Month: October 2012

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 08, 2012

8 OKT — Dr Mahathir semalam bercakap lagi dan menambahkan keyakinan ramai yang beliau tidak lagi berasa senang melihat kejatuhan Umno dan BN. Jika BN jatuh beliaulah orang yang paling merasakan panasnya dan ini merupakan satu igauan bagi beliau.

Beliau tidak pernah menyangka yang suatu hari nanti beliau akan tertekan dengan keadaan politik ciptaan beliau sendiri. Beliau tidak pernah menyangka yang suatu hari nanti rakyat akan membuka mata dan politik selepas itu akan menjadi mimpi ngeri bagi beliau.

Selama ini beliau merasakan beliau boleh melakukan apa sahaja terhadap politik dan rakyat negara ini. Beliau tidak pernah menyangka yang pada suatu hari selepas beliau meletakkan jawatan dan bersara dari kerajaan pimpinannya akan datang isu-isu yang menjadikan parti dan kerajaan pimpinannya akan dibelakangkan oleh rakyat semua kaum.

Berbagai cara beliau untuk mempertahankan kejatuhan Umno yang beliau tubuhkan itu. Menuduh semua orang bertanggungjawab di sana sini terutamanya pihak pembangkang. Dr Mahathir bukan sahaja mengutuk pembangkang untuk memalingkan rakyat mengarahkan kesalahan kepada beliau malahan beliau menumpukan masa dan waktunya untuk menuduh Abdullah Ahmad Badawi pemimpin yang beliau pilih sendiri untuk menggantikannya.

Semua orang salah kecuali beliau dan keluarga beliau. Dr Mahathirlah pemimpin yang bergaduh dengan semua pihak semasa beliau memegang kuasa beliau seorang sahajalah yang betul. Orang lainnya semuanya tidak betul. Orang lain semuanya anti Melayu. Hanya beliau sahajalah pejuang Melayu. Orang yang benar-benar Melayu tidak memperjuangkan Melayu tetapi mereka yang menjadi Melayu “by choice” memperjuangkan hak Melayu. Itu kepercayaan Dr Mahathir. Continue reading “Sendiri yang tak pandai, salahkan Soros pula”

Reuters/The Malaysian Insider
Oct 08, 2012

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 8 — Housewife Fawziah Abdul wants to thank former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for making her a citizen 10 years after she illegally slipped into Borneo from the southern Philippines in search of a better life.

The 50-year-old lives on the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, where her tin-roofed shack jostles for space with more than 1,000 others in a slum where children play beside heaps of rubbish.

She is hopeful that her three children will get a new home and identity cards if she votes for the government again.

With a general election due within seven months, the 13-party ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is banking on Sabah and neighbouring Sarawak to prolong its 55-year grip on power.

But its support in the two Borneo states, which account for a quarter of Parliament seats, is showing signs of slipping. Continue reading “Migrants, church may end BN’s Borneo vote bank”

Omid Safi, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” and the editor of “Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism.”
The New York Times
October 5, 2012

Modern nation states utilize political models that were unanticipated in any of our premodern scriptures. It is anachronistic to ask whether “Islam” endorses constitutionalism or democracy. Islam as such does not proscribe any one particular system of government. (Of course “Islam” doesn’t do anything, Muslims do. We human beings are the agents of our religious traditions.)

Rather, there are general ethical principles that have to be guaranteed under any system of government that Muslims adopt, like social justice; protection of life, property, and honor of humanity; accountability of rulers to law; distribution of wealth; and protection of minorities. All systems of government are imperfect, and it is not only good but also healthy to be perpetually vigilant against abuses of any form of government. However, it may also be the case that a genuine and robust democracy is the least imperfect of all imperfect political models today, as others before us have said. Continue reading “What Islam Says, and Doesn’t Say”

Richard W. Bulliet, a professor of history at Columbia University, is the author of “The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization”
The New York Times
October 4, 2012

If democracy is to be born in the Muslim world, religious political parties will be the midwives.

Elections do not necessarily mean democracy, of course. Most majority-Muslim countries, including monarchies like Kuwait, Jordan and Morocco, hold elections. Usually nationalist regimes instituted them, and nationalist leaders transformed them into instruments of dictatorship, partly by banning religious parties.

