Pempena Police report – “looting of people’s money using tourism as a front’

I thank the Tourism Minister, Datuk Azalina Othman for giving  me a copy of the Summary Report of the  PricewaterhouseCooper  review  of Tourism Ministry’s subsidiary, Pempena Group of Companies but I will write to her for a copy of the Final Report, as the implicit promise she made in Parliament during her winding-up of the 2009 Budget debate on Nov. 3 was  for a full and unqualified disclosure of the PricewaterhouseCooper report.

I must admit that I am somewhat surprised by the PricewaterhouseCooper  summary report as the Tourism Minister had led Parliament to believe that it is an audit of the various  financial scandals of the Pempena Group of Companies, but  clearly this important brief was  excluded from PricewaterhouseCooper’s terms of reference, which is a clinical “high level business review” of selected investments by Pempena Sdn. Bhd and “specifically does not include any investigative audit or forensics work”.

In fact, it is mentioned in the PricewaterhouseCooper summary report that the  investigation into the various financial scandals in the Pempena Group of Companies are “separately performed internally” in an internal audit of  Pempena.

Why did Azalina hide the fact from Parliament that there had been an internal audit by the Tourism Minsitry of the various financial scandals of its  stable of Pempena Group of Companies, which includes its affiliates Malaysian Travel Business Travel Sdn. Bhd and SD Corp Communication Sdn. Bhd and that such an internal audit had been completed by 14th August 2008?

Is Azalina prepared to table the Tourism Ministry’s internal audit inquiry into the various financial scandals of the Pempena Group of Companies in Parliament?

I will also write to Azalina for a copy of the internal audit report of the Tourism Ministry on the various financial scandals on its stable of subsidiary companies costing the public taxpayers tens of millions of ringgit of unjustifiable losses.

The Pempena scandals can be divided into two categories:

first, those which occurred before Azalina became Tourism Minister after the March general election and for which Azalina need not assume personal responsibility; and

second, those committed  after  the 2008 general election for which  Azalina must bear full responsibility and accountability.

In my speech on the 2009 budget on October 15, I had referred to the Oct. 13, 2008 expose by the Sun in the report “Over the limit…PSD ALLOWS MINISTER ONLY EIGHT STAFF, BUT 20 ON TOURISM MINISTRY’S PAYROLL”, calling in Parliament for a full explanation for the serious allegation that the tourism minister’s office “has excess baggage”, being overstaffed as “the appointment of some 20 staff breaches the Public Services Department (PSD)’s regulations limiting the appointments to only eight” and that “it defies a Treasury circular on cost-cutting and austerity”.

The Tourism Minister had in fact three special officers, five political officers, one research officer, six information technology (IT) officers and given support staff. As only the PSD can approve the new appointments, the guidelines were circumvented by getting Tourism Ministry subsidiary Pempena Sdn. Bhd and its affiliates Malaysian Travel Business Travel Sdn. Bhd and SD Corp Communication Sdn. Bhd to pay their salary.

One such appointment is Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, who is the executive director of Pempena and paid RM10,000 and is provided with a car and driver.

These belonged to the second category of the Pempena scandals as they all  happened after Azalina became Tourism Minister after the March 8 general election and for which she must give proper accounting.

In my speech on October 15, I also spoke on the financial scandals in the various Tourism Ministry projects including the RM30 million for Malaysia Kitchen, the  RM10 million for E-Tourism Portal, and the multi-million ringgit  Pempena Teksi Service (Pets) scandal.  These belonged to the first category of Pampena scandals as they first happened before Azalina became Tourism Minister although the various financial improprieties continue under Azalina’s term.

When Azalina replied in Parliament on Nov. 3, I returned to the two categories of Pampena scandals. I mentioned for instance that the “padding” of Azalina’s retinue of “excessive staff” in breach of PSD regulations by getting Pempena to employ them has created the ridiculous situation where most of these “excessive” staff were on the 36th floor of PWTC (Azalina’s Ministerial office) and not in the offices of Pempena and its other affiliate companies like SD Corporation.

There was no satisfactory reply from Azalina for  padding Tourism Ministry’s  Pempena Group of Companies with highly-paid “political operatives” like  Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, after she was defeated in the Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary election.

Chew’s most memorable contribution to political discourse in Malaysia must be her warning of another May 13 if Chinese representation in Barisan Nasional is insufficient.

Be that as it may, now that she has been elected uncontested as  the MCA Wanita Chairman, is she going to resign and return the monthly RM10,000 salary with driver and car as executive director for Pampena Sdn. Bhd, Deputy Chairman of Malaysia Travel Business Sdn. Bhd and Board Member of Malaysia Convention and Incentive Bureau?

Azalina should  public the full list of the 20 appointees she brought into the Tourism Ministry, whether appointed directly by the Ministry or  indirectly by the various Tourism Ministry subsidiary or affiliate companies, and to justify such expenditures when the Tourism Ministry and the Pempena Group of Companies are already suffering tens of millions of ringgit of losses from a string of financial improprieties and scandals.

Azalina should also explain whether it is true that although her retinue of “excessive” ministerial staff were inserted and absorbed  into the various Pempena Group of Companies in mid-May this year, the appointments were backdated to April 1, 2008.

PricewaterhouseCooper  summary report on “High Level Business Review of Pempena Group of Companies”

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should schedule an early inquiry into the financial scandals of the Tourism Ministry’s Pempena Group of Companies, making full use of the PricewaterhouseCooper and the Tourism Ministry’s interal audit reports.

The PricewaterhouseCooper summary report is a shocking report of the incompetence, ineptitude, irresponsibility and even criminal breach of trust  prevalent in GLCs.

PricewaterhouseCooper is recommending that out of the RM54.4 million Pempena investments in 24 investee companies as at June 2008, it should exit its investments from five companies suffering an immediate loss of some RM20 million!

In its “high-level financial performance review” of the 24 Pempena Investee companies, PricewaterhouseCooper found that 6 Investee Companies do not any financial information while three  Investee Companies have partial financial information.

Heads must roll for such incompetence and ineptitude.

However, it would appear that it is not just incompetence and ineptitude but crimes of criminal breach of trust and even corruption are in play in the can of worms in  the stable of financial scandals of the Tourism Ministry’s Pempena Group of Companies, as revealed by the internal audit report.

This has been reported by the country’s investigative journalist par excellence , Citizen Nades, R. Nadeswaran, in his latest expose “
Let them rot in jail
” in The Sun yesterday:

Lets take three quotations from Nadeswaran’s report:

1. Two audit reports – one done internally and another by PriceWaterhouseCoopers – have revealed the intrigues, the manipulation of funds, fraud, deception and above all, a lack of common sense which a reasonable person is expected to do when he is entrusted with public money.

Instead of acting as people with business acumen, they acted as godfathers and Santa Clauses, dishing out money from a bottomless pit. There were no due diligence tests with supposed partners; there were no checks on current market rates, but what is more damning is their failure to take action to recover monies which is rightfully theirs.

For example, Pempena advanced RM300,000 to one Umi Hafilda (does the name ring a bell?) for a Amir Diab Live in Kuala Lumpur concert. The report says that “Pempena did not even sight the contract between the parties before issuing the cheque” and as expected, the concert did not take place…

When the concert did not materialise, she issued three cheques to Pempena – all of them bounced – there was no money in her account. What did Pempena do? Sat with arms folded because those in the know were aware that she was an undischarged bankrupt, one of the report states.

2. Some of these companies operated as if there were no norms or rules to govern them. Some of the people running them considered the companies to be their own fiefdoms and their private bank, drawing monies through dubious means.

They ventured in businesses and deals that were sure losers from the start. Why in the world would a government-owned company get involved in businesses in which it neither has the expertise nor the experience?

Were feasibility studies done before millions of taxpayers’ money was pumped in? Did those who made the decisions ask themselves: Why do we want to get into such businesses when our core business is promoting tourism?

3. The report states that Pempena bought one million shares at RM1 each in a company called SD Corp Sdn Bhd, which had forecast a turnover of RM8 million and a profit of RM100,000 for the first year. But the company ran up a loss of RM2 million. To add insult to injury, Pempena paid RM2.1 million for the shares but the share certificates had yet to be delivered as of July 31.

But more shocking are the claims that minutes of meetings of the board of directors of Pempena had been changed by hidden hands. The internal audit confirms this by saying: “The amendments of the minutes are a serious offence as it involves the appointment of contractors without going through the proper process. No action was taken against those responsible for changing the minutes although it was brought to the attention of the management.”

Tomorrow, I will lodge a police report for the full brunt  of the law to be applied to what Nadeswarn has described as “the looting the people’s money carried by a few officials using tourism as a front” for the guilty in the stable of Tourism Ministry and Pempena financial scandals  to be brought to justice.

(Media Conference Statement in Parliament)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 12:01 pm and is filed under
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Summary Report of PricewaterhouseCooper on Pempena Companies

Overview of Pempena

In 2005, Pempena established a business plan for 2005-2009 to implement the following key activities:

(i)	Equity participation in tourism related industries

(ii)	Implementation of activities under the Shopping Malaysia Secretariat

(iii)	Placement of funds in the money market and unit trusts.

There were 14 key areas of new businesses indentified by Pempena for implementation.

Pempena planned to invest a total of RM49.8m over the period of its business plan (ie 2005 – 2009) representing equity and profit sharing arrangements.

As at June 2008, Pempena has invested a total of RM54.4m via equity participation in and advances made to the Investee Companies.

High level financial performance review

Out of the 24 Investee Companies:

(i)	6 Investee Companies do not any financial information

(ii)	3 Investee Companies have partial financial information.

