Should Rukunegara be Preamble to Malaysian Constitution or be the Centrepiece of TN50?

The civil society initiative to make Rukunegara relevant again and be the guide for public policies and law-making is most commendable and timely.

The civil society initiative, known as “Rukunegara sebagai Muqadimmah Perlembagaan” (RMP) or “Rukunegara as the Preamble to the Federal Constitution”, is aimed at including the national document as the opening statement of Malaysia’s supreme law, the Malaysian Constitution.

I cannot agree more with RMP chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar  when he  said the Rukunegara has been sidelined, giving way to other trends that threatened national unity and integrity.

He said at the launch of the RMP campaign: “If such trends gain more influence in the future, the characteristics of our country will change.

“This is why we Malaysians have to remind ourselves of the Rukunegara and how important this ideology is in a whole and inclusive society.”

I made a five-day visit to Jakarta and Jogjarkata in September last year together with three DAP MPs, Teresa Kok (Seputeh), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) to meet with leaders of political parties and Islamic organisations as well as public intellectuals, and one thing that struck us was the central place of Pancasila among the major Indonesian political and intellectual leaders in the nation-building process in the country.

This is in sharp contrast with Malaysia,  where the “establishment” political and intellectual leaders have virtually forgotten about the Malaysian counterpart to Pancasila, the Rukunegara!

Leaders of the two largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have no qualms in publicly stating, whether in private discussions or public forums, that their commitment to Pancasila was an important reason why the Islamic State concept was not suitable or appropriate for Indonesia, although Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims for any country in the world!

How many Malaysian political and intellectual leaders in the country are still committed to the five principles of Rukunegara, viz:

• Belief in God.

• Loyalty to King and Country.

• Upholding the Constitution.

• Rule of Law.

• Good Behaviour and morality.

Or the five Rukunegara objectives of (1)  to achieve a greater unity of all her peoples; (2) to maintain a democratic way of life; (3) to create a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably shared; (4) to ensure a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural traditions; and (5) to build a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology?

In fact, Malaysia would not be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy if the Malaysian government had stayed true, faithful and loyal to the five principles of Rukunegara!

There can be no doubt or argument that the five Rukunegara principles and objectives must be restored to the centrality of Malaysian vision, public policies and law-making.

The question is whether this should be done by making it as a Preamble to the Malaysian Constitution or by other equally meaningful and significant means – as for instance, establish the centrality of Rukunegara in the  2050 National Transformation (TN50) Policy Document which is meant to be a “shared national vision” of Malaysians for the next 33 years.

The arguments which had been advanced by human rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan against Rukunegara becoming the Preamble of the Constitution  merits consideration, debate and discussion.

While expressing his  support of  any initiative to bring the country back to the principles espoused in the Rukunegara,  Syahredzan  does not support the move to put it as the preamble of the Federal Constitution.

Syahredzan argued: “Making the Rukunegara into some form of binding legal provision would take away the strength of the Rukunegara itself, being a reflection of the aspirations of the people. If those aspirations should change, then a statement of guiding principles can easily be moulded to fit these aspirations, not so if it becomes a rigid document with force of law.

“More importantly, if the Rukunegara is made part of the Federal Constitution, I fear that the constitution would be interpreted in ways which was not possible before. We are already grappling with restrictive interpretations of the provisions of the constitution.”

I had suggested a TN50 national consultative council under the chairmanship of CIMB Group Chairman, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, to ensure that the 2050  National Transformation Policy is a shared national vision of 100% of the population and not just 47% of the electorate who voted for Barisan Nasional in the 13th General Election in 2013.

A suitable venue for the issue whether Rukunegara should a Preamble of the Malaysian Constitution or occupy a central place in NT50 to be thrashed out is a TN50 National Consultative Council which should comprise representatives from the government, political parties, civil societies, academics, religious leaders, businessmen, youth and women groups.

For this reason, I call on the Prime Minister not to procrastinate or  delay in setting up a NT50 National Consultative Council under Nazir, which should be formally decided by the Cabinet at its meeting tomorrow.

(Media Conference Statement [2] at Wisma Penang DAP in Penang)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 January 2017, 12:19 pm and is filed under
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A week ago, Google returned 255,000 results in 0.42 seconds on “1MDB” search – today it returned 4.41 million searches in just 0.32 seconds!

I wish to report that in the first 24 hours from 12 noon yesterday till 12 noon today, neither MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai nor the Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong had contacted me in response to my public offer yesterday that I am prepared to meet with them, individually or collectively, any place any time in the ensuing 72 hours to discuss how we can co-operate in the larger national interests to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

I had asked whether Liow and Mah would have to get UMNO approval before responding. We will wait and see what happens in the rest of the 72-hour offer.

Already, there is a strange political phenomenon. In yesterday’s press, I was the target of massive attacks from all the top MCA and Gerakan leaders for offering during my “Jelajah Desa” at Sungai Gelugor in Penang on Sunday to co-operate with PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.

In the MCA for instance, all the big guns came out firing – the MCA President, Deputy President, Secretary-General, National Publicity Chief, the MCA Youth leader and even the minnows collectively aimed heavy artillery at me, accusing me of all sorts of unspeakable crimes and treacheries.

But in today’s press, there is only deafening silence from the MCA quarters.

Why have the guns of the MCA leaders suddenly fallen silent?

Is it because they were caught non-plussed and do not know how to react when I said yesterday that in the national interests to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy, I am also prepared to work not only with Hadi, but with Liow, Mah and the Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak and other Barisan Nasional leaders?

Let me ask Liow and Mah a straightforward question – how can they claim to be Malaysian patriots and love Malaysia if they are totally unconcerned and not prepared to lift a finger to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy?

Let me tell Liow and Mah of the three issues which I will raise with them if we have a meeting before noon of Chinese New Year’s Eve (when the 72 hours expire) as to how Malaysia can restore its reputation and integrity in international society and purge and cleanse itself of the infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy:

Firstly
, the Malaysian Cabinet, government and Parliament should stop its pretence that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocractic money-laundering scandal does not exist, when Malaysia’s first kleptocratic scandal is creating international waves and makes world headlines almost every other day.

A week ago, I typed “1MDB” into the Google search engine, and I got 255,000 search results in 0.42 seconds. I was shocked beyond belief just now when I typed “1MDB” into the Google search engine, and got 4.41 million results in just 0.32 seconds.

Type “1MDB” into the Malaysiakini search engine and some 200 reports and articles appear just for the past 24 days in January 2017.

How can Malaysia “move on” from the 1MDB scandal in such circumstances?

In his 2016 New Year message more than a year ago on 31st December 2015, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.

Najib could not be more wrong as the Malaysian government and people continue to be haunted and hounded by the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

In the past 12 months, Malaysia went from the third “worst corruption scandal of 2015” by international website foreignpolicy.com to second worst example of global corruption by Time magazine in March last year, second place in the index of crony capitalism by the Economist’s ranking in May, and full-blown “global kleptocracy” when in July, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$3.5 billion international 1MDB kleptocratic embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.

There has been no let-up of the incessant international battery and assault of Malaysia’s credibility and reputation in the new year of 2017.

This month, the Australian Federal Police have joined the international bandwagon of investigations into the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal while in Singapore a fourth banker had been jailed for 1MDB money-laundering crimes, and the question as to why Malaysian government is allowing Jho Low to become an economic or corruption international fugitive bulks large in public discourse, whether in Malaysia or internationally.

It is to the eternal shame of Parliament and the UMNO/MCA/Gerakan General Assemblies they had failed to defend the country’s honour and reputation in failing to rebut and refute the ignominy and infamy of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” or to purge and cleanse Malaysia of such international infamy and ignominy.

I do not believe that the first four Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein and Tun Mahathir would have stood idly by and done nothing if Malaysia had been regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy during their premiership.

I believe that the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah would also have acted to defend the honour and reputation of Malaysia if the country is defamed world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

Would past MCA and Gerakan Presidents like Tun Tan Siew Sin or Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu have agreed to a posture of ostriches digging their heads ever deeper into the sand as a official policy response to the roiling 1MDB scandal? I don’t think so.

2017 is shaping up to be an even worse year than 2016 or 2015, and this is why Malaysians should think and act outside the box to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and a rogue state.

My preparedness to co-operate with Hadi, Najib, Liow, Mah and the other BN leaders have shocked and even outraged some Malaysians – but if these BN and PAS leaders are prepared to admit that global kleptocracy is the No. 1 problem plaguing Malaysia, and to work out a common national strategy to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy (including full accounting and transparency on the 1MDB scandal and the acts of omission or commission of “MO1”), I believe this option is in the best national interests.

Of course, whether Najib, Hadi, Liow and Mah and the other BN leaders are prepared to agree to this top national priority is another matter.

