Does this sound like Malaysia?

The Malaysian Insider
 | November 10, 2011

NOV 10 — Greed, ignorance, hubris, corruption and a departure from long-held principles and a lazy media all played roles in the financial meltdown that is Greece, Ireland, Iceland. In his latest book “Boomerang”, Michael Lewis goes on a meltdown tour to find out how countries and societies got into this mess.

Malaysia is not Greece or Iceland but some of his observations should resonate with Malaysians. Below are just a sampling of some of his observations and the commentaries under each point made by The Malaysian Insider.

What “Boomerang” says:

1) “The world is now pocked with cities that feel as if they are perched on top of bombs. The bombs have yet to explode but the fuses have been lit…

What The Malaysian Insider notes:

Our debt levels of over 50 per cent of the GDP is a far cry from the debt level which brought Greece and Iceland to their knees but here is the problem: all the cities and countries in financial trouble once had manageable debt levels but greed, corruption and the propensity to believe in the best-case scenarios even in the face of empirical evidence eventually led to historically high debt levels.

For Ireland, it was easy credit that brought its downfall. In Malaysia’s case, it may be our excess to cheap foreign labour which distorts our true productivity and competitiveness as well as poses a national security problem.

What “Boomerang” says:

2) In 2006, Danske Bank, Denmark’s biggest bank, put out a report highlighting that Iceland’s financial system was growing at a frantic pace and on collision course with disaster.

The reaction from Iceland: “You’re Danish, and you are angry with Iceland because Iceland is doing well.”

From the prime minister down, Iceland’s leaders attacked the messenger.

What The Malaysian Insider notes:

Denial is something we understand well, and every time someone puts forward a view contrary to that held by the government or establishment, it is rubbished and the holder of that view labelled unpatriotic, ignorant, etc.

So when the World Bank put out the most authoritative study yet on brain drain from Malaysia, the government’s reaction was: this is not a problem, this is not a problem, this is not a problem. In fact, there is a witch-hunt culture against journalists from neighbouring countries who write articles unflattering of Putrajaya.

What “Boomerang” says:

3) Where waste ends and theft begins almost doesn’t matter, the one masks and thus enables the other.

What The Malaysian Insider notes:

This could have been from the concluding chapter of the latest Auditor-General’s Report.

What “Boomerang” says:

4) Government ministers who have spent their lives in public service emerge from office able to afford multi-million dollar mansions.

What The Malaysian Insider notes:

This is where Malaysia has outdone its Greek counterparts because ministers do not need to retire from office to flaunt their wealth. While in office, they live in multi-million ringgit home in Damansara Heights, Bukit Tunku, Country Heights, have a fleet of expensive cars, send their children to expensive boarding schools in the UK and wear suits which cost more than their monthly salaries (one suit is the equivalent of a month’s salary). Then there are their wives decked out with diamonds and other precious stones. Sorry, I forgot the homes in Kensington.

What “Boomerang” says:

5) Morgan Kelly is an economics professor at the University College Dublin and he pointed out that Ireland’s real estate boom was not sustainable and the consequence for the banks and economy would be catastrophic. He sent his article to the Irish Independent newspaper and the editor hit back, saying he found the article offensive and would not publish it. The Sunday Business Post would not publish it. “The journalists were following the bankers’ lead and conflating a positive outlook on real estate prices.” Kelly’s prediction was spot on, sadly for Ireland.

What The Malaysian Insider notes:

This same cosy relationship exists in Malaysia between the government and the mainstream media. One of the biggest scandals in the country is the comic National Feedlot Centre project and the unsavoury nexus between politics and business, sometimes called crony capitalism. Millions of taxpayers’ money is being flushed down the drain but the editors at the mainstream press are pretending that this problem does not exist, in the same way that they black out all news which could have negative impact on Putrajaya.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 November 2011, 10:41 am and is filed under
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Pakatan’s alternative budget ‘empowers’ Dayaks

Joseph Tawie | November 11, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

Dayaks who have been ‘deprived of convenience’ by the ruling Barisan Nasional regime can expect to be prioritized under a Pakatan Rakyat rule.

KUCHING: Should the opposition, Pakatan Rakyat, be elected to power, the Dayak community in Sarawak can expect to see RM1 billion set aside to specifically look into their needs.

From this amount, some RM100 million will be channelled towards the Dayak Welfare Fund.

The RM100 million fund will look to providing medical aid and care for the poor and infirm Dayaks, help facilitate the supply of water tanks, pumps and pipes to longhouses and to repair and rebuild dilapidated houses or those destroyed by fire and other natural disasters.

Announcing this today, Pakatan’s shadow finance minister Chong Chien Jen said the Dayak Welfare Fund will be parked at the Ministry of Social Development and Urbanisation.

“The fund aims to reduce and mitigate some of the problems faced by the Dayaks.

“We must not shut our eyes to the plight of the Dayaks like what the BN (Barisan Nasional) ministers have done.

“The Dayaks have all along been marginalised and left out from the main stream of development in our country.

“As such, Pakatan must take action to help the Dayaks in terms of their education, and cultural and social levels,” he said.

Educating Dayaks

Chong, who is also DAP-Kota Sentosa assemblyman, said that of Pakatan’s RM4.285 billion alternative state budget, RM20 million will be channelled to the Tourism and Heritage Ministry to preserve the Dayak cultural heritage and traditions.

This sum will include the building of a Dayak cultural centre, and the collection and publication of oral cultural traditions and history.

He said it would also include development grants for academic research into Dayak cultural practices, traditions and incentives for the publication of Dayak literature.

‘We have also allocated RM80 million to the Ministry of Planning and Resource Management to carry out perimeter survey and to issue land titles to these landowners.

“We will also provide legal assistance to landowners in legal disputes with plantation groups and other companies which may also want to stake claims to this land,” he said.

Chong said that an additional allocation of RM250 million will be allocated to the Modernisation of Agriculture Ministry to provide financial and technical support to the Dayak community for crop planting activities on native customary right (NCR) land.

He also proposed setting aside RM80 million to establish a SADA Entrepreneur Development Unit under the Chief Minister’s Department.

The unit aims to enhance the entrepreneurial skills of the Dayaks in the marketing and sales of agriculture produce and retail goods.

The unit will also set up a RM10 million SADA Education Fund to uplift the education level of Dayak students and to ensure Dayaks are competent in various professional and technical fields.

Chong said that a sum of RM30 million has been proposed to send Dayak students overseas and another RM10 million for tuition for both primary and secondary school Dayak students.

Deprived of convenience

Asked to elaborate on these funds, Chong said that many within the Dayak community, especially those living in the longhouses, are deprived of conveniences which many others, especially those in the urban areas, take for granted.

“For example, Dayaks almost never have medical insurance and as such, are not able to pay for specialist treatment when struck down by certain illnesses.

“For example in 2008, a pair of twin sisters who were diagnosed with degenerative kidney disease was sent from Miri to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for treatment.

“But a lack of funds delayed their trip, and as a result, one of the twins passed away,” Chong said.

“Also, Dayak homes and other properties such as boats are usually not covered by insurance.

“Dayak longhouses are particularly vulnerable to fire since wood stoves are still commonly used in many longhouses for cooking.

“These homes are also particularly vulnerable during floods and other natural disasters.

“The famous logjam affecting the Rajang River in October 2010 had destroyed many jetties and longboats.

“Uncontrolled and under-supervised logging activities pollute the rivers and drinking waters of the Dayaks.

“Many Dayaks still rely on wells and on rain water because of the gaps in the coverage of piped water,” Chong said.

Empowering Dayaks

Commenting on the same issue, Dayak Consultative Council chairman Dr John Brian Anthony said the budget placed special focus on culture, education and agriculture which was important to the community’s growth and success.

“The fund will help Dayak students to be trained overseas to acquire skills and experience, because they will one day become not only the leaders of the community, but also of the state and country.

“Another interesting thing in the budget is the strengthening of the Dayak culture. You see culture is a strong unifying factor.

“If we improve our cultural development, then we Dayaks will be able to keep our identity as a race and that will become a good product for tourism.

“This will also mean other people could understand and learn the Dayak culture,” he said.

He also said that the budget acknowledged the importance of modernising and enhancing the community’s skills in agricultural activities.

“The Dayaks have assets such as land which has not been fully utilised by the current government.

“The government has been talking about modernisation of agriculture, and I do not see any modernisation taking place.

“Once Pakatan takes over the government, it will give titles to the landowners and will help them to develop their land. This will further enhance the Dayak economy,” he said

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:18 pm and is filed under
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Start of another new round of political persecution of Anwar most deplorable and despicable

The start of another new round of political  persecution of Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is most deplorable and despicable and must be condemned by all right-thinking Malaysians.

The police calling up Anwar to give his statement with regard to the report lodged by a police officer DSP S. Shanmuga Moorthy claiming that Anwar had knowingly given him false information concerning  the “Datuk T” sex tape and thereby committing an offence under Section 182 of the Penal Code (punishable by six-month jail or fine of RM2,000) is clearly politically-motivated and masterminded by the political masters of the police.

