50-year dependence of villagers of Kampong Kelanaan in Melalap on rainwater a clear case of criminal neglect of development needs of people of Sabah when DAP Impian Sabah resolved their problem in seven days with solar-pump clean water project costing RM50,000

This solar-pump clean water project at Kampong Kelanaan in Melalap, Tenom is the fourth mini-infrastructure project by DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia team which I had to privilege of launching since Friday, firstly a water gravity project at Kampong Pangas Ulu in Keningau, secondly, a water gravity project in Kampong Magatang in Sook, Pensiangan, a third a solar-pump clean water project at Kampong Molosok, Dalit, Pensiangan.

For 50 years, the fifty households in Kampong Kelanaan in Melalap  comprising Lun Dayeh people had to depend on rain for their water supply.

Despite repeated pleas by the villagers in Kampong Kelanaan for help to resolve their water,  road and land problems, no help was forthcoming at all, although the State Assemblyman for Melalap is none other than the  Minister for Rural Development Datuk Radin Malleh.

In desperation, the villagers of Kampong Kelanaan sought help from DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia, which ended the 50 years of  dependency of Kampong Kelanaan villagers on rain for water supply  by building a solar-pump clean water project in seven days with five DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia personnel, five volunteers from Penang, Johore and Selangor and gotong-royong effort by 50 villagers.

The whole project cost RM50,000!

This is the best example of the criminal neglect of the development needs of the Orang Asal and ordinary rakyat and why there is an urgent need for change of government both in Sabah and Malaysia, for any government which prioritises the needs and welfare of the marginalized would not have left the Kampong Kelanaan villagers to depend on rain for their water supply for 50 years.

Travelling to Kampong Kelanaan had been quite an experience, as it involved 15 kilometres of the roughest terrain which would be unusable during wet weather.

The last three days visiting the interiors of Keningau, Pensiangan and Tenom provide ample proof that after more than half a century of nationhood, the most basic infrastructure needs are still unachieved  luxuries in many parts of rural Sabah, and why there is a need for a government with a revolutionary change in mindset which prioritises the needs and welfare of the Orang Asal and the ordinary people instead of money-making opportunities for the cronies.

The three pledges of Batu Sumpah in Keningau on freedom of religion, land and native customs will be the primary objectives  of Pakatan Harapan parties  in Sabah in the forthcoming 14th General Election.

(Speech at the launching of solar-pump clean water  project in Kampong Kelanaan, Melalap, Tenom on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 26 November 2017, 6:44 pm and is filed under
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The Trap of Monolingualism

M. Bakri Musa

27th Nov 2017

Language is not only a means of communication but also an instrument through which we look at the world. Fluency in a foreign language gives us another instrument to view reality, the equivalent of shining the light from a different angle and giving us a fresh perspective. While we have come a long way from the earlier brash assertion of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language controls our thoughts, nonetheless the way we look at reality is conditioned by the habits and attributes of our mother tongue.

            When hunting with an Australian aborigine, telling him that there is a kangaroo on the left would not be terribly helpful as he would first have to figure out whether you are referring to his or your left, a critical differentiation. It would be more meaningful and less chance of your being struck by a stray bullet if you were to say that the critter is to the west or east. Those Australian natives are more adept with cardinal signs. Out in the arid barren plains of the continent’s interior, there are few terrestrial landmarks to make meaningful references to left or right.

            In their book
In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second-Language Acquisition,
 Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta suggest that the benefits of being bilingual go beyond knowing two languages. As the structures and ideas of languages are different, a child has to think in more complex ways than if he were to know only one language. That increases “meta-linguistic awareness,” a greater sensitivity to language in general and awareness of its meaning and structure.

            This heightened sensitivity transfers to other areas, as with the ability to extract core ideas from extraneous information, or to use the language of engineers, enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio. This is a useful and critical analytical skill. When you are bilingual you grasp concepts or core facts quickly; you are not easily distracted by the language or presentation.

            Studies with f MRI show that the bilingual brain is also more efficient, at least with respect to translations. Those bilingual from an early age do not go through the mental process of translating, rather they grasp the concept right away and then express it in the other language, skipping the translating step.

            Consider those familiar with only the imperial system. When told that it is 20 degrees Centigrade outside, they first have to convert that into Fahrenheit (68F) and only then could surmise that it is pleasant. If they were facile with both systems, they would know right away that 20 degrees Centigrade is quite pleasant, while 35, uncomfortably hot.

            It does not matter what the second language is, the key point is to have another instrument to look at reality, another perspective. Malaysia’s plural population affords splendid opportunities to learn another language. Homogenous societies like Japan are handicapped in this respect. English is taught in Japanese schools right from kindergarten, yet the average Japanese student has difficulty communicating in English.

            Perversely, Malay language nationalists use Japan as an example for resisting the teaching of English. Japan is an economic and technological powerhouse despite its students not being fluent in English, those language nationalists argue. That is a gross misreading of the Japanese situation. Japanese leaders are very much aware how much of a handicap their students face and are aggressively remedying the situation by recruiting thousands of native English-speaking teachers from abroad, as is China today.

            English fluency in itself is no magic bullet. India and the Philippines would shatter that illusion. Not knowing English however, is a major handicap.

            The most advantaged in this globalized world are those who are bilingual, with one of the languages being English. American students are now required to learn a second language, in recognition of this reality. Second to that would be those who speak only one language, but that language is English. The least advantaged, or most handicapped, are those who speak only one language, and that language is other than English. That unfortunately is the fate of most Malays. Little wonder that we do not do well in commerce, education, and other endeavors.

            In Malaysia, most non-Malays are already bilingual, their native tongue and Malay; many are also trilingual, with English. That gives them significant advantages in the marketplace and elsewhere. With their multiple-language skills they are able to view reality from many perspectives, giving them significant cognitive advantages. I attribute their success to this fact, not to any intrinsic superiority of their race or culture. You are not likely to succeed in Malaysia or anywhere else if all you know is Hokkien or Malayalam.

            Malays have the capacity to be fluently bilingual (English and Malay), or even trilingual, with Arabic. Those who are unilingual are handicapping themselves and trapping their minds.

            English fluency confers many significant advantages as it is the language of commerce and science. In science with only Malay you would never go beyond the elementary stuff. Then there is the Internet, which is predominantly English. To take full advantage of this digital universe you have to be fluent in English.

            As to why English and not say, Chinese, has achieved this status, only Allah knows, as we Muslims would put it. After all, more people speak Mandarin. There are more people learning English in China than in the United Kingdom.

            For Malays, there is an extra and important psychological benefit for knowing English. It has long been acknowledged as the language of the elite, the legacy of colonization. Being English-illiterate thus carried a certain stigma, implying that your world does not extend beyond the kampung. When Malays in Malaysia engage in conversations with each other, they do so in English. That sentiment of enhanced social status associated with English fluency is still entrenched today if not even stronger no matter how hard Malay nationalists try to portray it as otherwise. The fact remains; if you are illiterate in English you would be treated as being from the underclass, from the village. If people treat you like that, pretty soon you behave that way. That is the major psychological handicap facing Malays who are English-illiterate.

            An oft-cited explanation for Malay backwardness is our lack of self-confidence. Our lack of English fluency contributes to this. Engaging our people in motivational speeches and rah rah rallies, or endlessly proclaiming the superiority of our language and culture would never boost the core confidence of our people. On the other hand, teach them English and make them comfortable and fluent in that language, then watch their confidence grow. This is especially true of the young.

            Those who lack self-confidence react in one of two ways. One, they become brashly overconfident to the point of being obnoxious. They know it all. Do not bother them with facts or new insights; their minds are already made up and nothing could shake their confidence. Woe betides anyone unfortunate enough to work with, or especially, under them. Psychologists refer to this non-productive pattern of behavior as reaction formation.

            The second way those who lack confidence react is by retreating to their comfort zone underneath the old familiar coconut shell. Regression, in the language of psychologists. They have no interest in anything beyond as they do not understand it and more significantly, they refuse to try. Their oft-cited excuse for retreating would be that that they are busy enough in their own immediate world, there is little need to venture beyond.

            I noticed this with young doctors who were graduates of Indonesian universities when I worked in Malaysia in the 1970s. They may be keen on surgery initially but when they found the workload rough because of their limited English proficiency (my seminars and reading lists were in English), they would ask to be released because they were all of a sudden “no longer interested in surgery.” When I tried to arrange special English classes, they felt offended. They saw that as an insult, not assistance. What the Stanford psychologist Claude Steel referred to as self-affirmation threat.

            Abroad, when Malays meet a fellow Malay, we converse in Malay. Part of the reason is of course that we long to hear our native tongue spoken. The other is that if you are in America you are obviously fluent in English, so that is no longer a useful differentiating social indicator.

            Malay is the national language of Malaysia; all Malaysians must be fluent in it. You cannot consider yourself a true Malaysian otherwise. However, whether non- Malays are fluent in Malay is not my concern; nor is that pertinent to my discussion. My concern is with advancing Malays through liberating their minds. Knowing a second or even a third language is the quickest path towards that end.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 27 November 2017, 9:44 am and is filed under
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Adnan commended for setting good example for his apologies  to DAP Pahang State Assembly Opposition Leader Tengku Zulpuri and DAP Assemblyman Leong Ngah Ngah for improper State Assembly conduct

Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Adnan Yaakob is to be commended for his apologies to the DAP Pahang State Assembly Opposition Leader Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji and the DAP Tanah Rata State Assemblyman Leong Ngah Ngah for his improper State Assembly conduct last week.

