Month: March 2012

By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
10 March 2012

Najib Razak has just committed another major flip-flop, showing once again that he is the most indecisive prime minister we have had so far.

He has cancelled the proposed revamp of the civil servants’ remuneration scheme and reverted to the old one, the Malaysian Remuneration System (SSM). So much for all his talk about reform.

The now-scrapped Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) was mooted to reward civil servants with a pay rise but, more importantly, to keep them on their toes. Its key aim was to transform the civil service into an efficient, productive, competitive and high-performing entity. It was part of Najib’s transformation plans aimed at making Malaysia a high-income nation.

There was to be evaluation of the work of civil servants, and those who did not perform were to have faced the possibility of dismissal – under the SBPA’s Exit Policy. It would have helped to weed the chaff from the grain, to get rid of deadwood. And aptly too, since the civil service is bloated – with 1.4 million employees.

But the civil servants balked at this. They feared that their security of tenure, which they had become so pampered with, might be threatened.

Much more significant than that, those in the lower grades (up to Grade 54) were appalled to learn that under the new scheme, there would be a huge disparity between their salaries and those of the 2,600 officers in the higher grades – a disparity of more than 1,000%. In this case, their umbrage was justified.

Those in Grade 54 and below would receive increments of between 7% and 13%, while those in the upper levels, from Superscale C and above, would reportedly get increments of at least RM5,000.

It was also reported that some employees in the lower levels would be getting a pay rise of as little as RM1.70, whereas the Chief Secretary to the Government would have his salary upgraded to RM60,000 a month, and Staff Grade officers would end up getting about RM36,000 a month.

Naturally, a crisis arose from this. What was meant to be a boon for the civil servants turned out to be a bane for the Government. Continue reading “SBPA Flip-flop a Blow to Transformation”

– Gomen Man
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 10, 2012

MARCH 10 — I find it amusing that nothing that goes awry with policies or projects of this government is the fault of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

It is always someone else’s fault and the poor PM was “ill-advised”. The latest is that world-class sub-prime scheme called My First Home, where banks are supposed to provide 100 per cent financing for those earning RM3,000 and below.

Apparently, not one loan has been approved by the banks and the scheme is an abject failure. According to the National Homeowners Association, this was a ridiculous scheme and that the PM was ill-advised!

Really? He was ill-advised. Given the number of flip-flops, he does seem to be “ill-advised” more frequently than other leaders. Continue reading “The ‘ill-advised’ PM”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 08, 2012

8 MAC — Selangor menjadi negeri idaman BN khususnya Umno. Setiap malam dan siang negeri Selangor menjadi bahan umpatan dan kritikan BN yang menggunakan TV3 mencaci dan menghina kepimpinan Selangor. Ini memang tidak menjadi kehairanan kerana Umno dan BN sedar yang Selangor merupakan negeri yang terkaya dinegara ini

Kekayaan negeri Selangor itu lah yang menyebabkan Umno tidak kering peluh mencari jalan dan berusaha untuk merampas kembali negeri ini. Memang sifat pemimpin Umno begitu. Dimana ada wang disitu mereka menyerang, seolah-olah kita hidup dizaman lampau; di mana negeri yang kaya, negeri itu akan diperangi mereka untuk mendapatkan harta rampasan jika menang peperangan itu.

Barulah tiga empat tahun ini rakyat Selangor hendak merasakan pentadbiran yang baik dan transperan, rasuah yang minima dan kecurian wang dan harta rakyat yang berbillion oleh pimpinan BN dahulu. Rakyat Selangor baru sahaja hendak merasakan situasi dalam mana Menteri Besarnya tidak membina rumah yang berharga RM25 juta walaupun MB semasa itu hanya dari keluarga yang biasa. Continue reading “Hambat penagih tegar rasuah mendekati perbendaharaan negeri Selangor”

For the past few days, Malaysian sense of decency and propriety had been pulverised by a battery of blows which collectively signal that something is very rotten with the Najib administration which is marking its third anniversary next month, viz:

• the one-year jail sentence by the Federal Court for contempt of court by imam Hoslan Hussein who flung his shoes at the three-man bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkifli Ahmad Makinuddin on February 22;

• Two years for the High Court judge to produce a 70-page judgment on the murder trial of Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was blown to bits with C4 explosives, which was totally unconcerned about the motive of the murder.

