrary to parliamentary conventions, the Deputy Speaker refused to adjourn the House to provide for a “cooling off” period for a parliamentary consensus  to be  worked out by both sides of the House for a solution to the impasse.

Instead the House and the country was treated to the farcical spectacle  of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nancy Shukry reading out the speech for the motion although  nobody could hear a word of what she said as her speech was  completely drowned out in the pandemonium and chaos in the House.

This was followed by the equally farcical voting on the motion, as  no MP, whether from BN or PR, could hear what the proposing Minister had said.

This was also why PR MPs refused to take part in the voting as they regarded the motion as not only irregular and improper, but also an  “usul haram”.

It is in these circumstances of denial of justice and proper regard for parliamentary procedures and conventions that some PR MPs vented their anger, frustration and exasperation reacting  emotionally  by tearing up or crumbling the green motion paper.

The PR parliamentary leadership had not given approval for the tearing up or crumbling of the motion paper, as it occurred instantaneously and spontaneously out of frustration and exasperation PR MPs at the denial of justice and disrespect for parliamentary standing orders and conventions in the motion to suspend Surendran for six months, reducing the Malaysian Parliament to a kangaroo court and a laughing stock of the world.

The second blot of shame for the Malaysian Parliament on Thursday afternoon was a very different kettle of fish – as it was a cold-blooded sabotage of parliamentary proceedings in a vengeful retaliation for what transpired in the morning, which had nothing to do with justice, integrity of parliamentary procedures or the rights of the people.

BN MPs, led the MP for Kinabatangan Bung Mokhtar Radin, carried out a preplanned conspiracy to drum up a commotion, culminating in the tearing up of PR/PKR Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh’s motion to cut the salaries of five special advisers in the Prime Minister’s Department, namely Rais Yatim, Noh Omar, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Johari Baharom and Hasbi Habibollah, calling it a “haram motion” because of an error in a  fact in her speech.

If the BN MPs had regarded Fuziah’s motion as “haram”, then they should have emulated the PR MPs in the morning and declined  to take part in its voting – and to allow the PR MPs to carry the motion by voting in support of it.

But this was not the purpose as the whole intention was to sabotage parliamentary proceedings by not allowing for any debate on Fuziah’s motion.

In fact, this was why the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had after lunch moved a motion for an earlier adjournment the House immediately after the disposal of Fuziah’s motion instead of the daily 5.30 pm – which is clear testimony that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was privy and had given his sanction to the parliamentary  sabotage on the debate of Fuziah’s motion.

This is no “tit for tat” by BN MPs to the morning’s blot of shame but a double blot of shame perpetrated by BN MPs in Malaysian Parliament, exhibiting the sheer infantilism of BN MPs who could think of such crude ways to retaliate against PR MPs, utterly without regard to the rights and wrongs of an issue or the interests of the people and country.

This is clearly not the way towards a first-world Parliament!

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/11/20/parlimen-malaysia-terpalit-noda-semuanya-kerana-ahli-parlimen-bn/

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 November 2013, 4:36 pm and is filed under
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British PM David Cameron meets Tamils in Jaffna; Sri Lanka fumes at CHOGM

The Times of India

AFP | Nov 15, 2013

COLOMBO: Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron made an historic visit Friday to Sri Lanka’s former warzone, stealing the spotlight from a Commonwealth summit after the host, President Mahinda Rajapakse, warned against passing judgment on his country’s past.

Only hours after the summit opened in Colombo, Cameron flew into the northern Jaffna region where some 100,000 people lost their lives in fighting between Tamil rebels and troops from the majority Sinhalese government.

Several women who lost relatives during the war tried to hurl themselves in front of Cameron’s motorcade as he became the first foreign leader to visit Jaffna since the former British colony gained independence in 1948.

Clutching photos of their missing loved ones, they screamed “We Want Justice” before the premier sped away.

He later toured the offices of a Tamil newspaper whose printing presses have been torched several times, including in April this year, and which has lost five staff in attacks since Rajapakse came to power in 2005.

“This is going to make a very lasting impression on me. That is something you don’t forget,” Cameron told journalists at “Uthayan” (Sun) daily where the portraits of slain staff line the walls.

“But it’s only when you see it with your own eyes, it really brings home just how much you’re suffering.”

 MV Kaanamylnathan, the paper’s editor, said Cameron visit was a chance to publicise the region’s plight.

 “Everyone is pretending that everything is okay, that Tamils have equal rights but it’s not true,” he told AFP in Jaffna.

 “This needs to be told to the international world.” The landmark visit overshadowed the start of a three-day summit which was meant to be a chance for Rajapakse, a Sinhalese nationalist who oversaw the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, to showcase Sri Lanka’s revival.

