Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- The Self-terminator
- Why, RPK?
- OK, RPK Switch Sides But Why Are Everyone Surprise?
- The RPK-Haris Ibrahim saga
- Statement: MCLM
- A gift to the world?
- Opposition elites fight to the death – of the Rakyat
- Any time is a bad time for Najib
- Pakatan Rakyat : Dulu, kini dan selama lamanya?
- I have resigned as MCLM president
- Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #95
- RPK speaks his mind on Politics in Malaysia
- Will we see a change of government in Malaysia in the coming general election?
- Malaysia would be a better place without Umno
- RPK amputates 'gangrenous' Anwar Ibrahim from Pakatan?
- Malays should not fear the DAP
- Malaysian of 2011
- Witches, riches, victories in Taib-land
- Student leader Safwan in critical condition after ‘assault by police
- Siapa yang pengkhianat? Introspeksi betul-betul
| Posted: 03 Jan 2012 10:39 AM PST When we talk about the career success of Arnold Schwarzenegger from California, we always refer to him as Mr. Universe from Austria, and his acting in "The Terminator" became a significant turning point in this career. And on one screen in that movie, he said "I will be back", which became a classic quote. The same quote had been used by MacArthur when he retreated from the Philippines during WW2.
"No, I gonna stop him from doing that", this is a typical script used in a movie, but politicians like to use it too. Eventually, Gwee decided to write a script, with poor grammar. For instance, a member from his own clan association (Wee clan association base on JB) asked him to quit the party. He managed to use a recorder to record the conversation, and he wanted to test DAP CEC's response (especially to LGE).
"How about a hot chick in his new script? How about a Bond's Girl in the new movie?" Gwee was desperate and kept thinking of making a best script to win his Oscar Award. A person appears in his mind, and he is Teo Chin Liang -- Teo Nie Ching's father. And becouse of the requirement of the script, Gwee must push for his best performance, in order to complete his impposible mission in this game, and to do so, he has to try his very best to sabotage the election campaign in this so-called PR's "frontline state". And eventually, "The Terminator 2" turn out become a spy movie. The only difference is that, Gwee becomes the bad guy in the movie, and this is the fault of the movie director. At the end of October 2011, Gwee asked his supporters to demonstrate with a banner to "support Boo Cheng Hau to chop off chicken head". For those who are not familiar with chinese calture, chopping chicken head is equivalent to swear to the holy book in Christian term or swear to Al-Quran for muslim. Unfortunately the actors were not performing in the role of the characters and nobody gave a damn about this event. At the same time, Gwee continued to assemble those who were frustrated (too many of them, for example, ex-Bekok Assemblyman Pang Hok Liong, and Pang's frustration is that he wants to contest in Jementah and not the Segamat Parliamentery seat), in order to strike back at DAP (or particularly LGE) because of the suspension action towards him.
Teo Chin Liang is a veteran DAP member and he has been doing his timber business in Johor. He contested the Mengkibol State Assembly seat during 1986. But during the nomination day, he faced some problems with form filling (or bribed by MCA as some people said), and that made MCA win that seat uncontested. Teo's both daughters joined DAP. They are Teo Nie Ching and Teo Eng Ching. During the 12th GE, Teo Nie Ching won her parliamentery seat at Serdang. But Teo Chin Liang's elder daughter Teo Eng Ching and his son-in-law Eddie Chang Teck Chee who contesetd the Labis Parliamentery seat and Bekok Sate seat but lost. Teo Eng Ching was Johor DAPSY's leader and Eddie Chang Teck Chee is deputy leader at that time. Both of them disappeared after the 12GE. Besides that, Teo Chin Liang 's son-in-law Eddie Chang Teck Chee owed an amount of RM4000 from Johor DAPSY for four years and never repaid the money until recently. His wife Teo Eng Ching plan to stand for election to contest again in Bekok, He returned that amount of money only on November 2011. Owing to this issue, Boo decided not to let both of them to contest in the next GE and that pissed off Teo Chin Liang. Read more at: http://malaysiapoliticinsider.blogspot.com/2012/01/self-terminator.html
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| Posted: 03 Jan 2012 09:38 AM PST  There are a few unanswered questions which he should answer. 1. If at all he intended to make those statements, why did he speak to those dailies that represent the backbone of support of the other side? Why did he not approach online news portals? He has to explain why he chose to speak to the MSM whose reach are pro-status quo instead of the online news portals whose readers are more 'enlightened' and are able to make valid judgements of their own to assess the truth and validity behind his statements. 2. With the rumored GE expected to happen as early as this month, why did he choose to slam DSAI who in all matters regardless of his weaknesses, is still the head of Pakatan rakyat? Clearly, the damaging statements have undermined the effort of PR and many other activists. For one who helped PR so much, why did he put PR in bad light? Granted there are many weaknesses that they have, especially of late but surely there is another channel of communication to sort matters in a less damaging and more constructive manner! 3. DSAI is already under siege and in deep sh**. As a once-upon-a-time respected opinion leader, why did RPK, as one keeps saying ABU ABU, kick Anwar down knowing full well smashing him utterly and completely for all and sundry to see? Hitting below the belt at anyone is certainly not on! 4. Homophobic statements are also NOT on! The verdict has not been given and it is really unfair for him to make statements such as ""I don't care. If you say is Anwar gay? I say maybe. But you cannot become prime minister. That is the reality," said Raja Petra in an interview published today the Malay-language Mingguan Malaysia." extracted from THIS LINK. You can read more about sub judice AT THIS LINK. 5. According to FMT, "Reform activist and influential blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin believes that Anwar Ibrahim was a victim of a honey-trap, but quickly added that the opposition leader was given a fair trial. (AT THIS LINK). If that is so, RPK should stop calling himself Fugitive Blogger and come home and get his share of the "fair trial" courtesy of Bolehland. 6. Raja Petra had alleged, in an interview with Umno daily Utusan Malaysia, that several Chinese businessmen in Selangor had complained to him that they still had to fork out "under-the-table" money in order to conduct businesses in the state, and that corruption was still rampant there. Yesterday, The Malaysian Insider reported HERE that the Selangor government demanded that blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin provide evidence to back up his claims of corruption within the state government. To date, he has not responded. Why? Many supporters are in a daze over this turnaround. Many were going concertedly in ABU ABU fashion and all of a sudden, it is WHAM! BAM! SLAM! and those who supported him morally, financially and other ways are reeling in shock which is worse than the reaction of TV3 interview for obvious reasons. Then, many defended him and strongly supported him because they felt he was unfairly derided censured at that time. However, this time round- the perception is completely different. In the past, he had always said 'Perception is everything'. So, it is clear that he did what he did at his own peril! Haris Ibrahim has resigned as MCLM President while Malik Imtiaz and Sreekant Pillai have disassociated themselves from MCLM because of his statements. Where will MCLM go from here? As a very intelligent man, did he not consider all these consequences before he met with those reporters from MSM?
