A(H1N1) flu death toll climbs to 62 with daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases – Japan and South Korea confirm their first A(H1N1) death

The A (H1N1) flu death toll in Malaysia has climbed to 62 with another three fatalities with the daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases in the country.

On the international front, South Korea and Japan have confirmed their first A (H1N1) death.

The first South-Korea death is a 56-year-old man who returned from a visit to Thailand while the first Japanese death, a man in his fifties, had apparently not been overseas.

The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation estimates.

The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.

For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.

This report was given prominent treatment in some local media which should help in creating greater public alert and vigilance against the killer pandemic.

The question is why Liow had not taken the first opportunity to warn Malaysians of this worst-scene WHO scenario, when the National Influenza Pandemic Task Force was first informed of this possible scenario by Dr Tee Ah Sian,  WHO director of communicable diseases some three weeks ago on July 27.

I had asked Liow on July 31  to respond to this WHO worst-scene scenario but the Health Minister chose to keep his silence – when his prompt communication of this scenario might have helped to create greater national awareness and vigilance with a reduced number of the number of cases and fatalities which have occurred so far.

In this connection, the concerns expressed in a letter to Malaysiakini by
Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Rasd
i warrant prompt response from the Health Minister, viz:

The callous attitude of the Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Rais Yatim who had said that  Malaysians should not be alarmed or be an alarmist because Britain had 350 deaths and they did not “panic” or “raise the alarm”; and

The official line reflected in the media reporting that suggests  that only a certain “high risk” group is susceptible to end up fatally.

An important element of the strategy in the war  against A (H1N1) flu  killer  pandemic  is to have a special unit which responds to public concerns which appear in the public domain  but which seems to be woefully non-existent in Malaysia  despite the WHO declaration of a pandemic in June.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 August 2009, 4:48 pm and is filed under
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All 5 MACC advisory panels should convene emergency meetings to halt the MACC abuses of power in declaring war against Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war against corruption or they should resign collectively

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)  director of investigations
Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdul
  announced yesterday that the MACC will stop indefinitely  investigating politicians across the political divide for corruption and money politics, including the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

He said his men felt that they could not carry out their duties effectively in cases involving politicians as they were being slammed no matter what they did.

Shukri has evaded the burning crisis of confidence confronting  the MACC – why in a matter of seven months, public confidence  in the MACC has plummeted to a level never plumbed by its predecessor the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in 41 years from 1967 – 2008 although MACC was established on 1.1.2009 with unprecedented powers  to be Malaysia’s version of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong?

The answer is obvious to all Malaysians except the MACC – it has failed to act as an efficient, independent and professional anti-corruption body declaring an all-out war against corruption but instead declared an all-out war against the Pakatan Rakyat, being the catspaw of Umno and Barisan Nasional in the various states under Pakatan Rakyat, whether in the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab  in Perak or most recently, in trying to topple the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Selangor.

The MACC denied that their officers were responsible for the injury sustained by Wong Chuan How, 51, aide to  DAP Selangor exco member Ronnie Liu after a scuffle at his Sungai Pelek service centre  on Friday morning. – which is eerily similar to the denial by MACC for any responsibility for the mysterious death of another  Selangor Exco aide, Teoh Beng Hock, at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16.

Are Malaysians to believe that Wong inflicted the injury on  himself just as they are asked to believe that Teoh committed suicide by plunging to death from the 14th floor of MACC Headquarters at Plaza Masalam?

Up to now, MACC has not answered why its officers had acted in so high-handed, rough and gangsterish a fashion akin to Gestopa tactics in Wong’s case, including:

•	Why did MACC decide to “arrest first and investigate later” as Wong had agreed to meet MACC officers in their investigation into alleged constituency allocation improprieties at his Sungai Pelek service centre on Friday morning?

•	Did the MACC treat everybody alike and in the same fashion acted on “arrest first and investigate later” into the various Barisan Nasional leaders in major scandals like the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, the RM24 million “Istana” Khir Toyo scandal; Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd. CEO  Datuk Tiong King Sing’s RM10 million donation to MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Ong’s  “free” jet rides or the unprecedented allegations of money politics in the recent Umno party elections?

•	Did the MACC “arrest first and investigate later” any Umno or Barisan Minister, Deputy Minister or leader?

•	Has the MACC one law and standard operating procedure for the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and activists while a totally different one for the Barisan Nasional?

It is significant that Shukri’s outburst about MACC stopping  investigating politicians is tied to stop of investigations into the “mother of all scandals” in Malaysia – the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, which the MACC (and its predecessor ACA) had failed miserably to  flush out all corrupt and improper practices although various anti-corruption reports had been lodged in the past four years.

Can Shukri explain why he deliberately mentioned the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?

Pakatan Rakyat is not asking for any immunity from anti-corruption probe by the MACC but MACC  should conduct  independent and professional investigations and not act as catspaw of Umno and Barisan Nasional to declare war on Pakatan Rakyat, using Gestapo-like tactics.

Has the MACC any remorse that it has directly or indirectly caused the death of Teoh Beng Hock just as it is directly or indirectly responsible for the injury sustained by Wong?

DAP and Pakatan Rakyat are prepared to fully co-operate with MACC in an all-out war against corruption, as an anti-corruption campaign must be a national commitment involving all Malaysians and not just MACC, if it  is to succeed. But how can MACC expect any full co-operation from DAP or Pakatan Rakyat when it has declared an all-out war against Pakatan Rakyat at the behest of Umno/National Front,  which has nothing to do with any anti-corruption drive?

All the five MACC advisory panels should convene emergency meetings to halt the MACC abuses of power in declaring war against Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war against corruption or all the five advisory panels should resign collectively at their failure to perform their statutory role as effective check-and-balance mechanisms of the MACC as evident from the worse crisis of confidence ever faced by an anti-corruption body in the nation’s 52 year history.

This is not a good way to mark the nation’s 52nd National Day in two weeks’ time!

The five MACC advisory panels are:

•	Anti-Corruption Advisory Board headed by former Chief Justice of Malaysia Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad;

•	Special committee on corruption headed by former Home Minister, Datuk Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad;

•	Complaints committee headed by former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Nor Abdullah

•	Operations review panel headed by former Auditor-General Dr. Hadenan Abdul Jalil

•	Corruption consultation and prevention panel headed by former Transparency International President Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam

It  is time that the 42 panel members for these five bodies act to salvage and restore public confidence in  MACC’s credibility, independence and professionalism  and even more important redeem Malaysia’s international reputation which had been battered by  recent  reports about MACC becoming a  Gestapo-like outfit running riot in a war not against corruption but against the Pakatan Rakyat.

If the five MACC advisory panels are incapable of exercising effectively their statutory roles as check-and-balance mechanisms, they should resign collectively and ask for an emergency meeting of Parliament to take immediate action to remedy the fatal weaknesses and catastrophe in the MACC Act.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 August 2009, 1:40 pm and is filed under
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Can Malaysians celebrate 52nd National Day with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme in two weeks’ time?

In two weeks’ time, Malaysians will be celebrating our 52nd National Day with a new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak marking his fifth month in office.

The 52nd National Day celebrations should centre on Najib’s signature theme of 1Malaysia but unfortunately, the reverse is taking place with the 1Malaysia concept being rubbished almost daily by Umno leaders who are competing with each other in exploiting the race and religious cards.

Two days ago,
UMNO Youth
led by its leader Khairy Jamaluddin, launched a vitriolic attack on Pakatan Rakyat, alleging that a vote for PAS is a vote for DAP and a betrayal of Islam. Umno leaders accuse the DAP as anti-Islam while among the Chinese and Indian voters, MCA, Gerakan and MIC allege that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and a vote for an Islamic state. Meanwhile, in the past week, Umno divisions are being mobilized all over the country to support the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin in his accusation that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief  Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a “traitor of the Malay race”!

Can all these lies and falsehoods against the Pakatan Rakyat parties be  the ingredients for the fulfillment of Najib’s signature theme of 1Malaysia? Of course not, as the very opposite of a very divided, segmented and polarized  Malaysia can be the only result from such irresponsible politics of race and religion by UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders.

It is most sad, shocking and outrageous  that after promulgating his 1Malaysia theme, Najib does not have the political will to check Umno and Umno Youth leaders from going on a rampage to compete with each other in exploiting the race and religious cards which are in essence an entire repudiation of Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme.

It is also outrageous and a shame that the Ministers and leaders from  MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and the other Barisan Nasional component parties dare not speak up in Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional to demand a halt to such irresponsible exploitation  of  race and religious cards by Umno and Umno Youth leaders, with the support of the Umno-controlled mass media like the Utusan Malaysia, as they make a total mockery not only of 1Malaysia but their very political relevance in BN and Malaysian politics.

Will there be any Minister from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP or any other BN component party who would dare to speak up to demand a halt to such irresponsible exploitation of the race and religious card  at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting so that Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme  will not be reduced to a joke when Malaysians celebrate the 52nd National Day on August 31?