Most of the 24 Investee Companies have not been recording operational profits over the last 3 years with the exception of:

(i)	Malaysia Travel Business Sdn Bhd (“MTB”)

(ii)	Max Airplay Sdn Bhd (‘FlyFM’)

(iii)	Malaysian Restaurant Londan Ltd (“Awana Chelsea”)

(iv)	Bistro & Theatre Restaurant Sdn Bhd (“Saloma Theatre Restaurant”)

Only 4 Investee Companies have positive shareholders’ funds as at June 2008. They are:

(i)	Malaysia My Destination Sdn Bhd (“My Destination”)

(ii)	Dalamasa Sdn Bhd (“Dalamasa”)

(iii)	SDCorp Communication (M) Sdn Bhd (“SD Corp”)

(iv)	Nathena LIFZ  (M) Sdn Bhd (Nathena)

Review of investment process

•	Based on our review of Pempena’s documents, we have not seen any documented policy and procedure governing Pempena’s investing activities.

•	Our review shows that there is a lack of:

(i)	Investment analysis setting out consideration of how long would Pempena hold on to its investment and how Pempena would potentially exit from its investment

(ii)	Critical assessment of the background, credentials and relevant experience of the respective Investee Companies’ business partners, financial projections and strategic business plans.

(iii)	Considerations of tourism related initiatives or KPIs for most of its Investee Companies.

(iv)	Documentation which clearly outlines the procedures for operational and financial review of investments, roles, and responsibilities for representation on Investee Companies BODs.

•	Pempena’s investment process could be enhanced if there is a clearly defined investment policy and procedure on:

(i) Investment approach

– Determining the approach in setting the tone for the oversight of its investments

(ii) Investment targets

– Setting of financial, tourism and/or operational KPIs for its investment via a structured plan

(iii) Investment governance

– Setting out requirements for management and monitoring of investee companies based on their shareholding structure and ability to influence decision making.

•	Pempena’s investment monitoring mechanism (in respect of the 14 Investee Companies) is primarily focused on historical performance through:

(i)	Review of monthly management reports (without commentary).

(ii)	Weekly management meetings chaired by Pempena’s CEO to discuss the current business activities undertaken by the Investee Companies

(iii)	Representation in Investee Companies’ BOD

(iv)	Periodic reporting of Investee Companies’ performance and activities to Pempena’s BOD by Pempena’s Corporate Service Department.

•	Based on the existing monitoring mechanism as represented by management of Pempena, we have not seen any documentation which clearly outlines the:

(i)	Procedures for operational and financial review of investments

(ii)	Roles and responsibilities for representation on Investee Companies BOD

(iii)	Requirement for complete and timely information from Investee Companies

Proposed way forward

•	In view that Pempena’s primary objectives of investing in the 14 Investee Companies are focused on creating “tourism value” and there is expectation by Pempena that these investments would be able to generate financial returns, the following key considerations and criteria were used in the development  of strategic options for the 14 Investee Companies:

Key considerations –

1) Tourism objective

(
Criteria
) Achievement of Pempena’s key tourism objectives in investing in the 14 Investee Companies

2) Financial returns

(
Criteria i
) Achievement of predetermined financial targets for the Investee Companies

(
Criteria ii
) Investee Companies’ financial performance trend todate

(
Criteria iii
) Investee Companies financial prospects moving forward

3) Adequacy of working capital

(
Criteria
) Sufficient funds to sustain operations

4) Ability of business partner to manage operations

(
Criteria
) Experience and capability of business partners in dealing with management and operational issues.

•	Out of the 14 Investee Companies, the proposed way forward is to retain and enhance 7 Investee Companies which is as follows:

(i)	MTB

(ii)	Virtual Malaysia Sdn Bhd (“Virtual Malaysia”)

(iii)	Lambaian Maya/Max Airplay

(iv)	SD Corp

(v)	Malaysia Restaurant Beijing Limited (“Awana Beijing”)

(vi)	Pempena Executive Taxi Service Sdn Bhd (“PETS”)

(vii)	Sky Vans Sdn Bhd (“Sky Vans”)

•	It is also proposed that pempena exit from the following investments:

(i)	Malaysia Tourism Executive Sdn Bhd (“Matex”)

(ii)	Sri Kebaya Restaurant Sdn Bhd (“Sri Kebaya”)

(iii)	Malaysia Restaurant Hyderabad Limited (“Awana Hyderabad”)

(iv)	Dalamasa

(v)	Nathena

•	Should Pempena exit its investments from the 5 companies, the immediate impact to Pempena’s profit and loss is estimated to be a loss of approximately RM20 million

•	Awana Chelsea has been proposed to be maintained as is whilst My Destination will be liquidated.

(Lim Kit Siang’s media conference in Parliament on Tuesday, 18.11.98)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 12:00 pm and is filed under
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Challenge to Hamid Albar to a live telecast public debate on crime situation in Malaysia

I regret that instead of responding positively and responsibly to my criticisms about the worsening crime situation in the country, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has launched a campaign to demonise me as an enemy of the police as illustrated by the following newspaper headlines today:

“‘Usah gemar perlekah pasukan keselamatan’ – Syed Hamid bidas sikap pemimpin parti pembangkang” – Berita Harian

“Syed Hamid bidas Kit Siang perlekeh polis” – Sinar Harian

“Jangan perlekeh credibility pasukan keselamatan” – Utusan Malaysia

In my 42 years in politics as a MP and DAP leader, I have never treated or regarded the police as an enemy as the police officers and personnel perform an unenviable but important and critical function to keep the country safe and secure for socio-economic and political progress and to be able to attract tourists and investors to maintain Malaysia’s competitiveness.

While I had never shirked from my responsibility to criticize faults or failures of the Police (and this applies to the Cabinet and the entire public service), I have never begrudged in giving full support to ensuring that the police force get proper and adequate recognition in terms of  pay increases, equitable remuneration and improvements in their working conditions.

Is Hamid to be believed that after serving my eighth term as Member of Parliament, this being my 34th year in Parliament, I have suddenly decided to become an enemy of the police by running down the police force, as alleged by Hamid?

Of course not, and I do not think that the police officers and personnel are so uninformed that they can be easily misled by Hamid’s baseless allegations to distract attention from the brunt of my criticisms – the worsening crime situation in the country and his failure since becoming Home Minister in the past eight months to take  bold measures to implement the Royal Police Commission’s recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low and restore to Malaysians, tourists and visitors their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime.

Police personnel are also citizens of Malaysia and in their civilian life or after retirement, they and their loved ones have often fallen victim to  endemic crime in the country. Even former Inspector-Generals of Police and top police officers had not been spared from becoming victims of such endemic crime in the country.

I am shocked that the Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Chor Chee Heung could say in the Parliament lobby on Monday that the worsening crime situation in the country is a “misperception” of the people – a contemptuous dismissal of the daily nightmare of Malaysians about their personal safety and those of their loved one!

With the country becoming increasingly unsafe instead of being safer, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of homes, a person who could dismiss the widespread fear of Malaysians, tourists and investors about the worsening crime situation in the country is not fit to be in any position of responsibility in fighting crime – let alone as Deputy Home Minister.

If Hamid is a responsible and upright Home Minister, he would have asked for the sacking of Chor as Deputy Home Minister for such insensitive and irresponsible talk.

But Hamid will not do such a thing, as he not only condones Chor in such irresponsible talk, he is probably in full agreement with Chor.

I call on Hamid to stop his irresponsible PR ploy to paint me as Enemy No. 1 of the Police, when what I want is to see police reforms where the Police could be regarded and accepted by all Malaysians as their No. 1 Public Friend.

I challenge Hamid Albar to a public debate to be telecast live as to whether the crime situation in Malaysia is getting better or worse.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 12:25 pm and is filed under
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Insinuation of PR “secret agreement” on Malay special rights – baseless, mischievous and unworthy of a professional journalist

Star Editor-in-Chief Wong Chun Wai in his blog yesterday on
“The realities of Malaysian politics
” wrote:

“Anwar Ibrahim has revealed a signed document between himself, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and PAS’ Hadi Awang that none of us have heard of until now – an agreement to uphold the rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The Sept 8 agreement pledged to uphold Malay rights and the status of Islam as the official religion.

”Anwar also said that the social contract between the races were already agreed upon by all members of the coalition. He also revealed that the four-paragraph agreement could not be changed by any party, according to The Star.”

The imputation  that I had signed on behalf of DAP a “secret” compact with the other Pakatan Rakyat leaders  to uphold Malay rights and the status of Islam as the official religion as provided in the Federal Constitution  is baseless, mischievous and unworthy of a professional journalist.

This is because Wong’s insinuation  imported the  innuendo that the DAP and I had all along opposed these two constitutional provisions but in a most opportunistic and dishonest act of political expediency, I had agreed in Pakatan Rakyat to a secret document “none of us have heard of until now” to support them.

The September 8 joint statement by Pakatan Rakyat leaders which Anwar referred to in the Star report yesterday,
“Anwar: Pakatan committed to ensuring Malay rights
”, which was signed by Anwar as the PKR leader, Datuk Husam Musa as PAS National Vice President and myself on behalf of DAP, was issued to all media, including the Star. I put it up on my
blog
the same day.

Wong has only himself to blame if he did not keep himself informed of what actually happened as getting properly briefed by Star reporters on the political beat.

But what is most mischievous, unprofessional and unacceptable is the insinuation that the DAP and I had concluded a dishonest and opportunistic  secret agreement to uphold Articles 3 and 153 of the Malaysian Constitution on Islam as the official religion and  Malay special rights when we had been opposed to these two provisions all along.

