Seven-billionth human marks demographic change: expert

by Jim Forsyth

Reuters

Sun, Oct 30 2011

SAN ANTONIO, Tex (Reuters) — The seven-billionth human is expected to be born on Monday, but an expert who helps do the counting says that event comes as the Earth undergoes a demographic shift toward slower population growth.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the seven-billionth child is most likely to be a boy born in India or China, but the trend of fertility in the longer term is in a different direction, says Dudley Poston, a professor of sociology and demographics at Texas A&M University,

For the first time ever, the human reproduction rate is slowing, in many places slowing significantly, and the slowing growth is not only happening in Europe and Japan, he says.

“Once your fertility rates drops below two, it is very very hard to get it to go back up again,” Poston told Reuters.

“We now have 75 countries in the world where the fertility rate is below two,” meaning the average woman is having fewer than two children.

That is far below the rate of 2.2 to 2.3 considered optimal to hold the population steady, factoring in the number of females who have no children or who don’t live to reach childbearing age.

While he says Europe and the industrialized democracies of east Asia are the ‘poster children’ for demographic shift, low birth rates are also being seen in Brazil, in China, and in the Islamic Middle East, where the fertility rate in the United Arab Emirates is 1.8.

“Japan is losing more people today than they’re gaining,” Poston said. “South Korea has an alarmingly low fertility rate, 1.1.”

REVERSING TREND

Not long ago, the opposite was true. In 1970, the average fertility rate worldwide was 4.5, leading to predictions of demographic doom in books like Robert Silverberg’s “The World Inside” and Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb.”

They saw a world where hoards of wildly reproducing humans desperate for dwindling food supplies would destroy social cohesion and spark wars and societal unrest.

But a funny thing happened on the way to population Armageddon. Poston says the fastest growth period in the history of the world was in the mid to late 1960s, which prompted dystopic predictions.

“When Paul Ehrlich wrote that book the world was growing at about 2 percent per year,” Poston said. “Now we’re growing at about half that.”

Poston says a combination of factors led to what may be the most significant demographic shift ever. In the industrialized West, improved methods of birth control and greater opportunities for women in the workplace and in society meant the end of 5,000 years of women generally being considered society’s baby-makers.

In China, there has been aggressive enforcement of a ‘one child’ policy, drastically reducing population growth rates, and leading to a surplus of males.

Worldwide, urbanization has reduced the need for large families beneficial in rural agricultural areas.

MYSTERIOUS DECLINES

Reasons for significant growth rate declines in places like Iran, where the rate has fallen from 7.0 in 1974 to 1.9, remain more of a mystery, but Poston says they probably can be traced to cultural changes that can be very difficult to reverse.

“We have been growing very, very fast in the world and now we’re starting to slow down.”

Poston says it took until about 1800 for the earth to see its one billionth resident, as high fertility rates were effectively countered by high infant mortality rates, diseases, and nearly continuous warfare that generally cut down men at the height of their most active reproductive years.

The march of science led to a decrease in infant mortality and deadly diseases, and combined with a continued high fertility rate led to a huge population bloom. The two billionth human was born in 1930, and the six billionth in 1999.

Moreover, the warfare and constant societal violence that helped keep the population in check has retreated, Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker says in his recent book “The Better Angels of our Nature.”

“It is really only in the countries of sub Saharan Africa where fertility is still high…,” Poston said, “but even in several of these countries there have been fertility declines in recent years.”

So Poston says while it took 12 years to reach Monday’s seven billion mark from six billion, it will take 14 years to reach eight billion — the first time in history a billion milestone has taken longer to reach than the one before — and then 18 years to reach nine billion.

FOOD KEEPING UP

Thus far the world has been able to produce enough food to feed its new mouths. The U.N. says world food production per person today is 41 percent higher than in 1961, thanks largely to the “Green Revolution” in farming which brought higher yields not only to Western farmers, but brought traditional subsistence farming in Africa and Asia into the modern age.

Food production per capita in India today is 37 percent higher than fifty years ago, according to the World Bank.

Some still fear food shortages and price rises, and problems with supplies of other commodities like oil.

“(Whether) the rate of farm production slow down or level off is uncertain,” Poston said. “But right now there is no difficulty.”

And the trends may bring problems of a different sort, he said, predicting the world will begin seeing the impact of declining populations in as little as 40 years.

“That is going to be the issue in the future,” Poston said. “We are going to have to start thinking for the first time in human history about fewer.”

That will mean thinking in an entirely new way about everything from resource production to old age pensions, he said.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 October 2011, 6:59 pm and is filed under
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Yang Berhormat Ipoh Timur memohon agar keutamaan diberikan untuk membahaskan Usul persendirian mengenai isu plagiarism yang dibawa oleh Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gelugor di Dewan ini

Jawapan Bertulis YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri semasa Menggulung Perbahasan Bajet 2012 (Peringkat Dasar) di Dewan Rakyat pada 24 Oktober 2011

Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, Perkara 127 Perlembagaan Persekutuan melarang perbincangan mengenai kelakuan seseorang hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Mahkamah Rayuan atau Mahkamah Tinggi di dalam Parlimen kecuali suatu usul khusus yang notis mengenainya telah diberikan oleh tidak kurang daripada satu perempat daripada jumlah bilangan ahli Majlis Parlimen.

Selanjutnya, Peraturan Mesyuarat 36(8) Peraturan-Peraturan Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat juga melarang antaranya menyebut dalam isi-isi ucapan ahli-ahli Majlis Parlimen pada Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat mengenai kelakuan atau sifat Hakim-hakim kecuali dikeluarkan usul bersendiri bagi maksud itu.

Peraturan 27 Peraturan-Peraturan Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat menyatakan cara-cara mengeluarkan pemberitahu (notis) yang antaranya pemberitahu bagi usul yang bukan dengan nama Menteri, hendaklah dihantar kepada Setiausaha tidak kurang daripada 14 hari terlebih dahulu dengan bertulis dalam waktu pejabat biasa.

Oleh yang demikian, berdasarkan peruntukan yang dinyatakan di atas, adalah jelas bahawa kelakuan seseorang hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Mahkamah Rayuan atau Mahkamah Tinggi tidak boleh dibincangkan di Parlimen kecuali melalui suatu usul khusus yang memenuhi dan mengikut tatacara yang dinyatakan dalam perkara 127 Perlembagaan Persekutuan, Peraturan Mesyuarat 36(8) dan Peraturan Mesyuarat 27 Peraturan-Peraturan Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat.

Selanjutnya, jika usul mengenai isu plagiarism ini perlu memenuhi dan mengikut tatacara yang dinyatakan di atas, usul tersebut boleh dibincangkan di Parlimen. Walau bagaimanapun, Peraturan Mesyuarat 15 Peraturan-peraturan Mesyuarat Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat memperuntukkan bahawa urusan Kerajaan hendaklah didahulukan daripada urusan lain. Selagi urusan Kerajaan belum selesai, usul oleh ahli bukan ahli Kerajaan tidak boleh dibincangkan.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 October 2011, 3:44 pm and is filed under
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Yang Berhormat Ipoh Timur mencadangkan agar suatu Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja ditubuhkan untuk menyiasat kematian Ahmad Sharbani.

Jawapan Bertulis YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri semasa Menggulung Perbahasan Bajet 2012 (Peringkat Dasar) di Dewan Rakyat pada 24 Oktober 2011

Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, secara amnya Suruhanjaya Siasatan ditubuhkan untuk menyiasat secara terperinci burhubung dengan perkara tertentu yang mendesak dan melibatkan kepentingan awam vital public importance. Perlu ditekankan bahawa peranan Suruhanjaya Siasatan adalah untuk membantu dan menasihati Kerajaan dalam memahami sesuatu perkara itu dengan lebih jelas dan terperinci melalui hasil laporannya dan bukannya untuk memberi sesuatu keputusan berhubugn dengan sesuatu perkara.

Perenggan 2(1)(d) Akta Suruhanjaya Siasatan 1950 [AKta 119] memperuntukkan kuasa kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong untuk menubuhkan satu Surhuhanjaya Siasatan untuk menyiasat “apa-apa perkara lain yang siasatannya, pada pendapat Yang di-Pertuan Agong, berfaedah bagi kebajikan awam…”.

Sehubungan dengan itu, persoalannya adalah sama ada kematian Ahmad Sharbani wajar disiasat melalui suatu Suruhanjaya Siasatan ataupun melalui mekanisme tatacara jenayah yang lazim. Diperhatikan bahawa ungkapan ‘kebajikan awam’ dalam perenggan 2(1)(d) Akta 119 tidak ditafsirkan atau diperuntukkan bagi maksud pemakaian Akta tersebut. Dalam hal ini Yang di-Pertuan Agong, boleh menubuhkan suatu Suruhanjyay Siasatan untuk menyiasat kematian Ahmad Sharbani sekiranya ‘pada pendapat Yang di Pertun Agong, berfaedah bagi kebajikan awam’ selaras dengan peruntukan tersebut.