 But after refusing to bow to demands for an independent investigation into the end of the conflict, he has been confronted by a public relations disaster, including a string of boycotts.

 Cameron flew out of Colombo shortly after Rajapakse said in an opening speech warned his fellow leaders of trying to impose their own “bilateral agendas”.

 “If the Commonwealth is to remain relevant to its member countries, the association must respond to the needs of its people and not turn into a punitive or judgmental body,” he said in a speech ahead of the formal opening of the summit by Britain’s Prince Charles.

 Since the war, the economy has enjoyed growth rates of up to 8.2 per cent and more than one million tourists visited Sri Lanka last year — a new record.

 But the legacy of the war continues to poison Rajapakse’s relations with the international community.

 Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first to announce a boycott after his government said the summit was akin to “accommodating evil” while his Mauritian counterpart Navin Chandra Ramgoolam — due to host the next one — is also refusing to attend.

 Even India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is staying away, preferring to antagonise a neighbour rather than offend Tamil voters ahead of next year’s elections.

 The agenda for the three-day summit includes sessions on debt restructuring and climate change.

 But Rajapakse spent the build-up fending off allegations that his troops were responsible for the death of some 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final weeks of the war.

 During an impassioned speech, the 67-year-old leader said his regime deserved credit for ending the conflict.

 “We asserted the greatest human right — the right to life,” he said. “In the last four years there has not been one single terrorism-related incident in Sri Lanka.”

 The Jaffna peninsula, home to around 800,000 Tamils, was the main battleground of the war and its towns and villages are now littered with shelled-out buildings. Some 30,000 people still live in refugee camps.

 Although provincial elections were held in Jaffna in September, they fell well short of Tamil demands for more autonomy.

 Cameron spoke with the new chief minister of Jaffna, CV Wigneswaran, for about 30 minutes at the town’s library as dozens of women who still don’t know what happened to their loved ones demonstrated outside.

 At the last summit in 2011 in Perth, Commonwealth leaders drew up a charter of common values which committed members to respecting human rights.

 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the Commonwealth’s outgoing chair, acknowledged Sri Lanka was emerging from a troubled past and said its people could take heart from how South Africa had come through darker times.

 “Sri Lanka’s willingness to host this Commonwealth shows its commitment to democratic pluralism and freedom based on law and ought to reassure all its citizens that just as today is better than yesterday, tomorrow will be better than today,” he said.

 “So we are here to praise as much as to judge.” Prince Charles, who is representing his mother Queen Elizabeth II, said the Sri Lankan people had “confronted great adversity,” as he also recalled the devastating impact on the island of the 2004 tsunami.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 November 2013, 12:12 am and is filed under
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David Cameron says Sri Lanka need to go ‘further and faster’ in answering human rights concerns

The Telegraph

AFP

16 Nov 2013

David Cameron put Sri Lanka on notice on Saturday to address allegations of war crimes within months or else he would lead a push for action at the United Nations.

Speaking at a troubled Commonwealth summit in Colombo, the British Prime Minister warned his hosts that pressure over alleged abuses at the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict was not about to go away.

He also told of how he had “frank” exchanges with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after he returned from a historic visit to the war-torn Jaffna region.

“The Sri Lankan government needs to go further and faster on human rights and reconciliation,” Cameron told a press conference.

“I accept it takes time but I think the important thing is to get on the right track.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 November 2013, 10:16 pm and is filed under
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JB mural clones spring up, even on T-shirts

Malaysiakini
 | 2:00PM Nov 16, 2013

The Johor Bahru City Council may have hastily removed the controversial mural depicting a lady about to be mugged, but it appears to have spawned at least 10 reincarnations of the increasingly popular artwork.

According to an anonymous local who spoke to Malaysiakini today, the lego character with the channel bag and the mugger around the corner have shown up on not just the city’s walls, but also on vans and even T-shirts.

He reported that people have put up stickers of the mural in Sutra Mall, Perling, Taman Molek and Bukit Indah among others.

Netizens have also posted their photos of the clones on Facebook, and one is even selling the T-shirts online.

The T-shirts come in a pair, one with the victim and the other with the mugger, both carrying the original street artist Lithuanian-born Ernest Zacharevic’s comment, “Art does not damage a city’s image” and “Crime does” respectively.

Facebookers cheered the clones, saying it is a great idea and some want to have the stickers on their walls and cars too.

“Where can I buy them (the stickers)?” asked one netizen.

Another predicts that the cartoons will soon appear on cups, bags and bowls. “This is JB culture,” laughed the poster.