My position and that of DAP on Articles 3 and 153 had never changed  in the past 42 years since the formation of DAP.

Although Article 3(1) states that “Islam is the religion of Federation” and did not specifically use the term “official religion”, the DAP and I had always supported Islam as the official religion and the constitutional guarantee for freedom of worship for other religions.

We have also never shifted from our stand that Article 3 does not provide the basis for an Islamic State which is contrary to the secular character of Malaysian nation-building agreed by the major communities on the attainment of independent nationhood and an important feature of  the Merdeka “social contract”.

As far Malay special rights, I declared the DAP’s stand on Article 153 in my
first speech in Parliament on February 23, 1971
, where I said:

“The DAP has also been accused of opposing special rights for Malays.  We again invite the government to produce a single instance from our speeches and statements to show that we have opposed efforts to raise the economic standards of living of Malays.

“As democratic socialists, we are dedicated to the abolition of poverty and economic backwardness regardless of race. We want to create a classless community of Malaysians based on fellowship, co-operation and service, where there is no exploitation of man by man, class by class or race by race.

“We support any measure which will help better the lot of the Malay poor. But we are strongly opposed to the use of Malay special rights to enrich the new Malay rich to make them richer, while the mass of peasantry and poor are exploited as ever.”

In my first speech in Parliament more than 37 years ago, I stressed that the basic problem in Malaysia was an economic and class one, and not a racial problem.

I warned: “Any attempt to impose racial theories and solutions to basically socio-economic problems of the have-nots is dangerous as it will pit one race against another, which must culminate in a racial holocaust. It will also be founded on the monstrous falsehood that all the haves in Malaysia are non-Malays, while the Malays are the have-nots.”

Those who are interested to know more of what I said in Parliament in that first debate after the lifting of 21-month suspension of Parliament following the May 13 riots  should look up my first book, “Time Bombs in Malaysia” published in 1978 or wait for a 30-year Reprint expected by the end of the year.

Wong should make amends for the unfounded innuendos and the grave injustice of his   mischievous and completely unwarranted imputation and insinuation against the DAP and myself – as it does not serve the cause of  a rational national discourse to chart a new blueprint to create a more united, cohesive, progressive and prosperous Malaysian nation in the aftermath of the March 8 “political tsunami”.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 12:37 pm and is filed under
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Vintage Hainam cuisine gone? Go to Sukico, Uptown

Pleasantly surprised that tucked away in a bakery in Uptown (Damansara Utama) is to be found vintage and delicious  Hainam cuisine.

Strongly recommend Sukico  (
Suki
 – Hainamese for “mate”) – time for it to get a full Malaysian exposure and not just to the regulars who realize where to get a culinary bargain both in price and good food.

Originally at No. 26, Jalan SS 21/39, Damansara Utama, PJ, Sukico Hainam Café has moved a road away to share premises with Suki Bakery Mart at No. 59G, Jalan SS 21/60, Damansara Utama (tel: 03 – 77288381). (
Map
)

Met the owner, “Cowboy” H.H.Tan, 69,  (012-2777138) who has a great story to tell of his past exploits leading to his establishment of Sukico Hainan Café.

Sukico’s signature dishes include the claypot stew (lamb and chicken) as well as Chicken Cordon Bleu and chicken chop (authentic style).  It also serves full-course English breakfast.

I am not getting any advertisement fee from   “Cownboy” Tan or Sukico Hainam Café but I do not want to monopolise a good thing which should be enjoyed by all.

Visit Sukico and let me know whether I have made a good recommendation.

Lifestyle

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 10:58 pm and is filed under
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Khalid – End gender discrimination against women academicians or face RM10  salary cut

The Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin should answer the serious charges by former Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya Datuk Rafiah Salim concerning the “kurang ajar” manner of her termination and
gender discrimination
against women university academic staff.

Even if Rafiah’s appointment as VC of University of Malaya is not to be renewed, why was she treated so shabbily as to be shunted around from pillar to post without knowing her fate until the very lasi minute?  This is clearly a most shameful and ungrateful way to treat a person who has given 34 years of her life to public service.

I have said in Parliament that there is no transparency whatsoever about the Search Committee for the new VC  for University of Malaya, why it was conducted in such secrecy that nobody in the university – not even Rafiah – knew that a new VC was being selected!

This has compounded the offence of the Deputy Higher Education Minister, Datuk Idris Haron in casting aspersions on her tenure as the first woman Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya, for which Idris must retract and apologise unconditionally unless he could justify his insinuation against Rafiah in Parliament.

Rafiah’s allegation of
gender discrimination
against women university academicians cannot be taken lightly.

Rafiah said female V-Cs were victims of gender discrimination, going by the shorter tenures offered to them compared with their male colleagues.

She was given a two-year tenure with a half-year extension to her contract.

Similarly, her female colleagues — Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia vice-chancellor Datuk Professor Dr Sharifah Hapsah and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris vice-chancellor Datuk Professor Dr Aminah Ayob — were given two-year contracts.

In contrast, other V-Cs who are  male are  given three-year contracts.

This is a serious charge which goes against the constitutional guarantee of no gender discrimination in the country.

Unless Khaled can give a satisfactory response and assurance of immediate stop to such discrimination against women academic staff in the public universities, DAP MPs will be moving a RM10 cut motion  for the salary of the Higher Education Minister  during the 2009 Budget  Committee stage debate as a censure.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 November 2008, 9:50 am and is filed under
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Why we continue to sell ourselves short?

Shame for Malacca state and Malaysian  nation is the only word at the following report:

Shah Rukh can’t come for award function

Nov 20, 08 2:36 pm

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has postponed a controversial ceremony to award him a Datukship because he is too busy, officials said today.

Shah Rukh is to be presented with an award from Malacca which carries the title “Datuk” after a 2001 film set in Malacca boosted its profile as a tourist destination.

The award has proved contentious, with some questioning whether Shah Rukh is deserving or whether local artists and celebrities should be recognised instead.

“The ceremony has been postponed for now,” a senior Malacca official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We wanted the ceremony to take place over a weekend but Shah Rukh’s schedule was such that we could not agree on a date so we are now working on a new one that will keep everyone happy, but it hasn’t been fixed yet,” he said.

Since the filming of Shah Rukh’s 2001 movie, ‘One 2 Ka 4’ at a popular resort in Malacca, the number of tourists coming from India has increased significantly, state officials say.

The 42-year-old heart-throb was to have received his award on Nov 29, in a ceremony aired live on India’s top entertainment channel, Zee TV.

“The postponement of the award shows just how ridiculous it is to give such an award to Shah Rukh as Malaysia and the award most probably does not even picture on his radar,” opposition politician Lim Kit Siang told AFP.

Malaysia has become a popular location for Indian films, which have a huge following among ethnic Indians and the majority Muslim-Malays.

-AFP

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 November 2008, 4:06 pm and is filed under
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Will former Pampena Chairman Chor Chee Heong step forward to explain the RM50 million Pempena scandals?

The new Executive Chairman of troubled Tourism Ministry subsidiary, Pempena Sdn. Bhd, Datin Paduka  Chew Mei Fun called a press conference yesterday but refused to answer questions about the RM50 million Pempena scandals of bad investments, criminal breach of trust and financial improprieties declaring:

“I will not answer on things that happened  before my time.  Now I just want to focus on revamping the company.”

Is nobody to be responsible for the scandalous RM54.4 million Pempena investments in 24 investee companies as at June 2008, where Pricewaterhouse Cooper audit has recommended the immediate closure of five companies resulting in instant loss of some RM20 million!

If Chew does not want to assume responsibility for what happened before her time, why didn’t she get the former Pampena Chairman, Datuk Chor Chee Heong, to appear together with her at the media conference yesterday so that questions about the propriety,  accountability and integrity of the RM50 million Pampena scandals could be answered?

Or is the RM50 million Pampena scandals a MCA mess?  If Chor is not prepared to answer and account for the RM50 million Pampena scandals, is he prepared to resign as Deputy Home Minister as Chew has pushed the whole buck of the RM50 million Pampena scandals to him?

The whole purpose of Chew’s press conference yesterday was to declare that she is not responsible for the RM50 million Pampena scandals as they happened before her time.

She was also very offended that I had mentioned that she was paid RM10,000 a month and provided with a car and driver, declaring that she was actually embarrassed that she was getting such a small remuneration as compared to Executive Chairman of other corporations.

Chew may think that she is entitled to be paid RM100,000 a month but she must realize that Pempena Sdn. Bhd, as a subsidiary of Tourism Ministry, is a government company and she is dealing not with MCA funds but with taxpayers’ money.

Since she has accepted appointment as the new Pempena Executive Chairman, she must accept responsibility to give full and proper accountability for the RM50 million Pampena scandals, even if they happened before her time under the chairmanship of Chor Chee Heung.

I am surprised that Chew has denied that Pampena has  asked the Tourism Ministry for an injection of RM5 million to keep it afloat.

Is Chew totally unaware of this Pempena application, which I understand was submitted only last month, raising  the question whether she is a hands-on or a hands-off Executive Chairman.

Can Azalina deny that she has received such an application from Pempena?

Chew has evaded the question at her press conference yesterday how those who had applied for research officers in the Tourism Minister’s office had instead been appointed as directors and general managers of Pempena, giving the lame reply: “It is up to the company to give them a job that we feel fits them. Is there anything wrong?”

There is nothing wrong if  Pampena is a MCA company using MCA funds but it is a government company using taxpayers’ monies and therefore requires proper accountability.

