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A(H1N1) and Dengue killer epidemics – Tiong Lai should take leave from MCA party duties to lead a 24/7 national campaign, resign as Health Minister or take leave as Health Minister so that a “full time” Health Minister can provide leadership

It is shocking that instead of leading the national war against the double epidemics of A(H1N1) and dengue, the Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai is leading the national blame game with the MCA-owned Star putting him on the front-page headline news blaming “the lack of vigilance by members of the public and even some doctors”.

Let me tell Tiong Lai. Don’t blame others. If you want to blame somebody, blame yourself for failing to provide the needed leadership to mobilize Malaysians to fight the double epidemics as Health Minister.

Liow does not seem to be a Health Minister who is confronted with the two killer epidemics, with A(H1N1) claiming four deaths and recording a total number of 1,302 cases while dengue has killed 64 and recorded 26,446 cases since January, set to break even last year’s worst dengue epidemic of 49,335 cases and 112 casualties.

The worse is yet to come for both deadly epidemics.
Continue reading “A(H1N1) and Dengue killer epidemics – Tiong Lai should take leave from MCA party duties to lead a 24/7 national campaign, resign as Health Minister or take leave as Health Minister so that a “full time” Health Minister can provide leadership”

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Penan Starvation: People First, Performance Now?

by Augustine Anthony

Time and again I have said that our country is a land of milk and honey but we now suffer a well entrenched system of governance that betrays its own people.

The news report in Utusan Online under caption “Lebih 3,000 Penan kebuluran” is one by product of a system failure.

Malaysia is seen on many occasions as a generous contributor whenever there are calamities around the world. Some of the aids that are despatched are laudably swift, perhaps within days or weeks of such calamities.

Of course we welcome such generosity of Malaysia. But what about our own backyard?
Continue reading “Penan Starvation: People First, Performance Now?”

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Will recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe be a cure which is worse than the disease if Rela personnel are not sensitized about the importance of human rights?

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that the best from the civil Defence Department and Rela have been enlisted to help police keep the streets safer and that 254 – 115 from the Civil Defence and 139 from Rela – had been shortlisted from 1,000 applicants last week.

The recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe raises public fear whether Rela human rights abuses against immigrants will now extend to ordinary Malaysians.

Rela human rights abuses have become so notorious not only locally but also internationally that human rights organizations local and abroad have called for Rela’s disbandment.
Continue reading “Will recruitment of Rela personnel to help police to keep streets safe be a cure which is worse than the disease if Rela personnel are not sensitized about the importance of human rights?”

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As there is a clear and present conflict-of-interest, Azmi should belatedly stand down and disqualify himself from conducting the PAC inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be guilty of gross incompetence if it should come to the conclusion that the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal is all due to the project being “managed by a group of incompetent people from day one” and nothing more.

This appears to be the present line of thinking of the PAC Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid who told the media after the PAC meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy with his retinue of a lawyer and two aides, that “In general, the huge project was managed by a very incompetent group of people” from day one.

Could the ballooning of the PKFZ scandal from RM1.088 billion in 2002 when Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik was Transport Minister,quadrupling to RM4.63 billion in 2006 under Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister, and now set to mushroom to become a RM12.5 billion scandal under Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as Transport Minister all because of management by “a very incompetent group of people” from day one?
Continue reading “As there is a clear and present conflict-of-interest, Azmi should belatedly stand down and disqualify himself from conducting the PAC inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal”

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Tiong Lai – do not be like ‘Nero playing fiddle while Rome burns” only interested in playing MCA politics despite mounting deaths from dengue and H1N1 epidemics

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai should not be like “Nero playing fiddle while Rome burns” only interested in playing MCA politics despite mounting deaths from dengue and H1N1 epidemics.

The influenza A (H1N1) has claimed a fourth casualty in Malaysia – 20-year-old woman who died of “severe community acquired pneumonia” at 9.40 am on Tuesday at the Malacca Hospital, after suffering from the flu for 11 days.

