Is it out of selfish political interests that Liow Tiong Lai and the MCA’s 7/11 team of elected representatives are so protective of Najib’s twin  RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals?

MCA President, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai should explain why the MCA’s 7/11 team of elected representatives (seven MPs and 11 State Assemblymen) successful in the 13th General Election are so protective of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s twin RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals.

Is the MCA’s over-protectiveness of Najib’s financial scandals a shield actually to protect the selfish political interests of the MCA leaders and to  fob off any demands to cut down the number Ministerial and deputy ministerial posts given to MCA?

As it is, MCA already has three Ministers and four deputy Ministers (although three of the deputy ministers are senators).

As MCA President, Liow should explain why the MCA team in government had been completely silent and passive as far as the issues and  principles of accountability, transparency and good governance are concerned.

Good examples are Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals.

In fact, a former MCA Deputy Minister had flayed the MCA Ministers for  “sleepwalking in Cabinet”, urging them to “pull their heads out of the clouds”, to address critical issues faced by the people.

In July this year, Liow had relied on the multi-agency Special Task Force comprising representatives from Bank Negara Malaysia, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to justify the silence and inaction of the MCA Ministers.

Liow said the special task force set up by Putrajaya to investigate corruption claims surrounding 1MDB should be proof enough that the government, just like the .public, is serious in seeking the truth.

Asked by the media whether  Najib should publicly declare his assets after US-based business paper The Wall Street Journal claimed some RM2.6 billion of 1MDB money had been deposited into his personal accounts, Liow said the public should remain calm and allow the task force do its job.

It is now more than a month since the special task force investigating the 1MDB  and the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals had been dissolved, after the sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as  Attorney-General and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister.

The public are serious in wanting to seek the truth about the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals, but not the Umno/BN government.

Has Liow or the other two MCA Ministers ever queried  in Cabinet why the special task force had been dissolved before it could complete its investigations into 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation scandals, and to find out who was now responsible for investigating into these two scandals?

It is time that the MCA leadership should make its stand clear, whether they agree that Najib should let the nation and the world know who was the foreign donor, how much was actually deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts, and who were the Barisna Nasional Ministers and MPs who received funding from Najib’s personal accounts for the 13th General Election campaign.

Would Liow lead the MCA’s team of seven elected MPs (including three Ministers and one Deputy Minister as the other three MCA Deputy Ministers are all Senators) to publicly announce whether they have received funding from Najib’s personal accounts for the 13th general election campaign, and if so, the amount of funding they received.

The seven MCA elected MPs, comprising three Ministers and one deputy minister, will be doing something path-breaking  in the larger national interest if they dare to set such an example of accountability, transparency and good governance, instead of just surviving on their parasitic role.

As Parliament is reconvening on 19th Oct, all Barisan Nasional  Ministers and MPs should observe the rule to first  declare whether they have received funding from Najib’s RM2.6 billion personal banking account in the 13GE campaign, and if so, how much, before they first  speak in Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 September 2015, 1:12 pm and is filed under
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Three questions Najib should explain to the Malaysian diaspora during his visit to United Nations and New York whether Malays and Islam in Malaysia are under threat and how to Save Malaysia

There are three questions which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najb Razak should explain to  the Malaysian Diaspora during his 10-day visit to the United Nations and New York.

Najib will be having high-tea with the Malaysian diaspora at the Malaysian Permanent Representative Office in New York as part of the government’s outreach programme with overseas Malaysians who are residing, studying and working in the United States.

These three questions are highlighted by Malaysian patriot and leading NGO and human rights advocate, Zainah Anwar in her  article in her regular column in Star newspaper entitled “Questions to ponder” on July 26, 2015.

I recently read Zainah’s original and unedited article, which posed these three questions in an even more succinct and eloquent manner.

Zainah started her article worrying about the nation’s future, and the opening paragraphs in her original and unedited article were as follows:

“I am beginning to feel as if this country and its rakyat are being crushed and pummelled by wrecking balls. The wrecking ball of race and religion, of insatiable greed, of desperation to stay in power, of never-ending sense of entitlements, of unpunished crimes and abuses, of ideology over rational thinking, justice, and fair play.

“These concerns are nothing new. What’s new is the breathtaking scale, the endlessness of it all, and the shamelessness with which the perpetrators display their unscrupulous, destructive and criminal behaviour, in words and deeds.

“The seeds of this rot were sown a long time ago. A party that has been in dominant power for over 50 years breeds its own seeds of destruction. For too long, too many of its leaders and party apparatchiks have been getting away with all manner of transgressions that they believe they are immune to any form of retribution.”

Zainah said she was in Geneva in early July and “UN  officials and activists I met were all asking what was happening to Malaysia”.

She continued:

“How did things get this bad? We were once a model country that others looked up to as a prosperous, progressive, politically stable, multi-ethnic society. We are after all a high middle-income developing country, not a basket case.

“Now we are looking more and more like another banana republic, with scandals galore making global headlines. The deep concern many feel that these wrecking balls could lead to an implosion of everything that we have built over the decades is real. And what is scary is that there are people who are priming for trouble to break.”

This was an article that appeared at tne end of July.  The two months that have since elapsed, August and September,  have deepened these concerns about Malaysia transforming from a global model state to becoming a basket case – the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Perhimpunan Maruah Melayu rally, the abortive Sept. 26 Red Shirts “riots” in Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur and the immunity enjoyed by those who openly stoked or incited racial hatred, tension, fear and conflict.

Zainah was prescient when she predicted at the end of July that the deliberately-manufactured Low Yat racial tension and conflict “will not be the last in their scheme of things”.

She wrote:

“All those who exploited the situation by making hate speech to manufacture racial conflict must be charged for their role in inciting violence. Lessons must be learnt fast if we want to stop those determined to destroy the country in order to remain in power and preserve what they believe are their lifetime entitlements – on nothing but the basis of birth.

“As desperation over the inevitable closing chapter sets in, there will be more attempts to ignite fires of racial conflict. The truth is the ruling elite is becoming more and more beleaguered – under the weight and scope of the 1 MDB scandal, plummeting popularity and legitimacy to govern, and finding itself devoid of new blood, new ideas; and certainly bereft of courage and will to bring the transformation needed to win back public support.

“It is then much easier to dive into its old bag of tricks. Let’s manufacture more threats to add to the standard ‘Malays under threat’, ‘Islam under threat’. Now its ‘national security under threat’ as more and more damning evidence of mind-blowing brazen sleaze and corruption among the very powerful is revealed.

“Who is really threatening whose survival? And what has happened to the warnings given at the UMNO General Assembly last year that UMNO must ‘change or be dead’? It looks like the choice UMNO has made is very clear. It is committing hara-kiri. So stop manufacturing enemies elsewhere.

“Unless a new breed of young far-sighted leaders come forward with the will and courage to change the system – political and economic – to become more inclusive, more just, more honest, more transparent, we are really seeing the end of a long era in Malaysian politics.”

Zainah concluded her article asking half-a-dozen “hard questions”, viz:

“Why after decades of rigorous development planning, 40% of Malaysian households earn only about RM1,847 a month?

“Why after more than four decades of the NEP, 75.5% of those at the bottom are Bumiputeras?

“Why in spite of the billions poured into education and boarding schools, 64.3% of the Bumiputera workforce have only SPM qualifications?

“Why some 90% of the unemployable university graduates are Bumiputra?

“Why of the $54 billion worth of shares pumped to Bumiputera individuals and institutions between 1984 and 2005, only $2 billion remained in Bumiputera hands today?

“And why oh why should the Bumiputeras continue to raise a begging bowl and ask for more of the same kind of handouts from the same ruling elite? The bottom 40% get crumbs, while the cronies laugh their way to the bank.”

Najib should answer these  six “hard questions” when he meets the Malaysian diaspora in New York as well as  specifically the three questions of:

1.	Are the Malays in Malaysia under threat?

2.	Is Islam in Malaysia under threat?

3.	How did Malaysia fall from the global pedestal of a model prosperous, progressive plural nation to descend to the pit of banana republics characterized by rogue and broken states and what  is the national salvation for Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 September 2015, 7:56 am and is filed under
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Timeline: The twists and turns in the tale of 1MDB

Saheli Roy Choudhury | Special to CNBC

Monday, 21 Sep 2015 | 11:03 PM ET

For Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak, the hits keep coming.

Just as the capital Kuala Lumpur settles down following a fraught rally last week, at which riot police turned water cannons on supporters of the PM, top U.S. media outlets, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the New York Times (NYT), have reported yet more scandalous allegations about the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has been in the limelight for months, amid allegations of false auditing, huge debt and, more recently, financial fraud, with alleged links to Najib himself. (The PM has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. His office has yet to respond to a request for comment on the latest developments.)

For outsiders, the twists and turns surrounding 1MDB can be dizzying. So, as the action heats up, here is a handy timeline of the events you should know about:

2008
 – 1MDB is launched in the Malaysian state of Terengganu, with the aim of promoting long-term, sustainable economic development.