Malaysians are entitled to know the full number,  list and costs  of the “political appointees” padded onto the Pampena payroll after the March 8 general election, but who are not doing any Pempena work as they answer directly to the Minister of Tourism.

What is the justification for increasing the monthly overhead costs of Pempena when it is already such a losing concern?

Finally, didn’t  Chew begin her appointment in Pempena  in mid-May but why was her appointment backdated to April 1, 2008?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 November 2008, 10:53 am and is filed under
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Do Have some humility for P. Patto’s family

 Letter

by
Choo Sing Chye

former P Patto’s  Political Secretary

The renaming  of Jalan Silibin to Jalan P.Patto had caused an unusually large uproar from the businesses and residents in this particular area.

Although it is natural  to have  opposition  to this plan to change the road name but it must be contained within the precinct of fair comment and good faith.

After reading the two news reports in The Star (18-11-08 and 19-11-08),  one cannot deny the fact that there is a smack of  insensitivity permeating into this whole affair of  renaming.

If one has scant respect for P. Patto and has an unstoppable urge to comment, please  do exercise some humility because P. Patto’s wife and his two daughters are still around and most important of all, P. Patto is not here to defend his name.

Disappointingly some of the comments had apparently gone overboard. As it stand, these  have undeniably  inflicted injury upon  P. Patto’s family as it degrades what they have cherished so much of him as  a  good husband, a good father and an upright politician.

For being fair in one’s comments means that one should not utter comments like “Patto would not be unhappy even if a pub is named after him”.   One cannot miss an intentional sprinkle of cruelty in this comment.

This comment  implies that P. Patto  had spent his life time centre around pubs and  wouldn’t be unhappy if a pub  is named after him.

P. Patto  once told me that when he leaves this world only his  name remains.

True to the point, but I do not wish to speculate whether he approves or disapproves of  having a road sign named after him but I am very sure that he would have been offended that his name is being tossed about in disrespect.

Please let him be respected as  a fine, honest and humble gentleman for in the name of justice he had fought without fear or favour and for this very same reason  a road  will be named after him.

When I spoke to P.Patto’s wife over the phone a very short while ago, she was clear upset and I could hear her sobbing and she said, “what did my husband do to deserve all this?”  “My daughters and I did not demand or ask that a road be named after my husband.”  “Why all these?”

No, he does not deserve all these let us have some decency.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 21 November 2008, 7:41 am and is filed under
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Not even Obama should have that much power

By
Farish A. Noor

Now that the level of euphoria over the victory of Barack Obama has settled somewhat, it would pay to consider some of the ramifications of his recent victory as the latest occupant of the White House and by extension the most powerful man in the world.

In the lead-up to Obama’s victory, much was said and written about the man’s promise and hope of a new America; an America that would be proud of itself, confident in the world and able to address the challenges of today. There was much talk about the restoration of American pride and prestige and to regain the moral credibility that was squandered away after two terms of Bush junior in office.

But before the dust had settled and the last piece of confetti touched the earth, there were already disturbing revelations about the man and what he might or might not do as the President of the United States. Obama’s appointment of Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff did not bode well with many who know of Emanuel’s strong ties with Israel and the pro-Zionist lobby in the USA. It is also well known that Emanuel’s father, Benjamin Emanuel, was a member of the Irjun gang in the 1940s and in an interview with the press had bluntly stated that his son would try his best to ensure that American foreign policy under Obama would be pro-Israel and seek to secure the safety and security of Israel at all costs.

Perhaps those who were supportive of Obama were themselves glued to the TV screens and mesmerised by the image that he had created for himself, as the embodiment of hope and a new future for America and the world. But there precisely lies the problem: that living as we do in this unequal unipolar world where the power relations between the developed North and the developing South are so stark, the future of the United States as the sole hegemon in the world today is intimately linked to the future of the developing world as well. If America coughs, the whole world is affected, but never vice-versa.

We should not forget that the historical forces that have led to Obama’s victory are the very same forces that have created the military-industrial complex of the neo-imperialist America we see today. Obama’s victory in the US Presidential elections was seen and cast by many (particularly non-American outside observers) as a sea-change in American politics, a radical shift that has interrupted the continuity of American political discourse and culture.

While it cannot be denied that the election of an African-American has its sterling points as far as race-relations in the US are concerned, we should not again fall into the trap of internalising and taking on board what are really the problems and historical baggage of America as our own. If Black African-Americans have an axe to grind, it is with the same white middle-classed establishment that put them in their place, but not with the rest of the world. Latin America, Asia and Africa were not responsible for the 400 years of American slavery or racial politics, and for us to rejoice at this victory would be to live vicariously through the lives of others.

Asia’s own relationship with the US, on the other hand, has changed little since the days of American expansionism into Asia following the end of World War Two and the collapse of the Western European empires in the East. It was the US that propped up a host of pro-Western dictators all across Asia at the height of the Cold War; and it was thanks to successive American governments that Asian dictators like Ferdinand Marcos, Suharto and the Colonels’ regime in Thailand lasted so long.

Furthermore contemporary American history would indicate clearly that despite the superficial ideological differences between the Democrats and Republicans in the US, successive US Presidents from Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Reagan to Bush have pursued American interests first and foremost, promoting and defending exploitative capitalist tendencies across Asia and the rest of the world at the expense of human rights and real, meaningful democracy. Jimmy Carter went to town with talk of human rights and his use of democracy as a bargaining chip in the dirty game of political conditionality, but it was the same Jimmy Carter who did little to curb the excesses of the dictatorships in the Philippines and Indonesia, as the latter were firmly pro-Western and pro-American in their orientation.

So for Mr Obama to make that grand leap to overturn the decades of uneven and unequal relations between the USA and Asia would require more than pretty words and sweet discourse. No, Mr Obama, we don’t need another lecture on human rights and democracy from you, and you don’t even have to wear the Batik shirt like Nelson Mandela. What we need from Obama and America at the present is the recognition of America’s place and status as a fair partner and equal player in the game of international relations, without the US reverting back to type and strutting around Asia with a big stick in hand and a carrot in the pocket.

Can Obama, or anyone for that matter, really undo and reverse the development of the military-industrial complex that has developed into this unwieldy juggernaut with a life of its own? Can any American President really curb the excesses of American multinationals as they devour the last remaining resources of the world, as in the case of US oil and gas companies currently sucking up the last mineral resources in sub-Saharan Africa or mining in the state of Bihar, India? Can one man overturn all this, without at the same time democratising his own society and educating the people of America about their role in the world and the human cost they are inflicting on the rest of humanity and the environment?

Unless and until these measures are really taken in earnest, our worry is that Obama’s victory is simply a case of a repetition of the same and a return to the hegemonic order of old. Every single American President has talked about regaining the pride of America and its place in the world. That pride, however, has come at the expense of the humiliation of other nations and societies, and America stands tall in the world only because it has cut other nations down in size. A fresh-faced Obama speaking the language of human rights may be refreshing indeed after eight years of Bush and his neo-Fascist discourse, but the wind of change wont be blowing until we see the tanks and warplanes of America retreating back to the shores of the USA…

                This entry was posted on Friday, 21 November 2008, 7:27 am and is filed under
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PAC should investigate into RM50 million Pempena scandals and the role of 2 Ministers/3 Pempena Chairmen during the period

The Public Accounts Commtitee (PAC) should investigate into the RM50 million Pempena scandals and the role of two Ministers and three Pempena Chairmen during the period, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, Datuk Kee Phaik Chin, Datuk Chor Chee Heung and Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun in the sorry tale of the multi-million ringgit fraud and criminal breach of trust of tourist promotion projects.

Current Pempena Sdn. Bhd  executive chairman Chew Mei Fun convened a special
media conference
on Wednesday to declare that she would not answer and was not responsible for the RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies as what she wanted was  to “focus on revamping the company”.

However, Chew has still to explain whether it is true that she was appointed to her RM10,000-a-month position in Pempena in mid-May but her appointment was backdated to April 1, 2008 – and whether she would return some six weeks’ pay as Pempena Chairman when she had not yet taken up the position.

Furthermore, Chew must explain why she had failed as Pempena executive chairman  as she was unable to answer a simple question at the media conference whether “heads will roll” and action will be taken against those in the Tourism Ministry for the tens of millions of ringgit of losses because of fraud and  criminal breach of trust.

Chew’s inability to give a simple answer whether those responsible for the RM50 million Pempena scandals would be held accountable is all the more inexcusable from the perspective of competence, accountability and integrity as the internal audit report exposing the financial irregularities, criminal breach of trust and fraud in  the various Pempena Group of Companies had been completed and been in her hands for over three months.

What had Chew been doing in the past three months after receiving the internal audit report on the RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies scandals? Did she carry out a house-cleaning of the Pempena Group of Companies?

How many people in the Pempena Group of Companies have faced disciplinary, civil or criminal proceedings for their part in the RM50 million Pempena scandals or have the key players of the RM50 million Pempena scandal been rewarded with promotions and salary increases?

Although Chew  has completely passed the buck of the RM50 million Pampena scandals to her predecessors, the two former Pampena Chairmen, Datuk Chor Chee Heung and Datuk Kee Phaik Kin have refused to accept the buck!

While admitting that some Pempena companies had incurred losses when he was Pempena Chairman in 2007, he claimed that all the development contracts and investments during his term as Pempena Chairman were  made in accordance  to  lawful channels and proper procedures.

He however suffered from an attack of amnesia  and could not remember the losses incurred by Pempena Group of Companies under his Chairmanship. He even forgot how much he was paid as Pempena Chairman!

