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Bila Amanah mahu tunjuk belangnya?
On the road to a failed ‘Islamic state’
Who benefits from the MAS, AirAsia share swap?
Raiders playing with fire
PAS goes on soul-searching trip

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:44 PM PDT

Apakah Ku Li dengan Amanahnya akan memulakan gerakan bagi menggantikan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Najib yang dirasakan sebagai ketua kerajaan dan kerajaan Malaysia yang paling bermasalah dan lemah sejak merdeka? Itulah yang ditunggu dan hendak diperhatikannya.

Subky Latif, Harakah Daily

SUDAH dua minggu Tengku Razaleigh melancarkan penubuhan Angkatan Amanah Merdeka atau Amanah, namun belum diketahui apa kegiatan dan rancangannya.

Ia hanya diketahui dengan apa yang diumumkan pada hari pelancarannya iaitu, ia mahu jadi NGO yang menghidupkan legasi kemerdekaan yang diamanah oleh Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra dan fokas awalnya adalah tentang kepincangan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Najib dan halatujunya.

Oleh kerana ia didukung oleh bekas menteri dan timbalan menteri Barisan Nasional serta bekas menteri negeri dan exco, maka tentulah NGO orang-orang politik yang kurang aktif atau sudah tidak aktif itu menarik perhatian.

Tetapi selepas pelancarannya ia seperti tenggelam dalam gelombang Tengku Razaleigh dikatakan dilamar kerabat Pakatan Rakyat bagi menggantikan tempat Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim kiranya politiknya tersekat oleh keputusan mahkamah nanti.

Sepatutnya Tengku Razaleigh dan Amanahnya yang boleh meributkan suasana kerana dipercaya akan menjadi pengkritik terbuka dari dalam Barisan Nasional.

Apakah ia hanya sekadar menjadi pengkritik bebas atau ia menjadi medan pemberontak penyokong BN yang tidak selesa dengan pimpinan Najib dan kerajaan sekarang?

Kemunculan pemberontak dalaman parti dan penyokong kerajaan selalunya mengancam pimpinan ketua kerajaan. Inilah menyebabkan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Margret Thatcher mengakhiri pemerintahan Parti Konservatifnya selama 17 tahun di Britian dan demikian juga yang terjadi kepada Perdana Menteri Tony Blair yang pernah berjaya mengetuai Parti Buruh memenangi tiga kali pilihan raya Britain.

Apakah Ku Li dengan Amanahnya akan memulakan gerakan bagi menggantikan pimpinan Perdana Menteri Najib yang dirasakan sebagai ketua kerajaan dan kerajaan Malaysia yang paling bermasalah dan lemah sejak merdeka? Itulah yang ditunggu dan hendak diperhatikannya.

Tetapi Amanah seolah-olah telah ditampar oleh bom asap yang di bawa Anggota Parlimen Bayan Baru, Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim yang dikira agen Najib yang belum diumumkan menjadi Umno semula. Bom asap itu datang dari penyokong Najib dalam Umno tetapi cetusannya adalah bagi menjaga Umno dari menerima kesan atas politik Ku Li itu.

Ku Li lalu ditempelak pernah dirisik oleh kerabat Pakatan Rakyat bagi menjadi penyambung kepada kepimpinan Anwar mara menuju ke Putrajaya kiranya ia berdepan dengan halangan. Apakah ada asas tempelak itu dan adakah Ku Li adalah orang yang berminat untuk mengambil tempat itu adalah menjadi perkara kedua.

Tetapi sudah bergelombang atmosfera politik negara gara-gara bom asap bebas Bayan Baru itu. Kerabat Pakatan Rakyat terpaksa bersilat menangkis gas bom asap itu hingga ia mengurangkan sementara kelancarannya bergerak ke Putrajaya.

Dengan bom asap itu Ku Li dan Amanahnya tenggelam dalam asapnya hingga menyebabkan orang tidak teringatkan Amanah. Dan Ku Li sendiri senyap seribu bahasa. Dia tidak membuat sebarang respons terhadap bom asap itu dan membiarkan Pakatan Rakyat bersilat menangkisnya.

Dan Ku Li dan Amanah juga diam hingga tidak diketahui apa yang hendak dibuatnya bagi memanas jentera programnya.

