Month: August 2009

By Hussein Hamid

UMNO is a Party disunited by defeat. Uneasy sits the crown on Najib’s head because he knows that Muhyiddin is not only a possible leadership alternative but Muhyiddin is the Man Who would be King. How long will Muhyiddin wait? Unlike previous Deputy Prime Ministers who were appointed by the Prime Minsters and thus owe an allegiance of sorts to the man who put him there – we know that Najib did not choose Muhyiddin as his Deputy. Muhyiddin appointed himself to the number two position. And wisely he sees leading UMNO and Barisan in the present political climate as too big a challenge for him to take on. And so he waits.

There has been a realignment of loyalties and factionalism within UMNO as the rank and file ‘allow’ themself to be converted to either the Najib or Muyiddin camps. The fact that there are two strong leadership contenders within UMNO should be indicative of a healthy check and balances situation much sought in the pursuit of good governance in any organization – but not so UMNO. The Politics of greed and nepotism requires patronage and loyalty to be bought not earned. The catch phrase for any UMNO gatherings of any number of more then one is “ADA PROJEK?” Continue reading “Muhyiddin will wait …. for now”

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is right and to be commended for publicly acknowledging that DAPSY Chief and MP for Rasah Anthony Loke was the victim of a baseless attack that he had insulted Islam and the royalty as he had made a police report that he had nothing to do with the blog that was implicated.

He is however wrong when he implied that whether Tan Sri Musa Hussein’s contract as Inspector-General of Police is renewed, which has yet to be decided, was not as important as ensuring that the public accepted the police force – that this is not just dependent on the position of one man.

This is because whether public confidence in the efficiency, incorruptibility, professionalism of the Malaysian police to be of a world-class standard capable of performing its three core functions to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and protect human rights will hinge on whether there is going to be a new Inspector-General Police to start the police on a new page together with a new Home Minister.
Continue reading “Greatest national service Musa Hassan can perform is to withdraw his name from consideration for renewal of contract as IGP”

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz asked what is DAP afraid of, saying:

“Don’t be afraid of the preventive measures and investigations carried out by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) if you want corruption to be tackled more seriously.”

DAP is not afraid of MACC anti-corruption investigations but who is not afraid of going to MACC as a healthy person but come out as a corpse like Teoh Beng Hock?

This is not fighting corruption but setting up a Gestapo in Malaysia.

Dare Nazri, who boasted of his previous brush with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), say with all sincerity, truth and honesty that he would not be afraid of co-operating with MACC in any anti-corruption investigation in MACC premises if he is not confident that he would not be a victim of the MACC’s Gestapo tactics and would not end up as another Teoh Beng Hock as a corpse?

Nazri is right when he said that DAP want corruption to be eradicated and I stand by every word that I have said in Parliament and outside that there must be an all-out war against corruption.

But MACC in its past seven months had not launched any all-out war against corruption but an all-out war against the Pakatan Rakyat to be catspaw of Umno and Barisan Nasional in their larger political game-plan to wrest back power in the states lost to Pakatan Rakyat in the political tsunami of the March 8 general election last year, using all means whether fair or foul.
Continue reading “Will MACC investigate whether Muhyiddin abuse his powers in using RMAF Nuri heli for Umno purposes?”

In two weeks’ time, Malaysians will be celebrating our 52nd National Day with a new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak marking his fifth month in office.

The 52nd National Day celebrations should centre on Najib’s signature theme of 1Malaysia but unfortunately, the reverse is taking place with the 1Malaysia concept being rubbished almost daily by Umno leaders who are competing with each other in exploiting the race and religious cards.

Two days ago, UMNO Youth led by its leader Khairy Jamaluddin, launched a vitriolic attack on Pakatan Rakyat, alleging that a vote for PAS is a vote for DAP and a betrayal of Islam. Umno leaders accuse the DAP as anti-Islam while among the Chinese and Indian voters, MCA, Gerakan and MIC allege that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and a vote for an Islamic state. Meanwhile, in the past week, Umno divisions are being mobilized all over the country to support the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin in his accusation that Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a “traitor of the Malay race”!
Continue reading “Can Malaysians celebrate 52nd National Day with Najib’s 1Malaysia signature theme in two weeks’ time?”

