Day: November 14, 2007

Sin Chew Daily today reported from its sources that all the three members of the Haidar Panel established to determine the authenticity of the Lingam Tape had one common recommendation — to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

If this is true, then the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would have no option but to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry or he would be facing his greatest crisis of confidence in his four years as Prime Minister.

Then the questions are the terms of reference and composition of the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

In such circumstances, the Prime Minister should undertake a proper and meaningful consultation with representative personalities and groups to ensure that the Royal Commission of Inquiry when established would not become another divisive issue, either because of its restricted terms of reference, controversial composition or procrastination.

Such a Royal Commission must have full and untrammeled powers to inquire into the deep-seated causes for the series of crisis of confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary which have tainted Malaysia’s system of justice to one held in high international esteem and regard two decades ago to one looked askance nationally and internationally by all respectable jurists, legal and civic organizations.

by Martin Jalleh

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has trouble in understanding why 40,000 people took to the streets recently to submit a memorandum calling for electoral reforms, to the King.

The Minister is actually quite consistent in his lack of understanding especially when it comes to the right of assembly. Well, he had found it difficult to comprehend why 2,000 lawyers walked to Putrajaya to submit a memorandum on judicial reform to the PM.

Nazri displayed his sterling ignorance when he asked in parliament recently: “The opposition has won seats in the previous elections, especially in Kelantan, why are they calling for the Election Commission (EC) to be freer and fairer?”

The answer is rather simple — if they do not press for an electoral reform, they may even lose all their seats in the next coming general elections due to the farce, flaws and fraud that has been and still is increasingly evident in the electoral system.

Nazri told parliament: “… it would be pointless to try and understand the reason behind the rally as the brains of opposition members do not function well… the wires in their heads are severed. I don’t understand why they claim that the EC is unfair.”

Nazri was over-confident of the “wiring” in his own brains, for it was only recently that he had in fact quite loudly told opposition MPs “not to get over-excited about the ‘independence’ of the EC, when it does not exist” (Malaysiakini, 23.10.07)!

Nazri had added: “We all know that we have the EC Act. If you take that into account, the EC is bound to the legislature and it is also tied to what we would approve… So, don’t get too excited when discussing the EC’s independence because it cannot act freely — it is tied to the legislature.”

Contrary to what Nazri had claimed, the EC is established and given a specific mandate by the Constitution. It is not answerable to the Executive nor to the Legislature. In other words, Nazri’s brains are not functioning as well as he would like us to believe.

Nazri should not confine himself in the comfort of his air-conditioned office in Putrajaya. He should join the rakyat in the next walk for justice or electoral reform — get a feel of reality. It would enhance his short memory and prevent his thinking faculties from short-circuiting. Continue reading “Of Public Protests, Pondans and a Pea-Brained Minister”

The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES)-Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings had been equaled by the scandal that this Malaysian ignominy had been totally ignored by last week’s Umno General Assembly, whether by Umno delegates or leaders.

This shows the superficiality of the commitment of Umno leaders to the slogan of “Cemerlang, Gemilang and Terbilang” and to transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based innovative economy marked by a world-class university system.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had after the Umno General Assembly expressed his concern about the fall of Malaysian universities from the international league of best universities, but why wasn’t there a single reference to this shocking result in the Umno General Assembly, touted as the most important national political assembly of the country?

Further details have shown that Malaysian universities have suffered a very serious drop in the international league of the world’s best universities.

For the first time, there is not only not a single university in the Top 200 Universities list, there is also not a single university in the separate ranking of Top 100 Universities for five subject areas — Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities; Life Sciences and Biomedicine; and Engineering and Information Technology.

For the Top 200 Universities List, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) had fallen out of the ranking, with UKM plunging from 185th slot last year to 309th while University fo Malaya plunged from 192nd last year to 246th spot. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which was ranked as the only “outstanding” five-star university in a recent government survey, has fallen to 307th spot from 277 last year. In 2005, USM was in the 326th spot. Continue reading “Check annual 4-figure brain drain of STPM and Chinese Independent Secondary School students”

I commend the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for countermanding the decision of his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to bypass the Cabinet and defer consideration of the Lingam Tape scandal, in particular the findings of the three-man Haidar Panel.

Yesterday morning, Najib indicated that the Cabinet would be by-passed when he told reporters after opening the 35th Asean Chemical Industries Council Conference (ACIC) that the Government will assess in a matter of days the Haidar Panel report on the authenticity of the Lingam Tape.