2009
 – Najib expands the fund’s operation nationally, with himself as chairman of the fund’s advisory board.

2010
 – Tony Pua, an MP with Malaysia’s biggest opposition party, questions Najib on the fund’s 425 million ringgit ($99.7 million*) profit, the Malaysian Insider reports. Pua asked the Najib to explain whether the paper profits were a result of transferring other government assets to 1MDB.

Video :
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000419607

February 28, 2015
 – UK-based investigative outlet, the Sarawak Report, edited by English journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown, publishes a detailed report accusing Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho of siphoning as much as $700 million from 1MDB. The report accuses Low of using PetroSaudi International, an oil company from the Middle East that signed a joint venture deal with 1MDB, as a front to siphon the money.

March 7
 – The AFP reports on a letter it received from London-based law firm Schillings, which represented Low, in which he denies the allegations put forward by the Sarawak Report.

March 25
 – A special task force is announced to look into 1MDB and its 42 billion ringgit ($11.5 billion) debt. Reports say the task force comprises the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General’s Chambers, and the police force.

May 19 – The Malaysian Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) begins an investigation into 1MDB, according to reports.

June 3
 – The Malaysian central bank launches a formal inquiry into 1MDB, requesting the fund hand over information so the central bank can determine if it has violated any of the bank’s rules. On the same day, Reuters reports that the fund has released a detailed breakdown of its 42 billion ringgit debt, in order to counter allegations that some of the money is missing.

July 2
 – The WSJ publishes a lengthy report on a government probe into the allegations surrounding 1MDB, alleging the probe has traced nearly $700 million flowing from the fund to Najib’s personal bank accounts. The PM’s office denies the allegations.

July 8
 – A Malaysian task force, led by the then-Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, the country’s central bank and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which was already investigating the 1MDB developments, freezes bank accounts related to the scandal. Malaysian police raid the offices of 1MDB.

July 19
 – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which regulates Malaysia’s internet, blocks access to the Sarawak Report from within the country.

July 22
 – Singapore police suspend two local bank accounts connected to 1MDB. The Monetary Authority of Singapore says later that it is looking at the bank accounts to ensure they followed proper procedure for financial transactions.

July 27
 – Malaysia’s Home Ministry suspends the publishing permits of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily – both of which belong to the Edge Media Group – for three months as punishment for their reporting on 1MDB. The Edge Financial Daily previously reported about the ongoing 1MDB scandal, including a detailed report claiming Low Taek Jho and PetroSaudi cheated Malaysia of $1.8 billion in cash.

July 28
 – Najib carries out a cabinet reshuffle, dropping several ministers including Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin and Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal. Yassin and Apdal had been critical of Najib’s role in 1MDB. Malaysian state news agency, Bermana, reports that Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was also replaced citing health reasons ahead of his retirement in October.

August 3
 – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission finds that 2.6 billion ringgit ($700 million) in Najib’s personal account came from donors, not 1MDB, Reuters reports.

August 4
 – Malaysian police issue arrest warrant for Clare Rewcastle Brown, editor of the Sarawak Report, on grounds of disseminating false reports on Najib.

August 14
 – The ringgit, which had been on a downward trend, plunges to a 17-year low, losing as much as 2.6 percent to 4.1180 per dollar, in part due to concerns about the Federal Reserve’s expected rate hike, and also because outside investors are concerned about the turmoil surrounding Najib.

August 21
 – Local media report that a new Malaysian task force is being formed to continue the 1MDB investigations, notably leaving out the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. Also, Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General opens criminal proceedings against two financial entities of 1MDB and against an unknown person, according to Reuters. Swiss financial regulator, FINMA, announces that is looking into specific Swiss banks, including whether they did business with 1MDB.

August 25
 – The Malaysian Attorney General’s office says the new task force is not involved in investigating 1MDB and related companies, but will investigate crimes such as tax evasion and illegal fund flows. Reuters reports that the AG’s office says the new task force will, in fact, include staff from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

August 29
 – An estimated 25,000 people attend a weekend-long anti-government protest calling for the resignation of Najib. Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad, once a Najib ally, attends the rally.

September 7
 – Local media reports the resignation of 1MDB advisory board member Abdul Samad Alias. Samad’s resignation came after his repeated requests for a briefing on 1MDB’s profits and losses went unanswered by the fund, according to reports.

September 9
 – The WSJ reports that officials from an Abu Dhabi-based state investment fund, International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), claim IPIC never received nearly $1.4 billion in payments owed by 1MDB for the purchase of power plants in 2012. 1MDB denies there are payments outstanding from its purchase of power plants in 2012. Draft reports, which the WSJ reviewed showed the $1.4 billion was paid by 1MDB to a IPIC subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS.

September 10
 – Hong Kong police begin a probe into deposits of more than $250 million, allegedly made to accounts related to 1MDB at a Credit Suisse branch in the city, the Financial Times reports. The investigation was prompted by a report to the authorities by vocal critic of 1MDB, Khairuddin Abu Hassan of UMNO. UMNO is also PM Najib’s party.

September 14
 – The Sunday Times reports the UK Serious Fraud Office is looking into evidence surrounding allegations of possible money laundering and financial fraud, brought against 1MDB by the UK-based Sarawak Report.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 September 2015, 8:53 am and is filed under
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What the Red Shirt rally was really about

— Ooi Kee Beng

The Malay Mail Online

September 28, 2015

SEPTEMBER 28 — Following the Red Shirt rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 16, discussions have been rife that the embattled government of Prime Minister Najib Razak was “playing the race card” to bolster support and to distract the public — especially its Malay supporters — from distressing issues at hand.

It is true that the demonstration was a purely Malay rally, but what is essential to note is that while the initial impulse to organise it came from people who were undoubtedly trying to highlight and deepen the racial divide, by the time the event did take place, much of that had been deftly turned into a show of support for the beleaguered Prime Minister by his staunchest followers.

In the end, few incidents took place and the riot police did not have much trouble keeping at bay rowdy demonstrators, who were symbolically trying to get into the city’s Chinatown.

This is an important point to highlight: The racialising did not spread.

The demonstration was an angry reaction by Najib supporters to the anti-Najib Bersih 4.0 rally that took place on Aug 29 and 30. Notwithstanding the huge turnout at that two-day event, some mass media outlets had focused on the proportionately low number of Malay participants at the Bersih rally.

This is sadly typical of Malaysian journalism, which tends to first look at issues through a racial lens.

What should be read out of this is that the Bersih Movement has been very successful in achieving its main long-term goal. This is not so much electoral reform as the gradual shifting of the national discourse away from persistent racial issues to a passion for democratic governance instead.

Ever since it was formed by a large group of civil society organisations and opposition parties, Bersih (short for Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil — the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections) has relied on its non-racial agenda of electoral reforms for public support.

The reforms it is championing include: Free and fair elections; a clean government; the right to voice dissent; strengthening parliamentary democracy and saving the Malaysian economy. These are generally so generic in nature that one would be hard put to turn them into racial issues.

This was in essence what the Red Shirts tried to do. They were not simply expressing Malay anger, nor standing up to perceived threats from non-Malays. Neither were they only showing support for Najib. They were most essentially trying to racialise something quite “unracialisable.”

What does Bersih stand for?

After the first Bersih rally in 2007, the opposition parties, on gaining control of several state governments, decided not to be directly involved in the movement. This led to the forming of the organisation Bersih 2.0, which has since organised three more rallies, in 2011, 2012 and most recently in August this year.

In the first three rallies, race did not manifest itself because it drew support from the various communities. That explains the picnic atmosphere that has come to characterise these rallies. What made Bersih 4.0 different was that it came at a time when Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) — two of the three opposition parties in the now defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition — had fallen out with each other.

This led to Pas members being discouraged from attending the rally. What was more, throughout the past 18 years, the Chinese community had been slower in taking to the streets; and when they finally did that in full force, it was exactly when PAS supporters were least visible.

If one wishes to, one could say the racial pattern of participation at Bersih 4.0, to a large extent, was simply a result of inter-party conflict. What that pattern allowed though, was for its opponents to finally put a racial stamp on the movement — Bersih is a non-Malay effort!

What was more, since Bersih 4.0 was called in reaction to the recent highly dubious methods used to close options for forcing the Prime Minister out of power, the low participation of Malays seemed to offer Najib’s supporters a way to present public disapproval of him as something racially informed.

This attempt caused much confusion. There are at least two reasons for this. First, Bersih 4.0 had showcased all the inclusive symbols of nationalism and patriotism its supporters could think of to enhance its demands for clean governance; and apparently, the Malay participation was not negligible at all. Second, the events that had led to the present crisis of governance all had to do with suspicious electoral practices and financial maladministration.

Calls for Najib’s resignation have for months been coming from some in the United Malays National Organisation ranks and from Malay leaders in general, as much as they had from non-Malay Malaysians and even foreigners. The dissatisfaction with the administration is therefore widespread, cutting across many boundaries.

