Time for Reset of Nation Building Direction and Policies

For the past 60 years, the theme of Deepavali messages had been one on  the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, hope over despair, knowledge over ignorance  but after six decades of Malaysian nation-building, the country has  backslided on many fronts  instead of making steady progress towards greater unity, harmony, justice, higher quality of life and prosperity for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

Instead of becoming a shining example to the world of how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures can unite and live in harmony to build a world-class nation in  every field of human endeavor, we have fallen short of the Merdeka and Malaysia Dream in the past six decades, and even worse, plumbing the worst of  human instincts and depravity to be regarded as a global kleptocracy and the makings of a rogue state by the rest of the world.

The plight of the Indians and Hindus is a case in point.

The revelation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najbi Razak last month that he had to stand firm  in his decision to appoint Datuk T. Subromaniam as the Customs Department Director-General despite receiving a petition not to appoint an Indian as the Customs Director-General highlights the worsening racial and religious polarization in our plural society.

Such a petition would be unthinkable 60 years ago when the country set out on our independent nationhood.

How many times had Najib  received petitions not to appoint a Malay,  Chinese, Kadazan or Iban to head a government department?

We have lost our way in the past six decades to be an exemplary economic, educational and political success, with countries more economically, educationally or politically backward than Malaysia,  having overtaken us in the past six decades on these fronts, becoming not only richer and more developed and prosperous, but more democratic and more respectful of the principles of good governance and the rule of law.

Malaysians must Save Malaysia, which lost it way after failing to be an exemplary economic, educational  and political success, to reset nation-building directions and policies in the coming decades to achieve our potential to be an example to the world of a successful nation building of a plural society of diverse races, languages, religions and cultures in Malaysia in the economic, educational and political senses.

(2017 Deepavali Message in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 16th October 2017)

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UMNO leaders must learn to be   responsible Malaysian leaders and stop making baseless accusation against political opponents as  anti-Malay or anti-Islam, when in my 52 years in politics, I have never accused any UMNO leader as anti-Chinese, anti-Indian or anti-Buddhism,  anti-Christianity or anti-Hinduism

Tomorrow, Malaysians celebrate Deepavali.

For six decades, we have failed to leverage as inheritors of the greatest civilizations in the world to build on their strengths and achievements  instead of being blinded by their faults and vices.

We inherit the greatest accomplishments of mankind represented  in the great civilizations in human history  which  meet in confluence in Malaysia, and we should be a shining example to the world of unity in diversity.

Let us benefit from   the unique character  and strength of Malaysia as a plural nation  of diverse races, religions, cultures and languages and not be wracked by worsening racial and religious polarization in the country.

It is no use issuing Deepavali messages every year about the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil when we continue to practice and preach the politics of distrust and hatred based on a most irresponsible exploitation of the politics of race and religion.

UMNO leaders should learn to be more responsible Malaysian leaders and stop making  baseless accusations against political opponents as anti-Malay or anti-Islam  when in my 52 years in politics, I have never accused any UMNO leader as anti-Chinese, ant-Indian or anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity or anti-Hinduism.

I am 76 years old I can say from my experience that  there is immense human goodwill and solidarity among the people on the ground, transcending race and religion, and  there is no anti-Malay, anti-Chinse,  anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban feelings,  just as there is no anti-Islam, anti-Buddhism, anti-Hinduism or anti-Sikkhism sentiments.

It is a handful of irresponsible politicians who want to incite sentiments and hatred along  racial or religious lines,  solely to protect or strengthen their political positions.

For a start, to ensure that in Malaysia, light can triumph over darkness and good over evil, let all political leaders set the example of not hurling baseless accusations against political opponents of being anti-Malay or anti-Islam or anti any race or any religion just for the sake protecting their political interests – for it is the larger Malaysian national interests which will biggest victim of such irresponsible politicking along racial and religious lines.

(Speech at DAP kopitiam dialogue in Tasik Permai, Lembah Jaya on Tuesday, 17th October 2017 at 9.30  am)

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MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370 SEARCH: WHY GIVE HOPE WHEN THERE WAS NONE?

BY FLORENCE DE CHANGY

South China Morning Post

14 OCT 2017

After three years, Australia finds one certitude in its search for the airliner – it was not where authorities were so adamant it would be. One could be forgiven for seeing only an exercise in media management

It has been three years and seven months since flight MH370 vanished in the heart of a quiet night above the South China Sea. The Boeing 777 had been travelling northeast from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, where it was scheduled to land at 6.30am on March 8, when the co-pilot signed off from Malaysian airspace with the now infamous words “Good night, Malaysia 370”.

That was the last ever heard from the 239 people on board, 153 of whom were Chinese, and the last time the whereabouts of the doomed flight can be calculated with any real certainty. After 10 days of frenzied media speculation, in which the Malaysian authorities’ complete (and embarrassing) lack of knowledge of the flight’s location was broadcast across the world, Australia took the lead role in the search. That move was heralded at the time as “the pros” taking over – a confidence that in hindsight can be seen as completely misplaced given Australia’s aviation watchdog closed its investigation last week, not an inch closer to the truth.

But in the swirling confusion that followed the disappearance, hopes were high that those “pros” could make a breakthrough that would put an end to the (mostly flawed) theories that had begun to circulate in the international media – was it a hijack (where could it land without detection?), was it terrorism (why did no group claim responsibility?), was it pilot suicide (why no note and why such a complicated route?).

Indeed, what the “pros” did next was remarkably successful in helping the authorities regain control of the media narrative, in helping to reassure a worried public that, even if the plane’s exact location was not known, everything was nevertheless under control.

Seemingly against all odds and logic, those in charge declared the plane’s final resting place to be somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean – thousands of kilometres in the opposite direction from where it was heading.

So certain were they in this counter intuitive conclusion that one of the largest marine searches ever undertaken took place. That search continued for 1,046 days, cost A$198 million (HK$1.2 billion) and mapped 710,000 sq km of sea floor (the largest ever single hydrographical survey) – 120,000 sq km of it in high resolution. Yet by the time the search was suspended in January 2017, those – much heralded – efforts had come to little. Four shipwrecks had been discovered, but no trace of MH370 was ever found.

“It is almost inconceivable and certainly societally unacceptable in the modern aviation era … for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of the aircraft and those on board,” the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in its final report, published on October 3.

Remembering the boldly confident statements that punctuated the search process, this admission of blatant defeat may come as a surprise to the public.

But a closer look at the operation, its initial legitimacy, and the vague premises on which the search area was based, shows this mission had every reason to fail, from day one.

That raises uncomfortable questions: to what extent did the authorities ever believe the search would succeed? Did they believe their own bluster and, if not, why not? Was the entire process an elaborate charade, aimed more at silencing a braying media than it was at finding the truth? An attempt to delay that admission of defeat until a time when pictures of the weeping relatives of 239 lost souls were not leading daily news bulletins across the world?

KNOWN UNKNOWNS

From the beginning, various authorities involved in the search did their best to give the impression that, amid the countless unknowns surrounding the flight’s fate, there were nevertheless at least some things they did know.

A little more than two weeks after the plane disappeared, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, in a news flash on March 24, announced with seeming certainty something the Australians were unable to prove in more than three years of searching for the plane: “[MH370’s] last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth”.

Next of kin were informed by text message: “Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived.”

This was a new hammer blow for the relatives, who were being asked to accept their loved ones should be declared lost forever – without a single piece of debris having been found.

WIZARDS OF OZ

The truth is, in late March 2014, there was enormous confusion over the case. Malaysia had lost control of events to such an extent that the international media gathered in Kuala Lumpur were having a field day. It looked like anyone could do a better job than the Malaysians. Since Australia had already taken on the mantle of “head of search and rescue operations” down under, it somehow seemed natural and reassuring that the Australians took the lead of the overall search operation now that it was moving south.

Certainly, this was the view of former US naval officer Stephen Ganyard, who told Good Morning America, “The good news, here, is that we have the Australians now in charge of this investigation. We’ve seen a lot of inconsistency out of the Malaysian authorities all week. But now we have the real pros on the scene.”

Not everyone shared his optimism. That Australia helped coordinate the surface search was one thing. But that it should be in charge of the underwater phase puzzled many, including American aviation journalist and author of The Crash Detectives, Christine Negroni.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was still tainted by its shoddy investigation into another aviation disaster in which a Pel-Air WestWind air ambulance was forced to ditch near Norfolk Island in 2009, having found itself unable to land in bad weather and with insufficient fuel to divert. The two and a half year investigation by the ATSB prompted a national scandal when a television documentary aired allegations of misconduct by the ATSB. A subsequent Senate inquiry found the ATSB’s accident report was deeply flawed and had unfairly blamed the pilot.