(Speech 2 at the DAP Air Puteh Branch dinner at Han Chiang Secondary School Penang on Sunday, 16th August 2009 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 12:42 pm and is filed under
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Death, Tragedy, Profits and Corruption

By
Hussein Hamid

ON July 13th 2007 an RMAF Nuri helicopter crashed into a deep ravine in the dense forest 5km to the west of the Genting Sempah Tunnel. Six Air Force crewmembers were killed in that crash. I remember images of the ambulance lined up on the grounds of the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital as the first of the helicopters carrying the bodies of these Crew Members came into sight. Silent crowd watch with all eyes on the families of those waiting for the arrival of their love one now dead. As you hear the instantly recognizable sound of the helicopter when it came to land you can feel the sorrow touching everyone there. There was not much to say as they carried the first body of the aircrew from the helicopter to the waiting ambulance. I remember too that there was no anger in me that day. Only sadness.

Today when I think about that moment and knowing what I know now – that just on that Razak Baginda case Ringgit $500 million was paid out as commission on the purchase of the three submarines – I asked myself if those six aircrews should have died? I remember Najib hastily announcing Cabinet’s decision to phase out the Nuri. Again the Government reacting after the fact. The billions of Ringgit spent  on Mindef  tenders were really simply an excuse for cronies of politicians to make
hideous amounts of money for themselves and their UMNO political masters. If there had been accountability for every Ringgit spent on Mindef – would there not be enough money to prevent that Nuri crash from happening? Better maintenance, better trained Air Force crew maybe even enough money to start the phasing out of the Nuri long before their continued use could ever present a hazard to our RMAF air force crew?

The three submarines bought are a disaster waiting to happen. I do not know much about submarines but this I know. RM$500million have already been spent on commission – okay if Najib wants to be technical on ‘services rendered’. Many more millions are going to be milked from this submarine project. Many more millions for many more friends and many more UMNO politicians. At what cost? For the country and us it is our tax money. To the Navy? Cutting of corners to squeeze out every single cent that they can would compromise safety issues and the readiness of our Navy to meet challenges that will surely come as they put these submarines into service.  How long before a disaster happens because of these ‘cutting of corners’? Like the Nuri carsh – one death is one death too many for the Malays and for the country. But of what concern is this for those who have already profited from this project?

Compared to the Police the Army is relatively corruption free if we talk about the number of Mindef people involved in the actual taking of money. For PDRM corruption is on a massive scale because it is the rank and file in their thousands spread out all across the nation who extort money from the public.  But the level of corruption within Mindef is on a class of its own. Because the opportunity to make money in Mindef lies with the tenders and contracts it awards out. And it is no Chicken feed. I am still waiting for something that will give the Razak Baginda’s commission a run for its money. It is there somewhere in Mindef – but it has not come out yet. It is ironic that while there is more money to be made in Mindef – the recipient of this largeness are usually outsiders – the cronies of politicians and their conspirators with a few Generals thrown in.

The corruption market is very much the same as the share market – it is build on the back of supply and demand and influenced by external factors like the PDRM, MACC, UMNO and what the sitting Prime Minister would or would not allow to happen. In all seriousness they all take money because they really think that they will not be caught. Let us not go into the right and wrongs of doing it because it is a no brainier.

“Political corruption, the dysfunction of a political system or institution in which government officials, political officials or employees seek illegitimate personal gain through actions such as bribery,extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement”. Wilkipedia.

The Rank and File in PDRM will not be involved in corruption if they think that there are going to be caught. The Politicians are involved in corruption because they think that they are the ‘powers that be’ to decide if they can or cannot steal money from the country’s coffers. And in Malaysia they are the ones who decides  – that is until now. Hopefully Pakatan Rakyat will make a difference to this practice soon.

What makes corruption stand out in Malaysia is the breathtaking audacity of some of these thieves. The amount of money they take is mind boggling as to beg the question – is the cabinet also instructed to close one eye? Aisehman if cabinet can do it then that Barisan MP from Jasin was within his power to ask the Malacca Custom and Excise office to close ‘one eye’ in a case involving the import of sawn timber which had breached the regulation! Now I understand his anger when the custom were not compliant to his request.

This massive wave of corruption that has robbed the country blind must be stopped. The change cannot come from within the Government or Barisan–they are part of the problem, not the solution–it must come from without. Our country has emerged from the dark days of repression and nepotism of Mahathir only to find yourself going helter skelter into a world of madness of Najib. He thinks that if he ignores the elephant of corruption and excesses that are inside his living room it will eventually go away. The collapse of the ‘Bersih, Amanah dan Cekap’ from Tun Hanif’s day to the current “Tak Nak” to Rasuah says it all.

If we cannot trust our Prime Minister to do the right thing – who then? They wanted to create a core of Malay businessman/millionaires that would act as a catalyst to the growth of other Malay businessman. The problem is that these core of Malay (read UMNO) millionaires have built their business and money on filth and rotting waste that will devour them as UMNO ceases to be able to keep feeding them as the people says ENOUGH!!

This story is not complete without a flashback to Mahathir’s time – just in case he starts his “ Not during my time” shindig. I want to take you back to the days when Suria KLCC was the Selangor Turf Club. My memory is not that good now days so if these figures that I am quoting is a bit out do correct me.

Selangor Turf Club with 40ha of land was instructed to move out of the city supposedly to ease traffic congestions in the area on weekends when the races took place. At that point of time the land was zone Agricultural.

Ananda purchased the land from DBKL on the advice of a dear and personal friend who shall remain nameless. No I am not going to say whether it was Mahathir or the son of Mohamad – I said that he would remain nameless!! I believe Ananda paid about RM300 million for that piece of agricultural land – ajaib tapi benar!

The land was then converted for commercial use. Petronas was instructed to buy the land from Ananda ‘at market value’. Again the advisor (ahem ahem!!) who advised Petronas to purchase the land and build the HQ there shall also remain nameless. Land was valued at

around RM 1b.

Ananda kept 30% of the land and pocketed RM700 million and still had 30% of the whole deal. Good business deal for Ananda. Bad fo Petronas. Bad for Rakyat. Why not instruct Petronas to buy the land direct from DBKL and cut out Ananda? You tell me.

Now in defense of Pak Lah he did not condone corruption. He just did not want to know about it. I rest my case

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 9:19 am and is filed under
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Hussein Hamid
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Greatest national service Musa Hassan can perform is to withdraw his name from consideration for renewal of contract as IGP

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is right and to be commended for publicly acknowledging that DAPSY Chief and MP for Rasah Anthony Loke was the victim of a baseless attack that he had insulted Islam and the royalty as he had made a police report that he had nothing to do with the blog that was implicated.

He is however wrong when he implied that whether Tan Sri Musa Hussein’s contract as Inspector-General of Police is renewed, which has yet to be decided, was not as important as ensuring that the public accepted the police force – that this is not just dependent on the position of one man.

This is because whether public confidence in the efficiency, incorruptibility, professionalism of the Malaysian police to be of a world-class standard capable of performing its three core functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights will hinge on whether there is going to be a new Inspector-General Police to start the police on a new page together with a new Home Minister.

In fact, on the question of whether there is going to be a new Inspector General of Police will hinge on public perception whether Hishammuddin as the new Home Minister is going to be part of the solution or part of  the problem of endemic crime in Malaysia.

Hishammuddin cannot therefore be more wrong as whether Musa’s service as IGP is renewed or not will illustrate whether the top government leadership has ended denial syndrome and finally woken up to the seriousness of the endemic crime situation.

This question has been further underlined by the article today in Malaysian Insider  by the Barisan Nasional MP for Pulai, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed  entitled “
The Royal Malaysian Police farce
” who stated his loss of confidence in the police after his wife was mugged in broad daylight in her car at the front gate of their house at Damansara Heights in Kuala Lumpur by two men on a motor-cycle.

Nur Jazlan writes of public scepticism and distrust of police statistics and claims that reported crime in the country is down, and the feedback he gets from the public in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru that crime is on the rise in their neighbourhood.

What is surprising is that Barisan Nasional leaders have yet to fully  wake up to the endemic crime in the country until they become, personally or through members of their family, victims of galloping crime – which is becoming more and more frequent.

I am glad that Nur Jazlan has finally come around to the view that the time has come for a new IGP, as Musa has failed after being given three years to transform the police force and restore people’s confidence.

I am also glad that he is of the view that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should emulate his father, third Prime Minister Tun Razak “in catapulting a junior officer like Tun Haniff Omar to the top position of IGP to shake up the police force”.  Haniff was 35 years old when he was appointed the nation’s top cop.

But the strongest and latest  reason why there should be a new IGP is Musa’s total silence on the Home Ministry’s website poll last month with the following findings:

97% or 9,729 out of 10,060 respondents felt unsafe because of the high crime rate, with only 1% or 89 respondents felt safe and 2% or 242 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

95% or 8,883 out of 9,319 respondents felt that the safety of the people was not guaranteed as compared to 3% or 248 respondents who felt it was still guaranteed, with 2% or 188 respondents in the “uncertain” category.

94% or 8,743 out of 9,261 respondents felt that government had not done its best to ensure that the safety of the people was at the best level with 2% or 185 respondents felt that the government had done its best, and 4% or 333 persons “uncertain”?

The greatest national service Musa can perform is to take himself out of the consideration for renewal of his contract to allow for a new start to be made by a new IGP to revamp the entire police force to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police force capable of fulfilling the three core police functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights.

Will Musa respond to the call to national service to withdraw his name from any consideration for renewal of his contract as IGP when his term expires on 13th September?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 4:12 pm and is filed under
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On Malay Heroes and Traitors

By M. Bakri Musa

Malaysiakini.com August 13, 2009

It is truly despicable that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Muhyiddin would see fit to label the leader of the loyal opposition Anwar Ibrahim a traitor.  I expect such infantile name calling and boorish behavior from the likes of UMNO Youth leaders and mainstream media editors, not from a DPM.

