Najib telah melanggar Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya sekurang-kurangnya lima kali ketika Tahun Baru Cina

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak datang ke Kuching pada hari Jumaat dan berlagak dengan Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya Transparency International (TI) yang beliau tandatangani pada hari Rabu dan mengatakan bahawa pemimpin Pakatan Raktat patut menandatangani ikrar itu jika mereka beriltizam dalam memerangi rasuah dan salahguna kuasa.

Beliau berkata: “Mereka selalu menuduh Barisan Nasional dengan bermacam perkara, tetapi kita sanggup menandatangani ikrar, jadi kalau mereka betul-betul komited mereka juga patut menandatangan.”

Najib sebenarnya telah memberikan dengan baik sebab mengapa saya, contohnya, berasa ragu-ragu terhadap menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI selepas Najib menandatanganinya!

Tidak dipersoalkan lagi iltizam saya dalam memerangi rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa setelah saya mendedikasikan hampir setengah abad hidup saya dalam politik Malaysia, akan tetapi persoalannya sama ada iltizam saya memerangi rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa akan menjadi jenaka dan penghinaan sekiranya saya menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya selepas Najib menandatanganinya!

Pertama, adakah Najib ikhlas dan serius dalam menandatanangi Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya, yang menetapkan empat prinsip untuk penandatangan perhatikan ketika bertanding dalam pilihan raya umum ke-13, yakni:

Kebenaran, integriti, tatalaku beretika dan akauntabiliti, termasuk tidak menerima atau memberi rasuah atau terlibat dengan amalan rasuah dalam apa jua cara;

Mendukung dan memberi keutamaan kepada kepentingan rakyat secara keseluruhan;

Tadbir urus yang baik serta ketelusan; dan

Mematuhi semua undang-undang dan peraturan yang berkaitan Malaysia.

Walaupun Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya TI secara teknikalnya terpakai hanya untuk masa akan datang selepas menandatangani ikrar, mustahil rakyat Malaysia untuk sepenuhnya mengabaikan rekod rasuah, jenayah dan salahguna kuasa penandatangan.

Amat  sesuai, relevan dan penting untuk bertanya sama ada Najib menandatangani Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya, terutamanya dengan kehadiran Ketua Menteri Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, watak besar dalam kempen memerangi rasuah antarabangsa, telah meningkatkan atau menjatuhkan malah memusnahkan kewibawaan dan legitimasi Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya.

Ini adalah selepas mempertimbangkan bahawa Malaysia, di bawah empat tahun pemerintahan Najib, paling korup dibandingkan mana-mana Perdana Menteri sebelumnya sepanjang 56 tahun usia negara – menurut Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) TI.

Sebenarnya, sepanjang 15 hari Tahun Baru Cina, Najib telah melanggar Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya sekurang-kurangnya lima kali iaitu:

Semalam di Kuala Terengganu, pertama kali dalam tempoh empat tahun sebagai Perdana Menteri Najib secara terbuka mengkhianati pirnsip 1Malaysia dan menggunakan agama mengapi-apikan bahawa “satu undi untuk Pas pula kepada satu undi perpecahan umat Islam dan satu undi untuk DAP adalah satu undi kepada penindasan terhadap umat Islam seluruhnya”.

Pembohongan Najib bahawa PAS adalah boneka DAP bercanggah dengan pembohongan Presiden MCA Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek kepada pengundi Cina bahawa DAP hanyalah “hanyalah sida-sida politik dalam bayangan PAS”.

Sikap tidak jujur, hipokrit dan oportunisme tidak berprinsip melanggar Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya TI untuk menjunjung prinsip “Kebenaran, integriti, tatalaku beretika dan akauntabiliti”.

Arahan bersifat memecahbelah dan perkauman pada hari Isnin untuk menayangkan secara ekslusif filem 13 Mei, Tanda Putera, kepada 3,000 peneroka Felda walaupun Kabinet telah membuat keputusan pada November, seperti yang didedahkan Menteri Penerangan Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, bahawa filem itu “tidak sesuai” untuk ditayangkan kerana “berat sebelah” dalam menggambarkan rusuhan 13 Mei 1969.

Ini melanggar “Tadbir urus yang baik serta ketelusan” Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya TI

Sepanjang15 hari sejak 9 Febuari Najib berkempen untuk dirinya dan UMNO/Barisan Nasional, Najib tidak dapat meluangkan masa melawat Lahad Datu Sabah untuk mendapatkan maklumat terus berkenaan ketakutan dan kebimbangan orang tempatan terhadap 15 hari situasi buntu antara kerajaan dan 150 pasukan bersenjata Sulu, dan menjelaskan mengapa terdapat kelompongan keselamatan yang begitu serius dan mengapa polis dan Menteri dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein dan bukannya tentera dan Menteri Pertahanan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yang ditugaskan menguruskan krisis “pendudukan” oleh militan Sulu.

Ini melanggar prinsip “Rakyah Didahulukan” Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya “Mendukung dan memberi keutamaan kepada kepentingan rakyat secara keseluruhan”.

Bernama yang tidak jujur telah melaporkan tiga hari lalu meniru daripada laman web cybertrooper UMNO/BN dakwaan palsu bahawa kumpulan pemikir British Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) telah menolak Pakatan Rakyat sebagai cabaran besar buat Barisan Nasional di dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13.

Ini melanggar prinsip dalam Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya TI untuk mendukung “Kebenaran, integriti, tatalaku beretika dan akauntabiliti”.

Perbelanjaan mewah RM3.5 juta untuk menjemput bintang K-Pop Korea ke Pulau Pinang untuk Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina BN pada 11 Febuari bagi mempersembahkan  Gangnam Style dan pelbagai lagi perbelanjaan yang tidak dikira (seperti meletakkan 10,000 bendera 1Malaysia di seluruh pulau dalam masa bebera jam saja pada awal pagi Tahun baru Cina – dan sehingga kini tiada siapa bertanggungjawab untuk projek ini yang kosnya menelan jutaan ringgit) merupakan bukti politik wang yang merosakkan menjelang PRU13.

Apakah Najib tidak sedar bahawa di dalam Ikrar Ingeriti Pilihan Raya TI, beliau telah berikrar untuk tidak “terlibat dengan amalan rasuah dalam apa jua cara” kerana politik wang ketika pilihan raya adalah akar kepada berleluasanya rasuah, kronisme dan penyalahgunaan kuasa di dalam negara?

Ucapan oleh Ketua Parlimen DAP dan Ahli Perlimen Ipoh Timor, Lim Kit Siang sewaktu bengkel pilihan raya DAP Sarawak di ibupejabat DAP Kuching pada Ahad, 24 Febuari 2013

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/24/najib-has-violated-the-ti-election-integrity-pledge-at-least-five-times-during-the-chinese-new-year/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 11:18 am and is filed under
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Pengiraan Detik 45 Hari ke-PRU13 – Cadangan untuk tambahan 10 poin kepada Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI bagi memastikan mereka yang menurunkan tandatangan menandatangani dokumen yang bermakna dalam mewujudkan era baru integriti

Agak menghiburkan melihat pemimpin UMNO/Barisan Nasional cuba membesar-besarkan kenyataan oleh pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat  yang menyuarakan keraguan terhadap autoriti, kewibawaan dan keabsahan Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya Transparency International (TI) selepas Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, telah menandatangani ikar itu.

Ini kerana Najib perlu memikul tanggungjawab penuh terhadap menjunamnnya Malaysia ke kedudukan paling rendah Indeks Persepsi Rasuah tahunan TI sejak 18 tahun lalu.

Sejurus selepas kenyataan Najib di Kuching pada Jumaat bahawa pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat sepatutnya mendatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI sekiranya mereka beriltizam dalam memerangi rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz segera mengikuti, secara dramatiknya menyatakan semalam bahawa “Apabila tiba masanya, saya akan tandatangan untuk menegaskan bahawa saya tidak terlibat di dalam rasuah, jenayah dan tiada berhutang dengan kerajaan”.

Terima kasih banyak-banyak kepada Nazri, dia telah mengingatkan rakyat Malaysia bahawa Najib telah gagal untuk membuat penegasan sedemikian apabila menandatangi Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI pada Rabu bahawa beliau tidak terlibat di dalam rasuah, jenayah dan tidak sebarang hutang dengan kerajaan!

Adakah Najib akan mengadakan majlis menandatangan semula Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI supaya beliau boleh secara tegas membuat pengisytiharan seperti itu, atau ia disebabkan seperti yang disebut Nazri, beliau “takut dan menyembunyikan sesuatu”?

Saya tidak rasa Nazri atau mana-mana pemimpin UMNO/BN, termasuklah dua mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dan Tun Abdullah berani untuk menentang kenyataan bahawa daripada kenam-enam Perdana Menteri negara ini sepanjang 56 tahun, Najib sebagai Perdana Menteri diburu dan dihantui oleh pelbagai dakwaan besar rasuah, kronisme dan penyalahgunaan kuasa – termasuklah dakwaan terlibat dengan pembunuhan!

Kini, banyak lagi dakwaan rasuah, kronisme dan penyalahgunaan kuasa sedang menunggu untuk didedahkan terutamanya oleh penyiasat persendirian P. Balasubramaniam dan pengedar permaidani Deepak Jaikishan.

Nazri amat silap apabila mengatakan bahawa “hanya orang yang takut saja tidak berani tandatangan dan memberikan pelbagai alasan untuk tidak menandatanganinya”.

Beberapa Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat telah pun menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI sebelum Najib dan saya tidaka da masalah dengan menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI.

Bagaimanapun, saya mula ragu-ragu selepas Najib menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI, yang mengingatkan saya kepada cerita Martin Luther, bapa kepada gerakan Reformasi yang memberontak menentang Gereja Roman Katolik berhubung penjualan pengampunan daripada dosa.

Apakah kita di Malaysia sudah sampai ke tahap dosa rasuah dapat diampunkan dengan satu tandatangan?

Sekiranya Perdana Menteri yang telah menyebabkan Malaysia jatuh ke tahap terendah rasuah berbanding mana-mana Perdana Menteri sepanjang 56 tahun sekelip mata mampu berubah menjadi wira memerangi rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa hanya kerana beliau telah menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI, bukankah ini penghinaan yang besar dan tidak menghormati  semua insan yang selama berdekad lamanya telah bangkit demi kejujuran dan integriti?

Kelihatan seperti Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI mempunyai kuasa transformasi lebih hebat daripada pelbagai Program dan Rancangan Transformasi Negara memandangkan berjaya mengubahkan menjadi pejuang hebat memerangi rasuah!