Secondly
, the second anti-kleptocracy issue is why China is catching and jailing “tigers” and “dragons” and Indonesia netting “crocodiles” in their campaign against corruption, but Malaysia has not yet brought to book a single “shark”?

Yesterday, the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang told a conference that up to 30 percent of Malaysia’s public projects’ value could be lost owing to mismanagement and corruption – based on an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and World Bank study.

This estimate could be on the low side, as shown in October last year when Malaysia made it into the world league in the Sabah Watergate scandal, where the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said that 60 percent of the RM3.3 billion earmarked by the federal government to improve water supply to Sabahans had been “siphoned off” by corruption.

The MACC scored the biggest ever seizure in its 49-year history, recovering RM114 million from the two top officials of the Sabah Water Department – including RM53.7 million in cold hard cash in Malaysian and various foreign currencies which took more than 30 MACC officers 15 hours to count!

Why is corruption so deep-rooted and rampant in Malaysia after the Abdullah premiership who promised to be a “Justice Pao” to ensure integrity and good governance and nearly seven years of the Najib premiership with the National Transformation programme to eradicate corruption in Malaysia?

Thirdly
, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2016 which was released world-wide from Berlin two hours ago, where Malaysia’s ranking fell further from No. 54 last year to No. 55, and the CPI score fell below midpoint of the TI CPI scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) at 49.

I am very relieved that my worst fears had not come to pass as I had dreaded that Malaysia would plunge to the lowest ranking and score in 22-year history of TI CPI in the TI CPI 2016, as the past year had been one of the worst years on the corruption front for Malaysia.

But Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking of No. 55 out of 176 countries and score of 49 out of 100 is indeed a very disgraceful one, considering Malaysia’s past and goals.

When Malaysia improved its ranking from 54th to 53rd position in the TI CPI 2013, the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Datuk Seri Idris Jala was ecstatic and declared that Pemandu was aiming for Malaysia to be in the top 30 by 2020.

Now Malaysia has slipped to No. 55, and the goal of Malaysia to be in top 30 countries in TI CPI is nowhere in sight.

In fact, the eighth consecutive year of the Najib premiership (2009 – 2016) has registered a lower TI CPI ranking than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah as illustrated by the following chart of TI CPI 1995 – 2016:

Prime Minister

Best ranking

Best score

Worst ranking

Worst score

Mahathir

23 (1995)

5.32/10 (1996)

37 (2003)

4.8/10 (2000)

Abdullah

39 (2004)

5.1/10 (2005/7/8)

47 (2008)

5/10 (2004/6)

Najib

50 (2014)

52/100 (2014)

60 (2011)

4.3/10 (2011)

The TI CPI 2016 is proof that corruption is worse now than during Mahathir’s 22 years as Prime Minister and Abdullah’s five years as Prime Minister.

Has the objective for Malaysia to be in the top 30 in the TI CPI been shifted three decades later to 2050 in the 2050 National Transformation Policy (TN50)?

What has Najib, Liow, Mah or the MACC got to say about the continued drop instead of improvement of the TI CPI?

[
Media Conference Statement at Wisma Penang DAP in Penang
]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 January 2017, 2:16 pm and is filed under
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It flaunts the power but also advertises the failure of UMNO’s Goebbels in using Nazi Big Lies to demonise me as power-hungry, anti-Malay and anti-Islam

Was it a sheer coincidence that the  Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times and Berita Harian today  all reported an article entitled “Apa salahnya DAP jadi TPM” which appeared on online portal Malaysiakini yesterday, and all omitted that it was an article written by Zulhazmi Shariff, Ahli Jawatankuasa Biro Guaman DAP Kedah.

This was power play at the most blatant, someone – who is actually UMNO’s Goebbels – who had the power to direct the three UMNO-owned “mainstream newspapers” what to print, how to print, and what to omit!

For most of the past five decades of my political life, I was virtually a non-person to  the UMNO-owned and controlled “mainstream media”, never reported about or mentioned except on occasions to demonise me or to put me in the worst possible light.

But for the past four weeks, I had become quite a “regular” in these three UMNO-owned “mainstream media” which had treated me as a “persona non grata” –  not because these three “mainstream media”  have suddenly realized that the journalists’ craft is to tell the truth, but for the UMNO propaganda masterminds to  set me up so that UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers could discredit, destroy and demolish me.

They were modern-day Malaysian practitioners of the Nazi craft immortalized by Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels who said the infamous words – “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

In commanding the UMNO-owned “mainstream media” to exploit the Malaysiakini article, but avoid mentioning that it was written by Zulhazmi Shariff, member of the Kedah DAP Legal Bureau, UMNO’s Goebbels was flaunting his power.  What he did not realise was that he was also advertising his failures as UMNO’s Goebbels to make his Big Lies accepted by the public  as Gospel Truths.

UMNO’s Goebbels’ first propaganda offensive was to accuse me of wanting to be Prime Minister and Finance Minister, for which a fake Cabinet line-up with me as Prime Minister and Finance Minister and Tun Mahathir as Deputy Prime Minister started circulating on the social media in the first few days of December.

But such a gambit could not get off the ground for it was demolished by DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng  who, in an act of serendipity, said at the DAP National Convention on Dec. 4 that DAP had never proposed to have a Chinese as Prime Minister of Malaysia taking into account the political realities in the country.

This had forced UMNO’s Goebbels to launch a second propaganda offensive – accusing me of wanting to be Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, alleging that this was the secret deal concluded by Mahathir and me in our Dec. 3 meeting.

When I denied that there was ever any Dec. 3 meeting between myself and  Mahathir or any secret deal like Mukriz as Prime Minister and I as Deputy Prime Minister, UMNO’s Goebbels would not concede suffering a double whammy – but he clung  to a desperate attempt to keep alive his second Nazi Big Lie about my wanting to be Deputy Prime Minister.

UMNO’s Goebbels’ power could be gauged by his ability to get the Prime Minister himself and UMNO Ministers and leaders to repeat or defend his Nazi Big Lies, not to mention the army of UMNO cybertroopers under his control and the UMNO-owned and controlled “mainstream media”.

The power of UMNO’s Goebbels could be seen by his power to turn UMNO Ministers into aides and aides into UMNO Ministers – and this is where the Prime Minister’s aide, Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad had been roped in to  challenge  me  to “admit” my  alleged ambition of wanting to be deputy prime minister.

I am tickled to no end by such puerile tactics.

I could have replied by any one of the following:

•	Asking Najib to first make a statutory declaration that he is not “MO1” and that he is not personally implicated in any manner in the international multi-billion 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal;

•	Asking Najib to first confess 1MDB scandal will cost the Rakyat billions; confess that listing of Felda is a crying shame of a failure; confess that the country’s education system had been damaged by BN/UMNO; confess that the country’s security had been compromised and confess that the universities and hospitals are squeezed for money;

•	Whether Tengku Sariffuddin would prefer a corrupt Muslim-Malay leader to an upright non-Malay, non-Muslim leader? and;

•	Finally,  the question asked by many Malaysians – “What’ s wrong about LKS becoming DPM? If a Black can become a President of USA and a Muslim (President Kalam) can become a President of Hindu India, then what’s wrong with anak Malaysia (LKS) becoming DPM?”

For me, let me reiterate that I had never aspired to be Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister, but to ensure that through our political efforts, to leave for future generations a more united, competitive, just, democratic and prosperous Malaysia.

I welcome yesterday’s judgment  by Justice Hue Siew Kheng in the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday ordering former Selangor exco member Hasan Ali to pay Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad RM200,000 in general damages for defamation.

In her oral decision, Hue said religion is a highly sensitive issue in this country. To accuse someone to be anti-Islam or traitor to the religion carries extremely dire consequences for the victim.

She said: “The defendant’s baseless allegation has brought him public odium and he has suffered as a result of it.”

I have asked my lawyer to go through various articles, statement and speeches which had made defamatory allegations against me like  accusing me of being  “anti-Islam” when it is completely false and untrue, and to institute legal proceedings to stop such defamatory and pernicious practices.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 January 2017, 1:48 pm and is filed under
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Liow and Mah seem to have an unwritten agreement with Hadi that they will not rock Najib’s boat and will not raise any issue about the 1MDB money-laundering scandal even if Malaysia is known as a global kleptocracy

I can report that in the second day of my 72-hour proposal to MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and  the Gerakan President Datuk  Seri Mah Siew Keong for a separate or joint meeting to discuss how we can co-operate in the larger national interests to save Malaysia from  a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, I have received no contact from either one of them.

I have also received no response from Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to my statement in Penang on Sunday during  my “Jelajah Desa” at Sungai Gelugor in Penang that I am prepared to co-operate with the PAS President to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state – apart from negative statements from his subordinates in PAS.

It would appear that Liow and Mah have an unwritten agreement with Hadi that they will not rock the boat of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and will not raise any issue or question about the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal even if Malaysia is as a result regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

Am I wrong?  We will know when my 72-hour offer to Liow and Mah expires at noon tomorrow!

