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Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Party matters most to voters
Budget fails to live up to reform pledges
‘M’sia should have been a federation of three nations’
‘Rough sex very unlikely for Anwar’
Najib to announce Felda's listing at KLSE?
A free-for-all at PAS ceramah in Rembau
Malaysian unis fail to make THE 400
Unions flex muscles as BN, Pakatan vie for votes
Putrajaya stands by refusal to charge A-G

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 07:11 PM PDT

By Santhi Oorjitham, NST

Voters in the next general election are 10 per cent more likely to look at the party rather than the candidate compared with those who cast their ballot in the 2004 polls, according to a recent survey by the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).

Crunching such numbers could prove useful as parties plan their election strategy -- right down to when they should announce their line-up of candidates.

Back in August 2004, 56 per cent of about 1,650 voters polled said the party was the main influence on their vote, recalled Professor Datuk Seri Syed Arabi Idid, head of the university's Elections Study Group. That rose to 60 per cent in a similar survey just after the March 2008 polls.

And in July this year, 65 per cent of those surveyed named the party as the most important factor. The biggest rise was among Bumiputeras and middle-aged voters (aged between 35 and 50).

Of those who looked more at the candidate when voting, the highest number came from the young voters -- 37 per cent of those aged 21 to 35.

That's a significant number, since 4,360,000 voters were below 40 in the 2008 elections (about 40 per cent), compared with 6,540,000 above 40.

At the next polls, voters under 40 could make up about 42 per cent of the total, estimated UCSI University lecturer Dr Ong Kian Ming, an election analyst.

Supporters of Barisan Nasional, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) are more likely to choose based on the party than the candidate this year than in 2008.

In 2008, 64 per cent of BN supporters said they voted for the party but this year, 69 per cent would vote for the party. (See chart.)

The biggest jump is for supporters of DAP and PKR. In 2008, 54 per cent of each party's supporters would vote based on party, but this jumped to 67 per cent and 69 per cent this year.

Part of the reason for the focus on the party could be the timing, explained Syed Arabi.

"Malaysian voters usually don't know the candidate until Nomination Day. They usually decide on the party first and that decision is made far ahead."

"Party preference, once formed, may be harder and slower to change," added Universiti Sains Malaysia's Dr Lim Hong Hai. "A one- or two-week campaign may not be enough to change it for most respondents or voters."

Although the party is the main factor for the majority of voters, pundits still recommend announcing candidates much earlier.

"Parties should tell or at least hint who will be the candidates early, giving a year in which they can be examined closely," urged Syed Arabi. "The candidate can start building support and infrastructure on the new media, for example, and identify voters and supporters."

There is a risk of infighting if candidates are announced early, he admitted. But it could be done in "states where the party structure is strong -- in Perak, Sarawak and Sabah for the BN, for example, and in Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan for the opposition".

Early announcement of candidates was most important for PKR, added Ong, "because they are seen as the weakest link in Pakatan Rakyat in the sense that many of their candidates who were elected later defected and two were asked to step down. They should announce early so voters can be assured they are good quality candidates".

At the national level, parties "must be solid in terms of their leadership -- no back-stabbing and bickering", said Professor Dr Mansor Mohd Noor, of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, who has been researching elections since 2004.

"They must hold to a common view of public issues to be managed and solved -- rather than denying issues raised by the public."

Coalitions should strengthen cohesion among component parties and "improve their image in terms of policy announcements," suggested Syed Arabi.

"The prime minister has tried to link up with the young on Facebook and Twitter, but other leaders have not shown they are communicating with the young."

Younger voters have less political knowledge, reckoned Ong.

"While most do not know who their members of parliament and state assemblymen are, they are much more likely to be swayed by appeals by leaders at the national level."

Older voters look at what the party has done for them in the past, said IIUM research coordinator Azrul Hisyam Wakichan, but the young and the middle-aged look at candidates, issues and what the party can do for them.

Budget fails to live up to reform pledges

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 07:02 PM PDT

By Tony Pua, FMT

The expectations were high for a pre-election budget where Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will stamp his "reformist" credentials. It is for the prime minister to put into action the various reform pledges made in his cornerstone policy blueprints – the New Economic Model (NEM), Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

However, the announcement of the budget left much to be desired as little has changed beyond tweaking the budget of the previous financial year. Instead what is perhaps the most worrying is that Malaysians are like the proverbial frog in the hot soup – where the frog does not realise the soup is slowly but surely reaching the boiling point.

We may not yet be facing the crisis of Greek proportions, but Budget 2012 is doing very little to avert such eventuality, leaving the Malaysian economy nakedly exposed to the inevitability.

Federal government debt

Our federal government debt has increased rapidly from RM242 billion in 2004 to RM363 billion in 2009 and RM456 billion in 2011. That represents a marked 88.4% increase in debt over the past 7 years. It is also an increase of 25.6% or nearly RM100 billion over two years.