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| OK, RPK Switch Sides But Why Are Everyone Surprise? Posted: 03 Jan 2012 07:51 AM PST Previously, RPK or Raja Petra Kamarudin, dropped a bombshell just 3-day before the important Sarawak state election, of which his granted interview to the government-controlled TV3 helped cleanse PM Najib Razak, to certain degrees, of the murder allegation of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu. This time, RPK dropped couple of bombshells when he declares "There's Life after Anwar", "Anwar morally unfit to become PM", "Anwar may become irrelevant", "Frustrated voters will back BN in polls", not to mention he's now suddenly 90% confident Anwar was the man in the sex video.
Generally, what RPK is telling the opposition and his readers who once worshipped him as the greatest whistleblowers to the government's dark secrets is this – you can all go fly kites from now onwards because I've joined the dark (rich) side of the powerful and corrupt force. And if you think this is not for real but another round of RPK throwing tantrums with some noble hidden plot due to whatever reasons, think again because his pet project MCLM's president and buddy, Haris Ibrahim, has just quit the movement. But why RPK switch sides? Actually, the moment he granted his interview to TV3 months ago, knowing very well that the media was a spin master in favour of the present government, and later beat around the bush justifying his acts that TV3 played him out, was the strongest hint that RPK had indeed sold himself out. With his latest interviews granted to yet another UMNO-controlled newspaper, it only goes to confirm (if you're not already convince) that he has sold his soul. There's a saying that everybody has a price-tag so there's no different with ordinary RPK, unless he's not a homo-sapiens.
So, how much was RPK paid for switching side? If hard cold cash was indeed transacted, it has to be more than what Perak's Jelapang Hee-Apa-Nama received. Of course it has to come with freedom to come back to his country and whatnot strings attached. In spite of luxury accomodation in Manchester and so-called happy Christmas vacation on a friend's boat in Phuket, the sight of not able to come back to taste Nasi Lemak, Teh Tarik (*tongue in cheek*) and whatnot is too much to bear. He may talk big about living luxuriously abroad but the fact remains he's extremely homesick hence he should be forgiven for his latest action. Whether he's fully sponsored by former premier Mahathir Mohamad or white-collar criminal Soh Chee Wen for his relatively easy escape out of Malaysia and thereafter luxury lifestyle abroad is immaterial. If one were to read his articles, his bazooka was trained primarily at former premier Abdullah Badawi and his son-in-law Khairi, and Najib Razak's wife over the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya, of course. He seldom attack Mahathir or Muhyiddin, let alone Mahathir's sons. That's strange because while RPK sees it freaking wrong for Khairi to amass 13 million shares from ECM Libra for RM9.2 million, he doesn't seems to think it was wrong for Mahathir to use Petronas money to bail out his son's (Mirzan Mahathir) Konsortium Perkapalan to the tune of RM696 million back in 1998.
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| Posted: 02 Jan 2012 03:19 PM PST Brother Haris resigned as MCLM's president because he has been terribly upset by RPK's: I lament the end of a great RPK-Haris Ibrahim partnership in MCLM, a movement to promote good parliamentarians and parliamentary practice of first class Westminster-type democracy.
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| Posted: 02 Jan 2012 02:28 PM PST For the sake of clarity, I note here that at all times my agreement to stand as an independent candidate hinged on my being satisfied that there was cause for it. In this I firmly believed, and still do, that the Pakatan Rakyat was pivotal in any campaign for reform, though it was not necessarily the only actor of relevance. In that light, I had resolved to stand only where my doing so would not result in a three-corner fight or where it was strictly necessary to do so. Much has occurred since the announcement of the initiative. For one, the Pakatan Rakyat appeared to commit to a sustained effort to identify and field quality candidates. For another, Raja Petra Kamarudin felt it necessary to state his personal views as he did, in an interview with TV3 last year and recently in interviews published in the New Straits Times and the Utusan Malaysia. I will not delve into the matters spoken of save to say that they cast a less than positive light on the MCLM in so far as its commitment to principle is concerned. Furthermore, I do not share his views.
