Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- The battle for Nibong Tebal
- Muhyiddin’s boys target Nov 30
- The man who brought the Black Flag to Timbuktu
- Malaysia a secular state contrary to Nazri’s remarks, say law experts
- Battle of airwaves in Sarawak
- The truth about oil royalty
- MCA touts ‘Ah Jib Gor’ factor for Chinese vote
- Pakatan needs a decisive strategy now!
- An AGM of opposition bashing
| Posted: 25 Oct 2012 03:06 PM PDT
The next general election is expected to be the closest fight to form the new government. And several seats across the nation are likely to see heated battles with the victor winning by the slimmest of majorities. The Malaysian Insider takes a look at some of these hot seats in what will be an intense election for control of Malaysia. Opalyn Mok, The Malaysian Insider NIBONG TEBAL, Oct 26 — Located on the southern part of Seberang Perai, this small township of about 50,000 people is almost like the last frontier of mainland Penang. That's because there is a spot in this quiet little town where you just need to take one step forward and you would have left Penang and stepped right into Perak. Perhaps it is due to its distance from the busy city of George Town but not many Penang folk would venture here except for foodies intent on trying out the town's famed Teochew crab porridge, boiled baby octopus and curried freshwater prawns. Far from the sea, it may seem strange that this mainland township's fame is tied to "seafood" but considering the Krian River runs through it, the mud crabs and freshwater prawns are obviously local catches. Jawi is the busiest part of the whole constituency where there is a concentration of shoplots, food courts, wet markets, restaurants, supermarkets and government offices. Nibong Tebal is spread out over three state constituencies — Jawi, Sungai Acheh and Sungai Bakap — with different racial groups in different villages. The whole of Nibong Tebal is made up of about 55 per cent non-Malays and about 45 per cent Malays, with a majority of the Malays located in the Sungai Acheh area where agriculture is the main industry.  Jawi town is the main hub with its rows of shophouses. Previously, the Nibong Tebal parliamentary seat and its three state seats, Sungai Acheh, Sungai Bakap and Jawi, were all Barisan Nasional (BN) seats. In the 2004 general election, Umno (BN) newcomer Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman won the parliamentary seat with a 6,005-vote majority while the three state seats also saw BN winning with huge majorities but in 2008, BN only managed to retain the Sungai Acheh state seat with a slim majority of 250 votes and lost the rest. This coming election, Zainal Abidin is tipped to be the one to try to win the seat back for BN even though the current MP, Tan Tee Beng, who won the seat on the PKR ticket, is now an independent MP.  Zainal Abidin is tipped to be the BN candidate for the Nibong Tebal parliamentary seat. A local boy, Zainal Abidin's family home is located in one of the villages here but other than to his fellow villagers, he is not that well-known in the non-Malay community. Instead, he often appears at BN functions with Nibong Tebal BN co-ordinator Tan Cheng Liang, who is also former Jawi state assemblyman and tipped to contest the Jawi state seat, purportedly to show a united BN front. It is obvious that Nibong Tebal has been "under attack" by BN which is intent on winning the two state seats and the parliamentary one back this time around. This year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a RM8.5 million allocation for Nibong Tebal for development projects such as construction of a multi-purpose hall in Nibong Tebal (RM3 million), repainting of apartments (RM2 million), repairing of houses in Indian and Chinese villages (RM2 million) and rebuilding of Sekolah Agama Rakyat Al-Amin (RM1.8 million).  Fishing is an industry in the area as the Krian River runs through Nibong Tebal. There was also a "promotional blitz" of sorts when the MCA launched its Jom Masuk Kampung (Let's Enter The Villages) roadshow in Penang at Nibong Tebal with all of the top MCA leadership spending the day at various villages in the constituency. More recently, BN allocated a further RM3 million, on top of the RM1 million it had earlier allocated, to the building fund of SMJK Jit Sin II which is located in the constituency. The school is in the midst of raising RM30 million for its building fund. But all this attention by BN does not seem to impress many of the constituents. "We are not small children who can be pleased by offerings of sweets and candies. Do they think us stupid?" a resident said when asked if they feel indebted to BN for all the goodies it has been handing out to the constituency. After speaking to the villagers, it is clear that the general sentiment seems to be one of disgust, disappointment and even hatred for BN and its leaders. "They think we are slow-thinking villagers who do not know how to access the Internet to get the real story behind their corruption and excesses? There they are spending our money like their own and then when elections come, they pretend to give us little titbits as if it is from their own pocket," one Jawi resident said. Many of them said they would not give BN another chance to "cheat" and "lie" to them. "If I see any of them, I turn around and walk away. I feel it is really time that we changed the whole federal government, not only change our state assemblymen and MP," said an elderly resident who's been following the political scene closely through the news and the Internet.