Muslim political parties have been the strongest and most consistent force urging genuinely free elections in majority-Muslim nations.

The question is whether a Muslim party, once elected, would inevitably make a mockery of that process by creating a religious dictatorship.The question in both the Western and the Muslim world, however, is whether a Muslim party, once elected, would inevitably make a mockery of that process by creating a religious dictatorship. Continue reading “Muslims Have Pushed for Democracy”

by Reza Aslan, an associate professor at the University of California is the author of “No God but God” and “How to Win a Cosmic War”
The New York Times
October 5, 2012

The question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy is nonsensical at its core, first because it ignores basic empirical evidence (the five most populous Muslim countries in the world are all democracies) and second because it presumes that Islam is somehow different, unique or special — that unlike every other religion in the history of the world, Islam alone is unaffected by history, culture or context.

Anyone who would answer “no, Islam is not compatible with democracy” does not even deserve a response; this is merely recycling the same old tired and disproven stereotypes about Islam that are frankly starting to get boring.

The truth is no religion either encourages or discourages democracy. Indeed, because religions are in their nature absolutist, all religions reject the principles of liberalism and popular sovereignty that are at the heart of the democratic ideal. Continue reading “Rejected by Religions, but Not by Believers”

By Opalyn Mok
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 07, 2012

Penang church pastors have refuted allegations that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had engaged them in political talk recently. — File picture GEORGE TOWN, Oct 7 — Penang church pastors refuted today allegations in Utusan Malaysia that Lim Guan Eng had engaged them in political talk during a recent dialogue session, the latest black mark against the Umno daily in its reporting of the state chief minister.

The DAP secretary-general has been under fire by Umno leaders and Utusan Malaysia columnist Awang Selamat for allegedly telling Christians to stand up to injustice.

“There were no political speeches made during that luncheon dialogue session between the state government and us,” national co-ordinator of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Pastor Sam Surendran told a press conference here this evening.

“I was present at the lunch dialogue session and all the pastors here also attended the session and we are refuting any claims that the chief minister had delivered any politicial speeches on that day,” he added.

The Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia had claimed Lim delivered a political speech at a church to garner votes for the upcoming elections. The news report had also quoted the Bishop of Lutheran Evangelical Church Rev Dr Solomon Rajah and National Church Council president Rev Dr Thomas Philips allegedly criticising Lim for using churches as a place to win votes. Continue reading “Nothing political in Penang dialogue, say pastors”

This week has been a great Public Relations triumph for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) but a major setback for Malaysia’s war against corruption, particularly “Grand Corruption” by top political and public personalities.

How much of Malaysian public taxpayers’ money was spent for MACC to host the 6th International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) and General Meeting 2012?

It was clearly well-spent for MACC and the Barisan Nasional Government from the harvest of superlative praises showered on Malaysia – which were all music to the ears of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the MACC officers, from the plaudits by the IAACA participants commending Malaysia’s “serious efforts” at tackling corruption to praises for the Prime Minister himself “as someone very serious about the priority he has given to fighting corruption”.

Those who do not know the true situation would be excused for thinking that Malaysia must be one of the top 20 if not top 10 countries in the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking and score in terms of being least corrupt nations in the world.

But the facts tell a very different story. Continue reading “This week has been a great Public Relations triumph for MACC but a major setback for the war against corruption, particularly “Grand Corruption””

— Foong Li Mei
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 07, 2012

Oct 7 — Tired of politicians’ mudslinging and dirty tricks? We are, too. Thankfully, the panelists at REFSA’s recent forum showed that our country still has political leaders who rise above the muck to focus on working for the best interest of Malaysia.

Her crisp and confident voice swept through the packed hall with grace and conviction. It was nothing like the ferocity fired from the top of the lungs that one has come to expect whenever a political figure is handed a microphone.

She emphasised that politicians should not be given full control of the country’s finances. She spoke of the need for an independent authority to release a pre-Budget report that serves as a reference point for the actual Budget, much like the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) in the UK.

She urged Malaysians to remain vigilant over government spending, and insist on having a say in how tax monies are spent. Continue reading “Voices of reason”

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | October 7, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Umno’s refusal to adapt to the changing socio-political setting in the country is its own doom.

The Malaysian people have already shown that they no longer accept the Umno solution.

