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Something’s rotten in Kuantan

— Sam Peh
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

FEB 23 — Now let me get this straight: The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB)) need not worry what the international community or investors think about getting Lynas out of Malaysia.

It only think about Malaysians — the same chaps who pay the salaries of Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan and other civil servants. According to the director-general of Lynas, he only goes by the facts.

So do I. The facts are that AELB has given Lynas a temporary operating licence and allowed them to put up a multimillion ringgit plant without a long-term plan for the disposal of toxic waste.

No company in the WORLD has devised a foolproof storage system and to think that some company from Australia has achieved a world breakthrough in storage is a joke. And to think that they have been given a temporary operating licence. Continue reading “Something’s rotten in Kuantan”

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Budaya vandalisma semakin berkembang

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

23 FEB — Apabila terfikir kembali tentang isu penyenaraian FELDA, saya tidak dapat melihat apa kah sebabnya yang kerajaan mahukan penyenaraian ini dilakukan dalam apa juga keadaannya. Saya tidak faham kenapa setiap badan-badan serta agensi kerajaan yang maju sentiasa berakhir dengan kerosakan.

Dulu MAS merupakan sebuah syarikat penerbangan yang premium jika berbanding dengan syarikat-syarikat penerbangan lain di dunia ini. Oleh kerana MAS begitu berjaya di bawah pengurusan Saw Huat Lai dan kemudiannya dikembangkan lagi oleh Tan Sri Aziz Abd Rahman maka setiap mata mereka yang meleleh air liur telah menjualkannya kepada Tajuddin Ramli. Sejak penyerahan MAS kepada Tajudin Ramli, MAS telah menjadi apa yang kita lihat pada hari ini.

MAS mengalami kerugian sehinggakan kerajaan terpaksa melakukan “bail-out” dengan membeli kembali saham-saham syarikat itu dengan harga yang sama yang dijual kepada Tajudin sebelumnya. Kerugian yang dialami oleh MAS begitu besar sehinggakan MAS tidak lagi boleh bangun sampai ke hari ini. Continue reading “Budaya vandalisma semakin berkembang”

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My debate transcript

— Lim Guan Eng
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

FEB 23 — First of all, I would like to thank the organisers for this live televised debate. Televised debates mark a new chapter in Malaysian political democracy because it is an important element in the democratisation process. I hope that from today onwards, televised debates will be a common phenomenon in the Malaysian democratic system just like in Europe and the United States.

Thus, I believe what Malaysians really want to see is a debate between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to see who really deserves to be prime minister. Whoever isn’t brave enough to debate, don’t hope to think of becoming prime minister.

Chua Soi Lek suggested that DAP is being used by PAS. If we observe Umno amongst the Malays, Umno claims that PAS is being used by DAP. Therefore, I believe this self-contradictory statement is a dirty tactic employed by BN. I wish to stress here that Pakatan Rakyat component parties, be it PAS, PKR or DAP, we never use each other. We are only prepared to be “used” by the people! At the same time, we are also not anti-Malay or even anti-non-Malay; we are merely against a government that is riddled with corruption! Continue reading “My debate transcript”

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Mahathir should not try to wriggle out of his responsibility to the nation to account for the MAS scandal reducing in less than a decade one of the continent’s top-fliers into the sick man of the airline industry

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad should not try to wriggle out of his responsibility to the nation to account for the Malaysian Airline System (MAS) scandal, reducing in less than a decade one of the continent’s top-fliers into the sick man of the airline industry.

Mahathir was too fast off-the-mark when he dismissed Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s call that he “write a book” on why MAS was privatised to Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli in 1994, claiming that he was not in charge of the loss-making national carrier.

Mahathir is trying to re-write the history of his 22 years as Prime Minister to make Malaysians believe that he was a very “blur blur” Prime Minister who did not know what was going on in the various Ministries under him – not only disclaiming responsibility for the worst judicial crisis in the nation’s history with the sacking of the Lord President, Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges, Tan Sri Sulaiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah; the darkest period of human rights violations with the Internal Security Act mass arrests under Operation Lalang but also the series of financial scandals under his watch including the MAS debacle.
Continue reading “Mahathir should not try to wriggle out of his responsibility to the nation to account for the MAS scandal reducing in less than a decade one of the continent’s top-fliers into the sick man of the airline industry”

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Sabah RCI confirmed, scope to be finalised soon, says BN source

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 23 — Putrajaya is finalising the terms of reference for the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the problem of illegals in Sabah, a state Barisan Nasional (BN) leader has confirmed, dispelling rumours that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had backtracked on the highly-anticipated decision.

The Malaysian Insider was informed that the only reason why the prime minister had not announced the RCI during his visit here last week was to allow for further input from Sabah BN component parties and the state government in the panel’s terms of reference and composition.

Claiming to have sighted the minutes of the Cabinet meeting, the leader confirmed that federal ministers had agreed to the formation of the RCI on February 8 and had tasked Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz to co-ordinate the scope of the RCI investigation.

At the Cabinet’s last meeting on Wednesday, February 15, a day before Najib’s Sabah trip, Nazri tabled a rough draft of the RCI’s terms of reference for discussion, the leader said.

