Open Letter to Prime Minister and Cabinet
YAB Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Cabinet Ministers, Putrajaya.
YAB/YB,
Firstly, let me start by congratulating Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his appointment as Prime Minister and all the Ministers of the first Najib Cabinet.
The Najib Cabinet saw the removal of seven Ministers in the old Abdullah Cabinet, namely Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Home); Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Tourism), Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib (Rural and Regional Development), Senator Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz (Prime Minister’s Department), Datuk Ong Ka Chuan (Housing and Local Government), Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed (Works) and Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (Federal Territories).
No one shed any tears for the dropping of the seven Ministers in the Abdullah Cabinet.
However, Malaysians are outraged at the new set of Ministers in the Najib Cabinet, for they are not only another set of “old faces” but include 11 new Ministers or Deputy Ministers who entered Parliament from the backdoor of the Senate.
Worse still, they include “political rejects” like Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin who were trounced by the electorate in last year’s political tsunami in the March 8 general elections, making the Najib Cabinet even more unrepresentative and unpopular than the second and last Abdullah Cabinet.
As a result, no new Cabinet in the nation’s 52-year history could have got off with a worse start than the present one.
On 25th March 2008, I had sent an urgent fax to the Prime Minister on the eight matters which the second Abdullah Cabinet should focus on at its first meeting the next day to show that it was capable of responding to the March 8 political tsunami and be on top of the changes demanded by Malaysians.
These eight issues concern the immediate and unconditional release of the five Hindraf leaders, restoration of national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary; comprehensive parliamentary reforms and modernisation; an all-out drive to eradicate corruption; leadership by example on integrity by Ministers and Deputy Ministers; the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC); public inquiry into the RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal and an all-party inquiry to enhance Malaysia’s international competitiveness to enable the country to successfully face the challenges of globalization.
If the second and last Abdullah Cabinet is to be evaluated on its success based on the key performance indicators (KPIs) on the eight issues I had outlined, the assessment must be one of dismal failure.
The new Najib Cabinet cannot disclaim responsibility for the dismal failure of the old Abdullah Cabinet to carry out meaningful reforms, as 25 of the 29 Ministers in the Najib Cabinet or a walloping 86.3 per cent were in the old Abdullah Cabinet, with two as Deputy Ministers!
I am taking this opportunity on the eve of the first working meeting of the Najib Cabinet tomorrow to ask the new (actually mostly old) Ministers to focus on eight issues:
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Convene emergency meeting of Parliament before end of April to secure a motion of confidence from the majority of Members of Parliament, not only for the most unpopular and unrepresentative Cabinet in the nation’s history but also in view of the national and international crisis of confidence over Datuk Seri Najib’s credibility, integrity and legitimacy as Prime Minister.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi secured a motion of confidence in Parliament in his first week as the fifth Prime Minister in November 2003 while Datuk Hussein Onn convened an emergency meeting of Parliament to secure a motion of confidence in his first fortnight in office as third Prime Minister, when succeeding Tun Razak in January 1976 when Tun Razak died of leukaemia in London.
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Spell out clearly whether the new Najib motto of “1Malaysia” is just a camouflage for “Ketuanan Melayu”, itself a camouflage for “Ketuanan Umnoputras” – which was quite explicit in the Mingguan Malaysia interview of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The MCA response that Muhyiddin’s interview is contrary to Najib’s “1Malaysia” lacks credibility, especially with Muhyiddin’s pledge yesterday to help Najib achieve his vision of 1Malaysia.
The least the Najib Cabinet should do tomorrow is to repudiate Muhyiddin’s retrogressive and racist views in his Mingguan Malaysia as not representing the 1Malaysia objective, that 1Malaysia is not equivalent to the “Ketuanan Melayu” concept, and the whole Cabinet should apologise for Muhyiddin’s interview if Muhyiddin is not prepared to make a personal apology over it.
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Declare corruption as Public Enemy No. 1 and ask all Ministers who are not prepared to support an all-out war against corruption to resign.
The big difference between the first 11 days of the first Abdullah premiership with that of Najib is that Abdullah had already repeatedly declared a war against corruption, while Najib had not even mentioned “corruption” once in the past 11 days.
In his maiden speech on his fourth day as Prime Minister, made in Parliament on November 3, 2003, Abdullah pledged to lead a government that was “clean, incorruptible, modest and beyond suspicion” – none of these four qualities had even been mentioned by Najib in his 11 days as Prime Minister!
It is sad public knowledge that the Abdullah premiership failed to “walk the talk” and chalked up an abysmal failure in anti-corruption efforts, as reflected in the plunge of Malaysia’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 47 in 2008.