Adnan had threatened to punch Tengku Zulpuri and had questioned if he was a Muslim when Tengku Zulpuri had challenged Adnan’s statement that the Penang floods earlier this month had been an act of God in retaliation to beer festivals that were allowed to happen in  the state.

At one point, an irate Adnan had said “Tuan yang di-pertua. Keluar dewan saja (Mr speaker. Let’s leave the chambers),” alluding that he and Tengku Zulpuri should take matters outside.

After  the Speaker, Datuk Ishak Muhammad, adjourned the assembly, Adnan had continued to challenge Tengku Zulpuri to a fight.

The next day, Adnan directed harsh words at Leong, also during the legislative assembly.

Adnan’s act of contrition should  be emulated by all politicians in Malaysia, whether in government or opposition, who should nurture the growth of parliamentary democracy with its  cut-and-thrust of parliamentary debate. It is important that politicians must  not take political criticisms as personal attacks.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 29 November 2017, 2:45 pm and is filed under
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Three dominant thoughts when ploughing through RCI Report on Bank Negara Forex Losses

I had three dominant thoughts when ploughing through the Royal Commission of Inquiry Report into the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s, tabled in Parliament today.

Let me share these three dominant thoughts before I have gone through the 830-page report.

Firstly, how accurate I was when I spoke in Parliament about a quarter of a century ago in  1993 and 1994 about the Bank Negara Forex Losses.

In my speech in Parliament  in the debate on the Royal Address  in April 1994, I estimated that the Bank Negara forex losses in the early nineties could exceed RM30 billion.

This has now been vindicated by the RCI Report, which said that the total amount of Bank Negara forex losses was RM31.5 billion – comprising RM12.35 billion in 1992, RM15.29 billion in 1993 and RM3.86 billion in 1994.

In my speech in Parliament the following month, on the debate on the 1994 Supplementary Estimates, I asked whether at the height of Bank Negara speculation in the forward foreign exchange market in 1992, Bank Negara’s maximum exposure was in the region of RM270 billion – three times the country’s GDP and more than five times the country’s foreign reserves at the time.

Today, the RCI Report said that “The average monthly maturing buy-and-sell transactions was RM149.7 billion and RM153.4 billion respectively” and “The total volume reached RM750.7 billion in February 1993.”

Secondly, how such colossal Bank Negara forex losses could have escaped the attention and responsibility of any Cabinet Minister, which had included the current Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was the  senior Defence Minister at the time.

The RCI had recommended that an investigation be carried out to determine the responsibility and culpability of Bank Negara officials, other personalities including Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who were the Prime Minister and Finance Minister at the time.  What about the responsibility and culpability of the Cabinet Ministers at the time, including Najib?

Thirdly, the most dominant thought however was what would it be like if there is a RCI Report into international multi-billion 1MDB money-laundering scandal which catapulted Malaysia into the stratosphere of a global kleptocracy.

The Bank Negara forex scandal did not  cause Malaysia international infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy as the RCI had not found any element of corruption or personal gain in the Bank Negara Forex Losses, which is completely  different story  from the 1MDB scandal.

One of the RCI’s  terms of reference was to determine whether there were elements of deliberate concealment of facts and information and misleading statements made to the Cabinet, Parliament and the Public regarding the Bank Negara Forex Losses.

This  focusses attention on the massive charade of concealment of facts and information and misleading statements made to Cabinet, Parliament and the Malaysian Public about the 1MDB scandal when throughout the world, since the past few years, the 1MDB scandal had oftentimes made headlines highlighting   its corruption and criminality.

Are all those who had concealed facts and information, and misled the Cabinet, Parliament and the Public about the 1MDB scandal, to be sent to jail?

When will there be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB global kleptocractic scandal, to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the international  infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 30 November 2017, 4:02 pm and is filed under
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Pakatan Harapan will form Royal Commission of Inquiry into 1MDB scandal in the first 100 days and seek international co-operation to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy

Today is the last day of the 2018 Budget meeting of Parliament, where MPs were surprised with the tabling of the 830-page Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Forex Losses by Bank Negara in the 1990s but no debate was allowed in Parliament.

The RCI Report was dated 13th October 2017, when it was presented to the Yang di Pertuan Agong.

Can the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak explain why the RCI Report on the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s was not presented in Parliament earlier in the intervening seven weeks and why there was no debate in Parliament?

It is obvious that the purpose of the RCI into the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s was not so much to find out the truth as to the forex losses about a quarter of a century ago, but to distract national attention from the greatest financial scandal in Malaysian and even global history, the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal which for the past few years had continued to make international headlines about its monstrous corruption and criminality involving top Malaysian leaders, including “MALAYSIANN OFFICIAL 1” (MO1)!

The RCI into the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s had a second objective, to persecute and harass Pakatan Harapan leaders like Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who posed a serious political challenge to Najib – and this is proven by the police report lodged by the RCI Secretary,  Dr. Yunus Ismail based on the RCI findings.

The Bank Negara Forex Losses RCI recommended that formal police investigations be carried out against those involved in the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s, in particular Mahathir and Anwar, but the question all  Malaysians are asking now is why there is no RCI into the 1MDB international scandal, which has made Malaysia a world laughing stock as a global kleptocracy.

Najib had missed the key lesson of the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s – the failure of Ministers, top government servants and civil society leaders, MP and the press (including Najib who was the senior Defence Minister at the time), to play their role to uphold the principles of transparency, accountability and good governance.

The Bank Negara Forex Losses RCI is exhuming an elephant’s carcass from Mahathir’s era, but why are we missing the elephant in the room – the 1MDB scandal which has brought Malaysians the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy?

The Bank Negara Forex Losses RCI was asked to determine whether there were elements of deliberate concealment of facts and information and misleading statements made to the Cabinet, Parliament and Public regarding Bank Negara’s Forex Losses in the 1990s.

But the question all Malaysians are asking is whether there is not only deliberate concealment of facts and information to mislead the Cabinet, Parliament and Public regarding the 1MDB scandal, but downright corruption in the 1MDB scandal which the RCI had not been able to establish in the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s.

Do we have to wait for a quarter of a century, some time in 2040 or NT2050 before the whole truth about the 1MDB scandal can be told?

The next general elections will be held in the next 100 to 120 days.

If Pakatan Harapan forms the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya in the 14th General Election, Pakatan Harapan will form a Royal Commission of Inquiry into 1MDB scandal in the first 100 days and seek international co-operation to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy.

(Speech at the DAP Johore State  General Elections Dinner in Johor Bahru on Thursday 30th November 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 1 December 2017, 9:15 am and is filed under
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3Vs in the RCI Report of the Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s, presenting the top political leaders and public servants in 1990s as a cast of villains raises questions about the present top political and government leaders in relation to 1MDB scandal –  greatest corruption scandal in nation’s history

Everything is happening with unusual rapidity advertising that the motivating impulse is not to seek justice but the 3Vs of vengeance, vindictiveness and vendetta to target Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with the impending 14th General Election in 120 days.

One sad outcome is the besmirching and devaluation of the institution of Royal Commission of Inquiries – as evident by the dishonourable manner in which the RCI Report  on Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s was surreptitiously circulated to Members of Parliament on the last day of Parliament, without any notice whatsoever and without any opportunity for MPs to debate it!

On 27th January 2017, a former Bank Negara assistant governor claimed that Bank Negara had accumulated losses of USD10 billion in the early 1990s because of speculative foreign exchange trading activities and that there were no investigation carried out despite these huge losses.

This was untrue – for if the purpose was to determine the losses that had been incurred by Bank Negara due to foreign exchange dealings in the 1990s, all that was necessary was the declassify two Official Secrets Act  documents into Bank Negara’s forex losses – the “Audit Report on Foreign Exchange Operations Division of Banking Department and Processing Section of Accounts Department As At December 31, 1992” dated 21st January 1994, which was prepared by Bank Negara’s Internet Audit Department (IAD) for Bank Negara’s top management and Audit Committee and the “Accounting Treatment of Losses Arising from Active Reserve Management 1988 – 1994” dated 18th April 2007, prepared by Bank Negara in 2007 upon instructions of the then Bank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

On the  basis of these two internal reports as well as other documents, the RCI concluded that the total amount of Bank Negara forex losses in the 1990s  was RM31.5 billion – comprising RM12.35 billion in 1992, RM15.29 billion in 1993 and RM3.86 billion in 1994.

But why have these two documents not been declassified under the Official Secrets Act  for public study, and why is there no proper and comprehensive parliamentary debate on the RCI Report on the Bank Negara forex losses in the 1990s?

In contrast, the Najib Cabinet – which carried out a continuing charade in the past few years pretending that the 1MDB scandal which catapulted Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy” does not exist – acted with unusual speed on the former Bank Negara assistant governor’s complaint in January this year,  setting up a Special Task Force on 15th February 2017 to conduct a preliminary review into Bank Negara’s forex trading losses in the 1990s, which submitted its findings to the Cabinet on 21st June.

