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Negri Sembilan: Feudings in the federation

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 03, 2012

AUG 3 — A little bit of history.

In the 14th century, Sumatran people from the land of the Minangkabau began to settle down in the state today known as Negri Sembilan. They came through Malacca and reached places like Rembau. The Minangkabaus brought their superior civilisation to bear on the local asli tribes. Intermarriages between them resulted in the creation of the Biduanda clan. The Biduanda clan eventually emerged as the successors of the ruling tribes and established the rule that territorial chiefs of Negri Sembilan are only selected from within the Biduanda clan.

The chieftains were originally called penghulus and later as undang. Before the arrival of the paramount chief, Negri Sembilan formed part of the Johor Sultanate which gave the title Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan to the paramount chief.

The name Negri Sembilan was first used in the 16th century to refer to the federation of states founded and opened by these Minangkabau people in the Malay peninsula. In ancient times, the Malay kingdom encompassed states and territories in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and even Kampuchea. People moved from one location to another with much ease and fluidity, recognising no artificial boundaries. The Malay kingdom was one united by kinship, common religion, customs and language.

Internecine feuds seemed to beset Negri Sembilan right from its beginning when powerful chiefs from the Biduanda clan jostled for paramount leadership. To avoid the debilitating feuds, the chiefs sent for a uniting figure from Pagar Ruyung. From that day until now, the paramount chief is known as Yam Tuan Besar or Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan.

While the feuds of old are settled, its modern-day version of a house perpetually divided resurfaced in the form of intense political rivalries. The old chiefs of old are now replaced by Umno warlords. Continue reading “Negri Sembilan: Feudings in the federation”

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Why police are impotent: A response to PDRM

— Lim Teck Ghee
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 03, 2012

AUG 3 — I thank the Polis Diraja Malaysia for the response to my commentary on why the police are impotent in fighting rising crime in the country.

Massaging of official statistics and reports

Firstly, with regard to the lengthy explanation on how the crime count statistics are generated, whilst the information is quite useful, it does not make a convincing case that the crime rate has dropped dramatically during the past three years.

I am sure that the police leadership — as with the ordinary man in the street — is aware that police reports generated through the official reporting system considerably understate the actual incidence of crime.

Furthermore, methodologies, definitions and categorisations vary from year to year. These changes, together with other forms of “massaging” (authorised and unauthorised) are the most likely explanations as to why there has been such a sharp fall in the reported crime statistics in the past three years compared with 2008. Continue reading “Why police are impotent: A response to PDRM”

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Dissecting the ETP Annual Report (Part 6): Recommendations for Pemandu

— Ong Kian Ming and Teh Chi-Chang | August 02, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

AUG 2 — Is asking for a few more facts and some additional background too much? Pemandu has accused us of “nit-picking” and not providing alternatives. That conveniently shifts the focus to other issues while Pemandu ignores our very pertinent questions and suggestions. We summarise here three recommendations, and remind Pemandu of the positive outcomes of our nit-picking.

Recommendation #1: Be clear about targets, data and methodology.

Pemandu now has three different targets for national income by 2020. Please be clear, so we can all work towards the same ultimate target. Also, Pemandu should declare now its GNI, investment and job creation targets for 2012 and 2013. This is to prevent a repeat of the discrepancies surrounding 2011, when its `targets’ were declared only after the actual numbers were out.

Recommendation #2: Remove doubtful EPPs.
Continue reading “Dissecting the ETP Annual Report (Part 6): Recommendations for Pemandu”

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Of National Day and party ploys

Mustafa K. Anuar
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 02, 2012

AUG 2 — National symbols are — at the risk of sounding stupid here — expected to be “national” in character, meaning and appeal so that they are able to attract, and be appreciated, honoured and even jealously guarded by the citizenry concerned. They may range from the Malayan tiger to the national flower or Bunga Raya (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis).

And like these national symbols, national institutions such as the National Museum are to evoke a certain kind of collective identity among ordinary Malaysians as a people of a particular nation.

The National Museum is supposed to display exhibits that represent the history and cultural heritage of the Malaysian people from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.