Najib telah digelar “democrat palsu”.  Apakah dia akan menambah gelaran sebagai “pejuang palsu memerangi rasuah”?

Saya bersedia untuk menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI tetapi ia mestilah sesuatu yang bermakna, bukan seperti penjualan surat pengampunan di Zaman Pertengahan untuk menghapuskan dosa dengan wang,  yang mana di Malaysia, untuk membersihkan dosa rasuah hanya perlukan satu tandatangan!

Saya mencadangkan penambahan 10 poin lagi kepada Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI bagi memastikan mereka yang menurunkan tandatangan menandatangani dokumen yang bermakna dalam mewujudkan era baru integriti.

Perincian kepada tambahan 10 poin ini boleh dibincangkan dan diputuskan oleh TI dan penandatangan dalam satu siding meja bulat, akan tetapi ia perlu termasuk lima poin berikut:

Pengisytiharan Aset kepara orang ramai oleh Menteri, Timbalan Menteri, Ketua Menteri dan Menteri Besar untuk dia tempoh waktu: (a) sebelum mereka memegang jawatan (b) pada masa sekarang.

Menandangkan Menteri, Timbalan Menteri, Ketua Menteri dan Menteri Besar UMNO/Barisan Nasional diperlukan untuk menghantar pengisytiharan asset kepada Perdana Menteri ketika menyandang jawatan dan selepas pilihan raya umum, bukanlah masalah besar untuk didedah kepada umum pengisytiharan asset ini.

Ikrar oleh penandatangan kepada “Tiada politik wang” Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13.

Setiap ringgit perbelanjaan untuk PRU13, sama ada oleh calon atau parti politik yang terlibat mesti diakaunkan dan diaudit.

Satu suruhanhaya audit khas perlu ditubuhkan untuk mengaudit setiap ringgit perbelanjaan untuk PRU13, sama ada oleh calon atau parti politik yang terlibat lalu mendedahkannya kepada umum hasil auditnya selepas PRU13.

Ikrar oleh penandatangan supaya tidak mengungkit peristiwa 13 Mei atau menggunakan politik menakut-nakutkan, ugutan atau kebencian untuk menakut-nakutkan pengundi..

Iltizam penandatangan kepada pilihan raya bebas, adil dan bersih yang dipantau oleh Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya yang Adil dan Bersih termasuklah pemerhati dalam negara dan luar negara. Sekatan terhadap Senator Australia Xenophon daripada memasuki Malaysia sepatutnya dihentikan memandangkan tiada alasan sah untuk menafikan kemasukkannya atau mengusirnya.

Ikrar oleh penandatangan untuk menerima keputusan pengundi dalam PRU13 memastikan sepenuhnya peralihan kuasa yang aman di Putrajaya sekiranya itu adalah kehendak pengundi.

Malaysia tidak mahu Kebangkitan Arab yang melibatkan pertumpahan darah dan revolusi. Apa yang Malaysia mahukan adalah Kebangkitan Korea, yang 15 tahun mendahului Malaysia dalam peralihan kuasa secara aman apabila calon Oposisi  Kim Dae-jung dipilih dan mengangkat sumpah sebagai Presiden. Sekali lagi pada 2007, berlakunya peralihan kuasa secara aman sewaktu pilihan raya Presiden Korea Selatan.

Ucapan oleh Ketua Parlimen DAP dan Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Timor, Lim Kit Siang pada Ceramah DAP Kuching di Chonglin Park, Kuching pada Ahad, 24 Febuari 2013, 9PM

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/25/45-day-countdown-to-13ge-proposal-for-a-10-point-addendum-to-tis-election-integrity-pledge-to-ensure-signatories-are-signing-a-meaningful-document-to-usher-in-a-new-era-of-integrity/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 12:58 pm and is filed under
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Pengiraan Detik 46 Hari ke PRU13 – Seruan kepada Pakatan Rakyat supaya tidak lalai dengan rasa puas hati memandangkan Najib boleh membubarkan Parlimen dalam tempoh 12 hari sebelum ulangtahun kelima 308

Saya menyeru pemimpin, ahli dan penyokong DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat tidak lalai dengan rasa puas hati mempercayai bahawa pilihan raya umum ke-13 telah ditundakan ke April, memandangkan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak boleh membubarkan Parlimen sepanjang 12 hari sebelum ulangtahun kelima pada “tsunami politik” 8 Mac pada 2008.

Pada 9 Januar, saya diberitahu satu “sumber yang dipercayai” bahawa Parlimen akan dibubarkan pada 22 Febuari, tarikh pencalonan dan pembuangan undi pula ditetapkan pada 16 Mac dan 30 Mac, selepas mesyuarat peringkat tertinggi strategis politik Najib di Putrajaya pada hari itu.

22 Febuari telah berlalu pergi tanpa sebarang pembubaran, dan walaupun tarikh lain bulan Febuari juga telah dispekulasikan sebagai tarikh berkemungkinan untuk pembubaran Parlimen, secara umumnya kini dipercayai bahawa terdapat penundaan lagi bagi PRU13 yang mana pembubaran pada pertengahan Mac dan tarikh pembuangan undi pada minggu kedua April.

Walaupun rancangan asal strategis politik Najib untuk pembubaran ialah pada 22 Febuari dan minggu terakhir Febuari telah hancur, disebabkan satu demi satu kesilapan politik daripada Perdana Menteri ketika Tahun Baru Cina – yang paling terkenal ialah pelbagai bencana politik dan perhubungan awam di dalam jemputan berjuta-juta ringgit bintang K-Pop Korea Psy dan Gangnam Style ke Pulau Pinang pada hari kedua Tahun Baru Cina – Najib msih boleh membubarkan Parlimen 12 hari lagi sebelum ulangtahun kelima tsunami politik 308  pada pilihan Raya umum 2008.

Najib juga telah mencatat dua rekod buruk sebagai Perdana Menteri, iaitu:

Perdana Menteri paling lama tanpa mandat pilihan raya beliau sendiri;

Penggal paling panjang Parlimen di bawah pemerintahan beliau hampir berkahir.

Adakah Najib begitu terdesak sehingga beliau benar-benar mahu mencipta rekod ketiga pada 8 Mac dengan menjadi Perdana Menteri yang tidak dipilih dengan Parlimen yang pertama kali dalam sejarah Malaysia melepasi penggal lima tahun, mengambil kesempatan terhadap Perlembagaan yang memperuntukkan penggal lima tahun mula dikira dari tarikh mesyuarat pertama Parlimen yang baru bukannya daripada tarikh pilihan raya umum sebelumnya?

Muslihat Perlembagaan ini membolehkan Najib mendapat 50 hari lagi untuk digunakan bagi menyelamatkan jawatannya.

Sekiranya empat tahun sebagai Perdana Menteri keenam tidak dapat memyelamatkan Najib dalam PRU13, cukupkah 50 hari lagi untuk beliau gunakan menyelamatkan diri beliau – lalu menjadi sejarah sebagai Perdana Menteri yang takut untuk kehilangan jawatan sehinga beliau terpaksa melanggar kebiasaan politik dan melangkaui lima tahun hayat biasa sesebuah penggal Parlimen?

Saya tidak rasa berbaloi untuk memdapatkan kelebihan beberapa minggu atau bulan untuk me,bubarkan Parlimen hanya untuk dikenang sebagai Perdana Menteri yang tidak berani mendapatkan mandat rakyat sepajang tempoh li,a tahun penggal parlimen – melainkan Najib benar-benar yakin bahawa beliau bakal mencipt rekod keempat sebagai Perdana Menteri UMNO/BN terakhir memenuhi ramalan RAHMAN!

Atas sebab itu, saya rasa pembubaran Parlimen ke-12 sebelum 8 Mac bulan depan masih berkemungkinan terjadi.

Sudah tentu Najib tidak berfikir dua kali lagi tentang pembubaran Parlimen sekarang atau beberapa hari terakhir Febuari sekiranya rancangan asalnya tidak menjadi kucar-kacir.

Apa yang sepatutnya menjadi “senjata rahsia” untuk memenangi pengundi Cina – persembahan Gangnam Style dan Psy di Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina di Pulau Pinang – terbukti benar-benar bencana yang mewujudkan kesan seluruh negara.

Bukan sahaja satu bencana tetapi banyak bencana – “3 Ya untuk Psy, 3 Tidak untuk Najib” yang bergema seluruh negara, kemelut 5 minit “menggaul yee sang”, ketidaksudian Psy menari Gangnam 1Malaysia Style dengan Najib, Rosmah dan Ng Yen Yen serta dakwaan tidak masuk akal tentang ancaman bunuh terhadap Psy dan Najib.

Najib telah menjadi begitu terdesak sehingga beliau melakukan perkara yang beliau akan lakukan sebaliknya, walaupun tiada jaminan bahawa beliau tidak akan menarik balik atau memungkiri komitmen – seperti apa yang Mahathir           telah lakukan selepas Pilihan Raya Umum 1999 apabila beliau memungkiri sokongan “secara prinsipnya” Barisan Nasional kepada 83 Tuntutan Suqiu, lalu menuduh siapa yang menyokong Suqiu sama seperti “komunis” dan “pengganas Al-Maunah”.

Contohnya:

lawatannya ke Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Dong Zong, julung-julung kali buat seorang Perdana Menteri – mewujudkan kekecewaan bahawa beliau akan mengumumkan pengiktirafan menyeluruh kerajaan terhadap UEC dan juga kebenaran menubuhkan Sekolah Menhengah Cina Persendirian di Petaling Jaya, Puchong, Johor Bahru dan Segamat; dan

menandatangani Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya Transparency International (TI) walaupun Malaysia di bawah pemerintahan beliau paling korup dibandingkan dengan lima Perdana Menteri sebelum ini.

Najib perlu tahu bahawa tiada jaminan bahawa sebarang tangguhan dalam mengadakan PRU13 akan menjadi kelebihan buatnya, terutamanya dengan semakin banyak pendedahan skandal di bawah pemerintahan beliau termasuklah pendedahan oleh penyiasat persendirian P.Balasubramaniam dan pengedar permaidani Deepak Jaikishan.

