Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it  to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four  usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill

In his pre-UMNO General Assembly interview with Media Prima and  Utusan groups, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended the newly-passed National Security Council (NSC) bill, suggesting that it was enacted to keep the country safe from terrorist attacks.

If the NSC Bill was in fact intended to deal with terrorist attacks and armed insurrection ala-Islamic State or the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datuk two years ago, then the drafters of the NSC Bill should be sacked for their gross incompetence and inefficiency in  drafting such an atrocious Bill  and the 107 Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament deplored for voting for such a Bill, which went far beyond the intention to empower the state with the resources and capability to deal with modern terrorist threats.

In actual fact, there was not a single reference to the threat of terrorism or  terrorist attacks in the monstrous NSC Bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat which defined “national security” in so wide and catch-all a  fashion that it could be interpreted to cover all situations, even those which would not normally be associated with national security issues arising from political, economic and nation-building factors and circumstances.

If Najib is speaking the truth that the NSC Bill was intended to make the country safe from the new extra-territorial threat of terrorism, then the Prime Minister should direct the immediate withdrawal of the NSC Bill so as to amend and  alter it to something like  the National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC), and the removal of all provisions in the NSC Bill which have no connection whatsoever with the battle against the threat of terrorist attacks or armed insurrection.

The four usurpation of the powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong to declare an emergency under Article 150, the Cabinet and the autonomy powers of Sarawak and Sabah are obnoxious provisions  in the NSC Bill which  should have no place in the newly-amended NATC Bill.

With such amendments to make the Bill a single-minded measure to prevent and combat  terrorist attacks, and not a “catch-all” law  empowering the Prime Minister to usurp the prerogative of the Yang Di Pertuan Agong by enabling the Prime Minster to arm himself with emergency powers without the need for a Proclamation of Emergency by the  Yang di Pertuan Agong under Article 150 of the Malaysian Constitution, the DAP is prepared to support such an anti-terrorism legislation.

If the Prime Minister is not prepared to withdraw and amend the NSC Bill so that it specifically dealt with threats from terrorist attacks or armed insurrection, then the original intention of NSC Bill becomes suspect – whether the power grab by the Prime Minister at the expense of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the autonomy powers of Sarawak and Sabah had been a clear-eyed objective all along.

My challenge to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to a public debate on his claim that the NSC Bill does not provide full executive power to the Prime Minister still stands, as the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill  is in fact paving for the way for the country towards a dictatorship.

There is no need for a public debate if Najib and Zahid agree to amend the NSC Bill and change it to a NATC Bill which focuses specifically on the threat of terrorist attacks.

But  if the government still insists on making the NSC Bill into law, then let Zahid choose the date, time and place for the public debate with me on the NSC Bill as it would have become a great  threat to the wellbeing and welfare of the nation.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 December 2015, 3:32 pm and is filed under
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Full support for Muhyiddin’s proposal to Najib to “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe

Just as over a thousand people are gathered here in Batu Uban in Penang tonight to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak the  question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”, over a thousand people are gathered at the Kelab Sultan Suleiman in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur to support Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had been sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and may be sacked as UMNO  Deputy President for basically asking the same question to Najib – “Mana RM2.6 billion?”

In his speech at Kelab Sultan Suleiman, which had just been completed, Muhyiddin proposed that Najib should take leave as Prime Minister pending investigations into 1MDB, as there should be no perception that the Prime Minister is meddling in the investigations.

Muhyiddin said that if Najib is not involved, he can come back to serve as Prime Minister again.

I fully support Muhyiddin’s proposal that Najib  “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe.

Will Najib announce in his UMNO Presidential Address on Thursday that he would take leave as Prime Minister until the completion of investigations into 1MDB?

Not for a thousand years!

Otherwise, the country would not have been bogged down with Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB – for virtually the whole of this year, causing the crisis of confidence in the national leadership ever notching new heights and plunging the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the country’s international reserves and  the stock market to unprecedented lows, as well as causing capital flight and undermining confidence of foreign investors in Malaysia.

And there would have been no sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General; the “nine-day madness in Putrajaya” in July/August with major  enforcement agencies warring with each other, with recalcitrant but honest and God-fearing officers in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara and the Police being arrested, transferred on 24-hour notice or browbeaten into submission; the three-month derailment of the 1MDB investigations by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee or my six-month suspension from Parliament.

Muhyiddin’s speech in Kuala Lumpur tonight is the most powerful rebuttal of Najib’s claim yesterday that  the opposition spews nothing but “lies” on 1MDB (auta bukan fakta).

It is not only Pakatan Harapan leaders from DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara who are outraged and scandalized by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s three-minute Ministerial statement on the last day of Parliament saying that the government could not say anything about the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts, even Muhyiddin also deplored Zahid’s three-minute statement in Parliament.

Muhyiddin asked the right question: “Why didn’t the PM go to Parliament to explain, why did he have to ask his deputy to do so?”

He also criticised Zahid for not allowing questions to be asked after his three-minute statement, saying: “You can’t do that, people come to Parliament to ask questions.”

Najib had been trying his utmost for the past nine months to make the twin mega scandals disappear from the public domain or the radar of public consciousness but to no avail. In fact, Najib’s twin mega scandals are not only proving to be “cats with nine lives” but are increasingly growing in scale and magnitude.

Even if Najib bans the RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin  mega scandals from being mentioned in the UMNO General Assemblies this week, everybody including the UMNO, UMNO Youth, Wanita and Puteri delegates and observers know that the twin mega scandals are the real two big issues, like two mammoth elephants stomping about in the Putrajaya World Trade Centre.

The question for  the UMNO and UMNO Youth, Wanita and Puteri General Assemblies is whether the UMNO and UMNO Youth, Wanita and Puteri leaders and delegates dare to address these two real issues, the two mammoth elephants in the Assemblies, or whether they will behave like the three traditional monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not.

Tonight’s separate  meetings in Batu Uban  in Penang and the Kelab Sultan Suleiman in Kuala Lumpur, with over a thousand people at each gathering, share a common concern – in micro it is about  “Mana RM2.6 billion?” but on a macro level, it expresses the demand of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even of politics to see the end of corruption, abuses of power and to ensure good governance in the country which  adheres  to the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity.

The greatest challenge for all Malaysians now is  to save Malaysia from the prolonged crisis of confidence caused by corruption; disregard of the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance; and  the divisive and destructive policies which aggravate  the ethnic, religious and cultural differences of Malaysians instead of leveraging on their common values and aspirations as Malaysians.

Malaysians  who gathered in Batu Uban in Penang and in Kelab Sultan Suleiman must  come together on a common platform to ensure that we can achieve a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

We must rise above personalities and even political parties.

If UMNO cannot provide the leadership and set the example of a clean and honest leadership, especially over Najib’s twin mega scandals, then UMNO should be replaced in the 14th General Election.

The merchants of hate and fear are spreading the poison that Malays and Muslims will suffer a terrible fate if UMNO is no more the government party.

Such lies and falsehoods must be countered and debunked, for a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya will ensure that all  Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans will have a better tomorrow than under UMNO rule.

(Speech at the DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana Rm2.6 billion?” ceramah at Taman Lip Sin, Batu Uban, Penang on Monday 7th December 2015 at 10.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 December 2015, 7:56 am and is filed under
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Most-watched political event in Malaysia

Straits Times

DEC 7, 2015

Umno’s general assembly is the most closely watched political event in Malaysia annually, except when there is a general election.

In the past, the issues raised at the five-day congress, attended by party members from all over the country, have resulted in new or tweaked government policies. Key speeches are broadcast live on radio and TV, with Umno the only political body to be given this privilege.

Love or loathe it, the reason for Umno’s power is its outsized position in Malaysian politics.

The Malay nationalist party is the linchpin of the 13-party Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that has governed Asean’s third biggest economy – after Indonesia and Thailand – since independence. Umno has 88 seats in the federal Parliament, 40 per cent of the 222 seats in total. The party with the next biggest number of seats is the opposition Democratic Action Party with 38.

Nineteen, or half, of Malaysia’s 38 full Cabinet ministers are from Umno. They include Prime Minister Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who are appointed by the party.

Umno holds its internal elections every three years, but these have been postponed several times when the party faced turmoil. The next party elections will be held after the general election, which must be held by 2018.

The party has 3.5 million members and 191 divisions in 12 of 13 Malaysian states, under which there are nearly 22,000 Umno branches.

Umno is not present only in Sarawak, because of its special arrangements with its BN coalition partners there when Sarawak became part of Malaysia in 1963. Sarawak has 31 federal seats, mostly filled by BN parties.

The 191 divisions of Umno mirror the other 191 parliamentary seats of the 222-seat Parliament.