• The denial of welfare aid and farming subsidies to disabled Sarawak farmer Frusis Lebi, 51, by Sarawak agriculture assistant minister Mong Dagang for supporting the opposition.

• The unending revelations of the horrors of the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre “cow condo” scandal reaching far beyond the shores of Malaysia, with the latest allegations of purchase of properties not only in Singapore but also in Kazakhstan involving public funds specifically meant to promote greater beef self-sufficiency in the country. Continue reading “Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria should intervene against the harsh and excessive one-year jail sentence imposed on imam Hoslan Hussein for throwing his shoes at the Federal Court judges”

By Justice Seeker | March 08, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 8 — The Federal Court may have been justified in throwing the book and jailing imam Hoslan Husin, had they done so on the day of the offence.

Because what he did, by tossing his shoes at them, was contempt in the face of the court and the offended quorum of judges would have been within their rights to hear the case there and then.

But the judges and the judiciary did not want the humiliation to go any further (that is why mainstream newspapers were asked by the Palace of Justice not to report the incident), so they allowed Hoslan to leave court.

The problem was that there is such a thing as online media and the case was reported widely. With the news now in the public domain, the powers that be had to swing into action.
Continue reading “A year for a shoe”

By Joseph Tawie | March 8, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

KUCHING: Political persecution of opposition supporters by the Taib Mahmud administration is a norm in Sarawak, claims the state opposition DAP.

The only reason people are alert to it now is because one victim, Frusis Lebi, a farmer with deformed hands and legs, had come forward to expose such persecution.

Lebi’s government subsidies and welfare aid were revoked because he had openly supported the opposition in last April’s state election.

Said Sarawak DAP secretary general Chong Chien Jen: “There are many of them who have been politically persecuted for supporting and voting for the opposition when their subsidies, allowances, and projects have been withdrawn from them.

“The problem is that many of these victims are not prepared to come out and expose these blatant acts.”
Continue reading “‘Political persecution in Sarawak not new’”

The first person to come to anyone’s mind when reading the Star headline “PM: Opponents of 1Malaysia are power-crazy and a cynical bunch” is none other than the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

This was because it was Muhyiddin who was the first public personality to repudiate Najib’s 1Malaysia policy of creating “a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second” when he declared that he is “a Malay first and then only a Malaysian”.

I had said in my speech in Parliament on March 18, 2010 that the biggest enemy of 1Malaysia is not from outside Barisan Nasional but from inside UMNO and Barisan Nasional, and I have been proved right in the past two years.

Even the Prime Minister himself dare not openly berate or dissociate himself from Muhyiddin’s repudiation of 1Malaysia.

In July last year, when Najib was specifically asked by Malaysian students at the Malaysian Student Leaders’ Summit (MSLS) in Kuala Lumpur whether he was Malaysian first and what he thought of his deputy’s infamous remark of being “Malay first and Malaysian next”, Najib ducked the question, saying:
“I don’t want to respond in a way that will divide me from my deputy.

“1 Malaysia is our guiding philosophy. It does not matter what you say, just as long as you follow (the 1 Malaysia concept).”
Continue reading “Muhyiddin is the first person to come to mind when Najib talks about “Opponents of 1Malaysia are power-crazy and a cynical bunch””

— Dr Noeleen Heyzer
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 08, 2012

MARCH 8 — We are in a race against time — with just three years left to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Many of our people, even in the same country, continue to live in different worlds. This is especially true for large numbers of Asian women, whose experience of development and growth remains starkly different from that of men — especially when compounded by disparities of ethnicity, caste, economic status, education and geographical location.

The best celebration of International Women’s Day this year will be a commitment to redouble our efforts in a final push on the MDGs to 2015 — because confronting gender inequality and advancing the empowerment of women holds the key to accelerating regional development and meeting the goals.

The power of the MDGs lies in their promise of a better world. Since their adoption by the member states of the United Nations in 2001, the eight goals have become universally recognised as important milestones in the pursuit of a more equitable future for all. Continue reading “Asian women: Same countries, different worlds”

Oleh Aspan Alias | March 06, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

6 MAC — Ditempat-tempat dimana orang ramai duduk berborak, isu politik memang menjadi perkara yang wajib disebut, lebih-lebih lagi waktu kita menunggu pilihanraya yang hampir tiba ini. Bila pilihanraya, siapa yang akan menang dan kalah dan apakah isu yang mungkin menjadi bahan kempen oleh kedua-dua belah pihak yang menawarkan diri dan parti mereka nanti.