Has Chor also forgotten that last year he was also Deputy Chairman of Wijaya Baru Global Bhd (WBGB), an associated company with Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd.,which was in the very thick of the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (
PKFZ
) scandal?  I will not be surprised if Chor has also forgotten how much he was paid by WBGB!

The Pempena Chairman before Chor, Datuk Kee Phaik Chin, also denied that there were any hanky-panky in the Pempena Group of Companies during her Chairmanship.

As reported by
Sin Chew Daily
, Kee said she left Pempena in very good shape, as headlined “I left RM50 million for Pempena” after her term as executive chairman  from 2004 to 2006, putting the Pempena Group of Companies in good shape, leaving Pempena  not only with RM50 million assets but with excellent corporate results and staff getting salary increases and bonus.

As all the three Pempena Chairman from 2006 to 2008 have all  disclaimed responsibility, how come there could be RM50 million Pempena financial scandals?

This is where the PAC must act immediately to ferret out the truth and identify those responsible for the RM50 million Pempena scandals.

Or is the country again presented with a “heinous crime without criminals” as was said of the many mega financial scandals of the past, like the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal and the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal?

The PAC should not only investigate into the role of the three Pempena Chairmen during the period, but also the two Tourism Ministers in the past three years as well, viz Datuk Seri Azalina Othman and Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

I am quite hesitant to ask the PAC to take on a new investigation as the PAC Chairman Datuk Azmi Khalid is staggering under the weight of  PAC responsibility and has still to keep his promise to table the PAC inquiry report into the RM1.6 billion Eurocopter deal.

Furthermore, Azmi has still to give a public accounting of the outcome of his announcement more than a month ago that the PAC would also investigate into the multi-billion ringit  Bank Indonesia International (BII) and High Speed Broadband (HSBB) controversies.

But as PAC is the only parliamentary mechanism available to date to discharge Parliament’s watchdog function to check executive abuses and excesses of power including misuse of public funds, I have no choice but to ask Azmi to get the PAC to include the RM50 million Pempena scandals on its  mountain pile of immediate agenda.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 21 November 2008, 3:56 pm and is filed under
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Blue Ocean strategy vs. our blood-red sea

BY:
Azly Rahman

“… Because blue and red oceans have always coexisted however, practical reality demands that companies succeed in both oceans and master the strategies for both. But because companies already understand how to compete in red oceans, what they need to learn is how to make the competition irrelevant.”

– Kim and Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, pg. 190

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

 – Mahathma Gandhi

Leaders are fond of discussing management concepts and theories of social change and next, apply them to political paradigms.

They do this within the framework of Structural-Functionalism in which society is seen as a stable entity such as in the case of ‘power transfers’ and the ‘transitions of hegemony’.

Oftentimes political leaders and their opinion leaders, technocrats, intelligentsia, speech-writers, perception managers, and other members of the regime will embrace new ideas to help fine-tune the political economic structure of the old regime and help sustain the base and superstructure of the power arrangements.

These days, a popular concept of change in Malaysia and Asia perhaps is the blue ocean strategy in which the idea of cooperation takes over competition, and that novel opportunities are to be created to contribute to an environment in a future that promises more peaceful coexistence between producers and consumers, and providers and clients.

This idea is taken from the work of W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, published in 2006 by The Harvard Business School Press.

In a yet to be charted territory of the blue ocean, competition is said to be irrelevant.

Innovative companies thrive without having to compete for saturated markets. ‘Red oceans’ of chaos and competition is abandoned for ‘blue oceans’ of conflict resolution and collaboration, as this new idea goes.

Again, limited findings from the study of a few business entities is used as a model to be applied to public service.

Is Malaysia a blue ocean?

To answer this one must consider what state she is currently in.

Malaysia is wading through the (dark and dismal) River Styx in which her McCarthyism is keeping dissenting voices in jail, hunting down students and faculty, arresting peaceful protesters, battling with new media, making its politics of race and religion is evolve into a Balkan and a Bosnia.

The postmodern condition of this open sky neo-capitalistic country is debilitating and its citizen are in utter confusion of where the national leaders are bringing them to, at time when the central and ethnic-based leadership is rotting to its core, creating a hideous form of a human being infected with a Human Papilliomavirus.

Especially at the time of the December party elections the level of corruption within the ruling parties is at a critical stage that even those vying for top leadership have admitted that one needs many millions of ringgit to get elected.

This is happening at a time when the poor of all races are struggling to survive by the day, maintaining a roof over their head, and making sure that their children have food on the table.

Malaysians are in a bipolar condition in a unipolar form of governance in which there is the belief that only race-based politics is the one best system.

Dissenting views are to be crushed and destroyed by any means necessary, and the hegemony of the previous regime need to be maintained either through force or false consciousness inflicted upon the masses.

The red ocean of Malaysian politics

Malaysians are charting into an unknown territory brought about by the yellow wave of the recent March 8 revolution and the red Makkal Sakthi cries of repression, anger, and frustration.

There is also the ever ‘green’ ideology of Islamic-based parties and the light blue radical multiculturalism of PKR adding to the Kandinsky and Jackson-Pollock type-of political landscape painting of this country’s future.

There is chaos and complexity in the pattern of political scenario, unlike the ‘blue ocean’ strategy feel-good ideology embraced by Barisan Nasional leaders who probably have not done an internal and external reading an critical analysis of what actually blue ocean strategy means in which the country is now trying to choose between depression and the deep blue sea.

In short, Malaysia is in a bloody red ocean that has been plagued with cut-throat shark-eat-shark world of racial politics.

In all these, Malaysians are in need of a leader that will not only embrace all these colors of change and turn them into a ‘rainbow coalition’.

Use that as a symbol to navigate through the blue ocean to arrive at a destiny that will promise a land of opportunities for all, less annoyance of race and religious politics, and onwards to march of participatory democracy and further on towards the reconstruction of a republic of virtue grounded in ethics of philosophical, economic, and political sustainability.

Replace paradigm and people

The theme in the book Blue Ocean Strategy, is hope for the creation of a future of peace and prosperity.

In Malaysia, who has the licence to give that hope? Who has the ability to be the captain of new consciousness and steer away from a Vision 2020 that has become a Myopia of 2012 as Malaysia’s await the next General Election?

Is the present government, ailing with social cancer that started from the head and now heading to the soul, able to help create a blue ocean?

Can it do so with the happenings in the Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative?

This is a question Malaysians have to answer fast, while “hitting the ground running” as an American saying goes.

Paradigms and people need to be replaced. Democrats in America cannot rehire ‘Bush-men of Texas’ to navigate through the American Kalahari desert of Casino Capitalism in order to enter a new world of the unknown.

Can Malaysians do that too — continue en masse supporting a regime that has betrayed its people?

Can Malaysians afford another 50 years of race-based politics albeit fine-tuned?

Making incremental changes are like fixing a machine that has interchangeable parts whereas that machine need to be reassembled or disposed in a junkyard of history together with its operators and owner of the means of economic and ideological production.

New games need brand new players.

In a game of strategies played in the deep blue sea, we need a clear blue sky above us with a rainbow right above so that we may learn to think elegantly like dolphins – rather than think brutishly like piranhas that will turn the ocean bloodier.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 22 November 2008, 11:50 am and is filed under
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I will employ Chew Mei Fun at a salary befitting her real qualifications – send me her cv

MCA Wanita chief and Pempena Executive Chairman, Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun publicly asked me on Thursday whether I will employ and “feed” her if she resigns from Pempena. (
Sin Chew Daily
,
Guang Ming Daily
)

My response – Chew should send me her job application with her cv and I will employ her at a salary befitting her real qualifications.

However, Malaysians are amazed at her crass audacity – which is typical of many MCA leaders – that Malaysians owe her a living, and the government must give her a job and “feed” her just because she lost to Tony Pua in the  March general election in the Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary constituency!

If this is the case, then Chew should have been truthful in the March general election campaign  and  should have owned up publicly that she would be “fed” by the Barisan Nasional government even if she loses in the parliamentary contest against Pua – that she was  in an envious “cannot  lose” situation, whatever the outcome of the election!

Be that as it may, Chew may be out of her job as Pempena Executive Chairman faster than she think, especially if the Star report “
Pempena probe has Azalina fuming
” (20.11.98) is to be believed, that the Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman  is mulling over whether to shut down the subsidiary of the Tourism Ministry!

The report said Azalina was “irked” by the “nonchalant attitude” of those being questioned over the  RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies scandals.

She said:

“I have been told the immediate standard response we have been getting is that it is the Government’s money and ‘why should we care’ statements as if it is the Govern¬ment’s obligation to invest with them.

“It is so disgusting when nobody cares. How can you not care when it comes to the people’s money?”

Lashing out at the poor Pempena investments, Azalina  said:

“Pempena should close down if it cannot invest properly. If it fails, it fails. Then we pick up the pieces and carry on.”

What is most shocking is that such outrageous  “nonchalant attitude” is fully inherited by the current Pempena executive chairman as illustrated by Chew’s utter contempt for accountability, transparency and good governance when she:

•	Dismissed questions about Pempena scandals, declaring that she would not answer “on things that happened before my time” as she just wanted to focus on revamping the company; and

•	Spurned questions as to whether “heads will roll” and action taken against those responsible for the tens of millions of ringgit of Pempena losses because of fraud and criminal breach of trust although the internal audit report detailing the various Pempena scandals had been completed and been in her hands for over three months.

If this is the attitude of the Pempena executive chairman, then I agree that Pempena should be closed down, as we cannot have an executive chairman who have no clue as to what are her responsibilities to the Malaysian public and taxpayers who are paying her RM10,000 monthly salary!  Clearly, she does not know who are  the “boss” and who are “feeding” her!

