Malaysia No. 9 ranking in perceived judicial corruption –  so groundless/untrue that judiciary/govt. dare not claim credit

Since last Friday, I had been baffled and mystified by news reports that
Malaysia is ranked ninth out of 62 countries in a global survey by Transparency International (TI) on perceived judicial corruption
— which is so groundless and untrue that the judiciary and government are too embarrassed to come forward to claim credit.

At the  launching of the TI Global Corruption  Report 2007 on “Corruption in Judicial Systems” marked by a panel discussion  participated by the Bar Council and the Malaysia Integrity Institute, Transparency International Malaysia President Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said he was
“pleasantly surprised”
 with the TI survey on perceived judicial corruption for Malaysia.

If it is true that Malaysia is ranked as the ninth least corrupt nation in the world in perceived judicial corruption, then it is a fantastic feather in the cap on the occasion of Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations and should be trumpeted all over the country and the world as Malaysians have the right to take pride at such an achievement.

But mystery of mysteries, there had been total silence from the judiciary and the government on the claim that Malaysia is ranked No. 9 among the world’s cleanest judiciary in the whole of the past week — when the government had never been shy in exploiting such good news to the hilt.

For instance, when  Malaysia’s world competitiveness ranking improved by five places and  was ranked 16th as compared to 21st position in 2003 in the Swiss-based International Institute of Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY)  2004, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  immediately quoted it as authority in his keynote address at the Malaysia-China Business Dialogue in Beijing on 28th May 2004 during his first official visit to China as premier as testimonial why Malaysia was a good place to do business.

However, when Malaysia’s world competitiveness ranking plunged 12 places from 16th to 28th position in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005 in May 2005, it was met with a six-month stony silence by Ministers and government leaders as if the report never existed.

Why is the judiciary and government behaving so strangely as if they are more embarrassed than elated by the TI’s global survey reportedly placing Malaysia in the world’s top 10 countries on judicial integrity and honesty.

Could it be that the judiciary and government do not believe it themselves and are too shy to claim credit for what they know is patently groundless and untrue?

The first question that baffled me was how could Malaysia be ranked No. 9 in perceived judicial corruption in the world when it is ranked No. 44 in the 2006 TI Corruption Perception Index 2006, having dropped seven places since 2003 when Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Prime Minister when Malaysia was ranked No. 37.

Is it credible that Malaysia could be ranked much higher in perceived judicial corruption than the top 20 countries in the TI 2006 Corruption Perception Index as the world’s least corrupt nations, such as the following:

		2006 TI CPI ranking –	Perceived judicial corruption

Malaysia		44	–			9

Iceland	  	1	–			10

Hong Kong 	15	–			11

Austria		11	–			13

Netherlands	9	–			14

France		18	–			15

Japan		17	–			16

Canada		14	–			18

UK		11	–			21

If Malaysia’s TI CPI 2006 is ranked No. 44, and yet its perceived judicial corruption is ranked No. 9, does this mean that the rest of the public service could be ranked No. 70 or 80 to make the necessary adjustments?

Secondly, if nobody in Malaysia believes that the country’s judiciary  could be ranked No. 9 in the world for integrity and incorruptibility,  why then the No. 9 ranking by the TI Global Corruption Report on Judicial Corruption, when TI had been well-regarded internationally for its credibility and authority in the global fight against corruption?

Or has TI stumbled this time and fallen far short of the high standards it had set itself for more than a decade?

I have just the opportunity today to browse through the TI Global Corruption Report (GCR) and I think there are two reasons for this major disconnect between  TI’s international credibility and the GCR finding on perceived judicial corruption in Malaysia.

Firstly, the GCR never claimed to issue a global ranking of perceived judicial corruption like the annual ranking of corruption perception index (CPI) of nations.

What is issued was a table on  “Percentage of respondents who described their judicial/legal system as corrupt”.

This has been  mistakenly interpreted as a global ranking of perceived judicial corruption with Malaysia ranked as No. 9 among the least-corrupt judicial systems — which is utter bunkum.

Although from the survey of some 2,000 respondents in Malaysia, the country is the ninth country with the lowest percentage of respondents who described the judiciary as corrupt (less than 20 per cent), this does not mean that the Malaysian  judiciary  is the world’s ninth least corrupt system.

Secondly, the finding that less than 20 per cent of the respondents surveyed in Malaysia are of the view that the judiciary is corrupt is open to serious challenge, for clearly, the respondents have not fully understood what TI understood as “judicial corruption”.

A close reading of the TI GCR will show that TI GCR definition of “judicial corruption” is not confined to judges receiving bribes, but is very wide as it “takes many forms and is influenced by many factors, whether legal, social, cultural, economic or political”.

For instance, judicial corruption “includes any inappropriate influence on the impartiality of the judicial process by any actor within the court system”. TI GCR recognizes that “Other parts of the justice system may influence judicial corruption”, such as:

	“Criminal cases can be corrupted before they reach the courts if police tamper with evidence that supports a criminal indictment, or prosecutors fail to apply uniform criteria to evidence generated by the police.  In countries where the prosecution has a monopoly on bringing prosecution before the courts, a corrupt prosecutor can effectively block off any avenue for legal redress.”

	“Despite several decades of reform efforts and international instruments protecting judicial independence, judges and court personnel around the world continue to face pressure to rule in favour of powerful political or economic entities, rather than according to the law.”

The record of Malaysia’s system of justice in the past two decades is of a judiciary under continuous crisis of confidence since  the sacking of Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges in 1988 right down to the catalogue of miscarriage of injustices which were the subject of an indictment of the international judicial and legal community in 2000, in a report entitled: “Justice in Jeopardy: Malaysia 2000”.

There was a long list of  the victims of such miscarriage of injustices in the past two decades  including Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng,  Karpal Singh, Zainur Zakaria, Param Cumaraswamy, Tommy Thomas and Irene Fernandez.

Till today, the national and international confidence enjoyed by the judiciary d in the first three decades of nationhood have not been fully restored.

In the circumstances, if the 2,000 Malaysian  respondents surveyed by the TI GCR had been properly briefed as to the meaning of “judicial corruption” in the survey, there is no way that only less than 20 per cent of the respondents would have described the Malaysian judiciary as corrupt.

I would call on the four panelists at the launching of the TI GCR last week, i.e. Ramon Naravatnam of TI Malaysia, Malaysia Integrity Institute president Datuk Dr. Mohd Tap Salleh,, Bar Council chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan and the Bar Council human rights committee deputy chairman Andrew Khoo to individually declare whether they agree with media reports that Malaysia is ranked No. 9 among the world’s least corrupt judicial system so that such misimpression is not allowed to persist for another day.

This is because such a misimpression is a great disservice to the cause to uphold integrity and to fight corruption.

(Speech at the DAP public forum “Civil Service Excellence –Quality vs Quantity”  at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 30th May 2007 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 31 May 2007, 12:09 pm and is filed under
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Hishammuddin – stop being “childish” and set an early date to meet up with Dong Jiao Zong

The tantrums of the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in the past few days, accusing  the  Chinese educational bodies Dong Jiao Zong  of being  “not sincere” and declaring that “it’s not the end of the world”  if he did not  meet the Dong Jiao Zong leaders or that  the government will not protect Chinese education have rightly been criticized by many as manifestation of his “arrogance of power”.

But these tantrums  also show his  “puerile” dimension. It is time Hishammuddin stop being “childish”, be conscious that he is charge of one of the most important ministries in government  and begin to conduct himself as Education Minister for all Malaysians and all streams of education by setting an early date for a meeting with Dong Jiao  Zong in keeping with the Prime Minister’s injunction to all Ministers to “hear the truth” from the people and all sectors of Malaysian society.

I still wonder why Hishammuddin “blew his top” on Tuesday, openly accusing Dong Jiao Zong of being “not sincere” for  laying down conditions for a meeting with him, which has been proven to be untrue by Dong Jiao Zong.

Was Hishammuddin misled by Chinese newspaper reports that day on the ten resolutions of the Jiao Zong 2007 Annual General meeting calling, among other things, for:

	Revision  of the National Education  Blueprint 2006-2010 to make it compatible with Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-lingual characteristics;

	Repeal of the “final objective” of the national education policy to have only one language as medium of instruction at all levels of the education system.

	Review of the use of English to teach mathematics and science from Primary One;

	Re-opening of Damansara Chinese Primary School; and

	Adequate trained teachers and fair allocation of  funding for Chinese primary schools.

As Hishammuddin does not read the Chinese newspapers, was the Education Minister who is also Umno Youth leader misled in “blowing his top” at Dong Jiao Zong on Tuesday. If so, who was responsible for misleading Hishammuddin? To  the Malaysian public, if it is not Gerakan, then it must be MCA.

Most pertinent of all, why did the MCA Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kin allow his Minister to be so misled as to make a most unwarranted public attack on Dong Jiao Zong — or was he chiefly instrumental for misleading Hishammuddin?

