In three days, Gerakan has provided ample evidence that it has been reduced to a “three-stooges” party in BN which dare not speak up on the great issues of right and wrong in Malaysia but dwell on trifles and trivialities

In three days, Gerakan has provided ample evidence that it has been reduced to the status of a “three-stooges” party in Barisan Nasional which dare not speak up on the great issues of right and wrong in Malaysia but could only dwell on trifles and trivialities.

Firstly, there is the Gerakan President and Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong as the first stooge who created political history by issuing a challenge, not on behalf of himself, but on behalf of another, when he challenged me to contest against the Barisan Nasional/Gerakan Penang State Chairman Teng Chang Yeow in the 14th General Election.

Secondly, a second stooge when we see the BN/Gerakan Penang State Chairman continuing to “twist and turn” to camouflage his desire to contest again in next general election, but he dared not return to Padang Kota where he had been Assemblyman for three terms in 1995, 1999 and 2004 but was defeated by Penang DAP State Chairman Chow Kon Yeow in the 2008 General Election by a margin of 1,666 votes.

In the 2013 General Election, he was afraid to face Chow again in Padang Kota and ran away to what he thought was the safest seat for Gerakan in Bukit Tengah, but was defeated by the PKR candidate, Ong Chin Wen with a huge margin of 5,190 votes.

As a result, Teng has continued to “twist and turn” just to broadcast his desire to contest again in Penang in the 14th General Election, but not against Chow in Padang Kota or to go back to Bukit Tengah.

My advice to Teng remains the same: he cannot be an effective commander-in-chief of Penang Barisan Nasional in the 14GE if he is a coward, as no Barisan Nasional candidate in Penang would have respect for him.

Teng should announce that he will return to Padang Kota where he had been State Assemblyman for three terms from 1995 to 2008 to break the Gerakan “egg” in Penang State Assembly for two terms in the forthcoming 14GE.

If Teng dare not return to Padang Kota to fight Chow, he should just call it a day in Gerakan politics.

Thirdly, we have the third stooge in the person of the Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau who tried to create news by attacking the Perak DAP State Chairman and Taiping MP, Nga Kor Ming for a jibe involving the SEA Games and Penang billionaire Low Taek Jho, a central figure in the 1MDB scandal.

Lau accused Nga of malicious intent for linking the 1MDB scandal to the ongoing Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017.

Different views have been expressed about the propriety of Nga’s use of the SEA Games in his jibe against Jho Low and 1MDB, but no one in his right senses would accuse Nga of linking the 1MDB scandal to the SEA Games.

Gerakan leaders dare not breathe a word of criticism against the 1MDB scandal, which has brought infamy and ignominy to Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy” as Gerakan has long forgotten the desire of the early Gerakan leaders to be the “conscience” of Barisan Nasional.

But if Gerakan leaders dare not speak up on the great rights and wrongs in Malaysia, they should not discourage or obstruct Malaysians who dare to speak up for the country.

Malaysians can still remember the great efforts and “tons of money” spent by Jho Low to topple DAP in Penang, in particular to defeat the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in the Air Putih State Assembly constituency, in the 2013 General Election – but Gerakan still could not break the “egg” which it got in the 2008 general election.

The three stooges in Gerakan should not think that Malaysians could be so easily fooled by their tricks and games.

(Media Statement in Penang on Wednesday, August 23, 2017)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 23 August 2017, 2:51 pm and is filed under
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Isa Samad should not have been forced  to wear orange-coloured MACC lock-up uniform when taken to court for remand, but he should also not continue to hold the post of SPAD Acting Chairman

It is  wrong, improper, unconstitutional and most humiliating and demeaning to force Tan Sri Isa Samad to wear the orange-coloured MACC lock-up uniform when he was brought to court for remand proceedings as it breached a detainee’s fundamental liberty under the Federal Constitution.

I call on  the MACC to immediately cease all such unconstitutional and demeaning practices especially as a member of the MACC advisory board, Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah, a former Court of Appeal judge, yesterday  stressed that a detainee’s fundamental liberty included being presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Mohd Noor Abdullah should find out from the MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkfli Ahmad whether the MACC proposes to immediately cease such demeaning practices,  abuses of power and violation of the constitution, failing which he should  requisition for an emergency meeting of the MACC advisory board to put  a halt to such improper, unconstitutional and demeaning practices.

A week has passed  since this deplorable practice was first  condemned by the PKR MP for Padang Serai, N. Surendran, pointing out that MACC was acting unlawfully by forcing individuals arrested to facilitate graft investigations to wear the MACC orange lock-up uniforms, including DAP Penang Exco member Phee Boon Poh and Isa Samad.

As MACC is going around arresting public officers for “abuses of power”, I had asked whether the  MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad and top MACC officers would be arrested and investigated for abuse of power in unlawfully requiring individuals arrested to facilitate graft investigations to wear orange lock-up uniforms in court in remand proceedings?

It is most regrettable that MACC has taken a stubborn and obdurate position, insisting that it has the right to abuse  its powers by ignoring fundamental liberties guaranteed in the constitution and challenging those who did not agree to get a clear-cut judicial pronouncement from the courts.

It is such hubris which are behind the rampant abuses of power in the country.

Can the MACC Advisory Board halt such MACC hubris and abuses of power?

Isa Samad should not have been forced  to wear orange-coloured MACC lock-up uniform when taken to court for remand, but he should also not continue to hold the post of SPAD Acting Chairman.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri  Nancy Shukri sent shock waves throughout the country when she said that it is “business as usual in SPAD”, as Isa stays as SPAD Acting Chairman as he has yet to be charged with any crime – rubbishing her earlier statement that an interim chairman for SPAD will be appointed following Isa’s arrest.

Is Nancy  aware that her announcement is the biggest blow to MACC’s campaign to promote zero tolerance for corruption in all sectors of the public service?

Isa was Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) chairperson until his resignation on June 19, amid a corruption scandal plaguing the government-linked corporation.

On Aug 15, Isa was arrested by MACC under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009, which deals with the receiving of gratification in relation to Felda Investment Corporation’s (FIC) purchase of hotels in Kuching and in London.

Following his arrest, MACC  had reportedly raided his houses and offices, and seized RM100,000 in cash from his safe at home.

Isa was released on Sunday on RM150,000 bail after a five-day remand.

Many Malaysians  are swirling with questions about the propriety of Isa continuing as SPAD acting chairman, and these questions are not just confined to the FELDA and FGV scandals, as for instance, whether the Prime Minister, who is directly responsible for the FELDA portfolio in the Cabinet,  had no prior knowledge about the corruption and abuse of power in the purchase of the two hotels, one in London and the other in Kuching, by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC) – if not, what he had done to stop the two corruption deals;  and if so, whether this constituted a gross dereliction of duty.

FIC, the investment arm of Felda focusing mainly on real estate, hospitality and the oil and gas sectors, is said to have bought the four-star Park City Hotel in upmarket Kensington, London, between 2013 and 2015, for an inflated price of RM330mil. It was renamed Grand Plaza Hotel.

It was learnt later that the price of the hotel was overpaid by at least RM110mil.

The other subject of  MACC investigation was FIC’s purchase of a hotel in Kuching, Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites, in 2014 for RM160mil, said to be RM50mil more than its actual value. The hotel has 213 guest rooms and apartment suites.

Was the Prime Minister completely in the dark and unable to check the corruption and abuses of power in purchase of these two hotels?

But these are not the only questions about integrity as far as Isa is concerned, for Isa was suspended for six years from UMNO in June 2005 after the UMNO disciplinary board found him guilty of seven corruption charges of money politics, viz:

•	Allowed his political secretary Mohd Salim Sharif to pay RM300 to each delegate from the Telok Kemang division to the Umno General Assembly on or about September 2004;

•	Allowed his agents to pay various amounts of money to delegates from the Cameron Highlands, Kuala Lipis and Bentong divisons to the Umno General Assembly on September 11.

•	Allowed his agents to pay RM1,000 each to delegates to the Umno General Assembly at the Crown Princess Hotel at 11 pm on September 22 and the morning of September 23.

•	Permitted his agents to pay RM1,000 each to delegates to the Umno General Assembly at or about 1am on Sep 23 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

•	Allowed his agents to pay various sums of money to Sabah delegates to the Umno General Assembly about 1 am on Sep 23 at the Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

•	Allowed his agents to pay RM300 to Sabah Umno delegates at the Tanjung Aru Golf Club and the ‘Kandarah” Court, both of which are in Sabah in early September.

•	Allowed his agents to pay RM300 to Kedah Umno delegates at Holiday Villa Hotel, Alor Star and Kelab Cinta Sayang, Sungai Petani around two to three weeks before the 2004 Umno General Assembly.

The previous head of MACC had publicly declared that money politics is corruption and within the purview of the MACC.

As there is no statute of limitation for corruption offences, is MACC going to initiative investigations against Isa for these corruption charges in UMNO?

At that time, the former UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Ghafar Baba lamented in an interview that money politics involved in UMNO elections for a Supreme Council position was  not merely  RM1,000 or RM2,000, nor RM1 million or RM2 million, but from RM10 million to RM50 million!  (Sin Chew 19.6.05)  Ghafar did not mention the astronomical sums  expended for higher UMNO posts.

Isa had told the press in June that   he had accepted the appointment to be SPAD Acting Chairman  merely because Prime Minister  wanted him there.

He said: “I don’t know. I’m only going to SPAD because PM asked me to go.”

