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Koh trying to sabotage Greater Penang Plan?

By Susan Loone
Jun 13, 11 | MalaysiaKini

A local think-tank has questioned former chief minister Koh Tsu Koon if he was planning to sabotage the Greater Penang Transformation Programme by calling for the release of the state’s blueprint.

Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri) executive director Liew Chin Tong asked today whether Koh, who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, was not prepared for a joint federal-state plan to be produced.

In April last year, Seri was officially tasked by the state government to prepare a five-year blueprint for the period 2011 to 2015.

The committee is headed by former senator and pioneer general manager of the Penang Development Corporation, Chet Singh. Continue reading “Koh trying to sabotage Greater Penang Plan?”

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Ambiga unfazed by Perkasa belligerence

By Hafiz Yatim
Jun 13, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Despite chances of a head-on collision on July 9 with Malay rights group Perkasa planning a counter-protest to stop the Bersih 2.0 rally, its chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan is unfazed over this possibility and reiterated that the Bersih rally to back free and fair elections will go on.

Contacted by Malaysiakini this afternoon, Ambiga said she respected the views aired by Perkasa chairperson Ibrahim Ali, who declared Perkasa was ready to “fight to the end” (lawan habis-habisan) to stop the rally if the organisers insisted on taking to the streets of Kuala Lumpur on July 9.

“(If they proceed), there will be a clash (pertembungan). If that happens, it is for the better,” Ibrahim told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today. Continue reading “Ambiga unfazed by Perkasa belligerence”

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Ambiga asks politicians to join Bersih rally

By Boo Su-Lyn
June 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan today urged leaders from both sides of the political divide to attend next month’s rally seeking for free and fair elections

“We need them to hear our grievances,” said Ambiga at a ceramah in Brickfields here today.

“It is the Sarawak election that has caused Bersih to call this rally on July 9. We’ve been engaging with the Election Commission (EC), but we’re not going anywhere… there is no real meaningful change,” added the former Bar Council president.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has warned against the rally, saying it will turn chaotic should opposing supporters clash. Continue reading “Ambiga asks politicians to join Bersih rally”

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Words into practice

By R. Nadeswaran
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 | Sun2Surf

EVERY right-thinking Malaysian will certainly have to agree with the prime minister’s remarks made last week at the World Islamic Economic Forum in Kazakhstan that characteristics like openness, honesty and transparency are vital if the people are to have faith that their government is working for them and not for itself.

Saying that these guiding principles would also show that leaders and politicians were striving to lift the whole economy and not to “line their own pockets”, he sent this powerful message: “As political leaders and statesmen, it is up to us to show the resolve, dedication, commitment and political will required to do what is right, to right what is wrong and to prevent corruption from becoming a norm in our societies.”

This is not the first time that he has spoken out against the ills that afflict our society. Continue reading “Words into practice”

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Malaysia trails in religious freedom and other rights, says new survey

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Malaysia lags behind the rest of the world in protecting freedom of religion, expression and other basic rights, managing only to place 59th out of 66 countries surveyed by the World Justice Project (WJP) for its Rule of Law Index 2011.

Low scores for freedom of religion, expression, assembly and privacy also meant that Malaysia placed second to last in its income group, which includes other upper-middle-income countries like Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Iran.

The report noted, however, that Malaysia ranked first among 19 income peers in terms of security, on par with countries such as France and Belgium, despite the prevalence of police abuse.
Continue reading “Malaysia trails in religious freedom and other rights, says new survey”

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Five promising ideas from PAS’ new line-up

By Bridget Welsh
June 13, 2011
MalaysiaKini

ANALYSIS The victory of the progressives in Malaysia’s Islamic party has indeed served to inject greater dynamism into Pakatan Rakyat and strengthen PAS’ engagement in national politics.

The party nevertheless faces deep-seated suspicion by many non-Muslims and more secular Malays who see the election of the non-ulama team as a move to gain power than to genuinely move PAS towards the centre and towards the mantra that has guided the party for the last few years ‘PAS for All’.

The fact of the matter is that PAS will never appeal to all Malaysians as many reject religious parties and others remain apprehensive about the intolerant messages of PAS leaders in the past on issues of morality especially. Many will remain loyal to the BN and Umno no matter what.
Continue reading “Five promising ideas from PAS’ new line-up”

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Birds of a feather flock together in Langkawi

MalaysiaKini

‘There was a time when the rhetoric against the evils of colonial rule was justified and relevant. Now it is usually to divert the corruption of present leaders.’

Mugabe, Bashir to visit

David Dass: Two of the worst leaders in the world being welcomed to Malaysia. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has bankrupted his nation and impoverished his people. Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir is wanted for genocide. These are international pariahs.

There was a time when the rhetoric against the evils of colonial rule was justified and relevant. Now it is tedious and boring, and operates usually to divert and camouflage the corruption of present leaders.