This is another example why the police have not been able to regain  public confidence in its efficiency and integrity as  an independent, impartial, professional and democratic police force which would not allow itself to become the catspaw and playthings of the “political masters” but would fully dedicated itself to its national mission to protect the personal safety and security of Malaysians and all persons in the country.

The Malaysian police will never be able to regain the confidence of the Malaysian people so long as they are forced to continue to “play the political game” of its political masters, as was very obvious in the police clampdown on the July 9 Berish 2.0 peaceful rally for free and fair elections as well as  in its gross misuse of powers in the Emergency Ordinance detention  of Sungai Siput MP Dr. M Jeyakumar and the PSM activists.

The new round of political persecution of Anwar is also proof of the hollowness of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s National Transformation Policy – exposing the sad fact and truth that Malaysia has a long way to go to restore and uphold the independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions in the country to ensure that they should always serve the highest national interests and not the myopic interests of the powers-of-the-day.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 November 2011, 2:45 pm and is filed under
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TIMSS study show students from progressive high tech countries score high marks in science and maths

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

The 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) shows that students from developed countries are the top scorers and they are the movers and engineers responsible to make their countries progressive and prosperous.

Hogging the top places are Singapore, Taipei, S. Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, England, United States and Russia, with scores from 10 and above.

Unfortunately Malaysia had low scores of 3 and are seen in the company of Indonesia, Colombia, Georgia, Ukraine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Botswana, Algeria, etc.

Malaysia at independence was as rich as Japan and had a high per capita income. But now Malaysia has been overtaken by Singapore, Taipei, S. Korea and Hong Kong. They progressed faster because of better education in science, maths and engineering.

DPM Muhyiddin should take note of the TIMS report and raise the standard of science and maths among our students.

He should revoke his policy to ban PPSMI. We urge him to allow and encourage the students to use English to learn more maths and science so that they will graduate and be technologists and engineers and managers to build up the country.

English should be the language for Science and Maths education in the schools. Singapore is a good example where English is the common language, and today Singapore is acknowledged to be the model for schools in USA and Europe. Of course, science and maths can be studied in Bahasa or Chinese or Tamil, but in a multilingual society in Malaysia, English is a common language for technology and science.

Muhyiddin must remember that one of the objectives of 1 Malaysia is to have an IT, high tech society so as to transform Malaysia to be a high income economy. He should do the honourable thing and REVOKE THE BAN on PPSMI, and give hundreds of thousands young Malaysians the opportunity to be managers, scientists, engineers and technologists to make Malaysia progressive and prosperous.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 November 2011, 10:37 am and is filed under
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‘Rosmah, a thorn in Najib’s side’

Tarani Palani | November 11, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

Umno grassroots members wish BN would lose at the polls just so her antics and extravagant lifestyle can be toned down, says the author of ‘Kesilapan-kesilapan Najib’.

KUALA LUMPUR: The author of “Kesilapan-kesilapan Najib” (Najib’s Mistakes), Shahbudin Husin, said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should step down if he does not rectify his errors soon.

Shahbudin (picture below), a member of Umno’s Wangsa Maju branch, said: “It serves as a warning… he should correct his mistakes before the next general election.”

“If he fails to do so, then he should step down. We support our party but we cannot support a weak leader,” added the former deputy Youth chief of Wangsa Maju.

Shahbudin’s 267-page book touched on various issues, including Najib’s 1Malaysia concept, his use of international public relations firm Apco and the alleged influence of his wife Rosmah.

Several of the chapters headings include: 1Malaysia Silap Pertama Di Hari Pertama Sebagai PM (1Malaysia the first mistake on the first day as PM); Pelantikan Apco (Engaging foreign public relations consultancy firm Apco Worldwide) and; Gagal Mengawal Karenah dan Gaya Mewah Rosmah (Failure to control (his wife) Rosmah (Mansor)’s luxurious lifestyle.

“I even caught my 12-year-old child’s friends discussing Rosmah’s hairstyles and her luxurious spending. Her antics have not gone unnoticed by many of the Umno grassroots members.”

“Many didn’t like ex-premier Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) because he crossed so many people. But no one made nasty comments about his wife Siti Hasmah. Rosmah gets everyone talking,” he told FMT.

Shahbudin added that her antics were so distressing to some Umno members that they wish Najib will not retain two-thirds in the polls so as prevent Rosmah’s antics from getting worse.

He also touched on the US$24 million (RM73 million) diamond ring fiasco implicating Rosmah, which was exposed by Pakatan Rakyat NGO, Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM).

Its president, Badrul Hisham Shaharin, claimed that the ring had passed through Customs without import duties paid on it.

‘No smoke without fire’

Pro-Umno bloggers came to Rosmah’s defence, claiming that the ring was brought into the country for a four-day private display.

Forced to respond to the issue, Najib denied that the ring was purchased by Rosmah or used for private display.

Asked if he, as an Umno member, believed that pro-Pakatan bloggers may have exaggerated the issue, Shahbudin said that there was no smoke without fire.

“I believe there has to be a basis for such an extravagant story. In three to four days they wanted to return the ring. But why did it come here in the first place?” he asked.

He said that history has shown many leaders fell because of their spouses such as former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, and his infamous wife Imelda Marcos. But Najib seems to pay no heed to it.

Shahbudin whose first book, “Najib, the last Prime Minister”, which was also highly critical of the premier’s leadership, denied that he was sponsored by any faction within Umno.

“I did it on my own time and money. I paid for the 13,000 copies of the first book with my own money. In fact, I was quite embarrassed to approach Harakah daily to advertise my book because I’m an Umno member.

“So how can people say that someone within Umno or even the opposition is funding me?” he asked.

New leaders needed

When asked who was the best person to replace Najib, Shahbudin said that the current crop of Umno leaders inspired little confidence because of nepotism, corruption and cronyism.

Repeating his views in his first book, he said he would be happy if Umno-Barisan Nasional lost at the upcoming polls so there would be a two-party system in Malaysia.

“Only when they lose and a new breed of leaders emerge would Umno be better off. Things are far worse now due to nepotism and cronyism.

“The village Umno members who do all the hard work can hardly get a tender or a contract even after meeting a minister 10 times,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 8:00 pm and is filed under
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First Greece, Now Italy, Who’s Next?: Analyzing The Sovereign Debt Default Chain

by:
Nicholas Pardini

November 11, 2011

Starting in May of 2011, the extent of the global sovereign debt crisis began to hit the equity markets. Greece was first, then Portugal, then Ireland, and now Italy has become the focus of the financial markets and a source of macroeconomic weakness.

However, these countries are simply the first dominoes in a chain of fiscal crises that will either result in a series of defaults in the developed economies’ bond markets or high inflation generated by central bank intervention. The question now is who’s next? Countries with high debt/GDP ratios, high unemployment and lack high economic growth to sustain deficit spending are all about to face the consequences of reckless fiscal policies. Below I list the countries I believe to the most likely to enter sovereign debt crises of their own after Italy.

1) Spain: Spain has made some austerity reforms to address its problems, but the continued weakness of the Spanish economy will slide Spain back into fiscal trouble. Spanish 10-year yields have reached 5.9%, which is near its danger zone. The Spanish GDP has only grown at an annualized pace of 0.2% and is highly likely to slide back into recession. With a 21% unemployment rate (40% for those under 24), expect this to get worse with a return to recession. Continued high unemployment may also lead to civil unrest. The struggles of the eurozone will also diminish tourism to Spain which will compound the struggles of the Spanish economy. These signs are bad for the success of the austerity measures and will put the heat back onto Spanish bonds.

2) Belgium: The pending breakup of Dexia has confirmed Belgium as the newest member of the PIIG pen. Belgium has a debt to GDP ratio of over 100% and it does not help that the country has been without a government for 516 days. The country is going through a political crisis as this is the second time in four years when the country has been without a government for over six months. The French speaking Walloons and the Dutch speaking Flemish in the north are fundamentally divided and have more loyalty to ethnic identity than the Belgian nation. Slow growth and 3.55% stagflation does not help the situation.

3) France: Rumors of France’s loss of its AAA credit rating are eventually going to come to fruition as the market has begun to punish French bonds. Their spread versus the German bond is 1.69%, which is equivalent to the spread between Italy and Germany this time one year ago. France’s economy is growing faster than the PIIGs, but at 0.9% annually is still very slow and they have a high 81.7% debt to GDP ratio.

4) U.K.: The British economy is struggling through a stagflationary slowdown and the woes of continental Europe will put a strain on British exports. At just 0.5% GDP growth and 5.2% inflation before the Bank of England’s latest round of quantitative easing, it looks like the U.K. is already on its way toward inflating out of its debt (80% debt/GDP). The loss of North Sea oil and a lack of competitiveness outside of financial services leaves Britain in a vulnerable place economically. I expect the crisis in the U.K. to hit once the market is finished reacting to the debt problems of Italy and France. The best way for investors to play the possible British default (through honest means or inflation) is through shorting the British Pound.

5) Japan: At 220%, Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio outside of Zimbabwe. Also demographic trends will significantly reduce local demand. As Japan’s largest generation is entering retirement, the smaller less economically successful younger generations of Japan will not be able to make up for the new shortfall of bond demand. Foreigners will demand much higher yields. Japan has been relying on near zero interest rates for 20 years to finance itself. Once yields rise, the market’s response to Japan’s struggles will dwarf Italy.