On the dengue front, two more deaths have occurred this year, a 77-year-old man from Sipitang, Sabah and a 45-year-old female teacher from Ampang, Selangor who died last week.

Since January this year, there have been 26,446 cases and 64 fatalities Liow seems to have forgotten what he started six months ago, when he declared an all-out war against dengue, which recorded the highest number of 49,335 dengue cases and 112 lives last year – 50 per cent of whom were preventable deaths.

Now, Malaysia is heading towards an even higher incidence of dengue cases and fatalities than last year. Continue reading “Tiong Lai – do not be like ‘Nero playing fiddle while Rome burns” only interested in playing MCA politics despite mounting deaths from dengue and H1N1 epidemics”

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Was Teoh Beng Hock pulled up by his jackets and trousers/belt and pushed out of 14th floor MACC hqrs?

Before last Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, the family and the Malaysian public were assured by the four MCA Ministers and the Minister each from Gerakan, MIC and SUPP that they would support in Cabinet the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death at Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam.

In the event, these seven Cabinet Ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC and SUPP disappointed the Teoh family and justice-loving Malaysians by agreeing to the most unsatisfactory formula of dividing the inquiry into two parts – an inquest into Teoh’s death and a Royal Commission of Inqury into MACC’s interrogation techniques.

This created an nation-wide uproar which even ordinary MCA, Gerakan, MIC and SUPP ground leaders and members fully participated, for they just cannot understand why their party leaders in the Cabinet could be so insensitive to what basic justice and fair play demand – a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.
Continue reading “Was Teoh Beng Hock pulled up by his jackets and trousers/belt and pushed out of 14th floor MACC hqrs?”

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Could the PKFZ project become a RM12.5 billion “mother of all scandals” if the three Transport Ministers and four PKA Chairmen – all from MCA – had not been equally incompetent and negligent as the PKA managers from day one?

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman blamed the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on “a group of incompetent people” from day one. (NST)

The ad hoc committee on corporate governance probing the PKFZ fiasco, headed by Transparency International chairman Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, denounced the PKA Board members for “gross negligence” in failing to discharge their fiduciary duties diligently, resulting in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

Both Azmi and Low are only half right. Could the PKFZ project become a RM12.5 billion “mother of all scandals” if the three Transport Ministers (Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy, Ong Tee Keat) and four PKA Chairmen (Ting Chew Peh, Yap Pian Hon, Chor Chee Heung and Lee Hwa Beng) – all from MCA – had not been equally incompetent and negligent as the PKA managers “from day one”?
Continue reading “Could the PKFZ project become a RM12.5 billion “mother of all scandals” if the three Transport Ministers and four PKA Chairmen – all from MCA – had not been equally incompetent and negligent as the PKA managers from day one?”

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Politics, Power and the Violence of History

By Farish A Noor

The guillotine, it ought to be remembered, was originally conceived of as a safe, clean, efficient and ironically ‘humane’ method of murdering people when it was first introduced. Dubbed the ‘revolutionary razor’ when it was first used to execute the enemies of the state at the outset of the French revolution, it was seen as an improvement and advancement from the age of neo-feudal rule where the despotism of the King of France was manifest in the macabre and gruesome spectacles of public violence that were enacted in the kingdom against those who were seen as the enemies of the regime.

In time however it is clear that even this mode of public execution has been inscribed with negativity and regarded as a brutal way for the state to express its power in the public domain. Robbespiere, Danton, Saint-Just were all victims of the same mode of state violence that they had originally supported and promoted, and it is ironic that Robbespiere and his contemporaries met their end at the same guillotine that they had used to execute their enemies earlier.

The tale of the guillotine is an apt reminder of the historical impasse that Muslim societies are in today, and how the dream of political Islam is now Continue reading “Politics, Power and the Violence of History”

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Is Ong Tee Keat just “crying wolf” in the MCA “Ong-Chua” power struggle or is his revelation of death threat to him and BN-underworld politico-business“dark forces” compromising Cabinet decision-making for real?