Reme Ahmad

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 December 2015, 5:00 am and is filed under
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Retraining Ustazs into Global Communicators

Professor Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

UCSI University

8th December 2015

In my previous article, I had suggested that most Muslims have a disturbing attitude that the only civilization that they are concerned with is only the 1500 years of Islam in the Muslim world. Muslims seem to look down and even reject the sum total of human civilization as ‘jahili’ or ignorant.

I think this is the wrong attitude to take and my reading of the Qur’an and hadiths does not conclude such a stand. The problem with most Muslims is simply that they let their thoughts and ideas be formed by the religious scholars trained in the limited mindset of the Madrasa.

Muslims are either too lazy to read and understand the Qur’an and hadith on their own or they are being frightened by the clerics that studying these sources without the ‘proper’ guide of ustazs will make them go astray and incur the wrath of Allah The Most High.

I have therefore called many times in my writings to reeducate the ustazs or religious teachers by exposing them to the greater awareness of the rich thoughts and ideas of humanity. Muslims, in brief, must be brought back into the fold of humanity.

It does not mean that Islam is being ‘compromised’ but I have enough experience as an academic that the interpretation of an event or an idea is more meaningful and richer when a larger context is used rather than a small one.

If ustazs were trained in the USA or Britain or Europe, they might have different views and interpretation of the sources of Islam then those trained in the so called Muslim countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia or India or Iran.

Carrying on my discourse of reeducating Muslim back into the fold of humanity, I have outlined a proposal for an institute that would retrain the Ustazs or religious teachers into a more global looking, modern life savvy, open minded and culturally sensitive communicator. I propose that these ustazs to go through a course in Masters in Islam and Civilizational Studies at an institute I would name as CICS (pronounced as ‘sis’) or Centre for Islam and Civilizational Studies.

The candidates for the Masters course will be fully funded for two years. The main thrust of the program is to create an awareness of the thoughts and beliefs of other cultures and faith throughout the history of humankind and how Islam fits into such a larger framework of existence. The candidates will firstly be introduced in the first semester to the various civilizational studies of non-Muslim cultures. Next, in the second semester, the candidates will be asked to choose a culture and he will be instructed in the language, history and culture of that particular group. In the third semester, the candidates will be asked to immerse fully in the chosen culture for six months and observe and record all the important rituals, events, values and belief of that culture. In the final semester, the candidates will write their thesis of which 50% of the writing shall  be about the important points concerning the culture he was immersed in and the second part of the thesis will be his own ideas on how to explain and communicate the teachings of Islam to the said culture.

At the moment, the entry requirement for this fully sponsored program are candidates who have a degree in Islamic Studies, can speak Arabic, can comprehend English well and must be a male. Females are disallowed because of the 6 month Cultural Immersion part. The course outline for this program would be something as follows:

Masters in Islam and Civilizational Studies (2 years)

Semester 1

Subject 1	History of Western and Eastern Ideas on Society

Subject 2	Concepts of Religions and Beliefs

Subject 3	History of Scientific Ideas

Subject 4	Methods in Anthropological Research

Semester 2

Subject 5	Chosen Language

Subject 6	History and Culture of ‘Chosen’ Language

Subject 7	Sustainable Environment and the City

Subject 8	History of the Visual Arts

Semester 3

Subject 8	6 Months Participant in Chosen Culture

Semester 4

Subject 9	Thesis Writing

Subject 10	Contemporary Issues of Islam in Modern Societies

In the first semester, the candidates will be opened to the world of ideas from Greek thinkers like Aristotle and Plato through Western modern philosophers like Hegel and Kant to Eastern philosophers like Confucious and Lao Tze as they grapple with the question of what is reality and how humanity should look at itself within that reality. The candidates will also have a glance at the great traditions of religions of the world and will visit temples, monasteries and churches while interacting cordially with the members of each congregants. I think it is absolutely critical that the candidates must attend visual arts performances to readdress issues of Islam and the creative industry.I have also introduced a rudimentary knowledge of how architecture and city planning works within the environment in order to expose them to the new thoughts of sustainable existence. The candidates will also be exposed to the important roles of art in forming the minds of society. All these courses will be taught by Professors of the greatest caliber and great communicators. The level of knowledge will be introductory in order to create the idea that the world of human civilization is much, much bigger than the four walls of the Madrasa. Finally the candidate will be exposed to the anthropological concepts of society as well as the participant observation methodology in order to comprehend at close hand the host society.

In the second semester, the candidate will be asked to choose or will be assigned a cultural focus. Let’s say that the candidate choose the Chinese culture in mainland China then he will be instructed in the language and dialect of the intended region as well as the history and cultural norms of the locality. If he chose the Malaysian Indian culture, then he will be instructed in the popular dialect of the Indians as well as their historical, religious and cultural background.

Thus, in the third semester, the candidate will be sent to the chosen locality and immerse himself with the culture by participating in the communal activities while being a guest of a selected family. The selected family will be compensated with the appropriate honorarium to cover his room and board. The candidate will be immersed in the private family culture as well as the socio-economic culture of the chosen locality.

In the final semester, the candidate will embark on a 6 month thesis writing of roughly 30,000 words. The thesis shall comprise of two parts; the first part is the candidate’s description of the important aspects of the society that he was a part of and the second part is how Islam can be communicated, explained within the cultural framework of the society itself.

Thus, with a small fraction of the JAKIM budget, after 10 years we will be able to trust over 4000 ustazs teaching our children, educating adults at mosques and being part of an important communicator between Muslims and non-Muslims in the local and global arena.

I would suggest a scholarship worth RM50,000 to each candidate who have been chosen or to have chosen the Cultural Immersion program in Malaysia. For candidates to be immersed in international program, the sum of RM150,000 shall be made available. In one year, 200 Overseas cultural Immersion candidates and 200 Local Cultural Immersion candidates can be trained. The total sponsorship budget is RM30,000,000. The institute will have a minimum of 12 full Professors housed in a modest building or 5 three storey shoplots with an overhead and expense budget of RM10,000,000. Thus the total budget for the CICS for one year is RM40,000,000. This budget is only 5% of JAKIM’s annual RM800,000,000 grant. In 10 years there would be 4,000 ustazs teaching in Malaysia and other countries with an open mind, a tolerant attitude towards others and a clear communicator.

Graduates of this course can find employment as lecturers on Civilizational or Malaysian Studies. The graduates are also needed at the diplomatic side, the local authorities, the teachers of schools, academics at universities and special assistants to politician. Most importantly, they would give lectures at mosques about a more open, tolerant and compassionate Islam.

Unless and until Malaysia, the Muslim Countries and Muslims in non-Muslim countries act to retrain their religious teachers, the perception of Islam will forever be ‘us against them’ attitude and the radical group IS can easily manipulate sentiments on the world stage.

Finally, to implement the suggested program above is not difficult at all. The simple question to many Muslim leaders is ‘do you want it done or not?’

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 December 2015, 6:41 pm and is filed under
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Can Najib explain why he dared to explain the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated  interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?

Last night, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak broke his silence on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal which had been  dogging him and his government for the past five months in an exclusive   interview with UMNO media, conducted by Media Prima Bhd group managing editor of news and current affairs Mohd Ashraf Abdullah, the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd group managing editor Abdul Jalil Hamid and Utusan Group editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak.

Najib said that the donation of RM2.6 billion deposited into his account is neither from a public fund nor the government’s strategic investment company, 1MDB, that it was the donor’s wish that the funds were deposited into his account and that the donation was made in a personal capacity.

Najib’s explanation on the twin mega scandals leaves open a thousand-and-one other questions, but the most important issue is why Najib dared to explain about  the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated  interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?

Why did Najib run away from Parliament on the last day of the budget Parliamentary meeting last Thursday, after fobbing off some 90 questions from Pakatan Harapan MPs in the 25-day parliamentary session with the promise right from the very first day of Parliament on Oct. 19 that all the questions about the twin mega scandals would be answered in “one go” on the last day of the Parliamentary meeting?

The “say nothing” three-minute Ministerial statement last Thursday by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi which threw no light whatsoever on the RM2.6 billion ‘donation” scandal is an eternal  “black mark” on government accountability and transparency in Malaysian parliamentary history.

Why did Najib have no courage to stand up in Parliament to give a full and satisfactory accounting for the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal as well as the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, but only the courage to talk about these two scandals at tame and controlled environments like the exclusive interview with UMNO media or at closed-door UMNO meetings?

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said, subsequently told parliamentary reporters last Thursday that the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali had advised the Prime Minister against discussing the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ scandal in Parliament, and if so, why did Najib disregard the Attorney-General’s advice in his interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings?

