Will UMNO concede to PAS the 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments which PAS leaders declare as their objectives in 14GE?

Malaysians must put to rest once and for all the spectre and threat  of May 13 racial riots in the 14th General Election by demonstrating that Malaysia is a normal democratic country where voters can peacefully and democratically through the ballot box  elect a new government coalition in Putrajaya  to look after the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

Political desperadoes  are trying to create a hot-house atmosphere by the irresponsible politics of lies, hate and fear to banish  reason and common sense and stampede Malaysian voters into believing that the next general elections is great battle of race vs race and religion vs religion.

This is completely untrue, for the 14GE is not any  battle of race vs race or religion vs religion, but  a battle between democracy vs kleptocracy – whether Malaysia can be saved from the trajectory of a failed and rogue state.

The 14GE is not a battle between Malays vs non-Malays or  Muslim vs non-Muslims but a battle among Malaysians, regardless of race or religion on both sides, between those who on the one hand want Malaysia to reset nation-building directions and policies up save democracy and on the other hand,  those who want Malaysia to continue on the road to kleptocracy, a failed and a rogue state.

UMNO/BN  leaders are fully aware that they have lost the confidence and support of the majority of Malaysians, both Malays and non-Malays.

The Prime Minister and UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers are trying to reverse the tide of public opinion, not by government, political and economic reforms which put the interests of the rakyat above those of the political leaders in power, but by the politics of lies, fear and hate,  inciting primordial emotions and fear  that if UMNO loses the general elections, the Malays will lose political power and that the Chinese in Malaysia will rule the country.

Reason and common sense can easily debunk such politics of lies, hate and fear – which is why UMNO strategists and propagandists do not want the public to spend time to reason and analyse the truth or otherwise  of such politics of lies, hate and fear.

Will the three and a half million UMNO members and million PAS members see through such politics of lies, hate and fear?  This will be a great test in the 14GE.

The political situation is getting clearer by the day, as for instance, the resolutions and the decisions the recent PAS Muktamar and the PAS Dewan Syura.

New questions will arise in the political arena awaiting for answers.  One such question is whether UMNO  will concede to PAS the 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments which PAS leaders declare as their objectives in 14GE.

The months ahead will be challenging ones for Malaysians, as it will culminate in the 14GE decision  whether Malaysia can be saved from kleptocracy and for Malaysia to   reset nation-building directions and policies after six decades to restore our capability to compete with the rest of the world instead of divisive Malaysian infighting because of growing inter-racial and inter-religious distrust, hatred, animosities and fear created by those solely for the sake of political power.

(Speech  at the joint DAP Gelang Patah Branches’ Annual General Meetings in Skudai on Saturday, 13th May 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 14 May 2017, 3:14 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Elections
,
PAS
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


“Curiouser and curiouser” as there is no way PAS can win 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments without some form of electoral arrangement or alliance  with UMNO

Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland phraseology of “curiouser and curiouser” comes to mind as there is no way PAS can win 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments without some form of electoral arrangement or alliance with UMNO.

The results of the general elections since 1959 shows that PAS achieved its best results in the 1999, 2008 and 2013 general elections when it was a member of the Barisan Alternative or Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition, as illustrated by the following  chart:

MP

PAS

Total seats

won

contest

1959

13

58

104

1964

9

53

104

1969

12

62

144

1974

–

–

154

1978

5

88

154

1982

5

82

154

1986

1

98

177

1990

7

30

180

1995

7

45

192

1999

27

62

193

2004

6

86

219

2008

(1+) 23

66

222

2013

21

73

222

In the last few days, PAS leaders have upped the ante and are talking about fielding 100 parliamentary candidates (an increase from the figure of 80 parliamentary contests cited  before the PAS Muktamar last month)  although they are still keeping their winning total to a “modest” 40!

If PAS fields 100 parliamentary candidates in the 14th General Election, it will be most number of candidates fielded by the party  in any general elections – more than the  98 candidates fielded in the 1986 general election when PAS won only one seat, a  victory percentage score of less than 1%!

PAS best results were in the 1999, 2008 and 2013 general elections with the record victory percentages of 43%, 39% and 29% respectively, winning 27 MPs out of 62 candidates in 1999, 23 MPs out of 66 candidates in 2008 and 21 MPs out of 73 candidates.

If the history of past general elections is  any guide, it is unlikely that in a multi-cornered electoral contests in the 14th General Elections, PAS could win more than half a dozen parliamentary seats.

It would be a different scenario, however, if there is some electoral arrangement or alliance between PAS and  UMNO, whether at the parliamentary, state or a mixture of parliamentary and state assembly contests.

But the crucial question in all these possible combinations and permutations of an electoral arrangement or alliance  between UMNO and PAS is whether  UMNO is prepared to concede seats, whether parliamentary or state assembly, to PAS.

This leads me to the question I posed on Saturday night at the joint meeting of DAP Branches in Gelang Patah in Skudai – whether UMNO is prepared to concede up to 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments to PAS in the 14GE, the declared objectives by PAS leaders?

The situation with regard to the PAS objective to win five state governments, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor is even more “curiouser”.

Kelantan has been under a PAS government for six terms since the 1990 general election, with PAS winning 32 out 45 state assembly seats in 2013. The issue in the 14 GE is whether PAS can  win Kelantan for the seventh term without Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

PAS won Terengganu in the 1999 general election  and Kedah in the 2008 general election but lasted for only one term in both cases.  In the 14GE, can PAS again win the state governments in Terengganu and Kedah, when in the 13GE, it won 14 out of 32 State Assembly seats in Terengganu and  only nine out of 36 seats in Kedah in the 2013 general election?

PAS goal of capturing the Pahang and Selangor state governments are most far-fetched when even under the Pakatan Rakyat banner in the 2013 general election, it could only win three out of 42 seats in Pahang and 15 out of 56 seats in Selangor.

Without some form of electoral arrangement or alliance between UMNO and PAS, it is just not possible for PAS to win five state governments in the 14th General Election.

Another intriguing question is  whether, even if  the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is prepared to concede 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor, to PAS in exchange for PAS support of Najib’s kleptocracy and 1MDB scandal, can Najib get UMNO support at national, divisional and ground levels to deliver:

(i)	The conceding of 40 parliamentary seats from UMNO to PAS; and

(ii)	PAS forming or leading five state governments of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor?

If UMNO concedes 40 parliamentary seats to PAS, UMNO will be left with some 100 parliamentary seats  to contest in Peninsular Malaysia.

For the first time, PAS may end up with more or almost equal number of  parliamentary seats as UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia.

Is this the meaning of the 71st UMNO anniversary celebrations marked  with such fanfare  and over a million ringgit of lucky draw prizes at Stadium Bukit Jalil on May 11?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 May 2017, 8:31 am and is filed under
Elections
,
PAS
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The Sorry Shape of the Malaysian Ship of State

M. Bakri Musa

May 16, 2017

A nation is like a boat on a river. Face the craft in the wrong direction and it would end up downstream in the marshy delta in short order, with minimal or no effort. It would languish there in the mud, at the mercy of the tides and floods. Face your boat sideways to head for the comfort of the nearby shore and you risk being broadsided by the current. Even if your boat were to face upstream, you could still end up downstream, albeit more slowly, for lack of paddling.

            By facing our boat upstream and paddling hard, Malaysians have achieved much and traversed many superior fishing grounds as well as enjoyed numerous beautiful sights. Malaysians have also met and mingled with many upstream people, folks used to and comfortable in waters that are fresh, cool, and clean. Now we too aspire for that; we too want the waters around us to be free of the jetsam and flotsam. However, we can only get that by going upstream.

            In the past with our preoccupation with moving our craft upstream we have forgotten the elementary caution of keeping it steady. The faster we paddle, the more we need to do so lest we risk capsizing our craft. Further, the steadier and more streamlined our craft is, the faster we would progress. If we rock our boat we have to expend the extra effort to maintain its stability and speed. Eddies and other turbulences impede the flow as well as jeopardize our craft’s stability; likewise, if our hull were encrusted with barnacles.

            Malaysia was rudely reminded of this grim reality back in 1969. Then the ship of state was moving forward quite steadily, but not fast enough to the satisfaction of some. Those dissatisfied began rocking the craft instead of helping paddle it forward faster. The consequence was disastrous; the nation was torn asunder by a vicious race riot. No sane Malaysian would want to repeat that experience.

            Today the ship of state that is Malaysia is not moving upstream as fast as we were used to or are potentially capable of. Malaysians are rightly dissatisfied. This frustration is made more acute when we see neighboring ships that were once by our side or way in our rear now fast overtaking us.

            Our collective response thus far to this unhappy turn of events is anything but inspiring. It is downright frightening, echoing with frightening eeriness what we did during that dark period leading to 1969. Now, as then, we are preoccupied with who gets to steer, be on the top deck, and to sit at the captain’s table. We are busy rearranging the deck chairs and not paying attention to where we are headed. The lookout person has abandoned his post and is busy lobbying for the best spot on deck. Little did he realize that when the ship is broadsided by a rogue wave, even the best spot would be swamped.