MCA Vice President and Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai thinks he is being smart when he is being downright foolish.

He thought he had found a very clever way to respond to my lodging a police report on Monday to protect Ong Tee Keat’s life from death threat revealed repeatedly in the public by the MCA President himself.

What Liow does not seem to be able to grasp is that my police report is not just to protect the life of the MCA President, but that of a Minister and all members of the Cabinet as Ong had revealed multiple serious crimes being committed not only because of the death threat to him but also about “dark forces” of politico-business underworld combined with Barisan Nasional elements to compromise and suborn government decision-making process all the way to the Cabinet.

It is therefore not just a matter of concern solely to MCA leaders and members but a public issue concerning the integrity of the government and Cabinet which must be the concern of every public-spirited Malaysian citizen.

Why is Liow completely unconcerned that Ong has received a death threat and Ong’s serious allegation of “dark forces” of politico-business underworld and Barisan Nasional elements to coerce and arm-twist Cabinet Ministers?
Continue reading “Is Ong Tee Keat just “crying wolf” in the MCA “Ong-Chua” power struggle or is his revelation of death threat to him and BN-underworld politico-business“dark forces” compromising Cabinet decision-making for real?”

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Is MACC prepared to submit to a public inquiry to establish that it is not any manner responsible for the “black blog” set up in past week to defame DAP Selangor Excos with lies, half-truths and doctored documents

Suspicions abound as to who are responsible for the “black blog” which had appeared anonymously in the past week to defame DAP Selangor Excos, Ronnie Liu and Ean Yong Hian Wah, accusing them of corrupt practices, based on lies, half-truths and doctored documents.

One suspicion is the MACC or MACC officers, in order to deflect public outrage over the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock at the MACC Headquarters on July 16, 2009.

As Professor Dr. Shad Faruqi of the of the Faculty of Law, UiTM wrote in the Star “Ferreting out the Facts” today, many questions cry out for answers about the Teoh’s mysterious death at MACC, including:

After Teoh was released, did he make any telephone calls which could give some pointers to the time of his death? Was his handphone seized? Was his handphone tampered with? Were the injuries on his body the result of the fall or of prior abuse by himself or by others?

Did he die because of the fall or was he already dead when his body plunged to the floor below? Did no one hear the sickening thud of his body falling nearly 10 floors?

Continue reading “Is MACC prepared to submit to a public inquiry to establish that it is not any manner responsible for the “black blog” set up in past week to defame DAP Selangor Excos with lies, half-truths and doctored documents”

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Najib – turn the first stone to find out the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s unusual death at MACC by respecting the family’s wish and set up Royal Commission of Inquiry

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has not turned a stone in the past 13 days although he promised the Teoh Beng Hock family yesterday that “no stone will be left unturned” to find the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s mysterious death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009.

I met the Teoh Beng Hock family members, father Teoh Leong Hwee 62, elder brother Teoh Beng Kee, younger sister Teoh Lee Lan and fiancée Soh Cher Wei at the Shah Alam court complex for Teoh’s inquest this morning, and they told me that the Prime Minister conveyed his condolences and explained the Cabinet decision to set up two separate inquiries, one an inquest by a magistrate into Teoh’s death and the other a Royal Commission of Inquiry into MACC’s investigative techniques.

In the press today, it was reported that Najib told the family that the findings of the inquest would also be considered as input for the royal commission of inquiry and that the two-prong approach would hopefully arrive at the truth in a fair and just manner.
Continue reading “Najib – turn the first stone to find out the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s unusual death at MACC by respecting the family’s wish and set up Royal Commission of Inquiry”

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Inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s death begins

Twitter Updates since 8.25am:

Coroner adjourns 1 wk to Aug 5
11.53am from TwitterBerry

Ct told on DNA checks – 1dna swap 2 males 1from TBH 1unknown male dna taken from 90 persons want dna from 12 others
11.51am from TwitterBerry

Ct resumes
11.41am from TwitterBerry

The 30 min adjrnmt of inquest has dragged out 4 more than an hour What is happening?
11:30am from TwitterBerry

79 witnesses summoned 4inquest why necessary 4so many most of whom cannot b relevant? TBH father brother sister fiancee also summoned
10:52am from TwitterBerry
Continue reading “Inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s death begins”

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A Government of the People?