Najib should confirm whether  it is true that despite Isa’s past background of corruption and money politics in UMNO and his recent arrest and remand by MACC for the two corruption cases involving the purchase of the hotels in London and Kuching, it is still his decision and wish that Isa should remain as SPAD Acting Chairman, and if so, why?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 23 August 2017, 7:47 am and is filed under
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Kerk Chee Yee appointed as my political secretary to spearhead the fifth rejuvenation of  DAP

We gather here to remember Kerk Kim Hock, the fourth DAP Secretary-General and a two-term Member of Parliament as well as a one-term Malacca State Assemblyman, who died on August 9, 2017 after battling cancer for 15 years.

Kerk was foremost a great Malaysian patriot, a compassionate and down-to-earth political leader, a humble and easy-going politician, a dedicated warrior for justice and freedom for all Malaysians, but last but not least,  a believer for change for the better for all Malaysians.

I first met Kerk at the Monash University in Australia in September 1980 when he was President of the Monash University Malaysian Students Union (MUMSU) and invited me to give a talk to  a record-breaking capacity crowd of Malaysian students. Guan Eng was helping Kerk in MUMSU and became the next MUMSU President.

I was attracted by Kerk’s youthful idealism and boundless spirit, and he and Guan Eng were among the young Malaysians who dedicated themselves to struggle for a more just, equal and democratic Malaysia on their return to Malaysia after their graduation from Monash University, and joined the DAP  as the “new  blood” for political change in the country.

DAP must always continue in this process of rejuvenation as we must never lose sight of the fact that Malaysia is a very youthful country.

If we define youth as people below 35 years, we are talking about 10 million Malaysians comprising one third of the population, which has just crossed the 32 million mark recently.

DAP is now 51 years old we were officially registered on 18th March 1966.

When DAP was first formed, there was no youth wing, for the  first  DAP Central Executive Committee comprised of youths.

The founding chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin was a youthful 42 and I  was 25 years old.

The first batch of DAP leaders in the first decade of DAP’s  history like Fan Yew Teng, Karpal Singh, P. Patto, Lim Cho Hock, Fadzlan Yahya, Peter Dason, Dr. K.S. Das, Chian Heng Kai, Lau Dak Kee, Lee Kaw, Fong Kui Lun, Liew Ah Kim, Hor Cheok Foon, Mary Patto, Tan Chui Swee, Loke Swee Chin, Ong Kwai Leng, Ngan Siong Hing, Loh Jee Mee, Chan Fu King, Wong Hang Yoke, Lip Tuck Chee, Lim Hock Seng, Tai Sin Piau, Choo Kiang Seong, Wong Peng Sheng  were in the twenties or thirties.

If we take a decade as basis for the emergence of  a new batch of DAP leaders, we have had four rejuvenation of DAP leaders after the first batch of DAP leaders, and those who had stayed steadfast to the DAP struggles will include the following:

Second batch of DAP leaders (1976 – 1985): Tan Kok Wai, Lim Guan Eng, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw, Dr. Oon Hong Geok, Ngoi Thiam Woh,  Chong Siew Chiang, Sim Yaw Sik, Ling Sie Ming, Ahmad Ton, Vincent Wu, Ronnie Liu, Lai Keun Ban, A. Sivanesan, Leong Ngah Ngah, Tan Chik Poh, Gan Ah Liong, Dr. Eng Seng Chai, Kwok Mei Ling, Gan Peck Cheng.

Third batch (1986 – 1995): Kerk Kim Hock, Chow Kon Yeow, Wong Ho Leng, Ahmad Nor, P. Gunasegaran, Teresa Kok, Teng Chang Khim, Foo Yueh Chuan, Lee Kee Hiong, Ngeh Koo Ham, M. Kualasegaran, Fong Po Kuan, Anthony Loke, Jagdeep Singh Deo, Chong Eng, Dr. Boo Cheng Hau and Seah Leong Peng.

Fourth batch (1996- 2005): Liew Chin Tong, Gobind Singh Deo, Chong Jien Ren, Nga Kor Ming,  Lau Weng San, Ean Yong Han Wah,   S.N. Rayer, Thomas Su, Wong Kah Woh, Ong Boon Piow,  Teh Lai Hing, Lee Chin Chen, Cha Kee Chin, Tan Hong Pin, Lim Lip Eng, Lim Eng Guan, Ee Chin Li, Yeo Tung Siong, Khoo Poay Tiong, Tey Kok Kiew, Violet Yong,

Fifth batch (2006 – 2015):  Tony Pua, Teo Nie Ching, Jeff Ooi, Ong Kian Ming, Teo Kok Seong, Zairil Johari, Ng Wei Aik, Sim Chee Keong, Yap Soo Huey,  Julian Tan Kok Ping, Oscar Ling Chai Yew, Hannah Yeoh, Dyana Sofia Mohd Daud, Low Sze Yee, Edry Faizal, Young Syefura, Syerleena Abdul Rashid, Sheikh Omar Ali, Howard Lee, Wong May Ing, Chow Yu Hui, Leong Yu Man, Yeo Bee Yin, J. Arul Kumar, Wong Shu Qui, Alice Lau, Alan Ling, Kasturi Patto, Ram Karpal, Chan Foong Hin, Wong King Wei, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Mordi Bimol, Liow Cai Tung, Adrian Lasimbang, Muhammad Shakir Ameer.

I may have missed many names as this is not a complete and comprehensive list, as I must have omitted mention of some who should be  in the lists,  and I have deliberately left out other DAP leaders because they are not in the youth age group below 40 years when they joined the party.

I have had nearly a score of political secretaries in my five decades of political journey, and there is no doubt that Kerk had been my best political secretary.

He came back to help the party in 1998 when the DAP was at its lowest ebb, as Co-ordinator of the Support, Sympathy and Solidarity (SSS) with Lim Guan Eng national campaign.

I am taking tonight’s occasion to announce the appointment  of Kerk Chee Yee, 25,  as my political secretary. It will a great challenge to Chee Yee as Malaysia is on the threshold of great political change in the forthcoming 14th General Election to see the fulfilment of the dream and mission for which Kerk Kim Hock has dedicated his life.

This will also be the first father-and-son whom I had appointed as my political secretary.

Chee Yee’s responsibility will be greater than all my other  political secretaries of the past – to spearhead the fifth rejuvenation of DAP to bring into the party young Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans, Orang Asli regardless of religion or region to create  a more just, equal, democratic and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians.

(Speech at the Memorial Service for Kerk Kim Hock at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 24 August 2017, 5:31 pm and is filed under
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Why is the  Bank Negara Forex Losses Cabinet Task Force so keen to question Anwar but the Bank Negara Forex Losses RCI so afraid to summon Anwar, who was Finance Minister at the relevant period, to testify?

One question swirling in the minds of informed Malaysians is why the Cabinet Task Force on Bank Negara Forex Losses half-a-century ago was so keen to question Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Bank Negara Forex Losses is so afraid to summon Anwar, although Anwar was Finance Minister during a major part of the relevant period being investigated by the RCI –and especially when the Chairman of both probes is the same person!

Anwar’s statement from Sungai Buloh prison makes sad reading for Malaysians who had expected the RCI into the Bank Negara forex losses to function professionally and operate with full accountability and transparency.

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s cautionary warning today  to the RCI on Bank Negara Forex Losses is particularly pertinent in the light of Anwar’s complaints – that the RCI tasked with investigating foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara over two decades ago must follow proper procedures to ensure it does not “blacken” the image of the monarchy.

Mahathir said the image of the monarchy was at stake, as it gives a certain image that is linked to the position of the rulers, and as such a royal commission must follow the rules and regulations and procedures that will not affect the image of royalty, in particular, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Mahathir said: “I feel that the commission would always be mindful of that, and the expectation is that they will not, in any way, blacken the image of the royalty because it is a royal commission, not a police commission or something like that.”

Anwar has expressed concern for not being able to attend the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) hearing on Bank Negara’s foreign exchange losses.

Noting that  his name had cropped up several times during testimonies, Anwar said that his lawyers have made numerous requests for him to attend the RCI to no avail.

As Anwar qualifies as a person “in any way implicated or concerned in the matter under enquiry” under section 18 of the Commission of Enquiry Act 1950, why is the RCI so shy or reluctant to announce that Anwar would definitely be called as a witness where Anwar would also be able to answer all the charges and insinuations made against him by other witnesses  at the RCI.

I fully endorse Anwar’s complaint  that  it was unfair that witnesses could provide testimonies that were detrimental to his credibility while he had no avenue to defend himself, especially as Anwar has lost his personal freedom incarcerated in Sungai Buloh Prison.

Former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid, in his testimony to the RCI  on Monday, claimed that Anwar told him in 1994 he would need to resign as finance minister if the actual losses were made public.

In his statement today, Anwar denied this, calling it a “malicious insinuation” that he had implied on the need for a cover-up.

At the end of Monday’s RCI, its first day of the hearing, the RCI Chairman Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan concluded that the actual Bank Negara forex  losses were RM31.5 billion and this was not reflected in Bank Negara’s reports.