Tetapi isu orang Melayulah yang menjadi isu terbesar yang orang ramai selalu menyebutnya akhir-akhir ini. Isu memohon maaf Najib kepada orang ramai itu telah membawa isu baru pula. Ramai yang berpendapat apa yang dilakukan oleh Najib itu merupakan perkara yang merugikan Umno dari sudut politiknya. Adalah sukar untuk membuat tafsiran permohonan maaf secara terbuka Najib itu.

Walau bagaimanapun yang jelas sudah ramai pula yang beranggapan bahawa Najib tidak lagi “viable” sebagai pemimpin nombor satu negara dan sudah ada dikalangan orang-orang Umno sendiri berpendapat yang Najib sudah sampai ke penghujungnya, termasuklah dua orang pimpinan bahagian Umno yang bertemu dengan saya itu. “I think Najib should throw his towel now,” kata salah seorang dari pimpinan Umno itu.
Continue reading “Umno menjadi lemah kerana dedalu-dedalu didalamnya”

By Joint Action Group for Gender Equality | March 07, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 7 — The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) gave our support for the Himpunan Hijau 2.0 protest of February 26. We joined thousands of our fellow Malaysians in calling for an immediate cancellation of the proposed Lynas rare earth plant.

We understand that this plant would involve the production and handling of radioactive waste materials that are highly toxic and not easily disposed of. Moreover, public concerns about the plant have not been addressed nor have adequate measures been taken to ensure that the plant’s operations pose no threat to the residents of Gebeng and its surroundings.

While we are heartened to see that Malaysians are increasingly mindful of and willing to speak up on issues of public interest, we are disappointed with the government’s dismissive attitude towards the legitimate concerns of ordinary Malaysians on this issue.

If most governments around the world steadfastly refuse to build similar plants in their own countries despite the economic incentive to do so, why is Malaysia going ahead with building this plant?
Continue reading “Lynas: A ticking time bomb?”

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal | March 07, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli is not immune from criminal prosecution over his handling of Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) during his tenure as its chairman, a former senior policeman has charged.

Referring to the out-of-court settlement reached between one-time national asset management firm Pengurusan Danaharta Bhd (Danaharta) and Tajudin, Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim said that this did not change the fact that three police reports with “damning allegations” had been filed by MAS against the tycoon in 2002, 2005 and 2009.

“[Even] if all civil suits between Tajudin and the rest of the parties involved, MAS in particular, were to be settled out of court, they do not in any way nullify the three reports made against Tajudin by the MAS management. Those reports still stand to be valid,” the ex-KL CID chief said in a statement today, and also challenged Tajudin’s successor, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, to refute allegations made in the 2009 report.
Continue reading “Tajudin cannot be indemnified against prosecution, says Mat Zain”

By Dr. Ong Kian Ming BSc (LSE), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Duke)
Teh Chi-Chang, CFA, BSc (Warwick), MBA (Cantab)
Refsa

The ETP will be bad for wage-earners. Workers’ share of national income under the ETP will be just 21%, compared to 28% currently. Wage-earners’ losses will be corporate gains. The corporate share of ETP income will be 74%, up from 67% today. We fully support a vibrant corporate sector, but a healthy middle class is also crucial for sustainable high-income status. In developed economies, wages take about 50% of national income.

Income disparity will continue. The top 20% of households currently gobble up 49% of all household income. Under the ETP, the top 15% of wage-earners will tak 40% of all wages. The bottom 36% will have to make do with just 12% of total wages. It appears that KR1M thrift stores and Menu1Malaysia austerity meals will still be required in 2020 as the promised ‘high incomes’ benefit only a small minority.

The ETP will double our dependence on cheap foreign labour. If the ETP succeeds, there will be 16.2 million jobs and just 14 million workers to fill them. Who will fill the 2.2m million shortfall? The lower 1.2 million jobs the ETP creates will pay just RM1,100 in today’s terms. We would hope that Malaysians take the higher-paying jobs, which means that low-paid, poorly-skilled foreign workers will be required.
Continue reading “A Critique of the ETP: Part 6 – Socio-Economic Impact – The ETP will make the rich even richer”

Four days after the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak extended an apology for past Barisan Nasional (BN) mistakes resulting in its loss of several states and electoral seats in the last general elections, it remains a mystery and state secret what were the mistakes Najib was apologizing for.