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| Muhyiddin’s boys target Nov 30 Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:29 PM PDT According to Muhyiddin Yassin's camp, campaigning in December will give BN a strategic advantage, given that the middle-class and Christians will be distracted. Toffee Rodrigo, FMT Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin's boys want the general election this year. They are pushing Muhyiddin to pressure Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to dissolve Parliament by Nov 30. Muhyiddin's supporters feel Nov 30 should be the latest date, or else Umno and Barisan Nasional will be in trouble. According to them, campaigning in December will give BN a strategic advantage. The strategic advantage they are talking about is in East Malaysia. A December poll, they believe, will give the Christians (read opposition) less time to campaign, they will be busy with Christmas and have little time to dwell on politics. And this will be good for the BN as far as Sarawak is concerned as the natives will be also too busy with the festivities to seek out the alternative media. They will thus depend on the propaganda dished out by the government-controlled mass media especially the radio and TV. In West Malaysia, the middle class, which is seen to be anti-establishment, will be busy taking holidays. Many of them may not be around even to vote if the election is called in December. And this is what BN needs to win back states like Selangor and Penang. The Christians in West Malaysia, too, will have little time having to prepare for Christmas, schooling for the children and holidays and may not be around in their respective constituencies. Muhyddin may get the boot Najib, on the other hand, does not think so. He believes he is gaining ground with the Christians and needs their support. Najib reckons MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek's peddling of the hudud around every nook and corner will compel Christians to opt for the BN even though many in their ranks deplore the BN. Now within Umno there are two groups with different views. Muhyiddin's supporters are convinced that Najib is just wasting time as he knows this is his last term. Muhyiddin himself is growing increasingly frustrated. He is confident of an even worse showing for Umno-BN than in 2008. He is sure to make moves to push Najib out sooner than later. Najib, meanwhile, is fully aware of his plight but does not see himself being ousted the way former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went. Najib is as such preparing to remove Muhyiddin from the deputy's position and has in mind Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to replace him. Najib believes Zahid has done a good job in handling the Suaram onslaught against him and he wants to reward Zahid. And Najib has precedence to support him.
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| The man who brought the Black Flag to Timbuktu Posted: 22 Oct 2012 04:46 PM PDT
A new Islamist strongman has taken the stage in North Africa. His rising power is giving him a lot of bad ideas. Ag Ghali has already begun to realize his dream of imposing sharia law. Music, TV, and smoking have all been banned in the areas under his control, and Ansar Dine troops have been punishing women for not covering up properly. The group's members have drawn up lists of unwed mothers and offering couples money to get married. Those who don't comply with their demands face harassment, torture, or execution. William Lloyd-George, Foreign Policy He was once known for his drinking habits, his stylish mustache, and his serial womanizing. Over the course of his colorful career he has served as a diplomat, a rebel chieftain, and a negotiator with al Qaeda hostage-takers. Today, however, Iyad Ag Ghali -- known within his community as the "Lion of the Desert" -- is winning new notoriety as a militant commander and Islamist powerbroker in a strategically sensitive corner of North Africa. His prominence is likely to increase in the months to come. The rebellion in northern Mali that began earlier this year, fueled by loose weapons from the revolution in neighboring Libya, has morphed over the past few months from an ethnic separatist conflict to one increasingly dominated by Ansar Dine, the radical Islamist movement led by Ag Ghali -- raising the possibility that the breakaway region could become a new jihadist safe haven and a lingering source of instability across northern Africa. French President François Hollande has engineered a U.N. vote to consider intervention in Mali, and his defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, recently said it was "a matter of weeks" before military action. Washington has given its blessing to military involvement by a regional grouping of African states eager to staunch the possible side effects radiating out from Ansar Dine's new mini-state. And there's even been talk that the Obama Administration might launch drone strikes against members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a group that has sought refuge with the Islamists in northern Mali and which has been linked by U.S. officials with the attack that killed U.S. diplomat Christopher Stevens last month in Libya. Much of what happens next will depend crucially on Ag Ghali's skills as a politician and a military leader. In recent months he has put his talents on ample display, stunning regional observers by engineering a convincing political and military victory over his erstwhile allies, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the latest manifestation of a long line of rebel groups that have violently agitated for independence for the ethnic Tuaregs of the northern part of the country. While Tuaregs share Muslim beliefs with other Malians, the MNLA was never distinguished by religious militancy -- in stark contrast to Ansar Dine, which aims for the unification of Mali under Islam and sharia law. By contrast, the MNLA has committed itself to a secular independent state it calls Azawad (a word that translates as "Land of the Nomads") and opposition to Islamic groups operating in the North. Ag Ghali has already begun to realize his dream of imposing sharia law. Music, TV, and smoking have all been banned in the areas under his control, and Ansar Dine troops have been punishing women for not covering up properly. The group's members have drawn up lists of unwed mothers and offering couples money to get married. Those who don't comply with their demands face harassment, torture, or execution. In the town of Aguelhok, a man and woman were recently stoned to death for adultery. In Gao a young man had his hand chopped off for stealing. And in the fabled city of Timbuktu, Ansar Dine units have demolished various ancient Sufi tombs -- part of a UNESCO world heritage site that is nonetheless derided by ultraconservative Muslims as a symbol of unorthodox belief. Ansar Dine's ascendance is fueling worries in the West about the possibility of a new Islamist nexus in a part of the world that had long seemed dependably stable. For two decades Mali has enjoyed a reputation as a successful Muslim democracy, a status rewarded by the U.S. and other western donors with generous supplies of aid. But there was one source of potential trouble: The large and restive Tuareg population in the country's arid North, who