Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

---

• Monster Gift! – Michael Chia Handed Huge Hummer To Son Of ‘Friend’ Nazri Abdul Aziz ...
• Al-Arqam's shadow cabinet uncovered
• The Once and Past King
• RM40m donation linked to sale of Navy secret?
• Chia link will not cost BN, unlike NFC scandal, says Nazri
• Malaysian employers practise racial bigotry, study shows
• Tripped up by blog comments
• Open Letter to Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz
• Chinese are inherently racist (or more appropriately supremacist)!
• Servant Leadership – Serve to Lead
• Is Malaysia a secular or Islamic state? It depends
• Debates rage on many fronts
• Free speech fanaticism
• MP claims French lawyers given false info on Suaram
• Blind faith in politics
• Vote for party, not candidate
• Chua : Selfishness DAP leaders intent to keeping their seats for the salaries
• Aziz Bari sahkan tanding PRU, yakin rampas kerusi Sabak Bernam
• UK’s Cameron rocked by defeat in Europe budget vote
• ‘My son was no criminal’
• ‘Nurturing’ Mukhriz Mahathir
• Najib the Delayer
• Seats: Ngieng tells DAP top guns to state stand
• Do you think I care a shit?
• ‘Who is she to question Karpal?’
• 'One candidate one seat' not Pakatan's Common Policy, says PAS Veep
• Lust is a good strategy
• MACC urged to investigate KCB's failed investment in PNG
• I Just Met A Very Racist Chinese!
• Don't pay AES fines, PAS’s Mahfuz tells road users
• Wan Azizah offered four seats In Selangor for GE 13
• Samy Vellu luluskan projek kondo Batu Caves – Anwar
• Time's up, PAS Youth tells Chua
• PAS fears celebrating the demon that is Halloween
• Pakatan to win 118 seats say Lampong
• Up to RM10b tied up in Genneva gold scheme, authorities say
• Tan Koon Swan to get WCEF lifetime award
• Ex-Sabah BN MPs in Pakatan panel
• Will it get dirty between LDP and Gerakan?
• Soi Lek dismisses ‘losing support’ report
• Planned mandatory mosques law may cause polarisation, says Sabah church group
• Support the Indigenous People's Murum Dam Blockade
• Who do you call?
• The al-Bukhary story: how it all began
• Election dilemma among Indian voters
• White elephants of Penang
• Did BN’s Bumiputera policies backfire?
• The al-Bukhary story
• RM1.05 bil suit against S'gor govt set for hearing Jan 11
• SAMM rakam pujian buat kerajaan negeri yang tangguh/halang AES dan SAMM terus ajak rakyat desak ...

Monster Gift! – Michael Chia Handed Huge Hummer To Son Of ‘Friend’ Nazri Abdul Aziz ... Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:32 PM PDT Member of Mohammed Nedim's protection team and the half million ringgit status symbol, Hummer H2, that has ended up in the hands of the Nazri family, but which is still registered under the name of its purchaser, Michael Chia! What acceptable explanation can there be as to why the Minister (or his son) should accept such a gift from a marked man, who was being investigated by his own government department or encourage any form of friendship with someone under such a serious and high profile corruption investigation?  Sarawak Report This big black beast of a car is an American Hummer 2 SUV, one of the most expensive vehicles in the world, costing around half a million ringgit on the Malaysian market. For well over a year one of these models, registration number WNX9776, has been driven around KL by Mohamad Nedim Nazri, the son of a key Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz. It is especially used by Mohamed Nedim's team of body-guards, who follow the youthful playboy around in the various sports cars that he also likes to drive. Yet the car is registered not under the name of Nedim nor his father Nazri Abdul Aziz, but rather of its original purchaser Michael Chia, the Sabah-based money-runner, whom the top politician has just declared 'cleared' of all charges relating to his arrest for transporting RM40million from Hong Kong to Sabah in 2008! Number WNX9776 plate is clearly seen in this recent photograph of the car parked outside Mohammed Nedim's residence in the prestigious Damansara Heights district of Kuala Lumpur Proof who's owner Sarawak Report has numerous pictures of the Hummer 2 WNX9776 parked outside Mohammed Nedim's luxury residence at the Clearwater building in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. The youth, who has been in a number of violent scrapes in recent months and keeps a permanent bodyguard, occupies a Penthouse Suite in the building where he has also kept the car for months. Yet this traffic offence (below), identified by Sarawak Report, is proof of the Hummer's actual registered owner. Not only has Chia been so kind as to offer Nazri's son a magnificent car, but he has been receiving his speeding tickets as well! 'Thanks buddy – you'll pick up the fine won't you? I get too many of them'. The Hummer WNX9776 is registered in the name of Chia Tien Foh (Michael Chia) yet it was in the possession of Mohammed Nedim by March 2011 The Hummer is one of the many cars identified among Michael Chia's assets by the MACC investigation into the Sabah money-laundering case. And yet now we see it prominently in the possession of Nazri's own son, despite Nazri's position as the Minister responsible for the MACC. Since Nazri Aziz is the Minister who is ultimately responsible for the supposedly 'independent' MACC, it is easy to conclude why a man like Michael Chia might have been anxious to curry favour with such a Minister and his family after the investigation into his money-laundering began in 2008. Parked outside Clearwater – Chia's Hummer is in full time possession of Nazri's KL based son However, we ask, what acceptable explanation can there be as to why the Minister (or his son) should accept such a gift from a marked man, who was being investigated by his own government department or encourage any form of friendship with someone under such a serious and high profile corruption investigation? Penthouse luxury at Clearwater – This is Mohd Nedim's pleasant accommodation, but the query is where does all this money come from for the family of the man in political charge of the MACC? Failure to declare a personal interest Trouble – Mohammed Nedim has been caught up in brutal fights, including one death. Our extraordinary revelation follows an admission two days ago by Nazri that he was indeed a 'friend' of Chia, after rumours first surfaced that his son had been given cars by the money-laundering suspect. The development is likely to have an explosive impact on an already charged political situation, following Nazri's own announcements on the sudden decision to drop a long running investigation into Michael Chia's involvement in laundering timber kickbacks, which have been clearly linked to Sabah Chief Minister, Musa Aman. Observers are surely going to ask why Nazri did not declare his interest at the time he made his first controversial announcement on October 10th declaring after four years of looking into the case that Chia was after all innocent of any wrong-doing, because the RM40million he was smuggling was intended for UMNO and not Musa Aman personally! Read more at: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2012/11/monster-gift-michael-chia-handed-huge-hummer-car-to-friend-nazri-exclusive-expose/

Al-Arqam's shadow cabinet uncovered Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:26 PM PDT Khatijah Am, known to her followers as Ummu Jah, had been living in self-imposed exile in Mecca for the past few years. (NST) - PLOT: 41 ministries, including for souls, death, holy sex THE banned Al-Arqam movement, led by the founder's wife, Khatijah Am, is said to have formed a "shadow cabinet" with 41 ministries, including the ministry of the netherworld (kementerian alam ghaib). This was part of its plot to overthrow the government and form an Islamic state, according to information compiled by intelligence agencies. Also listed in its shadow cabinet were the ministries of true souls and sects (roh suci dan tariqat), death and the hereafter (kematian dan akhirat) and family and holy sex (keluarga dan seks suci). Intelligence sources said Khatijah, who is the widow of Ashaari Muhammad and has been living in Mecca after his death, had been holding monthly meetings with "top leaders" of the sect in Malaysia via video conferencing. A source said 54 meetings, dubbed "roh parlimen" (soul parliament) by Khatijah, had been held so far. In their "parliamentary meetings", which had begun in May 2010, Khatijah had assumed the position as their "prime minister". "To ensure that Al-Arqam leaders and followers stayed with the movement and follow her orders, Khatijah claimed she received direct orders from her late husband," a source said. "She had been involved in running the movement even when Ashaari was still alive. Ashaari suffered a mild stroke in 2005." The source added that Khatijah, known to followers as Ummu Jah, had been living in self-imposed exile in Mecca for the past few years. The group, the source said, had received funding from more than 30 welfare homes in Malaysia run by their proxies. Some homes run by key personnel in Al-Arqam were registered with the Welfare Department and received government funding. "These welfare homes received donations, not only from the government, but private companies and unsuspecting individuals as well," said the source. "From our intelligence reports, only a small portion of the donations received were used for the homes while the remaining went to Khatijah's accounts," the source said, adding that Khatijah lived lavishly in a mansion rented for 340,000 riyal (RM276,000) a year. The mansion, called RSA Palace, has a conference room, an elevator, gymnasium, sauna and a swimming pool. The source said the movement collected an average of RM800,000 in donations every month. Meanwhile, Islamic Development Department (Jakim) director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha said they were collecting evidence on the group's activities. "We found that the group, through its company, still continues with its deviant teachings. All the claims that Ashaari is Imam Mahdi and Ummu Jah can communicate with her late husband are blatant lies. "We hope those with information on their activities will come forward to assist in our investigations." Al-Arqam was decreed a deviant sect in 1994 by the National Fatwa Council after it was found to have practised Aurad Muhammadiah teachings which was described as misleading Muslims from the true Islamic beliefs.

The Once and Past King Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:18 PM PDT Just a story? Hang Tuah holds childhood friend Hang Jebat after being forced to end his killing spree. Photo by Photo by P3rSeUs via Flickr.  (The Oxonian Globalist) - A "historic" hero faces review in the evolution of an egalitarian multi-ethnic society In the cosmopolitan entrepôt of 15th century Malacca, a city on the west coast of today's Malaysia, a Malay warrior slew his closest – yet increasingly seditious – friend, to emphasize his own loyalty to the Sultan. Some 500 years later, this story of Hang Tuah – immortalised in his Hikayat Hang Tuah – is causing intellectual, political and ethnic unease in contemporary Malaysia. Having been celebrated in film and taught in schools as the locus of Muslim-Malay mores, the warrior's story was categorically refuted in January by Professor Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim, historian and Chancellor of KDU University College, as nothing more than a myth. All Historians Now In the last year, the Malaysian education system has undergone major review. In April the National Education Dialogue was created to gather perspectives from all levels of society on how to improve teaching and learning. Encouraged by the Minister of Education, and in conjunction with UNESCO, this dialogue aims to cultivate a new generation of globally competitive Malaysians. In the midst of discussions, History, a subject pursued by a very small minority, is enjoying heightened attention. In May 2011, the Ministry of Education declared that it should be a "must-pass" subject in secondary schools from 2013, while scholars and NGOs concurrently launched a campaign for "A Truly Malaysian History". Its spokesman, Dr Lim Tek Ghee, Director of the Centre of Policy Initiatives, called for immediate actions to "ensure a broad and balanced perspective of major civilisations and events", for "accurate historical facts of Malaysia's historical development" and for the "fair recognition to the contribution of all communities". All this seems reasonable. Nonetheless it raises questions about the inclusion in school textbooks of the Hang Tuah story – a melange of fact and fiction, suffused with the supernatural, and hitherto intrinsic to Malay, but not national Malaysian, identity. As soon as Professor Khoo aired his views, Facebook and Twitter erupted in furious debates. One tweet pointed out how Chinese-sounding Tuah's name is. Another questioned the written record of Adam and Eve. Academics, such as the National Laureate, Dr Muhammad Salleh, retaliated with assertions that Tuah was an irrefutably historical figure, appearing 128 times in six chapters in the Malay Annals. Meanwhile, a group claiming to be the Hang Tuah's descendants announced that only they knew the 'real account' of the famed admiral, based on ownership of an ancient Jawi script passed though the generations. Nation and Narration After independence in 1957, there was a struggle for post-imperial control in the new Malaysia. The Malays, under the auspices of (UMNO), have been the dominant political body of the last 40 years, with bumiputera status since the 1970s (after the racial riots of 1969). As "sons of the soil", they have enjoyed advantages in education and politics, to the chagrin of other ethnic groups. The myth of Hang Tuah, along with his maxim, "Malays will never vanish from the face of the earth", had since gained rising resonance. Though the story has provided a moral reference point, teaching humility and bravery. On a darker level, it has fuelled nationalist convictions. Following the country's Islamisation in the 1980s under Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Hang Tuah story became ever more sacrosanct in national history teaching. The process of Islamisation – consolidating links with the wider Islamic world, solidifying the predominance of Muslim values in public life, and improving the economic position of the Malays (while, for example, curbing the establishment of non-Muslim places of worship) – provoked the reassertion of racial identity. Paradoxically it emulated the model of colonial Malaya, when the British sought to separate the Malays, Chinese and Indians into distinct groups to cement their own authority. Even amid recent Bersih (literally, 'clean') demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur in April, where Malaysians of all races demanded electoral reform, the Hang Tuah story was invoked. The opinion of Mohammad Salim, a 51-year old fish breeder from Lingga has been particularly highlighted in the local press. Like other Malays living on the island, he endorsed the race "advancement" efforts of Mahathir and of the present Prime Minister Najib. Salim envies his privileged fellow Malays on the paeninsula, and tells them to take strength from Tuah's words, rather than engaging in public protest. Read more at: http://toglobalist.org/2012/11/the-once-and-past-king-2/

RM40m donation linked to sale of Navy secret? Posted: 01 Nov 2012 12:01 PM PDT   (Free Malaysia Today) - Former top cop Mat Zain Ibrahim notes the coincidence of Chia's arrest with the alleged Terasasi-DCNS transaction. There is a likely connection between the RM40 million contribution to Sabah Umno and the sale of a secret Navy document to a French defence company, according to former KL CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim. In an open letter released today, Mat Zain said the transactions for the political donation and the document sale were made around the same time in Hong Kong. He alleged that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail had had full knowledge of both incidents since 2008 or earlier. In August 2008, timber tycoon Michael Chia, alleged to be a proxy of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, was detained at Hong Kong with S$16 million (RM40 million) in a suitcase. He had booked a flight to Sabah. Last May, news reports alleged that a subsidiary of the French company DCNS had paid 36 million euros (RM146 million) to the Hong Kong-based Malaysia-owned Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd for a document that contained the Malaysian Navy's evaluation of the Scorpene-class submarines that the government was planning to buy. Najib confidante Abdul Razak Baginda was one of the owners of Terasasi. "As long as Najib refuses to reveal the source of the RM40 million political contribution to Sabah Umno and refuses to initiate any investigation into the account of Terasasi Hong Kong, it remains possible that the two incidents are related," Mat Zain said. He noted that the Scorpene submarines were currently docked at Sepanggar, Sabah, saying this might explain the involvement of Musa, who leads Sabah Umno. Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/11/01/rm40m-donation-linked-to-sale-of-navy-secret/

Chia link will not cost BN, unlike NFC scandal, says Nazri Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:51 AM PDT   Nazri was defending himself against allegations of conflict of interest in his alleged defence of Sabah timber trader Micheal Chia. — File pic (The Malaysian Insider) - Nazri pointed out that he does not drive the Hummer, but travels in his own car, which he said uses the number plate "WVJ 6". "Wealth, victory, justice," he said, to describe what the plate initials stand for. "Some say W is for wisdom... but I don't want that. Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz denied today that allegations of his son's link to Sabah timber trader Michael Chia would cost Barisan Nasional (BN) politically like the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal. "It doesn't bother me at all. That (NFC case) is husband and wife...what he does, he doesn't tell me. "It is different from husband and wife," the outspoken minister told reporters when approached in Parliament. Nazri was defending himself against allegations by PKR's Rafizi Ramli, who had accused him of conflict of interest in his alleged defence of Chia, the businessman who was accused of attempting to smuggle RM40 million to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman. Rafizi had asked if Nazri's alleged "relentless" defence of Chia was because his son, Nedim, had been using the businessman's half a million ringgit Hummer. Despite refusing to confirm or deny whether his son was indeed using Chia's car, Nazri said it was not a problem and has no connection to his integrity as a minister. "Why should it be a problem? It is between him (Nedim) and Michael (Chia). Ask him (Chia) if it is a problem," he said. Nazri pointed out that he does not drive the Hummer, but travels in his own car, which he said uses the number plate "WVJ 6". "Wealth, victory, justice," he said, to describe what the plate initials stand for. "Some say W is for wisdom... but I don't want that. "That is why I can afford things... but certainly, it is not NFC's money," he said, in another swipe at the cattle-farming scandal. Nazri insisted that the latest episode surrounding his alleged link to Chia would not hurt BN in any way in the coming polls. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/chia-link-will-not-cost-bn-unlike-nfc-scandal-says-nazri/ Close Forgot password? Please put in your email: Send me my password! Close message Vintage 2012: a year for careful picking from France's vineyards Chef Raymond Blanc serves up new fare for Eurostar Hong Kong kicks off month-long celebration of food and wine Grant Achatz's cocktail bar reinvents 'drinks on ice' S.Africa mine unrest to lead to job losses, says Amplats Estee Lauder scales back sales forecast on Europe worry SapuraKencana secures US$274m in contracts Pfizer sales weak on vaccine, emerging markets slump Frazzled New Yorkers fret about long road back to normalcy British comic Starr arrested in Savile abuse case, says TV China struggles for solution to growing NIMBY movement Airlines look to resume full flight schedules in New York area

Malaysian employers practise racial bigotry, study shows Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:40 AM PDT File photo of a Workers' Day rally in Kuala Lumpur. Two academics found that there is racial discrimination in the hiring process based on an experiment they had conducted. (The Malaysian Insider) - Malaysian employers tend to favour Chinese job applicants over their Malay counterparts, a recent university study has shown, indicating racial discrimination underscores the hiring process in the private sector labour market. In their joint research, Universiti Malaya (UM) senior lecturer in development studies Dr Lee Hwok Aun and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) research fellow Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid found that fresh Chinese graduates are more likely to be called for a job interview based on their resumes compared to Malays. "Our findings suggest that employers are generally predisposed favourably towards Chinese, substantially due to compatibility factors and unobservable qualities not revealed in job applications, and are more selective towards Malays, which results in fewer but considerably qualified applicants getting callbacks," the duo stated in an abstract of their seminar paper being presented at UM today. The two academics said they had conducted a field experiment by sending made-up resumes of fresh Malay and Chinese graduates to real job advertisements. From their research, Lee and Muhammed Abdul found that while both Malay and Chinese graduates who listed Chinese-language proficiency and stated that they graduated from a certain university were likely to increase their chances to be called for an interview, yet employers — especially those that were Chinese-controlled or foreign-run — were significantly inclined to pick the Chinese applicant. They noted that the racial discrimination was sharper in engineering jobs than in the accounting or finance sector. They also found that in the engineering industry, Malays were most likely to be rejected by foreign-controlled companies, followed by Malay-controlled companies and lastly Chinese-controlled firms. However, they said their data does not directly show the motif of the racial discrimination in the hiring process based on the experiment they had conducted. Lee and Muhammed Abdul are presenting their paper, titled "Does race matter in getting an interview? A field experiment of hiring discrimination in Peninsular Malaysia", at UM's Economics and Administration Faculty at 10am. Malaysia's mushrooming local higher education institutions churned out a total 184,581 graduates last year, according to the latest statistics released on the Higher Education Ministry's website. Of that figure, 44,391 people or 24 per cent are unemployed. The Najib administration has set aside some RM500 million in its Budget 2013 to spend on jobless youths to make them marketable. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysian-employers-practise-racial-bigotry-study-shows/

