DAP made bogeyman to rally Malay support, divert attention, say analysts

by Anisah Shukry

The Malaysian Insider

14 December 2015

The demonising of DAP in this year’s Umno general assembly was a calculated move by party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to use the opposition party as a bogeyman to drum up support among the Malays and distract his supporters from his own weaknesses, say political analysts.

DAP was Umno’s villain of choice because PKR was not seen as a threat, due to the jailing of party de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, while PAS was seen as a potential ally, said Ibrahim Suffian (pic), the executive director of independent pollster Merdeka Center.

“The economy is not doing so well, the prime minister and the party are less popular. So in order to round up support, particularly among its core supporters, it needs to define an opponent that is very different from them.

“Here, DAP is targeted as the bogeyman to rally Malay support because it represents the antithesis of what Umno stands for – DAP is secular, it champions a more liberal democracy, it wants more equality for minorities, for example.”

Lim Teck Ghee, the executive director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives said Najib was also trying to distract supporters from his own failings by demonising DAP.

“The targeting and demonising of DAP, and recourse to crude racist allegations against the opposition party, is also the mark of a desperate leader seeking to distract attention from his own shortcomings and the opposition he faces within the party,” he said.

But Ibrahim said Umno should also be credited for making the clear distinction that DAP, as a party, was the enemy, and not the entire non-Malay community.

Last week’s Umno assembly saw no racial or sensitive remarks surfacing, unlike last year’s, where Najib kicked off his policy speech with a reminder of the May 13, 1969 riots, youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin warned non-Malays not to dispute the special rights of the Malays and the rulers’ position, and Baling Wanita Umno chief Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim alleged that a Chinese in the state burnt the Quran in a prayer ritual.

But even though the non-Malays were not painted as antagonists this year, it did not mean Umno – a party that purports to champion and protect the Malays – had abandoned the race card altogether to drum up support, said Ibrahim.

“The vilification of DAP was done to accentuate the point that Umno remains the primary party for the Malays, that Malays have to trust Umno.

“While Najib’s speech was not directed at the Chinese, it still wanted to draw public attention to the fact that in the opposition coalition, Malay representation is poor, they don’t have much of a voice and are less prominent.”

He said it remained to be seen whether the speech would affect race relations, given that Najib had not spoken out against the Chinese or the Indians.

He added that it was erroneous for anyone to equate DAP with the Chinese community, and even Najib had taken pains to equate DAP to liberal politics.

Lim said it was no surprise that grassroots leaders The Malaysian Insider spoke to agreed with Najib’s claims that DAP was racist, extremist and anti-Islam, despite the opposition party’s efforts to woo more Malay members.

“The assembly’s response to his speech is predictable. It’s not that they have fallen for the president’s line of thinking and logic. They share it. The ideology of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ (Malay supremacy) is alive and deeply rooted in Umno.

“In expressing their support for the president, they are simply showing their mindset, which is in denial of the real reasons for the decline in the party’s stature, that is, corruption, venality and greed.

“But some Malays within and outside the party have woken up to the truth. That they have not openly expressed it does not mean that there is little or no awareness of the party’s fall from grace, which has been rapidly accelerated by Najib’s leadership,” said Lim. – December 14, 2015.

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Malaysia Premier Tightens Grip as Draws Islamic Parties Closer

Shamim Adam

Bloomberg

December 14, 2015

Having silenced his critics at a meeting of Malaysia’s ruling party, Prime Minister Najib Razak is moving to cement his hold on power by further wooing the ethnic Malay majority.

After five months of political turmoil sparked by a multimillion-dollar funding scandal, Najib has seen off potential threats to his leadership, securing the backing of the powerful division chiefs in his United Malays National Organisation. His message of unity and his calls for loyalty went largely unchallenged at a five-day annual UMNO congress last week attended by detractors including former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

As an additional buffer, he is bringing UMNO closer to the main opposition Islamic party. That could help rally the Malay vote ahead of an election due by 2018. UMNO, in power since independence in 1957, won the 2013 ballot with its slimmest result yet as Chinese and Indian electors deserted Najib’s coalition, and since then he’s embraced policies that play to his support base of Malay voters.

A closer working relationship with Parti Islam se-Malaysia could have dual outcomes: Further help Najib fend off the funding scandal and lead to more hardline policies. PAS, as the opposition party is known, has advocated Shariah law — which allows for stoning or amputation for certain crimes — in a state it governs, while Najib has already made greater use of the country’s Sedition Act with the detention of media executives and political opponents.

Fear-Mongering

“Communal politics is on the rise in UMNO and they know they cannot depend on the Indian and Chinese votes anymore,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. “Najib is leading a political party that wants to move to the right. People are reacting to fear-mongering and fearful of the implications if they change their attitudes.”

Najib has reached out to PAS and proposed the parties work to promote Islam’s doctrines. Beware the possibility of the country being governed by a party that is not Islamic, he told about 2,700 party elites at the UMNO congress.

As he instructs grassroots leaders to start preparing for the next election, Najib faces a population frustrated with rising costs and stagnant wages. Business and consumer sentiment have weakened and the economy is slowing. Investor confidence may return if Najib can show he is stronger and able to lead his coalition to a more decisive victory, Wan Saiful said.

Political Stability

“When it comes to the business community, the thing they are looking at the most is political stability,” he said. “Ironically if they are looking for certainty, then they wouldn’t care really how Najib and UMNO would remain in power.”

Najib has denied any wrongdoing over revelations that 2.6 billion ringgit ($605 million) appeared in his private accounts before the 2013 election. He says the money was political donations from the Middle East, not public funds.

Malays account for as much as 60 percent of the country’s 31 million people, though estimates vary.

PAS has had a tenuous relationship with UMNO since the 1970s when it was temporarily in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang said Friday the party is open to talks with anyone who can advance the principles of Islam. Hadi also urged UMNO to “repent” and said it was a good time for the party to return to an Islamic way of life.

Dancing Parties

“UMNO and PAS have always been playing a sort of a dance,” said James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania. “The point of common interest is that they are both afraid that the non-Malays will take over.”

The opposition coalition which includes PAS splintered in June, in part over PAS’s move to approve the use of the Islamic penal code in the state of Kelantan which it controls. Shariah law allows for the punishment of adulterers with death and thieves with amputation.

That sat uneasily with its coalition partners, which included the ethnic Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party and urban-focused People’s Justice Party, or PKR. Anwar Ibrahim, who led the opposition alliance, is in jail for sodomy, a charge he denies.

Two Choices

Najib is seeking to profit from the opposition disarray. Malaysians must choose between an alliance led by UMNO or the DAP, he said on Thursday, warning a government run by the DAP would be disastrous.

“Do we want the future of our children and grandchildren and the Islamic religion to be left to other than the existing Malay and Islamic leadership?” Najib said.

The premier was a teenager when riots erupted between Muslim Malays and ethnic Chinese in Kuala Lumpur in 1969. His father Abdul Razak Hussein became prime minister the following year and responded with a program to reduce Chinese dominance in business by giving preferential treatment to Bumiputeras, which refers to the Malay and indigenous people. Those programs still exist today.

“His statement comes as no surprise because every time UMNO faces a crisis, it will use fear tactics to scare Malaysians with racial issues,” leaders of Pakatan Harapan, a new opposition coalition that doesn’t include PAS, said in a statement. “Pakatan Harapan calls on the people, especially Malays, not to be trapped in these racial games.”

Najib may struggle not to play the race card before the election, said Samsul Adabi Mamat, a political science lecturer at the National University of Malaysia.

“While there are pressures for him to move to the right, Najib is actually still pushing for the concept of wasatiyah or moderation in Islam,” Samsul said. “He is trying to find the middle ground where the form of Islam proposed by UMNO is one that can be accepted by all races. If he were to use PAS’s form of Islam, the Chinese will reject it.”

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Outcome of UMNO General Assembly – Najib stronger but UMNO weaker

The outcome of the UMNO General Assembly over the weekend is that the Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak has emerged stronger while UMNO has become weaker.

This is good for Pakatan Harapan for the 14th General Election but not good for Malaysia in the next 30 months as the country stumbles from one crisis to another under a government paralysed by crippling denial syndrome and   an  administration which is fractured, inept and cut off from the realities on the ground.

This is why the UMNO General Assembly completely ignored four of the five biggest political and socio-economic scandals in the country this year – Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals; the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill which usurps the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and 13 State Governments; and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) adding  to the hardships of low-income Malaysians, already sandwiched between rising costs of  living and falling incomes.

On the fifth biggest scandal in the country, there was even an attempt at the UMNO General Assembly to  hijack public funds to come out with a publication to glorify the Sept. 16 “Red Shirts” rally in Kuala Lumpur which turned the 2015 Malaysia Day into a “black-lettered” day full of negative vibes of inter-racial disunity, division and disharmony when it should be a day to celebrate the unity, union and harmony of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region!

Having taken the country for a ride for two months promising to answer all questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal and reneging on this undertaking on the last day of Parliament on Dec. 3, what did Najib say about the RM2.6 billion issue at the UMNO General Assembly?

One miserable reference that the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had “answered” the  issue in Parliament, when Zahid never answered anything in his three-minute Ministerial Non-Statement on Dec. 3!