Actually, there is no better time than now for all the political leaders, whether in government or opposition, to demonstrate their patriotism and love of the country by uniting on a common national agenda to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, especially with the release of the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016 in Berlin yesterday which showed that Malaysia is hurtling downwards in a unchecked decline in national and international perceptions about integrity, good governance and the war against corruption.

Malaysians are shocked although they should not be surprised that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of integrity, Datuk Paul Low immediately sought to “white-wash” Malaysia’s decline in both ranking and score of  the TI CPI 2016.

Low said the one-point drop in Malaysia’s CPI 2016 score, from 50 out of 100 in 2015 to 49 is “marginal” and “not significant”.  Malaysia’s ranking in the TI CPI 2016 also dropped one position from 54th in 2015 to 55th in 2016.

Let me remind Low that when he abandoned Transparency International Malaysia to join Najib’s cabinet after the May 2013 General Election, Malaysia was ranked No. 54 with a score of 49 out of 100 in the TI CPI 2012.

When Malaysia improved its ranking from 54th to 53rd position in the TI CPI 2013, his Cabinet colleague and the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Datuk Seri Idris Jala was ecstatic and declared that Pemandu was aiming for Malaysia to be in the top 30 by 2020.

Now Malaysia has slipped down to No. 55, and the goal of Malaysia to be in top 30 countries in TI CPI is no where in sight.

Furthermore, Low was completely oblivious of the adverse commentary in the TI CPI about the corruption problem in Asia-Pacific and Malaysia.

When the report described the  corruption woes  in Asia-Pacific, it was describing Malaysia’s plight, viz:

“The majority of Asia Pacific countries sit in the bottom half of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. 19 out of 30 countries in the region scored 40 or less out of 100.

“Poor performance can be attributed to unaccountable governments, lack of oversight, insecurity and shrinking space for civil society, pushing anti-corruption action to the margins in those countries. High-profile corruption scandals, in addition to everyday corruption issues, continue to undermine public trust in government, the benefits of democracy and the rule of law.”

For Malaysia in particular, the TI CPI 2016 report has this to say:

“Malaysia’s Prime Minister has long been embroiled in the 1MBD corruption scandal with an unexplainable US$700 million in his personal bank account, contributing to the country’s lacklustre score of 49 out of 100. The Prime Minister’s deficient response, and what role this will play in upcoming elections, is something to watch in 2017.”

Any comment from Low on this TI CPI 2016 commentary?

Yesterday, the Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Akhbar Satar made an unfounded and  unsolicited attack on politicians when commenting on the TI CPI 2016, saying that “All politicians corrupt, so choose the less corrupt” – asking Malaysians to choose between the lesser of two evils in the upcoming general elections.

Najib and the Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders may not be offended by Akhbar’s remarks but DAP leaders and I  are extremely outraged and offended by such a  baseless and unfounded statement.

Akhbar should know better, especially as two of his predecessors as President of TI-M are walking disgraces to the cause of public integrity, good governance and battle against corruption. If he has any proof of corruption of  Opposition politicians, produce the evidence  but do not make baseless and sweeping generalisations.

This bring me back to the imperative need for all political leaders to commit themselves to the common national cause to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.

The  eighth consecutive year of the Najib premiership (2009 – 2016)  has registered a lower TI CPI ranking than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah as illustrated by the following chart of TI CPI 1995 – 2016:

Prime Minister

Best ranking

Best score

Worst ranking

Worst score

Mahathir

23 (1995)

5.32/10 (1996)

37 (2003)

4.8/10 (2000)

Abdullah

39 (2004)

5.1/10 (2005/7/8)

47 (2008)

5/10 (2004/6)

Najib

50 (2014)

52/100 (2014)

60 (2011)

4.3/10 (2011)

The  TI CPI 2016 is the latest proof  that corruption is worse now than during Mahathir’s  22 years as Prime Minister and  Abdullah’s five years as Prime Ministerl

Together with  Malaysia ascending to the world’s top 20, if not top ten, as a global kleptocracy because of the “1MDB corruption scandal” (TI CPI 2016 report), the new TI CPI 2016 report furnishes a  new potent  reason for my preparedness to work with Najib, Liow, Mah, Hadi and others to save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a rogue and failed state.

We will know by noon tomorrow whether they are capable of rising to the occasion to be patriots who love Malaysia more than themselves or even their political parties.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 January 2017, 9:38 am and is filed under
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MY DREAM – Alwi Jantan

 MY DREAM

                                    Do I see rainbow in the sky

                                    With droves of birds flying by?

                                    Do I see a lush greenery

                                    Flora and fauna of sheer beauty?

                                    Do I see rich traditions

                                    From ancient civilisations?

                                    Do I see children playing together

                                    Of various races and gender?

                                    Do I see a true democracy

With freedom of speech and assembly?

Do I see honest leaders

The nation’s burden on their shoulders?

Do I see neither corruption

Nor radical race and religion?

Do I see high integrity

No abuse of power and authority?

Do I see great prosperity

People living in peace and harmony?

Do I see a progressive nation

The love and pride of everyone?

This is only my dream, my friend.

But I’ll dream to the very end.

Alwi Jantan

Kuala Lumpur

20th January 2017.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 January 2017, 10:34 am and is filed under
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Let 2017 be the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia

Chinese New Year Message

27th January 2017

The Chinese New Year of the Rooster in 2017, like all the national festivities in the country, will be celebrated under the cloud of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

The appellation of “global kleptocracy” is a stain and slur on the reputation and integrity of Malaysia and 30 million Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender or age, and it must be the common resolve of all self-respecting and patriotic Malaysians in the coming year to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

I wish all Malaysians, and just not confined to Malaysian Chinese, a Happy Chinese New Year with the resolution that 2017 is the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia.

Malaysia is a confluence of diverse races, languages, religions, cultures and civilisations – let all the festivities of the diverse races and religions be celebrated as a common festivity by all Malaysians.

This will make Malaysia unique, great and a show-case of inter-racial, inter-religious,   inter-cultural and inter-civilisational acceptance, understanding,  tolerance and harmony to the world.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 January 2017, 5:19 pm and is filed under
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Not surprised in the least that Liow and Mah not prepared to save Malaysia from kleptocracy as their entire political future hinge on  not  rocking Najib’s boat like raising  awkward issues concerning the 1MDB money-laundering scandal

Up till  noon today, on the expiry of my 72 hour offer to meet MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and  the Gerakan President Datuk  Seri Mah Siew Keong, together or separately, any place any time to discuss how we can co-operate in the larger national interests to save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, I have not been contacted, either directly or indirectly, by Liow  or  Mah.

I regret this although I am not in the least surprised that Liow and Mah are not prepared to save Malaysia from kleptocracy as their entire political future hinge on  not  rocking Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s boat like raising  awkward issues concerning the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic  money-laundering scandal.

I also regret that the PAS President, Datuk Hadi Awang had spurned my offer of co-operation to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, as there had been complete silence from him in the last six  days apart from puerile,  ridiculous and malicious responses from his subordinates in PAS.

What the issue in the past six days had shown is that I am prepared to co-operate with Najib, Hadi, Liow, Mah and the other Barisan Nasional leaders in Sabah and Sarawak on an overriding national agenda – to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state – but unfortunately, Najib, Hadi, Liow and Mah are not prepared to reciprocate.

Of course, it  will not be easy for them to reciprocate my offer  for what does saving Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state mean?

It will mean opening the whole 1MDB scandal to national and international scrutiny to prove that it is not an international multi-billion dollar money-laundering scandal instead of the present stance of the Najib government which refuses to admit the existence of a 1MDB scandal, while almost every other day, it is creating international waves and world headlines in the rest of the globe!

It will also mean bringing to justice the main protagonists of the 1MDB scandal, not only “MO1” but also billionaire Jho Low and the other “movers and shakers” of the 1MDB scandal.

It may also mean the immediate resignation of Najib as Prime Minister and agreement on the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia!

What are the full implications of a national patriotic effort by all political parties and political leaders to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and a rogue state are now “waters under the bridge”, because Najib, Hadi, Liow and Mah do not agree with it.

I am disappointed by this  great missed opportunity to save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state but patriotic Malaysians must have the courage and commitment to move on to carry out this great  “Save Malaysia” task themsevles, despite the negative and indifferent responses not only from  the UMNO, MCA and Gerakan Presidents but also from the PAS President.

At present, three main thoughts predominate in my mind.

The first was what the great Islamic scholar of the 19th century, Muhammad Abduh wrote, after his return from France in 1888, that “I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but not Islam”.

It is sad that there are Muslim leaders in Malaysia who refuse to recognise that core values such as integrity, freedom, human rights, and justice, are universal and do not conflict with Islam or any religion and are in fact  important constituents of Islamic teachings.