As things look now, the attempt to racialise public demands for Najib to step down has been too palpably ungrounded to work. — TODAY

* Ooi Kee Beng is the deputy director of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. His most recent books include Young And Malay; Merdeka for the Mind; and The Eurasian Core And Its Edges: Dialogues With Wang Gungwu On The History of the World.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 September 2015, 9:28 am and is filed under
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I am ashamed to be a Malaysian

Hafiz Noor Shams

Malay Mail Online

September 29, 2015

SEPTEMBER 29 — I think I am well-exposed to foreigners’ opinions about Malaysia beyond the editorial stance of various foreign newspapers. I have friends of diverse national origins and I work for a global organisation where many of my colleagues are not Malaysians. I keep in touch with them regularly and so I get to learn of their personal and professional views about the country.

Everybody has an opinion. But do they know Malaysia?

They might be able to tell you where it is on the map. They would know the Petronas Twin Towers. They might know who Mahathir Mohamad or Anwar Ibrahim is.

But if you dig a little deeper you will realise most of them usually do not track our news closely.

Sure, they would remember reading some odd news like how naked hikers supposedly angered the spirits up on Mount Kinabalu. Sometimes, some third-rated politicians — even ministers — would say the darnedest thing and make it to the news.

These friends and colleagues would turn these trivial snapshots of Malaysian life into joking jabs at me. I would not protest too much as these embarrassing episodes would pass quickly. These kinds of news are light reading of no real consequence written to amuse the world on a slow news day.

But something more serious and lasting is hogging the headlines of some of the world’s finest newspapers in the past few months. Our prime minister and his troubled brainchild 1MDB are regularly mentioned in the context of corruption and power abuse across the world. As the prime minister’s reputation is left in tatters, so too is Malaysia’s.

Foreigners are becoming more aware of the grave trouble besetting Malaysia. A London colleague told me his unsophisticated English mother living all the way up north in Newcastle had begun asking about 1MDB and Najib. That is a sign of how widely known the corruption scandal is.

My friends from abroad have also begun asking me about the situation here. The questions asked make me feel ashamed of being a Malaysian.

Not too long ago, I always felt a little bit proud talking about Malaysia. We have achieved so much over the years. I sensed a kind of economic optimism that might even match the 1990s boom years. Socially, politically and economically, I felt we were almost there with the challenges ahead of us very surmountable. As a member of that generation who sang the song Wawasan 2020 at the top of our lungs every Monday morning during our school assembly, “there” was well within our lifetime.

Sadly, that optimism is fading fast. Whenever I talk about Malaysia today, it is no longer about that country on the cusp of something grander. Instead, I feel like I am referring to a Third World country with its Third World regime where power abuse is common and might is right.

At one time, it was the in-thing for government supporters to say that Malaysia was better than many Third World countries and we should be grateful for that. The joke now is we are directly comparable to some corrupt Third World regime out there.

The joke hurts because it is true in a substantive way. All those joking jabs are no longer petty. It saps our pride away.

I know who to blame for that. I put the blame squarely on the prime minister and 1MDB. They are an acute source of embarrassment for me.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 7:52 pm and is filed under
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Malaysian Opposition Makes Its Play in Washington

By Josh Rogin

Bloomberg

SEPT 28, 2015

Malaysia’s prime minister is in the United States this week, but the opposition got here first — with a warning that Washington should step away from the current administration and its scandals, before it’s too late.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, the daughter of imprisoned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, came to Washington last week with a simple message for officials and lawmakers: that the U.S. should diversify its political allegiances in Malaysia, because Najib Razak might not be prime minister much longer.

His visit this week, for the United Nations General Assembly, could indeed be his last, if he is forced to resign by pressure from inside his own party, the opposition and popular unrest. Najib is reeling from multiple scandals, especially the discovery that $700 million of illicit funds ended up in his personal bank accounts. (Najib’s allies have said the money was a personal gift from Saudi Arabia as appreciation for “championing Islam.”) The sovereign wealth fund he oversees, 1MDB, is facing a federal investigation here in the U.S. Back home, Najib faces massive street protests and attacks from inside his own ruling party.

“Najib’s tenure is limited,” Nurul told me in an interview. “The opposition could take power. … The trust deficit will be extended to the U.S. if you put all your eggs in Najib’s basket.”

President Barack Obama has spent years cultivating Najib as a friend, even inviting him to play golf in Hawaii during Malaysia’s last major floods. Obama needs the Malaysian government to work with him on the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact, and the U.S. government has been working publicly and privately with Malaysia to increase counterterrorism cooperation and spy on China in the South China Sea.

But the worse things get for Najib, the more he has been cracking down on political dissent, human rights and freedom of the press. Najib has also been appealing to more radical Islamic elements in an effort to shore up any kind of support. Nurul says Najib’s campaign will come at a cost to U.S. interests.

“You are looking at a government of Malaysia, despite their Western rhetoric, that is fanning extremism, racist sentiments, religious polarization in their own country, which is going to be most detrimental to Malaysia and the region,” she said.

The conventional wisdom in Washington is that Najib is about as pro-Western of a leader as Malaysia has to offer. There’s no confidence that whover comes next will continue the security programs the U.S. and Malaysia are building together now.

“That’s Najib’s narrative,” Nurul said, “and to believe it would be not just a disservice to the opposition but really ignoring the reality on the ground.”

There’s a risk that Washington’s continued alliance with the prime minister will sabotage the alliance with Malaysia, by alienating the opposition if it comes to power or undermining popular support for the United States, which is viewed as being in league with Najib.

“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “The fact that Najib has lost a lot of credibility should not be lost on the United States.”

The White House has gone back and forth when talking about human rights in Malaysia. When Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy in March, for the second time, the White House urged the Malaysia government to respect the rule of law and criticized the expansion of Malaysia’s sedition laws for use against the government’s critics. Nurul was investigated and briefly jailed using those laws.

But then in June, when asked about Anwar Ibrahim’s jailing, President Obama declined an opportunity to speak up for the Malaysian opposition leader.

“I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Najib, and we are close partners and cooperating on a whole host of issues,” Obama said. “So as a general rule, I don’t comment on even individual cases in this country, much less another country, because I think it’s important for the legal system to work.”

Obama probably won’t meet Najib this week, but the president is bound to run into him in Malaysia in November, at the ASEAN summit. While the international focus is on him, Najib is likely to try to capitalize on his relationship with Obama to distract from his many woes. Obama would be wise to diversify his investment – by acknowledging the opposition and their grievances while he’s in town.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 6:37 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s 1MDB pushes for quick asset sale to quell concerns

Michael Peel in Bangkok and Simeon Kerr in Dubai

Financial Times

Sept 28, 2015

Malaysia’s scandal-hit 1MDB investment fund is pressing for a quick — and possibly contentious — sale of more than $2bn of energy assets as part of an effort to cut its large debts and revive its battered image.

1Malaysia Development Berhad has set four companies — all but one of them foreign — a deadline of November to lodge bids for power plants in Egypt, Bangladesh and Malaysia, in the hope of securing a provisional deal by year end.

The process will be closely watched as 1MDB seeks to quell concerns over its multibillion-dollar debt pile and allegations of misappropriation of money that are swirling around the fund and Najib Razak, prime minister of the Southeast Asian country.

The power-holdings auction also has the potential to deepen the political battles rocking Malaysia if it is won by an overseas buyer, or yields a price below what 1MDB paid.

According to people familiar with the matter, the four unnamed companies announced as shortlisted by 1MDB earlier this month were Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, Nebras Power of Qatar, Hong Kong’s CGN Meiya Power Holdings and Malaysian state-owned Tenaga Nasional.

The fund, which did not respond to a request for comment, paid a total of about 12bn ringgit ($2.7bn) for its initial stakes in the assets now up for sale, according to press releases from the time.

The auction process remains unclear in some important respects, starting with the status of the potential bidders. Acwa, a Saudi-based power plant developer in which the government holds a minority stake, is unaware it has made the shortlist for the auction, according to one person familiar with the matter. The company would be keen to take part in a clear process, the person added.

CGN Meiya, an independent power producer, declined to comment on whether it had made the shortlist, saying only that it was always looking for high-quality projects consistent with its development plans.

Nebras, an energy-focused investment vehicle set up by the Qatari government last year, was unavailable for comment. Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia’s main electricity generator, declined to comment.

Doubts also remain over exactly how much of the energy assets are up for sale. While it was originally suggested foreign buyers would be restricted to maximum holdings of 49 per cent, some people familiar with the process say overseas companies may now be offered majority stakes.

That would further boost potential foreign buyers, whose hands have already been strengthened financially because the Malaysian ringgit has fallen by more than a quarter against the dollar in the past 13 months. All bidders also know that 1MDB needs to make the sale urgently as part of its attempt to control a debt burden that has ballooned above $11bn.

A cut-price sale to a foreign buyer could jar with the nationalist rhetoric of factions of Mr Najib’s United Malays National Organisation, which has grown increasingly strident as the pressure on the prime minister over 1MDB has risen. Umno, which draws most of its support from the country’s Malay majority, is facing the most serious threat yet to the political dominance it has enjoyed since Malaysia’s independence in 1957.