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/24/46-day-countdown-to-13ge-call-on-all-pakatan-rakyat-not-to-be-lulled-into-complacency-as-it-is-still-on-the-cards-that-najib-could-dissolve-parliament-in-next-12-days-before-the-fifth-annive/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 10:57 am and is filed under
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Pengiraan Detik 47 Hari ke PRU13 – Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja menyiasat kerugian RM100 bilion daripada skandal kewangan sepanjang 22 tahun Mahathir menjadi Perdana Menteri

Semalam, portal berita perniagaan yang baru berusia tiga hari KiniBiz melaporkan “
Syed Mokhtar eyes Malaysia Airlines
” oleh Jose Barrock, laporan bahawa Syed Mokhtar Albukhary mencadangkan kerajaan persekutuan mengambil alih cabang pelaburan negara, 69.3 peratus kepentingan ekuiti Khazanah Nasional Berhad di dalam Malaysia Airlines yang termasuk sebahagian daripada subsidi minyak jangka panjang oleh kerajaan untuk 60 tahun.

Rakyat Malaysia menanti pendedahan sepenuhnya perkembangan terbaru ini dalam kerumitan hubungan korporat-kerajaan, dengan “sumber yang dekat dengan Syed Mokhtar” menafikan terdapat cadangan untuk mengambil alih MAS dengan “dua sumber berlainan” mengesahkan bahawa urusan sedemikian sedang difikirkan.

Bagaimanapun laporan ini telah mengkedepankan isu utama dalam Pilihan Raya Umum yang bakal menjelang tentang kebimbangan orang ramai terhadap tadbir urus yang baik di Malaysia sama ada melibatkan skandal kewangan lama yang muncul dari penswastaan secara menyeluruh dan khususnya tentang penerbangan milik negara yang bermasalah; empayar perniagaan Syed Mokhtar dan hutang mega beliau mewujudkan kebimbangan sama ada ianya akan diselamatkan (bail out) kerajaan menggunakan duit penbayar cukai dan sejarah korupsi, kronisme dan penyalahgunaan kuasa di dalam senarai panjang  Umnoputra yang diselamatkan dengan tanggungan rakyat sejak berdekad lalu.

Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 merupakan waktu paling sesuai untuk meninjau kembali isu-isu yang membimbangkan orang ramai tentang akauntabiliti, ketelusan dan tadbir urus baik.

Walaupun Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, telah memberikan keutamaan untuk akauntabiliti, ketelusan dan tadbir urus baik di dalam Program Transformasi Kerajaan (GTP) serta Bidang Keberhasilan Utama Negara (NKRA), semua itu kekal sebagai slogan dan meniti di bibir saja memandangkan tiada yang berubah dalam bidang itu atau kedudukan rasuah Malaysia seperti mana yang digambarkan Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) Transparency International (TI) di bawah Najib tidak akan menjadi semakin buruk dibandingkan dengan Perdana Menteri sebelumnya – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir dan Tun Abdullah.

Berterusannya skandal Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) di bawah Najib adalah satu contoh.

Sehingga waktu ini, Najib telah gagal memberikan jawapan jujur dan berterus-terang sama ada rakyat Malaysia masih membayar RM100 bilion skandal kewangan yang dilakukan dalam tempoh 22 tahun pemerintahan Mahathir dengan keputusan kerajaan pada tahun 2011 untuk menghapuskira RM580 juta hutang Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli yang diselesaikan “luar mahkamah” antara Danaharta dan GLC lain dengan Tajuddin dengan mengambil kira semua saman yang belum selesai di antara mereka.

Sebelum penyelesaian “di luar mahkamah” untuk Kerajaan Malaysia menghapuskira RM580 juta  hutang Tajuddin, Tajuddin telah mendakwa di dalam afidavit di mahkamah bahawa bekas Perdana Menteri Mahathir telah membuatkannya membeli MAS pada tahun 1994 bagi menyelamatkan Bank Negara selepas bank pusat mengalami kerugian pertukaran asing secara besar-besaran berpunca daripada  spekulasi dalam pasaran pertukaran asing sebagai “khidmat kepada Negara” dengan “Overriding Agreement” untuk membayar gantirugi kepada beliau terhadap sebarang kerugian yang ditanggung.

Walaupun  perkara ini telah dinafikan Mahathir, masih perlu ditentukan siapa yang bercakap benar – Mahathir atau Tajuddin; satu jawapan yang releven dan penting kepada soalan siapa yang mesti memikul tanggungjawa bukan sajaja untuk RM10 bilion kerugian MAS – RM1.8 bilion kerugian berpunca daripada pembelian semula 29.09 peratus kepentingan Tajuddin dalam MAS pada RM8 seunit oleh kerajaan mewakili premium sebanyak RM4.32 atau 117 peratus berbanding harga pasaran pada RM3.68 sesunit apabila perjanjian itu ditandatangani pada 20 Disember 2000 diikuti laporan polis MAS dari tahun 2002 bahawa Tajuddin menyebabkan pengangkutan negara mengalami kerugian melebihi RM8 bilion.

Saya menggangarkan di Parlimen dua dekad lalu bahawa Bank Negara mengalami kerugian besar RM30 bilion daripada skandal pertukaran asing Bank Negara sewaktu pemerintahan Mahathir. Akan tetapi Bank Negara mendakwa kerugian RM10.1 bilion pada tahun 1992 dan RM5.7 bilion pada tahun  1993 sementara bekas Timbalan Gabenor Bank Negara Dr. Rosli Yaakop tahun lepas di sebuah forum awam menganggarkan bahawa Bank Negara kerugian antara USD27 hingga USD33 bilion, lima kali ganda melebihi rizab asingnya dan aset keseluruhan sebanyak USD20.7 bilion pada tahun 1992.

Apakah kebenarannya?

Barry Wain, di dalam bukunya “Malaysian Maverick”, menggangarkan Malaysia kerugian RM100 bilion di dalam empat skandal kewangan ketika pemerintahan Mahathir.

Di dalam pilihan raya umum akan datang, pengundi Malaysia bukan saja perlu menghukum transformasi kosong Najib sepanjang empat tahun lalu, tetapi juga menghukum 22 tahun autoritarian dan korup Mahathir ketika beliau menjadi Perdana Menteri dari 1981 – 2003, memandangkan Mahathir lebih galak berkempen berbanding Mahathir untuk pilihan raya umum akan datang, dasar Mahathir dan Najib telah menjadi isu utama dalam PRU13.

Saya pernah mengatakan sekiranya Pakatan Rakyat menawan Putrajaya di dalam PRU13, kita sepatutnya memuka semula siasatan bukan sahaja terhadap skandal RM30 bilion tukaran wang asing 1992, perlu juga ditubuhkan Suruhanjata Siasatan Diraja menyiasat kerugian RM100 bilion yang ditanggung Negara di dalam skandal kewangan sepanjang 22 tahun era Mahathir.

Biar 13.3 juta pengundi dalam PRU13 membuat keputusan sama ada mereka mahu menyokong cadangan supaya siasatan awam yang menyeluruh terhadap skandal kewangan era Mahathir sepanjang 22 tahun yang menelan kerugian RM100 bilion dan menyebabkan rakyat Malaysia generasi ini masih membayar harganya – walaupun tiada langsung akauntabiliti dan ketelusan berkenaannya malah ketara rasuah, kronisme dan penyalahgunaan kuasa selama lebih daripada tiga dekad.

Izinkan saya memberi jaminan kepada Mahathir bahawa saya tidak mahu melihat dia mengalami nasib seperti Mubarak atau Gadafi.

Saya malah tidak mahu melihat Mahathir di dalam penjara tetapi perlu ada perakaunan penuh untuk kerugian RM100 bilion daripada skandal kewangan ketika 22 tahun era Mahathir, satu era gelap di dalam sejarah Malaysia melihatkan institusi penting di dalam Negara seperti Kehakiman, perkhidmatan awam, Pejabat Peguam Negara, Polis, Agensi Anti-Rasuah, Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya dikompromi dan ditundukkan supaya mengikut perintah seorang saja manusia, iaitu Perdana Menteri yang mana sehingga kini Malaysia masih belum lagi pulih sepenuhnya.

Hanya selepas itu Malaysia boleh bermula dengan halaman baru – membuna bangsa Malaysia yang hebat yakni yang bersatu, harmoni, berdaya saing, progresif dan makmur.

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/23/47-day-countdown-to-13ge-royal-commission-of-inquiry-into-the-rm100-billion-losses-from-financial-scandals-in-the-22-year-mahathir-premiership-2/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 10:48 am and is filed under
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Pengiraan Detik 48 Hari ke PRU13: Najib ke arah mencipta rekodnya yang ketiga sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia bagi mengelakkan daripada menjadi Perdana Menteri UMNO/BN terakhir lantas memenuhi ramalan “RAHMAN”

Parlimen ke-12 sepatutnya dibubarkan hari ini bagi membolehkan berlangsungnya Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13, dengan pencalonan pada 16 Mac dan pembuangan undi pada 30 Mac.

Akan tetapi 22 Febuari akan datang dan berlalu tanpa sebarang pembubaran Parlimen, dengan spekulasi bahawa tarikh pembubaran dianjakkan antara 15 – 21 Mac dengan tarikh pembuangan undi pada minggu pertama atau kedua April (dijangkakan pada minggu kedua supaya ramai pengundi Cina di negeri lain tidak akan membuang undi kerana mereka dijangka tidak akan pulang ke kampong halaman sekali lagi selepas pulang ke sana minggu sebelumnya bagi menyambut perayaan Qing Ming yang akan jatuh pada 5 April).

Saya dimaklumkan pertama kali tentang pembubaran Parlimen pada 22 Febuari selepas mensyuarat peringkat tertinggi strategis politik Perdana Menteri di Putrajaya pada hari yang sama, dan lima minggu selepas itu, ia menjadi tarikh yang terus dispekulasikan sebagai tarikh paling “hangat”untuk pembubaran Parlimen PRU13.

Namun jelas dengan kesilapan demi kesilapan, Datuk Seri Najib Razak kekurangan keyakinan terhadap persediaanya untuk Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 dan kemampuan untuk melepasi ujian Mahathir oleh mantan Perdana Menteri pada 31 Januari tahun ini.

Pada Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference ke-15 mantan Perdana Menteri yang berkhidmat paling lama serta menjadi kuasa sebenar di belakang takhta UMNO secara terbuka merumuskan “ujian Mahathir” untuk Najib di dalam PRU13 – iaitu tidak cukup bagus untuk Najib sekadar menang dan beliau sepatutnya melepaskan jawatan dan memberikan laluan kepada Timbalan Presiden UMNO Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sebagai Perdana Menteri jika UMNO/Barisan Nasional Cuma mendalam majority tipis di dalam PRU13, yakni tanpa memperolehi majority dua pertiga parlimen untuk Barisan Nasional.