The case for the closure of Pempena is strengthened after I read the disclosures by Datuk Kee Phaik Chin,  the Pempena Chairman from 2004-2006, who is astounded by the Pempena losses, as she had left Pempena in very good hands,with RM50 million reserves, even salary increases and bonus for the Pempena staff!

She wondered how Pempena could lose RM20 million in the two years she was no more in Pempena – a question which Chew and her immediate predecessor Datuk  Chor Chee Heung have refused to answer!

In the circumstances, Azalina must personally answer these and other Pempena-related questions in Parliament next week when the Tourism Ministry come up for scrutiny in the 2009 Budget committee stage debate.

Let Azalina also tell Parliament next week whether she is going to close down Pempena or whether Chew is fit and competent to continue as Pempena Executive Chairman.

I met Azalina at the Senai Airport this morning and I want to remind  her of my request for a copy of the internal audit report into the Pempena Group of Companies scandals, which was completed in August 2008 and the Final Report of the PricewaterhouseCooper’s report on “High Level Business Review of Pempena Group of Companies”.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 22 November 2008, 12:54 pm and is filed under
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Snap election end 2009/early 2010 with RAHMAN prophecy?

Will Datuk Seri Najib Razak call a snap general election at the end of next year or early 2010 to get a full mandate and legitimacy as the sixth Prime Minister and to put behind him all the many serious allegations now hounding and haunting him?

This is an option Najib will have to give serious consideration when he takes over as the sixth Prime Minister next March.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dissolved Parliament in March 2004 four months after taking over the premiership while Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad dissolved Parliament in March 1982 eight months after becoming the fourth Prime Minister, both scoring landslide victories in the “first flush” of a new Prime Minister with the 2004 general election victory the most unprecedented.

Will Najib take a leaf from Abdullah and Mahathir and plan for an early snap general election when he takes over as Prime Minister next March, whether end of next year or early 2010?

This is the first strategic decision Najib has to make as Prime Minister, whether to craft a national euphoria when he assumes the premiership and go for early polls whether end-2009 or early 2010 or complete the bulk of the 12th Parliamentary term to hold the 13th general election in 2011 or 2012.

Najib and his core advisers must now be weighing the pros and cons of having early snap polls.

The arguments for early snap polls are the same reasons why Abdullah and Mahathir chose the option – to take full advantage of the “honeymoon” goodwill as well as the political euphoria that could be generated by a new Prime Minister, which cannot be sustained if Najib completes the full term of the present Parliament.

Furthermore, a convincing victory in an early polls will have the great benefit of giving Najib the necessary legitimacy which he will lack when he becomes Prime Minister in March, as unlike the other five Prime Ministers, Najib will be starting his premiership hounded and haunted by many serious allegations of impropriety raising grave questions about his fitness for the high office.

There is however a great risk if Najib goes for an early poll option – that he may suffer a major electoral setback, a possibility no more unthinkable after the March 8 “political tsunami”.

The most famous political prophecy in Malaysia, the RAHMAN prophecy, is now making furious rounds in Malaysian political circles.

The RAHMAN prophecy on the first six Prime Ministers of Malaysia is about to be proven completely true – starting with Tunku Abdul RAHMAN, followed by Tun ABDUL Razak, Tun HUSSEIN Onn, Tun MAHATHIR Mohamad, Datuk Seri ABDULLAH Badawi and Datuk Seri NAJIB Razak.

The questions that ensue are:

Is Najib the last in the line of UMNO Prime Ministers, with UMNO political hegemony and stranglehold on Federal power broken after Najib?

Will Najib be the shortest-serving Prime Minister in Malaysia if he is defeated by Pakatan Rakyat in a snap general election whether end-2009 or early-2010?

Nobody can answer these questions until probably next year but until then, they will bulk larger and larger in the political dream and consciousness not only of Najib and UMNO leaders but all Malaysians.

Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang at the 2,000-People Gelang Patah DAP Parliamentary Liaison Committee dinner themed “Let Us Move Towards Two Party System Together” held at SJK © Gua Kuang I(2) Hall, Skudai, Johore on Friday, 21st November 2008 at 10 pm

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 22 November 2008, 3:05 pm and is filed under
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“Lim Kit Siang can go for a public TV debate…with himself!”

DEWAN DISPATCHES

By

Azmi Anshar

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) is so vexingly itchy in taking on just about anyone from the governing side of the political aisle for a boisterous public debate on TV that its about time that he grasp the understanding that NO ONE from the Government has any enthusiasm or propensity to accept his brassy challenges. It’s been Kit’s enduring tactic for as many years as he is an MP to goad his rivals, even if they were a notch down his intellectual range, for a public debate. Can anyone recall whether Kit has succeeded in getting one with any BN leader on live TV? He’s equitable in his challenges, throwing them around like confetti to a hodge-podge of politicians from Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, et al. He’s done it so many times that a challenge to a public debate from Kit is regarded as an irritable cliché that should be ignored like you nonchalantly ignore someone’s burp in public.

Kit’s latest heckled lure was laid out today to Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Albar (BN-Kota Tinggi) but like all BN leaders intimately wary of Kit’s bait-and-switch, reel-them-in-once-they-are-hooked ways, the Home Minister shrewdly didn’t take the bait, not even a nibble.

It’s bad enough that they have to contend with his loud, in-your-face, no quarter given style inside the House day after day on just about any conceivable issue – a Lim Kit Siang hallmark, the range of his microscopic gaze scans without missing a bug – but to tango with him toe-to-toe to the crunching beat of thrash metal? Thank goodness for weekend breaks.

Kit’s challenge to the Home Minister to a public debate was on the ostensibly worsening crime rate but it was more of being raked in the coals by Syed Hamid, which Kit characterised as a campaign to demonise him as enemy of the police, on the account of three unflattering newspaper headlines attributed to Syed Hamid that made Kit look as if “I was crucifying the police force and belittling their credibility.”

“In my 42 years in politics as a MP and DAP leader,” Kit asserted in his blog ‘Lim Kit Siang for Malaysia’, “I have never treated or regarded the police as an enemy…the police officers and personnel perform an unenviable but important and critical function to keep the country safe and secure for socio-economic and political progress and to be able to attract tourists and investors to maintain Malaysia’s competitiveness.”

Kit admitted to criticising the faults or failures of the police, which he also applied to the Cabinet and the entire public service, but he made it known that he never, ever begrudged giving full support to the police force for proper and adequate recognition in pay increases, equitable remuneration and improvements in working conditions.

Kit also took issue with Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung’s declaration that the worsening crime was a “misperception” of the people, which the DAP leader found to be a “contemptuous dismissal” of the daily nightmare of Malaysians about their personal safety.

On that remark alone, Kit demanded that Syed Hamid seek the sacking of Chor for such insensitive and irresponsible talk, to which Chor insisted on being correct, backed by what he claimed are facts and figures. “If he (Lim Kit Siang) doesn’t want to accept it, it has nothing to do with me,” Chor shrugged off Kit’s lambast.

Back to Kit’s taunt for a public debate, Syed Hamid simply scorned Kit’s pestering, which he described as a “publicity stunt”.

“I’m not going into a debate with him when he has made up his mind, Syed Hamid declared. “There is no problem if he wants to discuss about the police or to talk to us.”

Wary of Kit’s badgering homilies; Syed Hamid expressed no interest in indulging the MP for Ipoh Timor. “The challenge is politically motivated. He is trying to get political gains.”

That should be grating to Kit though he is not the type to get easily shook up. But Kit may still wonder what is it that he must do or sacrifice to get a shot on prime time TV, seeing that his erstwhile enemy turn ally, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was given a crack for a tit-for-tat with Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Chik on what is now a dated issue, the Government’s abrupt petrol price hike to RM2.70 a litre when oil prices were hitting stratospheric heights hovering at US$120 a barrel. That seemed like ancient history now, petrol prices having contracted o RM2 a litre after oil prices slumped below US$50 a barrel.

But Kit won’t likely be disheartened by the lack of TV debating appearances, not that he has ever been invited by the mainstream TV stations to be a guest talking head. Short of the Pakatan Rakyat making good its radioactive leader’s luminously dubious promises for a power grab early next month where Kit can consequently make his national tube debut, there will be no let off for the Government when it comes to needling them on the compelling issues of the day – on the floor of the House where Kit still reigns.

Kit will also be heartened to know that his famed debating methods, flourishing oratorical style and histrionics of hyperbole has been uploaded and downloaded on numerous occasions, and stored for posterity from inside YouTube, web news aggregators and all forms of non-Government linked websites. His political debating legacy is intact even if no one ever engages him in a mainstream public TV debate. There are simply no takers.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 23 November 2008, 10:47 pm and is filed under
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Over to you, Khaled and Hishammuddin

Hi, i am student from Penang … can help us check for second semester PTPTN loan when can issue? now already mid semester. Dunno  why PTPTN still like this “late issue the loan”, by this was make a lot of student feel suffer in finance. i already send mail to PTPTN, but no have any respond. i hope can get a good news as fast as possible. thank you for your help.

I received this email seven hours ago from a student in Penang crying for help as PTPTN is so inefficient and  inconsiderate when PTPTN loan is still not disbursed although it is now mid-semester.

I have put up this email hoping that the Higher Education Minister Datuk Khaled Nordin  would be as Internet-savvy and blog-sensitive  as his predecessor Datuk. Mustapha Mohamed, as Mustapha would respond  promptly to complaints touching on his Ministry on my blog.

Can Khaled shake up the PTPTN and release all the outstanding second semester loans within 24 hours or at most 48 hours?