6) Germany: Germany is the wild card of the bunch. Its debt problems are not created by the faults of its own economy but its risk of being on the hook to finance the bailouts of the PIIGs. If Germany stopped supporting the weaker members of the EU and pulled out the eurozone, it could save itself from debt or inflationary crisis. Despite receiving objection from 75% of the German people, the political climate of Germany’s political elite is committed to preserving the euro at all costs. Going all in for the euro would sink Germany’s ship along with the rest of the continent. Even before any bailout of Italy, Germany’s debt to GDP ratio is already 83.2%, so time is running out for Germany to decide on its loyalty to the eurozone.

7) United States: The biggest domino in the sovereign debt crisis is right under our noses. It will also cause the most long term damage to the long term economy. The U.S. is the world’s largest debtor nation with (latest estimates) $14 trillion of debt (or 100% of GDP). Deficit spending is continuing at over $1 trillion of new debt per year. These numbers do not even include unfunded future liabilities related to social security, medicare and the bailouts of Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB). Since U.S. tax receipts primarily come from income taxes over consumption taxes, tax revenue is more sensitive to economic fluctuations. As a result, persistently high unemployment will keep tax revenues down for the next several years. Half of U.S. borrowing is in short term T-bills. So once the Treasury has to refinance at higher rates, interest as a portion of the government budget will skyrocket. The U.S. Congress does not have the best record of making budgetary compromises or cutting spending, so expect the worst from any upcoming debt settlements. The solution they will ultimately use to solve this debt crisis will be through monetization. Once the euro mess resolves the best way for investors to hedge themselves will be through commodities, precious metals and equities that have pricing power.

8) Canada: Canada benefits from being a major exporter of raw materials, but weakness in U.S. (especially during its debt crisis) and Chinese economies will be devastating to Canada. In fact they may be even ahead of the U.S. on the path to a double dip recession with negative GDP growth for the second quarter of 2011. Canada’s debt/GDP is also high at 84%. Canada can print its way out of its debt problems, but bond holders will lose either way.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 3:28 pm and is filed under
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Has Italy passed the point of no return?

By
Nick Thompson

2011-11-09

CNN.com

(CNN) — Europe’s financial crisis claimed its second scalp in three days when Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi announced he will step down after parliament approves new austerity measures in an effort to stave off economic collapse.

The scandal-plagued prime minister will follow his Greek counterpart George Papandreou into early retirement as fears grow that Italy, the eurozone’s third largest economy, may default on its debt.

Italy has failed to implement austerity measures designed to reduce its mammoth €1.9 trillion debt load — nearly six times that of Greece — and the cost to the country of borrowing more money to pay off that debt is spiraling out of control.

While no one knows yet whether Italy will default, analysts say that the country is vastly too big to bail out — and that the consequences for the world economy of a default would be a disaster.

What happens next?

Much like Greek premier Papandreou, Berlusconi said he will not resign until the government passes harsh austerity measures recommended by eurozone leaders aimed at trimming Italy’s debt.

The next step is for the Italian parliament to consider and vote on the measures — which include tax rises and an increase in the retirement age — within the next several weeks.

After the parliamentary votes Berlusconi will tender his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, who will then begin consultations with lawmakers to decide whether to form a government or call for elections.

Berlusconi and members of the Northern League party want elections as soon as possible, but other lawmakers and European leaders would like to see an interim government composed of non-partisan technocrats that could quickly implement austerity measures in order to reassure global markets and restore confidence in the country.

Business figures tapped to lead a potential technocratic interim government include Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, chairman of Ferrari, and Alessandro Profumo, former CEO of Italy’s largest bank UniCredit.

Political options that have been floated include Angelino Alfano, known to be Berlusconi’s hand-picked successor, Gianni Letta, Berlusconi’s chief of staff, or Mario Monti, a former commissioner with the European Union.

No one is a fan of uncertainty, and no one is going to invest in a debt-ridden country without a plan for recovery — much less one without a functioning government — so Italy’s short-term plan will be to get these austerity measures passed, see Berlusconi off, and hold new elections so at least international lenders will know who they’re dealing with.

Check out CNN’s interactive map of European debt at a glance

What’s wrong with Italy?

The basic problem is that it’s becoming prohibitively expensive for Italy to borrow money to finance its debt — a problem rooted in investor confidence in the debt-laden country.

With a defunct government and a shrinking economy, Italy is finding it increasingly difficult to find people willing to lend it money in order to reduce its mammoth €1.9 trillion debt load, which is nearly six times that of Greece.

The less confidence there is in a country, the higher the bond yields, or rate, that country will have to pay in order to secure more money. Right now confidence in Italy is at a euro-era low, which means Italy is paying more than ever to finance its debt.

Business 360 blog on Italy: Too big to fail, too big to bail

What is a bond yield?

A bond yield is basically another term for the rate Italy has to pay to lenders who buy its government bonds. The 10-year government bond is the standard bond used to measure the relative interest rates from country to country.

A government raises money to pay its bills by selling these bonds — so the higher the yield or rate, the more it costs Italy to borrow money in order to pay its debts.

Italy’s 10-year bond yield hit a staggering record high of 7.3% on Wednesday morning; by contrast, the bond yield for Germany — a relatively healthy economy — closed at 1.8% on Tuesday night.

Italy will already have to borrow at least €300 billion — nearly the total Greece owes to lenders — next year alone to pay off maturing debts, and the worry is that the skyrocketing interest rates on Italian bonds may soon make it too expensive for the country to continue borrowing money.

Why are Italy’s bond yields so high?

Bond yields are driven by confidence and based on supply and demand.

The more confident investors are in the health of the Italian economy, the more government bonds, or sovereign debt, the investors will buy.

The more bonds that are being bought, the lower the rates will be on the bonds — meaning Italy can borrow money to pay its bills at relatively cheap rates.

When confidence in an economy drops, however, fewer investors are willing to invest money in that country’s bonds, which is precisely what has happened in Italy.

Italy’s bonds are unattractive to investors because there are fears about the country’s ability to pay off long-term debt based on current economic projections.

Why is a 7% yield considered the point of no return?

Greece, Ireland and Portugal were all forced to seek bailouts once their bond yields surpassed and remained above the 7% mark for an extended period of time.

While there is nothing about the 7% figure that automatically triggers a bailout — something that would be impossible in Italy’s case anyway, as Europe simply cannot afford to bail out the country — experts do see the rate as difficult to overcome.

Greece, Ireland and Portugal all needed bailouts within two months of their bond yields breaching and then remaining above 7%.

The recent high yields are particularly concerning because the European Central Bank has been buying Italian bonds since the start of August in an effort to create a sort of false demand, which would then drive the rate down to a manageable level. That has not worked, but it could be a lot worse had the ECB not taken the action at all.

How can Italy get out of this mess?

Italy will default on its debt if it doesn’t figure out a way to get its bond yields down to a manageable level.

The yields won’t budge until Italian lawmakers take concrete steps to reassure international lenders that the country is a safe bet.

“Italy will not be out of the heat of bond markets until a solid and stable government actually implements austerity and undertakes reforms with strong credible leadership,” said Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk at IHS Global Insight.

Even if they pass these the austerity proposals, some economists fear Italy will still drown in debt if it doesn’t develop more drastic measures.

The ECB should also increase its purchasing of Italian bonds in order to make it cheaper for Italy to raise money, according to Barry Eichengreen, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Unless yields on those bonds fall to German levels, there is no way that Italy’s debt arithmetic can be made to add up,” he wrote.

How would an Italian default affect the world?

A default by Italy, the world’s eight-largest economy with the world’s fourth-largest stock of outstanding government bonds, could have a disastrous effect on many European banks and global markets, experts say.

European banks, particularly those in Germany and France, are the largest holders of Italian debt and would be hit the hardest by a default.

A default would also wreak havoc on already-shaky global markets and could dash any hopes of economic growth in Europe for the foreseeable future.

As concerns continue to grow around Italy, the head of the International Monetary Fund painted a stark picture of the challenges facing the world’s economic stability.

“The global economy has entered a dangerous and uncertain phase,” Christine Lagarde said in remarks prepared for a speech at the International Finance Forum in Beijing.

“If we do not act, and act together, we could enter a downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and a collapse in global demand.”

“Ultimately, we could face a lost decade of low growth and high unemployment,” she said.

CNN’s Joshua Levs, Hada Messia and Nina dos Santos contributed to this report.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 3:03 pm and is filed under
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Najib’s magic trick for 13th GE

Mariam Mokhtar | November 11, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

The rakyat should support calls for the 13th general election to be postponed until after ALL the recommendations (on electoral reforms) have been implemented.

COMMENT

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s flurry of reforms in the last couple of months, raises disturbing questions about his desire to make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world”.

Who stands to benefit most from his idea of the “best democracy” in the world? The rakyat or the Barisan Nasional (BN) political elite?

The naïve rakyat, who are lulled into a sense of security by Najib’s rash of reforms, may think it will be the main beneficiaries. On the other hand, BN’s political elite and their cronies hope to woo the electorate by appearing to accede to calls for political reforms and then undo the reforms, after they have secured a win.