In other words, anything that is supposed to be “national” should have the capacity to enable ordinary Malaysians to relate to and identify with it rather easily — and even with patriotic pride.

Likewise, the national flag, or Jalur Gemilang as it is now known, has the characteristics or elements to represent the nation called Malaysia. Most, if not all, Malaysians are able to identify themselves with this piece of cloth that kindles national consciousness.

The flag, on the other hand, would not be able to stir up that vital sense of belonging to a nation among the citizens if it has, for instance, elements of a dacing, or scale, that is easily associated with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). Continue reading “Of National Day and party ploys”

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A tale of two themes

By Goh Keat Peng | August 2, 2012 0
www.ongohing.wordpress.com

In these past several weeks, Malaysians have seen a drama unfold over what should be the Theme for their country’s forthcoming observance of its independence day. And now placed on the table of the rakyat (people) are two very different Themes.

In this drama, Malaysians have been given a look at not just the output or outcome but the PROCESS in which each of these two very important Themes have been conceived and delivered. Perception comes from how leaders (political or otherwise) go about things. Rightly or wrongly, this is how I perceive things. Correct me if I am wrong.

One theme came straight from the ruling political party coalition via the ministry of information. The party=nation. The party knows best. The rakyat (people)? Just vote us in every 4-5 years. Trust us; we do everything for you. You will always have official avenues to channel your voice to your government. On the issue of national day theme, though, we don’t need really need to hear your suggestion or criticism. We know what is good for you. We have the experience- fifty five years of it. Here then is the Theme for our independence day: “Janji Ditepati”(Promises fulfilled). The rakyat does not have to tell us but we tell you that we have kept our promises! We see no reason why our re-elections campaign theme cannot be the independence day celebration theme. Why not? As the ruling coalition, have we not kept our promises to the nation?
Continue reading “A tale of two themes”

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Oh Malaysia, Oh Merdeka

By Allan CF Goh

Oh Malaysia, Oh Merdeka

I will always choose fair Malaysia,
The land where I was born and raised;
So are the many people like me,
Malaysia was our true love to praise.
Once it was a calm idyllic land,
Richly suffused with kind, genteel grace.
It was filled with real beauty and flair,
Compared to today’s mounting disgrace.

Now this beautiful country of ours
Is sadly on the slope of decline,
Because the men who helm her are so
Very exploitatively inclined.
To save the country from further slide,
We all have a duty to perform:
We need to excise all things rotten,
To remove all bad laws, and reform.
Continue reading “Oh Malaysia, Oh Merdeka”

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Race to the bottom in Malaysia

By William Barnes | Aug 2, 2012
Asia Times Online

BANGKOK – As Malaysia approaches a general election season, opposition politicians claim Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling party and government are stoking racial politics to gain a popular edge with the ethnic Malay majority.

A year after the World Bank warned Malaysia over its acutely debilitating race-based brain drain, veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has said the government is compounding the damage by blatantly playing the “race card” in the run up to the next election, which must be called by next April.

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s ambitions to lift the economy out of its disappointing holding pattern can go hang when it fears losing for the first time since independence in 1957, he has argued. “They talk all the time about being world beating and wanting to get all Malaysians behind the economy … but it all goes overboard when the focus is on the Malay identity.”
Continue reading “Race to the bottom in Malaysia”

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Charging Rafizi – gross miscarriage of justice

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life advisor

I feel there is a gross miscarriage of justice by charging Rafizi for revealing bank accounts of NFCorp.

In my opinion, Rafizi by revealing the bank accounts of NFCorp has shown that the officers of NFCorp were involved in a major offence of laundering money belonging to the people.

NFCorp obtained a sum of RM250 million from the government, ostensibly to invest in a major cattle venture.

The company officers led by its chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Salleh misused the money and attempted to hide the money in properties in foreign countries. They were engaged in money laundering.

