Month: June 2008

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has dropped a bombshell when its president Yong Teck Lee announced that its two MPs, Dr. Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) and Eric Majimbun (Sepanggar) would move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when Parliament resumes on Monday.

But will the bombshell land in Parliament on Monday?

With the ruling coalition commanding unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 11 general elections since Merdeka in 1957 until the recent political tsunami of the March 2008 general election, there had never been any no confidence motion against the Prime Minister in Malaysian parliamentary history. Continue reading “SAPP bombshell – a second political tsunami in next few days?”

By Farish A. Noor

Civil society, and the actors who occupy that public domain, exists for a number of reasons and one of the reasons is to keep all politicians and political parties in check. It would appear that the work of civil society actors in Malaysia today has been cut out thanks to the murky goings-on within and between the political parties of Malaysia on both sides of the political fence.

Hardly three months have passed since the landmark results of the 8th March Federal elections and already we see Malaysia transformed as never before: Despite winning 79 Parliamentary seats the UMNO party that has been in power for more than half a century is showing signs of internal division and fragmenting before our very eyes; bringing with its collapse the very real possibility of change in the mindset of millions of ordinary Malaysian citizens who were told for so long that the sun of the Barisan Nasional would never set. Well, with BN MPs running helter-skelter in all directions at the moment, it would appear as if that claim is about to be tested in no uncertain terms.

What is worrying, however, is the fact that the Pakatan Rakyat coalition is still in its infant stages and does not have the luxury of time on its side. Should the BN government fall, and that prospect seems more likely by the day, the PR should be ready to assume office at a moment’s notice. This can only be done if and when the PR gets its act together and all component parties of the PR agree once and for all that they will abide by the terms they had set for themselves; which includes the PR manifesto and the standards of the People’s Declaration which they had all assented to. Continue reading “PAS, Don’t fall for UMNO’s Trap!”

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

The latest jump in pump pricing by 42% has caused an upheaval in the economy and much unhappiness among motorists and the people. businesses are stalling, and there is undertainty about the future. the sudden severe rise has caused a social and economic earthquake.

The shocking increase was unnecesary, and here are the reasons why it was a bad mistake. Continue reading “A new oil policy – reform Petronas”

by Dr. Azly Rahman

I read this excerpt of a news story below with disgust.

‘… One-third of Malaysia’s schools do not have water and electricity, a minister said, pledging to fix the problem by 2010….

‘Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail told Bernama that all 9,806 schools will have access to basic utilities by the end of a four-year education development plan….70 percent of schools already have access to water and electricity. The other 30 percent are mostly located in rural areas, but “we are confident the problem will be solved by 2010”.

…Malaysia has implemented a series of five-year development plans with the aim of reaching developed-nation status by 2020..In the last national blueprint, announced in 2006, the government said RM1.15 billion would be spent to upgrade schools.’

All we continue to hear are slogans such as ‘2010’, ‘Vision 2020’, ‘developed-nation status’ and ‘billions of ringgit of funding’.

These cloud our vision of what schools ought to be. It is as if there is a ‘manufactured crisis’ going on: keep schools impoverished so that the government can keep making promises using empty slogans. The aim: only this government can continue to help those poor schools. This is the nature of mystification we have been fed with all these decades.

recall then education minister Najib Abdul Razak making a statement about “smart schools” –

“…that the first Smart School is being built at a cost of RM144.5 million. Apart from being wired, it would have a hostel for 800 students, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a hockey pitch, a hall and other facilities. Eventually all Malaysian schools will be operated on this concept. …”

Now we hear that many schools do not have water and electricity supply, let alone computers to make the schools and students smart. I think our children deserve better than empty promises by the ministry in charge of human intelligence and social reproduction. Continue reading “Smart schools vs sick schools”

Pakatan Rakyat Protest Oil Hikes Ceramah

Speakers: Anwar Ibrahim
Hadi Awang
Lim Guan Eng
Lim Kit Siang

Venue – City Stadium, Penang (Lorong Kulit)

Date: Sunday 15th June 2008 – 8.30 pm

by M. Bakri Musa

The government’s decision to revisit (and most likely do away with) the current teaching of science and mathematics in English is an instructive example of how an otherwise sensible policy could easily be discredited and then abandoned because of poor execution. Had there been better planning, many of the problems encountered could have been readily anticipated and thus avoided, or at least reduced. The policy would then more likely to succeed, and thus be accepted.

Ironically, only a year ago a Ministry of Education “study” pronounced the program to be moving along “smoothly,” with officials “satisfied” with its implementation. Now another “study” showed that there was no difference in the “performance” (whatever that term means or how they measure it) between those taught in Malay or English.

The policy was in response to the obvious deficiencies noted in students coming out of our national schools: their abysmal command of English, and their limited mathematical skills and science literacy. They carry these deficits when they enter university, and then onto the workplace.