Nobody knew what past BN mistakes Najib was confessing and apologizing, allowing the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin to immediately dismiss the need to find out what these “mistakes” were arguing that “the crucial thing now was to look ahead” and the UMNO Information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan to make nonsense of Najib’s “apology” by declaring that “UMNO needs mandate to fix its mistakes”!

Does Najib himself know what past BN mistakes he was confessing and apologising for in Kedah last Saturday or was it a meaningless political rhetoric just to win votes?

While Najib mull over and decide what were the past BN mistakes which he is prepared to confess and apologise, let him apologise for his own mistakes first, especially those committed during his 35-month premiership.

Najib’s mistakes alone run into scores. Off-hand, just to mention ten, as follows: Continue reading “Najib should apologise for his own mistakes first before apologizing for past BN mistakes resulting in the political tsunami four years ago”

Kee Thuan Chye | Mar 5, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

Blogger Hussein Abdul Hamid aka Steadyaku47 made waves when he wrote in a posting asking the Chinese not to blame the Malays for being treated as ‘second-class citizens’.

Civil society activist Haris Ibrahim felt “troubled”. He was equally disturbed by what Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) had written about the Malays having become “kecik hati” (disappointed) because they feel the Chinese are not real friends to them.

Haris asked a senior journalist friend about what RPK had expressed, and the friend said it was true. He said the Umno-controlled media had been influencing the Malays by spinning that the DAP, “which is painted as a Chinese party, would be the principal benefactor if Pakatan Rakyat came to power”.

As I see it, this is ironic. The media says that the DAP is riding high in Pakatan and Umno leaders drum it in that PAS has become a puppet of the DAP, but look at what the MCA, Umno’s partner, is saying.

Repeating his theme for the umpteenth time, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek has just called the DAP, in relation to PAS, a “political eunuch”. He insists, as he has insisted many times before, that the DAP will have no guts and ability to stop PAS from bossing Pakatan and getting its way, including implementing hudud and establishing an Islamic state.

What a contradiction between what Umno says and what the MCA says! Umno says the DAP will be the principal benefactor, the MCA says PAS will be the one and the DAP will be the loser. So whom do we believe? Continue reading “The trouble with our race relations”

— Francis Loh
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 06, 2012

MARCH 6 — From the outset, we wish to clarify that Aliran is a member of the Bersih 2.0 coalition and one of our exco member sits in its Steering Committee.

In this regard we fully endorse the Eight Demands of the coalition to usher in free, fair and clean elections in Malaysia. We support Bersih 2.0’s call that these demands should be addressed before the next elections are held. We have also gone through Bersih 2.0’s submission to the Select Committee and fully support its recommendations.

For Aliran, elections in Malaysia have been generally free although there have occurred instances when voters have complained that they were denied their right to vote on polling day because their names had been removed from the rolls, or that they had been transferred to other polling stations or districts without their awareness. In the last election there were also allegations that some had not had the opportunity to vote because the stations had not remained open long enough for people to cast their votes. However, there have rarely occurred instances when ballots boxes have gone missing or that large numbers of people have been prevented from voting. Continue reading “Electoral reform: Towards fairness and a level playing field”

by Lim Guan Eng

Political Will, National Commitment And Even Personal Obligation Rather Than A Single Law Such As The WPA Will Determine Whether Integrity In Leadership Centred On An Ethically Based Society Can Be Established

It gives me pleasure to speak to you today at this 4th Annual Corporate Governance Summit organised here in Kuala Lumpur. I have been asked to speak on the issue of the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 (or “WPA”) which was passed by the federal Parliament and has been in force in Malaysia since December 2010.

Many of us here who are interested in corporate governance will have been captivated by the ongoing saga of alleged corruption and mismanagement in the RM250million National Feedlot Centre project. This is a corporate governance issue as well as a national governance issue. The question is will there be any action taken or will be it just be another case of of the RM2.52 billion losses incurred by MAS without anyone being punished and even those that caused losses such as Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli being let off the hook.

Danaharta had agreed to settle with Tan Sri Tajudin on February 14 without enforcing a High Court decision on December 2009 in Danaharta’s favour ordering Tan Sri Tajudin to pay RM589.14 million to Danaharta, over a loan taken to purchase MAS. Where is the moral hazard?