It has been reported that Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB), the turnkey contractor for Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) has challenged the legality and legitimacy of the appointment of Datuk Lee Hwa Beng as the Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairman.

The deputy CEO of KDSB Datuk Faizal Abdullah has issued an ultimatum to the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to produce Lee’s appointment letter as PKA Chairman by 4.30 pm tomorrow (Monday) or face the legal consequences.

According to Faizal, the statutory power or prerogative to appoint the Chairman of PKA is vested with the Yang di Pertuan Agong as provided under the Port Klang Authority Act 1960 and the Minister of Transport has no power to personally decide to extend Lee’s tenure as PKA Chairman at the end of April.

Faizal contended that if Lee’s appointment as PKA Chairman was unlawfully renewed by the Transport Minister and not by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, then Lee’s appointment is null and void and all “tasks and responsibilities” handled by Lee after March 31 this year, when his first appointment expired, would be null and void, including: Continue reading “Tee Keat can depend on my full support to oppose attempts by Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd to put the lid to block accountability and exposure of causes of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal”

By M. Bakri Musa
Malaysiakini.com August 13, 2009

It is truly despicable that Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Muhyiddin would see fit to label the leader of the loyal opposition Anwar Ibrahim a traitor. I expect such infantile name calling and boorish behavior from the likes of UMNO Youth leaders and mainstream media editors, not from a DPM.

Muhyiddin has yet to learn that as DPM he is leader of all Malaysians, not just of UMNO and Barisan supporters. In mentality and behavior he remains a parochial UMNO politician, not a national leader. He has yet to make the necessary transition to being the occupant of the second highest office in the land, and literally a heartbeat away from being Prime Minister.

Muhyiddin is now clearly way over his head. His is the classic personification of the old Peter Principle, of someone finally rising to his level of incompetence. Not that he was particularly capable in his previous role as Agriculture Minister.
Continue reading “On Malay Heroes and Traitors”

By Hussein Hamid

ON July 13th 2007 an RMAF Nuri helicopter crashed into a deep ravine in the dense forest 5km to the west of the Genting Sempah Tunnel. Six Air Force crewmembers were killed in that crash. I remember images of the ambulance lined up on the grounds of the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital as the first of the helicopters carrying the bodies of these Crew Members came into sight. Silent crowd watch with all eyes on the families of those waiting for the arrival of their love one now dead. As you hear the instantly recognizable sound of the helicopter when it came to land you can feel the sorrow touching everyone there. There was not much to say as they carried the first body of the aircrew from the helicopter to the waiting ambulance. I remember too that there was no anger in me that day. Only sadness.

Today when I think about that moment and knowing what I know now – that just on that Razak Baginda case Ringgit $500 million was paid out as commission on the purchase of the three submarines – I asked myself if those six aircrews should have died? I remember Najib hastily announcing Cabinet’s decision to phase out the Nuri. Again the Government reacting after the fact. The billions of Ringgit spent on Mindef tenders were really simply an excuse for cronies of politicians to make Continue reading “Death, Tragedy, Profits and Corruption”

The A (H1N1) flu death toll in Malaysia has climbed to 62 with another three fatalities with the daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases in the country.

On the international front, South Korea and Japan have confirmed their first A (H1N1) death.

The first South-Korea death is a 56-year-old man who returned from a visit to Thailand while the first Japanese death, a man in his fifties, had apparently not been overseas.

The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation estimates.

The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.

For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.
Continue reading “A(H1N1) flu death toll climbs to 62 with daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases – Japan and South Korea confirm their first A(H1N1) death”

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) director of investigations Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdul announced yesterday that the MACC will stop indefinitely investigating politicians across the political divide for corruption and money politics, including the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

He said his men felt that they could not carry out their duties effectively in cases involving politicians as they were being slammed no matter what they did.