The Cabinet agreed with the Special Task Force’s recommendation and  a Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up on 15th July 2017, which submitted its Report to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on 13th October 2017.

For  seven weeks the Najib government sat on the RCI Report, springing into action only on November 30, when the RCI Report was surreptitiously circulated to MPs without allowing for a debate and a police report was lodged later on the same day  by the RCI secretary, Dr. Yunus Ismail.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) will conduct the investigations on the foreign exchange losses suffered by Bank Negara in the 1990s as recommended by the RCI.

Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police  Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said a special team led by Bukit Aman CCID director Amar Singh Ishar Singh had been formed to investigate the case from all angles and that the individuals named would be called up to give statements if necessary.

The RCI recommended that formal investigations be carried out into possible offences of CBT and/or cheating that may have been committed by officers of Bank Negara, the Ministry of Finance, the Auditor-General’s Department, Bank Negara’s Board of Governors, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister in “carrying out speculative forex dealings and/or concealing the forex losses from the Cabinet and Parliament”.

Two questions foremost in the minds of Malaysians are:

Firstly, apart from Mahathir and Anwar, and Tan Sri Nor Mohamed bin Yakcop, who else will be targeted?  Will former top Ministry of Finance and Bank Negara officers like Tan Sri Dato Dr. Lin See Yin, Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff bin Mohd Kassim, Tan Sri Datuk Clifford Francis Herbert, Tan Sri Ainum  bte Moihd Saaid, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Tan Sri Dr. Hadenan bin A. Jalil will now be treated as criminal suspects by the Police?

Secondly, in presenting top political leaders and public servants in the 1990s as a cast of villains because of Bank Negara’s forex losses, what about the top political leaders and public servants of today for aiding and abetting the public charade that the greatest  corruption scandal in the nation’s history, the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, does not exist although Malaysia is now regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy?

Will the top political leaders and public servants of today, including the Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers,  go down in Malaysian history as a greatest cast of villains because of their acts of commission and omission in the greatest corruption scandal, 1MDB scandal,  in the nation’s history?

For Najib’s information, all Malaysians want  the answer to the  latter question!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 December 2017, 7:46 am and is filed under
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Najib should speak up on behalf of all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to deplore US President Trump’s Islamophobic tweets

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should speak up on behalf of all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to deplore United States President Donald Trump’s Islamophobic tweets.

The is the time for Najib to rescue his “wasatiyyah” preachings in promoting the Global Movement of Moderates from utter irrelevance and inconsequence.

As a “reliable friend” whom Trump would pay attention to, as claimed by the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, it is pertinent that Najib should speak up to let Trump know of the world-wide condemnation of his Islamophobic tweets, not just from Muslims  but from all level-headed persons in the world.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 December 2017, 3:31 pm and is filed under
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How Yemen became the most wretched place on earth

Economist

Nov 30th 2017 | ADEN, HODEIDA AND SANA’A

A report from a conflict zone the world ignores

ALONG the road from the port city of Hodeida to Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, rugged mountains rise sharply from a coastal plain, then level off, giving way to a raised plateau. Old stone farmhouses overlook terraced fields, fed by mountain rains. To the south are lush forests, where baboons and wildcats live. Yemen’s vast deserts spread to the east. The diversity of the landscape is breathtaking. But amid all this natural beauty, there is misery.

Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East even before the outbreak of war in 2014 between Houthi rebels and government forces. The conflict has heaped devastation upon poverty. Since fighting began Yemen has suffered the biggest cholera outbreak in modern history and is on the brink of the harshest famine the world has seen for decades. The conflict has shattered the water, education and health systems. The UN says that it is the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis. Three-quarters of the population of 28m need help.

The war in Yemen, and looming humanitarian catastrophe, has gone largely unnoticed beyond its borders. The fighting is rooted in old conflicts and now involves many groups, sucking in Yemen’s neighbours. But no single force has emerged that is strong enough or competent enough to hold the entire country together, making the prospects for peace dim.

Yemen’s infrastructure has been crumbling for years, so it is difficult for a visitor to tell between buildings that are falling down through neglect and those half-levelled by explosions. But locals point out the damage wrought by a bombing campaign led by Saudi Arabia, part of an international coalition that supports the government. Although American and British military advisers have helped the Saudis to choose targets, and their governments have provided them with precision-guided munitions, or “smart bombs”, the air strikes often seem to miss their mark.

The Houthis, a group of Shia rebels, are the main target. Unhappy with reforms to the state and their share of power, they swept out of their northern stronghold in 2014 and overran Sana’a. With the support of Iran and the forces of a former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Houthis then moved south, taking control of most of the rest of Yemen. The president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, fled—first to Aden, a southern port, then to Saudi Arabia, where he remains. At his request, the Saudis stepped in and, with local forces, pushed back the Houthis to the north of the country.

Coalition air strikes have targeted factories and food-storage warehouses, as well as the airport in Sana’a. The road from the capital to Hodeida is pockmarked with craters. At the port, the cranes used to unload ships have been put out of action. Once the lifeline of the north, it now operates at well under its former capacity. For months America tried to supply new cranes, but they were turned back by Gulf members of the coalition.

Ships and planes carrying food, fuel and medicine are monitored by the UN to ensure that arms are not entering the north. But the coalition still holds up shipments. In November it cut off northern ports completely for over two weeks. Even the more limited blockade has created a cycle of suffering. A lack of fuel has crippled water-pumping stations, so locals have resorted to drinking from dirty sources. Cholera is often the result. The medicine to treat it is also held up by the coalition.

Nowhere is safe

Nothing seems out of bounds for the bombers. About 40 health centres were struck by the coalition over the first six months of the war. Amnesty International, a pressure group, has accused it of deliberately targeting civilians, hospitals, schools, markets and mosques; and of using imprecise weapons, such as cluster bombs, which most countries have outlawed. A spokesman for the coalition once declared the entire city of Saada, home to about 50,000 people, a military target.

That is where Ali Marhad (see picture) lived before fighting about a decade ago forced him to flee. He moved into a camp for displaced people in Mazraq. But it was bombed in 2015 by the coalition, killing 40 people, including his two sons, he says. He then moved to a camp in Hajjah. Earlier this year another bomb fell near his home, a collection of sticks and tarpaulin. It is exceedingly difficult for ordinary Yemenis to escape the fighting.

At least 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed by bullets and bombs. Around 40 times more people have died in Syria’s war, which also sent a wave of refugees to Europe. Perhaps that is why it has gained international attention, while the conflict in Yemen is overlooked. Less than half of the British public is aware of it. The death toll is anyway misleading. Many more Yemenis have died from a lack of food and medicine than from the fighting, of which the shortages are a direct result. The war continues, though the front line has hardly budged in the past year.

Fighting is not unusual in Yemen. Sitting at the south-western tip of the Arabian peninsula, on important trade routes, the land has long been coveted by foreign powers. In the past century it has seen about a dozen conflicts, involving over half a dozen countries.

Some seeds of today’s fighting were sown in battles in the 1960s—a civil war in the north and an insurgency against British colonial forces in the south. Two distinct Yemeni states arose. Leaders in the north turned to religious authority for their legitimacy, enlisting the support of Islamic clerics. The more secular south adopted Marxism and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Political feuding led to further wars in 1972 and 1979, but economic hardship and the end of the cold war brought the sides together. After a series of failed agreements in the 1970s and 1980s, north and south at last agreed on a new constitution in 1990, in the hope that a show of unity would attract foreign investment and increase the extraction of Yemen’s oil.

Money briefly flowed in and oil out. But simmering ill-feeling erupted into civil war in 1994 in which Mr Saleh’s northern forces were victorious. In the aftermath his General People’s Congress (GPC) dominated parliament, then set about consolidating power. Parliamentary elections in 2003 were postponed and critics detained. Mr Saleh and his henchmen are thought to have stolen billions of dollars of state funds, while most Yemenis got by on less than $3 a day. Resentment of his rule grew.

The Zaydis, a Shia sect, who make up perhaps 40% of the population, felt particularly marginalised by Mr Saleh (though he is one of them). The Houthis emerged from this group in the 1990s, bristling at the growth of the Saudis’ conservative religious influence and Yemen’s alliance with America in its war on terror. Mr Saleh, in turn, accused the group of wanting to overthrow his government. Hundreds of people died in fighting between the Houthis and pro-government forces between 2004 and 2010—including Hussein Badruddin al-Houthi, the group’s leader, from whom it takes its name.

Opposition to Mr Saleh’s rule came to a head during the Arab spring of 2011, when tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets. With a push from the Gulf states, he stepped down in 2012 and was succeeded by Mr Hadi, his vice-president. Thus began a short-lived period of hope. Talks overseen by the UN led to a plan in 2014 for a new con stitution enshrining a federal system and a parliament split between northerners and southerners.

The Houthis, however, continued to distrust the government. They boycotted an election won by Mr Hadi in 2012 and opposed the agreement of 2014, on the grounds that it stuck most of them in a region with few resources and no access to the sea. Nor had they received positions in the government that they wanted. Their frustration was shared by Mr Saleh, who sought to undermine the transition in the hope of regaining the presidency or, at least, handing it to his son.