It is most regrettable that Apandi Ali has yet to confirm whether it is true that he had advised Najib against discussing the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in Parliament on the ground that it would be “sub judice”, for if so, then Apandi Ali is not fit to be the chief legal officer of the land for his poor grasp of the law.

This is because the question of “sub judice” does not arise at all, as there is no court proceeding  of  RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal to bring about a “sub judice” situation, but only ongoing investigations into the issue, which cannot and does not invoke the “sub judice” rule.

Malaysians await an answer from both the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General, the former  as to why he dared not explain the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in Parliament but dared to do say in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO interview despite the Attorney-General’s advice, and the Attorney-General whether he had advised the Prime Minister against discussing the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in Parliament on the ground of “sub judice” and what is his position on Najib’s interview on the twin mega scandals with UMNO media?

[Speech at the DAP Bukit Bendera “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah at Dewan Serbaguna Pasar Padang Tembak (Rifle Range), Penang on Tuesday, 8th December 2015 at 10 pm]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 December 2015, 6:44 am and is filed under
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Will Muhyiddin be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be expelled by UMNO?

All eyes will be focused on the UMNO Supreme Council special meeting today, as to whether Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be sacked from UMNO, whether today or later shortly.

The Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech tomorrow will establish a record of sorts as attracting the least national anticipation,  as nobody expects the UMNO President, apart from excelling himself in the past in breathing fire and brimstone on racial and religious rhetoric, to really address the important issues not only to the three million UMNO members but also to the 30 million Malaysians –  Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals and his policy disasters like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the midst of of the people’s economic woes of rising inflation and falling incomes.

UMNO Baru  has indeed come a long way since the formation of original UMNO in  1946.

In 1950, the founder UMNO President, Datuk Onn Jaafar  was too ahead of his time when he tried to open up UMNO to “non-Malays” to create a united nation and left UMNO in disgust.

Today, 65 years later, the present UMNO has become very regressive and exclusivist while at the same time become more corrupt and repressive, and one proof was the  barring of non-Muslim journalists from covering the Puteri Umno launch of its programme “Daulatkan Islam Agama Negara” (DIAN) by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday.

From a “national” party, the present UMNO is not even a party for the Malays or of the three million UMNO members but has been reduced to a party of Najib’s cronies and UMNO chieftains who dominated the UMNO Supreme Council and the various UMNO divisional leadership positions.

UMNO Deputy President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had  been quite frank in his recent speech to 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh that Malay support for UMNO is down to 30 per cent, while 78 per cent of the people are unsatisfied with the present state of the economy.

The corruption in UMNO leadership has reached an advanced stage, most vividly illustrated by Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

If Najib cannot convince the present UMNO leaders and members about his  accountability, transparency and integrity in the twin mega scandals, having to sack the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General among others for not trusting him about the twin mega scandals, how can Najib expect to convince 30 million Malaysians?

Najib should have a smooth sailing at this week’s UMNO General Assemblies, with UMNO delegates singing his paeans about his integrity, accountability and transparency, although I doubt he would have passed the test with support from the majority of the  three million UMNO members if they could vote on  whether they  approve of Najib’s role in the twin mega scandals.

As for UMNO today becoming even more repressive and authoritarian than the past,  even putting the darkest years of Mahathir’s 22-year  rule to shame, one need only refer to the comment by the former Deputy Prime Minister and former UMNO Deputy President, Tun Musa Hitam, who said that UMNO was slipping into a dictatorship worse than during Mahathir’s time when Muhyiddin as UMNO Deputy President is barred from officiating the opening of the assemblies  of UMNO wings.

In tandem with this growing authoritarianism in UMNO, there is also a lurch towards dictatorship in general governance  when the UMNO/BN majority in Parliament rammed through the National Security Council Bill usurping the constitutional powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet with regard to the Proclamation of Emergency.

There is great merit in the comment of a civil society leader whom I met today in Petaling Jaya who  observed that this monstrous and pernicious bill was in fact a “National Insecurity” Bill!

Will these concerns about the present UMNO becoming increasingly exclusivist, representing neither the Malaysian nation nor the Malay community but a coterie of Najib’s UMNO cronies and chieftains, as well as becoming more and more corrupt and repressive, be raised at the UMNO General Assemblies this week.

Not at all, as it will be  like expecting the sun to rise from the west.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 December 2015, 3:53 pm and is filed under
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DAP will mark the universal  2015 Human Rights Day by challenging the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill every step of the way – from Dewan Rakyat to Dewan Negara, Royal Assent, the courts and the bar of public opinion

Tomorrow, Dec. 10, is the universal Human Rights Day observed every year the commemorate the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This year’s Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16th December 1966.

The two Covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights, setting out the civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights that are the birth right of all human beings.

The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day – “Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always.”  – aims to promote and raise awareness of the two Covenants on their 50th anniversary.

The year-long campaign revolves around the theme of rights and freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear — which underpin the International Bill of Human Rights and are as relevant today as they were when the Covenants were adopted 50 years ago.

Thirty-eight years ago, in October 1977, I moved a motion in Parliament for Malaysia’s ratification of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights 1966.

I asked in Parliament during the two-day debate on my motion why the Malaysian Government was prepared to vote for its adoption in the UN General Assembly but not prepared after eleven years, to ratify the Covenant after it was opened for signature since Dec. 19, 1966.

It was during this two-day debate that I proposed the establishment of a Human Rights Commission to protect and promote human rights in Malaysia.

My motion for Malaysia to ratify the International Covenant on Human Rights was defeated in 1977.

Both International Human Rights Covenants are now celebrating their 50th anniversary but Malaysia is still recalcitrant in refusing to ratify them.

This is a great embarrassment and shame for Malaysia.

What is worse, on the eve of the 2015 Human Rights Day and 50th anniversary of these two International Covenants of Human Rights, the Malaysian Government has rammed through, without prior notice to the nation, Members of Parliament, the affected State Governments and the civil society,  like “a thief in the night”, a monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill which would have the most serious effects on civil liberties, usurp the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet on the proclamation of emergency, and pave the way to a dictatorship.

DAP will mark the universal  2015 Human Rights Day by challenging the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill every step of the way – from Dewan Rakyat to Dewan Negara, Royal Assent, the courts and the bar of public opinion.

If the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, cares for the Malaysian Constitution, the autonomy rights of Sarawak and Sabah, the promotion and protection of human rights in Malaysia, he should withdraw the pernicious National Security Council Bill from the Senate and refer it  to a national consultative council comprising the various State Governments, political parties and civil society representatives to debate and decide on whether Malaysia needs such a National Security Council Bill.

(Speech at the launch of the  DAP 50th Anniversary Celebrations at Ballroom 2, City Kingdom, Seremban on Wednesday 9th December 2015)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 December 2015, 9:17 am and is filed under
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Difficult questions on Umno’s future trajectory

Bridget Welsh

Malaysiakini

9 Dec 2015

COMMENT
 Today the Umno general assembly begins – an event that has been stage-managed to deliver another show of support for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. These sorts of activities have become commonplace since the July revelation of the RM2.6 million ‘donation’ that continues to be inadequately explained and embarrasses Malaysia.

The meeting provides an opportunity to take stock – not only of the PM but of the state of the party that has governed Malaysia since independence. By whatever measure, Malaysia’s leadership is facing serious challenges ahead.

Najib wielding control

In Umno, Najib does not directly manage the party’s affairs. This has been traditionally the domain of the deputy and other loyalists around the premier, including the party secretary-general. The PM does set the tone however of engagement and the political culture in the party as president.

Since GE2013, Najib has been fighting disgruntlement and opposition within Umno. To manage discontent, he has expanded his repertoire from persuasion to patronage and from promises of rewards to potential purges.

As he has done in the national arena, Najib has used the prerogatives of the office of the presidency of Umno to maintain control, with the most notable measure postponing the party elections until after he can select candidates for GE2018 and place more of his loyalists in political positions. Delaying the party polls has prevented mobilisation around an alternative leader – at least for now.

What has been happening in Umno over the last six months has not been pretty. Much of the attention has focused on how Najib has handled the removal of his deputy and criticism from former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad – the man who had the most influence over Umno historically.

Scant mention has been made of what has occurred within the ranks of the party, as members who openly criticise Najib’s leadership have either been paid off or are being pushed out. Many dissenters now facing a challenger for their party position that has financial and/or central organisational support, or, in some cases, have been sacked.

Yet others have quit in disgust. In recent months, the battlefield has moved from divisions to branches, where a culling process has begun to silence critics and squash dissent. Investigations have been launched and ‘enemies’ identified – investigations that appear to have more bite than those surrounding 1MDB.