How could the RCI come to such a conclusion when the full RCI hearings of evidence and testimonies had only entered into its first day?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 24 August 2017, 3:16 pm and is filed under
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Call for three Royal Commissions of inquiry – into 1MDB, Felda scandals and what happened in Government in  the last week of July 2015 – to convince Malaysians that RCI like national institutions are not being abused by Najib to play politics

This is the RCI season, with a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) probing into the Bank Negara forex losses a quarter of a century ago, while the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is toying with another RCI of even longer vintage – the Memali Tragedy on Nov. 19, 1985 or 32 years ago – which claimed 18 lives, four of whom were police personnel.

RCI are useful instruments to discover the truth and promote transparency,  accountability and good governance.

Similarly, national institutions like Parliament, Judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC0),  Bank Negara  and the Auditor-General’s Office have important national  purposes and  roles to play provided they, like RCI, do not become victims of misuse and abuse of power – not to promote the truth, accountability, transparency and good governance but become the political playthings and power play by the Prime Minister and the incumbent establishment against political opponents.

I call for the immediate  establishment of three Royal Commissions of Inquiry, viz:

Firstly, into the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which had given the country the biggest and longest-running black-eye to our reputation and standing in the international community, as we are now regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”; with the Prime Minister known as the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (“MO1”) in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic civil litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets money-laundered through American banks; so as to clear or cleanse the  nation of the infamy and ignominy involved when Malaysia is regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”;

Secondly, a no-holds-barred Royal Commission of Inquiry into the tens of billions of ringgit of FGV and FELDA losses by over 100,000 Felda settlers, and the RCI  should also inquire  into  Najib’s responsibility in allowing such financial losses and scandals in the past five years; and

Thirdly, what happened in Government in the last week of July, 2015, when the country was awash with rumours that the Attorney-General would charge the Prime Minister, Najib for corrupt practices in connection with 1MDB scandal but suddenly on Nov. 28, 2015, Najib went on to the offensive and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail was sacked, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali resigned from the Federal Court and was sworn in as Attorney-General, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked, and the national institutions like the AG’s Chambers, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Bank Negara were defanged and tamed with the dissolution of the high-powered Special Task Force of four Tan Sris on 1MDB.

The Malaysian people are entitled to know the whats and whys of the tumultous events in Government in the last week of July, 2015 which  saved Najib’s premiership.

Unless Najib is prepared to establish these three RCIs into these three  pressing issues, which are of current and immediate concern to Malaysians and the world, Malaysians can only conclude  that Najib  is abusing his powers as Prime Minister to establish RCIs  on old and historic issues as a political tool to keep his political opponents  at bay  and save his premiership by the most undemocratic and underhanded means.

(Speech at the launch of the Pakatan Harapan  Kelantan by Chairman of Pakatan Harapan, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in Machang on Friday, 25th August 2017 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 August 2017, 5:21 pm and is filed under
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Gerakan is in fact a “four-stooges” party in both sense of the meaning of  “stooge”

I spoke too soon.

I said on  Tuesday that in three days, Gerakan had provided ample evidence that it had been reduced to a “three-stooges” party in Barisan Nasional which dared not speak up on the great issues of right and wrong in Malaysia but dwell on trifles and trivialities.

I was referring to the trio of Gerakan President and Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong; the Penang State Gerakan Chairman Teng Chang Yeow and the Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau.

But on the very same day, a fourth stooge appeared in the person of  the Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Liang Teck Meng who tried to raise his own  stocks by exploiting  the Sungai Lembu illegal factory issue in Permatang Pauh.

As a result, we have a Gerakan stooge quartet and not just a trio.

But all four qualify for both meanings of stooge.

Cambridge Dictionary Online gave two meanings for “stooge”: “1. A person who is forced or paid by someone in authority to do an unpleasant or secret job for them; 2. An actor in a funny show in the theatre or on television whose job is to allow the main actor to make him or her look silly.”

When I issued my statement on Tuesday, I had meant the second meaning. But it is clear that the Gerakan quartet of stooges also qualify under  the first meaning as well.

The Gerakan leadership accused the DAP as a failed party and myself as a failed leader but they failed to explain two things:

Firstly, why the Gerakan had fallen from its heyday when it claimed to be a national party which was  the conscience of Barisan Nasional, winning 10 Parliamentary and 29 State Assembly seats in the 11th General Election in 2004 and helming the Penang State Government    to the pathetic  and abject “mosquito of mosquitoes” party role   winning only one parliamentary and three state assembly seats (two of which are from Sabah) in the 13th General Election; and

Secondly, why Gerakan Penang State Chairman Teng Chang Yeow dare not return to Padang Kota State Assembly seat where he had been State Assemblyman for three terms in 1995, 1999 and 2004 to face DAP State Chairman Chow Kon Yeow to lead the Gerakan campaign to break the “egg” in the Penang State Assembly for two terms?

But the Gerakan quartet of stooges also fit into the first meaning of the word – as a stooge of UMNO/BN apart from being a stooge for UMNO/BN.

This is evident from the Gerakan quartet sucking up to the unprincipled and  hypocritical  UMNO/BN propaganda line of accusing me to Malays  as No.1 anti-Malay and anti-Islam enemy in Malaysia, who dominates Pakatan Harapan and has made Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Mohamad Sabu as my puppets but the very opposite offensive to non-Malays, attacking me of being subservient and servile to Mahathir, Muhyiddin  and Anwar.

Which is which?

But what should be most mortifying is that Gerakan  and the  other eleven non-UMNO Barisan Nasional parties are not able to exert the same amount of influence on  the Prime Minister and the UMNO leadership which is exercised by Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s PAS without PAS formally becoming a member yet of Barisan Nasional.

Can the Gerakan quartet of stooges  explain this new political phenomenon in Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 August 2017, 5:38 am and is filed under
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Umno, PAS plan assault on Selangor, woo former chief minister

Shannon Teoh

Malaysia Bureau Chief In Kuala Lumpur

Straits Times Singapore

25th August 2017

Ex-menteri besar being wooed to head the state, which has been led by opposition PKR since 2008

Malaysia’s ruling party Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) are working out a pact to take over Selangor in the next general election, a move that could shake up voting patterns nationally.

Prime Minister Najib Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang have been in near-daily contact for several months, with plans afoot to cooperate in Selangor at a general election due within a year, sources say. Closer ties between the Umno president and his counterpart from the opposition Islamic party have so far been to champion the interests of the Malay-Muslim majority for their mutual benefit.

But coming to an arrangement in Malaysia’s richest state could prove a launch pad for further agreements between the two parties nationally. And it could well turn the tide against the Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance, which is already seeing some discord after influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad was unveiled as its chairman last month.

However, both Umno and PAS still need a credible candidate to head the state.

A source familiar with the plan told The Straits Times that former menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who was removed by his own Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in 2014, is being courted. PKR has led the Selangor administration since 2008. “He has been seen at the Prime Minister’s Office several times recently,” the source said, adding that Tan Sri Khalid is being cajoled to accept PAS’ advances.

Independent assemblyman Khalid, a former corporate captain who gained a reputation for transparent and thrifty governance during his six years in charge of Selangor, confirmed that he had met PAS and Umno officials as well as those of other parties, “but all discussions were for the betterment of the rakyat”. “As an independent, I have the freedom to meet any party. For myself, there is no plan to run in the next elections,” he told ST in a written response. “I am most thankful that PAS has stood by me till the end (of my administration). But to date, there is no plan to join the party.”

Umno and PAS traditionally contest against each other in Malay-majority areas. But ST understands that one plan being mooted in Selangor is for PAS to field candidates in at least 42 seats, more than double the seats it contested in 2013, depriving Harapan of significant pro-opposition Malay votes. Umno and PAS combined would have been just two seats shy of a majority, going by the last elections.

Sources from both the opposition and Umno-led federal government told ST that Datuk Seri Najib and Datuk Seri Hadi have continued to speak regularly on the phone, even while the latter was recovering from heart surgery in May.

That same month, PAS broke ties with PKR, leading to calls for the Islamic party to resign its state government positions. PAS also replaced its Selangor chief Iskandar Abdul Samad – seen as being supportive of a continued pact with PKR – with Hadi loyalist Sallehen Mukhyi.

“Sallehen has assured Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali that PAS is committed to his government. But once an election is called, it is up to Hadi,” said a source close to the Menteri Besar, who is also PKR deputy president.

Last Sunday, Mr Hadi asserted that PAS would not cooperate with Harapan as it is made up of Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) and its allies. In an interview with Umno-controlled Berita Harian, he said “our decision is clear when we see the hardline stance against Islam that is displayed by DAP”.

Umno’s top brass have descended on Selangor in recent weeks to talk up their chances of wresting back the prized jewel they ceded in 2008.

PM Najib could face an internal revolt if ruling coalition Barisan Nasional only narrowly retains its control of Parliament. But winning back Selangor, regardless of what happens elsewhere, could ensure his longevity.

“We will prepare a manifesto for Selangor. We have repented and humbly offer ourselves to Selangorian voters to be a better government,” the Premier said in state capital Shah Alam on Aug 6.

STATE OF SELANGOR

Pakatan Harapan has 29 assemblymen in the 56-strong Selangor legislature. PAS has 13 and their support gives Menteri Besar Azmin Ali a three-quarters super-majority. Umno has 12, and there are two independents including former chief minister Khalid Ibrahim.

An Umno-PAS pact, including the two independents, would be just two shy of forming a majority.

According to the last census, 58 per cent of the population are Muslims. A combination of the two Malay-Muslim parties could have a galvanising effect on the crucial vote bank.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told The Star in an interview that Umno and most of the Barisan Nasional component parties have submitted their shortlist of candidates for the 14th general election to coalition and party leaders.