Demam pilihan raya sudah rancak. Bila pilihan raya tidak diketahui. Tetapi ia sudah tidak lama. Dan Amanah tidak boleh lama menunggu untuk membangkit program dan kegiatannya.

Mungkin ia belum dibenarkan bergerak selagi tidak didaftarkan. Tetapi Amanah adalah NGO politik yang tidak terikat banyak dengan pantang larang pendaftaran pertubuhan. Dan tempoh bekerja Amanah pun tidak banyak sangat bagi meraih faedah dari suasana dan perkembangan politik kita.

Masa yang ada pada Amanah ialah tempoh menjelang pembubaran Parlimen dan sebelum pilihan raya. Apa yang Amanah hendak buat dan hendak capai adalah dari kegawatan yang melanda kerajaan, Umno dan Najib sekarang. Itulah tempoh kesempatan terbaik bagi Ku Li dan Amanah untuk merebut sesuatu.

Apabila Parlimen dibubarkan, tidak banyak lagi yang Ku Li dapat buat kerana kedudukannya sendiri pun akan ditentukan oleh keadaan itu. Ku Li tidak boleh banyak kerja lain melainkan menumpukan penuh masa dan tenaga di Gua Musang.

Sama ada dia dicalonkan semula oleh BN atau digugurkan, dia terpaksa mempertahankan kerusi Parlimen Gua Musang itu atas apa calon sekali pun. Kalau Ku Li digugurkan, Ku Li terpaksa menumpukan usaha bagi mendapatkan persetujuan Pakatan Rakyat memberi laluan kepadanya. Pakatan Rakyat tidak akan memberi laluan kiranya Ku Li sekadar hendak mempertahankan kerusinya.

Apakah PAS pada keadaan demikian memberi konsesi sama seperti yang diberi kepada Ibrahim Ali pada PRU 2008 dulu? Mungkin Ku Li bukan Ibrahim Ali tetapi PAS ada pengalaman yang baik.

Masa itu tiada lagi peluang bagi Ku Li bagi mewarwarkan Amanah di luar Gua Musang. Masa bagi Amanah menunjukkan belangnya adalah sekarang. Inilah masa untuk mendedahkan belang Najib dan kerajaannya. Barulah ada erti dan sengatnya pelancaran Amanah itu.

On the road to a failed ‘Islamic state’

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 05:20 PM PDT

The raid by Jais or the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on a fundraising dinner held at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya cannot be described as anything but a sanctioned vigilante action. It is part of the continuing agenda to vilify and incite hatred towards Christians.

Bob Teoh, The Malaysian Insider

The Jais raid on DUMC last week signals Malaysia's quickening slide into a failed "Islamic state" like Iran, Yemen, and Tunisia and the rest. Prime Minister Najib Razak must act firmly and urgently to assure non-Muslims that the ruling coalition is serious about protecting their constitutional right to profess, practise and propagate their faith. The commitment to religious freedom is a hallmark of a progressive nation, of what Najib says his 1 Malaysia is all about.

Therefore, the PM cannot afford to continue to remain silent on this affront by Jais. Islam may be a state matter. But clearly Jakim or the Islamic Development Department is parked right under the PM's nose headed by a full Cabinet minister. It can act swiftly if it wanted to in matters pertaining to Islam and even other religions.

For instance, when the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled on December 31, 2009 against the government and allowed The Herald — a Catholic publication — to use the word Allah to refer to God in Bahasa Malaysia, it went into overdrive, seeking ways to scuttle the ruling.

The government was initially indecisive in that instance. A church in Kuala Lumpur was subsequently torched so extensively that it was rendered useless following relentless public vilification of Christians by Utusan, the Malay-language newspaper owned by Umno, as well as by Perkasa, a small ultra-Malay right-wing outfit under the patronage of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He declared Malaysia to be an Islamic state in 2001.

They came unannounced but prepared and accompanied by a media circus, their own enforcement officers and the police. However, they did not have a search warrant nor any plausible explanation for barging in except that someone had made a complaint of which they did not produce details of it. Their suspicion was that the church was proselytising Muslims. The rule of law cannot be based merely on suspicions. There must be prima facie evidence.

Proselytisation has always been the bugbear used by extremist Muslim groups and the right wing in Umno to scare the Malay heartland into believing Christians are out to convert them by any means. And even to make Christianity into the religion of the federation, ludicrous as it may sound. But the opposite is true.