By Hussein Hamid

As the Chinese say may you live in interesting time. And we do, we do – but what will Tunku, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn think of what is now happening to their country, our country?

Are there ‘external forces’ disrupting peace in the country?
No.

Are there anti social elements within the country trying to create fear in the mind of the Rakyat for their own selfish purposes?
No.

Are racial factions with vested interest fighting over petty issues that will disrupt peace and calm and create panic amongst the population in the country?
No.
Continue reading “A Government of the People?”

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TBH RCI – Has Gani Patail never known of the Hutton Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of David Kelly’s death?

The inquest into Teoh Beng Hock’s unusual death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which begins tomorrow should be suspended until the Cabinet has taken full account of the overwhelming demands coming not only from the family but the Malaysian population regardless of race for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail’s attempt to defend and justify the Cabinet decision last Wednesday to break the inquiry into Teoh’s death into two part, one an inquest into the causes of death and another, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the MACC’s interrogation techniques had been a flop, convincing no reasonable Malaysian.

Gani said that there cannot be a RCI into Teoh’s death and that the right and proper thing to do is to establish an inquest as the Cabinet has done.

Has Gani never heard of the Hutton Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of David Kelly’s death in the United Kingdom in 2003? Continue reading “TBH RCI – Has Gani Patail never known of the Hutton Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of David Kelly’s death?”

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Parliamentary Roundtable on A New IGP for a Safe Malaysia

Resolutions unanimously passed at the Parliamentary Roundtable on A New IGP for a Safe Malaysia.

Resolution 1
Call on the current Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, not to seek a further 2-year renewal of his tenure of service due to his failure in Key Performance Indicators (KPI) as IGP in the past three years in all the three core police functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights.

Resolution 2
Call for appointment of a new Inspector-General of Police to provide new police leadership to roll back the tide of crime in the lat five years to ensure a safe Malaysia as well as to present a new image of democratic policing in Malaysia.

Resolution 3 Continue reading “Parliamentary Roundtable on A New IGP for a Safe Malaysia”

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Malaysia needs a new IGP to create a safe Malaysia and break away from colonial past by introducing democratic policing to protect the people and not the regime in power

On December 4, 2008, my motion to censure the Tan Sri Musa Hassan as Inspector-General of Police with a RM10-cut salary motion was defeated by a 48 to 30 votes.

I had moved the motion against Musa on two grounds, viz:

  • For being more of a lobbyist for police mega deals instead of being the police leader to keep crime down and the country safe for Malaysians, tourists and investors; and

  • For the “great lie” that the real crime problem in Malaysia was not worsening crime situation but a problem of misperception.

It is not my purpose to revisit the debate and the undeniable documentary evidence that I produced during the debate in Parliament about Musa lobbying for the RM20 billion Asiacopter proposal to rent out 34 helicopters to the police for 30 years and the RM4.2 billion “E-Police Force Solution” proposal.
Continue reading “Malaysia needs a new IGP to create a safe Malaysia and break away from colonial past by introducing democratic policing to protect the people and not the regime in power”

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Will the Parliamentary Roundtable tomorrow support Najib’s KPI for crime prevention to reduce street crime by 20% in 2010 as it is late by four years and should have covered all categories of crime as proposed by Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in May 2005

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has announced the reduction of the crime rate on the streets by 20 per cent in 2010 as one of the KPIs (key performance indicators) of the six National Key Results Areas (NKRA).