Secondly, the report that Ireland leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim states lag, based on an index of Economic Islamcity or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings and the study of 208 countries and territories by an academic at George Washington University.

Hossein Askari,  an Iranian-born professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, said Muslim countries used religion as an instrument of state control.

He said: “We must emphasise that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings – Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.

Thirdly, the just-released Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016, where nine of  the ten most corrupt countries of the world are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), viz: (ranging from rankings 166 – 175:  Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Korea (North), South Sudan and Somalia.

The TI CPI 2016 seems to vindicate Hossein Askari’s thesis, that the Koran’s teachings are better represented in Western societies than in Islamic countries, which have failed to embraced the values of their own faith in politics, business, law and society.

These are food for thought for all Malaysians,  both Muslims and non-Muslims, while we celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rooster, unfortunately for the first time,  under the cloud of Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 January 2017, 12:00 pm and is filed under
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Was the MACC chief directing his “Just You Wait” warning to MO1, and if not, what credibility is there that the MACC will break jinx of just going after ikan bilis while ikan yus continue to go scotfree, unlike “tigers” in China and “crocodiles” in Indonesia who are brought to justice and  jailed?

Was the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad, directing his “Just You Wait” warning to MO1, and if not, what credibility is there that the MACC will break the jinx of just going after ikan bilis while ikan yus continue to go scotfree, unlike the “tigers” in China and “crocodiles” in Indonesia who are being caught, brought to justice and jailed?

Dzulkifli should know that Malaysians have had enough of excuses why “grand corruption” involving top political leaders continue to be a protected “species” and no amount of belly-aching about inadequate budget or staffing is acceptable as an excuse for MACC’s failure to break the back of the problem of grand corruption in Malaysia – as evident by another drop in Malaysia’s ranking and score in the Transparency International (TI)’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016!

For 2016, Parliament allocated a budget of  RM250 million for the MACC, which is more than six times the budget allocated to its predecessor, Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for the year 2000.

Can Dzulkifli produce a report to demonstrate that the MACC today is six times more effective than ACA in 2000 in fighting corruption, in arresting and jailing the corrupt  especially in terms of netting ikan yus and ikan bilis by  bringing them  to justice, whether “grand corruption” or “petty corruption”?

Malaysia’s ranking in the TI CPI 2001 was No. 36 out of  91  countries and the  score was 50 out of 100, but in the 2016 TI CPI, Malaysia was fallen to No. 55 out of 176 countries with a below mid-point score of 49 out of 100.

Is this the six times’ improvement in performance and KPI of the MACC as compared to the ACA in year 2000?

Dare Dzulkifli state that his “Just You Wait” warning over television live yesterday should be taken seriously taken by all the Cabinet Ministers and if not, what is the purpose and target audience of his threat?

The MACC, which had taken over from ACA, had the “black marks” and ignominy of causing the death of  DAP activist Teoh Beng Hock on 16th July 2009 and senior customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamad on April 6,  2010 and the families of Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani are still waiting for justice to be done by MACC in both cases.

Can Dzulkifli give iron-clad assurance that MACC under him will not be a tool for  political persecution or be responsible for criminal negligence as in the innocent and unjustified deaths of Beng Hock and Sarbani?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 January 2017, 9:49 am and is filed under
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YEAR OF THE ROOSTER: GOOD FORTUNE FOR MALAYSIA’S DWINDLING CHINESE COMMUNITY?

BY KARIM RASLAN

South China Morning Post

25 JAN 2017

Despite disquieting migration statistics, a young Chinese Malaysian couple say they are happy where they are and see prosperity ahead in the Lunar New Year

Seri Kembangan, Selangor, is 22km to the south of Kuala Lumpur and just 20 minutes away from Putrajaya, Malaysia’s gaudy administrative centre.

Sixty years ago, this would have been scrubland dotted by tin mines, rubber plantations and small market gardens. The area is home to a patchwork of predominantly Chinese Malaysian communities with a large Hakka contingent, hardened wayfarers from Southern China – a people accustomed to living on marginal land.

In the early 1950s, most of the inhabitants were corralled into euphemistically named “New Villages” such as Sekinchan and Jinjang as the British colonial authorities sought to quell a nagging communist insurgency.

But what was formerly a no-man’s-land has long since been transformed into choice real estate. There is the iconic Commonwealth sports complex, a Turf Club, that bizarre Mahathir-era hostelry the Palace of the Golden Horses and countless small factories, townships, shopping centres and housing estates.

Such pleasant surroundings mask somewhat gloomier statistics. According to the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) think-tank, the Chinese Malaysian community’s numbers are plummetting.

The ASLI warns Chinese Malaysians will constitute just 19.6 per cent of the country’s population by 2030 if migration trends continue as they are, down from 37.2 per cent in 1957.

The ASLI’s findings chime with a 2011 World Bank study that found 57 per cent of Chinese Malaysian emigres ended up in Singapore.

Yet some young Chinese Malaysian families are upbeat about the future, particularly as the Lunar New Year celebrations approach, and say they have no plans to migrate.

Among them are Charlyn Lee and Steven Chan, both in their 30s, who live with their two young daughters in a semi-detached house on a quiet cul-de-sac removed from the everyday clatter.

Snug behind a security checkpoint, they live next door to Steven’s parents with a convenient connection on the first floor.

Melaka-born Charlyn is very much looking forward to the festivities for the Year of the Rooster. Coming from a large family, she enjoys Lunar New Year reunions and sees them as an opportunity for her children to experience their culture, from the lion dance to lai see envelopes.

The pair say they are well aware of their good fortune.

Steven, who runs a successful steel fabrication business that exports well over 50 per cent of its production, says that economic challenges such as a declining ringgit and softening domestic demand have not impacted his factory.

“Malaysia is still the best place in the region to manufacture,” he says. “Costs are reasonable and it’s efficient. In other countries, there are just too many ‘politicians’.”

For Steven, the word “politicians” is a shorthand for unnecessary bureaucratic meddling.

As with most businessmen, he does not appreciate political uncertainty, and says of the upcoming general election,which must be held before mid-2018 but is widely expected to be called much earlier, that “they should get [it] over and done with, then we can all get back to work”.

Steven is very proud of his Hakka roots: “My father has always taught me the importance of our independent spirit and resilience.” Charlyn’s mother is also Hakka.

Steven has leveraged off clan networks in Balakong to deepen his ties with the neighbourhood, especially in terms of hiring, imbuing the business with a strong family and community ethos.

However, the couple’s upbeat demeanour changes when the talk turns to crime. It is clear that for both of them, law and order is a fundamental problem, something that could push them elsewhere. With two young children, they are reluctant to take chances.

“We contribute 150-200 ringgit (HK$260-350) per month for the local security to ensure that our girls are safe,” says Steven.

“I personally send Zo Yee to the kindergarten and pick her up every day. Nurseries and kindergartens in the area have also introduced strict procedures and kids aren’t allowed to play outside on the streets”, adds Charlyn.

Despite all the hallmarks of a conventional Chinese Malaysian family existence, Mandarin-educated Charlyn, who studied for two years at the prestigious Nanjing University, is not totally enamoured by the system she was brought up with.

“There’s just too much rote learning. I want our children to learn through play and to spend time outdoors. You can’t just study and have no life at all.”

She eventually switched to law and transferred to Leeds University in Britain, where she was happier.

However, the experience was to prove frustrating when she was unable to practise as a lawyer because the authorities refused to accept her qualifications: “I appealed three times. I feel it was very unfair for them to reject the [Unified Examination Certificate], my private Chinese High School diploma.”

Charlyn does not view China through rose-coloured glasses: “I found that the students at Nanjing were too obsessed about their studies. Having worked so hard to get in to what was one of China’s top universities, they did nothing else. And the one child policy meant that they could be very aggressive and spoilt. We’re not like them.”

While the couple are concerned about possible moves to make sharia law applicable to non-Muslims, they are relatively optimistic about the country’s often-testy race relations: “Race issues are just politics. I believe that Malaysians of all races can coexist harmoniously”.

In an era of globalisation, Steven and Charlyn reveal the underlying hybridity of the Southeast Asian Chinese experience – adapting to different social, cultural and educational realities. So while they identify strongly with their Hakka Chinese roots, they are unafraid of innovation.

If learning through “play” in the English language is more stimulating for their children’s long-term development, then that’s what they willl do.

Charlyn stresses with all the resoluteness of her Hakka ancestry: “We have never seriously thought about migrating. Our family is here.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 January 2017, 5:10 pm and is filed under
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Ketika Harakah umpama kapal bocor, Pas lagi menyedihkan, kata Lutfi

Malaysia Dateline

24 Januari 2017 | BORHAN AHMAD

Bekas ketua pengarang Harakah, Ahmad Lutfi Othman menyifatkan akhbar milik Pas itu kini umpama ‘kapal yang bocor menunggu masa untuk tenggelam’ manakala nasib partinya pula, Pas, lagi menyedihkan.