Resentment towards Mr Hadi and disquiet over the growing power of Islah, an Islamist party affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s main Islamist group, brought the Houthis and Mr Saleh into an unlikely alliance in 2014. In September of that year their forces entered Sana’a—and were welcomed by many Yemenis who had become disenchanted with Mr Hadi’s ineffective leadership. A power-sharing deal between the Houthis and the government was brokered by the UN—and then ignored. In early 2015 the rebels seized full control of the capital. By March they had made it to Aden.

Muhammad fears a Houthi

But it was also becoming clear that the Houthis, motivated by grievances, did not have a plan for ruling Yemen. In areas under their control, rubbish is piling up, cash is hard to get hold of and the lights have gone out. “My sense of it is that they never really had a clear political agenda, both during the wars with Saleh and after,” says April Longley Alley of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank.

The incompetence of the Houthis has been compounded by the involvement of Saudi Arabia. Saudi meddling in Yemen is nothing new. In 1934 Saudi soldiers retook towns seized by the Zaydis. Prince Saud, their leader, would later become king. Today Prince Muhammad bin Salman is first in line to the throne. But his adventure in Yemen, which seemed designed to build him a reputation as a strong leader, has led Saudi Arabia into a quagmire.

Responding to Mr Hadi’s call for help, Prince Muhammad organised a coalition that included Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. They began striking Yemen from the air and the sea in March 2015. A month later the Saudis declared the air campaign over. It had “achieved its military goals”, officials said. A new operation would supposedly focus on finding a political solution in Yemen.

In reality, the war was just beginning. Over the next months, local forces backed by coalition air strikes (and later soldiers) pushed the Houthis back. However, they have not been able to drive them out of territory seized in the north, including Sana’a. So instead the coalition seems intent on starving the north.

The Saudis have created much of the misery that blights Yemen, but blame falls on others, too. The Houthis and Mr Saleh’s forces have also carried out indiscriminate attacks in cities such as Taiz and Aden. They have held up aid and are accused of war profiteering. Mr Hadi says the Houthis looted around $4bn from the central bank to pay for the war (the Houthis say the money was used for food and medicine). So he moved the bank from Sana’a to Aden in 2016 and stopped paying the salaries of public servants in the north. Schools and hospitals have closed and many northerners face destitution.

For Saudi Arabia, the region’s Sunni champion, the failure of its campaign in Yemen is twofold. Not only was it designed to reinstate Mr Hadi’s government—it was also supposed to send a signal to Iran’s Shia regime. The two powers are locked in a struggle for regional dominance that has spilled over into Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. The Saudis fear that, in the Houthis, Iran is nurturing a Shia proxy, akin to Hizbullah, the Lebanese militia that it backs. Yet again Yemen is the playground of bigger powers.

America has concluded that Iran does not exert “command and control” over the Houthis. But there is little doubt that it is arming the group. It appears to have supplied missiles the Houthis have fired. America’s most senior admiral in the region told the New York Times in September that Iran is providing anti-ship and ballistic missiles, mines and exploding boats that the rebels have used to attack coalition ships in the Red Sea. When the Saudis shot down a missile fired from Yemen on its way to Riyadh on November 4th, they called it an “act of war” by Iran.

The possibility that the war might end soon is slender. The Saudis have powerful backing to continue their fight. President Donald Trump has nothing but praise for them. When he visited Riyadh in May he applauded their “strong action” against the Houthis and agreed to sell them $110bn worth of “beautiful” arms. The war has also been a blessing for Britain’s defence industry, which has hugely increased sales of missiles and bombs to Saudi Arabia since the start of the war. As the European Parliament approved a non-binding arms embargo against the Saudis in 2016, David Cameron, then the prime minister, sounded almost Trumpian, praising the “brilliant” weapons that Britain was selling to the kingdom. His successor, Theresa May, at least expressed her concerns over the war.

America and Britain not only support Saudi Arabia but have blocked other countries from putting pressure on it. Along with France, which also sells weapons to the Saudis, they undercut a UN resolution in 2015 that would have set up a panel to examine abuses in the war. When urging the creation of a new panel earlier this year, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, condemned “the reticence of the international community in demanding justice for the victims of the conflict”. The panel was approved—but only after America, Britain and France had watered it down.

The UN has organised three rounds of peace talks. But Mr Hadi’s government insists that the Houthis lay down their arms and withdraw from the areas they have seized. The Houthis complain that they are the only group that UN resolutions ask to give ground. In May a convoy led by Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN envoy to Yemen, was attacked by demonstrators in Sana’a. “There will be no more contact with [him] and he is not welcome here,” said Saleh al-Samad, a Houthi leader, a month later.

As the war drags on, both sides appear unsteady. In the south the Saudis along with the Emiratis, who are the largest foreign force on the ground, have built an unwieldy alliance of Salafists, southern secessionists and other militias. “Whatever Gulf money can buy,” says an observer. Some of these groups are accused of working with jihadists, such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, though the Emiratis have pushed back al-Qaeda. No one thinks Mr Hadi has a long-term future.

North-south divides

In the north the Houthis accuse Mr Saleh of negotiating secretly with the coalition (though they have done the same). Mr Saleh, who is the weaker partner, fears being left out of any settlement. Things came to a head in August, when clashes between Houthis and supporters of Mr Saleh led to deaths on both sides. They have since made up but tension remains high. And there is a split within the Houthis, between hardliners and moderates. The group’s leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, is seen as willing to negotiate. However, analysts say that, the longer the war goes on, the stronger the hardliners become.

Some spy an opening. Ms Alley reckons that the divisions, as long as they do not develop into open conflict, are an opportunity for some kind of deal. “Carrots have to be offered to those willing to compromise—right now it is all sticks,” she says. Yet the Saudis, under little pressure from abroad, do not look like backing down and seem to hope that the population in the north will rise up against the Houthis. Frustration with Houthi rule is growing, something Mr Saleh seems keen to exploit, but so far the streets are mostly quiet.

Others may not want peace. Warlords profit from extortion or by selling looted aid on the black market. Mr Hadi’s government and other combatants are accused of creating shortages so that they can sell items, such as fuel, at a big mark-up. Even if the Saudis were to withdraw, many analysts think that the fighting within Yemen would continue—between northerners and southerners, the Houthis and Mr Saleh or Islah and any number of parties.

Ordinary Yemenis are less interested in such divisions. A crowd gathers around Ali Marhad’s tent as he dispassionately recounts his hardship. They come from Houthi territory, but they say they have no tribe, no money, no home, “just Allah”. Do they care who wins the war? “No!” they cry. They just want it to end.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 3 December 2017, 10:30 am and is filed under
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The war the world ignores

Economist (Leader)

Nov 30th 2017

How—and why—to end the war in Yemen

A pointless conflict has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world

YEMEN lost the title of Arabia Felix, or “Fortunate Arabia”, long ago. It has suffered civil wars, tribalism, jihadist violence and appalling poverty. But none of this compares with the misery being inflicted on the country today by the war between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, a Shia militia backed by Iran.

The UN reckons three-quarters of Yemen’s 28m people need some kind of humanitarian aid. Mounting rubbish, failing sewerage and wrecked water supplies have led to the worst cholera outbreak in recent history. The country is on the brink of famine. The economy has crumbled, leaving people with impossible choices. Each day the al-Thawra hospital in Hodeida must decide which of the life-saving equipment to run with what little fuel it has.

Perhaps the worst of it is that much of the world seems unperturbed (see Briefing), calloused by the years of bloodshed in Syria and other parts of the Middle East, and despairing of its ability to effect change. To be cynical, Yemen is farther away from Europe than Syria is; its wretched people do not, on the whole, wash up in the West seeking asylum.

Yet the world ignores Yemen at its peril. Set aside for a moment the obligation to relieve suffering and protect civilians. Hard security interests are also at stake. The world can ill afford another failed state—a new Afghanistan or Somalia—that becomes a breeding-ground for global terrorism. Yemen, moreover, dominates the Bab al-Mandab strait, a choke-point for ships using the Suez canal. Like it or not, the West is involved. The Saudi-led coalition is fighting with Western warplanes and munitions. Western satellites guide its bombs.

Slippery Saleh

Like so much else in the Arab world, Yemen’s agony can be traced to the Arab-spring uprisings of 2011. Mass protests, a near-assassination of the then president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and a shove from neighbouring petro-states forced him to step down in 2012 in favour of his vice-president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A draft constitution in 2015 proposed a federal system and a parliament split between northerners and southerners. But the Houthi rebels, who had fought Mr Saleh, rejected it. The Houthis, who follow the Zaydi branch of Shiism (as do perhaps 40% of Yemenis), complained that, among other things, the constitution stuck them in a region with few resources and without access to the sea.

Now allied with Mr Saleh, who spotted an opportunity for a comeback, the Houthis ousted Mr Hadi from Sana’a, the capital, and chased him all the way to Aden. Saudi Arabia gathered a coalition of Arab states and local militias—among them Islamists, Salafists and southern separatists—and forced the Houthis to retreat partway. For the past year, the battle-lines have barely moved. The Houthis are too weak to rule over Yemen but too powerful for Saudi Arabia to defeat.