            Muhyiddin has yet to learn that as DPM he is leader of all Malaysians, not just of UMNO and Barisan supporters.  In mentality and behavior he remains a parochial UMNO politician, not a national leader.  He has yet to make the necessary transition to being the occupant of the second highest office in the land, and literally a heartbeat away from being Prime Minister.

            Muhyiddin is now clearly way over his head.  His is the classic personification of the old Peter Principle, of someone finally rising to his level of incompetence.  Not that he was particularly capable in his previous role as Agriculture Minister.

            Muhyiddin as DPM does not necessarily alarm me except that our recent history has shown that even incompetent DPMs do ascend to the top post.  Were Muhyyuddin to succeed likewise, it would truly be a horrifying prospect for Malaysia.  As he has so clearly demonstrated, this character simply does not have what it takes to lead our great nation.

            In calling Anwar a traitor to Malays, and ipso facto to Malaysia, Muhyiddin is treating the millions of Anwar supporters, Malays and non-Malays alike, also as traitors.  In so doing Muhyiddin exacerbates the already deepening and increasingly dangerous polarization of Malaysians, especially Malays.  This is no way to further the aspirations of “1Malaysia.”

            Muhyiddin is clearly not ready for prime time, and he has not shown that he will ever be.  With the economy tanking and the escalating health threat from the H1N1 influenza, I would have thought he would have his hands full helping Prime Minister Najib Razak.  More specifically, as Education Minister he has enough on his plate in rescuing our pathetic national schools.  If he has been diligent in attending to his official duties he would have little time to indulge in such infantile behaviors.

            As DPM and also the minister in charge of education Muhyiddin has all the opportunities to rise to the occasion and prove himself a hero.  Instead, unable or incompetent to deal with the myriad pressing problems, he resorts to ugly name calling.

            If Muhyiddin truly believes that Anwar is a traitor, and thus a threat to the nation, then he (Muhyiddin) should act on his conviction.  There are enough statutes on the books to deal with traitors.  That Muhyiddin is satisfied only with name calling shows the true character of the man and the silliness of the charge.

Part of A Greater Problem

Alas Muhyiddin is only part of a much greater problem, and that is the pathetic lack of talent in UMNO, and thus the government.  The party’s top leaders are knaves rather than heroes.

            As non-Malays still see UMNO as representing Malays, many would not unreasonably conclude that the Malay race itself lacks talent, and that we are essentially a community of dumbbells.  Consequently no amount of special privileges, enhanced opportunities, and molly coddling would or could change that reality.  That is the scary and destructive part.  More pertinently, that hurts – deeply.

            One cannot really fault these non-Malays for their erroneous conclusion.  After all, hardly a day goes by without us hearing something silly coming from these senior UMNO leaders.  A few days ago there was Information Minister Rais Yatim wanting to censor the Internet.  A few months back there was his predecessor Zainuddin Maidin foaming at the mouth eager to demonstrate his utter stupidity in front of a worldwide Al-Jazeera audience by complaining about those ‘traitorous’ HINDRAF demonstrators and defending the abusive behaviors of the police.

            I yearn to hear something sensible emanating from our top leaders.

            In my earlier book The Malay Dilemma Revisited, I suggested that then Prime Minister Mahathir revamp UMNO’s top leadership by totally bypassing the next (now the current) generation of leaders as represented by Muhyiddin Yassin, Rais Yatim, and Zainuddin Maidin.

            Mahathir then was (and perhaps still is) the only UMNO leader capable of undertaking such a massive transformation of his party.  Had he done that, he would have spared the nation the agony of half a decade of wasted opportunities under the inept Abdullah Badawi, Mahathir’s chosen successor.

            Worse, the nightmare continues, to haunt not only Mahathir but more significantly, Malaysia.  For succeeding Abdullah was the equally inept though more polished Najib.  Compounding that, we now have the specter of a moronic Muhyiddin taking over after Najib.

            Mahathir is today pathetically reduced to a cranky old man continually bitching on the sideline on the fate of his party and country.  And if I may add, ineffectually too!  Mahathir’s recent passionate calls for not abandoning the teaching of science and mathematics in English were essentially ignored by Muhyiddin and the cabinet.  Mahathir’s success in bringing down Abdullah was an aberration, contributed greatly by Abdullah’s own spectacular ineptness.

            With Najib and Muhyiddin however, we have a pair of rapacious politicians not at all shy in abusing the powers of the state to silence their critics.  The only difference between the two is that Najib is more polished and thus presents a seemingly more sophisticated image, while Muhyiddin’s brute utterances only reinforce his thuggish looks.

            With Muhyiddin set to succeed Najib, and tired characters like Rais Yatim, Hishamuddin and Nazri Aziz permanently ensconced in the cabinet, the future for Malaysia is bleak.

            UMNO is incapable of self-renewal.  The party’s upcoming October General Assembly purportedly to revamp its constitution will not alter anything.  Increasing the number of delegates to select the top leaders, one of the proposed changes, will only result in more sharing the loot.  As they all have the same insatiable appetite for avarice, ‘money politics,’ UMNO’s notorious euphemism for corruption, would only expand.

            There is no reason for Malaysians to remain fatalistic and meekly accept such a fate.  We are a democracy; citizens have the power to change their government, and thus alter the fate of our nation.  So come the next election throw these bums out, the whole lot of them.

            Once these characters are out of power, watch them resort to ugly name calling.  At least then those tirades would be directed at their fellow UMNO leaders.  They deserve that, and each other.  That is the fate of knaves.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 10:22 am and is filed under
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Muhyiddin Yassin
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Tee Keat can depend on my full support to oppose attempts by Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd to put the lid to block accountability and exposure of causes of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal

It has been reported that Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB), the turnkey contractor for Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) has
challenged
 the legality and legitimacy of the appointment of Datuk Lee Hwa Beng as the Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairman.

The deputy CEO of KDSB Datuk Faizal Abdullah has issued an ultimatum to the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to produce Lee’s appointment letter as PKA Chairman by 4.30 pm tomorrow (Monday) or face the legal consequences.

According to Faizal, the statutory power or prerogative to appoint the Chairman of PKA is vested with the Yang di Pertuan Agong as provided under the Port Klang Authority Act 1960 and the Minister of Transport has no power to personally decide to extend Lee’s tenure as PKA Chairman at the end of April.

Faizal contended that if Lee’s appointment as PKA Chairman was unlawfully renewed by the Transport Minister and not by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, then Lee’s appointment is null and void and all “tasks and responsibilities” handled by Lee after March 31 this year, when his first appointment expired,  would be null and void, including:

The publication of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PcW) audit report on the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal;

The various committees set up by PKA following the PcW report and various decisions taken, in particular the PKFZ special task force which reported on the RM500 million to RM1 billion KDSB billing discrepancies and irregularities, leading to the lodging of police report and institution of legal proceedings by PKA against KDSB.

I do not know whether Lee’s appointment as PKA Chairman is lawful or valid, whether Faizal is right that Lee’s appointment had not bee renewed by the Yang di Pertuan Agong as required by law.

But what is very clear is a very blatant attempt by KDSB to block any disclosure and public accountability of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ, the “mother of all scandals” in the nation’s 52-year history in utter disregard of the national interests to promote accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance.

I have differences with Ong Tee Keat and I have been pursuing him both inside and outside Parliament for full and unexpurgated disclosure of the PKFZ scandal, to the extent that I had bombed him with three questions a day for 36 days and 108 questions.

My major difference with Ong is that he is not prepared to make full and total disclosure of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, not just at the Port Klang Authority level but all the way to the level of the Transport Minister and the Cabinet.

However, Ong can depend on my full support to oppose attempts by KDSB  to put the lid to block accountability and exposure of  the causes of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, as the limited opening up of the PKFZ scandal must not be rolled back and covered up when what is needed is further opening up of the PKFZ “can of worms” and “swamp of crocodiles”.

(Speech at the DAP Air Puteh Branch dinner at Han Chiang Secondary School Penang on Sunday, 16th August 2009 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 11:23 am and is filed under
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Will MACC investigate whether Muhyiddin abuse his powers in using RMAF Nuri heli for Umno purposes?

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department,
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz
asked what is DAP afraid of, saying:

“Don’t be afraid of the preventive measures and investigations carried out by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if you want corruption to be tackled more seriously.”

DAP is not afraid of MACC anti-corruption investigations but who is not afraid of going to MACC as a healthy person but come out as a corpse like Teoh Beng Hock?

This is not fighting corruption but setting up a Gestapo in Malaysia.

Dare Nazri, who boasted of his previous brush with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), say with all sincerity, truth and honesty that he would not be afraid of co-operating with MACC in any anti-corruption investigation in MACC premises if he is not confident that he would not be a victim of the MACC’s Gestapo tactics and would not end up as another Teoh Beng Hock as a corpse?

Nazri is right when he said that DAP want corruption to be eradicated and I stand by every word that I have said in Parliament and outside that there must be an all-out war against corruption.

But MACC in its past seven months had not launched any all-out war against corruption but an all-out war against the Pakatan Rakyat to be
catspaw of Umno
 and Barisan Nasional in their larger political game-plan to wrest back power in the states lost to Pakatan Rakyat in the political tsunami of the March 8 general election last year, using all means whether fair or foul.