These measures have created a climate of fear, as intimidation has become common in the not-so-subtle efforts to make everyone to toe the Najib line. Spectacles such as Anina Saadudin and Hamidah Osman – both women – have been made, along with the arrests of sacked Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang – to show the consequences of dissent.

For party leaders at the local level this has been impactful, as they rely on the patronage for their livelihood. Scripts have been written, with clear instructions on what can (and cannot) be said at the upcoming meeting – with orders on who can speak (and can’t). What has been telling that even in this full-on press for party control, the dissent has continued.

A growing divide

Umno is deeply split. While Najib holds the presidency and command the majority support (largely through winning over elites in the party through patronage), the process of wielding control has divided the party. History has shown that a divided Umno loses elections, breeds racialised politics and adopts greater use of authoritarian tools by the executive.

The introduction (and quick passage) of the National Security Council bill – Najib’s insecurity crutch – was not justified to the public but in part comes out of the ongoing struggle inside Umno, as worrying measures have been introduced for legal impunity and to reduce checks on the power of the executive. Few have asked what could be the potential consequences of centralising power.

The opposition within Umno has been led by Mahathir and former deputy prime minister and deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin. They have emphasised the need to build credibility and accountability in the party, opting to focus their efforts primarily within the party rather than reach out across the political divide.

Their ‘save Umno’ campaign has mobilised a core, mostly their close associates and older members, but failed to win over the party majority who appear more interested in securing their own position than the party’s standing.

There has been a growing divide between the old guard in the party and those who see their future – political and economic – around Najib. Not only is the leadership in the party shifting, with older leaders losing authority, but the financial allies and relationships in the political economy between Umno and its elites are changing as well.

The issues in this contest are not just about the party’s leadership and the distribution of the spoils, but Umno’s future trajectory.

At play are some difficult questions: Should Umno leaders be accountable and to whom? Should there be democratic checks of the party president? Should criticism and open debate be allowed in Umno? Should Umno leaders be retained if they are political liabilities nationally? How much of party assets should be under individual control? Should the individual or the party’s interests be paramount? How should the party and elections be funded?

These questions go to the heart of whether Umno respects democratic processes or whether it will take an authoritarian path. For now, it appears to be the latter, a direction that will hamper the party’s development, regeneration and legitimacy – and importantly, negatively impact its public outreach, weaken its already low public standing and foster continued internal division and anger.

Rather than address the concerns of Najib’s Umno critics, the mode has been to marginalise dissent, to push it to the fringe and ultimately to potentially push it out of the party. The most watched dynamic in the Umno general assembly will be the actions directed towards key Najib critics, especially Mahathir and Muhyiddin.

There are already efforts at work to shame and humiliate these leaders – with calls to heckle and gag orders – with little attention to how these actions reflect on Umno itself or its leaders. These tactics may seem effective short-term, as the arrest of former deputy president Anwar Ibrahim did in 1998, but they can backfire and ultimate humiliate and shame those engaging in these actions.

It is important not to judge the anger within Umno by those speaking out and to assume the rally around the president is genuine. An important question that has to be asked is whether the support is for Najib, or respect for the office he holds.

Serious damage being done

Short-term reactions have dominated Malaysian politics since the July 1MDB revelations. Blinded by insecurity, there is minimal recognition of the serious damage being done.

The trajectories for Umno are negative as the party moves to back an unpopular leader that cannot expand public support at the polls, a leader that has to deal with multiple external investigations involving questions that have not been adequately explained and a leader that continues to grapple with a trust deficit and legitimacy crisis in a contracting economy.

Despite the collective rallies and shows of support, Umno will likely come out of the general assembly weakened, with the divisions inside as polarised as they were before the meeting and main issues largely unresolved. As a result, the main issues from this general assembly are likely to emerge after the meeting.

They will stem from how the main critics were treated and whether they will continue to fight inside Umno or opt for alternatives. In this sense, this week’s general assembly may be decisive in that it will not only set the direction for the Umno, but for the broader political opposition in Malaysia.

BRIDGET WELSH is a Senior Research Associate of the Center for East Asian Democracy at National Taiwan University, an Associate Fellow of The Habibie Center, a University Fellow of Charles Darwin University, and a Professor at Ipek University.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 December 2015, 1:36 pm and is filed under
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The AGM of UMNO also known as 1MDB is here to entertain you!

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 December 2015, 11:42 am and is filed under
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The Umno Circus has begun…

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 December 2015, 11:44 am and is filed under
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Why is UMNO afraid of DAP? Not because the Chinese will control the Malays but because UMNO-putras will not be able to exploit the Malays

The UMNO Wanita leader, Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the typical example of UMNO leaders who have to resort to the politics of fear, hate and lies to try to perpetuate their political careers and political position in the party.

Malaysiakini
 reported that at the  winding-up speech of the UMNO Wanita General Assembly, Shahrizat urged former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apbdal to return to the fold as she does not want Malays to be “controlled” by DAP because of Umno leaders opposing UMNO president Najib Abdul Razak.

She urged Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Shafie to be with UMNO, “right or wrong”.

She said: “There is no other party. Do you want to surrender the Malays and bumiputera to DAP? I am not prepared (to do so).”

She lost control of herself when she continued in a most irresponsible and seditious manner, declaring: “Let blood flow, we won’t allow DAP to take over. Umno is weak, god forbid, our country is taken over by DAP.”

If any DAP or Pakatan Harapan leader had made a similar “blood-curdling” speech, the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted a directive to his subordinates to commence immediate police investigations and action.

Let us see whether there will be any action from the Inspector-General of Police against Shahrizat or she belongs to a special breed of Malaysians who enjoy immunity and impunity under the law!

What Shahrizat has told are a pack of lies, for the DAP does not want the Chinese to control Malays, or the Malays to control the Chinese, or any race to control another race, but for all Malaysians to rise above race to interact as Malaysians for the best common national interests of the people and the country.

In 1950, the founder UMNO President, Datuk Onn Jaafar was too ahead of his time when he tried to open up UMNO to “non-Malays” to create a united nation and left UMNO in disgust.

Today, 65 years later, we have the Wanita UMNO leader and I am sure to be  followed by many UMNO leaders at  the UMNO General Assemblies this week, continuing to breathe fire and brimstone trying to pit one race against another, indulging in the worst and most irresponsible and chauvinist form of racial rhetoric, grounded on the politics of hate, fear and lies.

Two days ago, non-Muslim journalists were barred from covering the Puteri Umno launch of its programme “Daulatkan Islam Agama Negara” (DIAN) by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi.

UMNO is not going forward but  backwards.

From a “national” party, the present UMNO is now not even a party for the Malays or of the three million UMNO members but has been reduced to a party of Najib’s cronies and UMNO chieftains who dominated the UMNO Supreme Council and the various UMNO divisional leadership positions.

UMNO Deputy President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had been quite frank in his recent speech to 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh that Malay support for UMNO is down to 30 per cent, while 78 per cent of the people are unsatisfied with the present state of the economy.

The corruption in UMNO leadership has reached an advanced stage, most vividly illustrated by Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

If Najib cannot convince the present UMNO leaders and members about his accountability, transparency and integrity in the twin mega scandals, having to sack the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General among others for not trusting him about the twin mega scandals, how can Najib expect to convince 30 million Malaysians?

Najib should have a smooth sailing at this week’s UMNO General Assemblies, with UMNO delegates singing his paeans about his integrity, accountability and transparency, although I doubt he would have passed the test with support from the majority of the three million UMNO members if they could vote on whether they approve of Najib’s role in the twin mega scandals.

UMNO today has become even more repressive and authoritarian than the past, even putting the darkest years of Mahathir’s 22-year rule to shame.

No wonder former Deputy Prime Minister and former UMNO Deputy President, Tun Musa Hitam,  said that UMNO was slipping into a dictatorship worse than during Mahathir’s time when Muhyiddin as UMNO Deputy President is barred from officiating the opening of the assemblies of UMNO wings.

In tandem with this growing authoritarianism in UMNO, there is also a lurch towards dictatorship in general governance when the UMNO/BN majority in Parliament rammed through the National Security Council Bill usurping the constitutional powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet with regard to the Proclamation of Emergency.

These are the real reasons why UMNO is afraid of DAP, not because the Chinese will control the Malays, but because UMNO has become very regressive and exclusivist while at the same time become more corrupt and repressive – and the Malays themselves are rejecting UMNO.

Sharizat is not really worried that DAP will cause the Chinese to control the Malays, as  she knows that there is no iota of truth in such fear-mongering – but she is afraid that the days of UMNO are numbered as the Malays themselves will reject UMNO and the Shariazats will no longer be able to exploit baseless fears of the community for her personal and family benefit and UMNO-putras will no longer be able to exploit the Malays.