Namun demikian, perlu ditekankan bahawa pelaksanaan fungsi Yang di Pertuan Agong di bawah Akta Suruhanjaya Siasatan 1950 tersebut adalah suatu pelaksanaan fungsi di bawah undang-undang persekutuan bagi maksud Fasal (1) Perkara 40 Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang mana ia hendaklah dilaksanakan mengikut nasihat Jemaah Menteri ataupun Menteri yang bertindak di bawah kuasa am Jemaah Menteri. Fasal (1) Perkara 40 Perlembagaan Persekutuan memperuntukkan bahawa “Pada menjalankan fungsinya di bawah Perlembagaan ini atau undang-undang persekutuan, Yang di-Pertuan Agong hendaklah bertindak mengikut nasihat Jemaah Menteri atau nasihat seseorang Menteri yang bertindak di bawah kuasa am Jemaah Menteri, kecuali sebagaimana yang diperuntukkan selainnya oleh Perlembagaan ini.”

Oleh yang demikian, keputusan Yang di-Pertuan Agong untuk menubuhkan Suruhanjaya Siasatan untuk menyiasat kematian Ahmad Sharbani adalah tertakluk kepada nasihat Jemaah Menteri.

Namun buat masa ini, Kerajaan tidak bercadang untuk menubuhkan Suruhanjaya Siasatan untuk menyiasat kematian Ahmad Sharbani berikutan mahkamah telah membuat keputusannya.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 October 2011, 3:41 pm and is filed under
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Yang Berhormat Ipoh Timur menggesa agar tuntutan Bersih 2.0 diambil perhatian oleh Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya dan Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas Berhubung Dengan Penambahbaikan Proses Pilihan Raya.

Jawapan Bertulis YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri semasa Menggulung Perbahasan Bajet 2012 (Peringkat Dasar) di Dewan Rakyat pada 24 Oktober 2011

Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, SPR senantiasa responsif terhadap perubahan-perubahan semasa dengan melakukan proses rekayasa menerusi usaha pengupayaan dan penambahbaikan di dalam pengurusan dan operasinya demi untuk memantapkan lagi sistem pilihan raya, sekali gus demokrasi di Malaysia. Walau bagainmanapun, sebarang usaha tersebut perlu berpandukan kepada asas Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan lunas demokrasi Negara.

Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, berhubung dengan “BERSIH 2.0” yang menuntut 8 perkara yang terdiri daripada:

SPR perlu melaksanakan Pembersihan Daftar Pemilih;

SPR perlu melaksanakan Pembaharuan Sistem Undi Pos;

SPR perlu melaksanakan Penggunaan Dakwat Kekal;

SPR perlu memperuntukkan Tempoh Berkempen Tidak Kurang dari 21 hari;

SPR perlu menjamin adanya Akses Media Yang Bebas dan Adil;

Memperkukuhkan Institusi Awam;

Memberhentikan Amalan Rasuah; dan

Memberhentikan AMalan Politik Kotor,

SPR mendapati hanya 5 perkara sahaja yang mempunyai perkaitan secara langsung dengan bidang tugasnya iaitu Perkara (i) sehinggan (v) sahaja, manakala perkara (vi) hingga (viii) bukan termasuk di dalam bidang kuasa SPR.

Perkara-perkara yang dibangkitkan bukan baru kerana ia juga sering ditimbulkan di persidangan Parlimen, sama ada di Dewan Rakyat mahupun Dewan Negara oleh Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat yang telah dipilih oleh rakyat secara sah di sisi Perlembagaan. Malah, tanpa tuntutan tersebut pun, perkara-perkara ini telah lama dan senantiasa menjadi fokus dan diambil maklum oleh SPR untuk dikaji dan dilaksanakan mengikut masa dan keadaan serta kemampuan.

Walau bagaimanapun, sekiranya Ahli Yang Berhormat berpendapat proses pilihan raya yang sedia ada perlu ditambahbaik lagi maka eloklah dikemukakan sebarang pandangan dan cadangan penambahbaikan kepada Jawatankuasa Pilihan Khas Berhubung Dengan Penambahbaikan Proses Pilihan Raya untuk dikaji sebelum dikemukakan kepada SPR untuk dilaksanakan sekiranya sesuai.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 31 October 2011, 3:52 pm and is filed under
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Bolehland’s Bunch of No-Nos

By
Martin Jalleh

31 Oct. 2011

Najib has no balls

Muhyiddin has no brains

Hishammuddin has no integrity.

Rais Yatim has no sense

Zahid has no defence

Nazri has no consistency.

Palanivel has no merit

Yen Yen has no explanation

Peter Chin has no energy.

Shafie Apdal has no clout

Noh Omar has no answers

Mohamed Yakcop has no transparency.

Shahrizat has no “beef”

Kong Cho Ha has no backbone

Liow Tiong Lai has no sincerity.

Ismail Sabri has no price controls

Ahmad Shabery has no medals

Idris Jala has no sagacity.

Ongkili has no innovation

Douglas Uggah has no enthusiasm

Shaziman has no accountability.

Tsu Koon has no leadership

Dompok has no support

Subramaniam has no empathy.

Rosmah has no self-control

Ezam has no real issues

Khairy has no decency.

MIC has no voice

MCA has no choice

Gerakan has no stability.

Judiciary has no honour

Police has no independence

AG has no impartiality.

MACC has no results

MCMC has no logic

EC has no credibility.

Parliament has no vibrancy

Speaker has no fairness

Civil service has no quality.

Himpun has no relevance

Jais has no evidence

Perkasa has no respectability.

Utusan Malaysia has no ethics

Umno’s papers have no limits

MSM have no objectivity.

Umno has no shame

It has made no changes

It has no morals and honesty.

BN has no future

A coalition of no principles

The government has no dignity.

Bolehland will have no money

The country will have no hope

A pariah nation – Asia’s tragedy!

Say “NO!” to Umno

Say “NO!” to BN

Say “NO MORE!”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 10:33 am and is filed under
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Electoral fraud – part and parcel of our election process

By
P Ramakrishnan, Aliran president
 | 31 October 2011

If anything, these allegations have become credible because irrefutable evidence of fraudulent registrations have been unearthed in the electoral roll. What we have seen exposed are not few and minor incidences that may be explained away quite easily. Clearly, these are rampant and, therefore, disturbing.

Dubious voters

The late P Patto who lost to Samy Vellu in the Sungai Siput contest in 1990 by a narrow margin of 1763 votes revealed why he lost that year during a forum at the Penang Chinese Assembly Hall. He explained that Indian voters were registered at Chinese residences when there were no tenants living there; others were registered at non-existent addresses and some addresses attributed to certain voters turned out to be at the cemetery! He also revealed that voters were brought from Klang in buses to cast their votes in Sungai Siput. These are serious cases of electoral fraud.

This is a story that goes back to 1990 – 21 years ago! But the pattern persists even today.

The blog Perisik Rakyat, run by a Kelantan-based blogger, revealed that 64 names were registered under one address – No 1138, Kampung Bagan Serai, Permatang Pauh, Penang. According to the blogger, of the 64 voters, 51 are Malays and the rest Indians.

Following Perisik’s disclosure, another blogger Milo Suam further revealed that another 88 “ghost” voters were also registered under one address – No 1155, Kampung Bagan Serai, Jalan Sembilang, Seberang Jaya, Permatang Pauh, Penang. These 88 voters comprise Malays, Chinese and Indians – men and women. According to Milo Suam the address belonged to a “small wooden house just a few metres away from the other address” that purportedly housed the 64 voters.

This seems to indicate that Anwar Ibrahim’s constituency is being targeted to defeat the Opposition leader in a concerted manner. Anwar is seen as the greatest threat to the survival of the BN and therefore he has to be defeated.

It is also learnt that a similar scam has been uncovered in one of the addresses in the Tambun constituency in Perak.

According to Malaysiakini, a permanent resident by the name of Mismah was registered as a voter and when this was exposed she mysteriously became a citizen four hours later!

Pas reported a total of 1,597 similar cases nationwide and 1,100 in Selangor alone. Is this part of the design to realise Najib’s declaration that the BN would “get back Selangor at any cost”? Pray tell, at what cost, Mr PM? By sacrificing democracy at the altar of expediency and ignoring the principles of justice and fairness?

It is also discovered that some two dozen spouses of military personnel were found to have registered using their spouses civilian MyKad thus qualifying themselves for double votes. Why would these spouses want an extra vote?

The DAP revealed its largest haul of electoral discrepancies yet with 234 voters having identical old identity card numbers. “These numbers are in pairs, with 117 of the voters matching their ‘twins’ despite having different names and new identity card numbers.” said PJ Utara MP Tony Pua.

These are not isolated cases. They are wide-spread and come across as common features in opposition-controlled constituencies. There seems to be a concerted and consistent attempt to inject dubious voters into opposition constituencies paving the way for the BN to recapture these constituencies and spring back into power.

What has been revealed is only the tip of the iceberg. If the system had allowed for greater scrutiny, without doubt many thousands of fake votes would have been revealed.

At the moment the parties are given only one week to object after the electoral roll has been revised and that doesn’t give anyone sufficient time to scan the roll with a fine tooth-comb. If the EC expects help from the political parties it must be seen to be serious about it. It must give the parties concerned at least two months to ferret out the phantom voters.

Shady postal votes

While the ‘dirty’ electoral roll is one aspect of the election process that has always been an obstacle to free and fair elections, there are also other disadvantages that the opposition has to contend with.

Postal votes have saved the BN on many occasions. There have been many rumours that top military, police and security leaders have played a vital role in postal votes. It has been bandied about that they instruct their personnel to vote for the BN.

Recently some former military personnel have revealed how they were instructed to vote for the BN on behalf of the entire contingent. As no political agents are permitted to be present while the postal voting process takes place, nobody actually knows how this voting is conducted.