The results are predictable. These graduates are practically unemployable. As the vast majority of them are Malays, this creates tremendous political pressure on the government to act as employer of last resort. Accommodating these graduates made our civil service bloated and inefficient, burdened by their deficient language and mathematical abilities.

This longstanding problem began in the late 1970s when Malay became the exclusive language of instruction in our public schools and universities. Overcoming this problem would be a monumental undertaking. Continue reading “Continue Teaching Science and Mathematics in English”

– a bystander’s report of the petrol price hike protest in Kuala Lumpur today

They came not in ones or twos, not in tens or hundreds, but by the thousands, desperately seeking a solution for inordinately huge fuel hike just ordinary Malaysians, who have no solution on how to cope with the current inflation.

They were young and old, male and female, participants who came from out station. We salute them for their fortitude, for the sacrifice, for their efforts. Shame on us KLites, I stand humbled by their initiative and gumption to come over from Kelantan and Perak.

Fellow KLites they are walking right now for you and me, from Masjid Jamek, Kampung Baru after the Friday Prayers, they held banners up. I could be mistaken, but I think Nik Nazmi, Seri Setia State Assemblyman was at the mike for a while. Their numbers could be two to three thousand and more. Unit Amal guys showed their professionalism and efficiency in marshalling the crowds and the public address system. Continue reading “Petrol price hike protest”

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has declared that he is prepared to be investigated over allegations he had interfered with the judiciary when he was prime minister.

He said he was not afraid of being investigated and would give his full assistance to the police.

Malaysians hope that Mahathir is sincere and truthful in pledging full co-operation in any such investigation and that he would not do another repeat of the Lingam Videotape Royal Commission of Inquiry where he pleaded a massive attack of loss of his famous elephant memory! Continue reading ““Boot camp for judges” – Mahathir should speak up”

Letters
by Toh May Fook

Thomas Freidman deliberated on the impact of the wealth that comes with the endowment of oil, on various oil-rich nations around the world and concluded that in many of these “less developed nations,” oil is actually a curse rather than a blessing. It actually promotes indulgence of every sorts, misallocation of resources, complacency, poor governance, abuse of executive powers, corruptions and all sorts of other social and political ills.

Back in our country, revenue from Petronas has contributed to 33% of the government’s annual budget, so we were told, but the accounts of Petronas is not made public and that leads to all sorts of negative speculations from concerned citizen. It defies logic that a national institution as important as Petronas which has contributed so much to the nation does not want to be transparent and gain even more respect from all fellow Malaysians. Unless as they say, benar benar ada udang disebalik batu.

The price of pump price of fuel has risen to a point that threatens the livelihood of most ordinary Rakyat, right thinking citizen can not accept the logic offered by the government and this can easily lead to political instability. As the issue has reached crisis proportion, it is ridiculous that the government still does not deem it necessary to open up the accounts of Petronas together with a comprehensive public review on the state of affairs in Petronas. Continue reading “The Curse Of Oil”

(Speech at the DAP Public Ceramah/Consultation held at Dewan Sri Mentaloon, Residen Rasmi Menteri Besar Kedah on Wednesday, 11th June 2008)

The Abdullah government would have fallen because of the 41% to 63% unconscionable and brutal oil price hikes if he is in South Korea, which saw the new South Korean President’s popularity plunging in less than four months from a presidential victory with the biggest margin in the nation’s history to a support rate of under 20 per cent and his entire Cabinet offering to resign – after a month of mammoth demonstrations against the planned resumption of US beef imports.

Malaysians are still puzzled as to the reckless and sudden manner in which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the unconscionably brutal petrol and diesel price hikes, after a Cabinet Minister had given the assurance that no oil price increases were on the cards until August.

The failure to announce a holistic package of mitigation measures to cushion the most vulnerable sectors from the sharp impact of the drastic oil price increases until five days later strengthened the impression that the decision was driven more by political than economic considerations. Continue reading “Unconscionable oil price hikes – Abdullah govt would have fallen if in South Korea”

By Farish A. Noor

There are ideas, and there can be stupid ideas; but to ban an idea simply because of its stupidity seems to be a rather stupid thing to do in itself.

Among the ideas that circulate in the congested bowels of Malaysia’s public domain is the somewhat nebulous idea of ‘Islam Hadari’; loosely translated at times as ‘civilisational Islam’ or ‘societal Islam’. Others of a less charitable bent have dubbed it ‘theme park Islam’, ‘Crystal mosque Islam’ and even ‘Badawi’s brand of Islam’. Branding aside, it would appear that this brand of Islam has come under close scrutiny and admonition of late. In May the Pakatan-led state government of Selangor announced that henceforth the state would no longer promote Islam Hadari and this was later followed up by a similar move on the part of the Pakatan-led state government of Penang.