Akan tetapi sehingga Tahun Baru Cina pada 10 Febuari, dengan Psy dan Gangnam Style yang berharga jutaan ringgit untuk Tahun Baru Cina Pulau Pinang pada 11 Febuari, Najib masih sangat yakin bahawa beliau bersedia untuk pembubaran Parlimen pada 22 Febuari.

Namun Gangnam Style dan Psy terbukti senjata makan tuan, memandangkan kemunculan Psy di Pulau Pinang bukan sahaja satu kegagalan, akibat buruknya tersebar seluruh negara sepertimana yang digambarkan  oleh sambutan dingin yang diterima Najib apabila beliau cuba mencipta sejarah sebagai Perdana Menteri pertama yang menghadiri Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Dong Zong enam hari selepas kesan Psy.

Walaupun Najib menyangka bahawa bintang Korea K-Pop merupakan salah satu “senjata rahsia” untuk PRU13, sekarang boleh dikatakan Gangnam Style dan Psu yang “membunuh” niat bagi membubarkan Parlimen pada 22 Febuari – kerana pelbagai bencana politik dan perhubungan awam daripada jemputan bernilai RM3.5 juta untuk kemunculan Psy dan Gangnam Style dalam Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Barisan Nasional Pulau Pinang pada 11 Febuari.

Lagi pun, bukan satu sahaja bencana tetapi banyak bencana – “3 Ya untuk Psy, 3 Tidak untuk BN”, kemelut lima minit “gaul yee sang”, Psy menolak untuk menarikan Gangnam 1Malaysia Style dengan Najib, Rosmah dan Ng Yen Yen serta dakwaan terdapat ancaman bunuh untuk Psy dan Najib yang tidak masuk akal.

Kesannya, Najib sedang kearah mencipta rekod ketiga sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia bagi mengelakkan rekod keempat sebagai Perdana Menteri terakhir UMNO/BN memenuhi ramalan “RAHMAN”.

Dua rekod yang Najib telah capai sebagai Perdana Menteri ialah:

Perdana Menteri paling lama tanpa mandate pilihanrayanya sendiri;

Perlimen di bawah beliau berkhidmat untuk penggal paling lama.

Rekod ketiga yang bakal Najib capau dalam dua minggu ini pada ulang tahun 8 Mac, 2008 “tsunami politik” dalam pilihan raya umum ke-12 ialah mempunyai Parlimen di bawahnya berkhidmat dalam tempoh penuh lima tahun, yang tidak pernah jadi sebelum ini dalam sejarah Parlimen Malaysia. Setiap Hari selepas 8 Mac merupakan hari melangkaui lima tahun penggal kebiasaan Parlimen.

Najib sedang mencapai tiga rekod ini bertujuan mengelakkan beliau daripada mencapai rekid keempat memenuhi ramalan RAHMAN sebagai Perdana Menteri UMNO terakhir di Malaysia.

Kemungkinan untuk beliau memenuhi ramalan RAHMAN dengan menjadi Perdana Menteri UMNO menghantui Najib dan menyebabkannya menangguhkan PRU13 sepanjang dua tahun lalu, termasuklah yang terbaru sikap tidak tegas untuk kekal membubarkan Parlimen pada 22 Febuari.

Watak Hamlet Najib “To Be Or Not To Be” amat luar biasa mengambilkira gambaran hebat yang dipaparkan propagandis UMNO/BN bukan sahaja tentang bersedianya UMNO/BN, tetapi juga keyakinan bahawa UMNO/BN akan cemerlang di dalam PRU13 – malah memenangi majority dua pertiga parlimen dan menawan semula kerajaan-kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat!

Najib contohnya melawat Johor Baru pada hari ketiga Tahun Baru Cina dan mengisytiharkan Johor kekal menjadi kubu kuat Barisan Nasional di dalam PRU13 dan yakin mendapatkan semula kerusi BN yang jatuh ke tangan Oposisi dalam pilihan raya umum lalu.

Sebenarnya, daripada semua negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia, Najib paling risau tentang Johor yang memberikan 24 Ahli Perlimen atau 30% daripada keseluruhan 85 Ahli Parlimen BN di Semenanjung Malaysia pada pilihan raya 2008.

Inilah sebabnya mengapa Johor, bersama dengan Sabah dan Sarawak, dianggap negeri “deposit tetap” untuk UMNO/BN dan siapa yang akan menjadi “dalang” negeri dan akan dapat menentukan siapa Berjaya menawan Putrajaya.

Pada pilihan raya umum 2008, Johor kekal menjadi kubu kuat UMNO/BN walaupun calon UMNO/BN kalah teruk di Sepenanjung Malaysia:

UMNO hampir kalah kesemuanya di Kelantan kecuali Gua Musang dan Jeli;

MCA dan Gerakan kalah sepenuhnya di Pulau Pinang dan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur; dan

MCA kalah sepenuhnya di Selangor kecuali Pandan (Ong Tee Keat)

Pada Pilihan Raya Umum 2008, pemimpin UMNO/BN sangat angkuh dan bongkak mengisytiharkan Johor, Selangor dan Melaka akan menjadi negeri “pembangkang sifar”.

.

Ketika pilihan raya berlangsung, BN terlepas kerajaan negeri di Selangor kepada Pakatan Rakyat, berjaya memenangi hanya 20 kerusi daripada 56 Dewan Undangan Negeri ; tewas lima daripada 28 Dewan Undangan Negeri di Melaka sementara Pakatan Rakyat memenangi enam daripada 56 Dewan Undangan Negeri di Johor.

Pemimpin UMNO/BN sekali lagi bercakap tentang “pembangkang sifar” di Johor dalam PRU13, sepertimana pada pilihan raya umum tahun 1995 dan 1999, dan “pembangkang sifar” menjadi kenyataan pada pilihan raya umum 2004.

Sama ada Johor akan kembali menjadi negeri “sifar pembangkang” akan ditentukan oleh pengundi Johor dan bukannya pemimpin UMNO/BN, negeri atau Negara – bukan juga Najib atau Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.

Pemimpin, negeri dan persekutuan UMNO/BN, mempunyai tiga hari lalu untuk “berseronok” mempercayai bahawa Pakatan Rakyat Johor sedang berpecah dan memusnahkan diri sendiri dan mereka tidak akan bebas daripada mimpi ngeri di dalam PRU13 untuk menyaksikan penghujung Johor sebagai kubu kuat UMNO/BN sejak setengah abad lalu.

Keputusan tetap akan keluar sama ada pemimpin UMNO terlepas mimpi ngeri ini melihat Johor kehadapan di dalam “tsunami poitik”di dalam pilihan raya umum ke-13 – mengepalai transformasi lanskap politik di Semenanjung Malaysia!

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/22/48-day-countdown-to-13ge-najib-is-heading-towards-setting-a-third-record-as-malaysian-prime-minister-in-order-to-avoid-a-fourth-record-as-the-last-umnobn-prime-minister-fulfilling-the-rahma/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 9:54 am and is filed under
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PH sends ship to Sabah – But Sulu sultan says followers staying put

By Nikko Dizon, TJ Burgonio

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Originally posted: 9:23 pm | Sunday, February 24th, 2013

The followers of the sultan of Sulu holed up in a village in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, could be flushed out Monday after the expiration on Sunday of a 48-hour extension of the Malaysian deadline for them to leave and the failure of Malacañang’s back-channel efforts to solve the standoff peacefully.

The Philippine government sent a humanitarian ship to Sabah Sunday night to bring home the women and children among the sultan’s armed followers holed up in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town and encircled by Malaysian security forces, but the sultanate said no one would go with the mercy mission.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement that the ship would sail from Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, before midnight and stand by off Lahad Datu as Malaysian authorities talked with the sultan’ followers.

The DFA said it informed the Malaysian Embassy last Saturday that the Philippine government was sending a ship to Sabah. Malaysian foreign minister Anifah Aman told AFP, however, that he had “yet to be informed on this matter.” Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The vessel will sail for 11 to 12 hours and is expected to arrive in Lahud Datu at noon Monday. Aboard the mercy ship were Filipino Muslim leaders, social workers and medical personnel, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario  said, stressing that the government “was deeply concerned” about the presence of women among the group.

Del Rosario called on “the entire group to go back to their homes and families, even at the same time, we are addressing the core issues they have raised.”

“Please do so for your own safety,” he added.

An Inquirer source said Philippine officials hoped the Malaysians would hold their fire as the mercy mission was going on “for the sake of innocent lives.”

Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia J. Eduardo Malaya said in a text message to the Inquirer: “Arrangements have been made with Malaysian authorities for the entry of the humanitarian mission to Lahad Datu.”

“Our priority is the safety and security of the women and other civilians in the group. We thank the Malaysian government for allowing the ship’s entry and their shared concern for the well-being of the civilians,” Malaya said.

An Inquirer source said the ship would also pick up any of the Sulu sultan’s armed followers who would choose to go home.

No one’s going

The Sulu sultanate said Sunday night that it was not notified about the humanitarian mission.

But Abraham Idjirani, secretary general and spokesman of the sultanate, said the Sulu sultan was thanking President Aquino for the humanitarian assistance.

Idjirani said, however, that the women among the sultan’s followers in Tanduao were “determined to stay with their husbands.”

“They won’t leave,” Idjirani told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Del Rosario had requested Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman to work out a four-day extension of the Feb. 22 deadline to give government emissaries more time to convince Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to order his 250 followers in Tanduao to stand down and return home.

But all the Malaysian government was willing to grant was a 48-hour extension, which expired Sunday with the back-channel contact the Aquino administration had hoped could convince Jamalul to call his followers back home still in Manila.

The contact, Sultan Bantilan Esmail Kiram III, a brother of Jamalul, had changed his mind about going to Sabah to convince the sultan’s followers to lay down their arms and return home.

It remained unclear on Sunday why Esmail changed his mind about helping end the standoff without bloodshed.

Hardliner

Officials said, however, that communication lines with Esmail and the sultan remained open. They said the Malaysian government preferred to talk with Esmail because Jamalul was a hardliner.

Feeling left out of the peace negotiations between the administration of President Aquino and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Jamalul sent a group of followers, including 250 armed men and some women and children, to Sabah to press his clan’s claim to the territory formerly known as North Borneo.