The coming together of various races during Bersih 3.0 earlier this year sent shivers along the spine of the Umno leadership unless of course they misread or simply refused to read the signals sent by the tens and thousands of participants who voluntarily rallied.

Umno’s approach to ‘unity’ is something like the Nazi final solution. It thinks it can achieve national unity by pitting one race against one another.

Today the Chinese, tomorrow the Indians and later all other non-Malay Malaysians.

Eventually, it will apply the same gas-chambering treatment to the Malays who dared challenge and reject Umno.

The Malays who are opposed and reject Umno are classed as either not having sufficient Malayness or apostates. The majority of us reject this fascism. Continue reading “Stubborn Umno ‘killing’ race relations”

Steve Oh
CPI

I am sure most Malaysians will agree with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in a recent speech that there is more to corruption than government abuses. What more is not conjecture as much of it is in the public domain.

Surely it must be evident from the various writings in Malaysiakini, CPI and other weblogs unless someone is so out of touch with the present reality and fails to recognise the angst and anger of many civic-minded Malaysians who see their country sliding down the slippery slope.

It is true what Najib said that “What is often neglected, however, is the fact that corruption and corrupt behaviour is entangled deep with the moral fabric of all societies.”

He went on to say, “It is critical, therefore, people in positions of power and authority to exemplify the values they wish their constituents would follow”.

But does Najib believe what he says?

And more importantly where is the walk besides the talk?

All we have seen seems to be in the contrary. We are wont to ask, “Where is the example from the people in positions of power and authority?” Continue reading “Politics in Malaysia is the most profitable business”

[contd from The 2013 Budget: Najib’s Last Hurrah? (1)]

Taken as a whole, Malaysia appears to have accumulated debt rapidly even as it loses competitiveness and is thus precariously placed. The Budget Speech made no reference to these issues despite the urgency and importance of these facts to the economic health of the country.

A full and transparent accounting is imperative to permit the development of strategies to avoid a debt crisis of the type affecting many of the countries, large and small, in the EUROZONE.

Current Economic Developments and Prospects

The preliminary estimates of growth cited in the Prime Minister’s Budget Speech for the first half of 2012 are somewhat exaggerated and contradicted by recent economic indicators. Inflation has been under estimated and thus there is an illusion of a high rate of GDP growth in the first half of the year. What growth occurred can be largely attributed to expanded exports of oil and gas and an expansionary fiscal policy adopted in the Budget for 2012.

There are recent indications of a slowdown in exports resulting partly from weaknesses in global commodity markets; industrial output has also shown weaknesses. Growth in the second half of the year is likely to fall short of growth in the first half. Thus, the projected rate of growth of between 4.5 and 5.0 percent for the current year as a whole is unlikely to be achieved. A lower growth rate has implications for revenues; lower tax receipts will mean a higher deficit further compounded by rising public expenditures. Thus, the overall deficit for 2012 is almost certainly going to exceed the projected figure of 4.5 percent cited by the Prime Minister.

The claim that there was “robust private sector investment” is not supported. If anything, private sector players e.g. IPPs such as YTL, Genting Power etc., have divested. Continue reading “The 2013 Budget: Najib’s Last Hurrah? (2)”

By Thomas Fann

This is not a new issue, in fact it is 21 years old.

It all began when the Barisan Nasional government, with its overwhelming majority in Parliament, passed by 99 to 25 votes the 1991 Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, or Act A804. The rephrasing of sections of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 basically gave incontestable power to state governments to seize private land for development by private companies and individuals. Lands originally acquired for public purposes can also be used for private development.

Before Act A804, land could only be acquired for public purposes or for public utilities like building of roads, schools, hospitals, pipelines, water or power plants, etc. With the addition of “..for any purpose which in the opinion of the State Authority is beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia”, no land is safe.

The term “beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia” is as subjective as you can get. A piece of land can be acquired to build a posh five-star hotel, an amusement park or a golf resort because in the opinion of the government it would bring in the tourist dollar and create jobs for locals, not to mention enriching the private companies who would, of course, be paying taxes.