            All on board are busy looking inwards, not to study and solve the problem but to blame each other, that is, when they are not busy elbowing each other to get the choicest spot. I wonder when the Titanic was listing dangerously whether those pampered guests in the upper deck were still frenetically trying to secure dinner invitations from their captain.

            In a boat you are either help, or by default, load; there is no in-between. Likewise in society; you are either an asset or liability, part of the solution or part of the problem, contributor to or dependent on the state. Ballast is necessary for stability even though it slows down the craft. One could argue that the sultans are a heavy unnecessary load (financially and in many other ways) thus slowing our nation-boat, they serve as a necessary ballast to keep the ship of state stable. However, it is worth reminding that ballast in a ship is put at its lowest point to effect maximal stability. If you put the ballast on deck or way high up, you invite instability.

            In a democratic ship of state, all on board have a say on who gets to be skipper, be in the upper deck, or even be on board. To the extent that the Malaysian ship of state is now facing the wrong direction, being skippered by a less-than-competent captain, heavily weighed down by freeloaders, and slowed down by encrusting barnacles, citizens have only themselves to blame.

            There are only two options for Malaysians. One is to jump ship. That option is available to only a select few, those fortunate to have the skills needed by the other faster and more gleaming ships. For the rest, jumping from one slow, leaky, and rat-infested craft to another is no progress, quite apart from the risks involved. Even those fortunate enough to land on a sleeker ship, there is no guarantee that they would be on the same deck level; far too often they would be consigned below deck. Only the lucky few would have upgraded cabins in their new ship. Even for those fortunate few, the thoughts and memories of those they leave behind cannot help but diminish the pleasure of their upgraded status.

            For the vast majority, the more sensible solution would be to work at getting their ship in Bristol condition, facing the right direction, and being skippered by a competent captain. We cannot achieve those goals if we remain insular or eye each other with suspicion. Collectively we have to scan the wide horizon, study the other ships, and read the waves below. We have to discern the clouds as well as feel the wind, its force and direction. Most importantly, we have to exercise our best judgment in picking our captain and insist that he picks a competent crew.

            Then after having done our due diligence, even if we do not agree on the final destination chosen by our skipper, at least we could enjoy the sail. At the very least our journey would be safer; we would not likely be stranded on a dangerous reef or be swamped by a rogue wave. Who knows, while we may not share the same final port of call, there may be many along the way that we would like to visit together.

            That is what an unshackled mind could do for us. A free mind would give us the serenity to accept things that we cannot change, the courage to change things that we can, and the wisdom to know the difference, to quote Neibuhr’s serenity prayer.

            Malaysia achieved political independence more than half a century ago, but mentally Malaysians are still very much entrapped. The battle cry for this new century should be, “Merdeka Minda Melayu!” (Liberate the Malay Mind!), and we should pursue this noble goal with the same vigor, passion, and determination as our forefathers did with Merdeka Tanah Melayu.

            Today Malaysia is in disarray; its skipper corrupt, incompetent, and far from being diligent; his crew tired, distracted and indifferent. The ship of state is headed in the wrong direction, and there are many shoals and reefs ahead. The wind is building up and the water increasingly choppy. The wakes of overtaking ships are battering us. Worse, those ships were once way behind us. We are being shackled by needlessly intrusive and abusive rules that were meant for a different era when the ship was skippered by other than our own people. Now our own leaders are exploiting those rules to further their own nefarious needs. On deck, the ballast is rising to the top, threatening our stability.

            We fail to appreciate these cruel realities because our minds are trapped into thinking otherwise; hence my call for Merdeka Minda Melayu. We have to have a free mind to appreciate the stark realities we are under and not let our leaders delude us into thinking otherwise. We need a free mind to work ourselves out from under these myriad burdens lest we condemn ourselves and future generations along the same perilous course that has led us to where we are today.

            A free mind cannot be willed upon; there is no magic wand out there. We have to strive hard – very hard – at liberating our minds, just as hard, if not more so, as we did in liberating our native land. It is a worthy and noble pursuit; a closed mind is the worst prison.

            We should disabuse ourselves of the false comfort of life underneath the coconut shell. That world with its coziness, familiarity and predictability is no heaven; it is in fact a prison, and a very cruel one at that. That shell is no protector, it is an oppressor. It prevents us, as Allah’s vice-regents in this temporal world, from enjoying His Many Blessings that is this vast universe with all its beauty, bounty and diversity. Remaining underneath the coconut shell means we are not appreciative of Allah’s gift. And that would the greatest show of disrespect.

Adapted from the author’s book, Liberating The Malay Mind, published by ZI Publications, Petaling Jaya, 2013. The second edition was released in January 2016.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 May 2017, 12:22 pm and is filed under
Bakri Musa
,
Malays
,
nation building
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Best Wishes to Hadi for swift recovery from heart surgery to the best of health

I congratulate PAS President, Datuk Hadi Awang on a successful heart surgery and convey to him my best wishes for his swift recovery to the best of health.

We may have different political positions, but it is a test of maturity of Malaysian political leaders in  a democratic system that political leaders must  always be civil and polite with each other, and never be personal, cantankerous or abusive in pursuit of their  roles in a democratic system to submit their  objectives, programmes and policies to the peaceful and democratic electoral endorsement of the people in  periodic general elections.

This is why in my 51 years in politics in Malaysia, spanning six Prime Ministers and  UMNO Presidents, I had  never been personal in my political differences with them to the extent of foreclosing working together with any of them  in the national interests – whether in the case of Tunku, Tun Hussein or Tun Mahathir.

Similarly, in my relationship with five PAS Presidents in  half a century of politics, I had never descended to the level of  personal animosities or hatred.

This is in fact a test for all Malaysians on the occasion of the 60th national anniversary this year after 13 general elections, whether we can agree to disagree politically without  being disagreeable and accept the democratic verdict of the electorate in the general election.

DAP leaders are in the forefront  to forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear.

Are leaders of all political parties, including UMNO/BN and PAS, prepared to join  DAP leaders to forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear to exploit the primordial racial or religious sentiments of the people, and to practise the politics of honesty, truth, peace and  harmony in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 May 2017, 8:24 am and is filed under
PAS
,
Politics
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Kamarul Zaman’s police report  against Hannah Yeoh raises the question whether he is fit and proper  to be a lecturer of plural Malaysia’s public university

Kamarul Zaman Yusof’s false and malicious  police report against Selangor Speaker and DAP Selangor State Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh, accusing her of proselytization of Muslims with the publication of her autobiography “Being Hannah”, raises the question whether he is fit and proper to be a lecturer of plural Malaysia’s public universities.

It is a further  sign that the Malaysian nation-building process, after six decades, have gone terribly wrong and must be corrected.

It is unimaginable that Hannah Yeoh’s autobiography on her  personal journey to be a good Christian so as to be a good Malaysian would have caused objections, let alone be the subject of a false and malicious police report of proselytization to Muslims, in the first five decades of our nationhood.

Hannah Yeoh’s  personal journey to be a good Christian so as to be a good Malaysian is a journey Rukunegara wants all Malaysians to take, for all Malaysians to be respectively good Muslims, good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs and good Taoists so as to become good Malaysians and to fully subscribe to the five Rukunegara principles of:  Belief in God; loyalty to King and Country; the Supremacy of the Constitution;  the Rule of Law and Good behavior and Morality.

Kamarul Zaman complains that Hannah Yeoh’s book had too many verses and quotes from the Bible.  Will he next call for the banning of the Bible?

Kamarul Zaman  accused Hannah Yeoh of a “Christianisation agenda”.

I am not a Christian and I can vouch that the for the past nine years since 2008 when I first got to know Hannah in the 2008 general election, Hannah Yeoh had never discussed with me any such “Christian agenda”.

There is no such agenda in the DAP or among any DAP MP or State Assembly representative.  For the past seven years, Hannah Yeoh had been an exemplary Malaysian, Speaker  and DAP elected representative who serves all Malaysians, regardless  of race, religion or socio-economic background.

Kamarul Zaman’s police report is proof of the failure to promote wasatiyyah in Malaysia, although the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had declared that the wasatiyyah (moderation) campaign of justice, balance and excellence was the reason behind his idea of a Global Movement of Moderates.

Why are such qualities sorely missing in Malaysia?

Is the Najib Cabinet prepared to halt such religious intolerance, extremism and polarisation in Malaysia and place the subject as  a top agenda at its meeting next Wednesday on May 24?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 May 2017, 2:52 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
nation building
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Irony of ironies – Wasatiyyah for the world but no wasatiyyah at home

Irony of Ironies – Wasatiyyah for the world but no wasatiyyah at home. Instead, there is growing tataruf.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been promoting the Wasatiyyah  (moderation) principles of justice, balance and excellence in the past few years in his international campaign for the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) embracing all nations, religions and communities, but at home, there is the growing phenomenon of tataruf, which has been described by  the former CEO of GMM as  the opposite of wasatiyyah and denotes inclination towards the peripheries, extremism (including violent extremism), radicalism and excess.