‘More murals needed’

The photos of the clones were also posted on the Facebook of DAP Gelang Patah, its veteran leader Lim Kit Siang’s constituency, where one netizen suggested these stickers be put up all over the country where robbers have struck.

“I’m sure there are tens of thousands all over Malaysia,” wrote the poster Andrew Ng.

Malaysia’s dire crime situation has been a major concern over the past year, with the government flip flopping from outright denial when responding to critics, to admission when pushing through the draconian Prevention of Crime Act amendments.

Zacharevic’s mural was meant to highlight the situation, but city council of the southern capital notorious for crime, was not amused.

Council workers promptly cleaned up the mural this week, after the state government complained the mural “tarnished” the state’s image.

Zacharevic however claimed the inspiration for the two lego characters came from JB residents themselves, whom he said had constantly reminded him to be wary of criminals while in the city.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 November 2013, 5:24 pm and is filed under
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Mural mural on the wall

— Thomas Fann

The Malay Mail Online

November 16, 2013

In the same week that Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, a different kind of storm came upon the southern city of Johor Bahru. It was a most innocuous beginning, a series of wall murals by an internationally-recognised Lithuanian-born street artist known as Ernest Zacharevic or simply Zachas. When it was first unveiled in early November it created a buzz among the local community. Many have long admired Zachas’ works for Penang and was delighted that he has finally brought it to JB, a city not known for its appreciation of the arts.

With news spreading of the existence of four murals around Taman Molek and Johor Jaya area, people began seeking out these works of art and to have their photos taken with them. My family and I joined in the search and snap trail. It was most amusing to find people snapping away at these murals in dirty back lanes of non-descript shophouses and treating them like treasures. Perhaps to a city that is like an art desert, it was a breath of arty fresh air that has finally blown in.

Tarnished Image

But not everyone was amused, least of all the city’s mayor, Ismail Karim and the State EXCO in charge of tourism, Tee Siew Keong. They found these murals offensive, in particular, one that shows a Lego figure as an armed robber lying in wait to rob from another Lego figure of a woman carrying a Chanel handbag. They claimed that it tarnishes the image of our good city and proceeded to paint over it. They are threatening to white-wash the remaining three as well.

The controversial mural of the Lego-styled figurines struck a chord with the locals and is easily the most popular of the four because it brought together two things that Johor is known for – Legoland and its crime rate. To many, it captures perfectly the disconnect between the fantasy theme park which is Legoland and the reality of life in this city. Johoreans are proud to have a world-class theme park in our midst but wish that our daily lives can be a little more safe and that the authorities would put as much effort into combating crimes as they do promoting the Iskandar region as some kind of playground for the rich or wannabe rich of the world.

Local official crime statistics are hard to come by and when one is given, they are often disbelieved as it does not bear up to the experience of local residences, many of whom are directly or indirectly, victims of crime. Gated and secured communities flourish as residents take measures to secure themselves. We have to give thought to where is safe to go to and always look over our shoulders for snatch thieves on motorbikes. Even in our cars we have to make sure that our valuables are kept out of sight in case robbers smash our windows and grab valuables.  We live in constant fear of criminals.

Seizing the opportunity

The original Ernest Zacharevic mural in Johor Baru. — Picture courtesy of Thomas FannThe original Ernest Zacharevic mural in Johor Baru. — Picture courtesy of Thomas FannThe mural in question by Zachas should have been celebrated, not just for its artistic value but also for the social message it so accurately articulated, as the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words” and this one spoke volumes. The authorities could have seized this opportunity to engage the community to fight crime and promote the art scene at the same time.

But perhaps predictably, they went into denial mode, blaming the messenger instead of heeding the message. Can art as the medium of the message ever tarnish the image of a city? If the message is false, it would have been discredited by the public itself without the need for the mayor or politicians to opine. But if the message is true, then we should all accept it and deal with the issue at hand – crime.

Truth cannot tarnish the image of our city. Crime and lack of cleanliness do.  Our reputation has already been tarnished by these long before Zachas arrived on the scene. You just need to ask any Singaporean or people from outside JB and they would have told you so. In fact, according to Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide, Johor Bahru ranked No.4 for its Crime Indexglobally, just below Johannesburg. A truly world-class ranking!

Cleanliness and crime

I want to talk about cleanliness of this city which is the responsibility of the city council MBJB with the Mayor as its head. In my humble opinion, Johor Bahru is filthy. I am not talking about the places where tourists or investors are shown but the places where the locals reside. One just has to walk around the housing estates and their back lanes to see and smell the filth. Loan sharks act with impunity, paste their stickers and hang their banners over road signs and properties.