What was worse, Zahid opened up a new can of worms when he told the pro-UMNO news portal Agenda Daily on 9th December that it was not an individual but the leadership of a government in the Middle East who gave the RM2.6 billion “donation” – “Penderma RM2.6 billion itu bukanlah individu dalam ertikata seorang. Ia adalah pimpinan sebuah kerajaan.”

This is a completely new twist to the donor of the RM2.6 billion “donation” after more than five months – that the donor is not an individual but “leadership of a government”.

Why was this “revelation” never pursued at the UMNO General Assembly, why this fear by UMNO delegates to show interest, concern or even outrage at the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal?

Three questions immediately crop up:

Firstly
, why the twist and turn as to who is the donor instead of telling the truth outright. There is now also the controversy whether there is only one donor or more than one donor for the RM2.6 billion “donation”.

Secondly
, is the story about who is the “donor” being changed because the claim that it came from one individual lacks credibility?

Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir has described the claim that the RM2.6 billion came from an individual was “bullshit”, saying that the whole world had a good laugh at the explanation which the majority of Malaysians did not buy.

He said only a “crazy Arab” would part with RM2.6 billion for nothing.

He recounted how  when he was Prime Minister, he had written to the Arab nations for donation for Islamic educational institutions but he could not raise even a single dollar from them for the Malaysian International Islamic University or for the Oxford Islamic  Centre.

Is this the reason for  the attempted change in the story of the donor from an individual to a “leadership of a government”.

Thirdly
, this new twist and alteration to the story of an Arab individual as the donor to a “leadership of a government” poses new problems – for if true, this would mean that for the first time in Malaysian history, a foreign government had been allowed to interfere in  the general election process, involving an astronomical sum of money which is more than 26 times the total  amount that is legally permissible to be spent in elections by all the 222 Parliamentary and 505 State Assembly candidates of the ruling coalition!

Which country donated RM2.6 billion to the UMNO/BN coffers and was  allowed to interfere with  the 13th General Election?

Is this the reason why Najib could continue to run the Federal Government, even though as the first minority Prime Minister in Malaysian history, or he would have been in the Opposition benches with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister?

When DAP became the favourite punching bag in the UMNO General Assembly, it is because Najib and UMNO leaders want the Malays to hate and fear the DAP.

There is no basis for the Malays to hate the DAP, for it is a downright lie that DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam. DAP was founded by Malaysians in 1966 by patriotic  and multiracial group of Malaysians in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream,  not a Chinese Dream, a Malay Dream, an Indian Dream, an Iban Dream or an Kadazan Dream.

We in the DAP do not want a Chinese Malaysia, an Indian Malaysia, a Kadazan Malaysia, an Iban Malaysia or a Malay Malaysia – but a Malaysia where all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, can feel proud of common efforts to build  a new and overarching Malaysian national identity which rises above race, religion, culture, language or region.

This is why no person can qualify to be a Malaysian or be a Malaysian nationalist and  patriot if he or she hates or is anti any other race, religion, culture or language in the country.

But why do UMNO and UMNO leaders want Malays to fear the DAP?

This is in fact a back-handed compliment and acknowledgement by UMNO that the DAP is competing with UMNO for the hearts and minds of Malays – as part of the DAP vision of reaching out to all Malaysians with our message of a Malaysian Dream, regardless of race, religion or region.

Let me challenge Najib to a contest to win the hearts and minds, not only of the Malays, but also of all Malaysians.

Although DAP is open to all Malaysians, there is a need for DAP to shed its Chinese or non-Malay image and reach out to all – to Malays, Kadazans, Ibans and Orang Asli.

UMNO is now exclusively restricted only to Malays. It should  heed the proposal by the founding UMNO President, Dato Onn Jaafar 65 years ago in 1950 that UMNO open its doors to non-Malays to build a united nation.

Let UMNO open its doors to non-Malays to reach out to all non-Malays, while DAP shed its Chinese or non-Malay image to reach out to Malays, Kadazans, Ibans and Orang Asli – and let such a healthy and benign competition help bring forward the achievement of the Malaysian Dream, whether 1Malaysia or Bangsa Malaysia.

Are the UMNO leaders prepared to have such a competition with DAP to win the hearts and minds of all Malaysians, and not just for one race or one group in the country?

(Speech to the DAP Sekolah Demokrasi  at Mandarin Court Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 13th December 2015 at 12 noon)

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PAS loses shine with campus students

by Zulkifli Sulong

The Malaysian Insider

14 December 2015

Groomed by PAS in university for a future in politics, four close friends who lived and studied together, and were part of the Islamist party’s campus network, have decided to abandon the party and affiliate themselves with other political parties instead.

In events that mirror developments at the national level after PAS progressives left to form Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), the four friends, Khairul Najib Hashim, Mohammad Amar Atan, Fahmi Zainol dan Adam Fistival Wilfrid, said they found PAS to be stifling.

The Universiti Malaya (UM) student activists said the PAS network, also known as “jemaah” (congregation) on campus was controlling and restrictive.

“We considered campus to be a training ground (for politics) and our place to experiment with activities but when PAS tried to stifle us, we started to rebel,” Khairul Najib told The Malaysian Insider.

UM has been a PAS stronghold since the 1980s, when the party formed campus network after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim left Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) for Umno in 1983.

The Islamist party, which is now on its own on the opposition bench after refusing to join Pakatan Harapan, has a cadre system in local universities.

But Khairul Najib, who used to head the PAS “jemaah” network on the UM campus, said the party had begun to control the movement of students, such as by dictating the speakers they could invite.

“When they tried to dictate to us, which ustaz or speaker we should invite, we felt they were behaving like the Students Affairs Body, which we had been resisting.”

Khairul Najib, the former president of UM’s Muslim graduates association (PMIUM) and Mohammad Amar, UM graduates association president (PMUM), have both decided to join PAS splinter group, Amanah instead.

The two have been appointed to Amanah’s Youth exco and are tasked with important duties in the party.

Fahmi, who was PMUM president for the 2013-2014 term, together with Adam, have joined PKR.

Fahmi is the party’s graduates’ bureau chairman, while Adam, a Christian from Sabah, is coordinator for PKR movement, myChangeMakers. Though non-Muslim, he was allowed to join the PAS campus network.

Even one of their seniors, Sheikh Omar Ali, a former PAS Youth chief in Johor also decided to leave the Islamist party to join its former ally, DAP, which was considered anti-Islam by PAS.

Khairul Najib said PAS should had only prepared the guidelines on “tarbiyyah” (systematic development of Muslims), and beyond that, allowed students to experiment freely.

He estimated that some 50% of the students in UM’s PAS “jemaah” had joined Amanah and only 10-15% remained with PAS.

The same scenario has taken place in Universiti Islam Antarabangsa.

A group of students disgruntled with PAS started a faction and joined Amanah when it was formed. – December 14, 2015.

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The five government scandals this year which show that UMNO/BN Federal Government is utterly insensitive to the rights and concerns of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region

This is  the 43rd parliamentary constituency I am visiting as part of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign since I was suspended from Parliament on Oct. 22, 2015 for six months – – not because I had stolen, robbed or killed anyone, but because as elected representatives, we have the right and obligation to demand full accountability from the  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his  RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

Although it will not be possible for me to visit all the 222 Parliamentary and 576 State Assembly constituencies in the country during the period of my six-month suspension from Parliament, I will try to visit more than 50 per cent of the 222 Parliamentary constituencies in the country by the time I am allowed to return to Parliament – with a strong and unmistakable mandate from Malaysians from all over the country, embracing all races, religions and regions in the country, to demand that Najib must fully account for the twin mega scandals.

Undoubtedly today, one of the greatest concerns in everyone’s minds, even to the Malay Rulers who even issued a rare joint statement on the 1MDB scandal on Oct. 6, are the two questions: where the RM2.6 billion “donation” in  Najib’s personal banking accounts came from, and where they have gone to.

For six weeks during the budget parliamentary meeting,  Najib and the Ministers had taken MPs from both sides of the House for a ride, giving the promise that the government would be completely forthcoming and answer all questions relating to the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal on the last day of Parliament, only to renege on the last sitting of Parliament on Dec. 3 with a three-minute Ministerial Non-Statement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi disclosing absolutely nothing at all.

Did Najib, Zahid or any government minister offer any apology or express any contrition  to Members of Parliament and the nation for the government being caught so red-handed in breaking its promise and breaching its trust to Parliament and the country?

None at all. In fact, the Ministerial benches seem quite proud of such perfidy!

At the UMNO General Assemblies this week, Najib and the UMNO leadership thought they could bury the two scandals once and for all, but both  scandals have proved to be very sturdy and viral, with lives of their own, refusing to disappear from the public domain.

In fact, both these scandals  had hounded and haunted Najib and the UMNO leadership throughout the UMNO General Assemblies, as they are the major causes of the continuous fall in Najib and the government’s credibility, not only in Malaysia but also world-wide.

From the public support for the “Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign all over the country, from all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, Najib should realise that the RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals are not just going to go away by Najib pretending that they have ceased to be national issues and concerns.

Najib and his administration must wake up to the fact that the only way these two mega scandals will disappear from the public domain and cease to be issues is for  the Prime Minister to  give full and satisfactory accounting, in particular where the RM2.6 billion “donation” came from and where they have gone to.