Tripped up by blog comments Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:31 AM PDT Nathaniel Tan (fz.com) - "In my particular case as well, the government and police appear to be sending a signal that while irresponsible bloggers roam free, responsible bloggers who moderate their comments and put a name to their writing are more likely to end up as targets. This policy could not possibly be more ill-formed and counterproductive." PETALING JAYA (Nov 2): On July 13, 2007, blogger Nathaniel Tan was arrested due to an anonymous comment on his blog posting, believed to be information derived from confidential government documents. For four days, he was remanded at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters and pressed on the same line of questioning pertaining allegations in the comment made on Feb 10, 2007, linking the then-deputy internal security minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum to a graft allegation. Besides being arrested, Tan's desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, CDs and some documents, were also seized from his house. Tan was interrogated by the cybercrime division on grounds of publishing accusations based on documents protected under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) as the identity of the commentator remained unknown. He was released without being charged. However, he might not be as fortunate in the event something similar occurs again. In April, the Evidence Act was amended to include Section 114A which, among others, presumes owners of registered networks, devices, websites and portals to be the publishers of any seditious or offensive content until proved otherwise, and they will be held liable for said content. The provision came into effect on July 31 despite fierce opposition that the law stifles Internet freedom and was vulnerable to abuse as it covers a broad scope of wrongdoings. Some of the more grievous concerns raised against Section 114A are the fact that it shifts the burden of proof on the accused, akin to prosecution against individuals in drug-related offenses. Tan escaped the ordeal of having to go through a trial, not just because there was no evidence to show that he violated Section 8 of the OSA which deals with "wrongful communication" of "official secrets", but also the lack of a precise legislation to nail him for the anonymous content on his website. But for him, the four-day detention was a good enough experience to make sure that he moderates all comments on his blog. "Although, the original comment in question was actually longer, I had already deleted parts of it I found to be without evidence long before my arrest," he said relating his experience to fz.com in an email interview recently. At that time, in dealing with the police Tan noted that "the police did not understand how the Internet works" as he was the "best suspect" to prove their case. "I fear greatly that my arrest, despite the non-existent ties between the accusations against Johari and myself, portend badly for Malaysia's ability to deal with true cybercrime. "In my particular case as well, the government and police appear to be sending a signal that while irresponsible bloggers roam free, responsible bloggers who moderate their comments and put a name to their writing are more likely to end up as targets. This policy could not possibly be more ill-formed and counterproductive," he said in a statement released right after his release. Coming back to consequences of the new provision, Tan opined that it is meant to intimidate online activists in Malaysia considering the evolution of technology today. "Any friend can 'borrow' your smartphone and so on. It is impossible to say for sure who made a posting on your Facebook wall or wrote a tweet under your account. Read more at: http://fz.com/content/tripped-blog-comments

Open Letter to Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz Posted: 31 Oct 2012 06:09 PM PDT Tan Sri Zeti, we are neither "depositors" nor "investors" of Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd. We are merely customers who bought gold from Genneva with our life-savings. We'd also like to leave the arguments about the validity of the company aside. Be it about 'hibah,' 'deposit-taking,' 'AMLA', 'BAFIA' or any other acronyms that seem to permeate the financial world these days. by Genneva Malaysia Supporters Thank you Tan Sri Zeti,   It has been a month long wait in agony and desperation since the raid by Bank Negara Malaysia not knowing what the future holds for us and our dependents. Today, your words of assurance to end this investigation as soon as possible gave us a glimmer of hope that our predicament will soon end with a positive outcome. Thank you for finally acknowledging our plight and we look forward to your next course of action. We would like to express our admiration for your achievements and although we recognize the need to take measures upon suspicions of wrong doing, this cannot justify the impoverishment of over 60,000 people and their families, a direct result of the Bank Negara led raid. Tan Sri Zeti, we are neither "depositors" nor "investors" of Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd. We are merely customers who bought gold from Genneva with our life-savings. We'd also like to leave the arguments about the validity of the company aside. Be it about 'hibah,' 'deposit-taking,' 'AMLA', 'BAFIA' or any other acronyms that seem to permeate the financial world these days. It's all rather tiring so we'll let the company duke it out with your financial and legal experts.  Instead, we'd like to make this appeal as a person. One human being to another. We make this appeal: As single mothers whose savings base and income came from the company before the raid. We are also fathers, providing food and a roof over the heads of our families. We are grandfathers and grandmothers, retirees whose savings are sorely needed to see us through our old age, savings that is now in some frozen account or gold that is in one of your vaults. We are the sick, patients with no other source of income, badly needing that money for medication. Our needs are not only urgent, they are critical as well. There are thousands upon thousands of us. It is our hope that you listen to us even as your officers have not and whoever it was in BNM who organised this irresponsible raid that caused such grief and hardship to countless thousands of families. With all due respect, Tan Sri Zeti, do you also blame us for our current hardship, as many have done? Do you yourself call us 'greedy' and 'ignorant' too? Might we remind, that it was you who said that keeping interest rates too low for too long may lead to the "mispricing of risks." You warned against artificially low interest rates. We are therefore surprised why it is the Central Banks policy to keep interest rates low, you knew in your heart that it would drive us to into 'higher-yielding assets that pose(d) significant risks.'   By the way, we do not think that gold holds any 'significant risk,' at least not at this point of time. The risk came directly from the unjust confiscation of that gold by Bank Negara. Now many of us are without our gold and savings.  For the aged, the old and the sick, their 'yield' from these 'assets' were all they had, and your bank took it away from them. We may not have the financial intellect like you to understand what all this means.. but we can see and feel and experience. We see that real inflation is spiralling out of control, and wonder why there never seems to be enough to last us till the end of the month. We feel  how low interest rates punish savers. For many of us, the interest after a year from fixed deposits can't even pay for a family dinner at a nice restaurant! We experience the hopelessness and helplessness of being crushed by debt, our incomes never rising to meet expenses or to pay off debt. That is not all. The rakyat, not only contending with low interest rates, spiraling inflation, weak to no personal income growth or even worse, no income at all, must also face confiscation of what little wealth we have by the authorities. Must we live in fear that the authorities, with their far reaching powers, can at any time, confiscate and take that which does not belong to them with impunity? The little that we have, our liberty, and our right to chose? We sincerely hope you come to a decision soon and that compassion guides your motives although it may seem out of date these days. Please release the gold and money which is unjustly held by Bank Negara so that we can move on with our lives. We thank you again Tan Sri Zeti, for giving attention to this matter. Sincerely, Genneva Malaysia Supporters http://www.facebook.com/GennevaMalaysiaSupporters

Chinese are inherently racist (or more appropriately supremacist)! Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:47 PM PDT Chinese are just supremacists. They think they are better than everyone and anything else including the Malays and Islam. This just pisses the Malays off. To Malays, Islam is top and many feel that they would die for it but the Chinese never show deference to any religion. Religion is just a sideshow to the Chinese even with all their superstitions.  By AsamLaksa Before I go any further let me set down the ground rules. My opinion in this piece is based on the population/community level and not on the individual level of Chinese. So do not point out that so and so is a Chinese and is not racist because I do not care about any individual. It is like with health where on a population level obesity risks many health problems but there are individual obese people who are actually healthy. Now let me begin my opinion piece. I am Chinese by race. Both parents are Chinese, 3rd and 4th generation overseas Chinese. I grew up in a Chinese majority locality in Penang. I studied in classes with 70-90% Chinese student make up even though it is not a Chinese vernacular school. Then I went to the West for tertiary education. As I was growing up in Malaysia the theme among the Chinese community is that the Malays are lazy and stupid. Sure you can be nice to them because they are nice to you but when the Malays do business they are nowhere as capable. We all laughed at how Malays do their work. We laughed like we knew all that is to know and filled ourselves up with a sense of superiority. We are better. We are smarter. When we grow up we would fly to the moon while they will still tanam padi. Hahahahaha *choke* Then I went to the West and met more Chinese from various countries be it from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore or Taiwan and the theme is still the same, this time replace the Malays with the locals which are the Westerners. We asked why are the West so great when every appliance they use are from China? We saw so many top students in university who are from Chinese stock. We asked why were there so many unemployed stupid white people? We were shocked by the extravagance of the Western governments in social spending on stupid white people. We laughed ourselves silly with ideas of the ascendency of China as a superpower and Singapore as the Utopia of free market economics. I laughed with them. Till reality sinks in. Till I saw how hollow it all was. Till I saw how sad and sickly the Chinese are. Many Malaysian political commentators urge Malaysians, especially the non-Malays to understand the Malays so that the various races in Malaysia may engage and work together for a common good. But what many commentators failed to seek is to understand the non-Malays and bring it out in the open. Inter-racial understanding must come from all parties not just one to foster trust. Without serious efforts to understand the largest minority in Malaysia, you are shooting yourself in the foot. So I come back to the title: Chinese are inherently racists (or more appropriately supremacist)! Many political comments wrongly perceive that the Chinese are anti-Islam and anti-Malay. The truth is that Chinese could not give a damn about the position of Islam and the Malays. They did not give a damn about the status of Islam in the constitution in the infancy of the nation. They did not make much of a fuss of the celebration of Malay culture. Chinese are just supremacists. They think they are better than everyone and anything else including the Malays and Islam. This just pisses the Malays off. To Malays, Islam is top and many feel that they would die for it but the Chinese never show deference to any religion. Religion is just a sideshow to the Chinese even with all their superstitions. The main act for the Chinese is economic wealth. Everyone knows this. Wealth = power and security. Every Chinese parent drill the need for wealth into their children, not necessarily to become super rich but wealthy to lead a comfortable life. Thus the Chinese regard any person according to their wealth. In their minds if you are great then you must be wealthy. This quest for wealth afflicts the Chinese society as a whole in comparison with the West where you have the super-rich coming from a society that believes in social equality. This never-ending thirst for wealth led to the dearth of morals. The Chinese are very flexible in accepting how a person made their wealth. Yes, very very flexible. Cut to the chase – wealth is what matters, not how it was made.  Thus as much as the anti-UMNO lobby says that UMNO is evil, they can't hide from the fact that the Chinese is no better as behind every corrupt Malay politician is a Chinese. But the Malays perceive this. Thus you can scream all you want about corrupt Malay politicians and the Malays won't buy it. The Chinese generally do not care if others struggle. It is the economic reality for them that the rich needs to exploit the poor to become richer. And they have the gall to blame the poor for being lazy and stupid when they do little to help the poor! Education is a top priority to the Chinese not as a means to improve society but to ensure wealth. Thus the graduates will gravitate to where they can make the most wealth. They are not sorry to migrate nor are they fighting for more space in the Malaysian civil services. They blame the racist Malaysian government policies in recruitment but never made a fuss about it for years! The truth is that most civil service jobs won't make you rich. In fact they'd make more money in free enterprise thus it wasn't a big deal to begin with. This is what others would see in the Chinese. Again I reiterate that there are many Chinese who are benevolent just like many people of other backgrounds are. But as a community, the Chinese appear to be selfish, amoral, racist and greedy. Some claim that Malaysia is an ideal of a multicultural country and I strongly disagree. I say Malaysia could be the ideal of a multicultural country. It's all about living in harmony in Malaysia but each to their own devices and cannot find a common goal to aim for. I find that some countries in the West are better at uniting the different communities in creating a better nation with rights for the people and care for the needy. They may not be rich but the people are better cared for. In Malaysia you may be rich but still not cared much for (such as protection from crime). I shudder for the next generation of mindlessly laughing Malaysian Chinese. I am not particularly anti-Chinese; I just think that the Chinese need to change attitudes towards others. I repeat my call again for all Malaysians to engage with one another. Try to understand each other. Unite under a good common goal. It is the people who have the power. All politicians be it BN or PR will attempt to divide and rule. It is their nature to preserve their power thus stopping the rakyat from asking the right questions. What are your common goals and what is getting in the way?

Servant Leadership – Serve to Lead Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:39 PM PDT The modern servant leadership movement was launched by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, "The Servant as Leader" whereby he popularized the terms "servant-leader" and "servant leadership." Greenleaf expanded on this concept by publishing additional essays on the various attributes of servant leadership.  Lt Cmdr (R) John Moi Servant Leadership? The answer to the world's leadership issues? "Everything rises or falls on leadership." (Author unknown) Servant Leadership is simply applying leadership principles by serving others before self. It is a philosophy and practice of leadership that achieves results for their organizations by giving priority attention to the needs of their counterparts and those they serve. In another simple interpretation, servant-leaders are said to be serving stewards of their organization's resources be it physically, financial or human.  Concept of Servant Leadership The modern servant leadership movement was launched by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, "The Servant as Leader" whereby he popularized the terms "servant-leader" and "servant leadership." Greenleaf expanded on this concept by publishing additional essays on the various attributes of servant leadership. After his passing in 1990, the concept has been developed by other writers such as William George, James Autry, Ken Blanchard, Jim Hunter, George Sanfacon and Larry Spears, just to name a few of the more well-known ones. Interestingly in Malaysia, the Royal Military College carry in its motto, "Serve to Lead" way back in the founding year of 1952! Qualities of being a Servant Leader Larry Spears, who was once the "chief steward" of the Greenleaf Centre for Servant Leadership for more than 17 years, described the ten characteristics of servant leaders which are: Listening Empathy Healing Awareness Persuasion Conceptualization Foresight Stewardship Commitment to the growth of others Building community Some historical perspectives of Servant Leadership In the 4th century B.C, Chanakya wrote in his book, Arthashastra: "The king (leader) shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects (followers). The king (leader) is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people." In the Tao Te Ching according to the Chinese sage, Lao-Tzu who is believed to have lived in China sometime between 570 and 490 B.C. said: "The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware. Next comes one whom they despise and defy. When you are lacking in faith, others will be unfaithful to you. The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words. When his or her tasks are accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, we ourselves have achieved it." According to the Bible, Jesus urged his followers to be servants first. He specifically told his followers: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28 and Mark 10:42-45) In an awesome model of servant-leader, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, as an example of the way in which they were to serve each other. (John 13:12-15) The Prophet Muhamad (SAW) said, "A ruler who has been entrusted with the affairs of the Muslims, but makes no endeavours (for their material and moral upliftment) and is not sincerely concerned (for their welfare) will not enter Paradise along with them." (Sahih Muslim) The Sikhs also have among these, words of wisdom on leadership: "One should first instruct and discipline one's own mind, and then persuade the others to follow."  (Asa, M.5) "He who instructs the others in the laws which he himself does not obey, is born only to die; he comes and he goes."  (Gauri Sukhmani, M.5) Modern perspectives of Servant Leadership Greenleaf, in his essay has this to say about the servant-leader: "The servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first the followers and believes that leading is a by-product of serving, whereas the leader-first believes that one is call to lead by being served and supported by followers." The cynical view is that unless the leaders take the initiative to serve the followers, the followers will not listen to the leaders who have not proven themselves by serving the followers first. Such are the expectations in this enlightened age! Sita-pati das (all credits unto him) in his commentary on Chapter One - 45 of Bhagavad-gita (On Leadership): "Sanjaya said; Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief." Sita commented that Arjuna is in a clear dilemma. In neither case can he see a good outcome. Either he fights and wins in which case he kills his family members, the family tradition is destroyed and society is irreparably damaged, or else he is killed with the same destruction of the family tradition. He reasons that the best course of action would be to die unresisting and in this way preserve the family tradition. Servant Leadership commentary by Sita: These are all characteristic sentiments of an authentic leader. An authentic leader is a SERVANT of the people and is aligned with and serving something greater than himself or herself. Models of Servant Leadership It can be said that some, if not most, leadership writers see servant leadership as an esoteric philosophy of leadership supported by specific aspects and practices. Dr. Kent Keith, the current CEO of the Greenleaf Centre and the author of "The Case for Servant Leadership" states that servant leadership is practical, ethical and meaningful. He further identifies seven key practices of servant leaders: Self awareness Listening Changing the pyramid Developing your colleagues (followers) Coaching not controlling Unleashing the energy and intelligence of others Foresight Servant Leadership is best summed up by its emphasis on collaboration, trust, empathy and the ethical use of power and leadership. Servant leadership is all about making the conscious decision to serve by leading in order to better serve others (followers) and to enhance the growth of individuals and the servant leaders themselves in the organization to improve teamwork and respective involvement. (See illustrated model(s) of Servant Leadership for clarity) "Serve to Lead" best summarizes all you need to know about servant leadership! Note: Lt Cmdr (R) John Moi is a freelance writer and editor. An advocate of Scripture to business (S2b), he can be reached at johnnymoi7@yahoo.com

Is Malaysia a secular or Islamic state? It depends Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:26 PM PDT An Islamic state can be defined as a type of government in which the primary basis for government is the Syariah, or Islamic law. Here, the Islamic law reigns supreme, as it is derived from the Quran, the Muslim holy scripture, and the Hadith, a record of the Prophet's deeds and words. At the centre of the Islamic state concept is the implementation of the hudud. Salim Othman, The Straits Times (Singapore) One fundamental question gripping Malaysians today is whether Malaysia is a secular or Islamic state. The issue came to the fore when de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz remarked in Parliament last month that "Malaysia has never been determined or declared as a secular state", and that the word "secular" was not even present in the Federal Constitution. The minister stopped short of saying Malaysia is an Islamic state, in his reply to a question by a Member of Parliament from the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). His remarks were made in the context of ongoing polemic between the DAP and its rival, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), on the question of hudud - the Islamic penal code - and the goal of the DAP's coalition partner, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), to establish an Islamic state. This has emerged because the Chinese party is warning voters that a vote for the DAP equals a vote for the PAS, which means a vote for an Islamic state and hudud. This is to scare non-Muslims away from voting for the DAP, because of the implication that the PAS would turn Malaysia into an Islamic state and introduce hudud if the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition - which includes the PAS and the DAP - forms the government after the general election due by April next year. The MCA is capitalising on the fear of hudud's harsh punishments. It is also reminding voters of the danger that non-Muslims, who form 40 per cent of the population of 28 million, would be relegated to being second-class citizens if Malaysia becomes an Islamic state. But the reality is quite different. There is only a remote chance that hudud will ever be implemented by the PAS if the PR were to take over the government, as the Islamic penal code and the concept of the Islamic state are not in the agenda of the coalition. It is also unlikely to happen in a country where only 60 per cent of the population are Muslim. This is because hudud law can take place only if a constitutional amendment is made to provide for the strict Islamic penal code. That would need an endorsement by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. While this secular-Islamic state debate may be purely a smokescreen in the tussle for votes between the opposition and the ruling party, the issue has rekindled interest in the identity of the country some half a century after its independence. Did Malaysia's founding fathers envisage the country to be what it is today? There is no consensus as to what kind of state Malaysia has become since its independence in August 1957 - whether secular or Islamic. One definition of a secular state is that it upholds the concept of secularism whereby a state or country is neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. It treats all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and avoids preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion over another. More importantly, a secular state does not have a state religion or equivalent. An Islamic state can be defined as a type of government in which the primary basis for government is the Syariah, or Islamic law. Here, the Islamic law reigns supreme, as it is derived from the Quran, the Muslim holy scripture, and the Hadith, a record of the Prophet's deeds and words. At the centre of the Islamic state concept is the implementation of the hudud. Both Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and third prime minister Tun Hussein Onn had said Malaysia is a secular state, contradicting Datuk Seri Nazri's remarks in Parliament that the country had no secularist roots. Tunku Abdul Rahman had referred to Malaysia as a secular state, and not an Islamic one, on a number of occasions, including one when he told the Parliament on May 1, 1958: "I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic state as it is generally understood; we merely provided that Islam shall be the official religion of the State." But after 55 years of independence, Malaysia does not quite fit the standard definition of a secular state because Islam is declared the religion of the federation. At the same time, the Constitution guarantees non-Muslims the freedom to practise the religions of their choice - but they cannot preach these to Muslims. The state is therefore not neutral to religion as it gives preference to Islam. Malaysia's secular Constitution, as the supreme law of the land, allows certain aspects of Islamic laws to be implemented in the country, hence blurring its status as a secular state. Is Malaysia then an Islamic state as declared by the country's fourth prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in September 2001? Dr Mahathir, who had previously described Malaysia as an Islamic country, declared Malaysia to be an Islamic state to ward off attacks from the PAS, which had accused Umno (which has a Muslim membership base) of not fulfilling its religious obligation to set up an Islamic state. Dr Mahathir argued that Malaysia could be an Islamic state even without the implementation of Islamic law. But this goes against most theories of the Islamic state which hold that the Syariah, in which the hudud is a significant component, lies at its heart. But the former prime minister, who was against hudud as propounded by the PAS, maintained that Malaysia was an Islamic state as shown by its acceptance as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The grouping includes countries which do not implement the hudud. Dr Mahathir's concept of an Islamic Malaysia is the result of his Islamisation programme during his two decades of premiership. The expansion of religious bureaucracy is abundantly evident; so are the controls exerted on citizens' rights in the name of Islam, such as a prohibition against the use of the word "Allah" for God by Christians, a restriction on Malay bibles and a ban on proselytisation of Muslims. Indeed, Malaysia has become so Islamic that even civil courts have ceded their jurisdiction to the Syariah courts in disputes involving Muslims under the country's dual legal system. The secular-or-Islamic debate will emerge from time to time as the issue will be raised by the ruling party or opposition to score political points with voters. And this is not a matter only between the Malay parties Umno and PAS. Increasingly, non-Malay parties are also caught up with the issue as their constituents remain wary of the Islamic-state concept and the implications of the country becoming more Islamic.