So what has cleanliness of the city to do with crime?  It is a known and proven fact that there is a direct correlation between the two. A criminological theory called Broken Windows proposes that untended disorder and minor offenses give rise to serious crimes and urban decay. It suggests that local authorities and the community must attend to every minor infractions, every potential disorder, paint over every grafitti and yes, fix every”broken window”.

Not attending to such minor offenses such as littering or pasting of illegal stickers sends a very clear message to would-be criminals that no one really cares about the city and that they are likely to get away with whatever criminal activities they embark upon.

A couple looks at a large “tree” that is actually a patch of green moss on the wall, in this mural in Johor Baru. — Picture from Zacharevic’s Facebook page.A couple looks at a large “tree” that is actually a patch of green moss on the wall, in this mural in Johor Baru. — Picture from Zacharevic’s Facebook page.Learning from New York

One big case study where the (No) Broken Window Theory was successfully implemented was New York City some twenty years ago. Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton were largely credited with dramatically bringing down the crime figures of one of the most dangerous cities in the world twenty years ago. But it was the joint effort of many authorities and civil society groups that transformed New York City to what it is today, one of the safest big cities in the US.

Tackling crime in a city like JB is not just the job of the police but the combined efforts of all stakeholders of this city. The city council has a huge role to play to keep the city clean and orderly. Other government departments are needed to maintain the roads, the drainage system, landscaping, street lighting, garbage collection, sewage and sanitation and road transport department, all need to do their part and take a zero tolerance attitude to any violations or failings.

The police who have long been unfairly held solely responsible for failure to reduce crime does have a key role to play. Instead of focusing on crime-solving, more needed to be done for crime prevention or deterrence. New York’s Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited proactive policing for the city’s dramatic drop in crime rate and perhaps it is something our police force can learn from.

Conclusion

Finally, a major stakeholder for a safer city has to be the residents themselves who are the victims of an unsafe environment. Many local residents have probably given up hope that anything can be done to combat crimes and have instead focused on improving personal security instead. But without the involvement of the community, crime fighting would be an uphill task.  Citizens must adopt a zero tolerance attitude, not just towards crime but also to sub-standard services by the local authorities. We need to pick up the phone if garbage is not collected, if illegal stickers or banners appear in our neighbourhood, if we observe suspicious activities or characters and persevere until our complaints are attended to.

Zachas has inadvertently struck a raw nerve in our city with the two Lego-styled characters of a robber and his victim.  People here are sick and tired of living in fear and haplessness as criminal elements, both minor and major terrorise us and we have to put up with poor delivery of public services.

As of the time of this writing, citizens have reacted to the council’s action by putting up paste-on replicas of the Lego pair all over town.  It is a form of protest over the drastic action of the council in removing the original mural and also seizing the opportunity afforded by this affair to bring awareness to the real issue of crime.

It is my hope that the Mayor, the police, politicians, government agencies, civil society groups and the public would take this renewed focus on crime to start working together to come out with concrete action plans to make our city a safer place. Denying the problem won’t make it go away, it will keep reappearing, just like the replicas would.

* Thomas Fann is the Chairman of ENGAGE, a non-governmental organisation whose mission is to nurture a community of informed, engaged citizens and make their shared concerns and interests part of the national agenda.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 November 2013, 10:07 am and is filed under
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DAP ready to work with Sabah and Sarawak leaders to fight for rights

The Malaysian Insider

November 17, 2013

DAP today said it was willing to work together and cooperate with state government leaders in Sabah and Sarawak to ensure that they retained their equal status in the Federation of Malaysia.

Pasty secretary-general Lim Guan Eng attacked Umno’s arrogance in assuming that they were the masters and everyone else had to submit to them.

He slammed Umno’s racist and extremist ideologies, saying it had warped and twisted the minds of the party’s young leaders and left them with the wrong perception.

Lim said Umno’s young leaders had been influenced by the party’s policies to the extent that they assumed the party were the masters and others had to be subservient.

“This has caused friction not just between Putrajaya and Sabah and Sarawak but even among the average Malaysians, especially the non-Muslims,” Lim said in a statement today in response to the frustration expressed by Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri James Masing in a
report published in The Malaysian Insider today
.

Masing accused young Umno leaders of causing friction between Putrajaya and the Sarawak state government as they had adopted the attitude that Umno were the masters.”The attack by Masing on the Umno leaders indicates that Sabah and Sarawak have realised that they are not being respected but are instead being exploited by Putrajaya,” Lim noted.

Masing said when Umno spoke with them, they make themselves feel as if they were superior and Sarawakians were their coolies.

He said he felt irritated with these leaders as they did not treat those from Sarawak as equal partners in the administration of the federation.