Judging by the number of times BN has reneged on election promises in the last 54 years, it will be the latter group who will benefit.

Any reforms, which BN announces now, are purely cosmetic. They give the appearance that Najib is listening. It is like a roué wooing a schoolgirl with sweet talk, before he has his way with her. He walks away smiling, because she was fool enough to believe him. He outsmarted her.

That is the danger the rakyat faces now – to be lulled into thinking Najib will enact the reforms that he has promised. After the 13th general election (GE), he will sing a different tune, if BN wins.

BN’s promise of reforms is pointless when all other aspects of BN rule ignore human rights, the rule of law, endemic corruption and economic enhancement. The “best democracy in the world” is not one which elevates one race but ignores the others.

A government which allows family members and close associates to benefit in multimillion ringgit projects is not fit for purpose.

Launching personal attacks on members of the opposition and smearing their children’s reputations are morally wrong, distasteful and will backfire.

The prime minister’s reputation was trashed after his disastrous handling of the July 9 Bersih 2.0 “pro-democracy march”. This was a terrible blow for someone who values spin and image above all else.

So, Najib felt compelled to pull out all the stops to try to rebuild his image both within his own party and with the rakyat.

He started with the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA). Just like the magician doing his illusory show, who made the rabbit disappear, he then produced two more from a hat. Yes, Najib promised that there would be two new laws to replace the ISA.

Why did a sea change envelope Najib and make him repeal the ISA? For several decades, various groups which wanted the ISA abolished were ignored, but with the 13th general election around the corner, Najib acquiesced.

Paramount importance

Najib’s deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the education minister, was adamant that science and mathematics should be taught in Malay.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad joined in the chorus to maintain the teaching of these subjects in English. Parents vowed to vote for the opposition. The day after announcing his final decision, Muhyiddin was forced into an embarrassing U-turn.

In Najib’s “best democracy in the world”, a Muslim girl can get married and start a family as soon as she reaches puberty, without her parents’ consent. Some girls reach puberty at nine years old.

At 18 years old, teenagers can drive a car and buy cigarettes, but they can’t vote until they are 21.

Furthermore, the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) prohibits students from engaging in any political activity.

It isn’t just the students who are restricted. Any academic who does not toe the political line may find himself suspended and his academic career in jeopardy. Compare the two university lecturers, Professor Abdul Aziz Bari and Ridhuan Tee. Mind control is what Umno-BN is after and not freeing the mind for intellectual expression and advancement.

As we have only one chance to reform our government and vote for a party that will govern properly, the run-up to the 13th general election is of paramount importance. It matters to all of us.

Najib and BN are doing a magic trick. What has BN done to improve the lot of the rural population in the more economically deprived areas? Some kampungs and longhouses still lack water, electricity and proper roads. Schools and clinics are poorly funded.

And yet, the prime minister, his self-styled “First Lady”, their family and his political party have spent billions of ringgit on personal travel, luxury goods and bribes, all funded by the taxpayers.

One way is to deprive these people of their luxuries, so they can focus their efforts on solving the nation’s problems. For example, we should make them commute to work using public transport.

That means taking away their chauffeur-driven cars, their outriders and the police who restrict traffic on the roads when these VIPs travel. Once they suffer the traumas we go through, our public transport system might not be in such a deplorable condition.

When Najib made his maiden speech at the UN general assembly, he talked about rejecting extremism and being a moderate. So why does he don the cloak of racism at home? Does he have a split personality or is he just a scheming con-man who knows which side his electoral bread is buttered?

Electoral fraud

Former Umno minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir admitted that BN had bought votes in many elections, but the typical Umno reaction is shown by Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin who demanded proof of these accusations.

In the past months, electoral fraud on a grand scale has been uncovered and Umno-BN and the Election Commission have not provided plausible answers.

Instead of acting on these serious allegations, and in an attempt to divert the rakyat’s attention, Umno attacked the opposition with charges of supporting the communists and released more sex videos of the Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The rakyat should support calls for the coming general election to be postponed until after ALL the recommendations (on electoral reforms) have been implemented. Promises of reforms are not good enough.

However, the other course of action is to register to vote.

Do not boycott 13th general election. All votes are critical because the amount of cheating is going to be massive. This will be the dirtiest election in the history of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 10:21 pm and is filed under
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Now Italy – What’s Next

by
Alex Lee

10th November 2011

After seeing his parliamentary majority decline further in a routine vote earlier today, Italian PM Berlusconi offered to resign once Parliament approves new austerity measures, possibly towards the end of next week. We see three possible outcomes at this delicate stage, with different implications for the BTP market and Italian risk premium more broadly:

*Most likely scenario: In the coming weeks, the current centre-right coalition of the Northern League and PdL moves to rally round another candidate who can gain wider acceptance domestically and internationally. In order to broaden its support, the new government may reach out to smaller centrist parties which can advance their own political agenda.

A centre-right executive backed by a broader coalition and committed to implementing the ‘troika’s’ economic platform could eventually stabilize markets. But the newly appointed Cabinet would need to prove itself first, and the protracted uncertainty would weigh on economic growth. Furthermore, reforming the pension system could meet resistance from the Northern League. Still, it would be hard for the ECB and Italy’s EMU peers not to stand by a new Italian government genuinely trying to pursue reforms. Under this scenario, thanks to the ECB’s interventions, we would expect BTPs to remain capped at around current levels (400-450bp) over the average of Germany, France and the Netherlands until measures are gradually approved.

*Second most likely scenario: The centrist parties ultimately turn down the offer to join a broader coalition. In this case, more MPs from Berlusconi’s PdL party could join forces with formations at the centre of the political spectrum. This could pave the way for a government of national unity of sorts, led by a highly reputable ‘outsider’. Like during the crisis of the early 1990s, the advantage of such a ‘technocrat’ government is that it would be sworn in after some ‘initial contracting’ on its programme (economic reforms agreed with the ‘troika’, plus a new electoral law), which should lower the implementation risk. A technocrat government could use its credibility to introduce more growth enhancing measures that would pay off further down the road. Lastly, it could focus on improving governance (fiscal rules in the constitution, a smaller public sector, etc).

We view this as the most market-friendly outcome, as it would lead over time to a decline in sovereign spreads and in Italy’s risk premium more broadly. The front-end would re-price more than intermediate- and long-term maturity bonds because investors would likely take advantage of the rally to reduce exposure at higher prices. Nevertheless, we would expect BTPs to fall to around 350bp over Bunds in fairly short order.

*Least likely scenarios: After Berlusconi’s resignation, general elections are called. These could be held in mid-January at the earliest, although they would most likely be postponed until the Spring amid market turmoil.

This would represent the worst scenario for markets, in our view. Since President Napolitano is aware of this, he will probably try to resist dissolving Parliament at this juncture. Also, most centrist parties would want to change the electoral law before a new vote takes place.

All these scenarios will take some time to play out, a couple of weeks at least. In the meantime, the higher priced Italian government bonds will continue to be sold, as gradually higher margin requirements are applied. On our central case, intermediate to long-end bonds should continue to be supported relative to AAA-rated securities by the ECB.

In conclusion, we are most probably approaching the highs in Italian yields (currently around 500bp over German Bunds in the bellwether 10-yr sector, and 600bp in 2-yr maturities), but a volatile and unsettled market remains our base case until Italy’s sovereign creditors can be reassured that long-awaited structural reforms to lift the country’s growth rate will be put in place.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 7:50 pm and is filed under
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The RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal – “shouldn’t someone go to jail”?

In his new book on the world’s latest financial crisis hotspots,
“Boomerang: Travels In the New Third World”
, journalist Michael Lewis wrote about how  the then new Greek Minister of Finance George Papaconstantinou found out when he took office in October 2009 that his country had cooked its deficit figures  with a budget deficit of 12.7% of GDP, four times more than the eurozone’s limit, and a public debt of US$410 billion. The projected Greek deficit of roughly 7 billion euros was actually more than 30 billion.

At his first monthly meeting with European Finance Ministers after he told his counterparts his shocking discovery, a European Finance Minister came up to him and said: “George, we know it’s not your fault, but shouldn’t someone go to jail?”

This is the same question many Malaysians are now asking about the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal, especially after the shocking claim by the UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin that the purchase of an RM10 million condominium from funds meant for cattle production was a “strategic move”, so that the money would not lie idle.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak or his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was Agriculture Minister when the NFC project was first mooted and approved, should answer this question in the minds of most Malaysians: “Shouldn’t someone go to jail?”

If the cast of personalities involved in the NFC scandal had all involved Pakatan Rakyat leaders and their family members, and not the incumbent Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and her family members, there is no doubt that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would have swooped in on the case from Day One, the MACC investigators now  crawling all over the cases and all the protagonists already subject to intense and sustained grilling ala-Teoh Beng Hock.

But this is not the case as there is total inaction, indifference and disinterest on the part on the MACC with regard to the RM250 million NFC scandal, despite the shocking revelations of a clear misappropriation of public funds in the case of  RM10 million from the funds to promote cattle production to purchase a condominium for private benefit and the RM800,000 to pay for the expensive overseas trip of the Minister and her family members on company funds.