The assault of film director David Teoh in front of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Najib during a Transformation Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue session at the Prime Minister’s residence on  Wednesday night is a slap on the Prime Minister’s Wasatiyyah campaign of the past few years – an incident which would not have happened in the past 60 years under six Prime Ministers of Malaysia!

Another instance of the absence of wasatiyyah is the false and malicious police report lodged by University Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusof against Selangor Speaker and DAP Selangor State Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh, accusing her of proselytization of Muslims with the publication of her autobiography “Being Hannah” three years ago.

If Kamarul Zaman had understood and been influenced by the wasatiyyah principles of Islam on  moderation and the golden mean, rejecting extremities and radicalism, he would not have  lodged the false and malicious police report against Hannah Yeoh, who was describing her personal journey to be a good Christian so as to be a good Malaysian –  a journey Rukunegara wants all Malaysians to take, for all Malaysians to be respectively good Muslims, good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs and good Taoists so as to become good Malaysians.

A social media commentator hit the nail of the head when he said: “Ahli akademik itu  secara sengaja mempolemikkan isi kandungan buku itu dan mempolitikkannya kerana penulisnya pemimpin DAP. Tujuannyua ialah, memberi gambaran buruk tentang DAP kpd pengundi Melayu Islam…

“…ia sengaja dibuat utk memberi gambaran kpd umum bahawa DAP musuh Islam.  Label ini memang sengaja di promosikan dan selari dgn kemahuan politik Umno.”

Is this the teaching of wasatiyyah?

These are only two of many incidents in the past few years which demonstrate that Malaysian nation-building efforts to create a united, tolerant harmonious, forward-looking and progressive multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation which is also a world-class nation  had been facing great obstacles from  very un-wasatiyyah forces and elements.

There are at present  insidious, divisive and disruptive forces which are falsely trying to persuade Malaysians to believe that  the forthcoming 14th General Election is firstly a battle between Malays and the Chinese; and secondly, that it is a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

Attempts to frame the forthcoming the 14th General Election in these two contexts will be the very antithesis of the wasatiyyah values of moderation, justice and balance, because they are downright false, untrue and lies.

The forthcoming 14th General Election is not a battle between Malays and Chinese, nor is it a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

The 14th General Election is a battle between Malaysians vs Malaysians.

It  is for  Malaysians, regardless of race or religion  to  ponder deep and hard why Malaysia in the past six decades had failed to live up to the promise when we achieved Merdeka on August 31, 1957 to be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive, prosperous  multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation; save Malaysia and  re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress.

Falsely trying to frame the forthcoming 14th General Election as firstly a battle between the Chinese and the Malays, and secondly, as a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam, are both  great disservices to the Malaysian nation and people.

But even more heinous and treacherous are attempts to create the landscape and  environment as if the 14th General Election will indeed be a battle, firstly between the Malays and Chinese; and secondly, Islam versus the enemies of Islam, for both go against truth and reality and  the very principles of wasatiyyah.

This is why all political parties and  leaders must  forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear, not only during the general election campaign, but in the run-up to the next polls, and establish a mechanism where such politics of lies, hate and fear can be exposed and halted.

DAP leaders forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear to exploit the primordial racial or religious sentiments of the people, and to practise the politics of honesty, truth, peace and  harmony in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia.

Are the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders, in particular the Prime Minister who had been preaching  wasatiyyah principles in the past few years, prepared to respond in like fashion?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 May 2017, 2:28 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Elections
,
Islam
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Call on  political parties and leaders in Penang to be the vanguard in Malaysia to condemn mischief-makers who are trying to falsely frame the 14th General Election as a  battle between Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and enemies of Islam

I call on all political parties, whether in government or opposition, to take an united stand to condemn mischief makers  who want to create chaos in the country by falsely framing the forthcoming 14th General Election as a battle between Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and enemies of Islam.

This is the height of mischief and even treason.

The forthcoming 14th General Election is not a battle between Malays and Chinese, nor is it a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

The 14th General Election is a battle between Malaysians vs Malaysians, for a democratic Malaysia with accountability and good governance or a kleptocracy which rejects the principles of democratic good governance.

It  is for  Malaysians, regardless of race or religion  to  ponder deep and hard why Malaysia in the past six decades had failed to live up to the promise when we achieved Merdeka on August 31, 1957 to be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive, prosperous  multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation; save Malaysia and  re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress.

Falsely trying to frame the forthcoming 14th General Election as a battle between the Chinese and the Malays as well as  a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam, are both  great disservices to the Malaysian nation and people.

But even more heinous and treacherous are attempts to create the landscape and  environment as if the 14th General Election will indeed be a battle, firstly between the Malays and Chinese; and secondly, Islam versus the enemies of Islam, for both go against truth and reality and  the wasatiyyah (moderation) principles of justice, balance and excellence which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been trying to promote in the international arena with his Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) initiative.

Will the 14th General Election in Penang be a battle between the Chinese and the Malays as well as a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

Such  dangerous and irresponsible politics of lies, hate and fear have no place in a country which wants to be recognised and respected as a mature parliamentary democracy.

The two following paragraphs in the speech yesterday by the Penang Governor, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas when declaring open the fifth Penang State Assembly should debunk the lies that the next general election in Penang will be a battle between the Malays and the Chinese as well as a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam:

“24.       Satu aspek negeri kebajikan ialah Agenda Ekonomi Saksama (AES) dan Program i-Sejahtera di mana bantuan kewangan secara wang tunai sebanyak RM 412.63 juta diberikan kepada 1.6 juta rakyat Pulau Pinang sejak tahun 2008. Ia merangkumi Warga Emas, bayi, OKU, Ibu Tunggal, Ibu yang tidak bekerja, pelajar, pemandu teksi, operator bas sekolah berdaftar, penarik beca, bantuan pukat kepada nelayan dan RM 1,000 kepada mahasiswa-mahasiswi tempatan. AES merupakan pelaksanaan universal basic income (pendapatan asas sejagat) pertama di Malaysia di mana Kerajaan Negeri menghapuskan miskin tegar dengan menjaminkan setiap keluarga menerima RM790 sebulan. Bagi keluarga yang menerima pendapatan yang kurang daripada RM790 sebulan, Kerajaan Negeri akan menambahnya sehingga cukup RM790 setiap bulan. Lebih RM23.2 juta telah dibelanjakan untuk program AES ini sejak ia dimulai pada tahun 2014. Kejayaan AES jelas dilihat dengan kejayaan Kerajaan Negeri mengurangkan ketidaksamaan pendapatan daripada 0.419 pada 2009 kepada 0.364 pada tahun 2014 iaitu penurunan sebanyak 13 % dalam 6 tahun.”

“31.       Pembangunan Islam di Pulau Pinang yang mendokong kedudukannya sebagai agama Persekutuan tidak diabaikan apabila jumlah peruntukan untuk Hal Ehwal Agama Islam naik 84% selepas tahun 2008 kepada RM457 juta untuk tempoh 2008-2016 berbanding dengan RM257 juta untuk tempoh 2000-2007. Siapnya Kompleks Kehakiman dan Mahkamah Tinggi Syariah Pulau Pinang di Jalan Scotland, atas tanah Kerajaan Negeri bernilai RM80 juta dan perbelanjaan kos pembinaan RM33 juta oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan, merupakan satu lagi kejayaan dalam pembangunan Islam.”

Last month, Malaysia’s celebrity chef, Redzuawan Ismail, better known as Chef Wan, created waves with an Instagram post using his handle @chefwan58 praising Malaysia’s “good governance” together with a 30-second video clip of a conversation he had with a Penang taxi driver, who told him that Penangites were “very happy” with the current state government.

Chef Wan posted after visiting Penang:

“True that good governance of the state will speak by itself from the tourists that visited our countries that kept saying how wonderful this old city is and well-preserved to the rakyat biasa yg menikmati secara apa yg di sediakan (the people who are used to enjoying what has been given).”

His 30-second video clip of a conversation he had with a Penang taxi driver was quite an eye-opener.

Curious to know the taxi driver’s opinion of just how many Penangites were satisfied, Chef Wan suggested the figure “80%”, to which he received a rather surprising reply.

“Lebih (more),” the taxi driver told him. He said everyone was happy, and the city was much cleaner and better maintained than it had ever been under the previous administration.

The taxi driver added that he did not take into consideration religion or ethnicity when forming his opinion, only the ability of Penang’s leaders.

“These are very good people,” he said.

In his Instagram post, Chef Wan said that the people could evaluate for themselves what was going on in Penang and was confident that those who are honest and just want to bring changes to the nation will succeed eventually.