“It seemed to me that the Australians including the [head of the ATSB] Martin Dolan were eager to become the heroes in solving the world’s most riveting air mystery. In an interview in June 2014, Dolan told me enthusiastically that coordinating the search was ‘the challenge of a career’,” recalled Negroni.

Beset by public humiliation, did the ATSB see the MH370 mission as an opportunity for redemption? To cleanse its name and bury past shame? Possibly.

Whether it was up to the task is another matter. The man appointed to head the initial search effort was the much decorated Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, who had a great reputation in the military but no previous experience of civil aviation accidents nor of underwater searches.

Indeed, while Australia was willing, it was not Malaysia’s first choice. That distinction went to the French air accident investigation bureau for its role in investigating the fate of AF447 – a case with striking similarities to that of MH370. The Air France A330 jet had crashed during the night in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009, in 3,980 metres of water. Its hull and black boxes were located and recovered in less than two years after a search that cost just US$40 million (including the recovery) – a quarter of that spent on looking for MH370.

The Malaysian government approached the French team but Jean-Paul Troadec, the bureau’s former director who lead the search for AF447, declined.

Legally, Australia was under no obligation to take charge of the operation, let alone at its own expense (initially it had shared the cost with Malaysia). Almost 3,000km from the Australian coast, the search area is in international waters. Therefore, any search and rescue responsibilities Australia may have had would have been limited to saving lives – not locating wrecks. Yet, with unclear motives and poor credentials, Australia volunteered. Why?

SEARCH FOR A SEARCH SITE

Of course, the Australians can’t be blamed for not finding the plane if the plane was simply not there in the first place. But neither can Malaysia be blamed for identifying the wrong search site. During his March 24 television address, Najib clearly said he had been “briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch. They informed me that Inmarsat [a British satellite communications company] has been performing further calculations on the data.”

In other words, the Malaysian prime minister was just repeating what the British had told him.

And what the Brits had told him was based on some rather flimsy evidence. They had established the crash location solely on the basis of “handshake pings” – the tiny, invisible signals that bounced between MH370, a ground station in Perth, Australia, and an Inmarsat satellite 36,000km above earth. There were just seven such “pings” on the night of MH370’s disappearance yet this was apparently enough for mathematical extrapolations to establish “beyond reasonable doubt” the fate of the plane and its 239 passengers.

Even if we put full faith in those extrapolations, in trying to deduce the flight route, the scientists had to make substantial assumptions about the speed and altitude of the plane, assumptions for which there is no proof. The slightest inaccuracy in any of these assumptions would change the final crash site drastically. With so many vagaries, how can anyone be sure of anything?

To make matters worse, Inmarsat withheld its full set of raw data for years from independent experts, inexplicably taking an attitude that was both secretive and hostile to the media rather than proudly explaining how it had helped solve the mystery.

About three years ago, I contacted British astrophysicist Duncan Steel to share my concerns about Inmarsat’s mind-boggling calculations. Steel is one of the leading scientists of the self-named Independent Group that worked separately but in cooperation with the Australian team. Instead of reassuring me, Steel highlighted further complications, including the inclination of the Inmarsat satellite, which had been greater than normal at the time. Another complication was that Inmarsat’s software had been designed when its ground bases were only in the northern hemisphere, and had not been fully updated to account for the ground base in Perth. In three years of investigating, I have not come across a single person – even in the satellite industry – who felt confident in the extrapolations based on the satellite’s “handshake pings”.

The final report into the search succinctly sums it up: “The data available was very limited. The type of data and the scientific methods used for its analysis were never intended to be used to track an aircraft or pinpoint its final location.”

So, to sum up, the search was based on a small sample and an untested method – something that would alarm any scientist. The biggest challenge of this search was that it was impossibly vague.

FOLLOW THE DEBRIS

The only tangible thing that could have lent credence to the projections would have been to find debris. Yet at the time the search was launched no debris whatsoever had been found. Indeed, to this day, only a few pieces of debris that can categorically be linked to MH370 have been found – despite numerous claims that other debris “almost certainly” from MH370 has appeared on the southeastern coast of Africa, a region where several plane crashes have occurred in the last decades, involving Boeing planes on several instances.

Launching the search then contradicted a maxim known to everyone involved in investigating plane crashes over water: “Find debris first, work out the crash zone second, look underwater third.”

“First and foremost, you must find pieces of debris and formally identify them as coming from the plane. The ocean is a dustbin – and from a long way out you arrive in the whirling currents of the Indian Ocean Gyre,” said Troadec, who led the search for AF447.

Troadec said it would be useless to begin underwater searches with such uncertainty about the crash position. “Once you have debris, experts can work out the point of crash by drift calculations based on winds and currents. But the margin of uncertainty rises quickly as the days go by,” explained Troadec. Time is of the essence.

With every passing minute, any debris is breaking apart, becoming water logged, sinking and dispersing, making the task of identifying the crash zone ever more difficult.

Planes are made of millions of components, all built as light as possible, meaning most parts are buoyant. Even when a plane stays mostly in one piece after impact – as AF447 did – thousands of pieces break away and float for a while. About 90 per cent of AF447 sank in one piece, with most passengers still belted to their seats, even so, several thousand pieces of debris and several bodies were collected from the surface.

“You find everything in the sea. The sea doesn’t hold on to things. And if debris is found, the aircraft will be found,” a British naval officer told me shortly after MH370 disappeared. He mentioned French solo sailor Eric Tabarly, whose body was found in 1998 in the Irish Sea by fishermen 40 days after he had fallen overboard.

The absence of debris was not due to a lack of investigation. In May 2014, a meeting between Australia, Malaysia and China in Canberra heard that Australia had carried out 334 air patrols, involving 3,137 hours of air reconnaissance. Its search had involved 10 civilian aircraft, 19 military aircraft and 14 ships. Chinese efforts had involved 21 satellites, 18 ships (including eight equipped with helicopters) and five aircraft, covering an area of 1.5 million sq km. China had also asked 88 Chinese-registered vessels inside the zone (68 merchant ships and 20 fishing vessels) to help. Despite all this, as well as dozens of beach cleanings along the western and southern coasts of Australia, no debris that could be conclusively linked to MH370, its fuselage, its cargo or its passengers was found.

GOING UNDER

This complete absence of debris did not dishearten the Australians, nor did it lead anyone to double check the assumptions on which the search area was based. Everyone was happy to pretend this mission impossible was feasible and under control. And so the underwater search launched with great fanfare and hope.

The imposing Australian Border Force Ocean Shield cast off from Perth, with its gleaming red hull 110 metres long, its crane, its helicopter landing pad and all the acoustic equipment needed to listen for the “pings” emitted from MH370’s black box beacons. It had just days before the beacons would stop transmitting, leaving little time to make good use of the cutting edge equipment on loan from the US navy.

A Towed Ping Locator (TPL) resembles a small, bright, yellow stingray. Once in the water, it can detect black box signals from up to 2km away. But the black box beacons are powered by a battery that lasts about a month, after being triggered by contact with water. The beacon’s job is to transmit an inaudible ultrasonic signal, saying “Find me. I am here”. The ping locator’s job is to pick this up and transmit it to the surface crew.

In all likelihood, only one of MH370’s two black boxes was actually emitting (the one attached to the cockpit voice recorder). As revealed in the interim report Factual Information, published in March 2015, the flight data recorder’s beacon had expired in December 2012. This fact was not admitted at the time of the crash and is not even mentioned in the latest report. Such an admission would have embarrassed Malaysia Airlines for its appalling maintenance standards and cut by half the success chances of the Australian search. Why share such bad news when the motto was “hope”?

So it was with near zero chance of success that the Ocean Shield lowered the ping locator into the water.

Yet once again, this did not prevent authorities from providing an illusion of success, helping to satiate a public hungry for progress. Within minutes of entering the water, the ping locator appeared to strike gold, detecting a ping. Almost simultaneously, a Chinese ship hundreds of kilometres away also detected pings and soon after that another TPL picked up yet more pings. A press release was issued on April 5 saying “signals consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes” had been found.

This was cause for false optimism. Black box pings have an unmistakable identity that derives from a combination of two features: their frequency of 37.5 kHz and their intermittence, a one second interval between each signal. None of the pings matched these criteria. But the show was too good to be spoiled. Television stations were breaking audience records.

“Call it a triumph of science, or incredible luck, but on the very first path, the Ocean Shield [towing the TPL …] detected a steady series of pings,” CNN commented on April 8 – one month after the plane was lost, when the beacons’ battery lives would already have been in overtime.