To really make the Land Acquisition Act water-tight for the acquirer, Section 68A says that acquisitions cannot be invalidated by reason of any kind of subsequent disposal or use (etc) of the acquired land. This new provision aims at preventing the bona fide of the acquirer or of the purported purpose from being challenged in court. You can only challenge the quantum of the compensation offered, the measurement of the land area, the person whom compensation is payable to, and the apportionment of the compensation.

The leader of the opposition then, YB Lim Kit Siang in opposing Act A804, gave this dire warning – “When it becomes law, it will destroy the constitutional right to property enjoyed by Malaysians for 34 years since Merdeka, and become the mother of all corruption, abuses of power, conflicts-of-interest and unethical malpractices in Malaysia…”

Was Kit Siang just over-reacting or scare-mongering when he said that or is it a prophecy that was and is being fulfilled till today? Continue reading “Land Grab Malaysian-Style”

No time like tomorrow
Malaysian politics
The Economist
Another budget, more cash handouts and more dithering over an election date
Oct 6th 2012 | SINGAPORE | from the print edition

THE prime minister, Najib Razak, fancies himself as the Tony Blair of Malaysian politics. Like the former British prime minister, Mr Najib purports to be a progressive reformer, on a mission to “modernise” his country. The British-educated Mr Najib also likes to pay as much attention to the spin on his policies as to their substance. He even hires former Blair advisers to make sure he gets it right.

For all that, Mr Najib increasingly resembles the hapless Gordon Brown, Mr Blair’s nemesis and successor. For years Mr Brown agitated to push his rival aside. When at last he succeeded, Mr Brown blew it by missing the chance to call an early election while he was still relatively popular. Rather than winning his own mandate, Mr Brown, unelected and indecisive, watched his authority drain away until he was boxed into calling an election right at the end of his term—which he then lost. Continue reading “Najib – more Brown than Blair?”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced RM1 million contribution to the newly-established International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in Vienna but this could not salvage or buy off the total lack of credibility of his “big speech” on fighting corruption at the launch of the sixth International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) Annual Conference and General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The launch of the international anti-corruption meeting yesterday must be the most uncomfortable programme Najib had to attend since becoming the Prime Minister 42 months ago – delivering a speech on a subject he himself does not believe in and knowing that it would be received with scorn and contempt, politely by the IAACA Conference delegates, but with derision and disdain outside the four walls of the IAACA Conference at the KLCC.

Surely Najib is not so naïve as not to realise that when he called attention to the “bigger picture” of graft and declared that the fight against corruption must go beyond political and public service borders, it is seen instantly as an excuse to justify the utter failure of his administration, the Government Transformation Programe and NKRA in combating corruption, which is amply borne out by Malaysia’s worst 60th ranking and lowest 4.3 score in the 2011 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.

Furthermore, when Najib said countries needed to instil a “natural abhorrence” of corruption in society, he is only provoking the question whether he could point out a single member of his Cabinet who is recognised by Malaysians as pre-eminent in the “natural abhorrence” of corruption?

If he could not name a single member of his Cabinet with a “natural abhorrence” of corruption, what about he himself? Does he qualify as a leader with a “natural abhorrence” of corruption? Continue reading “Has Najib “natural abhorrence” of corruption as to appear in Parliament to report on the “test of the trio” – Taib Mahmud, Musa Aman and Gani Patail – on updates of inquiries into allegations of corruption and abuses of power?”

By Martin Jalleh

by Kee Thuan Chye
Free Malaysia Today
October 5, 2012

BN happens to have been in federal government for so long that people tend to automatically assume they have the required leadership.

COMMENT

I’m finding this frequent comment by people rather irksome: “But does Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have leadership? Can it take over the federal government?”

I’m prompted to ask: What do they mean by “leadership”? Is the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership the kind we want?

I’d take it further: Does BN have leaders? I mean, real leaders?

People tend to forget to look at the states currently being governed by PR. I don’t know much about Kedah and Kelantan, but Selangor and Penang have been doing fine. Continue reading “Do you want the devil you know?”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 04, 2012

4 OKT — Kenapa kita mendengar rakyat bercakap dan berbincang tentang politik tidak henti-henti sehinggakan jarang-jarang kita mendengar orang ramai bercakap pasal lain. Keadaan sebegini tidak pernah berlaku sampai ketahap ini dan ini sahaja menunjukkan rakyat sedang dalam pencarian. Kehidupan rakyat tentulah ada masa pasang dan surutnya dan ia bergantung kepada siapa yang mentadbir dan memerintah kita. Setiap rakyat ditadbir oleh badan kerajaan secara “direct” atau “indirect” di dalam mana-mana negara yang berkerajaan.