I think I can summarise my view of the WPA by saying that is not so much a Whistleblowers Protection Act but rather a “Whispering to the Police Act”. Continue reading “How Effective Has the Enforcement of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010(WPA) Been in Malaysia?”

Joseph Tawie | March 6, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

An assistant minister’s order to revoke aid to a disabled man in Sarawak because he supports the opposition contravenes the federal constitution.

KUCHING: A minister in Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s cabinet may have landed himself in hot soup after it was revealed that he had instructed two departments to revoke government extended subsidiaries and welfare aid to a disabled man who had supported an opposition candidate.

Sarawak DAP, which lodged a police report against Assistant Minister of Agriculture (Research and Marketing) Mong Dagang last Friday, said the minister has contravened the law.

Mong had allegedly directed, through a letter, the Assistant Director of Agriculture in Sri Aman to cease all forms of subsidies to Frusis Lebi.

Party secretary Chong Chieng Jen said DAP want the police to investigate Mong for his ‘heinous crime’. Continue reading “Revoking aid to disabled is ‘illegal’”

By Our Correspondent | Monday, 05 March 2012
Asia Sentinel

A murky and embarrassing case is closed, hiding top government officials’ involvement

Sometime over the next few days, a court in Kuala Lumpur will put the finishing touches to an agreement that allows Tajudin Ramli, the former head of Malaysian Airline System, not only to walk away from charges that he had allegedly looted the airline of tens of millions of US dollars but with an RM580 million (US$293.2 million) out-of-court settlement from the government.

It appears to be a settlement that the government would rather keep to itself. At the heart of the agreement with Tajudin is a convoluted story that began as long ago as the 1980s when Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, at the urging of then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, began speculating aggressively in global foreign exchange markets, at one time running up exposure rumored to be in the region of RM270 billion — three times the country’s gross domestic product and more than five times its foreign reserves at the time.
Continue reading “Mahathir’s Disastrous Financial Speculation”

By Gomen Man | March 06, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 6 — Is it a coincidence that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin have suddenly taken to being cheerleaders of Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno?

Isn’t it a sad day when the prime minister has to rely on a former prime minister whose legacy is in tatters and a former finance minister who was more of a wheeler-dealer than a stellar minister for his affirmation?

Wasn’t it not too long ago that Mahathir was telling everyone who would listen that Umno was corrupt from top to bottom? In addition, it is an open secret that in private meetings he has chastised the indecisiveness of the Najib administration, the “leakages” and the grabby mentality of the politically-connected.

But apparently the man famous for bringing down leaders as opposed to nurturing them did not want to take down Najib ala Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi because he knows that any move to weaken Najib will only benefit his nemesis: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Continue reading “When old men start cheerleading”

by Liew Chin Tong

Is the ETP truly transformative or is it just another expensive Public Relations exercise? The Rakyat has a right to know.

The government of Malaysia has invested a significant amount of resources and energy towards its Economic Transformation Program (ETP) which is currently being led by Senator Datuk Idris Jala , CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU). According to a media report, RM66 million was paid to various consultants to establish PEMANDU. And this agency is not cheap to maintain. It’s eight directors have an average salary of RM30,000 a month each while an associate director each receive an average of RM23,300 per month. With this amount of taxpayer’s dollars being spent, the Rakyat has a right to know the concrete results which the ETP is supposed to deliver.

More important than how much PEMANDU costs is the ETP’s goal to transform Malaysia into a high income country. Here, PEMANDU has set very ambitious goals for itself – RM48,000 GNI per capita, 3.3 million new jobs, RM1.4 trillion in new investments, annual growth rate of 6% per annum, from now until 2020. In the eight ETP Updates announced by PEMANDU from October 2010 to November 2011, its transformation roadmap seems to be going on very well, with almost all of its targets achieved.

However, when the ETP is examined in greater detail, as was done in an ongoing series entitled “A Critique of the ETP” by the Research for Social Advancement (REFSA), we find that the ETP is not as transformative as it sounds. For example, we would have reached RM48,000 GNI per capita with or without the ETP. And reaching this target does not mean that we will be twice as rich in 2020 as we were in 2009. Continue reading “Public forum – PEMANDU and the ETP: Truly Transformative or Business as Usual?”