CNN, intoxicated by raptures of the deep, kept serving up its Australian pings 24/7, but scientists familiar with underwater searches were growing increasingly alarmed. “I went on CNN about 15 times to try and make people understand there was absolutely no chance the pings detected were from MH370,” said Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a globally respected wreck hunter. A former naval officer and clearance diver, he has led countless underwater assignments including six expeditions to the Titanic since 1986. He was also part of the search for AF447.

“I know the US Navy people who were on board [Ocean Shield], they would never make such elementary mistakes. A 33 kHz ping, or a 35 kHz ping, cannot become or be treated as ‘similar’ to a 37.5 kHz ping, either because of the pressure or because of failing batteries as I heard it explained. That’s sheer nonsense,” said Nargeolet.

William Meacham, a former archaeology professor at the University of Hong Kong, tried to warn CNN it was making a big mistake in suggesting the pings could come from the MH370 black boxes. Pointing out that pingers were also used by scientists to tag marine creatures, he drew up a list of those that may well have been inside the search zone: 86 loggerhead sea turtles, 30 flat-backed turtles, 30 hawksbill turtles, 14 green turtles, seven humpbacked whales and five dugongs – not to mention a great white shark carrying a 36 kHz pinger, which had crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia’s west coast. Was the Australians’ greatest hope nothing more than a great white?

As irrelevant as these detections were, they created so much excitement in the news that the Australians decided to launch the autonomous submarine Bluefin-21 to feed the media appetite for anything ping-related.

“There was one signal which has been analysed very closely, which was a very strong signal and it had all the characteristics of being from a man-made device and the characteristics of the transmission were very, very similar to those … from an emergency locator beacon; our experts have established a datum on the ocean floor – probably the most likely place where you might find wreckage of the aircraft or a black box,” Angus Houston told a Chinese journalist from Xinhua, adding he was “very hopeful that we will find something”.

When, at the end of May 2014, Michael Dean, the US Navy’s deputy director of Ocean Engineering, said on CNN that everyone now agreed the pings had not come from the black boxes, a US Navy spokesman appeared on the same channel a few hours later to dismiss the comments as “premature and speculative”.

It was as if confusion about the true nature of all these erroneous pings was supposed to last a little bit longer.

One question lingers: was this incredible fiasco due to incompetence on the Australians’ behalf or was it an orchestrated show primarily aimed at satiating a media hungry for MH370-related news?

MISLEADING LEADS

The absence of any real leads did not stop authorities from showering the media with hopeful announcements. And when it came to such announcements, the Australian prime minister at the time, Tony Abbott, was in a class of his own.

Abbott announced “new and credible information”, the “best leads so far”, felt “very confident” … “The best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task. All of the technological mastery that we have is being applied and brought to bear here, so if this mystery is solvable, we will solve it,” he boasted on March 31, while visiting the Pearce Air Base north of Perth, the air search headquarters. On April 11, during a trip to China, he went one step further. He was “very confident the signals we’re detecting are from the black box from MH370. We know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres”.

Naturally, this unequivocal claim came as a shock to the families. Unfortunately, it was just a false statement that he was later challenged to explain in parliament.

Another questionable announcement came via Angus Houston on April 14, when “Ocean Shield detected an oil slick … approximately 5,500 metres down wind and down water from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the TPL on Ocean Shield”.

Was this supposed to be an indication of the MH370 crash site? The official narrative was that MH370 crashed having run out of fuel. And even with some remaining fuel in its tanks, did this experienced air force officer really think for a second a slick could still be found 38 days later? The plain answer is no. So, why pass on such information, as useless as it was misleading, while adding, to faint caution, that the liquid “still has to be analysed”?

Meanwhile, the Malaysian transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, was struggling to keep up with the Australians’ pace of mock good news. Seemingly out of the blue, he said on April 19 the next 48 hours were going to be “crucial”. Then, nothing more: no pings, no black boxes and no MH370 wreck. Nothing crucial, then.

On April 28, 2014, three weeks after the last pings were picked up, the Australian prime minister threw in the towel and brought the ping hunt to an end, calling the sea search “the most difficult in human history”.

“We focused on the best leads we had,” he assured everyone, without detailing exactly what “leads” he had in mind. Abbot said it was now “highly improbable that we will find the slightest debris on the surface … 52 days after the crash, most of the debris would have become waterlogged and sunk.”

It was yet another statement that would be thrown overboard when, 500 days later rather than 52, the first significant piece of potential debris washed ashore on Reunion Island, a French territory. Abbott then declared, without waiting for confirmation that it was a piece of MH370, that the find was “very consistent with the search pattern we’ve been using for the last few months”.

The moment the flaperon was found on Reunion Island, several oceanographic institutes produced studies pointing to very different potential crash zones. In November 2014, the ATSB crash investigator Peter Foley himself had predicted that “something is going to wash up somewhere on the beach, most probably in Sumatra”. That’s a long way from the African coast…

Australia, then, would seem to run Malaysia pretty close when it comes to the art of bungling a search operation, and in terms of providing deliberate or accidental misinformation.

The fiasco surrounding the pings, the sudden and unexplained changes in search zones, the opportunistic switches in the official line, along with a string of totally unfounded declarations, were surely not what was expected from the “real pros”.

Nevertheless, the ATSB stayed in charge until January 2017, continuing to provide the public and the families with fleeting snippets of good news – snippets that would slowly sink without trace as soon as they were subjected to the slightest scrutiny.

The natural conclusion of this sad story, if we are to follow the official line, is that a plane as big as a Boeing 777, loaded with electronics and equipped with several redundant communications systems – not to mention the hundreds of mobile phones of its passengers – can become perfectly stealthy in a few seconds, in one of the most closely monitored regions of the planet.

MH370 managed to do what decades and billions in research have not yet achieved for the most sophisticated military plane. Each and every one of the 10 million passengers who board a plane every day must hope their plane won’t be up to the same trick. ■

Florence de Changy has published her investigation into flight MH370 in French and Chinese. She is the Hong Kong correspondent for Le Monde and French National Radio

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MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370: THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES

BY EDOUARD MORTON

South China Morning Post

15 OCT 2017

Suicide, hijack … aliens?

The mystery surrounding flight MH370 has stirred up endless conspiracy theories from armchair investigators, aviation enthusiasts and industry experts.

PILOT SUICIDE

One of the earliest theories to surface following the plane’s disappearance was that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shad deliberately steered the aircraft into the ocean. Leaked Malaysian police documents, first reported by New York magazine, alleged the pilot had flown a similar ‘suicide route’ on a home flight simulator. Media pounced on the idea the pilot was heartbroken. Malaysian police dismissed the theory.

HIJACK

A survey of air crash investigators by The Australian last year found the dominant theory to be that Captain Zaharie hijacked the aircraft and flew ‘it to the end’. The news outlet said the most likely scenario was that Zaharie locked the co-pilot out of the cockpit, killed all on board but himself by depressurising the plane, and then re-pressurised it to fly far into the southern Indian Ocean, glide it onto the water and sink it.

IS AMERICA HIDING SOMETHING?

Immediately following MH370’s disappearance in 2014, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad suggested the US was somehow involved when he wrote in a blog the Central Intelligence Agency was not sharing vital information. “Someone is hiding something,” he said. Later that year, speculation mounted further when a former French airline chief turned novelist accused America of shooting MH370 down because it feared it had been taken over by hackers and was about to be used in a terrorist attack.

A FIRE AND A HERO

Numerous speculators have concluded there was a fire on board. Some have suggested it was an electrical fire in the cockpit, others say it was a windscreen fire or an overheating of the landing gear. The fire would have caused the pilot to circle around and aim for an emergency landing at the nearest airport. But with little hope of a controlled landing, and with bustling cities and millions of people on all sides, Zaharie opted to plunge the aircraft into the ocean in a final heroic act.

A TOILET BREAK

One theory goes that something as simple as the pilot ducking out to the toilet was the cause of the crash. It goes like this: the captain steps out to stretch or go to the bathroom; there is a mechanical fault that causes a fast decompression of the cabin; the co-pilots activate oxygen, stabilise the aircraft and turn it back to Malaysia; the pilots then pass out before being able to make an emergency landing and fly off into the Indian Ocean, eventually running out of fuel.

Wilder theories include North Korea taking down or snatching the aircraft; Russia falsifying the radar ‘pings’ of the plane and steering it towards Kazakhstan, and President Vladimir Putin knowing exactly where the crash site is. Five per cent of Americans surveyed by Reason.com believe the aircraft was abducted by aliens.