There is another reason I have put up the email – to show the atrocious English standard of our students.

I do not blame the student who wrote the email but the national education system. If any Cabinet Minister must be blamed, it would have to be the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and his predecessors!

I believe that the English in this email is probably the average standard of our present crop of students and the worst would be horror tales of total incoherence and incomprehension in the English language.

If Education Ministers have to be assessed  professionally, one  key performance index will be the attainment of English language by our students – and Hishammuddin would have failed badly in such a KPI assessment.

There is no shortage of formula to restore English mastery or at least fluency  among students in Malaysia but only whether there is political will and professional commitment by the Education Minister and the Barisan Nasional Cabinet.

Over to you Khaled and Hishammuddin!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 23 November 2008, 7:27 pm and is filed under
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RM50 million Pempena scandals – 3 questions Azalina should answer as non-functioning Pempena CEO has clamped up

I am posing three questions on the RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies scandals for the Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman to answer in Parliament next week since the non-functioning Pempena Executive Chairman Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun has clamped up and refused to accept accountability.

Firstly, why was PricewaterhouseCooper engaged to conduct a high-level business review of  Pempena’s 14 Investee Companies and not on all its 24 Investee Companies – especially as most of the 24 investee companies have not been recording operational profits over the last three years.

Out of these selected 14 investee companies reviewed, PwhC has proposed that Pempena should “exit its investments” from five companies, suffering an immediate loss of RM20 million. The five companies are:

(i) Malaysia Tourism Executive Sdn Bhd (“Matex”)

(ii) Sri Kebaya Restaurant Sdn Bhd (“Sri Kebaya”)

(iii) Malaysia Restaurant Hyderabad Limited (“Awana Hyderabad”)

(iv) Dalamasa

(v) Nathena

PwhC also proposed the liquidation of another  company, My Destination, which will involve a loss of RM7.5 million – making a total loss  of RM27.5  million for the “exiting” from five companies and the liquidation of one!

But these are not the only losses confronting  Tourism Ministry and its subsidiary, the Pempena Group of Companies as the 10 Pempena Investee companies which had been deliberately excluded in the PwhC review, are very sick companies.

These 10 Pempena companies excluded from PwhC review are in very parlous state as they included six Investee Companies which do not have any financial information and three Investee Companies with only partial financial information.

If these 10 “sick” and even bankrupt Pempena subsidiaries are taken into account for exiting investment or liquidation, it would mean that as many as 16 of the 24 Pempena Investee Companies have to be closed down bringing the total losses to RM40 to RM50 million.

The first question is why these 10 “worst” Pempena Investee Companies were excluded from PwhC review? What is the fate and future of these 10 companies.

What will be the total losses that would be incurred by Pempena Group of Companies if all the 18 of the 24 subsidiary companies are to be closed down.

Secondly, why was “placement of funds in the money market and units trusts” one of the three “key activities” of the Pempena business plan, when the objective of Pempena is to promote tourism?

Azalina should give a full profit and loss report  in Parliament of Pempena’s dabbling in the money market and unit trusts using public funds meant specifically for promoting tourism.

Thirdly, why is Pempena, the Tourism Ministry and Azalina making a mockery of the pledge by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that upholding accountability and integrity will be his final legacy to the country?

If the Tourism Ministry and Pempena can refuse to table in Parliament and make public the internal audit report of the RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies scandals, which were completed more than three months ago in August, just because it contained a huge can of worms about fraud, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of public funds and  abuse of power, what is the difference between the last months of the Abdullah premiership as compared to the last five years of Abdullah administration or the previous 22-year Mahathir premiership?

The Pempena Executive  Chairman Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun should be answering these questions but she does not seem to realize or appreciate that she is paid  RM10,000 a month  by taxpayers and has refused to accept accountability as the CEO of Pempena.

I am still waiting for Chew’s application and cv as she had asked whether I would employ and “feed” her if she is no more Pempena Chairman.

However, Chew should realize that one of the essential conditions of service if I employ her is that she must accept the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance. Maybe Pempena and the Ministry of Tourism are the only places where she could get away with impunity with her irresponsible attitude of clamping up and refusing to accept responsibility and accountability which comes from her job specification.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 23 November 2008, 2:46 pm and is filed under
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Yoga banned for Muslims in Singapore?

MC emailed a link to
Singapore Straits Times
rebutting the claim by the chairman of the National Fatwa  Council Datuk Dr. Abdul Shukor Husin  when announcing a
ban
 on yoga for Muslims that “Malaysia is not the only country which prohibits Muslims from doing Yoga” and that “Singapore and Egypt have come out with the same edict”.

The Singapore Straits Times report

“Yoga is okay”
dated Nov. 9, 2008 reads:

A MUSLIM cleric in Malaysia has called on Muslims to stop doing yoga exercises, but some religious experts in Singapore do not share that sentiment.

They are largely of the opinion that yoga is harmless as long as its spiritual aspects are not practised.

Professor Zakaria Stapa, a lecturer at University Kebangsaan Malaysia’s faculty of Islamic studies, said recently that yoga is based on Hindu elements and could affect the faith of Muslims practising it.

That sparked a nationwide debate and the Malaysian National Fatwa Council may issue a fatwa, or decree, on yoga soon.

The country seems to be alone in its concern.

Yoga centres are flourishing in more orthodox Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In Iran, yoga is so popular that there are classes for children.

In Singapore, Mr Mohammad Yusri Yubhi Md Yusoff, 33, executive imam of Al-Falah mosque, said: ‘Yoga may have its roots in Hinduism. But if you take away the meditation and other spiritual aspects, it becomes just another form of exercise.’

Veteran religious expert Pasuni Maulan, 64, agreed. The former registrar of Muslim marriages said spiritual elements in exercises are not exclusive to yoga. Silat, which has its roots in Malay culture, can sometimes involve hailing spirits, a practice not allowed in Islam.

‘Those who are not sure about what is allowed may want to do other exercises,’ he suggested.

As a rule of thumb, avoid the spiritual forms of exercises and embrace only the physical aspects, said religious teacher and counsellor Abdul Manaf Rahmat, 50.

Teacher Hafiza Yahya, 26, who studied yoga through books five years ago, has been doing just that.

‘In classes, instructors may ask you to say Hindu incantations. I simply did the exercises without all that,’ said the mother of two, who shed more than 30kg through yoga after each pregnancy. She now weighs a trim 46kg.

Has the National Fatwa Council been misinformed about the ban in Singapore when deciding that yoga is haram (prohibited) in Islam and Muslims are prohibited are banned from practising it?

AFP has filed the following story:

Agence France-Presse – 11/23/2008 4:22 AM GMT

Malaysia Muslim council under fire for banning yoga

One of Malaysia’s highest Islamic bodies was under fire Sunday after its chairman said yoga was forbidden for Muslims because the practice would weaken religious faith.

Devotees of yoga and moderate Muslim groups criticised the ruling by Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the government-backed National Fatwa Council. Yoga is hugely popular in mostly-Muslim Malaysia.

“I don’t think it had caused any Muslim to convert to Hinduism, neither has it weakened their faith,” said Norhayati Kaprawi, an official with Sisters of Islam, a private group which champions the rights of Muslim women.

“It is just an exercise like tai chi, which has its roots in Buddism,” she told the Sunday Star newspaper. She said her group’s staff had been holding yoga classes for the past year and that they would continue.

Rulings by the Fatwa Council are not legally binding on the country’s Muslims, and there are no laws to punish those who ignore Council decisions — but it is an enormously influential body.

Abdul Shukor decreed that yoga was forbidden because it involves the recitation of mantras and that it encourages a union with God that is considered blasphemy in Islam.

“The practice will erode their faith in the religion,” he said on Saturday. “It does not conform with Islam.”

A veteran opposition lawmaker, Lim Kit Siang, said that the edict showed that Malaysia was heading towards a conservative type of Islam which could divide the multiracial country.

“It is sending a most unfortunate message that Malaysia, instead of moving towards a moderate and universal Islam, is moving towards an opposite direction which will create divisions,” he told AFP.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of the population of 27 million are Muslim Malays who practice a conservative brand of the faith.

About 25 percent of the population is ethnic Chinese and eight percent is ethnic Indian, most of whom are Hindus.

Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Muslim yoga teacher Siti Suheila Merican said that while yoga practice should not involve worshipping, the physical movements were good for improving health.

“Worldwide it has been accepted as an excercise for health benefits,” she was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 23 November 2008, 7:59 pm and is filed under
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“ISA? Yes we can!”

Protected

Arrested

                This entry was posted on Monday, 24 November 2008, 11:51 am and is filed under
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Oil Palm industry crisis – urgent remedial measures needed

The Federal,  Sabah and Sarawak state governments should immediately implement urgent  and effective measures to help oil palm smallholders and industry hard hit by the two-thirds plunge in palm oil prices since March.

The price of crude palm oil (CPO) fell two-thirds from a March high of RM4,486 per  tonne  to current levels of about RM1,455 per tonne, creating a grave crisis for the oil palm industry.

On the one hand, oil palm fruits are being left to rot as mills are refusing to buy the fruits because of palm oil’s plunging price.

On the other hand, exporters are in a quandary as  the global financial crisis and the plunge in CPO prices have led to many importers to default on their contracts as well as making  it difficult for foreign importers to obtain letters of credit (LCs).

This is because  prices of CPO quoted in contracts or LCs were much higher than the current market price of the commodity, making foreign banks in importing countries more cautious about extending credit facilities.

Many importers have opted to default on their contracts as the price of CPO had dropped sharply.

Whether  banks or importers, nobody wants to receive goods that have lower current prices than that quoted in the LCs –   especially when commodity prices are on a downward trend.