There are five government scandals this year which show that Najib and his government are utterly insensitive to the rights and concerns of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, viz:

1.	The scandal of the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts;

2.	The RM50 billion 1MDB scandal;

3.	The National Security Council Bill which usurped the powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the 13 State Governments;

4.	The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) adding  to the hardships of low-income Malaysians, already sandwiched between rising costs of  living and falling incomes; and

5.	The divisive, racist and chauvinist Red Shirts Rally on Sept. 16, in utter contempt for the significance of Sept. 16 as Malaysia Day on the need for all Malaysians to reaffirm their Malaysian identity, unity and patriotism to forge a united nation out of the diverse races, languages, cultures and territories.

It is a crying shame that none of the Members of Parliament of UMNO or Barisan Nasional had dared to raise their voices against anyone of these five political and socio-economic scandals afflicting the country this year, which are in fact good and powerful reasons why Najib and his administration have lost the right and mandate to run the federal government from Putrajaya and the need for a democratic transition of power in the 14th General Election.

Politics in Malaysia today is in a very bleak but fluid situation.

The recent formation of Parti Amanah Negara and Pakatan Harapan have filled a political void and vacuum which have troubled Malaysians who had rooted for a change of government in the 13th  General Election, but who were prepared to bravely soldier on into the 14th General Election despite their disappointments –  that despite winning 53 per cent of the popular vote, Anwar Ibrahim could not become Prime Minister but  Najib could hang on and  continue as minority Prime Minister because he controlled 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats as a result of unfair and undemocratic redelineation of parliamentary constituencies.

But they were dismayed by the disunity and eventual demise of  Pakatan Rakyat because of the decision of the PAS leadership to renege on the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework and the consensus principle which had enabled the three PR parties of DAP, PKR and PAS to operate effectively as one coalition.

In retrospect, Pakatan Rakyat’s failure to capture the majority of the parliamentary seats in the 13th General Election  may be a blessing in disguise, for Pakatan Rakyat would have  faced  its first major crisis of survival immediately after the polls even before the first PR Federal Government  and Cabinet were formed – as the supreme PAS leader had never agreed to Anwar Ibrahim as the PR choice as Prime Minister of Malaysia, just as he subsequently opposed the appointment of  Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ibrahim as the Mentri Besar for Selangor.

Bukit Pasir in Pagoh parliamentary constituency is the last of my six whistlestop visits in one day as part of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang  & Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign –  the other five stops  being Chaah, Labis, Tenang (Labis parliamentary), Batu Anam (Segamat parliamentary), Tangkak (Ledang parliamentary).

It  highlights the special importance of Johor as the front-line state in the 14GE battle and the political sea change that has taken place in  Johor in the past two general elections.

Before 2008, if anybody should ask whether it is possible for the Oposition to win power in the Johor State Government, the answer would be an unanimous and categorical “No”!

But after the 2013 General Elections, if anybody should ask whether it is possible for the Opposition  to win the Johor State Government , the answer would be a powerful “Yes” for the majority of thinking people in the State.

This is the extent of the political sea-change which has taken place in the state in the past seven years.

Before the 13th General Elections in May 2013, I had said that it would be easier to win Putrajaya than to win Nusajaya. In the event, Pakatan Rakyat parties of DAP, PAS and PKR won 18 out of 56 State Assembly seats – one short of denying BN two-thirds majority in the State Assembly – and five out of 26 Parliamentary seats.

Until the 13th General Elections, UMNO and BN were so arrogant in Johor that their leaders publicly boasted that they would ensure that Johor would be come a zero-opposition state.

Such claim is now history, for in the next general election, what UMNO and BN would be struggling to achieve is not a zero-opposition state, but to save themselves from being toppled as the state government in Johor and relegated to an Opposition status in the state.

If Pakatan Harapan can capture the Johor state government in the 14th General Election, how can UMNO and Barisan Nasional prevent Pakatan Harapan from winning Putrajaya and  undergoing the first  change of Federal government in the country’s history?

This is the magnitude of the political change which is taking place in Malaysia and the enormity of the challenge and tall order facing Pakatan Harapan in the 14th General Election –  to achieve not only Federal power but state governments in six states in the country.

(Speech at the last of six-whistlestops-in-one-day
“Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?”
 nation-wide campaign in  Johor in Bukit Pasir, Pagoh on Saturday, 12th December 20145 at 6 pm)

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Anti-Najib Forces Planning ‘Guerrilla War’

By John Berthelsen

Asian Sentinel

December 14, 2015

With the United Malays National Organization’s annual general meeting safely out of the way last week and with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in the saddle as expected, the opposition led by dumped Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former Premier Mahathir Mohamad is expected to set off on a new course.  Some are calling it guerrilla war.

The four-day conclave was programmed down to the last speaker and lunch menu to make sure that Muhyiddin, Mahathir and other dissidents didn’t have a chance to upset anything despite huge controversies over dual scandals involving Najib’s personal finances and massive debt owed by the state backed 1Malaysia Development Bhd. investment fund.

Two-pronged strategy

A political insider said the opposition is planning a two-pronged strategy, working on the grassroots to persuade the 30,000 branch chiefs to abandon the prime minister. That is said to include printing books detailing corruption, pamphlets, accounts of swindles and holding ceramahs –“lectures,” as political rallies are technically outlawed.

The second prong – a longer shot – is to prepare the ground for eventual party elections, which were delayed earlier this year by Najib to avoid a challenge. A pro-Najib blog identified a so-called “5M” slate headed by Muhyiddin to take on Najib in 2018 when party elections are scheduled, although that seems unlikely. At 67, Muhyiddin would be almost 70 and he expressed a desire to retire before the current controversy made him a lightning rod.

Nonetheless, the attrition campaign, as some political observers call it, risks the most dangerous splits in UMNO since the 1980s when Mahathir and onetime Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah succeeded in splitting the party in two in a power struggle that was subsequently healed.  This could be worse, a scorched-earth drive aimed at the 3 million UMNO members across the country.  Muhyiddin’s forces are said to be planning across the country to try to persuade the members to abandon Najib and the leadership of the party.

“I think UMNO is finished,” said a Malay source. “The party is wrecked.”

Spreading disillusion

There is already spreading disillusion in urban ranks over corruption and the antics of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, who has openly flaunted vast wealth. Malay support – the backbone of the party – has fallen to 31 percent, according to the most recent Merdeka Centre poll, driving UMNO to make common cause with Parti Islam se-Malaysia, the rural-based Islamic fundamentalist party. Chinese support has fallen to less than 5 percent.

Nonetheless, none of the 192 cadres who vote Najib’s fate at the top of UMNO have budged despite the multiple scandals. So Mahathir, Muhyiddin, cashiered Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal and others have begun a war of attrition, going to grassroots members throughout the country in an attempt to persuade them that Najib and his associates have to go or the Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition led by UMNO, will lose the next general election.

Southern state a hotbed of opposition

A relatively significant rump movement has already sprung up in Johor, Muhyiddin’s home territory and the state he served as chief minister before moving on to the national level. Over the weekend, 250 rank-and-file UMNO members from Kedah and Johor called on Najib to step down for the sake of the party and the Barisan.  Earlier, in November, 20 branches in the southern Selangor city of Sepang – home of the country’s F1 racecourse – told Najib to get out.

A small group of branch division leaders were recently expelled for demanding Najib’s resignation. Najib, however, has been able to maintain the loyalty of the 192 voting cadres through a combination of rent-seeking, make-work jobs and outright bribes of as much as RM2 million, according to the investigative website, which documented earlier this year that checks were handed out personally by Najib to UMNO party heads, with deputy Finance Minister Ahman Maslan receiving a RM2 million check and Back Bench Chairman Shahrir Abdul Samad receiving RM1 million, among others.

Muhyiddin and Mahathir, who weren’t allowed to speak to the UMNO AGM, instead held their own gala at the beginning of the AGM in another area of Kuala Lumpur that drew an estimated 1,000 UMNO delegates, many of them shouting “Hidup (‘Life’) Tan Sri” at Muhyiddin.

Olive branch spurned

Najib sought to offer an olive branch at the convention, only to be turned down by Muhyiddin, who retains his title of deputy party chief despite being sacked as vice premier.  Muhyiddin instead posted a thank you note from a supporter who spoke up on his behalf on his Facebook page.

He is expected to make another major address in Kuala Lumpur in the next day or two, calling for widespread rejection of the prime minister.

In the meantime, Mahathir has continued his own campaign through his blog Chedet, in which he wrote before the AGM: “O members and UMNO grassroot leaders. Think carefully. Do not support and be blindly faithful for favors you gain today. Our race will curse us if the fate of the race becomes worse because we are greedy and forget UMNO’s struggle. And all the blessings that we got will be destroyed, in fact the government of the opposition party will be acting on your mistakes when they rule.

“O members and UMNO grassroot leaders. If you want to be safe and win, reject the leadership of (Najib) before GE14. Reject his leadership prior to the GE14 so that UMNO is safe and be able to win the election and remain as a government that is fair to all. I write in my blog because strict restrictions are in place so that I could not meet and talk with members of UMNO and the public. Machinery being used, consisting of government bodies and the party is very efficient. It by itself is proof of offenses being committed.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 December 2015, 10:41 am and is filed under
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What “olive branch” Najib could offer PAS in exchange for  support of 14 PAS MPs to secure two-thirds parliamentary majority together with 134 UMNO/BN MPs  to amend the Constitution for redelineation of parliamentary constituencies?