Rafizi discovered this and reported the money laundering operation to the press, based on bank accounts in the names of NFCorp officers.
Continue reading “Charging Rafizi – gross miscarriage of justice”

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Mounting Malaysian debt could lead to downgrade, says ratings agency

By Lee Wei Lian
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, August 1 — Malaysia’s public finances are weak relative to those of its ‘A’ range peers and the country is now on par with more heavily indebted ‘A’ range sovereigns such as Italy, said Fitch Ratings today.

This comes after some economists said that the federal government’s debt, which nearly doubled since 2007 to RM421 billion, poses a fiscal risk to the country if not managed carefully as it impairs Malaysia’s resilience to economic shocks, which appear to be occurring with increasing frequency.

Fitch said that despite strong GDP growth, the deterioration in public debt ratios is affecting Malaysia’s credit profile and a lack of progress on fiscal reforms could lead to a ratings downgrade.

Fitch said that the rise in the federal government debt-to-GDP ratio and the limited broadening of the fiscal revenue base have pushed Malaysia’s debt-to-revenue ratio to 246 per cent in 2011, which is well above the ‘A’ and ‘BBB’ range medians of 137 per cent and 119 per cent respectively and is now on par with more heavily indebted ‘A’ range sovereigns such as Italy at 261 per cent and Israel at 180 per
cent.

Italy is considered one of the countries at risk of a debt default and saw its borrowing costs soar to above seven per cent in November last year. Continue reading “Mounting Malaysian debt could lead to downgrade, says ratings agency”

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No more NST for Aliran!

By Aliran, on 1 August 2012

P Ramakrishnan explains why Aliran has terminated its subscription to the New Straits Times.

As of today, Aliran has stopped subscribing to the New Straits Times. It is a decision that was postponed several times because we felt we had to monitor the mainstream media’s coverage. But the one-sided reporting and the biased coverage have been hard to stomach; indeed it has upset thinking and caring Malaysians.

It does not mean we are now going to subscribe to The Star. We discontinued The Star and Utusan many years ago for the same reason. The Star’s reporting has been even worse than the NST. (But some might dispute this!) We shan’t even talk about Utusan…

Of late, both The Star’s and the NST’s coverage of the political situation has been nauseating. There is a commonality in blatantly misleading the public. Malaysians are misinformed, told to keep their eyes only on one side of the coin and kept in the dark about the other side.

The Opposition is deliberately denied space in their coverage. The Opposition is misquoted and words are added when they were not even uttered. Repeated and strenuous attempts by the Opposition to rebut misleading reporting are totally ignored, unfairly and unjustly.

Journalistic ethics and adherence to truth are no longer sacrosanct. They have gone with the wind. Spinning stories and inventing lies to distort the truth are no longer antithetical to respectable journalism. Continue reading “No more NST for Aliran!”

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Royal Malaysia Police response to ‘Why police are impotent’

CPI Intro: We are sharing with readers the response of Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) to a commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee on “Why police are impotent in dealing with growing crime“(23 July 2012).

Interested readers are encouraged to send in their views on the various points raised by PDRM in defending the official crime statistics and the steps taken to combat crime.

********

By ACP Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf | Tuesday, 31 July 2012 16:39
CPI

There have been quite a number of debates lately on the issues of crime, particularly on the accuracy of official crime statistics and police efficiency in combating crime. Various articles and reports have been written with many quarters offering differing views. The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) have constantly been keeping the public abreast on the crime situation and police efforts in crime prevention. In this article, PDRM would like to clarify pertinent issues concerning crime and in particular respond to the article written by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee entitled “Why police are impotent in dealing with growing crime” in CPI website which was published on 23July 2012 .
Continue reading “Royal Malaysia Police response to ‘Why police are impotent’”

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Rafizi Ramli arrested

Tweets @limkitsiang :

Rafizi Ramli PKR director of strategy arrested this morning under BAFIA 4exposing RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal
9:05am

Najib’s iron fist coming out of velvet glove. Greatest crime in UMNO/BN Msia is not corruption but expose of corruption. Janji Ditepati
9:13am

@rafiziramli Country n good/sensible Msians behind you. You have put Najib in national/international dock. GTP ETP etc in tatters.
9:39am