It is also common knowledge that certain constituencies have seen a surge in postal votes. An entire military contingent can be posted anywhere without any questions being asked thus giving the BN an undue advantage. It was this ruse that won for Lee San Choon the Seremban parliamentary constituency in April 1982. He just managed to defeat DAP strongman Chen Man Hin in his stronghold by 845 votes.

Now this is being deployed quite brazenly. Reports have pointed to an increase in postal votes in Negeri Sembilan and in Penang. These are allegedly found in certain constituencies held by the opposition which the BN hopes to capture.

On top of this, spouses of military personnel have now opted for postal voting in Penang. While they were ordinary voters in the past, why is it necessary to register as postal voters? What scheme is being hatched for the 13th General Elections?

Strangely, however, all Malaysians living abroad are not entitled to postal votes even though they are registered voters. Only military personnel, public servants, full time government-sponsored students and their spouses are allowed to vote under the “Absentee-Voters” category.

Why are the others (who do not fall in these categories) denied their right to vote? Is it because they are seen as not inclined towards the BN? It is difficult to come to any other conclusion.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is another method adopted to favour the BN. The manner in which certain constituencies are drawn up indeed defies logic. Opposition-controlled constituencies are allowed to remain as a single huge constituency when they could very well be divided into two or three constituencies which can be serviced responsibly by their respective representatives.

Bersih 2.0 has pointed out this disparity recently. Kapar constituency has 112,224 registered voters while many rural seats have voters in the region of 50,000. The Putrajaya seat, mainly comprising civil servants, has a mere 7,000 voters.

Such glaring disparities are deliberately created so that the opposition can never win any more parliamentary seats than what cannot be helped. More rural seats means a greater advantage for the BN – that seems to be the rule to be followed!

Abuse of the media

Yet there is another unethical and immoral practice that is resorted to by the BN without a whimper from the EC. The way the print and electronic media is abused to the greater advantage of the BN to the extent of denigrating and demeaning the opposition is totally unbelievable in a democracy. In a true democracy, the opposition should get equal time to propagate their party platform. This is wholly denied.

While the EC may claim with certain justification it has no authority to demand equal coverage for the opposition, surely on moral grounds it can publicly condemn the unfair practice that gives the BN undue advantage. This could have some effect in forcing the BN to yield at least some coverage time.

Election offences

Another diabolical favourite method of campaigning is to dish out goodies in an outlandish manner. Roads are tarred, drains are repaired, handouts given, projects announced, voters threatened that they will be denied development in their areas – all these clearly constitute election offences. When anything is given or promised during the campaign period to induce the voters to vote in favour of certain parties, that is definitely wrong and an offence under the election laws.

Time for change

But the EC had never taken the BN to task for their unethical behaviour. This is why the EC is seen as pro-BN and never as pro-democracy.

The present EC is not capable of conducting free and fair elections. It must be disbanded and a new Election Commission instituted comprising people of impeccable integrity. Only then will elections be meaningful.

For this to take place, a new government is necessary; otherwise, it will be the same rotten deal forever.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 7:58 pm and is filed under
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Najib should announce full acceptance and no appeal against landmark Court of Appeal judgment striking down Section 15(5)(a) of UUCA as unconstitutional

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should announce full  acceptance and no appeal against the landmark Court of Appeal judgment yesterday striking down Section 15(5)(a) of Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) as unconstitutional in violating the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.

This will be an early test of Najib’s political will, bona fides and commitment to initiate a sea change of democratization and political transformation which he had promised after the most adverse national and international reactions to the high-handed government crackdown of the July 9 Bersih 2.0 peaceful demonstration for free, fair and clean elections system – with the establishment of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Electoral System, and the pledges of repeal of the draconian Internal Security Act as well as repeal or reform of the arsenal of repressive laws in the country including  the Universities and University Colleges Act, the Police Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Sedition Act, etc.

Najib should know that all his promises of “democratization and political transformation” have evoked more cynicism, skepticism and disbelief than hope, expectation and belief – and this is because the Najib government has not demonstrated any change of mindset and mentality that the whole apparatus of government has been  attuned and oriented to the new challenges of democratization and political transformation.

It is most refreshing and inspiring  that the Court of Appeal, through  Justice Hishamuddin Yunus and Justice Linton Albert, have spoken out courageously, loud and clear for human rights and  the supremacy of the Constitution at this particular juncture.

The landmark Court of Appeal decision is most timely in upholding the centrality of human rights in our nation building and Constitutional framework of guarantees, at a time when democracy and   human rights have again  been assailed  as a dirty and dangerous conspiracy by none other than the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir and the former Inspector-General Tan Sri Rahim Noor  representing the voices of reaction in the country.

The majority decision Court of Appeal decision yesterday is no less than a repudiation of the political heresies preached by Mahathir and Rahim Noor when they warned of “a human rights wave” which would be like “a new religion” and threaten and erode the basis on which the nation was founded.

The question now is whether Najib and his Cabinet are prepared to step forward to support the Court of Appeal majority decision and demonstrate a new spirit and mindset of democratization and political transformation by overruling the decision that the  University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) appeal against the Court of Appeal judgment  – as announced by UKM counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in court yesterday?

What signal and message will Najib and his Cabinet send out  on whether to respect and uphold the majority decision of the Court of Appeal striking down as unconstitutional and undemocratic the UUCA ban on university students from expressing support or opposing any political party?

Do Najib and his Cabinet agree with the majority Court of Appeal judges that “Universities should be the breeding ground of reformers  and thinkers and not institutions to produce students trained as robots” (Justice Hishammdudin) and that the UUCA is “an utter absurdity” when university and college students faced “the grim prospect of expulsion” because of their presence at a by-election?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 1:57 pm and is filed under
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Our school children as sacrificial lambs

By
Dr Lim Teck Ghee
 | 1 November 2011

CPIASIA

During the past year, there have been three controversies arising from regressive policy decisions of the Ministry of Education which have set our educational system backwards. The three controversies revolve around

The teaching of Science and Mathematics for Fourth Form students in Bahasa Malaysia instead of English

The use of the Interlok book as a compulsory text in the schools

The decision to make history a compulsory subject as well as a pass requirement for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM)

All three – though simmering for some years now – are rapidly coming to a head during the tenure of the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as the Minister of Education.

The controversies are not over minor or insignificant issues in the national education system. They are not sparked off by politicians with an axe to grind or by groups wanting to score points against the minister. They do not relate to narrow communal interests nor are they espoused by extremist organizations having their own agendas.

Rather they are the concern of parents and educators from all communities at grassroots as well as at mainstream society level.

They involve important pedagogical principles and ultimately, they raise the key question of whether the future of our younger generation is being made the sacrificial lamb for narrow political and bureaucratic interests.

Upon their wise resolution will rest the ability of our school children to compete with the rest of the world as well as the knowledge that they receive at school which will shape their adult mindset and values.

PPSMI: Math and Science in English

In the case of the campaign led by the Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE), the Minister has not only refused to meet with PAGE leaders but has also stated that providing parents and students the choice to use English “will result in chaos in our educational system”.

There is an unfair attempt to beat down the campaigners and the over 100,000 online supporters by wild claims about the potential negative impact of a policy reversal. In fact, it is the Ministry’s policy decision to insist on Bahasa only that is causing chaos and even worst, condemning students – especially Malay students – to a bleak future in undermining their capacity and ability to progress in an English language-dominated global system.

Interlok: Crude and rude propaganda

In the case of Interlok, the Minister has similarly refused to meet with the campaign organizers led by National Interlok Action Team (NIAT), who have argued that the novel is unfit for use by schools even going by the standards and guidance on compulsory school texts issued by the ministry.

The clear danger that the Interlok book poses in heightening crude racial (and cultural) stereotyping, bias and prejudice and its threat to a harmonious communal understanding among our young has been completely ignored with the decision to proceed with the book as a text for the literature component in the SPM compulsory Bahasa Malaysia language paper.

The book’s biased understanding and unmitigated prejudice against minority races has already legitimized the name-calling of ‘Keling pariah’ and ‘Cina babi’ in our secondary schools, with several cases of bullying ending up not only at the discipline master’s door but in the local police station as well.

The stubborn and unreasonable position of the ministry has left the organizers, NIAT – now joined by over 60 other multiracial civil society organizations – no choice but to take their appeal directly to the rulers, and to intensify and make national the campaign to remove Interlok from the school texts.

History as a tool for brainwashing

With the history syllabus review that is currently taking place, it is not clear whether this is another whitewash and public relations exercise aimed at preserving the ‘ketuanan Melayu’ and Islamic orientation of history teaching or whether the Ministry is seriously embarking on a reform process that will see a balanced and representative history (both Malaysian and world) as the outcome, and with racial and religious bias and prejudice reduced to a minimum, if not eradicated from the syllabus and textbooks.

Meanwhile concerned parents, educators and civil society organizations are not holding their breath, or thinking that the swing of the pendulum back to a liberal, progressive and culturally balanced history education will happen naturally.

Over 10,000 signatories have signed a petition calling for reform of history education and the group, Campaign for a Truly Malaysian History or Kempen Sejarah Malaysia Sebenar (KemSMS) has been hard at work preparing and collating scholarly reports and articles for presentation to the authorities and public.