[Speech (2) at the launch of the  DAP 50th Anniversary Celebrations at Ballroom 2, City Kingdom, Seremban on Wednesday 9th December 2015]

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 December 2015, 1:46 pm and is filed under
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Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation – from one donor or more than one, from one foreign country or more than one?

A question which should have been answered some six months ago if the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak really believes in accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance is now creating havoc all over the country, latest additions to the teeming questions swirling around the scandal of  RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts just  before the 13th General Election in May 2013.

The question is  one of two queries  central to the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal – where the RM2.6 billion came from and  where this RM2.6 billion had gone to.

Najib had refused to give a full and satisfactory accounting of the RM2.6 billion scandal, despite leading all Members of Parliament up the garden path for six weeks during the recent 25-day budget parliamentary meeting that the Prime Minister will  bravely, fully and satisfactorily address all questions relating to this issue, only for Najib to play truant from Parliament on the last day on 3rd December, leaving to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to go through the parliamentary charade of a three-minute answer-nothing Ministerial statement.

Najib’s subsequent attempts to “save the day” on the RM2.6 billion donation scandal, with tame and orchestrated interviews with UMNO media and closed-door UMNO briefings, were to no avail, as Najib has again proved that his repeated promise to come clean on the RM2.6 billion “donation” just could not be believed or trusted!

So much for  accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance in the Najib premiership.

But the half-hearted and haphazard attempts at explaining away the RM2.6 billion donation scandal had  spawned more questions, including whether it was one donor or more than one donor involved in Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation”  and whether only one foreign country, or more than one foreign country had been involved.

Malaysiakini was the first to pounce on it in an article “Donor or donors? The curious case of RM2.6b” on Tuesday (Dec. 8) pointing out the discrepancy as to whether the donor for the astronomical sum was singular or plural.

In August, the new Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi told the Sri Gading UMNO divisional meeting that he had met representatives of the donor from the Middle East, that the donation was a sign of thanks to UMNO for Malaysia’s fight against terrorism.

The donor here was in the singular.

But Zahid seems to have flip-flopped on the issue yesterday when he stated  that more than one person had contributed the colossal sum after the Najib had said in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media two days ago that the sum had come from “donors” (penderma-penderma).

Did Zahid meet with representatives of one donor or more than one donor  of the RM2.6 billion sum in August?

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has however maintained  that it had met a single individual from the Middle East on the RM2.6 billion “political donation” found in Najib’s bank account, and it is understood that there was only a single donor.

Was there only one donor for the astronomical sum of RM2.6 billion donation, or more than one donor.

Was the “single individual” from the Middle east examined by the MACC also interviewed by the Deputy Prime Minister, or were they different persons.

Was the RM2.6 billion donation from one foreign country or more than one foreign countries?

These are many other questions about where the RM2.6 billion donation came from, and where the RM2.6 billion had gone to, which are being asked by  more and more Malaysians in the past six months, and Najib should realise even more Malaysians would be asking  these questions in the coming months and years if he continues to refuse to give a full and satisfactory accounting for the RM2.6 billion donation.

In his UMNO Presidential speech yesterday, Najib even took time off to lambast the PKR Vice President and Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar, falsely accusing her of “open betrayal of the country” for  being photographed with Jacel Karim.

Unlike Najib, Nurul did not receive RM2.6 billion from foreign sources for disbursement in the country’s general election, or she would be further accused of another “open betrayal of the  country”.

Does Najib realise that with foreign funding of RM2.6 billion for the country’s general election, there is a greater responsibility on him to reveal where the RM2.6 billion had come from and they had gone to, and to establish that he had not done anything which is detrimental to national objectives and purposes?

In the absence of a full and satisfactory accountability for the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, both inside Parliament and outside, the question posed by UMNO Vice President, Datuk Shafie Apdal rings loud and clear when he said Najib had to prove the RM2.6 billion donation he received was used for UMNO.

Shafie said the RM2.6 billion never made it into the UMNO accounts.

Where is the money?

More than five months after the first Wall Street Journal revelation of the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in Najib’s personal bank accounts, the basic questions remain the same – where the money came from and to where the money have gone to, while many collateral questions have been added to the heap.

Will Najib give final, full and satisfactory accountability for the RM2.6 billion donation scandal in his winding-up speech at the close of the UMNO General Assembly tomorrow, or will the scandal and the questions continue to  grow in scale and magnitude to become  an international financial scandal of the first degree, to become a major issue in the forthcoming 14th General Election?

(Speech at the DAP Impian Kelantan cum “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion” dinner at Pandamaran new village, Klang on Thursday, 10th December 2015 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 December 2015, 1:27 pm and is filed under
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On RM2.6b, Najib’s answers beg more questions

Kee Thuan Chye

Malaysiakini

11th December 2-15

COMMENT
 There’s something not right about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s revelation on national television on Dec 8 that he did receive RM2.6 billion from donors.

In fact, it was even laughable to hear him say that the donors wanted the money to be deposited in his personal account.

“Yes, that was the donor’s wish,” he said. “The donation was made to me personally, that is why the account is under my name.”Is Najib that naïve? He allowed the donors to dictate that despite the risk of the money being easily traced to him?

If you recall, when The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) came out with its report about the RM2.6 billion last July, even Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan responded that no prime minister would be that stupid to have such a huge amount deposited into his personal account.

And that’s Ahmad Maslan, mind you.

In the interview of Dec 8 aired on TV3, Najib also said, “But don’t misunderstand; the account bore my name but it was not as if it was a personal account. It just bore my name.”

Now, that’s confounding. So what kind of an account was it?

Najib didn’t give a clear answer. All he said was that the money was not to be used as he liked. “But I have done what I felt was right with full responsibility,” he added.

Very cryptic. And it didn’t occur to the three wise men interviewing him – senior journalists holding high positions in Umno-owned media organisations (TV3, New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia) – to prod him further on that. They let him off the hook too easily.

In fact, all the answers Najib gave about the dubiously obtained money only begged more questions. But, again, the three wise men didn’t ask the crucial questions.

Was Bank Negara told of RM2.6b deposit?

Najib said that at the time his personal account was created, Bank Negara was informed about it. But he didn’t say if Bank Negara was informed about the RM2.6 billion deposit.

Well, the three wise men didn’t ask.

Meanwhile, could Bank Negara please come out to confirm if it was indeed informed about the account? And whether it knew about the RM2.6 billion deposit?

Let us be reminded of what Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club chairperson Shahrir Samad said last August. He said the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal account was known to Bank Negara and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

“The IRB would be aware of the deposit as donations were not tax-exempt but political donations are tax-exempt, although the donors still need to pay tax,” Shahrir said.

Okay. So if it was a political donation, the donors would have to pay tax. Have they done so? Let’s hear from the IRB.

Will the three wise men act like proper journalists and get their media organisations to follow up on this? And also with Bank Negara?

If Bank Negara was indeed in the know about the RM2.6 billion deposit, why did it last month slap AmBank, which hosted the account, with a penalty of RM53.7 million for not complying with regulations? And why did AmBank agree to pay this hefty penalty so readily?

The three wise men did not think there might be a connection?

Coming back to the issue of the RM2.6 billion being a political donation, the question to be asked is: If it were so, why was Umno not aware of it from the start?

In fact, Ahmad Maslan (photo) said last July that Najib “told us the information (about the RM2.6 billion) was 100 percent not true”.

Ah, doesn’t that sound like Najib was hiding the fact about the RM2.6 billion from his own Umno people at the time?

This was, of course, subsequently corroborated by the then Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin’s revelation that he knew nothing about the donation.

Party leaders in the dark

So, was it a political donation after all if the party didn’t know about it? I am stumped.

It was a personal donation, said Najib. It was a political donation, said Shahrir (and others who said so afterwards, including the new Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who even claimed he had met the donors). What is it really?

Najib said at the interview, “I have not committed any offence, both in law and in manner.”

Yeah, right. If it was all so above-board, why did he not reveal it from the start? Why did he hide it, especially from his own party? Why did it have to take an exposé from WSJ to reveal what appears to be a shady deal? And one that implies corruption, to boot?

As Najib said, the RM2.6 billion is “a donation, a gift”. And even if neither he nor the donors see it as being illegal or a bribe, even if the donors “do not expect anything in return” (which, logically speaking, might be considered unbelievably stupid of them, but never mind!), nonetheless, according to Malaysian laws, if it was made personally to him, a public official, and he accepts it, he can be prosecuted for committing corruption.

Just consult our Penal Code and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

It doesn’t matter that the giver expected nothing out of making the gift; what matters is that if the public servant accepts it, he is liable for corruption.