Mr Najib is embroiled in a spreading controversy over the international dealings of 1MDB, including over bond issues linked to the acquisition of some of the energy assets. The prime  minister has faced calls to stand down after allegations emerged in July that almost $700m of payments made to a bank account in his name were linked to other 1MDB transactions.

The claims over the fund and Mr Najib have spawned investigations in the US, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Both Mr Najib and 1MDB deny wrongdoing. The prime minister says the money sent to his bank account was from an unnamed Middle Eastern donor.

Multiple domestic probes into the affair are also under way in Malaysia. Critics accuse the Malaysian authorities of trying to stifle these by removing investigators from their posts and slapping travel bans on critics in politics and the media.

Additional reporting by Bryan Harris in Hong Kong

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 7:41 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s Najib is Still in Control but Graft Charges Have Hurt Him, Perhaps Fatally

by Sharaad Kuttan

The Wire

27/09/2015

As questions are raised about the dealings of a government fund, the Malaysian authorities are once again looking to play the race card

Kuala Lampur: China’s ambassador and his wife sipped tea at one of Kuala Lumpur’s better known tourist-traps known as Chinatown earlier this week.

Standing with a representative of a local retail association and having just handed out mid-autumn “moon cakes’ to traders he issued an unusual statement.

He said that China would not condone “terrorism, extremism and discrimination”.

In an immediate response Wisma Putra – Malaysia’s foreign ministry – summoned the ambassador to explain his remarks.

What made his remarks particular stinging for the government was that it was delivered on the eve of a planned rally by supporters of the Prime Minister Najib Razak, then in New York.

The second rally in as many weeks – billed as a show of Malay-Muslim ethnic pride – was widely seen as racist and targeting the minority Chinese population in particular. It was eventually called-off.

While tens of thousands were bussed into the capital city for the first Maruah (pride) rally, local opinion polls showed that less than 10% of Malay-Muslims supported its objectives.

Organisers claimed that Malay pride was slighted by an earlier rally – termed Bersih (clean) – which called for good governance and institutional reform, but the sub-text of which was the call for the resignation of the prime minister.

As per Malaysia’s political culture, the urban-based show of revulsion for the scandal-ridden Najib administration, was given an ethnic colouring by its detractors. The pro-government press called it a Chinese rally.

The international media had descended on Kuala Lumpur for Bersih in what many thought would be a tipping point in the months-long political crisis.

The colour-coded demonstrations numbering over 100,000 made spectacular TV but the government restrained the security forces and the moment passed, with the prime minister firmly in control.

But with his broad-based legitimacy all but non-existent in urban Malaysia and his reputation significantly dented abroad – after years of cultivating an image as an enlightened moderate Muslim leader – Najib has turned to the tried and tested tactic of race-baiting to shore-up his personal power base.

Crisis within ruling party

The remarks of China’s ambassador is only one of many twists in this ongoing story.

Its a story that has seen international media organisations exposing dubious financial movements, the suspension of a leading local financial paper, a cabinet reshuffle, the sacking of the attorney-general, the detention of critics and a public relations disaster for an administration that has assiduously cultivated the image of developing world success story.

Najib Razak, son of Malaysia’s second Prime Minister Abdul Razak, was helped into his current position when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi – the successor to the long-serving Mahathir Mohamad – fell out of favour with his party’s leadership.

In fact, Mahathir was instrumental in the fall of Badawi and the rise of Najib.

Today, Mahathir – already in his 90s – is Najib’s most trenchant critic within their party, openly demanding his resignation.

But Najib has turned out to be  much more resilient, having secured compliance in his party and the loyalty of MPs in the coalition he leads.

Perhaps, as some observers note, Najib has learnt from Mahathir’s own book of political tricks and thanks to the elder statesman’s 22 year authoritarian rule, has inherited weak, compliant state institutions.

The 1MDB fund

But that aside, at the heart of Mahathir’s concerns is the controversial 1MDB Fund, its multibillion dollar debts and murky governance.

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad – or 1MDB – fund was founded by Najib and headed by him on behalf of the Malaysian government, which is the owner. The fund was set up in 2009 with the aim of investing in large infrastructure projects, especially in the energy and real estate sectors.

As revelations about the fund’s dealings have slowly emerged, its functioning has gone from being the concern of a handful of opposition MPs to a preoccupation of the public at large.

Aiding this effort to bring the fund’s complex dealings into mainstream consciousness was the pioneering investigative work of The Edge financial media, along with the UK-based investigative site Sarawak Report.

The Edge was finally slapped with a suspension order but successfully challenged the Home Ministry notice, with the courts describing the order as “irrational”. The Government of Malaysia is currently appealing the court’s ruling. In a futile move the Government of Malaysia also tried to have Interpol arrest the founder-editor of the Sarawak Report.

Probe announced, and aborted

It must be noted that no financial scandal – and there have been many over the last three decades – has ever resulted in an electoral rout for the ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (National Front).

But the sheer scale of the scandal, the government’s early refusal to engage its critics and finally dissent from its own ranks has made the 1MDB so explosive.

Coupled with this has been the dramatic weakening of the currency and flight of foreign investors from the local bourse. Najib as well as 1MDB’s managers deny any causal link – citing falling crude oil prices and a negative global economic outlook – but what is undeniable is the general negative sentiment.

This was underscored by the well-respected Governor of Bank Negara, the Central Bank. While earlier asserting that 1MDB’s debt does not pose a systemic risk to the financial system, she has more recently underscored the need for answers to address the negative sentiment that dogs the economy.

To assuage his critics, Najib finally agreed to not one but several investigations into 1MDB – the auditor general, the bi-partisan Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) and a multi-agency task force lead by the attorney general’s chambers involving also the central bank, the anti-corruption commission and the police.

Unfortunately for Najib, this unprecedented level of official scrutiny that he must have believed would buy him valuable time came unstuck with an expose by the Wall Street Journal.

The US-paper had information that showed that some $700 million had moved into and then out of Najib’s personal bank accounts in 2013, just before the last general elections.

While the WSJ did not identify the source of and subsequent destination of the funds, the public connected it to the on-going 1MDB controversy.

Facing the real possibility of a revolt within his own ranks, he moved decisively against those who threatened him and on several fronts.

The deputy prime minister and deputy president of Najib’s party, UMNO, was removed in an uncharacteristic cabinet reshuffle.

Another example of his deft political moves was to elevate MPs on the parliamentary PAC to positions in cabinet, effectively stopping its proceedings since cabinet members cannot sit on that committee.

Along with the dismantling of the multi-agency task force, little is left of the efforts Najib himself instituted to investigate 1MDB. And the trust deficit continues to widen between government and the public

How is Najib still power?

Gerrymandering and severe malapportionment mark the Malaysian electoral system. This grave distortion has the been the subject of the mass-based electoral reform campaign, Bersih, now into its fourth year.

But after the 2013 general elections, when almost all urban seats were lost to the federal opposition coalition led by  former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, greater urban voter disenchantment would not shift the balance of power in parliament.

Unless Najib’s now almost exclusively rural vote bank leaves him, or the system of patronage that binds the ruling establishment runs out of money to lubricate relationships, his party is unlikely to seek his removal.

And while the business lobby might want a return to confidence and a positive outlook, it looks like the stakes are too high for Najib to resign voluntarily.

Added to this is the disarray in the once firmly united federal opposition ranks, the Pakatan Rakyat.

All Najib has to endure is the continued bad press as scandals, old and new, bubble up in the foreign media which have all but abandoned this poster-boy of Muslim Moderation.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 7:25 am and is filed under
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Salleh has beaten all Ministers to make  the most stupid Ministerial statement, not only poorly researched but highlights total ignorance of his Ministerial responsibility apart from being Najib’s Chief Blogger

Datuk Seri  Salleh Said Keruak has beaten all Ministers to make the most stupid Ministerial statement, not only poorly researched but highlighted total ignorance of his Ministerial responsibility apart from being the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Chief Blogger.

When Salleh opened his blog statement insinuating that I may not be aware of the wide range of Internet speeds that Malaysian can choose from when I complained about the slow Internet speed in the country while his only concern since becoming the Communications and Multimedia Minister two months ago was to do propaganda work for the Prime Minister, he was actually highlighting his own ignorance.

This is because only a person who was not aware that Malaysians, and internet users in all countries, have a wide range of internet speeds to choose from depending on the cost they are prepared to pay, would have chosen to belabor this point when it was completely a  non-issue!

This is not the point, as the issue is that high Internet speeds in Malaysia are too costly and unaffordable when compared to other countries when the Minister’s task is to make them affordable and popular.

Malaysians have a right to feel ashamed and angry that the government and in particular, the Minister in charge of internet infrastructure, had failed them when Malaysia was the pioneer in jumping on the Internet bandwagon in Asia launching the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) two decades ago to be an IT superpower but we are now  behind even ASEAN countries in internet infrastructures and average internet speed.