Debates rage on many fronts Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:17 PM PDT There are some law issues being argued of late like secular state, parliamentary committee and death penalty. In support of this view, one can point out that the word "Islam" is mentioned at least 24 times in the Constitution, the words Mufti, Kadi Besar and Kadi at least once each. In Schedule 9, List II, paragraph 1, state legislatures are permitted to apply Islamic law to Muslims in a variety of civil areas. Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi, The Star  IN the last fortnight, a number of engaging public law issues captured the public imagination. > Secular state: De facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz crossed swords with DAP's Lim Kit Siang over the latter's claim that Malaysia is a secular state. The law minister correctly pointed out that nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the word "secular". Further, as Islam is recognised in the Constitution as the religion of the federation, it would be improper to regard the country as a secular state. In support of this view, one can point out that the word "Islam" is mentioned at least 24 times in the Constitution, the words Mufti, Kadi Besar and Kadi at least once each. In Schedule 9, List II, paragraph 1, state legislatures are permitted to apply Islamic law to Muslims in a variety of civil areas. The state legislatures are also permitted to create and punish offences by Muslims against the precepts of Islam except in relation to matters within federal jurisdiction. Syariah courts may be established. Under Article 121(1A), syariah courts are independent of the civil courts. On the other side, Lim correctly pointed out that Malayan constitutional documents and pronouncements by early leaders indicate that at its birth the federation was meant to be a secular state. To back this view, one can point to the Supreme Court decision in Che Omar Che Soh's case that although Islam is the religion of the federation, it is not the basic law of the land. Article 3 on Islam imposes no limits on the power of parliament to legislate contrary to the syariah. Islamic law is not the general law of the land either at the federal or state levels. It applies only to Muslims and that too in limited and specified areas. It is noteworthy that non-Muslims are not subject to syariah or to the jurisdiction of the syariah courts. Ever since Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's declaration on Sept 29, 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic country, this debate ignites periodically and no firm conclusion is ever possible because of the problem of semantics – the assignment of different meanings to the words "secular" and "theocratic" by participants in the discourse. My personal view is that if by a theocratic state is meant that the law of God is the supreme law of the land and that the temporal ruler is subject to the final direction of the theological head, then clearly Malaysia is not a theocratic state due to the presence of a supreme Constitution and the overriding power of secular authorities over the religious establishment. At the same time if by a secular state is meant that law and religion are separated from each other; that there is no legally prescribed official religion; that religion is not interwoven into the affairs of the state; that no state aid is given to any religious creed; and that religion is left entirely to private establishments, then Malaysia is certainly not a secular state. Then how should we be described? It is submitted that the Malaysian legal system is neither fully secular nor fully theocratic. It is hybrid. It permits legal pluralism. It avoids the extremes of American style secularism or Saudi or Taliban type of religious control over all aspects of life. It walks the middle path. It promotes piety but does not insist on ideological purity. Muslims are governed by divinely ordained laws in some fields but in others their life is regulated by Malay adat and by secular provisions enacted by elected legislatures. Non-Muslims are entirely regulated by secular laws. In sum, the secular versus theocracy debate is full of semantics and polemics and will take us nowhere. > Parliamentary committee: The Government is contemplating setting up a permanent select committee in Parliament to scrutinise Suhakam reports. If this move comes about it will not only catapult human rights to the forefront of parliamentary discussion, it will also do a great deal to bolster the image of parliament as the grand inquest of the nation. A system of well integrated and well serviced investigatory committees as in the United States and the Philippines holds the only key to enabling parliament to become an effective countervailing force to the ever increasing powers of the executive. An increase in the number of permanent select committees from the present five to one for each government department as in Britain, one joint committee on Human Rights, a Dewan Rakyat committee on Public Complaints to examine the reports of the Public Complaints Bureau and a joint committee on subsidiary legislation will do much to improve the institutional efficacy of parliament and to enable backbenchers to play a more meaningful role. To assist parliamentarians in this oversight function, non-partisan support structures ought to be established. MPs should be assigned research assistants. The Houses should have their own legal counsel. In the manner of INTAN and ILKAP, an Institute of Parliamentary Affairs should be established to train MPs and to hone their abilities to research and analyse issues. > Death penalty: Amnesty International has praised Malaysia for the proposal to abolish the death penalty for drug trafficking. The proposal is in its early stage and it is a matter of speculation which of the three alternatives will ultimately be accepted. First, maintain the death penalty for serious crimes but remove its mandatory nature. Restore judicial discretion to tailor the punishment to suit the factual matrix of each case. Second, reduce the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed as at present for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, offences against a ruler or governor, abetting mutiny in the armed forces, murder, abetment of suicide, attempt by a life convict to murder if hurt is caused, kidnapping or abduction in order to murder, hostage-taking, gang robbery with murder, drug trafficking and unlawful possession of firearms. Third, abolish the death penalty altogether as in 87 countries plus 27 others that have not executed anyone for the last 10 years. Which of the alternatives will be chosen will ultimately be a matter of high policy dictated as much by human rights considerations as by public opinion. It is submitted that on fundamental issues of right and wrong, popular opinion, while given due weight, should not be allowed to dictate ultimate decisions. As Jesse Jackson once said: "Leaders of substance do not follow opinion polls. They mould opinion, not with guns or dollars or position but with the power of their souls." > Shad Saleem Faruqi is Emeritus Professor of Law at UiTM.

Free speech fanaticism Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:08 PM PDT Different countries may define blasphemy differently but some common elements must be there. There must be a clear intention to wound religious feelings, a likelihood of breach of public order, and an element of religious insult or vilification. America's actions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Laos, Afghanistan, Iraq, Gautemala, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Colombia, Congo/Zaire, Haiti, Somalia, Iran, Grenada, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic can also be defined as terrorist. Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi, The Star THIS column on Oct 4 on "Hate speech hypocrisy" had argued that the right to free speech is not unlimited and carries concomitant responsibilities. My article elicited a number of responses, some very learned, and I welcome them and wish to respond. Sarachandran wrote that the perception among Muslims of their persecution is genuine and based on an objective overview of world happenings. But "how would we weave into this paradigm the unprovoked destruction of priceless Buddhist iconic images by the Taliban and the mere murmuring protestations by the world community and deafening silence of enlightened Muslims?" I totally agree with Sarachandran that we must not be selective in our condemnation and must take a stand against all atrocities no matter who the violator is and who the victim. The first function of freedom is to free someone else. Two readers asked about blasphemy against other religions besides the state religion. The answer to this has to be that the law must not be selective. It must shield all religions against vilification. For example, the Malaysian Penal Code in section 298 contains the general offence of wounding religious feelings. The provision protects all faiths. It must be acknowledged, however, that around the world the law on blasphemy is either discriminatory in its reach or administered unequally. For a long time till its repeal in 2007, the UK law on blasphemy defined the offence only in relation to the Church of England. Though the law was rarely enforced, the same effect was achieved by convicting those who insulted Jews under the common law offence of breach of peace. However, when a Muslim citizen of Britain, humiliated by Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, filed a police report, the public prosecutor got cold feet. The citizen then tried to initiate a private prosecution but the High Court rejected his application. In Greece and South Africa, blasphemy is only against the Christian Church. In the European Union, despite laudable activism in the cause of human rights of non-Muslims, constitutional jurisprudence is not free of anti-Islam bias. For example, Muslims girls are prosecuted for wearing the hijab. Mosques with minarets are vigorously opposed because that would ruin the skyline. Reader Buyung Adil raises a question about "who will define blasphemy?" My view is that the offence must be defined by law and tried before non-sectarian, civil courts. Different countries may define the offence differently but some common elements must be there. There must be a clear intention to wound religious feelings, a likelihood of breach of public order, and an element of religious insult or vilification. Mere disagreements with or respectful criticism of religious rulings should not be prosecuted. What penalty must be prescribed? One reader strongly argued against the death penalty and I totally agree. Fines along with counselling and community engagement sessions may be adequate. The purpose should be to re-educate and banish the ignorance that leads to the prejudices on which hate speech is based. Reader Buyung also asks the provocative question: "Why aren't Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Protestants, Confucianists, Bahais, Zoroastrians creating violent terrorism over acts of blasphemy?" This is a very large and involved question and only a few points can be explored. First, it is probably true that deep, unquestioning veneration for their faith is more widespread in Muslim societies. The militant secularism (e.g. the banning of Bible-reading in public schools as in the United States) is impossible in Muslim societies. Secondly, it is not true that other civilisations do not indulge in religious-racial violence and persecution. In the US, firebombing of black churches by white racist groups is known. Right-wing Christian groups destroy abortion clinics and shoot dead the patrons. The Ku Klux Clan used to lynch blacks. During George Bush's government, nearly 7,000 Muslims were profiled, detained and harassed. Was there no religious violence in Ireland till the 70s – inquisitions and burning of heretics; Jew-baiting and discrimination against Catholics; and the holocaust in Europe? Are not Europe and the UN to be blamed for the genocide in former Yugoslavia? Who committed and who helped the slaughters in Sabra, Shatila and Jenin? In India, religious, caste and tribal violence is endemic. The Babri mosque was razed to the ground and Muslims were butchered in Gujarat with political and police connivance. In Sri Lanka, race/religious violence claimed more than a hundred thousand lives. In Thailand and the Philippines, religious violence by both sides is well known. Thirdly, reader Buyung implies that terrorism is a speciality of Muslims. Much depends on how one defines terrorism. America's actions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Laos, Afghanistan, Iraq, Gautemala, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador, Colombia, Congo/Zaire, Haiti, Somalia, Iran, Grenada, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic can also be defined as terrorist. Israel's brutalities in Palestine and Lebanon are flagrant violations of international law. Actually, humanity has a bloody record and no civilisation can claim superiority in this area. What has happened today is that through selective demonstration and fear-mongering, the topic of Islamic terrorism is allowed to demonise a religious community.

MP claims French lawyers given false info on Suaram Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:53 PM PDT (Bernama) - A law firm in the capital was alleged to have furnished false information in a letter to lawyers in France stating that Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) was a registered organisation under Suara Inisiatif Sendirian Berhad (SISB). The matter was raised by Member of Parliament Wee Choo Keong (Independent-Wangsa Maju) who also alleged that Suaram had received millions of ringgit. "The law firm appears to have a grand design to tarnish our country's image," he said during the 2013 Supply Bill debate in the Dewan Rakyat Wednesday. He also questioned why there has been no legal action against Suaram despite the investigation on the NGO which started a month ago. Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob then replied that his Ministry was informed the Attorney-General (AG) had wanted to obtain a report from the Registrar of Societies first. "The AG said there was a link between Suaram and SISB and wants to establish the link to prove claims that monies received by SISB was channeled to Suaram," he said. Parliament continues its session tomorrow.

Blind faith in politics Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:46 PM PDT Even if the Pakatan Rakyat takes over the office, it is impossible for it to solve the national debt problem within three to five years, particularly the Pakatan Rakyat also advocates populism, and promises to increase oil royalty for oil-producing states by 20%. Unless if the Pakatan Rakyat can control its spending and open up new revenue, or it will fall into the same financial predicament of the BN government. Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily I do not know if others are sick of politics just like me. I have been skipping news reports about mutual attacks between the ruling and alternative coalitions. However, many people are still passionate in politics. For example, a recent political dinner organised by the DAP in Skudai had attracted 11,000 people and some stayed until midnight and were reluctant to leave. The dinner collected RM63,110 and one of the supporters bade RM30,000 for the "Ubah" mascot with the signatures of party Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang and his son, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was also welcomed by passionate people when touring the country. On the other hand, social media have also been passionately talking about politics. Some people even believe that all the country's problems will be solved once the regime is changed. Is politics so magical? Is it true that everything will become better after the general election? I am not pouring cold water here, but I am afraid that everything might remain as the status quo after the election. The runway landing lights failure at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) had caused thousands of passengers stranded. Such imperfection can be reguarly found in Malaysia and the government is not a panacea that can cure the sloppy working attitude. The flaws in the Automated Enforcement System (AES) reflected execution problems and politics is not a miracle drug. It is impossible to be cured completely even if the government is changed. The various absurd acts in financial management exposed by the Auditor-General's Report involve frauds and it is an institutional issue. The decision made by the Finance Ministry at meetings did not reach the borrowing department and as a result, the department continued lending money to the National Feedlot Centre. It is a problem of blocked communication. The disappearance of evidence in police stations is a result of the lack of discipline. The turtle-speed progress of the road upgrading works in Petaling Jaya is a result of low efficiency and it is a waste to place dozens of 3R recycling bins in Section 13 and 14 where there are not may pedestrians. All the above mentioned drawbacks require a long time to reform and correct. It is impossible to be solved by politicians alone. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. It is also not practical to apotheosise any political leaders. They also have to face institutional and human problems. Even if the Pakatan Rakyat takes over the office, it is impossible for it to solve the national debt problem within three to five years, particularly the Pakatan Rakyat also advocates populism, and promises to increase oil royalty for oil-producing states by 20%. Unless if the Pakatan Rakyat can control its spending and open up new revenue, or it will fall into the same financial predicament of the BN government. In terms of work efficiency, Pakatan Rakyat state governments are not doing better than the federal government, unless if the Pakatan Rakyat rectify the administrative system immediately after taking over the office. The national economy has currently slowed down while the US third Quantitative Easing (QE3) is expected to bring inflation problems. Regardless of whether it is the BN or the Pakatan Rakyat, the federal government must have appropriate measures to cope with the situation after the election. Therefore, it is over optimistic to hope that the general election and politics can change the country. It is also only an idle theory to compare the BN with the Pakatan Rakyat. The key actually lies on who has the ability to implement institutional reforms and eradicate the deep-rooted malady. It requires time to clear administrative drawbacks. A few politicians and a general election are not able to bring massive changes. You may be passionate in politics but please do not put blind faith in it. There is hope in politics only if we purify our minds first.

Vote for party, not candidate Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:42 PM PDT Our politics has obviously moved towards duality in which those who are not categorised as friends will be regarded as enemies. It has also made it difficult for independent candidates or a third force to rise. The by-election held in Johor Bahru on August 25, 1988 serves as the best example here. Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew Daily The next general election seems so near yet so far. Political parties seem to have decided their candidates and it is now just the question of time for the official announcements by party leaders. Candidates are indeed important as they are representatives of their respective parties and might be leaders of the country in the future. However, I am more and more convinced that the next general election is going to be a battle between the BN and the Pakatan Rakyat. Except for a few heavyweight candidates or those who are really notorious, voters would basically tend to vote for political parties, instead of candidates. According to my personal observation, supporters of the alternative coalition basically voted for the party instead of the candidates in the past few general elections. For them, it was more important to let the alternative coalition expand its political map than supporting the candidates. Moreover, the alternative coalition had been facing a talent shortage problem even in the last general election. However, the next general election will be different from the previous ones. After the 2008 political tsunami, many young intellectuals have joined the Pakatan Rakyat and it has strengthened the base of the coalition while enabling it to have a large number of potential and talented candidates with political ideals. It also means that this time, BN candidates will no longer face opponents who are incomparable with them in terms of personal knowledge, image and talent. Instead, they will compete with opponents with equal strength or even stronger. Undeniably, the quality improvement of candidates can strengthen the trust of voters while making the election campaigns more worth seeing. However, similar personal qualities might cause voters to further tend to vote for parties and not to care about comparing the candidates. Our politics has obviously moved towards duality in which those who are not categorised as friends will be regarded as enemies. It has also made it difficult for independent candidates or a third force to rise. The by-election held in Johor Bahru on August 25, 1988 serves as the best example here. There was an outbreak of struggle between team A and team B within Umno at that time. Former Welfare Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad, a team B leader along with former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam, resigned from his Johor Bahru parliamentary seat after being sacked from Umno, forcing a sensational by-election. The then Umno was divided into the confronting team A and team B and the voters would also like to take the opportunity to teach the domineering Umno a lesson by intensifying the confrontation. Therefore, they urged Partai Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM) Deputy Chairman Abdul Razak Ahmad to withdraw from the election, but Razak insisted to contest. As a result, Shahrir won with a majority more than double the votes of BN candidate, while causing the prestigious Razak to lose his deposit. The by-election illustrated the fact that in an era asking for changes, the situation is always prioritised over people. It is not changeable by personal prestige. Similar to the current situation, voters generally want to see a showdown between the BN and the Pakatan Rakyat and therefore, the next general election is doomed to be a battle in which voters vote for political parties, instead of candidates.

Chua : Selfishness DAP leaders intent to keeping their seats for the salaries Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:37 PM PDT (The Malaysian Times) - Some DAP leaders are intent on keeping both their parliamentary and state seats which earn them up to RM50,000 a month, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. In commenting on the "one candidate, one seat" proposal made by DAP chairman Karpal Singh, Dr Chua said some Selangor DAP leaders who are both MPs and excos are earning salaries that are "more than a minister's pay". "Some can easily get between RM40,000 and RM50,000 a month, especially if they are sitting on state government-linked companies where they are entitled to allowances and bonuses. "So, some of them might not be willing to give up (their seats)," said Dr Chua, who refused to disclose names. Speaking after attending a press conference on the 4th World Chinese Economic Forum, Dr Chua also said it might be difficult for those who hold dual posts to serve people effectively, especially if their parliamentary and state seats are not in the same state. Meanwhile,  Selangor DAP chief Teresa Kok has been branded as being disrespectful over her response to party supremo Karpal Singh's proposed "one candidate, one seat" policy. Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan said Kok's words showed her lack of respect towards the veteran politician. "Who is she to question Karpal Singh?" asked Manoharan as reported by news portal Free Malaysia Today. Last Saturday, it was reported that DAP chairman Karpal had called on party leaders holding both parliamentary and state seats to give one up. "I think it is important for those who are holding two seats now to publicly declare that they will opt for only one seat. I think they should do so in the interest of Pakatan Rakyat," Karpal had said. He added that while there would be "extraordinary exceptions" to his "one candidate, one seat" proposal, all should be willing to vie for a single constituency. Kok was among the leaders who responded, saying Karpal was highlighting "an old story" to the media. Manoharan said Kok, also DAP national organising secretary, had no right to speak against Karpal to the media. "She has to retract the statement and apologise to Karpal for her lack of respect," he added. Kok is among the DAP leaders who are both an MP and a state elected representative. She is Seputeh MP and Kinrara assemblyman. Others include Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (Bagan MP and Air Putih assemblyman), Penang Deputy Chief Minister Dr P. Ramasamy (Batu Kawan MP and Prai assemblyman), Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (Beruas MP and Sitiawan assemblyman) and Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming (Taiping MP and Pantai Remis assemblyman).