But this failure cannot be blamed on one person, Abdullah, but must be shared by the new Najib Cabinet as over 86 per cent of the Najib Cabinet were in the previous Abdullah Cabinet.
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Give top priority to the economic crisis. The Najib Cabinet should focus on rallying and uniting all Malaysians to face the worst global economic crisis and stop playing political games which only divide the people and undermine Malaysia’s resilience and capability to recover from the economic crisis in the shortest possible time. This is why the two economic stimulus packages of RM7 billion and RM60 billion respectively had failed to make any significant impact to address the economic crisis because their conception and implementation were driven by politics rather than economics.
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End the undemocratic, unethical, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak. The worst example of the Najib premiership playing divisive politics when the country is facing a deepening economic crisis following the global financial meltdown is the undemocratic, unethical, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak. The Cabinet should heed the clear messages in the Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau by-elections on April 7 and end the two-month political and constitutional stalemate by returning the mandate to the Perak voters. Dissolve the Perak State Assembly and hold Perak state general election so that the people of Perak and Malaysia can unite to “fight economics” instead of “fight politics”.
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Police must get back to their first job to ensure personal safety of citizens, visitors and investors and check spiralling crime.
The latest case of a Singaporean, Kalaiarasan Thorasamy, 42, butcher, who was killed on his way to visit his nephew in Johore on Sunday night when he was set upon by a gang of parang-wielding men, together with a spate of horrible crimes in Johore Bahru in the past few days, have again accented the notoriety of Johore Bahru as the crime capital in the country – and the failure of the police to carry out its most basic responsibility to reduce crime and to make Malaysians, visitors and investors safe in the country.
It was to ensure that Malaysia has an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service which could keep crime low and uphold human rights that the Royal Police Commission announced by Abdullah in his First 100 Days recommended the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).
One of the biggest failures of the Abdullah premiership is its inability to implement the IPCMC proposal.
The Najib Cabinet cannot send a clearer message that it is serious about implementing the Royal Police Commission proposals for an world-class police service, to keep crime low and end police abuses like the Kugan death in police custody, than to announce that it is committed to the establishment of IPCMC.
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Repeal ISA and all draconian and undemocratic laws. To demonstrate that Najib is sincere and serious about a “comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act”, the Cabinet tomorrow should make a three-point commitment, viz:
- that the government would not resort to the ISA detention-without-trial law pending the review and announce the suspension of the detention-without-trial provisions of ISA for two years;
- that the ISA review, which include the repeal, is part of a comprehensive review of undemocratic, repressive and draconian laws including the Police Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Act, etc.
- that the “comprehensive review” would be conducted by an independent and credible Royal Commission comprising members respected by Malaysians for their human rights record and work.
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First-World Parliament – full commitment to comprehensive parliamentary reform and modernization including an Opposition MP to head the Public Accounts Committee, ministerial status for Parliamentary Opposition Leader, a full Select Committee system headed by Parliamentarians where every Ministry is shadowed by a Select Committee and the allocation of Opposition Days in Parliament where the parliamentary business is decided by the Opposition.
Najib should, as far as possible, avoid appointing unelected people as ministers or senators. These unelected people are not entrusted by the rakyat to speak on their behalf; how dare they exercise authority over them (rakyat).
Like most things in Bolehland, the appointment of ministers and deputy ministers is not based on meritocracy. It is based on the UMNO system of rewarding those that they think are necessary to be rewarded, be it the need to push a certain agenda, or the need to pacify certain minorities. Semi Value now says that if Koh Tsu Koon could become a minister via the back door, then the MIC leader should also be given a ministerial post via the back door.
Najib is about to announce his new council of economic advisors, and the chairman of the council will have full ministerial status, with the right to sit at weekly cabinet meetings, and the right to have his own staffing and office space. Bloated cabinet, bloated bureaucracy but do they care ? Worse, the front-runner for the post is none other than Diam Diam Daim. Daim’s boys are back in town planning for the return of the good old days where concessions and land can be given quietly to those in power.
Hallelujah !
Doncha worry, samy boy. You will soon be appointed the Honorable High Priest of Hindu Hadhari, along with Kayves as the Archbishop of Kristian Hadhari and Ong Ka Cuan as the High Lama of Taoist Hadhari. You see, not all political rejects can be appointed as senators.