Shukri has evaded the burning crisis of confidence confronting the MACC – why in a matter of seven months, public confidence in the MACC has plummeted to a level never plumbed by its predecessor the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) in 41 years from 1967 – 2008 although MACC was established on 1.1.2009 with unprecedented powers to be Malaysia’s version of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong?

The answer is obvious to all Malaysians except the MACC – it has failed to act as an efficient, independent and professional anti-corruption body declaring an all-out war against corruption but instead declared an all-out war against the Pakatan Rakyat, being the catspaw of Umno and Barisan Nasional in the various states under Pakatan Rakyat, whether in the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak or most recently, in trying to topple the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Selangor. Continue reading “All 5 MACC advisory panels should convene emergency meetings to halt the MACC abuses of power in declaring war against Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war against corruption or they should resign collectively”

Kit Siang calls MACC ‘Gestapo’, asks for controls
By Neville Spykerman | The Malaysian Insider

PETALING JAYA, Aug 15 — DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today slammed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as the Gestapo for its high-handed manner in arresting political aide Wong Chuan How.

The special assistant to Selangor executive councillor Ronnie Liu for the Barisan Nasional-held Sungai Pelek constituency was injured during a scuffle with MACC officers outside his office yesterday.

Lim said the MACC officers who when to meet Wong at his service centre in Sungai Pelek had gone back on their word by trying to arrest him.

An appointment had been made earlier for Wong to meet the MACC as a witness in ongoing investigations into alleged impropriety in state allocations. But five officers turned up at the service centre said he was a suspect and wanted him to follow them to their office in Putrajaya.
Continue reading “Kit Siang calls MACC ‘Gestapo’, asks for controls”

By Aaron Ngui

I am an ardent reader of your blog. Your insights into the Malaysian political landscape are nothing short of biting and accurate. May you continue to write, and serve as MP, for a long time to come.

I’m writing this letter to you in response to your posting entitled “DAP does not insult Islam or any religion and does not condone any DAP leader or member in insulting Islam or any religion”. Your points in the posting are good and well noted. The post is in rebuttal to the recent brouhaha over Nik Aziz’s supposed comments. In addition, I have never seen any leader from DAP or Pakatan Rakyat insulting Islam.

Might I be so bold to point out that there might be errors in the news reports over Nik Aziz’s comments. I think the point to note is that Nik Aziz NEVER condoned DAP, or any other political party, to insult Malaysia’s official religion. From the report(s), he only opinied on why DAP leaders allegedly insulted the religion – a shallow understanding. Again, the PAS spiritual leader DID NOT give the green light for anyone to insult the religion; all he did was presumed that people who (supposedly and stupidly) insulted Islam were doing so out of ignorance. This is entirely different from what the report(s) presume.
Continue reading “DAP does not insult Islam”

By Hussein Hamid

There is much talk these days of internal strife within Pakatan Rakyat. These talk generally comes from people who does and does not matter. (Lest I upset anybody–put yourself where you think you deserve to be). They make their comments from information based on what crumbs they obtained from government control media, talk in the kedai kopi and hastily scribbled messages over the net (careful here brother and sisters–the SB is looking over your shoulder!) Let us be clear on a few things.

PR is a coalition that celebrates diversity – in religious, racial and political beliefs. What do you expect? We have a past UMNO President that left the party until what he perceived were wrongs was made right. Do you think this past President and the past PM before Najib would ever be able to sit and converse in a civil manner? No they will not be able to. Do you think the past UMNO Ketua Wanita and the current Ketua Wanita would be able to sit and chat over a teh tarik. No they cannot. We are talking about a party established over 50 years ago having problems at the highest level – out in the open for all to see.
Continue reading “Should Pakatan Rakyat agree to disagree?”

Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai should explain why Malaysia’s A (H1N1) death rate is four times the global case fatality rate.