Recently, two incidents highlighted the dangers of allowing mischief-makers  the licence to falsely turn the next general election into a battle between Chinese and Malays as well as a battle between Islam and the enemies of islam, viz:

*firstly, the  assault of film director David Teoh in front of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Najib during a Transformation Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue session at the Prime Minister’s residence on  Wednesday night; and

*secondly, the false and malicious police report lodged by University Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusof against Selangor Speaker and DAP Selangor State Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya, Hannah Yeoh, accusing her of proselytization of Muslims with the publication of her autobiography “Being Hannah” three years ago.

These are only two of many incidents in the past few years which demonstrate that Malaysian nation-building efforts to create a united, tolerant harmonious, forward-looking and progressive multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation which is also a world-class nation  are facing setbacks, allowing mischief-makers to try to falsely frame the next general election as a battle between the Chinese and the Malays as well as between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

I call on all political parties and political leaders in Penang to be the vanguard to condemn mischief makers who are trying to falsely frame the forthcoming 14th Geneal Elections into battle between the Malays and the Chinese as well as between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

Let all political parties and  leaders in Penang  forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear, not only during the general election campaign, but in the run-up to the next polls, and establish a mechanism where such politics of lies, hate and fear can be exposed and halted.

DAP leaders forswear the politics of lies, hate and fear to exploit the primordial racial or religious sentiments of the people, and to practise the politics of honesty, truth, peace and  harmony in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia.

Are the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders, in particular the Prime Minister who had been preaching  wasatiyyah principles in the past few years, prepared to respond in like fashion?

(Media Conference Statement  during “Jelajah Desa” at Bukit Bendera, Penang on Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 May 2017, 9:59 am and is filed under
nation building
,
Politics
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Patriotic and right-thinking Malaysians must condemn and smack down mischief makers who want to falsely frame the 14th General Election as a  battle between Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and enemies of Islam

This year is the 60th National Day Anniversary celebration to mark the nation’s independence on August 31, 1957.

Unfortunately, instead of a more united, harmonious, progressive and prosperous Malaysia, we see Malaysia falling behind more and more countries in various fields of human endeavor in the past six decades, and what is worse, there are people who are trying to put back the clock of Malaysian nation-building  by sowing distrust, hatred and animosity and instead of greater tolerance, harmony and unity  in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia.

The countdown for the 14th General Elections has started, and there are irresponsible mischief makers who want to create chaos in the country by falsely framing the forthcoming 14th General Election as a battle between Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and enemies of Islam.

The forthcoming 14th General Election is not a battle between Malays and Chinese, nor is it a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

The 14th General Election is a battle between Malaysians to want to save Malaysia from a kleptocracy ending up as a failed and rogue state and Malaysians who do not care whether Malaysia has become an international laughing-stock because we have become a global kleptocracy as a result of the multi-billion dollar  international 1MDB money laundering scandal.

The question of race and religion does not apply here, as there are Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, on both sides of the equation.

Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, deserve support if they stand up for a democratic Malaysia which upholds the principles of accountability and good governance; while Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, should be rejected if they stand for or defend Malaysia as a kleptocracy.

There are those who are trying to prevent the 14th General Election from producing the results of a  national change of Federal Government in Putrajaya by the politics of lies, fear and hatred and falsely framing the next general election as a battle between the Malays and Chinese as well as between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

This is most irresponsible and dangerous, and if unchecked, could spark off chaos and conflagration in Malaysia.

One reason for my  “Jelajah Desa” visits is  to find out first hand on the ground whether racial and religious relations on the ground have become so fragile and brittle that the next general elections could easily be transformed into a battle between the Malays and the Chinese as well as between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

In Penang, the “Jelajah Desa” programme has taken me to rural areas both on the Penang island and the Penang mainland, and I am  convinced from the “Jelajah Desa” visits that ordinary Malays like ordinary non-Malays want unity, peace, harmony, progress and prosperity for the country  and not racial or religious polarization to divide the country and cause tensions.

This ground reality is very different from the incessant  irresponsible politicking and communalization in the past few years of worsening ethnic and religious relations in the country, and in Penang,  creating a false picture that the  DAP-led Penang State Government is anti-Malay and anti-Islam when in fact, the DAP-led Penang State Government’s nine-year record to help the Malays and Islam is better than the previous Barisan Nasional government.

Those who are falsely framing the 14GE as a battle between Malays and Chinese and between Islam and the enemies of Islam are saboteurs of a  peaceful, harmonious an and democratic Malaysia.

They must not be allowed to carry out their nefarious designs which is why I call on all patriotic and right-thinking Malaysians to condemn and smack down the mischief makers who are falsely framing the 14GE as a battle between Malays and the Chinese as well as Islam and the enemies of Islam.

(Speech at the 51st DAP anniversary dinner organized by Nibong Tebal DAP in Nibong Tebal on Saturday, 20th May 2017 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 21 May 2017, 12:30 am and is filed under
Elections
,
Islam
,
nation building
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


5 World Leaders Less Popular than President Donald Trump

Ian Bremmer

TIME

May 22, 2017

RISK REPORT

Donald Trump had a historically bad series of news cycles this month, right up until he left the country on an overseas trip last week. But believe it or not, Trump—currently with an approval rating just under 40 percent—is sitting pretty compared to some of the world’s other heads of state and government. Here then is a world tour of political figureheads who are even less popular than the U.S. president:

Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela

President Nicolas Maduro may have retained an approval rate in the mid-to-low twenties since last year, but he is currently the world’s most embattled political leader. Venezuelans take to the streets daily to violently protest his government amid crippling food and medicine shortages—74 percent of Venezuelans have lost an average of 19 pounds over the past year, and roughly 80 percent of basic medicines are unavailable.

The situation has gotten so bad for a number of reasons. First is that Maduro has the misfortune of presiding over a country whose economy is almost wholly dependent on oil (over 95 percent of export revenues come from it) at a time of low oil-prices, a problem compounded by severe financial mismanagement over many years. Second are his bumbling attempts to quash dissent, epitomized by his recent attempt to abolish the National Assembly, only to retreat at the popular backlash. And not to be overlooked is that Maduro simply lacks the political charisma of his predecessor, the still-revered Hugo Chavez. So far, Maduro has used a combination of police forces, the national guard and armed militias to contain the protests; when he has to call in the military, the game will be all but over for him.

Michel Temer of Brazil

Following an impeached president should be easy; the bar has been set low. But as Brazilian president Michel Temer has found out—with an approval rating in the single digits—following Dilma Rousseff has been no walk in the park. The veteran politician is now clinging to his job after recordings emerged of him allegedly negotiating the payment of a bribe to silence a fellow corrupt politician. He may soon be the second president in a row to be impeached, due to links with the far-reaching Lavo Jato graft scandal.

But Brazil was already in big trouble even before this latest scandal erupted. The slowdown of the global economy and the accompanying crash in commodity prices have hit Brazil hard, leading to the country’s worst recession ever. GDP has fallen more than 7 percent in the last two years, unemployment has roughly tripled, and at least 3.5 million people who had been lifted out of poverty in the boom years between 2004 and 2014 have slid back. Much of this dates back to before Temer’s presidency — but now, the reforms he introduced to fix Brazil’s economy will likely be subsumed by scandal.

Jacob Zuma of South Africa

South African President Jacob Zuma’s approval rating is at an all-time low of 20 percent across the country’s seven major metropolitan areas; more than 70 percent of South Africans want him to resign. Some of that has to with South Africa’s slumping economy, which took a hit with the global recession and the slowdown of the commodities super-cycle. Since Zuma assumed the presidency in 2009, the country’s currency has lost a third of its value, and unemployment currently stands at 27 percent. It’s hard to remain popular with numbers like that.

But it’s Zuma himself who’s the bigger problem. Zuma has had nearly 800 charges of corruption leveled against him, and he relies on patronage networks to keep him afloat politically. He’s gotten rid of well-respected ministers (and political rivals) like Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who crusaded against government corruption. At the moment, Zuma is grooming his ex-wife to be his political successor to protect himself from prosecution once he leaves office. Zuma’s term runs through 2019—for most South Africans, change can’t come soon enough.

Najib Razak of Malaysia

If you’re not going to be popular, you may as well be rich. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has been president since 2009, which is the same year he established an economic-development investment fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). More than $1 billion ended up in Najib’s personal account, which at a certain point he tried to pass off as a “gift” from the Saudi royal family. He was backed up by Malaysia’s attorney general, who reported that the money constituted a legal donation, and that “most” of it was returned. Unsurprisingly, his current approval rating is at record lows.

But politically-speaking, Najib doesn’t have much to worry about—he retains firm control of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the political party that has dominated Malaysian politics for nearly six decades. He has systematically sidelined opponents within the party, and his main adversaries outside the party have been jailed on what critics say are politicized charges. Who needs popularity when you have political power and money in the bank?

Alexis Tsipras of Greece

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras continues to fall in polls as he is forced to accept more and more austerity measures to keep his country afloat. Greece’s financial woes began well before Tsipras assumed the reins (the country has lost 25 percent of its GDP since the crisis began in 2010), but Tsipras and his Syriza government have compounded problems. Syriza triggered elections in 2014 at a time when it seemed the Greek economy was finding its footing, which Tsipras won by promising to bend Berlin to his will and getting the Germans to forgive Greek debt (he’s still waiting for that).