The group landed in Tanduao village on Feb. 9, drove out the residents, and occupied it to signify a presence that stood for ownership of the land that belonged to the Sulu sultanate but passed on by Britain to Malaysia in 1957 after granting independence to its colony once known as Malaya.

Malaysia leases Sabah from the descendants of the Sulu sultan for 5,300 ringgit, or P77,000, a year, a token sum that may be one of the reasons for Jamalul’s decision to order the occupation of the territory.

Jamalul’s followers, led by his brother Agbimuddin Kiram and styling themselves as the “Royal Security Forces of the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo,” are reportedly running out of food supplies and foraging around Tanduao for root crops and vegetables as a food blockade thrown around the village by the Malaysian authorities has begun to bite.

Jamalul asked the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) on Feb. 20 to help his followers whose lives are threatened by the food blockade, but the UN agency had not announced a response as of Sunday.

Irresponsible, reckless

A senior diplomat blamed the crisis on the “irresponsibility and recklessness” of the heirs of the Sulu sultanate.

The diplomat said Jamalul’s order to his followers to hold their ground despite the presence of women and children among them showed the heirs’ “irresponsibility and lack of concern for civilian lives.”

It is “illogical and irrational” for Jamalul to say that his followers’ objective is peaceful when they are armed and intruding into the territory of a neighboring country, the diplomat said.

“If there is bloodshed, it will be on the Kirams’ hands and not on the government’s,” the diplomat said.

The diplomat described the heirs’ Sabah decision as “quixotic and reckless.” By going ahead with it, they have placed at risk the peace process with the MILF and all Filipinos’ expectations of peace and development in Mindanao, the diplomat said.

Taking claim to UN

The Kirams called a news conference on Friday to say that they wanted to elevate their claim to Sabah to the United Nations and to the International Court of Justice.

President Aquino has ordered a study of the Sabah claim, including a look through its history and the documents covering the lease agreement between the Sulu sultanate and Malaysia and an assessment of its validity.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said on Sunday that the claim would be treated separately in the future.

For now, she said, the government’s main concern was to ensure the safety of the Sulu sultan’s followers in Sabah.

Diplomats were reportedly at a meeting Sunday as the extension of the deadline for Agbimuddin’s group to leave on its own neared.

As of press time on Sunday night, there was no word from the foreign office about the result of the meeting.

Not too long

In Malaysia, Foreign Minister Anifah was reported as saying the government was “hoping the standoff will end peacefully with the latest deadline.”

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters that he wanted the 2-week-old standoff to “end sooner than later” without bloodshed.

But he said the extended period should not be too long and his ministry would leave it to the security forces to conduct an operation to end the standoff.—With reports from The Star/Asia News Network, Christine O. Avendaño and Agence France-Press

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 7:08 am and is filed under
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Room for competent Bumiputera companies: How to become competitive

— Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

Feb 24, 2013

FEB 24 — After reading the article “Room for Competitive Bumiputera Companies’ in The Edge this morning, I am encouraged to write this piece to support Petronas Chairman Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas.

He said that in 2010 and 2011 alone Petronas awarded about Rm 74 billion worth of contracts to Bumiputera controlled companies, a sum cannot be described as anything but huge.

Despite this Petronas has become a punching bag for Malay right wing and business groups in recent months. The Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM)- an umbrella of more than 60 business group blamed Petronas for sidelineling Bumiputera companies and favouring more competitive foreign companies.

The MTEM has called for Tan Sri Shamsul and the Menbers of the Board of Petronas to resign. This is outrageous. The Malays cannot continue to expect hand outs and juicy contracts.

It is time they must realise that they have to become more efficient and competitive to face the real business world.

Although I do not know enough in the oil and gas business to comment on Bumiputera contractors in that field, I am fully qualified to comment on Bumiputera contractors in the civil, electrical and mechanical engineering construction industries which covers a wide range of work including roads, buildings, water supply, sewerage, irrigation, power stations, electrical cabling etc.

I would like to pose a few questions which may appear unkind or insensitive but nonetheless need to be asked. Out of hundreds of high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur does anyone know of any Bumiputera contractor who has won any of the building contracts through an open competitive tender process?

Out of hundreds of kilometers of highway in Malaysia, can any Bumiputera contractor who won any part of the highway contracts through open tender be identified?

The answer to the above questions unfortunately is in the negative. The evidence is that all the government’s well-intentioned efforts in trying to produce competitive Bumiputera contractors since 1957 have failed.

Contracting is a very difficult business yet it is so easy to register as a contractor. Why this has happened needs to be openly discussed rather than swept under the carpet.

Continuously giving out contracts to Bumiputeras without competitive tenders will only make them more inefficient.

Conclusion: Half-baked contractors are not in our national interest Contracting is one of the most, if not the most, difficult business and it takes a very long time to produce competent contractors.

It is very dangerous to quickly produce half-baked ones as they will soon find themselves in financial difficulties and require bailouts.

The bankruptcy record shows that a large number of debtors are Bumiputera contractors with many of them unable to pay back the loans given by government- controlled financial institutions.

The government must change its methods and policies which have proven unworkable.

There is no urgency in producing more Bumiputera contractors as many of the key industries e.g. the banks, plantations, motor vehicles, taxis, rice etc are already under the control of Bumiputeras.

Our government must not be narrowly communalistic and should make use of all the groups, irrespective of race, that are more efficient in the contracting business.

Giving out contracts without a full tender process is akin to corruption. I urge the government to stop this corrupt practice and to utilise the savings from these enormous sums to implement the options suggested above.

Since independence 1957, the BN Government would have spent hundreds of trillions of ringgit and have failed to produce some competitive and efficient Bumiputera contractors.

It must be the most wasteful national mission ever known.

Note on the Author

I am a 80 year-old chartered civil engineer and one of the founders of the three larger construction companies listed in Bursa Malaysia.

These are Gamuda Bhd, Mudajaya Group Bhd, and IJM Corporation Bhd. I was a member of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia for three terms.

I was also on the Sirim Board responsible in writing the Malaysian standard specifications for cement and concrete.

In addition, I was the Secretary General of Master Builders Association, Malaysia for nine years. These days, I am completely retired.

My intention in writing this article is honourable. Many people may not like reading what I have written and the truth may be difficult to accept. Nevertheless, this is my considered analysis for the benefit of my country, the Bumiputera contractors and the construction industry.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 2:35 am and is filed under
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Situasi di Lahad Datu dengan 150 orang penceroboh Sulu menimbulkan semakin banyak tanda tanya – mengapa Hishammuddin menyerahkan kepada Wisma Putra dan bukannya Menteri Pertahanan?

Situasi buntu di Lahad Datu dengan 150 orang penceroboh Sulu menimbulkan banyak tanda tanya.

Hari ini, Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein berkata bahawa Kementerian Dalam Negeri menyerahkan kepada Wisma Putra untuk membuat keputusan berhubung permohonan kerajaan Filipina meminta lanjutan masa bagi pengusiran kumpulan penceroboh di Lahad Datu akan tetapi lanjutan sedemikian “tidak boleh terlalu panjang, memandangkan kementerian tidak akan berkompromi dengan perkara yang mampu mengancam kedaulatan negara”.

Jelas, Menteri Dalam Negeri tidak senada dengan majoriti rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia yang sama-sama merasakan bahawa kedaulatan dan keselamatan negara telah dikompromi pada permulaan pencerobohan itu lagi dan situasi buntu dengan 150 militia Sulu dalam kawasan Sabah di Kampong Tanduo dalam Felda Sahabat, Lahad Datu sejak 9 Febuari.

Berkenaan isu sama ada kedaulatan dan keselamatan negara telah diancam oleh pencerobohan yang kononnya tentera Kesulatanan Sulu, kebanyakkan rakyat Malaysia terbukti lebih patriotik berbanding Menteri Dalam Negeri sendiri dalam hal ini.

Sebenarnya, soalan yang semakin ditanya-tanya rakyat Malaysia adalah mengapa Hishammuddin menyerahkan kepada Wisma Putra bukannya kepada Kementerian Pertahanan?

Bolehkah Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjelaskan mengapa beliau bertegas bahawa Hishammuddin dan pihak polis yang sepatutnya menguruskan situasi penceroboh Sulu apabila sepatutnya Menteri Perhanan, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi dan pasukan tentera?

Sehingga kini rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia masih tergapai-gapai tentang bagaimana terdapat kelompongan pada kawalan keselamatan sejak awal lagi melibatkan tentera laut, pasukan tentera, pasukan maritime dan polis sehingga mengakibatkan pencerobohan militia Sulu.

Siapa yang bersedia kedepan dan bertanggungjawab terhadap kelompongan dalam kawalan keselamatan dan situasi buntu yang sudah masuk minggu ketiga, mengancam bukan saja kedaulatan dan keselamatan negara tetapi memberikan imej buruk kepada Malaysia apabila pemimpin kerajaan berulang kali berbangga bahawa Malaysia merupakan negara paling selamat di Asia Tenggara – Menteri Pertahanan, Menteri Dalam Negeri, Perdana Menteri atau pegawai-pegawai di dalam pasukan tentera atau polis, siapakah yang akan dipersalahkan?

Apa yang rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia tahu ialah kegagalan beberapa tarikh akhir yang kabur untuk militia Sulu itu kembali ke Filipina sejak dua minggu lalu.

Sedih dan memalukan apabila sepanjang dua minggu, rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia terpaksa mencari di internet untuk membaca tentang apa yang sedang berlaku berkenaan situasi Lahad Datu daripada media Filipina kerana terdapat sekatan maklumat yang serius terhadap isu itu di dalam media Malaysia – satu lagi reputasi buruk antarabangsa buat nama Malaysia!

Saya menyeru Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk menghentikan sekatan maklumat terhadap situasi Kampung Tanduo daripa media Malaysia dan kerajaan Malaysia sepatutnya mula memberitahu rakyat Sabah dan Malaysia apa sebenarnya terjadi di Kampung Tanduo, bermula dengan lawatan Perdana Menteri sendiri untuk “Listen, Listen, Listen” kepada rakyat di Lahad Datu.

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/02/23/lahad-datuk-stand-off-with-some-150-sulu-intruders-getting-curioser-and-curioser-why-is-hishammuddin-passing-the-buck-to-wisma-putra-and-not-to-the-defence-ministry/

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 11:06 am and is filed under
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Suaris Interview: Future of Malays #5

by Bakri Musa

Suaris Interview:  The Future of Malays #5:  It appears that you are cynical towards things labeled “Islam.” Many feel that you do not subscribe to conservative Islam as practiced by the vast majority of Muslims rather the basic teachings of our faith. What is your comment?