Malaysia’s death toll from A (H1N1) flu has topped 56 since the first fatality three weeks ago.

Below I have calculated the mortality rates for the following countries, based on reported number of confirmed H1N1 cases, as of 13 August 2009. Some countries like Singapore have ceased to report on total cases, where their current reports are on the number of patients still receiving treatment in hospitals. Some countries have yet to report their most updated total number of cases, hence I have given their numbers as of the date in brackets below. The number of deaths are as of 13 August.

The following are a comparison of Malaysia’s A (H1N1) flu fatality rate with other countries based on confirmed cases and deaths made public yesterday:
Continue reading “Why is A (H1N1) death rate in Malaysia four times the global case fatality rate?”

The Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin seems to be totally unconcerned and uninterested as to the truth in the Ong Tee Keat-Tiong King Sing expose, whether the Transport Minister or the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club (BNBBC) is lying or whether both are lying?

Muhyiddin is more concerned about the “image of the government and the Barisan Nasional” and want both Ong and Tiong to stop “washing dirty linen in public” rather than promote the cause of the commitment of the Najib premiership to integrity and good governance.

Does Muhyiddin want the Ong-Tiong “dirty linen” to be buried again and for both Ong and Tiong just to shut up, pretend nothing had happened in the past few days of shocking exposes, so that everything can get back to “normal” as before?
Continue reading “Is Muhyiddin not interested in the truth as to whether the Transport Minister or the BNBBC Chairman is lying or whether both are lying?”

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has announced a 30-member task force to investigate corruption in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

In announcing this, MACC Deputy Commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamad said the MACC task force would investigate the findings of an earlier special task force set up to probe the legal and financial aspects of the controversial project – the 370-page report with 2,500 appendices made by the special task force comprising Skrine partner Lim Chee Wee, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services (PwCAS) managing director Chin Kwai Fatt and PwCAS senior executive director Lim San Peen.

The special task force found that there was possible fraud, unsubstantiated claims and over-charging by Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the PKFZ turnkey developer, ranging from RM500 million to RM1 billion.

The immediate response of everyone reading Abu Kassim’s announcement is the question why the MACC (and previously the Anti-Corruption Agency) had failed to charge anyone for the PKFZ scandal although the first report on the PKFZ scandal was lodged with the ACA some four years ago!
Continue reading “30-member MACC task force into PKFZ scandal – public inquiry needed why MACC (previously ACA) failed to charge anyone although the first report on PKFZ was lodged some four years ago”

Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin is recklessly making great political capital out of a mistake made by PAS spiritual leader and Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, completely oblivious of the harm it can do to the cause of national unity, inter-religious harmony and in particular Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept.

With screaming headlines today like “DAP hina Islam: Nik Aziz di bidas” (Utusan Malaysia), “’Nik Aziz jual Islam untuk politik’ – Muhyiddin selar pemimpin Pas halalkan tindakan DAP” (Berita Harian), “Muhyiddin in disbelief over Nik Aziz’s stand” (NST), the Barisan Nasional-controlled mainstream media have fanned and incited racial and religious sentiments in two ways:

• That DAP insult Islam; and
• That Nik Aziz condoned DAP insulting Islam.

These are downright irresponsible and inexcusable tactics which can only incite racial and religious sentiments and the latest proof that Umno Ministers and leaders are the greatest threat to Najib’s 1Malaysia concept, as instead of tamping down irresponsible utterances which can arouse racial and religious hatred and animosity, they are doing their utmost in the opposite direction in inciting greater inter-racial and inter-religious discord.
Continue reading “DAP does not insult Islam or any religion and does not condone any DAP leader or member in insulting Islam or any religion”

By Azly Rahman

There is an ongoing and intensifying war between Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat. And the country is watching. It can both be a healthy and an unhealthy educational process. The war is to win the hearts, minds, and souls of Malaysians as we await another ritual of Malaysian democracy: the 13th. General Elections. Like the war between the Israelis and the Palestinians it has been a long 50-year war between Malaysia’s forces of hegemony and of counter-hegemony.