Parochial politician or principled leader

In all of these developments, we have seen vacillation and procrastination by the Minister of Education rather than real and visionary leadership. Instead of ensuring that our national educational system can provide the right kind of educational knowledge and skills, Muhyiddin, and the bureaucratic-academic-political coalition of policy makers advising him and calling the shots, are burdening our school children with language handicaps and distorted views of the world, our society and themselves that will negatively impact the children and the country.

There is still time for the minister to reverse the two already announced policy decisions and to ensure that the history teaching reform process has substance and is not an exercise in futility.

For this to happen he has to reject the guidance from his out-of touch advisers and supporters and take a different tack on the three controversies. He must take heed of the public and professional feedback provided to which the Ministry has turned a deaf ear.

The choice is there for Muhyiddin to seal his reputation as a politician playing up to narrow and parochial interests or as a principled leader who has the best interests of our school children and their parents at heart. All stakeholders need to encourage him to make the right decisions that can help raise the quality of our educational system.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 11:00 am and is filed under
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Surcharge who?

Sdr. Lim Kit Siang, You might be interested in my experience in Sabah, trying to save Government/Taxpayers’ Money:

When I was serving in Sabah, in 1989 I think it was, and called for quotations to buy ‘Dental Drills’ for use in the field by Nurses, to fill Children’s teeth. You may not know that the Children in Sabah had really very poor Dental Health, and there was an urgent need to do as much as possible, by way of stretching both equipment and personnel available.

     The lowest quote I got was for RM 1250/- ber unit. The basic rules in Sabah were as follows: Quotations from Sabah registered Companies get a 10% advantage, and Sabah registered Bumiputera companies get another 5%, over and above the 10%..i.e. a total of 15 % over the price quoted by Companies outside Sabah.

   Generally these Sabah Companies contact the bigger suppliers in Semenanjung and, submit bids just under that 10% thresh hold,or just under the 15% thresh hold, as the case may be.

In this situation, I, being a west Malaysian, was aware that a tender had been awarded to a Company in West Malaysia to supply these same units at RM 850/- per unit, and the lowest quotation that I had received locally in Sabah, was way above the 15% thresh hold, some 47% higher!

…so I contacted the West Malaysian Company and asked them if they could Supply the same units deilvered to Sabah for the West Malaysian tender price i.e. I was going to get the item at some considerable savings, which meant that I could buy more units for the same amount, and clearly many more School Children would benefit through such a purchase, directly from the West Malaysian Company.

   Having concluded the purchase, and I thought that I was Smart, having saved the Government some RM 400/- per unit….but lo and behold!…the next thing I knew, was that my salary for the following month was withheld!…with a Threat of ‘Surcharging’ me for not puchasing the items from a Sabah Company!!…I had to submit a long explanatory letter to defend my action before my Salary was released a month or so later!

That was my first and only experience in being threatened with ‘Surcharge’ during my 30 years in Government.

   The Moral of the Story: DON’T Try to Save Money for Government!…The Children’s Dental Health, that We are Professionaly commited to Improve, doesn’t really count in Our System!…and more important still, don’t disturb the hornets nest!

  …Slow Learner!

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 8:47 am and is filed under
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At the Commonwealth summit, the human rights proselytisers no longer hold sway

by John Kampfner

guardian.co.uk

30 October 2011

The Perth summit reveals how compromised western leaders are in their efforts to promote human rights

The death knell of the Commonwealth has been sounded for as long as there have been summits. By accident rather than design, this anachronistic gathering of 54 states may actually say more about the state of global priorities than the participants realise. And the direction of travel is grim.

At their meeting in Perth over the weekend, the leaders rejected many of the recommendations of a report by a team of the great and good, the eminent persons group (EPG), designed to move the Commonwealth’s democratic laggards towards basic norms.

In search of a lowest-common-denominator consensus, the summit accepted some less controversial ideas, such as a charter. The idea of a human rights commissioner, however, proved too much. “There have been a few blips like in any part of the world but I don’t think it demanded a commissioner,” noted Suruj Rambachan, the foreign minister of Trinidad. Under pressure from South Africa and other states, the summit even refused to publish the EPG’s report.

The former prime minister of Malaysia, who chaired the EPG, said the summit would be remembered as a failure. Malcolm Rifkind, the former UK foreign secretary, described the unwillingness to publish the report as a disgrace. This is hardly surprising, as the Commonwealth comprises a veritable who’s who of governments with dubious human rights records – from Nigeria, Cameroon and Rwanda to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Singapore.

The prospect of progress at the next gathering in two years’ time – hosted in, of all places, Sri Lanka – is even more remote. The Colombo government denounces any attempt to call it to account for human rights abuses. In front of their Commonwealth colleagues the Sri Lankans dismissed a UN-commissioned report on massacres against the Tamils as “a travesty of justice and preposterous”. The Canadians, meanwhile, are threatening to boycott the 2013 heads of government meeting in protest.

The Commonwealth’s weakness is specific to its history and its constitution. Any whiff of British lecturing is given short shrift; at the same time, all major decisions have to be taken by consensus, allowing recalcitrant countries to stop changes in their tracks. The only sanction, and one used rarely, is expulsion.

But the problem is far bigger than the institution. It is one that has been exercising policymakers for years. What is the relationship between human rights and economic development? To what degree do they represent western or universal values? In my book, Freedom for Sale, I argued that the trade-off between liberty and prosperity had become more alluring than ever. Regimes that can satisfy what I call the “private freedoms” – such as travelling and making money – can quite easily ensure that citizens leave the public space to them. Singapore is the model in microcosm; China is rolling it out on a far bigger scale, with Russia and others not far behind. Economic growth is the motor; consumerism is the anaesthetic for the brain.

This model has permeated into western chancelleries. For the Australian hosts of the Commonwealth conference, much of its economic boom has come from exporting raw materials to China. This has led to a recalibration in Australian priorities, with human rights concerns regarded in government as an inconvenient intrusion into trading relations. Only last month Julia Gillard, the prime minister, commissioned a white paper on Australia’s place in the “Asian century”. It is safe to assume this will formally inject the notion of “gradualism” into discussions about free speech and other freedoms in Asia and Oceania.

In so doing, the Australians will only be doing more overtly what the Europeans are undertaking by stealth. The more the Chinese save the flagging old economies, the more the new “reality” will be established. Watch the effect that any Chinese bailout of the euro will have on future political negotiations.

The much-vaunted Beijing consensus is now the norm across most of the developing world. This is what gives the likes of Yoweri Museveni in Uganda and Paul Kagame in Rwanda their political confidence. Kagame makes clear his respect for the Singapore model, the so-called “managed democracy”, otherwise known as authoritarian capitalism.

After the genocide of 1994 Kagame gradually brought about economic recovery and social stability. He regards strong education, contract law and anti-corruption drives as the true marks of progress. As for freedom of expression, he points to the hate speech that fuelled the massacres, predominantly by Hutu militias, and he sees it as a luxury at best and divisive at worst. A number of journalists and opposition figures have been killed in recent years. In the 2010 general election, with most parties banned, he received an absurd 93% of the vote.

In an interview on Sunday with Andrew Marr, Kagame brushed aside tentative questioning, dismissing criticism of his human rights record as “absolute nonsense”. In the same programme David Cameron threatened to withhold UK aid from countries that do not “adhere to proper human rights”. British economic assistance should have “more strings attached”, he said, particularly on the question of repression of homosexuality. But he conceded that countries could not change immediately, and that it would be a “journey”.

Leaving aside the many examples of hypocrisy and double standards (who can forget the prime minister trying to flog weapons to dodgy Middle Eastern regimes days before launching the Franco-British “human intervention” in Libya), this message now has even less salience than it has ever done.

The role of western governments in proselytising about human rights has been hugely compromised. In most instances nowadays it is counterproductive. African and Asian countries can simply look to China and its allies and reap the rewards of a less squeamish approach to individual liberty.

Yet there is room for considerable optimism, and it lies in bottom-up movements, fuelled by new communications tools such as in Tunisia and Egypt. Ultimately, it is only through grassroots pressure that real improvement will come about.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 6:03 pm and is filed under
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Sinking deeper and deeper

By S JAYASANKARAN, KL CORRESPONDENT | 31 Oct 2011

Business Times

MALAYSIA should take heed of the problems – the public anger, the social unrest – posed by the solutions offered to tackle rising sovereign debt in Europe. God forbid that we head that way!

The Auditor-General’s recent report pointed out that Malaysia’s national debt rose 12.3 per cent to over RM407 billion (S$165 billion) in 2010. The amount is equivalent to 53.1 per cent of gross domestic product. It’s the second straight year that the national debt has exceeded 50 per cent.

The figure is a reflection of the spending spree the country went on to mitigate the effects of the 2009 global financial crisis. At its peak that year, the budget deficit rose to 7.6 per cent of GDP, the highest in two decades.

It has since come down to 5.4 per cent of GDP and the government projects that it will decline further to 4.7 per cent of GDP next year. But that may be overly optimistic.

Everyone knows why the debt has piled up: persistently high budget deficits over 14 years. But it is the pace of the rise that’s alarming. Standout statistic: in the space of six years, total federal government debt has actually doubled from 2004. That way lies folly.

Malaysia’s debt position is close to breaching legislative levels set a long time ago by Parliament. According to the Auditor-General’s report, public debt from domestic sources rose RM41.76 billion to RM390.36 billion last year, while loans from foreign sources rose to RM16.75 billion, or up RM2.96 billion.