A test carried out in March/April 2014 on the average ASEAN internet speed reported the following results:

Philippines

    3.6 Mbps

Laos

      4.0 Mbps

Indonesia

    4.1 Mbps

Brunei

      4.9 Mbps

Myanmar

  4.9 Mbps

Malaysia

    5.5 Mbps

Cambodia

  5.7 Mbps

Vietnam

13.1 Mbps

Thailand

 17.7 Mbps

China

   18.3 Mbps

USA

   22.3 Mbps

Japan

  41.7 Mbps

Singapore

61.0 Mbps

Average ASEAN Internet Speed 12.4 Mbps

Average Global Internet Speed   17.5 Mbps

After the visionary and far-sighted launching of the MSC, which even announced MSC as Malaysia’s  “gift to the world”, we have now lagged behind other ASEAN countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore, and worse, we cannot even make the average ASEAN Internet speed of 12.4 Mbps.

Can Salleh outline what initiatives he had discussed or introduced in his two months as the new Communications and Multimedia Minister to improve on the internet infrastructures to ensure that Malaysians enjoy fast, affordable and  extensive access to Internet?

I suspect such a notion never entered Salleh’s mind in the past two months, as he was only pre-occupied to be the chief propagandist of the Prime Minister – although even in this field, he is also  quite a let-down.

May be, Salleh should have a heart-to-heart chat with the Prime Minister and ask to be appointed as Najib’s Chief Blogger or Chief Propagandist in the Prime Minister’s Office, and to have some one who has the expertise and passion to restore the nation’s earlier vision to be a IT superpower to head the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia.

The readers’ comments on Salleh’s statement on various news portals are  good areas for Salleh to educate himself as what Malaysians expect of him as Minister for Communications and Multimedia, and there can be no better learning experience for him than to sit down to humbly read the mostly critical and even acidic comments from the readers and to answer them one by one.

One of the 97 readers’ comment in Malaysiakini  said:

“OMG! I am ROTFLMAOWTIME! Minister Salleh, you are not supposed to go to Kedai Maxis to ask how much are the internet packages so that you can reply to Lim Kit Siang! As a minister in charge of internet, you are supposed to make sure that the country’s telecom / internet infrastructure is constantly upgraded to provide faster speed, negotiate with service providers to make them lower their prices and promote the use of internet to the masses. That is what a minister should do and what Lim Kit Siang meant. Weren’t you given the powers to do so as a minister? Internet is not just blogging, you know? If we even have to teach you how to do your job as a minister, then you should resign so as not to embarrass yourself.”

I will comment on the substance of  Salleh’s blog tomorrow.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 3:54 pm and is filed under
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Seeking a new vision for Malaysia

Murray Hunter & Azly Rahman

Malaysiakini

28th September 2015

“ … I am indeed proud that on this, the greatest day in Malaya’s history it falls to my lot to proclaim the formal independence of this country. Today as a new page is turned, and Malaya steps forward to take her rightful place as a free and independent partner in the great community of Nations – a new nation is born and though we fully realise that difficulties and problems lie ahead, we are confident that, with the blessing of God, these difficulties will be overcome and that today’s events, down the avenues of history, will be our inspiration and our guide…”

– Tunku Abdul Rahman, first prime minister of Malaysia, Proclamation of Independence, Aug 31, 1957

COMMENT
 Today’s debate in Malaysia has gone down to the lowest ebb. Discourse on democracy is dead; bludgeoned by the caretakers of the cult of secrecy of the ruling regime.

The dream of a progressive Malaysia conceived by her freedom fighters and founding fathers and mothers such as Burhanuddin Al-Helmy, Ibrahim Yaakob, Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock, VT Sambanthan, and even the much contested heroic figures such as Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin, Mokhtaruddin Lasso, and Shamsiah Fakeh has turned into a nightmare in broad daylight.

If there is a period of decay in destruction of the democratic institutions yearning to grow well this is the time of chaos and anarchy: of Malaysia in the Age of Corrupt Systems.

The challenges of a nation-state today, seem insurmountable not because the idea of a ‘nation’ of many, hybridising with the singularity, sovereignty, and sensibility of the modern state is an impossibility, but because there is no political will to make Malaysia that nation-state be realised in its entirety. In other words, Malaysia has been made to become a neo-colonialist divide-and-rule hyper-modern polity.

The apartheidisation of society is deliberate and necessary a design in order for the political-economic elite to rule. Herein lies our intention to explore the theme of the ‘Malaysian Dream’, and propose explanations to the reasons for the rotting of this neo-colonialist construct and offer ideas towards a remedy.

In doing so, we are guided by these questions: What are the ills of this country? What remedies does she need? How do we Malaysians chart a new world of possibilities? What are our visions? – these are the questions we are exploring in this brief essay on the future of Malaysia.

Malaysia’s predicament

Malaysia’s current situation and social condition is one characterised by violence; from a spectrum of hidden and subtle to blatant and outright display of it. Talks of a possible racially-motivated riot in Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur and a US terror alert warning for that area, a massive rally calling for the end of corruption and a call for free and fair elections, the immense complexity of the Enron-like case of the Malaysian investment project, the 1MDB and its story which read like a Watergate and a pulp fiction of global money-laundering combined, the resurfacing of the call to investigate the gruesome murder of a Mongolian model-cum- Russian interpreter of a governmental French-submarine deal, the ugly spillovers of the current war of political survival and relevancy between the camps of Najib Abdul Razak and former prime minster of 22-years, Dr Mahathir Mohamad – all these happenings within the last few months are symptoms of this Malaysian socio-political cancer, or a noli me tangere as the Filipino nationalist of the 50s Jose Rizal would call it.

How do we get to this seemingly point of no-return? Malaysians may now be reflecting on the spiritual aspect of the predicament. As Jesus/Isa said in The Sermon on the Mount, on ‘The Beatitudes’, one cannot serve god and money at the same time; as Thich Nhat Hanh preached of the path of peace and moderation; as Muhammad spoke of Humanity as one and transcends race and tribalism, and that an Arab is no superior than any other race.

The remedy of these predicaments is what we ought to work on, gradually but surely through a long deliberate process of inner and outer change, one simply called ‘Education’ – that gentle profession that will ensure personal and social progress.

Today there is a talk of crafting a peace-making and peace-building plan by parties interested in reconciliation. Our view is that any ‘common framework of nation-building’ must incorporate the voices of those marginalised, and the aspirations of the diverse peoples, and the intelligent design of social change that puts people first and at the centre.

This is what ought to be done rather than erect materials and vainglorious infrastructure architectured to oppress and alienate human beings – those pentagons of power build with the blood, sweat, tears, and fears of the poor the rich enslaved through crude as well as sophisticated means.

In Malaysia, it might be a futile effort for political parties craft elegant common frameworks of a new-Malaysian when not enough social-philosophical dialogue is done through mass and frequent meaningful intellectual engagements that include the hopes and aspirations of the people rather than exclude them; dialogue that sought their opinion and suggestions on what matters rather than teach them to chants slogans of change to be shouted in unison at rallies.

In short, we need to bring big ideas down to the level of language and meaningfulness of the class of people we wish to develop.

Each party attempting to work together must command the language of participatory social change, of social justice, of culturally-tailored socialism, or capitalism with a moral conscience. Party members must learn to view religion as separate from the state and be the champions of that man-made laws that are collectively crafted by living, breathing and thinking human souls.

That document called ‘The Constitution’, that embody the spirit of a nation with common dream and aspirations and future must be made to be the bedrock of nationhood.

Oftentimes development and the institutionalisation of national policies are stylized as top-down, commanding, and of late draconian and punishing practices. For one familiar with the process of creating shared vision in an organisation, this kind of transmittance of developmental philosophy is not only unacceptable but in due course will be a reason for a revolt of the masses.

We must examine and scrutinise our ‘commanding heights’, as the Russian leader Vladimir Lenin would say about our economic model and our ideology and our base and superstructure. We must align these with the question of human nature: as human beings what do we want and what do we need, and how do we differentiate between what we want and what we need, so that we will not be confused and our society will not be evolving catastrophically.

Malaysia – is at a historical juncture of suicide; a bipolar nation breaking down into pieces. We had a dream. That dream is destroyed by the Pied Piper who is projecting himself to serve god and fellow men but in reality, is now having money serve him; that pied piper leading us to Armageddon of our own nation-state.

Where did we go wrong? Why are we living this nightmare? How do we craft a new Malaysian dream?

Hard times for the nation-state

In spite of exposure to the world via Internet, news, social media, and travel, the vision of what could be in Malaysia has become a dark and gloomy one. Visions are hopeful and positive aspirations that can be shared as a national narrative, an encapsulated version of what could be called ‘The Malaysian Dream’.

However any dream has been suppressed with healthy political debate muzzled, academic freedom muzzled, criticism muzzled, where those who dare to dream or criticise the neo-feudal establishment are cast away through various means and neutralised.

The ideological apparatuses are now unashamedly used by the power elite to control, cajole, and coerce the rakyat not only into cultural subservience and political submission but also to instil fear of governmental wrath should citizens speak up truth to power to raise consciousness of injustices.