Conferences such as the Langkawi International Dialogue could serve a useful purpose. But not with leaders like this. They are beyond redemption and deserve an early exit from leadership.
Continue reading “Birds of a feather flock together in Langkawi”

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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #69: Culture, Institutions, and Leadership

By Bakri Musa

Chapter 8: Culture, Institutions, and Leadership
Leadership

Leadership to a society is what wings are to planes. Without wings planes will not fly, and without leaders there will be no society. Wings also define the limits on the performances of the plane. Early planes had double stacked wings, the biplanes, which effectively doubled the lift at low speed. But with stronger engines and thus greater speed, that design became very limiting as the drag factor increases rapidly at higher speed. Thus new models are introduced with a single pair of wings but fitted with adjustable curved flaps at the leading and trailing edges that could be extended at low speed (as at takeoff and landing) to effect maximum lift, and then retracted at high speed to reduce drag. This flexibility in shape enables the wings to function efficiently at both low and high speed. With the development of jet engines and even faster planes, even this design has limitations, and soon gave way to the backswept wings (still with flaps) that gave even better lift/drag ratio. With supersonic jets, the design is further improved with the delta wings that could be retracted to further reduce drag at super mach cruising speed. With the extreme speeds of rockets and missiles, wings are essentially irrelevant, reduced to tiny flaps at the tail end.
Continue reading “Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #69: Culture, Institutions, and Leadership”

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IPPs, where’s your social responsibility?

MalaysiaKini
June 13, 2011

‘Why are IPPs hiding behind the non-disclosure clauses? Their position however is comprehensible – they are only protecting their own self-interests.’

IPPs do not benefit from gas subsidy

DannyLoH: What the Association of Independent Power Producers (Penjanabebas) need to explain is why, despite the gas subsidies, our electricity tariff is higher than Thailand, whose producers are purchasing gas at market price?

Paul Warren Penjanabebas, by this letter, you surely have succeeded in ensuring that people only look at the subsidies on the fuel consumed by you. But you did say that your compensation is in two components – fuel and capacity.

And just in case you wish to feign ignorance or lack of understanding, let me put it this way – if one of your members’ capacity is 1,200 megawatts, he gets paid for that 1,200 megawatts.
Continue reading “IPPs, where’s your social responsibility?”

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RM100 mil spent in one day: Cut Rais Yatim’s pay

MalaysiaKini
June 13, 2011

‘Why is there no action when a minister made a wrong decision and wasted taxpayers’ money? Cut Rais Yatim’s pay by RM10 for his decision.’

Artiste Day: ‘Rais blew half year’s budget in 1 day’

Just Me: Waste is the name of the game. Of the RM100 million, maybe only 20 percent goes to the real project.

Indeed, the petrol subsidy is not really subsidy. We have paid in advance for it in the form of car taxes, which is the highest in the region. So giving some back is not a subsidy. In Thailand, which has a smaller passenger car market, they have no local car producer, but their auto industry is much bigger than Malaysia and employ more people.
Continue reading “RM100 mil spent in one day: Cut Rais Yatim’s pay”

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Guan Eng wants bipartisan review of IPPs

By Yow Hong Chieh
June 13, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — The government must convene a panel comprising both Barisan Nasional (BN) and opposition lawmakers to ensure there is no cover-up of “lopsided” independent power producers (IPPs) deals, Lim Guan Eng has said.

The DAP secretary-general said only a bipartisan committee or royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the hot-button purchasing power agreements (PPAs) would assure the public they will not lose out if the deals are eventually renegotiated.
Continue reading “Guan Eng wants bipartisan review of IPPs”

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A re-branded PAS?

By Tan Siok Choo
Sun
13 Jun 2011

TAKEN collectively, three developments at PAS’s recent muktamar or general assembly have the potential to re-define Malaysian politics.

For the first time since 1983, an ulama (or religious leader) wasn’t retained or elected as deputy president, the second highest-ranked party official. The ulama also lost all three vice-presidential contests and reportedly won only six out of 18 central committee positions, which underscored the extent of the party’s makeover.

Equally notable, in his keynote speech at the muktamar, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang Hadi announced that the party now aspired to create a welfare state while maintaining it wasn’t abandoning its quest for an Islamic state. Continue reading “A re-branded PAS?”

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RHB mega-merger: ‘Najib must be accountable’

Jun 12, 11 | MalaysiaKini

DAP has asked Prime Minister Najib Razak to explain why Bank Negara is pushing hard for the RHB merger with one of Malaysia’s two largest banks when the move would lead to foreign exchange outflow and an unhealthy monopoly.

“Najib should present ministerial statement in Parliament tomorrow on the rationale and status of Bank Negara’s (approved) merger between RHB Capital with (either) Maybank or CIMB Group to create Southeast Asia’s biggest bank,” said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in a statement today.

“Basic principles and questions about Bank Negara’s push for the country’s largest corporate merger need to asked and clarified,” he said. Continue reading “RHB mega-merger: ‘Najib must be accountable’”

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“Jika Utusan fitnah kamu, maka kamu patut diam saja”

Komentar Roketkini
12 June 2011 | Roketkini

12 JUN – Mungkin mengajar ketam berjalan betul lebih mudah daripada memujuk Utusan Malaysia supaya menghentikan perbuatan keji dan terkutuk memfitnah DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat.