“Sabah and Sarawak seems to be like an appendix to West Malaysia,” Masing challenged.

Lim echoed Masing’s frustrations with Umno, saying issues which strained state-federal ties included the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the use of the word Allah in Herald, a weekly publication under the Catholic church.

“The issue has fanned the anger of the 1.6 million Christians in East Malaysia as it was seen by the people of Sabah and Sarawak as breaching the terms drawn up when Malaysia was first formed.”

“Although it has taken Masing almost 30 years of his political career to realise Umno’s arrogance and the master-servant attitude adopted by the party towards Sabah, Sarawak and Malaysians, but better late than never,” Lim said.

He said DAP was willing to cooperate fully with the state leaders in Sabah and Sarawak to check Umno’s arrogance.

“We want to ensure that Sabah and Sarawak retain their status as equal partners in Malaysia and are not reduced to a master-servant relationship reminiscent of the old British colonial era,” Lim added.

DAP is willing to support Sabah and Sarawak to demand an increase in their share of oil and gas royalties from the present 5% to 20% and to end the present cabotage policy.

“The time has come to return the natural wealth of both states back to the people and to ensure a fair implementation of the 1Malaysia, 1Price policy.

“The people of Sabah and Sarawak should no longer be discriminated against by having to pay higher prices than those in peninsular Malaysia,” Lim said. – November 17, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 November 2013, 6:02 pm and is filed under
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‘Fat Leonard’ fallout: Officers talk growing bribery scandal and ‘epic parties’

Navy Times

By Sam Fellman

Nov. 15, 2013|

The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis made the record books in September 2012 when it became the first U.S. flattop to pull into Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, a bustling port that borders the strategically important South China Sea.

While a milestone for the U.S. Navy and the ship’s crew, it was a windfall for a deep-pocketed Malaysian “fixer” who now stands accused of bribing and manipulating active-duty officers to steer the carrier there — and to make millions overcharging the service. The $2.7 million port call cost more than double the average for carrier stops at other Malaysian ports.

Federal prosecutors allege that Leonard Glenn Francis, the head of the Navy’s primary husbanding company in Asia, regularly enticed naval officers to direct warships to more lucrative ports for his business by offering bribes including junkets, prostitutes, cash — even “Lion King” tickets.

Francis was privy to classified ship movements and, in cases like the Stennis, even clandestinely orchestrated the ship’s port calls to suit his bottom line, according to the allegations.

Three Navy officials have been charged in connection with the scandal. Three more officers, including a three-star, are under investigation.

The scandal has rocked the officer corps, with many wondering how broadly the fallout could spread, given that Francis has been a fixture for more than two decades of port calls across the Pacific, from South Korea to Hong Kong to Sydney. He glad-handed ship captains and fleet commanders and earned a reputation for bestowing them with boxes of Cuban cigars or invitations to the sort of lavish parties that made Western Pacific deployments memorable.

A half dozen retired and active-duty officers agreed to speak with Navy Times, all on condition of anonymity while the investigations continue, to share their experiences working with Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia.

All expect that more senior officers will come under scrutiny as prosecutors press Francis, who’s now in custody in San Diego.

“If you’re throwing a three-star admiral under the bus, no one’s safe,” said one retired cruiser skipper. Francis, he continued, “has been around for a long time. So the guys who got dinged on this in 2009, 2010, … Leonard was around for a long time before that.”

Navy Cmdrs. Mike Misiewicz and Jose Luis Sanchez, along with NCIS Supervisory Special Agent John Beliveau, are accused of colluding with Francis and could face prison time. The Navy fired Capt. Daniel Dusek, the commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, a month ago. He has not been charged with any crimes, but sources say that investigators have linked him to Francis.

Francis, Misiewicz and Beliveau have all pleaded not guilty and face up to five years in prison.

On Nov. 8, in a highly unusual move, the Navy suspended the three-star head of naval intelligence, Vice Adm. Ted “Twig” Branch, and a one-star deputy, Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, for their connections to Francis; they have not been charged.

Many are puzzled about this latest move, noting that Branch is known for his no-nonsense style and was featured prominently in the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary “Carrier” when he was CO of the aircraft carrier Nimitz.

The allegations, which remain unclear, stem from their conduct prior to their current assignments and from before they made admiral, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy’s top spokesman.

Both men retain their rank and have been placed on temporary leave, Kirby added.