Yeap I am pretty disappointed too, NR’s appointed cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. On one hand he rid of the old cows,on the other hand he brought back the rejected ones.Both old and rejected cows are more or less the same,so simple yet NR didn’t have the wisdom differenciating it. With more than 100 elected MPs in his hand but still pick some old and rejected apples,was indeed a bad choice. Why are those politically eligible elected MPs not selected ? Are they not qualify ,not suitable to sit in his cabinet ? Or maybe NR thought these guys like some talk alot of sh+ts and corrupted,coming to conclusion the rest are all the same kind ie big mouths,alot of sh+ts and crrupted as well. If that’s the case,how was it that NR didn’t have the wisdom again to seek for alternative sources such as the private sectors professionals instead of the old and rejected cows.After all , all his gang members have given him a blank cheque,the so called ” prerogative “to seek and appoint his cabinet team. In view of this political scenario , NR and cabinet team,my humble opinion is that he is pretty unlikely to perform well as CEO of our beloved Malaysia.
why lks being so prejudice against losers of previous GE. though CMF and sharizat lost, they lost because of opponents’ well-crafted rhetoric and false accusation, not because of their performance as government servants – their achievements and experience in ministry and government are acceptable and lauded by public. look what CMF has done in PJU during her days as MP. even thestar in its sunday paper commited to publish 2 full pages story of her dedication and hardwork serving the public. so, does people like her and sharizat not qualify to be part of the government executives even they lost in election. what a myopic thought….
The Kalaiarasan Thorasamy story is horrific, but I see again that Malaysians have put a dying person in a car and driven them to a clinic. Is there no program of public education by the Health Ministry to inform Malaysians what to do in the event of an emergency? If you’re not a trained medic, manhandling a seriously ill person can very likely worsen their condition. Worse, clinics are not usually equipped to cope with dying people.
Why don’t Malaysian call ambulances? Our family doctor here tells me it’s the sensible thing to do, but also says that very few of his clients ever would. He confirms that the ambulances are staffed by trained paramedics, that they do come promptly in our area when called, and that there is little he can do (even though he’s widely regarded as one of the better doctors in our area) for seriously hurt or ill people, other than call an ambulance.
When we lived in the UK, we regularly received leaflets showing in pictures what to do in various kinds of emergencies. The more complicated procedures are available in other languages (including Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia, for one pamphlet my wife phoned to ask for when she didn’t believe it was true!). We’ve never seen anything like that here. I know about the overseas investments, eye-poppingly expensive ‘consultation’, exotic foreign totty and posh cars, but what does the Malaysian government spend its money on that is of any lasting value to ordinary citizens?
The personal safety of Malaysian citizens could be greatly improved even with a simple mailshot reminding people to phone ambulances. But there isn’t even that. Why do Malaysians vote for people who obviously don’t care whether their voters live or die?
Why don’t Malaysian call ambulances? OrangRojak
If you know the efficiency of Malaysian ambulances, I think you’d also try to get private transport for your patient. Most government ambulances don’t work anymore as they are poorly maintained. In fact the government is about to approve a proposal to buy 200 ambulances so that the well-connected individuals could make a commission on them.
This is a typical response from Malaysian ministers. If there is a problem, identify a solution that makes the most money for the well connected. Taxi drivers overcharging and not using the meter ? Don’t worry, we have a coupon system where the lucky managers of the system get a “toll” from the fares. Bootleg liquor becoming common ? Don’t worry, we have a hologram proposal that charges a few ringgit for each sticker to differentiate bootleg from original.
Beware those twisted the DPM comments for saying that Chinese was ungrateful will be hahaha remember the Penang comments?
Now Chinese paper was accuse of twisted the DPM comments!!! who right who wrong, those so call Chinese right or wrong always at the beating end. Such was the arrogant of the boss party. This was another reason why so call Chinese did not vote BN this time round.
It is quite easy these days to check who said what and when.
One problem is that some phrases may be taken out of context and it will give a different meaning to what was intended.
But the new Cabinet leaves much to be desired – it is still way too large and contains many political rejects.
One set of dead wood replaced with a new set of dead wood?
http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2009/04/malaysiakini-and-continuing-racist.html
Uncle Kit always ask UMNO and BN to do the impossible things.
Political rejects can also be Minister??? BN have no capable leaders, ah…close shop lah! What about the feeling of the voters who threw them out? People in PJU will be hopping mad that Chew Mei Fun can have a Ministerial post despite getting her #$%@ whipped by Tony Pua.
One thing about Malaysian Cabinet.
How many of the appointed ministers/duputy have relevant experience/qualification to do the jobs?
Almost NON.
Playing politics to become ministers. More interested to play politics to secure post. Finance Minister with no finance experience and backgound. Education Minister who knows near to nothing about education system. Health Minister who has limited or zero knowledge of the medical field.
The end result, what do we Malaysians expect. Wrong decisions like the mega corridors white elephants, secrew up policies, deterioration in quality of our education system and the list goes on & on.