Can the MACC justify its action in the Teoh Beng Hock case over an impropriety in a RM2,400 constituency allocation when the commission had been completely indifferent and impotent with scandals which are 1,000 times bigger like the RM24 million “Istana” Khir Toyo scandal or even 50,000  times bigger like the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal?

If MACC investigations into a RM24,000 allocation is to cause one life, are 1,000 lives going to be at stake in an investigation into a RM24 million scandal or 50,000 lives at risk over a RM12.5 billion investigation?

Furthermore, can MACC justify its role in the past seven months in colluding with Umno/BN conspiracy to topple the Pakatan Rakyat state governments in Perak and Selangor, succeeding in the former but not yet in the latter?

Is MACC prepared to submit itself to a Royal Commission of Inquiry as to whether it had violated its statutory powers and objectives in failing to declare an all-out war against corruption but instead had been hijacked to declare an all-out war against Pakatan Rakyat?

The MACC chiefs should realize that in declaring war against Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war against corruption, they are guilty of corruption in the very sense of the word!

Who is to scrutinize and expose such corruption by the MACC if not a Royal Commission of Inquiry?

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was involved in an emergency
forced landing
of a RMAF Nuri helicopter in Tuaran due to bad weather when flying between Kudat and Penampang.

Malaysians are all relieved that Muhyiddin, the 14 other passengers and the crew were safe.

Muhyiddin’s press secretary Ainon Mohd, who was on the Nuri helicopter, said they were heading to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport from Kudat after Muhyiddin opened the Kudat Umno division meeting at about 1.45pm.

He was scheduled to open the Penampang Umno division meeting later in the day but following the incident, Muhyiddin had asked Chief Minister Musa Aman to open the Umno meeting in Penampang on his behalf.

Did Muhyiddin corruptly misused his powers as Deputy Prime Minister in using a RMAF Nuri for Umno purposes which has nothing to do with his official duties?

Will MACC haul in Muhyiddin for investigation and apply on him some of its Gestapo tactics?

Nazri and the MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan, whose bias and malice has finally bubbled into the public with his uncalled for remark about the DAP “putting on an opera” and “DAP’s constant barrage of negative stories about the MACC”, should realize that the grave crisis of confidence in the independence, efficiency and professionalism of the MACC cannot be wished away by a battery of denials but must be addressed frontally or the duo  will be doing the greatest disservice to the cause of integrity and the battle against corruption in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 August 2009, 2:47 pm and is filed under
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Ahmad Said’s claim “No one accorded special treatment by MACC” – Tell it to the Marines!

Bernama today headlined “
No one accorded special treatment by MACC
” on its report quoting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan as saying that everybody who is investigated by the MACC for corruption is treated the same regardless of whether the individual is an ordinary person or a politician.

Ahmad Said said politicians, whether they were from the opposition parties or the government, were also treated the same.

He said: “Everybody is the same and no one is accorded special treatment.”

My response and the response of overwhelming majority of Malaysians to Ahmad Said’s statement is – Tell it to the Marines!

Ahmad Said’s claim that “no one is accorded special treatment in MACC” qualifies for the champion trophy for the year for any “Believe it or not?” competition for the category of a statement made by a public officer with the least public credibility!

Has Ahmad Said realized that under his leadership, the MACC (previously Anti-Corruption Agency or ACA) has sunk to the lowest point of public confidence in the past 42 years since the establishment of the ACA in 1967 and has he paused to try to understand why this unprecedented crisis of confidence faced by MACC after seven months of becoming a world-class anti-corruption commission?

Former Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had hoped that MACC could be one of his very few legacies as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, but it is proving to be the opposite, as Abdullah is being blamed for creating a Gestapo-like monster completely contemptuous of the rule of law and the human rights of Malaysians as illustrated by the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock in MACC headquarters and the high-handed and gangsterish behavior of unidentified MACC officers in trying to arrest another DAP political aide, Wong Chuan How in Sungai Pelek last Friday.

In yesterday’s press, in trying to deny adopting Gestapo tactics on Wong, MACC claimed that Wong had tried to escape from arrest – which is the most ridiculous charge to level against any political worker as the whole episode happened in full public view.

Two DAP lawyers and elected representatives who were eye-witnesses of what happened, DAP MP for Seremban John Fernandez and DAP Negri Sembilan Bukit Kepayang State Assemblyman have jointly refuted the MACC account.

The primary reason why Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International’s (TI) annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is going from bad to worse – plunging from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 47 in 2008 – is because of the failure of the anti-corruption body to break away from its culture of selective investigation and prosecution, gunning for the “ikan bilis” while steering clear of the “ikan yus”.

MACC can never restore public confidence in its efficiency, independence and professionalism or be of any use to break the back of the scourge of corruption in Malaysia and see significant improvements in Malaysia’s ranking in TI CPI unless it proves that it is capable of fighting corruption “without fear or favour”.

At present, MACC operates in “fear” of the powerful and in “favour” of those in high political places.

After becoming MACC, the anti-corruption body has degenerated as instead of declaring an all-out war against corruption it has become the Umno/BN catspaw to declare an all-out war against Pakatan Rakyat.

The defence of MACC by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz is therefore no surprise to the majority of Malaysians, who regard this as a confirmation of their worst fears about MACC’s betrayal of the trust of Malaysians to eradicate corruption without fear or favour.

The Anti-Corruption Advisory Board yesterday called on the MACC to continue its investigations into corruption cases regardless of the status or background of the individual involved.

Unfortunately, the MACC has not even made a start in this direction or its public esteem would not for plunged to such a nadir – even lower than the police.

Has MACC started investigations as to whether Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had corruptly abused his powers in flying RMAF Nuri helicopter officiate Umno divisional meetings in Sabah last weekend – completely unrelated to Muhyiddin’s official powers and duties?

Dare MACC conduct a public opinion poll about its public standing and credibility?

Transparency International Malaysia has called on the MACC not to leave any stone unturned in its investigations into the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

This is actually quite a ridiculous statement  – as the more pertinent question is whether MACC or previously ACA had  turned any single stone since the first official report was lodged about  the PKFZ scandal four years ago?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 4:32 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin – stop playing Jekyll and Hyde with Najib’s 1Malaysia

As Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should stop playing “Jekyll and Hyde” on Malaysian nation-building and in particular with Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept.

Yesterday, Muhyiddin played Dr. Jekyll by talking like a Malaysian statesman, telling the  National Level and International Invitation of Student Leaders’ Unity and Integration Gathering at Persada Johore by reminding Malaysians that the country’s biggest challenge would always be in maintaining unity and racial harmony among its people from various ethnic backgrounds.

He added: “It is the same foundation on which the 1Malaysia concept was based on which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak implemented it to establish Malaysia as a united country, where its people readily accepted and respected one another and shared success and prosperity.”

But the for the past week, Muhyiddin was playing Mr. Hyde, launching a vitriolic attack on Pakatan Rakyat by remorselessly and relentlessly spearheading an Umno campaign to crank up communal sentiments starting with his repeated charge that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is “a traitor to the Malay race” (with Umno divisions mobilizing all over the country to support Muhyiddin in calling Anwar a Malay “traitor”), as well as other baseless and mischievous allegations that PAS has betrayed Islam by working with DAP and that DAP had insulted Islam by working with PAS!

In the past, the path traversed by Umno leaders is to be a Mr. Hyde to first become a communal hero of the Malays and when comfortably ensconced at the Olympian heights of Umno leadership, to play the role of Dr. Jekyll to reach out to all Malaysians to become a Malaysian leader and statesman.

Muhyiddin should be well-advised that there is no way he could play Jekyll and Hyde one at the same time, as this is the fastest way to his losing all credibility among Malaysians as well as bringing untold harm to Malaysian national unity and  nation-building.

I advise Muhyiddin to abandon such Jekyll-and-Hyde tactics. As Deputy Prime Minister, he should be the very epitome of the 1Malaysia concept proclaimed by Najib on becoming the sixth Malaysian Prime Minister five months ago, and not as its very nemesis.

The timing for Muhyiddin to abandon the Jekyll-and-Hyde role cannot be more critical as Malaysia is celebrating our 52nd National Day in less than a fortnight.

Already, the A (N1H1) flu pandemic is going to be a greater dampener on Najib’s first National Day celebrations. Let our 52nd National Day not be clouded by another greater dampener – Muhyiddin’s Jekyll-and-Hyde role in Malaysian government and politics.

Najib will not be serious about a 1Malaysia concept if it is not the overarching theme of the National Day celebrations on August 31, but there is no way Najib’s signature theme of 1Malaysia can be taken seriously by Malaysians unless Muhyiddin abandons immediately his Jekyll-and-Hyde antics.

At the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, will there be any Minister from Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP or any other BN component party who would dare to speak up to ask Muhyiddin to end his Jekyll-and-Hyde role and call a halt to the irresponsible exploitation of the race and religious card by Umno leaders and Umno-controlled media which have greatly undermined national and international confidence in the past few weeks?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 1:51 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin will wait …. for now

By
Hussein Hamid

UMNO is a Party disunited by defeat. Uneasy sits the crown on Najib’s head because he knows that Muhyiddin is not only a possible leadership alternative but Muhyiddin is the Man Who would be King. How long will Muhyiddin wait? Unlike previous Deputy Prime Ministers who were appointed by the Prime Minsters and thus owe an allegiance of sorts to the man who put him there – we know that Najib did not choose Muhyiddin as his Deputy. Muhyiddin appointed himself to the number two position. And wisely he sees leading UMNO and Barisan in the present political climate as too big a challenge for him to take on. And so he waits.