It is most unwise for Hishammuddin to raise the question of “sincerity” when he himself has yet to set a good example, as he has not yet  brought to a satisfactory end of his most provocative and indefensible wielding of the Malay keris in the past two Umno Youth general assemblies in circumstances which clearly demonstrated his utter disregard for the sensitivities and rights of all races and communities in plural Malaysia.

I do not know whether Hishammuddin has also been given the wrong advice that he has now acquired the “political capital” to publicly lambast Dong Jao Zong because of his recent highly-publicised educational visit to China.

If so, Hishammuddin  has again been given wrong advice. Hishammuddin is setting out on a completely  mistaken direction and he should turn back before he makes more mistakes.

He should end his arrogant and childish tantrums and meet up with Dong Jiao Zong to hear the “truth” about the national education policy, however unpleasant, so that the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010 could be more rounded, representative and effective in achieving for Malaysia a quality education system which fully respects the mother-tongue educational aspirations of Malaysians as well as to enhance the country’s international competitiveness to face the challenges of globalization.

(Speech at  DAP ceramah in Ipoh on Thursday, 31st May 2007 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 1 June 2007, 10:28 am and is filed under
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Abdullah should give 3 mth’s notice for Parliament dissolution – to allow PSCs to wind up and submit their reports to Parliament

Speculation on when is the next general election is coming think and fast.

Although conventional  wisdom is that the 12th general election  would be before next April so that Anwar Ibrahim would not have fully  regained  his civil rights including standing for elective office, the preponderant opinion points to an end-of-the year timing, with Nov. 25 pinpointed as the polling date by some quarters.

In recent days, however, there are more and more vibrations coming from Barisan Nasional component parties that the next polls could be even earlier and might be  in August or even July.  I for one lean towards the end-of-the-year timetable.

Whatever the date, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should respect Parliament and give at least three months’ notice before dissolution of Parliament for general election to allow three Parliamentary Select Committees adequate time to submit final reports which could be debated in Parliament.

The three Parliamentary Select Committees are (i) on National Unity and National Service; (ii) on Integrity; and (ii) on Code of  Ethics for Members of Parliament.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on National Unity and National Service had submitted an interim report which was debated in Parliament early this month, but it has still to draft and present its final report.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity is now in complete disarray with the sudden resignation of its Chairman, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok on the ground of incompatibility for him to function in his capacity in his dual role  as Chairman of the Select Committee and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.  Until Parliament meets on June 18, there is no clue as to how a meeting could be called in the absence of a Chairman — let alone the drafting and presentation of a Report to Parliament on its deliberations and recommendations on integrity.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Code of Ethics for Members of Parliament which was formed in early December last year has yet to hold its first meeting.

If Parliament is suddenly dissolved without notice, all the three Parliamentary Select Committees will lapse and all the meetings and public hearings conducted by the Parliamentary Select Committees on National Unity and Integrity will all come to nought as no report would be able to be presented by the two Select Committees  to Parliament.

This would mean that these two Select Committees would be a colossal waste of time , expenditure and resources if their operations are suddenly aborted with the dissolution of Parliament.

For this reason and out of respect for Parliament, Abdullah should give at least three months’ notice to allow the Parliamentary Select Committee to fully wound up their work with the completion and presentation of their  reports to, and debate by, Parliament.

Abdullah should also give an assurance that he will not follow the bad example set by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for the 1999 general election when Parliament was dissolved when the 2000 Budget was in mid-stream — after its presentation to Parliament but before  debate had been completed and the budget passed by the Dewan Rakyat.

There was no justification for dissolving Parliament when debate on the budget was at midpoint, as there was no constitutional crisis involving the possible collapse of the government because of withdrawal of support of the majority of MPs.

The dissolution of Parliament in November 1999 when debate of the annual budget was in midpoint was a gross and cynical abuse of power and utter contempt for the parliamentary process — and should not be followed by Abdullah.

The 2008 budget is scheduled to be presented to Parliament on  Friday, Sept. 7, 2007.  Abdullah should either dissolve Parliament before Sept 7, but  once the 2008 budget is presented to Parliament, there should be no dissolution until the 2008 Budget had been passed by both House of Parliament and given the Royal Assent by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, which will take the whole process to the end of December.

So either dissolve Parliament before Sept. 7 or wait until late December when 2008 budget had been approved through all stages before there is a dissolution of Parliament.

Is Abdullah prepared to show such an elementary respect of  Parliament?

(Speech 2 at the DAP ceramah in Ipoh on Thursday, 31st May 2007 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 June 2007, 3:43 pm and is filed under
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Lina Joy case “biggest P.R disaster for Malaysia” – 400 adverse world media reports in past 48 hours

Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin would do greater good as Information Minister to inform himself to understand the deep well-springs of disappointment and frustration among Malaysians  with the Federal Court 2-1 decision on the Lina Joy case instead of just demonizing the foreign media as is his wont.

Yesterday, Zainuddin accused the
western media
for taking  advantage of the court decision in the Lina Joy case to run down Malaysia as an Islamic country that practises injustice.

He cited  the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for using the “screaming headline”,  “Malaysia Rejects Christian Appeal”, and The Times for saying  that the court decision is “a slap in the face for religious freedom in Malaysia”.

The BBC, the Times and the Western media should be perfectly capable of defending themselves against the attacks by Zainuddin that they “will use any opportunity for ‘Islamic bashing’ without regard for any country as long as it practises Islamic law”.

The pertinent question is whether Zainuddin understands the widespread and deep-seated anxieties and fears  by thoughtful Malaysians whose only concern is to preserve and  uphold  the Merdeka “Social Contract” entered into by the forefathers of the major communities build a nation founded on the constitutional principles of freedom of religion, the Constitution as  the supreme law of the land and Malaysia as a secular nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state; but  who see these principles being relentlessly eroded particularly in the past  decade.

Zainuddin, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and even the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi have come out publicly in support of the Federal Court’s 2-1 decision in rejecting the Lina Joy appeal.

Abdullah said
no pressure
had been exerted on the judges by the government in the Lino Joy judgment.

I accept Abdullah’s assurance, but then even the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad would have been able to make such statements with a straight face because pressures on judges would not have been exercised in a direct fashion even in Mahathir’s 22 years as Prime Minister.

But this  does not mean that there is in Malaysia  an environment where a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law could flourish or Malaysia would not have lost in the past two decades  its high international  reputation for judicial independence, integrity and impartiality recognized universally in the first three decades of nationhood.

With Abdullah, Nazri and Zainuddin making their public stand in support of the Federal Court decision in the Lina Joy case, what is the position of the non-Umno Ministers, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS or other Sabah and Sarawak component parties of the Barisan Nasional?

Or do we have a position where Cabinet Ministers are only permitted to make public their position on the Federal Court decision in the Lina Joy case if it is one of support, but not one of opposition?

It is a matter of concern that as Information Minister who keeps track of world-wide media coverage,  Zainuddin  is not in the least concerned that the Lina Joy case is one the biggest P.R. disasters for Malaysia in recent times — particularly with  our attempt to promote “Visit Malaysia Year 2007” and generally present a good image of the country in the era of borderless world of globalization.

A check with news.google.com shows that the Federal Court decision on Lino Joy  had generated some 400 reports in various media all over the world in the past 48 hours — portraying Malaysia as a country where fundamental liberties and civil rights are not accorded their proper protection.

If Malaysia is to be an active player in the world of globalization, the government must be gravely concerned by this development which must be regarded as a double minus both nationally and internationally.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 June 2007, 4:01 pm and is filed under
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Miracle of revolution of public service delivery system in 12 days’ time on June 14?

Malaysians are very  surprised by the revelation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday that the government will be implementing a
new public delivery system in 13 days
.
(New Straits Times).

Addressing Kuala Lumpur City Hall senior officials during a one-day tour of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Abdullah said he wants all state leaders and ministers to ensure that the government machinery is prepared to implement the new government delivery system in 13 days.

He said he gave the instruction at the National Physical Planning Committee meeting attended by all menteris besar, chief ministers and several ministers in Putrajaya on Wednesday.

Abdullah said: “I hope the ministers will follow up on the matter.   This is important as we only have 13 days to go. We want them to monitor the state of preparedness to carry out the new government delivery system.”

This is a most extraordinary  and cavalier manner to launch a new and major policy initiative  like a new government delivery system — with the bulk of the civil service from all levels still in the dark and the 26 million Malaysian completely ignorant about the so-called new public delivery system, while mentris besar and chief ministers and “several ministers” were given the alert only on Wednesday!

Is  the government  capable of performing a miracle in 12 days time by June 14  to revolutionize the  public delivery system which has been getting from bad to worse in the past four years?

In the absence of more information, Abdullah’s revelation can only generate  widespread national skepticism and cynicism especially as of late, the government had never been more bumbling and bungling in the 50-year history of the nation — which is not confined to an  ever-lengthening list of “crack-ups” of new government buildings, whether  the brand-new administrative capital of Putrajaya; the RM270 million world’s second largest court complex in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur or  the  Parliament Building after RM100 million renovation.