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| Posted: 02 Jan 2012 01:16 PM PST About global warming. The melting of the ice caps. The greenhouse effects. The complete reliance on fossil fuel by the whole world. The consumption of fossil energy which results in the production of carbon which in turn eats up the ozone layer. Which then makes the world warmer and even hotter. Which then makes all of us turn on our air-conditioners even more. Which means we consume even more energy. The power plants then burn even more fossil fuel to produce energy. Which means they produce more carbons which in turn eats up the ozone making the world even hotter. And the heat melts the ice caps. Making the sea level grow higher. And it goes on and on and on in an endless cycle. What will be of our children and their children? What are we doing about this? Personally, I must admit I have not done much about this issue really. Apart from trying not to use plastic bags when I shop or making sure the lights and air-conditioners are switched off if they are not of any use to anybody. For the future, I plan to buy a hybrid car for the family. That's about it! I did try though to sell an idea to someone within the corridors of power about 2-3 years ago. But the guy yawned after 15 minutes. Okay, perhaps I was not good at selling the idea. Hence the reaction. To my mind, why do we continue to build mega industrial, commercial and recreational parks? Can't we, as a nation, do something different? I was thinking of an Environmental Park or a Green Technology Park. Call it whatever you like, but the idea is simple. We take a huge swath of land – which we seem to have in abundance - somewhere. We turn that area into a park which only use alternative power/energy. Let that park be absolutely and independently sustained by powers generated from the wind, the sunlight, the water and whatever natural means that are within our possession. Well, actually, we cannot exactly say that we possess those natural means. I mean how can we say that we possess the sunlight or the wind. But we can always claim to have the ability to exploit them if we have the knowledge and technology to harness those natural resources and turn them into power or energy. So, let's imagine this huge area of land. We build all the infrastructures which are necessary for all those people and corporations with the knowledge and technology to come here to try to exploit those natural resources to produce energy. We create an environment which is conducive for these people to do research, to experiment and to produce. We invite all of them to come here. The locals can also join in. We do not lack knowledge. Our people have the expertise and specialist knowledge in all sorts of scientific areas. Our people have even managed to trace the Malay genome, for example (not that I know what genome is!). Bring them back here and let them research. And allow them to flourish in our own country. So, let's all of us imagine. This huge area of land is full of people, locals and internationals, doing research on alternative power and energy. Good, efficient and clean power and energy. It is for the good of the country. And the world at large. And within that particular land area, people live in homes powered by these alternative energy and power. People drive vehicles using those alternative energy. People exchange ideas about these technologies, conduct forums and seminars about them – in halls and buildings powered by alternative energies – and sell them to the world. I believe that will be a world's first because really I don't think any country in the world has ever done that. Even if there are, I don't think they have done that at such a scale and at such level of governmental supports. We love to create world records, don't we? We have the 1st astronaut who makes teh tarik in space. We have the tallest twin towers in the world. The biggest ketupat in the world. The longest shortest fattest thinnest roundest squarest whatever in the world. Why not the 1st Green City in the world?
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| Opposition elites fight to the death – of the Rakyat Posted: 02 Jan 2012 07:49 AM PST Take that statement and fast-forward to today's Malaysia (not just Malaysia Today), and then rewind a little to put it into the context of Malaysian political history. To me, there is much similarlity indeed between what the Frenchman said, with blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin's New Year's Day assault on Pakatan Rakyat. Critical historians can probably remind us how the elites' tussles for power throughout Malayan history, and also before and immediately after the formation of Malaysia, played out. History can relate how many struggling Malaysians died due to the elites' feud. Oh yes, I forget: mainstream historians tell us those who died in battle were not struggling poor people, but "baby-eating" commies, with guns and explosives, the devil incarnate, supposedly. Then fast forward Malaysian history – perhaps it is more appropriate to term it UMNO's or Malaya's history – to the Mahathir era in 1987. When authoritarian Mahathir was first threatened by the Kelantan prince, Tengku Razaleigh, for the prized and lucrative Prime Minister's post, it was the first "modern day" Malaysian elites' fight. Bear in mind that the top government post, in the Malaysian context, is lucrative not just for one's own self, but for an entire empire-building industry. There is more than enough documentation regarding those who suffered under political detention in that 1980s elitist struggle. Advance now to 1997, again, "coincidentally" as in 1987, during yet another cycle of economic collapse, we had another elites' fight. Mahathir, a practised dictator by then, was having to fend off another assault on his Prime Ministerial post and the treasure associated with the PM package, as perfected by King Mahathir. It is well known that Anwar Ibrahim, a rising political star within UMNO, was the "victim" in this elitist fight. He was imprisoned and received a black eye from the highest-ranking police officer, the Inspector General of Police. But Anwar was not the only victim. This time round, in 1997, the victims would again be the ordinary Malaysians, the working class and the proletariat, who had to suffer through another episode of Malaysian elites' fight. Opposition Elites also do battle Of course history is never discriminatory, in only recording the ruling front's elite battles. The Malaysian opposition politicians too, after all, are elites in our society. Since the birth of Pakatan Rakyat (PR), it has been an open secret who the elites are, with the exception of a few of those politicians with strong community-centred ideological foundations, There are plenty of examples of the kind of suffering among the ordinary Rakyat, when elites fight within the opposition. Before one jumps into saying opposition elites' fights do not produce any deaths among the poor, think again. The elites' battles left the poor under continuing oppression and suppression, and left them to be denigrated, and termed the 'poor' (in fact, in the Malaysian context, it is not enough to be 'poor,' but we have even created another category of "hardcore" poor, so that this last category of Malaysians – neglected Malays, Indians, Chinese, Dayaks, Kadazan Dusuns and "lain-lain" – are left to die young). The opposition elites' fight became more feverish after March 2008. Opposition numbers grew in and out of Parliament and State Legislatures in Malaya. Sarawak and Sabah elites had of course been fighting, long before Malaya were in any position to fight as they did after March 2008. The latest battle lines The controversial blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, or RPK, has now openly declared war on the opposition PR with his latest "interview" by the UMNO media group. His broadside has been picked up by various other online news portals. As he expected, all sort of insults and accusations have been thrown at him after his savaging of Anwar Ibrahim and the PR. RPK knows what he is doing. After TV3 had twisted the content of his previous interview in April 2011 from Australia, RPK had written about further attention by UMNO's media. He had even named his terms and conditions before he would grant another interview to the UMNO media.