As fallout from the scandal spreads, the Navy severed its more than $200 million contract with Glenn Defense Marine, according to a USA Today report — ending three contracts, valued at $196 million, for cause and spiking three more, valued at $7.5 million, “for convenience,” a Navy spokesman told the newspaper.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert declined to discuss the investigation, but did provide this comment to Navy Times:

“I’m always concerned about allegations of misconduct or criminal behavior in our Navy. That includes those allegations in this ongoing investigation. Because it is ongoing, I want to protect and support the integrity of the investigative process, so I don’t have anything further. We have to let the investigation unfold.”

When asked about additional officer fallout, Greenert said, “I do not know the details of the investigation. I have nothing more for you at this time. If there is wrongdoing, I expect people to be held accountable.”

‘A used car salesman’

The continuing investigations have cast a harsh light on Francis, often known as “Fat Leonard” for his girth, and his extensive ties to fleet staffs and ship captains from nearly two decades of hand-in-glove support across Southeast Asia. Indeed, Francis’ agents have provided the logistics behind many of the fleet’s favorite ports.

For many, Francis is an unmistakable part of a WESTPAC cruise. A tall, heavyset 49-year-old who wears designer shirts and gold watches, he’d step out onto the pier from his armored Hummer with tinted windows of reinforced glass.

Flanked by four or five guards in black suits, he had the air of a visiting dignitary — and came bearing gifts.

He’d personally deliver gifts for the strike group commander, for the ship’s skipper, for the supply officer who would later sign the forms authorizing payment, sources allege. Per Defense Department regulations, a Navy officer can accept gifts only of $20 or less, so Francis’ largesse allegedly put many in a bind. He was known for unsolicited gifts like boxes of Cuban cigars and bottles of Champagne that cost more than $500.

Eager to curry favor with senior officers via pricey gifts or invitations to VIP parties, Francis earned a reputation for “sliminess,” according to one former officer who dealt with him, raising questions about why it took the Navy until 2010 to open its criminal investigation.

“It was never a matter of the quality of service we got from him,” recalled a retired supply corps officer who negotiated directly with Francis and his agents on two Western Pacific cruises. “He was like a used car salesman. You just knew that something wasn’t right.”

Francis’ trademark move was showering the top officers with gifts, often delivering them on the last barge so that the departing ship couldn’t return them, the former SUPPO said.

Others who dealt with him recalled an uncomfortable edge to the smooth-talking businessman.

Francis was the “Tony Soprano of Singapore,” said one retired flag officer with U.S. Pacific Command. “There was a nasty side that came out whether you did business with him or not.”

Francis’lawyer, David Black of Holland and Knight, issued a “no comment,” and Valeriane Toon, head of Glenn Global Corporate Communications, referred all questions to Black.

‘A man of the world’

Francis knew to get in good with his customer. Francis’ business relied on providing extensive support services in port to the ship: everything from delivering parts and provisions to pumping out the ship’s sewage. If the ship wanted it, his job was to make it happen. Many of these items were fixed price — which the ship could order off a checklist like a customer ordering toppings on a sandwich — and so the profit margin often came down to the extent of services. More Yokohama fenders on the pier equates to more profit.

The overseas fleet is often dependent on fixers like Francis to advise on what’s needed and then get it. That’s especially true in a new or atypical port, where the ship is more dependent on the husbanding agent to provide all the services — and where fewer port calls gives Francis an opening to overcharge the Navy.

“If I pull my ship into Changhi, that is a Singaporean navy port: They have guards, they have lights, they have security. It costs nothing,” said the retired cruiser skipper. “Now I pull into Pattaya Beach, Thailand. They don’t have any of that. So guess what? Leonard is going to bring all that.

“And he’s going to charge. He’s going to get his profit.”

In this line of work, relationships mattered. Francis often showed up personally to manage the port calls, especially for aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibs whose support was big business for GDMA.

“I guess that’s one of the odd things about Leonard Francis: Most ports you go into, you talk to a senior representative of the [husbanding] company, you don’t talk to the CEO of the company,” said the retired supply corps officer who dealt with GDMA.

“He seemed to make it a personal quest to make sure that he was glad-handing as many senior officers on the ships as he could. And more particular at that O-6 and above level.”

Francis, by all accounts a charismatic businessman, spoke Navy and was a big name-dropper. He loved to tell ship skippers about the fleet commanders he’d met with. He also ingratiated himself with many, knowing that today’s department head would be back in five years as a ship CO.

Francis lived large in Singapore and earned a reputation for outsized hospitality inside the Navy. He threw barbecues for visiting ships and was known for inviting officers to swanky parties in places like Hong Kong.

“He threw an epic party for the officers with free everything and lots of girls,” recalled one former ship executive officer, who added that he believed the women were mostly escorts there to make it a scene.