As a result, Yemenis have become the pawns in the regional power-struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Alarmed by Iran’s spreading influence, the Saudis have begun to speak of the Houthis rather as Israelis refer to the Lebanese militia, Hizbullah: a dangerous Iranian proxy army on their border. Indeed, the Saudis have much to learn from Israel’s experience. Even with the most sophisticated weapons, it is all but impossible to defeat a militia that is well entrenched in a civilian population. The stronger side is blamed for the pain of those civilians. For the weaker lot, survival is victory.

So, even though the Houthis are primarily responsible for starting the war and capable of great cruelty, it is the Saudis who are accused of war crimes. Often the accusation is justified. In their air campaign, they have been careless and incompetent at best, and probably cynical. Human-rights groups say bombs have been aimed at schools, markets, mosques and hospitals. And the blockade raises suspicion that the Saudis are using food as a tool of war.

The longer the war goes on, the more Saudi Arabia’s Western allies are complicit in its actions. President Donald Trump has given Saudi Arabia carte blanche to act recklessly. He may think it is all part of confronting Iran; or he may want to support the liberalising reforms of the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman; or he may hope to profit by selling the Saudis “lots of beautiful military equipment”. Whatever the case, he is damaging America’s interests. Precisely because of the importance of Saudi Arabia—the world’s biggest oil exporter and home to Islam’s two holiest places—the West should urge restraint on the impetuous prince and help disentangle him from an unwinnable war.

How? Peace talks led by the UN have begun with the demand that the Houthis surrender. That is unrealistic. Better to freeze the conflict and find another mediator, such as Oman or Kuwait. A deal should involve a phased withdrawal of Houthi fighters from Sana’a and the Saudi border, and the end of the Saudi blockade. Yemen needs an inclusive government, elections and a new structure for the state. Saudi Arabia will need guarantees that Iranian arms are not flowing into Yemen. Then it will have to cough up the cash to rebuild the country.

None of this will be easy. But a reasonable peace offer is more likely to crack the Houthis than more bombing. Without the cover of fighting Saudi aggression, the Houthis will have to answer for their failures. The public is increasingly turning against them, the alliance with Mr Saleh is fraying and the Houthis themselves are divided.

Stop the war

Right now, far from halting the spread of Iran’s influence, the war has deepened the Houthis’ reliance on Iran, which has an easy and cheap means of tormenting the Saudis. And because Saudi Arabia is bogged down in Yemen, Iran has a freer hand to set the terms of a settlement in Syria. The war is a drain on the Saudis at a time of austerity and wrenching economic reforms at home. They should therefore learn another lesson from Israel’s experience of fighting Hizbullah. If wars are to be fought at all, they should be short, and have limited aims. Deterrence is better than debilitating entanglement.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 3 December 2017, 9:52 am and is filed under
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Will UMNO General Assembly ignore three years in a row what the United States Attorney-General Sessions described  yesterday as the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst”  – the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal?

Will the 71st UMNO General Assembly ignore three years in a row what the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions described yesterday as the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” – the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal?

At the opening speech for the Global Forum on Asset Recovery in Washington DC yesterday, US Attorney-General Sessions described  the 1MDB scandal as “kleptocracy at it worst” when referring to  United States government efforts in combatting corruption on the global level.

No other kleptocracy rated the prominence given by Sessions to the 1MDB scandal.

Sessions said:

“You may be familiar with some of these cases.  For example, nearly half of the $3.5 billion in corruption proceeds we have restrained is related to just one enforcement action.

“That action was related to a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB.  1MDB was created by the Malaysian government to promote long-term economic development for the benefit of the Malaysian people.

“But allegedly corrupt officials and their associates reportedly used the funds for a lavish spending spree: $200 million for real estate in Southern California and New York.  $130 million in artwork.  $100 million in an American music label.  Not to mention a $265 million yacht.

“In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than $4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States.  This is kleptocracy at its worst.

“Today, the U.S. Department of Justice is working to provide justice to the victims of this alleged scheme.”

What is obvious from Sessions’ speech is that although he expressed thanks to the co-operation of the law-enforcement agencies in various countries in fighting global  corruption and money-laundering, he had specifically omitted reference to Malaysia after highlighting the 1MDB scandal – and for very obvious reasons, for the Malaysian law enforcement agencies, whether the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Police or the Attorney-General’s Chambers had refused to co-operate not only with the law-enforcement agencies of  United States but other countries like Switzerland in the world’s worst and largest case of kleptocracy.

From Sessions’ speech, the 1MDB scandal alone represents nearly half of the US$3.5 billion in corruption proceeds the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had seized or restrained since 2004.

The  United States has returned millions in corruption proceeds to compensate victims of kleptocarcy, including approximately US$119 million to the people of Italy, US$115 million to the people of Kazakhstan, more than US$20 million to the people of Peru, and millions more to the people of Nicaragua, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Will the 71st UMNO General Assembly discuss seriously and in depth  the 1MDB scandal, the world’s worst kleptocracy, and demand the return of the 1MDB corruption proceeds restrained in the United States to the people of Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 5 December 2017, 11:40 am and is filed under
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Phantom Segamat army camp with 1,051 phantom registered voters is most recent example of Election Commission’s “strategic manipulation” of electoral roll to help UMNO/BN coalition to steal the next election and  why Malaysia’s  electoral integrity is at rock bottom in the world, just above Zimbabwe

The phantom Segamat army camp with 1,051 phantom registered voters is the most recent example of Election Commission’s “strategic manipulation” of the electoral roll to help the UMNO/BN coalition to steal the next election  and why Malaysia’s electoral integrity is at the rock-bottom in the world, just above Zimbabwe.

Segamat was the venue for the farce and charade of  the padding of 1,051 army voters to Segamat parliamentary constituency to save the MIC President and Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam who won his seat in the 13th General Election with a slim majority of 1,217 votes.

Together with Johor DAP State Chairman and MP for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong, Johor State Assemblyman for Jementah Tan Chen Choon, State Assemblyman for Mengkibol, Tan Hon Ping, State Assemblyman for Bekok, Lim Eng Guan and State Assemblyman for Tangkak, Ee Chin Li, I had visited the new military camp at Batu Anam at Jalan Pulapol, Segamat early last month and found it was under construction and would not be completed until April next year. Not a single person was staying there.

How  have 1,051 army voters and their spouses been registered as new voters at the army  site for  the 2017 third quarter Supplementary Electoral Roll (RDPT), which was  put on display from Oct 25 to Nov 6?

We have heard of phantom voters, but this is the first case of phantom voters in a phantom military camp – and is irrefutable proof of the Election Commission and the UMNO/BN government caught red-handed in trying to “steal” the 14GE by shifting 1,051 army voters to an uncompleted Segamat military camp to save the MIC President and Health Minister in  the Segamat parliamentary seat in the next general election.

This is not a case of a one, ten or 50 persons committing the electoral offence of illegally registering as voter in a place which is neither a place of residence or work, or one or two Registering Officers taking in part in electoral scams and committing election offences, but involves the army and the Election Commission in a major illegal conspiracy to pad parliamentary constituencies which UMNO/BN regard as dangerous and could lose in the 14GE with safe army votes – to the extent of over a thousand votes.

How many more  thousands voters will be shifted to the Segamat parliamentary constituency in the next quarterly voter-registration exercise ending on 31st December, although the military camp would not be completed or occupied until April next year?

The explanation given by the Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Johari Baharum in Parliament  that  the military has already started transferring officers to the Segamat army base in Johor although it was not completed yet, and that it was not unusual for army personnel to be stationed in a camp that was in the midst of construction if they were needed for operations there, were just untrue and nonsensical, as the army site was completely empty without any camp, nor were there any “operational” needs except to manipulate  the electoral roll.

This was demonstrated by the turning out in full force of the 1,051 army voters (including spouse and kids) in buses for public hearings by the Election Commission into objections of their registration as voters in a phantom army site.

The Election Commission had rejected Johore DAP’s  objections to  the transfer of of 1,051 phantom  army voters to the phantom Segamat camp, which is still under construction.

According to the DAP Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, following the rejection of the objections, the Election Commission (EC) imposed a penalty of RM100 per objected voter, which was later increased to RM150 per person.

This is a gross abuse of power by the Election Commission and the latest proof of its “strategic manipulation” of the electoral roll – and why  Malaysia’s electoral integrity plunged  to the rock-bottom of the world, just above Zimbabwe.

A recent  research project on electoral integrity from May this year revealed that Malaysia ranked 142nd out of 158 assessed countries, one step above Zimbabwe.

According to the data, Malaysia fell under the “very low/failed” category, which is the lowest out of five categories.

“Nearly all other countries in this category have experienced deep social and political instability, like Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, or have single-party systems, like Vietnam, that preclude meaningful electoral competition.

“Neither of these is true for Malaysia, making it a clear outlier in the category,” said political science researcher Kai Ostwald in a 2017 academic paper titled “Malaysia’s Electoral Process: The Methods and Costs of Perpetuating Umno Rule”.