Dalam tulisan pertamanya selepas 26 bulan tidak menulis, Lutfi dalam tulisan pertamanya di Malaysia Dateline berkata, “Gugatan media baru memang satu faktor besar tetapi kurangnya persiapan untuk mencabar ancaman baru itu, bagi saya, lebih berperanan untuk menjatuhkan lagi jumlah cetakan akhbar.”

Lutfi yang tidak sihat sejak beberapa tahun lalu tamat perkhidmatannya secara rasmi dengan Harakah akhir Disember tahun 2016 lalu.

Kini beliau menyertai akhbar mingguan Amanah yang dimiliki oleh parti pecahan dari Pas itu sebagai Penasihat Editorial mula menulis dengan Malaysia Dateline mulai hari ini.

Ahmad Lutfi menjadi ketua pengarang Harakah yang ketiga di kalangan kakitangan akhbar itu selepas Zulkifli Sulong dan Suhaimi Mokhtar. Sebelum itu, Ketua Pengarang Harakah adalah pemimpin politik Pas.

Harakah mencapai puncak kegemilangannya pada tahun 1998 – 2000 apabila edaran Harakah ketika itu adalah antara 300,000 hingga 380,000 setiap keluaran.

Dalam tulisan ini, Lutfi berkata, ketika sedih dengan apa yang berlaku kepada Harakah, beliau lagi sedih dengan apa yang berlaku kepada Pas.

“Dari jauh saya mengikuti perkembangan dalaman Pas yang cukup menyedihkan. Saya masih sempat mengheret kaki ke muktamar Pas di Batu Pahat pada 2014. Beriyani gam tidak lagi dapat memikat selera.

“Suasana perbahasan tawar dan ada kalanya menjengkelkan. Saya terasa kehilangan yang amat sangat sepanjang hadir di situ,” tulis Lutfi.

Menurut Lutfi yang kini menjalani hemodilisis tiga kali seminggu, beliau pulang lebih awal dari muktamar 2014 itu.

Dalam perjalanan balik ke Kuala Lumpur, yang diiringi hujan lebat, beliau mencuri dengar ucapan pimpinan Pas melalui radio internet.

“Harapan saya, biduk lalu kiambang bertaut. Pembahas boleh menimbulkan apa saja yang terbuku di dada, termasuk membacakan “doa yang pelik-pelik” untuk diaminkan, tetapi keadaan diharap menjadi reda dengan ucapan penutup pimpinan.

“Air mata saya mengalir dan dada berkocak kencang mendengar ucapan penggulungan Presiden. Retak tidak lagi menunggu pecah, malah sudah terburai.

“Gurau senda anak-anak dan isteri sepanjang perjalanan hilang ditelan kegelisahan. Minda saya mula menjangka, Pas sudah tidak sama seperti dulu. Sedih, sebak dan marah bersilih-ganti,” katanya.

Sejak saat itu, katanya, secara perlahan-lahan, beliau seolah-olah tidak lagi mengenali watak dan keperibadian Pas walhal itulah parti Islam yang beliau yakin wajib disokong dan didukung seawal zaman kanak-kanak, tanpa pilihan.

“Episod ini cukup melukakan. Peluang untuk mencipta sejarah baru politik tanahair menjadi kabur. Kekuatan oposisi merosot teruk,” katanya.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 28 January 2017, 6:07 am and is filed under
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Let’s keep our focus on things that matter

By TK Chua

Free Malaysia Today

January 27, 2017

We should stay focused on the big picture and, instead of harping on past problems, be more realistic and practical about issues such as racism, graft, and massive development projects.

There are just too many incongruous arguments going on in Malaysia today. I consider all these deliberate distractions and diversions from the more fundamental problems confronting us.

The first distraction is the assertion that Lim Kit Siang will become deputy prime minister should the opposition take federal power. There is nothing wrong in Lim Kit Siang becoming DPM if the situation warrants it. Why would the race of a person become an issue unless it is the embedded racism being voiced? Has racism become so entrenched in Malaysia today that even the racists are not consciously aware of their own behaviour?

We must not get distracted; fight we must against racism and bigotry before it is too late.

Second, I wouldn’t say Malaysia will lose its sovereignty anytime soon as is being debated at the moment. It is more Malaysia’s wanton adventurism in development that should be of concern. We rely on foreign capital and investment to build massive infrastructures that are of no immediate need. We depend on foreign buyers to build mega cities not knowing who is going to occupy them. Are these not a concern for all of us?

Third, going back to Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s past “misdeeds”, including the latest CIA revelation on the BMF scandal, is another distraction. Are we trying to compare who has committed the greater blunder here? We should learn to be more practical and realistic. It is useless to harp on past problems. Instead, we should focus on matters we can do something about now. I think it is not difficult to distinguish between the two.

Fourth, we should not be constantly distracted by so-called external factors such as, Donald Trump’s presidency in the US, commodity prices, the Trans-Pacific Partnership etc. All countries face external factors, not just Malaysia. It is how competent and resilient we are in our ability to handle the headwind that matters.

The debate should rightly focus on our incompetency, vulnerability and profligate ways and not at trying to find excuses or apportion blame on factors beyond our control. We must focus on how our ringgit is managed, not the price of oil or US interest rates affecting the ringgit. What about countries with no oil? Did their currencies go to the dogs?

Fifth, we should not be too impressed by the increasing number of investigations and arrests on those suspected of corruption. We should focus instead on why corruption has become systemic and widespread. Are we losing control over our monitoring mechanisms and governance systems? Seriously, what is the point of more people being charged for corruption when it has become so rampant?

The auditor-general has revealed that 30% of the value of public projects is lost due to graft. This is equivalent to RM15.6 billion a year, if the total development expenditure of RM52 billion (2016) of the federal government is taken into account. This huge figure does not even include leakages and graft in government-linked companies which are off-budget agencies. Again, it is good to remind ourselves to stay focused on the big picture, not a few high profile arrests here and there.

We must focus on the right issues; otherwise it is futile to argue.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 28 January 2017, 8:06 am and is filed under
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My lawyers instructed to consider whether Hadi’s insinuation that I am anti-Islam is defamatory and cause for legal proceedings

What a haughty, arrogant but misconceived and misinformed response from Hadi.

It is PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s prerogative to dismiss any possibility of working with DAP, but he has no  right to turn and twist facts to justify his position.

It is not the DAP but Hadi as PAS President who violated  the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework and the Pakatan Rakyat consensus principle that all decisions in Pakatan Rakyat coalition should be reached by consensus of all the three component parties.

But the last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Hadi vetoed  what had been agreed by the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council with PAS represented by its Deputy President and Secretary-General, demonstrating that Hadi not only wanted to be a dictator in PAS but also in Pakatan Rakyat.

Hadi should look into the mirror when he alleged that the DAP has failed to look after the interest of the people of Penang, although it had one term to do so.

Lest Hadi forgets, DAP-led Pakatan Rakyat won 30 state assembly seats in the 2013 general elections as compared to 29 seats in the 2008 general election.

In the 2013 general election, DAP  not only won  all the 19 seats it won in the 2008 general elections, but with a bigger majority in everyone of the 19 seats, with majority as big as more than 300 per cent as in the case of Chong Eng in the Padang Lalang seat where she won with  a 14,930- vote majority as compared to the 4,242-vote DAP majority in 2008 general election and of over 400% increase as in Padang Kota where Chow Kong Yeow won with 7,196-vote majority as compared to 1,661-vote majority in 2008; and in Pulau Tikus where Yap Soo Huey won with a 8,220-vote majority as compared to 1,714-vote majority in 2008 and  in Seri Delima where RSN Ryer  won with 9,227-vote majority as compared to 2,128-vote majority in 2008.

In contrast, Hadi was thrown out of the Terengganu state government after one term as Mentri Besar. In the 1999 Terengganu state general elections, thanks to the Anwar “reformasi” wave, Hadi became Terengganu Mentri Besar with PAS winning 28 out of the 32 state assembly seats, winning 87.5% of the popular vote in the state.

In the 2004 general elections, an astounding reverse took place, with Hadi thrown out as Mentri Besar when UMNO won 28 out of the 32 state assembly seats, leaving PAS with only 4 seats but its popular vote crashed from 87.5% in 1999 to 12.5%.

Can Hadi explain such a great contrast in popular support for the DAP-led state government in Penang as compared to his ignominious one term as Teregganu Mentri Besar?

But no purpose can be served by crying over spilt milk and we must move on.

Hadi is wrong when he insinuated that I am anti-Islam, and I am asking my lawyer to study the possibility of instituting legal action against Hadi for accusing me of being anti-Islam.

I am not anti-Islam and I support the inclusive, enlightened,  progressive and tolerant Islamic vision as spelt out in the “PAS for ALL” slogan in the 2013 general elections.