“It was discussed but the terms of reference were not finalised because Cabinet wanted input from Sabah BN parties and the state government.

“And for that (reason), despite the huge expectation that the PM would announce the RCI on February 16, he was simply not ready to announce it,” the BN leader told The Malaysian Insider yesterday. Continue reading “Sabah RCI confirmed, scope to be finalised soon, says BN source”

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Lim should have said PAS never killed a Mongolian

YOURSAY Malaysiakini
Feb 23, 2012

YOURSAY ‘By right, it’s Umno which should be upset over Guan Eng’s remark. But then again, MCA as always is doing Umno’s dirty job.’

Police report on Penang CM’s alleged racist remark

Boiling Mud: Selangor MCA’s public and services complaints bureau deputy chief Alan Liew said the Chinese community did not understand the true meaning of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s remark and was worried that the latter was playing on racial issue.

Liew, please do not play up racial discord when there was none to begin with regarding the said remark. And most importantly, kindly refrain from citing the Chinese community for whatever political agenda you may have.

Given the shift in the political landscape, I certainly doubt the Chinese community considers MCA as their representative. Can’t the MCA leaders get this simple fact right? Continue reading “Lim should have said PAS never killed a Mongolian”

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NFCorp directors in the dark

R. Nadeswaran
[email protected]
23 February 2012

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23, 2012): The National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) bought luxury condominiums without the approval of the board of directors. Three government representatives who sit on the board were not consulted or told about the purchase.

Alias Mohd Yassin and Manaf Hussein represented the Agriculture and Finance Ministries respectively while Datuk Mat Ali Hassan was appointed by virtue of him being the Negri Sembilan state secretary.

These appointments were made to “safeguard the interests of the federal government and stakeholders and the state government as it provided the land.”

“At no time were these directors told of the purchase of the condominiums and other so-called investments and neither were they aware of it until the matter was reported in the media,” a source close to the investigations said. Continue reading “NFCorp directors in the dark”

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Waging a jihad for ‘Malay interests’?

By Dr Mustafa K Anuar, honorary secretary of Aliran

Taking on Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria, Mustafa K Anuar points out that it is certain actions by Muslim politicians and bureaucrats – their involvement in corruption, for instance – that are actually smearing the image of Islam.

Controversial Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria called on Muslims (possibly, in this context, only to be read as Malays) to go on a jihad to defend Islam, Malays and the institution of the Malay Rulers, which, apparently to him, are under siege.

The basic question that begs to be asked here is, are Islam, the Malays and the institution of the Malay Rulers indeed under severe threat (presumably by the “Others”?) that it merits a jihad of sorts? Are there still instances of economic injustice among some Malays? If it is true that these Malays are economically worse off, then it begs the question why? What has the BN government been doing ever since it came to power more than 50 years ago? Why has there been increasing income disparity within the Malay community itself, let alone the economic disparity between ethnic groups?
Continue reading “Waging a jihad for ‘Malay interests’?”

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Pakatan states proof of economic success, proper governance, say leaders

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 23, 2012

PETALING JAYA, Feb 23 — High investment figures, budget surpluses and reduction of debts in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) states are proof that the federal opposition is ready to take a shot at governing the country, its leaders have asserted.

PR leaders told participants at a DAP fund-raising function here last night that while Barisan Nasional (BN) could only resort to giving one-off RM500 aid to Malaysians while still pouring out billions of ringgit worth of taxpayers’ money in projects which are shrouded in secrecy, PR states have managed to save money as well as increase investment and productivity in less than four years.

Leading the fray was Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who gave the 3,500-odd crowd a blow-by-blow list of the state’s achievements and successes since 2008, and stressed that unlike BN, PR’s policies were not “divided by race” and that their goal was to help all Malaysians.

“Malaysia will become bankrupt because of cronyism, corruption. The (current) federal government debt is RM456 billion. If Malaysia goes bankrupt, who pays? Najib? Rosmah? It’s you and me, ordinary people,” exclaimed Lim to loud cheers from the Chinese-majority crowd. Continue reading “Pakatan states proof of economic success, proper governance, say leaders”

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MAS scandal: The gov’t must let the truth be told

Mat Zain Ibrahim | Feb 22, 2012
Malaysiakini

I am referring to the report made by MAS against Tajudin Ramli to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) almost three years ago. This report has been in the public domain since Aug 23, 2010, when it was first published by Malaysia Today. It’s still there until today.

On May 20, 2009, Shahari Sulaiman, then the managing director of MASKargo, on the instructions of MAS management, lodged a report with the MACC. He alleged that when Tajudin Ramli took over MAS in 1994, the national airline company had RM600 million cash in reserves but when he left, the company had accumulated losses to the tune of RM8 billion. Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad quoted the losses at RM9.4 billion as at 2000.

MAS also gave details of Tajudin’s various fraudulent dealings and also raised allegations of collusion between the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers and in fact naming the parties alleged to be involved in the same report.

However, the report falls short of alleging the inaction of the former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is now MAS adviser, although it gave details of those senior MAS management who were present during the briefing by the former police director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), on March 26, 2007 at the Prime Minister’s Office. One of them is Idris Jala who is now a cabinet member. Continue reading “MAS scandal: The gov’t must let the truth be told”