Contrary to these countries with social and political instability, Ostwald said Malaysia has had a well-institutionalised state which provides relative social stability, a high level of human development and robust economic development.

“This developmental success brings Malaysia’s poor electoral integrity into stark contrast and suggests that its deficiencies are the result of deliberate manipulations, rather than a by-product of developmental strife,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 December 2017, 11:18 am and is filed under
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 14GE is critical and crucial test whether Malaysia is capable of becoming a normal democratic country to make the country a top world achiever  in every field of human endeavour

When the country achieved Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia was formed in 1963, we had a national vision expressed in the  1957 Merdeka and 1963 Malaysia Proclamations.

Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, called on everyone in the country “to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty – a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”.

The Merdeka and Malaysia Proclamations  outlined the pursuit of the  great dream of a Malaysia of Excellence, Justice, Integrity,  Compassion and Freedom, pledging that we “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.

Have we achieved our Malaysian Dream in the past 60 years?

From “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”, we have ourselves become a “disturbed and distracted” nation.

The greatest “distraction” for the ongoing UMNO General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, beating war-drums for the impending 14th General Election,  is none other than  the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which catapulted Malaysia in three years into a global kleptocracy – to the extent that Malaysia has become even the butt of jokes of corrupt African nations!

Although the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions castigated Malaysia at an international conference for the crime and kleptocracy of the 1MDB scandal on the eve of the UMNO General Assembly, no UMNO leader or delegate was sufficiently patriotic to call on UMNO to be in the forefront to take belated measures to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the international infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

In his opening speech at the UMNO General Assembly this morning, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he wanted UMNO to continue to rule the nation, not only in the next 30 years, but  for another 1,000 years.

This is not the mindset of a democrat, but a Maharaja or Maharaja-wannabe.

A democrat accepts the principle that the people are the final arbiters of which political party or coalition rules the country, and accepts the verdict of the people in a general election as to which party or coalition is to form the government of the day.

The voters will not be threatened with chaos, unrest or whatever horrifying consequences  if they vote for a change of  government, nor will any government or party leader boasts of ruling a country “for a thousand years”.  Hitler’s Nazi Third Reich aimed to rule for a thousand years but it collapsed after 12 years.  I wonder whether Najib will call Hitler a democrat.

The 14th General Election is critical and crucial test whether Malaysia is capable of becoming a normal democratic country to make the country a top world achiever  in every field of human endeavour.

Countries which are normal democratic countries, like  in Europe, United States, Australia, Canada, the United States, and in Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Philippines and increasingly Indonesia,  everyone accepts the democratic principle that the government-of-the-day is decided through the ballot boxes,  and there  are no political leaders who aspire to  become “maharajas” or “maharaja-wannabes” with   “thousand-year rule”  visions.

Is Najib prepared to prove that he is a democrat by declaring that he would accept the democratic verdict of the people in the 14th General Election and will peacefully and democratic hand over power if this is the decision of the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election?

(Speech at the Johor DAP State Policy Symposium  on “Envisage Johor 2030” in Batu Pahat, Johore on Thursday, 7th December 2017 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 December 2017, 3:48 pm and is filed under
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THIS IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR MALAYSIA’S RACE-BASED POLITICS

BY OOI KEE BENG

South China Morning Post

6 DEC 2017

As the Umno General Assembly gets underway, the time has come to deal with the long-term negative consequences of the party’s Malay-centrism

After all the analysing done by pundits on Malaysia’s political dynamics in the post-Mahathir period, the country has now come to the strange point of being in a potential pre-Mahathir period.

There is now the more-than-theoretical possibility that 92-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad will return to lead the country, should the opposition coalition win the coming general election. Though unlikely, the chances of that happening are not exactly slim.

In many ways, Malaysia has been locked in a period of transition for two decades. One could say this was triggered by the Reformasi movement in 1998 when the country’s two top leaders fell out with each other, and behind that, by the socio-economic travails ignited by the Asian Financial Crisis; or one could claim that it began with Mahathir’s retirement in October 2003, or that it started with the surprising results of the 2008 elections when the ragtag opposition managed on election night to win five of the 13 states.

Behind these unending trends lies the fact that a new generation of young leaders – some inspired by the 1998 protests but most thrust into the limelight in 2008 – have been waiting impatiently to take over but are still playing merely a supporting role, not only because the old leaders are still active but also because of the solidity of the discursive and economic domination of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition over the rural population in particular.

Supporters of the United Malays National Organisation, or Umno. Photo: AFP

Supporters of the United Malays National Organisation, or Umno. Photo: AFP

Then there was the advent of the internet news media, a prominent milestone of which was the founding of the Malaysiakini news website in 1999. This was followed a decade later by The Malaysia Insider (brought to its knees by political pressure in 2016 and since resurrected as The Malaysian Insight) and by other websites. Social media also appeared after the turn of the century to act as an effective new tool for political activism.

Where the opposition parties are concerned, we have seen its major coalitions evolve from the Barisan Alternatif in 1999 to Pakatan Rakyat in April 2008 to Pakatan Harapan in 2015, which since then has evolved to include two newly formed Malay-based parties: Parti Amanah Negara (splintered from the Islamist Parti Agama SeMalaysia (PAS) and Mahathir’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (consisting of Umno dissidents).

The dominant United Malays National Organisation (Umno) has in the meantime gone through its own transformation, taking more and more conservative racial and religious stances the more its defences crumble, which they did in 2008 and 2013. Abdullah Badawi’s huge popularity in 2004 dissipated surprisingly quickly, and his replacement, Najib Razak, the present prime minister, went from being much more popular than his party at the time of his rise to power to being a big burden to its reputation today.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak: a burden to his party’s reputation? Photo: AFP

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak: a burden to his party’s reputation? Photo: AFP

Transitions that go on and on are of course not really transitions any more. Instead, they define the new normal, if for no other reason, then surely by virtue of the fact that the status quo has over time managed to dig itself in. Malaysian politics in the 21st century is now best described as a state of trench warfare.

How, or if, this will end any time soon is the big question.

The return of Mahathir in politics should thus be of the greatest interest to Malaysianists. What are the dangers that Mahathir, a man who has been at the heart of Malaysian politics since the 1960s, sees in the Najib administration which brought this nonagenarian out of retirement so fully that he would form a new party, bring it into the fold of the opposition coalition, and manoeuvre himself into the chair of this body? Why does he eat humble pie the way he has done, and approach Anwar Ibrahim, the man he so mercilessly sacked in 1998 and put in jail, for rapprochement? Why has he been traversing and criss-crossing the country, with his faithful and aged wife in tow, whipping up dissent against Najib, the son of the man who brought him in from the cold in 1972.

Few know more than him how Umno politics and Malaysian governance have relied on dubious processes covering corruption, political patronage, vote manipulation, mass media control, and draconian laws. What is different now?

The fact that he calls his new party a “Pribumi” party, highlighting the fact that it is a Malay-based party, is key to understanding what the situation in Malaysia is today, at least to his mind. Bersatu is also a race-based party that immediately and paradoxically wishes to go into coalition with Pakatan Harapan, whose expressed concerns are about good governance and not racial one-upmanship, and in which the Democratic Action Party (DAP), long dubbed by Umno as an anti-Malay Chinese-chauvinist party, is a founding partner.

Within that nascent coalition are three de facto Malay-based parties, the other two being Amanah, and Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat. For the coming elections, these are arrayed alongside the DAP against Umno, the major Malay-based party, surrounded by its weaker or neutered Barisan Nasional allies, and tentatively supported by the Islamist PAS.

No wonder there is talk about a pending Malay voter tsunami against the federal government in the coming elections. The time seems to have come when the Malay community has to deal with the long-term negative consequences of Umno’s Malay-centrism on Malaysian nation building. The economic burdens on the lower classes are heavy, while national economic figures remain positive, and Umno governs in the face of four Malay parties in opposition to it. (No doubt, PAS seems more willing to put in its lot with Umno than with the others).

One big definite change over the last few decades has been the emergence of a large enough educated urban Malay middle class whose members appreciate the social stability and cultural pride that only good governance can bring instead of acting out of highly augmented fear of economic and political irrelevance as a community.

The Bumiputra policy was never supposed to be a goal in itself. In fact, the success of Malay-centric nation building requires Malaysian nation building to remain successful. It is here, I believe, that Mahathir’s dilemma lies. Malay-centrism alone will get the Malays nowhere. As a slogan, Malay-centrism rings hollow if the country becomes ever more divided, the poorer classes become ever poorer, and nothing in its present trajectory promises stronger reasons for national pride in the immediate future.

Reforming Malay politics into a shape that accepts the multiculturalism that so clearly marks Malaysian society and that recognises the challenges the digital age poses seems to be the goal, for Mahathir and many others. There is real fear that Malay-centrism a la Umno has lost the plot, and acting in denial of this fact, is dragging the Malay community – and the country as well – into a political black hole.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 December 2017, 6:47 am and is filed under
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Let Najib prove he is not a false democrat who accepts the verdict of the electorate when he wins but rejects democracy and overturns the verdict when he loses by declaring he will accept the  voters’ judgment in 14GE including replacement of UMNO/BN Government by Pakatan Harapan  in Putrajaya

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the opportunity in his winding-up speech as UMNO President tomorrow to prove that he is not a false democrat who accepts the verdict of the electorate when he wins but rejects democracy and overturns the verdict by declaring he will accept the voters’ judgement in the 14th General Election including a peaceful  and democratic transition of power in the replacement of UMNO/BN Government by Pakatan Harapan in Putrajaya.