The urgent  and effective measures the Federal, Sabah and Sarawak state governments should adopt to  tide the oil palm smallholders and industry through their present crisis include:

•	Sabah and Sarawak state governments should immediately withdraw the imposition of Sales Tax on CPO – Sabah at 7.5% per tonne while Sarawak at 5% per tonne.

•	The Federal Government should intervene against the monopoly or  cartelling in fertiliser prices which have been kept artificially high although there has been an almost two-third fall in the price of world crude oil prices during the same period.

•	The Federal Government should actively promote and market palm oil and related products, including the mandatory implementation of palm-based biodiesel requiring the use of the B5 blend (five per cent biodiesel with 95 per cent  regular diesel) not just for government vehicles from next Februrary, but for all industrial and transport sectors.

•	Massive  and aggressive replanting programme.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 24 November 2008, 12:53 pm and is filed under
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RM50 million Pempena scandals – another 3 questions for Azalina

Yesterday, I posed
three questions
on the RM50 million Pempena Group of Companies scandals for the Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman to answer in Parliament this week during the 2008 Budget committee stage debate  on her Ministry  since the non-functioning Pempena Executive Chairman Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun has clamped up and refused to accept accountability.

Today, I am posing another three questions, giving her adequate notice to prepare for a full and adequate accounting in Parliament to show that as Minister for Tourism, she is fully aware of her responsibilities to live up to the principles of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance although there are “Little Napoleons” in the Pempena Group of Companies who behave as if public funds are their private property which they need not account to anyone.

These additional three questions are:

Question No. 4 – Did she as Tourism Minister receive a request dated 15th October 2008 made jointly by the Pempena Executive Chairman Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun and the Pempena Chief Executive Officer Datuk Idrus Mohd for a RM5 million injection to keep Pempena afloat, although Chew had publicly denied that there was any such application.  What is the Tourism Ministry’s position on the latest appeal by Pampena for an annual   RM5 million life-line capital injection for the next two years to ensure Pempena’s continuous viability?

Question No. 5 – Two weeks ago, Azalina pledged from London that “there would be no cover-up of the goings-on in Pempena” and that those who had “cheated the government in any way” would be “severely dealt with”.

Let Azalina inform Parliament how many people implicated in the RM50 million Pempena scandals had actions taken against them, whether disciplinary action or the institution of  criminal or civil proceedings.

In particular, why no action had been taken against the Pempena official responsible for grave criminal offence of tampering and falsification of minutes of meetings of the Pempena Board of Directors, involving matters like the appointment of contractors.  This serious offence took place under two former Pempena Chairman, Datuk Kee Phaik Chin and Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung.

No action was taken against such a grave criminal offence even in the past three months after this was confirmed by the internal audit submitted to the new Pempena executive chairman, Datuk Paduka Chew Mei Fun more than three months ago.  Can both Kee and Chor throw light on this serious crime during their chairmanship of Pempena?

Question No. 6 – Azalina had in London (reported by the New Straits Times 12th November 2008) had expressed shock and sadness that “so much money had been invested in Pempena but the companies that promised profits did not deliver”, asking where all the RM11 million invested in the taxi company, Pempena Executive Taxi (PETS), went to as the company has even failed to pay the hire purchase loan for the taxi instalments.

She also cited the financial woes of the various projects under the  Malaysian Kitchen programme.

However the review into these selected Pempana companies conducted by  PricewaterhouseCoopers Capital Sdn. Bh(PwhC) specifically excluded “any investigative audit or forensics work” but merely “a high-level business review”.

Who was responsible for  the decision to specifically exclude  PwhC from its terms of reference  any investigative audit or forensics work to uncover fraud, irregularities and improprieties in the Pempena group of Companies and was this part of a “cover-up” to perpetuate the culture of impunity in the bureaucracy?

As the Pempena executive chairmd PwhC from any investigative audit or forensics work, Azalina should tell all in Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 24 November 2008, 6:12 am and is filed under
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A reply to Benjamin

BY
Eddy

Dear Benjamin,

Thank you for forwarding this email of yours.

Although there is no doubt that my sympathies lie with the DAP. I need to clarify that I am not, and was never a member of any political party. I did once toy with the idea of signing up, but that was about as far as my political ambitions went.  Nevertheless, I never stopped admiring Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang and his son, Guan Eng given their courage, honesty, selflessness, sacrifice and tenacity

The arguments contained in your email are persuasive and interesting. To be fair to DAP though, I think the party has already embarked on the very path that you are advocating. After all these years, I believe they are quite aware of the political landscape.

With the benefit of hindsight, I think Kit Siang – more idealistic than politically savvy at that time – overstretched himself in wooing the Malay votes. He paid a high price and almost led his party to the wilderness after attempting to forge a united front with PAS during the 1999 general election. Ideologically, the two parties were much too far apart. The unholy alliance merely served to rouse the fear and distrust of DAP traditional supporters. Besides, floating Chinese voters throughout the country deserted DAP in droves during the subsequent election, and the party was badly trounced.

From my personal observation of the recent general election,  I think the DAP have finally got it right this time. The party stalwarts made a very wise (and strategically correct) move in throwing its full support behind Anwar Ibrahim’s Keadilan. Despite their bad experience with PAS, they still managed to convince members to once again put away personal and party’s interests to form a united opposition front with Keadilan and PAS. To achieve that, I believe the DAP made significant electoral concessions (far more than PAS was prepared to give in return). I would therefore be surprised if anyone would accuse DAP for lack of trying.

As we saw, judging from the extraordinary outcome of the poll, I think the DAP leaders have largely been vindicated. They have shown true political wisdom and maturity. The resultant united Opposition Front was able to convince the whole spectrum of voters in the electorate – Malay, Chinese, or Indian – that they are indeed a worthy and credible alternative to the Barisan. If not for East Malaysia, UMNO would have been booted out of office by now! Regardless, it was still a historic result for DAP and the Opposition.

Now that Lim Guan Eng is the Chief Minister, I think it is highly commendable of him to appoint a Malay and also, an Indian to be his deputy. Moreover, he was neither rash nor over-hasty in dismantling the long established NEP policies of the previous governments. Wisely, it has been a measured, softly-soft approach which has helped soothed fears and concerns of the Malays who are long used to their special privileges. Such a fundamental change of what some may call a “welfare mentality” among the Malays certainly needs time and patience.

It is true that the Malays are a majority in Malaysia. With a superior birth rate and with their numbers continually incremented by never ending waves of Indonesian migrants, they certainly enjoy a clear majority. You are correct of course in saying that “Malays will always support UMNO.” However to be fair, this blanket statement ought now be tempered by the fact that some Malays these days – particularly the more educated ones – are disenchanted with UMNO for the very reasons you have elicited. Anwar is therefore not alone in condemning UMNO for its wholesale corruption and the failures of the NEP. I have read some eloquent letters by articulate Malay intellectuals who are now prepared to stand up, question UMNO and indeed, defend the rights of non-Malays as well.

I fully support the DAP simply because Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng and many of their leaders have consistently demonstrated their selflessness and sincerity to all. They have made untold sacrifice for fellow Malaysians regardless of their race, creed, colour or religion. Like these leaders, I firmly subscribe to an honest, efficient, fair and just government. Unlike UMNO, I do not tolerate, or condone human rights abuse, corruption or racism in any form. I too am for a Malaysian Malaysia. This land is big enough a place for all. Every race has contributed to the making of this great country.

If I were a DAP member, I would certainly give due consideration to some of your suggestions. In particular, I agree that DAP members ought to be even more proactive in wooing Malay members and voters. However, I cannot agree that DAP members ought sacrifice their own customs and beliefs, or discard their heritage and cultural identity. Not at any price. As far as I am concerned, human relationships must be based on the principles of mutual respect and natural justice. If not, they are not worth having to begin with.

There is no need for any Malay or Indian to put on Chinese clothes before coming over to court my vote. It is their proven words and deeds that will serve to move me – not what they wear. Likewise, why should DAP members – whether Chinese, Indian or others – start wearing a sarong and songkok? If these guys are that servile, then they might as well go jump into bed with UMNO! No sir, there are already too many sycophants and ass kissers around as it is! Mind you, even the MCA and MIC – the despicable lot – have yet to stoop that low.

Regardless, I am delighted to see that you care enough to write this letter of yours. UMNO does not have the slightest regard for human rights – let alone fairness and justice for the people. Karpal Singh, Kit Siang, Guan Eng and so many of their leaders have endured years of untold physical and mental hardship for the sake and welfare of their fellow Malaysians. I salute them! They are true Malaysians. They therefore deserve our sympathy and our fullest support. DAP is absolutely correct in throwing their weight behind Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar is a leader with certain charisma and who enjoys the trust and goodwill of all races. He also has the support of the majority in the country – and UMNO knows this! This is why Mahathir, and now his enemies in UMNO, have resorted to such despicable means and measures to try stop and destroy him.

Sure, Anwar is no angel and is not perfect, but who is? At the very least, he has shown tremendous courage and fortitude by challenging our erstwhile PM, Mahathir and alerting the country of his evil deeds and doings. And now, Anwar is taking on Badawi and Najib. Just like Kit Siang and Guan Eng, Anwar endured untold suffering and almost lost his life while being tortured by Dr. M’s henchmen. Till today, he and his family continue to be threatened by sinister forces. A lesser man would have long given up, and this is why I believe Kit Siang and the DAP are doing precisely the right thing by pulling out all stops to support Anwar and to align itself with Keadilan and PAS.

All the best!

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 5:51 pm and is filed under
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