But the Loan (Local) and Government Investment Act caps the domestic debt ceiling at 55 per cent (of GDP) for the government, while the External Loans Act 1963 limits foreign loan exposure to RM35 billion. According to the report, the domestic debt level at end-2010 stood at 51 per cent of GDP.

The great irony of the situation is that it need not have come to that. The Auditor-General’s report revealed a litany of financial abuse in several government agencies. Leakages and wastage of appalling proportions were laid bare.

Marine binoculars being purchased at 25 times cost? Over RM5 million to buy horses? If all the wastage was cut and proper procedures observed all the way down, one suspects that Malaysia would be a budget-surplus country.

Nor is national debt going to fall any time soon. Next year, it’s estimated that the debt will breach RM455 billion – almost 54 per cent of GDP.

The danger for Kuala Lumpur is another recession stemming from the West’s economic woes. This time it cannot afford to spend its way out of it, like it did in 2009. On top of that, subsidies on fuel and other essentials like cooking oil, milk, rice and sugar remain intractably high at RM32 billion this year.

And the hits just keep on coming. According to the country’s central bank, the national debt as at June 30, 2011 has risen to RM437 billion, with domestic debt amounting to RM421 billion and foreign debt at RM16 billion.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 5:26 pm and is filed under
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The Gemas feedlot debacle; half-truths and pertinent questions

— by
Nawawi Mohamad

The Malaysian Insider

Nov 02, 2011

NOV 2 — A RM73.64 million government project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan linked to Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family to produce 8,000 heads of cattle in 2010 and ultimately 60,000 heads in 2015 has turned into a mess when production was at only 3,289 heads in 2010 that is only 41.1 per cent.

This was reported by the Auditor-General – and subsequently reported in the media.

In parliament Noh Omar, who is the Agriculture Minister, deemed the project successful because “the total number of cattle brought into the farm between 2008 and 2010 was 8,016”.

But the main purpose of the farm is to produce cows and not to bring in cows from somewhere else and feed them before slaughter!
 When we talk about producing, it involves breeding and everything that goes with it. The reporting by the media and response by the minister was not entirely correct. The money involved was RM131 million (not just RM73.64 million), a portion of a RM250 million soft loan, and thus far RM131 million have been disbursed as confirmed and defended by the prime minister.

The Gemas feedlot is supposed to be the National Feedlot Authority in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Negri Sembilan government. The annual target envisaged by the Ministry of Agriculture is to produce 1.3 million heads in 2010 and not 60,000. It is a comprehensive scheme with the Gemas feedlot centre as the main anchor with 310 satellite feedlot sites all over the country and one private feedlot. This is how the loan was allocated: the Gemas feedlot was given RM80 million and the rest RM40 million. The Gemas feedlot has to produce (for itself) 60,000 heads annually in 2010 (not 2015) and it has a major role to play in supplying the feeder cows, food, technical assistance, advice and other services for the entire feedlot scheme nationwide including the private one.

Now remember, the target was 1.3 million cows believe it or not!

Thus when the main player in Gemas could only produced 3,289 heads for itself in 2010, how could it provide all the feeder cows, food and other services for the rest of the satellite feedlots?

The other question that needs to be asked is what happens to the 311 feedlots in the scheme? The next question is what should be done next? Wouldn’t it be much cheaper to just import the cows? Is the MACC going in? This is a money-wasting scheme as a result of moneymaking and one more never-ending burden the rakyat has to bear. Could it be that the Umno/BN government thought that the rakyat are cows?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 2 November 2011, 2:16 pm and is filed under
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Alas! They are sinking!

Opinion

By LIM MUN FAH

Translated by Soong Phui Jee

Sin Chew Daily

2011-11-03

Ploys are inevitable in politics but it is a different matter whether the ploys are brilliant.

The recent political ploy of accusing Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s teenage son of molesting a girl, who was later identified as 21-year-old chess grandmaster from Britain, has been greatly criticised. It has been expected that the ridiculous allegation would trigger an uproar and that is also why other politicians have drawn a line with it to avoid being dragged into the sewage.

However, if you think that public opinion can deter a repeat of similar incident, then you are wrong. Since they have done such dirty things, what else wouldn’t they do?

As expected, someone took another action. This time, a group of 300 protesters on motorcycles claimed to be made up of members of several non-governmental organisations had staged a demonstration outside the Penang State Assembly building in Light Street. All in yellow shirts printed with political words, the group demanded a racing circuit.

How strange it is! How could Mat Rempit, who used to stage illegal racing at night, actually walk on the streets in broad daylight and make an unprecedented demand? Isn’t it ridiculous and unbelievable?

Just like many others in bafflement, I am curious about the background of the group proclaiming itself the Pertubuhan Islam Gabungan Amal (Pertiga), because I cannot see how their words and deeds are linked to mercy and goodness.

They are definitely not a mob, but rather a planned organisation with a motive and target.

However, their wishful thinking has once again gone wrong. They thought it was a brilliant move, but it was in fact not the case in the eyes of the public.

It would be worse if there was really a political agenda behind the move as it would only trigger the public’s resentment and make the people more sympathetic to Lim.

If it was really a political ploy, I can only sigh and say: “Alas! What a poor and clumsy political ploy!”

The groundless allegation involving Lim’s son is a kind of slander while the demand for a racing circuit for Mat Rempit is absurd. They will become international jokes if spread abroad.

However, those who have repeatedly come out with such dirty games will never admit their mistakes or consider it a disgrace. When a person becomes brazen, he has lost his sense of shame. Would he still listen to well-meant words?

Although they are disgusting, we should not just turn a blind eye to such shameless acts. If the community remain silent, it would encourage their arrogance. As a result, the bad political culture will deteriorate and further confuse our social values. Eventually, we have to suffer the loss of justice, as well as the basic judgement of right and wrong!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 2:38 pm and is filed under
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Nail in the coffin for PPSMI, says Muhyiddin

Nigel Aw | Nov 3, 2011

Malaysiakini

Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today the decision to discontinue the teaching of mathematics and science in English (PPSMI) policy is final.

So, calls for the programme to be retained are two years too late, said Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister.

“In 2009, (when the abolition of PPSMI was announced) there was no negative reaction. The majority accepted it well.

“I presented it in the cabinet, everyone agreed, I brought it to Parliament and everyone, including the opposition at that time, agreed.

“But now, because there are some groups opposed to it, they (the opposition) want to jump on the bandwagon.”

Muhyiddin was responding to calls by non-governmental organisation Parents Action Group for Education (Page) to allow certain schools the option to continue with PPSMI.

“Maybe it’s like what (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) said, that Malaysians forget easily. It was not raised then and a new policy has been implemented two years ago.

“Page doesn’t know what is going on, maybe they are ketinggalan zaman (behind time),” he said after attending an English language training project ceremony for teachers in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Muhyiddin added that the focus now is to create a “soft landing” for the transition from PPSMI to the new Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the English Language (MBMMBI) programme.

“I will explain tomorrow on the leeway and the process of transition that will take place,” he declared, while acknowledging concerns by parents on how their children would cope with the change.

‘Majority understands PPSMI abolition’

Commenting on Page’s threat to vote for the opposition if the government remains adamant on this path, Muhyiddin brushed it aside as a minority voice.

“Even though they went overboard with political threats, the government will not bow to such threats. They are a small group, the majority understand (the aboliton of PPSMI).”

Responding to recent calls by MCA and MIC for the government to consider giving schools the option to retain PPSMI, Muhyiddin said that representatives from both MCA and MIC in the cabinet had agreed to its abolition in 2009.

Asked what would happen to the special allowance for teachers teaching PPSMI, Muhyiddin declined to comment, merely stating that it was “the government’s affair”.

On a separate matter, Muhyiddin said the decision on appealing the Court of Appeal ruling that Section 15 of the Universities and University Colleges Act is unconstitutional would be left to the Higher Education Ministry.

“However if (Higher Education Minister) Khaled (Nordin) needs advise, he can bring it to the cabinet and we will discuss it.”

Earlier, Muhyiddin met some 200 teachers who have undergone English language training by foreign trainers under a project undertaken by SMR Group, trumpeting it as a better means of improving the command of English language among teachers and students.

“The question is whether the best way to learn English is to learn English in maths and science or to bring in professional teachers? I believe this is a better approach.”

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 3:29 pm and is filed under
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PAGE: Malays lose most from scrapping of PPSMI

By
Patrick Lee
 | November 3, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Rural students are the biggest losers from the government’s decision to stop the teaching of science and mathematics in English, according to the Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE).

PAGE chairperson Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said rural students, especially Malays, would end up speaking only Malay because they would have no context in which to apply English.

She questioned the wisdom of the decision, saying Malaysia was going against the tide when “countries all over the world are pushing for English”. She said she was now convinced that Barisan Nasional was not the right party to govern the nation.

She was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s latest statement on the scrapping of PPSMI (the Malay abbreviation for the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English). Muhyiddin, who is the Education Education, said today that the decision was final.

“Through PPSMI, the kids would have had an opportunity to practice the language,” Noor Azimah said.

Muhyiddin said the government would go ahead next year with its MBMMBI (Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the English Language) policy, which would cover a “soft landing” programme for students currently studying science and mathematics in English.

He derided PAGE and other supporters of PPSMI for “being out of touch”, saying the decision to abolish the programme had been made in 2009.