If by some miracle, it is possible to restitch back Pakatan Rakyat and get back together the three parties, DAP, PKR and PAS (plus  a second miracle of re-uniting PAS and Parti Amanah Negara) under one roof for the 14th General Election, could the reconstituted Pakatan Rakyat  defeat the UMNO/BN coalition by winning more parliamentary seats than the 13GE?

I don’t think so although UMNO in the 14th GE will be more fractured and weaker than in the 13GE with Datuk Seri Najib Razak as Prime Minister haunted and hounded by so many political and economic scandals as compared to the general election two years ago.

This is because the reconstituted Pakatan Rakyat in the 14th General Election will be fighting a losing battle just to win back the same number of parliamentary and state assembly seats, for the most important element which led to the 53% popular support for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th General Election, resulting in 89 Parliamentary and 229 State Assembly seats (minus Sarawak) will be missing, i.e. absolute trust and confidence in the PR because of  the people’s belief in the  adherence and unswerving commitment of DAP, PKR and PAS to the PR Common Policy Framework and the PR consensus operational principle.

I am reminded of the nursery rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Like Humpty Dumpty after its “great fall”, it would not be possible to put Pakatan Rakyat together again.

What is needed is a new vehicle for political change, and this is why the formation of Parti Amanah Negara and the establishment of Pakatan Harapan are so significant and historic for they fill the political void and vacuum in the Malaysian political arena and embody the renewed hopes and  bold vision of Malaysians to complete the unfinished business and struggle to bring about political change in Putrajaya and the state governments in Malaysia.

In last week’s UMNO General Assembly,  the UMNO President extended  two “olive branches” – one to his estranged Deputy UMNO President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the other to PAS.

An aide to Muhyiddin had commented that it was an “olive branch” without an olive, while it is still to be seen what “olive branch” Najib would be offering to PAS  in exchange for support of the 14 PAS MPs to secure two-thirds parliamentary majority together with 134 UMNO/BN MPs to amend the Constitution for redelineation of parliamentary constituencies.

It is not a coincidence that immediately after the UMNO General Assembly,  the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, lamented that Barisan Nasional is “suffering” without its customary two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat and cannot amend the Federal Constitution to create new parliamentary constituencies and provide sufficient seats for its component parties.

The just-concluded UMNO General Assembly provides the strongest proof that UMNO is reduced  to the last weapons of lies, fear and hatred in the politics of race and religion to maintain its hold on power in Putrajaya, completely ignoring the political and socio-economic crisis it had created as a result of its mismanagement and failure of governance.

Najib and the UMNO/BN government have created at  least five major political and socio-economic crisis this year alone – Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega crisis; the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill which usurps the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and 13 State Governments; the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) adding  to the hardships of low-income Malaysians, already sandwiched between rising costs of  living and falling incomes; and the divisive, racist and even seditious  UMNO-orchestrated  Sept. 16 “Red Shirts” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Day itself.

These five political and socio-economic scandals, which have aggravated the protracted  national and international crisis of confidence in the government, causing the plunge in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the fall in the nation’s international reserves, the flight of foreign capital and foreign investors, a new brain drain, with the ill-repute having a Prime Minister who is separately investigated by at least seven foreign countries about money-laundering and corrupt practices, are powerful distress signals of the urgent need for political change to save the nation.

This is the single biggest issue confronting all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics – the need to save Malaysia from hurtling towards a failed and a rogue state where there is breakdown of the rule of law and respect for human rights; collapse of accountability, transparency and good governance; rampant corruption, abuses of power and widespread  socio-economic injustices in the country; and increasing national division and discord with worsening racial and religious polarisation.

The challenge Malaysians must grasp today is not about how to save an individual, whether Najib or Hadi Awang; how to save a political party, whether UMNO or PAS; but how to save Malaysia so that the nation can return to the early promise to be a model to the world as a successful plural nation with diverse races, religions, languages and cultures with her people united in a common goal to achieve justice, freedom, development, progress and prosperity for all Malaysians.

Pakatan Harapan must dare to have bold vision for all Malaysians, to achieve the Malaysian Dream, and aim to win Putrajaya  to form the Federal Government and win at least six State Governments in the 14th General Election, including Perak.

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan ceramah in Taiping on Tuesday, 15th December 2015 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 December 2015, 7:38 am and is filed under
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Will Najib accept the democratic verdict of the voters in the 14GE rejecting UMNO/BN and demanding  for a change of government in Putrajaya through the ballot box or will he resort to undemocratic  powers like the National Security Council Act even without  a Proclamation of Emergency by Yang di Pertuan Agong?

I asked around just now when the Alor Pongsu State Assembly by-election in Perak was held but nobody seems to know.

It was 41 years ago when the DAP contested in the Alor Pongsu by-election in 1974, and although the UMNO/Barisan Nasional director of operations for the Alor Pongsu by-election announced on nomination day that the DAP’s Malay candidate would not secure more than 2,000 votes, i.e. getting only non-Malay voter support, DAP polled about 3,500 votes – indication that the DAP Malay candidate was able to secure significant Malay voter support as well.

The Alor Pongsu by-election is testimony  that right from the beginning of DAP’s formation 50 years ago, DAP had never regarded itself  as a Chinese or  non-Malay party,  never  an anti-Malay and anti-Islam party, but a party for all races and religions in the country.

DAP contested the Alor Pongsu by-election not because we expected to win, but part of a long-term reach-out by the party to all Malaysians and regions with the DAP message for national unity, justice, freedom, development and good governance for all.

I am pleasantly surprised by an old photograph taken when I visited Bagan Serai at  the end of 1970, which was shortly after I was released from the first Internal Security Act (ISA) detention,  and I thank the strong party supporter, who was in also in the photograph 45 years ago, who had presented with an enlarged copy of the photograph.

Bagan Serai is the birthplace of one of the foremost DAP leaders –  DAP Deputy Secretary-General, Member of Parliament and Perak State Assemblyman P. Pattoo, born on 10th December 1946 who unfortunately died at the young age of 48 on 12th July 1995.	His daughter, Kasthuri Patto is now the MP for Batu Kawan.

The old 1970 photograph has taken me down the memory lane and the DAP’s political struggle for the past five decades.

One common value the early leaders of DAP like our founder Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin (still healthy and strong at the age of 91), departed comrade-in-arms like  Karpal Singh, Ibrahim Singgeh (the first Malay DAP State Assemblyman in Perak in 1969), Peter Dason, Loke Swee Chin and Patto  shared in great bounty is our love for the country and our commitment and dedication to make Malaysia a better place for future generations.

We are in politics not for what we can get from it for ourselves whether in terms of monetary gain or material advancements, but for what we can do to translate our ideals and convictions to ensure that there is genuine national unity, greater justice, freedom, good governance and better society for all Malaysians.

We set out in politics without any idea of wanting to become Members of Parliament or State Assembly representative, but in terms of what we can do to serve and improve the nation and make it  closer to our ideals and aspirations.

In the process, we became Members of Parliament or State Assembly representatives but we must never lose sight of the fact that  becoming elected as MPs or SAs should not become the be-all and end-all of our political involvement, but  only as a means to achieve our political ideals and aspirations.

For the same reason, we hope that with the formation of Pakatan Harapan following the establishment of Parti Amanah Negara to fill the political vacuum and void which had caused enormous popular disappointments because of  the demise of Pakatan Rakyat, we must work hard to win Federal government in Putrajaya and six state governments in the 14th General Election, but we must never be a slave to the idea of  just becoming a government.

In other words, while we must work hard and toil without rest to achieve the objective of achieving Federal power and win six state governments in the 14GE, we must not be afraid NOT to  be the government-of-the-day if we have to compromise our fundamental principles and beliefs.

This brings me to Najib’s UMNO Presidential speech last Thursday, where he presented UMNO members and Malaysians with two false choices – whether the country is to be led by “a coalition led by Umno or another led by or dominated by DAP”.

He even told  the lie that “if UMNO is rejected, this country will be ruled by those who are against the Islamic struggle and reject the Malay and bumiputera agenda”.

The question that immediately surfaces if whether Najib  will accept the democratic verdict of the voters in the 14GE rejecting UMNO/BN and demanding for a change of government in Putrajaya through the ballot box or will he resort to undemocratic  powers like the National Security Council Act to suppress the democratic voice and choice of the people even without  a Proclamation of Emergency by Yang di Pertuan Agong?

Let Najib answer.

(Speech at  launching of Parti Amanah Negara in Bagan Serai on Mon, 14th Dec 2015 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 December 2015, 11:28 am and is filed under
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Does Malaysia really need High Speed Rail?

Liew Chin Tong

Malaysiakini

15 Dec 2015

MP SPEAKS
 At the China High Speed Railway Symposium, China’s public relation event to lobby for the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project, Land Public Transport Commission (Spad) chairperson Syed Hamid Albar said that some 14 companies have been invited to present their views and ideas to Malaysia and Singapore for the development of the HSR.

At each Parliamentary sitting since June 2013, I have asked the government to reveal the feasibility studies for KL-Singapore High Speed Rail.