Today’s press highlighted another two instances in the litany of government building and public construction defects and  mishaps:

Leaks in the new RM5.7 million  three-storey Johore state library in Johor Baru
, which remains closed although it was handed over to the library administrators in October last year
(The Star)
;

	Whether the
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry in Precinct  4, Putrajaya
is safe because of the widening of the expansion joint of the structure dividing the 15-storey building into two sections.
(NST)

The statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting in Kampar yesterday that
government buildings need not obtain certificate of fitness (CFs)
 before they are occupied
(The Star)
 has reinforced rather than banished  public concerns about the safety of public buildings and the quality of the public service delivery system.

Ong said government buildings do not require CFs from the local authorities as their designs came under the responsibility of the Public Works Department (PWD), and all government buildings built under the supervision of PWD are professionally self-certified.

With the Parliament and the world’s second largest court complex as examples, and now the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in Putrajaya, who would have confidence with such  “self-certification” or even the PWD’s supervision?

Furthermore, why are Ministers and top government officers ignorant about whether government buildings need CFs or not.  The Minister took a week to find out whether CFs are necessary for government buildings while even the former Chief Secretary,  Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, never knew that government buildings do not require CFs.

This was why Samsudin in his capacity of President of Putrajaya Corporation  made the statement in April that all  government buildings in Putrajaya were issued with CFs in order to allay public  concerns about the  safety and standards  of government buildings and public constructions in Putrajaya.

What is this “revolution” that the Prime Minister has in store for the country with regard to a completely  new government delivery system  which he is to unveil in 12 days’ time and how is he to ensure that it is not going to be another case of  “all talk and no walk”?

To ensure the success of this “new public service delivery system:”, the Prime Minister would be well-advised to adopt a more consultative approach to involve the participation of all stakeholders in  the country, in particular MPs, political parties,  professional organizations, chambers of commerce, NGOs, the media, to seek their inputs before any final announcement of a “revolution” of government delivery system is made.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 June 2007, 4:12 pm and is filed under
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RM530 million Transmile accounting fraud – how Liong Sik is to assume responsibility as Chairman?

Former MCA President and Cabinet Minister, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik was quite  active in the past month, as a search with The Star archives would produce eight news items featuring him, including one today  at the ceremony at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) campus in Kampar yesterday
planting a Blue Pine tree
.

But he has been very reticent on what has been described as the biggest accounting and corporate scandal in recent times in Malaysia, even
likened to the accounting fiasco of Enron and Woldcom
, although Ling is the  Chairman of Transmile Group Bhd — the company which had overstated its revenue by RM530 million.

According to a special audit carried out by Moores Rowland Risk Management Sdn. Bhd, Transmile  made pre-tax losses of RM126 million and RM77 million for FY 2006 and FY 2005 , respectively, instead of pre-tax profits of RM207 million and RM120 million as originally reported.

This means that Transmile had overstated its revenue by RM197 million in 2005 and by RM333 million in 2006 — a total of
RM530 million
.

Pos Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd
has warned that its earnings for the financial year ended Dec. 31 may be affected by the reported overstatement of Transmile’s sales revenue as the postal group owns 15.3% of Transmile.

I am surprised that Pos Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd has not admitted that its earnings for the financial year 2005 could also be affected.  Pos Malaysia reported a net profit of RM160.2 million for 2006 and RM145.3 million for 2005.

As former senior Cabinet Minister, Malaysians expect Liong Sik to be a model of a responsible corporate player.

For this reason, Liong Sik should be more forthcoming and make a clean breast of his responsibilities and remunerations including all forms of allowances which he had drawn from Transmile in his capacity as Transmile Chairman.

Transmile closed 32% lower at RM6 yesterday  from its RM8.90 pre-suspension level last Monday, causing massive losses to small-time investors..

Liong Sik should explain how he is going to assume responsibility for such a Enron-type of corporate fraud in the company which he heads as Chairman.

DAP MPs will be raising the Transmile fraud in the next Parliamentary meeting beginning on June 18, demanding to know (i) how the government is protecting the innocent investors from the Enron-type of corporate accounting fraud in Transmile; and (ii) the lessons learnt from the Transmile scandal.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 June 2007, 4:23 pm and is filed under
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Qualifying exams for new docs

QUALIFYING EXAMS FOR NEW DOCS

by AZK

“You don’t have to blow out anybody else’s candles…

to make yours shine brighter…”

I read with interest the Health Minister’s proposal to have common qualifying examinations for all foreign-qualified doctors. The Health Minister appears to have discovered that all these frequent visits to assess and continually evaluate new medical schools are a costly affair.

In fact, in the age of the internet, it is nothing more then a scam by our free-loading MMC council members to claim allowances and fly business class to various, sometimes exotic destinations just to see if these schools produce bona-fide doctors, all courtesy of the tax-payer when much of the information can be gathered via the net.

More importantly though, now that Chua has proposed a qualifying examination in line possibly similar to Britain’s PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) or the USA’s USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) it boggles the mind if our lot of council members are really up to it in conducting examinations of this complexity.

Needless to say the current Unscheduled Universities Examination under Section 12(1) (aa), Medical Act 1971 is so hopelessly biased especially in the clinical sections, that, like the legal profession’s CLP where there is an incredibly high failure rate, it gives rise to suspicions that the examination is yet another tool to discriminate and meet political agendas to right racial imbalances in the profession.

More alarming is its selective application on foreign graduates but not on local graduates who today are mainly responsible for our notorious healthcare deliver systems.

Chua’s frustration could be real. The Malaysian Medical Council is a discredited body. Among others, it currently consists of a member who graduated after 40 years of age, another who is being sued [deleted], yet another who chairs meetings and doesn’t operate anymore [deleted].

Many are involved in businesses such as housing development, private medical schools, nursing schools, etc therefore bringing to the body a conflict of interest that will eventually skew any decision they try to make.

A significant number of these members are downright academically uninclined including deans with dubious qualifications.

All of them are led by a chairman, the current DG, who is now noted more for leading a health service comprising of crumbling hospitals, ambulances without petrol and a skyrocketing incidence of HIV, dengue, heart disease, diabetes and hypentension.

The MMC in its current form and especially after the CSMU affair cannot be relied upon to effect the changes needed to maintain and elevate the quality of health-care in this country. Despite its “independence”, it has not only demonstrated its lack of political impartiality but may have also outlived its usefulness.

Like many other institutions in this country, it is hopelessly corrupted in its methods. In the local context, recognition of universities may be best left to a select committee in the Education Ministry which has shown more professionalism.

There may be a more cost-effective way in ascertaining if the new apprentice can indeed stand on his own feet.  It is the time-tested system of continuous appraisal.

The medical profession is after all an apprenticeship and many new graduates look-up to mentors which unfortunately in today’s service are known more for their bullying ways as a result of their own insecurity rather then lending a helping hand in teaching.

Every new medical graduate needs to undergo housemanship. But this period can easily be extended to 3 to 5 years if the candidate irrespective of which medical school he or she graduates from is found to be lacking in certain areas. Anyone can be taught, but sometimes, some require a longer period.

To exclude doctors and label them as “unscheduled” in a country that lacks doctors and using the term “standards” as a shield to keep the club intact is a failure of the mentor system which for centuries the medical fraternity thrived on. Continuous appraisal by the various consultants at work is the way forward.

However, for the system to work, mentors (read specialists) need to be of respectable caliber and this is where unfortunately the country is lacking.

Ever since Malaysia came up with its local specialist programs due to a variety of reasons especially economic, we have had specialists who can’t even string a proper sentence in English.

Worse still there have been reports of cheating in examinations especially in specialties that are not conducted conjointly. Examiners both local and foreign have noted in horror how some candidates appearing for these specialist examinations appear to know what examination questions are going to appear or which clinical case is coming up.

To borrow Mahathir’s phrase, if we are going to churn out  half-past six specialists, then we will have half-past six mentors in which case an appraisal system which formed the hallmark in the advancement of medicine since time immemorial cannot be applied to the Malaysian scene.

It is here that the system has failed us. We should be able to take in any graduate from any university and still turn him into a good doctor if we had the proper mentors/specialists, obviating the need for any qualifying examination. The fault does not lie in all those medical schools scattered in this country and around the far corners of this world. The fault lies here in Malaysia where we just don’t have enough of those quality specialists anymore.

Medical teaching is a hopelessly neglected profession in this country and its ill effects may come to roost our healthcare system sooner rather then later.

In this day and age, General Hospitals should have been turned over to medical schools so that teaching and services are upgraded.

But the unending politically tiresome adversarial battles between the Health and Education ministry has contributed to the attrition of medical standards and detriment patient care.

Medicine entails lifelong learning. It does not matter when you start, but never forget that the learning can never stop.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 3 June 2007, 2:51 pm and is filed under
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Dancing with desire

by Azly Rahman

“The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace.”

– Bhagavad Gita

In the Golden Age, Rulers were unknown. In the following age Rulers were loved and praised. Next came the age when rulers were feared. Finally the age when rulers are hated.

– Lao Tzu

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

~ Voltaire

Wealth and power are temptations that erode our character. We should enslave these and put them to good use with the help of the inner self.