Noor Azimah retorted that PAGE had been fighting to keep PPSMI in the system for “the last three years”.

“I think he is out of touch,” she said.

She also said, without elaborating, that PAGE would “support” students hit by the policy change, especially those currently in Primary 3 and Secondary 3.

“They have the right to finish science and mathematics in English under the soft landing.”

Test scores

Noor Azimah claimed that next year’s MBMMBI syllabus was not new, but a direct translation of the current PPSMI texts.

In an earlier statement, PAGE said national test scores improved following the introduction of the PPSMI in 2003.

Citing the Millenium Development Goals 2010 report, it said both rural and urban students had benefited from PPSMI.

“They (rural students) all showed improvements in English, no reduction in Bahasa Malaysia, and improvements in Science and Mathematics in the last few years,” it said.

Through an online petition initiated by PAGE, more than 100,000 parents have protested against the scrapping of PPSMI.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 10:13 pm and is filed under
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Poetic justice for Guan Eng

by Jeswan Kaur

Free Malaysia Today

November 3, 2011

The glowing words of praise heaped by the auditor-general in his latest report stand as proof that DAP is no fluke and has what it takes to turn Penang around.

COMMENT

The recently released Auditor-General’s Report comes as poetic justice for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in particular and Barisan Nasional’s nemesis, Pakatan Rakyat in general. The report is full of praises as to how the state has successfully improved its financial position.

According to the report, Penang last year improved its financial position over 2009.

“The audit analysis found that consolidated funds of 2010 had improved compared to previous years and is at the highest level compared to the previous five years,” the report stated.

Lim took over the state’s top post in 2008 after DAP, a member of the Pakatan coalition, nudged Gerakan out in the 12th general election and took charge of Penang.

In the three years, despite all brickbats from his BN counterparts, Lim remains steadfastly focused on improving the state’s performance. The result? Words of praise by the auditor-general.

Still, like all hardworking people, Lim faced and continues to experience stinging criticism from Umno and BN which have left no stone unturned in belittling and condemning his efforts in transforming Penang for the better.

With the latest Auditor-General’s Report validating Penang’s achievements, the state under Lim’s leadership promises hope, of ensuring that Penangites continue to enjoy progress.

As far as the report goes, Penang has “passed” with flying colours. The state has been lauded where implementation of projects is concerned. The report has hailed the state’s performance as “very good”, with 99% of the 9,003 projects successfully carried out.

The Auditor-General’s Report adds: “The state is recommended to make sure revenue collected is put into the correct account and continue its efforts to increase revenue and maintain its prudent spending to ensure a better financial position.”

It urges the state to continue with its efforts to collect arrears in student loan repayment, rental of properties, land tax and other taxes. These arrears totalled RM78.78 million at the end of 2010.

On development under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the AG rates the state’s performance as satisfactory, with Penang spending 77.8% of the allocated RM1.01 billion.

BN green with envy

There is no denying that the thumbs-up given by the Auditor-General’s Report to Penang has caused the federal government under the aegis of the BN coalition to turn green with envy.

While the Lim administration has received straight “As” for its good management of the state, it is otherwise for three companies owned by Johor which performed badly.

The Auditor-General’s Report said the three companies – YWJ Citra Holdings Sdn Bhd, Johor Skills Development Centre Sdn Bhd and Kumpulan Pendidikan YPJ Sdn Bhd – were found to be unsatisfactorily managed with two companies facing losses.

It will do BN good to buck up and emulate Penang in delivering nothing but the best to the rakyat, instead of resorting to gutter politics, using the dirtiest means possible to force their opponents out.

For Lim, in the 36 months that DAP has been helming Penang, much trial and tribulations have come his way, both professionally and personally.

Personal attacks on Lim came about when pro-Umno blogs had a fortnight ago accused his 16-year-old son of outraging the modesty of a female classmate which resulted in him being transferred to another school.

The bloggers also claimed that Lim had paid the girl’s family RM200,000 to keep the issue under wraps. The accusations, however, turned out to be baseless after the girl was found to be a 21-year- old chess champion from Hong Kong named Anya Corke who has since issued a statement denying the incident.

The headmaster of the boy’s former school as well as Penang education director, Ahmad Tarmizi Kamaruddin, both confirmed that the allegations were untrue.

Despite Anya’s denial, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, in his childish desperation, challenged Lim to lodge a report, saying the denial was not good enough evidence to prove the boy’s innocence.

Clearly, Muhyiddin has displayed the worst in him by employing the age-old trick in politics, that is, character assassination of Lim, hoping this will do the trick and finish Lim off, politically that is.

Too bad for the DPM for it will take much more than this irresponsible tactic to put an end to Lim’s political career.

“I wanted to put the matter to rest so as not to affect my young son,” Lim had said in a blog posted on Oct 27. “He had skipped school for two days when the lies first surfaced.”

“I had no wish for him to go through with this again or deal with police investigations which involves ninja character assassins operating behind shadowy pro-BN blogs.”

BN too cocky to wisen up

Doing what a good father would, Lim is going all out to protect his son from the machination minds of Umno and MCA, both of whom seem to be relishing from the attacks on the DAP secretary-general using his 16-year-old son as the target.

Pro-MCA blogs wasted no time in jumping onto the bandwagon and politicising the issue, feigning all loyalty to Muhyiddin and accusing Lim of failing to act as a good father when he refused to lodge a police report.

And when the callow Umno Youth Khairy Jamaluddin, through his disgustingly lewd and sexist remarks tweeted: “Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada.” (Perhaps he demolished Kampung Buah Pala because he wanted to replace it with Kampung Breasts), it was a dead give-away of his own ability to play responsible and caring “daddy” to his two young boys.

Khairy, very much a “man in a hurry”, has revealed that he will stoop to any level to please his political masters.

If that is the mark of a leader, it explains why Umno Youth is nothing but an entity of manipulative and power-hungry male chauvinists who will sway any which way they deem necessary to further their personal agenda.

Making matters worse was Umno Online which quoted a fictitious report from Guang Ming saying Lim’s son was transferred out to another school because of drug problems in his former school.

Such desperation by Umno to kill off the trust and support vested by Penangites in Lim, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat!

Too bad that BN has made yet another blunder, of wanting to get hold of Penang come the next general election and bury DAP and Pakatan for good. Thankfully, the rakyat has seen right through BN and are in no mood to entertain its shenanigans.

As for Lim, the glowing words of praise heaped by the auditor-general in his latest report stand as proof that DAP is no fluke and has what it takes to turn Penang around, thanks to his ability to lead the state.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 2:15 pm and is filed under
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Prurience and piety: that recent Malaysian case

— by Clive Kessler

The Malaysian Insider

Nov 03, 2011

NOV 3 — Dina Zaman, in her commentary entitled “Let’s talk about (halal) sex” (The Malaysian Insider, October 26) has already commented that: “Like many Malaysians, I was flabbergasted and speechless when I read online accounts of the launch of the [now-banned] book titled, ‘Seks Islam — Perangi Yahudi Untuk Kembalikan Seks Islam Kepada Dunia (Sex in Islam — Wage War Against Jews To Return Islamic Sex To The World)’.

“One, the English titled begged to be deciphered as it made no sense. Two, the title, even when understood, also begged for a suspension of disbelief. They cannot be serious about this: Having kosher sex meant that the Jews would be destroyed? How? What position would help destroy the Zionists for good?”

Not out of prurience, or any love of “raunch” and sexual scandal, nor even to cast much merited ridicule on these pathetic “wannabes”, but to indicate and exemplify the peculiar nature of the “full-on” Islamist “political psyche” — and, more generally, for the contemplation of the depth psychologists and political symbolism “decoders” — attention must be called to this weird variant, or “transformation”, of the 1960s slogan “make love, not war”.

Here the pious injunction is that the good wife should obediently make true Islamic love to her Muslim husband — as a way of making war on the Jews, against Jewish domination.

Or in other words, the Obedient Wives Club, and the “militant Islamist lifestyle” organisations behind the OWC ladies, are here offering this neo-pietistic, “over-conformist” and highly “patriarchal” Islamist sexuality (and their own obsessively prurient concern with that very thwarted and unfree yet highly licentious kind of sexuality and libidinal energy) as a way to counter supposed Jewish domination of Islam: of the private intimate lives of Muslims, and thereby of the world generally.

They are offering this rampant, voracious yet also frightfully constrained and obsessively coerced “full-on Islamist sexuality” as, in effect, a way for the good Muslim men, upon the bodies of their obedient wives — and please excuse here my, in this context inescapable, indelicacy — “performatively” to say, or declare, or in fact to enact the proposition “f**k the Jews!”

Go figure!

It sounds insane.

But it goes to (or perhaps erotically “touches upon”?) something that people need to recognise.

It calls direct attention to the deeply ingrained, florid, and rank anti-Jewish attitudes, prejudices and obsessions that are “in-built”, if not into classical Islam, then into the collective psyche of those who make from its sources a kind of “old-time religion.”

For those who are committed to such regressive forms of conspicuous and over-conforming yet prurient piety, these obsessions serve as key, powerful and (quasi-) religiously infused and “sacralised” psychic motivators, or “drivers”, of the militant Islamist mentality and all its often bizarre projects.

