Day: July 21, 2010

New Straits Times today front-paged its exclusive story of 55 proposals by various government agencies in a laboratory to combat terrorism and reduce the high number of illegal immigrants in the country.

These 55 proposals are to tabled at the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when it meets on August 2.

What has happened to the earlier Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah formed under the Sabah Chief Minister’s Department a few months ago, which is to come up with a new strategy and specific proposals to end the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah?

Sabah faces the worst problem of influx of illegal immigrants, causing the state’s population to explode from some 400,000 during the formation of Malaysia in 1963 to three to four million today – with over half of the population believed to be foreigners.
Continue reading “Make public the specific proposals made by the Sabah Chief Minister’s Department Laboratory on the Management of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah”

By Thomas Lee Seng Hock | Mysinchew

The current spat between Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the state development officer Nik Ali Mat Yunus highlights a fundamental flaw in the Malaysian civil service.

In the democratic system of government, of which Malaysia professes to practise, the civil service is a politically non-partisan and neutral body, with all its officers supposed to function and operate impartially in the implementations of the policies, programmes, and projects of the elected government.

Article 132 of the Federal Constitution states that federal civil servants hold office at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and state civil servants at the pleasure of the respective Sultan. Which means that the civil servants are not beholden to any political party but to His Majesty’s government of the day. His Majestic is above politics, and so must all those civil servants appointed under his royal command and name.
Continue reading “A gross violation of the civil service code”

By Thor Halvorssen and Alex Gladstein | The Huffington Post

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia–The farcical trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim resumes this week in Kuala Lumpur. This is the second time that the country’s ruling establishment has tried to destroy Anwar’s career with trumped-up allegations of sodomy. It succeeded 12 years ago, when he was imprisoned for six years on similar charges. Now Anwar faces up to 20 years in jail and whipping if convicted.

Controlled by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) since independence and now led by the increasingly autocratic Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Malaysian government knows Anwar is the only viable threat to its half-century of rule. Anwar became a risk to the government as deputy prime minister in 1998 when he began attacking corruption and calling for reform. Ultimately he became leader of the opposition.

Najib’s UMNO is trying to jail Anwar again in hopes of crushing his People’s Justice Party (PKR). A secular Muslim party, PKR leads a diverse political coalition with ethnic Chinese and Islamist partners. If Anwar is neutralized, this opposition movement would be paralyzed.
Continue reading “Malaysia’s Bridge is Falling Down”