Many will fail and suffer when wealth and power become master to one’s destiny. The self will be destroyed, families will break down, communities will be in chaos, nations will become violent and turn against each other, countries will go to war and destroy countless millions.

American is one nation that is being destroyed. Malaysia will be following suit if we do not amputate our desire and stop dancing to its tune.

Inner peace, like what Kung Fu’Tze, Lao Tze, the Buddha, etc taught us begins with the inner self, inner conscience.

In Islam it is called “fitrah” or the “the gift” that has to be known, named, taken care of, nurtured, developed, and fed with good and healthy food of the soul so that this inner self may become larger than the universe outside and will have the energy to conquer evil.

This inner self will be the dictator to inner desire that wants to dominate, plunder, and possess others.

The nurturance of desire

The disease that is destroying us is the inability for the powerful to tame desire. If the plague is merely destroying the selfhood of the corrupt politicians, it is bearable – it is one’s righteous self-destruction.

But the problem is powerful and wealthy individuals, knowingly or otherwise design policies, strategies, and schemes to destroy the lives of many people who are helpless and who do not know what is happening to their world.

All they know is that they are happy in this system of bread and circus, of instant gratification, of the here and now, and of shackled existentialism – a world that is constantly being sped up by enabling technologies.

Media, machinery, materialism, mind control — these are instruments of desire that intrude into the inner self, turning it into a temple of madness constructed out of flesh, blood, and bones.

The soul is lost — forever sold into slavery into the media/machinery/material/mind matrix of power and wealth.

The idea that one needs lots of money to be in power is the most dangerous idea in modern politics.

Billions of Ringgit are raised to put desire into power, through undesirable elected representatives. Billions are drawn out of the blood, sweat and tears of those whose lives are constantly transformed by those who owns the means of transforming individuals and institutions.

The curse of general elections

Every four years there is a general election. Between one to another, time is spent to maintain power and hegemony through means that are desirable and undesirable.

It is as if the nation is only interested in who is gearing up for elections and the rest of the time be made to bow down to the Neon Gods or the media that produced 24/7 entertainment, infotainment, or edutainment to forget the daily suffering as a consequence of “hypermodernity”.

At every elections come, the promise of a prosperous kingdom comes. Pay raise comes even to the ones undeserving, so that they will continue to pledge allegiance to systems of thought control that shuts both eyes to the practice of massive graft, political-criminal protective system, the closing of the Malaysian mind, and a range of other designs of human behavior that cage the soul; a soul that is “born good and born free”, as Jean Jacques Rousseau might say.

What is happening in the mind of the “bribe taker” and in those that do not have commitment to higher goals and inner ideals? What is happening in the mind of those tempted to leave the ideals and join a system that will turn them into pleasure-seeking, ego-building, power-abusing individuals who will continue to want more and more money to buy more and more power?

These are difficult questions for the self. These require us to go back to the drawing board of everything – self, family, schools, communities, formal and informal institutions, the media, etc. – to ask ourselves how we got into this abyss of political mess?

The technologies of dominance

Major projects – from the transformation of society through the Felda scheme, modernisation of the public sector, technologisation of services, multimedia-isation of Malaysia’s super corridors, bio-technologisation of this country, and a range of items in developmentalist agenda – all these have been allowed to come to pass unchecked, unmediated, unexamined.

All these have taken their toll on the lives of the individuals and of the different ethnic groups. With these successive mode of production of the different stages of capitalist expansion as it collaborates with the international imperialist agenda comes newer form of addictive suffering and newer form of grand scale psychosomatic illness that impact different ethnic groups in different ways.

These have created alienation of the man/woman and labour. Unlike the padi cultivator whose life traditionally revolves around producing based on the “moral economy of the peasant society” and one in which the human being is close to nature, knows nature well, understands the signs of nature, communicates with it, respects it, and in turn nature does not easily get angry at him/her – the modern Malaysian man in the Age of Biotech Malaysia is alienated by the technologies and “expert knowledge” that alienates him/her in more sophisticated ways.

But all is lost for the farmer and for those close to nature.

Man’s “natural self” too is lost in the process, eroded and corroded by the systems of alienation forced by other men who own specialised knowledge and shrewd political means.

All is now decided for the farmer, for the teacher, and for those who once have ownership of their lives.

In a country in which fear has become institutionalised in almost all spheres of life and pleasure-seeking and the distaste for critical sensibility are now the pillars of economic development, the natural self has become the fragmented self.

We have become sick to the soul.

Lao Tzu was right when he said that we ” should not have carved the stone…” for the act of carving it spells the beginning of “destruction”. The act of creating has in it the act of destroying. It is akin to the Shiva-Vishnu dance in the court of Brahma.

Let us have a hand in orchestrating the dance. For, we must dissolve the line that separates the dancer and the dance.

Man/Woman must become the choreographer of the dance of life.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 4 June 2007, 12:22 pm and is filed under
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New govt delivery system – make sure it is not “3rd-world Infrastructure, 4th-rate Mentality, 9th-rate Maintenance”

The
new government delivery system
the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is to unveil in ten days’ time must send out the blunt message that Malaysia under his watch will not degenerate from “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” to “Third-World Infrastructure, Fourth-rate Mentality, Ninth-class Maintenance”.

When Abdullah became Prime Minister on October 31, 2003, he promised Malaysians one fundamental change — to eradicate  the “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” malaise and propel the country to “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” status.

After being Prime Minister for 47 months, there are not only no signs of any significant breakthrough for Malaysia make the transition from a  “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” malaise to a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” status, there are more and more disturbing evidence of serious and rapid deterioration of the national condition towards a stage which is best described as “Third-World Infrastructure, Fourth-rate Mentality, Ninth-class Maintenance”!

Never before in the 50-year history of the nation has the public service been seen as more inept and incompetent — with the unending list of “crack-ups” of new government buildings and public construction projects, whether the brand-new administrative capital of Putrajaya,  the RM270 million world’s second largest court complex in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur,  the  Parliament Building after RM100 million renovation and the latest, the safety of the 15-storey Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry in Precinct  4, Putrajaya.

It is reported today that a committee headed by the
Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang
 is to inspect 72 government buildings in Putrajaya, 22 in Kuala Lumpur and another 168 rented offices in the wake of recent mishaps ranging from burst pipes to collapsed ceilings.

Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu had said early last month that
RM22 million
is needed to inspect new government buildings in Putrajaya for defects.  Now that the scope of inspection has been widened to include 22 government buildings in Kuala Lumpur and another 168 rented offices, will the inspection costs  come to a mammoth bill of close to RM100 million — without taking into account the even higher costs of the necessary repairs and renovations!

However, the most important question about the scandal of new government building defects and mishaps   has not been answered, viz:  what is fundamentally wrong with the public service that it  is necessary to set up such a committee incurring such astronomical expenses  just to inspect them in  Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur  when they have been built recently  at the cost of billions of ringgit of taxpayers’ money?

Asked if the findings of the inspection would be published, Ambrin said that while he did not have a problem with it, the team had yet to decide on this.

This is typical “Third-World Mentality” where accountability and transparency is the exception than the rule.  The Malaysian public service cannot claim to be “First-World” until it is prepared to take accountability and transparency seriously, which includes respecting the right of information of Malaysian citizens and taxpayers — with  disclosures of public information particularly of committees of inquiry into government failings accepted as  the rule rather than the exception!

All these are powerful testimony that under Abdullah’s watch as Prime Minister in the past 47 months, Malaysia has not been able  even to hold on to  the status  of “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” but has rapidly fallen  backwards.

 Abdullah must be aware of the great letdown of his administration in the past 47 months, as his son-in-law, Deputy Umno Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin  (regarded by many  as the most powerful man in the administration)  has openly admitted that the Prime Minister’ had made  a gross understatement when he coined the phrase “First-class Infrastructure, Third-Class Mentality”.

Khairy (who probably coined the phrase in the first instance) now concedes  that “it’s becoming clear that the infrastructure, too, is third class, courtesy of third-rate minds and attitudes”.
(New Sunday Times 3.6.07)
.

Is  Khairy lambasting  “third-rate minds and attitudes” in the  government and Cabinet of his father-in-law?

Abdullah has promised Malaysians a new public delivery system in 10 days on June 14.  Nobody (and I suspect the Cabinet Ministers and top government officials as well) has any inkling what is this new government delivery system he would be announcing, but the least he must do is to assure Malaysians that as Prime Minister he would not preside over Malaysia becoming a “Third-World Infrastructure, Fourth-rate Mentality, Ninth-class Maintenance” even if he could not achieve the goal of a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” nation.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 4 June 2007, 11:42 am and is filed under
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Restoration of Bahasa Malaysia welcome – but why the sheepish, surreptitious, selective announcement?

The
restoration of Bahasa Malaysia
 as the official reference to the national language is most welcome.

DAP had been very critical of the move in the eighties when Bahasa Malaysia was dropped and replaced by Bahasa Melayu, as it was a step backwards for Malaysian nation-building.