Data tabulated from Pusat Islam and Jakim revealed that between 1980 and 2001 a total of 102,997 people were converted to Islam in Malaysia. But the figure could be higher. Utusan Malaysia on February 25, 2009 quoted the governor as saying in Sabah alone there were 117,579 converts to Islam since 1970. It is public knowledge that such conversions were mainly from rural native Bumiputera Christians from Sabah and Sarawak, sometimes through marriage, inducements or other means.

[See here]

While the prime minister and Umno had decided to remain silent, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek was quick to hammer Jais but shifted the blame to the Pakatan-controlled Selangor state government.

But Jais had likely acted within the law as a controversial enactment passed by the then-Barisan Nasional state government in 1988 allows action against non-Muslims, according to Malaysian Bar Council chief Lim Chee Wee.

"Whilst Jais may have the legal power to enter the premises, it must do so on a proper legal basis that there has been an offence committed. From the presently available facts, there is no basis for its intrusion," he was reported to have said.

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 05:03 PM PDT

Government officials familiar with the deal said Khazanah and AirAsia have been talking about a tie-up on five separate occasions but have never been able to come to terms. Among the issues are pricing and reaction from MAS in-house unions and the Malay ground that could have political repercussions for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

By Jahabar Sadiq, The Malaysian Insider

The jury is still out on whether the proposed share swap between Malaysian Airlines Bhd (MAS) and AirAsia Bhd will benefit the beleaguered flag carrier as its in-house unions threaten strikes and voting for the opposition if the Najib administration goes through with the deal today.

Both MAS and AirAsia shares have been suspended for trading until this evening pending an announcement that could see the low-cost carrier's main shareholder, Tune Air Sdn Bhd, get 20 per cent of the national airline. The unlisted Tune Air is jointly owned by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Datuk Aziz Bakar.

The Malaysian Insider has reported that the share swap will eventually see MAS reclaim its position as a premium airline, leaving low-cost operations to be dominated by AirAsia, Asia's biggest budget carrier that was just a two-plane operation when Tune Air bought the airline for RM1 in 2001.

Some analysts and MAS staff have argued that the government needs to rescue the airline that has been bleeding red ink in the past few quarters rather than sell a stake to "the enemy" as AirAsia has been known since it became a runaway success.

But can Putrajaya throw good money after bad into a virtual airline that has had its books cleaned up in 2002 under the wide asset unbundling (WAU) exercise. That restructuring was engineered by the BinaFikir consultancy, then led by Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, the current managing director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, MAS's ultimate main shareholder.

After all, the state-owned airline has already had two rights issues since the WAU, raking in RM1.6 billion in 2007 and RM2.67 billion in 2010 to fund its operations and fleet purchases. How much more money is required to stop the airline from bleeding red ink after a rather peaceful flight under former managing director Datuk Seri Idris Jala?

The past financial fixes haven't helped MAS. Another round of money won't either, an industry source told The Malaysian Insider despite a touted RM8.4 billion aircraft renewal programme.

"Most of the past solutions for MAS, either the WAU or Jala's business transformation plan, were financial in nature to keep the airline in the black. But what is needed are operational fixes," he added.

Saving MAS

"It has never been easy and even this deal is not easy. But the choice is clear, take this deal and save MAS with the government keeping the majority stake or let it bleed and 20,000 people lose their jobs," said a government source who spoke to The Malaysian Insider on condition of anonymity.

The source also dismissed talk of selling out Bumiputera equity, saying Khazanah will still keep the main stake through its wholly-owned unit Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB) while Tune Air itself has a majority Bumiputera shareholder through Kamarudin and Aziz.

"Yes, Tony is the public face of AirAsia but it's Kamarudin who also runs the operations," he said, adding this gives a chance for the state-run airline to work with entrepreneurial Bumiputeras rather than just the bankers and accountants who have run MAS.

The government source noted that Fernandes was named Airline CEO of the Year for 2009 while AirAsia has won the World's Best Low-Cost Airline award for 2009 and 2010, proving world-class talents are at MAS's doorstep.

He also pointed out that picking Tune Air to help save MAS would benefit both airlines in the long run, despite talk that the premium market is shrinking and the tie-up was effectively a cartel.

"There is demand for a premium airline. Just look at the Gulf carriers such as Etihad and Emirates. They are breaking into the premium market that is controlled by Singapore Airlines," the source added.