That was followed by the tumultuous tenure of finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, whose brash rhetoric made an already weary-E.U. even less likely to grant Greece concessions, and a snap referendum on whether to accept a new bailout deal from foreign creditors. Greeks said no, but Tsipras went ahead and signed it anyway.That said, Tsipras’ enduring anti-establishment credentials and combative rhetoric make him the only Greek politician able to push through unpopular austerity measures to an exhausted and jaded Greek public with minimal public outcry. Sometimes, democracies need unpopular leaders.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 23 May 2017, 4:01 pm and is filed under
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Malaysians do not know whether to laugh or to cry!

Malaysians do not know whether to laugh or to cry!

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that his government is No. 1 in the world in transparency and government delivery when presenting the Government Transformation programme (GTP) yesterday, but on the same day, TIME magazine included Najib in its list of five world leaders who it claims are less popular than United States President Donald Trump.

The TIME magazine “risk report” said that despite an approval rating of under 40 per cent, Trump was “sitting pretty” compared to the five – the other four being Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Brazilian President Michel Temer, South African President Jacob Zuma and Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras.

Najib was cited among the ignominous five because of the  international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money laundering scandal, which Najib had denied, but which has earned Malaysia the appellation of a “global kleptocracy” – especially after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit over a US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The TIME citation of Najib asked: “Who needs popularity when you have political power and money in the bank?”

The TIME “risk report” tallied with the recent studies finding that Najib is the most unpopular Prime Minister in the nation’s history.

In October 2015, it was reported that Malay approval for Najib’s government hit an all-time low.

Singapore’s The Straits Times ( ST ), citing a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre, said only 31 percent of Malay voters is satisfied with the government.

This was the first time approval for the government among Malays had fallen below 50 percent since Merdeka Centre began recording the data in February 2012.

The fall among Malay voters was drastic as it had stood at 52 percent in January 2015.

The government’s overall approval rating also plummeted to 23 percent, the worst since the polls started in 2012, with five per cent approval among the Chinese voters compared to January 2015.

The survey found the government’s falling approval rating was largely attributed to its handling of the economy.

The survey found only 17 percent of respondents were satisfied with how the government was handling the economy, compared to 78 percent who were dissatisfied.

The survey was conducted among respondents in Peninsular Malaysia in August, shortly after Najib dismissed Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for his critical stance on 1MDB.

As a comparison, the government’s approval rating was at 43 percent in May 2013 when the 13th general election was held.

That figure was derived from 61 percent of Malays, 41 percent of Indians and nine percent of Chinese who approved of the government.

In February this year,  a Selangor government think-tank, Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE), found from its poll  that Najib Abdul Razak was the most unpopular prime minister in the nation’s history – with only 19 per cent of the voters  in Selangor believed that Najib’s leadership would increase support for Barisan Nasional.

Such findings tally with other surveys, like the Edelman Trust Barometer 2017 for Malaysia which found that the  trust level of Malaysians in key institutions, including the government, has declined – with 52 percent of Malaysians believe the system was failing them, with only 12 percent saying the system was working for them, citing a sense of injustice, lack of hope and confidence, and desire for change.

So, who will Malaysians believe – Najib or the national and international surveys and perceptions?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 May 2017, 8:57 am and is filed under
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Singapore Convicts Fifth Person Involved in 1MDB-Related Cases

by Andrea Tan

Bloomberg

May 24, 2017

Kelvin Ang Wee Keng was fined S$9,000 ($6,477) after he admitted that he made a corrupt payment to an analyst in a Singapore case related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd investigations.

Ang, 35, was a broker with Kim Eng Securities Pte until 2015 and made about S$100,000 annually in commissions, prosecutor Vincent Ong said in a Singapore State Court on Wednesday. He was charged a year ago for what authorities said was corruptly giving S$3,000 to a research analyst to speed up the preparation of a favorable valuation report.

While the charge sheet at that time didn’t give further details, the city’s Attorney-General’s Chambers said he was “implicated in a number of illicit transactions” with former BSI SA wealth planner Yeo Jiawei. Yeo is appealing his conviction and 30-month jail term for obstructing justice in another case relating to the 1MDB probe. Ang, who is now unemployed, was Yeo’s friend, Ong said in court.

The payment was given to expedite a report for a $2.4 billion valuation for PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd. assets, Ong said. Ang made $235,000 in referral fees in a deal involving the PetroSaudi assets, Ong said.

Hamidul Haq, Ang’s lawyer, said his client “used an uncharacteristic approach of trying to give a carrot instead of going through the proper channels.” The payment was a “simple-minded action,” Haq said.

Handing down the penalty, Judge Lim Keng Yeow said “corruption must be robustly deterred.”

Ang is the fifth person to be convicted on charges linked to Singapore’s probe into the troubled Malaysian state investment fund. As well as Yeo, two other BSI bankers and an ex-branch manager at Falcon Private Bank Ltd. in Singapore received jail terms.

Singapore has shut the local units of BSI and Falcon, and banned former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Tim Leissner over breaches linked to 1MDB. The city has also fined banks for anti-money laundering lapses related to the Malaysian fund. 1MDB, which is at the heart of multiple probes across the globe, has consistently denied wrongdoing.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 24 May 2017, 5:44 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The forthcoming 14GE will decide whether Najib can  “outwit” 30 million Malaysians with the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which has given Malaysia the infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”

The forthcoming 14th General Election will decide whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak can “outwit”  30 million Malaysians with the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which has given Malaysia the infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”.

The spurious assertion by the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, yesterday that Najib was right in creating the “fake news” that  the next general election is  a choice between an UMNO-led government and a DAP-led government is one of the tactics and strategies which UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists are relying  to “outwit” the Malaysian people that the 1MDB scandal and kleptocracy have nothing to do with 14GE.

Salleh’s blogpost yesterday is part and parcel of the insidious, divisive and disruptive “Great Design” to  falsely portray  the forthcoming 14th General Election as  firstly a battle between Malays and the Chinese; and secondly, that it is a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

Unfortunately, 1MDB scandal is so gargantuan and global that there is no way to  keep its “ghosts” under wraps,  although the mainstream media in Malaysia and the public institutions, whether Parliament, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or the Police, all conspire in the the  great pretense that the 1MDB scandal does not exist.

Najib and UMNO/BN, however, cannot control international events, and the 1MDB scandal continue to haunt and hound Najib and Malaysians almost every other day – as seen by the two international news items yesterday “Singapore convicts fifth person over 1MDB scandal” and “Jho Low’s Park Lane Hotel in New York on sale now”, not to mention the recent spate of 1MDB-related developments related to Bandar Malaysia and TRX.

It is significant that although Salleh was responding to my media statement “Malaysians do not know whether to laugh or to cry!”, he avoided the core issue of my comment altogether – the supreme irony where Najib claimed that his government is No. 1 in the world in transparency and government delivery on the very same day that TIME magazine included Najib in its list of five world leaders who it claims are less popular than United States President Donald Trump.

Attempts to falsely  frame the battle in the  forthcoming the 14th General will be the very antithesis of the wasatiyyah values of moderation, justice and balance, because they are downright false, untrue and lies.

The forthcoming 14th General Election is not a battle between Malays and Chinese, nor is it a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

The 14th General Election is a battle between Malaysians who want a democracy  vs Malaysians who want a kleptocracy.

It  is for  Malaysians, regardless of race or religion  to  ponder deep and hard why Malaysia in the past six decades had failed to live up to the promise when we achieved Merdeka on August 31, 1957 to be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive, prosperous  multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation; save Malaysia and  re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 May 2017, 9:04 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Elections
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


‘Contest to label someone a racist is stupid’

TK Chua

Malaysiakini

26th May 2017

Depravity is a dangerous indulgence to fall into. It may cause us to lose our minds. We become stupid, not knowing we are.

There is another way of saying the same thing: “Those whom God wishes to destroy, He first drives them mad.”

How can they ever rationalise a contest to label someone is a racist? Is this not what the ‘Lim Kit Siang is racist’ writing contest is all about?

It is as if the daily rants against Kit Siang are no longer sufficient. They now need to organise a contest, with lucrative prizes thrown in, to see who could rant the loudest, the vilest and look the most ridiculous.

The baloney does not end there. The winners of the contest were all anonymous. Prizes presented were received by the ‘representatives’ of winners. Why are the winners ashamed of their winning?

If they are honourable, they should be able to say what they want to say without resorting to a proxy or contest. If Lim Kit Siang is a racist, please just say it with facts and figures to back it up.

I get the feeling that the mud is not able to stick any more. The constant ranting against Lim Kit Siang has lost its lustre and effectiveness.

So they need others to do the job but sadly, hardly anyone credible is forthcoming unless prizes are offered. Hence the writing contest, ‘Lim Kit Siang is racist’, was born.