The Cabinet decision in April to restore the term Bahasa Malaysia for the national language has proven the DAP right in taking a far-sighted nationalist position in the past two decades that the term  Bahasa Malaysia should continue to be used to signify that the national language had  been elevated to a language for the nation and all races which make up the nation — and that it was Umno, MCA,. Gerakan, MIC and all the other Barisan Nasional component parties which had been wrong in taking a retrogressive step.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the Education Minister in 1986 when initiating the change, had been blamed for dropping the term Bahasa Malaysia in favour of Bahasa Melayu.

The question is why the other Ministers and leaders in Barisan Nasional, whether Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other component parties from Sabah and Sarawak went along with the change and did nothing to restore the term for the past 10 years when Anwar was no more in the Barisan Nasional.

In this connection, an explanation is warranted from the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin  for the sheepish, surreptitious and selective manner in announcing the  April Cabinet decision after two months.

Today, only the Star and Sin Chew Daily were the only English and Chinese language newspapers to report this April decision of the Cabinet to restore the term Bahasa Malaysia as the official term for the national language. There was not a single Bahasa Malaysia medium which reported this important Cabinet decision.

If this is  regarded by the Ministers as an important Cabinet decision in the nation-building process to foster national unity and integration, why was the subject treated as if it is an “unmentionable” subject for two months, and when it was made public, done in a most selective manner when it should be properly announced to all language media, whether printed or electronic?

The  sheepish, surreptitious and selective  manner the Cabinet decision of April had been handled has detracted from its value and meaning as an important step to promote national integration by emphasizing that the national language has transcended its racial origin to become a national language of all Malaysians regardless of race or religion.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 4 June 2007, 2:16 pm and is filed under
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Altantunya Shariibuu murder trial starts with black-eye for system of justice

The high-profile Mongolian
Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial
started yesterday with a black-eye for the Malaysian system of justice with the  last-minute switch of the prosecution team at the opening of the trial yesterday leading to a two-week adjournment until June 18.

Twenty-four hours after the sudden turn of events, no responsible or credible explanation is yet forthcoming from the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Gani’s explanation
that he initiated the last-minute move to introduce a new prosecution team in order to ensure a “fair trial” to all parties concerned is no explanation at all, unless he could give two further information — firstly, what was wrong with the original prosecution team of DPPs Salehuddin Saidin and Noorin Badaruddin; and secondly, why he took the decision to change the prosecution team only at the eleventh-hour creating an international scene  and not earlier when the Shah Alam High Court had fixed hearing for 25 days as far back as March 9, 2007?

DPP Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah, head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers civil division, who has been instructed to take over the prosecution, cannot be faulted as he had only been assigned to the case “at 5.30 pm on Sunday, while on his way back to Kuala Lumpur from his home town of Kuala Kangsar” but this does not mean that Gani should enjoy immunity from having to act with responsibility and accountability by giving a proper explanation, which he owes not only to the Shah Alam High Court but also to the courts of public opinion, both national and international.

The
allegation by lawyer Zulkifli Noordin
, who discharged himself from representing one of the accused Chief Insp Azilah Hadri, that “there were serious interferences by third parties” in  his preparation for the defence and trial “for the purpose of protecting and for the benefit of certain parties”  is very grave and should be taken seriously by the relevant authorities as it constitute a travesty of justice.  A full and thorough investigation should be conducted to get to the bottom of Zulkifli’s allegation.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 2:41 pm and is filed under
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Bahasa Malaysia – by itself will not promote togetherness, unity and integration among Malaysians

Deputy Prime Minister,
Datuk Seri Najib Raza
k said yesterday that the reversion of the designation of the national language as Bahasa Malaysia as  in the first three  decades of nationhood was intended to promote togetherness, unity and integration among Malaysians.

He said the government did not want to see the Cabinet’s decision in April being turned  into polemics.

He said: “Our view regarding the national language is that it is owned by everyone, regardless of race and ethnicity.

“Although the national language is Malay, we want to make it a language for all. That is the rationale (for the change).”

Although this is the latest “flip-flop” of the Barisan Nasional government under the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I support it.

I welcome both the restoration of Bahasa Malaysia as the official reference to the national language and Najib’s explanation, especially as Najib was one of those responsible in turning the issue into polemics in 1986.

Although Anwar Ibrahim is being blamed for the change from Bahasa Malaysia to Bahasa Melayu  in 1986 when he was Education Minister, one of Anwar’s strongest supporters in the change at the time  was none other than Najib, who was then the Deputy Umno Youth leader to  Anwar as the Umno Youth leader.

It has taken Najib  more than 20 years to fully understand  and accept the DAP’s arguments at the time criticizing the change on the ground  that the  national language must transcend its racial origin to become a language of all Malaysians regardless of race, language, religion or culture.  It is better late than never.

However, the restoration of the term Bahasa Malaysia to designate the national language does not mean that the various mother-tongues of multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural Malaysia are not Malaysian languages — as all mother-tongues of Malaysians must be fully recognized as an integral part of the Malaysian linguistic and cultural mosaic.

It must also be recognized that the mere reversion  to Bahasa Malaysia to refer to national language by itself  will not promote togetherness,  unity and integration among Malaysians particularly  if Cabinet Ministers continue to be narrow-minded and lack broad nationalist and even globalist outlook.

Malaysia is marking 50th anniversary of nationhood since Independence in 1957. Apart from restoration of Bahasa Malaysia to refer to the national language and the hundreds of millions of ringgit to be spent on fireworks, banquets and other forms of extravangza, what bold and challenging initiatives have the Cabinet come up with to make the half-a-century of nationhood anniversary celebrations most meaningful in leapfrogging the country forwards  in promoting togetherness, unity and integration among Malaysians?

Recent events and developments involving top government leaders  are not encouraging signs that the Cabinet has any real clue as to how to use the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations to make a quantum leap for the  Malaysian nation-building process.

Malaysia lacks a Cabinet with the broadmindedness, imagination, courage and globalist outlook to deal with grave problems and challenges facing the country, including:

	the unresolved Malay keris-wielding scandal by the Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in circumstances showing utter contempt for the sensitivities and rights of all Malaysians and  his arrogant and “childish” refusal to meet up with Dong Jiao Zong to discuss the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010 and Chinese education;

	the continued decline in international competitiveness with no political will to create a national environment where excellence in education and towering Malaysians regardless of race or religion could surface and flourish;

	the indifference to a new exodus of brain-drain with the best and brightest turning to emigration in their disappointment that they do not have an equal place under the Malaysian sun; and

	the religious polarization and constitutional crisis stemming  from a spate of cases, the latest being the Lina Joy case.

If Najib is serious about wanting to promote togetherness, unity and integration among Malaysians, these are some of the problems he must urgently get the Cabinet to address and resolve in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka anniversary.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 9:51 am and is filed under
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Flabbergasted by PM’s speech – no signs of any new public service delivery system

I am flabbergasted by the speech of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the monthly assembly of staff of the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya yesterday.  There are three reasons.

Firstly, Abdullah is the first Prime Minister  in the 50-year history of the nation to have given the official sanction to “moonlighting” in the Malaysian civil service, formally placing Malaysia in the footsteps of the Indonesian civil service well-known for “moonlighting” and corruption because of the low pay of the Indonesian government servants.

Although the
Star
 headlined
“PM: Don’t moonlight — Civil servants advised to budget and spend money wisely”
, other media  headlines are more accurate, such as:
“Cut down on ‘extra jobs’ advises PM”

(Sun)
,
“PM: Outside jobs must not affect official duties”
(
New Straits Times)
,
“Buat kerja luar jangan jejas productivity: PM”

(Berita Harian)
 and
“Gaji naik: Kurangkan kerja sampingan”

(Utusan Malaysia)
.

This is  because Abdullah never told civil servants to stop “moonlighting” but “to reduce such activities as they could adversely affect productivity”.

As
Bernama
 reported, Abdullah said the government, aware of the problems facing civil servants in the lower ranks, had ensured that they got a higher percentage of salary increment compared to employees in other categories.

He said: “I’m aware that some employees in the lower ranks, especially those with many children, have to work at night selling nasi lemak, banana fritters or do odd jobs for additional income.

“I respect them for their diligence and the love they have for their family in fullfilling their responsibiities. I also understand that the wives too have to work to help make ends meet.”

Bernama reported that Abdullah however advised them not to do the part-time jobs until late night.

Abdullah has created history of sorts, as his speech is tantamount to an announcement to the world that the Malaysian civil service  has fallen from the previous high standards five decades ago when it was regarded as of world-class standards.

This is most surprising as it has come just after  RM8 billion civil service pay increases, which had been praised sky-high by  the Cuepacs President Omar Osman who said:

 “The 35 per  cent for the lowest income group is the best ever in our history. The 100 per cent increase in cost of living allowance is exceptional. It was everything that we expected.”
(New Straits Times 22.5.07)

In fact, the Cuepacs President said  that the civil service “would not be the same again as civil servants had been motivated by way of better wages” and he promised to go on a roadshow to tell civil servants to drop negative habits which had affected their service to the people as “there is no room for the ‘old style’ of work”.

He said civil servants would be told to give up part-time jobs to focus 100 per  cent on their jobs, adding: “We don’t want them to hold second jobs any more as they will be taking home a much larger pay packet.”