Will the Parliamentary Roundtable for a new IGP to create a safe Malaysia support Najib’s KPI for crime prevention to reduce street crime by 20% in 2010 as it is late by four years and should have covered all categories of crime as proposed by the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in its report in May 2005?

When the Dzaiddin Royal Police Commission submitted its final report in May 2005, it said that Malaysia’s reputation as a safe country was “seriously dented” by the “dramatic increase” in the incidence of crime in the past few years and that “Malaysians in general, the business sector and foreign investors grew increasingly concerned with the situation”.

The Royal Commission warned that “if the trend continues, there would be major social and economic consequences for Malaysia”.
Continue reading “Will the Parliamentary Roundtable tomorrow support Najib’s KPI for crime prevention to reduce street crime by 20% in 2010 as it is late by four years and should have covered all categories of crime as proposed by Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in May 2005”

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I have lodged police report as Ong’s recent revelations revealed multiple serious crimes had been committed to protect Ong’s life because of death threat and the integrity of government and Cabinet decision-making from being coerced and suborned by underground forces outside the law

I have lodged a police report to protect MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s life as well as to ensure that “dark forces” of politico-business underground combined with certain Barisan Nasional elements do not extend their tentacles to suborn government decision-making all the way to the Cabinet.

In the past week, Ong had alleged in interviews and speeches that “dark forces” of politico-business forces underground and in the Barisan Nasional have threatened his personal safety and tried to compromise the government decision-making process all the way to the Cabinet, especially over the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

Ong had made the most serious allegations about corruption and abuses of power in the highest levels of government decision-making all the way to the Cabinet, that corruption had emerged under the Najib premiership from the “darkness” into the open to do their evil work.
Continue reading “I have lodged police report as Ong’s recent revelations revealed multiple serious crimes had been committed to protect Ong’s life because of death threat and the integrity of government and Cabinet decision-making from being coerced and suborned by underground forces outside the law”

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Leaders To Bring Us Together

by M. Bakri Musa

In having to appoint a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) following the death of one of its witnesses, Prime Minister Najib clearly demonstrated his lack of leadership and inability to be in command of a rapidly evolving crisis. Essentially, events forced Najib’s hand; he was reacting, not leading.

Najib is not a leader, at least not the type Malaysia desperately needs today. His meteoric rise in the party and government is less an expression of talent, more the gratitude his party has for his late father. For his part, Najib has not shown any indication that he benefited from those splendid opportunities. On the contrary, like a spoiled child, those amenities merely indulged him.

Unfortunately for Najib, more so for the nation, there are no ‘training wheels’ to the Prime Minister’s office.

Najib’s deputy Muhyyuddin is in the same kampong league. Continue reading “Leaders To Bring Us Together”

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MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers should stop tomorrow’s announcement of composition of Royal Commission of Inquiry on Teoh’s death so as not to jeopardize any effort to ask the Cabinet on Wednesday to widen the scope RCI to zero in on Teoh’s death

MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers should stop tomorrow’s announcement of the composition of Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Teoh Beng Hock’s death so as not to jeopardize any effort to ask the Cabinet on Wednesday to widen the scope of the RCI to zero in on Teoh’s death.

Cabinet Ministers, whether from Umno, MCA, Gerakan and MIC cannot be unaware that the Cabinet decision last Wednesday to refuse to set up a RCI to probe the causes of Teoh’s death had been greeted with consternation and condemnation, together with calls for a Cabinet review to expand the scope of the RCI into the MACC’s interrogation methods to include the causes of Teoh’s death.

The Cabinet decision to have an inquest headed by a magistrate is just not acceptable to the majority of Malaysians who want a completely independent inquiry into Teoh’s death which could command public confidence. Continue reading “MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers should stop tomorrow’s announcement of composition of Royal Commission of Inquiry on Teoh’s death so as not to jeopardize any effort to ask the Cabinet on Wednesday to widen the scope RCI to zero in on Teoh’s death”