I believe the contestants have said many things to win but they were probably not proud of them. Hence, they resorted to anonymity even at the prize-giving ceremony, citing personal safety.

I think they should cut the crap; it is not personal safety or legal concerns. It is their inability to substantiate what they claimed. Why fear legal actions if what was said can be substantiated?

All politicians owe us this much – they must truthfully say what they want to say. They shouldn’t be paying others to say what they can’t say themselves. That is immoral and depraved.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 May 2017, 9:21 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Media
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


While Malaysians condemn the bombings and killings in Manchester, Mindanao and Jakarta, we must not allow the country to slide towards greater intolerance and extremism because of racial and religious  politics of lies, hate and fear

Malaysians condemn the bombings and killings in Manchester, Mindanao and Jakarta but we must learn the lessons of these tragedies and horrors – we must not allow Malaysia to slide towards greater intolerance and extremism because of the racial and religious politics of lies, hate and fear.

Yesterday, Selangor DAP central committee member Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof lodged a police report over the death threats made against him on a hate-and-damn-DAP Facebook page.

As Edry said yesterday, differences in opinion are part of a healthy democracy, but not when it leads to extremists conjuring falsehoods and threatening a person’s safety.

He said: “We celebrate the freedom to hold differing opinions as long as it is not extreme to the extent of slandering and threatening the safety of another individual.

“I am confident that each Malaysian wants a life that is good and peaceful. The culture of thuggish politics, slander, and violent intimidation only worsens the poor conditions in our country.

“Such bad culture should be put to a stop.”

A day had passed but such irresponsible post threatening death and bodily harm to Edry and the hate-and-damn-DAP Facebook page “DAP Laknatullah” (Allah damns DAP) are not only  still available, there is a new post mocking Edry for lodging the police report.

Imagine what would have happened if there is website entitled “UMNO Laknatullah” (Allah damns UMNO) carrying postings which were downright lies about UMNO leaders as well as carrying deaths threats to UMNO leaders, and there is a police report against them?

There is no doubt that within an hour or so, the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) would have swung into action and the “UMNO Laknatullah” site would have been taken down whether by those responsible for it or by the authorities concerned – and there would have been no new posting mocking the police report!

What does this incident indicate?

It would appear that that those behind the “DAP Laknatullah” (Allah damns DAP) FB page feel that  they would not suffer any  untoward consequences from the authorities, that on the contrary, they feel very confident and cocksure that they enjoy immunity and impunity for their dangerous and irresponsible behaviour because they enjoy powerful patronage and protection!

Are those responsible for the “DAP Laknatullah” FB page and postings right that they enjoy powerful patronage and protection?

DAP will never indulge in such irresponsible racial and religious politics of lies, hate and fear like “UMNO Laknatullah” website or FB pages, as it is such dissemination of hatred, distrust and animosities among races and religions which are the greatest threat to peace, harmony and progress not only in Malaysia but in the world!

If the government of  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, does not want to be guilty of double standards, he must  ensure that  the Malaysian government is equally  guided by the  Wasatiyyah  (moderation) principles of justice, balance and excellence which he is preaching to the world in his Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) initiative – by firmly upholding the Golden Mean principles embedded in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukunegara!

This must mean no place or  room for those who want the country to slide down the slippery slope of a failed and rogue state  because of racial and religious politics of lies, hate and fear, including an effective halt to those who want to falsely frame the forthcoming 14th General Election as firstly a battle between the Chinese and the Malays, and secondly,  a battle between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

The 14th General Election is a battle between Malaysians vs Malaysians – between those who want a democracy vs those who want a kleptocracy.

Can Malaysians expect swift action by the  authorities, including MCMC, on Edry’s police report?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 May 2017, 8:59 am and is filed under
DAP
,
Elections
,
Media
,
Politics
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Will Annuar Musa bear full legal responsibility for the “Lim Kit Siang is racist” writing contest and all the articles which won awards?

I have one question for the UMNO Information chief Datuk Annuar Musa whether he would bear full legal responsibility for the “Lim Kit Siang is racist” writing contest and all the articles which won awards.

I have not yet seen a copy of the book inspired and launched by Annuar Musa titled “DAP Bahaya Kepada Melayu-Islam Di Malaysia) (DAP a danger to Malays and Islam in Malaysia”) in Shah Alam yesterday but according to the DAPSY Youth Wong Kah Woh, the book violated the law as it does not display the names of the publisher and printers as required by the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).

This is the second question for Annuar to answer – how could the UMNO Information chief  launch such a book and whether UMNO leaders are above the law?

The book was given out for free to those who attended the “Lim Kit Siang is racist” writing contest prize-giving ceremony.

It has been reported that the book is a compilation of 16 articles  by an anonymous author and had won the top prize of RM10,000 in Annuar’s writing contest.

Annuar’s “achievement” deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records, because this must be the only contest or competition in the world where the winners are ashamed of identifying themselves, maintaining their anonymity, while the winning prize was accepted by someone else on behalf of the author.

Annuar said yesterday that the prize money awarded to 25 winners totalled RM50,000.

My  last question to Annuar is whether he is prepared and could  send to me the 25 winning submissions.

I look forward to reading top-prize winner “DAP Bahaya Kepada Melayu-Islam Di Malaysia” and the other award-winning submissions.

I reserve the right to take whatever legal options available to me.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 May 2017, 9:00 am and is filed under
DAP
,
Politics
,
UMNO
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Malaysia can only succeed as a top-class nation competing with rest of the world if Malaysians adhere to the Constitution and Rukunegara principles to be good Malaysians by being good Muslims, good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs and good Taoists

I want to start by apologizing to Hannah Yeoh, Selangor State Assembly Speaker and DAP State Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya, that although she gave me a copy of her book, “Becoming Hannah – A Personal Journey” more than two years ago, I did not get to reading it until she and her book became a controversy because an university academician in Universiti Utara Malaysia accused her of trying to “proselytize” Muslims.

It was then that I read her book.

I am not a Christian and reading her book, I do not feel that Hannah was trying to proselytize or Christianise any person from another faith. I do not feel “proselytized”!  I am indeed surprised and shocked that an university academician can come to such a conclusion.

The book describes Hannah’s personal journey on how she got into politics and what it took to survive in it.

She is a Christian, but it did not mean that her candidature had the full support and blessings of all Christians, and she narrated the rebuffs she experienced in her election campaign by Christians, and the “discouraging” incident when she sought counsel from a pastor of a leading local church.

But what the Malaysian Constitution and Rukunegara fully recognized is Malaysia’s multi-racial and multi-religious character, and that  Malaysia can only succeed as a top-class nation competing with rest of the world if Malaysians adhere to the Constitution and Rukunegara principles to be good Malaysians by being good Muslims, good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs and good Taoists.

Hannah’s journey as a good Christian cannot threaten, but only fulfill, her journey as a good Malaysian; just as the journey of Muslims in Malaysia to be good Malaysians cannot be threatened by their journey to be good Muslims – as to be a good Muslim, just as being good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs and good Taoists, is part of a journey by all Malaysians to be good Malaysians.

Recently, Malaysian body politics had been poisoned by the politics of lies, hate and fear, with bigotry, intolerance and fanaticism seeking to dictate public discourse and debate.

This is the irony of ironies, when Malaysia is seeking to preach the Wasatiyyah (moderation) principles of justice, balance, mutual respect and excellence to all communities, nations and faiths in  the world through the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) initiative, but inside the country in recent times,  waasatiyyah seems to be giving way to very opposite values of extremism, excesses and fanaticism.

We are celebrating the 60th National Day anniversary this year. Let it be an occasionfor all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, to re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves to be more divided and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress .

I have been trying to sound the warning that there are dark  forces which are trying to falsely framing the next general election as a twin battle between the Malays and the Chinese as well as between Islam and the enemies of Islam.

Both these false and  irresponsible scenarios are designed to plunge Malaysia into unprecedented division, discord and disunity.

Malaysian men and women goodwill and moderation from all communities and faiths must come together to save Malaysia from such desperadoes who want to hijack the national discourse  and plunge the nation into  chaos to achieve their nefarious ends.

(Comments at the “Bicara Buku – ‘Becoming Hannah – A Personal Journey’” at Galleri Sejarah, Kuala Kubu Baru on Friday, 27th May 2017 at 5.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 May 2017, 12:25 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The most meaningful way to celebrate Malaysia’s 60th National Day celebrations is to launch a  national movement to save the country from the politics of lies, hate and fear to ensure that what happened in Manchester, Jakarta and Egypt in the past week never  happen in Malaysia

The past week had been a sober reminder that we are living in dangerous times,  with the senseless bombings and killings in Manchester, Jakarta and Egypt, causing the death of over 50 innocent lives and the injury of scores of others as a result of  bigotry, intolerance and extremism.

In Malaysia, there has recently  been an intensification of the politics of lies, hate and fear coupled with irresponsible politics of race and religion which must be condemned by all right-thinking Malaysians who want the country to be an oasis of peace, tolerance, harmony and goodwill in the midst of diverse races, religions and cultures.