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| Any time is a bad time for Najib Posted: 02 Jan 2012 06:38 AM PST Although the constitution provides for a five-year election cycle, Abdullah had set a pattern of waiting for only four before he decided to go to the polls. There were exactly four years between his landslide victory in the 11th general election of March 2004 and his loss of Umno-BN's two-thirds majority in Parliament in the March 2008 polls, a descent that spelt disaster for Abdullah. Four years between one general election and the next seems like a reasonable stretch; five is a stall.
These calculations are not arbitrary: issues have a way of simmering for some time before they reach a boil; four years appear about as long a time as one could keep them on a backburner. Having taking over from a beleaguered Abdullah in April 2009, Najib has been waiting for the right time to seek a mandate that new PMs consider essential to gaining the legitimacy to make changes, especially after they have taken over from a predecessor who appears to have failed. Road to hell is paved with good intentions On assuming the reins, Najib would have reckoned to wait some time in which to introduce reforms before seeking a new mandate. He spoke the jargon of reform, liberalised aspects of the economy, particularly the rules on equity ownership, and shaped up to introduce political reforms. The latter score was where he ran into trouble. Because Malaysia is not like China where the ruling communist party could liberalise the economy while maintaining tight control over the politics and appear to get away with it, Najib discovered that an undertow of stale thinking dogged his intention to liberalise the obsolete regimen of rules and regulations by which Malaysia's politics is conducted. After belatedly conceding that the popular demonstration last July in support of the changes electoral reform pressure group, Bersih, were clamouring for needed to be reckoned with, Najib had, what in retrospect appeared as a fast-fading chance, to make good on his reform-seeking agenda. He grabbed at it, or appeared to be intent on doing so. In a Malaysia Day address last Sept 15, he announced there would be credible reforms to a host of repressive laws on internal security, public demonstrations and the press. What eventuated, in respect of the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 tabled, amended and passed in Parliament at its last sitting, only served to remind people that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Aspects of the Bill turned out to be worse than what the benighted military junta in Burma had condescended to introduce in their hapless country. Malaysia on a par with Burma is bad enough; Malaysia worse than that mothballed country is intolerable. Even as the image of Najib as credible reformer lay exposed by the end of last year as a delusion, the notion is taking hold among the electorate that power which is never transferred from one coalition to another – as distinct from being slightly shuffled among its existing holders – is power that will be abused.
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| Pakatan Rakyat : Dulu, kini dan selama lamanya? Posted: 01 Jan 2012 11:10 PM PST But really, people, what new news has RPK brought from London to Singapore and from thence to you all in Malaysia and then to me in Adelaide? All things considered what upset me most was the arrogance displayed by RPK in giving that interview! More arrogant than Nazri Aziz, than KJ or even the great man himself, Mahathir! But then that has been RPK style all along - so what's me worry? Apart from the arrogance displayed by RPK nothing else interest me enough to want to sit down and dash of my comments to what he said onto my blog quick smart. I read about it at around 10 p.m. in FMT on Sunday night. Slept on it and it was only after I read about Haris Ibrahim's resignation because of what Haris alleged RPK said and did, at around 6 p.m. today – then and only then did it move me to write. And that too, to write more on Haris resignation as President of MCLM then on what RPK said in the MSM. When all is said and done the only revelations that RPK made that was unknown to me was the prosecution's insistence for a free hand in the sodomy two case. Everything else I know. And if I know then I am sure you too know! That PKR is having problems. Check. That Azmin is having problems. Check. That Nurrul is talked about as the next Messiah. Check. That Anwar is guilty. Check. That Anwar was in the Carcosa tapes. Check. That Anwar will be found guilty. Check. Bribery in Selangor. Check. Anwar may become irrelevant. Check. Rights group not a third force. Check - there are a work in progress! Anwar morally unfit to become PM. Go check my blog - I have been saying this from way back when! Check!