In the recent Parliamentary sitting, I told Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri during the debate on Prime Minister’s Department’s budget, that the government must not enter into the High Speed Rail project without revealing the feasibility studies and without a national debate on the nation’s priorities.

Pakatan Harapan stated our objection to the HSR in the Alternative Budget for 2016 as the government fails to demostrate that the HSR is a national priority and there is no feasibility study detailing its financial viability.

The national priority should be to expand railways to cater for both freight and passengers.

Spending huge sums on the passenger – only HSR may not generate sufficient returns on investment, which eventually would lead to government bailouts, as seen in HSR in some countries.

Expansion of railway, on the contrary, would allow for more industries to use railway instead of highways for the transport of goods, which would reduce the need to build roads, reduce traffic congestions, and reduce the carbon footprint.

I urge Spad and the cannibalised Transport Ministry to release the feasability study report of the HSR and to initiate a national debate on whether to build the HSR.

It is unfortunate that the Transport Ministry has no role to play in public transport. It is about time that the Transport Ministry be given the task to plan the long-term and overall transport arrangements which must include the management of and investments in public transport.

LIEW CHIN TONG is DAP national political education director and Kluang MP.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 3:32 am and is filed under
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Najib must learn quick and fast that there is no way to resolve his grave problem of  trust deficit unless he gives full and satisfactory accountability on his twin mega scandals

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s trust deficit, already lowest for any Prime Minister among all racial groups in the nation’s 58 year history, continued to nose-dive after the UMNO General Assembly, with over a dozen adverse developments and stories keeping Najib’s twin mega scandals alive and kicking  in the past three days.

There were six such adverse stories in the last 24 hours in Malaysiakini, viz:

1.	PM’s flirtation with gaming world draws scorn

2.	Australian court shuts down 1MDB-linked funds

3.	Delay in handing over auditor-general’s 1MDB report to PAC

4.	To uncover 1MDB truth, cross examine Najib in court – by Nurul Izzah and Tian Chua.

5.	The colourful family and friends of 1MDB

6.	Malaysian police record Justo’s statement in Bangkok

A day earlier there were two news reports about  former MCA President Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik legal entanglements with Najib’s over the latter’s  twin mega scandals, about Najib’s claim against Ling and Ling’s counter-claim against Najib, and the former MCA President’s accusation that Najib had not instituted the legal suit against Ling with the genuine intention to seek legal redress, or Najib should have sued all UMNO leaders, past and present, who  have criticised him, such as Tun Mahathir as well as Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report.

Malaysiakini
 in its report
“Three reasons why people want to know about RM2.6b donation”
 quoted senior lawyer Tommy Thomas arguing in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on the PKR suit over the RM2.6 billion donation that there are three reasons Malaysians need to know regarding the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal bank accounts – (i) who are the people who gave the donation; (ii) what happened to the money; and (iii) why was it given.

Malay Mail Online
on Monday  also carried the report
“PKR lawsuit against Najib interfering with ongoing probe, 1MDB tells court”
 on the submission in court  by the counsel for the troubled state-owned company that a lawsuit initiated by PKR against Najib and several others was an attempt to interfere with the government’s unfinished investigation into the  RM2.6 billion donation scandal.

On the same day,
the Malaysian Insider
 carried an article
“UMNO Presidential speech could have been more balanced”
 by  Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, chairman of Asli Centre of Public Policy Studies, lamenting Najib’s inability to put his twin mega scandals to “permanent rest” with full and satisfactory accountability.

It was also on Monday that
Malaysiakini
  carried the hilarious but serious  piece by Mariam Mokhtar
“The Darth Vader of UMNO Baru”
 in response to the speech by the UMNO MP for Jerlun at the UMNO General Assembly describing Najib as “The Chosen One”  as the reason why Najib is “attacked left and right, from back and front, top to bottom”.

On Sunday, 24 hours  after the 69th UMNO General Assembly, the media were replete with articles and speculation whether Najib, who had clearly emerged on top from the UMNO assemblies, have succeeded in burying the twin mega scandals.

The categorical and unmistakable answer has come from the  over a dozen news reports linked the Najib’s twin mega scandals in past two days.

This is a lesson Najib and the UMNO leadership must learn quick and fast – that all the apple-polishing of Najib by the UMNO delegates at the UMNO General Assembly cannot bury Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals and that they will continue to dominate the public domain so long as the Prime Minister refuses to give a full and satisfactory accounting.

This is especially the case as Najib’s twin mega scandals have acquired an international dimension with at least seven foreign  countries launching separate investigations, making it impossible for the Najib administration to keep them under “lock and key” in the borderless world of information.

Not only to 30 million Malaysians but even to the  three million UMNO members throughout the country, these  two scandals and the new hard times they are facing because of GST implementation at a period of  falling  incomes coupled with spiraling costs of living are the real issues  of the day, even if they are ignored by Najib and the UMNO General Assembly.

Will Najib learn this lesson before it is too late that he cannot begin to resolve his trust deficit crisis unless he starts to come clean on his twin mega scandals.

In his UMNO Presidential speech last Thursday, Najib devoted only one paragraph to each of his twin mega scandals.

On 1MDB, he said it was “being handled and in the process of completion”,  that “with the sale Edra, 1MDB debts have been reduce by RM17 billion” – proof that the “1MDB rationalization plan is progressing well”.

This is just a “sleight of hand” by Najib on the 1MDB scandal – as he, the government and 1MDB had studiously and strenuously avoided mentioning what are the latest figures on the  accumulated debts of 1MDB.

The oft-used figure of RM42 billion represents 1MDB’s total debts  in March 2014, and according to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister on July 26, the total 1MDB debts were more than RM50 billion.  By now, it would have probably reached RM55 billion.

What is the present situation with regard to 1MDB debts after the sale of Edra to China General Nuclear Power Corp Ltd (CGN):  is it RM42 billion – RM17 billion, giving RM25 billion or RM55 billion – RM17 billion, leaving RM38 billion or only  RM4 billion less than the RM42 billion figure which had been tossed around for the past year.

When Najib is not prepared to provide Parliament and  the nation with such a  basic data, it is symptomatic of the sleights-of-hand and other deceptions he is guilty of in avoiding accountability for the twin mega scandals and why he must come clean without any further ado about both  mega scandals if he wants to save his credibility.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 8:58 am and is filed under
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Retail sector hit as Malaysians cut spending to cope with rising prices

by Ida Lim

The Malay Mail Online

December 14, 2015

 KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Retail outlets here are reporting a drop in business as Malaysians cut spending to cope with the rising cost of living.

For many of those who spoke to Malay Mail Online about their lifestyle changes, cutting out unnecessary purchases and making prudent spending choices are the order of the day.

Fadzilla Hernani, 29, a post-graduate student whose monthly household spending has gone up by around 20 per cent after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), said she has switched to hypermarkets’ house brands to get non-food items of equal quality at a cheaper price.

“Milk has no price controls, I choose the cheapest (baby) milk powder. Last time, I chose Anmum, but now it has increased by RM5, RM6, one week one box is RM60, but because it is expensive, I am forced to find a cheaper brand… Dutch Lady at RM25, the quality is slightly lower,” said Fadzilla, who has a three-year-old toddler.

Every sen saved counts for Fadzilla who now buys paper of slightly lower quality at 70gsm just to save RM1 and purchases pens in bulk without caring for the brand.

Fadzilla, who also works as a business assistant, notes that savings have gone down, as wages remain largely stagnant.

With the GST forcing her to think twice before parting with her money, Fadzilla said she has turned to online shopping for cheaper clothes, cut down eating out at restaurants to twice a month and also trimmed her twice-a-month visits to the cinema, opting instead for free video-streaming site YouTube for entertainment.

Even her businessman husband Mohd Anar, 29, has started selling his pre-loved clothing online to generate extra income.

A manager at an investment bank, who only wished to be known as Joe, said he now has to practise smart spending and budget his expenses, instead of spending freely or shopping for his family as he wished.

The 44-year-old, who has three children, said his family’s lifestyle has changed, with holiday trips now only to local destinations with a carefully-budgeted itinerary and fewer weekend outings to malls and more home-cooked meals.

“Last time, I would say, if we go to the shopping complex, we go at the weekend, we go out maybe two or three times a month. Now quite some time already we don’t go for movies, now everything can be downloaded.

“I told them we have to just cut down. It’s not that I don’t want to bring them, I think it’s expensive,” the manager said, noting that such outings typically cost around RM250 inclusive of five movie tickets of around RM50, eating out and the purchase of toys and clothing for the children that cost around RM100 respectively.

Joe said his family would not be enticed by the year-end sales unless they are looking for a good deal for an item that they need to buy.

IT professional Revathy, 30, said she puts in extra hours at work to get additional income and wants to find part-time work for the weekends, adding that the first thing that she cut was entertainment, movies and eating out.

Her 30-year-old colleague Shantiya said she only manages to save less than RM200 per month despite tightening her belt through measures like bringing a packed lunch to work.

“I can’t even manage, that’s why I am searching for another job, part-time,” she said, noting that she has to pay RM50 more for highway tolls now and recently paid a hefty RM20 in GST to get her car tyre changed.

Retiree Halwa HS, 62, said she goes online and uses smartphone apps to check where the offers of the day are and switches between supermarkets depending on the deals offered.