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Najib doesn’t have GE14 in the bag

MARZUKI MOHAMAD

New Mandala

18 OCT, 2017

Malaysia’s 14th general election (or GE14) looms large. Some pundits predict that the election will be held sometime between November 2017 and March 2018. This is supposedly the best window for Prime Minister Najib Razak to lead Barisan Nasional (BN) to another victory.

But calling for a general election amid allegations of an epic financial scandal involving the prime minister himself is not an easy task. The 1MDB scandal, the subject of investigations in six countries, has badly affected Najib’s popularity. What the Prime Minister badly needs is a real feel-good factor that will overcome all these misfortunes. But this will be hard to come by.

By now, Najib must have received reports on voter sentiment from intelligence agencies such as the Special Branch, the Defence Staff Intelligence Division and the Research Division in the Prime Minister’s Department. Apart from these, he might have also seen the various situation reports prepared by socio-political agencies such as the Biro Tatanegara, the Department of Special Affairs (JASA) and the Community Development Department (KEMAS) on the state of the country’s social and political affairs. He would have also assigned his own political operators and engaged private pollsters to gauge public sentiment on the ground.

In the past, BN successfully gained electoral victory on the premise of its ability to deliver economic development and maintain political stability. But the current state of the country’s economy doesn’t look good. Although the World Bank forecasts Malaysia’s GDP to grow by 5.2% this year, prices of goods have gone up, subsidies for essential items like cooking oil and fuel have been either cut or abolished, the weak Ringgit is causing inflation, and on top of this there is the unpopular 6% Goods and Services Tax.

The 2018 budget will be tabled in Parliament in late October 2017. It will be an opportunity for the prime minister to create a feel-good factor by giving generous hand-outs to voters in order to win their votes. But the government’s coffers are depleting, contingent liabilities are huge, and the need to keep budget deficits low remains. There is very little room for the BN government to turn the 2018 budget into the feel-good factor and generate broad-based support in the general election.

But there is a silver lining for Najib. The Malay opposition is split due to the breakaway of PAS from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition in 2015. While PAS has not indicated that it will cooperate with UMNO in the upcoming general election, the split in the Malay opposition will certainly be beneficial for UMNO.

Merdeka Center’s latest poll indicates that PAS gains an average of 21% Malay support. This is enough to reduce the opposition’s chance of winning the election, especially in the Malay majority constituencies should there be “3-cornered” fights between UMNO, PAS, and the new opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) led by Mahathir Mohamad. The Merdeka Center poll puts PH support at 18% among Malays, with 12% unsure and 9% declining to answer.

PAS is widely seen as the opposition’s spoiler. But the picture is more complicated. The level of Malay support for PAS is not evenly spread across the country. It is mostly concentrated in the Malay heartland of Kelantan, Terengganu, northern Kedah, northern Perak and some parts of Selangor and Pahang. These are mostly large Malay-majority constituencies, in which Malay voters make up more than 70% of the electorate. There are 70 parliamentary seats in this category in Peninsular Malaysia.

However, out of these 70 seats, eight are in Kedah, where Mahathir’s strong influence in the state may swing votes away from UMNO. Apart from these, there are at least five seats in Kelantan, and one in Terengganu, which have traditionally been PAS’s strongholds: Pengkalan Chepa, Kubang Kerian, Kota Baharu, Tumpat, Rantau Panjang and Marang. These 13 Malay-majority seats are most vulnerable for UMNO. Realistically speaking, then, UMNO has a sure chance of winning in only 57 out of 165 parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia.

Meanwhile, non-Malay support for BN has been extremely low since the last general election. Recent surveys have not seen any significant improvement in non-Malay support for the government, and the contest for votes in marginal Malay-majority constituencies—that is, where non-Malay voters are more than 30% of the electorate—will be keenly fought by all parties.

There are 47 parliamentary seats in this category, mostly situated in southern Kedah, Penang, the Kinta Valley in Perak, southern Perak, southern and central Selangor, and urban and semi-urban centres in Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor. PAS’ influence in these constituencies is relatively minimal, and may not impact much on the Malay vote split.

It is in these areas where PH is making significant inroads, posing a serious challenge to BN. Some of the parliamentary seats in these areas are already in the hands of PH parties. Apart from these marginal Malay-majority constituencies, there are 48 non-Malay majority constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia which can be considered as safe seats for the opposition.

Left for the government are 57 parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak, long said to be BN’s “fixed deposit”. However, out of these 57 seats, nine are currently held by the opposition, and are not safe seats for BN. Apart from these nine, there are at least five parliamentary seats in the east coast of Sabah where the newly formed Parti Warisan Sabah, led by former UMNO Vice President Shafie Apdal, is making significant inroads. These seats too are no longer safe seats for BN. So, out of 57 parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak, only 43 can be considered safe for BN.

With 57 safe seats in Peninsular Malaysia and 43 safe seats in Sabah and Sarawak, BN has a total of 100 out of 222 parliamentary seats that can be considered safe. This figure still falls short of the total needed to get a simple majority to form the next federal government. Unless Najib can turn the remaining seats into safe seats for BN, calling for a general election now will be a bit risky for him.

Under these circumstances, Najib may need more time to turn things around. As an astute politician with the power of incumbency, he may do quite many things to turn things around, particularly in the context of free, competitive—but not necessarily fair—elections in Malaysia. But time may not necessarily be on his side.

Having said this, I would like to add a caveat: I am not predicting the election results. Nor am I predicting what the prime minister will do to remain in power. But suffice to say that based on the above analysis, and assuming all other factors remain the same, it is reasonably logical to guess at this juncture that unlike previous elections, there is no clear cut assurance of BN’s electoral victory this time round.

…………………………

Marzuki Mohamad is Associate Professor of Political Science at the International Islamic University Malaysia. From 2013 to 2015 he was Political Secretary to former Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, current President of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, a member of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 18 October 2017, 1:06 pm and is filed under
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Even more shocking than KJ’s aide giving the Malaysiakini report the boot is…

The Malaysiakini report
“KJ’s aide gives M’kini the boot”
 is most shocking, but I find a greater shock when I read the report.

The Malaysiakini reporter was asked to leave a Youth and Sports Ministry event in Putrajaya today, and the person who gave the marching orders was the  Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s aide, who had solicited questions from reporters before a press conference.

Following this, the aide returned to the reporters’ desk and asked the Malaysiakini reporter to leave the venue.

The aide said: “I apologise. YB does not want to answer questions from Malaysiakini, nor are you allowed to be here.

“I have to ask you to leave. I apologise.”

This was indeed most shocking, and doubly shocking is that it should come from Khairy Jamaluddin, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional’s icon for the Malaysian youths of today, representing the new hopes of the young generation for fresh air, openness, tolerance, freedom and  justice – someone who had wanted to be Prime Minister before he was 40 years old!

But what was trebly shocking was the following paragraph in  the Malaysiakini report:

“The practice of press secretaries or aides approaching reporters for questions before press conferences by government officials is not unusual in Malaysia.”

I have been in politics in Malaysia for 52 years but this is the first time I have heard of such a pernicious and disgraceful pre-media conferences practised by UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders!

Who invented  such a pernicious and disgraceful  practice and when did it  begin?

Fortunately, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dared not “export” such a disgraceful and pernicious practice to Washignton, requiring the White House press corps to submit questions they wish to ask him if he had a media conference at the Rose Garden of the White House when he visited White House and met US President Donald Trump on Sept. 12, 2017.

I do not know what would have happened if Najib had tried to impose such an abominable pre-media conference practice on the White House press corps requiring the White House journalists  to submit questions they wish to raise with him  at the White House media conference to  prior censorship.

But I shudder at such a thought, and am thoroughly shocked that the Malaysian press  has agreed to such an abominable practice of agreeing to a censorship of the questions they wished to ask as at  Ministerial press conferences.

Of course, the question or questions which the Malaysiankini reporter had wished to raise with Khairy, but which led to the “eviction order” by Khairy’s aide,  piqued everyone’s interest!

Would the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak announce the abolition of such disgraceful and abominable practices of pre-censorship of questions to be put by journalists to Ministers at their media conferences?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 October 2017, 5:19 pm and is filed under
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Have the  “kleptocratic chickens coming home to roost” caused Malaysia’s defeat for election to UN Human Rights Council?

Malaysia suffers ignominy in the latest defeat for election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, being the only country to lose out as there were 16 countries vying for the 15 seats, and even more pertinent, the only country to lose out among the five countries which competed for the four  Human Rights Council seats allocated to Asia-Pacific region.

It is a terrible setback for Malaysia’s human rights record  that the country should lose out to countries which are regarded as definitely greater human rights offenders than Malaysia, like Pakistan, Qatar and Afghanistan in the region or countries like Congo and Angola in the world.

This is  Malaysia’s third bid for a seat on the council after two stints, from 2006 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2013.