Aziz Bari sahkan tanding PRU, yakin rampas kerusi Sabak Bernam Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:31 PM PDT (Sinar Harian) - PKR yakin dapat merampas semula kerusi Parlimen Sabak Bernam pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13) selepas mengumumkan calon baru bagi kerusi tersebut iaitu bekas pensyarah di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM), Dr Abdul Aziz Bari. Difahamkan, sebelum ini, Ketua PKR Cabang Sabak Bernam, Dr Badrolamin Baharon dicalonkan bertanding bagi kerusi itu. Abdul Aziz berkata, pemilihannya sebagai calon bagi kerusi berkenaan adalah atas arahan Ketua Umum PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Katanya, beliau yakin dapat merampas semula kerusi Parlimen Sabak Bernam  memandangkan terdapat beberapa penambahbaikan dilakukan Kerajaan Negeri sebelum ini. Pada 2008, kerusi Sabak Bernama dimenangi oleh calon BN dari Umno, Abd Rahman Bakri, yang menewaskan Badrolamin. "Kerajaan Negeri telah melaksanakan beberapa penambahbaikan dalam memastikan hak rakyat tidak diabaikan dan ini adalah kekuatan kita bagi merampas kembali kerusi Parlimen di sini," katanya kepada Sinar Harian, semalam. Beliau berkata, dia tidak berasa tergugat dengan kekuatan dimiliki Umno memandangkan pihaknya mempunyai kekuatan tersendiri bagi menawan kerusi di Parlimen Sabak Bernam. "Saya yakin ini adalah masa tepat bagi kami merampas kerusi di Parlimen ini memandangkan sokongan rakyat juga dilihat semakin kuat terhadap PKR," katanya. Abdul Aziz berkata, menerusi ceramah-ceramah yang dijalankan di sekitar daerah ini, jelas menunjukkan rakyat semakin matang dalam memilih pemimpin bersih serta mahukan pucuk pimpinan amanah. Beliau berkata, ia dapat dibuktikan dengan sesi ceramah yang diadakan di Bagan Terap di mana rakyat sudah bijak dalam menilai sesebuah parti politik dengan turut sama turun padang memberi sokongan ketika program dijalankan. "Bagan Terap merupakan kawasan hitam satu masa dulu memandangkan PKR pernah kalah teruk pada 2008, namun menerusi beberapa ceramah yang dijalankan kini, jelas menunjukkan penglibatan daripada ramai penduduk yang turut turun bagi memberi sokongan," katanya. Menurutnya, disebabkan faktor itu, Umno semakin takut menghadapi PRU13 memandangkan sokongan dilihat semakin tipis. Katanya, kajian dijalankannya sejak 2004 jelas menunjukkan kadar peningkatan sokongan rakyat terhadap parti itu semakin meningkat memandangkan pucuk pimpinan yang dianggap telus dalam membantu mendapatkan hak rakyat. "Saya yakin PKR akan menang berdasarkan kajian yang saya jalankan menunjukkan pertambahan sokongan bagi parti ini," katanya. Menurutnya, pada PRU13 nanti PKR mungkin akan kalah dalam beberapa kerusi namun peratusan undian penduduk dijangka akan meningkat sebanyak lima peratus bagi setiap peti undi. Katanya, pada PRU lalu, kebanyakan disuarakan PKR dilihat retorik namun kini parti berkenaan dapat membuktikan ia menjadi realiti di samping membuka mata rakyat. "Ini merupakan salah satu kekuatan kita dalam memastikan kerusi Parlimen berkenaan dapat dirampas," katanya. Dalam pada itu Abdul Aziz berkata, sebelum ini, beliau turut menerima pelawaan daripada Pas dan DAP yang memintanya untuk bertanding di beberapa kawasan lain. Katanya, bagaimanapun pelawaan tersebut ditolaknya kerana mahu memberi perkhidmatan terbaik di kampung halamannya. "Saya berasal dari sini dan saya mahukan perubahan terhadap pucuk pimpinan di samping memberi perkhidmatan adil kepada penduduk setempat," katanya. Beliau berharap rakyat dapat memberi peluang kepada PKR membuktikan kemampuan mereka dalam menguruskan daerah tersebut. Sementara itu, Badrolamin enggan memberi sebarang komen berhubung perkara tersebut.

UK’s Cameron rocked by defeat in Europe budget vote Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:25 PM PDT (Reuters) - LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a humiliating defeat in parliament yesterday after Conservatives rebelled over Europe, an issue that has divided his party for decades and helped bring down previous leaders. Although the result carried no legal weight, the setback raised questions about Cameron's authority after months of missteps by his coalition government and it revived painful memories of Conservative infighting over Europe. Cameron wants the European Union's long-term budget to rise only in line with inflation, while opponents said it should be cut in real terms to reflect the bleak economic landscape at home and across Europe. The rebels won the vote by 307 to 294 votes, a majority of 13, after they received support from the Labour Party, a generally pro-European group accused by Cameron of "rank opportunism". "This is a time for Brussels to listen to the British people and do what we are all doing, and that is cutting our cloth," Conservative lawmaker Mark Pritchard, one of the revolt's leaders, told Sky News. Rebels said the vote – Cameron's first significant defeat in parliament since taking power in 2010 – could strengthen his position at budget talks in Brussels next month because he will be able to say his hands are tied by the British parliament. Other Conservatives said it would weaken his position. Many Britons regard the EU as an incompetent and spendthrift bureaucracy. Britain's ties with the 27-member bloc are likely to be a big theme in a national election due in 2015. Cameron wants Britain to remain an EU member but to renegotiate its role within the bloc, focusing more on trade links and less on areas like regulation. Addressing parliament before the vote, Cameron said he was prepared to use his veto to block an EU budget deal if he thought it was bad for Britain. France also threatened yesterday to use its veto if the proposals imply farm spending cuts. "This government is taking the toughest line in these budget negotiations of any government since we joined the European Union," Cameron said before the vote. "At best we would like it cut, at worst frozen, and I'm quite prepared to use the veto if we don't get a deal that's good for Britain." Accused of siding with the rebels to score cheap points against Cameron, Labour said it was right to ask Europe to cut its budget in real terms at a time of economic hardship. "This is a humiliating defeat for David Cameron which shows how weak and out of touch he has become," said Labour finance spokesman Ed Balls. In a bad-tempered clash in parliament, Labour leader Ed Miliband compared Cameron to John Major, the former Conservative prime minister whose time in office in the 1990s was dogged by infighting over Europe. Bitter arguments over Britain's role in Europe were central to the downfall of another former leader, Margaret Thatcher. Trailing in popularity polls, Cameron faces an uncomfortable balancing act on Europe. He does not want to alienate a majority of voters – and a powerful Conservative minority – who might vote to leave the EU after nearly 40 years. The Conservative leader must also see off a threat from the fiercely anti-EU UK Independence Party, which polls suggest has around 10 percent of the vote, about the same as the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner. However, Cameron must also keep the Lib Dems on side and avoid wrecking relations with the EU, Britain's biggest trading partner, as the country emerges from recession.

‘My son was no criminal’ Posted: 31 Oct 2012 04:14 PM PDT A distraught VP Rajah says despite two Indonesians being sent to the gallows for murdering his son, R Karthic, the authorities are portraying him as a burglar. G Vinod, FMT Upset with media reports and authorities labelling his murdered son as a burglar, VP Rajah, has come forward to defend his son, R Karthic's honour. "I'm licensed money changer, own a plantation business and run a mini market. My son helps me in my trade and I pay him about RM10,000 in monthly salary and commissions. "I'm also a former treasurer of the Negeri Sembilan PPP and Karthic was a youth member of the party. Tell me, is there any reason for my son to become a burglar?" asked Rajah, 51. On Dec 3,2010, Karthic was found murdered at a shophouse in Taman Sri Sunga Pelek, Sepang. Eyewitnesses claimed he tried to enter a shoplot unit through an opening in the ceiling. However, two Indonesian brothers guarding the shop were said to have spotted Karthic and killed him before fleeing the scene. Frans Hiu and Dharry Frully Hiu were sentenced to death on Oct 19 by Shah Alam High Court judge, Nurchaya Arshad. Relating his ordeal, Rajah said that Karthic went to the shop at about 9am on that day to collect RM5,000 he loaned to his friend, Leong Wai Yiaw, who was working at the shop. "He was supposed to leave for India on that day but decided to get his money first," said Rajah. He added that Karthic and his girlfriend Juliet Rani Nadarajah were waiting downstairs of the shoplot before being dragged upstairs  by four men. "The day market was operating then and many can vouch for this. Even my brother in law, R Murugan, was there shopping and saw Karthic being taken upstairs," he said. Rajah claimed that he received a frantic call from his wife at about 11am saying that Murugan had heard a commotion at the shoplot. Rajah said that when he arrived at the scene, he was stopped by a police officer from entering the crime scene. "The officer, named Corporal Asrul even refused to tell us what happened. Only after three hours, did he break the news to us. "He even accused my son of breaking into the shop while the investigations were going on. He just dismissed me," said Rajah. Two still at large Rajah accused investigating officer, ASP Zaiharul, and the deputy public prosecutor Yusof Rahman of working in cahoots with the shop operator to pin the blame on his son. READ MORE HERE

‘Nurturing’ Mukhriz Mahathir Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:59 PM PDT The gap in Umno and the distrust amongst the leadership is getting wider. Toffee Rodrigo, FMT The intrigue in Umno today is greater than the intrigue in the forbidden city during the last days of Chinese Emperors. It is a sure sign of a declining Umno in a 'dog eat dog' situation. The gap in Umno and the distrust amongst the leadership is getting wider. Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin has asked his camp to play low key. If anything has to be unleashed against Najib and his "mentor", it has to be sudden and at a crucial time, so as not to allow for an opportunity for the Mahathirian camp to fight back. "It should be swift and decisive, there will be no turning back," Muhyiddin was quoted as having told his inner circles. Muhyiddin is very uncomfortable with Mahathir and he has to watch every step he takes. He can't have his plans leaked. Thus far he seems to be doing fine on that score, but you can never tell in Umno, especially with Mahathir who is famous for buying out Umno boys to get what he wants. And there are people in Johor Umno who are willing to align with Mahathir in this war. Uphill task for Muhyddin Mahathir has the funds or at least the sources from which he can squeeze it out. Muhyiddin has his back against the wall. Under normal circumstances, an Umno deputy will be able to muster funds at will, but now after the Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's NFC affair, it has been made very difficult for him. In Umno today, it's money that talks, not Bahasa Melayu, but money! So it is an uphill task for Muhyiddin, but sources say he has a good following and can turn the tables – money politics or not. The not so intelligent (Home Minister) Hishammuddin Hussein does not have enough money to spend so lavishly to win any position. He also does not have the support of the grassroots to make himself invulnerable, so he goes the way of Mukhriz, whose father and siblings together with their cronies will outbid anyone on the scene. So Hisham will play the Mahathirian plan although he hates it, like his father, he will be used by Mahathir as a stop gap premier and then moved out ungraciously. Mahathir is looking to park his son Mukhriz' interests. If you notice Mukhriz has been rather quiet, very quiet for anyone's liking. He has ambitions and his father has plans to nurture that ambition but where he parks himself in this controversy and this power struggle in Umno will determine his future in the party, and both him and his father know that and are worried sick on how to solve this power equation. READ MORE HERE

Najib the Delayer Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:57 PM PDT Shao Loong, New Mandala Malaysia's second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, was a member of the Fabian Society, a socialist forerunner of the British Labour Party that rejected the revolutionary seizure of power in favour of a gradualist approach. His son Najib Razak, Malaysia's current premier, though no socialist, is a Fabian of sorts, too. The Fabians derived their name from the Roman consul, dictator and general Fabius Maximus, who was known as Fabius the Delayer after his military strategy. Let us understand Fabius before we return to Najib's political strategy. Between the years 218 to 201 BC Rome and the north African city-state of Carthage were engaged in the Second Punic War for control over the Mediterranean.The great Carthaginian general Hannibal rampaged across the Italian peninsula for over 15 years, inflicting crushing military defeats upon Rome and causing political upheaval by plundering the countryside and turning Rome's provincial Italian allies against her. Hannibal's tactical prowess was so formidable that Fabius reasoned that direct military engagement with him was foolhardy. Instead, Fabius opted for a form of guerrilla warfare by refusing pitched battles, settling instead on sniping at Hannibal's stragglers and supply lines. While Fabius' strategy denied Hannibal the political glory of military victories, he in turn was criticised in the Roman senate for such a 'cowardly' approach. His rivals named him 'Cunctator', which sounds ruder than it is, for it merely means 'Delayer' in Latin. Whilst strategically cunning, Fabius' approach was politically flawed because it ran against the highly aggressive Roman mindset. In 217 BC, after his six-month term as dictator expired, Fabius' strategy was not renewed. Instead, the new consul Gaius Terentius Varro rallied popular support for a head on clash of arms with Hannibal. The result was the battle of Cannae, which has gone down in history as one of the most perfect examples of battlefield tactics. Some 86,000 Romans and their allies faced off against a smaller Carthaginian force of 50,000 men. The course of the battle illustrates the prudence of Fabius' decision to avoid a direct clash with Hannibal. The more numerous Roman army was completely encircled by the Carthaginian forces. The result was an absolute slaughter. Nearly 78,000 Romans – one-fifth of the men of military age – may have died that day against only 6,000 to 8,000 of Hannibal's men who perished. It was a crushing defeat for Rome, but for reasons which remain debated to this day, Hannibal decided not to lay siege to Rome and instead focused on weakening her alliances with the various Italian tribes. Roman defeat at Cannae was followed by a return to the Fabian strategy. Rome's military comeback would only occur under the generalship of Publius Cornelius Scipio in 210 BC. Scipio was Hannibal's greatest student for he had learned his military lessons by surviving several of Hannibal's triumphs, including Cannae. Hannibal's grand strategy was to carry the war against Rome to Italy, wreak military havoc and use that to politically fracture Rome's system of alliances with the Italian tribes that kept her dominant and supplied much of her military power. Scipio applied the same strategy to the Carthaginian empire. Carthage's main military strength came from allies in Spain and Numidia (a Berber kingdom in western Tunisia). Despite opposition from the cautious Fabius, Scipio took the war first to Spain and then to Africa. The Spanish forces were defeated and the Numidians, with their crack cavalry, induced to defect from Carthage. When Hannibal and Scipio finally faced off in the plains of Zama south of Carthage (near modern Tunis), the Carthaginian forces lacked their former strength. Scipio now brought his learning of Hannibal to bear and successfully anticipated many of the latter's tactics. The result was Hannibal's first defeat and the end of the war. When faced with a superior foe Fabius' strategy of delaying made sense as long as Rome was unable to produce a decisive military answer to Hannibal. Ironically, it was Hannibal's very success that forged his nemesis, Scipio. Both relied on a mix of direct confrontation and indirect disruption of their opponent's alliance networks. Only Scipio was able to produce decisive victory by combining both military and political strategy. The difference was due, in part, to the contrasting psychologies of the Roman and Carthaginian senates. The historian Polybius argued that Rome's determination outweighed that of Carthage because the Romans personally fought for their empire and freedom whilst Carthage employed mercenaries to achieve the same. The Romans had the fortitude to withstand defeats far beyond conventional expectation – witness Cannae – whereas Carthaginian resolve was not as strong. In Malaysia today Prime Minister Najib Razak, by delaying elections for the last three years, has employed a Fabian strategy of avoiding decisive confrontation with a strong foe. Whilst the twelfth general election of 2008 was not a decisive loss for the UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN), it denied them a two-thirds majority in Parliament, left several of UMNO's allies severely weakened, and was treated by UMNO as a moral defeat. Somewhat like Hannibal, Anwar Ibrahim has focused on sapping BN's other allies away. The abortive 'September 16th' plan of 2009 – to win government via defections of BN lawmakers to Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat (PR) – was nipped in the bud, but the basic strategy has continued alongside efforts to woo the general voter. Like Scipio's mirroring strategy, Najib's response was the fall of the PR-led state government of Perak, which ensued from the defection of several state lawmakers to a 'BN-friendly' stance. Similar moves were played at the Parliamentary level. The many by-elections since 2008 and political surveys have shown that Malaysia is almost evenly divided between the Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional coalitions, with the balance towards BN. In the impending thirteenth general elections (GE13) much will rest on electoral technicalities (rural weighting, gerrymandering, phantom voters, etc.) and the favour of new voters. Both PR and BN have been fighting on similar ground. When the hot air about ethno-racial politics clears, the main arguments are about who is fit to govern and who will deliver the most wealth into Malaysians' pockets. It is rumoured that Najib's Fabian approach has earned him criticism from UMNO's conservative warlords. It has also generated frustration amongst voters, who are now weary of a three-year long election season. It is here that the analogy between Fabius and Najib breaks down. Fabius was willing to champion an unpopular strategy to save his city from defeat even though his career suffered. Elections are also different from battles in that elections cannot be indefinitely deferred, short of suspending the democratic process and installing a dictatorship via a state of emergency. Najib Razak's father, Tun Razak effectively did so following UMNO's last major loss in 1969. However, BN has been capable of winning GE13 for some time now. The question has more been whether Najib could deliver a decisive enough victory that would secure his own political career from challenge. After all, this was the pretext that Najib employed to depose Abdullah Badawi in 2009. The uncertainty of winning back the symbolically potent two-thirds majority in Parliament has surely been weighing heavily on Najib's mind. Voters have left BN because they want better governance, less wastage, and more justice. BN can at best deliver these demands to a limited degree, and then only inconsistently. The newer Pakatan state governments have largely proven that such gains can be made provided internal political inertia is minimal and political will is present. Yet the popular vote is not enough. In order to form a new federal government, a coalition needs to secure the majority of seats in Parliament, which is not the same thing as a majority of voters. PR faces a struggle to break into the so-called 'fixed deposits' of Sabah and Sarawak, but enough headway has been made that Najib may continue to delay. There is lately even a sense that victory could tip Pakatan's way. It now seems likely that elections will happen in 2013 if decisive, rather than mere, victory is Najib's goal, and his faith in cash handouts to voters, and perhaps other undisclosed measures, is strong. Or else, with the opportunities for decisive victory slipping away with time, he may simply be reconciled to enjoy high office until his term runs out. READ MORE HERE

Seats: Ngieng tells DAP top guns to state stand Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:53 AM PDT (Borneo Post) - SUPP Sibu vice Chairman Daniel Ngieng yesterday challenged Sarawak DAP top two leaders – chairman Wong Ho Leng and secretary Chong Ching Jen – to state whether they were willing to give up either their parliamentary or assemblymen posts to live up to their party's proposed declaration. Wong is assemblyman of Bukit Assek and Sibu MP, while Chong is Kota Sentosa assemblyman and Bandar Kuching MP. Ngieng said in a statement that DAP national chairman Karpal Singh had, last Friday, suggested that "all DAP parliamentary members who are also state assemblymen should publicly declare which seat they wish to contest in the coming general election". Ngieng, who is also deputy chairman of Sibu Municipal Council, said other DAP top guns in the Peninsula who were holding two posts were Lim Guan Eng, Ngeh Khoo Ham, Nga Kor Ming, Teresa Kok and Anthony Loke. "We ask Wong and Chong whether they will support Karpal's suggestion which was proposed by Ngeh." Ngieng hoped both Chong and Wong, who are both lawyers, would not excuse themselves by saying this was their internal party matter which others should not question. He said Karpal had clarified that the `One candidate, one seat' policy was for public interest by virtue of their accountability to the constituents. "This means when a person holds two posts, the call of duties would be compromised," he said. "For instance, when Wong is attending his parliamentary sitting he has no time for the constituents in Bukit Assek. This is not fair to them." He said DAP leaders had preached about fairness, accountability and responsibility. In view of their proposed policy, Ngieng said it was timely for both Wong and Chong to declare their stand. He said if they practised that it would give opportunities to more aspiring DAP leaders who might be denied to lead if DAP Sarawak stuck to the `One candidate, two seats' practice. "One DAP source from Selangor said the objection to Karpal's proposal from some DAP leaders may stem from worries that they could lose their multiple incomes, some of which had exceeded RM40,000 monthly, if they were just sticking to one seat," He said if both Wong and Chong were taking part in the coming parliamentary election, they would have to vacate their state seats based on their 'one candidate, one seat' policy. He challenged both Wong and Chong to make the declaration, saying: "The public deserve to be informed of your stand before the coming election."