The increase in debt has increased the pressure on reigning in our budget deficit as our annual debt service commitments have increased to RM20.5 billion next year from only half the amount five years ago in 2007.

While our federal government debt to GDP ratio is still at a moderate 53.8%, a far cry from Greece's 117%, we are not far from Spain's 64% or Ireland's 67%, both of whom are facing economic turbulence of their own.

Our debt levels will only worsen in the next few years as we embark on record levels of infrastructure spending such as the RM53 billion Klang Valley MRT project which is expected to be funded entirely on debt.

Wages and pensions

At the same time, our public sector expenditure is increasingly mirroring that of the European countries with ballooning civil service obligations. The budgeted expenditure for wages and pensions for 2012 is a whopping RM64.1 billion, an increase of RM6.2 billion or 10.8% budgeted for 2011. The increase is even more worrying when contrasted against the budgeted RM36.9 billion 2007, a 73.7% increase in just five years.

The GTP had promised a more efficient and cost-effective government and civil service. What we are seeing from the budget is only one which is indebting our children, entrenching our structural problems and very weak expenditure controls.

Economic growth

Despite the government's efforts in the ETP, our manufacturing and export statistics paint a starkly different picture.

Our export sector grew a miserly 2.7% in 2011 against 13.2% in 2010. However, we should be further alarmed by the fact that the growth was a result of increased contributions from exports of rubber, paper, textiles, clothes and shoes which grew in excess of 15%, and the petroleum products by 9.3%. Our electrical and electronics sector, which constitutes 26.4% of our total exports industry, shrunk by 4.9% in 2011.

From the above indicators, there appears to be a shift away from higher value-added export sectors to the primary products industry such as rubber, wood, textiles and crude oil. This is the exact reverse of what we are trying to achieve via the ETP.

Budget deficit

Based on the Economic Report, we are expected to meet our deficit target of 5.4% for this year only because our revenues had grown beyond the expected in the 2010 budget due to very strong commodity prices. The government has managed to collect RM21.1 billion of extra revenue on top of the originally budget RM165.8 billion. If not for the unexpected increase in government revenue, our budget deficit would have been a shocking 7.9%.

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 04:36 PM PDT

Civil society activist Haris Ibrahim says the original agreement in 1963 called for the setting up of the Federation of Malaysia as three separate nations.

(Free Malaysia Today) - United Borneo Front (UBF) chief Jeffrey Kitingan wants two administrative systems to be implemented in Malaysia but civil rights activist Haris Ibrahim says this is not in the spirit of the 1963 Borneo Agenda.

Instead, Haris suggests that Malaysia should have been a federation of three nations.

The UBF is pushing for a "1-Country, 2-Systems" type of administration in Malaysia – one for Peninsular Malaysia and the other for Sabah and Sarawak.

Jeffrey said this was in line with its Borneo Agenda and aspiration to restore political autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak.

Speaking at its recent Borneo Tea Party gathering and Hari Raya open house held in Dataran Bengkoka, Pitas, Jeffrey said the vast distance between the two regions with the South China Sea between them emphasised their differences.

"The differences in indigenous people, culture, language and heritage should be taken into consideration in the administration of the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak in addition to the historical fact that Sabah and Sarawak together with Singapore and Malaya formed the Federation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963," he said.

Responding to this today, Haris wrote in his blog: "The then federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak had agreed to come together and, without any loss or reduction in their respective status as independent sovereign nations, form the federation of Malaysia as equal nation-state partners within that new federation."

He backed his view by quoting clause three of Sabah's 20-Point Agreement, which reads: "Whilst accepting that the present Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should form the basis of the Constitution of Malaysia, the Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and agreed in the light of a free association of states and should not be a series of amendments to a Constitution drafted and agreed by different states in totally different circumstances."

Haris argued that Jeffrey's proposal did not honour the 18 and 20 points signed respectively by Sarawak and Sabah.

READ MORE HERE

‘Rough sex very unlikely for Anwar’

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 04:07 PM PDT

Dutch expert Dr Thomas Hoogland says it is very unlikely for the opposition leader, who has a back problem, to indulge in the type of sexual act described by the complainant.

(Free Malaysia Today) - It is unlikely for Anwar Ibrahim to indulge in rough and vigorous sex as described by complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, according to the opposition leader's spinal surgeon Dr Thomas Hoogland.

Testifying at the Sodomy II trial today, the Dutch orthopedic doctor said that a back and forth movement done repeatedly would have caused "significant pain in Anwar's back".

Asked by Anwar's defence lawyer Sankara Nair how he came to such conclusions, Hoogland said that as a spine expert it was his opinion based on examinations of Anwar and findings of MRI scans.