have launched a series of haphazard revolts over the years, citing oppression and discrimination. During famines, for example, the central government looted funds for aid and resettlement camps, fueling anger amongst the Tuareg communities (often known locally as the "blue people," thanks to the indigo headscarves often wear, sometimes staining their skin the same color). Many of the Tuaregs moved to Libya to escape drought and economic underdevelopment in their desert homeland; some of them even found jobs in the Libyan military. As it happened, the fall of Muammar Qaddafi last year gave fresh impetus to Tuareg separatists. As they watched Qaddafi's regime near its end, leaders from previous rebellions began plotting to return to Mali, now bolstered by cars and heavy weapons believed to have been largely swiped from Libyan government arsenals. Having formed the MNLA, which incorporated various Tuareg groups from around the region, the rebels launched an offensive and quickly took several major cities in the North. Ag Ghali, who had been the instigator of a previous rebellion in 1990, quickly spotted an opportunity. At a meeting of rebel leaders last October, Ag Ghali offered himself as a leader of the MNLA. But the Tuareg leaders rejected him on the grounds of his increasingly ardent Islamist beliefs. "We want to be a secular group," MNLA spokesman Moussa Ag Acharatouman told me at the time. "Ag Ghali's desire to impose sharia does not fit the wishes of the people or the goals of the MNLA." The leaders of the group have since had ample reason to regret their decision. Just weeks after they rejected him, Ag Ghali moved to announce the creation of his own group, which he dubbed Ansar Dine, or "Defenders of the Faith." Ag Ghali declared -- to the dismay of MNLA leaders -- that his group's main goal was the establishment of sharia law across Mali. The nationalist leaders suddenly found themselves outflanked. "We knew that with Ag Ghali, a famous Tuareg leader, running around shouting about sharia law and welcoming Islamists into the region, we had no hope," said one MNLA commander at the time, wishing to remain anonymous due to his physical proximity to Ansar Dine units. This time the Tuareg revolt got off to a blazing start. The separatists took town after town with barely a fight; Ansar Dine and AQIM forces helped to push out the Malian troops. The Tuaregs' rapid success ultimately even triggered a military coup in the South, where disgruntled officers, enraged by the government's failure to support their efforts to quash their rebellion, toppled the civilian government in the capital of Bamako. Ironically, considering the plotters' expressed intent to maintain Mali's national integrity, their move ended up accelerating the Tuareg takeover of the North. Although barely in control of the region, the rebels' political wing announced the creation of the new state of Azawad on April 6. The declaration was aimed at trying to steal some of the thunder from Ag Ghali's group. The leader of Ansar Dine wasn't prepared to let it go at that. He welcomed in Islamists from around the region, and, with Mali's borders unguarded by Malian troops, they began to flock to the North. The ranks of Ansar Dine, which had begun with just a few hundred troops, quickly swelled -- and the MNLA found its power slipping away. "One moment we were in control of everything," one MNLA fighter told me. "We thought this was it, this is set to be the most successful rebellion yet. Then suddenly it all went completely wrong. It's heartbreaking." The MNLA discovered that it didn't have enough troops to control all the territory it had captured. Ansar Dine began following it into captured towns, where they raised the black flag of the group and announced that they were in control. For many, Ag Ghali's metamorphosis into a fervent defender of the faith came as a surprise. For years, locals say, he was well known for his love of women and alcohol. Chana Takiou, the chief editor of the Malian newspaper 22 Septembre, says that during Ag Ghali's earlier years he was well known for frequenting bars and drinking the night away. "He is shy, not very talkative, and rarely laughs," Takiou told me, though noting that Ag Ghali often prayed. He also recalls that Ag Ghali guarded his privacy. Born in Kidal, a member of the Ifoghas clan, Ag Ghali was the son of nomadic stock farmer. During the 1980s, when he was still in his early twenties, Ag Ghali traveled to Libya, where he joined Qaddafi's Islamic Legion, a group of fighters recruited to defend Islamic causes (and bolster Qaddafi's religious credentials in the process). Ag Ghali was sent to fight against Christian militias in Lebanon. After the legion was dismantled in 1987, Ag Ghali found himself back in Mali, now with a newly acquired taste for rebellion. On June 28, 1990, he launched the previously mentioned attack on the town of Menaka in the North, killing several Malian police and inspiring the first of many Tuareg revolts. Six months later, however, after intervention by the government of neighboring Algeria, he was pushed into signing a peace agreement without having attained any of his goals. Many of his supporters derided him for selling out, and accused him of stopping the rebellion just as it was getting under way. Following the 1990 rebellion and a trip to Pakistan, Ag Ghali is reported to have become involved with the Dawa fundamentalist sect, an offshoot of the South Asia-based Islamic missionary association Jamaat al-Tabligh. He is said to have spent increasing amounts of time in mosques, and distanced himself from his previous social circles. Takiou, the Malian journalist, says that was the period when Ag Ghali became more of a hard-line Islamist. "He was spending time with a particular Pakistani preacher called Peshawar, who brought the Dawa movement to Kidal," says Takiou. Mohammed Sylla, a member of the Dawa movement, who claims to have known Ag Ghali, tells me that he did not appear particularly militant, and was very friendly to all the members. "When some of our members realized he was going to take a rebel initiative, we tried to discourage him," says Sylla. "Our aim is not to attack any one or any country. We are friendly. Ansar Dine has nothing to do with the Dawa movement and we do not understand his objective or his vision." Sylla says that the members of the group "have no idea" why their former adherent embarked on his present path. It was in 2003 that Ag Ghali began to make public statements of his following adherence to the fundamentalist cause (though he took care to reject terrorism and suicide bombings). He was chosen to be the government's intermediary to negotiate the release of hostages held by the Islamic Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the primarily Algerian militant organization that has since changed its name to Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). His most significant success came in August 2003, when he negotiated the release of European tourists kidnapped in Algeria and held by Abou Zeid, a GSPC commander. He has since been involved in a number of other negotiations with the group, sometimes accepting large commissions for his work, which has also brought him a reputation as a powerbroker. In 2006 he became involved again in plans for rebellion, contacting a veteran rebel Tuareg leader with who he started