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| I have resigned as MCLM president Posted: 01 Jan 2012 04:44 PM PST My faith, though, in seeing this realised, has been with an awakening people working with the non-BN political parties who are truly pro-rakyat. This, too, remains unchanged. On 30th October, 2010, whilst attending to guests at an SABM dinner, lecture, I received an sms from RPK informing that that very night, in London, at the inaugural meeting of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement, I had been unanimously elected as president. 3 weeks later, I was in Manchester where, after much deliberation with RPK, I agreed to accept the position subject to our agreement on several issues. I will only mention two here that I believe relevant to the difficult decision I have made today. First, matters of policy and direction of MCLM were to be determined and made after mutual consultation and consensus between us. Second, RPK would oversee the administrative affairs of MCLM, in his capacity as chairman, as well as look into all overseas matters. whilst I would drive our operations here at home. In December, 2010, in London, RPK announced the launch of our Barisan Rakyat Independent Candidate Initiative. In July, last year, MCLM announced the deployment of our first candidate, Dr Neduchelian, in the Kapar consitutuency. In December, last year, after conferring with RPK, MCLM joined several other groups in issuing a warning to Najib that should he call snap elections without first carrying through the electoral reforms demanded by BERSIH 2.0, he should brace himself for street rallies that might culminate in his government being toppled. I wish to reiterate here that this was no idle threat. Again, after conferring with RPK, MCLM had, last month, firmly aligned itself with the many NGOs and several political parties that hve given life to the Asalkan Bukan Umno / Anything But Umno (ABU) initiative. Yesterday, the New Straits Times published an interview with RPK that was conducted in Singapore last week. I had been informed by RPK whilst I was with him in Phuket over the Christmas holiday that this interview was to take place. I was not, however, fully appraised of all that was to be said in the course of the interview. The matters spoken of by RPK have been quite wide-ranging. I only propose to allude here to the two parts that have led me to the decision I have made today. Under the heading "Rights group not a third force – RPK" that appeared in the NST and is reproduced in full on Malaysia Today, RPK is reported to have said that "MCLM had decided it would not field any candidates for the coming general election". I can confirm now that no such decision has been made after due consultation. And under the heading "RPK – Anwar may become irrelevant", also reproduced in full on Malaysia Today, RPK is reported to have said that "the Egypt-style people's revolution was not an answer for Malaysia due to the delicate racial balance. "They (Chinese voters) don't want Tahrir Square type of change"." These comments just referred to greatly undermine efforts I am making, albeit through MLCM, in the ABU initiative. It also saddens me that even as initiatives like SABM and so many others continue daily to undo the ill-effects of UMNO/BN's 40 over years of race-based, divide-and-rule, my friend should continue to see us as Malays, Chinese, Indians, dll. I remain committed to all efforts to see this a nation of a single people, all equal. And I am fully committed to the cause of ABU. In the circumstances, I find it impossible to continue to serve MCLM as its president. I have communicated my resignation to RPK by email.
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| Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #95 Posted: 01 Jan 2012 09:23 AM PST These central planners presume to know the traits of a successful would-be businessman. That these planners—politicians and bureaucrats—have no experience in starting or running a business is conveniently ignored. Such hubris! No surprise then that the pseudo entrepreneurs that the system produced were more adept in cashing in their close association with the politically powerful rather than being true creators and builders of wealth. They in turn perpetuated that same system in choosing their own set of suppliers, subcontractors, and vendors. Thus was born a class of Bumiputra entrepreneurs and businessmen more skillful at commercializing their political ties rather than being true wealth creators; a class of rent seekers and economic parasites rather than of genuine entrepreneurs. These individuals with their new wealth and political clout began flexing their power. They easily convinced the government that juicy public contracts and privatization projects be reserved for them in the belief that their enterprises would quickly reach a sufficient size and strength that they could then take on the world. They wanted to create their own kampong version of the Japanese keiretsu and Korean chaebol. These big Bumiputra companies would then act as a locomotive to carry the rest forward. That at least was the theory. The reality, as with all centrally hatched plans, was far different. The relationship these new companies had with their suppliers and vendors down the feeding chain was more predatory than supportive. These companies acted less like locomotives and more like the head of a serpent devouring every competitor, Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra alike. They effectively snuffed out other new entrants. One example would suffice to illustrate the massive clout of these new Bumiputra pseudo entrepreneurs and their destructive predatory behaviors. In Kuala Lumpur of the 1970s, the government issued a number of bas mini (mini bus) permits to provide transportation services to the many small suburbs sprouting around the capital city. These new settlements were too small to merit regular bus services. Thus the bas mini was an ideal compromise between cheap public buses and the more expensive taxis. That brilliant strategy resulted in many mini bus owner-operators. The program succeeded in creating a class of true small-time entrepreneurs not only in the form of owner operators but also in the supporting services, including repair shops and coach builders. The public too benefited from the frequent and convenient bus service. It became a point where these mini buses became ubiquitous in the capital city, and plans were afoot to introduce them at other major urban centers. They also have a cute acronym, BMW – Bas Mini Wilayah (Federal Mini Bus). It would certainly impress your co-workers when you assert that you come to work in a BMW! It did not take long for the powerful government-sponsored pseudo entrepreneurs to muscle in. They convinced the government to cancel those permits and to give the franchise to their major bus companies instead. Overnight these owner-operators saw their investments became worthless. The government decided, persuaded undoubtedly by the politically connected entrepreneurs, that the big bus companies could provide a better service than the mini bus operators. Of course the government never bothered to ask the consumers. A better strategy would have been to let them battle it out in the marketplace. Whoever provides the better service would win. This hubris of top government officials presuming to be able to pick winners in the private sector is major factor in the economic crisis of 1997. Sadly, the government has yet to learn its lesson. It continues with the same pattern. Only this time some other new favored players are replacing the Tajuddin Ramlis and Halim Saads of yore. Contracts and projects are still being awarded sans competitive bidding. A decade hence the story would be the same, only the characters and ventures would change.
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| RPK speaks his mind on Politics in Malaysia Posted: 01 Jan 2012 07:56 AM PST If he has sold his allegiance to any side of our politics, then his friends in Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement like the committed Haris Ibrahim and his associates would have abandoned him. They are still with him. He may be critical of both UMNO-BN and Pakatan Rakyat these days. That is understandable. And I think I know why. They all are disillusioned with politicians on both sides of the political divide. I recall having a meeting before the 2008 General Elections with my good friend Haris Ibrahim at the Cobra Club House in Petaling Jaya. Haris wanted to know from me whether PKR (at that time I was in Anwar Ibrahim's Office) and its associates, DAP and PAS, would endorse their Peoples Declaration. I spoke to all top guns in PKR including Anwar Ibrahim and Tian Chua, and came back and told Haris that PKR would endorse it and so would DAP and PAS. As a result of that endorsement, Haris Ibrahim, RPK, Bernard Khoo and others took part on the campaign for the March 8, 2008 elections and subsequent by-elections. RPK went to hell for the cause, spending some time in Sungei Buloh under ISA until he was won his habeas corpus case in the Shah Alam High Court. His high profile case was ably handled by Malik Imtiaz, Art Harun and others. RPK is passionate about the cause of freedom, human right, justice and democracy. He has written a book, The Silent Roar, containing his views on Malaysian political issues. Writ of Habeas corpus petition, as you know, is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. Habeas corpus petitions are usually filed by persons serving prison sentences. When their agenda as embodied in the Peoples Declaration was not taken up in earnest by Pakatan Rakyat, RPK and Haris Ibrahim formed the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) to promote political reform in our country. I have a lot of regard for RPK, Haris Ibrahim and the people who are from civil society in this worthy cause. In this interview, he mentioned some outstanding names. But he was critical of Ambiga, the hero of Berish 2.0. Please read this interview in its entirety with care and critique his views if you must but do not cast aspersions on RPK. I trust you can do that. I am afraid I do not have an English version, but the interview he gave to the New Straits Times which I posted earlier can give some idea of what he is saying in this Mingguan Malaysia interview.