Malaysia can and must be a showcase to the world that diverse races, religions and cultures can live in peace, tolerance, harmony and understanding and not in bigotry, intolerance or strife.

The  recent spate of unhealthy, disruptive and dangerous politics of lies, hate and religion, coupled with the irresponsible politics of race and religion, include the following incidents:

•	The emergence of a culture of violence, as witnessed by two  “slap” incidents, one in the presence of  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak where film director David Teoh was slapped during a Transformation Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue session at the Prime Minister’s presence; and the second incident, where Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng’s information officer, Major Zaidi Ahmad, who was slapped at a demonstration outside a Penang mosque when Zaidi asked the leader of the demonstration to explain his accusation against the Penang government.

•	The deaths threats on the Internet against Selangor DAP state committee member, Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof, as part of the  scurrilous hate-and-damn DAP campaign falsely accusing DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam;

•	The “Lim Kit Siang is racist” writing contest organized by UMNO Information Chief, Datuk Annuar Musa.

•	A University Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer who lodged a police report falsely accusing the Selangor State Assembly Speaker Hannah Yeoh that her book “Becoming Hannah – a Personal Journey” published in 2014 was an attempt to proselytise Muslims when it was a story of Hannah’s personal journey on how she got into politics as a good Christian.

•	The memorandum by the UUM lecturer to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to deregister the DAP, falsely alleging that the DAP opposed Islam’s position as the official religion of the country as well as the position of the Malays and the Orang Asli in Sabah and Sarawak.  Clearly this lecturer  is not aware of the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework of which the DAP was a signatory, and it would be interesting to know of the hundred other academicians who allegedly endorsed this memorandum seeking the deregistration of the DAP by the ROS.

The country is celebrating Malaysia’s 60th National Day anniversary this year, and the most meaningful way to mark such  celebrations is to launch a  national movement to save the country from the politics of lies, hate and fear to ensure that what happened in Manchester, Jakarta and Egypt in the past week do not happen in Malaysia

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, must unite to  re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves to be more divided and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress.

(Speech at the kopitiam dialogue during Jelajah Desa Dusun Tua, Selangor on Sunday, 28th May 2017 at 4.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 May 2017, 8:46 am and is filed under
DAP
,
nation building
,
Politics
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or party affiliation, must steadfastly speak up for peace, harmony, tolerance and goodwill to foil designs of those who want to spread hate, extremism and strife in plural Malaysia

The latest news from the Philippines that over a hundred people have died in the city of Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao in less than a week as fighters affiliated with Islamic State (IS) engaged in violent clashes with government forces, coupled with the gory reports of the senseless bombings and killings of over 50 people in Manchester, Jakarta and Egypt, in the past week are sad reminders of the troubled world we are living in today.

They are also challenges to  Malaysians to preserve the country as  an oasis of peace, tolerance, harmony and goodwill in  a plural society where the greatest religions and civilizations meet in confluence.

Is there something Malaysia can teach the world? I think so.

We can show the world that the confluence of different races, religions, cultures and civilisations need not be one of conflict and strife, but can be one of peace, harmony, mutual respect,  tolerance and goodwill.

This is why it is important that Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or party affiliation, must steadfastly speak up for peace, harmony, mutual respect, tolerance and goodwill to foil designs of those who want to spread hate, extremism and strife in plural Malaysia.

Recently, the voices of hatred, intolerance and extremism seem to  have reared their ugly heads, designed to keep races, religions and cultures mutually suspicious and distrustful of each other like the demand that the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and non-Muslims  be barred from breaking fast with Muslims –  contrary not only to the teachings of Islam but practices  in Malaysia and  all over the world.

My Muslim friends tell me that fasting in Ramadan is not just abstaining from food and drink, but also from bad practices like malice, suspicion, vulgarity, immodesty, arrogance, ignorance and thinking ill of others –  in the journey to become good Muslims.

Malaysians should all be guided by the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara principles, and the first Rukunegara principle called on  all Malaysians to be good  Malaysians by being good Muslims, good Buddhists, good Christians, good Hindus, good Sikhs or good Taoists.

A good Muslim is not a threat to a good Buddhist or a good Christian or a good Hindu and vice versa.

If we follow these precepts in our Constitution and the Rukunegara, Malaysia can be an example to the world as an oasis of peace, harmony, mutual respect, tolerance and goodwill with a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and  multi-cultural citizenry.

Yesterday I suggested a national movement to save the country from the politics of lies, hate and fear to ensure that what happened in Manchester, Jakarta, Egypt and the Philippines in the past week do not happen in Malaysia so that (I) Malaysia can set an example of peace, harmony, mutual respect, tolerance and goodwill as a plural society;and (2) Malaysia can compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves to be more divided and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress.

There is no meaning or purpose in Malaysia preaching the Wasatiyyah principles of moderation, fair play, justice, balance, mutual respect and excellence on the international stage if we these are not living values in our daily national life.

(Media Conference Statement before Pakatan Harapan breaking of fast at Pekan Nenas, Johor on Monday, May 29, 2017 at 6.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 May 2017, 10:49 am and is filed under
Politics
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


1MDB review is over, but the effects are long-term

Yasmine Yahya

Straits Times

MAY 30, 2017

SINGAPORE – Regulators have wrapped up a two-year review of banks involved in 1MDB-related transactions known to-date but the after-effects of this probe will likely reverberate through the financial industry for many years to come.

As the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) itself noted in a statement on Tuesday (May 30), the review is the most extensive it has ever taken.

The investigation was a deep dive into all the transactions that have flown through Singapore and were related to Malaysian fund 1MDB, which is under investigation in at least six countries over billions of dollars of suspected misappropriations.

It led to the shutting down of two banks, BSI Bank and Falcon Bank and financial penalties totalling $29.1 million being imposed on eight banks – BSI, Falcon, DBS, UBS, Standard Chartered Bank, Coutts, Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank.

Prohibition orders have been issued against four former employees of financial institutions implicated in 1MDB-related transactions, with more such orders to come against another three current and former financial professionals.

MAS managing director Ravi Menon said in the statement that these enforcement actions are unprecedented.

“The two-year long 1MDB-related review holds key lessons for both MAS and financial institutions in Singapore. MAS has enhanced its anti-money laundering (AML) surveillance and taken unprecedented enforcement actions against errant institutions and individuals,” he said.

“Financial institutions have increased their risk awareness and strengthened their AML controls. Our financial industry is in a better position today than it was when the abuses stemming from the 1MDB-related flows took place. The price for keeping our financial centre clean as it grows in size and inter-connectedness is unstinting vigilance.”

It is that line about MAS enhancing its anti-money laundering surveillance that will likely have long-term implications for the financial industry, which since the 2008 global financial crisis has already been grappling with ever-tightening regulatory standards.

These have caused their regulatory costs to rise and profit margins to thin, so much so that a slew of private banks, including Coutts, have decided to exit Singapore – and sometimes even Asia – altogether, to focus on their core markets in Europe and the United States.

And to be sure, banks here are playing by the rules, by and large.

In announcing the financial penalties it was imposing on Credit Suisse and UOB on Tuesday, the MAS made sure to add that it had not detected pervasive control weaknesses at either institution.

What they did detect were “weaknesses in conducting due diligence on customers and inadequate scrutiny of customers’ transactions and activities”.

What this means is that banks will have to be even more vigilant in monitoring their employees’ and customers’ activities to ensure absolute compliance with the rules.

This is no mean feat, especially if you’re a financial behemoth with tens of thousands of employees.

And yet, banks will still have to find a way to step up their compliance somehow.

PwC Singapore financial crime partner Denise Lim noted that this whole investigation highlighted how the standard of compliance is increasing, which is in line with the tone of enforcement, and that should not be taken lightly.

“We often forget the purpose of these type of regulations – which is to prevent illicit money from flowing through our financial system and prevent the use of funds to support illegal activities including trafficking and terrorism,” she said.

“As a responsible global citizen, we need to continue to make Singapore a safe place to do business especially in light of the need to stay competitive in the global marketplace.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017, 12:35 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Alas – Kamarul Zaman is only a “downline” UMNO propagandist, and his admission  that it is  ridiculous for anyone to  claim that “Lim Kit Siang is the DAP and DAP is Lim Kit Siang” will not stop the “upline” UMNO propagandists, cybertroopers and leaders from continuing such attacks

Kamrul Zaman Yusoff has done irreparable harm to the academic reputation of University Utara Malaysia (UUM)  and I mourn for Malaysia’s university  academic standards  when people like him could become the  director an university institute of political  analysis.

Kamarul Zaman has only exhibited his academic mediocrity and sloppiness in his gem of lies and falsehoods  in his latest FaceBook posting, repeating the garbage about a “DAP Christian agenda”, and  claiming as proof two major “strategists” of such agenda, the DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke and DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua.