56 SEATS IN SELANGOR

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR): 13

Democratic Action Party (DAP): 14

Parti Amanah Negara (PAN): 2

Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS): 13

Umno: 12

Independent: 2

                This entry was posted on Friday, 25 August 2017, 5:41 pm and is filed under
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A 15% swing in BN’s Malay support to Pakatan Harapan (PH) will allow PH to capture the state governments in Kelantan and Terengganu

Previously, I have said that a 10 and 5 formula, meaning a 10% swing in the Malay vote against the BN and a 5% swing in the non-Malay vote against the Bas compared to the results of the 13th General Election in 2013, would allow Pakatan Harapan (PH) to capture 113 parliament seats in Peninsular Malaysia thereby paving the way for a PH government in Putrajaya.

But this formula is not sufficient for PH to capture the state governments in Kelantan and Terengganu. In these two states, the small number of non-Malay votes basically means that the focus in both these two states are on the Malay voters.

A 10% Malay vote swing against the BN would only allow PH to capture 18/45 state seats in Kelantan with BN winning 19 and PAS winning 8. In Terengganu, a 10% Malay vote swing against the BN would still see BN winning 23 state seats with PH winning the remaining 9.

In order for PH to capture both of these states, there needs to be two conditions: Firstly, that the Malaysian tsunami against the BN would have to result in a 15% Malay vote swing in both Kelantan and Terengganu and Secondly, most of this Malay vote swing has to go to PH.

Is a 15% Malay vote swing against the BN possible? According to estimates by Member of Parliament for Serdang, Dr. Ong Kian Ming, there was a 27% Malay vote swing against the BN in the 1999 ‘Reformasi’ general elections. In this election, as a result of the huge Malay vote swing, PAS managed to capture the Terengganu state government from BN/UMNO and made significant inroads in Kedah.

Given that we have one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in the history of the country, it is not impossible to think of a 15% Malay vote swing against the BN in the forthcoming 14GE.

I have see the disquiet among ordinary Malays, including many in the rural areas, because they have been impacted by bread and butter issues such as the rise in the cost of living due to the GST and the weakened Ringgit. Some in the FELDA areas are also feeling the cost of their debt, which they incurred when they were encouraged to buy shares in Felda Global Ventures (FGV). The listing price for FGV was RM4.55 in 2012. Now, FGV is trading below RM2.00 despite a recent recovery in its stock price.

A 15% Malay swing against the BN in Kelantan and Terengganu would allow PH to win 37 out of 45 state seats in Kelantan and 22 out of 32 state seats in Terengganu even in a multi-cornered fight featuring PAS. The challenge for PH is to convince fence sitters who want to see a positive change in the country to vote unequivocally for PH rather than PAS.

The PAS which we see now is not the PAS in 1999 when Tok Guru Nik Aziz was still leading PAS. He would never have agreed to such a close working relationship between UMNO and PAS. He would never had allowed PAS to be made use of by UMNO to break up the opposition alliance. He would not have allowed the various scandals to do with logging and land concessions to have happened under the watch of the Kelantan state government.

We must make the choice clear for the voters. You either vote for the BN if you want another term of kleptocratic rule under Najib Tun Razak or you vote for PH to ensure a brighter future for all Malaysians.

There is no ‘third option’ for the people of Kelantan and Terengganu and indeed for all Malaysians.

(Media Conference Statement in Kota Bahru on Saturday, 26th August 2017 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 August 2017, 10:55 am and is filed under
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A great national shame for Najib to go to the White House to meet President Trump when he has not cleared himself of the indictment  as a kleptocrat and “MO1” in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of over US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets

UMNO/BN strategists and propagandists think that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak forthcoming visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump next month is  a great “coup” for Najib before the 14th General Election.

I do not agree. I think it will deepen and aggravate Malaysia’s international infamy and ignominy by showing that Malaysia’s government and leadership have ceased to know the meaning of “shame”, as honest and rational Malaysians  – or anyone in the world – will regard it as a great national shame and dishonour  for Najib to go to  the White House as Malaysian Prime Minister  to meet President Trump when he has not cleared himself of the indictment of a  kleptocrat and “MO1” in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of  US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib should only visit the White House with honour, pride and rectitude as Prime Minister of Malaysia when he had cleared or cleansed himself of the infamy and ignominy of a “kleptocrat” and “MO1”.

I shudder to think of the shame and dishonour of a  Malaysian Prime Minister visiting the White House with the indictment of a kleptocrat and “MO1” hanging over his head, which placed Najib in the inferior and dishonourable position as a supplicant.

Is President Trump going to apologise to Najib for the US DOJ kleptocratic suit to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets and indicting him as a kleptocrat and “MO1”, or even going to the extent of informing Najib that the US DOJ was withdrawing the kleptocratic suit and all criminal investigations into the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal?

Malaysia’s honour and reputation are at stake.  Najib should not go to the White House to meet with President Trump unless Najib has cleared or cleansed himself of the American indictment as a kleptocrat and “MO1” – but  sadly and to Malaysia’s eternal shame, Najib has taken no action whatsoever  to clear or cleanse himself of the indictments in the US DOJ kleptocratic forfeiture suit against 1MDB-linked assets.

The least Najib should do before leaving for the United States next month would be to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal to demonstrate to Malaysians, the United States and the world that he is not a kleptocrat and that the US DOJ’s indictment of him as “MO1” has completely no basis  whatsoever.

Najib cannot know deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ reference of  “MO1” was none other than Najib.

It really confounds reason and common sense that we have UMNO leaders who could only add “salt” to the national wounds of our international infamy and ignominy as a “global kleptocracy”.

Today, an  UMNO leader and a former Cabinet Minister claimed that Bank Negara’s foreign exchange (forex) losses a quarter of a century ago and over which a Royal Commission of Inquiry had been set up,  are real but the 1MDB losses are only on paper.

I am shocked beyond words by this claim by the UMNO Information Chief, Datuk Seri Annuar Musa today.

Is Annuar really suggesting that the infamous US$27.3 million (RM117 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond gifted to “wife of MO1”; the billions of ringgit worth of jewelleries, art pieces and luxury properties misappropriated by Jho Low from 1MDB and including those gifted to Leonardo Di Caprio and Miranda Kerr, and Jho Low’s US$250 million (approximately RM1.069 billion) world’s  54th largest mega yacht  in existence are just “phantoms on paper” and not real at all?

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr have handed over their multi-million US dollar gifts from Jho Low which were misappropriated from 1MDB funds to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Are these valuable properties just exist on paper and not real at all?

In the kleptocratic forfeiture cases, the US DOJ alleged that between 2009 and 2015, more than US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the state investor and their associates.

Are these all just paper losses?

Unlike PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Annuar does not make the best apologist for Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

(Speech at the Kelantan DAP General Elections Preparation Dinner held in Kota Bahru  on Friday, 25th August 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 August 2017, 8:26 am and is filed under
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Advice to MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad to learn from Rahim Noor’s lesson and not to fall victim to hubris or  “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” complex

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)  Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad has been  in the eye of the storm in the last three days since issuing a very public ultimatum  to the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, that he will face civil or criminal action if he refuses to make an open apology within 48 hours for his comments on the detention of Penang State Exco member Phee Boon Poh.

This is the first time in the  60-year  Malaysian history where the head of a national agency had issued a public ultimatum to a  Chief Minister, Mentri Besar or a Cabinet Minister that he should apologise within 48 or face civil or criminal action.

Clearly, Dzulkifli wants to act as prosecutor, jury and judge all at the same time.

If Dzulkifili’s unprecedented action is to mark the MACC’s coming-of-age to become an anti-corruption agency without fear or favour, like its counterpart in Hong Kong and Singapore operating in an environment where even Presidents and Prime Ministers can be impeached,  prosecuted or toppled  for corruption like in South Korea or Pakistan, it would be a welcome development.

But apparently, it is not so.

In actual fact, Dzulkifli’s public ultimatum to Guan Eng casts doubt on the independence, impartiality and professionalism of  the MACC, as it raises the question whether the MACC is hand-in-glove with the Prime Minister or the top government leadership to persecute or discriminate against the Pakatan Harapan opposition while trying to give the impression of independence of action to fight corruption so long as it does not touch the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal or Malaysia’s new-found infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

I advise Dzukifli to learn from Rahim Noor’s lesson and not to fall victim to hubris or  “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” complex.

Yesterday, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Rahim Noor said he had paid his dues with jail time and a fine over Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s black eye 18 years ago.

He said there was no need for PAS leaders to raise the matter of Anwar’s black eye as the incident was long past.

I agree that Rahim Noor had paid his dues on Anwar’s black eye with jail time and a fine, as well as ignominous end of his distinguished public service career as IGP,  and it is rather churlish for anyone to raise the issue just to shut Rahim up when he spoke on matters of national import.

But the rise and fall of Rahim Noor should be a lesson for all public officers, who rose to the peak of their public careers.

Rahim was  a very professional police officer who rose to the zenith of his career when appointed as  Inspector-General of Police, but he allowed hubris and the “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” complex to cloud his judgement as to make the biggest mistake of his public career in  the Anwar Ibrahim “black eye” incident.

Lord Acton’s axiom that “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely” must be a constant watchword for all top public officers if they are not to make the Rahim Noor mistake resulting in abuse and misuse of temporary power.