"For Anwar to really vigorously use his back… I think when we consider the sexual act, it is very, very unlikely that it is possible; based on examination of Anwar and findings of MRI, it is not possible for a man his age (to have performed the alleged act)," he told the High Court here.

When asked, Hoogland agreed that it would also be painful for Anwar to kneel on a carpeted floor.

Hoogland had performed surgery on Anwar's back in 2004 in Munich, Germany. He also recently re-examined Anwar last month on Sept 8 and testified yesterday that it would have been painful for Anwar to bend his body for even 10 degrees, or to partake in "vigorous activities".

Hoogland had said yesterday that even after surgery, which improved Anwar's walking abilities, the latter still suffered from arthritis in his facet joints, limited movement as well as nerve roots damage caused by a police assault in 1998.

The then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor was charged with assaulting Anwar in the infamous "black-eye incident" which resulted in the latter falling and hurting his back.

Hoogland said Anwar's 1998 injuries were "significant" and "traumatic" and described them as the

beginning of all of Anwar's back problems as they were not caused by degenerative age reasons.

CCTV footage shown

During cross-examination by lead prosecutor Solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, Hoogland was shown a CCTV footage depicting what appeared to be Anwar in a lift.

Yusof pointed out that in the video, dated June 26, 2008, Anwar could be seen bending over several times while easily putting down and picking up his briefcase when he was in the lift.

Quizzed on this, Hoogland said he could not really comment on the recording as some parts of the video playback was faster than normal and he could not ascertain how quickly Anwar was bending.

"The video is speeding faster than normal. Some parts are real speed. People don't walk so fast," complained Hoogland, who said that he could not see if Anwar was bending all the way or just picking up his briefcase.

He also said that he could not see the expression of Anwar to determine if he was in pain or not.

"He is like Anwar (in the video) and he is able to bend. I never said he cannot bend in my medical report. Only that there is pain while bending and he has to do this motion slowly. Here we can't see if he is in pain," added the doctor.

Hoogland had earlier said that it would be "very painful" for Anwar to bend his back and to pick up something, noting that he would need to bend at the knees. However, he admitted that it was possible to bend slowly.

Could he be pretending?

Yusof had earlier asked Hoogland if a person could easily bend and pick up a pen, without displaying any pain or hampered movements, what would his conclusion be.

Hoogland, however, said that such an observation was not a usual functional test for doctors.

Yusof: How about we regard this as a new test?

Hoogland: Well I will suggest to my colleagues from now on and perhaps call it the 'Kuala Lumpur Test'.

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:22 PM PDT

(Harakah Daily) - Prime Minister Najib Razak will announce Felda Holding's listing at the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange during the 2012 Budget speech today, according to a source.

The source added that the decision was seen as climax in the ongoing clash between politicians and the management of Felda opposed to the move.

"It will have big implication on Felda in the future," the source told Harakahdaily, adding that the decision had not been discussed in detail with settlers and Felda management.

It also said that listing Felda Holding at the KLSE showed that the body was in serious financial problem despite statements on the contrary by Barisan Nasional leaders.

"Felda does not need the funds from the listing. The party which will make huge profit is CIMB, which has reaped millions in profit from the listing of the sugar company Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co Bhd (listed in July) prior to this, as well as Isa (Samad, Felda chairman) and Najib's companies trying to own Felda's businesses which are very profitable although not listed on KLSE," he added.

READ MORE HERE.

A free-for-all at PAS ceramah in Rembau

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:17 PM PDT

By Zehfry Dahalan, FMT

REMBAU: A free for all broke out last night between supporters of PAS, PKR and a group calling themselves the movement to dignify national heroes at a PAS ceramah here.

The group's, Gerakan Memartabatkan Pejuang Nasional (GMPN), target was PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu.

The group was lying in wait for Mat Sabu and when he arrived at the ceramah venue, they marched 300 metres to the ceramah location to heckle him.

But, this time the PAS supporters were prepared for it. In an earlier ceramah in Seremban last month, GMPN also created a fracas.

For the ceramah last night, PAS had mobilised 3,000 PAS and PKR supporters from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Pahang, Johor and Malacca.

The ceramah was held in the fully fenced Negeri Sembilan PAS commissioner Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani's home.

When the 100 plus GMPN supporters neared the gate of the house, PAS supporters formed a human barricade.

Shouting "Jangan ganggu majlis orang" (Don't disturb others function) and "Balik! Balik! (Go back! Go back!) the PAS supporters forced the group to retreat.

A scuffle broke out and both sides were trading blows for nearly 35 minutes. The situation was brought under control when the police intervened. No injuries were reported.

READ MORE HERE.