The Chief Secretary Tan Sri Mohamed Sidek Hassan also publicly held the Cuepacs President to his promise to go on a roadshow to tell the one million civil servants to stop “moonlighting” and focus on their responsibility in the civil service. (NST 23.5.07)

Why did  the Prime Minister disregard and veto  both the  Cuepacs President and the Chief Secretary, both of whom are of the view that the recent RM8 billion civil service salary increases had been structured in such a way that  “moonlighting” by civil servants is no more justifiable?

If Abdullah is now giving his stamp of approval to “moonlighting” in the civil service, what are the guidelines for such “moonlighting”  and what mechanism has been devised to ensure that public interests of efficiency, courtesy, productivity and  integrity are not undermined?

Has the Cabinet officially taken a policy decision to give the stamp of approval for “moonlighting” by civil servants, and if so, when?

The second reason I am flabbergasted is the burden of the Prime Minister’s speech two weeks after the RM8 billion civil salary pay rise.

What was top on his mind was the headline used by Bernama for its report:
“PM Raps Govt Employees Who Cannot Sing National Song”
.

Abdullah appeared very peeved and annoyed that after a RM8 billion pay rise, some government employees were still not  able to sing the “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang” national song.

At a time when hardly a day passes without a report of another multi-million ringgit government building defect or public construction mishap (today’s press reports the collapse of the ceiling boards of
RM27 million Johor Syariah Court Complex
which opened its doors early this year), Malaysians would have expected more weighty matters on the Prime Minister’s mind than the “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang”  song.

This brings me to the third reason for being flabbergasted by Abdullah’s speech yesterday — the absolute lack of signs that  Malaysia is poised  on the eve of a great government initiative to launch a new public service delivery system on June 14.

Last week Abdullah had announced that a new government delivery system would be launched on June 14, promising great things for the people.  Is this promise of a new public service delivery system going to be a letdown, turning out to be “empty thunder without rain”?

I hope that after tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting, the main features of the new public service delivery system to be launched on June 14 would be delineated for the information of MPs as well as the civil society; and if there is not going to be any launching of a new public service delivery system, a public correction should be made immediately so as not to mislead Malaysians another time.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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Land Premiums for renewal of leases in Sarawak

by Sara Wak

The state BN leaders have already lost RM billions in First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp projects, on the other hand they are trying to penalise the people for the mistakes that they made by imposing high land premiums for renewal of their lands.

How much has the State lost in the First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp projects compared to the land premiums to be imposed by Taib and his government for land lease renewal?

Will the land premiums to be collected be sufficient to cover the RM billions which Taib and his government have lost in First Silicon and Borneo Paper & Pulp?

Who are to be held accountable for the losses? CM? The whole state Government?

Who were those responsible for making the decisions to invest in these projects?

Who were the ones who drafted the agreements not to cover Sarawak but to make the Government of Sarawak responsible for the loans taken out and having to pay the banks when the partners do not pay ?

The people of Sarawak have a right to know.

Where is the accountability? We demand an answer.

Let’s be transparent. We do not want to be continued to be cheated.

The RM billions lost belong to us just like shareholders in a company. The money does not belong to Taib and his cabinet.

If the cabinet made the decisions for the investments, they should resign honourably like directors in a company where they are entrusted by the shareholders to manage the company.

If Taib and his ministers have mismanaged Sarawak, they should resign and do not need to wait till the next election and continue to cheat the people.

We want our money back, the money belong to us and not Taib and his ministers alone.

Let’s have a profit and loss accounts for the years that Taib has been in power and see how well he has managed the financial resources of Sarawak. If he fails to manage properly, he must not be allowed to be the chief executive of Sarawak.

We know that the people cannot ask him to reveal how the resources of Sarawak have been managed, but I am sure the YBs from DAP and PKRs can demand it to be revealed on behalf of the people of Sarawak.

Taib and his ministers cannot refused not to disclose the figures.

Let’s see them NOW. If the local media do not dare to publish what the people are asking, then let’s ask the foreign press to publish them worldwide.

We are only asking for information which we are entitled to know and not accusing anyone at the moment. WE want the TRUTH.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 6:46 pm and is filed under
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Lina Joy Dialogue

“
To say that she is not under the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court – because she no longer professes Islam – is not appropriate… In other words, one cannot embrace or leave a religion according to one’s whims and fancies
.” –
Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim

“
Illegal and unreasonable… to expect the appellant (Lina) to apply for a certificate of apostasy – when to do so would likely expose her to a range of offences under the Islamic law – is, in my view, unreasonable
.” –
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Richard Malanjum

“
I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons; namely, the right to believe in the religion of one’s choice… The Federal Court has not only denied me that right but to all Malaysians who value fundamental freedoms.
” –
 Lina Joy

Date
: 7 June 2007 (Thursday)

Time
: 7.30pm

Venue
: Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya

Room
: Laksamana Room, Level 3

Speakers:

Y.B. Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader

Ambiga Sreenevasan, Malaysia Bar Council President

Dr Azmi Sharom, Associate Professor, UM Law Faculty

Lenard Teoh, Legal Advisor to Malaysia Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS)

Yusri Mohammad, President of Angkatan Belia Islam (ABIM)

Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, General Secretary of PKR

Chairperson
: Tony Pua

Free Admission

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 10:04 am and is filed under
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Yek Yow Ngan – MOH and Assunta wrong

by AHMAD SOBRI

I read with anguish the recent death of Madam Yek Yow Ngan, 51, a marketing executive at the Nanyang Siang Pau. Madam Yek was apparently involved in a car accident on Sunday morning, 27th May at about 3am at the 8th mile Puchong Road and was subsequently surrounded by a group of men with parangs and iron rods.

She was rushed to the Assunta Hospital where she was admitted at 4.10 am by her son, Allan Yeong Hon, with multiple injuries and in a state of coma.

Active resuscitation was apparently carried out at the emergency unit at the Assunta by the nurses and doctor there including intubation and infusion of 4 units of blood. Her condition stabilized at about 5am.

She was subsequently wheeled in for CT scans and X-rays and was being transferred to the ICU when the question of costs arose.

The son, apparently unable to afford the charges, requested for a transfer to a government hospital.

She was subsequently transferred by ambulance at 5.45am in a “stable condition” to the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur when there was no response from the nearby University Hospital. She arrived at 6.10am. She however died 3 hours later at the GHKL at 9.40am, Monday morning 28th May.

Her distraught family, unhappy with the medical turn of events, complained to the Ministry of Health. The Health Minister has seemingly absolved Assunta Hospital, saying that the Hospital had followed proper procedures.

He further clarified that since emergency treatment had been rendered before the question of payment arose, “the hospital had done nothing wrong” and this he deemed was fair. These events were apparently further confirmed by officers of his “medical practices” division which concurred with him.

There are two pertinent issues here, as in almost every emergency case reported in the media.

The first is scene time, so critical in emergency responses, and this; the victim’s son has appeared to have done well by rushing her to a hospital in less then an hour. In fact, he is quoted as saying, “”We sent her to Assunta Hospital as it was the nearest hospital from the scene of the accident”. Certainly he appears to have brought her to the appropriate hospital.

The second, more contentious issue, is the question of funding.

It must be emphasized that trauma and emergency victims frequently brought to private hospitals but later turned away or transferred out has never been about the absence of emergency and definitive treatment but in fact has always been a question of funding.

Who funds this treatment? Private Hospitals are on their own and as in New Zealand recently, risk having their electricity cut if they don’t pay their TNB bills. There is no bail out here.

Madam Yek required 4 units of blood, meaning she could have been bleeding actively and definitive treatment in the form of surgery could have been urgently required.

There are today time bars for trauma victims and patients with acute coronary syndromes (heart attacks) where response time needs to be less then 60 minutes and 90 minutes respectively.

In fact, in patients with severe trauma, this “golden hour” may even be as short as 15 minutes before certain factors set in that may make the shock irreversible. Strategies such as “Damage Control Surgery” (DCS) are currently employed where trauma surgeons frequently operate on patients just to stop the bleeding first for fear patients exsanguinate.

It is also as a result of this “time-bar” to treat these life-threatening conditions that Tony Blair recently authorized the upgrading of emergency units in the NHS at significant costs.

Sadly though, for Madam Yek, while the haggling, arguing and bargaining was being carried out, her 60 minutes was running out and with it her life was slowly slipping away from her.

The Assunta Hospital certainly knows the consequences of delayed definitive treatment for patients in hypovolemic shock but chose to stall after administering emergency treatment knowing very well that there could be dire consequences.

As for the MOH, it must now realize that no amount of regulations nor Acts of parliament is going to bring back Madam Yeh’s “golden hour”.

In fact all these rules being enforced by it’s so called” medical practices division” is a charade, clearly missing the wood for the trees.

The MOH has to solve this problem of funding for emergency patients especially when the appropriate hospital is a private one and patients are locked into this time bar.

The MOH must realize that real hard work is required in determing a minimum fee schedule for patients stuck in this limbo. The State cannot wish this one away as the Will of God especially since Malaysians today have seen the colossal waste that is going on in almost every Ministry.