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| Will we see a change of government in Malaysia in the coming general election? Posted: 01 Jan 2012 07:47 AM PST Nationally, after taking into account of votes from Sabah and Sarawak, the tally was reversed with BN 51 per cent versus the opposition at 49 per cent. In terms of seats, on 8th March 2008, BN gained 85 seats in the Peninsula while the opposition 80 seats. The opposition managed to get only one (Bandar Kuching) of the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and one (Kota Kinabalu) of 25 in Sabah. In the Peninsula, the opposition won one (Bakri) of 26 seats in Johor and two (Kuantan and Indera Mahkota) of Pahang's 13 parliamentary seats. The four "fixed deposit" states of BN has a total of 95 seats. A change of federal government will happen if the opposition wins a third of the parliamentary seats in the states of Sabah, Sarawak, Johore and Pahang. Besides the economic issues such as inflation and depleting value of income, the coming 13th general election will also be based on these factors: 1. Malay votes are sensitive to issues of corruption, abuse of power and bullying tactics against political foes (think about Anwar Ibrahim, Adam Adli, etc); 2. At least two traditional vote banks of Umno — Felda and the civil service — are in jittery due to poor policy choices (listing of FGV and the new salary scheme). 3. The Indian support for BN is not as solid as it was thought. There are divides along the line of North-South (Pakatan Rakyat is not very strong in southern Peninsula), urban-estate (access to alternative information is minimal in estates), middle class-poor (the poor being more supportive of BN, for whatever reasons). 4. The Chinese support for BN has further eroded since 2008, thanks to Perkasa and Utusan. 5. In Utusan and Perkasa's zeal to promote its exclusivist causes, a huge segment of "fixed deposits" — the Sabah and Sarawak Christian Bumiputra — are alienated. 6. Sabah Umno as possible king maker. Umno won only 79 of the 112 federal seats it contested in 2008. Of which 13 comes from Sabah and one from Labuan. Essentially, the Peninsula Umno won only 65 seats. 7. Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud as possible king maker. Allegedly Najib Razak dislikes Taib. If the Prime Minister does not do anything before the next poll, with 14 parliamentary seats which his Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) is likely to retain, Taib may hold the balance of power.
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| Malaysia would be a better place without Umno Posted: 01 Jan 2012 07:45 AM PST It is palpably not the Opposition. The Opposition on their part are seriously working with the marginalized minorities as well as the majority race in instilling peace and unity in the society. Ethnic diversity is no doubt a distinctive feature of Malaysia but the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling parties – led by the 'Big Brother', UMNO – opt to promote individual self-serving racial schema all in the name of promoting the interests of their own ethnic group against the other. This has led to a divisive kind of politics in the coalition since the country's independence and it has caused grave disunity among the people of various races and religions. The only party in the country that often uses race, religion and ethnic 'rights' to stay relevant in politics is UMNO. For this reason, UMNO does not deserve to talk about racial unity. Constitution was carved in good faith Article 153 visibly states that it is the King's responsibility "to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article". Sadly, some racial zealots are using this Article as a weapon of aggression just to score some brownie points in politics. This symptom is not boding well for the country. Malaysians in general have never questioned the special position of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak. The minorities among them only demand that their positions too be acknowledged by the majority race. Notably, the Constitution was carved with good faith to create a united Malaysian race. It explicitly covers the special 'position' of the indigenous and unreservedly recognizes the 'rights' of all Malaysians. The Constitution is not deliberately tilted towards any single group of citizens to favour them more then the others. The lexis 'rights' and 'position' are semantically disparate, though. Unfortunately, some UMNO politicians and their soul mates care more to argue on the deeper structure of the terminology. A Malay lawmaker has this to say: "When politicians talk of the special 'rights' of only one group of people, it smacks of unfairness, as the Constitution also implicitly prescribes for the 'rights' of other Malaysians." There is a harmonious gamut to the positions of all races in the country in the Constitution, which some politicians prefer to ignore. They are immaturely trying to practise divisive politics by toying with the issue of 'a chosen people' versus ' the marginal group' and this has perceptibly caused covert but marked disunity among people of different races and religions in the country. As commented by the Malay lawmaker, "No one disputes the Constitution and no minority groups are for civil strife just by asking the majority to be fair to them as the rightful citizens of the country." UMNO and some deep-seated NGO leaders are too quick to demean those who bring to facade the above notion – erroneously implying that any attempt to honestly decipher the semantic of the Constitution is to question UMNO and undermine what they term as 'the unity foundations they have long built'. Too many political observers, this is too opinionated in temperament. The lawmaker added: "The Constitution belongs to all Malaysians and not any political party per se. Some politicians are actually destroying racial unity in manipulating the neat foundation of the Constitution when they insinuate that the minorities must accept themselves as second-class citizens." To reject a government More often than not, the word 'unity' becomes a hallowed formulate expansively used by UMNO just before elections to win support. The word disappears from their political repository just after an election. Unity rhetoric is only for UMNO's political expedient. In truth, national unity has virtually been shattered by the UMNO government. Unity in its truest sense can only be seen if the rights of all Malaysians are taken care of. For that matter, safeguarding the indigenous rights does not come at the expense of the legitimate interests of the minorities. It is a fundamental human right that the minorities in any nation are treated fairly. When the minorities come to realize that they are neglected in all societal sectors they are bound to have animosity against the majority. They, therefore, deserve the right to reject a government that advocates injustice and unfairness. A sociologist has this to say, "A social contract bounds the rights of all citizens. Nothing absolute pertaining to race is actually sealed in a social contract. The deprived in the society need to be helped. Poverty