[The original was posted on suaris.wordpress.com on Feb 13, 2013.]

MBM:  I am a Muslim, by birth and through practice. I believe in God and Muhammad, s.a.w, as His Last Messenger, as well as the five pillars of our faith. That of course is the belief of all Muslims.

            What is the essence of the teachings of our Holy Koran and Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w.? Command good and forbid evil! That is repeated many times in our Koran and hadith. That too is agreed upon by all Muslims.

            That is the “golden rule” of our faith. I am less interested in labels, those can be easily printed. Content is something else. If a state does not subscribe to the creed of doing good and forbidding evil, then I do not consider it to be Islamic regardless of the label. It is easy to carve the names “Allah” and “Muhammad” on arches and buildings; likewise for leaders to don overflowing robes and huge turbans.

            The question is whether corruption, bribery, and abuse of power are deemed “avoidance of evil.” Likewise, if leaders ignore the sufferings and deprivations of their citizens, could that be considered “doing good?” When I make judgment on whether a state is Islamic, those are the crucial factors, not how often the leaders have been to Mecca or how exquisite their recitation of the Koran.

            A Singaporean once asserted that his country is more Islamic than neighboring Indonesia. In Singapore there is no corruption or abuse of power by its leaders. Citizens too are well taken care of and not poverty stricken. Poverty invites impiety, goes an ancient wisdom, and impiety in turn leads to infidelity to our faith. Visit nearby Riau and the wisdom of that observation would be readily self evident. The abject poverty there assaults your sensibilities. We cannot blame those poor Indonesians. The Chinese too were like that when they were plagued with poverty in their not-too-distant past.

            Based on the foundation of our faith – command good and forbid evil – it is hard to dispute the view of the Singaporean.

            I do not quite understand the meaning of conservative versus liberal as applied to Islam. While I understand the meaning of those two words in their original English, in Malay those terms have acquired diametrically opposite meanings. That is why I refrain from using either.

            It would be more meaningful if I were to give an example of an Islamic society and leader I hold in high regards and compare both with another I would be very hesitant in emulating. It is not my place to say which one is more Islamic and would enter Paradise. Only Allah knows that, and He is not telling me or anyone else.

            There are fewer than 15 million Ismailis in the world, about the same number as Malays in Malaysia. Those Ismailis do not even have a country of their own, but their power, influence and contributions to the world generally and Muslim community specifically far exceed their number.

            Ismailis emphasize the giving of zakat (tithe), and with that money they build schools and universities, as well as invest in companies that among other things manufacture pharmaceuticals. The Aga Khan University Hospital in Pakistan was built only in 1985 but it is already a well known center. The Ismailis could not care less whether their women don their hijab; they are more concerned that their women be trained as doctors, teachers and engineers so they could contribute to society, to be makhlok soleh (exemplary beings).

            Compare them to the Talibans in Afghanistan. Taliban means students, but those students are busy burning schools and splashing acids on young girls wanting to go to school. Taliban youths are busy leaning how to use C4 explosives and high-powered AK47 rifles; young Ismailis are busy solving problems in science and calculus.

            A society reflects its leaders. The leader of the Ismailis is the Aga Khan. Yes, he is wealthy, raises thoroughbreds, and his father was once married to Rita Hayward, the famed American actress. The current Aga Khan however, graduated from Harvard; he leveraged his networking with American intellectuals to entice them to teach at the universities he built in Asia.

            The leader held in high regards by the Taliban was Osama. He too was wealthy and qualified as an engineer from a Saudi university, but he expended his wealth and skills to destroy buildings and kill people.

            Who better “command good and forbid evil,” Aga Khan or Osama? I let readers determine whether Malay society today is closer to the Ismailis or the Taliban. Again, I leave it to readers to decide whether the Ismailis or Taliban we should emulate.

            We are obsessed with hudud and hijab while drug abuse and abandoned babies are rampant in our community. Why should we emphasize hudud and not zakat? We should be mandating zakat on every Muslim including the sultans. It is one of the five pillars of our faith; hudud is not.

            If everyone (save the poor) pay their zakat (2.5 percent of their assets), and then we employ the smartest economists and investment bankers to manage those funds, there would be no end to the good those would bring. That is exactly what the Ismailis are doing, building schools and hospitals with their zakat. What are the benefits of the Taliban’s zakat? If we emphasize hudud, many would end up with their hands chopped off. Who will feed them and their families?

            We best demonstrate our Islamic values by not tolerating the corrupt and incompetent, as well as those who have abused our trust in them. Our Koran commands thus.

            Yes, we have to accept Islam in its totality; we do not have the privilege of picking and choosing only those parts that please us. The crucial question is why should we emphasize hijab and the chopping of hands but tolerate rotten education and gross corruption? What should be our priority? That reflects our values.

            Consider education. Hamka once said that God gave us two Korans; one, the Koran we are all familiar with; two, the universe outside and within us. For the first, Allah had given us a prophet in the person of Muhammad, s.a.w., to guide us in studying it. For the second, God had blessed us with an intellect so we could reason and distinguish between good from evil, truth from falsehood. We have an obligation to study both Korans.

            Scientists elucidating the secrets of the polio virus could be viewed as studying this second Koran. The result was the discovery of a vaccine that had spared millions from the devastating disease. That is “doing good.” The Taliban however, view the vaccine as a poison perpetrated by the infidels. Consequently polio still afflicts many in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Again based on the golden rule of our faith, is that “doing good?”

            In the early centuries of our faith, our ulama did not differentiate between worldly and religious knowledge. Both ultimately originate from God. Those ancient ulama were also proficient scientists, competent physicians, and skilled mathematicians. They were as diligent in studying this second Koran as the first. Today’s ulama however, totally ignore this second Koran. To them it is not worthy of study. The ummah takes their cue from the ulama; consequently, Muslims have not contributed our share for the betterment of mankind.

            We should be concerned with such critical issues as how to educate our young so they could make their rightful contributions to society. Do good in this world and God will look kindly upon you on the Day of Judgment. He is after all Most Just!

            Consider this ahadith (approximately translated):  A prostitute was admitted into heaven because she once saved a dog dying of thirst by giving it water. Do you think such women wear hijabs? Another ahadith has it that a man was admitted to Heaven because he once removed a thorn from a road. If that deed was worthy of admission to Paradise, imagine the rewards for someone who actually built the road, meaning, the engineers!

            Again, we best demonstrate our Islamic values by building safe roads and bridges. There is no point carving “Allah” and verses of the Holy Koran on such structures if our architects and engineers are incompetent, and the roofs they designed and build would collapse in the first storm and injure many, or if their bridges have more water flowing above than below!

            A few years ago there was a public debate between Datuk Asri Zainal Abidin and Astora Jabat on tajdid (reform in Islam). I admire both individuals; they are among the most thoughtful. However, in that three-hour debate, they argued on the minutiae of hudud, on whether a woman’s hair is considered aurat and thus must be covered. Only towards the end did a brave soul ask why we should be bothered with hijab when our nation is crippled with rampant corruption. His query was never addressed. We must reform Islam so we could address pressing social problems that now blight our society. Don’t be obsessed with hijab.

            The typical religious discourse on radio and television or at our mosques and universities is unidirectional, from speaker to listeners. The bulk of the time would be consumed with excessive salutations and endless quotations of Koran and hadith. When both are cited, discussions would have effectively been shut down. The Koran and hadith should be the beginning, not the ending of a discussion.

            Consider the ahadith that says the community would be divided into 73 sects, only one of which is true and genuine. The remainder 72 would presumably be headed for Hell. How we interpret that hadith has consequences. If every ulama feels that his is the only true sect, then he would have a messianic zeal to correct the rest, with the rationale of helping them enter Heaven! That’s what motivates those Taliban to splash acid on schoolgirls.

            Statistically speaking, you have only one chance in 73 to be correct, less than 1.5 percent! That probability should humble and motivate us to learn from the others in the hope that one of them is the one true faith!

            I am blessed to live in America with its freedom. I can read Shia and Ahmaddiyah literature without being harassed by religious officials. There are none in America! In Malaysia, I would be jailed without trial, treated just like the communists of yore. Would such a stand conducive to peace and understanding or breed suspicion and enmity among Muslims?

            Like Astora Jabat, I do not subscribe to any figh (sect). I do not as yet know which of the 73 sects is genuine. What I do know is that piety, justness and wisdom are not restricted to any community. I can still learn from the Shias, Ismailis, Salafis and Wahabis, among others, on the truth and beauty of our faith.

            On the Day of Judgment, we would be held accountable for our deeds on this earth. We could not give the excuse that we were merely following the teachings of this ulama or that. Our faith is blessed not to have a defined clergy class. We have to think for ourselves. We decide whether to follow the ulama who command us to hate non-Muslims and consider those Muslims whose politics we disagree with as infidels.

            Back to the beginning, my understanding of Islam is simple and straightforward:  Command good and forbid evil. The rest are but examples and illustrations.

Cont’d:  Suaris Interview The Future of Malays #6:  Continuing on, what is your view on PAS and its leaders? Will their policies and activities usher Malays forward?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 February 2013, 7:54 am and is filed under
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44-Day Countdown to 13GE – If Suharto or Marcos had signed an Election Integrity Pledge at the height of their power and office, would it enhance or discredit such a pledge?

I am not surprised that there has been no response whatsoever whether from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Cabinet or UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition to my proposal in Kuching yesterday  to attach a 10-Point Addendum to the Transparency International (TI) Election Integrity Pledge to ensure that signatories are signing a meaningful document to usher in a new era of integrity and good governance rather than  being involved in a pure publicity stunt which will have absolutely no bearing or  influence on the  the quality of integrity and good governance of future governments.

Several Pakatan Rakyat MPs have signed the TI Election Integrity Pledge even before Najib appended his signature with great fanfare last Wednesday.

But it is precisely because Najib had signed the TI Election Integrity Pledge that grave doubts have been raised about the purpose and meaningfulness in signing such a pledge, as in  his four years as Prime Minister, Najib  had not shown any commitment or seriousness to combat corruption and abuses of power.

This is why Malaysia had plunged to the worst rankings in the annual TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in his four years as Prime Minister from 2009 to 2012 as compared to the past 18 years.