Najib’s democratic credentials came into doubt when in his UMNO Presidential speech yesterday,  he said he wanted UMNO to continue to rule the nation, not only in the next 30 years, but for another 1,000 years.

This is not the mindset of a democrat, but a Maharaja or Maharaja-wannabe.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi said at the opening of the 2017 UMNO Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings general assembly on Tuesday night that  UMNO is the only political party in the world that continues to rule and has never been defeated in elections since 1955.

If the Malaysian electorate, comprising voters from all races, religions and regions, decide in the 14th General Election  which will be held in the next 150 days, that Malaysia should become a normal democratic country and have a new start after 60 years of UMNO rule to avoid being trapped in the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state, will Najib demonstrate that he is the true “democrat” by declaring in advance that he will accept the verdict and personally ensure a peaceful and democratic transition of power?

It is regrettable that Najib’s speech yesterday and the UMNO General Assemblies are not examples of a  political party sure and certain of victory in the impending 14th General Election in a clean and honest democratic battle, but fearful of defeat but desperate to win  and is prepared to plumb the lowest depths of deceit, hatred and bigotry to arouse and escalate primordial fears and insecurities to stay in power.

I never expected when I  attended the official opening of the new  UMNO Headquarters at the World Putra Trade Centre (PWTC) in 1985, that I will adorn one of its walls three decades later in an UMNO exhibition to degrade and demonise leaders of the Opposition.

No ruling party, especially one which boasts of  being the world’s sole example of unbroken continued rule for more than six decades, confident of itself and not obsessed about being defeated in the forthcoming polls, would stoop so low with such an “no-class” exhibition.

Malaysians cry for UMNO, which has deviated from its founding years from a political party for Malays and bumiputras into a political party for UMNO-putras, betraying  the great Malaysian dream of excellence, justice, integrity,  freedom and harmony of diverse races, religions and cultures  by turning Malaysia into a land of mediocrity, injustice, repression, racial and religious polarization, and worst of all, a global kleptocracy!

Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, called on everyone in the country “to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty – a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” but sixty years later, Malaysia itself has become a “disturbed and distracted” country.

This is why Najib and the  2017 UMNO General Assembly continued their  charade of the last three years to ignore the “elephant” at the UMNO General Assemblies  – the international multi-billion 1MDB scandal although Malaysia was humiliated in an international forum on the eve of the 2017 UMNO General Assembly when the United States Attorney-General Jeffs Session described 1MDB scandal as “kleptocracy at its worst”!

Will Najib break his silence on the “kleptocracy at its worst”  in his summing-up speech tomorrow?

The three FAQs on 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst”  scandal are:

1. Whether Najib received RM2.6 billion donation from Saudi royalty;

2. Whether Najib returned RM2.1 billion to Saudi royalty; and

3. Whether the RM144 million pink diamond necklace for the “wife of MO1” came from stolen 1MDB funds.

The answers to all these three FAQs about the 1MDB scandal are given, in great detail, in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Will Najib, at minimum,  announce tomorrow that he is sending the Malaysian Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali  to Washington to get full answers from the US Department of Justice  not only on the RM2.6 billion “donation” to Najib’s personal banking accounts, but all the other 34 references to “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (“MO1”) in the DOJ kleptocratic litigation?

The saddest part of Najib’s speech to beat the war-drums for the 14th General Election is his deplorable example in resorting to  lies, falsehoods,  defamatory statements and race-baiting to score political points, for instance, repeating the baseless lies that the DAP is “terang-terang Anti-Melayu dan Islam” because DAP stands for a secular Malaysia.

The first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman,  Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn had  stood for a secular Malaysia.

Is Najib suggesting that the three first three Prime Ministers, including his father Tun Razak and uncle Tun Hussein had been  anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

Is the Prime Minister  immune from the laws of the land, including criminal defamation and the crimes of racial and religious incitement to create unrest in the country?

This will an important test of the independence, impartiality, efficiency and professionalism of the Police and the law-enforcement agencies in the country!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 December 2017, 11:35 am and is filed under
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Will  Najib set a “wasatiyyah” example instead of  leading a campaign of lies and falsehoods against the Opposition in the run-up to the 14GE?

Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak set a “wasatiyyah” example and not lead a campaign of lies and falsehoods against the Opposition?

It is most unfortunate that in his UMNO Presidential Speech on Thursday, beating the war-drums for the impending 14th General Election, Najib spearheaded a campaign of lies and falsehoods against the Opposition.

He accused DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam, that “DAP yang terang terang Anti-Melayu dan Islam, sebagai tercatat dalam perlembagaan DAP, langsung tidak meyebut Islam sebagai Agama Persekutuan”. Another  Najib argument why the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam is DAP’s commitment for a secular Malaysia.

Present at the 71st UMNO General Assembly opening were the leaders of the other 12 Barisan Nasional component parties, such as MCA, MIC, Gerakan and the Sabah and Sarawak component parties.

Is Najib aware that his baseless attack on the DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam applies in equal measure to the 12 other BN component parties, as his criticism  that “tercatat dalam perlembagaan, langsung tidak sebut Islam sebagai Agama Persekutuan” applies to all the other 12 BN component parties as well?

Is Najib accusing the other 12 component parties of Barisan Nasional of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam just because of this?

In the Preamble to the DAP Constitution, the Party declared:

“The Merdeka Constitution is a secular document, instilled with the principles of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and respect of human rights; and imbued with the ideals of accountability, equality, justice and human dignity.

“Such principles can be a force of unity and integration not only between our nation’s disparate races, religions and cultures but also between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

“By espousing these ideals, Malaysians can move forward where democracy and economic development goes together; where freedom does not mean oppression; where equality of opportunity is preferred to equality of outcome; where rule of law ensures social justice; where wealth creation is accompanied by equitable wealth distribution; and where spreading economic prosperity does not breed rampant corruption.”

The DAP Constitution enumerated the following objectives of the party, viz:

1.	To strive by parliamentary constitutional means for the establishment of a social democracy in Malaysia;

2.	To reaffirm and restore the Malaysian Constitution in its original secular framework as the supreme law of the land which respects democratic values and basic human rights that gives every Malaysian citizen equal and equitable rights;

3.	To promote national integration with Sabah and Sarawak, recognize their special rights and infuse a national spirit and unity amongst all races to forge a common identity of a united Malaysian Malaysia;

4.	To acknowledge the fundamental right of freedom of religion which encompasses the freedom of the respective religions from being subject to oppressive laws and discriminatory acts;

5.	To uphold and affirm Bahasa Malaysia as the national language; and guarantees the obligation duty and right to promote the status, expand learn and use other mother tongue languages including Chinese, Tamil, English and native tongues;

6.	To establish integrity, ethics, compassion as core moral values to promote transparency as well as a liberal approach, mutual respect give form and substance to people empowerment and participation in decision-making based on the principles of equality, free, fair and independent electoral process as well as freedom of the press;

7.	To grant equal opportunity and spread economic prosperity for all premised on value creation in a competitive market and an economic order that places equal emphasis on wealth creation and an equitable wealth distribution;

8. To pledge to improve educational standards based strictly on merits and needs, and provide full access and equal opportunities at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, especially knowledge-based IT sectors;

9. To protect workers and trade union rights under a framework of a right to work, provide for a fair and decent wage of workers and maintain their real wages to ensure prosperity and a decent standard of living for all;

10.To eliminate all forms of gender bias against women in employment, education and health;

11.	To empower youths by giving them choice and access to power whilst instilling in them a sense of duty and responsibility;

12.	To secure justice and security for all by upholding the rule of law, establishment and protection of safe neighbourhoods and secure communities;

13.	To institutionalize accountability and transparency that checks corruption and financial malpractices as well as establish integrity and trust in governance;

14.	To offer affordable, accessible and accountable public health services that guarantees the needs of the sick, infirm and aged; and

15.	To prevent further environmental degradation and destruction to preserve our natural heritage that is clean, healthy and safe.

Can Najib explain how he could honestly and honourably claim that the DAP’s Constitution, based on the Preamble and the Objects,  “terang-terang Anti-Melayu dan Islam sebagai tercatat dalam perlembagaan DAP”?

I feel more sad than angry that the Prime Minister of plural Malaysia should resort to such despicable and dangerous tactics to hang on to power and to divert attention from the great issues of the country, especially economic development and justice for Malaysians, educational excellence, integrity and good governance.

Najib said in his speech that UMNO is not  racist or anti-Chinese.

From the very beginning of my political life, I have always held to the belief that no leader or political party which claims to be Malaysian can be anti any race or anti any religion in Malaysia because this is to fly against the reality of Malaysia as a plural nation of diverse races and religions.

I have never accused UMNO as anti-Chinese.  Why is Najib throwing political principles, integrity and respect for truth to the winds and accuse the  DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

Najib in his speech painted a doomsday scenario for the Malays and Islam if UMNO and Barisan Nasional are defeated in the 14th General Election.