eradication involves people from all ethnic groups – not just confined to a single race. The poor among all races have to be factored in. Racial unity prevails when a government is sincere in narrowing this gap." Promoting racial unity for UMNO is like playing a hide and seek game. To the sociologists, the framework for racial unity has to be based on the true aspirants of the people – the majority and the minority. UMNO's mode of silencing the parties representing the minority ethnic groups in the BN coalition with a 'Big Brother' mentality – on the issue of rights and special position of the indigenous has not helped promote good racial relations in the country. UMNO cannot call for unity and yet with the same breath spew out racist remarks against the non-Malays. Neither is it right for UMNO to rancorously create an imaginary Christian onslaught on Islam, as this has given rise to a widening gulf of misapprehension between the Muslims and the Christians in the country. Cycle of poverty It is an accepted reality that not all Malaysians are ready to totally shed their racial identity and call themselves Malaysians. For this ideal to morph into reality it may take another few generations. But UMNO does not seem to have the formula for this quandary. First, the poor and marginalized Malays, Indians, Chinese and the Indigenous are those that need to be helped to pull them into a level playing ground. As practised by UMNO, enriching a selected few among their cronies is not the solution to national unity. Over 70 percent of the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak are still poor after many years of independence. Over 65 percent of the Malays are still in the poor category despite the long years of NEP. The marginalised Indians constitute 58 percent of the poor within this community. The Chinese too are not spared by poverty. 35 percent are still under the poor category within this community. Building richness solely within a single racial group is not going to bring unity or harmony to the society. Many bigots, opportunists and self-serving leaders in UMNO prefer to ignore the fact that there are also many deprived people from among the minorities who need help in many ways. Unity does not mean that UMNO and their BN parties should come together to help themselves with the nation's wealth, with UMNO taking the biggest share. Racial unity also becomes a mockery if all opportunities are given to a single race with crumbs thrown to the minorities. Practising tokenism for the minorities will only demoralize the marginalized more. A local economist has this to say: "Preferential treatment of a single race may not augur well for the nation when there are many who are equally deprived in the society. In a need-based economic approach to nation building would see a better Malaysia for all. UMNO does not need to enrich the rich but empower the poor from among all the races to drag them out of the cycle of poverty and into the level playing ground. This will help promote racial unity in the long run."
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| RPK amputates 'gangrenous' Anwar Ibrahim from Pakatan? Posted: 31 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST No, it's RPK with his political and personal dis-endorsements of the Great One, Anwar Ibrahim, much to the distress, disappointments and dismay of the PKR camp – see following at Malaysia-Today:
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| Malays should not fear the DAP Posted: 31 Dec 2011 07:12 PM PST The DAP is a democratic party committed to the rule of law, good governance and good government. It abhors corruption and abuse of political office. To me those are attractive propositions. UMNO on the other hand has turned its back on these. It harps only on one primal worry of Malays- when UMNO is threatened it shares the threat with Malays at large. So a threat to UMNO is translated mindlessly into a threat to Malays as a whole. Nothing can be farther from the truth. That is how UMNO has approached politics in Malaysia basically- make its fears public, make the gains private for selected Malays within UMNO. I have only one message to that - those salad days and that halcyon period are over. UMNO is trapped by its own successes. Indeed its supporters and leaders assume ownership of the wrong things and end up digging in to support the wrong choices. My answer is, if we do indeed change our political vehicle that is what we are actually doing. Don't read our move as blasphemous or treasonable. The DAP is more relevant and functional in achieving a more democratic and abuse-free society. As a Muslim, we are changing wadah not aqidah. So, I thought it would be more substantive to answer my critics by writing an article, why shouldn't Malays embrace DAP politics? That's the only way to dominate and conquer your fears. How has DAP politics been inimical to the general political health of this country? Can any DAP Chinese leader be a PM when it's contesting only at most 50-55 seats? Can any DAP non Malay leader harbor the dream of becoming a PM in a country dominated by Malays? Has the DAP threatened the institution of Malay rulers? DAP has never done that or will not be mad to countenance such rebellious idea, but UMNO on the other hand has insulted the Malay rulers way back in 1998 constitutional crisis. Can we reasonably accept the allegation that the DAP is instrumental in claims that Malays are being converted into Christians when most DAP members are not themselves Christians? We have to do better than that to take Malays as imbeciles. Only UMNO seems to do that. But DAP is Chinese chauvinist party and anti-Malay. I will answer by examining the deeds rather than slogans. When I was an ADUN in the Pahang Legislative assembly (2004-2008) I have never heard the lone DAP member ever speak about anti Malay themes. He spoke about abuse of power, about mindless spending, he spoke about maladministration. The first book Lim Kit Siang writes that I read was Time Bombs in Malaysia. After that I read so many books written by Kit Siang that touched on the Maika Scandals, the BMF financial scandal and so on. If we are honest enough, we have to admit, the issues raised were never about one race dominating the other but were always about the abuses of those in power, corruption, and a continuous attack on policies that are ruinous to this country. So we are going to oppose Kit Siang on the basis of the fact that these things are spoken of by a Chinaman? To the Chinese UMNO is also a chauvinist Malay party except, their leaders can be easily bought. The Malay will sell all to abandon their cause. Er…correction, the UMNO Malay, I mean. I would also like to respond by saying- why Malays should consider joining DAP en masse. It's a party committed to democratic principles and rule of law. I can only imagine, so many can prosper under a regime of freedom of speech within DAP. I can speak on the plight of the displaced and disowned Malays with more energy than allowed of in UMNO. The interest of Malays can be fought of on any political platform other than UMNO. That is what UMNO fears. Its monopoly is broken.