Malaysia, which received 129 votes, was the only country to lose out as there were 16 countries vying for the 15 seats –  with five countries competing for the four seats allocated to Asia-Pacific.

The 15 members to the UN Human Rights Council  were elected according to a quota of four seats each for the Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, three seats for Latin America and Caribbean states, two for Eastern European states, and two for Western European and other states.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time in recent times that Malaysia had been defeated in a UN vote for any elected position in the world body.

Is this true?

This international setback warrants a full explanation from the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, whether this heralds  the “coming of winter” for Malaysia’s international relations with the “kleptocratic chickens coming home to roost” – with Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy as a result of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal beginning to “bite” adversely on Malaysia’s repute and good standing in the  international  community of nations.

As Parliament reconvenes next Monday, Anifah should present a Ministerial statement as to what are the causes for Malaysia’s defeat in the UN elections to the UN Human Rights Council, whether Malaysia’s reputation as a global kleptocracy is beginning to have an adverse effect on Malaysia’s international relations, and what the Foreign Ministry proposes to do to clear or cleanse Malaysia’s of such infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 19 October 2017, 11:34 am and is filed under
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Anifah should explain why Malaysia’s  international reputation and human rights standing plunged so precipitately under Najib’s premiership as to lose 50 votes as compared to 2010 resulting  in defeat for election to UN Human Rights Council

The so-called “rebuttal” of the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman to the statement by the DAP MP for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong, asking for an explanation why Malaysia lost its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council could be dismissed just as all “bluff and bluster signifying nothing”, as it completely failed to  address Chin Tong’s question which is asked by all thinking Malaysians.

It is in fact another sad example of the atrocious English of Malaysia’s Cabinet Ministers.

Anifah should explain why Malaysia’s international reputation and human rights standing plunged so precipitately under Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s premiership as to lose 50 votes when compared to Malaysia’s second attempt to be elected to the UN Human Rights Council in 2010, when Malaysia secured 179 votes as compared to the measly 129 votes this time.

Apart from Malaysia’s increasing violation of human rights, when parliamentary democracy is used as a “fig leaf” to hide an increasingly undemocratic regime contemptuous of the most basic democratic rights and freedoms of Malaysians, I believe Malaysia’s ignominous results in the election to the UN Human Rights Council is related to the general lowering of world respect and standing for Malaysia as a result of Malaysia ascending the infamous pinnacle of a “global kleptocracy”!

This is why I had described Malaysia’s defeat for election to the UN Human Rights Council as “the kleptocratic chickens coming home to roost”, to the extent that Malaysia has lost out to greater human rights offenders like Pakistan, Qatar and Afghanistan in the region or even infamous human rights violators like Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola in the world.

I cannot think of an instance in recent times  when Malaysia had been defeated in a UN vote for any elected position in the world body.  Can Anifah clarify?

Anifah Aman should give a proper and satisfactory explantion for Malaysia’s latest diplomatic set back, whether this heralds the “coming of winter” for Malaysia’s international relations with the “kleptocratic chickens coming home to roost” – as a result of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which is beginning to “bite” adversely on Malaysia’s repute and good standing in the international community of nations.

Let Anifah present a Ministerial statement in Parliament next week as to what are the causes for Malaysia’s defeat in the election to the UN Human Rights Council, whether Malaysia’s disgraceful reputation as a global kleptocracy is beginning to have an adverse effect on Malaysia’s international relations, and what the Foreign Ministry proposes to do to clear or cleanse Malaysia’s of such infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy in the international arena.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 20th October 2017)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 20 October 2017, 9:14 am and is filed under
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If not Dzulkifli, who ordered the MACC to arrest Shafie Apdal and 10 other Warisan leaders?

I had not expected my retort to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner, Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, to take effect so fast.

On 28th September, I had replied to Dzulkifli who said a day earlier that people were watching me to judge my commitment and seriousness towards fighting corruption  and abuse of power.

I observed that I had been watched by the people for the 52 years I had been involved in politics, and reminded Dzulkifli that the people were watching him whether he will be the head of the world’s first “kleptocratic” anti-corruption agency.

I never expected that the people’s “watch” on the MACC Chief Commissioner would within a month become a supreme test, which caused Dzulkifli to disappear from the public limelight in past 12 days except for a highly problematic statement four days ago, although he was dominating the public limelight almost on a daily basis previously.

Let us  focus on the four-day remand of the Parti Warisan Sabah president, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal on his 60th birthday, in connection with MACC investigations into alleged misappropriation of at least RM1.5 billion in rural development funds intended for Sabah and the MACC arrest of Shafie’s two younger brothers and a number of  other Warisan leaders.

In May this year, Dzulkifli announced that MACC would not take action against corrupt politicians before the 14th general elections as it does not want such cases be used as campaign tool or capital by any parties.

He said: “I have made a decision that MACC will not take any actions now against politicians because I do not want MACC to be dragged into politics and used as a campaign tool or fodder by any parties.

“We all know that even if the MACC were to act against the politicians before the general elections, it would not be a deterrent for them to contest or hold on to a post.

“So let all these political parties contest in a fair manner based on their capabilities and their track record of serving the people.”

However, he cautioned all political parties to ensure that their candidates are free from corruption and abuse of power, or risk actions by the MACC after the election is over.

He was roundly criticized by the Pakatan Harapan parties for this stand  but Dzulkifli held his ground, reiterating his promise to net corrupt politicians after the general elections and urged critics to be patient.

He said: “There is no issue of ‘pilih kasih’ (favouritism), it’s about timing. If we take action straightaway, then that’s favouritism.”

Why then was Shafie Apdal and some 10 political officials from Warisan arrested by MACC, if Dzulkifli had decided – right or wrong –  that MACC would not act against any politician before the next general election, when the case involving Shafie goes back  to 2015 and before?

Without going into the merits and demerits of the case, is this a blatant example of MACC discriminatory and selective persecution where  the MACC has been “weaponised” against the opponents of the UMNO/BN coalition as alleged by the DAP Sabah Secretary and Assemblyman for Sri Tanjong, Chan Foong Hin?

Or had the MACC Chief Commissioner been completely overruled, and what happened was what Tun Mahathir wrote in his blog yesterday, alleging that the arrest of and probe into Shafie Apdal was Najib Razak’s doing and was meant to weaken the opposition party, Warisan.

If not Dzulkifli who gave the instruction, who ordered the MACC to arrest Shafie Apdal and 10 other Warisan leaders?

Let Dzulkifi speak up!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 21 October 2017, 3:01 pm and is filed under
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14th General Election a choice between  UMNO/BN recapturing two-thirds parliamentary majority or UMNO/BN defeat and new  Pakatan Harapan Federal Government in Putrajaya to reset nation-building policies  to save Malaysia

In the pre-general election meeting with Barisan Nasional co-ordinators yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he wants the Barisan Nasional to achieve a two-thirds majority in Parliament in the forthcoming 14th General Election.

The choice for Malaysians in the 14th General Election is a very clear-cut and obvious one – for UMNO/BN to win big and even recapture two-thirds parliamentary majority or to defeat the UMNO/BN coalition to have a new Pakatan Harapan Federal Government in Putrajaya to re-set nation-building policies to save Malaysia and clear and cleanse the country of the international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”.

In his speech, Najib told Barisan Nasional component parties to stop questioning the existence of Chinese and Tamil primary schools as it was agreed upon before Independence, and urged Barisan Nasional component parties to reinforce the qualities of tolerance, inclusiveness and open-mindedness among themselves for Barisan Nasional to regain its two-thirds majority in parliament.

This is in fact Najib’s greatest admission of failure not only of leadership as Prime Minister of Malaysia, but the failure of Barisan Nasional nation building policies and directions in the past six decades, for in the past few years, the country has moved further away from the principles of tolerance, inclusiveness and open-mindedness to the extent that we are witnessing the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history.

We are not only seeing the disturbing phenomena of UMNO/BN cybertroopers blatantly threatening another May 13 racial riots, but even a racial “civil war” unseen in the nation’s history, if UMNO is defeated in the next general election.

We must ask Najib what is the use of the Prime Minister or some of the Ministers now and then talking about tolerance, inclusiveness and open-mindedness, when they allow their UMNO cybertroopers to breathe “fire and brimstone” threatening not just another May 13 riots, but a full-scale racial civil war, if UMNO is defeated in the next general election?

Is Najib prepared to renounce these irresponsible UMNO cybertroopers and declare that whatever the outcome of the next general elections, he as Prime Minister would accept and accept the verdict of the electorate and would not allow anyone to create trouble in the post-general election scenario?

