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Just what Malaysia needs: Another minister

– Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 30, 2011

JULY 30 – I hate to spoil the party but the last thing this country needs is another minister.

In fact, what we need is not quantity but quality. The last couple of months has shown up the inadequacies and incompetence of a number of ministers and exposed the paucity of talent in the Cabinet.

We have a Home Minister who did not know that EU citizens do not need a tourist visa (French lawyer Michael Bourdon had to educate him); a de facto Law Minister who misinterpreted a key fact in the Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Inquiry and a Defence Minister who sounds shaky whenever he speaks.

And I have not even touched on the Agriculture Minister, Unity Minister, etc. Continue reading “Just what Malaysia needs: Another minister”

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EO6: A bitter lesson for the govt

Jeswan Kaur | July 30, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

The Najib administration should now learn to respect the ‘rule of law’ instead of bending over backwards to fulfill its own hidden agendas

COMMENT

Abusing the Emergency Ordinance 1969, six breadwinners of their families’ were thrown behind bars and defamed with having waged a war against the King, holding subversive beliefs and instigating the rakyat to attend a rally which the police had deemed illegal.

Yesterday, 28 days later, all six were set free, unconditionally. The question that begs an answer from Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is: What happened in those 28 days’ that made him, his cousin the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar realise that the six are innocent and should rightfully be released?

Or was it a case of all three parties being well aware of the innocence of the six but proceeded to used them as scapegoats, hoping to teach Malaysians in general a lesson for taking to the streets on July 9, 2011 and challenging the ‘powers that be’? Continue reading “EO6: A bitter lesson for the govt”

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4 things Najib must do to salvage his tattered credibility after his greatest leadership failure as PM post-Bersih post-EO6

The past five weeks are undoubtedly the worst period for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak since becoming the sixth Malaysian PM 27 months ago – making him the object of ridicule and scorn not only in the country but also internationally, forcing him to cut short his overseas trip.

It was his greatest failure of leadership as Prime Minister leaving his credibility in tatters – which is why his claim yesterday that the release of the PSM6 under the Emergency Ordinance was in accordance with the rule of law was met with nation-wide derision.

Najib cannot be more wrong if he thinks that he had restored his credibility with the release of the PSM6 yesterday, as nothing could wipe out the fact of his government’s high-handed and unsuccessful action to suppress the 709 Bersih 2.0 rally for free and fair elections, resulting in the arbitrariy and totally unjustifieable arrests of the PSM6, first on the ridiculous grounds of “waging war against the Agong” and “reviving communism” and then under EO for being “prime movers” of Bersih.

There are four things Najib must do, immediately and urgently, if he wants to salvage his tattered credibility after his greatest leadership failure as Prime Minister post-Bersih post-EO6. Continue reading “4 things Najib must do to salvage his tattered credibility after his greatest leadership failure as PM post-Bersih post-EO6”

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Mahathir’s grand contribution to decline in political morality

Written by Hussein Hamid
Friday, 29 July 2011
CPI

Since the early 1980s, the ‘indiscretions’ of elected officials and those in the civil service have become the hallmark of all things Malaysian. This is to the extent that the people now accept corruption, greed and furthering vested interests as colouring all government transactions.

How did this scheme of things come about?

The turning point was 1981. After Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister, compassion for the people and respect for their rights was extinguished. With Mahathir too came the decline of political morality and a corresponding decline in the moral fibre of the civil service. Continue reading “Mahathir’s grand contribution to decline in political morality”

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Kit Siang: Reveal who ‘concocted’ PSM 6 charges

Malaysiakini
Jul 29, 11 3:42pm

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has demanded that the government reveal who was behind the charges that the PSM 6 were allegedly trying to wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and reviving communism.

“Malaysians are entitled to ask who are the officers or politicians who had been so ‘creative’ as to concoct the heinous charge under Section 122 of the Penal Code against the PSM activists in the first instance,” Lim said in a media statement today.

“I will ask in the next Parliament session who are the officers who concocted such charges and who are their police superiors who gave the approval, and whether the advice of the attorney-general or his officers had been sought,” he said. Continue reading “Kit Siang: Reveal who ‘concocted’ PSM 6 charges”

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PSM6: The end of the farce

— The Malaysian Insider
Jul 30, 2011

JULY 30 — Just this once, please apologise.

Own up to this despicable mistake of arresting six innocent Malaysians and, maybe, the rest of their fellow citizens will move on and cut the police as well as the Najib administration some slack.

Just this once, drop the political posturing and say sorry to Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar and his party colleagues, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) deputy chairman M. Sarasvathy, central committee members Choo Chon Kai and M. Sugumaran, Sungai Siput branch secretary A. Letchumanan, and Youth chief R. Saratbabu.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had an opportunity to right a wrong yesterday but he chose to indulge in official talk, saying that the release of the six was according to due process. Continue reading “PSM6: The end of the farce”

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Jeyakumar: Too ‘politically costly’ for BN to continue holding us

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 29, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar asserted tonight that the order to release all Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) detainees had been a political decision and not because the “police had come to their senses”.

“They (Barisan Nasional) were losing so much popularity and support from the people that it just became too politically costly for them to keep holding us,” he told reporters after addressing a crowd of supporters at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH).

The first-term lawmaker also disagreed with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s claim earlier this evening that the release order had been in accordance with the rule of law and that the decision had been made by the police based on their “observations”. Continue reading “Jeyakumar: Too ‘politically costly’ for BN to continue holding us”

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10 Countries Facing the Biggest Brain Drain

Online Universities.com | July 6th, 2011

Brain drain, also known as human capital flight, is a serious issue in many parts of the world, as skilled professionals seek out work abroad rather than returning to work in their home country. Many are driven away by high unemployment, but issues like political oppression, lack of religious freedom and simply not being able to earn a big enough paycheck also play a significant role in exacerbating brain drain. The phenomenon is not only a serious economic issue (both in that the country loses workers and the money it put into training them in college), but one that often puts the health and safety of the nation’s citizens at risk, creating long-term and potentially disastrous results for countries with high brain drain rates spanning several decades.

Here we’ve compiled a list of some of the nations that have been hardest hit by brain drain in that past few years. While some are making progress in reversing the process, others are seeing numbers rise and citizens migrating in larger numbers every year. These nations, often those in the developing world, must make major economic and social changes if they hope to retain their best and most skilled workers over the long term. Continue reading “10 Countries Facing the Biggest Brain Drain”