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| Posted: 31 Dec 2011 03:14 PM PST I prefer the latter, yes, I've to confess to having a wish to view Playmate of the Year wakakaka, but in this post I'll forgo the girlie pictures and write on whom I believe to be the socio-political Malaysian of the Year 2011.
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| Witches, riches, victories in Taib-land Posted: 31 Dec 2011 07:37 AM PST In Sarawak, the highlight of 2011 was the "unravelling" of "godlike" Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and the exciting historic victory by the opposition in the state election. Frankly, Taib has been the preoccupation of politicians, activists – both local and abroad – and the man-on-the street. Why, one may ask, and we will say it is because Taib has over the last 30 years woven himself into the very fabric of Sarawakian lives in politics, trade and practices. Observers here claim that Taib controls everything. He has wielded his political clout muzzling local dissent, monopolising corporate Sarawak, and exuding uncharacteristic charm and fatherly "benevolence" at the longhouses littering the rural interior – wooing native Sarawakians into believing that he is "clean and corrupt-free" and that those accusing him are "evil" and not to be trusted. The year 2011 saw Taib's secrets exposed by a UK-based investigative portal Sarawak Report (SR) and its bold Radio Free Sarawak (RFM), with its broadcasts in local Iban dialect. SR in collaboration with the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) made shocking revelations of Taib and his family's "unimaginable" wealth running into billions in US dollars across eight countries. BMF alleged that Taib was corrupt and had pillaged and plundered the state since he came to power in 1981. BMF has also released figures showing that Taib and his family held influential stakes worth US$1.46 billion in 330 companies in Sarawak and in 80 other companies globally. In response, Taib simply said " my children are clever". BMF has also pressured several countries to investigate Taib's alleged money laundering and already probing Taib's global links are Switzerland, Germany and Australia. Here in Malaysia, there's been increasing pressure for the authorities to investigate Taib. On the local front, opposition DAP, emboldened by its 13-seat victory in the April 16 state election, has been openly demanding for transparency over contracts awarded to Taib-linked companies in Sarawak. According to the party, no major contract in Sarawak is without a Taib-linked company stamp. During the April state election campaign, DAP – together with its Pakatan Rakyat allies PKR and PAS – had successfully highlighted the issues of corruption, power abuse, nepotism and cronyism allegedly committed by the state government. Land grabs by the authorities, land rents, premiums, education, Chinese education and schools were also hot topics that eventually saw the thrashing of the Chinese-dominated Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) at the state polls. Since winning the polls, Taib has tightened the noose on his own Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB). He has made it clear that his party can and will rule Sarawak with or without coalition members SUPP, Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP). In the run-up to the April 16 polls, Taib saw an unexpected spoiler in his cousin and former deputy education minister Salleh Jafaruddin. Salleh, who stood against Taib in Balingian constituency, brought to light Taib's fetish for bomohs and witches who "guided" his continued stay in power. According to Salleh, Taib was notorious for consulting with black magic practitioners and after the death of his wife Laila Taib, his daughter Raziah had moved in to consolidate her influence with her father by introducing her own in-house female bomoh – a blonde named Stella – to him. A SR report noted that Stella's signature ritual included "tip-toeing and howling". "Each morning she (Stella) would cross the garden from Raziah's house to the ground of Taib's residence and would perform a ritual of chasing away evil spirits before the chief minister rose for his early run!" Salleh also spoke of Taib's conniving mind and his bevy of "gangsters" who cast a shadow of fear over Balingian in the run-up to the April 16 state election, which Taib eventually won. Taib's majority, however, was far less than in 2004 as was Barisan Nasional's overall support in Sarawak.
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| Student leader Safwan in critical condition after ‘assault by police Posted: 31 Dec 2011 07:22 AM PST Details of the attack were not immediately available. On-the-scene reports sent via Twitter messages said Safwan had lost consciousness after the attack and had initially been taken to Tanjung Malim hospital. Parti Socialis Malaysia said Safwan had been seriously assaulted by police while at the police lockup, and was in critical condition. He had been transferred to Slim River hospital. Parti Socialis also said another person had received stitches in Tanjung Malim hospital for his injuries From inside Tanjung Malim police station, student activist Adam Adli posted a message on Twitter that Safwan was punched twice in the face and was being assaulted in the police station.
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| Siapa yang pengkhianat? Introspeksi betul-betul Posted: 31 Dec 2011 07:14 AM PST Bagi pihak yang mengkritik saya ini, mereka tidak ada isu untuk membahaskan apa yang telah saya perkatakan selama ini: tentang apa yang terlalu kurang dalam UMNO. Mereka ini belum pun pandai menyebut nama UMNO itu tetapi bercakap mempertahankan UMNO itu seolah-olah mereka telah lama mengenali UMNO dan perjuangannya.
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