There has been a realignment of loyalties and factionalism within UMNO as the rank and file ‘allow’ themself to be converted to either the Najib or Muyiddin camps. The fact that there are two strong leadership contenders within UMNO should be indicative of a healthy check and balances situation much sought in the pursuit of good governance in any organization – but not so UMNO. The Politics of greed and nepotism requires patronage and loyalty to be bought not earned. The catch phrase for any UMNO gatherings of any number of more then one is “ADA PROJEK?”
It requires a sharing of the spoils of politics at all levels from Cawangan to National level and that would be hard to do when resources are limited and Pakatan Rakyat are looking over your shoulder at everything that you do. In a perverse way, this need could prove the undoing of UMNO as the Nation moves towards the next GE on a wave of accountability, responsibility and transparency in all things Malaysian – especially Politics and Government.

The fact that UMNO now sees a need to allow two contenders for its Presidency shows, to those familiar with UMNO’s history, how desperate UMNO has become. Just as Pak Lah’s demise was decided at the last General election when Barisan lost four States to the Opposition, so was Najib’s fate sealed with the exposure of Razak’s Baginda’s RM500 million commission and the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

So why is he still there?

Again let us look at UMNO’s past. The transfer of power from Tunku to Tun Razak was over a period of time. That of Mahathir to Pak Lah also done over time. UMNO makes haste slowly. Even as we talk the ‘sahabats’ of Najib are already in discussions with the ‘sahabats’ of Muhyiddin to prepare for what is to come in the near future. Najib’s may come and Najib’s may go but they need still need to live.

Najib does not need to make a major mistake to lose his leadership of UMNO. He has already made the major mistakes! In fact he has made many major mistakes – Perak, MACC, his tenure in Mindef is filled with too many dubious tender awarded to cronies – Muhyiddin already has his work all cut up for him – he is giving Najib enough rope and Najib is obliging by hanging himself with it.

Will UMNO’s MP and its and rank & file come to their senses, submerge their differences and back only Najib? The longer that Muhyiddin remains as Deputy Prime Minister the less chance there is of that happening. And the longer this UMNO disunity continues, the harder it is for Najib to climb back on to the pedestal that Pak Lah and then Mahathir put him on.

Muhyiddin has shown has strengthen his claim to the throne by his ability to organized and lead in the recent Manik Urai by-election where PAS won with a majority of just 65 votes down from a majority of 1,352 in the 2008 general and state elections. Again the irony of it all. A win for Najib engineered by Muhyiddin is also another nail in Najib’s coffin.

Muhyiddin is also protected, for the time being, by the lack of an obvious leadership alternative within UMNO – Hishamuddin, cousin to the incumbent, will need time to be of any consequence in this race. So for the time being, Muhyiddin displays no interest in taking over from Najib now  – at least on this side of the next General Election.

So for UMNO the die is cast – events have passed a point of no return. Najib is Prime Minsiter for now. Muhyiddin will take the mantle when he thinks fit.

Pakatan Rakyat, by contrast, is a coalition united by victory achieved in the last General Election. The people are worried about the economic down turn. Their jobs. What will the future hold for them and their families? They do not want the excitement of an Anwar versus Ghaffar Baba, A Pak Lah versus Mahathir situation. They want caution, stability and predictability in the leadership of Pakatan Rakyat. Do not let them down.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 9:21 am and is filed under
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Najib should convene an all-party conference involving all MPs and State Assembly members  to launch a national emergency campaign in view of worsening A (H1N1) pandemic

Death toll from the A (H1N1) continues to mount unchecked and relentlessly, adding three more fatalities to a grand total of 67, the latest victims being a 71-year-old man, a 10-year-old girl and a 33-year old woman.

There has been considerable confusion emanating from the Health Ministry, for instance, whether a national health emergency  due to the killer pandemic has been declared, as reported by some media, and what it implies.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said a health curfew would only be considered if the mortality rate goes above 0.4 per cent. He said the country’s mortality rate for A(H1N1) flu is currently between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

It is clear that the Health Minister has no real notion of what is the current mortality rate for A(H1N1) as  the statement that the current mortality rate between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent is quite meaningless.

As of yesterday, there had been 4,225 reported cases and 64 deaths from A (H1N1) flu, which would give a mortality rate of 1.51%, about four times the 0.4% mortality rate Liow mentioned as the trigger point to impose health curfews.

However, if this is overstating the mortality rate, then are the actual data both for A (H1N1) flu cases and fatalities in Malaysia?

If as contended by Liow that Malaysia’s mortality rate from A (H1N1) is between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent, then a death toll of 64 will mean a range of  total flu cases from 64,000 to 256,000 cases!  Is Liow admitting to such figures?

Be that as it may, such uncertainties are not conducive to strengthening public confidence in the Health Ministry’s response to the A(H1N1) killer pandemic.

The A (H1N1) killer pandemic and counter-strategy must be seriously tabled in the Cabinet tomorrow and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should convene an all-party conference involving all MPs and State Assembly members  to launch a national emergency campaign in view of worsening situation involving all Malaysian leaders, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 6:05 pm and is filed under
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Pneumococcal vaccination limits H1N1 death

Dear all,

Not all who gets H1N1 gets pneumonia BUT all who died of H1N1 gets pneumonia.

So, we should focus on how we can prevent pneumonia if we get H1N1…..

not how to prevent H1N1.

For those high risk group, getting pneumococcal vaccination is one of the defense mechanism we could use against dying from H1N1. You might still get H1N1 but at least you have a 30% lower risk of dying from H1N1.

Studies have
shown here
 that 30% of H1N1 pneumonia related deaths are due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Getting yourself vaccinated means you have eliminated 30% of the possible risk of dying from H1N1 pneumonia.

Of course, that does not mean you will not get H1N1 but at least you will not die of it… that’s what everyone would prefers.  It’s really not about afraid of getting H1N1, it’s more about dying from it……..

So if the government is serious in preventing H1N1 deaths, all those in the high risk group should get pneumococcal vaccination. Also, please ensure that all clinics are able to administer this vaccination to adults as well and not only to the children….

Karen Lee

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 9:25 am and is filed under
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Why Rohaizat should honourably withdraw as a candidate in the Permatang Pasir by-election

The first question that must be asked right from the beginning of the Permatang Pasir by-election is whether the voters can trust a candidate who could even mislead his own political party about his disbarment by the Bar Council from practicing as a lawyer?

Various explanations have been given by Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders about the Umno/BN candidate Rohaizat Othman being struck off the rolls by the Bar Council and the revocation of his practicing licence as a lawyer.

Umno vice president and Penang Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said Rohaizat’s licence was revoked in 2003 following problems incurred by the former partner in the legal firm.

Zahid said:

“The Bar Council’s decision must be respected by the lawyers registered under it. Legally, Rohaizat is probably innocent, but morally, it can be questioned by his opponents.” (
The Sun 17.8.09
)

The
New Straits Times of the same day also reported Zahid’s defence of Rohaizat
 as follows:

Zahid, who is also Penang Umno liaison committee chairman, confirmed that Rohaizat was stripped of the law practising certificate by the Bar Council.

He said Rohaizat’s name was struck off after his partner took off with a client’s money. He said the client lodged a report and as a partner, Rohaizat was implicated.

He explained that Rohaizat later used the money in his firm, which possibly belonged to other clients, to pay the victim.

“Rohaizat had no choice but to abide by the council’s decision and we have to respect that.

“Legally, Rohaizat did no wrong but morally, this will be used against him by the other party in the by-election,” he said, adding that that was why when Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced Rohaizat’s name last Friday as the BN candidate for the by-election he did not refer to him as a lawyer.

Yesterday at the nomination centre, Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin  alleged that Rohaizat was the target of “character assassination” and “chided the Opposition for stirring up controversy” over Rohaizat’s credibility.

But the facts are completely different from what Rohaizat and the Umno leaders have owned up to as the true reasons why the Umno candidate was struck off the rolls by the Bar Council.

The Sun today reported:

When contacted, Bar Council chairman Ragunath Kesavan said all offences under the Legal Profession Act, under which Rohaizat was guilty, hold personal liability.

Stressing that the charge as tantamount to criminal misconduct, he said Rohaizat, not his partner, was named by the complainant over a sum of about RM140,000.

“If you are an innocent party, you would not be found guilty by the (Bar Council’s) disciplinary board. Rohaizat’s appeal against the Bar Council decision was dismissed by the High Court on Aug 12,” said Ragunath.

If the Bar Council chairman is right, and there is no reason to think otherwise, then Rohaizat has compounded his offence which had led to his disbarment by the Bar Council by misleading Umno leaders about the circumstances of his disbarment.

I believe that Umno leaders like Muhyiddin and Zahid had been misled by Rohaizat and did not know the actual circumstances resulting in Rohaizat’s disbarment, although they should have done a thorough check.

The Umno leadership, which is not short of lawyers, should have known that lawyers do not get struck off the rolls for minor misdemeanours when Section 94 (2) of the Legal Profession Act, 1976 clearly provides that  lawyers are struck off the rolls for “misconduct”, which is defined as “conduct or omission to act in Malaysia or elsewhere by an advocate and solicitor in a professional capacity or otherwise which amounts to grave impropriety” and includes:

dishonest or fraudulent conduct in the discharge of his duties;

gross disregard of his client’s interests; and

being guilty of any conduct calculated to bring the legal profession into disrepute.