yet another uprising. Yet again, though, to the dismay of countless Tuareg separatists, Ag Ghali once again took the lead in negotiating a peace deal with the Malian government. In 2007, as described by a leaked State Department cable, he even paid a visit to the U.S. embassy in Bamako, where he met with then-U.S. Ambassador Terence McCulley. "Soft-spoken and reserved, [A]g Ghali showed nothing of the cold-blooded warrior persona created by the Malian press," the cable notes. It also said that the "seemingly tired" Ag Ghali requested U.S. military assistance for special operations against AQIM. Despite his current efforts to impose sharia law, Ag Ghali admitted to the U.S. ambassador that "one of AQIM's weak points was that not many people in northern Mali buy into its extremist ideology." His ability to play off different sides against each other has long been one of his most famous traits, and has helped to accentuate the air of mystery that he has cultivated around himself. Small wonder, then, that the Malian government was happy to get him out of the way. In 2007, after he told authorities he was fed up with the problems of the North and requested to leave Mali, the government gave him a job as a consular official and dispatched him to Mali's embassy in Saudi Arabia, though without giving him any real diplomatic responsibilities. The government in Riyadh eventually expelled him, accusing him of cultivating contacts with extremist groups. When he returned home, Ag Ghali spent even more time in mosques and grew his beard even longer, though his political motives remained opaque. Ag Ghali's group has rejected repeated requests for an interview, informing me that he does not wish to receive non-Muslim journalists. While there has been some debate about the sincerity of his religious zeal, analysts note an increasingly radical tone emanating from Ansar Dine over the past few months (as well as from Ag Ghali's own statements). According to Tinegoum Maiga, the director of the Bamako newspaper La Nouvelle République, Ag Ghali's stress on the imposition of sharia law is motivated above all by a desire to secure financing. "He just wants to make a safe territory for himself, and so he uses sharia law to justify his donors sending him funding," explained Maiga, who claims that Qatar has been subsidizing the group. Maiga also explained that Algeria has a very strong relationship with Ag Ghali and has funded several of his operations for years. "He is very impressed with his new role as spiritual guide, coupled with warlord," says Maiga. After meeting Ag Ghali in the northern town of Kidal in June, Malian journalist Adama Diarra told me that the Ansar Dine leader appeared deeply committed to his goal of implementing Islamic law. Diarra says that Ag Ghali depicted his aims as modest, and claimed that he merely wished to unify all Malians around their common Islamic heritage. But he says that Ag Ghali also declared anyone who refused to fight under the black flag of his group as "our enemy," and denounced secularism as "rubbish." "Whoever is working with secularism is our enemy and we will fight against them by all means," the warlord declared, according to Diarra. Ag Ghali also went on to demand that Mali should prove its democratic bona fides by holding a referendum allowing the Malian people to vote on the implementation of sharia law. While Ag Ghali's relationship with the MNLA seems to have waned, and with most MNLA units either fleeing to the border areas or joining Ansar Dine's ranks, he has continued to build a strong network of Islamists in the region. Following the sightings of AQIM leaders around Timbuktu in April, members of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) also began to operate in the region. Although closely allied with AQIM, MUJWA is a jihadi group controlled by black Africans with an operational focus on the countries of West Africa. In recent months, though, the lines between these Islamist groups has increasingly blurred. Oumar Ould Hamaha, previously a senior member of AQIM, recently began describing himself as an Ansar Dine commander. While AQIM has long operated in the region, this is the first time its leaders have openly appeared in public. In addition to his role as a negotiator, Ag Ghali is also closely linked to the group through a cousin who serves as one of its officers. The MNLA leadership spent months demanding that Ag Ghali denounce the Islamist groups. But those hopes were dashed when MUJWA fighters clashed with the Tuareg nationalists on June 27. The head of the MNLA, Bilal Ag Acherif, was injured in the fighting and taken to Burkino Faso for treatment; he is yet to return to Mali. Soon after the event, Abu Omar, a senior member of Ansar Dine, sounded unrepentant. "If you want to know if we are in conflict with MNLA, just bear in mind we do not have the same goals," Omar told me. "We will not fight against those who want to make Islam the winner." He explained that Mali has long been dominated by "satanic policies" such as open access to alcohol, prostitution, non-Islamic banking, and tolerance of stark inequalities of wealth as well as "so-called democracy." "We will not go back to the kind of system that God helped us to destroy," Omar told me. Meanwhile, Tuareg sources say that Ag Ghali is pushing the remnants of the MNLA into joining Ansar Dine, threatening attacks if they don't merge with his group. Local sources say fighters from Senegal, Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia, are arriving in northern Mali and attending Islamist training camps. Just last month MUJWA reinforced their rule in the town of Douentza, pushing the boundary of Islamist-controlled territory even further south and raising alarms in Bamako. Already some are beginning to worry that Ansar Dine and its allies could start to launch terrorist attacks in other countries of the region. Such concerns are prompting members of the regional grouping of West African countries, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to consider calls for intervention. Responding to these moves, Ansar Dine spokesman Hamaha recently said: "We will conduct a war against all state members of ECOWAS and also France and the United States of America, the European Union which are supporting ECOWAS. We are ready to die for it." The gravity of the situation has the attention of policymakers in the West, in Paris as well as Washington. The Malian government and ECOWAS military advisers are drawing up military plans for submission to the United Nations by a late November deadline. Those plans are likely to follow the model of the military intervention in Somalia by East African countries organized and supported by the West. Talks between ECOWAS and Ansar Dine have so far brought little progress. When ECOWAS asked Ag Ghali to separate himself from "foreign" Islamist groups, he responded with fresh calls for the implementation of sharia. Malian Islamic officials have contacted the Ansar Dine leader to sound out possibilities for implementing some version of Islamic law, but it could already be too late for a peaceful solution. As his enemies marshal their forces, the enigmatic Ag Ghali will soon be forced to show his true colors. Either he will have to find an exit plan that plays to his well-versed strengths as a mediator or to go all the way in the fight for his religious beliefs.