The power elite, those that are ruling the country and whose power is derived not only from elections, arguably dubious in its recent outcome, are those whose hegemony is derived from a massive control of wealth through this convenient system of the Constitutional Monarch; a system that works in symbiosis in the overall framework of ‘Malay Hegemonic and Trumpeted Superiority’, as leitmotif.

This is not just a one-sided affair. The opposition forces in Malaysia have also become intellectually bankrupt, have lost any passion for Malaysia, and are locked into their own introspection. Of late, especially after the 13th general election and after the incarceration of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and since the beginning of the Mahathir-Najib mahabharatta and vendetta in one, the opposition itself has gone through as series of implosions breaking it into pieces leading not only to the inability for the coalition to come to terms with issues to be championed for the next elections, but also the implosion in its member party itself, PAS.

The birth of Parti Amanah Negara (PAN), formed by those who no longer have the faith of the progressiveness of the Islam in PAS, signify the new forms of implosion leading to ‘new politics’ in the coalition. Still, the opposition has successfully been broken up rendering it difficult to play the role of contender of Barisan Nasional. The rakyat has lost faith in the opposition, especially with the loss of Anwar as its mover and shaker as well as a Malaysian ‘prime-minister-in-waiting’.

This has come to the point where people may not even turn out to vote for the opposition just to protest against the government because of the ‘hopelessness’ they are displaying in terms of providing any alternative national narratives, dreams, and aspirations for a modern Malaysian society.

Political analysts and social commentators these days are having difficult time writing about the possible triumph of the opposition coalition in the coming elections.

Internal politics in PKR especially since the much-criticised ‘Kajang Move’, and the plan hatched as a dawn raid for the Selangor chief minister’s position, the ongoing and perhaps no-exit-to-an agreement over the implementation of the ‘hudud’ and the open secret of the hardliners in PAS wishing to make Talibanistic Islam as a model of Malaysia’s Islamic state – these two major factors add to the internal political combustion of the opposition, rendering it now too weak for the disillusioned rakyat to have faith in a much-needed change.

Even the crumbling ruling party, especially the one plaguing Umno as a consequence of Najib Razak’s escapades, fiascos, and the metastasizing effect of the 1MDB, is benefitting from the implosion of the opposition.

Global exposure, technology, and education have been wasted on Malaysians who are locked within a Malay-centric psychic dome that is completely opaque to what could be. Whilst globalisation as a phenomena of movement of peoples, ideas, technology, and goods demand citizens of the world to adapt and prepare for the challenges of a multipolar, multi-cultural, and multi-perspectived world the Malay mind is still caged by its educational leaders to remain monocultural and to defend the rights to be exclusive and sheltered from the prospects and challenges of the world.

This is designed and manufactured so that the incomprehensibility of the war cry and white noise of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, or ‘Self-Ascribed and Trumped Notion of Malay Superiority’, can be maintained as a reason to live, work, and play.

No one today dare talk about what could be the best way to realise a society based on the simple principle of unity in diversity. Those calling for the need to remove the veil of racism, cast aside the garment of prejudice and suspicion, and embrace the idea of multiculturalism are made public enemies.

These speaking up for the idea that all those born and breed in the country – Malays Chinese, Indians, etc – are now bumiputeras or sons and daughters of the soil, are shunned against almost to the point of being charged as seditious people that do not know anything about the history of Tanah Melayu and ought to be charged with sedition.

This is the dilemma of speaking up against the self-imprisonment of Malaysians caught in a historical time-warp and not able to see the prospects and possibilities of an emerging Malaysian and cosmopolitan society.

That is the discourse on a true Malaysian identity and a good society that has become a new haram, or a taboo, and displeasing to the power elite.

For this trade, the right to think and express, the Rakyat get in return a vision of introspection that makes the dark Middle Ages look like the Renaissance period in Europe.

More sadly while the rest of the region is moving forward, the Malaysian elite are content with holding Malaysia back to the risk where what we know today could and will implode and bring a brave new world of misery and disappear.

Imploding questions

The big questions of nation building and bangsa are imploding.

Malaysia has no structured and streamlined operational government any more. It is run by kleptomaniac leaders who are purely concerned with getting what they can for themselves and demanding that they be condoned for it.

The states are failing, many not financially viable any more, run by more morally bankrupt leaders who take their ques from their feudal lords who they pay alms to for the right to rob the country morally.

There is no such thing as proper federal state relations operating in Malaysia; Umno tore up the constitution long ago and just ad lib as they go along.

The young of the country are bypassed for the old guard whose ‘use by’ dates have long gone.

Sabah and Sarawak have been raped and put into subservient position vis the federal government which is run by a crony elite.

Islam is now a political tool of persuasion and control. It’s a tool of the government, of which PAS hand delivered to the government with their insistence on hudud without Tawhid.

Education is another handy political tool of subservience. It seems to produce new graduates who cannot t think for themselves in fear of offending. People are being programmed to obey in Malaysia’s higher education institutions, after being taught how to go through life without questioning the status quo in the secondary system.

Today in Malaysia, the rakyat have not experienced good governance with any big picture vision. Rather they have been subjected to a government that is ad hoc and acts on whims. Nobody talks policy in Putrajaya. Policy makers only talk greed. Mega projects are mega bucks, and everyone wants a slice.

Government is a winner takes all mechanism, where those outside can eat the crumbs that the elite don’t want (or more rightly cannot handle).

So let us ponder about what could be past the introspection of Umno, the leadership of today’s neo-fuel elite, corporate cronies, and opposition forces.

A vision for a new Malaysia

Amidst the chaos engulfing the country circa the 58th Malaysia Day, what is left is hope, although hopelessness lie in the inability to remove those corrupted sectors – individuals, institutions, and ideology.

Malaysia needs a vision, a new national narrative that all can debate and get behind to rebuild the country to the potential it really has. That vision was there before Mahathir took power and transformed it into total power over the course of his 22-years in power. The challenge indeed is to liquidate Mahathirism and start this nation-state at Ground Zero with the following changes to be made:

1. A debate on Malaysia.
 A national debate on what Malaysia could and should become a national priority. There is an imperative urgency to this. This dialogue must be done openly through the media, schools, universities and all possible forums.

It must begin with a true retrospective local of our history, so that it is appreciated, with a ‘no holds barred’ situational audit undertaken publicly on the nation’s political, social, and economic on the present situation today.

One when the past and present is honestly reflected up can a future direction be chartered for all and sundry of what we should all call ‘the great nation of Malaysia’. Given the dire state Malaysia is in, with the institutions crumbling and critical consciousness needed for progress disappearing, it is imperative that systematic effort be engineered and architectured to make the citizens be able to think critically and morally.

The ‘hang-up’ on the current narratives of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ and ‘hudud’, and the acceptance of corruption of the highest order, is keeping Malaysia locking into the past, without hope of ever seeing a bright future where we can be proud of the nation we should be calling ‘great’.

2. A clear separation of powers.
 A return to a national unity government with checks balances and power sharing until the country is out of crisis is mandatory if the country is going to be free of the past.

This requires political parties to set aside their differences temporarily, come together and work on an agreement to save the nation from further descending into chaos. Each party owes its voters the willingness to see through a country that stops bleeding from years of conflict, corruption, and cultural degeneration.

3. A transcultural-philosophical Islam.
 A return of the path of a progressive interpretation of Islam that would be an asset to the country. Focus should be given on the big Islamic issues in economy, business, corruption, and work towards the creation of universal set of morals that society will be proud to live within. Malaysia has travelled the mistaken path of Arabisation since the days of ‘Islamisation Project’ at the onset of the Mahathir Era.

Decades of success of the institutionalisation of a spectrum of Islamic concept s and applications have yield what is today a process of inching towards Talibanism. This is particularly evident in this administration of Najib Abdul Razak in which there seems to be a loss of control of the political will to monitor the spread of ‘intolerant-Salafist’ version of Islam.

Absent is the flourishing of Islam that promotes critical inquiry and philosophical discourse reminiscent of the rigour and splendour of Islam in Cordoba, Spain at the height of the Age of Transcultural-Philosophical” Islam if there is a designation to that period.

4. A responsive educational system.
 Innovative education models like the Switzerland system where students are able to master multiple languages should be considered as models to be adopted in multilingual Malaysia.

In many places of Europe students are able to attend universities and undertake their work in one of possibly two or three languages. In addition students need encouragement to question what is, and this must start in the classrooms of the nation. No longer should asking questions be considered disrespectful, but rather praised as the ability to think critically.

In addition, if Malaysian universities are to excel, they must be de-politicised. Vice-chancellors must be selected on their ability as professional educators rather than loyalty to the BN government. No more should National Civics Bureau (BTN) connections ever be the qualification needed for a person to hold the highest offices within universities.

Reform of Malaysia’s universities must start at the top and be allowed to filter down through autonomy and true meritocracy. Without any changes at the top, Malaysia’s higher institutions of education are doomed to continue their spectacular fall in international rankings.

5. A new federalism.
 This is required in Malaysia where there is a genuine respect and acceptance for the division of powers between states and the federal government. This is all laid out within the constitution of Malaysia but has been abused and ignored by successive BN governments who have acted to centralise power spurred on by the motivation of greed.