This is what Dr Mohd Khir Toyo was convicted of for obtaining two pieces of land and a bungalow at RM3.5 million when the original price was RM5 million. Did the party that allowed him this want something in return? That was never the issue for the judges.

Khir took, he was corrupt, he was convicted. QED.

If the RM2.6 billion donation was halal, why did Najib not admit to it immediately after WSJ broke the story?

Sure, he was insisting that the money did not come from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MBD) and thereby implying that the story was not completely true, but he could still have admitted that the RM2.6 billion did go into his personal account – but from another, non-governmental, source.

The fact that Najib still kept it secret until weeks later, when the cat couldn’t stay in the bag any longer, speaks volumes. Why did he wait so long? That is the one important thing Najib has yet to clarify.

And so we need to keep on asking questions. Because it seems he has yet to tell us the whole truth.

In the TV3 interview, one of the three wise men asked him if his conscience was clear regarding the RM2.6 billion. He replied, “Absolutely.” I wonder what he means by that.

KEE THUAN CHYE is the author of the new bestsellers Unbelievably Stupid! and Unbelievably Stupid Too!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 December 2015, 2:19 pm and is filed under
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The presentation of  National Security Council (NSC)  Bill to Senate should be deferred until all the 13 State Governments have been  consulted and agreement given for  the creation of a parallel NSC government vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 state governments

Today is Human Rights Day 2015  and we should be joining with  peoples all over the world to celebrate another milestone in the promotion and protection of human rights in Malaysia – but the reverse is taking place.

On the Human Rights Day this year, Malaysians are facing with the greatest threat to democratic and human rights for over a decade since the retirement of Tun Mahathir as Prime Minister with the human rights horrors committed during his  22-year premiership, like the Operation Lalang mass arrests and closure of newspapers in 1987 and  the assault on the independence of the judiciary beginning in 1988.

This is what has brought us to this forum “National Security Act: To Protect or to Oppress”  tonight.

I had called the National Security Council (NSC) monstrous and pernicious  because it was nothing less than a quadruple power grab, usurping the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet on the proclamation of Emergency as well as the autonomy rights of the Sarawak and Sabah State governments, and it was rushed through the Dewan Rakyat “like a thief in the night” with a vote of 107 vs 74, in a late-night session on the last day of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land.

On closer look, the NSC Bill is even more monstrous and pernicious for it would create a parallel government with an infrastructure of bureaucracy of its own, vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 State Governments without the consent or even consultation with the State Governments concerned.

Had the Prime Minister consulted and sought the consent of all the 13 state governments before the NSC Bill was presented to the Dewan Rakyat last week?

At present, it is only when the country is under a state of Emergency proclaimed by the Yang di Pertuan Agong under Article 150 of the Constitution that the Federal Government can act in disregard of the existence of State Governments, as Article 150 (4) provides:

“ 150 (4): While a proclamation of emergency is in force the executive authority of the Federation shall, notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, extend to any matter within the legislative authority of a State and to the giving of directions to the Government of a State or to any officer or authority thereof.”

But under the NSC Bill, the Prime Minister will have such executive powers to interfere or even take over the directions of any of the 13 State Governments in ordinary times, without any proclamation of emergency by the Yang di Pertuan Agong as required by the Malaysian Constitution.

Why should such extensive and alarming powers of interfering and even take-over of State Government powers be sanctioned under ordinary times, which makes a mockery of the will and mandate of the voters during the State general elections?

The functions and powers of the National Security Council are far-reaching and a threat to democratic and human rights of Malaysians, because there will be no proper check and balance.

The functions of the Council are not just confined to advising the Prime Minister to declare “security areas” where Malaysians will be very “unsafe”, as there will be virtual immunity and impunity for the NSC bureaucracy to carry out its powers, but include other functions, like the formulation and monitoring of implementation of “national security” policies and strategic measures, encompassing “sovereignty, territorial integrity, defence, socio-political stability, economic stability, strategic resources, national unity and other interests relating to national security” – a catch-all definition which covers anything under the sun!

Section 5 of the NSC Bill vests the National Security Council with the “powers to do all things necessary or expedient for or in connection with the performance of its functions including – (a) to control and co-ordinate Government Entities on operations concerning national security; and (b) to issue directives to any Government Entity on matters concerning national security”.

It must be noted that these extensives powers of the National Security Council are exercisable at all times and in all areas, without having to resort to Section 18 on the declaration of a “Security Area”.

Under the NSC  Bill, “Government Entities” is defined as:

(a)	any ministry, department, office, agency, authority, commission, committee, board or council of the Federal Government, or any of the State Governments, established under any written law or otherwise;

(b)	any local authorities; and

(c)	the Security Forces.

Such a wide definition of “Government Entities” will bring all State Governments and local authorities within  the ambit of jurisdiction and control of the National Security Council, which has completed superseded the Cabinet with  the NSC more powerful than the Cabinet.

The NSC  comprises the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Defence Minister, the Communications and Multimedia Minister, the Chief Secretary,  the Chief of Defence Forces and the Inspector-General of Police.

As the Prime Minister  had not consulted or sought the agreement of the 13 State Governments to the enactment of the NSC Bill, which would vest the Prime Minister with the executive power to interfere and even take-over of powers and jurisdiction of  State Governments and local authorities, the presentation of  the NSC Bill to Senate should be deferred until all the thirteen State Governments have been  consulted and agreement given  for  the creation of a parallel NSC government vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 state governments.

(Speech at the
“National Security Councl Act: To Protect or To Oppress”
 Forum held at The Club, Bukit Utama, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya on Thursdzy, 10th  December 2015 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 December 2015, 8:23 am and is filed under
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Will the IGP take action against Shahrizat for her blood-letting seditious speech?

By Martin Jalleh

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 December 2015, 8:12 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians do not want to hear from Zahid or even the MACC – they want  Najib himself  to stop procrastinating and prevaricating and to give full and satisfactory accountability on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals

Malaysians do not want to hear from the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi or even by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), as they want the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself to stop procrastinating and prevaricating and to give full and satisfactory accountability on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

Having misled the nation and Members of Parliament to wait for six weeks for the last day of Parliament on Dec. 3 to answer all questions about the twin mega scandals, Najib should not disappoint Malaysians a second time – and his winding-up speech at the UMNO General Assembly later today is the last opportunity for him  to come clean on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB scandals.

The 1MDB scandal went back to more than six years ago, when 1MDB was incorporated in 2009 after its precursor, Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), was turned into a federal agency, with the unprecedented Clause 117 in the 1MDB’s Memorandum and Articles of Association requiring the Prime Minister’s written approval for any of 1MDB’s deals, including the firm’s investments or any bid for restructuring, amendments to the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association and appointments and removal of directors and senior management team of 1MDB.

The RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal is more recent, going back to March 2013, just before the 13th General Election on May 5, 2013, but awareness in the corridors of power that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” did not begin only on July 2  this year when Wall Street Journal shook  the country and the world with the scoop about the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts in March 2013, but much earlier.

This is because the  WSJ report of July 2 had referred to Malaysian government investigators who  had traced deposits of almost US$700 million into Najib’s personal accounts via agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB although the original source of the funds was unclear and the government investigation didn’t detail what happened to the money that went into Najib’s accounts.

WSJ reported that investigators have identified five separate deposits into Najib’s accounts that came from two sources.

WSJ have subsequently reported that government investigative documents show Najib as playing an important role at 1MDB at key moments over several years, including authorizing several of its investments, a leading role in raising billions of dollars in financing for the fund, and personally ordering the removal of the 1MDB fund’s auditors when they wouldn’t sign off on its books. Najib authorized the fund to make investments of millions of dollars although some board members had raised concerns about them.

Let Najib therefore stand up before the UMNO delegates and give a full accounting on the twin mega scandals, and answer the thousand-and-one questions which had surfaced in the past five months, including the following eight questions:

1. When Najib first knew that government investigators had traced deposits of almost US$700 million into his  personal accounts via agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB, who were these government investigators, what agencies did they represent and what were  Najib’s responses to these findings.

2. Who made the RM2.6 billion “donation” which were deposited into Najib’s personal accounts. How many donors were there.  Was  RM2.6 billion the total sum of such donation or was the total more than RM2.6 billion, and if so, what was the total donation.

What were the “strings” attached to such donations?

Yesterday, Zahid Hamidi created consternation and incredulity all round when he claimed that his statement a day earlier that there was more than one donor behind the RM2.6 billion donation deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts did not contradict the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which had maintained that there was only one donor for the RM2.6 billion “donation”.

Was it one donor or more than one donors?

We do not want to hear from Zahid or even MACC, but from Najib.

In August, Zahid told the press that he had met the chief investment officer of the donor and the financial trustee of the family of the donor – which meant he had never met the “donor” himself.