* Clive Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 10:52 am and is filed under
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Rahim Noor should crawl back into the woodwork

by
P. Ramakrishnan

1 November 2011

A man who infamously trampled upon the rights of others has no right to speak on human rights. He is the least qualified to speak on this subject.

Yet, the former Inspector–General of Police, Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, emerging as it were from the dead, expressed some startling views on human rights.

He is quoted as having said that the coming of a “human rights wave” would threaten the principles on which this country was founded.

In what way would the “human rights wave” threaten the principles on which this country was founded?

The principles on which this country was founded is embodied in the Federal Constitution, which was agreed upon mutually by all the communities that aspired for a free and independent Malaya.

The Federal Constitution specifically guarantees the human rights of all the citizens. Indeed, it protects the rights of all Malaysians. If these rights were not guaranteed and protected, there would be no Federal Constitution to begin with and we wouldn’t have attained our independence on 31 August 1957.

The human rights wave, reflected in the Bersih 2.0 ‘Walk for Democracy’ that demanded clean and fair elections, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be termed as a “communist wave”. It is a democratic wave giving expression to the innate desire of the human spirit to be free and treated fairly and with justice.

The present wave – demanding accountability, transparency, good governance, rule oflaw, the right to information, the right to assemble peacefully, the right to publish and disseminate views – represents the universal rights that are upheld by the United Nations, As Malaysia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, we are duty-bound to respect and protect these universal values.

Calling upon the Malays to unite against this “human rights wave” is acting foolishly and ignoring today’s political reality. The vast majority of thinking Malaysians are not narrow-minded bigots and will not fall for this call to respond along ethnic lines.

This was clearly established when the “Himpunan Sejuta” was organised to inflame the sentiments of the Malays against the Christians. The fact that only about 5000 turned up – which prompted Ibrahim Ali to confess that he was embarrassed by the turnout – is proof enough that racial politics will be spurned by citizens of goodwill who only wish to live together in peace and harmony for the betterment of the nation.

Though it was touted as having the backing of 3000 Malay NGOs, the fact was they failed even to send two representatives each, which would have boosted the attendance to 6000. The number that turned up was a far cry from the one million that was expected. The ultras and the extremists can claim anything but gutter politics will not hoodwink the majority of peace-loving Malaysians.

Rahim Noor should crawl back into the woodwork and remain there for a long time tocome.

P Ramakrishnan is president of Aliran

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 3 November 2011, 11:31 am and is filed under
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Has Muhyiddin performed a “coup” against Najib and other non-UMNO Cabinet Ministers and parties?

Has the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin done a “coup” against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other non-UMNO Cabinet Ministers and parties including MCA, MIC and Gerakan in unilaterally and arbitrarily without Cabinet authority declaring as “final” the decision to discontinue the PPSMI policy on the teaching of mathematics and science in English and slamming shut the door of a review?

The Prime Minister had promised before the Sarawak polls in April this year that the government would consider using dual languages as the medium of instruction for mathematics and science in schools, and it is precisely because of such an undertaking that the leaders/Ministers from non-UMNO Barisan Nasional parties have come out publicly in support of the principle that parents should be given the option of deciding on continuing with PPSMI in selected schools.

Although Muhyiddin had dismissed calls from the top MCA and MIC leadership that the government allow schools the option to retain PPSMI, declaring that representatives from both MCA and MIC (which would include Gerakan) in the Cabinet had agreed to its abolition in 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister should explain why he had singly, uniaterally and arbitrarily overriden the powers of the Cabinet to review the 2009 decision – and whether Muhyiddin had the full approval and agreement of Najib to make such a “final” decision on PPSMI when the Prime Minister is away from the country?

In any event, if the non-UMNO Cabinet Ministers and parties, such as MCA, MIC, Gerakan and the Sarawak and Sabah Barisan Nasional parties, want to have a full and thorough review of the Cabinet’s 2009 decision on PPSMI so as to allow parents the option to continue with the PPSMI in certain schools, who is Muhyiddin to singly, unilaterally and arbitrarily bar them from doing so?

Has the Deputy Prime Minister any such powers to subject the non-UMNO BN Ministers to such control when even the Prime Minister would not have such powers?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 4 November 2011, 2:57 pm and is filed under
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Appeal against UUCA judgment flies in the face of PM’s political transformation programme

by
Tony Pua MP

National Publicity Secretary DAP

5.11.11

The decision by the Cabinet to allow the appeal of the Court of Appeal judgement that Section 15.(5)(a) of the University and University Colleges Act1971 (UUCA) is unconstitutional flies in the face of the Prime Minister’s “politicaltransformation programme”.

After a series of calls for the Government to not appeal the Court of Appeal judgement that Section 15.(5)(a) of the UUCA made by top politicians from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, hopes were high that the Cabinet will abide by and accept the Court’s decision.

The UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin, Deputy Higher Education Minister, Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah and MCA Youth Chief, Datuk Wee Ka Siong have made a show of openly supported the Court’s position that the relevant section of the UUCA is unconstitutional and the UUCA should be amended accordingly.

In the “spirit” of the political transformationprogramme launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the eve of Malaysia Day where he announced the proposed repeal and amendment of various draconian Acts such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Printing Pressand Publications Act (PPPA), Malaysians were expecting an enlightened decision by the Cabinet to finally remove the shackles of academic freedom at our institutions of higher learning.

However, the BN government has instead chosen to burst the high hopes of the people and to abdicate its responsibility to the Attorney General, purportedly to make a study of the “points of law”.  The excuse could not be more lame as regardless of the Court decision, the Cabinet could have taken opportunity to announce a proposed amendment of the UUCA, particularly thecontroversial Section 15.

In fact, the Cabinet should have taken the bold decision not only to amend Section 15.(5)(a), but the entire Section 15 of the Act which severely restricts the freedom of academics and students in our local universities.

Section 15.(1) states that students of the University, even if they are of voting age or PhD students, cannot be members of any political party, or anyother organisation as determined by the Minister of Higher Education.

Section 15.(2) states that no University students’ body shall have any association with any political party, or any organisation as determined by the Minister of Higher Education.

Section 15.(6)(a) states that students and academics will only have the “freedom” to make statements on their areas of study and research while 15.(6)(b)prohibits their participation in any seminar, symposium or event organised by any political party, even if it is within their area of expertise.

The above sections of the Act are obviously unreasonable and unconstitutional on so many grounds – such as the Article 8 which states that “all persons are equal before the law” forbidding discrimination against students and academics; and Article 10 which guarantees the “freedom of speech and expression” as well as “the right to form associations”.

I have filed the proposed amendments to the above Sections of the Act during the sub-committee debate on the UUCA Amendment Bill in December 2008 arguing on its unconstitutionality. However, the motion was defeated unanimously by the BN members of Parliament.

We call upon the Cabinet not to make the same mistake twice, at the expense of not only the Prime Minister’s “political transformation programme”, but also the reputation and credibility of our institutions of higher learning.  Without academic freedom, our universities will never be able to achieve our goals of becoming “world-class” institutions.  Regardless of the final decision by the Attorney-General, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must retake the initiative and commence the process of removing all unconstitutional and unreasonable elements from the UUCA.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 November 2011, 6:52 am and is filed under
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Mozilla, Microsoft Withdraw Trust in Malaysian Intermediate CA

By
John Ribeiro
, IDG News

PCWorld

Mozilla and Microsoft said Thursday they are revoking trust in all certificates issued by Digicert, a Malaysian intermediate certificate authority (CA) , after it was found that it had issued 22 certificates with weak 512-bit keys and missing certificate extensions and revocation information.

The Malaysian company was issued an intermediate CA certificate in July, 2010 by Entrust in Dallas, Texas, which was licensed for distribution with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) certificates.

Entrust said in a bulletin on its website that it had been discovered that Digicert Malaysia has issued certificates with weak 512-bit RSA keys and missing certificate extensions. Entrust has revoked the 512-bit certificates issued by Digicert and made them available to major browser vendors to blacklist if found appropriate, it added.

Digicert in Malaysia does not have any relationship with DigiCert, a CA based in Utah.

Digicert in Malaysia could not be immediately reached for comment. It said on its website that it is at the center of an effective trust model that the Malaysian government is creating to address the issue of information security, and the negative perception about online transactions. The company said it was licensed by the Malaysia government, and its “trust solutions are legally recognized under Malaysian law”.

Entrust said it will revoke the intermediate CA certificate on or before Tuesday, to give Digicert Malaysia’s customers a “modest amount of time” to replace their SSL server certificates. Entrust has meanwhile made the intermediate certificate available to the browser vendors for blacklisting.

The certificates in question were issued to a mix of Malaysian government websites and internal systems, Mozilla said in its security blog. “We do not believe other sites are at risk,” it added.

Mozilla is revoking trust in all certificates issued by Digicert in Malaysia, while clarifying that it was not a Firefox specific issue, and the update will be in Firefox 8 and Firefox 3.6.24. Mozilla said the issue was reported to it by Entrust.

Firefox 3.6.24 is scheduled for release on Nov. 8 while Firefox 8 will release on Nov. 17, according to Mozilla.

Microsoft will revoke trust in Digicert Malaysia in an update to be released through Windows Update. said Jerry Bryant, group manager, response communications for Trustworthy Computing at the company, in a blog post.

“There is no indication that any certificates were issued fraudulently, however, these weak keys have allowed some of the certificates to be compromised,” Bryant said. The compromised certificates could allow an attacker to impersonate the legitimate owner thus making the user believe they are trusting a website or signed software that was created for malicious use, he added.