Shahrizat’s self-defence that her family does not deserve the allegations as they work very hard has only opened up a Pandora’s Box.

It is time that her husband Mohamad Salleh Ismail, her children Wan Shahimur Izran, Wan Shahimur Izmir and Wan Izzana Fatimah, break their silence.

They should appear in the public to explain the numerous queries, contradictions and inconsistencies which had surfaced since the strictures of the  Auditor-General’s Report 2010 about the NFC – especially as the explanations and justifications made on their behalf such as by the UMNO Youth Leader Khairy Jamaluddin  have only dragged the Shahrizat family and the  NFC scandal deeper into the mud.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 2:30 pm and is filed under
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Wrap-Up: Italy braces for new govt, IMF warns Asia on euro fallout

Reuters

Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:16pm EST

By Barry Moody and George Georgiopoulos

Italy lower house set to vote on cuts, new govt seen by Sunday

ROME/ATHENS, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Italy’s parliament was set to approve austerity measures on Saturday, triggering the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and meeting European Union demands to avert a euro zone meltdown.

After months of dither and delay, Rome appears to have got the message as bond markets pushed it to the brink of needing a bailout that the euro zone cannot afford.

President Giorgio Napolitano and Italian lawmakers have put the process on a fast track: the Chamber of Deputies was due to start debating at 1130 GMT and final approval of the cuts by the lower house marks the Berlusconi government’s final act.

Berlusconi was expected to hold a last cabinet meeting and then hand his resignation to Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace.

A largely technocratic government headed by former European Commissioner Mario Monti was seen in place by Sunday night or Monday morning.

In Athens on Friday, former European Central Bank policymaker Lucas Papademos, a technocrat like Monti, was sworn in to lead a new government tasked with meeting the terms of a bailout, after days of political angling.

WARNINGS OF GLOBAL CONTAGION

In Tokyo, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned that if strains in Europe worsen, Asia would be negatively affected through trade and financial sector links.

At a news conference after meeting Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi, she said: “…we touched on the economic situation in the euro zone, the way to address it, and the consequences that the euro zone crisis has and would have if it deteriorated further in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia.”

“I insisted with Minister Azumi that no country can be immune under the present circumstances, no matter how developed or how emerging or how far away it is. The countries are totally interconnected. That is what we see at IMF,” she said.

Her warning came after pressure from Washington for faster action from the currency bloc.

“The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth. It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the crisis late on Thursday.

MARKET RELIEF…BUT WILL IT LAST?

The euro made its strongest gains against the dollar in two weeks on Friday and Italian bond yields, which had raced above sustainable levels this week, fell in relief at the prospect of a new government.

European shares also rose, with Italian banks including Intesa Sanpaolo rallying.

But some investors doubted the recovery would last, as even a technocrat government might struggle for progress on fiscal reforms Italy has long promised but never delivered.

“We can have maybe two or three days of calm — in inverted commas — but nothing has really changed underneath,” one bond trader said.

Spain, the euro zone’s fourth largest economy and due to hold elections in nine days, stopped growing in the third quarter, putting its deficit-reduction goals in doubt.

With European leaders dithering over how to tackle the deepening crisis, pressure has mounted on the European Central Bank to act more forcefully by becoming a full lender of last resort like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

“There is real turbulence in the markets, real question marks over whether countries can deal with their debts and a big question mark over the future of the euro zone,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed doubts Europe had the firepower to avoid the “catastrophe” of an Italian collapse. Russian experts “believe that without direct intervention from the ECB this problem cannot be solved”, he said.

On the same day that the head of the 440-billion-euro ($600-billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was quoted saying market turmoil had made it more difficult to boost the bailout fund, Putin said the EU, which accounts for half his country’s trade, badly needed more emergency funding.

“The EFSF, alone or cooperating with the IMF, does not have the necessary resources. I believe that the resources needed to overcome the crisis are about 1.5 trillion euros,” said Putin.

MORE ZEROS WON’T HELP

EFSF chief Klaus Regling told the Financial Times it would now be a challenge to boost the fund to 1 trillion euros as euro zone leaders proposed in a late-October summit, hoping to lure bond investors by offering to insure any eventual losses.

“The political turmoil that we saw in the last 10 days probably reduces the potential for leverage,” said Regling.

But ECB policymaker Juergen Stark from Germany reiterated his view that it is up to politicians and not central bankers to solve the problems in the euro zone.

“I personally doubt very much that adding two or three zeros to the bailout volume can solve the structural and political problems,” Stark, who opposes the ECB’s strategy of buying the bonds of problem states such as Greece to prop them up and will quit the bank early this year, told a Swiss paper.

Senior ECB policymakers have rebuffed arm-twisting from investors and world leaders to intervene massively on bond markets to shield Italy and Spain from financial contagion.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, strongly opposes the ECB taking on a broader crisis-fighting role, arguing that this would compromise the central bank’s independence.

Greece’s Papademos, a former ECB vice president, faces major challenges at the helm of a unity government forged after a chaotic power struggle between the two main political forces.

“With the unity of all people, we will succeed,” Greece’s premier told George Papandreou, who led the previous Socialist administration that fell apart last week.

Papademos has about 100 days to start fulfilling the terms of a 130-billion-euro bailout plan to keep Greece solvent while placating warring political factions.

Socialist party big-hitter Evangelos Venizelos will remain finance minister in a new cabinet that includes many of the same politicians who led the nation into crisis.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 November 2011, 9:14 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians getting ripped off

by
Mimi Chih

When Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to expel Singapore from the Federation of Malaya leading to the Independence of Singapore on August 9, 1965, the world did not expect this tiny island Republic with a population of 1.8 million then to stand tall as one of the original Four Asian Tigers, along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan 46 years later.  Well, this Lion City has certainly ventured forth roaring all the way with a lion heart.

How does one measure the success of a country?  To the people, it is reflected in their overall standard of living.  Not every country is lucky enough to have a team of intelligent people whose passionate objectives drive them to make their country a better place to live – for everyone.  Singapore is one such country.  Today this island republic has one of the highest standard of living in South East Asia.

Which Malaysian could imagine that some 46 years after the split, Singapore’s exchange rate to the ringgit would hit a dizzying rate of RM2.41 (Nov 11, 2011)?  August 1972 was the last time that the SGD (Singapore Dollar) was almost on par with the (RM) ringgit at SGD100:RM100.10.  For an average wage earner in the Lion City making SGD2500 a month, going for a 10 days holiday to the US or Australia or Europe once a year is a relatively small matter.

What happened to Malaysia?  In 1965 when Singapore was expelled, Malaysia had everything that the island republic glaringly lacked – ample land, a plethora of natural resources, an operating government, and 9.3 million people.

Unfortunately, in the 46 years that has come to past, Malaysia has been bogged down by a number of issues which are clearly distracting the government from doing what it is supposed to be doing.

The ruling government (UMNO) in Malaysia is debating whether education in English would be significantly beneficial to the rakyat, the opposition PAS’ vehement stance in wanting to forcibly implement the hudud laws and banning Elton John from performing in Malaysia because of his sexual orientation, and the Obedient Wives Club’s proposition that Muslim women should be obedient and strive to approach sex with their hubbies not just on a physical level but on the higher spiritual realm.

There are also questions posed to DAP’s national chairman Karpal Singh by MCA’s leader Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek whether a non-Muslim should first convert to Islam if they wanted to be deputy prime minister should Pakatan become the ruling government.  These are just a handful of endless annoying issues which UMNO has had to deal with on a daily basis.

In 2011 Singapore’s population stands at 5.18 million (63% are Singaporean citizens while 37% are permanent residents).  Malaysia’s population as at July 2011 is 28.73 million.  Without getting into advanced mathematical calculations, one would deduce that economies of scale would be more achievable in the country that has 28.73 million people versus 5.18 million. This is not the case.

The cost of living is relative to the ability to earn.  Lets establish the value of currency in terms of the wage rate (Malaysia does not have a Minimum Wage rate yet). In Singapore the average general worker such as a merchandiser in a supermarket /department store or the cashier serving you at Mc Donald’s earns SGD5.50 – 6.00 per hour.  In Malaysia similar positions start at RM4 – 6 per hour.

But take a look at how much things cost in Malaysia. A kopi si peng costs SGD0.90 to SGD1.20 in clean kopi shops/food courts in Singapore while it costs RM1.80 to RM2.00 in Malaysia.  A Chinese roasted duck costs SGD18-25 each .  In Malaysia, at the market rate of RM48 per bird, eating roasted duck is a luxury.

As my niece, a 2 year Sunway College graduate with an Accounting degree and ACCA cert is fond of saying, “A person earning peanuts (SGD peanuts, OK) in Singapore can still afford to buy Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter imported from the US.  A Malaysian earning peanuts in Malaysia can’t even afford to smell any peanut butter.”  She adds, “SGD10 in Singapore goes a lot further than RM10 in Malaysia!”

Needless to say, Malaysia has already lost her to the Lion City – talk about brain drain.  More than 13 young Accounting graduates from her circle of friends have eagerly taken the same path.