She also related that she cut down on imported goods and stopped annual trips abroad to Indonesia, as the ringgit remains weak.

“Well, I have to eat humbly and spend humbly and be smart. I have been reading a lot on how to reduce expenditure, things like that we have to really read up and know how to live with this,” she said, adding that her daughter’s mother-in-law buys items in bulk before splitting it with her three daughters-in-law.

Tan Hai Hsin, the managing director of research firm Retail Group Malaysia, said the GST has affected all the retail sub-sectors since its introduction in April, with many retailers seeing a plunge of between 20 per cent and 50 per cent in business.

Weak consumer spending has hit sub-sectors like grocery, fashion and fashion accessories, electrical & electronics, food and beverage and overseas travel.

“The current political situation is affecting the consumer sentiment level and buying mood of Malaysian consumers.

“They are frustrated, they are confused and they are uncertain of their future in this country. As a result, they are less willing to buy more,” he told Malay Mail Online recently in an email interview, noting that consumers’ spending has yet to recover to levels before the GST was imposed.

Tan said the weak ringgit value has bumped up import costs and resulted in higher retail prices that have now become more apparent since the beginning of this year’s fourth quarter, predicting that living costs will go up even more.

“We expect Malaysian consumers’ purchasing power will decline further. The recent toll hikes will lead to another round of price increases in the next few months,” he said, also pointing out that Budget 2016 did not provide incentives that will spur consumers’ spending in next year’s first half.

“At this moment, the prospect for next year is still poor,” he said when confirming a downward trend this year in sales generated by shopping malls and the retail industry that is not expected to improve significantly in the first half of next year.

Retail Group Malaysia is predicting an estimated overall growth in retail sales of 3.1 per cent this year, the lowest figure when compared against the past five years’ growth rate that has been on a declining trend — with 2010 recording 8.4 per cent, 2011 (8.1 per cent), 2012 (5.5 per cent), 2013 (4.5 per cent), 2014 (3.4 per cent).

The retail growth rate for the past 10 years before that has generally fluctuated, with the research group’s data showing 2000 (10.4 per cent), 2001 (1.7 per cent), 2002 (3.0 per cent), 2003 (3.6 per cent), 2004 (8.0 per cent), 2005 (6.2 per cent), 2006 (8.4 per cent), 2007 (12.8 per cent), 2008 (5.0 per cent) and 2009 (0.8 per cent).

With Christmas shopping only starting the second week of this month, Tan said it is “still too early to tell if Malaysians will return to shop as compared to last year.” But all indicators seem to say that will not be so.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 7:58 pm and is filed under
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The Darth Vader of Umno Baru

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

14 Dec 2015

Is Othman Aziz, the Jerlun Umno Baru division vice-chief, on Najib Abdul Razak’s side or is he secretly trying to undermine the PM? His unfortunate choice of words, describing Najib as “The Chosen One” (by God), does not augur well for the PM. If Othman has watched ‘Star Wars’ (SW), he will realise that ‘The Chosen One’ is not a complimentary term.

It is stupid to claim that Najib is ‘The Chosen One’. He has failed to deal with any of the allegations which beset him. At worst, it is blasphemy to use God’s name in this fashion.

How did Othman, a mere mortal, obtain a hotline to God? Which crystal ball is Othman gazing into? Did he consult the self-styled Raja Bomoh, Mahaguru Ibrahim Mat Zin, and look through the shaman’s ‘telescopic bamboo’ to see what God has ordained for Malaysia?

This time last year, ‘The Chosen One’ was playing golf with his buddy, President Barack Obama of America and neglected to deal with the worst floods in Malaysia’s recent history. ‘The Chosen One’ was forced to return home, only after he was ridiculed on social media for his lack of compassion and leadership.

Worse was to follow. ‘The Chosen One’ became evasive when asked why he returned on a commercial flight. ‘Najib-One’, the government ministerial jet, had been tracked criss-crossing the world, stopping at top retail therapy locations, in America, Europe and the Middle East, before landing in Bangkok.

Aficionados of SW will tell you that the young Anakin Skywalker was the ‘Chosen One’ of Jedi prophecy, who would bring balance to the Jedi Force.

Anakin was a good Jedi, but he allowed himself to be turned to the dark side by an older wizened politician, the Emperor Palpatine, to become Darth Vader. So, it is hardly flattering for Najib to be known as ‘The Chosen One’. Anakin was seduced by the powers of evil.

Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Anakin’s mentor, said that the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the formation of the Empire. The knights are similar to the original founders of Umno, the once-respected guardians of Malaya.

‘The Great Jedi Purge’

The ‘Great Jedi Purge’ can be likened to the current infighting in Umno Baru, with ‘good’ Jedi being killed and many Jedi becoming bad. There is much treachery, the lines between good and evil are blurred, and many are seduced by corruption and abuses of power.

If Najib is ‘The Chosen One’, Star Wars can be used as an analogy for Umno Baru.

The Umno Baru equivalent of C-3PO, the loyal robot, which was programmed for communication, could be portrayed by Umno Baru secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Like C-3PO, he is fussy and constantly worried about the party’s image.

Tengku Adnan once called female bloggers liars and said, “…All bloggers are liars, they cheat people using all kinds of methods. From my understanding, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.”

Whilst C-3PO is a lovable droid, the same cannot be said of Tengku Adnan. Critics equate him with Jabba the Hutt, with his grim sense of humour and other not-so-flattering qualities.

Muhyiddin Yassin of the Umno Baru supreme council is like Mace Windu, the Jedi Master of the High Council, who suspected treachery of the highest order in the Jedi council, but because he was slow to act, was quickly destroyed.

Saifuddin Abdullah who resigned from Umno Baru is likened to Han Solo, whom George Lucas, the founder of SW, said was “a loner who realises the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good”. Saifuddin is like Solo, who in SW joins the rebels and is rewarded by being made a general.

Captain Lorth Needha of the Avenger starship, paid the price for being truthful. He was telekinetically strangled by Darth Vader, the supreme commander of the fleet. Needha’s character is like the Umno Baru vice-president, Shafie Apdal, who tried to assume a brotherly role with Najib by urging him to reform and reveal details about 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation. Like Needha, Shafie, was ‘silenced’.

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the equivalent of Mara Jade Skywalker, a Jedi knight who was first raised in Emperor Palpatine’s court as a dancer, but later became Palpatine’s court assassin.

‘The Chosen One’, Darth Vader, is like a character from a classic Greek tragedy. He turned to the dark side, and did many evil things, but he is also a victim. Some SW fans say that Darth Vader was lied to and manipulated by a more evil being, and that there was a hint of goodness in him, right up to his end.

So, if Najib is ‘The Chosen One’ and the Umno Baru version of Darth Vader, then who is the equivalent of Emperor Palpatine? And which one of them is the true villain?

(‘Star Wars’ fans, please feel free to describe the SW character that you see in Umno Baru.)

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 4:15 am and is filed under
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UiTM must give assurance it will not organize a  third anti-Christianisation or anti any religion conference and Higher Education Minister Idris should convene meeting with all universities to ensure universities do not become breeding grounds for inter-religious misunderstanding, enmity and  hatred

Tan Sri Dr. Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar should be sacked as UiTM Vice Chancellor of University Technology MARA (UiTM) for setting the  worst possible example as a responsible Malaysian citizen for allowing the university to host a second anti-Christianisation seminar for the second consecutive year.

The seminar against Christianisation held in the Lendu, Malacca campus of UiTM on Saturday, was the second to be  held by the university, after a similar seminar held last year at the UiTM Shah Alam campus, titled “The word ‘Allah’ and Christology in the Malay Archipelago”.

It is most shocking that Sahol, who had been UiTM Vice Chancellor for 15 years since 2000, and  UiTM administrators responsible for the two anti-Christianisation seminars, do not seem to know or understand Rukunegara, whose core values and principles  teach the diverse races and religions in Malaysia to  respect each other so that we can settle our differences through dialogue and not confrontation.

The last thing the drafters of Runkunegara would want or  expect our University Vice Chancellors and administrators to do would be to turn universities into breeding grounds for inter-religious misunderstanding, enmity and hatred.

If our undergraduates are taught to hate or fear other religions and  adherents of other faiths, it is not only a repudiation of the Rukunegara, it is a most anti-national act as  we are laying the seeds for inter-religious distrust, enmity and hatred which can only result in national discord and disunity.

An announcement had just been made on Monday that Sahol would retire as UiTM Vice Chancellor  on Dec. 31 and Datuk Dr. Hassan Said, the Vice Chancellor and President of Taylor’s University and former director general of Higher Education (2005-2008) has been appointed as the new vice chancellor of UiTM effective from Feb. 1.

In the circumstances, it may not be  much point to demand a proper explanation from Sahol and for  commensurate disciplinary action to be taken against him.

However, UiTM must give an assurance that it will not continue to flout Rukunegara and  will not organize a  third anti-Christianisation seminar or any conference which is anti any other religion at its campus.

Furthermore, the Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Jusoh should convene an urgent  meeting with all universities to ensure they do not become breeding grounds to provoke inter-religious misunderstanding, enmity and  hatred.