Would Najib stop such irresponsible politicking and set a “wasatiyyah” example  instead of leading a campaign of lies and falsehoods against the Opposition in the run-up to the 14th General Election?

The 14th General Election is critical and crucial test whether Malaysia is capable of becoming a normal democratic country to make the country a top world achiever  in every field of human endeavour.

Countries which are normal democratic countries, like in Europe, United States, Australia, Canada, the United States, and in Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Philippines and increasingly Indonesia, everyone accepts the democratic principle that the government-of-the-day is decided through the ballot boxes, and there are no political leaders who aspire to become “maharajas” or “maharaja-wannabes” with “thousand-year rule” visions.

Is Najib prepared to prove that he is a democrat by declaring that he would accept the democratic verdict of the people in the 14th General Election and will peacefully and democratically hand over power if this is the decision of the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election?

No race or religion is facing a doomsday scenario if Malaysia becomes a normal democratic country, where the principle that the people decides who should form the government is fully entrenched in the political system and ethos of the country.

By the very nature of the elective system at least for every five years, if Pakatan Harapan replaces UMNO/Barisan Nasional as the Federal Government in Putrajaya, the new Pakatan Harapan government will have to prove that it is better than the UMNO/BN government in protecting and promoting the rights and interests of all racial and religious groups in the country, especially the Malays and Islam, or it will  lose the mandate to govern and face rejection in the subsequent general election five years later.

Is Najib aware of the implications when he made the scurrilous and baseless allegation  that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam because the DAP stands for a secular Malaysia.

The first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn had stood for a secular Malaysia.

Is Najib suggesting that the  first three Prime Ministers, including his father Tun Razak and his uncle Tun Hussein had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

Is Najib suggesting that President Joko Widowo and  Indonesia are anti-Islam because  Indonesia stands for a secular nation, although Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world?

UMNO under Najib has  lost its plot when  it is offering up  as role models for Malaysians in the march towards TN 2050 people  like Umno Wanita chief, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil who has no compunction delivering   “hate speeches” and the Sungai Besar UMNO division chief Jamal Md Yunos who has no hesitation in taking the law into his own hands with utter contempt for the law enforcement officers – as in the case of former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Malaysians must decide in the 14th GE whether they want to put their future in the hands of the Shahrizats and Jamal Yunoses.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 December 2017, 8:56 am and is filed under
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14th General Election will be battle of  truth vs lies, people of Malaysia vs  UMNO/BN and “No Kleptocracy in Malaysia vs 2MDB/3MDB and more”! I have a confession to make.

I have a confession to make.

UMNO/BN owned or controlled media made quite a circus during the UMNO General Assembly over a former Penang DAP State Assemblyman for Jawi, Tan Beng Huat leaving  the party to  join the People’s Alternative Party (PAP), and I was singled out as the  main reason for Tan’s departure from the party.

When I saw a photograph of Tan’s submitting his membership  application to People’s Alternative Party, I had thought that the younger person to his right was Tan Beng Huat.

Tan resigned from  the DAP more than a year ago, and he did not breathe a word about what he was purported to have said on Friday.

Now a person whom I have no impression whatsoever is quoted as authority by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  that I want to be Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This is quite a reflection on the credibility and authority of Najib as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Was Najib guilty of another instance of spreading lies and false information or has he fallen victim to the disease of believing in his own lies and false information?

If the lies and falsehoods disseminated about me by the well-funded UMNO cybertroopers  are to be believed, then I am a billionaire and  an “evil force” who throws tens and even hundreds of millions ringgit to sponsor news portals or remove recalcitrant heads of key government bureau apart from the litany of demonization over the decades – responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots in  leading the street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur making anti-Malay and anti-Islam epithets although I was never in Kuala Lumpur after the May 10, 1969 General Election; painted as quite a devil, a puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; a stooge of foreign powers; that I dominate Pakatan Harapan and made other leaders like Tun Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Mohamad Sabu and Husam Musa into my stooges and puppets.

Are Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, so naïve and infantile as to believe in these lies and falsehoods?

The 14th General Election to be held in 150 days will be  a “battle royale” of  truth versus lies, of  people of Malaysia versus  UMNO/BN, “No Global Kleptocracy in Malaysia versus 2MDB/3MDB and more”!

The greatest indictment, national disservice and even national  betrayal of the 71st UMNO General Assembly was its total silence on the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal despite the fact that on the eve of the UMNO General Assembly, the United States Attorney-General Jeffs Sessions said at an international forum that the 1MDB scandal was “kleptocracy at its worst”!

It has not escaped world notice that while the 1MDB scandal continues to hog world headlines with continuing revelations and developments of the monstrosity and criminality of  “kleptocracy at its worst”, as a media in a neighbouring country headlined,  “1MDB issue draws nary a raised eyebrow” at the UMNO General Assembly.

History will record  this as an unwonted act of national cowardice and betrayal in Malaysia, that immediately after Malaysia was castigated at an international forum for “kleptocracy at its worst” which catapulted Malaysia to the infamous stratosphere of a “global kleptocracy”, the UMNO leadership together with  5,000 UMNO delegates and observers at the 71st UMNO General Assembly were guilty of the crime of collective national betrayal and cowardice in failing to  clear and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

Would the founders and the early generations of UMNO leaders and members ever envisage that a day would come that UMNO would not dare to stand up for the honour, good name and integrity of Malaysia, that they would collectively shut their  eyes, their ears and their mouths to Malaysia’s international infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy?

I know that the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia , Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein would not take such national infamy and ignominy lying down and  would not shut their eyes, ears and mouths to the worldwide condemnation of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

Why have the 71st UMNO General Assembly continued the crime of national cowardice and betrayal of the UMNO General Assembly of the past three years of totally ignoring the 1MDB scandal and  Malaysia’s ignominy and infamy as a global kleptocracy?

The 71st UMNO General Assembly has finally proven that the Prime Minister, the Ministers,  UMNO leaders, delegates and observers do not have the courage, integrity and patriotism to  face up to the world charges of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

It is now left to the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election to redeem the honour, integrity and good name of Malaysia  – and this why I say the 14GE will also be a battle between “No Kleptocracy in Malaysia vs 2MDB/3MDB and more”!

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 December 2017, 12:33 pm and is filed under
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JASA Director-General is paid higher than a Minister because he must be a person who is no respector for the truth and must be in the forefront to tell lies  to defend Najib and  “global kleptocracy”

Last month, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr.Wan  Azizah Wan Ismail asked in Parliament why the Director-General of of Special Affairs Department (Jasa) is paid more than the monthly salary of Ministers, including the Communications and Multimedia Minister, to whom the JASA Director-General is supposed to be answerable to.

This answer has been  given by the  JASA Director-General Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi in his  response to my criticisms of the  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s summing-up speech at the UMNO General Assembly on Saturday.

It is clear that the reason why the JASA Director-General is paid higher than a Minister, including the  Minister of Communications and Multimedia to whom he is not answerable to as he is accountable only to the Prime Minister is that the Jasa DG  must be a person who is no respector for the truth and must be in the forefront even to tell lies to defend Najib and Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a  “global kleptocracy”.

I agree with Puad that I am very disappointed both with Najib’s UMNO Presidential Speech on Thursday and his winding-up speech on Saturday for three reasons:

1.	Spearheading the campaign of lies, fake news,  false information, fear and hatred in the run-up to the 14th General Election, particularly the lies that I want to be Prime Minister of Malaysia; that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam;  that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohamad Sabu are just my stooges and puppets; that “If the opposition wins…the special rights of Malays, as the original forebearers of this land, from a noble and free race, will have their pride stepped on and their (position) in the centre sold. Worse yet, they will be vagabonds, cursed and despised, until they ‘terbangsat’ (become bastards) in their own homeland.”

2.	The greatest indictment, national disservice and even national  betrayal of the 71st UMNO General Assembly was its total silence on the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal despite the fact that on the eve of the UMNO General Assembly, the United States Attorney-General Jeffs Sessions castigated Malaysia  at an international forum and said that the 1MDB scandal was “kleptocracy at its worst”!

3.	Despite Najib’s rhetoric of wanting UMNO to rule for a thousand years, no assurance from Najib and UMNO that they will ensure Malaysia will become a normal democratic country like Japan, India, South Korea, Philippines and Indonesia to uphold the democratic principle that the voters  are the final arbiters of which political party or coalition would rule the country.

This is why next general election will be  a “battle royale” of  truth versus lies, the people of Malaysia versus  UMNO/BN, “No Global Kleptocracy in Malaysia versus 2MDB/3MDB/etc”!

Najib has forgotten his former pledges of 1Malaysia and being Prime Minister for all Malaysians, but he  should stop degrading the office of Prime Minister to incite fear and hatred with lies, false news and fake information to create baseless and unfounded fears to incite racial and religious animosities in the country.

Najib tries to exude confidence about the outcome of the 14th General Election but he is uncertain of the results, which explains for his contingency plan in the event of a general election defeat – the “no contest” for the post of UMNO President and Deputy President in the next UMNO General Assembly after the 14GE.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 11 December 2017, 12:21 pm and is filed under
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