Do you think I care a shit? Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:33 AM PDT You Pakatan Rakyat supporters are still too immature. And that is why Pakatan Rakyat is not ready to run the country. Pakatan Rakyat supporters first need to gain some maturity before Pakatan Rakyat can be allowed to form the federal government. You need to suffer another term under Barisan Nasional. This suffering might then wake you up and only when you wake up can we talk about a change of government. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin "More I read your articles, more I have an inclination that you really are on a BN payroll." -- bengali kunday. ************************************* That was what a reader going by the nickname of 'bengali kunday' said. Well, allow me to reply to that. First of all, even if I am on the payroll of Barisan Nasional, so what? There are people like those in Malaysiakini, Malaysia Chronicle, and so on, who are on Pakatan Rakyat's payroll. In fact, sites like Harakah and many others actually belong to and are financed by Pakatan Rakyat or parties within Pakatan Rakyat. And they do not hide that fact or are apologetic or ashamed about serving the interest of a political party, notwithstanding the fact that it is an opposition party. Are you implying that it is okay to be on Pakatan Rakyat's payroll but not okay to be on Barisan Nasional's payroll? Are you also implying that democracy and freedom of choice and freedom of association means you must be on Pakatan Rakyat's payroll but not on Barisan Nasional's payroll? What type of democracy is this when you are restricted to serving one party's interest but not the other? What type of democracy is this when you have no freedom of choice or freedom of association and are obligated to serve one party's interest but not the other? You take the moral high ground whenever you feel that someone is serving Barisan Nasional's interest but you do not demonstrate that same moral outrage if someone is on Pakatan Rakyat's payroll. So-called 'independent' human rights organisations such as Suaram openly work for Pakatan Rakyat but that is not repulsive to you. Only if they serve Barisan Nasional's interest is it repulsive. Secondly, when I write articles very damaging to Barisan Nasional and Umno -- such as my two recent articles this week in The Corridors of Power regarding Umno Sabah -- you do not consider that as being on Pakatan Rakyat's payroll. However, if I write just one article that is slightly uncomplimentary to Pakatan Rakyat (in fact, the article that I wrote in which you posted that comment is not even about Pakatan Rakyat or uncomplimentary to Pakatan Rakyat) you consider that as being on Barisan Nasional's payroll. To you Pakatan Rakyat supporters, the decent thing to do is to serve Pakatan Rakyat's interest. Serving any other interest is an indecent thing to do. You decide the moral boundaries and limits of decency and anyone who does not pass your interpretation and yardstick of morality and decency is vilified. Who appointed you the guardian and trustee of morality and decency? How different are you from the religionists who decide what is moral and what is decent and impose their standards of morality and decency on others? Since Muslims represent the majority population in Malaysia can Muslims then, going by the doctrine of democracy where majority rules, impose their Islamic interpretation of morality and decency on the minority? Since the majority dictates the ground rules then surely what is compatible to Islam should prevail and anything repulsive to Islam should be barred. In that case the Islamic Sharia law, Hudud included, should be the law of the land. Muslims who are the majority in Malaysia should decide what is moral and what is decent and Islam must be the code of conduct that all Malaysians should live by. Religionists such as Muslims, even if they are the majority in Malaysia, should not impose their will on Malaysians, even on fellow Muslims, let alone on the non-Muslims. So why should you impose your will on others? The believers of Islam should not vilify those who are not of the Muslim faith. Why should the believers of Pakatan Rakyat vilify those who are not of the opposition faith? When misguided Muslims adopt the 'either you are with us or you are against us' religious doctrine, you find that revolting, indecent and immoral. But you can adopt the 'either you are with us or you are against us' political doctrine and it is not revolting, indecent and immoral. What kind of hypocritical double standard is this? You resent it when others impose their will on you and when they decide what is tolerable, moral and decent. But you can impose your will on others and decide what is tolerable, moral and decent. Can you see the hypocrisy that is so thick you can cut it with a knife? Do you think I care a shit about Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat? Do you think I care a shit whether Barisan Nasional retains power or Pakatan Rakyat gains power? Do you think my life is only about the general elections and about who gets to march into Putrajaya? That is a very narrow way to look at life. Do you honestly think that my mission in life is to make sure that Barisan Nasional does not get kicked out? Do you honestly think that my mission in life is to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat gets to form the next federal government? You have a very narrow mission in life. Do not imagine that my mission in life is as narrow as yours. Politicians are politicians, never mind from which side of the political divide. And the narrow objective of all politicians is merely to get into power. What makes you think that that is also my very narrow objective? If you think that then you have not been reading properly what I have been writing over these last 35 years. You Pakatan Rakyat supporters are still too immature. And that is why Pakatan Rakyat is not ready to run the country. Pakatan Rakyat supporters first need to gain some maturity before Pakatan Rakyat can be allowed to form the federal government. You need to suffer another term under Barisan Nasional. This suffering might then wake you up and only when you wake up can we talk about a change of government. Yes, do keep whacking me. Continue to vilify me. And when you do I will do everything within my power to make sure that the coming general election is going to result in a huge shock and disappointment for you. Never give a flower to a monkey, the Malays would say. That is like throwing pearls to swine, the English say. And that is how I look at some of you Pakatan Rakyat supporters, monkeys and swine that are not ready to be entrusted with power. So you want to fight. So let's fight. I have nothing to lose because I don't care a shit which side is going to win the coming general election. That is what you want. That is not what I want. Just because that is what you want you have this mistaken notion that that is what I also want. What stupid people you are. If I support Pakatan Rakyat then I am God. If I do not support Pakatan Rakyat then I am a Barisan Nasional stooge. Well, let me break it to you gently. I am neither God not a Barisan Nasional stooge. I am an independent-spirited individual who does not care a shit about losers like you.

‘Who is she to question Karpal?’ Posted: 30 Oct 2012 08:46 PM PDT The cracks in DAP continue to widen ahead of the polls, with M Manoharan launching a broadside against Teresa Kok for her 'outburst' against Karpal. Athi Shankar, FMT "Who is she to question Karpal Singh?" thundered a DAP leader who took Selangor exco Teresa Kok to task for being rude. Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M Manoharan demanded that the DAP national organising secretary apologise to the veteran politician, who is also the party's national chairman. He said Kok's "media outburst" with regard to Karpal's statement on the "one man – one seat" issue was uncalled for. Being the party's Selangor chief and national organising secretary, he said Kok should know that Karpal as the DAP supremo had the right to announce the party's public policies. He said Kok had no right to question Karpal's media statements on the "one man – one seat" issue, which had become a major political topic among party leaders and members at all levels. He said Kok should always remember that Karpal was among the senior leaders responsible for the party's political strength and growth over the years. "She should retract her criticisms immediately and apologise to Karpal," Manoharan told FMT. Last Friday, Karpal called on the party's nine double-hat wearers, who are both a parliamentarian and an assemblyman, to declare publicly that they would opt for only one seat in the next general election. In other words, Karpal wanted them to show support to the proposed "one man – one seat" electoral formula. Karpal, who first proposed the formula early last year, argued that the party now had enough capable and dynamic young grassroots leaders as candidates, unlike in previous elections. But Kok, a double-seat holder herself, chided Karpal for highlighting "an old story" in the media. The other DAP elected representatives who are both MPs and assemblymen are Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (Bagan MP and Air Putih assemblyman), Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy (Batu Kawan MP and Prai assemblyman) and the state senior exco and party chief Chow Kon Yeow (Tanjung MP and Padang Kota assemblyman), all in Penang; Beruas MP and Sitiawan assemblyman Ngeh Koo Ham, Taiping MP and Pantai Remis assemblyman Nga Kor Ming, both Perak; and Rasah MP and Lobak assemblyman Anthony Loke Siew Fook (Negeri Sembilan). In Sarawak, state DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng is the Sibu MP and Bukit Assek assemblyman while state party secretary Chong Chieng Jen is the Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman. 'She was neither here nor there' Manoharan, who supported the "one man – one seat" proposal, said dual seat holders should put public and party interests above their own interests by accepting Karpal's formula. He said double-hat wearers should not draw multiple perks while dishing out poor performance as elected representatives at the expense of other single seat representatives and taxpayers. At a glance, double-seat holders earn nearly RM40,000 per month. In Selangor, an assemblyman's pay is about RM11,700, inclusive of allowances, while that of an executive councillor is about RM25,000 (inclusive of state assembly pay). A MP earns about RM15,000 a month. Manoharan recalled that during the recent July parliamentary sitting, which coincided with the Selangor state assembly session, Kok was unable to perform her duties efficiently as a senior exco, state representative and parliamentarian. "She was neither here nor there. She was missing most of the assembly sittings," he claimed. Manoharan said he was now fighting a court case against the demolishment of a Hindu temple – Seafield Maha Mariamman Kovil – which comes under Kok's Kinrara constituency. "The temple management told me that it had been difficult to get even an appointment to meet Kok and resolve the demolishment issue amicably," he said. He said Kok was not able to divide and devote her time for her constituents partly because she was a MP and an assemblywoman in two different territories. READ MORE HERE

'One candidate one seat' not Pakatan's Common Policy, says PAS Veep Posted: 30 Oct 2012 08:39 PM PDT (Bernama) -- PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayub today stated that the 'one candidate one seat' proposal by DAP national chairman Karpal Singh was not a common policy of the opposition group. He said it might only apply to DAP. "We (PAS) have no problem here. Moreover, we have for a long time practised the 'one candidate one seat' policy except for certain cases like our party president (Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang) who holds two seats (Marang parliamentary seat and Rhu Rendang state seat)," he said when contacted Wednesday. The opposition group or Pakatan Rakyat consists of PAS, DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). Salahuddin said PAS had never prevented any party member from contesting a state seat as well as a parliamentary seat if he or she was asked to do so by the party's top leadership. "Karpal had made the 'one candidate one seat' proposal probably because DAP now has many eligible candidates to be fielded in the upcoming general election. Anyway, this is DAP's internal matter," he said. Last Friday, Karpal was quoted as saying said DAP elected representatives now holding two seats should choose to contest only one in the coming elections, so that they would have more time to serve their constituents. However, some party leaders objected to the proposal.

Lust is a good strategy Posted: 30 Oct 2012 06:29 PM PDT Well, since the majority of the Genneva gold bullion investors are Chinese I suppose this proves that the Chinese are greedy and are driven by lust -- lust for quick and easy money. And since the Chinese have demonstrated that they have this great lust then they must also be having lust for power. And this explains why the Chinese want to kick out the Malay Umno government. NO HOLDS BARRED Raja Petra Kamarudin Genneva involved 35,000 investors, investments of RM10bil (Bernama) - Some 35,000 investors with total investments clinching RM10 billion were found to be involved with the gold bullion investment company, Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a deputy minister told the Dewan Rakyat today. Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said based on the information received thus far, total investments received amounted to RM4 billion and could swell to RM10 billion. He said Bank Negara Malaysia needs time to investigate the case based on two considerations deemed necessary to solve the controversy over the gold bar trading scheme. "Firstly, Genneva Malaysia has been "disguising" behind the gold bar business. Gold is a sentimental attraction. Many people are keen on gold regardless of their background including leaders." "They (the investors) feel this is a genuine business." "Secondly, Bank Negara has to study the situation. The central bank cannot raid straight away. For instance, if Bank Negara conducts a raid today and starts a probe, the central bank is also scolded at, because of their raid, investors lose their returns." "So Bank Negara has to consider, the central bank cannot act very quickly or very late. A balanced consideration is important. I feel all of us will learn from this experience." "Hopefully, we can better handle these type of cases in future," he said when replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) during question time. Earlier, Awang Adek told the House that Genneva Malaysia's liabilities were more than the company's assets and this clearly showed that the company cannot afford to pay the due returns to its investors. The authorities recently conducted a raid on Genneva Malaysia and its associate company on suspicion of violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah (BN-Jasin), who posed the original question, had asked the Finance Ministry to unveil measures taken to curb get-rich-quick schemes which indulge in deposit-taking and illegal investments. In his reply, Awang Adek said Bank Negara was considering imposing a more deterrent sentence on get-rich-quick scheme operators in efforts to wipe out such scams from continuing to cheat the people. The ministry, in collaboration with related government agencies, including enforcement divisions, was monitoring closely and gathering intelligence, besides getting information from public complaints, he added. *************************************** Get-rich-quick schemes (Skim Cepat Kaya) such as tontine schemes, Ponzi schemes, etc., have been around for a long time. Tontines (known locally as 'kutu') have been around since the 1800s and Ponzi schemes for about 100 years now. Actually, get-rich-quick schemes have been around since time immemorial. The only thing is the name changes from time-to-time but the objective always remains the same -- make a lot of money from a little bit of money in the shortest possible time. I remember 40 years ago in the early 1970s the Gemini Chit Fund scandal hit the country. I had actually 'invested' in that scheme and made quite a bit of money. I got out just in time, though, before they were closed down and the tail-end investors lost their pants. Then we had the 'Pak Man Telo' Ponzi scheme that first emerged in the late 1970s and ran for about 20 years before the government sprang into action and closed it down. Most of the people caught with their pants down were Malays, a huge number of them rank-and-file police personnel and those from the kampong. Since the 'Pak Man Telo' Ponzi scheme affected mostly Malays it did not become an 'election issue' like the current Genneva gold bullion fiasco. Somehow, anything that affects the Chinese always becomes an election issue. Even giving out white envelopes instead of red envelopes for Chinese New Year can be turned into an election issue. But this would be only if the white envelopes were given to Chinese. If given to Malays then it is not an issue. The strategy in these get-rich-quick schemes is to prey on humankind's lust -- lust for wealth, power, recognition, position, etc. Humankind works on the basis of wants, not needs. Hence lust is very crucial in the whole scheme of things. We need food on the table, clothes on our back, and a roof over our head. Those are our basic needs. But once we meet those basic needs that would no longer be enough. Once we meet those basic needs then our wants take over. Then we want expensive clothes, jewellery, designer shoes and handbags, mansions, exotic cars, power, titles, and much more. Do we need all these? Of course we don't but we want them anyway. And that is why get-rich-quick schemes work. Those behind these schemes prey on peoples' lust or wants. And if you can convince them they can make a lot of money from very little money in the quickest time, they would entrust their money to you -- especially if there are 'references' from others who already made a lot of money from the scheme. To be successful in politics you also need to play on peoples' wants. Most voters might already have what they need. In fact, most Malaysians already have what they need. No one (except those such as drug addicts, etc., who choose to do so) is sleeping on the streets. We do not hear of anyone dying of hunger or starvation. No one walks around naked. So what more do the people need? They actually need very little more. They already have what they need. But it is what they want that counts. And they will vote for the government that can provide them these wants. If it is merely about your needs then you can survive living off the land in the middle of the jungle. You will not need a huge mansion or exotic car in the jungle. You do not need Birkin handbags, Rolex watches, Jimmy Choo shoes, Polo shirts, etc., in the jungle. In fact, you do not even need these if you live in town. But you want them anyway and if you can't have them then the government is bad and needs to be kicked out. Oh, but we are not kicking out the government for these reasons. We are kicking out the government because it is corrupt. Take the RM40 million 'donation' scandal involving Umno Sabah as an example. That is why we need to kick out the government. But the RM40 million 'timber kickback scandal' involving Umno Sabah is not something new. This has been going on for almost 50 years since 1963. That's right, it has been going on for almost half a century. And we have been telling you this for almost 40 years since the 1970s (at least I have, anyway). But this has never concerned you before. The more we tell you about all this the more you vote for Barisan Nasional. In fact, you looked at us as if we were crazy -- barking like a mad dog. Many times you scolded us and told us to just shut up. Now you appear to be screaming more than we are. So, no, I do not believe you want to kick out the government because the government is corrupt. I suspect that this is bullshit and that you have an ulterior motive. I suspect you are up to something no good. I suspect that this is merely a Chinese conspiracy to grab political power from the Malays. If corruption is really an issue then you would have kicked out the government a long time ago and not wait 55 years to do so. I know you all are a suspicious lot. Whenever I write something you are always suspicious of me. You suspect that I have a hidden agenda and that I am doing this for some personal benefit. Well, I, too, am just like you. I too am suspicious. I too suspect that you have a hidden agenda and that you are doing this for some personal benefit. Hence you want to kick out the government not because the government is corrupt -- because the government has always been corrupt for over 55 years and you never cared about it before this. I suspect you are not sincere and this is all about the Chinese kicking out a Malay Umno government. Well, since the majority of the Genneva gold bullion investors are Chinese I suppose this proves that the Chinese are greedy and are driven by lust -- lust for quick and easy money. And since the Chinese have demonstrated that they have this great lust then they must also be having lust for power. And this explains why the Chinese want to kick out the Malay Umno government. Hmm…Chinese logic does make sense, does it not? You swim. A duck swims. So you must be a duck. Raja Petra Kamarudin whacks Pakatan Rakyat. Barisan Nasional also whacks Pakatan Rakyat. So Raja Petra Kamarudin must be supporting Barisan Nasional. I just love what 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation and Chinese philosophy can teach us. Want to see another example of Chinese logic and philosophy? This is what Malaysiakini wrote: In the middle of April 2011, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, better known as RPK, dropped a bombshell in denying his sensational statutory declaration dated June 2008. He claimed that he had been misled into making a false allegation against Rosmah Mansor, wife of premier Najib Abdul Razak. So there you are -- another example of Chinese logic and philosophy at work. That is what 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation has given to the world. I don't know how Malaysiakini came to that conclusion but who am I to argue with 5,000 years of Chinese logic and philosophy?

MACC urged to investigate KCB's failed investment in PNG Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:53 PM PDT (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been urged to investigate the possible power abuse and misappropriation of fund by the Kedah government-owned company Kedah Corporation Berhad (KCB) in its logging and plantation project in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Bandar Baharu District Youth Council chairman Helmi Abdul Khan said the Auditor-General Report 2011 on the project had raised many suspicions such as goodwill payment to vendors in PNG to open new land and lobbying a minister for the project. He also urged Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak not to point fingers on the issue, adding that as the chief executive of the state, he should handle the case professionally. "As a Mentri Besar, it doesn't make sense that he did not know about the multi-million ringgit investment. The people in Kedah demand to know details of the project," he told reporters after lodging a police report at the Bandar Baharu district police headquarters here, Tuesday evening. Several leaders from the Barisan Nasional component parties had also lodged similar police reports yesterday to urge MACC to investigate the case. Meanwhile, the Kedah People Progressive Party PPP) youth secretary M. Sethupati hoped that MACC would urgently investigate the case as it had incurred huge losses since the project was signed in Oct 12, 2008. The Auditor-General Report 2011 had noted that KCB had to bear RM13.49 million in losses after the RM31.21million project in PNG failed.