There is no evidence that the Digicert Malaysia certificate authorities have been compromised, Entrust said.

Close to 300,000 unique IP addresses from Iran requested access to google.com using a rogue certificate issued by Dutch CA DigiNotar, according to a report released in September by security firm, Fox-IT. A total of 531 digital certificates were issued for domains that included google.com, the CIA, and Israel’s Mossad, after a security breach.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 November 2011, 10:46 pm and is filed under
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Nazri talking through his hat!

By
P. Ramakrishnan
, Aliran’s President

4 Nov 2011

Nazri has given expression to the saying, “Talking through the hat!” That was what he was doing when he rather foolishly commented on the majority decision of the Court of Appeal which ruled in a landmark case that Section 15(5)(a) of the Universities and University Colleges Act was unconstitutional.

In spite of the Court of Appeal’s ruling, for the Minister of Law to insist that “it does not invalidate the Act” and to dismiss the Court’s decision as “an opinion in passing” is appalling and shocking, exposing his alarming ignorance of the judicial process.

Section 15(5)(a) has been invalidated as unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal ruling – which means that the provisions of that section are no longer applicable and cannot be enforced. That section, as a result of the Court’s decision, is void and invalid.

It is a binding decision and cannot be dismissed merely as “an opinion of the Court” without any consequence. Until and unless the Federal Court overturns or sets aside this ruling – thus upholding the High Court decision – no power on earth professing the democratic tradition can ignore this decision. It is as simple as that!

It is extremely disturbing that the Minister for Law has shown scant respect for the judicial process by not taking the Court decision seriously. His dismissive remarks mock our judiciary and he himself comes across as a bumbling clown.

“This is law, passed by us as lawmakers. There must be separation of powers,” he thundered. If he respects the separation of powers, then he must not poke his nose where it does not belong!

The judiciary has an inherent independent authority conferred by the Federal Constitution to “act without fear or favour (and) discharge their grave responsibility of pronouncing judgment on the validity of executive and legislative acts and on the meaning of any provision of the federal and state constitutions …” as clearly expounded by the late Tun Mohamed Suffian.

According to Tun Suffian, Courts have the power to pronounce on the validity of legislative acts and to interpret the Constitution.

When great minds have given their considered opinion, it is futile to split hairs.

Perhaps Nazri, as he is prone to be so vocal, can help us in clarifying what is deemed as a contradiction.

Is there a contradiction in the UUCA in that it doesn’t seem to be applicable to all the university students?

Why is it that the UUCA is only applicable to students of local universities? Why are students of overseas universities exempted from this Act?

And the more pertinent question is: Why do almost all nations espousing democratic traditions refrain from subjecting their university students to such restrictions as spelt out in our UCCA?

How is it that Umno Club members comprising overseas students are permitted to attend the Umno General Assembly regularly? Aren’t they also violating the provisions of this Act which state no student shall express or do anything which may reasonably be construed as expressing support or sympathy with or opposition to any political party in or outside Malaysia?

These Umno Club members openly express their support for Umno and by doing so, don’t they fall foul of this Act? Or is it a case of selective application?

Now that the Court had ruled, these Umno Club members henceforth can legitimately attend Umno General Assemblies, something that was not right previously.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 November 2011, 2:00 pm and is filed under
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PAGE says likely to continue PPSMI struggle

By
Clara Chooi

November 05, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) will likely pursue its cause to retain PPSMI in schools despite expressing “deep appreciation” to the government for allowing those already enjoying the policy to continue.

PAGE chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told The Malaysian Insider she was “pleasantly surprised” by yesterday’s announcement by Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin but admitted the decision still fell short of the group’s demands.

“We are in a difficult situation now… we do deeply appreciate what the government has agreed to and we sincerely thank them.

“But at the same time, we want this (PPSMI) policy for our future generation, to go beyond 2020, until we are all dead and gone. We want this opportunity given to all,” she said when contacted last night.

PAGE had earlier warned the Barisan Nasional (BN) government of a voter backlash if it refused to consider retaining PPSMI (the teaching of science and mathematics in English) in schools.

Muhyiddin announced yesterday those students who have already been using the PPSMI policy may continue with it until they complete their secondary education.

But the deputy prime minister stressed that it did not mean the government was making a U-turn in its decision to scrap the policy.

He explained the decision meant that students between Year Three and Form Five next year would be allowed the option of learning science and mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia, English or both languages, as allowed under PPSMI, until they complete their primary and secondary education.

But this year’s Year One students, the first batch to undergo MBMMBI (Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening Command of English), would have to continue learning the two subjects in Bahasa Malaysia when they enter Year Two next year, he said.

MBMMBI was mooted in July 2009 to replace PPSMI and came into effect in January this year for Year One students. PPSMI was introduced in 2003 by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Noor Azimah questioned the sudden decision, pointing out that until Thursday, Muhyiddin had appeared bent on pressing on with the government’s original decision to scrap PPSMI completely next year.

“We were pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it was because PAGE has been lobbying hard for this… or perhaps it is because Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stepped into the picture,” she said.

Dr Mahathir has been against the Najib administration’s decision to abolish PPSMI in July 2009.

Responding to Muhyiddin’s announcement yesterday, Dr Mahathir asked for a referendum to decide if English should be used to teach science and mathematics.

Noor Azimah told The Malaysian Insider that the immediate response from parents in PAGE indicated that while many were happy with the government’s decision, they still insisted on continuing with their pro-PPSMI struggle.

“It is not a fight… it is a struggle, a cause for our future generation,” she said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 November 2011, 9:52 am and is filed under
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The deadly sins of Umno

— Jacob Sinnathamby

The Malaysian Insider

Nov 04, 2011

NOV 4 — Every day a layer of deception is peeled away from the men and women who govern this country and who have a choke grip on our fate. The ongoing Parliament session and the reaction to the Auditor-General’s Report and the campaign of lies against Lim Guan Eng’s son have led me to think more deeply about Umno and what motivates them to behave and think and speak in the manner they do.

For ease of reference, I will list out the characteristics of Umno (and here I mean the leaders of the party) and will call them the deadly sins of Umno.

1)
Pride.
 This characteristic flows through Muhyiddin Yassin to Khairy Jamaluddin. The Umno leader has no or little humility, he believes that he is a self-made person and is entitled to every position, privilege he has, not for a moment stopping to accept that it is through God’s grace that he is an elected representative.

Pride is manifested in this party where NO ONE owns up to a mistake and says sorry. Did Muhyiddin or Khairy say sorry for jumping on the wrong bandwagon and perpetuating an untruth against a 16-year-old boy?

2)
Avarice.
 It isn’t a coincidence that billions of ringgit have been squandered and looted in the last 25 years. This is the period in which the sense of entitlement, inflated contracts and the culture off easy money has kicked in with party members. It is no more enough to siphon off a million or two, now it runs into hundreds of millions.

Ever wonder how even second-rung Umno politicians don’t have a steady job but drive Porsche Cayennes, live in bungalows and have a string of aides, etc. There was not even any surprise detected in the speech of government ministers and MPs at the mismanagement and excesses detailed in the Auditor-General’s Report. But why should they be surprised: they know why this is happening year in, year out.

3)
Stupidity.
 Did Nazri Aziz really go to law school? I ask this question because his explanation on the Court of Appeal’s ruling that a law prohibiting student involvement in politics as unconstitutional defies logic. He dismissed the epochal decision, saying that the law is still valid as the court was only stating an opinion. No, this was the nub of the case before the court and the court’s ruling invalidates the law.

Unless the Federal Court disagrees that the law in unconstitutional, undergraduates can go ahead and get involved in politics. And to think that Nazri is one of the smarter ministers!!! Noh Omar gave us a glimpse of the quality of the Cabinet with his mindless explanation of the National Feedlot Centre project. (Even cows would have indigestion making sense of his numbers.)

4)
Symbolism.
 The Umno politician is in love with symbolic acts and public relations. He likes to be photographed having nasi lemak with the masses, donating money to vernacular schools and making a trip to the Vatican. But this is skin deep only because when the crunch comes, his real self emerges, the self where his own racial and beliefs take precedence over everything.

The best recent example is the fairytale about Christians taking over the country and the equally entertaining story of 250,000 Muslims leaving Islam. Instead of setting the record straight and guarding the fabric of this country, Najib Razak and his comrades played dumb. Maybe it is tough being real leaders and much easier making symbolic acts.

5)
Dishonesty.
 There was a time, maybe a long, long time ago, when the word of the Umno leader was good. He told Malaysians about the challenges and problems. Now there is only good news. Despite a global meltdown which is going to make 2008 financial crisis small, we are going to have better growth next year than this year and Idris Jala keeps mouthing some astronomical numbers and GNI and other stuff.

How about some honesty on what is the short-term and medium-term prognosis for this country? We expect our leaders to be honest and truthful about something as important as the economy. You know you have been found out as liars when most private economists want to know what air you have been breathing.

6)
Desperation.
 Desperate people do desperate things and allow bad things to happen. Allowing non-citizens to obtain documents to vote is an act of treachery and a breach of trust between government and citizens. Allowing hate to be nurtured and promoted against a community (Christians or Chinese or both) is bad for the country.

But everything seems kosher these days because some people want to stay in power forever.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 November 2011, 2:05 am and is filed under
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