A billion ringgit can save a 100,000 patients at RM10,000/- per patient. Whatever happened to the public funds donated that were placed in the Ministry’s Trust?

The Ministry should forget about all its grandiose telemedicine projects, questionable traditional medical schemes and unnecessary Acts and solve real problems such as first responders, pre-hospital care, ambulance services, health economics, health prevention and education.

These real life and death problems are the ones doctors, nurses, patients and hospitals face everyday.

Madam Yek was brought to the nearest appropriate hospital alive but for reasons of finance was transferred to another hospital after a time lag of two hours which may have led to her death.

Both the Ministry of Health and Assunta, in their frantic attempts to clear each other of all blame, appear to have forgotten a very important detail in the death of this unfortunate lady — it is called conscience, something no qualifying examination is ever going to teach you and a quality which appears to be in short supply both at the Ministry of Health and Assunta Hospital.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 June 2007, 7:53 am and is filed under
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Altantunya trial – Malaysia’s justice system the casualty with AG’s continued silence

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail  must come forward to give proper explanation to end the thousand-and-one questions swirling around
the last-minute change of prosecution team
in the  high-profile Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial or Malaysia’s system of justice is in for another chapter of adverse publicity  both nationally and internationally, ending up as the greatest  casualty.

Gani should know that his explanation that the last-minute switch of prosecution was to enable “a fair trial” raises more questions than giving an answer.

It explains not only nothing, but implies that  continuing with the original prosecution team of DPPs Salehuddin Saidin and Noorin Badaruddin could be against the interests of ensuring “a fair trial”  and if so, clearly the Attorney-General must explain why, since it casts a serious reflection on the professionalism and integrity of Salehuddin and Noorin.

Furthermore, why if there has to be a switch of the prosecution team  for whatever reasons, the change was not made earlier as the charges of murder against the three accused were first made in November 15 last year while the trial dates for 25 days starting on Monday was fixed by the Shah Alam High Court as far back as March 9, 2007.

Gani should explain whether the last-minute switch of the prosecution team was to strengthen the chances of securing convictions in the Altantunya Shaariibuu  trial and if so, how.

Why was the whole prosecution team switched, instead of directing DPP Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah to lead the prosecution team but still comprising Salehuddin and Noorin since they had been involved in the preparation of the trial right from the beginning?

Gani should be aware of the political implications of and the world-wide interests in  the trial and should be wary of taking any steps which can only give  wing to  speculation of political interference in the conduct of the trial.

The Attorney-General cannot continue to keep silent as the reputation and international standing of the Malaysian system of justice, which is  trying,  not too successfully,  to regain national and international confidence after two decades of relentless assault and erosion by the Executive, will otherwise  be the greatest casualty.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 June 2007, 10:38 am and is filed under
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“Moonlighting” by civil servants – PM advocates “close one eye”?

CUEPACS President  Omar Osman has  reiterated the stand of the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services before and after the recent RM8 billion public service pay revision that civil servants should immediately stop “moonlighting” and give up part-time jobs to focus 100 per  cent on their jobs, as they will be taking home a much larger pay packet.

Utusan Malaysia
in its report today
“Hentikan segera kerja sambilan — CUEPACS”
, Omar said CUEPACS takes a serious view of “moonlighting” by  civil servants after the RM8 billion pay revision and fully agrees if departments concerned take disciplinary action against civil servants who continue to be obstinate.

Admitting that hitherto, the departments concerned had “closed an eye”  to “moonlighting” by  lower-paid civil servants as their pay were not adequate to meet their needs, Omar said firm action should be taken against those who still hold second jobs as the government had been fair in raising their incomes in the recent salary revision.

Omar said: “Melakukan kerja sambilan merupakan satu kesalahan di dalam sector awam dan perkara ini terdapat di dalam akujanji dan peraturan.

“Bagi CUEPACS sekiranya perkara ini dibiarkan tanpa  ada usaha untuk mencegahnya ia sememangnya boleh menjejaskan productivity.”

The time has come for the government to give a clear position on the question of “moonlighting” by civil servants or the RM8 billion salary increase beginning on July 1 will become an expensive farce.

The Prime Minister,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
seems to have contradicted both the CUEPACS President and the Chief Secretary, Tan Sri Mohamed Sidek Hassan both of whom have called  for an end to “moonlighting” by civil servants after the RM8 billion salary revision.

Speaking at the monthly assembly of staff of the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya on Monday, Abdullah seemed to have given official approval to “moonlighting” by civil servants in the lower-pay categories.

Do we have a  situation where the Prime Minister approves of “moonlighting” by civil servants, though from the low-pay categories, while the Chief Secretary and CUEPACS President are opposed?

Is Abdullah an  advocate of “close one eye” for  “moonlighting” by civil servants — with Chief Secretary and CUEPACS President taking the contradictory position?

This is a most extraordinary scenario which cannot continue for another day for the sake of the credibility and integrity of the public service and the authority and legitimacy  of the Prime Minister.

Such an extraordinary contradictory position  held by the Prime Minister and the Chief Secretary, which turns the entire civil service into a joke,  should be immediately straightened out.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 June 2007, 12:03 pm and is filed under
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Abdullah’s wedding – blessings and prayers from all Malaysians

The Prime Minister,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
will have the blessings and prayers of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs for a happy and contented marriage which will be an inspiration for him to begin to fulfill his reform pledges aned agenda when he became Prime Minister.

Abdullah’s announcement that he would be
marrying
Jeane Abdullah is good news and Malaysians are happy for him, believing that Jeane can  bring him happiness, taking care  of him and be his companion.

Abdullah cannot be more right when he remarked  yesterday that “a happy prime minister can do a lot of great work” and Malaysians are looking forwards to  him starting his “great work” as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

I personally hope that Abdullah’s “great work” as a happily married man again can start next Thursday, the date he had promised last week for the launching of  a new government delivery system after the earlier announcement of a RM8 billion salary revision for civil servants in the country.

Such a “great work” in the first week of his second marriage would be great news and bring great happiness to Malaysians as well.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2007, 11:02 am and is filed under
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Why is Gani Patail not leading the prosecution in Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial?

Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail is to be commended for conceding to public demands for accountability and transparency to explain the reason for the last-minute change of the prosecution team in the Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial.

Gani said the  DPP Salehuddin Saidin, who was leading the prosecution team had been seen
playing badminton
with trial judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yasin and the matter was only brought to his attention last Thursday.

Gani said realizing the sensitivity of the case, he decided to withdraw Salehuddin from leading the prosecution team. Given the time constraint of only three days for a new DPP to take over, he had no choice but to request for adequate time to prepare the case.

Whether Gani’s explanation would be fully accepted is another matter, at least he has given what can be regarded by some  as adequate and acceptable explanation for the extraordinary turn of events at the start of the high-profile murder trial.

This is because there will be those who will ask why the judge Datuk Mohd

Zaki had not recused himself from the trial instead.

Questions will be asked as to why  the initial judge to preside over the trial, Datuk K.N. Segara, was taken off the case as the reason given, that he had more party-heard cases, is weak and unconvincing, and whether Judge Segara should be allowed to preside over the trial.

The incident has  raised anew  the subject of  the proper conduct of judges and the main players in the system of justice, and what has happened to the public undertaking by Tun  Ahmad Fairuz on his  appointment as Chief Justice some four years ago in 2003 to recast the Judges’ Code of Ethics to restore public confidence in judicial independence, impartiality and integrity.

Malaysians are reminded of the stain in the history of Malaysian judiciary where the author of the Judges’ Code of Ethics in 1994, the then Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin, had himself violated and discredited the Code of Ethics by his own judicial misconduct and impropriety, to the extent that he left the high judicial office in disgrace.

There is  also one question which is being asked by Malaysians about the Altantunya murder trial — why Gani is  not personally leading the prosecution in the Mongolian  murder trial when it is likely to be the most high-profile trial under his tenure as Attorney-General?

Is Gani prepared to give  a satisfactory explanation to this question?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 June 2007, 2:20 pm and is filed under
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Bring rational inter-religious dialogues into the open instead of allowing religious polarisation to fester underground

Let me start with two preliminary observations:

Firstly, this dialogue on “Malaysia after Lina Joy” has not been organized by the DAP to mock or ridicule Islam or any other religion.

I am bold to say that Malaysians from all faiths and races who have produced this more-than-capacity turnout to this dialogue tonight  have come not to indulge in Islam-bashing or bashing of any other religion.

We are gathered here as Malaysians who love our country and are concerned that on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of our nation, religious polarization has become a great threat to the unity, well-being and future of Malaysia and we want to find ways and means to surmount this challenge.

Whatever our religious, political or personal differences, there must be one common and unifying bond, that as citizens of multi-racial and multi-religious nation, everyone of us respect all the religions which have made religious pluralism a distinctive characteristic of our country.

We must all be conscious that this respect for all religions in Malaysia by every Malaysian  is an essential prerequisite for the success and future well-being for the country.