I Just Met A Very Racist Chinese! Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:39 PM PDT Hantu Laut Interesting! I have always joked with my close Chinese friends that I think Chinese are one of the most racist people around. Some agree with me, but than they are my close friends, where jokes are taken light-heartedly. Yesterday, I arrived KLIA from KK and my wife from Phnom Penh, after visiting our daughter and grandchildren there.My wife's plane arrived 20 minutes earlier but she said she would wait for me so we can take the same taxi to our hotel. I bought a ticket for a limousine at the airport. More often than not, most limousines that I can remember taking before have had Malay drivers, but for today, we have a Chinese driver. On our way to the city I noticed the driver constantly talking in Chinese to his friend over the VHF radio. Half way to the city it started to rain heavily and my wife started talking to the taxi driver in Cantonese. There was a moment of silence and a slow response from the driver and I can't help noticing that blood have rust to his head, he was red-faced and shocked. I asked my wife what she said that have made him blushed so badly, not that his colour is much brighter than pale. She said she asked him whether it is always raining in KL and told him to drive carefully as the road might be slippery. I asked why he looked shocked and almost speechless?  My wife said "I will tell you when we get to the hotel." Here go the story. While this guy was talking to his friend on the VHF radio his friend asked him whether he is taking passengers to Genting and he said no, that he is going to the city and that his fare are two lalat (flies), husband and wife going to a five-star hotel. He didn't realise my wife fully understands the exchanges in Cantonese all this while. My wife is half Malay and half Chinese and speaks fluent Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin. I scowled her for not telling me while we were still in the car and she told me what she did was more appropriate than me picking a fight with a low-life taxi driver. She told me she purposely spoke to him in Cantonese to embarrasse him, which she did well to impound his rudeness without being rude herself and probably taught this low-life a good lesson that there are non-Chinese looking people who understand and speak Chinese. This brings us back to the subject of stereotyping all Chinese as being racist, which I believe is more cultural than actual racism.  To the Chinese, anything they find repulsive will constitute name-calling, which bring us to Chinese against Chinese.  READ MORE HERE

Don't pay AES fines, PAS’s Mahfuz tells road users Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:32 PM PDT Ida Lim, The Malaysian Insider A PAS lawmaker today urged road users not to pay off traffic summonses issued under the federal government's controversial Automated Enforcement System (AES), saying that they should claim trial to the offences instead. "Now I want to ask, if the government refuses to delay the implementation of the AES and withdraw all summonses issued, everyone who receives the AES summonses don't need to pay the RM300 compound, instead follow this instruction to go to court..." PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar said at a press conference today. He said that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was prepared to provide lawyers to represent those who chose to contest the summonses in court. Yesterday, PR said it would suspend approval for the AES's implementation in the four states of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan, to allow for further discussion and public feedback. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday said that PR's move would mean that 331 out of the planned 831 cameras under the nationwide AES scheme will not be installed. The AES cameras, which detects speeding motorists and those who beat traffic lights, is in its pilot phase, with 14 installed in Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya. Today, Umno MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin also crossed the political divide today and backed the opposition PR pact in calling for Putrajaya to suspend enforcing the controversial traffic system, saying it could be used as electoral fodder against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). Several influential non-government organisations including the umbrella body representing civil servants, CUEPACS, have also opposed the enforcement by saying the system is not currently suitable. They also want the government to review the locations where the AES would operate. However, Bung Mokhtar was reported to have said that the system was necessary to "discipline" road users for the good of all. Lawmakers previously argued that the AES would only benefit the two companies running the system ― Beta Tegap and ATES ― as the firms will allegedly stand to earn RM16 from each summons issued by the AES.

Wan Azizah offered four seats In Selangor for GE 13 Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:23 PM PDT (Malaysian Digest) - Selangor PKR is ready to offer as many as four state seats to be contested by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for the upcoming 13th general election. State information chief Shuhaimi Shafiei said the four seats offered are the 'safest', based on the previous election results. The seats offered are Seri Muda, Kota Anggerik, Seri Setia and Sementa. "We are ready to offer our suggestions and views to the PKR central leadership if it is true that Dr Wan Azizah intends compete in Selangor. We just want her to win in the seats. "For now, we haven't received any direct instructions from the party leadership. We believe that whatever was announced by Dr Wan Azizah is a party strategy," he was reported as saying in Sinar Harian today. However, Shuhaimi stressed that the choice of seats ultimately lies with the central leadership. "Our offer of the seats is based on the track record. Even I, being the current Seri Muda assemblyman, am willing to make way if the president wishes to contest in the state. "What's important is that all members and party machinery will give 100 per cent to ensure a win for the party and the president," he said. Yesterday, the daily had reported that Dr Wan Azizah is still undecided on whether to contest in Selangor or Penang, both of which are Opposition-controlled states. Dr Wan Azizah, who is wife of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said the options were her own personal choices. Barisan Nasional, meanwhile, are unperturbed over the possibility that the PKR president could contest in Selangor. State Umno information chief Abdul Shukor Idrus said the public's growing awareness of BN's transformation plans have led the Opposition to feel insecure. "Based on the numerous transformation plans carried out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the PKR leadership is now playing close attention to Selangor. "We cannot rule out the possibility that even Anwar and other PKR leaders will contest here," he said. Abdul Shukor declared that BN are 100 per cent ready to recapture the state they lost in 2008. "We will make sure that Pakatan Rakyat will have to pay close attention to Selangor and focus less on other states."

Samy Vellu luluskan projek kondo Batu Caves – Anwar Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:12 PM PDT (Harakah) - Bekas Presiden MIC, Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu individu yang bertanggungjawab meluluskan Kondominium Batu Caves sekaligus menepis kontroversi Umno BN mengatakan kononnya pembinaan projek itu diluluskan Kerajaan Selangor sekarang. Mendedahkannya pada ceramah Merdeka Rakyat di sini malam tadi, Ketua Umum KEADILAN, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata, pembinaan dua blok kondominium 29 tingkat berhampiran Kuil Sri Subramaniar Swamy itu mendapat kelulusan MIC dan Umno pada 2007. Beliau menempelak pemimpin MIC kerana menipu rakyat India, malah meletak kesalahan ke atas Kerajaan Selangor. Ia ekoran tindakan Samy berdemonstrasi bersama masyarakat India pada 26 Oktober lalu kononnya membantah pembinaan kondominium tersebut. "Samy Vellu buat tunjuk perasaan, padahal dia yang luluskan projek pada 2007, ingat Tuhan dia tidak tahu? Sudahlah tipu rakyat, Tuhan pun dia nak tipu," kata Ketua Pembangkang. "Lepas itu mereka cabar Menteri Besar hentikan pembinaan, saya beritahu Khalid (Ibrahim), kita jangan ikut kata mereka dulu, kita siasat, cari siapa yang luluskan dan kita dakwa orang yang bertanggungjawab," tegasnya disambut tepukan gemuruh lebih 5,000 penduduk Kuala Langat. Sebelum ini, Exco Selangor, Dr Xavier Jayakumar menjelaskan, kelulusan pembinaan kondominium itu dikeluarkan oleh pihak majlis pada 31 Mei 2008 manakala ahli majlis baru di bawah Pakatan mengangkat sumpah pada 5 Julai 2008. "MIC dah dapat duit hasil penjualan tanah kuil dan luluskan projek yang menyalahi peraturan alam sekitar dengan ketinggian 29 tingkat, sekarang nak lepaskan diri tuduh kita pula, nak suruh kita bayar. Kepada rakyat India, usahlah sokong lagi pemimpin penipu seperti ini," kata Anwar. Semalam di Parlimen, Khalid mengumumkan penubuhan pasukan petugas bebas untuk menyiasat isu berkaitan pembinaan kondominium tersebut. "Kami mahu tunjukkan kepada rakyat bahawa kami telus membuat keputusan, jadi kami akan menubuhkan jawatankuasa bertindak khas yang akan diketuai seorang bekas hakim," katanya.

Time's up, PAS Youth tells Chua Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:08 PM PDT (Harakah) - Announcing the expiry of its one-week deadline for MCA president Chua Soi Lek to apologise over his anti-PAS remarks bordering on Islamophobia, PAS Youth said today it was going ahead with the plan to organise a rally to deliver a memorandum to the Agong. On October 24, some 200 people comprising representatives of PAS's Ulama and Youth wings, PKR Youth and Muslim NGOs gathered at the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to voice out against the party's continued attacks on Islamic values. A memorandum was also sent to the party, giving its president seven days to apologise to Muslims over a spate of statements denigrating the Islamic value-system. "We feel the memorandum was simply 'trashed' him and the MCA leadership," said PAS Youth secretary Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil. Khairul added that the wing will go ahead with its plan for a mammoth rally at the National Palace in Jalan Duta to hand over a memorandum to the Agong in his capacity as head of the federal religion. "It is time that the Yang Di Pertuan Agong be informed of MCA's continous insults on Islam," he said. Chua and top MCA leaders have been on a warpath with PAS by launching an attack on Islamic criminal law proposed by PAS in Kelantan, in what is seen as the Chinese-only party's bid to regain lost support among Malaysian Chinese. The party hoped that raising the spectre of an Islamic state in the event of Pakatan Rakyat's victory at the coming polls would prevent them from voting for the coalition. Chua had also earned condemnations for defending a statement by his party's women wing that Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat encouraged rape of non-Muslim women, citing an advice by the Kelantan Menteri Besar in 2008 that Muslim women abide by the Islamic dress code and not dress provocatively, as part of measures to fight rape.

PAS fears celebrating the demon that is Halloween Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:05 PM PDT (The Star) - PAS, which has consistently frowned on concerts, has now raised the red flag on Halloween parties where teenagers are dressed up in ghoulish costumes. Johor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed wants parents to keep an eye on their children participating in Halloween parties. "We hope the costumes are proper. If there are no proper checks by the parents or the authorities, this can lead to moral decay. "Such parties can get wild where alcohol would eventually be consumed," he said, adding that guidelines should be drawn up. He said PAS was not against Western culture but insisted that "guidelines were necessary when it involves other cultures, especially from the West or the East from Japan and Korea, being brought into Malaysia". Dr Mahfodz said there must be some form of moderation in accepting such cultures, including the popular Gangnam dance style by PSY but the PAS leader did not elaborate. Other party leaders said they were disturbed by the media coverage given to such parties, which one PAS leader likened to "worshipping the Satan". They refused to accept the arguments that it was merely for entertainment, adding that the authorities should not allow such parties to flourish. MCA central committee member Datuk Ti Lian Ker said he was astonished by the latest stand taken by the party leaders. "They have consistently protested against concerts, insisted on non-Muslim models not wearing shorts and sleeveless blouses on billboards but to frown against Halloween parties involving mostly children is outrageous. "They have insisted on gender segregation in a cinema in Selangor where they do not even have a majority but PAS seems powerful enough to have its way even at district council level," he said. Ti said there were non-Muslim voters who did not believe that the push by PAS would not affect them, but he reminded them that the party had successfully stopped a cinema planned by a non-Muslim businessman in Bangi. He said he was not surprised that PAS had called for "caution and moderation" on the Psy's hit dance style, presumably because "the dance movements are unacceptable to PAS".

Pakatan to win 118 seats say Lampong Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:00 PM PDT (Harakah) - Yahya Lampong , a former deputy Transport minister, said he was convinced that Barisan Nasional would lose power at the coming 13th general election. Yahya predicted that Pakatan Rakyat would win 118 of the total 222 parliamentary seats, while BN could be left with 104 seats. Yahya, now a PKR member, said he arrived at such a conclusion based on what he called the "82+20+16" formula, 82 being the number of seats won by PR in 2008, 20 being BN's parliamentary seats with non-Malay majorities while 16 being seats from Sabah. Yahya said he was highly optimistic that Sabahans would reject BN and that more than half of parliamentary seats in the state would fall to PR. "At least 16 out of 25 parliamentary seats will be won by PR," he said. Of of these, 13 are seats with majorities of Kadazan, Dusun, Murut and Chinese voters. The remaining three are 'mixed seats' namely Beaufort, Papar and Kota Belud. In Papar and Kota Belud, Yahya pointed out that Chinese voters comprised 40 percent of total voters. As such, he said a 15 percent swing of Muslim votes could work in PR's favour. As for Beaufort, Yahya saw no obstacle for incumbent Lajim Ukin to retain his seat. Lajim recently quit BN and declared himself a PR-friendly independent member of parliament. "PR will only need 112 seats to form the Federal government. So, PR will be able to form the government with the support of the peoples from Peninsular and Sabah. "Any parliamentary seats from Sarawak will be a bonus," he added. Earlier this month, Yahya told Harakahdaily that the three component parties that make up PR could not live without each other, a recipe he said would ensure the coalition's life.

Up to RM10b tied up in Genneva gold scheme, authorities say Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:54 PM PDT Ida Lim, The Malaysian Insider Putrajaya believes investors may have pumped up to RM10 billion into the gold trading scheme under Genneva Malaysia, which was recently raided by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said today. "The information that I have is that there [are] 35,000 investors that can be detected, but the total investment can reach RM10 billion," the deputy finance minister told Parliament during Question Time today. Awang Adek previously told Parliament that Genneva Malaysia's liabilities exceeded its assets, indicating and that the company was unable to pay returns to its investors. Genneva's bank accounts and other assets have been frozen by BNM since October 1, following suspicion that the company allegedly breached several banking and financial laws such as illegal deposit-taking, money laundering, tax evasion and appointing agents without licence, after several people lodged complaints with the police. Genneva Malaysia has some 60,000 customers and a monthly turnover of RM2 billion, according to its traders interviewed by The Malaysian Insider last week, but the company's website states 50,000 customers and a turnover of RM3 billion. Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz has also said the central bank is fast-tracking investigations into the controversial gold trading company so that its customers will not be kept waiting for too long. Genneva, Pageantry Gold Bhd, Caesar Gold Sdn Bhd, Worldwide Far East Bhd and Bestino Group Bhd are among 25 individuals and companies offering unlicensed activities that were placed on an investor alert list by the central bank last year, double the number from 2010 and the highest on record since 2003. READ MORE HERE

Tan Koon Swan to get WCEF lifetime award Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:45 PM PDT Zuraini AR, The Malaysian Insider Former MCA president Tan Koon Swan will be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fourth World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF) next month. Tan will be among eight recipients set to accept the award at the event that will be held in Melbourne, Australia starting November 12. Announcing this today, current MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek also congratulated Tan in a press conference. "It's time for what we call redemption. He has gone through a difficult period and I think he deserves (the award)," Chua said. In 1985, the high-flying Tan fell from grace when he was jailed two years and fined S$1 million (RM2.5 million at current rates) after being charged on 15 counts that included share manipulation and criminal breach of trust (CBT) in what became known as the Pan-El scandal. He quit MCA soon after. But he recently found some solace when Glenn Knight, the former Singapore prosecutor that won the conviction against the ex-politician, wrote that Tan should not have been found guilty. Knight wrote in his book: "It was extremely painful for me to suddenly discover that the Singapore courts had got it wrong." Knight's views have, however, been disputed by Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), which pointed out errors in his book, "The Prosecutor". Among others, it noted that there were 14 other charges that were not pursued in the 1986 case against Tan because he had pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal breach of trust through violation of Section 157(1).

Ex-Sabah BN MPs in Pakatan panel Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:30 PM PDT According to a former Upko senator, current party leaders were 'trapped' by PM Najib Tun Razak's announcement of an RCI which is unlikely to convene before the polls.  Joseph Bingkasan, FMT KOTA KINABALU: Sabah MPs Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukin – the respective leaders of new opposition groupings Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) and Pakatan Pertubuhan Angkatan Sabah (PPS) – are now members of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) national council. APS is led by Tuaran MP and former-deputy president of United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) Bumburing while PPS is headed by Beaufort MP Lajim who is a former Umno supreme council member. Both the MPs had on July 29 quit all posts that came with their positions as BN coalition members and pledged support to former prime deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim who now leads Pakatan. However, both Bumburing and Lajim have yet to join any of the opposition coalition component parties. Bumburing's former boss in Upko, Bernard Dompok, was quick to paint the two former senior BN leaders 'partyless' status as indecisive, saying that they displayed the lack of confidence in Pakatan's political struggle. Dompok, the Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister, who is fighting his own battle to remain relevant in the ruling coalition, also questioned the need for Bumburing and Lajim to establish APS and PPS as their political platforms. Dompok likened the Anwar-led opposition "as a duck in the water where on the surface the bird looked calm but underwater it was paddling hard." However, APS deputy president Maijol Mahap, an Upko vice-president until he resigned in August this year to team up with Bumburing, has hit back at Dompok. "It is not for anyone to say whether or not Bumburing has any confidence in any of the political parties that make up Pakatan Rakyat. (Joining a political party) is not his priority," said the former senator who lost his position after he quit the BN. Upko has already given the senator post to its deputy secretary-general Lucas Umbol whose nomination was unanimously passed by the Sabah Legislative Assembly last week. 'Pakatan made up of equal partners' Mahap disclosed that after going through a series of discussions with several Pakatan party leaders including Anwar, it was agreed that Bumburing and Lajim through APS and PPS, assist the opposition coalition in their quest to topple the BN government and wrest control of Putrajaya. "In relation to this understanding, leaders from APS and PPS have been appointed as members of Pakatan National Council," he said. "Unlike BN where Umno is the dominant force and all the other parties have to follow the dictates of Umno, Pakata) is made of equal partners where no single party dominates the other members of the coalition," he said. The former senator also backed Bumburing's stunning revelation that Upko leaders had discussed pulling the party out of the BN and joining Pakatan. READ MORE HERE

Will it get dirty between LDP and Gerakan? Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:21 PM PDT Sabah-based LDP will not make any compromises on the Karamunting seat, held by Peter Pang, who won it in 2008 whilst in LDP. Queville To, FMT KEPAYAN: Sabah Barisan Nasional minnows, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), wants back a seat it lost to Gerakan after its assembly representative defected to the fellow ruling coalition member. Party president VK Liew said this week that there could be no compromise over the Karamunting state seat that was taken away by its former elected representative Peter Pang En Yin, after the latter left LDP in 2010 and joined Gerakan last year. Liew, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said the party's stand over the issue was not negotiable as the seat had always belonged to LDP since 1999. "Of course we are determined to take it back. How can a member of a political party who left the party as YB after having won it on the party ticket take the seat away. It is against the principle of Barisan Nasional. "If that can happen to any other party in Barisan Nasional it would break up the Barisan Nasional concept and that would not be good and we would not allow that to happen," he told the media when approached at the joint Annual General Meeting of its Kepayan and Moyog divisions at its headquarters here. The status of the peninsula-headquartered Gerakan in the state government and the prickly relations it has with the Sabah-based LDP has been compounded by the awkward issue of the Karamunting state seat that it has taken over by default. Having seen its power and influence in Chief Minister Musa Aman's state government decline ever since a rift between the party's former leader, Chong Kah Kiat and Musa, LDP has been struggling to recover its leverage in the state. The distribution of seats in the state among the BN coalition partners for the impending 13th general election will determine its future standing in the state. Since the spectacular falling out between Chong and Musa over a plan to construct a towering 'Goddess of the Sea' statue in Kudat, LDP has struggled to regain its footing within the state government. But while Chong is still spoken of admiringly for his skilful and polished administration of the state when he was chief minister under the BN's rotation' of leadership among the communities, Musa has been pilloried by the opposition as inept and corrupt. LDP may suffer Political pundits in the state believe the fallout between the two could still have an impact in the coming elections and observed that during Prime Minister Najib's recent visit to Kudat, Chong's home town, the latter was not seen. Meanwhile, asked to comment on his secretary-general Teo Chee Kang's call last Sunday for the creation of more Chinese constituencies in Sabah, Liew who is also the MP for Sandakan said this would not be necessary. READ MORE HERE

Soi Lek dismisses ‘losing support’ report Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:16 PM PDT The MCA boss responds to a report on how a substantial number of people had left a party dinner early.  Teoh El Sen, FMT Dr Chua Soi Lek has dismissed speculations of dwindling support from the Chinese community following a news report of an "exodus" at a recent MCA dinner. The MCA president pointed out that there were thousands who willingly attended the Saturday event despite bad weather and many had stayed on. "Certain media was just playing it up. The event started late and the fact that so many came and paid for tickets means they are supporting us. "How do you explain the rest of the crowd that stayed on despite the rain?" he said during a press conference here. "The chairs, tables, and even plates were wet because of the rain," he added. China Press yesterday reported that some 20% of the 15,000 people at the MCA dinner called "Stability above chaos" in Johor left earlier. Organisers had reportedly reasoned that the early departure of the attendees on that day was to beat traffic jams. Meanwhile, Chua also responded to various issues concerning Pakatan Rakyat ranging from DAP chairman Karpal Singh's "one man, one seat" remark to PAS's apparent disapproval of the Halloween celebrations. READ MORE HERE

