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Second issue for Najib tomorrow – set up RCI to clear his name on Altantuya murder case and mega defence commissions

In his farewell speech as Umno President, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi conducted a public soul-searching on Umno’s crisis of confidence and test of credibility, asking: “Why are we suffering this fate, blamed to this terrible extent? Why are we now seen to be completely without virtue?”

Abdullah’s diagnosis is the same as the one I prescribed in Parliament on Wednesday, when I said Umno had become “power-crazy” (gila kuasa).

Abdullah admitted as much when he said the cause of the credibility crisis of Umno is because the party is “intoxicated” by power.

Abdullah said:

“We were intoxicated by our achievements and we become complacent. We believed that we had become all-powerful. We have put our own positions within the party first, instead of being concerned over Umno’s position in the eyes of our citizens and the nation.”

Continue reading “Second issue for Najib tomorrow – set up RCI to clear his name on Altantuya murder case and mega defence commissions”

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Umno – buffetted by winds of change

by Tunku Abdul Aziz
26 March 2009
MALAYSIAN INSIDER 4

A monolithic organisation is by definition slow to change. This description fits UMNO like a glove. As it lumbered into its 59th annual party conference, the collective mood of the general assembly was much less confident than it had ever been in its history.

There was really nothing to celebrate, certainly not the succession of Najib with all that huge and unsavoury media attention he is attracting internationally. Even here in Malaysia, where standards of public morality and ethics are much less vigorously applied to those in high office, there is a real feeling of queasiness and unease that Najib appears to be so cavalier about the critical need to clear his name against what he protests are unsubstantiated allegations of impropriety. Continue reading “Umno – buffetted by winds of change”

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M vs Pak Lah (Round 2) – Mahathirism vindicated, set to be dominant force in Najib premiership

Although Mahathir triumphalism was checked in Round One of the “M vs Pak Lah” battle in the elections for Umno Youth and Wanita leaders on Thursday, with the outgoing Prime Minister getting the upperhand, Round Two of the “M vs Pak Lah” battle for the top Umno posts yesterday saw Mahathirism vindicated and set to be the dominant force in the new Najib premiership.

With Abdullah’s proxy, Mohd Ali Rustam disqualified from the contest, Muhyiddin Yassin was elected Umno Deputy President with 1,575 votes, defeating Muhammad Muhammad Taib with 916 votes.

The three elected Umno Vice Presidents are Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (1,592 votes), Hishammuddin Husein (1,515 votes) and Mohd Shafie Apdal (1,445 votes).

Abdullah’s farewell speech to wean UMNO from the scourge of money politics and corruption did not go down well at all with the Umno delegates, as he was repeatedly booed when he spoke against “greedy and avaricious” Umno members who created “the negative perception that Umno is a corrupt party” and Umno members who “expect positions and projects”, “titles and awards”, “material fulfillment” while “the spirit of sacrifice, the spirit of struggle, the spirit of serving the people and country is fast fading away”! Continue reading “M vs Pak Lah (Round 2) – Mahathirism vindicated, set to be dominant force in Najib premiership”

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Scraping the bottom of the barrel for judicial talent

How to judge a judge
– a talk given to the Perak Bar on 7 March 2009 –
by N. H. Chan

The judge’s craft

Before anyone can hope to be able to judge a judge it is essential that he should know about his craft. It is only when you know of the judge’s craft that you will be able to judge the performance of the judges: it is only then that you will know the difference between the good and the bad judges. But before you go about judging them, remember the words of the most liberal of American judges, judge Learned Hand, who once wrote:

“… while it is proper that people should find fault when the judges fail, it is only reasonable that they should recognise the difficulties. Perhaps it is only fair to ask that before the judges are blamed they shall be given the credit of having tried to do their best. Let them be severely brought to book, when they go wrong, but by those who will take the trouble to understand. (Leaned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty, at page 110)”

So do take the trouble to understand, then, you may severely bring the judges to book whenever they go wrong.
Continue reading “Scraping the bottom of the barrel for judicial talent”