How is it that the cost of so many basic foods and day to day consumable items end up being so much more expensive in Malaysia?  Malaysian politicians need to start talking in a meaningful language to the people.  For a start, they can talk in terms of bringing down the cost of foods and consumables in Malaysia while striving for a decent standard.  The rakyat will surely want to listen to the party that can talk sense about making their RM10 go further than at its current limpy and lethargic rate. It would be nice for average income earning Malaysians to be able to afford US made Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter.

Forget the hudud laws for now.  Being obedient wives is interesting…. but it’s not an urgent matter.  Lets not fret on this issue.  Why must a capable non-muslim candidate convert to Muslim to be the Deputy Prime Minister?  Would converting to Muslim make the candidate a better Deputy Prime Minister?  Finally, do let Elton John dazzle the Malaysians for just one nite – he is not a terrorist.  He is truly an accomplished, world class musician and entertainer.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 November 2011, 11:44 am and is filed under
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Najib should intervene in the RM10 million “condominium for cattle” scandal by recalling RM181 million loan to NFC not used for purpose of cattle production

As shocking as the revelation about the RM10 million “cattle for condominium” scandal is the self-righteous statement by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Datuk Noh Omar aiding and abetting a gross misappropriation of public funds.

Claiming that the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) had not used government funds for the purchase of the RM9.8 million Bangsar luxury condominium, Noh said that once NFC received money from the government, it was thereafter considered the company’s private funds and the government had no say as to how it would be used.

Noh said the government had loaned NFC RM250 million made into a special loan account (SLA) in Maybank that was controlled by the Finance Ministry.

Noh said RM181 million from that account had been disbursed to NFC based on the latter’s claims.

The government only had control of funds that were in the SLA, but had none over how the company spends the money once it has been disbursed, said the minister.

“If the money has been paid to NFC after fulfilling set conditions, the government cannot control what NFC does with it, including purchasing the said condominium, because it is then considered the company’s money.

“Claims made by NFC are related to farm management only, and has absolutely nothing to do with the purchase of condominiums.”

Clearly, something is very wrong about the “set conditions” imposed by the technical committee chaired by the Veterinary Department and the Finance Ministry for the release of the loans to promote cattle production that it could result in “excess funds” leading to the purchase of the Bangsar luxury condomium – nothing to do whatsoever with cattle farm production and management.

Instead of expressing surprise and shock at the misappropriation of the loans for cattle production to purchase a luxury condominium, the Agriculture Minister has instead come out to defend the RM10 million “condominium for cattle” scandal!

There is no word of censure, disapproval or dismay at such blatant misappropriation of public funds by the NFC especially as it involved the family of a Cabinet Minister, which is particularly galling to ordinary Malaysians who are trying to make ends meet.

Is this in fact an reflection that such misuse of public funds, where mega loans are given to companies whether run by family members of Cabinet Ministers or cronies, are often misused for another purpose from the those originally approved, is very commonplace under the present administration?

Let the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and all Cabinet Ministers declare their stand whether they fully agree with Noh Omar that there is nothing wrong or amiss in such misappropriation of public funds such as in the “condominium for cattle” scandal – as it is a common occurrence under the Barisan Nasional government?

In fact, Najib should intervene in  the  RM10 million “condominium for cattle” scandal by recalling the RM181 million loan to NFC which are not used for the purpose of cattle production if the Prime Minister is  serious about all the talk of a national transformation policy with the slogan of “People First, Performance Now”.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 November 2011, 2:27 pm and is filed under
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Obama Says Europe Making Progress as APEC Nations Fear Worst

By
Shamim Adam and Michael Forsythe

Bloombert Businessweek

November 12, 2011

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — U.S. President Barack Obama said formation of new governments in Greece and Italy may help calm world markets roiled by the European debt crisis, which is having a “dampening effect” on the global economy.

“We’re not going to see massive growth out of Europe until the problem’s resolved,” Obama told corporate chief executive officers gathered in Honolulu today as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The president said he was “cautiously optimistic” of getting through the current crisis.

Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis was a frequent topic at the summit aimed at improving economic ties in the Asia-Pacific region as officials said they are bracing for a worsening of the situation in Europe that may push the global economy into a recession and increase volatility in financial markets. Investors this week pushed Italian bond yields passed the 7 percent level that drove Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts, ahead of the resignation today of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“You can’t talk about Asia without talking about Europe right now,” Jerry Webman, chief economist at OppenheimerFunds Inc. in New York, told Bloomberg News in Honolulu yesterday. “Having a prolonged economic slump in Europe is really threatening to the export-oriented Asian economies.”

Emerging-market nations from Brazil to China to Indonesia have started to cut interest rates or increase fiscal measures to shield growth as Europe’s debt woes and a struggling U.S. economy increase the risk of another global downturn.

‘Frustratingly Slow’

Europe’s fiscal woes have turned into a “global crisis,” International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min said in Honolulu yesterday.

“I believe we are not likely to become better without going through an even rougher patch,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said in Honolulu yesterday. “The markets will be very jittery. Global performance will be dragged down, and then there may be an awakening.”

Obama said it’s important that Europe stand behind individual members of the euro zone to resolve the debt crisis. The aim is to “at least contain the crisis” in the short term, he said, adding the leaders in Italy and Greece are demonstrating a commitment to the “structural reform” needed.

Austerity Measures

Berlusconi’s resignation paves the way for former European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti to form a government that can protect Italy from being overwhelmed by the region’s debt crisis.

The Italian Senate approved an austerity package yesterday, raising optimism the euro area’s second-most-indebted country will control its debt. U.S. 30-year bond yields rose from almost the lowest level in a month as Greece and Italy took steps to form new governments and address budget and sovereign-debt problems.

In Greece, a unity government led by Lucas Papademos was sworn in yesterday with a mandate to implement budget measures and decisions related to a 130 billion-euro bailout agreed on Oct. 26. Elections may take place on Feb. 19.

The moves in some European economies to resolve their fiscal imbalances have not eased concerns among Asia-Pacific officials or economists.

Concern on Growth

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said ahead of a meeting yesterday with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Honolulu that they planned to discuss the global economic crisis, which is “what all countries are worried about.” Leaders will work to ensure “there is solid growth in the region,” Gillard said.

“Europe’s problem may not be solved within 12 months,” Fan Gang, a former academic adviser to the People’s Bank of China, said in a panel discussion yesterday. “The euro zone is 17 countries. After Greece it could be Italy, after Italy it could be Portugal.”

European finance ministers earlier this week failed to bridge divisions over the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent rescue fund designed to start in mid-2013. European Central Bank policy makers said the bank can’t do much more to stem the region’s debt crisis, suggesting they are reluctant to ramp up bond purchases to lower Italy’s borrowing costs.

Finance officials at the APEC forum, concerned by the impact of the crisis on exports, focused on how they could protect their economies rather than ways to assist the debt- stricken euro zone. China reported this week that its shipments abroad rose the least in almost two years in October, while Hong Kong’s gross domestic product figures showed the economy barely grew last quarter from the previous three months.

Australia and Indonesia have cut interest rates this month, while the Philippines last month announced a fiscal stimulus package to spur the economy. Bank Indonesia’s rate cut of half a percentage point was the biggest reduction since March 2009.

“It’s going to take a long, long time to resolve the European crisis,” said Hsu Kuo-An, an economist at Taipei-based Capital Securities Corp. “The global economy will continue to slow down and it may even sink into a recession. Asian economies and Asian exporters are going to suffer.”

–With assistance from Margaret Talev, Julianna Goldman, Aki Ito, Andrew Mayeda and Ilya Arkhipov in Honolulu, and Chinmei Sung in Taipei. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Peter Hirschberg

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 November 2011, 11:59 am and is filed under
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Should we settle for this nonsense?

—
Ali Kadir

The Malaysian Insider

Nov 13, 2011

NOV 13 — It is left to us, ordinary Malaysians, to show outrage at the thievery, corruption, mismanagement and subterfuge that is happening in our country.

Let us just ponder at what has happened since the Auditor-General noted that the National Feedlot project was a failure or on the verge of being a failure. First, you have the deputy prime minister downwards trying to convince Malaysians that the project was a success, with arguments that defy logic.

Then you had Noh Omar and Khairy Jamaluddin speaking up and defending the track record of the project and the main beneficiaries of the RM250 million soft loan: Shahrizat Jalil’s family.

Their defence of the incredible — the squandering of public funds — indicated that the old and new of Umno are joined at the hip by ignorance, stupidity and a seemingly endless acceptance of bad practices.

Then came the revelation that the holding company behind the NFC project diverted nearly RM10 million in federal funds to buy a condominium in Bangsar. A company with a mandate to develop cattle project dabbling in property speculation, or was it a case of some people siphoning out public funds to build up their property portfolio?

According to Khairy, who — to an outsider like me — seems mighty ready to prove that he is a reliable Umno man, said that the company did not want excess funds to lie idle. This guy thinks that we are dumb as the Umno people he mixes around with.

When government funds or a soft loan is issued for a specific purpose, it cannot be used for other purposes. Otherwise, can you imagine the rampant abuses that would be taking place?

Here is the thing that has been disturbing me: Instead of shining a light on wrong practices and even owning up to mistakes, Umno and this government are prepared to lie and defend the indefensible.

In this NFC case, it is because a minister’s family is caught in this mess that politicians and the media are all colluding to defend the abuse of taxpayers’ funds.