Planned mandatory mosques law may cause polarisation, says Sabah church group Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:14 PM PDT The Putra Mosque is seen shrouded with smog in Putrajaya June 12, 2009. — Reuters pic (The Malaysian Insider) ― An influential Sabah Christian group has objected to a proposed state law that will make it compulsory for mosques to be built in new housing areas, saying such a move may drive a bigger wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Borneo state.   The National Fellowship (NECF) Commission on Sabah Affairs (COSA) said that the proposal for such a blanket policy was misguided as there has never been any problem in gaining approval for the building of mosques and Muslim prayer halls in the state, unlike for non-Muslim places of worship that it says have been subjected to unnecessary delays in obtaining approval for their building plans and in land acquisition applications. NECF-COSA chairman Reverend Datuk Jerry Dusing said the current building by-laws are already working and saw no necessity for a change in the status quo "Why put (the building of mosques as) mandatory, as if Malaysia is only (made up of practitioners of) one kind of religion?" he told The Malaysian Insider after the NECF-COSA issued a media statement to highlight the issue. Sabah Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan had proposed that local authorities enforce the requirement of providing a mosque site for each low- and medium-cost housing project in Sabah to ensure Muslims residents could carry out their religious obligations with ease, state news agency Bernama had reported on September 21. Dusing, who is also president of the Sabah branch of Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), said church leaders had not been consulted prior to the proposal and only recently found out about it from reading newspaper reports. He said that previously, the state government would seek the views of the different religious groups before making a decision on such a "sensitive matter". He pointed to the 2007 controversy over the construction of a 108-foot high statue of Mazu ― as Taoists in Sabah call the patron deity protecting seafarers ― in mainly Muslim Kudat, a coastal town in the northern tip of Sabah He claimed the Sabah chief minister had discussed the matter with the different religious group leaders before deciding to cancel its approval first granted to the project in 2006. Dusing also said the state Barisan Nasional (BN) government had consulted church leaders when Muslims wanted to build a mosque in Penampang, which had met with objections as the western Sabah town was predominantly Christian. "Rather than making it mandatory, wouldn't it be better to have a discussion first to see the views of all religious groups and go on an approval process? Let those in the local authority decide," he said, adding that NECF-COSA was also concerned that non-Muslim house buyers may eventually end up having to shoulder the added cost to build the mosques passed on to them by developers. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/planned-mandatory-mosques-law-may-cause-polarisation-says-sabah-church-group/

Support the Indigenous People's Murum Dam Blockade Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:10 PM PDT   Dr Kua Kia Soong, SUARAM Adviser  The Penans have been blockading against the construction of the 944MW Murum Dam since Sept 26, 2012. More than 1,600 Penans from eight Penan villages (including one Kenyah Badeng longhouse) are affected by the construction of the dam which is now about 70% completed. Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), contractors and private companies involved in the project have been forced to use ferryboats or tugboats through the Bakun Dam reservoir to transport goods, machines, building materials etc. to the Murum Dam site. This is a new and different factor compared to the campaign against the Bakun dam in previous years. While we had built a campaign against the Bakun dam in the past, there was no action by the indigenous peoples affected on a scale comparable to the Murum dam blockade. The Penan communities affected by the Murum dam have shown a commitment to defend their rights and Malaysians must give them full solidarity and support their struggle in all possible ways. The Murum Penan communities are among the poorest in Malaysia. They have traditionally been hunter-gatherers but shifted to a more settled, agriculture-based way of life approximately 40 years ago. They rely on subsistence-based farming and hunting, fishing and gathering of forest products and the occasional sale of in-season fruit. Their livelihood has been adversely affected by low farm productivity and rapidly declining forest resources because of plantation and dam building projects.   The Bakun Dam Fiasco The Sarawak state government with federal government support, has been carrying out highly irresponsible economic projects to the detriment of the environment, the indigenous peoples' lives and the long-term interest of the Sarawak and Malaysian tax payers. The 2400MW Bakun dam project has already proven to be a major fiasco not only in terms of insufficient demand for its electricity generated but a disaster for the 10,000 indigenous peoples who were displaced from their traditional ancestral land to the slum conditions of the resettlement scheme at Sg. Asap. Those who cherish their heritage and human rights would describe their fate as ETHNOCIDE if they have seen for themselves the conditions at Sg. Asap. The total energy demand in the whole of Sarawak is only 1000MW so the government has been trying to attract the biggest energy guzzlers such as aluminium smelters which happen to be the most toxic as well. Another investment is a coal-fired power station to take up the excess energy. These environmentally polluting industries are then touted as part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE). In fact, hydro-electric power dams and toxic aluminium smelters are all industries rejected by the developed countries. None of these countries, especially Australia, wants to have toxic industries in their own backyard. But the Sarawak State Government is willing to have these mega projects for rather dubious purposes. The desperate chase for investments to take up the excess Bakun energy AFTER the dam has been built shows a total lack of economic feasibility studies which should have been done before the dam was built. Is it surprising therefore that many SCORE contracts have been given to companies owned by members of Chief Minister Taib's family? As if this Bakun dam fiasco was not enough, the Sarawak state government intends to build 12 mega dams in all which will strip the state of its rainforest and displace even more indigenous communities. The Murum dam is the first of these 12 dams.  The dam construction is being supervised by China Three Gorges Corporation and built by Chinese dam builder Sinohydro. After their massive investments in the Three Gorges project, you can be sure these Chinese companies are hungry for investments in other hydropower projects in Sarawak. With such a large development scheme, international best practice calls for a "strategic environmental and social assessment." Such an assessment looks at the overall impact that a large development scheme can have as was done for the proposed "Greater Mekong Sub-region" energy network by the Asian Development Bank.  No such strategic economic, environmental and social assessment has been conducted for SCORE. If the Bakun dam project is to be any guide, the Sarawak government's energy demand forecasts appear to be based more on nothing more than wishful thinking rather than detailed feasibility studies. Malaysian taxpayers, be warned that all these mega projects will entail an onerous debt burden on the Sarawak and Malaysian public. You can be sure that there will be electricity tariff hikes after the 13th general elections. There are many energy alternatives for Sarawak beyond large hydroelectric power projects such as small-scale hydropower, solar and other forms of renewable energy, energy efficiency measures, more efficiently run and managed power plants, among others. Above all, such environmentally friendly power projects respects the indigenous peoples' lifestyles while efforts can put into helping them with better transport systems, marketing channels and other forms of development they may require.   Murum dam violates international standards The Murum dam project is in violation of the international standards on indigenous rights as guaranteed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), of whichMalaysia is a signatory. The Murum dam is nearing completion but the resettlement report is still being withheld. As for the Bakun dam, all studies related to the projects have not been transparent. The affected Penan and Kenyah have stated that they have never been asked for consent as demanded by the UNDRIP. The project developer, Sarawak's state-owned electricity generating company, Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) has not provided indigenous communities with an opportunity to grant or withhold their "free, prior and informed consent" for the project as required by UNDRIP. Even in cases where there was agreement, however, it was neither FREE from coercion; the resettlement plan was not made known to the indigenous peoples PRIOR to the start of the construction, and they were not INFORMED by access to information about the project's impacts. The social and environmental impact assessment (SEIA) for the Murum project is seriously flawed.  International standards—including the Equator Principles and the IFC Performance Standards—universally require that the SEIA must be completed during the design phase, before the government approves the project and before construction begins. This was not the case with the Murum Dam Project. The SEIA process did not even begin until after construction on the project was already underway. The Sarawak government has not yet disclosed the Murum Dam Project's SEIA to the public or to the affected communities.   The Indigenous Peoples' Demands Without transparent access to the crucial information at the centre of this project, the affected communities were placed in an unfair situation when the Sarawak government asked them to negotiate a resettlement package. The monthly allowance to be paid after resettlement falls below the poverty level and ends after four years. However, the state government turned down the other demands of the Penan, which included compensation of RM500,000 for each family for the loss of their customary land. Their other demands were 30,000 hectares of land for every village, 25 hectares for every farming family, education for their children, a community development fund and rights to their land that is not submerged by the dam waters. The indigenous communities affected by the Murum Dam project have already issued a memorandum describing how the government could still remedy the situation.   Support the Murum indigenous peoples now! Sign the Murum Appeal at http://www.sarawakreport.org/murum-appeal or atsaveriversnet@gmail.com. You can support their blockade by donating to their cause at these two websites.

Who do you call? Posted: 30 Oct 2012 12:08 PM PDT Erna Mahyuni, The Malaysian Insider  "Kami polis. Kami boleh tanya, tahan dan tangkap siapa saja." (We're policemen. We can interrogate, detain and arrest whomever.) All M (she asked I not mention her name) wanted to know was why the two policemen on motorcycles were asking for her ID. It was a rainy night, M was driving. She saw a motorcyclist in her way and honked. He might not have seen her; she just wanted to make sure. She was being careful, she thought. The next thing M knew, two men on motorcycles were flanking her car. One of them berated her for honking at him. She explained why she did so and also pointed out that she had right of way. Again, he spouted the "I'm a cop and can arrest anyone" spiel. She asked if she could call her friend, a senior police officer, for advice. "Panggilah, saya takut apa?" (Call, then, what have I got to be afraid of?) M called her friend. Her friend wanted the policemen's names and numbers. And, suddenly, the "fearless" policemen were too afraid to identify themselves. They lied to M's friend on the phone, saying they only "wanted to help" her. In the end, the policemen went away leaving a very shaken M. M was lucky. Few of us can call up a senior ranked cop for help when being harassed by rogue members of the force. Thing is, we shouldn't even have to deal with it in the first place. There are decent cops. I've met them. But at the same time, we've all heard the stories or encountered "bad cops." Cops who ask for bribes. Cops who steal. Cops who turn a blind eye to crime or pretend to be too busy with paperwork to attend to crime reports. We are afraid of our policemen, for all the wrong reasons. To be honest, they scare me too. I've gone to make a police report and was ignored by the cop on duty because he thought I was a Filipina. It took me brandishing my IC at him for him to take me seriously. Then there were the cops who wanted to solicit bribes from me or make me get in a police car, all because they mistook me for a foreign worker. The cops need to be held accountable for the rogues in their ranks. They need to make it mandatory to show their identification numbers at all times. If a cop refuses to give his name and ID numbers, it shouldn't be a crime for a Malaysian to ignore him. The reality is that there are cops who are bullies. But when a policeman asks you to pull over, don't automatically assume he intends to harass you. Maybe your signal lights died. Your bumper or identification plate fell off. Give the policeman the benefit of the doubt. But when it's clear the "policeman" you're dealing is problematic, here's what you can do: Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/who-do-you-call/

The al-Bukhary story: how it all began Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:50 PM PDT   Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun was the President of USNO and the third Chief Minister of Sabah. Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed was the Legal Adviser to Tun Datu Mustapha and the Director of Yayasan Sabah, the foundation that was set up as the trustee of the state's timber wealth. Syed Kechik's famous (or infamous) nephew cum son-in-law is Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, another man of great controversy -- just like his father-in-law, Syed Kechik, and Syed Kechik's 'mentor', Tun Datu Mustapha. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Raja Petra Kamarudin An embarrassment of business opportunities, political patronage and debts. The Syed Mokhtar al Bukhary story. CT Ali, Free Malaysia Today Syed Mokhtar al Bukhary is like a king? First it was FLOM and now it is SMIK? (Syed Mokhtar is King). What will our king have to say about this pretender to his throne who also happens to be a tycoon – something which our king is not. All this came from that MP from Kinabatangan, Bung Mokhtar Radin. The first question I want to ask of this Sabah Umno leader is why has he got his beady eyes trained on this Syed Mokhtar guy? I am no fan of Syed Mokhtar but why is Bung Mokhtar breaking ranks with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in the same way he did with Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – and you know what happened to Shahrizat after that. Or is Bung Mokhtar taking a position to the rear of Najib's unprotected left flank ready to do battle against Najib? Or has Syed Mokhtar done an Abdul Razak Baginda on Bung Mokhtar? Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Remember what Razak Baginda did to Altantuya Shaariibuu? He did a runner on her once he was in the money! Did Syed Mokhtar not deliver on what he promised Bung Mokhtar? There may be loyalty amongst thieves but amongst politicians it is a scarce commodity. Today Najib, tomorrow Muhyiddin Yassin. Today one wife tomorrow two. This is the stuff Barisan Nasional MPs are made of… deceit, duplicity, greed, arrogance, large doses of libido and a misplaced self worth. But Bung Mokhtar's life is just a little sandiwara as opposed to the operatic saga that is Syed Mokhtar's. Is Syed Mokhtar too big to fail? I think the adage that when you owe the banks billions, your continued success in business is as much the banks' interest as it is yours rings true with Syed Mokhtar. READ MORE HERE: http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/special-reports/52437-the-al-bukhary-story (READ Umno's chief crony HERE) (READ The timber mafia is larger than you suspect HERE) ****************************************** Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun was the President of the United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and the third Chief Minister of Sabah from 12th May 1967 to 1st November 1975. He is considered by some as one of the founding leaders of Sabah and was an important party in the negotiations leading to the formation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963. In the first state election of 1967, USNO won 14 seats against UPKO's 12 and SCA's four. USNO then set up a state coalition government with SCA where combined they controlled 18 of the 30 seats. ****************************************** Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed was the Legal Adviser to Sabah Chief Minister Tun Datu Haji Mustapha bin Datu Harun. On 15th June 1967, Syed Kechik was appointed the Director of Yayasan Sabah, the foundation that was set up as the trustee of the state's timber wealth. That was more or less the beginning of Sabah's 'timber politics' that prevails until today. Syed Kechik's famous (or infamous) nephew cum son-in-law is Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, another man of great controversy -- just like his father-in-law, Syed Kechik, and Syed Kechik's 'mentor', Tun Datu Haji Mustapha. The rest of the story is self-explanatory. ****************************************** Muhyiddin Visits Tan Sri Syed Kechik's Grave (Bernama) — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin on Saturday visited the grave of Syed Kechik Foundation chairman, Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed, who died of old age and was buried at the Al-Bukhary Mosque graveyard yesterday. Muhyiddin was accompanied by wife, Puan Sri Norainee Abdul Rahman Seri, and Al-Bukhary Foundation executive chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and his wife, Puan Sri Sharifah Zarah Al-Bukhary. Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary Syed Mokhtar, who is the late Syed Kechik's son-in-law, said his father-in-law, who was also his uncle, died at the age of 81 at 3.41pm in his house at Jalan Sultanah here yesterday. He said Syed Kechik served as legal adviser to then Sabah Chief Minister from 1968 until 1975 and was political secretary to then Information and Broadcasting Minister Datuk Senu Abdul Rahman from 1964 to 1965. Syed Kechik left behind a wife, Puan Sri Sofiah Abdullah, three children and 12 grand-children. ****************************************** Feud over Syed Kechik's millions goes to High Court (The Star) - The children of the late Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed Al-Bukhary have gone to court to fight over the RM400mil estate he left behind. The High Court granted an injunction applied by his two daughters – Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira – to prevent their half-brother Syed Gamal from interfering in Syed Kechik Holdings Sdn Bhd's affairs yesterday. Syed Gamal, 45, who is Syed Kechik's only son from his first marriage, is not allowed to intervene in the administration, enter the premises and access the records and accounts of the company. Syed Gamal, the only male heir to the late Syed Kechik He is also barred from interfering in the duties of the company directors. The sisters, who are directors of the company, were not present but were represented by laywer Datuk Vijay Kumar. This is the second injunction granted by a court in the family saga that started after Syed Kechik's death last year. Syed Gamal had obtained an ex-parte injunction at the Syariah Court on Sept 14 to stop his 44% stake in the company from being sold or liquidated. Justice K. Anantham, who presided over the High Court case in his chambers at the Jalan Duta court complex here, ruled that the Syariah Court had no jurisdiction over the company because it is a corporate entity. Syed Gamal, who was with his cousin Syed Azman Syed Mansor Al-Bukhary, said his lawyers would appeal against the decision. "I will continue with my struggle to pursue my rights according to Faraid law. My rights have been denied almost all my life. This is not a struggle for myself but also for my family," he said when met outside the courtroom. Syed Gamal was represented by his three lawyers – Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad, Az-mi Tan Sri Dr Mohd Rais and Zulkifli B.C. Yong. Syed Kechik died at the age of 81 on April 10 last year. His son-in-law is Al-Bukhary Foundation chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. ****************************************** Syed Kechik's second wife, daughters lose appeal (Bernama) - The wife and two daughters of the late Tan Sri Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed Al-Bukhary failed in their appeal today to stop his (Syed Kechik's) son from his first marriage to be joint administrator of his RM400 million estate.  Justice Datuk Wira Low Hop Bing, leading a three-man Court of Appeal panel, ruled that the High Court had correctly given due regard to Syed Gamal's right to be co-administrator of his father's estate. He said it was the court's view that the acrimony between Syed Gamal and his stepmother Puan Sri Sofiah Moo Abdullah, 67, and his half-sisters Puan Sri Sharifah Zarah, 42, and Sharifah Munira, 44, was not a good ground to exclude Syed Gamal from being co-administrator of his father's estate. Low said allegations made by Sofiah and her daughters that Syed Gamal lacked knowledge of the father's business, that he (Syed Gamal) was a failed businessman in a T-shirt business and the subsequent sale of a Mercedes car by Syed Gamal were not valid grounds to remove his (Syed Gamal's) right to be considered for appointment as co-administrator. "Success and failure in life, business or any other activity is purely a matter of subjective judgment. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts," he said. The panel, which also comprised Court of Appeal judge Datuk Wira Abu Samah Nordin and High Court judge Datuk Azahar Mohamed, unanimously dismissed the appeal brought by Sofiah and her two daughters and upheld Judicial Commissioner Lee Swee Seng's decision given on July 30 last year that the late Syed Kechik's estate be jointly administered by his wife and three children. "In our view, section 30 of the Probate and Administration Act 1959 provides for the entitlement of all persons who are interested in the estate to be appointed administrators of deceased's estate. "We are unable to identify any error on the part of the Judicial Commissioner in appointing all appellants (Sofiah, Sharifah Zarah and Sharifah Munira) and respondent (Syed Gamal) as co-administrators of the deceased's estate," Low said. The panel ordered Sofiah and her daughters to pay legal costs of RM40,000 to Syed Gamal. Syed Gamal, 46, a cyber-cafe owner, is Syed Kechik's only son from his first marriage to Zainab alias Eshah Abdullah. The feud over the estate began after Syed Kechik died of heart disease on April 10, 2009 at the age of 80 without leaving a will. Syed Kechik was the father-in-law of Al-Bukhary Foundation chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, a billionaire listed as one of the richest people in the country. On September 15, 2009, Sofiah and her daughters petitioned the court for a letter of administration to the estate. On April 14 last year, Syed Gamal filed a caveat to stop his stepmother and half-sisters from being appointed sole administrators of his late father's estate. ****************************************** Kumpulan Syed Kechik Sendirian Berhad Kumpulan Syed Kechik Sendirian Berhad is the flagship corporation of the Kumpulan Syed Kechik Group of Companies with diverse interests in multifarious industries incubated and nurtured by Tan Sri Syed Kechik Bin Syed Mohamed Rahmat Al-Bukhary over the past three decades and more. 1. Nira Sendirian Berhad owns and manages its signature corporate address, the Syed Kechik Foundation Building (picture above). 2. Budiman Sendirian Berhad owns and manages Wisma Budiman. 3. Pasar Borong Development Sendirian Berhad holds vast prime lands situated along busy Jalan Ipoh. It also owns and manages a complete block of dual frontage four storey shop offices comprising thirteen (13) units at Block 28, Jalan 6/3A, Bandar Utara. 4. Castlefield Development Sendirian Berhad owns a choice plot of over two acres of commercial land in Puchong, Selangor. 5. Tenaga Minyak Corporation Sendirian Berhad owns and manages five adjoining premium dual frontage four-storey shop offices at Block 7, Jalan 2/3A, Bandar Utara. 6. Taman Melanti Sendirian Berhad owns fully refurbished units of Double Storey Shop Houses, Double Storey Terrace Houses and Single Storey Terrace Houses in the developed, mature and vibrant neighbourhood of Taman Seri Kluang. http://www.kskgroup.com.my/

