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War on corruption

— Lim Sue Goan
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 09, 2012

OCT 9 — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin believes that Malaysia will be successful in its war on corruption. This is an over-optimistic view.

The government seems to have strengthened its efforts in fighting corruption, including enforcing the Whistleblower Protection Act, establishing special corruption courts, listing those who have been successfully prosecuted for corruption offences on the MACC website, making public the bidding results of government projects, reducing business licences, and 128 corporates have signed the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) to prevent corrupt practices in their companies. However, corruption remains serious, as the government has neglected loopholes in the law that have enabled corrupt practices among senior officials. There is no mandate requiring that senior officials declare their assets and the anti-corruption movement lacks credibility.

The impression of the general public on anti-corruption is, only small fish are convicted and even if the big ones are caught and charged, they would be released as senior officials involved in corruption know how to make themselves “innocent”. Continue reading “War on corruption”

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IMF warns of fresh global crisis unless eurozone finds a fix

Phillip Inman in Tokyo
The Guardian
8 October 2012

World economic outlook warns of fresh downturn as European ministers asked to try and promote growth

The International Monetary Fund has urged Eurozone leaders to act swiftly in response to the debt crisis in Greece and Spain, or risk dragging down the global economy with another financial crisis.

The IMF warned that the situation was grave and could escalate into a wider downturn unless national leaders ended their disputes with a long-lasting deal. As eurozone finance ministers met in Luxembourg for crisis talks and the launch of the euro’s permanent rescue fund, the IMF urged Europe and the US to promote growth to help major developing economies like China, Brazil and India .

The Washington-based lender said at the start of its annual meeting, in Tokyo, that the “downside risks are judged to be more elevated than in the April 2012 or September 2011 world economic outlook reports”. The annual assessment of the global economic situation said it was not clear whether the situation was another bump in the road to recovery or a worsening of the situation. “The answer depends on whether European and US policymakers deal proactively with their major short term economic problems,” it said. Continue reading “IMF warns of fresh global crisis unless eurozone finds a fix”

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Najib – a man trying to do a woman’s job

by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Oct 8, 2012

It is wrongly believed that when women speak, men only hear nagging.

The tragic prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is under intense pressure at home, should refrain from bringing his domestic problems into the workplace. For him to dismiss the need for a women’s rights movement in Malaysia is premature and daft.

Millions of women in Malaysia face violence, intimidation and other prejudices, in private, at work and in public. The instruments of the state and the Syariah Court have failed to deal with their problems.

The PM opined that “equality has been given from the start”for Malaysian women.

In the first instance, neither he nor his party gave women that equality. It was the British colonial administration which gave the women of Malaya schooling. Despite that, they still had to fight for jobs, demand equal pay and battle other forms of discrimination. Continue reading “Najib – a man trying to do a woman’s job”