But Kamarul Zaman did UUM and Malaysian universities’s academic reputation no favours when he committed the most rudimentary academic sin of being misled by  Loke and Pua’s western names and not verifying that Loke and Pua are Christians in the first place.  For Kamarul’s information, both Loke and Pua are not Christians.  Where come the DAP’s “Christian agenda”?

As if such rudimentary academic sloppiness is not enough, Kamarul Zaman committed another  cardinal academic sin when he attacked the DAP MP for Serdang Ong Kian Ming for a quote in  the latter’s FB post dated Feb 4, 2014, when the quote was in fact made  by a Christian Minister, Idris Jala and had nothing to do with Kian Ming.   Will Kamarul Zaman next accuse the UMNO/BN Government of Datuk Seri Najib Razak of a “Christian agenda”?

But what made me go against my original decision to completely ignore Kamarul Zaman’s fulminations  was another gem in Kamarul Zaman’s FB post – asking what credentials I have to deny that DAP had a Christian agenda,  “as if Lim Kit Siang is the DAP and the DAP is Lim Kit Siang”.

It has taken UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers a very long time to realise the falsity of such a claim.

This should have sounded like “manna from heaven” as for the past few decades, I have been accused by top UMNO/BN leaders on the ground  that “Lim Kit Siang is DAP and DAP is Lim Kit Siang”.

This is the  “raison d’etre” of the intense and high-powered ongoing campaign of lies and falsehoods by UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers, to demonise me, to the extent that they accuse Tun Dr. Mahathir, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan  Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Mohamad Sabu as my stooges and puppets!

But alas, Kamarul Zaman is only a “downline” UMNO propagandist, and his admission that it is ridiculous to assume  that “Lim Kit Siang is the DAP and DAP is Lim Kit Siang” will not stop the “upline” UMNO propagandists, cybertroopers and leaders from continuing such attacks.

In a way I pity Kamarul Zaman, as he knows not what he is doing –  just to be cannon fodder for many apart from revealing his own weak religious faith.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017, 12:02 pm and is filed under
DAP
,
Media
,
Politics
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


MAS caps 2-year extensive probe into 1MDB fund flows

Anita Gabriel

Business Times, Singapore

May 31, 2017

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore ended its “most extensive” ever two-year check on banks involved in the illicit fund flows of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) with two more banks getting the rap, bringing the total number of banks here to eight that have been stung in various degrees by the Malaysian scandal.

The last two banks, Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank (UOB), were fined S$700,000 and S$900,000 for seven and nine breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) rules, respectively, with MAS noting however that none had “pervasive” control weaknesses.

Their fines are also the lowest among the banks that were earlier hit with financial penalties that ranged between S$1 million (DBS Bank) and S$13.3 million (BSI Bank) as a result of MAS’ scrutiny into 1MDB-related money flows within the financial system here that has led to unprecedented actions against errant institutions and individuals.

A total fine of S$29.1 million have been slapped on the banks with the worst blow suffered by Swiss private banks BSI and Falcon which were ordered to ship out of here for their “egregious failures of anti-money laundering controls and improper conduct by senior management”.

“The price for keeping our financial centre clean as it grows in size and inter-connectedness is unstinting vigilance,” said MAS managing director Ravi Menon.

“The two-year long 1MDB-related review holds key lessons for both MAS and financial institutions in Singapore,” he said, adding that surveillance has cranked up while banks have tightened their controls.

In the latest move, MAS also slapped Prohibition Orders (POs), including two lifetime bans, on three former private bankers, all of whom have already been charged and convicted in Singapore’s court and were connected to Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, the man at the centre of Malaysia’s state-owned 1MDB controversy.

The bans were issued against two former BSI private bankers Yak Yew Chee and Yvonne Seah and former Falcon Bank’s branch manager, Jens Sturzenegger, all of whom have been convicted in Singapore court in relation to the 1MDB probe.

Three others including Kevin Scully, a well known veteran market strategist here and chief executive of NRA Capital were served notice of MAS’ intention to issue POs against them. In May, the watchdog imposed a ten-year PO on Goldman Sachs ex-banker Tim Leissner who had landed the bank with multi-billion dollar deals with 1MDB.

The POs bar these individuals from taking part in Singapore’s securities and financial services sectors here.

Both Credit Suisse and UOB said on Tuesday that they would continue to strengthen their AML processes and controls and pledged to donate the profits associated with the transactions to a worthy cause.

“. . . (We) regret that we have fallen short of the MAS’ and our own high standards,” said a Credit Suisse spokesperson in a statement.

On UOB’s part, it said: “We expect staff to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards and will not condone behaviour that falls short of this”.

Reuters reported that Swiss financial watchdog FINMA has issued a written reprimand to Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second biggest bank, for shortcomings in its processes after “extensive investigations” into its dealings surrounding scandal-hit state firm 1MDB.

Singapore’s probe into 1MDB monies which is still ongoing began in March 2015.

While the criminal investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department have been targeting individuals connected to the complex web of 1MDB transactions, MAS was examining the financial institutions through which these funds flowed for breaches and control lapses. So far, Singapore prosecutors have convicted five people, the latest involving Kelvin Ang, a former remisier at Maybank Kim Eng Securities who was fined S$9,000 last week after he pleaded guilty to a corruption charge.

The charge was related to a gratification sum of S$3,000 that Ang had paid to Lee Chee Waiy, then a research analyst at NRA Capital – a firm founded by Mr Scully – to expedite a favourable valuation report on Petrosaudi Oil Services Ltd (PSOSL) to support the acquisition by 1MDB.

MAS proposed a six-year PO on Ang and Lee and three years for Mr Scully. “As CEO of NRA, Mr Scully had failed to ensure that his analyst, Mr Lee, had exercised sufficient care, judgment and objectivity in the valuation of PSOSL,” it said.

The regulator said its review had uncovered a complex web of transactions involving numerous shell companies and individuals operating in multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Malaysia.

“The good progress achieved to-date would not have been possible without close international co-operation,” it added.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 May 2017, 12:47 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Call on moderate Malaysians to launch a virtuous movement of goodwill and solidarity among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or politics to build a nation of peace, tolerance, understanding and  mutual respect to defeat those who want Malaysia to be trapped in  a vicious circle of hate, enmity, intolerance , mutual distrust and extremism

Ramadan of 2017 is of  special significance for Malaysia for moderate Malaysians should   launch a virtuous movement of goodwill and solidarity among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or politics to build a nation of peace, tolerance, understanding and  mutual respect to defeat those who want  Malaysia to be trapped in  a vicious circle of hate, enmity, intolerance,  mutual distrust and extremism.

Pakatan Harapan leaders from PKR, Amanah, Pribumi Bersatu and DAP are visiting  Pasar Ramadan in various parts of Johore and Malaysia to spread the message of peace, tolerance, understanding and mutual respect among the citizenry, regardless of race, religion or politics, for this is the best way to counter the evil designs of irresponsible elements who want Malaysians  to be divided or  torn asunder by hate, enmity, intolerance and mutual distrust, solely based on factors of race or religion.

It is a sad commentary on our failure in nation-building  in the past six decades to lay a strong and powerful foundation for a united, harmonious, tolerant multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation that on the 60th anniversary of  our National Day celebrations this year, there are forces  in Malaysia preaching hate, enmity, intolerance and mutual distrust trying to divide Malaysians based on race or religion.

Patriotic and moderate Malaysians must unite to save the country from such irresponsible forces of disunity, division and disunity.

Malaysia is not a nation of one race or one religion, but a nation of diverse races, religions and cultures.

Malaysia as “Instant Asia” should not just be a draw for tourists to come to Malaysia from all over the world,  as the racial, linguistic, religious and cultural diversity of Malaysia is a national  asset and not a liability for Malaysian nation-building.

Malaysia can become a  world-class  nation if we can  leverage on the best qualities and values of the diverse races, religions, languages and cultures which meet in confluence Malaysia, but Malaysia is doomed as a nation  if we allow the voices of extremism and  intolerance full and free rein in our national life.

My visits to the Ramadan bazaars since the beginning of the Ramadan have reinforced my conviction that regardless of race, religion or politics, Malaysians on the ground want and cherish  peace, tolerance, understanding and mutual respect.

Malaysians regardless of race, religion or politics must learn from the lessons of failed states which have allowed the voices of hate, intolerance and extremism to prevail over the voices of reason, love, compassion, tolerance, goodwill, solidarity and mutual respect, and gone down the slippery slope of national division and destruction.

The greatest challenge of Malaysia in the coming years is whether we can  build on the goodwill, solidarity, tolerance and mutual understanding and respect of the diverse races, religions and cultures or allow the voices of intolerance, hatred and extremism to  destroy the bonds of reason, love, compassion  and unity we have built in the past and replace them with hate, mistrust, intolerance and extremism which could only end with greater national discord and division.

(Media Conference Statement on visit to Pasar Ramadan Johor Baru on Thursday, 1st June 2017 at 6 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 2 June 2017, 9:20 am and is filed under
Islam
,
nation building
,
Pakatan Harapan
,
Religion
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.