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam dialogue in Kulai on Sunday, 22nd October 2017 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 22 October 2017, 5:01 pm and is filed under
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Anifah’s verbal pyrotechnics hide a terribly  weak case and reinforces why he must explain reasons for Malaysia’s diplomatic setback in losing 50 votes in UN failing to get elected to UNHRC

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman’s verbal pyrotechnics hide a terribly weak case and reinforces the case why he must explain the reasons for Malaysia’s diplomatic setback in losing 50 votes in the United Nations failing to get elected to  the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the new year.

In accordance with paragraph 7 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 the UNHRC shall consist of 47 Member States, which shall be elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the members of the General Assembly.

The membership shall be based on equitable geographical distribution, and seats shall be distributed as follows among regional groups:

•	Group of African States (13)

•	Group of Asia-Pacific States (13)

•	Group of Eastern European States (6)

•	Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (8)

•	Group of Western European and other States (7)

The members of the Council shall serve for a period of three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.

Last week, during its 72nd session in 2017, the UN General Assembly elected 15 members to serve on the Human Rights Council.

Malaysia, which received 129 votes, was the only country to lose out as there were 16 countries vying for the 15 seats.

The 15 members were elected according to a quota of four seats each for the Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, three seats for Latin America and Caribbean states, two for Eastern European states, and two for Western European and other states.

Malaysia was the only country among the five that competed for the four UNHRC seats allocated to Asia-Pacific.

Anifah gave three reasons which might explain for Malaysia’s UNHRC defeat – to use his own words:

“With regard to the reason for our unsuccessful bid, there could be several probable assumptions, among them being: member states backing a first-time candidate; early submission of candidature and the ability to campaign aggressively due to unlimited financial resources, amongst other.”

None of these three reasons really past muster.

Firstly, Pakistan was re-elected to serve its fourth term on the UNHRC, as compared to Malaysia’s failed attempt to serve for a third term on UNHRC.

Secondly, Malaysia was the earliest to announce her candidacy for the UNHRC, together with a voluntary pledge to support the candidature – on 5th January 2017, as compared to Nepal on 16th August 2017; Pakistan on 11th May 2017; Afghanistan on 5th September 2017; and Qatar on 11th April 2017.

Thirdly, the country with “unlimited financial resources” to have “the ability to campaign aggressively” is only Qatar and cannot apply to Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are much poorer than Malaysia.

Anifah should explain in Parliament (i) why Malaysia lost out to Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan; (2) why Malaysia lost 50 UN votes as compared to 2010 when Malaysia sought election  to the UNHRC, securing 179 votes as compared to the 129 votes last week; and (3) whether this should be a sobering “wake-up” call for Malaysia that her international infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy arising from the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal  is beginning to have an adverse impact on Malaysia’s international reputation and standing, and that the Malaysian government cannot continue with its denial syndrome  to disregard such international infamy and ignominy?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 October 2017, 4:40 pm and is filed under
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Lesson from first day of Parliament – no way the 1MDB scandal can be swept under the carpet as it will continue to haunt and hound Malaysia until there is full accountability releasing the country from the infamy of a global kleptocracy

The lesson from the first day of the 25-day Budget 2018 parliamentary meeting is that there is no way the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal can be swept under the carpet as it will continue to haunt and hound Malaysia until there is full accountability releasing the country from the infamy of a global kleptocracy.

Parliament can pretend that the 1MDB scandal has ceased to exist, rejecting questions from Members of Parliament relating to the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy and  stopping MPs from demanding accountability for the 1MDB scandal from the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers, with Ministers having to undergo political acrobatics and contortions like the one performed by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday both during and after  Question Time on the  1MDB scandal, particularly with reference to the whereabouts of major 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Low, but the monstrous 1MDB scandal will not  go away.

Just like three days ago, at  the dialogue of the Prime Minister with the Chinese Youths organized by the Federation of Chinese Association Malaysia (Huazong), the question that received the most attention was the question that was not asked and not the questions that were answered.

Those   who attended the dialogue were asked to send in their questions through social messaging app WeChat, which then appeared on a large screen behind the stage. The organisers then scrolled through the list in real-time to pick the questions.

One of the questions asked:
“Abdul Rahman Dahlan, our senior government minister in cabinet, said ‘I agree that MO1 is the prime minister’. Is that true?”

The person behind the question, using the pseudonym ‘MO1’, appeared to have sent in the same question several times, but it was not entertained.

The question was not posed to the Prime Minister for answer, but like what happened in Parliament yesterday, the 1MDB  scandal will not fade away.

The question is whether the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the courage and commitment to the principles of good governance to address the 1MDB scandal in his 2018 Budget on Friday, and inform the  country what steps he proposes to take to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy – or the continuing charade that the 1MDB scandal does not exist will be one of the highights of his 2018 Budget.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 October 2017, 1:22 pm and is filed under
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If 1MDB is a “national savior”, including saving Malaysia RM200 billion over the next 20 years on power agreements, then stop the clampdown and allow a  full debate on 1MDB in Parliament!

Friday Oct. 27, 2017 is a watershed day for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as he will be tabling the 2018 Budget as  his “ultra weapon” for winning the 14th General Election.

Today, as a prelude to his 2018 Budget on Friday, Najib released his
“My Economic Vision for Malaysia”
, where he boasted about his accomplishments and achievements in his more than seven years as Prime Minister.

What will history and future generations remember about Najib’s premiership?

There will several candidates, like the worst racial and religious polarization in the nation’s 60 year history; the rise of extremism, intolerance and bigotry in a country whose special characteristics is her diversity of races, religions, languages and cultures and whose survival and progress must depend on the qualities of moderation, openness, tolerance and inclusiveness; the worst decline in educational standards; etc.

But the  foremost claimant to be Najib’s chief legacy will undoubtedly be the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which shot Malaysia into the stratosphere of infamy and ignominy in being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

I find it quite unbelievable that Najib has taken the offensive and instead of the charade pretending that 1MDB scandal does not exist, has gone on the attack by presenting the 1MDB as a “national saviour”  for Malaysia, claiming that among its various virtues, it will  save Malaysia RM200 billion over the next 20 years in solving the “lop-sided power agreements signed by a former leader”.

If 1MDB is such a “national saviour”, including saving RM200 billion over the next 20 years over the power agreements, why is it necessary for the Najib government to impose a clampdown on debate and national discourse of the issue in Parliament and the mainstream media?

Let there be a full debate on the 1MDB in Parliament for a start, instead of the Speaker rejecting questions by MPs on 1MDB and forbidding debate and discussion of the 1MDB  scandal in Parliament.

(Speech at the DAP “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptocrasi” Solidarity Dinner at Kampong Chempaka, Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 24th October 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 October 2017, 8:25 am and is filed under
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I will return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam, says crown prince

Martin Chulov in Riyadh

Guardian

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has vowed to return the country to “moderate Islam” and asked for global support to transform the hardline kingdom into an open society that empowers citizens and lures investors.

In an interview with the Guardian, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne said the ultra-conservative state had been “not normal” for the past 30 years, blaming rigid doctrines that have governed society in a reaction to the Iranian revolution, which successive leaders “didn’t know how to deal with”.

Expanding on comments he made at an investment conference at which he announced the launch of an ambitious $500bn (£381bn) independent economic zone straddling Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, Prince Mohammed said: “We are a G20 country. One of the biggest world economies. We’re in the middle of three continents. Changing Saudi Arabia for the better means helping the region and changing the world. So this is what we are trying to do here. And we hope we get support from everyone.

“What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia. What happened in the region in the last 30 years is not the Middle East. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia. We didn’t know how to deal with it. And the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it.”

Earlier Prince Mohammed had said: “We are simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. 70% of the Saudis are younger than 30, honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately.”

The crown prince’s comments are the most emphatic he has made during a six-month reform programme that has tabled cultural reforms and economic incentives unimaginable during recent decades, during which the kingdom has been accused of promoting a brand of Islam that underwrote extremism.

The comments were made as the heir of the incumbent monarch moves to consolidate his authority, sidelining clerics whom he believes have failed to support him and demanding unquestioning loyalty from senior officials whom he has entrusted to drive a 15-year reform programme that aims to overhaul most aspects of life in Saudi Arabia.

Central to the reforms has been the breaking of an alliance between hardline clerics who have long defined the national character and the House of Saud, which has run affairs of state. The changes have tackled head-on societal taboos such as the recently rescinded ban on women driving, as well as scaling back guardianship laws that restrict women’s roles and establishing an Islamic centre tasked with certifying the sayings of the prophet Muhammed.

The scale and scope of the reforms has been unprecedented in the country’s modern history and concerns remain that a deeply conservative base will oppose what is effectively a cultural revolution – and that the kingdom lacks the capacity to follow through on its economic ambitions.