No change till the day meritocracy takes place. Appointing those with relevant experience/qualification/caliber to be Ministers rather than those half past six Chew Monetary Fun ministers playing politics and creating mess in the nation. By the way, CMF is the one answerable to lost of millions in Pampena.
1Malaysia = 1Ring
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Our new PM Najib should study, consider and implement the eight issues raised by YB Lim in an open letter prior to Najib’s first working Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
It is an opportunity for him to walk the talk for his ‘1Malaysia’ policy! Hope it is not just a shouting slogan only!
I see that UMNO politicians are now trying to provoke racial sentiments again. Just look at Zambry’s recent comment that Chinese voted for Nizar as he serves as DAP’s puppet.
Taxi drivers overcharging and not using the meter ? Don’t worry, we have a coupon system where the lucky managers of the system get a “toll” from the fares. Godfather
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Let us examine carefully the taxi system in the Klang valley before the problem gets hijacked and half baked solutions are introduced to resolve it.
I must say the solutions proposed by both the authorities as well as the taxi drivers are ill-conceived and tainted with self interests.
The authorities of course would want the existing system to continue because it essentially benefits the big cronies where thousands of taxi permits are issued to them. They then “rent” out the permits at exorbitant and unfair rates to taxi drivers. The fares are imposed by the authorities to ensure that it is not excessive the passengers, but the taxi drivers after paying for cost of operations and rental for permits could not make ends meet. Hence they want the coupon system scrapped so that they can perhaps charge the passengers a little more (whether legally or otherwise).
As in many other economic activities, rent-seeking is ever present and prevalent. When taxi drivers can’t earn decent wages, they begin to overcharge or cheat the passengers. When passengers got cheated, they begin to complain. When complains get a bit louder, the authorities will enforce the coupon fare a little stricter. When the interests of taxi drivers are adversely affected by strict enforcement, they demand that the coupon system be scrapped.
Here lies the heart of the problem – the continued protection of the “rental class” in this country. Come what may, cronies with thousands of permits must be protected. Ask ourselves how many ministers in charge of taxi, bus and lorry permits have come and gone? Has anyone of them ever tried to resolve the “rental” problem? Let me know if you find one. But we all know that so long as taxi services are riddled with “rent seeking” activities, both the passengers and taxi drivers would have to pay economic rent to this group of parasite rent seekers.
So by extension, Sdr Lim, in addition to corruption, rent-seeking activities and cronyism is one of the single most protracted problems the country ever faces. Be it taxi permits, bus permits, lorry permits, IPPs, and all kinds of APs, they all represent rent seeking activities which I believe the authorities are most unwilling to resolve. Yes we can continue talking about reforms – it is cheap and easy. As I have said many time reforms must involves pains and sacrifices. Show me the bodies (in case Mosterball does not get it, show me the bodies of rent seekers).
Najib’s new slogan of “1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” is indeed a new joke. Within the first week of Najib’s cabinet reshuffle, Umno itself already showed its further party division into two factions among the warlords: Najib Faction and Muhyiddin Faction.
The conflicts between these two factions were clear:
1) Mainstream Chinese newspapers which are under the control of the PM Najib recently reported that Muhyiddin put blame on the Chinese constituents in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau for not being thankful to Barisan Nasional and chose to cast vote in favour of Pakatan Rakyat.
2) Muhyiddin quickly denied on the following day of the newspaper reports and claimed that he was deliberately misintrepreted by the mainstream media in order to defame him. However, he only admitted that he might possibly say the Chinese constituents still didn’t value too much on Barisan Nasional. With the tradition of mainstream newspaper of fonding in doing the propaganda work for the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who serves as the Deputy Prime Minister who poses immediate threat to Najib as the Prime Minister, of course has to live in all kinds of nuisances being created by Najib’s political camp.
3) Trengganu’s state legislative assembly has further divided into two factions after Najib’s taking over the post of Umno President. These factions are Royalist Faction and Anti-Royalist Faction. An attempt was indeed plotted recently by Anti-Royalist Faction in order to oust the present Menteri Besar Ahmad Said by way of tabling a motion of no confidence against Ahmad Said. However, the motion could not be tabled as planned due to the absence of 10 Royalist state assemblymen from the State Legislative Assembly meeting session held on 14.4.2009.
4) With Muhyiddin Yassin’s showing his support to Royalist Faction of Trengganu, it is obviously clear that Najib shall be standing by the side of Anti-Royalist Faction in order to fight against Muhyiddin’s faction. Muhyiddin defied Najib due to Muhyiddin’s unhappiness in his appointment as the not-so-meaty but trouble-lingering post of Minister of Education.