Rakyat ditadbir oleh kerajaan sehingga dikampung-kampung dan mereka ditadbir oleh Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK). JKKK itu adalah struktur pentadbiran kerajaan yang terendah sekali. Selalunya apabila sampai rakyat biasa bercakap ditempat-tempat awam tentang politik, tidak akan ada perkara lain yang berlaku selain dari berlakunya perubahan. Dalam politik dini hari rakyat Malaysia setiap peringkat bercakap politik dan politik kepartian.

Perubahan itu tetap berlaku dan ini adalah hakikat yang tidak boleh di nafikan oleh sejarah. Kita tidak terlepas daripada angin perubahan ini dan sememangnya perubahan itu sudah sampai untuk berlaku. Kalaulah Muhammad SAW dahulu tidak berhijrah Islam itu susah untuk berkembang kerana masalah tentangan dari kaum mushrikin Makkah. Kemajuan dan perkembangan Islam sendiri terpaksa melalui perubahan dalam bentuk hijrah. Continue reading “Pecahkan ruyungnya dahulu sebelum mendapatkan sagunya”

PM Najib prides himself as the ‘Father of Transformation’ or ‘Bapa Transformasi’ because of the spate of transformation initiatives which he has launched since taking over as Prime Minister in 2009.

He has certainly transformed the Malaysian lexicon by introducing an alphabet soup of acronyms such as the ETP, GTP, NKRA, NKEA, SRI, NEM, BR1M and KR1M, just to name a few.

The expensive consultants who conceived of these terms have certainly benefitted from these transformation initiatives. But the positive impact on the man on the street is far less apparent.

While the Prime Minister still sounds positive about his transformation initiatives, his budget tells us a different story. Continue reading “Najib as “Father of Transformation’?”

After the presentation of the 2013 Budget by the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Parliament last Friday, the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin praised the 2013 budget as “the best to date”, and such superlative praises have been taken up by the other Barisan Nasional leaders.

Muhyiddin also denied that the 2013 Budget is an “election budget”. No MP whether from Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat would agree with him. In fact, I don’t think Muhyiddin himself believes his own denial.

But whether the 2013 Budget will be remembered by Umno/BN leaders as “the best budget” in the past 55 years will depend on whether it is the “silver bullet” for Najib to win the 13th General Election with a two-thirds parliamentary majority or whether it would result in his becoming the last UMNO Prime Minister or a prelude for him to be toppled as UMNO President and Prime Minister in a repeat scenario like what happened to Tun Abdullah in 2009 – becoming the latest “trophy” of Tun Mahathir who would have the scalps of three DPMs and two PMs in the bag!

It is precisely because Najib has no confidence that the 2012 Budget, despite giving goodies for almost every sector of the electorate, would be the “silver bullet” that he has kept postponing the dissolution of Parliament and acquired the dubious record of being the Prime Minister without an elected mandate of his own for the longest period when compared to all the previous four Prime Ministers after Tunku Abdul Rahman, including his father Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah. Continue reading “Is the 2013 Budget Najib’s “silver bullet” to win the 13th GE?”

On the occasion of the 49th Malaysia Day, Catholic Bishop Datuk Cornelius Piong in his message questioned if a 49-year-old agreement symbolised by the Keningau Batu Sumpah to uphold religious freedom and other native rights and customs had been kept.

Piong said that 49 years ago leaders from the federation of Malaya promised the people of Sabah they would progress together and have their basic human rights protected, as part of a campaign to convince them to join forces and form Malaysia, with partner states Sarawak and Singapore.

The three key pledges Piong highlighted were guarantees that Sabahans would have freedom of religion, their native land would be safeguarded by the state government and the federal government would respect and protect Sabah local customs.

“Are these promises still being respected and honoured?” Piong asked in his Malaysia Day message.

He said: “The agreement was carved on an oath stone (Batu Sumpah Peringatan) which is still visible read and remembered.” Continue reading “Call on all MPs, BN or PR, in Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia to support a RCI to assess whether dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in past five decades”