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Posted: 22 May 2013 05:18 PM PDT

A political analyst disclosed that despite BN's overall win in Sabah, statistics showed the ruling coalition had lost to Pakatan on popular votes "even among the Malays".

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political science lecturer Arnold Puyok said there was a "political tsunami in Sabah", but it "wasn't strong enough to cause significant change".

Lisa J. Ariffin, FMT

In the run up to the 13th general election, several parliamentary seats in Sabah were reportedly under severe threat from opposition Pakatan Rakyat.

In fact it was widely speculated that the outcome of these seats would be the "clincher" for Pakatan's Putrajaya aspirations.

But eventually that did not happen, noted political analysts who spoke at a forum here last night.

Despite the opposition's "Ini Kali Lah" wave which was widely spported by the Kadazandusun Murut and Chinese areas, they failed to loosen Barisan Nasional's grip on Sabah.

BN had secured 48 of the 60 state and 22 of 25 parliamentary seats as opposed to Pakatan's three parliamentary and 10 state seats.

Pakatan's failure to threaten BN's hold on Sabah came as a surprise to two political analysts, who had expected the opposition to capture "at least 15″ parliamentary seats in East Malaysia.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political science lecturer Arnold Puyok said there was a "political tsunami in Sabah", but it "wasn't strong enough to cause significant change".

"The opposition was making inroads. There were a lot of unhappiness in the Kadazandusun and Chinese areas," he said during a forum organised by Merdeka Centre here.

"With the rise of STAR (Sabah State Reform Party) and "Ini Kali Lah", a lot of Sabahans thought it was time for change," he added.

Swing in Malay popular votes

Arnold also noted that in Malay-Muslim majority areas in the state, support for Umno-BN had increased significantly in GE13.

"The BN-Umno vote bank remains strong in rural Muslim-Bumiputera areas. There is strong dominance by Umno," he said.

He then pointed out that BN was instead losing support in Kadazandusun and Chinese areas.

Posted: 22 May 2013 03:33 PM PDT

In Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's view, Malaysians 'must' remain silent about the unfairness of the electoral system.

Luke Rintod, FMT

Public outrage over Umno vice-president and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's childish tantrum telling Malaysians to shove off if they don't like the electoral system is far from over.

The 'wet behind the ear' Home Minister was quoted in the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia last week telling off those unhappy with the first-past-the post electoral system to migrate to countries that practice Single Transferable Vote (republics).

His retort set off an avalanche of criticism from the general public and political writers, including Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), and DAP leader Tony Pua.

Raja Petra dared Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to sack Zahid should he refuse to publicly apologise and resign.

Pua said that Zahid was being arrogant by denying Malaysians the right to a better voting system by telling them to migrate if they were unhappy with a flawed system.

Two days later, newly-minted Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaludin said that Zahid "was merely expressing his own opinion" and that "it did not reflect Najib administration's official position".

While most reasonable Malaysians are still furious with a curlish Home Minister, many, including Zahid, may not be aware that thousands of Malaysians have already left the country.

More than one million Malaysians decided to migrate but perhaps not for the reasons Zahid wished for.

People migrated mainly for jobs, opined a well known economist Dr James Alin in Kota Kinabalu.

In his paper "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (published in June last year), the academic wrote that Malaysia was experiencing a serious brain-drain problem.

Malaysia losing 'skilled talents'

The country, he noted, was losing highly skilled individuals aged 25 years and above with academic and professional degrees.

In 2010, there were 121,662 highly skilled Malaysians working in Singapore as compared to 66,452 in year 2000.

According to Alin, Malaysian emigrants to Australia in year 2000 was 38,620. But this increased to 51,556 in 2010.

Smilar trends were noted by the United States of America. The numbers had spiked from 24,085 to 34,045 in 2010.

In the UK it moved from 12,898 to 16,609 while in Canada it increased from 12,170 to 12,809. Other countries also saw similar shifts.

Emigrants to Brunei shot up from 6,438 to 10,208; India 1,509 to 4,503; China 2,655 to 3,496 and Taiwan 2,916 to 3,235..

"Malaysia needs talent, but talent seems to be leaving. With more Malaysians migrating, the skills and talents base will be shrinking," warned Alin.

He further said that in addition to higher earning potential and better career prospects abroad, Malaysians migrated to seek a better quality of life that includes superior education standards for their children, good governance and more political freedom.