Is Shahrizat’s family the only one who obtained a sweet deal from the government? I believe this is not the case. Our ministers and politicians want leadership positions so that they can suck out the marrow from our country.

According to blogs, the son-in-law of our DPM is involved in the biometric scanning system for foreign workers. Doesn’t Muhyiddin Yassin chair the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers? Was there a conflict of interest? Was there an open tender?

Did you read about this in the newspapers? Or course not, because they are collaborators in keeping Malaysians misinformed.

It sounds tough and despairing but the events of the last few weeks shows that we need to reclaim this beautiful country from the cheats and thieves.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 November 2011, 12:58 pm and is filed under
Auditor-General Report
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Writing on the wall and the perils of procrastination

—
Nawawi Mohamad

The Malaysian Insider

Nov 13, 2011

NOV 13 — Silvio Berlusconi, the flamboyant, scandalous media billionaire who practically jumped into Italian politics by organising the People of Freedom party, reigned for seventeen years. He has now resigned. He left Italy with about €1.9 trillion in national debt.

After being so preoccupied with his scandals, both creating them and defending himself from the repercussions, he had procrastinated in dealing with Italy’s troubled economy and serious financial problems.

Berlusconi only agreed to the proposal to reduce the deficit in June, when in March his advisers had already literally shouted at him to start taking action.

His government managed to get everything in order only by September this year and got the vote of final approval in the Italian Senate by a margin of 156 to 12 just before his resignation; too little too late.

The final straw is not his scandalous life but the neglected state of the economy and finance in Italy.

With our own version of scandals, mismanagement, complacency, wastage, extravagance and callous spending by the Umno/BN government, Malaysia is not much different from Italy.

Unfortunately the Umno/BN government seems to be oblivious to the so many writings on the wall pertaining to our economy, financial status, deficits, national debts and the road that Malaysia is now on.

The Umno/BN government must rectify these fault by scrapping all the mega projects, take action against all the irresponsible parties that are wasting our money, start with an austerity drive selectively, concentrate on the economy, let the people have more money in their pockets to spend and thus generate the domestic economy which is still within our influence.

Well, we do have many experts to work it out. We cannot depend on the world’s economy to prosper or even pick up because time is not on our side and the present situation is just too volatile and unpredictable.

However, the Umno/BN government seems to be preoccupied with trying to build up its deteriorating image and influence for the coming general election. And to win what may be a pyrrhic victory.

Unfortunately the whole nation has to bear the perils of procrastination by the Umno/BN government.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 November 2011, 7:19 pm and is filed under
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Najib Razak
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Assembly sitting ‘illegal’, says Sarawak DAP

By
Joseph Tawie
 | November 14, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s budget announcement this morning at the State Legislative Assembly was ‘illegal and unlawful’, according to the state opposition DAP.

State party chairman Wong Ho Leng added that the proceedings was a ‘breach of the standing order’ and that the CM’s budget introduction was ‘tainted with impropriety.”

Taib, who is also state finance minister, had tabled the Supply (2012) Bill, 2011 during the State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

According to Wong apart from failing to give the opposition assemblymen advance copies of the Supply Bill 2012 and the Supplementary supply Bill as mandatorily required by Standing Order 63, the assembly had also switched off all their microphones.

“We are saying the whole procedure this morning is wrong. It is irregular and breached standing order and it is therefore unlawful.

“The budget introduced by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is very much tainted with impropriety and illegality for being in breach of the mandatory requirements of standing order 63.

“Standing Order 63 has mandatory or compulsory words and it says the draft estimates of state expenditure and revenue for the succeeding years should be laid upon the table before the introduction to the Dewan of the annual supply bill.

“Now all these documents were received by us at 10.07 am this morning. Standing order 65 is also breached,” said Wong, Bukit Assek assemblyman.

He was commenting on the first day of the sitting of the state assembly, the second after the April state election.

There are 15 opposition assemblymen – 12 DAP and 3 PKR – and one independent member in the 71-member State Legislative Assembly.

Rushed budget

According to Wong, the Dewan must comply with standing order 63.

“But before the bills are introduced the Dewan must comply with standing order 63.

“All these must be on the table and should be given to us earlier for us to go through,’ he said.

Wong said that DAP had been in the Dewan since 1996 and this was the first time that the Supply Bill and the Supplementary Supply Bill were not placed on the tables.

He also noticed that it was the first time that the Chief Minister’s budget speech was not broadcast live by Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM).

“Everything was so quiet this morning and all of a sudden it was done before 11.00 am. But why was the rush?

“(That there was) something wrong was very obvious,” he said.

Wong said that while the Chief Minister was presenting the Supply Bill, he had to interject telling the Speaker that the microphones of the frontline bench of the opposition members were not working.

“I suspect that our PA system was sabotaged in order not to allow us to raise any objection right from the beginning for reasons unknown to us.

Sabotage of microphones

Wong said that State Legislative Assembly was constructed at a cost of RM297 million equipped with up-to-date facilities and had been given an allocation of RM9 million to maintain it for next five years.

“The building is not yet five years old, and yet we see this PA system is malfunctioning.

“Don’t tell me that this problem is carried forward from the old state assembly building,” he said.

He said what is baffling the opposition is that the PA system was always non-functioning when they wanted to raise questions or seek explanations.

“Because of this, we think it is more sabotaged rather than technical problem,” he added.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 14 November 2011, 5:26 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #88

By
M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 10: Freedom, Justice, and the Law

The Judiciary: Justice in Jeopardy

Not only must there be respect for the rule of law, but the laws themselves must be just. Those administering the law too must be just and be seen to be just.

            The Malaysian judiciary began on a very high note with judges held in the highest esteem. Tun Suffian set the tone not only with his exemplary personal example but also the depth of his legal judgment and scholarly analysis. The low point of the Malaysian judiciary occurred when the King, acting on the advice of the prime minister, suspended the chief justice and a few of his associates. Sadly from there the judiciary seemed to breach new lows every so often. A retiring senior appellate judge recently publicly confessed his shame for having been a member of that august body. He bluntly blurted about Malaysian litigants being confident of winning even “hopeless cases” as long as they were filed in “certain courts.” A more damaging indictment would be hard to find.

            This sorry state of affairs received widespread international attention with the released of a scathing report jointly issued by, among others, the International Bar Association and the International Commission of Jurists. Justice in Jeopardy: Malaysia 2000, asserts, “…well-founded grounds for concern as to the proper administration of justice…in cases which are of particular interest, for whatever reason, to the government.”

            The commission in particular was concerned of the manner judges were selected for high profile cases, especially those with political undertones.

            Many of the issues raised by those distinguished jurists are familiar not only to lawyers but also ordinary citizens. For example, the commission is critical of the merging of the legal and judicial services that resulted in the rotating door policy between judges and prosecutors. As these officers are answerable to the same superior, it does not encourage the development of distinct and independent services.

            The commission resurrects many of the same issues I raised in my earlier book, among them, the insularity and limited experience of Malaysian jurists. As the commission also noted, nearly three quarters of them are promoted from within; there is little or no infusion of fresh talent from the outside. Few of the judges have experience outside of government. Part of the reason is that the pay is not competitive to attract talented private practitioners. Further, new recruits of esteemed lawyers are treated as if they are junior appointees. They are placed on probation for a year or two, and often start as lowly magistrates. That is certainly no way to attract legal luminaries from the outside. In contrast, American judges count among their peer brilliant legal scholars, successful private practitioners, and accomplished statesmen. Malaysia should do likewise and have an infusion of top talent directly into the upper levels of the judiciary.

            The way Malaysia selects its senior judges stands in stark contrast with that of Singapore. As related in his memoir, when Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was looking for his new chief justice, he instituted a thorough and exhausting winnowing process. He polled successful private practitioners, respected academics, and senior judges for their recommendations. After short-listing the candidates he interviewed each one of them. It is no surprise then that Singapore’s present Chief Justice, Yong Pung How, commands such great respect not only at home but also abroad. No lawyer would dare make flippant or flamboyant remarks about his performance or person. His resume is formidable: the product of the world’s best law schools (Cambridge and Harvard), extensive business experience (chief executive of a major bank), and successful private practice.

            No Malaysian judge comes even close to this man in terms of the breadth of experience or sterling academic qualifications. Malaysia does not lack for talent, but the system does not allow them to emerge. Malaysian leaders do not consider senior judicial or other public appointments merit such careful scrutiny.

            A telling indicator of the caliber of Malaysia’s top public officials is demonstrated by the silly squabble between Law Minister Rais Yatim and the then Chief Justice Eusoff Chin that took part in mid 2000.

            The controversy erupted over the judge’s choice of an overseas holiday companion, a certain lawyer who had appeared before him on a high profile case. When the news first broke out, the judge vehemently denied any impropriety, claiming that he had merely “accidentally” bumped into the lawyer on his trip. But when investigative reporting by Malaysiakini revealed that they had shared the same flight and were together for an extended period during their vacation, the minister felt compelled to publicly chastise the judge.

            That a junior minister (and a rookie one at that) could openly humiliate the Chief Justice (a man considerably higher in the government scheme of things) leads me to a disturbing thought: Would a more powerful minister hesitate in letting a less senior judge know of his (minister’s) displeasure?