Indeed, Fat Leonard parties are renowned in some circles during the two decades he has operated in Asia. Because of the ties he’s made, he has his defenders. One former attendee even bristled at the media descriptions of Francis as fat, noting that he had shed about 100 pounds after his stomach stapling surgery years ago and guessed he was closer to 250 pounds.

“He is a charming, affable, engaging, friendly fellow,” said the retired cruiser CO, who admitted he’d been to some parties. “He’s a man of the world.”

Francis’ full service allegedly didn’t end at the pier. He was rumored to be able to set up senior officers with golf outings at private clubs or with lavish, $1,000-a-night hotel rooms at a fraction of the cost.

Indeed, Francis is alleged to have bribed Cmdr. Misiewicz with, among other things, trips and hotel rooms. Francis bought Misiewicz and three of his children airplane tickets on a two-week vacation to Cambodia and Malaysia, according to federal charging documents. In return, Misiewicz — a former destroyer CO who served as the deputy operations officer at the Yokosuka-based 7th Fleet — sent Francis classified port visit schedules and lobbied for Francis’ choices. Foremost among them was sending a carrier to Kota Kinabalu, a feat that Francis, with Misiewicz’s help, achieved with Stennis in 2012.

The quid pro quo appears even more blatant with Cmdr. Sanchez, another 7th Fleet staffer who prosecutors allege sent ship schedules to Francis in return for $100,000 and prostitutes. Francis allegedly purchased hotel rooms and prostitutes for Sanchez and some friends on a 2009 trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. After Francis emailed some of the prostitutes’ photos at Sanchez’s request, Sanchez replied “Yummy … daddy like,” according to the charging documents.

Beliveau, an NCIS supervisory special agent who was based in Singapore a few years ago, is accused of feeding Francis tips on the investigation’s progress in return for trips and prostitutes.

A defense attorney for Misiewicz did not respond to a request for comment Nov. 15. Beliveau’s attorney previously declined to comment on the case.

Attempts to reach an attorney for Sanchez, whose initial court date is set for Nov. 22, were unsuccessful.

Few who dealt with Francis, however, are surprised by the GDMA scandal.

The supply officer said there were rumors for more than a decade about Francis’ largesse, oftentimes seen out in the open, like when he allegedly bestowed one CO with a double magnum of vintage Champagne.

“If this is what he’s willing to do out in the open,” he said, “it doesn’t surprise me there were behind-the-door” offerings, too.■

Staff writers Christopher P. Cavas, Mark D. Faram and Wendell Minnick contributed to this report.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 November 2013, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist?

Recently, there has been an escalation of the campaign of lies and falsehoods against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, not only in cyberspace, but even in Parliament and the various State Assemblies.

The latest instance is in the Johore State Assembly, where the DAP State Assemblyman for Pekan  Nenas, Yeo Tung Siong was accused of being a “communist” by the Umno State Assemblyman for Kukup Suhaimi bin Salleh for his speech in the State Assembly.

What was Tung Siong’s crime?  What did Tung Siong say? Did Tung Siong glorify communism?

I asked Tung Siong and he sent me his speech in the Johore  State Assemby early this week where he did not make any mention of communism.

He was speaking on Malaysia’s Gini coefficient or Gini index, i.e. income inequality in Malaysia, caused by scandals of corruption and abuses of power “berselindung atas nama keadilan social dan merakyatkan ekonomi”.

This is what Tung Siong said in the Johore State Assembly:

“Menurut laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, pendapatan purata bulanan bagi setiap isi rumah adalah RM 5000 pada tahun 2012. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus terendah, pendapatan bulanan purata isi rumah hanya RM 1,847. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus pertengahan adalah RM 4573. Manakala bagi Kumpulan 20% tertinggi adalah RM 12,159. Kumpulan 20% terkaya telah menguasai 48.6% pendapatan ekonomi manakala 40% termiskin hanya menguasai 14.8% pendapatan ekonomi.

“Nilai Koeffisien Gini Malaysia pada tahun 2012 adalah 0.431. Nilai ini telah melebihi tahap yang bahaya mengikut standard antarabangsa yang nilainya ditetapkan pada 0.4. Semakin tinggi nilai Koeffisien Gini, semakin jauh perbezaannya jurang pendapatan dalam kalangan rakyat.

“Kalau kita bandingkan Koeffisien Gini Malaysia dengan negara lain di Asia, kita akan dapati bahawa Koeffisien  Gini di Thailand hanya 0.4, Indonesia 0.37 dan India 0.33. Malaysia telah menjadi salah sebuah negara yang mempunyai indeks gini yang tertinggi di negeri Asia.