State governments need to be nurtured where good leaders need to be found and developed to look after state interests, independently of any federal government. This would be a completely new political paradigm for Malaysia and help bring Malaysia’s leaders closer to the rakyat. National development and management needs to be a cooperative area, free of party politics.

Governments must respect the will of the people and work within those wills, whether a state government be BN, DAP, PAS, or PKR. In addition, BN state governments must learn to operate independently from the will of the federal government leadership, and act on what they have been elected for, the protection of state rights, and development.

6. A new deal for Sabah and Sarawak.
 This urgent development is needed; one that follows on in the spirit of federal-state relations, where the 18 and 20 point agreements must be honoured by all, as part of the history and heritage of the formation of Malaysia. New talks about autonomy within the federation must be undertaken within the wide framework of federal-state relations to get the country’s bureaucracy working in coexistence and cooperation.

7. An all-our war on corruption.
 Malaysians must attack corruption fearlessly and take a lesson from China. Corruption is an Achilles heel of Malaysian government and is drawing the nation down to a failed state syndrome. A country where corruption prevails has no morals whatsoever. The news of corruption and the nation’s leaders being able to get away with it is not the examples the young generation of Malaysia should be taking their leads from.

Radical shock treatment is needed here and it may have to be a death penalty, even though this is an abhorrent punishment. What must be made clearly understood to all is that corruption is not acceptable anymore in the nation of Malaysia.

8. A civics-minded populace.
 Malaysians must also play a role in everyday government and this is why local government should be democratised. Local people should stand for local elections for local government and learn the role of authority and responsibility. Local government is the third tier of government which has had little transparency. Local government is actually more relevant to the everyday lives of the rakyat and it’s time for the rakyat to take this responsibility.

People with political party affiliations should not be allowed to run public office, so that city councils can remain independent.

9. A new breed of leaders.
 It’s time to bring forward the young leaders of this nation into the political arena. No more should politicians whose ‘use by’ dates have long gone take up all the positions of power. It’s time for the younger generation to take over. Within this, the gender balance of national leadership needs a drastic tilt towards more female representation.

10. A major paradigm shift.
 Malaysian politics needs a massive paradigm change away from personality, race, and nepotism and move towards policy. The same stories and narratives about race and privilege are getting Malaysia nowhere. In fact it’s going backwards relative to the rest of the region and becoming deeply introspective. All political discussions should be in terms of policy within the framework of Malaysia’s institutions. That is true constitutional Government at work.

11. A powerful senate.
 This means revamping the national senate to become a true house of review instead of a house of reward and convenience it has become. The senate should be a true state house where the interests of each state and territory is looked after by members directly elected by proportional representation, rather than the appointment system currently in place.

In, addition the senate should have the power to call inquiries into issues of national interest, and the power to block budget Bills, as a check and balance on the government of the day.

12. A passage to decentralisation.
As Malaysia is a complex country, its time through federal-state relations and local government to decentralise government operations within the country. Malaysia is not a communist country, but insists on operating as one through centralized planning and centralised decision making.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has become enormously powerful and this power and authority, as well as responsibility should be channelled back to local areas where decisions affect the people living there.

13. A people-first economic philosophy.
 It’s time for massive market and economic reforms to take place to modernize the Malaysian economy to one that is influenced through market forces rather than regulation protecting the power elite and their cronies. Import permits (APs) must be done away with to allow a level playing field develop in the Malaysian business world today.

The current heavy regulation and artificial monopolies that exist in Malaysia just go to keep a small section of society wealthy in the name of the New Economic Policy (NEP). There must be transparency, along with the emphasis on sustainability when land is handed out to corporations. The national land bank is held in trust for all Malaysians and should not be a mechanism to make a favoured few ultra-rich.

Rather than build luxury resorts where the local economies see little benefit, true community projects should be planned and developed. The gap between those who have and those who have not is widening. Market reforms are urgently needed.

14. A shared decision-making.
 Consultants must be stopped from being the instrument that is making so much policy within the Malaysian government today. Pemandu and the corridor authorities are on a gravy train racking up massive consultancies to develop policy for implementation.

The policy-making process must bring in public processes that involve the public into the process of determining their own destinies and develop more consultative government.

15. A broader choice of political parties.
 On the political front, parties should be broken up and reorganized into strong grassroots state organizations that pick their own state leaders. State members should select their own parliamentary candidates and political leaders, so that states can operate government independently. National party offices should operate as peak bodies and facilitators.

Such a move will distribute political power within the parties and prevent any one group dominating the political organisation. This means that there may be a much larger number of political parties representing Malaysians much better than the narrow choices available today.

16. A thinking-feeling-doing civil service.
 Malaysia once had one of the best civil services within the region. However, Mahathirism whittled away at the independence of the civil service until today it is a zest pit of political cronies there to serve those in power.

The civil service needs to become independent again and made more efficient where the spending wastages are eliminated. Meritocracy must be brought into the civil service as a major uncompromising principle if the service is going to become independent and professional.

17. A new paradigm in economic planning.
 There is a need for Malaysia to find new industries to invest in. The current portfolio of Malaysia’s earners is very narrow. The country is now suffering from low petroleum and commodity prices, and needs to be urgently diversified so the country can be brought to new levels of prosperity for the next generation of Malaysians.

18. A return to cottage-based industries.
 However it is not just large industries that must be sought as winners. The country must focus on developing community based industries across the country. These small scale rural industries must not only be compatible with but act as a means to enhance the nation’s various indigenous cultures.

This should include food production and be centred around local trade so that local communities can be self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency in food production may assist Malaysia withstand the coming ‘Euro’ type economic calamities that are occurring today in countries like Greece.

19. A new peg for the national currency.
 With the reputation of the ringgit partly destroyed by the kleptocratic elite and massive capital flight from the country, the dinar and dirham should be encouraged as an alternative local currency arrangement. Not only would the dinar hold value (being based on the value of gold), but it would serve as alternative medium of exchange, that is not subject to the forces that have caused the ringgit to sink in value.

This could be supplemented by encouraging local savings cooperatives that are run by the local people, for the local people and are owned by the local people, as alternatives to the large Malaysian banking corporations owned by the elite. This will help curb speculation within the Malaysian economy.

20. A newer vision of a foreign policy.
 Malaysia’s future relies upon being a contributor and hard worker within the region the nation is domiciled within. Current foreign and economic policy towards the region is ad hoc and requires an intellectual revamp to place the nation within the region as a cultural and economic power once again.

A new thought-out foreign policy is needed so Malaysia can play a leading role within Asean and its entry into the Asean Economic Community at the end of this year.

21. A new Malaysian citizenship spirit. The nation must be made to be Malaysian once and for all. Malaysia is one country and cannot be considered in part. There can be no such thing as first and second class citizens any more. This Malaysian brand of apartheid is morally reprehensible and must be abolished once and for all.

Essentially, below is a grand plan or the big picture of change that need to respectively be created and painted in order for Malaysia to offer a pathway to the realisation of the ‘Malaysian Dream,” preceded by key premises.

We cannot escape from the idea that there ought to be winners and losers, whether it is in the way we give grades to students, design economic policies, organise the political system or, ironically, even in the way we understand religion and God and how these relate to what Mohandas Gandhi would call the harijan (children of God).

The continuing issues of succession plaguing the leadership of the major components of all the ruling parties, for example, reflects a virtue-less leadership. It even reflects the system of dictatorship and authoritarianism that we have allowed to take root in all parties. We are seeing the development of another dangerous excess of authoritarianism – the development of political dynasties. We continue to see this culture in the Malay and Chinese political parties as well.

If all that energy is used to design a better system of participatory democracy and philanthropy, and to reach out to other ethnic groups to collaborate in solving the issue of poverty, we, as Malaysians, will become a miracle nation. Poverty is not the problem of Indians or Malays or Chinese – it is the problem of Humanity.

How can the rich be saved if the poor are multiplying in large numbers? We will have a society that will need more sophisticated surveillance system in order to reduce robbery, kidnapping, etc.

The poor look at rich and ask themselves: “Am I poor because I am lazy? Or is he rich because he works a hundred times better? Or is it the system we build that will continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer?”

What resources do the rich have vis-à-vis the poor to compete in a world that is increasingly technological and technicist and informational? We have created a system of ethnically-based structural violence. It is a complex problem but one can certainly make sense of it all.

We need to bring back ‘virtue’ to the forefront of our political philosophies and into our economic paradigm, and next use it to design a virtuous foundation of our economic system. From a virtuous foundation we will then see a healthier characterisation of how we design and reorganise our lives as economic beings.

Education, and education alone, though slow and tedious as a process of transformation, will be the most powerful tool of cognitive restructuring and the teaching of virtue. Education for peace, social justice, co-operation, tolerance and spiritual advancement will be the best foundation of this mode of operation.

How do we even begin creating a republic of virtue if we do not yet have the tools of analysing what a corrupt society is and how corrupt leaders are a product of the economic system created to reproduce more sophisticated forms of corruption?