Dzukifli would profit on  reflecting on Lord Acton’s axiom in the case of  his public ultimatum to Guan Eng as he seems to be making the mistakes which fell Rahim Noor.

In this connection, Dzulkifli knows that the greatest Achilles’ heel of MACC under his stewardship is the MACC’s failure to rise up to the challenge posed by the 1MDB scandal.

In January 2016, the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any criminal wrongdoing in the case involving a donation from the Middle East, as well as that involving SRC International and said that the US$681 million in Najib’s personal bank accounts were a “personal donation from the Saudi royal family which was given to him without any consideration”. Dzukifli was Apandi’s right-hand man at the Attorney-

General press conference clearing Najib.

Six months later, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed kleptocratic civil suits, which finally resulted in a 251-page litigation for the forfeiture of US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$4.5 billion 1MDB money-laundering and embezzlement, and from Paragraphs 339 to 348 of the DOJ suit, it traced the money trail of the RM2.6 billion (or US$681 million)  in Najib’s personal accounts establishing they were stolen 1MDB funds – the accounts, amounts and dates of the various transactions to show  from where the monies came from before they were deposited into Najib’s personal bank  accounts, where the monies from Najib’s accounts went to, and the further destination of these monies ending up in the money-laundering for jewelleries, expensive art work and luxury properties.

The DOJ kleptocratic suits started in July 2016 proved that Apandi’s claim in January 2016 that the US681 million came from a “personal donation” from the Saudi royal family was untrue.

There is no doubt that if the target of the investigation had been Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Mohamad Sabu or myself, this new evidence  uncovered six months after the Attorney-General’s public disclosure of “no criminal wrongdoing” would be regarded as compelling ground to re-open investigations.

But such re-opening of investigation in the light of compelling new evidence over Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation and 1MDB scandal  was not done whether by the Attorney-General or the MACC.

Can Dzulfifli explain the reason for such inaction?

[Media Conference Statement (2) at the Kuala Terengganu Airport on Sunday, August 27, 2017 at 9.30 am]

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 August 2017, 4:04 pm and is filed under
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Call on Cabinet meeting on National Day Eve on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 to safeguard national  honour and dignity by resolving that Najib should not visit White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 as the US Government had “indicted” the Malaysian Prime Minister as kleptocrat and “MO1”

UMNO/BN strategists and propagandists think that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s forthcoming visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump on Sept. 12  is  a great “coup” for Najib before the 14th General Election.

I do not agree.

Najib’s scheduled visit to the White House and meeting with US President Trump has already given rise to questions such as “MO1 vs US01”,  “Will Najib triumph over Trump” and “Will Trump trumph Najib?’

I think it is a great national shame for Najib to go to the White House to meet President Trump when he has not cleared himself of the American Government “indictment “ as a kleptocrat and “MO1” in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of over US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets

Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting with Trump will deepen and aggravate Malaysia’s international infamy and ignominy by showing that the Malaysian government and leadership have ceased to know the meaning of “shame”, as honest and rational Malaysians  – or anyone in the world – will regard it as a great national shame and dishonour  for Najib to go to  the White House  to meet President Trump when Najib has not cleared himself of the US Government’s  civil suit “indictment” of a  kleptocrat and “MO1” in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of  US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib should only visit the White House with honour, pride and rectitude as Prime Minister of Malaysia when he had cleared or cleansed himself of the infamy and ignominy of a “kleptocrat” and “MO1”.

I shudder to think of the shame and dishonour of a  Malaysian Prime Minister visiting the White House with the “indictment” of a kleptocrat and “MO1” hanging over his head, which placed Najib in the inferior and dishonourable position as a supplicant.

Is President Trump going to apologise to Najib for the US DOJ kleptocratic suit to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets and the civil suit “indictment” of  him as a kleptocrat and “MO1”, or even going to the extent of informing Najib that the US DOJ  was wrong and would be withdrawing the kleptocratic suit and all criminal investigations into the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal?

Malaysia’s honour and reputation are at stake.

Najib should not go to the White House to meet with President Trump unless Najib has cleared or cleansed himself of the American indictment as a kleptocrat and “MO1” – but  sadly and to Malaysia’s great and eternal shame, Najib has taken no action whatsoever in the past two years since the filing of the US DOJ suits in July 2015 to clear or cleanse himself of the US DOJ “indictment’ in its  kleptocratic forfeiture suit against 1MDB-linked assets.

The Cabinet meeting on National Day Eve on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 should step forward to safeguard national  honour and dignity by resolving that Najib should not visit White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 as the US Government had “indicted” the Malaysian Prime Minister as kleptocrat and “MO1” and that Najib must first clear or cleanse himself of the American Government “indictment” as a kleptocrat and “MO1”.

The least Najib should do before leaving for the United States next month would be to announce the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal to demonstrate to Malaysians, the United States and the world that he is not a kleptocrat and that the US DOJ’s indictment of him as “MO1” has completely no basis  whatsoever.

Only then can Najib can meet Trump in the White House as a equal and not in an inferior and humiliating role akin to a supplicant.

There are many other reasons why it would be most demeaning and humiliating to Malaysian national honour and reputation for Najib to visit the White House and meet with President Trump.

Firstly, Najib cannot know deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ reference of  “MO1” was none other than Najib.

Secondly, Malaysian Ministers and Najib’s top officials have accused the US Government of flagrant interference in Malaysian  domestic affairs, even involvement in a plot to topple Najib as Prime Minister, with the US DOJ kleptocratic suits.

Najib even succeeded in roping in the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to make public pronouncements that the US DoJ kleptocratic suits were unacceptable violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty and foreign intervention with the country’s domestic affairs.

If this is the case, and the Malaysian government is convinced that the US Government is guilty of unacceptable meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty, how can the Prime Minister be going to the White House to meet US President Trump without full acknowledgement and contrite  apology  by the US Government for such unacceptable interference with Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty?

Thirdly, Najib’s senior staff seem to be full of  nincompoops like the latest statement by a senior   UMNO leader and a former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa who claimed

that Bank Negara’s foreign exchange (forex) losses a quarter of a century ago and over which a Royal Commission of Inquiry had been set up,  are real but the 1MDB losses are only on paper.

I am shocked beyond words by such a claim.

Is Annuar suggesting that the infamous US$27.3 million (RM117 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond gifted to “wife of MO1”; the billions of ringgit worth of jewelleries, art pieces and luxury properties like hotels in Beverly Hills and London misappropriated by Jho Low from 1MDB including those gifted to Leonardo Di Caprio and Miranda Kerr, and Jho Low’s US$250 million (approximately RM1.069 billion) world’s  54th largest mega yacht  in existence and US$35.4 million for a Bombardier Global 5000 jet, are just “phantoms on paper” and not real at all?

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr have handed over their multi-million US dollar gifts from Jho Low which were misappropriated from 1MDB funds to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Are these valuable properties just exist on paper and not real at all?

In the kleptocratic forfeiture cases, the US DOJ alleged that between 2009 and 2015, more than US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the state investor and their associates.

Are these all just paper losses?

Furthermore, we have an Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali who must be the butt of jokes of the Attorney-Generals in the world.

The 251-page US DOJ civil forfeiture case for US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets, from Paragraphs 339 to 348, traced the money trail of the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts establishing they were stolen 1MDB funds, but we have an Attorney-General  declaring in January 2016 (six months before the US DOJ suits)  that the US$681 million were a “personal donation to MO1 from the Saudi royal family which was given to him without any consideration”, and the Attorney-General, the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission have refused to re-open investigations with such irrefutable new evidence!

Will the Cabinet next Wednesday step in to save Malaysia’s honour and dignity and resolve that under such circumstances Najib should not visit the White House and meet US President Trump on Sept. 12?

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan ceramah “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapus Kleptocracy” at Pasar Cabang Tiga,  Kuala Terengganu on Saturday, 26th August 2017 at 11 pm)

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The best rebuttal to UMNO leaders’ claim that Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14GE comes from the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar

UMNO leaders have been trying to hold the Malays to ransom by warning that Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14th General Election.

The best rebuttal to UMNO leaders’ warnings that the Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated in the forthcoming general election is from the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan in his speech at the opening of the Sembrong Division UMNO delegates’ conference in Kluang yesterday.

Mohamad said Umno must woo the Malay voters to get the support of the majority of the people so that BN wins the 14th general election.

He said Umno could no longer think that the Malays needed it but instead it was Umno that needed the Malays in order to survive.

He said: “The Malays now have many choices such as PAS, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). We (Umno) cannot be complacent saying that the Malays need us.”

Mohamad failed to mention DAP, as the DAP is  party which will defend the uphold the interests of all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli.

In Penang and Selangor, which have been ruled by Pakatan governments after the routing of the UMNO/BN in the 2008 and 2013 General Elections, the Malays have been better cared for than in previous UMNO/BN administrations.

But what is most significant  is that the myth  of the equation that UMNO is Malay and Malay is UMNO, and that UMNO has to remain in power as the party is the only one that Malays can count on to uphold and fight for their rights,  has been debunked by  none other than their own Mentri Besar of Negri Sembilan.

And Mohamad Hassan is very right.

UMNO leaders have been holding onto power by generating the fear that if UMNO is defeated in a general election, Malays will lose political power and become strangers in their own land as they will never recover from such loss of  political power.

This is a great lie, for the Malays will not lose political power if UMNO is evicted from Putrajaya, so the question of the Malays recovering political power never arises.