Sidang pengarang Utusan atas nama Awang Selamat kini membawa satu lagi ajaran fitnah – jika Utusan fitnah DAP kamu, maka kamu patut diam saja.

Utusan telah menuduh DAP terlibat dalam isu pemilihan khariah masjid di Pulau Pinang, dan walau pun laporan itu bohong dan palsu, Utusan mahu DAP duduk diam dan terima sahaja fitnah kejam itu. Continue reading ““Jika Utusan fitnah kamu, maka kamu patut diam saja””

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Penang CM shoots at Star

By Susan Loone
Jun 12, 11 | MalaysiaKini

MCA-owned Star Publication’s editorial today has displeased the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng so badly that he has urged the paper not to follow in the footsteps of Utusan Malaysia.

The Malay language paper has come under fire of late, for its extreme views and sensationalised reporting.

Lim has urged the English language daily to correct its editorial titled ‘The Pearl of the Orient needs a new polish’, saying it has twisted facts about the state’s economic performance. Continue reading “Penang CM shoots at Star”

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Can bloggers be in solidarity with the media?

By Dr Lim Teck Ghee
Sunday, 12 June 11 | Centre for Policy Initiatives

In Malaysia, bloggers have been engaged in a battle to correct the spinning and political bias which has become part of the normal business and deep culture of the media. Since Independence, the majority of the media has been a willing partner in the Barisan Nasional’s one overriding pursuit: that of self-promotion, self aggrandizement and opportunism. In the process, the old media has contributed to the corruption, injustice and bad governance that are the hallmarks of BN rule, especially during Dr Mahathir’s administration and continuing today.

The reason why journalistic ethics and principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability are in short supply is not difficult to fathom. When these qualities do exist especially amongst younger and idealistic media practitioners, the calls from the Home Affairs Ministry, Special Branch, and the political bosses are quickly there to remind them of the Printing Presses and Publications Act; the ISA; the Sedition Act; and the major roadblocks to career advancement should they offend the authorities with their writing. Continue reading “Can bloggers be in solidarity with the media?”

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Bersih rally goes on, says Ambiga, PAS

By Boo Su-Lyn
June 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS leaders have dismissed opposition towards next month’s Bersih rally and maintained plans to proceed with it.

Umno daily Utusan Malaysia today urged Malaysians to boycott the protest and quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s warning that “it will be chaotic when those for and against the street demonstration clash.”

“Opposition is normal. It is a democratic country,” Ambiga told The Malaysian Insider today.

“My own reading is that a lot of people are very supportive of the demands we are making. There’s unhappiness…like example in the Sarawak (election), unhappiness about corruption, (and) unhappiness about the independence of our institutions,” added the election watchdog chief. Continue reading “Bersih rally goes on, says Ambiga, PAS”

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Artiste Day: ‘Rais blew half year’s budget in 1 day’

Malaysiakini
Jun 12, 11

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has slammed minister Rais Yatim for splurging RM100 million, or half the annual budget for creative projects, on a poorly attended one-day arts event that local artists reportedly dubbed an “instant noodle project”.

Lim said a fraction of that amount, or RM2 million, would have gone a long way in funding the internationally-rated month-long George Town Heritage Festival in Penang.

“Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim must explain the rationale of wasting RM100 million for the 2011 Artistes Day on May 29 that received a lukewarm response from art activists. Continue reading “Artiste Day: ‘Rais blew half year’s budget in 1 day’”

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Guan Eng: royal commission on IPPs, PPAs

Malaysiakini
Jun 12, 11

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has challenged the BN-led foreign government to set up a royal commission of inquiry into the issue of independent power producers and the related matter of power purchase agreements (PPA).

In this way, all PPAs and other PPAs would be disclosed and it could be determined once and for all whether the government has been equitable in its energy subsidy cuts for end consumers while maintaining lopsided arrangements with the IPPs that supply power to utility firm TNB, said Lim.

Lim, who is also Penang chief minister, was echoing an earlier statement by Umno stalwart Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah that an RCI should be set up to review TNB’s contracts with the 26 IPPs currently producing about 60 percent of the TNB’s energy supply.

“The RCI would determine how severely the lopsided deals are burdening consumers with the rise in electricity tariffs and introduce measures to either reduce or remove this huge financial burden on the people,” said Lim in a statement today. Continue reading “Guan Eng: royal commission on IPPs, PPAs”

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Cabinet forms panel to study power deals

The Malaysian Insider
Jun 12, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Following growing calls for power purchasing agreements to be reviewed, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah today announced that a Cabinet committee has been formed to evaluate the matter.

“The committee will study various aspects (of power supply) and not just the [independent power producers] problem… among them (production) costs and (requirements for) the future because there are IPPs whose concession is due to end in 2014 and 2015,” Ahmad Husni was quoted by Bernama Online today.

The second finance minister also stressed that the committee will take a birds-eye view of subsidies and not be focussed primarily with the power deals or the producers.

“We have not been given any deadline for submitting the report, but what must be stressed here is that it will give priority to the interests of the people,” he said.

It remains to be seen if the committee will be enough to assuage lawmakers calling for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to probe the lopsided power deals between Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the IPPs. Continue reading “Cabinet forms panel to study power deals”