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| Malaysia a secular state contrary to Nazri’s remarks, say law experts Posted: 22 Oct 2012 03:52 PM PDT
Just because the Federal Constitution does not have the word 'secular' does not mean that Malaysia is not a secular state. — Civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan Debra Chong and Ida Lim, The Malaysian Insider Malaysia is and has always been a secular state even though not expressly stated in the Federal Constitution because the country's supreme law and founding document is secular, several law experts say as debate continues to storm over the mainly Muslim nation's status. The legal pundits refuted minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's remarks in Parliament yesterday that Malaysia is not a secular state because it had never been declared or endorsed as such and is wholly absent in the Constitution though he stopped short of labelling the country an Islamic state. "It's absolutely untrue," said Tommy Thomas, regarded as one of the country's foremost authorities on constitutional law. "To me, to say that Malaysia is not a secular state because the Federal Constitution does not say so is a real, oversimplistic argument. Just like the Federal Constitution does not say Malaysia is an Islamic state," he toldThe Malaysian Insiderlast night. The veteran lawyer, who had studied the subject and presented an essay debunking Malaysia as an Islamic state at the Malaysian Law Conference seven years ago, said his research had shown that the country's forefathers and the legal experts who helped draft the Constitution had intended the country remain secular even as it acknowledged the individual Malay state Rulers' rights and power over religious matters which, he pointed out, was for the most part ceremonial. Thomas pointed to a Pakistani Federal Court judge, Abdul Hamid, who was part of the five-man Reid Commission formed in 1956 to help draw up Malaysia's Constitution and held the minority dissent on religion, did not go so far as to say Malaysia must have an Islamic state in its Constitution. He said Abdul Hamid's remarks from then was the clearest indicator that the country should remain secular. Abdul Hamid was the main proponent for including a provision that read: "Islam shall be the religion of the State of Malaya, but nothing in this Article shall prevent any citizen professing any religion other than Islam to profess, practice and propagate that religion, nor shall any citizen be under any disability by reason of his being not a Muslim." Thomas said Abdul Hamid, who was from Pakistan, which had gained its independence from Britain in 1947 — a good 10 years before Malaya — and had an Islamic Constitution that put it squarely as an Islamic state, had noted that such a proviso was "innocuous" and would not cause any "hardship" to anyone, but that the judge's suggestion was rejected by the Conference of Rulers which was against the idea. The lawyer of more than 30 years' experience told The Malaysian Insider he still stands by his 2005 essay titled "Is Malaysia an Islamic State?" which concluded that the country was and remains secular, and that no one has disputed his argument to date. "No one has ever written in to say it's nonsense," Thomas said, who blamed Malaysia's fourth and longest-serving prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for sparking the present confusion over Malaysia's Islamic or secular state status. The former Bar Council secretary-general noted in his 2005 essay that it was Dr Mahathir who unilaterally declared Malaysia to be an Islamic country in a political speech at the Gerakan party's national delegates conference on September 29, 2001. Dr Mahathir had single-handedly negated the secular pronouncements made by his predecessors including first prime minister and the country's founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj and third PM, Tun Hussein Onn, by saying: "Umno wishes to state loudly that Malaysia is an Islamic country. This is based on the opinion of ulamaks who had clarified what constituted as Islamic country. If Malaysia is not an Islamic country because it does not implement the hudud, then there are no Islamic countries in the world." Thomas' views on Malaysia's secularism found strong support with three other legal experts. Former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who is among the most vocal opponents to the introduction of hudud law, the strict Islamic penal code, took to Twitter yesterday in an immediate response to Nazri's remark. "Constitution don't define lots of things. It doesn't define democracy, so does it mean we are not democratic?" the former lawyer who started Malaysia's biggest private practice posed on his microblogging account @zaidibrahim. "If Malaysia is neither secular or theocratic, then its whatever BN says it is," said Zaid, referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan echoed the two law veterans. "Just because the Federal Constitution does not have the word 'secular' does not mean that Malaysia is not a secular state. "Just like how the word 'democracy' does not appear in our Constitution, yet we are a country that practises parliamentary democracy," he said in weighing in on the debate that raged in Parliament yesterday following Nazri's remark. Syahredzan stressed that Malaysia is secular because the Constitution is secular. "An Islamic state would place the Quran as the highest authority, but our Constitution provides in Article 4 that the Constitution is the highest law of the land. "The validity of laws therefore must be measure upon the yardstick of the Constitution, and not Islamic principles, thus making the Constitution a secular one," he said in an emailed response to The Malaysian Insider. He pointed out that the Supreme Court had set a precedent in 1988 when it rejected an argument in the landmark case of Che Omar Che Soh, a Muslim drug trafficker facing the mandatory death sentence, that because Islam is the religion of the Federation, laws passed by Parliament must be imbued with Islamic principles and that the death penalty was void because it was not according to hudud, or Islamic law. Tun Salleh Abas, who was then Lord President and head of the judiciary, had said in the landmark ruling that "however, we have to set aside our personal feelings because the law in this country is still what it is today, secular law, where morality not accepted by the law is not enjoying the status of the law."