Apparently, with the emergence of new factionalism in Umno, Najib already failed seriously in his first slogan theme of “1 Malaysia”. How is Najib going to fulfill his second theme of “People First” when he can’t even put any sense of importance and good value on his immediate deputy Muhyiddin Yassin? How is Najib going to concentrate his effort in delivering the third theme of “Performance Now” in his slogan when he is always preoccupied with the dirty motive of wanting to grap the power of any state government from any Menteri Besar whom is deemed not obedient to the Prime Minister and not belong to Najib’s political camp?
sorry mistakes:
……The fares are imposed by the authorities to ensure that it is not excessive to the passengers, but the taxi drivers after paying for cost of operations and rental for permits could not make ends meet.
….Yes we can continue talking about reforms – it is cheap and easy. As I have said many times before reforms must involve pains and sacrifices. Show me the bodies (in case Mosterball does not get it, show me the bodies of rent seekers).
I attended the meeting of an association recently as legal adviser. Its a relatively small association with membership of no more than 250. The total number of committee members and office bearers (together) does not exceed 20. In other words it was a meeting of 20 people plus one (me). The meeting was called for one purpose. The precise purpose is not important. But the point is it took the 20 people some 2 hours to deliberate on a matter the decision of which is very much a foregone thing. A yes decision is the obvious choice in the circumstances. But a number of those who were present got their heads, tongues and emotions screwed tightly onto some minor and other quite related issues.
Umno is a party with 3 million members. It has a very complex party structure starting from grassroot members all the way to the supreme council. I honestly cannot fathom how they can ever make decisions at all let alone correct decisions. Its a gigantic dinasour if you ask me. Once it takes a certain direction of travel it would continue doggedly in that direction. Changing direction is an impossibility and it will be like asking the dinasour to climb trees.
So yes. All the slogans will end up as yet another sloganeering exercise. No more. No less either. In short, it will be as meaningful as it is meaningless. Save your energy and saliva. I would. Let them go on with the exercise. They can’t afford to go on like that for very long. Malaysians today are smarter and better informed. Then again they cannot afford not to engage in sloganeering for that is what they have been trained to do all their lives. Let them stagger on in that overweight body of theirs towards sunset at the foot of the hill.
Why is the political rejects being appointed ministers such a big deal?
Look at the position that Koh Tsu Khoon got. Its like appointing a mouse to make sure the cat doesn’t steal the fish. These beggar’s from the component parties won’t be able to do anything. The UMNO cronies will only listen to UMNO.
Rejects like KTK don’t realize it but they got a really bad deal. But compared to how they were treated by UMNO all the while, this is probably an improvement for them.
Heard earlier that our new Foreign Minister was appointed as FM mainly due to he speaks relatively good English!
Wow!
Najib will obviously throw LKS excellent open letter to the dustbin.
But it is opened to all Malaysians to read and learn…..especially to the new young voters.
That matters most.
Dear Uncle Lim,
I refer to the point no 5 on your message to Najib on his appointment as Prime Minister.
I am not so sure on your principle. You appear to be blowing hot and cold at the same time. You kept quiet when Anwar tried unsuccessfully to “tubuhkan kerajaan haram’ on Sept 16 last year. I did not recall you reminded Anwar on immorality of such an action.
Many blame Anwar for this nonsense. His greed ( and sheer stupidity) is mind boggling. But surprisingly, you did not say anything. are you saying Anwar is right in “mnubuhkan kerajaan haram” but UMNO is wrong when taking over Perak Govt. Why different standard?
As for Dr Zambri’s calliing Nizar’s a puppet, well actually he has the basis to do so. That is the reason why Malay votes for PAS declined in Bukit Gantang. That is the reason why UMNO gets more Malay votes . It is simple. Malays are not comfortable with Nizar’s govt, knowing well that he is well a puppet.
As for “Ketuanan Melayu’ that really riles you, well it refers to Malays wanting to control politics. To them it is suicidal to depend on DAP to further their interest. And they control politics in the right way; that is election.
As for Onlooker’s statement on Muhyiddin and Najib on Trengganu, well that syatememt may best suit Thailand not Malaysia. Whio is the moron who believes such rubbish.
As for Muhyiddin being criticized in Chinese newspapers, here you go again playing racial sentiment. Malay community is asking what is it that the Chinese community is not satisfied with BN after all the help from BN9 and of course UMNO). They are reminding UMNO not to lose sight on the interest of the community that really support UMNO. That is all.
As for Monsterball, have you seen Najib throwing Lim’s letter.