            Rais Yatim, in his previous incarnation as deputy leader of the opposition Semangat Party (it later merged into UMNO, which was how he ended up in the cabinet) was highly critical of the unchecked powers of the executive. Such overzealous dominance, he noted in his doctoral dissertation, threatens the independence and integrity of the judiciary. Wise observation! Alas, that was then. Once in the cabinet he sings a decidedly different tune, one more pleasing to his master’s ears. I would have more respect for Rais had he, before accepting his cabinet position, tried to convince Mahathir of his views. A belief so readily discarded is no conviction at all.

            While these pathetic senior public figures spat in public, the more damning criticism leveled in Justice in Jeopardy was conveniently ignored. Indeed both the law minister and chief justice confessed in not having read it as they had not as yet received an official copy, even though the entire document was readily available on the Web. I publicly suggested that the minister should pay attention to the report instead of the judge’s poor choice of holiday companion. That would not have generated as much publicity for Rais, but it would do him and the nation immense good.

            In the end what made the government act were the concerns of foreign investors. They were getting increasingly uneasy with the way justice was dispensed, especially in regards to “mega awards” and lawyers “shopping around” for sympathetic judges. Such practices clearly undermine the integrity of the entire system. The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) ranked the Malaysian judiciary behind that of South Korea and the Philippines. Increasingly, investors (foreign and local) factor in their faith in the country’s justice system as a major consideration in deciding where to invest their money.

            In February 2002, the giant California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) stunned many by declaring its withdrawal from many emerging markets including Malaysia. Although Malaysian officials tried to dismiss or minimize the significance of the decision, there was no question that it was a tremendous blow to Malaysia. CalPERS’s had suffered tremendous loss in those markets. For the past five years, its average annual returns for Malaysia was a horrifying – 18.3 percent. CalPERS concluded that it is not enough to analyze the performances of companies and markets; it must also look at the supporting political and governmental structures. In essence, it concluded that you could not have a “good” company in a “bad” country. Malaysia scored poorly in such areas as political stability, financial transparency, free press, and most importantly in the context of the present discussion, an independent judiciary.

            Apart from being the biggest fund manager, CalPERS is also widely regarded as a trendsetter. Malaysia ignores CalPERS observations at its own peril.

            In response to Justice in Jeopardy, the government set up a Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), chaired by a former deputy prime minister, Musa Hitam. Thus far Suhakam has reviewed cases of alleged police brutality as well as actively championing citizens’ rights. To me its pronouncements are bland and mild (for example, Malaysians have a right to peaceful assembly). Nonetheless it is a sad reflection of how low human rights and civil liberties have been degraded in Malaysia that such obvious statements were widely lauded and welcomed.

            The year 2001 saw the appointment of a new chief justice, Dzaiddin Abdullah. His first order of business was to immediately admit the rotten state of the judiciary, a rare public admission by a senior official, and he then went about to clean up the mess. Thus far his moves have been widely applauded by both the public and members of the Bar. Even Rais Yatim saw fit to claim credit for the judge’s appointment.

            Dzainuddin’s elevation was like a refreshing breeze that many would hope will remove the stench from the judiciary.

            Through globalization, Malaysians are now very much aware of events occurring elsewhere. Just as Malaysians demand a world standard of education and medical care, so too they now want the same liberties enjoyed by other civilized citizens. Malaysians are not comforted by the fact that they have more freedom than the Indonesians or Iraqis.

            Having seen the best they rightly demand the same. The Malaysian system of justice must therefore accept the prevailing international norms. There is no longer a “local” standard. Police brutality and other infringements on basic human liberties are as unacceptable in Malaysia as it is in America.

            The negative consequences of the 9/11 tragedies are, among others, intrusive legislations introduced in America to meet this new national challenge. The Patriot Act of 2001 for example, provides for detention of non-citizens without trial. Such moves by the Americans emboldened Mahathir to wield the ISA and other restrictive laws even more brazenly, all the while smugly asserting that the Americans are finally wising up to Malaysian ways. Nothing could be further from the truth.

            In their conceit Malaysian leaders are ignoring some essential differences. For one, the new restrictive law had a very rough grilling in Congress. It was also widely debated by the populace. Further, such rules apply only to non-citizens and have sunset provisions, meaning they will be intensively reviewed and will expire in three years unless specifically renewed. These are significant differences that Malaysian leaders do not apparently appreciate or choose to ignore.

            If the system of justice in Malaysia were to meet the prevailing world’s norms, it would surely earn the respect of the citizens and the international community. It would also be good for business. Surely that is a worthy goal.

            Malaysia spares no effort in trying to attract foreign investors and businesses. Fixing the badly tarnished justice system would go along way to assure these foreigners. In the next chapter I will go into greater detail on how Malaysia could make herself more attractive to investors, local and foreign, by enthusiastically embracing free enterprise.

Next:   Chapter11:     Embracing Free Enterprise

                This entry was posted on Monday, 14 November 2011, 10:50 am and is filed under
Bakri Musa
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Malaysians being ripped off (2) – with photos

By Mimi Chih

Thank you for putting my
article online
.

The reason I enclosed those photos was to drive home the point how much more expensive those same items are in Malaysia. If you go back to Sarawak, they are even more expensive.  e.g. even after conversion to RM, it is still more expensive in Malaysia e.g. Yoplait yogurt is SGD7.05 while in KL it is at least RM22, Farmhouse milk is 2 litres for SGD4.85…in KL it is RM10 per litre. Did you see how much the US imported cereals are selling for in Malaysia?

As for simple foods, look at how cheap it is, especially when you are earning SGD. You can still get kopi si peng is still SGD90 cents.

That is the reason why my niece sent out her resumes so many times since last year. She finally got a job in Oct, 2011 as an auditor (2 years experience). Her salary is gross SGD2600.  When she earned RM2850 at Ernst & Young, she would never eat at Starbuck, didn’t even dare to look at Farmhouse milk or SPAM luncheon meat, and definitely, would never indulge in Yoplait yogurt. She is now able to enjoy all of those and more and she can send home SGD300. Her parents had to subsidize her when she was in KL even though she lived frugally.

Wait till I send it the article about the super efficient MRT, feeder bus and bus system in Singapore. Would you believe that it can cost SGD2 cents (yes, SGD2 cents) for certain routes? Would you believe for SGD80 a month, they can get practically all the channels that we have on ASTRO? Plus, the transmission doesn’t get interrupted when the sky becomes cloudy.

This is what Malaysia’s politicians need to be talking about…bringing benefits to the people. What have they been doing with the rakyat’s money?  If economies of scale can be achieve with a 5.18 million population why is it not happening in Malaysia?  Things should be even cheaper.

Malaysians are being deprived cheaper options to quality foods.  In Singapore, people can get cheap and not substandard quality foods.

Is it possible to attach a few of the photos? Without seeing the glaring price disparity, the article wouldn’t drive home the point.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 14 November 2011, 6:38 pm and is filed under
Brain drain
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Economics
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nation building
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Prices
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Singapore
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Will Najib’s speech at the UMNO General Assembly next month pass muster for the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates in January?

This is mind-boggling which completely defies the imagination.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is to launch and institutionalize “the Global Movement of the Moderates” in Kuala Lumpur at the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates from Jan 17 to 19.

This was revealed by Najib in his talk at the East-West Centre in Honolulu yesterday.

Najib first made the call for a Global Movement of Moderates in his speech at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September last year, urging moderates from all faiths to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism and to marginalize the extremists.

The question that befuddles Malaysians is how Najib can expect his glib call of “Moderates Unite” in international forums to have any credibility when the most extremist racial and religious incitements under his premiership not only emanate from but are nurtured in the UMNO bosom, such as the mainstream media mouthpieces of UMNO particularly Utusan Malaysia?

Whenever Najib goes abroad to address international audiences, he would position himself as the “Great Moderator” taking on all extremists, but inside the country he has done absolutely nothing in the past 31 months to marginalise the racial and religious extremists, signally failing to speak up and speak out against the most irresponsible and reckless incitement of racial hatred and religious tension which have caused the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history.

Was Najib discharging his role as the “moderate” Prime Minister of Malaysia when he allowed UMNO mouthpiece like Utusan Malaysia to go on a rampage of scurrilous lies and falsehoods, inciting racial hatred and religious tensions as making the completely reckless and groundless allegation of a sinister DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia and appoint a Christian Prime Minister?

Will Najib’s speech at the UMNO General Assembly next month (Dec. 1 – 3) pass muster for the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates in January or will it be another example of the two facets of Najib as Jekyll-and-Hyde?

Will Najib set the tone of a “moderate” Prime Minister at the UMNO General Assembly on Dec. 1 by retracting and apologising for his “crushed bodies, lives lost” speech to the UMNO General Assembly last year and make a firm public commitment that he, UMNO and Barisan Nasional will accept the verdict of the people, including for a change of government in Sri Perdana, Putrajaya in the next general election.

Can Najib pass this test of a “moderate” Prime Minister of Malaysia at the UMNO General Assembly before the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates the following month?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 14 November 2011, 4:17 pm and is filed under
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