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| Posted: 22 Oct 2012 03:19 PM PDT Radio Free Sarawak is taking on BN's massive artilleries of RTM, TV3 and Astro NJOY in the fight for the hearts and minds of the rural people. Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing believes the authroity concerned should step in to "stop FSR from spreading lies to the people in rural areas as this is a very unhealthy culture". (Bernama) - KANOWIT: Most evening before 6pm housewife Indai Limau makes sure that dinner is cooked and laid on the table for her husband and their two children. The less urgent chores will have to wait. Precisely at 6pm and after her bath, she retires to her favourite settee in the family living room, reaches out for her China-made transistor radio and tunes in to 15420 KHz channel on the short wave band. She is not tuning in to any entertainment programme from her very interior longhouse. Like many other rural folks, she wants to keep up with the latest that the no-holds-barred Free Sarawak Radio (FSR) has to offer each evening. The FSR is a clandestine radio station. Nobody is certain where it is broadcasted from. It is the brainchild of a social activist/journalist and Sarawak-born Clare Rewcastle Brown, a sister-in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown. It first broadcasted on Nov 16, 2010 and is a thorn in the flesh of local Barisan Nasional leaders, especially those from the Dayak community with its unrelenting attacks and accusations against them and the government. Listeners from the Iban, Orang Ulu, even Melanau, Penan and Malay communities statewide will call in to give their opinions and dissatisfactions on a wide variety of issues. The favourite seems to be issues related to the native customary rights (NCR) land where they dismiss its perimeter survey as a scheme to grab such land. Others are the alleged non-delivery of promises by their BN representatives, their so-called in effectiveness, the Murum and Bakun dam projects, alleged corruption and nepotism in the present government and so forth. And ultimately, they call on the people to vote for a change in the government in the coming election. The callers and its announcers are doing all these with great audacity and impunity. They are not subjected to any censorship. Libellious accusations Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing believes the authroity concerned should step in to "stop FSR from spreading lies to the people in rural areas as this is a very unhealthy culture". "I don't think it is doing an honest job. The callers and the announcers are not telling the whole truth. "They are confusing and poisoning the mind of the rural folks with such libellious accusations and allegations. Unfortunately, the rural folks have no other access to information apart from the radio," he told Bernama when contacted. "It is always so easy to criticise and accuse because you are not being responsible and accountable. The callers… they are speaking behind the curtains and are annonymous. "I am not worried they accuse me of many things… but it is not nice to tell lies about others," he said. Masing, who is also the state Land Development Minister, said the perimeter survey being carried out on NCR land was solely aimed at separating land holding between state and NCR land. "Once you have done it, the security on such land is established.The government is doing what is best for NCR landowners in the country. "At a later stage, the individual survey for the purpose of creating individual land titles can be looked into. But first, it is very important for security through ownership to be establised over NCR land," he said. On the Murum dam project in Belaga, being made complicated with the Penans blocking access road in their attempt to halt its construction over compensation disputes, Masing said the problem could be solved by people with intelligence and sincerety acting as mediators. A whole lot trickier "Belaga state assemblyman Liwan lagang has been doing a fine job as the mediator. He understands the thinking of the Penans. He has the heart and soul of the Penans and I am sure he can help," he said. He said the Baram project was a whole lot trickier as the area had always been the hotbed of the non-governmental environmentalist groups, their hornets' nest. Meanwhile, a PKR potential candidate who declined to be named said the FSR was almost a godsend aid to help in his campaigns against the BN's massive artilleries of RTM, TV3 and now Astro NJOY. "If the BN has been distributing the free Astro NJOY decorder and television sets, the 1Malaysia netbooks, it's our turn to do good by giving the China-made transistor radios for folks to tune in to FSR," he said. But not all folks are happy with the FSR addictive broadcast. A longhouse chief Mok anak Gelut of Lasi in Pakan said some of the callers had resorted to extreme exaggerations and accusations. "We are actually aware of the happenings on the ground. Not all things are as bad as potrayed. Some of us followed the broadcast but I am not one of them. "If indeed the government is wicked, it is strange those who are regular callers have not given any idea on their preferred alternative government, how it will function, its leaders and the guarantee they will be efficient and will not destroy the country," he said. Deputy Information, Communications and Culture Minister Joseph Salang at a function at Rh. Minggan, Sungai Sayong in Julau recently said FSR was both good and bad. "It is an alternative channel to dissemniate information. But when false information is disseminated without any censorship, it is bad, very bad. "If people keep on spreading lies and accusations against the others, it will not go down very well with all the listeners all the time. People will eventually be able to judge the truth from the lies and accusations," he said.