Election dilemma among Indian voters Posted: 29 Oct 2012 08:11 PM PDT "In relation to the job placement in Government, we are now having a 3% of Indians in the government work sector and we will further upgrade to advance the current percentage up to 7%. In terms of privilege, the government has allocated 180 million Ringgit Malaysia for the Indians in terms to consolidate any business", said Komala. The Malaysian Times The Indian community makes up a majority of two million in the current population, and to picture, if Barisan National loses this majority of voters due to their decline in involvement of voting, how would it be possible for the ruling party, to prevail in this election? Comparing the votes posted for BN from year 2004 to 2008, there is a radical drop in the number of votes. In year 2004, studies reveals that the vote count for BN was 90.87 and in year 2008 the total amount of votes dropped to 51.50 even though the percentage of electorates shows a sum of 100.00% electorates participated in the voting. We could assume that social disharmony is an aspect to be taken into account for the decline of Indian voters. Under the umbrella of one Malaysia, we are all supposed to be united regardless of racial, religious or cultural backgrounds. Be it BN or Opposition, they are still serving the country in different ways; nevertheless they still contribute to the same responsibility; to make the country a better place to live instead of fighting over power. The dispute over racial harmony can be visibly noticed when the very day, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, publicly unveiled the 1 Malaysia logo and Tan Sri Muhyiddin  Yassin said, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Education, said " UMNO would fight to the last drop of blood to protect Malay rights". Highlighting the statement said above, has this probably affected the mentality of our Indian Community to not vote as they are perception that the government is biased? How can this type of biased statement be announced especially in a 1 Malaysia seminar? Shouldn't the statement be general and not too specific to ensure that the government is not mistaken by the Indians and even Chinese? This may be an explanation to why Indian voters are fading away time to time. COMMENTS To a further study on why Indian voters are declining; interviews were conducted by TMT reporter, in random with the public to observe their views on the decline of Indian voters. "I personally feel that there is a decline in Indian voters it is probably due to the distribution of wealth to the respective races, not on an equal basis and the Indians are looking for fairness", said Ahamad Azmi Alip, 36, a Bank Executive. "The Indians is not given adequate chance to fill the government jobs regardless if you are a Malay, then only you may be a part of the government sector, I also think that the current government should dissolve and new government should be established", said, Rajendran, 50, a driver.   "I would say it is all started from the government unfairness, and that can be visibly seen through the education system, whereby there is inequality when it comes to the receiving of scholarships and the entrance into local universities", said, Raaj Kumar, 22, a Software Engineer. In regards to these voices of the Rakyat, TMT reporter then carried out an interview with Datin Paduka Komala Devi, National Wanita MIC Chief, to give out her views based on the voices of the Rakyat. "We are doing our part for the Indians, I also know that many are dissatisfied about the government, but we are also doing our part as a government to serve all with benefits and privileges", said Komala. "We have set up SITF, Special Implementation Taskforce on Indian Community, which was established to ensure that Malaysian Indians are able to access the service, programs and projects of the federal government in a just fair and equitable way, which is wanted by everyone", added, Komala. "In relation to the job placement in Government, we are now having a 3% of Indians in the government work sector and we will further upgrade to advance the current percentage up to 7%". "In terms of privilege, the government has allocated 180 million Ringgit Malaysia for the Indians in terms to consolidate any business", said Komala. "Meanwhile about education, we have increased the amount of intake of students into the matriculation, and the scholarships will be given to those who have reached the standard qualification criteria". However, if they are not qualified for the scholarship, they still receive funds assistance from PTPTN thus they are still able to study, In addition to education fund assistance, MIED  also helps those who are in need of financial help for education". Komala also continued further by saying, "We are expecting a percentage of 70-80% of votes from the Indians for BN, because we have taken up so many initiatives for the betterment of the Indians", added Komala. Thus we can conclude that the, Malaysian government must focus on building a strong, impartial executive, legislative and judiciary system, as a result to keep up with the Malaysian society of today. The government must grow up and shed its childish race-based mindset.

White elephants of Penang Posted: 29 Oct 2012 07:17 PM PDT Wisma Central is an eyesore with its peeling paint and tired look. Many of the lots in the building are vacant. — Pictures by K.E. Ooi   By Opalyn Mok, The Malaysian Insider   Smack in the middle of George Town stands a tired-looking squat commercial complex with peeling paint and vacant windows that has seen better days. This is Wisma Central, a commercial building that used to be a hive of activities almost 20 years ago when it housed offices of airlines, travel agencies, hairdressers, tailors and also a college. Now, the building looks derelict and abandoned, with only a few businesses still in operation within the building. Midlands Park used to be a major shopping centre but is now a forlorn, almost forgotten complex with only a few retail shops still remaining while the rest have moved out. If one looks at the location of the building, it is the perfect place for any office or business to set base in as it is just a stone's throw away from Komtar and it is in Macalister Road, one of the busiest main roads in town. Still, despite its choice location and with ample basement parking space too, businesses have either closed down or relocated over the years. In Penang, huge commercial and retail complexes, especially decades-old ones, often have a very low occupancy rate of between 20 per cent and 70 per cent. These are the very complexes that are becoming the white elephants of Penang, with barely struggling businesses occupying a few lots within the buildings while more spanking new complexes are being built elsewhere. A few years ago, a CIMB research report stated that there is a commercial glut in Penang, with the state recording the lowest occupancy rate for office space in the country at 76 per cent and the second lowest for retail space at 70 per cent. Now, the situation has worsened as the occupancy rate for commercial and office complexes in the state continues to dip and more buildings fall victim to neglect and poor management. Some investors saw the potential in some of the complexes and decided to give these buildings a new breath of life and, hopefully, bring back the crowds and economic activities to these places. One of these complexes, Island Plaza, was given a facelift in recent years. This was one of the first upscale malls on the island located in Tanjung Tokong. The empty hallways of the mostly vacant Plazone in Pulau Tikus. Though sporting a new look, the occupancy rate for the mall was never like its heydays when people would flock there on weekends. Another one is Penang Plaza, also strategically located in Burmah Road. An investor bought over the building and gave it a new look, far different from its former "old-fashioned" appearance. Occupancy rate may have gone up compared to previous years but it is not attracting droves of shoppers either. In Pulau Tikus, two main complexes that are left to die a slow death are Plazone and Midlands Park as businesses moved out and occupancy drops to an all-time low. At Plazone, occupancy could be less than 20 per cent and its joint management body is at its wit's end trying to figure out a way to bring life back to the ailing complex. The eight-storey tall building now only has a small supermarket on the ground floor as the anchor tenant and a sporadic few businesses within it. "We are now thinking of how we can spruce up this place and make it a choice location for offices and retail lots again," said a management committee member. They have an uphill journey ahead as just a few kilometres down the road the more well-known Midlands Park is also suffering a similar fate. It is not only old commercial buildings that are suffering low occupancy rates and turning into white elephants but a few new ones are also going down the same path. Even as older retail complexes are suffering from low occupancy rates, new ones are being built. Penang Times Square in Jalan Dato Keramat, a stone's throw away from Komtar, has been suffering very low occupancy rates from the very start. Now, it is being promoted as a food mall with many food and beverage outlets opening there and yet, the occupancy rate is dismal compared to its nearest competitor, First Avenue. These white elephants, however, do not compute to a poor economic situation in the state as investors are taking up pre-war houses within the heritage zone and opening up restaurants, cafés and boutique hotels. READ MORE HERE

Did BN’s Bumiputera policies backfire? Posted: 29 Oct 2012 07:03 PM PDT Over the years, the National Economic Policy became an affair of the elite, leaving the masses stuck in the mirage of the 'Malay Dream'. Amir Ali, FMT The Barisan Nasional (BN) is having its back against the wall, accused of all sorts of misgivings and of being unfit to continue to rule the nation. But the real question is what has the BN not done for the majority community in the country? And this question leads us to a series of questionable policies that have failed the Malays, contrary to the assertions by Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The former prime minister has insisted time and again that the BN's policies have benefited the Malays, creating wealth for them and helping them to keep their political and economic strength. If that was the case, then why is it that a large majority of Malay citizens are still part of the middle class while the poverty level has also increased among the Malays? Why are there only a handful of really rich Malays (millionaires and billionaires) if the policies promoted by the BN for the past decades had really benefited the Malay-Muslim majority in the country? Why is it that many Malays are struggling to achieve a certain level of economic strength despite the National Economic Policy (NEP) favouring the Malays? The answer to that, according to Mahathir, is that the Malays are lazy and that instead of taking advantage of the facilities offered to them, they converted the "goodies", especially tailor-made for Malays, into cash machines. They sold their rights and businesses to non-Malays and this benefited the non-Malays while it only made those who were granted the goodies temporarily rich. It can be argued that parts of these assertions are true. There were always stories about how some greedy businessmen from the Malay community took advantage of the system only to turn the projects into cash cows. NEP, an 'affair of the elite' There were always stories of how they would sell the tenders, the projects and the contracts to others in order to make the easier money instead of being involved fully in the deals. And there were surely cases where some members of the majority community would siphon off the money rather than invest in the earmarked projects. All these tales have not helped the Malay-Muslim community in the country and it is this lack of tact from some people that has caused the community to be behind schedule of the NEP. The fact is that the authorities formulated policies that were made to benefit the masses but only a few, well-placed people with connections made it to the top. In their march to success, these members of the community failed to distribute the goodies and the benefits they earned to the masses. They probably thought their success were their personal achievements and was not achieved with a helping hand from the state. They also forgot, only too fast, that the financial, structural or logistic aid they received was designed to uplift the entire community. Over the decades the NEP became an affair of the elite, of those who were rising while the masses were stuck in the mirage of the "Malay Dream". The BN and Umno are trying very hard to get the support from the Malay-Muslims in the next general election. But the ruling coalition does not have the same "panacea" that they had before. The reason is that the Malay-Muslim community in general does not believe the NEP helped them or made them rich. No benefits Most of the goodies handed over by the BN during the course of this year have only been in the form of temporary aid and have been limited to a class of people that would probably have voted for the BN anyway. The Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, too, is not a populist step as it reflected that only those who are really struggling can benefit from this policy. Under the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi regime, there was much hooray about the new-found pro-Muslim policies under the concept of "halal" industries and businesses. READ MORE HERE

The al-Bukhary story Posted: 29 Oct 2012 06:52 PM PDT An embarrassment of business opportunities, political patronage and debts. The Syed Mokhtar al Bukhary story. CT Ali, FMT Syed Mokhtar al Bukhary is like a king? First it was FLOM and now it is SMIK? (Syed Mokhtar is King).What will our king have to say about this pretender to his throne who also happens to be a tycoon – something which our king is not. All this came from that MP from Kinabatangan, Bung Mokhtar Radin. The first question I want to ask of this Sabah Umno leader is why has he got his beady eyes trained on this Syed Mokhtar guy? I am no fan of Syed Mokhtar but why is Bung Mokhtar breaking ranks with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in the same way he did with Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – and you know what happened to Shahrizat after that. Or is Bung Mokhtar taking a position to the rear of Najib's unprotected left flank ready to do battle against Najib? Or has Syed Mokhtar done a Abdul Razak Baginda on Bung Mokhtar? Remember what Razak Baginda did to Altantuya Shaariibuu? He did a runner on her once he was in the money! Did Syed Mokhtar not deliver on what he promised Bung Mokhtar? There may be loyalty amongst thieves but amongst politicians it is a scarce commodity. Today Najib, tomorrow Muhyiddin Yassin. Today one wife tomorrow two. This is the stuff Barisan Nasional MPs are made of… deceit, duplicity, greed, arrogance, large doses of libido and a misplaced self worth. But Bung Mokhtar's life is just a little sandiwara as opposed to the operatic saga that is Syed Mokhtar's. Is Syed Mokhtar too big to fail? I think the adage that when you owe the banks billions, your continued success in business is as much the banks' interest as it is yours rings true with Syed Mokhtar. Colossal debts This is Halim Saad all over again. Shades of Amin Shah creeps into the picture while Tajuddin Ramli smiles at the irony of it all – another bumiputera businessman doing his national service the hard way – raking a debt of RM34.3 billion courtesy of his political masters aka Umno. There are countries in Africa that have gone comatose with debts less than that. This all too familiar comedy of bumiputera businessmen doing business the Umno way is good for a laugh if not for the real tragedy that will befall our nation when they fail. And fail he will. RM34.3 billion buys a lot of coconuts but what does he do with RM34.3 billion worth of coconuts? What do you do with RM34.3 billion worth of debt? And so Syed Mokhtar has a lot of troubled companies in his stable and counting. When does he stop, how does he stop and when will Umno allow their cash cow to stop accumulating debts? When will Umno ever learn? Some very rich Malay now becomes richer as his political patron makes him richer in order for this very rich Malay to pay for his political patronage. Very soon no political solution can be found to resolve the RM34.3 billion debt he has incurred. His ability to manage his political patron it is not matched by his ability to manage his RM34.3 billion debt. Soon the very rich Malay fades to obscurity… preferably somewhere abroad. We have seen this comedy of errors enacted many times before in companies and businessmen linked to Umno. With very rare exception, the Chinese businessman who profited from political patronage goes from strength to strength and at times even from one prime minister to the next one. Not the Malay businessman. He has an embarrassment of business opportunities thrown at him by his political masters. Even more than what he, his family, his relatives and friends can handle – even his driver too. The banks are tripping over each other in offering him more money then there are PAS supporters in Kelantan. And still in the end they all fail. An embarrassment of business opportunities, an embarrassment of loans on offer and an embarrassment of debts – all too familiar a scenario with Malay businessmen who owed their fortunes to political patronage. READ MORE HERE

RM1.05 bil suit against S'gor govt set for hearing Jan 11 Posted: 29 Oct 2012 05:44 PM PDT (Bernama) - The High Court here has set Jan 11 for the hearing of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor's (Syabas) RM1.05 billion compensation suit against the Selangor government over a water tariff dispute. Initially, Justice Datuk Mary Lim was scheduled to hear the matter today following the Court of Appeal's decision on Oct 8, which allowed the state government's application to set aside the judge's decision in allowing the plaintiff to amend its statement of claim. However, counsel Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal who acted for Syabas, told the court that although the parties were ready to go on with the trial, the plaintiff (Syabas) had already obtained leave to appeal from the Federal Court on Oct 23 to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision. Harpal also informed the court that the Apex Court had indicated the matter would be heard soon since it was a case of public interest. Justice Lim set Dec 17 for case management of the case for the parties to inform the court on the outcome of the plaintiff's appeal at the Federal Court. The plaintiff in its initial statement of claim had stated that the compensation should be based on RM1.89 per cubic metre, but later sought the High Court's permission to amend the quantum, to either RM1.82 or RM1.80 per cubic metre as stated in the water concession agreement. In the suit filed on Nov 10 last year, Syabas is seeking the Selangor government to pay RM1.05 billion in water tariff adjustment. Syabas claimed that based on the concession agreement, dated Dec 15, 2004, signed by the Malaysian government, the Selangor government and the company, it was given a 30-year concession to buy treated water from water treatment operators and to supply the treated water to the distribution areas in accordance with the terms spelt out in the agreement. Syabas said that through a letter dated March 31, 2008, it sent a document to the Selangor government to support its application to increase the gazetted tariff of RM1.39 per cubic metre to a new agreed tariff of RM1.89 per cubic metre for the third operations period from Jan 1, 2009 to Dec 31, 2011. It claimed that the defendant had failed to inform the company whether it had agreed to increase the gazetted tariff to the agreed tariff. Syabas also claimed that it had sent several letters to the defendant to claim compensation in line with the concession agreement but failed to get any satisfactory reply from the defendant. In the affidavit-in-reply, the Selangor government, through the State Secretary at that time, Datuk Ramli Mahmud, said the suit by Syabas was an abuse of court process, arguing that the water industry was undergoing restructuring as required under the Water Services Industry Act 2006 and the National Water Services Commission Act. At today's proceedings, the Selangor government was represented by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Fahda Nur Ahmad Kamar.

SAMM rakam pujian buat kerajaan negeri yang tangguh/halang AES dan SAMM terus ajak rakyat desak ... Posted: 29 Oct 2012 05:13 PM PDT AES celaru, ramai bantah khususnya dilokasi mengarut seperti 30km/j Jika ada masalah tidak ada ruang rayuan terpaksa terus hadir ke mahkamah dan rayuan atau masalah diutarakan dalam mahkamah sahaja. Bertambah sibuklah mahkamah negara. Yaser Sheikh Abd Rahman, Penyelaras Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia  Pelaksanaan AES terus mendapat bantahan termasuk beberapa pihak dari sebelah regim penguasa namun regim terus berkeras untuk melaksanakan. Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) dengan ini memuji tindakan Kerajaan Negeri Kedah, P.Pinang, Selangor dan Kelantan yang telah mengumumkan penangguhan sistem ini dilaksanakan di negeri - negeri tersebut. SAMM juga mencabar negeri lain untuk mengikuti langkah berani negeri yang menghalang pelaksanaan AES demi menjaga kepentingan penduduknya. kenapa bazirkan wang rakyat ? hujah AES tak guna wang rakyat tipu ! Regim berhujah tidak ada wang negara (wang rakyat) digunakan dalam perlaksanaan AES, ini satu pembohongan. Lihat gambar yang didedahkan oleh seorang peguam KASE, Zul Hazmi dalam laman sosialnya wujud kenderaan JPJ khusus untuk perlaksanaan AES. Adakah kenderaan ini tidak guna wang rakyat, seharusnya 'mobile unit AES' ini diwujudkan oleh syarikat yang membuat  untung beratus juta itu bukan habiskan peruntukan wang rakyat melalui JPJ lagi. dah terlaksanan AES baru nak bagi tender advokasi ? Kenapa tidak syarikat yang untung juta itu saja yang keluar peruntukan sedikit untuk membayar propaganda mengenai AES ini Itu belum lagi melihat bagaimana Jabatan Keselamatan Jalan Raya telah membuka tender advokasi media untuk membuat propaganda bagi rakyat menerima AES, berapa banyak pula wang rakyat akan terbazir lagi? Kenapa bukan syarikat itu saja mengeluarkan bajet kempennya sendiri? sebelah kiri saman lama yang minta maklumat pemandu dan disebalh kanan ialah saman AES yang tidak boleh pertikai terus kena maksima Pengguna jalanraya juga perlu tahu bagaimana sistem saman AES ini dilakukan. Ia bukan lagi notis seperti POL107A seperti yang dihantar selalu yang meminta butiran siapa pemandu untuk dikeluarkan saman, jika tidak dijawab baru pemilik akan disaman. Tetapi melalui AES saman terus dikeluarkan atas nama pemilik kenderaan dan kompoun maksima ditawarkan RM300 terus. Jika ada masalah tidak ada ruang rayuan terpaksa terus hadir ke mahkamah dan rayuan atau masalah diutarakan dalam mahkamah sahaja. Bertambah sibuklah mahkamah negara. Kamera AES di Slim River rosak kerana tapak nya yang tak kukuh, kalau dah pakar rasuah dan ketirisan bukan stadium runtuh pasang kamera pun runtuh.  Regim ini nampaknya begitu terdesak untuk mengutip wang rakyat dengan menggunakan sistem yang lemah seperti AES, mungkin benar ini semua kerana regim benar - benar terdesak dan bermasalah dalam aliran tunai maka rakyat menjadi mangsa. Maka sekali lagi SAMM tegaskan jangan salahkan rakyat jika ada yang mula bertindak merosakkan kamera AES yang jelas menganiaya rakyat. Sudah pun kelihatan beberapa imej kamera AES ini tumbang dan rosak tersebar dalam internet. Cuma sebab tidak kenalpasti sama ada dirosakkan atau kenapa ?  Sekian

You are subscribed to email updates from Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net