Hegemony, borrowing the Italian Marxist thinker, Antonio Gramsci who wrote on the Fascist government of Mussolini, is a condition of subtle and total control — of the mind, media, machinery, and materials projected as a form of “intellectual and moral leadership” of the ruling party whose developmentalist agenda follows that of the Fordist paradigm of post-industrial revolution.

Malaysia’s ruling regime, particularly in the time of its fourth Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, has survived on hegemony and the language of vision and utopianism its developmentalist agenda fuelled by informational and communication technologies, architectured through physical installations such as Cyberjaya, Putrajaya, and the Petronas Twin Towers – all these are iconic/signs-symbols-signifiers of ultra-exclusive-Malay ideological dominance.
Continue reading “Multimedia Super Corridor vs. Multicultural Supra Conquistadora”

JOAS condemns arrest of Committee Member, reiterates call for moratorium on development projects
13 August 2009

JOAS condemns the arrest of Matek anak Geram early this morning by the police for the crime of allegedly restraining the workers of an oil palm plantation. He was taken into custody by ten fully-armed police personnel at 8.45am and detained for two hours at the Mukah Police Station and charged for allegedly wrongfully restraining the workers of an oil palm plantation company, Saradu Plantations Sdn Bhd. under section 341 of the Penal Code before being released on bail.

Matek, an Iban farmer, a member of TAHABAS (Sarawak Native Customary Rights Network) and Committee Member of JOAS was unarmed when he was arrested by the fully-armed police. For over a year, Matek and his immediate family have been guarding their property against Saradu Plantations who have been encroaching on their native lands. In individual shifts, they have blocked an access road built on their land. JOAS questions the heavy use of force and intimidation against one unarmed man and calls for neutrality of the state infrastructure in this legal dispute between the private company and indigenous peoples.
Continue reading “JOAS condemns arrest of Committee Member, reiterates call for moratorium on development projects”

Letter
By Saves DK

SESB’s irregular blackouts in Sandakan is appalling and causing a lot of disruptions to our daily lives.

If SESB really ‘CARE’ about Sandakan folks and are considerate, they would have tried to minimize the disruptions by at least:

1. publish accurate advanced notice of blackout times and areas in the local newspapers, as they used to do before they were pushing for the proposed coal power plant;

2. STICK TO their advanced notice (if published);

3. have NO blackout in business areas during day time/business hours, and NO blackout in residential areas during evening and night;

4. have a fair blackout schedule for the WHOLE of Sabah, not let it happen to only Sandakan/Tawau/East Coast.

Many have observed that for the first 2 weeks of August, there was NO blackout in many areas in Kota Kinabalu/West Coast at all, but by contrast, there were DAILY blackouts almost everywhere in the East Coast. WHY is that so?! (If the malfunctioning power plant is located in the West Coast, this would be even more puzzling.)
Continue reading “SESB’s madness in Sandakan”

At 1.40 pm at the SS2 Police Station, Petaling Jaya, I lodged the following report against the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB) CEO and MP for Bintulu, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing asking for police to commence immediate investigations into Tiong allegations against Ong, particularly over Tiong’s RM10 million donation to Ong last year for MCA divisions.

My police report, SEA PARK/006222/09 reads:

“This is to lodge a police report on what appeared in all the media today, including New Straits Times, Star, the Sun, Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Guang Ming, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Oriental Daily,Berita Harian, as well as electronic media like Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider viz:

1. Statement by the chief executive of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd and MP for Bintulu, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing that he donated RM10 million to Transport Minister and MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat last year;

2. Statement by the deputy CEO of Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd Datuk Faizal Abdullah that Ong had used the company’s jet five times incurring US$40,000 for the services; and

Continue reading “Police and MACC should commence immediate investigations into Tiong King Sing’s allegations against Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat, particularly over the former’s RM10 million donation to Ong last year for MCA divisions”