If Rohaizat can even mislead Umno and BN about the circumstances of his disbarment as a practising lawyer by the Bar Council, causing Muhyiddin and Zahid to publicly embarrass themselves and Umno in coming to his defence on completely ridiculous grounds, can he be trusted by the Permatang Pasir voters as to deserve their vote to become their State Assemblyman?

Muhyiddin and Zahid need to resolve the Rohaizat problem swiftly and boldly, so that the integrity problem of Rohaizat is not expanded to become the integrity problems of Muhyiddin, Zahid, Umno and Barisan Nasional leaderships.

The most honourable solution under the circumstances is for the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leadership to withdraw Rohaizat as candidate, which can still be done by Thursday, and concede the PAS/Pakatan Rakyat candidate, Mohd Salleh Man Mat Aji a walkover.

Otherwise, the central issue of the Permatang Pasir by-election is not only going to be about  the integrity of Rohaizat but that of Zahid, Muhyiddin, Umno and Barisan Nasional leaderships as well.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 12:14 pm and is filed under
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Would Ong Tee Keat’s Deeds Reveal The Collective Behavior of The Barisan Government

By Bosco Anthony

It is pointless for the Malaysian Chinese Association members to openly display their full support for their embattled leader Ong Tee Keat. It is further a fealty display by the Star Publication to make such news hit the front page of its publication on 17.08.2009.

Why is it so? It is clearly apparent with the announcement made by Mohd Shukri Abdull of the MACC that all political investigations will be suspended, with immediate effect, that is as of 15.08.2009.

The civil society is capable of reading in between the lines, of what that statement means. Do not doubt or insult our intelligence.

On 16.07.2009 a life was stamped out over an investigation of a paltry sum of some 2000 or so Ringgit. Now we have before us unexplained expenditure which runs into the hundreds of millions as stated by Azmi Khalid the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

So as Reinhold Niebuhr stated: “ EVIL IS NOT TO BE TRACKED BACK TO THE INDIVIDUAL BUT TO THE COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR OF HUMANITY”.

And in the PKFZ evil, it will definitely be tracked back to the collective behavior of the Government.

The public sentiment on the on going malpractices prevailing in all Government Administered Institutions, needs no further introduction. Under these prevailing circumstances, we the silent observers of the civil society, have these questions to which rational answers have to be given.

They are?

Why have the Board Members of the PKFZ not been charged for negligence where Azmi Khalid states that there was no hands on approach and they, the Board did not go to the ground to find out what was happening?

Why has the MACC suspended the investigations with immediate effect and who gave the instructions?

Why have the PDRM not opened up investigations on this massive scandal which has a cost over run of a few billion Ringgit?

Why have the MACC not made an application to the High Court under the Bankers Books Evidence Act, compelling the Banks where Tiong King Sing or Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd. maintain their Banking Facilities to open up their books to public scrutiny?

Once the above actions have been taken and when the Bankers Books in respect of Tiong or Kuala Dimensi are open to public scrutiny, it can easily be determined as to who is telling the truth.

If it is established that Tiong has given Ong 10 million than Ong Tee Keat could be further charged for making a false police report and his defamation suit would fall by the way side. But if there is no such evidence that Tiong has given Ong 10 million than Ong would be successful in his defamation suit against Tiong. Ong Tee Keat would become a HERO and the Barisan Government would be saved.

The other amusing fact is the accusation by Faisal Abdullah of Kuala Dimensi that Ong Tee Keat has traveled on his company’s jet without making any payment. This is what we commonly call “ THE FREE LUNCH WHEN YOU ARE IN GOOD TERMS.” But now it has become an issue.

Maybe that is why the PKFZ Board had over looked the billions of Ringgit of costs over runs, and the approval was given for Kuala Dimensi to make UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS OF BETWEEN 500 TO 1 BILLION RINGGIT.

Well Ong Tee Keat have you not heard “THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH”. Poor Chap!!!!!

But the interesting part, is the spin given to the issue of the use of the Dimensi Jet.

Simon Lim the political secretary of Ong Tee Keat says “IF THERE WAS ANY INVOICE REQUESTING PAYMENT FROM BARU AVIATION SDN. BHD.THE MINISTER WOULD HONOUR IT THROUGH HIS PERSONAL ACCOUNT.” Is it not a little to late in the hour to make such a statement.

This statement clearly shows how stupid these IDIOTS are. Just shut up. We all know and can picture out what has happened, in all these years. We manage and run profitable businesses and pay our taxes. So do not ever attempt to pull a wool over our eyes.

Ong Tee Keat, there is nothing so great about your members giving you their full support. If they had decided not to give you the full support, “ THEN SUCH NEWS SHOULD HAVE DOMINATED THE HEADLINES”.

Nevertheless we have to conclude with what Abraham Lincoln said:

“ I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”

So, Ong Tee Keat, If you prove your self to be right, the greater part of society will stand by you, But if you cannot prove it, not only will we part from you but a greater part of your own supporters today will dissert you like rats disserting from a sinking ship which will include UMNO.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 August 2009, 9:31 am and is filed under
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Common sense in Politics?

By
Hussein Hamid

Time and time again we have been told that the last 50 years have seen unprecedented growth and development for Malaysia – more development and material progress then at any time of our history. Our technical and scientific skill has increased to allow our country to be a developed country in the global context. Yes – unprecedented growth as compared to what? Compared to the last 500 years of our history? If it has been so why not work towards the development and growth of our country for the next 50 years? Why does the Government of Barisan Nasional instead concern itself with the control of our society in which we live in and in ways and means of ensuring itself a lengthy stay in Government?

Is it not now than at any other moment of our history that we should concern ourselves with morality and ethics? That statesmanship and government must be for the well being of our people?

But instead our people live in fear. Fear of the ISA, fear of PDRM. Fear of the Judiciary and its inability to dispense justice to one all without fear or favor. Fear and loathing of the constant politicizing of all things that would have any monetary value to those in Barisan. It is this fear that divides rather then unites the people. It is this fear that could cause our people to act foolishly in a common determination to preserve their freedom against economic control; intellectual control and physical control by a small but determine Barisan group within our country. It is this fear that will drive our nation to its knees.

But I know that it is also this fear that will drive our people to act to preserve their sense of justice and fairness in their life. We detest racialism. And yet the very existence of UMNO is dependent on the principal of divide and rule. Divide the Chinese, the Indians, the Malays and the others and rule the country.

We want peace and stability within our Nation and require that those who are sworn to protect and preserve us will do their duty. And yet these very instruments of state are used by a determined and evil government to subdue its own people to its political will.

For now the people are united by more important things that those that are being used to rule and divide us. We are united by a common determination to live with honor and justice in our own country. We are united by a common desire that our diversity will unite rather then divide our people. We are united by our resolve to end greed, deceit and self-interest that now  pervade all levels of that party UMNO that now leads the coalition of Barisan Nasional that now govern our country. I am certain that that which unites us will surely see the end of that which attempts to divide us for their own purpose. This unity amongst the people will remain because they are the ones with the most to lose if they fail.

With each successive Prime Minister we are told to Look East, Work with me, not for me and now 1Malaysia which is suppose to preserve and enhance this unity in diversity. We are often told that we are all Malaysian but give the Bumiputra some leeway to catch up with the others. Well as a Malay I now want to announce that we Malays have caught up with the others. The UMNO Malays have not only caught up with the others but they have also raced ahead busy with their looting and pillaging of the nations treasure. Let us no longer be deceived by the ranting of these UMNO politicians who says that the Malays still need the NEP. The Malays do not need the NEP. UMNO does. The Malays do not need the ‘privileges‘ that the government have carved up for them. UMNO does. The Malays no longer need  Bumiputra status. UMNO does. I say to you that we Malays can stand shoulder to shoulder with the others in our country and take care of ourselves. Equal opportunity for all. Equal  opportunity for the Malays. That is all that we ask. That is all that the others will ask too.

There is a potential for our country to descend into chaos and turmoil in this struggle between them and us. But I think not. The costs to us all for a descend into the madness of the May 13th Racial Riots is too heavy for any of us to shoulder. But do not let that fear paralysis us into cowering to the bullying of UMNO /Barisan. For surely they too are not keen to unleash what unknown terror the people can inflict upon them at the next GE, if not sooner, if they push us over the brink. In this practice and rehearsal that we are now in between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan all of us fear and dread what this treat to our people could do to our country. The question now is whether common sense will prevail.

Today more so then in the recent past, the stakes are much too high for us to risk an  outbreak of war and riot that would threaten the very foundation of our country – but then what choice do we have in the face of those that even now are planning our demise through any means at their disposal? Conventionally the politicians should go to the polls to gain legitimacy for their rule – now days the unconventional has become conventional. All  instruments of state are used in their misguided and diabolical attempts to continue their plague upon us

No task in more urgent now then that of ensuring the preservation of peace in our country by injecting the voice of reason into the affairs of our government. Let us mobilize all our  resources of spiritual, moral and political strength to come to our side and demonstrate to Barisan/UMNO that we are for justice, we are for decency and we are for equal opportunity for all our people. – that whatever strength we have will be used for that purpose and that purpose only. Do not seek to test our resolve on this issue.