This is why no UMNO leader had been able to answer the two questions which had been posed by the National Laureate Pak Samad to expose such a political lie, viz:

One: How are Malays under threat? How can religion (Islam) and Malays be threatened when those in power have been Malay for over five decades?

Two: What have they (Malay leaders) been doing for five decades (if Malays can be under threat)?

The demographic reality is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power whatever happens to Najib or to UMNO in the next general election, as the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in Malaysia as there is no way they will lose political power.

In 1970 Malaysia’s population comprised 44.32% Malays, 34.34% Chinese, 8.99% Indians, 11.89% non-Malay Bumiputeras, 0.67% others.

In 2010, the percentage of Malays in the Malaysian population increased to 55.07%, Chinese reduced to 24.34%, Indians dropped to 7.35%, non-Malay Bumiputeras maintained at 11.94% and 1.3% others.

During the 13th general election, 52.63% of the voters were Malays, 29.68% Chinese, 7.31% Indians, 8.96% non-Malay Bumiputeras and 1.43% others.

Out of the 165 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, 114 are Malay majority seats representing some 70%, 22 Chinese majority seats (13%) and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat.

These triple factors, which will be a continuing trend in the coming years, establish the overwhelming Malay predominance in the Malaysian political scene – the demographic make-up of the general population, the electorate and the parliamentary constituencies – and why there is no way the Malays can lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election!

It is interesting that at the same Sembrong Division UMNO delegates’ conference in Kluang, the Umno vice-president and Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein accused the Opposition of spreading lies against UMNO, claiming that the Opposition is obsessed with using lies in order to win power and predicting that  the situation would get worse as the election nears.

He said: “We in Umno are not taught like that. We will fight the culture of lies with honesty and sincerity, not follow their example.”

I am most flabbergasted by Hishammuddin’s most amazing claim, as I have  for decades been the target of  UMNO propaganda  lies and demonisation campaign.

I can mention three lies which UMNO propagandists and cybertroopers have  been hurling against me: firstly, that I had led illegal street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur sparking the May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969, when in truth, I was never in Kuala Lumpur during the May 13, 1969 period as I was in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah; second, that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam when no UMNO leader could produce any iota of evidence in my political history of half a century to show that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam; third, that I am campaigning for a Christian Malaysia when I am not a Christian.

Will Hishanmmuddin and UMNO leaders declare publicly and openly that these three baseless allegations were pure lies and falsehood?

But the biggest lie which UMNO leaders, propagandist and cybertroopers are perpetrating is to falsely claim that the Malays are doomed if UMNO is defeated in the next general elections.

Will Najib, Hishammuddin and all the other UMNO leaders endorse Mohamad’s clarification that it is not the Malays who need UMNO but UMNO  that needs  the Malays in order to survive?

(Media Conference Statement at the Kuala Terengganu Airport on Sunday, 27th August 2017 at 9.30 a.m)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 August 2017, 7:45 am and is filed under
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15% and 5% swing needed for Pakatan Harapan to win Melaka

I had previously said  that a 10% swing in the Malay vote and a 5% swing in the non-Malay vote against the Barisan Nasional  and towards Pakatan Harapan is sufficient for Pakantan Harapan  to win 113 parliament seats in Peninsular Malaysia, to retain control of the Penang and Selangor state governments and to win control of the Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Perak state governments.

In order for Pakatan Harapan to win the Kedah state government, a little more than the 10% Malay and 5% non-Malay swing is needed and DAP is prepared to play a role in a few key marginal seats and help mobilise Pakatan Harapan voter support in Central and Southern Kedah if DAP could contest in Gurun and Kulim state assembly seats.

In the state of Melaka, a 15% swing in the Malay vote and a 5% swing in the non-Malay vote is needed in order to give Pakatan Harapan control of the state government.

A 10 and 5 swing will only be sufficient for Pakatan Harapan  to win 11 out of 28 state assembly seats in Melaka. This is not enough for Pakatan Harapan to win control of the state government. For a change in the state government to take place, a 15% swing in the Malay vote is needed together with a 5% swing in the non-Malay vote. If this were to take place, PH will win a total of 17 out of 28 state seats thereby taking control of the Melaka state government.

Can this happen?

It will not be an easy task.

The Pakatan Harapan  component parties will have to first consolidate behind their respective leaders. And then these leaders have to be on the same page in order to strengthen Pakatan Harapan  as a whole.

The DAP will start by working in one spirit in the memory of the late Kerk Kim Hock, former DAP Secretary General and former MP for Kota Melaka.

It is not a secret that DAP has faced leadership challenges in the state of Melaka in the past and in recent times. Hopefully, we can put the past behind us and work together for the future of Melaka and of the country in the run-up to GE14.

If DAP Melaka cannot be united in our mission to defeat Najib and his kleptocratic government, then the chances of a 15 – 5 Malaysian tsunami happening in Melaka will be slim to none.

But if we can show the way forward and work together within a strong and united Pakatan Harapan, we can slowly but surely create the momentum for a Malaysian tsunami to happen in Melaka.

(Media Conference Statement at the DAP Memorial Service for Kerk Kim Hock in Malacca DAP premises on Sunday, 27th August 2017 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 August 2017, 11:23 am and is filed under
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Call on the new young generation of Malaysians to emulate Kerk Kim Hock who in his youth answered to call of  the nation and the times to dedicate his life to make Malaysia a great, free,  democratic and united plural nation

We gather here tonight to remember Kerk Kim Hock, sad at his passing but also to celebrate his life which was dedicated to the Malaysian nation and the cause of justice, freedom, unity and harmony in a plural society.

I first met Kerk in Monash University in September 1980 when he, as President of the Monash University Malaysian Students Union (MUMSU) invited me to give a talk to Malaysian students in the university.

I came across from the archives a reference to my talk to Malaysian students at Monash University on 25th Sept. 1980, which is as follows:

“Parliamentary Opposition Leader,  Lim Kit Siang, has called on Malaysian students in Australia to work hard and to make the best use of their education opportunities in Australia so that they could return on completion of their studies and help build up Malaysia.

“He  said Malaysian students in Australia are in a sense fortunate and must not forget their responsibility to return to Malaysia to create a more just and equal, multi-racial Malaysia, and stamp out all form of extremism and chauvinism.

“Lim said this at a  record-breaking capacity crowd of Malaysian student at the Monash University, organised by the Monash University Malaysian Students Union (MUMSU), during his visit to Melbourne. The turn-out of Malaysian students at Lim’s talk was not only the biggest in the history of Monash University, but is ten times bigger than the average turn-out for talks by visitors from Malaysian.

“In his speech, which was followed by question-and-answer session, lasting over three hours, Lim dealt with a wide range of issues affecting Malaysia in the 1980s.

“He called for a concerted effort by all Malaysian to nationalize their thinking and approaches, and not to do the reverse, which is to further communalise life and attitudes in Malaysia.

“Lim told the Malaysian students that Malaysia need the contribution of everyone of her son or daughter to make Malaysia great. Malaysia is a blessed nation endowed with such wealthy natural and man-made resources, and with a united people which is hard-working, innovative and creative, an entire new future awaits her.

“Unfortunately, there were those extremist and short-sighted group which were more interested in raising nationally-divisive issues which could only create inter-racial  and inter-religious distrust and antagonism.

“Lim said that the future of Malaysia rested in the hands of the new young generation of Malaysian – on their preparedness to make a commitment and take a stand to fight for their legitimate right and liberties.

“Lim reminded the Malaysian students of the saying that ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. He  quoted form the Irish poet, Y.B. Yeats, and hoped that Malaysians would not live in an age ‘Where all the best lacked conviction And the worst are full of passionate intensity’.

“Lim said that the Malaysian students in Australia are among the ‘best’ Malaysian talents  produced in the first post Merdeka generation – constituting the ‘cream of the cream’.

“Their responsibility therefore is to make the best use of their educational opportunity in Australia and on completion of their studies, return to Malaysia to help build a new Malaysia.

“If the students do not return to Malaysia, Malaysia will lose many of her ‘best’ sons and daughters, which is can only result in the ‘worst; for Malaysia.

“In his speech, Lim stressed the need for young Malaysian to set the example to think, feel and act as Malaysian first and foremost, and their racial considerations should come second.”

I can say now the Kerk responded to this call of the nation and the times to dedicate himself on his graduation from Australia to return and serve the nation.

I call  on the new young generation of Malaysians to emulate Kerk Kim Hock who in his youth answered to call of  the nation and the times to dedicate his life to make Malaysia a great, free,  democratic and united plural nation.

Shortly on his return to Malaysia, I appointed Kerk as my political secretary and he has gone on to prove that he is a great son of Malacca and Malaysia, serving for one term as Malacca State Assembly and two terms as Member of Parliament, and the height of his political life was to be the fourth DAP Secretary-

General.

In the 15 years he had battled cancer, we have kept in close touch and Kerk had constantly shared with DAP leaders his thoughts and views on political events and developments.

Let me share the last three WhatsApp he sent to me:

30 July 2017: “you fell? Take care.”

3 Aug 2017: “reporters must do basic checks you said. Great.”

5 Aug 2017: “Am in sjmc hospital in pj for thrombolysis procedure to remove clots. Procedure is this morning. Today n tomorrow likely in ccu. I will be here for a week or to.”

Kerk has left us at a critical political time for Malaysia, where unprecedented political changes are in the air.