Malaysian unis fail to make THE 400

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:04 PM PDT

By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — No Malaysian university made the grade in this year's Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, which lists the world's top 400 universities.

This is despite Universiti Malaya's (UM) greatly improved performance in last month's QS World University Rankings, leaping 40 places from 2010 to 167.

Malaysia's oldest university was the only local institution to breach the QS top 200 mark after improving its academic, employment and international scores.

US, UK and European universities continued their traditional domination of the league tables in the THE rankings released yesterday.

The California Institute for Technology — or Caltech — secured top spot, followed by Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Princeton.

In the bottom half of the top 10 were Cambridge University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Imperial College London, Chicago University and Berkeley.

Only 18 Asian universities made the top 200, led by the University of Tokyo (30), University of Hong Kong (34), National University of Singapore (40) and Peking University (49).

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:01 PM PDT

By Shannon Teoh, The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Local unions are re-asserting themselves in their quest for more rights and money, using threats of pickets over a key law and tapping rival political coalitions' eagerness to court workers' support ahead of a general election expected early next year.

With Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expected to announce an "election budget" later today, the umbrella Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has vowed nationwide pickets against amendments to the Employment Act, which it said will allow employers to turn a blind eye to workers' rights.

The Dewan Rakyat passed the changes last night after a five-hour debate.

"Ignoring us could be fatal for Najib," MTUC executive committee member Bruno Pereira told The Malaysian Insider.

Barisan Nasional (BN) has made unprecedented concessions to workers since record losses in Election 2008, where it ceded its customary two-thirds of Parliament and five state governments.

This year alone, the Najib administration has passed a law to set the nation's first minimum wage and promised to raise the mandatory private sector retirement age to 60.

Najib, who is also finance minister, is also expected to announce a major restructuring of civil service wages that will see some of the 1.3 million government servants enjoy pay raises of up to 40 per cent.

But private sector unions have continued to ask for more. The MTUC last week insisted on a base wage of RM1,500 while Maybank employees have held Najib personally responsible over a bonus dispute worth 80 months' pay.

Even Malaysia Airlines (MAS) staff have threatened to picket in December if the controversial share swap with AirAsia is not reversed.

"Elections are coming," said Human Resource Minister Datuk S. Subramaniam candidly when The Malaysian Insider asked why union demands were getting louder.

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 10:47 AM PDT

Abdul Gani has been hit by a stream of accusations from Mat Zain and Raja Petra. — File pic

(TMI) Putrajaya has insisted it will not take action against Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail despite renewed allegations of corruption and fabricating evidence made against the country's top lawyer.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said that last year's decision to close the door on the A-G's alleged involvement in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's 1998 "black eye" case still stands.

"Same reply, same reply. I replied to (DAP adviser Lim) Kit Siang in Parliament before. The reply is the same," he told The Malaysian Insider when asked if Putrajaya would act on the latest allegations against Abdul Gani.

When asked to state if the government would take action against Abdul Gani's accusers, Nazri repeated, "Same reply."

In Parliament last December 14, the government side-stepped the damning accusations made by former investigating officer Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim that Abdul Gani had falsified documents in the "black eye" case, brushing aside several open letters and appeals issued by the retired policeman..

Instead, Nazri had told the House that there was no need for Mat Zain to complain that the independent panel formed to investigate the claimed evidence fabrication had failed to clear his name in the incident.

This, said Nazri, was because Mat Zain had never been the subject of the panel's probe and had merely been called forth as a witness to testify.

"The MACC's (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) advisory board, though its letter to Datuk Mat Zain on July 23, 2009, had already stressed that there was no need for the independent panel or the MACC to clear Mat Zain's name, seeing as he was not the subject of the investigation in the first place," he said.

Nazri also said that the panel had been constitutional, despite Mat Zain's claim that the Solicitor-General had no right to appoint the members.

In his first open letter to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar, Mat Zain had claimed that the right to appoint a tribunal only lay with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, based on the prime minister's advice.

Despite Nazri's response, Mat Zain continued his relentless pursuit to convince the government to charge Abdul Gani in court and, over recent months, penned more letters to IGP Ismail.

The former senior police officer also went a step further recently by accusing Putrajaya of admitting to Abdul Gani's role in allegedly falsifying evidence when Nazri appeared to back the independent panel's findings on the case.

He said with Putrajaya's endorsement, there was no longer a need to form a royal commission of inquiry or a tribunal to investigate Abdul Gani's involvement.

Mat Zain also claimed that Najib was aware of Abdul Gani's involvement as the prime minister had been briefed and was provided "complete evidence" in October 2008, when he was still the country's deputy premier.

Mat Zain said he had briefed Najib at the latter's Finance Ministry office in Putrajaya, adding that he had "assumed" the leader would take appropriate action once he took up the prime minister's post.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Jumaat, 7 Oktober 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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