Alin told FMT that the Chinese Malaysians who made up majority of the brain-drain feel that the Bumiputera policy has caused social injustice.

"They voiced dissatisfaction; they are fed up at being constantly reminded that Chinese have fewer rights than the Malay. Brain-drain is not a new phenomenon," said the economist.

Posted: 22 May 2013 03:21 PM PDT

A Rolls Royce and flashy jet cover his transportation, while a vast war chest has kept his political authority unrivalled in 32 years in charge of the resource-rich Borneo island state, which remains one of Malaysia's poorest.

(AFP) - Despite earning a civil servant's salary for three decades, Taib Mahmud, the powerful chief minister of Malaysia's Sarawak state, is reputed by critics to be one of Asia's richest men.

Taib, 77, and his family are accused of massive corruption and running Malaysia's largest state like a family business, controlling its biggest companies with stakes in hundreds of corporations in Malaysia and abroad.

"The amount of control he has is astounding. He has been able to dominate politics and society here for nearly four decades," said Faisal Hazis, a political scientist with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

But pressure is rising both at home and abroad for action against a man referred to by his harshest critics as the "thief minister" and viewed as the prime example of a culture of corruption fueling public disgust.

Swiss-based activists Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), citing financial records, last year estimated the 77-year-old's worth at $15 billion, which would make him Malaysia's richest person.

Such revelations are hugely embarrassing for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who faces a slide in support due in part to corruption blamed for bleeding the country of billions of dollars annually.

But Taib, a member of Malaysia's 56-year-old ruling coalition, is widely considered untouchable because the Sarawak parliamentary bloc he controls helps keep the coalition in power.

"We don't see the political will to address grand corruption like this and it could destroy the country" by crippling economic development, said Josie Fernandez, Transparency International's Malaysia director.

A 2008 US State Department cable revealed by WikiLeaks called Taib "highly corrupt" and "unchallenged", saying Taib-linked companies dominate Sarawak's emerging economy.

He and his family are accused of routinely taking kickbacks for lucrative government contracts or awarding the projects to companies they control.

A prime example dominates the languid capital Kuching -- the state-assembly building whose swooping, golden roof gleams like a crown in the tropical sun.

A Taib-linked company won the $98 million contract to build the structure, which opened in 2009 and is home to a legislature he controls. A similar story surrounds a futuristic convention centre nearby.

Taib's office declined repeated interview requests.

A member of the Melanau tribe, supporters see him as defender of the autonomy of Sarawak -- which is marked by Christian and tribal groups -- against the Muslim Malay-dominated federal coalition based on mainland Malaysia.

Taib denies wrongdoing, saying Sarawak must be developed for its 2.4 million people. His critics spout "a web of lies and half-truths wrapped around ignorance and twisted logic", he fumed last year.

But pressure grows, including in the rugged interior where Taib is blamed for decimating vast rainforests through logging and dam projects and evicting tribes from ancestral lands, sparking protests.

Philip Jau travelled for two days by road with dozens of his Kayan tribesmen to protest this week in Kuching against a mega-dam pushed by Taib on the remote Baram river despite local opposition.

"The dam is a curse from hell," said Jau, wearing a feather-strewn traditional woven cap. "Taib will benefit, but he is killing the people."

Jau fears the dam will destroy a river ecosystem the Kayan rely on, noting that tribes near the already-completed Bakun dam, Malaysia's largest, say that has happened there.

BMF head Lukas Strauman said Taib and his family are the "chief culprits in destroying one of the world's last great rainforest areas."

In December, Swiss parliamentarians called for a freeze on any Taib assets there, saying he had abused office "in a spectacular way". Swiss authorities are yet to respond.

Malaysia's anti-graft agency launched an investigation in 2011, but it is widely accused of foot-dragging.

Faisal said action is highly unlikely as Sarawak seats proved crucial to the federal coalition winning May 5 elections, showing Taib is "more important than ever" to the government. Premier Najib's office declined to comment.

Taib has gotten even richer since the polls.

Shares of Taib-linked CMS -- Sarawak's largest conglomerate -- have soared 65 percent following the ruling-coalition win, and the compliant state assembly tripled Taib's pay to nearly $400,000 on Tuesday -- his birthday.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Khamis, 23 Mei 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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