Secondly,  this inter-religious dialogue tonight is a history of sorts for Malaysia, some form of substitute for  the “Building Bridges Inter-faith Dialogue” which had to be aborted recently.

It proves that it is possible to hold a public dialogue to address in a rational, cool and collected manner  the delicate and sensitive issues of religious differences and polarization in the country, as such public discourse had been  virtually banned and driven underground in the past two  years.

Religion has become a major cause of national disunity and polarization after half-a-century of nationhood and these issues  should be brought into the open to be dialogued in a rational manner instead of being driven underground causing divisions to fester and become increasingly explosive.

The overwhelming   success of tonight’s dialogue is  a signal to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that the time has come to do what he had avoided doing in the past two years — to provide leadership for inter-religious dialogues to be held in the country  to find a solution to close the national divide caused by religious polarization.

The Prime Minister has said that “a happy prime minister can do a lot of great work” and let us hope that this is one “great work” Malaysians can look forward to from him.

The case of Lina Joy has far-reaching constitutional implications affecting seven of the nine  fundamental liberties entrenched in the Constitution, namely:

Article 3 –  Religion of the Federation

Article 4 –  Supreme law of the Federation

Article 5 –  Liberty of the person

Article 8 –  Equality before the law

Article 10 — Freedom of speech, assembly and association

Article 11 — Freedom of religion

Article 12 — Rights in respect of education.

The many  constitutional questions that have been raised by the Lina Joy case, apart from her personal plight, are:

1.	Has Malaysia progressively become an Islamic State against the 1957 “social contract” agreed by our forefathers from the major communities that Malaysia is a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state, which is buttressed by constitutional, political and legal history of over four decades, starting from the Reid Constitution Commission Report 1956, the Government White Paper on the Constitutional Proposals, the Federal Constitution 1957, the Cobbold Commission Report 1963 and the highest political and judicial pronouncements in  the land.   I have here three newspaper clippings going back to 1983 showing:

(i)	On 8th February 1983,  when celebrating his 80th birthday, Tunku Abdul Rahman said Malaysia should not be turned into an Islamic state, that Malaysia was set up as a secular State with Islam as the official religion which was enshrined in the Constitution. Tunku said:

“The Constitution must be respected and adhered to. There have been attempts by some people who tried to introduce religious laws and morality laws. This cannot be allowed.

“The country has a  multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion.”

(ii)
Utusan Malaysia
 editorial on 10th Feb. 1983 entitled
“Malaysia Negara Sekular”
 which said:

“Nasihat Tunku ini sangat kena pada masanya kerana sejak akhir-akhir ini kita mendengar bermacam-macam keghairahan timbul di kalangan pemimpin dan rakyat yang mahu menukarkan undang-undang negara ini kepada undang-undang Islam dan menjadikan Malaysia sebagai ‘Islamic state’.

“Kita sendiri menyaksikan betapa negara-negara yang mendakwa mengamalkan system pemerintahan Islam telah gagal membawa kebahagiaan kepada rakyatnya, malah negara-negara tersebut hanya dipenuhi dengan kacau bilau sahaja.”

(iii) Five days later, on his 61s birthday, Tun Hussein Onn told reporters that he supported Tunku Abdul Rahman’s view that Malaysia should not be turned into an Islamic state. (
“HUSSEIN SAYS NO TO ISLAMIC STATE TOO”
 –
Star
13/2/83).

2.	Whether the Malaysian Judiciary has become more Islamist instead of being strictly Constitutionalist in the past decade, repudiating the Constitution and 30 years of precedents that Malaysia is a secular state and not an Islamic state, such as the landmark case of
Che Omar bin Che Soh v PP [1988]
 where Salleh Abas LP  said:

“… we have to set aside our personal feelings because the law in this country is still what it is today, secular law, where morality not accepted by the law is not enjoying the status of law.”

3.	Whether the judiciary is being polarized along religious lines, with Muslim judges ranged against non-Muslim judges according to their religion on cases raising religious issues, as happened in recent cases, which was not evident  in the first four decades of nationhood.  Are the judges Malaysians first and their religion second, or have their religious identity taken first place with their Malaysian identity relegated to second place?

4.	Why has the fundamental right of freedom of religion in Article 11 suddenly been interpreted as belonging to only half the population — and whether it is conceivable that when the 1957 Merdeka Constitution was enacted, it was only meant for half the population, i.e. non-Muslims.

It is important that the process of dialogue among Malaysians of different religions must be allowed to take its rightful place in the public sphere if the religious pluralism Malaysia prides itself in international fora is to be unequalled   assets instead of unfortunate  liabilities for the country.

(Speech at the “Malaysia after Lina Joy — Dialogue” organized by DAP at Hotel Armada, Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 7th June 2007)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 June 2007, 11:11 am and is filed under
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Bahrain flyover RM100 million – why Kuching flyover RM200 million?

by Sara Wak

The Seef Flyover, Manama, Bahrain – RM100 million, The Kuching Flyover – More than RM 200 million – Why?

The differences are –

The Seef Flyover, Manama, Bahrain was built by WCT Engineering Bhd. from west Malaysia.

The Kuching Flyover was built by Global Upline Sdn Bhd.

You can see the difference in quality also. The Seef Flyover is of international standard, whereas the Kuching Flyover is on a much lower standard.

Why did it cost so much more to build the Kuching Flyover?

Abdullah Badawi has to explain. Our Dear Samy Vellu will also have to explain.

There is no other better day for him to explain other than his wedding day today!

The Seef Flyover, Manama, Bahrain
 – taken from
www.wcte.com.my/WCTE/page.asp?catId=231

This forms part of the proposed North Manama Corridor Improvement Project, which consist of reconstruction of 2.2 kim of dual 3-lane arterial from Seef Roundabout to Pearl Roundabout i.e. Al Seef Flyover and Central Market Interchange.

The Proposed highway works under this contract included :

Al-Seef Flyover consisting two parallel independent 3-Span bridge structure utilising triple-cell box girder with total length of 112.0 meters covering 15.90 meters width. The Structure is designed to be founded on 800 mm dia. cast in-place bred piles with reinforced concrete pile caps. The Government of Bahrain take initiative to up-grade Al-Seef Flyover from 3-Span to 5-Span bridge structure in view of the massive development going on at Al-Seef District.

Central Market Interchange consisting three parallel independent 3-Span bridge structure utilising triple-cells box girder in combination of 3-Span twin-cells box girder. Total length of the structure is 106.0 meters and the total width is 12.1 meters.

The scope of works to be performed under this contract includes Site Clearing & Earthworks, Bridge, flyovers and interchange, road and associated works, Open box beam (Guard Rail), Drainage Works.

Project Sum : RM 100M

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2007, 9:52 am and is filed under
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PM should convene 50th Merdeka Anniversary Religious Leaders Summit on National Unity

All religions teach mankind the virtues of charity, goodwill, compassion,  tolerance and equality towards a world of peace, harmony and compassion.

However, religions have also been  the cause of human strife and misunderstanding evident from recent events in the country, whether the Lina Joy case or the controversy over the  Mazu statue in Kudat, Sabah.

As a multi-religious nation, religion must play a more proactive  role in nation-building to create an united, harmonious and progressive Malaysia. Let me  make  two suggestions as to how this could be done:

Firstly,  by inculcating in every Malaysian citizen the quality of respecting all religions in the country and not just honouring their own religion — which must be regarded as a distinctive quality of Malaysian citizenship and consciousness; and

Secondly, all religions  working together under one framework at all levels of the nation to  contribute positively to nation-building by promoting inter-religious understanding, goodwill and harmony and  demonstrating the power of inter-religious co-operation as a good and positive force to foster inter-racial and inter-religious solidarity and reduce racial and religious polarization.

For this reason, I call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to convene a  50th Merdeka Anniversary Religious Leaders Summit on National Unity to harness the power of religion in a positive manner in nation-building for the next half century.

I believe such an initiative will make the 50th Merdeka Anniversary very meaningful as it will be a most positive and constructive contribution  to the nation-building process in the coming decades.

(Speech at the opening of the Great Vajrasattva Puja for World Peace, Harmony and Compassion of Persatuan Buddha Dharma Padmasambhava Malaysia at Cyrstal Crown Hotel, Klang on Friday, 8th June 2007 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2007, 11:23 am and is filed under
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Another “Highland Tower” in the making?

Housing Development at foothills in Ulu Kelang Area

by Seri Naga Leong Loong Hee

With the collapse of Highland Tower and the landslide that  happened in a retired general’s house in Ulu Kelang area, I thought the government has issued a statement that there will be no longer development being allowed to be carried out in foothill near that area.

However today as I was cycling in that area, I notice they are clearing the land at a hill near Jalan Melawati 4.

I have attached the pictures for your easy reference. I think it’s time for our government to really learn from the past. With such indiscriminate clearing of land near foothills, we are having a Highland Tower incident in the making.

Not to mention it’s a waste of land by just building less than 100 houses and they are destroying the environment at the same time.

I hope DAP could voice this in Parliament and get our inefficient government to be more environment sensitive.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 June 2007, 5:44 am and is filed under
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