Zahid now says that  he met with several representatives of the RM2.6 billion donor “hence” the reason he mentioned “plural”.

Let Zahid think through before he speaks. He must not forget that he speaks as Deputy Prime Minister and not any Tom, Dick or Harry.

How many representatives of the RM2.6 billion “donor” did he meet. Let the truth come out, who were they and when and where was the meeting.

Clearly, Zahid never met with the “donor” let alone the “donors” of the RM2.6 billion “donation”. Did the MACC meet the “donor” or only his representative, and if so, was he the same person whom Zahid met in August?

Are we on the edge of even greater “confusion galore” as to who gave the RM2.6 billion donation, as two days ago, in his interview with pro-UMNO news portal Agenda Daily, Zahid seems to be toying with a new twist by claiming that it was not an individual but the leadership of a government in the Middle East who gave the RM2.6 billion “donation”.

Before the UMNO/BN government suffers irreparable credibility crisis, Najib must speak up as  to who, whether one or more donors, gave the RM2.6 billion “donation”, or Malaysians had been lied to all these months when it was not an individual but a government in the Middle East who gave the donation to sponsor UMNO in the 13GE?

3. Where have the RM2.6 billion “donation”, which were made in two deposits into Najib’s personal banking accounts in March 2013,  gone to? Have they all be used up for the 13th General Election campaign?

Former Minister and Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club (BNBBC) Chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad is so far the only person to have confirmed that he had received RM1 million from Najib’s   RM2.6 billion accounts, while the Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Ahmad Maslan has yet  to confirm or deny whether he had received RM2 million from Najib for the 13th GE campaign.

Datuk Azalina Othman Said, who  has been very outspoken recently on Najib’s twin mega scandals, should declare whether  she received and if so how much, from Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” accounts for the 13th General Election purpose.

What about all the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Ministers, MPs and leaders who have been beneficiaries from Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” accounts in the 13th General Election?

Shouldn’t they own up publicly as to how much they had received and spent, to avoid conflict-of-interest situations?

With the recent admission by former MCA President, Datuk Chua Soi Lek  that Najib had promised and disbursed funds to Barisan Nasional component parties for the 13GE campaign, all heads of BN parties should also  disclose how much they had received from Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” accounts for the 13 GE.

4. How much are left of the RM2.6 billion “donation” after the 13GE disbursements and where have the rest of the balance gone to?

The exclusive report by The Malaysian Insider yesterday that UMNO’s financial statement up to Dec. 31, 2014, tabled at the UMNO annual general assembly, disclosing that the amount of donation and contributions UMNO received in the last year only totalled a mere RM82 million,   completely dwarfed by the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal bank accounts.

The Sarawak Report  whistleblower  website reported on August 14 that US$650 million (RM2 billion) was transferred from the Prime Minister’s AmPrivate Bank account in Kuala Lumpur after the 2013 general election and deposited in the name of Tanore Finance Corporation, domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, at Falcon Bank in Singapore.

Najib should clarify the position.

5. More than five months have elapsed. Why have Najib not instituted legal proceedings against Wall Street Journal for defaming him and his  administration?

6. Why have the various government authorities taking such an inordinately long time to complete investigations into the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, when it should be a fairly straight-forward open-and-shut case, considering it involves the Prime Minister and all the notables in government, who should have no  problem about co-operation with  the investigating authorities.

Why has it taken the MACC five long months before it recorded a statement from the Prime Minister on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, when as far back as early July, the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail had confirmed that the multi-agency Special Task Force investigating into 1MDB had uncovered documents related to allegations that money was transferred into Najib’s personal bank accounts?

Gani made this confirmation on the same day as the Wall Street Journal publication of its report about the RM2.6 billion “donation” deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts.

This was what Gani said on July 3: “I confirm that I have received documents from the special task force related to 1MDB, including documents related to the allegations of channeling of funds to accounts owned by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.”

On the same day, the Special Task Force raided the offices of three Malaysian companies linked to 1MDB that allegedly were involved in the transfer of funds to Najib’s accounts.

7. Were the purges in Cabinet and Government which started on July 28, resulting in the sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as Rural and Regional Minister; the sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney-General and  the appointment of Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali as the new AG; the dissolution of the Special Task Force investigating 1MDB; the “nine-day madness in Putrajaya” with key enforcement agencies warring against each other, and  the arrest, 24-hour transfer and general browbeating of key civil servants  as in the case of the Special Task Force Secretary Jessica Gurmeet Kaur, regarded as  too “recalcitrant” for  upholding of the rule of law as their top priority and public duty; the three-month derailment of Public Accounts Committee investigations into 1MDB, all related to the twin mega scandals?

8. Is Najib prepared to commission and international police inquiry into the murder of DPP Kevin Morais following the shock statutory declaration by his brother Charles Morais that Kevin’s  death may be related to a charge sheet which the Attorney-General’s Chambers was preparing to prosecute Prime Minister Najib for corruption in connection with 1MDB scandal?

Malaysia seemed to have become the “Land of Shocking Statutory Declarations” and Malaysians are reminded eerily of the previous Statutory Declarations by private investigator PI Bala in connection with the murder of Mongolian Altantunya Shaariibuu.

There are many questions about the twin mega scandals and it is time that Najib, who is the only one who knows the ins-and-outs, from head to tail, of the two mega scandals, should stand out to answer and to be counted – as it is a task which he cannot delegate to another person, whether Zahid or Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 12 December 2015, 7:53 am and is filed under
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DAP does not regard the three million UMNO members and one million PAS members as “enemies” but only as   Malaysians with different political inclinations  and we are always prepared to engage with them for the common purpose to save the nation and not just to save individuals or political parties

DAP has  become the  favourite punching bag in the current UMNO General Assemblies, which is a reflection of the loss of direction and the sense of purpose  of the UMNO leadership which have strayed far from the UMNO  founding principles to serve the Malay community and the multi-ethnic country.

Today, we read of  the UMNO representative from Terengganu declaring that PAS should not be perceived as the main enemy of UMNO, and that it is the DAP which is UMNO’s “main enemy” because PAS is an Islam-based party with the members comprising the Malays.

By this logic, UMNO should declare the majority of  the parties in the Barisan Nasional,  including MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the Sabah and Sarawak parties  which are not exclusively restricted to Malays or Muslims  also as UMNO’s “main enemies”.

Is this the direction UMNO is leading the country after some six decades of nation-building?

What has happened to the 1Malaysia concept which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had proclaimed on becoming Prime Minister in April 2008 and on which he spent so much public funds on 1Malaysia propaganda and gimmicry in the run-up to the 13th General Election in May 2013?

It is not only wrong and un-Malaysian and anti-Malaysian to regard non-Malay parties and parties not restricted in its membership to Malays or Muslims as “main enemies”, it is also an unMalaysian and anti-Malaysian mindset to regard PAS as an “enemy” though not “main enemy” category.

Except for the five years from 1972-1977 when PAS was in Barisan Nasional coalition and increasingly in  the two years after the 2013 general elections, UMNO had regarded PAS as its “main enemy” for close to six decades since the formation of PAS in 1951.

Suddenly, overnight, DAP, which will soon be celebrating our 50th anniversary,  has catapulted into the  position of replacing PAS as  UMNO’s “main enemy”.

What has changed for this sudden perception for the first time in 50 years for some in the  UMNO leadership to regard DAP as UMNO’s “main enemy”

DAP has not changed as from the first day of our inception some 50 years ago, DAP had never been anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

Right from the beginning during DAP’s formation in 1966, DAP had pledged itself to pursue a Malaysian Dream, not a Chinese Dream, an Indian Dream or a Malay Dream.

This is why from the first general election in 1969 contested by the DAP, the party had always put up a multi-racial and multi-religious slate of candidates.

In the 1969 general elections, two Malay State Assemblymen were elected, one in Perak and the other in Negri Sembilan. In the past 11 general elections, DAP had elected Malay Members of Parliament and State Assembly representatives in Peninsular Malaysia.

As in the 1969 general election, DAP has now more Indian MPs than MIC. It is because of the DAP that there is an Indian Deputy Chief Minister in Penang and the first Indian Speaker in the Perak State Assembly after the 2008 General Election.

DAP has a Kadazan State Assemblyman in Sabah and we hope to have the first Iban State Assemblyman in the Sarawak State Elections expected in the next 100 days.

DAP is in fact  the first political party in the country to be Pan-Malaysian, establishing branches in Sarawak and Sabah before any other political party in the country.

All through the past five decades, DAP had been accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam by UMNO, because of UMNO fear that the DAP will be able to make inroads into UMNO spheres of influence with our Malaysian political appeal, transcending race, religion or region.