We must engineer a revolution of our very own consciousness. From the revolution in our minds, we move on to the revolution of our consciousness, and next to our collective consciousness. Gradually, as we realise that a better collective consciousness can be created, we will be aware of the oppositional forces that are making real human progress disabling.

We must now become makers of our own history and help others do the same. We must first learn to deconstruct ourselves and draw out the virtue within ourselves, even if the process can be terrifying. We must then each create a manifesto of our own self and de-evolve from then, until we tear down the structures within and outside of ourselves and reconstruct the foundations of a new republic.

Our first move

In conclusion, here is the essential question: Where do we go from here – from the premises of change and considerations we outline above, to a course of action framed thematically? What ideas do we need to move in order for our nation to progress the way our common dream pictured? Here are our concluding thoughts on a new Malaysia one which needs the following:

“ … a brand new political will, radical political change, an overhaul of the system, a fresh new and different mandate, a prison complex big enough to incarcerate the long-time corrupt ones, a plan to redistribute wealth, to dismantle educational apartheid, a rewriting of Malay and Malaysian history, a re-threading of the moral fibre of the armed personnel, a massive arrest of political tyrants of past doings, a restructuring of the casino capitalist economy, a stronger local government established, a clampdown of racist and hate-groups, a return to the rule of law, a return to agricultural society, an experimentation with a radically new form of communal-styled living, a dismantling of systems that allow global corporate giants to continue to prey upon the natives, a return to the cooperative system, strengthening of labour, a re-education of political official on management, ethics, and political philosophy, the separation of religion and state, the dismantling of useless cultural and religious rituals, a restructuring of society based on the principles of radical multiculturalism and the celebration of transcultural philosophies, the reduction of TV time and TV channels, the introduction of the reading of the great works of arts, humanities, and literature from the cradle to the grave, the curbing of rhetoric on Islamic or any religious state, the compulsory teaching of philosophy from the cradle to the grave – all these and more to overturn the system on its ugly head.

As Malaysia’s most revered founding father said in 1957, proclaim in the country’s independence:

“… But while we think of the past, we look forward in faith and hope to the future; from henceforth we are masters of our destiny, and the welfare of this beloved land is our own responsibility: Let no one think we have reached the end of the road: Independence is indeed a milestone, but it is only the threshold to high endeavour-the creation of a new and sovereign State.

“At this solemn moment therefore I call upon you all to dedicate yourselves to the service of the new Malaya: to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty-a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world…”

Indeed, when people believe in the future of their nation, it will be strong. That belief in Malaysia must be rekindled and recreated.

MURRAY HUNTER is an academician, consultant, and author of a number of books, numerous research and conceptual papers in referred journals, and commentator on the issues of entrepreneurship and development in a number of magazines and online news sites around the world, and DR AZLY RAHMAN is an academician, long-time columnist for Malaysiakini, an author of seven books on Malaysia and the complexities of hypermodernity and globalisation, and teaches course in Global Politics, Culture, American Studies, Education, and Philosophy. He currently resides in the United States.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 5:08 am and is filed under
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Shell Exits Arctic as Oil Slump Forces Industry to Retrench

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and STANLEY REED

New York Times

SEPT. 28, 2015

As oil prices have continued their steady decline this year, rig after rig has been shut down, costing thousands of jobs in the United States. Yet major oil producers have been loath to pull the plug on their most ambitious projects — the multibillion-dollar investments that form the backbone of their operations.

Until now. On Monday, Royal Dutch Shell ended its expensive and fruitless nine-year effort to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic — a $7 billion investment — in another sign that the entire industry is trimming its ambitions in the wake of collapsing oil prices.

The announcement was hailed as a major victory by environmentalists, who had fought the project for years, only to be stymied by pressure inside and outside the industry to increase domestic oil production.

But at a time when global markets are glutted with oil, thanks to the advent of new drilling techniques, the announcement also confirmed major oil companies’ increasing willingness to turn their backs on the most expensive new drilling prospects in the Gulf of Mexico and suspend plans for new projects in Canada’s oil sands.

The industry has cut its investments by 20 percent this year and laid off at least 200,000 workers worldwide, roughly 5 percent of the total work force. Companies also have retreated from less profitable fields in places like the North Sea, West Africa, and some shale prospects in Louisiana and North Dakota.

American oil companies have decommissioned more than half of their drilling rigs over the last year, and production is beginning to drop in the United States. Even exports from Saudi Arabia are beginning to ebb because of a glut in its Asian markets.

“The decision by Shell to abandon its Arctic drilling program for now primarily reflects the realities of lower global oil prices,” said Michael C. Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, who advises oil companies and investment banks. “When prices go down, the oil industry shortens their list of projects in development by removing the most expensive ones.”

This year, industry executives held out hope that the oil price, which has fallen more than 50 percent to below $50 a barrel since last summer, would recover before too long. But in recent weeks, a growing number of executives have warned that the downturn could last well into 2016 and perhaps beyond, especially if the Iran nuclear deal leads to a flood of new oil on world markets.

With demand dwindling, the current market of 94 million barrels a day has roughly two million barrels in surplus supply.

Now, economic forces have scuttled what environmentalists had tried to do for years in the courts and with raucous protests in canoes and kayaks, arguing that drilling in the dark, ice-filled Arctic was dangerous to polar bears and other sea life.

“This is a victory for everyone who has stood up for the Arctic,” said Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace, a leader in the protests against Shell. “There is no better time to keep fossil fuels in the ground, bringing us one step closer to an energy revolution and sustainable future.”

When Shell first leased a huge portion of Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas after they were opened up by the George W. Bush administration, oil prices were soaring. Middle classes in China and the developing world were demanding more liquid fuels every year. At the same time, a growing number of oil fields around the world were aging and in decline.

Then, just as Shell began its Alaskan effort, the shale revolution began in the United States. Independent oil companies found ways to fracture hard rocks to produce oil, nearly doubling domestic production. That surprise development, along with the slowing Chinese and European economies, drove the oil price down just as Shell returned to drilling in the Chukchi this year. The environmental movement delayed Shell at every turn, but the 2010 BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico pushed the company off several years as well.

Industry experts say that there is plenty of oil in offshore Alaska and that renewed efforts are still possible if and when the oil price recovers. But environmentalists declared a triumph.

Shell has spent more than $7 billion on an effort that has been plagued by blunders and accidents involving ships and support equipment, reaching a climax with the grounding of one of its drilling vessels in December 2012 in stormy seas. Even after ConocoPhillips and the Norwegian oil giant Statoil suspended their Alaskan offshore drilling operations, Shell carried on, asserting that the Chukchi Sea potentially represented the next great global oil find.

But the company announced that its one well drilled this summer “found indications of oil and gas, but these are not sufficient to warrant further exploration.” In a statement, it also acknowledged “the high costs associated with the project and the challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska.”

The decision represented a major turnaround from the faith in the project that Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, expressed as recently as August. At the time, he said that Shell’s holdings in the Alaskan Arctic could be “multiple times” more bountiful than the enormous fields in the Gulf of Mexico. “We can’t be driven by today’s, tomorrow’s, or next year’s, or last year’s oil price,” he said.

Shell’s efforts to drill in Alaska have long seemed quixotic. It came closest to finding oil in 2012 when it drilled two shallow wells but had to stop short of deeper oil zones after several bizarre accidents, including the crushing of a containment dome during a vital test. This summer, a storm whipping though the Arctic Ocean forced Shell to suspend drilling, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service made a regulatory ruling that cut back the company’s drilling plans.

After a Finnish icebreaker hired by Shell struck an uncharted shoal in the Aleutians in July, it was forced to go to Portland, Ore., for repairs. Protesters there tried to block the vessel, going so far as to suspend themselves from a bridge over the Williamette River.

Shell’s current venture into the Alaska offshore began under Mr. van Beurden’s predecessors, and he has always been concerned about the project’s costs and risks. Soon after he became chief executive in 2014, he temporarily halted drilling in Alaska because of legal and regulatory issues.

He came around to the view that the potential bonanza was worth the expense and headaches, but now that drilling has produced an unexpectedly poor result, he may have decided to follow his original instincts and call a halt.

“This first dry well seems to have been the trigger for the C.E.O. to pull the plug on their Alaska exploration campaign,” said Oswald Clint, an analyst at Bernstein Research in London.

The Alaska operations have cost billions of dollars. Shell said the value of Alaska drilling on its balance sheet was $3.1 billion and that it had a further $1.1 billion in contractual commitments, probably for items like drilling rigs. The company said it would take write-offs as a result of the decision to halt drilling.

“Shell continues to see important exploration potential” in offshore Alaska, Marvin E. Odum, president of Shell Oil, said in a statement. “However, this is clearly a disappointing outcome.”

Energy experts have expressed skepticism about the economics of Arctic drilling for some time.

“The number of special challenges, unforeseen things you have to deal with, long supply chains, just make it very difficult to have the same level of confidence around costs as you do for development elsewhere,” said Andrew Slaughter, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 September 2015, 7:35 pm and is filed under
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