Idris should impress on all Vice Chancellors the importance of local universities setting an example in our nation of upholding the core values and principles of Rukunegara,  and specifically, to  ensure that universities do not become breeding grounds for inter-religious disharmony, enmity or hatred but centres for the creation of a Malaysian national identity transcending  racial, religious, linguistic and cultural diversities in our country.

Seminars like the anti-Christianisation or any other religions should be a taboo  in our universities, which should  be taking  pro-active measures to promote inter-religious understanding, goodwill and harmony.

Having organized two anti-Christianity seminars, UiTM should make amends and lead off by organizing the first inter-religious seminar in our university campus to promote inter-religious peace, goodwill, understanding and harmony ahead of other universities in the country.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 12:29 pm and is filed under
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Umno presidential speech could have been more balanced

Ramon Navaratnam

Malaysiakini

14 Dec 2015

The Umno president YAB Najib Abdul Razak’s speech at the opening of the Umno general assembly on Dec 11 was most interesting, assertive and determined.

However as a loyal and committed non-bumi Malaysian, I felt left out like many others, including many bumis, as the president’s speech could have been much more justly balanced and inclusive of all Malaysians. After all, the Umno president is also the prime minister for all Malaysians in our beloved country as One Malaysia.

For instance the learned chairperson of the Wasatiyyah Institute of Malaysia, Dr Abdullah Md Zin, who somewhat harshly criticised the highly respected G25 Group for allegedly misunderstanding the definition of wasatiyyah, gave his enlightening definition of wasatiyyah.

Dr Abdullah described wasatiyyah as “justly balanced, stressing fairness, balance, excellence and moderation”.

But the speech did not adequately fulfil all these criteria for the following reasons –

1. The prime minister’s dilemma

From the beginning of our prime minister’s speech, he showed his struggle with his own question – “who am I speaking as, Umno president or prime minister of Malaysia – and of a plural society?”

He also raised the critical questions – “whether the Umno president should be an ultra or pro-Malay only and must be Islamic or not”. To many of my moderate Malay friends and especially non-Malays, this dilemma of the prime minister is very disturbing.

Malaysians of all races expect that after 58 years of Merdeka, our prime minister and government should and would think of the well being of all Malaysians – based on meeting our basic needs and human rights, regardless of race and religion. Hence it is depressing to hear our prime minister say “that we tend to defend the welfare and fate specially of the Malays and bumiputras”.

Where then is the just balance and fairness to all Malaysians? We should look after the welfare of the Bottom 40 percent of the income groups, regardless of race and most underprivileged Malays and bumis would be well covered. This would remove unjust discrimination and unnecessary divisiveness, YAB.

Please do not minimise the importance of the 10 million non Malays and non-bumis. We also want to be treated fairly in an inclusive and not a partisan and exclusive Malaysia.

2. Bad perceptions persist

As the PM has rightly stated, “there is also the war of perception through the social media, which we see as the highest challenge for us now”.

Indeed bad perceptions are all not based on rumours alone. There is usually no smoke without some fire. So why not go to the source of the fire and seek to be more transparent about the truth? As our PM has said, no one is perfect. If there are some mistakes, why not own up and let the people judge. After all many have got away with bigger blunders in the past.

Malaysians in general have short memories and are sometimes too forgiving or even complacent and often indifferent. But Malaysians, like anyone else, also generally want to hear the whole truth first.

The current public concerns regarding the 1MDB and the RM2. 6 billion donation, are being slowly explained, but the rakyat, and not necessarily only most Umno members, want more details, before these critical issues can be put to permanent rest.

3. The economy has to be more balanced and just or we will decline

The economic issues such as inflation and the weak ringgit and low incomes and productivity and the future competitiveness and education quality could have been given more balanced attention.

While politicking and state capture to enable the perpetuation of power are usually the preoccupation of most politicians from all quarters, all over the world, the rakyat only ask for a better deal in life. They just want to survive and sustain themselves, hopefully for a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.

But the PM’s speech did not give enough balance here. Instead it focussed a lot on party loyalty and disputes and the appeal for support for leadership at all levels.

But the rakyat are concerned with insidious inflation.The rising prices are due to at least two factors. The decline in the ringgit which raises import and related prices and the protected internal market, which slows down competition and stifles domestic productivity and restricts the supply of goods and services. Thus more demand and less supplies, raise prices.

So please liberalise more and protect less by removing restrictions and undue preferences in tenders and contracts, permits and licences. Do adopt the New Economic Model at a faster pace to benefit the rakyat and not the privileged vested groups (PVG s).

The prime minister was frank in revealing that the government had to subsidise as much as RM510 million for intra-city toll roads and a massive and familiar figure of RM2.9 billion compensation to Express Rail Link (ERL), because the agreement signed before his time in 1997, was as the PM described, “one-sided”. Then why can’t Umno or the government renegotiate all these unfair and unjust agreements as a matter of priority? Where is our national maruah please?

And should we not think of the interests of the rakyat, instead of pandering to private business and vested interests?

Let’s see if the government will take up this public challenge to renegotiate just and more balanced terms for the benefit of our rakyat and country, please?

Although the government can be proud of what has been achieved and done for the poor, like providing for the BR1M, Klinic Rakyat, affordable housing, the minimum wage and pay rises for civil servants, it will be realised that these are the gains made and given by the government – and not by any one political party alone.

Another major challenge for the government and Umno is ways to resolve to do much more for the rakyat to reduce the widening income inequality and to reduce the trust deficit, so as to earn their respect and especially their support.

4. Trust deficit should be reduced much more

The current ‘trust deficit’ is related to the above unresolved issues. The high corruption, the widespread wastage of public funds and many other inefficiencies aggravate the growing problems of inflation and the weak ringgit. Our weakness in the ringgit is not all due to external factors. We must accept the reality that there are internal causes for the ringgit’s decline, otherwise the trust deficit will deepen.

Some balance and fairness was also lost in the president’s speech as education could have received much more attention. The lingering issue of teaching more English could have been highlighted. What faith and trust can especially the Umno Youth and all other Malaysian students have in our education system, if already well over 100,000 graduates are looking for jobs because of the lack of demand for their poor quality of education and skills.

Furthermore, their low proficiency in the English language is also pulling their employment prospects down the income ladder. There could have been a resolution to stamp out corruption and money politics and to promote more English. The shortage of teachers of English can surely be overcome if there is a stronger will to do so. The lack of English proficiency will cause the poor to become poorer.

A resolution to use more English in schools and especially all government universities would have given a boost to confidence amongst youth and parents and indeed the whole country. Hopefully this aim will be fulfilled before the next Umno AGM, for the sake of enhancing the prospects of the youth and Umno’s popularity itself.

Although we can quote a few examples of some outstanding graduates, we have to admit that our schools and universities generally have low international ratings and rankings. Should not our Umno leaders have taken note of this sad situation and resolved to go all out to overcome our weaknesses, that can keep us caught in the middle income trap? It’s actually the majority Malays and bumis who will lose out most from poor English and low quality education.

5. The TPPA and bumi protectionism can do harm in the longer term

While the PM says that “we are not apologetic in defending the bumiputra agenda during discussions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), it is a pity he did not strongly encourage the bumis to struggle harder to get out of the debilitating effects of continued protectionism and as we say ‘manja-manja’ syndrome.

It must have been difficult for YB Mustapa Mohamed and his International Trade and Industry Ministry officials to justify bumi status in international trade and investment TPPA negotiations , after so many years of protective policies and practices in Malaysia.

So there is going to be a dual economy in Malaysia even at international level. While non-bumis will have to fight and compete for trade and investment, bumis will enjoy an easier time. But there do not seem to be adequate time limits for this bumi preferential treatment. Hence the New Economic Policy (NEP) could carry on indefinitely, even internationally.

This begs the question – will more ‘manja-manja’ help the bumis in the long term or will it undermine their competitiveness for a long time ?

Given this scenario, how do we expect our bumi businessmen and women to become like the revered businessman Abdul Rahman bin Auf of the past? How could we then aim to become the top 10 most competitive country by 2030. Let’s not forget that our neighbours are gaining faster progress than us.

6. Islamic State is not what we want

YAB Najib stated that, “I as Umno president and the prime minister, pledge to be fully committed in expanding and upholding the sanctity of Islam”. This aspiration is laudable. But what causes anxiety amongst most Malaysians would be his assertion that “Only then, an Islamic state – will be established in Malaysia, God Willing!”

This statement in his speech is very serious and disturbing and would need full clarification. As it stands, it can indicate that he wants an Islamic State in Malaysia. We hope it will not be along the lines of the Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East. God forbid, I don’t think many in progressive, multi-cultural Malaysia will like that to happen.

It appears that our PM has consulted the ulama a great deal ,as he has said in his speech. It may be fruitful in future to also have more balanced consultations with other racial and religious groups in multi-cultural Malaysia, please?

Umno could have resolved to intensify the fight against extremists and not let them threaten well-meaning Malaysians with rape and danger to life and limb.

In fact the G25 of eminent Malays has been unfairly attacked for speaking out for wasatiyyah and justice. I am sure most Malaysians of all races would agree with me that Umno and the government will need to come out more strongly to defend wasatiyyah, justice, peace and harmony that is promoted and yearned for, by the G 25 and most Malaysians, please.