However, I cannot support an intolerant and extremist Islamic vision, whether by Islamic State or by any Islamic leader claiming to use Islam to hide their extremism and intolerance.

Hadi’s response make me think of three things:

The first was what the great Islamic scholar of the 19th century, Muhammad Abduh wrote, after his return from France in 1888, that “I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but not Islam”.

It is sad that there are Muslim leaders in Malaysia who refuse to recognise that core values such as integrity, freedom, human rights, and justice, are universal and do not conflict with Islam or any religion and are in fact  important constituents of Islamic teachings.

Secondly, the report that Ireland leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim states lag, based on an index of Economic Islamcity or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings and the study of 208 countries and territories by an academic at George Washington University.

Hossein Askari,  an Iranian-born professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, said Muslim countries used religion as an instrument of state control.

He said: “We must emphasise that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings – Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.

Thirdly, the just-released Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016, where nine of  the ten most corrupt countries of the world are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), viz: (ranging from rankings 166 – 175:  Iraq, Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Korea (North), South Sudan and Somalia.

The TI CPI 2016 seems to vindicate Hossein Askari’s thesis, that the Koran’s teachings are better represented in Western societies than in Islamic countries, which have failed to embraced the values of their own faith in politics, business, law and society.

It would appear that Hadi does not mind Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy under his concept of a Islamic Malaysia.

I do not think even PAS members could accept such a concept, if its full impliclations are understood by PAS members and the Malaysian public.

(Media Conference Statement  after the Penang Chief Minister’s Chinese New Year Open House at SPICE,  Penang on Saturday, 28th January 2017 at 12.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 28 January 2017, 2:14 pm and is filed under
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Indonesia has spoken. Why is Najib still silent more than 38 hours after Trump signed the executive order banning 130 million people from seven countries from United States?

Indonesia has spoken. The Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said that Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, deeply regrets US President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban more than 130 million people from seven countries from the United States and to deny entry to all refugees.

Why is Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who mooted the proposal for a global movement of moderates, still silent about  Trump’s executive order which had caused world-wide reverberations, with chaos and confusion in US airports and capital cities all over the world.

Trump’s seismic ban was  enacted with a stroke of a pen at 4.42 pm Friday Washington time. More than 38 hours have elapsed, as it is now past 6.42  a.m. Sunday Washington time.  Why is Najib still keep silent?

It is not that Najib and the Foreign Ministry had been overtaken by complete surprise by such an executive order, as Trump had in fact been talking about such an inhumane measure since the GOP primary campaign last year.

Has Najib’s dilatory response anything to do with US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic lawsuit relating to the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal?

In office just a week, US President Trumph has been accused of constitutional and legal overreach by human rights groups and national security experts.

Notably, even though Trump’s ban is ostensibly based on security concerns, it excludes countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, whose citizens have been responsible for some of the most serious terrorist plots against the United States since the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks in 2001.

Ethical questions are being raised as Trump’s executive order could be one of the first conflicts of interest of the US President, as his bans avoided nations that he has business ties in.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 29 January 2017, 7:50 pm and is filed under
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Najib should call for an emergency OIC meeting to demand that Trump rescind the anti-Muslim executive order to bar people from at least seven Muslim countries from entry into United States

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should call for an emergency Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) meeting to demand that President Triump rescind the anti-Muslim executive order to bar refugees and  people from at least seven Muslim countries from entry into United States for 90 days.

Trump’s executive order, which  temporarily halts admissions for all refugees while barring Syrian refugees indefinitely, also  temporarily bans the entry of visa holders from at least seven Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

The Prime Minister should send an immediate message to Trump to protest against the executive order as being  mean-spirited, inhumane and un-American in origin.

Najib’s immediate message of protest and denunciation of the executive order  is all the more urgent as he had sent out a congratulatory message to Trump on January 21 on his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 29 January 2017, 2:03 pm and is filed under
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Save Malaysia Roundtable of political and civil society leaders on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state

Wednesday, February 8, 2017 is the 114th birthday anniversary of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister of the country.

I believe Tunku would be horrified that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy and heading towards a failed and rogue state.

In fact, the second and third Prime Ministers, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, would have been horrified by the trajectory of the nation under the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, one of the two surviving former Prime Ministers, has already made his horror about Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy and hurtling towards a failed and rogue state clear and obvious to all Malaysians.

I think there can be no better way to commemorate Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary than to convene a roundtable of political and civil society leaders to save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.

All political and civil society leaders will be invited to attend this Roundtable to Save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.

Political leaders to be invited include the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak; the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai; the Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong; MIC President Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam; PKR President Datuk Seri Azizah Ismail; Amanah President Mohamad Sabu; Pribumi Bersatu Chairman Tun Mahathir; PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang; Chairman PSM Dr. Nasir Hashim; PBB President Datuk Abang Johari Openg; PBS President Tan Sri  Joseph Pairin  Kitingan; United Sabah People’s Party (PBRS) President, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup; Parti Rakyat Sarawak President Tan Sri James Masing; SUPP President Datuk Sim Kui Hian,  and UPKO President Datuk Seri Madius Tangau.

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong, who heads the secretariat of the Save Malaysia Roundtable to commemorate Tunku’s 114th Birthday Anniversary, will send out the invitations to political and civil society leaders, as well as NGIs.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 29 January 2017, 3:35 pm and is filed under
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Najib is consigning his  initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates to the grave if he is not prepared to be part of the global outrage at US President Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive order against refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries

It is now more than 58 hours since US President Trump, at 4.42 pm Friday Washington time,  with a stroke of a pen signed the cruel and inhumane Executive Order against refugees and immigrants, creating world-wide turmoil and  reverberations, with chaos and confusion in US airports and capital cities all over the world.

What is disturbing is that the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government are not part of this  global outrage at the inhumanity and insensitivity of Trump’s executive order.

It cannot be  that Najib and the Malaysian  Foreign Ministry had been overtaken by complete surprise by such an executive order, as Trump had in fact been talking about such an inhumane measure since the GOP primary campaign last year, and Trump’s executive order against refugees and immigrants had in fact been leaked to the media several days before Trump  signed the executive order.

Najib cannot blame anyone for asking why he acted with such alacrity when he lashed out at Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi on the Rohingya issue but is so tame and tardy  when the Muslim world is  revolted and outraged by Trump’s executive order against refugees and the 130 million people from seven Muslim-majority countries, viz: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

As a sign of growing political intimacy and collaboration between Najib and the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, there is also conspicuous silence from the PAS leadership on Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive, completely out of character of PAS leadership which would have been the first to  denounce Trump’s executive order.

Is this a sign of growing maturity and responsibility of the Hadi PAS leadership or just of closer political collaboration with Najib’s  UMNO leadership?

Najib has said that UMNO will work with Hadi’s PAS on matters concerning Islam, including the lauch of Rohingya aid flotilla on Friday, Feb. 3.

It will be a great  idea if the Friday programme be expanded to include a protest against Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive order signed by Trump against refugees and immigrants.

Or is  Najib staying clear of global outrage over Trump’s executive order against refugees and immigrants because of US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic lawsuit relating to the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal?

While Malaysians await clarification from Najib, the Prime Minister should be aware that he  is consigning his  initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates to the grave if he is not prepared to be part of the global outrage at US President Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive order against refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 3:52 pm and is filed under
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Stand Firm Against PAS Under Hadi

Koon Yew Yin

29th Jan 2017

Long before the setting up of Amanah, the progressive Islamic party, in 2015, I had called on Malaysians to reject PAS under its hardline leader, Abdul Hadi Awang. Today with the drums of an early election beating louder, I am directing this call again to the opposition parties to stand firm and to reject PAS if it insists on the hard line condition of support for RUU 355 before any kind of opposition electoral understanding is arrived at.

I do not understand why the BN and Pakatan are courting PAS which under its present leadership is in such a hurry to promote the establishment of an Islamic state.

Most Malaysians can understand it – the promotion of an Islamic state – if the advocate is a fundamentalist or opportunist such as those from UMNO. But does anyone that is sensible and practical and who is not power hungry see this as a desirable vision?

How the establishment of an Islamic state can resolve the problems of our complex economy and society has never been spelled out by PAS since the beginning of its existence in 1951.

In fact the party has no economic or social or cultural agenda to speak of beyond the Islamic state concept because it believes that Islam as interpreted by its ulama leaders or as decreed by the party’s Muktamar has the answers to all the issues faced by the rakyat in the modern world.

This ignorance or disregard of what is taking place in the real world – the secular modern world of employment, technology, labour and capital markets, business, banking, industry, leisure and entertainment – arises from their belief that the Islamic religion which they see as the most superior and most perfect religion – has the answers for the country in all the sectors of life.