The new economic zone is to be established on 470km of the Red Sea coast, in a tourist area that has already been earmarked as a liberal hub akin to Dubai, where male and female bathers are free to mingle.

It has been unveiled as the centrepiece of efforts to turn the kingdom away from a near total dependence on oil and into a diverse open economy. Obstacles remain: an entrenched poor work ethic, a crippling regulatory environment and a general reluctance to change.

“Economic transformation is important but equally essential is social transformation,” said one of the country’s leading businessmen. “You cannot achieve one without the other. The speed of social transformation is key. It has to be manageable.”

Alcohol, cinemas and theatres are still banned in the kingdom and mingling between unrelated men and women remains frowned upon. However Saudi Arabia – an absolute monarchy – has clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police, who no longer have powers to arrest and are seen to be falling in line with the new regime.

Economically Saudi Arabia will need huge resources if it is to succeed in putting its economy on a new footing and its leadership believes it will fail to generate strategic investments if it does not also table broad social reforms.

Prince Mohammed had repeatedly insisted that without establishing a new social contract between citizen and state, economic rehabilitation would fail. “This is about giving kids a social life,” said a senior Saudi royal figure. “Entertainment needs to be an option for them. They are bored and resentful. A woman needs to be able to drive herself to work. Without that we are all doomed. Everyone knows that – except the people in small towns. But they will learn.”

In the next 10 years, at least five million Saudis are likely to enter the country’s workforce, posing a huge problem for officials who currently do not have jobs to offer them or tangible plans to generate employment.

The economic zone is due to be completed by 2025 – five years before the current cap on the reform programme – and is to be powered by wind and solar energy, according to its founders.

The country’s enormous sovereign wealth fund is intended to be a key backer of the independent zone. It currently has $230bn under management. The sale of 5% of the world’s largest company, Aramco, is expected to raise several hundred billion dollars more.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 October 2017, 2:27 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians must unite to  defend the bedrock constitutional and nation-building principles of openness, tolerance, moderation and inclusivity if Malaysia is  to succeed and prosper as a nation

I was struck by a foreign news report that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had pledged a return to a moderate past and looked forward to a technology-driven future.

Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, the Saudi Crown Prince said:

“We are returning to what we were before — a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world.

“We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today.”

The crown prince addressed an audience of thousands of global investors and dignitaries who visited the Saudi capital to hear first-hand how the country’s society and economy are being transformed.

He said: “Saudi Arabia was not like this before 1979. We want to go back to what we were, the moderate Islam that’s open to all religions. We want to live a normal life.”

Although the Saudi kingdom still has a long way to go in order to represent moderate Islam and become an open society, this is in stark contrast to some Malaysians who want to take the country towards an extremist direction, completely at odds with the country’s bedrock constitutional and nation-building principles of openness, tolerance, moderation and inclusivity.

All Malaysians must unite to  defend these bedrock constitutional and nation-building principles as they will decide whether  Malaysia, a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures, will  succeed and prosper as a nation and be a model to the world or become a failed state.

It is most ironic that while the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had mooted the initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates in international forums, there has been a rise of extremism, intolerance and bigotry inside the country resulting in the worst racial and religious polarization in the country’s history.

All Malaysians, regardless of race, region or even politics, should reject such a dangerous trend  of rising intolerance, bigotry and extremism, as they threaten the very basis of  the nation’s Constitution and existence.

DAP remains committed to the Vision and Strategy for Indian Empowerment as contained in the 2013 Gelang Patah Declaration and will present it to Pakatan Harapan for endorsement

Before the 2013 general election, a Gelang Patah Declaration on the Vision and Strategy for Indian Empowerment was adopted by DAP Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen as the basis for the DAP’s continued espousal of the cause of the Malaysian Indians to end their deplorable status as the new underclass in Malaysia.

DAP remains committed to the Gelang Patah Declaration 2013 as part of the party’s efforts to uplift all marginalized communities, especially the Indian poor and the lower middle-classes, and the DAP will present the Gelang Patah Declaration to the Pakatan Harapan leadership for endorsement.

The 14-Point Gelang Patah Declaration, suitably amended, would  now read:

1. To resolve the problem of the stateless Indians within 100 days of a Pakatan Harapan administration.

2. To establish a National Housing Board which will build decent and affordable housing for marginalized groups, especially for displaced Indian plantation workers.

3. To ensure that all National School Type Tamil schools become fully funded and the infrastructure of every single school is up to par with Sekolah Kebangsaan.

4. To invest in technical and vocational training coupled with apprenticeship programs to provide an alternative education and career path for school dropouts from low income Indian families.

5. To provide jobs and raise the wages of low income Indians by implementing a RM1,500-minimum wage scheme.

6. To increase the number of Indians in GLCs, local councils, and public services.

7. To alienate land for existing Hindu temples and burial grounds and find replacement land for temples and burial grounds which have to be relocated.

8. To provide microcredit and other financial assistance schemes to Indian small businesses, with a special focus on women, youths and home based business.

9. To put in place the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and to eliminate deaths in police custody and custodial deaths.

10. To establish a special fund to promote Indian equity ownership in the country.

11. To establish a Commission to address urban poverty and social problems faced by the community.

12. To establish policies that could economically enable single mothers, including house ownership schemes.

13. To establish or enrol in existing residential schools outstanding Indian students from plantation and urban poor families.

14. To abolish all anti-rakyat legislation and to get rid of discrimination.

(Speech at the DAP Deepavali reception for Tamil-media journalists at Petaling Jaya Club in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 October 2017, 12:59 pm and is filed under
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30th Anniversary of Ops Lalang mass arrests – call on Malaysians to unite to save democracy, the rule of law, human rights and to eradicate corruption and kleptocracy

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Lalang which brought about the darkest days for democracy and human rights.

There was not only the arrest of 106 Malaysians, including opposition leaders – 16 of whom were from the DAP, including MPs and State Assemblymen – trade unionists, social activists, environmentalists, Chinese educationists and religious workers, there was also the wholesale attacks on press freedom with the closure of three newspapers, the assault on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law and the series of undemocratic legislation which caused a tectonic shift in the Malaysian political landscape, subordinating the legislative and judicial branches to the Executive.

Operation Lalang in 1987 brought the fragile plant of Malaysian democracy to the brink of ruin and disaster.

But Malaysian resilience, the spirit and love for freedom, justice and the nation, did not wilt or capitulate but sprang back not only to recover lost ground and to achieve new democratic breakthroughs as in the 13th General Election when 52% of popular vote sought the first change of national government but the people were denied the fruits of democratic victory because of undemocratic gerrymandering of parliamentary constituencies.

Democracy in Malaysia is facing another crisis, superadded on to which is the international infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak promised to make Malaysia “the best democracy of the world”, but after more than eight years of his premiership, Malaysia falls far short of the conditions to be a “normal democracy” let alone being the “world’s best democracy”.

Only a change of government at the national level, for the first time in 60 years, can Malaysians fully restore democracy, the rule of law, human rights and save Malaysia from the interntional infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

On the 30th Anniversary of Ops Lalang mass arrests, I call on Malaysians to unite to save democracy, the rule of law, human rights and to eradicate corruption and kleptocracy.

(Media Statement in Parliament on Friday, October 27, 2017)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 October 2017, 3:18 pm and is filed under
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30th Anniversary of Ops Lalang mass arrests – call on Malaysians to unite to save democracy, the  rule of law, human rights and to eradicate corruption and kleptocracy

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Lalang which brought about the darkest days for democracy and human rights.

There was not only the arrest of 106 Malaysians, including opposition leaders – 16 of whom were from the DAP, including MPs and State Assemblymen – trade unionists, social activists, environmentalists, Chinese educationists and religious workers, there was also the wholesale attacks on press freedom with the closure of three newspapers, the assault  on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law and the series of undemocratic legislation which caused a tectonic shift in the Malaysian political landscape, subordinating the legislative and judicial branches to the Executive.

Operation Lalang in 1987 brought the fragile plant of Malaysian democracy to the brink of ruin and disaster.

But Malaysian resilience, the spirit and love for freedom, justice and the nation, did not wilt or capitulate  but sprang back not only to recover lost ground and to achieve new democratic breakthroughs as in the 13th General Election when 52% of popular vote sought the first change of national government but the people were denied the fruits of democratic victory because of undemocratic gerrymandering of parliamentary constituencies.

Democracy in Malaysia is facing another crisis, superadded on to which is the international infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak promised to make Malaysia “the best democracy of the world”, but after more than eight years of his premiership, Malaysia falls far short of the conditions to be a “normal democracy” let alone being  the “world’s best democracy”.