The G25 is composed of very senior highly qualified retired civil servants ,who have served our country exceedingly well, with their sacrifice, dedication and a great sense of service to ‘God Agong and Country’. Please encourage them and take their views more seriously, as they are the genuine voice of moderation and wasatiyyah.

7. Conclusion – go faster forward together, please

The president of Umno and our prime minister Najib has come out of the Umno assembly surprisingly fighting fit. He has effectively taken on his many critics and adversaries at the Umno general assembly.

He resolutely resolved and reiterated that “there shall be no retreat, no surrender”.

However, the prime minister also says, “I am a gentleman” and “I decided to have a big heart” and “I am magnanimous”. This then is his challenge. The time to demonstrate these noble qualities more distinctly and significantly is now.

Thus we hope that our prime minister will accept that there are indeed still some outstanding hot issues that I have outlined above and many other major concerns that others have. These critical issues and deep concerns would need to addressed by our PM with a stronger political will and more successfully and with a greater sense of urgency.

When his mission is fully accomplished, all Malaysians, regardless of race and politics, will then be able to really rejoice, when we move faster forward, together.

In the meantime, as true Malaysians, we all hope and pray that the government will enable us all, as a united nation, to lighten the burden of our heavy anxieties and to have a happier New Year that will be more peaceful and prosperous.

RAMON NAVARATNAM is chairperson of Asli/Centre of Public Policy Studies.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 December 2015, 4:33 am and is filed under
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Adenan Satem’s speech no more an unqualified endorsement but indication of  the Sarawak Chief Minister’s wavering support for  Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia

The Sarawak Chief Minster, Datuk Adenan Satem, made headlines on Internet news this evening with his speech in the Sarawak State Assembly that Sarawak Barisan Nasional is prepared to reconsider its loyalty to Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak if he latter is found to have committed wrongdoings in relation to 1MDB.

He told the Sarawak State Assembly: “I can give you assurance that if he is found guilty of 1MDB-related offences, then we might reconsider our loyalty to him.”

Adenan’s speech created waves because he sounded so brave, daring and  independent, unlike the other servile and supine BN Chief Ministers, Mentri Besar or Ministers,   in being prepared to draw a line with the Prime Minister if Najib is found guilty of wrongdoing in connection with the 1MDB controversy.

But further thought will show that such reactions are misplaced.

In the first place, is Adenan suggesting that there is a possibility that he and Sarawak Barisan Nasional will continue to be loyal to Najib as the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of Barisan Nasional even if Najib is found guilty of offences and wrongdoings  related to the 1MDB controversy?

I would have thought that if Najib had been found guilty of offences in connection with 1MDB  by any  court of law, this would automatically mean forfeiture of all loyalty to Najib as Prime Minister and BN Chairman not just by Adenan or Sarawak BN but by all the  other BN leaders in other states and even nationally.

Is there any room for doubt that this would be the case?

Secondly, the political  facts of life of Malaysia  will ensure that so long as he is Prime Minister, Najib will never be found guilty of wrongdoing or offences in connection with 1MDB by any court of law.

Adenan’s brave statement therefore means nothing at all, what Shakespeare said about “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”!

A quick Internet check shows that the international anti-corruption NGO,  Transparency International has named the following five as the world’s most corrupt leaders:

No. 1 –  Suharto, President of Indonesia 1967 – 1998,  accused of embezzling between US$15-35 billion.

No. 2 – Marcos, President of Philippines (1982-1986), accused of embezzling US$5 – 10 billion;

No. 3 – Mobutu, President of Zaire ( 1965 – 1997), accused of embezzling US$5 billion.

No. 4 – Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993 – 1998), accused of embezzling US$2-5 billion.

No. 5 – Slobodan Milosevic, President Serbia/Yugoslavia (1989 – 2000), accused of embezzling US$1 billion.

What is noteworthy is that none of these five world’s  most corrupt leaders had been found guilty of corruption or wrongdoing in their land during their tenure as President of their country.

Nonetheless, Adenan’s statement in the Sarawak State Assembly is most interesting, for it is no more an unqualified endorsement but an  indication of the Sarawak Chief Minister’s wavering support for Najib  as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Are there any UMNO/BN leaders who are prepared to say the same thing as Adenan, although on close examination, it did not amount to much?

Najib is doing himself no service by continuing to evade and prevaricate  instead of giving a full and satisfactory accounting of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

He missed two “golden” opportunities to come clean on the twin mega scandals – the 25-day six-week parliamentary budget meeting in the Dewan Rakyat despite Ministerial promises for six weeks that Najib will answer all questions about the RM2.6 billion scandal on the last day of Parliament on Dec 3 but which were dishonoured and the five-day 69th UMNO General Assemblies last week.

Najib’s twin mega scandals are not going to fade away because of the Prime Minister’s evasion and prevarication, but set to become even more disruptive and  destructive in the new year of  2016 on Malaysia’s record of accountability, transparency and good governance as well on our international image as a responsible and  respectable member of the international community.

(Speech at the launch of Parit Buntar Parti Amanah Negara in Parit Buntar, Perak on Wednesday, 16th December 2015 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 17 December 2015, 8:48 am and is filed under
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Proof of utter failure in Malaysian nation-building when the sixth Prime Minister asked last week: Whether UMNO President should be an ultra or pro-Malay only and must be Islamic or not?

It is proof of the utter failure in Malaysian nation-building when the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak asked at the UMNO General Assembly last Thursday: Whether UMNO President should be an ultra or pro-Malay only and must be Islamic or not?

Has Najib forgotten or abandoned his 1Malaysia signature policy which he proclaimed with such fanfare when he became Prime Minister in April 2009 that the goal of 1Malaysia is to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and race (whether Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban), religion (Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Sikh) or region as second.

Six years and eight months after  becoming the Prime Minister with his signature policy of 1Malaysia,  and after tens and even hundreds of million of ringgit spent on 1Malaysia promotional products, is Malaysia going forwards or backwards as far as Najib’s 1Malaysia policy is concerned?

That Najib is publicly asking the question whether he should be “an ultra or pro-Malay only” as UMNO President and Prime Minister is sad indication  that he himself needs convincing as far as his 1Malaysia signature policy is concerned!

Najib’s  UMNO/BN government is adrift and  at sea, bereft of any direction or vision for Malaysia.

We seem to be seeing the spectacle of Najib’s government degenerating into a “tail wagging the dog” phenomenon, where small cogs in the wheels of government are controlling and setting the pace and direction of government, as for instance, a department like Biro Tata Negara (BTN) disregarding the 1Malaysia Policy and continuing to ensure that the “Ketuanan Melayu” ideology is the directing policy of the government regarding non-Malays as “orang tumpang” and not sons and daughters of the Malaysian soil.

If Malaysia is to succeed as a nation, taking our rightful place in the international community as a plural society which punches above our weight because of our political, economic, educational, socio-cultural and nation-building achievements, we must ensure that more and more Malaysians embrace the 1Malaysia concept and reject narrow and exclusive racial, religious and cultural interpretations of the Malaysian narrative.

What Malaysia needs are not Malay ultras, Chinese ultras, Indian ultras, Iban ultras or Kadazan ultras but Malaysian ultras!

Why should the Prime Minister of Malaysia be struggling with whether he should be a Malay ultra or not?  Is he going to lead or to be led?

I have just read  The Malaysian Insider on the Internet on  the call by the former International Industry and Trade Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz that with 2015 coming to a close, the people at all levels should resolve to be Malaysian first when they make their New Year resolutions.

I would endorse Rafidah’s call that  in the final fortnight for the year 2015, everyone in the country must resolve to be better Malaysians, to respect and accept our diversities, and to place a high priority upon national interest.

Rafidah cannot be more right when she warned in her latest posting on her Facebook:  “Should national interest be jeopardised, we as members of society will surely be affected and impacted, directly or indirectly.”

We must ensure that there is no repetition of incidents like the University Technology MARA (UiTM) organising an anti-Christianisation seminar at its Malacca campus  for the second consecutive year – another example of the “tail wagging the dog” phenomenon.

This is because I cannot see how the Cabinet or the Ministry of Higher Education could endorse any public university organising any seminar which is anti any religion in the country, which is totally against the  spirit and philosophy of Rukunegara, but when the central body has lost control, direction and vision, then it is open season for the “tail” to wag the body – and here, we have many such  “tails” in Malaysia!

This is one of the five political and socio-economic scandals which had plagued the country  this year – the lack of direction and vision for Malaysian nation-building, with the racist and provocative Sept. 16 “Red Shirts” rally in Kuala Lumpur as one of its worst manifestations.

The other four scandals are: (i) The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) adding  to the hardships of low-income Malaysians, already sandwiched between rising costs of  living and falling incomes; (ii) The scandal of the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts; (iii)  The RM50 billion 1MDB scandal;  and (iv)  The National Security Council Bill which usurped the powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the 13 State Governments.

Let these five political and socio-economic scandals in Malaysia in 2005 serve as a reminder to all Malaysians why  there must be political change in Malaysia and that such change is only possible when Pakatan Harapan can replace the UMNO/BN coalition in Putrajaya and six states in Malaysia in the 14th General Election.

[Speech (2) at the launch of Parit Buntar Parti Amanah Negara in Parit Buntar, Perak on Wednesday, 16th December 2015 at 10 pm]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 17 December 2015, 11:33 am and is filed under
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