The rationale behind this prohibition leaves us with some unanswered questions that might as well be raised at this point. Who called for the prohibition of Islam Hadari and on what grounds? And if Islam Hadari is to be banned by the Pakatan-led state governments, what does this entail for the Muslims and non-Muslims of Malaysia? What, in the final analysis, was the objective of this ban? Continue reading “Islam Hadari and the Politics of Banning”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the de facto Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim have both poured cold waters on calls for an inquiry into the latest allegation levelled by High Court judge, Justice Datuk Ian Chin against former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

“No need…there will be no end to this. Instead, we will carry out reforms to restore confidence in the judiciary” said Abdullah.

“Another inquiry will not reveal anything more than what we already know. It will be a waste of time and money. Instead, we need to look at ensuring such incidents do not happen again…” said Zaid.

Both cannot be more wrong.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry into the two decades of judicial darkness, including the boot camp for delinquent judges, is vital and imperative as critical test of the political will of the Abdullah administration to fully restore public confidence in the system of justice in Malaysia. Continue reading “RCI on boot camp for delinquent judges – critical test of Abdullah’s political will for judicial reforms”

By Farish A. Noor

Dialogue is a funny business, particularly when it happens to be dialogue of the inter-civilisational and inter-religious kind. Having just attended yet another Dialogue between Islam and the West in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I find myself compelled to pen these thoughts before my blood pressure rises any further and I risk doing serious damage to myself and the furniture in my office…

The theme of the dialogue conference I attended was ‘Islam and the West: Bridging the Gap’. Now, allow me to state some rather commonsensical yet important observations at this point. If we were to begin the dialogue process by stating that there exists a gap between the Western and Muslim worlds, then in a sense we have introduced the very same problem that we wish to rectify in the first place. How and why has such a gap emerged between the West and Islam; what are the historical and more importantly, political, processes and mechanisms that contributed to this gap; and do Muslims and Westerners perceive there to be a gap in the first place?

It is important to emphasise again and again that the Western and Muslim worlds have been among the oldest civilisational neighbours in the history of humanity. After all, the Muslim world has lived side-by-side next to Western Europe for more than 1,400 years; and if after such a long period we still do not understand each other then we really must be the worst of neighbours. History, however, is replete with examples and instances of genuine dialogue and interaction in all forms and all registers: from the cultural-intellectual borrowing and cross-fertilisation that took place in both communities leading to the renaissance of both the European and Muslim worlds to the enduring traces of cross-cultural contact and appreciation that exists in the hybrid pop culture of both societies until today. Continue reading “The Business of Dialogue”

The sacking of Sanusi Junid, who was formerly Cabinet Minister, Kedah Mentri Besar and Umno secretary-general, as International Islamic University (UIA) president because he had left Umno together with former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, is most shocking, deplorable and testimony that the Abdullah administration is not ready for a “first-world infrastructure, first-world mentality” culture to catapult Malaysia into the ranks of fully developed nations.

The UIA termination letter dated June 2 but which Sanusi received only yesterday (eight days later) did not give any reason for the abrupt sacking although his contract is not due to expire for another two years.

It would appear that quitting Umno has become a proper reason for the sacking of administrators and academicians in Malaysian universities. Continue reading “Sanusi sacked as UIA President – Abdullah not ready for “1st-world infrastructure, 1st-world mentality””

Blast from the Past

This is a statement I issued on 12th June 2001 calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Judicial Independence which would also investigate into Justice Muhammad’s shocking expose of telephone directive from a judicial superior to strike out the Likas election petitions without a hearing as well as similar directives to other election judges in Sabah and Sarawak:

(Petaling Jaya, 12.6.2001 Tuesday): Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang deserves the gratitude of the nation which is seeking to restore national and international confidence in the judiciary for exposing the telephone directive from a judicial superior in September 1999 to strike out the Likas election petitions without a hearing.

Yesterday, Muhammad Kamil said that the Likas election petitions were brought to his court in mid-1999, following the Sabah state general elections on 13th March 1999.

He said that after many preliminary objections were raised by the lawyers, he announced on September 24, 1999 that he was setting aside technical objections in favour of justice.

Muhammad Kamil said: “That started it. That’s when the phone call came.”

He said he told the caller, who had identified himself, to “drop me a note for that” but it never came. The hearing of the petitions then began on Sept 27, 1999.