Only a change of government at the national level, for the first time in 60 years, can Malaysians fully restore democracy, the rule of law, human rights and save Malaysia from the interntional infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

On the 30th Anniversary of Ops Lalang mass arrests, I  call on  Malaysians to unite to save democracy, the  rule of law, human rights and to eradicate corruption and kleptocracy.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 October 2017, 3:08 pm and is filed under
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Call on Najib to start his belated defence of international multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal which transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy in his 2018 Budget speech

Three days before his 2018 Budget speech, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak suddenly issued a 81-paragraph blog on “My Economic Vision for Malaysia” which is remarkable for its attempt for the first time to white-wash the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal by explaining away the colossal theft and misappropriation of tens of billions of ringgit of public funds as a mere 1MDB  “share of problems” which “we long ago revamped the management to correct the mistakes and bring it back to financial health”.

This is not a worthy or acceptable response to the international strictures that Malaysia has become a “global kleptocracy” as a result of the 1MDB scandal, which is the core of the kleptocratic litigation instituted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, and which are now suspended pending criminal investigations by the United States authorities, as well as for the various financial and criminal actions and investigations by over half a dozen countries, including Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, the United Kingdom and Australia in connection with the 1MDB scandal.

Lest it be forgotten, the Malay Rulers’ on October 6, 2015 issued a rare joint statement and called on the Government to complete the investigation related to 1MDB as soon as possible and take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.

The Malay Rulers stressed that all concerned should extend “real and sincere” co-operation so that the 1MDB investigation achieves its objectives.

They said: “The findings of the investigation must be reported comprehensively and in a transparent manner so that the people will be convinced of the sincerity of the Government which shall not at all conceal facts and the truth.”

Issued by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, Datuk Seri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, the Malay Rulers said they were worried that if the issue was not wisely handled and was allowed to drag on, it could jeopardise the country’s economy and the livelihood of the people.

He said: “Hence, the Malay Rulers remind all leaders to always adhere to the Rukun Negara principles of upholding the Constitution and the Rule of Law. To ensure that the Government enjoys the people’s trust, that leaders are respected, that political stability is guaranteed and that the economy continues to grow, all leaders must constantly ensure that justice is meted out equitably and transparently based on the law.”

The advice of the Malay Rulers on the 1MDB scandal had been completely disregarded and their concern ignored for the past two years.

I call on Najib  to start his belated defence of international multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal which transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy in his 2018 Budget speech tomorrow, so that the 2018 Budget debate can be turned into a full parliamentary debate on the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.

(Speech at the DAP “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia, Change Malaysia” dinner at  Zong Hua Banquet Hall, Cheng, Malacca on Thursday, 26th October 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 October 2017, 11:45 am and is filed under
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Najib cannot be more wrong in boasting that the 2018 is the “mother of all budgets” – it is the “mother of all hypocritical budgets” when he dared not even address the 1MDB “mother of all scandals” which transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocrcacy

I am very disappointed.

Throughout the nearly three-hour budget presentation by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, I did not hear the single reference to the interntional multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which had overnight transformed Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

How can Najib boast that the 2018 Budget which he had presented is the “Mother of All Budgets” – that no other budget “during the last 22 years or the past 60 years of our own nation” had never been crafted so well – when he dare not even mention address the 1MDB “mother of all scandals” which transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy!

I am shocked that Najib should claim that he is even better than his father, Tun Razak who had presented a budget as Finance Minister.

At the DAP “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia, Change Malaysia” dinner at Cheng in Malacca last night, I had asked Najib to start his belated defence of the 1MDB scandal and on Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy, as he had three days ago, issued a 81-paragraph blog on “My Economic Vision for Malaysia” which is remarkable for his attempt for the first time to white-wash the 1MDB scandal.

I thought he was preparing the way for the full-defence of the 1MDB scandal in his 2018 Budget presentation today, but he dared not even mention the 1MDB scandal and the global kleptocracy which Malaysia is known world-wide under his premiership.

It is Najib who should ponder deep and hard the example from the history of the prophets and highlighted by Imam Ghazali and Bapa Hamka, “What is the point of being wealthy but weak in soul” (“apalah guna kita hanya kaya harta, tetapi miskin jiwa.”

As a result, Najib’s 2018 Budget can only qualify to be the “mother of all hypocritical budgets” as Najib himself must tell Malaysians what has he learnt after pondering the injunction of “What is the point of being wealthy but weak in soul”.

[
Media Comment in Parliament on Friday, 27th October 2017,/em>]

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 October 2017, 7:12 pm and is filed under
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Najib cannot take the moral high ground to claim his 2018 Budget is the best budget in the nation’s 60 history as the  “mother of all budgets” when it dared not address  the most basic moral question in governance, the  1MDB scandal and Malaysia’s infamy as a  global kleptocracy during Najib’s premiership

The Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, cannot take the moral high ground to claim that his 2018 Budget which he presented to Parliament yesterday is the best in the nation‘s 60-year history as the “mother of all budgets” when it dared not address the most basic moral question in governance, the international  multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy during Najib’s premiership.

For five years, Najib  had studiously avoided the issue of the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy in his annual budget speech in Parliament, but  three days before his 2018 Budget presentation in Parliament yesterday, he came out with a 81-paragraph statement ringing praise for his financial and economic stewardship of the country.

In his pre-2018 Budget declaration, Najib  also attempted to white-wash the 1MDB scandal, making the ridiculous claim  that 1MDB could have saved Malaysia RM200 billion over the next 20 years in solving the “lop-sided power agreements” if not because of “economic sabotage”, as well as alluding to 1MDB’s “share of problems” which he claims to have resolved as “we long ago revamped the management to correct the mistakes and bring it back to financial health”.

In actual fact, as clearly documented by the United States Department of Justice largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, and which are now suspended pending criminal investigations by the United States authorities, as well as in  various financial and criminal actions and investigations by over half a dozen countries, including Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, the United Kingdom and Australia,  1MDB was meant to be an international money-laundering scam right from the beginning – which is the reason why Malaysia is suffering the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

Najib’s 2018 Budget cannot  lay claim to be “mother of all budgets” if he cannot claim the moral high ground of integrity, incorruptibility,  good governance, transparency, accountability.

For a start, is Najib prepared to allow a full parliamentary debate on the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy in the final budget debate of the present Parliament beginning on Monday?

(Speech at the Penang DAP State Deepavali reception at Juru on Saturday, 28th October 2017 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 28 October 2017, 3:05 pm and is filed under
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A Pakatran Harapan Government in Putrajaya will prove in five years that it is better than UMNO/BN government for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli or the voters can re-elect a UMNO/BN government in 15GE

What in a nutshell is the reason why there must be a  change of government in Putrajaya in the next 14th General Election?

Has Malaysia fulfilled our Merdeka Dream 1957 and Malaysia Dream 1963 to be a shining example to the world of an united,  successful, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures?

We have not, as we are wracked by growing extremism, intolerance and bigotry resulting in the worst racial and religious polarization in the nation’s history, with more and more Malaysians, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak,  questioning the violations of  the bedrock principles of the Malaysian constitution and nation-building.

What is worse, we have become a global kleptocracy – and this is the first time in the 14 general elections in 60 years of the nation’s history that electorate is being presented starkly with the choice: “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan kleptokrasi”.

As I said in Parliament before I was suspended for six months in October 2015 for wanting to get to the bottom of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, a kleptocracy is a government of three Ps – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.

I do not believe that there is any community, race, religion of culture in the world who want their leaders to come from the 3Ps, but for the past few years, the Prime Minister and his government had done nothing to clear or cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, presented his “mother of all budgets” last Friday, and believe that it would be the recipe not only for the UMNO/BN coalition to win big in the forthcoming general election, but for UMNO/BN to win back two-thirds parliamentary majority lost in the last two general elections in 2008 and 2013.

The voters will decide whether they are going to allow the “goodies” of the 2018 Budget to stomach the infamy and ignominy of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

The UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers are attacking the Pakatan Harapan claiming that a Pakatan Harapan can only be worse than the UMNO/BN coalition government.

The UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers cannot be more wrong, as the Penang and Selangor State Governments which was won by the Pakatan opposition with a greater mandate in the 2013 general election bore clear testimony.

A Pakatran Harapan Government in Putrajaya will prove in five years that it is better than UMNO/BN government for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli or the voters can re-elect a UMNO/BN government in 15th General Election whether in 2022 or 2023.

(Speech at the DAP Ulu Selangor “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptocrasi” dinner held in Rasa on Sunday, 29th October 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 October 2017, 9:23 am and is filed under
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