Towards this end we have started our journey at the 2004 elections. We recognized that Pakatan Rakyat has an important role to play with us in this matter. We choose to work with them for their ideals are our ideals. Their goals our goals. Their leaders our leaders.

We will now raise our voices and you will listen. We would prefer that there is no ultimatum that we need to act upon, no rattling of sabers to make your point, no need to embark on a game of brinkmanship. That you will come to your senses and let the next GE be the basis for a settlement that our country needs. Do not allow a bad situation to get worse. Do not seek an unfair advantage for we will be vigilant. We have hoped that we all have but one interest – what is best for our country and our children in the times ahead. Unity in diversity. Let each and every one of us live our own life and let others live theirs, in their own way, in peace and allow them a means of earning a decent wages in a country we all love.

We must succeed in this endeavour. To fail is unthinkable.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 9:56 am and is filed under
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How and why has Malaysia swiftly joined the world’s top eight countries with the highest death toll from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in less than a month?

It is a great relief that there has been no single case of fatality from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in the past 24 hours after a meteoric rise in the past week, totaling cumulative death toll of 67 as of yesterday in a matter  four weeks since the first case of fatality.

The question remains however how Malaysia has swiftly joined the world’s top eight countries with the highest death toll from A (H1N1) flu pandemic in less than a month, chalking up a cumulative death toll of 67 after United States (482 fatalities), Argentina (404), Brazil (379), Mexico (163), Australia (118), Chile (112), Thailand (97) and tying with Canada (67) for eighth place?

In a matter of four days, the cumulative death toll in Malaysia had increased by eight fatalities, moving it up from world’s ninth placing with  59 deaths to  eighth placing with 67 fatalities, while  in other countries the mortality rates have stopped or slowed considerably, like Chile which had registered 105 deaths last weekend, with Thailand remaining static at 97 while Canada had increased by one fatality during this period.

Unless the momentum of this  cumulative death toll is stopped or  reduced drastically, Malaysia is set to overtake Canada, and might even overtake  Thailand and Chile in terms of the total  A (H1N1) mortality cases.

This world-beater role is one Malaysia must not achieve.

It was only in yesterday’s press that the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai announced a national health emergency due to the pandemic, with him toying with the possibility of a health curfew if the mortality rate goes above 0.4 per cent. The country was told that the mortality rate for A(H1N1) flu is currently between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

Today, however, Malaysians are told a different version with the idea of a health curfew pooh-poohed by the Director-General of Health, Tan Sri Dr. Ismail Merican who said that the A(H1N1) mortality rate in the country at present is only 0.007 per cent.

How can be there such a vast difference in the estimates of A(H1N1) mortality rate between the Health Minister and Health Director-General, a difference of some 400 to 700 per cent between Ismail’s 0.007 per cent and that Liow’s 0.1 to 0.4 per cent.

What are the figures that Ismail and Liow are using to arrive at these vast differences in estimates about the A(H1N1) mortality rates, which should be made public, as it is such  mixed signals and confusion emanating from the highest Health Ministry quarters which are undermining confidence in the efficacy and professionalism of the national campaign against A(H1N1) flu pandemic.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 4:41 pm and is filed under
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Azmi Anshar…syok sendiri

By
Hussein Hamid

I am a nice person. I normally mind my own business and it does take quite a lot to rattle me or to get me up tight over anything. I prefer to walk away from any confrontational situation because life is to short to get aggravated over things that do not concern my family or me. Unfortunately this Azmi Anshar, one of those reporter ‘who is almost a writer’ working with NSTP has managed to upset me again. The first time was a couple of weeks ago when I ‘
ter
’ – that’s Bahasa for accidentally – when I
terbaca
 what he wrote about TBH and MACC. I read only the first paragraph of what he wrote because even that much made me wonder what sort of a pretentious prick would write like that. In the first paragraph I had to reach for the dictionary four times! He has done it again today.

Again I am not going to read more then the first paragraph – that I have done and now I will say my piece. This was his headline:

DAILY DISPATCHES: Pakatan politicians want MACC to operate without element of surprise

2009/08/19

Azmi Anshar

A FUNDAMENTAL aspect in law enforcement investigations that leads to the arrest of the bad guys is the element of surprise – a very powerful constituent in the art of war or in the art of self-defence – to take down the enemy or opponent when they least expect it. It is an acceptable form of security marshalling.

As the headline indicates – he is talking about MACC and the ‘element of surprise’ as an acceptable form of security marshalling (impressive word here!) to take down your enemy (a very apt description of Pakatan Rakyat?).

In the first place, The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigates and persecutes corruption in the public and private sectors. You do not catch people who are involved in corruption the same way as PDRM go after robbers and lawbreakers. The most effective way of stopping them from doing what they are doing is to catch them red handed – the element of surprise is important – that is why you need the Police presence everywhere. To deter criminals. That they also collect ‘toll’ from the Rakyat is another story for another time.

But the MACC is tasked with “investigating and prosecuting’ corruption in the public and private sector. What element of surprise do you need? If there is any element of surprise that MACC need it should catching those Mata Mata taking bribes – and it is so prevalent that you do not really need the element of surprise. Can tangkap anytime – if MACC wants to.

What we do not want is to be surprised by MACC with the treatment they are going to give us when we turn up at their office to assist them in any of their investigation. Death for someone when he walks into MACC office when he is not even a suspect is a surprise – a surprise because as you say MACC used the element of surprise to “take down the enemy or opponent when they least expect it”. So please …no more surprises.

And by the way…Pakatan Rakyat is not the “ENEMY”. They are the opposition party and what seats they hold have been won through the election process. And MACC is not at ‘WAR’ and should not be at ‘WAR‘ with Pakatan Rakyat. Also what need is there for MACC to defend itself when they are going after Pakatan Rakyat or the “enemy” as you call them? There was only one Teoh Beng Hock being question. How many were there from MACC?

I think I need to remind myself NOT to go anywhere near NSTP early in the morning while I am having my cup of green tea – more often then not, doing so spoils my breakfast time. Please remember that all I could bring myself to read was the first paragraph of what he wrote. I know that he also has to ‘cari makan’ at NSTP – but please lah don’t play play with us. We can think for ourselves – we expect you to also do that once in a while.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 August 2009, 2:03 pm and is filed under
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DAP condemns arson attack on MACC vehicle and advises Nazri against making baseless insinuations of DAP involvement

DAP condemns the arson attack on a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) vehicle today.

As reported by
Malaysiakini
, four Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Klang MACC office at around midnight, destroying a four-wheel drive vehicle belonging to Selangor MACC.

MACC officers only realized the damage to the vehicle, a Nissan X-Trail,  when they reported to work this morning.

There must be a full and thorough investigation to bring to book the culprits from whatever quarter responsible for the arson as no rational Malaysian regardless of race, religion or political affiliation  wants to see any degeneration of Malaysia into growing lawlessness.

I must advise the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz against making baseless insinuations of DAP involvement, as is evident from the following Malaysiakini report:

Attending a press conference in Putrajaya later, Nazri did not rule out “underworld connection” to the arson attack.

He said that it was well known that the Selangor MACC was investigating claims that some state exco members had links with the underworld, as alleged by Wangsa Maju PKR MP Wee Choo Keong.

“If there was no investigation on the underworld links, this would never have happened. This goes to show what Wee had suggested exists,” said Nazri.

“Such attacks are usually done by cowards…and samseng (gangsters) only,” he added.

I agree with Nazri in condemnation of the arson attacks as the work of “cowards and gangsters” but he should not set the bad example of going overboard to make wild  insinuations as to the perpetrators or it would encourage Malaysians to do likewise, bringing back memories of the Reichstag (German Parliament) fire in 1933 which had been blamed on the Gestapo as it was the event which precipitated the  Nazi takeover of Germany.

Nazri’s further statement that MACC officers  should not hesitate to use their weapons if the need arose cannot but be alarming – in the wake of recent controversies concerning the proper conduct and behaviour of MACC officers resulting in the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock at MACC headquarters.

In regarding the Pakatan Rakyat as the “enemy” and the Barisan Nasional as their “ally”, the MACC has fully veered from and betrayed its statutory objectives as

(i)	its sole enemy should be corruption, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat; and

(ii)	the greater the corruption the bigger the  enemy to MACC, and not as publicly stated by the MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan, that MACC makes no difference between corruption of tens of ringgit from those of hundreds of millions of ringgit!

MACC should step out of the Barisan Nasional’s masterplan to destroy the Pakatan Rakyat, particularly to topple the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government, as its one and only objective is to declare war against corruption and not to be catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional to declare war against Pakatan Rakyat.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 August 2009, 4:02 pm and is filed under
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Is Muhyiddin for or against Najib’s 1Malaysia concept and why 1Malaysia concept is not the primary theme of Umno/BN in Permatang Pasir by-election?

The 52nd National Day is just ten days away but never before in the nation’s 52-year history have preparations for National Day celebrations been marred and threatened by so many black clouds – the
A (H1N1) pandemic
 which has claimed 67 lives and the almost daily barrage attacking Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept in the exploitation of the race and religious cards by Umno leaders.

What is quite incredible is that the person leading the campaign of race and religion representing an open repudiation of Najib’s 1Malaysia concept is none other than the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, as illustrated by his utterances in the Permatang Pasir by-election campaign.