To hard line conservatives and clerics who dominate PAS, there seems to be no need for knowledge beyond what is found in the Koran. No need for books, computers or hand phones since they are all influenced by the evils of the Western secularized world. No need for democracy or fundamental human liberties and freedoms since their version of Islam has all the right values and answers. Many of the fundamentalists who support ISIS for example do not even see the need for a constitutional monarchy as found in Malaysia.

This explains why the party – even though it has held state power in Kelantan and Trengganu – has really been a massive failure in contributing anything worthwhile to the development of the country.

To be fair, there are some PAS leaders and party members that are moderate and progressive. This number which it is difficult to estimate do not talk openly about. But they recognize the shortcomings of the Islamic state and agenda in responding to the challenge of modern economy and society. They realize that the imposition of an Islamic state will bring us back into the medieval period and will be an unmitigated disaster for our multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia. They see that pushing for the greater imposition of shariah law will bring us closer to the status of “failed state” which is what has happened to many Muslim nations.

Unfortunately this progressive group lost power during the last PAS Muktamar. To me it is not surprising that the Amanah faction has been ousted as what it was offering to the Muslim community was a more sophisticated and balanced manifesto in contrast to the that provided by the ulamas who dominate the Muktamar.

Hadi really has nothing much to offer to Malaysians in terms of nation building skills compared with Amanah’s professionally trained leaders such as Husam Musa, Khalid Samad, Nizar Jamaludin, Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, Salahuddin Ayub, Mat Sabu, Mujahit Yusof Rawa, Raja Kamarul Bahrin and others.

From the little that is available on his career, we can see that Hadi is a professional religious preacher and politician all his life. His horizons have been shaped by a degree in Islamic jurisprudence from Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Prior to that, he obtained a scholarship from the Saudi Arabian government for his graduate studies. It is for this reason that he is so much enamored with the Saudi brand of Islam and wants it to become dominant in Malaysia.

Frankly, in my opinion, the PAS leader and his men have no clue on how to develop the country or resolve our many problems. All the substance in PAS’s electoral platform in the last two elections in fact came from the “Common Framework” platform which was the work of the other opposition parties. Hadi and his PAS ulama contributed little to the opposition manifesto.

Today, we must not forget Hadi’s silence and reluctance to make a strong stand on the 1MDB and donation into PM Najib’s account scandals that have dominated the country for the last few years.

If we go by PAS focus during the past two years of Hadi’s leadership, the PAS coming manifesto, instead, will be on shariah law, hudud, Islamic education, the plight of the Rohingya’s, the bankruptcy of liberalism and secularism, etc. and not on rampant corruption and abuse of power.

Also if we take a cue from what has been in the party’s media attention, the need is to punish cross-gender group, transvestites, gays and lesbians, khalwat offenders, apostates, etc. and not the Malay/Muslim ‘warriors’ responsible for pillaging our economy.

This is why the opposition parties must insist before working with PAS in the coming election, at examining what the party has to offer beyond its “Islamic state” marketing pitch.

PAS and UMNO presently are partners lying in the same bed of ketuanan Islam and ketuanan Melayu and its associated abuse of power and corruption.

This is all the more reason for rejecting both.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 9:19 am and is filed under
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The Most (And Least) Corrupt Countries In The Middle East

Dominic Dudley

Forbes

JAN 26, 2017

Transparency International has released its latest rankings of corruption around the world and, as ever, there is little to cheer about in the Middle East, with five of the world’s ten most corrupt countries coming from the region.

The worst performer is Syria, which is ranked 173rd out of 176 countries, followed by Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Iraq. It is no coincidence that all of these countries are poor and war-ravaged, but even in the wealthier and more peaceful corners of the region the problem of corruption is generally getting worse rather than better.

On a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), 90% of countries in the region scored less than 50 points, which Transparency International deems a failing score. Only the UAE, Israel and Qatar managed to stay above that threshold. The UAE is ranked highest, at 24th in the world with 66 points, followed by Israel in 28th with 64 points and Qatar in 31st place with 61 points.

It wasn’t all good news for these leaders, though. Qatar’s score fell further than any other country in the table, from 71 points last year. That was in large part due to suspicions of corruption around the 2022 World Cup, awarded by football’s scandal-plagued governing body FIFA.

“The FIFA scandals, the investigations into the decision to host the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar and reports of human rights abuses for migrant workers have clearly affected the perception of the country,” says José Ugaz, chair of Transparency International.

Other high-profile corruption cases involving the Middle East have included Brazilian firm Embraer and its sale of private jets to oil giant Saudi Aramco. But such stories only offer a hint of the increasingly pervasive nature of corruption in the undemocratic societies that prevail in the region. Of the 20 countries reviewed by Transparency International, 18 suffered a fall in their ranking this year – the only exceptions being the UAE and Israel.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, rulers such as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt are becoming increasingly autocratic. That limits the space for civil society organizations and makes it hard for anyone to tackle abuses by the wealthy and the well-connected.

“In countries with populist or autocratic leaders, we often see democracies in decline and a disturbing pattern of attempts to crack down on civil society, limit press freedom and weaken the independence of the judiciary. Instead of tackling crony capitalism, those leaders usually install even worse forms of corrupt systems,” says Ugaz.

There are a few places where progress is being made. Tunisia was one of the few countries that improved its score, albeit only slightly (rising from 38 points last year to 41 this year). The country has taken a number of steps over the past 12 months to reduce corruption, such as passing an Access to Information law and adopting a national anti-corruption strategy. Its Anti-Corruption Agency has been empowered to do its job and parliament has also adopted a Financial Court law, which allows grand corruption cases to be investigated.

Globally, the situation is also getting worse. A majority of the 176 countries included in the list scored below 50 points. And more countries declined in this year’s index than improved, compared to last year. Transparency International says deep-rooted reforms are needed to address the growing imbalance of power and wealth. That would, it says, help to empower citizens to stop widespread impunity for corruption, hold the powerful to account and have a real say in the decisions that affect their daily lives.

It is doubtful that governments in the region will pay much heed to such calls, though. In 2015, Transparency International suspended the membership of the Kuwait Transparency Society after the government there replaced its board with its own appointees. Across the region, only five chapters are now recognized, in Bahrain, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, although there are others being formed in Jordan and Yemen.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 10:26 am and is filed under
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There must be no Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia if Malaysia is to succeed as a nation to achieve her full potentials benefiting from her diversity and confluence of the world’s great religions, cultures and civilisations in Malaysia

It is the right of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to talk about his aim for PAS to win at least 40 Parliamentary seats in the next general election, but it is the height of irresponsibility in a plural society for any political leader to pander to either Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia.

This is because there must be no Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia if Malaysia is to succeed as a nation to achieve her full potentials benefitting from the diversity and confluence of the world’s great religions, cultures and civilisations in Malaysia.

Hadi has the right to talk of his expectation that PAS will win 40 parliamentary seats, just as it is the right of others who prognosticate that PAS may even lose the Kelantan state government which PAS had ruled for five consecutive general elections since 1990 under the late Tok Guru Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who was both Kelantan Mentri Besar in all the five general election battles and PAS Mursidul Am.

Not only that, there is also  the forecast that PAS would possibly face  the worst electoral defeat in the next general elections in the 14GE under Hadi’s leadership.

It is regrettable that Hadi seems to be promoting a form of non-Islamophobia when he said in a special address in Kedah that the PAS’ previous political consensus with Pakatan Rakyat allies PKR and DAP had achieved the best result so far for the Opposition, but had resulted in a political imbalance.

He said: “Do you realise how the situation was with the seats? Unknowing, the 89 Opposition seats were 21 seats for PAS, 30 for PKR, and 38 for DAP.”

He asked: “Is it fair for this country, the government is governed by Muslims in 39 seats, with non-Muslims having a larger share? This is not right.”

The PAS President  was referring to the 39 Muslim MPs among the 89 seats currently held by the Opposition in the Dewan Rakyat.

Hadi claimed that non-Muslims can take over the country if they win 30 more seats in the next elections.

“In the 89 seats held by opposition, only 39 are held by Muslims, while 50 are by non-Muslims,” he said.

By swaying 30 additional MPs, non-Muslims can determine the outcome of a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Parliament and form a new government where only 39 MPs are Muslim while 80 are not.

Hadi’s wily illogic is most astounding as Hadi’s perverted electoral exposition is the height of political irresponsibility.

In the first place, I have not encountered or heard any effort or attempt to get 30 Barisan Nasional non-Muslim MPs to defect and join up with the 89 MPs from DAP, PKR and PAS in a vote of no confidence against Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Parliament to oust him as Prime Minister.

Secondly, even if the impossible had happened, with 30 BN non-Muslim MPs defecting to support the Opposition in a vote of no confidence against Najib in Parliament, would there be the simple majority of at least 112 votes to secure victory for the vote of no confidence against Najib in the 222-seat Parliament?