No political party seeking support from all Malaysians can be anti-Malay or anti-Islam, or for that matter, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Dayak, anti-Kadazandusun or anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity, anti-Hindiuism or anti-Sikkhism.

DAP has never wavered from our mission to be a Malaysian political party, representing all races, religions, regions, classes and age-groups in the country, and this is why the DAP has grown from strength to strength in the past fifty years.

But UMNO has changed.

In 1950, the UMNO founder president, Datuk Onn Jaafar proposed that UMNO should open its door to non-Malays so as to build a united multi-racial nation.

Datuk Onn was too ahead of his times and he had to leave UMNO.

Today, UMNO has not only failed  Datuk Onn’s vision  to  be party for everyone in the country, it has forsaken its original objective to be a party for the Malays as it has been reduced to a party for Najib, his hulubalangs and  UMNO-putras exploiting not only Malaysians but  ordinary Malays as well.

This is why former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri MuhyiddinYassin recently warned that Malay support for UMNO is down to 30 per cent, while 78 per cent of the people are unsatisfied with the present state of the economy.

This is why UMNO is now afraid of DAP and perceives DAP as its “main enemy” – not because the DAP, Chinese or non-Malays will dominate and exploit the Malays and Muslims, but because UMNO is losing support of Malays and Muslims as it is not prepared to stop the rampant  corruption and injustices of its policies, like Najib’s RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

DAP does not categorise Malaysians in different political parties or with different goals into “enemy” and “main enemy” classifications.

I want to  stress that DAP does not regard the three million UMNO members and one million PAS members as “enemies” but only as Malaysians with different political inclinations and we are always prepared to engage with them for the common purpose and objective  to save the nation and all Malaysians comprising different races and religions, as this is the Number One political challenge facing the country – to save the nation  and not just to save individuals or even political parties.

(Speech at the first of six whistlestop “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign in  Johore in Chaah on Saturday, 12th December 20145 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 December 2015, 7:47 am and is filed under
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Puad Zarkashi should be sacked as JASA Director-General and be made to personally bear  the costs of the JASA booklet “Uprising of the Red Shirts, Sept. 16” or he should be charged for CBT if the booklet is paid for from  public funds

Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi should be sacked as Department of Special Affairs (JASA) Director-General and be made  to personally bear  the costs of the JASA booklet “Uprising of the Red Shirts, Sept. 16” distributed at the UMNO General Assembly or he should be charged for the offence of criminal breach of trust if the booklet is paid for from  public funds.

UMNO Secretary-General Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Putrajaya does not support the Sept. 16 “Red Shirt” rally and if this is the case, how can JASA, a government department,  be the publisher and distributor of the booklet, especially as JASA functions as a disseminator of government polices and propaganda?

Or is this another case of an increasingly fractured and schizophrenic UMNO/BN government, where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, or the right hand  is not allowed to interfere with what the left hand is doing even if aware of what is happening?

JASA is a unit under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

In view of Tengku Adnan’s denial, the new Minister for the portfolio, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak should declare whether he has knowledge of the publication of the JASA booklet and whether he had given authorization for its publication and distribution at the UMNO General Assembly.

Or did Puad get special permission and dispensation directly from the Prime Minister, by passing the Minister for Communications and Multimedia as well as the UMNO Secretary-General, on the publication of the booklet and its distribution at the UMNO General Assembly?

The 104-page pictorial booklet, titled “Kebangkitan Baju Merah” (The Rise of Red Shirts) glorifies the Sept. 16 rally purportedly to reclaim Malay dignity which the organizers said had been insulted by the Bersih 4 rally in August.

It is heavy on photographs on the Bersih 4 rally and the “red shirt” gathering, including photographs of previous Bersih rallies fraudulently passing off as being held in Kuala Lumpur on August 30 and 31 this year.

The introduction of the booklet said the “red shirt” rally was initiated by patriotic Malaysians against those who wanted to create chaos and provocations through street rallies.

This is a contemptible distortion of history and shameful attempt to rewrite history, for the real patriots are the hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, who peacefully attended the Bersih 4 rallies to express their patriotic desire to have clean, free  and fair elections and not the UMNO racialists who organized the Red Shirts rally and paid and bussed crowds from various parts of the country to  counter widespread nation-wide perception of a serious erosion of  public support for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the UMNO/BN government.

Will non-UMNO Ministers and justice-minded UMNO Ministers raise this issue of outrageous JASA booklet distributed at the UMNO General Assembly at the next Cabinet meeting and ensure Paud is sacked and made to personally bear the costs of the booklet  or will these Ministers continue to play the role of the three monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not?

(Speech at the fourth of six whistlestop “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign in  Johor in Batu Anam, Segamat on Saturday, 12th December 20145 at 3 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 December 2015, 9:21 am and is filed under
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The fiction of a unified, harmonised Asean

David Pilling

Financial Times

December 9, 2015

The bloc favours consensus. Its lack of overarching ambition is a strength as well as its weakness

If you think European nations are having a hard time holding it together — strained by disputes over immigration, austerity and debt — spare a thought for the 10 countries that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

True, compared with Europe, they face few fatally divisive problems. Most of Southeast Asia is contending with the impact of a slowing China and braced for the turbulence that could accompany the steady normalisation of US monetary policy. Yet there are no big financial transfers within Asean, a loose federation akin to the EU of the 1950s. No country is threatening to leave, nor are there fundamental differences over the direction of policy.

Still, as Asean prepares for an important milestone this month — the creation of a theoretically single market — it is worth reflecting on the incredible diversity of the “new bloc on the block”.

The 625m people of Asean live in states that range from the sprawling Indonesian archipelago of 250m souls to the tiny sultanate of Brunei, with 400,000. You have Singapore, with a gross domestic product per capita of $55,000, and Cambodia at just over $1,000. There are cacophonous, if imperfect, democracies (Indonesia, the Philippines); Communist dictatorships (Vietnam); and military juntas (Thailand). There are states with majority Muslim populations, such as Malaysia and Indonesia; ones that are mostly Buddhist, including Myanmar; and the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Asean countries are even split over which side of the road to drive on. In five of them it is the left, and five the right — although in Vietnam they drive on both. Given this diversity, it is no small miracle that Asean is forging ahead with integration by creating the Asean Economic Community, which formally takes effect on December 31.

Theoretically, this creates a unified market in goods and services, and clears the path to free movement of people and harmonisation of regulations. It should be no surprise that much of this is fiction.

Although 95 per cent of tariff lines are at zero, non-tariff barriers, from diverging regulatory standards to dysfunctional ports, make trade between nations frustratingly hard. Nor is there anything like free movement of labour, even in the skilled sector, which is supposedly on its way to full liberalisation. Multinationals operating in Asean complain that it is often hard to transfer staff from one country to another. Meanwhile, millions of unskilled migrants, from construction workers to fishermen, flit between countries in the shadows. In the penumbra of regulation, there is flagrant violation of human rights and even outright trafficking.

Asean has no ability to sanction countries that flout its rules. It is “all carrot and no stick”, Jayant Menon, an expert on trade integration at the Asian Development Bank, told a Financial Times conference on the subject recently. Asean has a skeleton secretariat, to put it kindly, based in Jakarta. It has a budget of $17m — not enough to get an EU commissioner out of bed in the morning.

Asked who you call when you want to call Asean, Abdul Farid Alias, president of Maybank, a Malaysian bank that has a presence in every Asean country, responds curtly: “No one.”

In spite of such flaws, some companies are trying to treat Asean as a single market. General Motors and GlaxoSmithKline have made Singapore their regional hub, though that may be because of the ease of doing business in the city state rather the attractions of Asean. Others are seeking to build production centres in Indonesia, Thailand or the Philippines.

Rising wages in China are making these and other countries, including Myanmar and Cambodia for textiles, and Vietnam for textiles and electronics, more attractive. Diageo, the drinks group, has placed hefty bets on Asean — lured, says Sam Fischer, its regional president, by consistent growth, young populations and the prospect of an expanding urban middle class. Yet it has sometimes been disappointed, such as when Indonesia suddenly clamped down on alcohol sales this year. Above all, says Mr Fischer, foreign investors want Asean to enforce clear and consistent rules. That may be a problem.

The “Asean way” favours consensus. Its lack of overarching ambition is a strength as well as a weakness. By taking a softly softly approach over the nearly five decades since it was founded, Asean has avoided pooled sovereignty and a single currency, both of which have become so contentious in Europe. It has held its project together with remarkably little friction. It has scored quiet successes, from steady tariff reduction to nudging Myanmar back into the fold of respectable nations.

Yet carrots and consensus can only take you so far. Those looking for a new but faster-growing

Europe in the heart of Asia will be disappointed.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 13 December 2015, 4:27 am and is filed under
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