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| Posted: 21 Oct 2012 10:58 PM PDT  Azman Ujang, Bernama ONE of the populist ideas from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to win more votes in Sabah and Sarawak is a promise to increase the states' annual oil royalty from 5% to 20% if it comes to power. For opposition leaders, this has been the gist of their speeches in the two states, especially after the political tsunami of 2008 when Sabah and Sarawak came to be known as Barisan Nasional's (BN) "fixed deposit" states. This is because BN managed to win almost all of the 56 parliamentary seats in these states in the last election that enabled it to retain power while doing badly in Peninsular Malaysia. Several top PR leaders went on a roadshow to Sabah and Sarawak on Sept 16 in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration and again they hyped up this oil royalty issue. To the man on the street, it's a very attractive proposition because everyone wants their state to have more money so that they can have a better life. But in reality, the quota of oil royalty distribution to the country's three oil producing states – Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu – is not as straight forward or simplistic as the 5% figure suggests. When you give them 5% for drilling oil in their offshore fields, the impression given is that Petronas, the national oil company, gets the other 95%. This is not the case and to a large extent this public misconception is due to the fact that many Malaysians, including parliamentarians, have been kept in the dark about who's getting what in the oil and gas production industry, which is by far our biggest revenue earner. Despite this issue being recycled, no one has come out to reveal the royalty sharing formula. I did my own enquiries and a former senior executive of a multinational oil company told me something informative that I am delighted to share here. According to my source, this is how it works – 5% is federal royalty and another 5% is state government royalty. Of the balance, up to 20% goes to what is known as 'cost oil' to recover the cost of production. This leaves a balance of 70% which is split between the operator and Petronas. The operator here means foreign oil companies that commit billions in investment to drill for oil in the fields awarded to them by Petronas. At times, they spend billions without striking any oil of the volume required to make it commercially viable. He cited as an example, a typical production sharing contract (PSC) between a foreign oil company and Petronas – of the 70%, 30% goes to the company and the balance to Petronas. In terms of oil barrels, let's say for every 100 barrels, the PSC split is five barrels to the Federal Treasury, five barrels to the State Treasury, and up to 20 barrels claimed by the operator as cost oil. The balance of 70 barrels is split 70:30 with Petronas getting 70% or 49 barrels, and the operator 30% or 21 barrels. To the credit of Petronas, at long last on Oct 12, it came out with what I consider to be one of the most significant press statements it has ever released. As far as I can recall, this was the first time that Petronas has reacted to the oil royalty issue, a departure from its past policy of avoiding to discuss it openly. Petronas said that its own sustainability to contribute to the nation would be undermined should royalty payments to the states be increased from 5% to 20%, because it would result in lower petroleum income tax payments. What politicians like PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who once served as finance minister and who's been harping on increasing the royalty to 20%, deliberately don't tell the people is that what they are trying to do is to put our entire oil and gas industry at risk. Petronas explained that over the next five years alone, planned projects with a total capital expenditure worth about RM170 billion are at risk of being cancelled if the royalty payment to the states is increased. Any increase in oil royalty to the states would automatically reduce the profitability and economic viability of all current and future oil and gas projects under development. This in itself will deter Petronas and PSC contractors from further investing in these projects. There are some among the ruling BN leaders in the two states who are beginning to be influenced by the prospect of a royalty increase. They are voicing out to the federal government to consider giving them an increase, but what they fail to realise is that a reduction in the oil and gas production will result in lower payments to the states. It's still 5% but this 5% in monetary terms will be much less. On the bigger picture, a reduction in oil and gas production – which could happen if foreign investors are put off by the prospect of getting less from the PSC – will also threaten Malaysia's energy security. "Apart from this direct impact, the resulting slowdown will have an adverse multiplier effect on the domestic oil and gas industries such as service companies as well as spin-off industries, leading to a reduction in employment opportunities for the people residing in those states," warned Petronas. This is indeed a very grim scenario akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Close to 30% of our gross domestic product comes from Petronas's output and the oil company contributes well over 40% of federal government revenue. Federal government revenue is ploughed back to all states, and since Sabah and Sarawak became BN's safe deposit states, they have been receiving huge allocations for development much to the envy of the non-oil producing states. And whatever extras the federal government is giving the two states, as per their requests, actually come from the federal portion of the Petronas royalty. Under our laws, oil belongs to the federal government and the oil producing states are already blessed with the 5% royalty which amounts to a cool few billion annually. Asking for more is tantamount to having the best of both worlds and this is not the way to run a federation of states like Malaysia. It's just unfair to other states. Politics is of course politics, but Malaysia will be better off with politicians who know what they are talking about especially when it comes to such important issues. They have to get their facts right so that they don't simply create issues out of thin air. Just like the PR's shadow Budget 2013 with its slew of highly populist proposals. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah has described the budget as "mathematically wrong, misleading and will definitely increase the country's fiscal deficit and national debt". It would be wise for the government and the Opposition to heed Petronas's warning against any review of the oil royalty formula which has worked so well in enriching Malaysia and in the process, made Petronas recognisable as the world's most profitable national oil company.