How can Najib convince Malaysians that he is now a “convert” in the fight against corruption and abuses of power when Malaysia in the past four years is most corrupt in the nation’s 56-year history when compared to the previous five Prime Ministers, whether Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir or Tun Abdulah?

Can Najib’s signing of the TI Election Integrity Pledge absolve him of all the failures to check corruption and abuses of power in the past four years or his own involvements in corrupt deals and abuses of power?

Before I came to the ceramah, I had searched the Internet for the most corrupt leaders in the world.

For us in ASEAN, two names stand out, namely Suharto and Marcos, who  are in the company of the “most corrupt leaders in the world” like the notorious and infamous kleptocrats like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who amassed a fortune of over US$5 billion while his country sank further and further into poverty  and Sani Abacha of Nigeria whose family was regarded as a criminal organisation building a fortune estimated from US$3 billion to US$4 billion.

Who can forget Marcos or his wife, Imelda with her 2,500 pair of shoes? It was reported that when Marcos fled the Philippines, US Customs agents discovered 24 suitcases of gold bricks and diamond jewellery hidden in diapers bags and in addition certificates of gold bullions valued in the billions of dollars.

Marcos stole US$5 billion to US$10 billion from the public coffers and took them to the United States, Switzerland and other countries when he fled the Philippines after  Filipinos finally rose up against his authoritarian corruption, political repression and human rights violations.

Suharto had the dubious honour of topping the all-time corruption league table, as Transparency International had described him as the No. 1 most corrupt leader in the world with an alleged haul of US$15 billion to US$35 billion in 31 years as President of Indonesia.

If Suharto or Marcos had signed an Election Integrity Pledge at the height of their power and office, would it enhance or discredit such a pledge?

What has further raised doubts about the TI Election Integrity Pledge after Najib’s signature was the presence of the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who had put Malaysia on the international radar of anti-corruption campaigns after the allegations in the ground-breaking and explosive report by the Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) last September which estimated the assets of Taib Mahmud’s family at US$21 billion (RM64 billion), with the wealth of Taib himself put at a whopping US$15 billion (RM46 billion) after 30 years in office.

Did Najib cause a full investigation to be conducted whether by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the  alleged billion-dollar fortunes of Taib Mahmud after 30 years as Sarawak Chief Minister?

I want to sign the TI Election Integrity Pledge but I want it to be a meaningful and not a meaningless exercise.

This is why I have suggested a 10-point addendum to the TI Election Integrity Pledge to make it a meaningful document, and I had suggested five of the points should cover the following areas:

1. Public Declaration of  Assets by all present Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar.

2. Pledge of “No money politics” in the 13th General Elections. Every ringgit of expenditure for the 13GE, whether by the candidate or the political party concerned, must be accounted and audited.

3. Pledge by signatories not to raise the spectre of May 13 or use politics of fear,  blackmail or hatred  to intimidate  or frighten voters.

4. Commitment by signatories to free, fair and clean elections which is  to be monitored by a Fair and Clean Elections Commission as well national and international observes.

5. Pledge by signatories to accept the verdict of the voters in the 13GE fully committing them to a peaceful transition of power in Putrajaya if this is the will of the electorate.

Malaysians do not want an Arab Spring involving bloodshed and revolution.

What Malaysians want is a Korean Spring, as South Korea  preceded Malaysia by 15 years in effecting a peaceful transition of power when an Opposition candidate Kim Dae-jung was elected and sworn in as President.

Again in 2007, South Korea underwent  a second peaceful transition of national power in the South Korean Presidential elections.

Is Najib prepared to demonstrate his seriousness and commitment in making a meaningful “Election Integrity Pledge” by agreeing to the proposal of a 10-Point Addendum to ensure that we are entering a new era of integrity and good governance, regardless of who wins the 13GE?

(Speech at the DAP Segamat UBAH Truck ceramah in Kampong Abdullah, Segamat on Monday, 25th February 2013 at 10 pm)

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/03/01/pengiraan-detik-44-hari-ke-pru13-sekiranya-suharto-atau-marcos-telah-menandatangani-ikrar-integriti-pilihan-raya-sewaktu-di-puncak-kuasa-apakah-akan-memperhebat-atau-mencemar-ikrar-itu/

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 1:35 pm and is filed under
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Brimstone on BN!

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 11:53 am and is filed under
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GE13 as a late pregnancy?

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Feb 25, 2013

This is Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s first experience in calling a general election, but waiting for the announcement is as bad as an expectant mother’s wait for an overdue birth. After a gestation of 42 weeks, it is recommended that labour be induced.

Unfortunately, Najib is acting like an overanxious, elderly primigravida, who prolongs the gestation period because he fears both the birth and the progeny. He also displays all the symptoms of a mother carrying a post-mature foetus; sleepless nights, backache, sweating and anxiety.

It is highly probably that elections have been rigged in Malaysia, for many decades. Recently, the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into immigrants in Sabah provided ample proof that citizenship was awarded in exchange for voting rights. In addition, the opposition has unearthed much evidence of cheating at the polls.

Yesterday, Najib announced that GE13 would be held only after the rakyat had derived full benefit from the success of his government’s national transformation policies (NTP).

He said, “That is why we wait until we are exhausted to hold the general election, we wait because I want to prove that the national transformation policy can truly succeed.”

Najib should have no reason to delay the announcement of the date for GE13, if he knows that Umno has cheated in the elections since the 1980s and he also knows that this cheating will secure a win at GE-13 – unless he has been warned by his intelligence services that he will still lose. despite the cheating.

Cheating can influence the outcome of an election to a certain extent and it does not help Najib that the electorate has been alerted to the possibility of cheating. The opposition and internal election monitors are also aware of the tactics that have been used to cheat, and foreign countries are observing the fairness of GE13.

In fear of Mahathir’s warning

Najib is afraid of the reports from his own intelligence services, which state that BN will lose in GE13. He is mindful of the warning from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that he will be replaced if BN does not win back two-thirds majority in GE13.

The damage from Mahathir’s ‘Project M’ is inestimable. Mahathir deliberately allowed foreign elements to move freely in Malaysia. Background checks were rarely done and it is possible that terrorist elements have slipped into the country.

The police have no reason to challenge these “newly minted Malaysians” if they have not broken the law. The MyKad allows them to work, buy property and live in Malaysia.

What would happen, if at some point in the future, the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos-cum-Malaysians in Sabah, demanded cessation from Malaysia to either join the Phillippines or be an independent nation?

The same could be said of states bordering Thailand or the peninsular states with close ties with Indonesia. What if the terrorist sleeper cells are activated and ordered to begin an armed offensive? If 100 men can slip into the country, supposedly undetected, there may be arms caches stored in and around Sabah.

Najib refuses to take a break from campaigning and focus on the Sulu mess. Najib, his Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi are passing the buck from one person to another.

No one responsible, no one accountable

And, as in most scandals involving the Malaysian government, no one is responsible, no one is made accountable and as usual, no one will be given the sack.

Contrast this with the Falklands war in 1985 when the British PM Margaret Thatcher sent an armada to defend the Falklands from an Angentine invasion. The islands were 8,000 miles from England, it was approaching winter and the seas off the Falklands were treacherous.

The logistics of planning the Falklands intervention and its eventual execution were difficult, but Thatcher pulled it off. Lahad Datu is just 1,200 miles from Putrajaya, but Najib’s response to this invasion has been lacklustre.

Prolonging the date for GE13 is just buying time for Najib to find more methods to cheat at the polls.

He said, “We should be proud because the nation has achieved much success. If Ulu Temiang is to have its name changed to Seremban Utara, but the government should not be changed.” (sic)

What is there to be proud of when our alternative papers are full of accounts of corruption, abuse of power and crimes committed by the government, its cronies or its agents? Najib is afraid of losing the election and he does not realise the damage he is inflicting on the nation.

Najib also said, “Yesterday, I was in Terengganu, I rode the trishaw and asked the pedaller how the present government was, and he said he would support the BN because PAS was ridiculous, only knows how to talk but does not know how to implement.”

The pedaller would say that, wouldn’t he? Does Najib really understand what being prime minister is all about? So far, he has displayed a breathtaking amount of stupidity and ignorance.

With the system of governance breaking down in Malaysia, we are entitled to ask whether Najib has benefited from his privileged education. The man who was born with the silver spoon in his mouth has no clue how to run a country.

At the time of independence, Malaysians fought hard for democracy but Najib and Mahathir have allowed Malaysia to regress. Both men have a chronic inability to comprehend the damage they have wrought on our institutions.

BN is indeed panicking. Tanda Putera was screened to Felda settlers despite the cabinet ruling on the film last year. Violence against students and members of the opposition has increased.

Taxpayer’s money is being given away recklessly. Companies are being sold to cronies, in what amounts to the biggest sale of the century. How is it possible that one man, Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary can have a monopoly in every industry in Malaysia, from padi to planes?

Najib selectively screens foreigners entering Malaysia. It is alleged by Sarawak Report, that fomer British PM Tony Blair’s public relations company, Centreground Political Communications, is advising Najib on election planning and yet, an indepenedent Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, was deported because he was a threat to Najib’s form of democracy.

When S Vell Paari admonished the MIC president G Palanivel and threatened to lead the Indians to vote for the opposition if Palanivel did not act against Ibrahim Ali and Ridhuan Tee Abdullah for their scathing remarks about the Indians, it was another sign of desperation.

Is Vell Paari’s outburst just a response to the bid by Hindraf’s P Waythamoorthy to usurp the MIC as the champion of Indian rights? Vell Paari has many skeletons in his cupboard and if BN were to lose, he would have to face the music. Some people have suggested that Vell Paari joins the opposition, but why do we need more frogs?

Like any pregnant mother, Najib should realise that prolonged pregnancies may not harm the mother but will place the foetus in grave danger. After the 42nd week of gestation, the placenta, which supplies nutrients and oxygen, will deteriorate. If GE13 is further delayed, who knows how the rakyat will react?

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 9:13 am and is filed under
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Hopes run high Sabah drama over in 48 hours

By Tarra Quismundo

Philippine Daily Inquirer

1:44 am | Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

MANILA, Philippines—The standoff between Malaysian security forces and an armed group of followers of the sultan of Sulu entered a third week on Monday with hopes running high that the drama would end within the next 48 hours.

The Malaysian government extended the deadline for the armed group to leave the village of Tanduao in Lahad Datu town by another 48 hours to allow time for talks between emissaries of the Philippine government and the family of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III for the recall of the so-called Royal Armed Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.