Muhammad Kamil said he had disclosed the identity of the person to Chief Justice Tan Sri Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah and related the incident to several other judges in Sabah and Sarawak at that time, as they had confided in him that they had also received similar directives from the same person on election petitions before them. There were three other election judges in the two States. Continue reading “Revisiting the judicial darkness of the past two decades”

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Borneo Post

High Court judge makes explosive judicial disclosures
By Danny Wong

SIBU: A High Court judge here yesterday made some startling revelations at the commencement of the proceedings of the election petition filed by the DAP candidate for the Sarikei parliamentary seat, Wong Hus She, to declare the result of the March 8 general election for the seat void.

The Barisan Nasional candidate, Ding Kuong Hing, won the seat with a slim majority of 51 votes.

Justice Datuk H C Ian Chin informed the parties in open court that he had certain disclosures to make at the start of the proceedings, saying he was doing so to forestall any complaints that might be made by the parties later.

He said complaints had been made against him in an earlier case that he had failed to disclose the detention of his father and brother during the time of the Mustapha regime in Sabah in late 1969 and the early 1970.

Chin then proceeded to make his disclosure the contents of which could only be described as explosive, coming hot on the heels of the findings of the Royal Commission in the Lingam video tape. Continue reading “High Court judge makes explosive judicial disclosures”

The first of many questions that come to the mind of Malaysians on the RM2 billion cost-cutting package announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is:

If the government can increase oil prices from 41 to 63 per cent, why can’t it slash the entertainment allowances of cabinet ministers and deputy ministers by 50% and not just a paltry 10%?

The question becomes all the more poignant when it is disclosed that the current entertainment allowances are RM18,865 for the prime minister, RM15,015 for the deputy prime minister, RM12,320 for ministers and RM6,000 for deputy ministers.

What about all the other allowances, including tips allowances which run into hundreds of ringgit a day, which ministers and deputy ministers are entitled to? Continue reading “Why not slash entertainment allowances of Cabinet Ministers by 50%?”

Letters
by Dr. ASM

Harga minyak kita jauh lebih murah jika dibandingkan dengan negara jiran. Kenaikan harga tak dapat dielakkan lagi. Rakyat digesa ubah cara hidup. Itulah antara kenyataan yang menguasai dada akhbar dimasa ini. Semua ini seolah-olah memperbodohkan rakyat Malaysia.

Harga minyak kita jauh lebih murah dari negara jiran, Singapura, Thailand dan juga beberapa negara lain. Jangan bandingkan harga kita dengan negara jiran yang bukannya pengeluar minyak. Bandingkanlah harga kita dengan negara pengeluar minyak lain (Iran(0.35), UAE (1.19), Arab Saudi (0.38), Venezuela (0.16), Mesir (1.03), Bahrain (0.87), Qatar (0.68) , Kuwait (0.67), Nigeria (0.32) dll). Jangan fikir rakyat Malaysia bodoh dan mudah diperdayakan dengan fakta dan perbandingan yang tidak tepat.

Rakyat digesa ubah cara hidup. Kita disuruh ubah, tapi pemimpin semuanya masih berkereta mewah. Kerajaan sepatutnya ubah cara berbelanja. Tangguhkan dulu projek mega. Tukar semua kereta mewah kepada Proton Perdana. Barulah cakap serupa bikin. Continue reading “Minyak Oh Minyak…!”

Anwar Ibrahim is reported yesterday as saying that “This year is a good timing for a by-election”, with some newspapers like Sin Chew Daily giving it page headline treatment.

I will go one step further. There is no better time than NOW for a by-election for Anwar to get back to Parliament in the wake of the nation-wide anger and outrage at the unconscionably drastic and hefty oil price increases of 41 per cent for petrol and 63 per cent for diesel with no overall plan to cushion their painful impact on the vulnerable sectors of the population.

There is also no awareness or consciousness of the need by the Abdullah government and leadership to set an example of radical change in lifestyles and government expenditures as well as to be fully accountable for the Petronas billions and to begin to institute good governance of accountability, transparency and integrity.

Let the great battle to get Anwar back to Parliament begin!

by M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com

With Malaysia forced to end or at least reduce its petroleum subsidy, it is well to learn from the experiences of other oil-producing countries.

There are enough lessons in the world today on how we should manage our precious God-given oil bounty. Prudently done, as in Alberta (Canada) and Norway, it would bring peace and prosperity. Anything less and it would be a curse; the new wealth would breed corruption and tear the socioeconomic fabric of society, as seen in today’s Iraq and Nigeria.

I would rather that Malaysia emulates and enhances the Albertan and Norwegian models. Malaysia should, like Canada and Norway, remove all subsidies on petroleum products. This would encourage conservation. It would also prod Malaysians into the global economic reality instead of being insulated from it.

In order for this giant step to be accepted, the government must divert the savings into a separate trust fund for use by future generations when our oil would run out, with a small portion devoted for current use in subsidizing cooking gas for the poor, and users of public transportation. Continue reading “Ensuring Our Oil Bounty Will Not Be A Curse”