This is impossible, for even with 30 BN non-Muslim MPs’ defection and support for vote of no confidence against  Najib in Parliament, there will be no majority for the vote of no confidence, as Hadi as PAS President would have directed the 21 PAS MPs (before the establishment of Parti Amanah) to vote in support of Najib, to use Hadi’s own words,  “to defend Islam and to ensure Muslims are in position of power”.

It is fortunate that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR President Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Was Ismails’ no confidence motion against Najib two years ago  never came to a vote, for Hadi would have directed the 21 PAS MPs to defeat Azizah’s motion.

With Hadi’s mindset for the 21 PAS MPs to  reject any vote of confidence against Najib in Parliament “to defend Islam and to ensure Muslims are in position of power”, there was never any possibility of a vote of no confidence against Najib succeeding in Parliament, especially when getting  30 BN non-Muslim MPs to defect and support a no-confidence motion against Najib would itself have been an impossible hurdle to clear.

As the overwhelming majority of some 65% of the 222 MPs in Parliament are Muslims, only Hadi can explain why he is resorting to a subtle form non-Islamophobia to create fear among Muslim voters  for non-Muslim elected representatives.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 6:06 pm and is filed under
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U.S. Travel Restrictions Put Saudi Arabia in a Bind

By MARGHERITA STANCATI in Dubai and AHMED AL OMRAN in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Wall Street Journal

Jan. 30, 2017

Monarchy’s desire to cultivate good relations with Trump administration run counter to outcry in Muslim world over ban

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and home to the religion’s two holiest sites, has long used its religious clout to project its role as a regional leader. Now that same clout has caught the kingdom in a prickly dilemma.

The monarchy’s desire to cultivate a better relationship with the Trump administration than it had with the U.S. under Barack Obama is exposing Saudi Arabia to criticism that it is unwilling to stand up for its Muslim allies, particularly those caught in an executive order that restricts entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries.

“The ban puts Saudi Arabia in an awkward position,” said Ibrahim Fraihat, a professor of conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. “Saudi Arabia will be expected to take a position against it because some of the countries included in the ban like Sudan and Yemen are key allies and because it projects itself as leader of the Muslim world.”

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump spoke on Sunday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman about Middle East refugees, the deal to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and improved security relations between the two countries, the White House said.

“The president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said.

A statement carried on the official Saudi Press Agency said “the view of the two leaders were identical” on issues that included confronting terrorism and extremism, along with countering “those who seek to undermine security and stability in the region and interfere in the internal affairs of other state,” a reference to Iran and to the activities of its regional proxies.

The White House also said they agreed on the “importance of rigorously enforcing” the nuclear deal Iran struck with other world powers including the U.S. in 2015. Mr. Trump and Saudi officials have repeatedly criticized the agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Saudi leaders enthusiastically greeted Mr. Trump’s election, voicing hope that the new president’s hard-line stance on rival Iran meshed with the kingdom’s strategic goals. Iran is among the seven Muslim-majority countries covered by the 90-day visa moratorium, but so are countries Saudi Arabia regards as allies.

The ban applies to citizens of Sudan, a member of the coalition of Muslim countries assembled by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism. Also included is Yemen, where Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in 2015 against Iran-backed Houthi rebels with the aim of restoring President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power. The ban applies to Syrians fleeing their country’s war, too, and Riyadh is a key supporter of Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad as well as his Iranian and Russian backers.

Saudi Arabia has produced more extremists that went on to carry out attacks on U.S. soil than any of the countries directly affected by the ban. Osama bin Laden, the late head of al Qaeda, was from one of the kingdom’s most prominent business families and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Saudi. Only Tunisia has contributed more foreign fighters to Islamic State, according to a 2015 study by the Soufan Group, a security consultancy.

Appearing on NBC on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus left open the possibility that Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt and Pakistan—all close U.S. allies—could be added. But former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who helped draft the executive order, told Fox News on Saturday that Saudi Arabia wasn’t included because “it is going through a massive change,” adding, “It is not the old Saudi Arabia.”

A ban on travel from Saudi Arabia would have far-reaching consequences, disrupting a commercial and military alliance that has long helped shape U.S. involvement in the region. It would also affect the tens of thousands of Saudi students enrolled in U.S. colleges under government-funded scholarships.

Saudi officials have kept mum on the new U.S. visa restrictions. But when Mr. Trump first floated the idea of a Muslim ban, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir described the proposal as “very very dangerous,” saying it would deepen divisions between people of different faiths. But during a press conference in Riyadh last Tuesday, said he was “very very optimistic about the Trump administration.” He praised Mr. Trump’s cabinet choices, including Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense and Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

In putting its faith in Mr. Trump’s presidency, Saudi Arabia had hoped the White House would reverse Mr. Obama’s policy of outreach to Iran, which culminated with the nuclear deal. Riyadh says the deal has empowered Tehran to interfere in Arab affairs, sowing instability in the region.

But some analysts say that assuming the Trump presidency will be good for the region when so little is known about his Middle East policy is overly optimistic.

“They are putting their heads in the sand about the anti-Muslim bigotry,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who blamed “a mixture of wishful thinking and willful blindness.”

—William Mauldin in Washington contributed to this article.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 7:51 pm and is filed under
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Who Hasn’t Trump Banned? People From Places Where He’s Done Business

By RICHARD W. PAINTER and NORMAN L. EISEN

New York Times

JAN. 29, 2017

President Trump’s executive order banning travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries is being rightly challenged in the courts for, among other things, its unconstitutional interference with free exercise of religion and denial of due process. Overlooked in the furor is another troubling aspect of the situation: President Trump omitted from his ban a number of other predominantly Muslim nations where his company has done business. This adds further illegitimacy to one of the most arbitrary executive actions in our recent history, and raises significant constitutional questions.

The seven countries whose citizens are subject to the ban are relatively poor. Some, such as Syria, are torn by civil war; others are only now emerging from war. One thing these countries have in common is that they are places where the Trump organization does little to no business.

By contrast, other neighboring Muslim countries are not on the list, even though some of their citizens pose just as great a risk — if not greater — of exporting terrorism to the United States. Among them are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. A vast majority of people living in these countries, like the people living in the seven subject to the immigration ban, are peaceful and law abiding. But these three countries have exported terror to the United States in the past. They accounted for 18 of the 19 terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack on American soil (an attack which was directed by another Saudi, Osama Bin Laden, with the assistance of an Egyptian, Ayman al-Zawahri).

These countries, unlike those subject to the ban, are ones where Donald Trump has done business. In Saudi Arabia, his most recent government financial disclosure revealed several limited liability Trump corporations. In Egypt, he had two Trump companies registered. In the United Arab Emirates, he had licensed his name to a Dubai golf resort and a luxury residential development and spa. Some of these entities have since been closed, and others remain active.

A look at other nations with large Muslim populations only reinforces this troubling pattern. Turkey, India and the Philippines could all pose similar risks as the banned countries of origin that concern the president. Yet Mr. Trump has done business in all three places. They, too, are omitted from his list.

Our point is not, of course, that any of these other countries should be added. A country-specific ban, which experts say is an ineffective way to combat terrorism, should not exist. Our government should instead screen all immigrants for potential links to crime or terrorism, as it has long done. Discrimination based on national origin is a thinly veiled attempt to discriminate on the basis of religion. And indeed, President Trump has admitted that he wants to prioritize the settling of Christian refugees.

The arbitrary and discriminatory nature of this order is bad enough; but if the president is also considering payoffs to the Trump organization, it’s much worse.

As we have pointed out in a lawsuit we have filed against the president in his official capacity, payments to the president are not only unethical but unconstitutional if they come from foreign governments or entities controlled by foreign governments, such as sovereign wealth funds and state owned banks. The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits anybody holding a position of trust with the United States government, including the president, from receiving economic benefits from business dealings with foreign governments.

Without President Trump’s tax returns and other information about his privately held businesses, we do not know the extent of the economic benefits he receives from governments of countries that pose a terrorism risk but are not on his immigration ban list. What we do know is that President Trump has generally refused to divest himself of his businesses, to disclose foreign government benefits coming into those businesses and to release his tax returns, and has insisted that simply because he is president, as opposed to some lower official, he “has no conflict of interest.”

And now, only a week into President Trump’s term, we see the devastating consequences of this conflict of interest. It appears that immigrants from countries that can afford to do business with the Trump organization are free to come and go from the United States. Immigrants from countries that cannot afford such transactions may very well be detained at the airport and sent home, where some may perish.

After the election we often heard the phrase “to the victor belong the spoils.” But there are ethical and constitutional limits to that maxim. In this case, an already suspect immigration ban is subject to yet more doubt because President Trump may be looking to his business interests at the same time as he makes decisions about human beings who want to come to America to study, earn a living, avoid persecution and in some instances, to survive.

Richard W. Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, is the vice-chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, where Norman L. Eisen is the chair. They were chief White House ethics lawyers for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 January 2017, 8:03 pm and is filed under
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