It is understood that Emirates will soon start flying its Airbus A380 on the Dubai-Kuala Lumpur route, cutting further into the premium market that MAS once dominated. Gulf airlines are now using their fifth-freedom rights to ply the Dubai-Kuala Lumpur route and beyond — the same right that benefited MAS and Singapore Airlines in the past.

As to whether the share swap will lead to a cartel, an industry source said both companies will keep their respective boards and compete on some routes but still benefit from several synergies.

So, who benefits from the deal?

ECM Libra, in its research note, said the partnership would allow AirAsia to continue what it does best with less predatory competition, while MAS can concentrate on serving the premium segment with better revenue yield.

It also said that there are opportunities for cost-savings as both airlines would be able to bargain better for future aircraft purchases, as well as minimise duplication of resources such as that in the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) area.

AirAsia currently outsources its MRO to Singapore but the share swap deal could push the low-cost budget carrier to use MAS services instead.

An analyst agreed the partnership will allow MAS to cut the queue for aircraft such as the A380 as AirAsia is one of Airbus' largest customers with more than 200 orders and options.

"MAS used to have clout with the airplane makers but its scant purchases over the years has diminished that," the analyst said, pointing out that MAS will only start getting the A380s next year, some four years after the initial delivery scheduled for May 2008.

"MAS can get more aircraft, faster and cheaper, if AirAsia is in the picture," he added.

READ MORE HERE

Raiders playing with fire

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:22 PM PDT

The action of JAIS is not only despicable but also inimical to the interests of society.

Free Malaysia Today

The spectre of religious strife is casting a long shadow as Christians continue to be the punching bag in the country whose prime minister recently shooks hands with the spiritual leader of over one billion Christians worldwide. While the Muslim-dominated government, be it at state or federal level, professes to advocate religious tolerance, the reality is that it has little respect for people of other faiths. The gun is always trained on the Christians who seem to have a hand in every plot, imagined or real, to destablise the country. The resentment felt towards the Christians is so great that churches had become target of attacks or raids. The recent detestable action of the "religious policemen" from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) is one of the many examples of the shabby treatment meted out to the Christian minority.

JAIS is the religious arm of the state government whose job, among others, is to protect Muslims from the evil influences of outsiders. So when its officers barged in a church and rudely disrupted a thanksgiving-cum-HIV/AIDS fundraising dinner organised by an NGO, they accused Christians of attempting to convert some Muslim guests. They had no proof that the church was engaged in a "subversive" activity to undermine Islam. They behaved boorishly simply because there were some Muslims present at the event. The implication is clear: if there are Muslims in any function organised by Christians, then the latter is guilty of proselytising which is a serious crime, given that Islam is the official religion. Such parochial thinking is dangerous because it will breed hatred in the Muslim and Christian communities and pave the way to sectarian violence.

JAIS is so absurd and irrational in its thinking that it may not surprise anyone if it raids the homes of Christians on Christmas day because Muslims are celebrating with Christians the birth of a Christian prophet. The Christians are using the Yuletide festival as a cover to convert the unsuspecting Muslims, JAIS may reason foolishly. In this theatre of the absurd, JAIS may even issue a decree: Muslims are not allowed to visit the homes of Christians. And bigoted politicians may follow up with a law banning Christmas and crosses. Then events may spin out of control and soon a slew of farcical legislation will pop up: Muslims cannot the shake the unclean hands of Christians, churches must conduct their services behind high walls, and to round it up in a final outburst of fervour, all Christians must abandon their faith on pain of death.

But we are not living in the dark age of religious intolerance where Christians and Muslims fell by the sword in their bloody pursuit of supremacy of the cross or the crescent. This is the age of goodwill, of mutual respect, of compromise, of reason, of sanity. Although remnants of suspicion, hate, and animosity still run deep, the march of progressive ideas and thoughts calls for new thinking and behaviour. Muslims cannot forever cling to the threadbare argument that a crackdown on Christians is justified because they threaten the preeminent position of Islam. Since the Federal Constitution unambiguously states that Islam is the religion of the federation, no one can and will dispute it. At the same time the sacred constitution also guarantees the right of "every person to profess and practise his own religion". For the country to progress and prosper, the fire of religious fanaticism must be doused for good. Muslims cannot hark back to days of yore where blood and gore followed the swords of Islam. Let all religions flourish in peace and amity.