The first 48-hour extension of the Feb. 22 deadline expired on Sunday as the Philippine government sent a Navy ship to pick up the women and children among Jamalul’s followers to get them out of harm’s way in the event the Malaysian forces were forced to storm the Filipinos’ camp.

A statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the ship was leaving for Sabah from Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, on Sunday night.

But the DFA said Monday the ship was still in Tawi-Tawi, awaiting diplomatic clearance to enter Malaysian waters and be on standby off Lahad Datu to receive the noncombatants from the armed group led by Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Jamalul, who ordered the intrusion into Sabah to press his clan’s claim to the territory.

“We have learned that [Malaysian forces] have surrounded the area. So what we want to happen is [for] this group to now decide to leave the area for safety and get on board our humanitarian ship,” said DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez.

“We don’t want them to get hurt, to think of resorting to violence or whatever. That’s why we sent a ship there. It’s ready to go to the border when we have people who are ready to be moved and fetched,” he said.

The plan

The plan is to send the ship to Sabah once Jamalul’s followers heed the government’s appeal for them to come out and return home.

Malaysian vessels will ferry them to the border and transfer them to the Philippine ship, Hernandez said.

“Hopefully, before Tuesday, they will already be on board our ship,” he added.

“The ship will stay there as long as it is needed, as long as the offer to take care of them is there. It’s a humanitarian mission,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters in Malacañang.

Aside from carrying food supplies, the ship is also equipped to treat injured people.

Earlier reports said the ship would also pick up members of Agbimuddin’s group who would choose to leave, but Lacierda said he hoped the women would urge the rest “to come home.”

Another vessel had reportedly left Sulu early Monday for Sabah.

Philippine officials said the ship was transporting a member of the Sulu sultan’s family accompanied by certain government officials.

Tawi-Tawi Gov. Sadikul Sahali told reporters that he knew about the vessel from Sulu but did not disclose who was on board.

Talks going on

Talks were going on Monday between government emissaries and the sultan’s family despite the reported hardlining of Jamalul.

“We have some people whom we have sent to talk to the family and the group in that area and we are hoping they will be convinced to leave the area for their safety,” Hernandez said.

A brother of Jamalul whom the government had hoped would help convince the sultan to call his followers home Monday said he was not informed about the humanitarian mission until after the ship had left port.

“I know there was a ship. But they told me about the mission after the ship had left. What’s that?” Esmail Kiram said.

That ship, he said, will not return with its intended passengers.

The sultan’s followers will not take the ship, he said, because “they will never leave their own homeland.”

“This is do or die,” Agbimuddin, the armed group’s leader, said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990 AM.

“I believe we are right [and] this place belongs to us. We will stay,” Agbimuddin said.

Agbimuddin said he was not concerned about the Malaysian deadline. He and the “royal army” would stay to assert their claim to Sabah, he said.

He said the Malaysian officials he had spoken with tried to convince him and his group to go back to Zamboanga and discuss the claim there.

“I said, why should we bother? Why can we not talk here?” Agbimuddin said.

“We didn’t come here to make war or make trouble for the authorities or anybody here. We just want to live in our place. This place belongs to us,” he added.

“If we will return home, then we will go back to zero. And we pity the Muslim and Christian Filipinos who will be left behind. We know what the Malaysian police may do to them,” he said.

Discontent

But a simmering discontent is believed to be building up within the ranks of Agbimuddin’s group.

Word filtering out from Tanduao was that several subcommanders of the group had stopped some of their hungry followers from leaving and gunshots were heard on Sunday.

But Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib denied reports of gunfire or some of Agbimuddin’s men being shot.

“It is not true,” said Hamza, who arrived in Lahad Datu Monday morning for an update on the standoff.

Reports of gunfire from Agbimuddin’s group reached Manila on Monday.

An Inquirer source said the gunshots were a warning to stop followers of the sultan who wanted to leave.

“The shots were probably meant for those who went with [Agbimuddin] but now want to go home,” said the source, a Philippine diplomat.

No one was hurt, the source said, but the gunshots “startled the already edgy security forces.”

The diplomat confirmed that the Malaysians extended the deadline for the group to leave by another 48 hours, ending Tuesday.

All was quiet in Tanduao on Monday, the source said.

Binay meets sultan

Vice President Jejomar Binay has joined the efforts to convince Jamalul to end the crisis peacefully.

Binay met with Jamalul on Sunday night and told the sultan that he was willing to bring the Sulu sultanate’s Sabah claim to the United Nations.

“He explained to me their position and I listened to him,” Binay said in a press statement released Monday.

“I then reiterated the position of the Philippine government and renewed my appeal for sobriety,” Binay said.

“I emphasized that the parties should exert all efforts to arrive at a peaceful resolution,” he said.

Jamalul confirmed the meeting with the Vice President.

He told reporters on Monday that Binay gave his word to help the sultanate find a peaceful solution to the standoff.

“The Vice President is also in favor of what we are doing,” Jamalul said.

“He asked if it was true that Malaysia was paying us [for Sabah]. When I [explained to him the situation], he said, ‘In that case, that’s ours.’ It’s the Vice President saying that that’s ours. That includes him,” Jamalul said.

Asked if Binay offered him any specific help, he said: “He did not promise anything. But he said he is willing to assist me.”

Jamalul went on: “When I told him about the sultanate of Sulu, I thought tears flowed from the eyes of the Vice President. He said, ‘Don’t worry. If in case the President did not want to help you, I will [still help you].’ That’s what he said.”

—With reports from Nikko Dizon, TJ Burgonio and  Marlon Ramos in Manila; Karen Boncocan, Inquirer.net; Julie S. Alipala and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao; and The Star/Asia News Network

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 8:37 am and is filed under
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Malaysian government’s debt to approach RM1 trillion by 2020

by
Pak Sako
 | Monday, 25 February 2013 14:53

CPI

CPI Introduction

This is the second part of a three-part CPI series on Malaysian debt. The first part, entitled, ‘Investigate Malaysia’s debts now’ , surveyed the overall debt situation.

This part examines the trend in government debt. The upcoming part will concern Malaysia’s total debt.

Statistics reveal that in the last 15 years, the Malaysian government’s debt increased at an unprecedented rate.

The graph below shows the statistics for the government’s combined domestic and foreign debts from 1991 till the present. Forecasts are provided up to the year 2017.

The figure shows the government’s borrowings from the savings of domestic citizens and from foreign creditors.

Here we ignore private debt, even though it adds to the government’s debt burden, because a portion of private debt is publicly guaranteed. We also ignore other unrevealed debts.

What the statistics are saying

During the 1990s, the reported debt level was mostly flat. It declined slightly towards the end of the decade. At the close of 1991 it was RM99 billion, and by the end of 1996 it was close to 91 billion.

After 1997, the government’s debt began to steadily climb until 2007. In those 10 years, the debt level rose from RM91billion to RM274 billion. This is an increase of RM183 billion, or an annual average addition of debt of RM18.3 billion.

From 2008 onwards, the borrowings escalated exponentially.

In 2008 alone, an extra RM43 billion of debt was amassed. From RM274 billion at the start of that year, the debt level rose to about RM502 billion by the end of 2012 — an increase of RM228 billion in five years. The average increase in debt in this period was RM45.6 billion per year.

The IMF forecast the debt level for the years 2013 to 2017. The annual increase in debt is predicted to be higher, at a yearly RM55.4 billion. The projected debt level for 2017 is RM779 billion.

This assumes that there is still plenty of domestic funds available to carry the borrowing up to that level (the lion’s share of government debt is, after all, domestic debt).

If not, debt would have to be secured from external sources.

The assumption is also that the government will continue to borrow. This is likely to be true. As we have seen, the trend suggests that the government’s appetite for debt has been growing, not abating.

The annual increases in debt are substantial sums: a single year’s borrowing can dwarf a decade’s worth of inward foreign direct investment.

There has been no sign of the debt accumulation reducing or levelling out since the East Asian economic crisis of 1997.

Large government deficits were first incurred in the aftermath of this crisis. Then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad justified this as part of government spending in commercial enterprises to stimulate the economy.

In reality, the loan proceeds were allegedly used for questionable purposes, such as to fund large-scale projects awarded to crony capitalists and to bail out their failing companies.

The federal government’s borrowing shifted into higher gear from 2008, the year the Barisan National coalition lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The deficit expenditures have been justified as a short-term tool. But they have continued for almost a decade and a half; they have become a permanent feature of the government’s financial policy.

The government’s financial imprudence is therefore a primary cause of the country’s indebtedness.

What this means for the average citizen

It is pertinent to ask whether at this rate Malaysia will attain in 2020 the so-called high-income status envisioned by the New Economic Model.

In the graph, we can see that the government’s debt could come close to RM1 trillion by that year.

The actual debt level might, of course, fall well short of that.

Even so, the strain of the debt load on the people is likely to be significant.

Consider the amount of interest payable every year for the current debt of RM502 billion, or for RM779 billion in 2017. Information on this needs to be disclosed and put into the public realm.

Undertaking debt on this scale is unsustainable for a country of our size and economic potential. The World Bank has said that the Malaysian economy is likely caught in a ‘middle-income trap’. Economic growth in the years ahead is projected to be slower. Other contributing factors include Malaysia’s wide income and wealth disparities.

When we are compelled to push our land and labour resources to new limits to produce economic growth in the attempt to surmount large debts, there will be damaging social and environmental consequences. We will have to rapidly liquidate our oil and other resources at the expense of the wellbeing of future generations.

The average citizen could be taxed more.

To free up cash to service debt, there could be cost-cutting in the provision of public services, such as healthcare. This might already be happening; recently there were shortages of medicines and blood tests in the public hospitals and health clinics. Workers might also face longer working hours for the same or lower income.

A more devious method may also have to be deployed to deal with domestic debt.

This is when the borrowing government increases money supply by printing money to devalue the debt. The lending citizens lose out. Inflation speeds up and the currency will weaken.

In summary, a ‘new normal’ of a lower standard of living is probable, given:

(i) the increasing scale of government debt and the repayments required for these, and

(ii) the country’s comparatively limited earning potential, bearing in mind the ‘false’ economic growth being attained by irresponsibly depleting natural resources, polluting the land and squeezing greater ‘productivity’ out of the workforce.

Tackling debt ought to be a major subject of political discourse in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 12:16 pm and is filed under
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Nong Chik’s Nonsense & Non-Appearance!

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 4:55 pm and is filed under
Elections
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Martin Jalleh
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UMNO
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