Let Muhyiddin answer whether he is for or against Najib’s 1Malaysia concept and if he supports the 1Malaysia concept, why is this not the primary theme of Umno/Barisan Nasional in the Permatang Pasir by-election instead of a campaign line which is the very opposite repudiating everything that 1Malaysia stands for?

Even before the Permatang Pasir by-election, Muhyiddin had already spearheaded a vitriolic Umno attack on Pakatan Rakyat by remorselessly and relentlessly cranking up communal sentiments starting with his repeated charge that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is “a traitor to the Malay race” (with Umno divisions mobilizing all over the country to support Muhyiddin in calling Anwar a Malay “traitor), as well as other baseless and mischievous allegations that PAS has betrayed Islam by working with DAP and that DAP had insulted Islam by working with PAS!

Muhyiddin may think that he could play the role of a Malaysian statesman after the Permatang Pasir by-election on August 25, saying all the nice, good and proper things about the country’s biggest challenge to maintain unity and racial harmony among its people from various ethnic backgrounds in the few days before National Day on August 31.

Muhyiddin should know that it is the height of irresponsibility for a Deputy Prime Minister to be playing the race and religious cards to the hilt in the Permatang Pasir by-election, straining race and religious understanding and ties to the utmost just for the sake of winning votes, and then hoping to undo the great harm done to nation-building in the by-election in the few days before the 52nd National Day on August 31.

How can Muhyiddin convince Malaysians that he is being honest and sincere about 1Malaysia when the country celebrates the 52nd National Day when he can lead a campaign which repudiates the very essence of the 1Malaysia concept in the Permatang Pasir by-election less than a week before National Day?

What Malaysians want from a Deputy Prime Minister is not a political chameleon but a political statesman and Malaysian leader.

In fact, what Muhyiddin said in the past few days have also exposed the hollowness of the commitment of Umno/Barisan Nasional government to integrity and good governance.

For instance, in response to allegations that Muhyiddin had set a bad example and abused his powers as
Deputy Prime Minister in using RMAF Nuri helicopters, not for official purposes, but for officiating Umno division functions
 in Sabah (which came to public knowledge last weekend when the military helicopter Muhyiddin was flying had a forced landing) was the arrogant retort:
“It (the allegations) does not scare me at all”
.

That shows Muhyiddin’s utter contempt for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) from the safety of immunity he enjoys despite the MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan’s most recent and lame protestation: “
Everybody is the same and no one is accorded special treatment
”!

Muhyiddin’s arrogance of power and contempt for integrity were again in display yesterday in his response to the Bar Council’s disbarment of the Umno candidate for Permatang Pasir by-election Rohaizat Othman for personal misconduct last year, likening the Bar Council’s fines to
“parking tickets”
!

What more need be said? These statements bespeak volumes!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 August 2009, 11:59 am and is filed under
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Some unfinished business: Untangling the peoples of Malaysia

By
Tunku Abdul Aziz

When Merdeka was granted half a century ago, we inherited a number of items of unfinished business, the most critical of which was the urgent necessity to create a united Malayan nation and, soon afterwards, a Malaysian nation.

The late Tom Harrison, the famous curator of the Sarawak Museum, described Malaysia as “a tangle of peoples” in an article published in the Malaysian Outlook, a small journal I edited in Australia in 1963, in a fit of patriotism. “Konfrontasi” was in full swing then, and, given the dangerously unpredictable and volatile behaviour of Bung Karno of Indonesia, our future as a nation was by no means assured.

Harrison was not thinking so much about the Malays, Chinese and Indians of the Malay peninsula, but rather the often forgotten peoples making up the many different tribal and ethnic groups with their many different customs, religious beliefs and languages inhabiting Sabah and Sarawak. Almost overnight, they found themselves the citizens of a new and, to them, somewhat vague political creation called Malaysia. The Kadazan Dusuns, Bajaus, Punans, Penans, Kayans, Muruts and various others, I fear, still remain very much outside our consciousness, even after more than four decades of Malaysia. Need I say more about this serious lapse of memory? What national unity are we talking about without them?

When the British government responsible for the administration of these two colonial territories decided to bring to an honourable and dignified end of their stewardship and allow the sun to set on these, the last remnants of their Eastern Empire, the newly-proclaimed state of Malaysia took on not only additional responsibilities for her new citizens, but also assumed a new character and identity. National unity with which we had been preoccupied all those years before and since Merdeka took on a new urgency.

Young Malays of my generation, growing up under colonial rule, saw Merdeka as a great opportunity to bring about change, with courage, compassion and wisdom, and rectify those aspects of colonialism that we had considered repugnant to our sense justice, pride and dignity.

Creating a truly united Malayan nation was the number one item on the national agenda, one that was inspired by Tunku Abdul Rahman’s exemplary personal example of inclusiveness in which race was nothing more than an accident in the larger scheme of things Malayan, and later, Malaysian. Tunku saw strength in diversity and did everything possible to drive home the need for all races to unite as one and to show their love and affection for the country of their birth. Those were the early days of independence when the Constitution absolutely guaranteed the citizens their rights. The people felt they belonged and had full confidence in the institutions of government which remained largely unsullied. The same cannot be said of many of our national institutions today.

Looking back now over the last 50 years, we have achieved a great deal in material terms, far more than the most bullish among us would have dared to imagine. If material progress were the only measure of success in creating unity out of diversity, then we could reasonably claim to have arrived. But, have we? Or are we just postponing the evil day by papering over the cracks and glossing over issues that divide us, while ignoring the legitimate concerns, demands and aspirations of our people for a rightful place in the Malaysian sun.

The time to rediscover and re-establish our sense of Malaysian-ness is now and this can best be done by allowing the people of each community, large and small, the freedom to retain their cultural practices, traditions and values, always recognising that with freedom there is a corresponding responsibility to contribute to national unity. In matters of culture and language, people can usually be relied upon to decide for themselves. All cultures must be treated as Malaysian, and celebrated as such. They must not be politicised.

We must, for a start, accept cultural diversity, in the fullest sense, as an article of faith. Merely tolerating the cultural traditions of the other races is simply not good enough anymore for a country that, after 50 years of independence, is still groping for that elusive Malaysian identity. Our aim should be to achieve smooth and seamless integration that will stand the test of time as an essential prelude to achieving the essence of Malaysian- ness, that state of being that defies definition or description, but captures our imagination as nothing else can.

The role of education in nation building and in bringing about social and economic change is not in dispute. We have seen what investment in education has done for thousands of our people, of all races, particularly the Malays who have, within one generation, completely transformed themselves in social and economic terms.

On the debit side, the thousands of unemployable young men and women have hampered efforts to develop and improve our human capital. Our decision to downgrade English more than three decades ago has completely rendered our young people ill-equipped for employment in the new knowledge-based industries. The more serious overall consequence of our policy of neglecting the most important international language makes Malaysia a much less competitive investment destination for the higher-end technologies that could help Malaysia to leapfrog up the knowledge and value chain.

The application of some aspects of the New Economic Policy has not helped in the process of human capital development because by our depriving many non-Bumiputeras of equal educational opportunities and by discriminating against them in public sector employment, there is still today an overwhelming sense of alienation and injustice. I have always subscribed to the view that you could only justify a policy of positive discrimination if it was implemented in strict observance of the aim and spirit of that policy which was, in this case, principally to alleviate the poverty that afflicted many millions of people of all races in our community.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. When it became evident that the spirit of this great social experiment was being violated blatantly to serve the interests of the few politically connected breed of self-proclaimed Melayu Baru instead of improving the lot of the disadvantaged, the NEP tragically lost its legitimacy. But I digress. The point I am making is that unfair policies whether social or political detract from our efforts to develop and enrich our human capital with the result that the essential spirit of common heritage and shared values, of being part of an important national initiative is lost in the politics of discrimination. There is no evidence to suggest that people will give of their best, make sacrifices, and be loyal to the country of their birth when they are made to feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are second-class citizens.

National unity must be predicated on equality of opportunity, justice and equity. Anything less is unsustainable. Fifty years of Merdeka still finds us groping in a tunnel of darkness for that elusive, overarching spiritual experience that defines the essence of “Malaysian-ness”.

It would be unfair to blame the government entirely for the present state of race relations in our country. It must, however, admit that it has not always been energetic and competent in dealing with problems that are largely associated with official policies that are seen as Malay-centric. Policies affecting education, language and culture tend to generate a highly-charged emotional response, and are always divisive. Change has to be managed with compassion and imagination.

A word about our international competitiveness. A stable political system is a prerequisite as is an efficient and incorruptible bureaucracy. We need to ensure a ready supply of trained and trainable human resources, hence the need for investment in developing our human capital. But above all else, we all need to operate in an ethical way, fight and reduce corrupt practices so as to be able to attract investments to sustain our national economic development. Corruption adds a cost to doing business, and it is in our interests to reduce it so that that we can improve our competitive position.

In summary, therefore, the future of Malaysia, given its racial and cultural complexity, depends on our ability to encourage and promote unity in diversity, focus on similarities and values that unite us rather than harping on differences that divide us. We have our work cut out for us as we seek to bring about a convergence of interests as a basis for developing mutual trust, and respect for diversity in all its manifestations.

(First published in my New Sunday Times column in September 2007. It is reproduced, with due acknowledgement, and thanks to the NST.)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 20 August 2009, 5:30 am and is filed under
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