READ MORE HERE

PAS goes on soul-searching trip

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:14 AM PDT

By Karim Raslan, The Star

PAS in the midst of an ambitious push into "Middle Malaysia". The victory in June, of the party's progressives – dubbed the Erdogans after the visionary Turkish Premier, Racep Erdogan – in internal party elections seemed to herald an era of multi-racial leadership.

However, recent events and more, especially PAS', hesitant and divided response to the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) raid on the DUMC church would suggest that the party is not ready for prime-time.

Indeed, the Islamist party is more divided than many would realise and this divide reflects a community-wide level of uncertainty.

Frankly speaking, the Malay community is unsure whether it wants to proceed down the road to greater equality among the races.

Much of the support for the Opposition is driven by anger at corruption and abuse of power – two areas in which PAS remains relatively strong and credible.

As a matter of fact, the recent Jais raid on a function by the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) raises significant questions over PAS' – and by extension Pakatan Rakyat's – commitment to pluralism.

The former's divided approach – with Selangor exco Hassan Ali supporting the raid and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad condemning it – indicates that the Islamist party's much-vaunted move to the centre has not been as smooth as their insiders wish us to believe.

The raid should also alarm moderate voters, as it came just weeks after the PAS-led Kedah Government initially announced a ban on entertainment outlets during Ramadan without consulting its Pakatan partners.

Indeed, these incidents are clear signals that a struggle is now on-going for the "soul" of the party, over whether it should adopt a more broad-based approach or seek refuge in the traditional boundaries of championing racial and religious supremacy. But some caveats are necessary here.

First, as a largely Malay party, PAS is not immune from familial considerations and factionalism.

Hence, when pundits talk of "internal disputes", we must take care to ascertain whether these are really over ideology or merely dynastic and cabalistic manoeuvrings. Scratch the surface and you'll find that things are rarely as they seem.

In the last party elections, the PAS moderates (or Erdogans) triumphed over the conservatives.

Khalid, who belongs to this group, won a seat in the party CWC together with Hassan, but the latter was dropped from his Selangor Commissioner post.

Hence, this latest spat could be an attempt by PAS conservatives to re-assert themselves after the rout.

Moreover, Hassan has stressed that he is willing to lose his position in the party defending Islam – the insinuation being that some of his party members are not committed to "upholding" their faith to the utmost.

Second, Jais and the other Islamic establishments in Malaysia often act independently from political control.

Malaysians ought to be questioning bodies like Jais – who seem to claim a sort of immunity from public scrutiny in religious matters – as much as elected officials.

The sad fact is that civil servants are as much a part of the problem, if not more than politicians, in this and other issues.

Still, this should not distract us from the real issues facing PAS.

Hassan and Khalid are emerging as the public "faces" of the party as the careers of Hadi Awang and Nik Abdul Aziz draw to a close.

PAS needs to decide, and very quickly at that, which of the vastly different political visions these men embody it wants for itself.

If it is serious about its push to the centre, and of championing a "welfare state" with "Islam for all", then it cannot countenance such heavy-handed actions or rhetoric as per the DUMC raid wherever or whenever it occurs.

To dither over making difficult choices or taking unpopular but right stands (i.e. refusing to accept "my race/religion right or wrong"), would be a betrayal of the non-Muslim Malaysians, who are warming up to PAS.

It would also further alienate many progressive and urban-based Malays, many of whom are disgusted with the ruling party but are also wary of PAS' desire to interfere in the public and personal sphere.

To be fair though, it could be that PAS is attempting a delicate balancing act, trying to maintain its rural and conservative base while flirting with Middle Malaysia's exciting new possibilities and vote banks.

One can hardly blame them for that, and it is perhaps an indication of how schizophrenic the Malay political discourse has become – torn between the competing demands of tradition and modernisation.

We must also ask why its partner PKR has thus far remained silent on the issue – is its hesitation motivated by Anwar Ibrahim's high-profile moral and legal troubles?

Still, Malaysians have wised up to the ways of the politicians and will not tolerate such disingenuousness in PAS or anyone else.

Voters will certainly punish the party if its talk of pluralism does not live up to its actions.

As I've said earlier, it is no longer possible to insulate ourselves from the multiracial make-up of our country as before.

Either we choose to embrace this and its associated implications, or cut ourselves off from the rest of the world.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Khamis, 11 Ogos 2011

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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