It is now left to the young generation of Malaysians to achieve what Kerk and my generation had struggled and sacrificed for since the establishment of DAP 51 years ago in 1966.

I have appointed Kerk’s junior, Kerk Chee Yee, 25, as my political secretary, the first father-and-son team to serve as my political secretary, just as Patto and Kasthuri was the first father-and-daughter team to serve as my political secretary.

Chee Yee’s greatest challenge is to spearhead the fifth rejuvenation of the DAP and ensure that the youths in Malaysia are in the forefront in the eternal battle for freedom, justice, unity and harmony in Malaysia.

(Speech at the DAP Malacca Memorial Service for Kerk Kim Hock held at Balai Rakyat, Malacca DAP premies on Sunday, 27th August 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 August 2017, 9:53 am and is filed under
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Open Letter: Cabinet should take a patriotic stand at its meeting on the Eve of 60th National Day, to veto Najib from visiting White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 as the US Govt  had virtually branded  the Malaysian PM as kleptocrat by being “MO1”

OPEN LETTER by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang to all Cabinet Ministers from DAP Parliamentary Office on Monday, 28th August 2017:

Dear Cabinet Ministers,

28th August 2017.

Dear Ministers,

I am issuing this Open Letter to all you Cabinet Ministers to urge the Cabinet to take a patriotic stand at your meeting on Wednesday, the Eve of 60th National Day, to veto Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from visiting White House to meet US President Trump on Sept. 12 as the US Government had virtually branded  the Malaysian Prime Minister as kleptocrat by being “MO1”.

UMNO/BN strategists and propagandists may think that the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump on Sept. 12  is  a great “coup” for Najib before the 14th General Election.

This is not the case. In fact, it is the very opposite.

Najib’s scheduled visit to the White House and meeting with US President Trump has given rise to questions such as the outcome of  “MO1 vs US01”,  “Will Najib triumph over Trump” and “Will Trump trumph Najib?’

It is a great national shame for Najib to go to the White House to meet President Trump when he has not cleared or cleansed  himself after  being branded by  the American Government as a kleptocrat by being  “MO1” in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of over US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets

Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting with Trump will aggravate Malaysia’s international infamy and ignominy by showing that the Malaysian Cabinet and government have ceased to know the meaning of “shame”, as honest and rational Malaysians  – or anyone in the world – will regard it as a great national shame and dishonour  for Najib to go to  the White House  to meet President Trump when Najib has not cleared or cleansed  himself of the US Government’s  civil suit condemnation of him as a  kleptocrat and   “MO1” in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of  US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib cannot know deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ reference of  “MO1” was referring to  none other than Najib.

Najib should only visit the White House with honour, pride and rectitude as Prime Minister of Malaysia when he had cleared or cleansed himself of the infamy and ignominy of the US Government’s reference to him as a “kleptocrat” and “MO1”.

Najib should therefore not bring shame and dishonor to Malaysia by visiting White House and meeting US President Trump with the characterization  of a kleptocrat and “MO1” hanging over his head, which placed Najib in an inferior and dishonourable position as a supplicant.

It is  to Malaysia’s great and eternal shame that in the past two years since the US DOJ first filed its kleptocratic suits to forfeit the 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, Najib had not  taken any  action or launched any initiative to clear or cleanse himself of the US DOJ condemnation of him as a kleptocrat and “MO1”.

The Cabinet meeting on National Day Eve on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 should be the first  step forward to safeguard national  honour and dignity by resolving that Najib should not visit the White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 and that  Najib must first clear or cleanse himself of the American Government reference to him  as a kleptocrat and “MO1”.

The least Najib should do before leaving for the United States next month would be to announce the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal to demonstrate to Malaysians, the United States and the world that he is not a kleptocrat and that the US DOJ’s indictment of him as “MO1” has completely no basis  whatsoever.

Malaysian Ministers and Najib’s top officials have accused the US Government of flagrant interference in Malaysian  domestic affairs, even involvement in a plot to topple Najib as Prime Minister.

Even the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang had taken a public stand  that the US DoJ kleptocratic suits were unacceptable violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty and foreign intervention with the country’s domestic affairs.

If this is the case, and the Malaysian government is convinced that the US Government is guilty of unacceptable meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty, how can the Prime Minister be going to the White House to meet US President Trump without full acknowledgement and contrite  apology  by the US Government for such unacceptable interference with Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty?

I am shocked that the government appears to have taken the position as represented by the UMNO Information Chief and former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Musa Annuar that Bank Negara’s foreign exchange (forex) losses a quarter of a century ago and over which a Royal Commission of Inquiry had been set up,  are real but the 1MDB losses are only on paper.

Is Annuar suggesting that the infamous US$27.3 million (RM117 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond gifted to “wife of MO1”; the billions of ringgit worth of jewelleries, art pieces and luxury properties like hotels in Beverly Hills and London misappropriated by Jho Low from 1MDB including those gifted to Leonardo Di Caprio and Miranda Kerr, and Jho Low’s US$250 million (approximately RM1.069 billion) world’s  54th largest mega yacht  in existence and US$35.4 million for a Bombardier Global 5000 jet, are just “phantoms on paper” and not real at all?

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr have handed over their multi-million US dollar gifts from Jho Low which were misappropriated from 1MDB funds to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Are these valuable properties just exist on paper and not real at all?

In the kleptocratic forfeiture cases, the US DOJ alleged that between 2009 and 2015, more than US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the state investor and their associates.

Are these all just paper losses?

It is time that the Cabinet focus specifically on the 1MDB scandal which has brought so much infamy and ignominy to Malaysia.

Do your patriotic duty to veto the Prime Minister’s humiliating and demeaning visit to the White House to meet President Trump, or all of you would have failed your patriotic duty to defend,  uphold  and promote the honour, reputation and standing of Malaysia in the international community of nations.

                                                                     Yours truly,

                                                                         Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 August 2017, 12:31 pm and is filed under
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Political Versus Mental Merdeka (Independence)

M. Bakri Musa

28.8.2017

Much has changed in the world since 1957 when Malaysia achieved its Merdeka (independence), with the pace ever accelerating. Great Britain is no longer great, and the Austins and Morris Minors that used to ply Malaysian roads are today found if at all only in the junkyards and collectors’ garages.

            The social landscape too has changed. The Lake Club, a cool oasis in the heart of humid bustling Kuala Lumpur, was once the bastion of colonial privilege where British miners, planters and civil servants retired during the heat of the day to enjoy their stengahs (stouts) and steak, uninterrupted by the offensive sights of the natives spitting on the ground, Chinese maids grunting to clear their throats, and Indian laborers incessantly squirting blood-like betel nut juice through their rotten teeth. Those disgusting and unsanitary habits of the non-colonials could spoil one’s appetite in very short order regardless of the physical ambience.

            The staid upscale Robinson Department Store was then thriving despite its lack of customers, at least the native variety. Exclusiveness equaled profitability, a concept that is still being aggressively pursued by today’s advertisers in their endless search for lucrative niches. For Robinson, there was little need to cater to the natives; they did not have the money anyway. The few wealthy ones spotted inspecting the store’s merchandise were only too happy to pay the exorbitant prices for the privilege of rubbing shoulders however briefly with their colonial counterparts. For the store, that was an opportunity to jack up the prices and rake in the profits. Then, as now, there was always money to be made catering to people’s vanity, up to a point.

            During a recent visit to Malaysia, I had difficulty finding the old Robinson store. I mean of course the building, as the company itself had long ago disappeared, a casualty of Schumpeter’s creative destruction. As for an evening at the Lake Club, the food–even the Malay cuisines–was way below par compared to those found at the many luxury hotels now in KL. As in those hotels, the Malay food at Lake Club was prepared and served by non-Malays or even non-Malaysians. As for ambience, those foreign hotels are much more luxurious or “exclusive.”

            Tourists cannot be faulted for being impressed with Malaysia, especially upon arrival at its gleaming Sepang Airport. At Customs and Immigration, polite English-speaking officials would be there to greet them.

            That was not always the case. There was a time when the two departments would, to put it kindly, serve as a good introduction to the country. The negligent services were matched only by the tidak apa (lackadaisical) personnel. Since then, frequent comparisons with the efficient operation at the neighboring Singapore airport, only 30 minutes flying time away, had embarrassed the officials sufficiently into making the necessary improvements.

            That is the good news; Malaysians are capable of learning when sufficiently shamed. The bad news is that comparisons with the definitely First World Singapore would rattle most Malaysians, especially the leaders.

            When visiting Malaysia, I too like to play tourist, at least for the first few days to ease my transition. There is no point complicating the inevitable jet lag with routines that I have long forgotten, or giving up comforts I have grown accustomed. Once I have recovered, and with the old Malaysian smell and ambience slowly creeping back to re-excite the neurons in the deep recesses of my memory, I yearn to return to the familiar Malaysian ways.

            Then I would return to my old village. There, time seems to have remained frozen. This is true of rural Malaysia generally. If there is any change, it is for the worse. Whereas in my youth I had to wait listlessly under the blazing sun for the erratic village bus, today even that service is gone. As for schools, in my time teachers were highly regarded and more than adequately compensated; today the profession is inundated by the bonded and unemployable.

            True, during my youth education was a privilege enjoyed by far too few. However, why do we always have to choose between quantity and quality? Strive for both!