Najib said: “Yes (we have received it). I don’t have time to look at the report yet (but) I would assess the report in a matter of days and I would discuss with the PM (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) on what to do.”

Najib’s announcement had come as a shock for it meant at least two things:

• That the top Barisan Nasional leadership in government are living in a world of their own, without any sense of urgency and completely cut off from the primary concerns of thinking Malaysians, in this case over the worsening crisis of confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary which had been rocking the country for nearly two months with the explosive allegations of the perversion of the course of justice contained in the Lingam Tape;
• That the Cabinet is not only “half-past six” but completely expendable. It was not consulted when the decision to establish the so-called Haider Independent Panel to probe into the authenticity of the Lingam Tape was made — when what should be set up should be a Royal Commission of Inquiry — and the Cabinet is again utterly irrelevant in the decision-making as to the next step to be taken after the submission of the Haider Report.

If the Cabinet is by-passed on the Haider Panel Report today, because Najib was too busy to read the report (it must be the thinnest and briefest inquiry report in Malaysian history), then the entire Cabinet should be censured for its irresponsibility and irrelevance. Continue reading “Haider Report on Lingam Tape – who is boss in Cabinet, Najib or Abdullah?”

Letters
by TT

13th November 2007

Dear Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz,
Prime Minister’s Department,
Bangunan Parliament,
Jalan Parliament,
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

Subject – : Parliament on 12th November 2007 And Bersih Rally.

Dear Datuk Seri,

With reference to the above subject, I, as a concerned rakyat of our beloved and peaceful country, Malaysia, if allowed and with much due respect, would like to comment on the words you used in the august hall.

Be it for opposition parties/people and/or to any other people who are gifts fm The Man above, words like ‘pondans’, ‘wimps’, ‘wires in their heads are severed’, ‘bodoh’, ‘racist’, ‘perkauman’, etc., to my honest opinions, should not be used in the august hall where people all over the world are watching us, especially with what is happening in our country lately. Also, especially coming from someone who is serving the country and her citizens under the prime minister’s department. Those kind of words like ‘pondans’, ‘wimps’, ‘wires in their heads are severed’, ‘bodoh’, ‘racist’, ‘perkauman’, etc., are, to my honest opinion, definitely uncalled for.

Yes, I, as a concerned rakyat of our beloved and peaceful country, Malaysia, know those may be one of the spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, but those kind of spur-of-the-moment thing has been happening very frequently lately and has been repeated time after time. Perhaps Malaysiakini and Youtube have tons of the articles and video recordings to prove it. Continue reading ““Pondan” – An open letter to Nazri”

Letters
by Loh Meng Kow

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the BERSIH gathering and petition were “tantamount to dragging the institution of the monarchy, and the king, into politics”.

PM AAB is underrating the wisdom of the King. When he makes his routine audience with the King before Cabinet meetings, what has PM AAB taken it to be? Does he consider it a chore having to brief the King on the affairs of the state, and the government plans of action? Does PM consider it a formality only, and that the King’s role was to spend time listening to what the PM had to say as though the PM was talking to a tape recorder, with no playback. The government was elected by only the majority of the population, but government actions affect all nationals who are equal subjects of the King. While the PM may be a PM for his family, or a sector of the population, the King has the welfare of the people of Malaysia at heart. Though the King does not directly implement policies, the King could offer his wisdom which the PM might not follow. We certainly have a thinking King. Continue reading “PM AAB insulted the King”

Letters
by Richard Teo

Mahathir was right when he said that we have a indecisive PM with half past six cabinet ministers. Even his accusation that his son-in law Khairy was calling the shots from the 4th floor of the PM’s office was proven correct.

During the recent UMNO General Assembly Khairy gave a long winded exposition why there should be a two tier subsidy system for petrol and diesel subsidy. He questioned the wisdom of giving subsidy to rich towkays who owned luxury cars. This racist insinuation of course implied that most rich owners were mostly Chinese while most Malays were driving around in Kapchais (Honda cub).

However, Khairy’s proposition would have been more creditable had he also said that subsidy for Bumis to buy houses should also be removed since it was also benefitting the rich Malay class. Why should non-Malays have to subsidise rich Malays to buy luxurious houses and condominium costing a few million? Shouldn’t we implement a housing policy that would subsidise those who are poor and irrespective of race. Continue reading “Khairy, Dont forget also to remove the Housing subsidy for Bumis”