“Apakah punca yang menyebabkan pengagihan kekayaan di negeri kita ini amat tidak seimbang dan dapat kita lihat sendiri sejumlah besar rakyat dibelenggu kesempitan hidup?

“Ada di kalangan kita akan melihat perkara ini dari perspektif  perkauman， dakwaan seperti orang cina kaya akan timbul dalam fikiran mereka. Tetapi, adakah dakwaan ini mengambarkan realiti yang sebenar?

“Dengan memetik laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, ternyata negara kita ini menghadapi masalah dalam pengagihan kekayaannya kepada seluruh rakyat tanpa mengira batasan etnik kaum.

“Koeffisien Gini 2012 bagi kaum Bumiputra adalah 0.421, kaum Cina 0.422 manakala kaum India adalah 0.443. Ini telah menunjukkan bahawa jurang perbezaan kekayaan dalam golongan kaum yang sama adalah lebih kurang sama dengan nilai koeffisien Gini keseluruhan negara kita. Kesemuanya Koeffisien Gini telah melebihi 0.4 di mana sesuatu petunjuk tahap pengagihan kekayaan yang amat tidak seimbang dan merbahaya.

“Sekali lagi saya cuba tekankan dalam dewan yang mulia ini, tak semua yang berbangsa Cina itu kaya, masih ada lagi yang hidup dalam kesempitan. Begitu juga dari kalangan orang Melayu dan India. Masalah kemiskinan dan pengagihan kekayaan yang tidak seimbang di negara kita ini bukanlah suatu isu perkauman. Masalah ini adalah masalah yang dihadapi semua  rakyat tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama.”

For advocating economic justice for all races in Malaysia through the closing of the widening gap of income inequality, Tung Siong was accused of having a “communist” objective.

Tung Siong has challenged Suhaimi to repeat outside the Assembly his “communist” aspersions against him, but Suhaimi has not dared to do so.

This is not an isolated incident. In fact, in the past four years, I have repeatedly been accused of being a communist by Umno cybertroopers on the Internet.

This is a phenomenon which started in 2009 after the 12GE.

How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist.

I trace such lies and falsehoods against DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders to the increasing desperation of UMNO and BN leaders, who find that they are losing out in the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

Recently, I was accused of being part of the “Illuminati”, the so-called secret global organisation of the most powerful and influential elite to exercise political and economic control of the world.  After the allegation in the Umno cyberblogs, I have to search the Internet to learn about the so-called Illuminati conspiracy.

I was accused in the Umno cyberblogs of belonging to one of the 13 so-called “families bloodlines” of Illuminati, in the company of the “Astor, Bundy, Collins, Freeman, Kennedy, Li, Onassis, Reynolds, Rockefeller, Rothschilds, Russell and Van Duyn”.

How did I become one of the 13 “families bloodlines” of this so-called Illuminati? This is the Umno cybertrooper explanation:

“Ada 13 keluarga yang membawa bloodline Illuminati , dan salah satu darinya ialah keluarga Li. Di Malaysia panggilan Li di tukar kepada Lim seperti Lim Kit Siang dan Lim Guan Eng dan di Singapura Lee. Ramai yang tak tahu Lee Kuan Yeu serta Lim Kit Siang adalah sepupu”.

“Ever since its formation, DAP has one member who happens to be a relative of PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew. His name is Lim Kit Siang, and in the early years when Lee Kuan Yew was studying in a High School in Batu Pahat, Lim Kit Siang was also schooling there and stayed with Lee Kuan Yew and his family (the historical fact about Lew Kuan Yew’s stay in Johore has been deleted from Singapore texts. So don’t bother yourself seeking verification. If you need corroborative evidence, ask the old folks at Batu Pahat).

“I guess you can already guess where I am going with this. Yes, Lee Kuan Yew and Lim Kit Siang are related or at least as close as a relatives as can be. It’s already known in public that Lee Kuan Yew was   Lim Kit Siang‘s mentor  ”

This is of course utter garbage – saying that I am a bloodline of the mysterious “Li”, that Lee in Singapore and Lim in Malaysia are the same, that Lee Kuan Yew and I are cousins, or that “when Lee Kuan Yew was studying in High School in Batu Pahat, Lim Kit Siang was also schooling there and stayed with Lee Kuan Yew and his family”.

This is a measure of the desperation of Umno/BN propagandists which should give us all hope and confidence that the days of extremism, intolerance and bigotry are on their way out, so long as we are committed to stay the course of moderation, tolerance and reason for a Middle Malaysia to achieve the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians.

(Speech 3  by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Veterans Club Fourth Congress in Butterworth on Sunday, 17th November 2013at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 November 2013, 2:02 pm and is filed under
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