            Thomas Wolfe’s “you can’t go home again” obviously does not apply to me. When I go back to my village I am indeed returning home and to the time of my youth. Chatting with the old villagers immediately confirms that. It can be unnerving. Sometimes I wonder whether the time I was in medical school and living in North America had just been a dream; awakened, I am back in the drudgery of my kampong life. Only the presence of my wife beside me reassures me otherwise.

            In many respects life is now worse for today’s kampong youngsters. At least when I was young I could dream that if I did well in my studies I could escape. Today, even that aspiration is beyond contemplation for most. They may excel in school, but their limited English skills would confine their opportunities and any chance at upward mobility.

            There have been many development initiatives introduced over the years, as our politicians constantly remind us, and they all carry exorbitant price tags. Yet for far too many of the villagers and their children–the next generation–life remains unchanged.

            It is time for a radical change in approach. Instead of emphasizing the physical aspects of development–freeways, gleaming skyscrapers, and billion-ringgit GLCs–we should focus on changing mindsets, on liberating them. Malays have been longing for a free mind for far too long.

            Consider that we had to agitate and at times resort to violence to get our political merdeka; the British did not acquiesce readily or enthusiastically. As for our minda merdeka (free mind), expect even greater obstacles. No one can grant us that; we have to strive for it ourselves, collectively and individually.

            It is not in the nature of humans to be cooped under the coconut shell. That is not Allah’s grand design; He wants us to be free so we can undertake our responsibilities as His vice-regents in this universe.

            There are only two options. One is the default setting, meaning, we do nothing but wait passively. If we were to do that, we would reduce ourselves to being victims of circumstances. Rest assured, eventually outside events will topple our shell, as has happened before with the Japanese Occupation. Then ready or not, we were flung out onto the outside world. Though we benefited from the change, the collateral damage was unpredictable and at times unbearable.

            The better alternative is to topple our coconut shell on our own. That way we could choose the timing and method, thus minimizing possible collateral damages. Doing so would also empower our people and help create the results we desire.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 August 2017, 9:01 am and is filed under
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Congrats to Malaysian athletes for 111 Gold in SEA Games and go for more – but will Cabinet strike Gold for Malaysia by vetoing Najib’s humiliating and shameful visit to White House and meeting with Trump?

Congrats to Malaysian athletes for 111 Gold Medals  in the SEA Games and go for more in the last two days of SEA Games, including the “mother of all medals” – the football gold tonight.

But will the Cabinet meeting on the eve of the 60th National Day celebrations strike a Gold for Malaysia by vetoing the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s humiliating and shameful visit to the White House and meeting with US President Donald Trump scheduled for Sept. 12 as a kleptocrat and “MO1”?

I reserve comment on the extraordinary and unprecedented Merdeka video where the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai took on a double acting role, but to pose the question after watching Pete Teo’s  Merdeka video as to how Malaysians can have hope for the country when Ministers in Cabinet are not prepared to emulate the example of Malaysian athletes in SEA Games and strike a Gold in defence of the honour, dignity and reputation of Malaysia?

Malaysians must never lose hope in Malaysia, but tomorrow, Malaysians will know whether Cabinet Ministers from the 14 Barisan Nasional parties can be relied upon to keep this hope alive or Malaysians have no choice but to look elsewhere if the Merdeka Dream of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics is to be achieved at all.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 August 2017, 8:52 am and is filed under
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PAS under Hadi and the five “tembikai” leadership only want PAS candidates to be “suicide bombers” to ensure victory of UMNO candidates in 14GE to protect Najib as Prime Minister

In the “Mood of the Nation Ahead of GE14” survey from August 11 to 15, the Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE), it was found that an united Opposition comprising Pakatan Harapan and PAS can control seven states and the federal territory in peninsular Malaysia and gain 59% of the national popular vote.

The seven states are Penang, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Pahang and Malacca.

Furthermore, Barisan Nasional will lose its two-thirds majority in the almost all remaining states.

IDE chief executive director Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman who  presented the results of the survey which involved 4,486 respondents said the respondents were asked which party they would vote for if GE14 was held six months from now.

He said:

“If you obtain 52% of the popular vote (which Pakatan Rakyat did in the 13GE) you are still not secure, like what happened in Perak.

“But in the Malaysian context, if you get more than 58% you are secure. It is beyond reach and this is what happened in Selangor in the last general election when Pakatan obtained 58%.”

The survey, which covers 130 parliamentary seats in the peninsula, also found that 50% of respondents have already decided which political party to vote for, 22% after nomination, 9% a week before elections and another 19% on election day.

I accept the findings of the IDE survey, except that it was working on a wrong premise.

PAS under its present President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and his five lieutenants is a very different PAS from the PAS under former PAS Mursyidul  Am Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat and former PAS Presidents Fadzil Noor and Yusuf Rawa.

PAS has gone into a transmutation from the Amanat Hadi of 1981 which was delivered to destroy UMNO to the Hadi and the  tembikai PAS leadership of today which has become the greatest apologist and defender of Najib as the global kleptocrat of the 1MDB scandal and “MO1”.

Hadi and his five “tembikai” (coined by PPBM strategist Rais Hussein) lieutenants in the leadership only want PAS candidates in the 14GE to be “suicide bombers” to ensure victory of UMNO candidates in 14GE to protect Najib as Prime Minister and not to be elected as Members of Parliament or State Assembmen.

The proclamation of Hadi and his five tembikai leadership that PAS wants to win 40 parliamentary seats and five state government is only  “pie in the sky”.

The results of the general elections since 1959 show that PAS achieved its best results in the 1999, 2008 and 2013 general elections when it was a member of the Barisan Alternative or Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition, as illustrated by the following chart:

MP

PAS

Total seats

won

contest

1959

13

58

104

1964

9

53

104

1969

12

62

144

1974

–

–

154

1978

5

88

154

1982

5

82

154

1986

1

98

177

1990

7

30

180

1995

7

45

192

1999

27

62

193

2004

6

86

219

2008

(1+) 23

66

222

2013

21

73

222

I do not think PAS’ Hadi and his tembikai leadership will dare to unveil the identity of the 40 parliamentary seats and the five state governments they are certain of winning, for it will show that in all these parliamentary and state assembly seats, PAS candidates will be mere “suicide bombers” to help UMNO candidates to win.

The political situation would be different if the PAS leadership under Hadi had not caused the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat and taken  PAS in a new political direction to aid and abet Najib in facing the international infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy and “MO1” in the multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

Looking back, it is now clear that Hadi’s political inclinations and tendencies did not start after the 13GE.

Hadi had never publicly supported Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Pakatan Rakyat Prime Minister-designate in the 13GE campaign. When  the issue was forced in 2014, Hadi declared his opposition to the PKR President, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the PR Selangor Mentri Besar.

A few months before the 13th General Elections in May 2015, Hadi came to DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to persuade the DAP to support Tengku Razaleigh instead of Anwar as the Prime Minister of Pakatan Rakyat should PR win the 13th General Election.

When the DAP leadership rejected his proposal, and stressed the need for maintaining credibility and integrity in supporting Anwar as the Prime Minister-designate, the seeds of the present behavior of Hadi and tembikai leadership may have been planted.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 August 2017, 1:13 pm and is filed under
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Even Perak Sultan Nazrin agrees that sixty years after Merdeka, corruption has become one of Malaysia’s top problems

In two days’ time, Malaysians will be celebrating the 60th Merdeka anniversary, which should be an occasion for jubilation and joy, especially with the country’s success with its largest haul of gold medals at the ongoing SEA Games.

But this will be most inappropriate for Malaysia, as the country has fallen on bad times.

The 60th Merdeka anniversary should be an occasion for all Malaysians to ponder deep and hard why Malaysia has lost its way – with the Malaysian Dream and Vision 2020 never been so distant in recent decades.

In the last two years, Malaysia shot to international infamy when we were regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy!

I do not believe that the founding fathers of the nation, like Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman and his deputy, Tun Razak, had ever  expected Malaysia to fall so low as to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocarcy.

Even Perak Sultan Nazrin has agreed that sixty years after Merdeka, corruption has become one of Malaysia’s major ills.

Nazrin said that if Tun Razak were alive today, he would be disappointed to see four scenarios happening in the nation – one of which is the rampant corruption in the country.

This is what Sultan Nazrin said at the launch of the book ‘Fulfilling A Legacy – Tun Razak Foundation’ by Shahreen Kamaluddin in Kuala Lumpur earlier today:

“Tun Abdul Razak’s heart would be crushed in following the exposure after exposure, arrest after arrest because of widespread corruption involving top officials and educated individuals which have tainted the country’s good name.”

In the  extraordinary and unprecedented Merdeka video “Citizen” where the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai took on a double acting role, corruption was also listed as one of the catastrophes which had caused Malaysians to lose hope in Malaysia and in the Malaysian Dream.

Very right. Malaysians must never lose hope in Malaysia or the Malaysian Dream to be a world-class nation of achievement and excellence in every field of human endeavour.

But first, we must dare to grapple with the top problems in the country – like corruption, which must be eradicated with a zero tolerance for corruption from the very top downwards with the Prime Minister setting the example of integrity, and not just an anti-corruption agency flattering itself on its anti-corruption arrests of ikan bilis and medium fishes, leaving  sharks completely alone and immune!

[Media Conference Statement (2) after a walk-about at Taman Mutiara Rini, Gelang Patah on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 7 pm]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 August 2017, 2:43 pm and is filed under
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