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| MCA touts ‘Ah Jib Gor’ factor for Chinese vote Posted: 21 Oct 2012 03:27 PM PDT
Nomy Nowzir and Hafidz Baharom, The Malaysian Insider Datuk Seri Najib Razak's popularity or the "Ah Jib Gor" factor will help cajole a segment of the Chinese community back to Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming polls, MCA grassroots leaders have agreed, but warned that the same sentiment could not topple the opposition in its urban fortresses. This was the resounding sentiment among delegates attending the MCA's 59th annual general meeting at Wisma MCA yesterday, which is seen as the party's final chance to chart its election strategies in the months ahead as it heads into its toughest battle yet. "Najib is good because he has done a lot of programmes for the people, I am sure the Chinese will vote BN," said one delegate, Lim Chee Cheong, from Rasah in Negri Sembilan. "Najib has done a lot for the Chinese. And he has our support and the Chinese community support as well," another delegate, Loke Poh Chye from Pengkalan Kota in Penang, toldThe Malaysian Insider. During the meeting earlier, among one of the key battle cries sounded by the party leadership was a call for delegates to "Stand with Najib", who was extensively described as a leader popular among the Chinese. In his presidential address, party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek repeatedly praised Najib's transformative policies and attention to Chinese community issues, even telling the prime minister, "Sir, sometimes I think that you are too kind." At the MCA Youth AGM on Saturday, party deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai predicted that the MCA will "rise again" in the coming polls, citing Najib's popularity among the Chinese community as one of the key reasons behind the possibility. He said the prime minister's outreach towards the Chinese community, even resorting to social media tools like Facebook to create a Chinese persona, "Ah Jib Gor" (Brother Najib), had successfully convinced voters that the community would not be left out of the nation's development. "The feel-good factor is coming back. And the commitment from the PM to the Chinese… the Ah Jib Gor factor shows that he will listen to the Chinese community," Liow had said. But despite these leaders' optimism, several MCA delegates approached by The Malaysian Insider yesterday agreed that the party would suffer the most when attempting to sway the urban Chinese vote, pointing out that in areas like Petaling Jaya Selatan or key states like Penang, it would be near impossible for the MCA to trounce the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition pact. "I don't think so we can win back PJ, they are entrenched already with the opposition. I don't think we can take Penang back either," said Loh KF, a delegate from the area. Loh was among several delegates who also admitted that the issue of corruption would be among BN's greatest stumbling block to woo the Chinese vote, complaining that it was hard to answer voters who brought up issues like the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal and other graft cases. "Bribery is really bad, I was a victim myself," said Sungai Siput MCA delegate Tham Siew Poh. Tham was also critical of the MCA's focus on hudud law, a wedge issue used against the DAP and PAS who are members of the PR opposition pact. "Most Chinese already understand that the hudud issue is hands-off, it's a religious question, very sensitive. This issue shouldn't be commented upon. "After all, hudud has already been implemented in many countries, why be scared if we do no wrong?" Tham said. But his opinion was not shared by Tenggara MCA delegate Catherine Chia, from Johor. Chia said the hudud issue was critical to be highlighted on as it affects Chinese culture and was demeaning towards women. "I think this hudud will affect everybody, not only Chinese, the whole nation. If the nation is under hudud law, we will become just like the Middle East nations. And eight of the most corrupt nations come from that region," Loke said.
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| Pakatan needs a decisive strategy now! Posted: 21 Oct 2012 02:32 PM PDT Pakatan must prove to the rakyat that it can tackle national misfortunes and produce a strategy to overcome grim election possibilities now, before the general election. Awang Abdillah, FMT Since the beginning of the Mahathir era until today, the Umno-led government has accumulated a trail of unresolved national misfortunes, by-products of long-term bad governance and gross abuses of power. It has compelled Malaysians to collectively act (read 2008 polls tsunami) in order to save the nation from the these ills and their consequences. Hence Pakatan Rakyat, as the opposition coalition, must take the initiative now to address these failed policies and practices instead of waiting until it is elected to office as the next federal government. These long-standing, unresolved products of mismanagement have generated into toxic national waste harmful to the national, political and economic environments that have earned Malaysia the tag as a "sick nation" and the laughing stock of Asia. Pakatan must tackle these national disasters now ahead of the impending 13th general election, bearing in mind the grim possibility of a double tragedy – declaration of an emergency and a crackdown on the opposition before the election is held, thereby clearing the path for an easy election victory for the Umno-led Barisan Nasional. Pakatan must therefore foresee these possible circumstances and stop any and all impending election tragedies now to enable it to overtake the incumbent federal government. It is critical that Pakatan proves to the rakyat that it can tackle these national misfortunes and produce a strategy to overcome these grim election possibilities prior to the general election. The Pakatan leaders should set up steering committees to analyse and establish the facts and offer solutions for each one of these issues and situations. Key issues that the steering committees should address are:
The low rate could be attributed to tax evasion by BN crony companies and individual politicians who stash their money overseas and corrupt government officials who are bribed from collecting the full amount of taxes from companies and businessmen.
Pakatan must draw up a comprehensive training programme for the police force, including inculcating good religious and moral values before it comes to power.
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| Posted: 21 Oct 2012 02:29 PM PDT MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek said the party has no time for discussions on policies because the general election was around the corner. So MCA's AGM was all about bombarding its rivals. Leven Woon, FMT Opposition bashing and pre-election chest thumping took centre stage at the two-day MCA annual general assembly (AGM) which concluded yesterday evening. As party chief Dr Chua Soi Lek put it, MCA had no time for policy discussions at the AGM but opted to switch into battle mode to regain its dwindling Chinese support. "While an AGM is always a platform for laying out policies, we feel that this is not the time to talk about policies because the general election is only two to three months away. "So the important thing is about party unity and winning the election," he told reporters. The AGM saw MCA leaders and delegates lashing out at Pakatan Rakyat's policies, attacking PAS' hudud stance and criticising DAP for compromising its stand with regard to PAS. Delegates also came dressed in Barisan Nasional T-shirts, bearing anti-Pakatan slogans. Hence, Chua, together with his deputy chief Liow Tiong Lai, Youth chief Wee Ka Siong and Wanita chief Yu Chok Tow launched a broadside against PAS and its hudud aspirations should the Islamic party come into power. The attack was, however, akin to new wine in an old bottle, as many statements made in the AGM such as hudud would affect the non-Muslims, cinemas and lottery outlets would be closed and countries that adopt hudud were the most corrupted were mentioned numerous times before. MCA Wanita vice-chief Heng Seai Kie, however, added a fresh twist with her interpretation of a statement by PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat made four years ago. Nik Aziz had said that women who did not cover their modesty (tutup aurat) deserved to be raped, but Heng however told delegates that it would also mean that non-Muslim women should be raped. "(Nik Aziz) was instigating the Muslims to rape the non-Muslims," she had said. Do or die battle On economic issues, MCA leaders heaped praises on the Government Transformation Programmes by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, labelling it as the only roadmap that would ensure the country achieved its high-income nation ambition. Chua even mentioned in his presidential speech that the rakyat should not "change the farmers when the seed of transformation had been planted by Najib".
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