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I work hard so my government can afford RM4,000 clocks

– CL Tang
The Malaysian Insider
October 06, 2013

Monday blues again. I dragged myself out of bed, for yet another day of traffic jams, mundane work and greasy lunches. As I arrived at my office barely on time, I noticed it is just the first week of the month. Yet another 3 weeks to go before that next paycheck.

It is an important day today – the company is due to sign a huge contract with the government. The company chairman will get to buy a new Rolls Royce, and I may get a promotion with a big pay rise. I buzzed my assistant to bring in the contract that we have spent the last month putting together.

She walked in, looking rather perplexed, and muttered,” Sorry boss, I lost my briefcase that contains the contract, including my laptop and the back-up disk”. I sank into my chair. “What?! How can you lose such an important document?” I yelled. She blinked her thick eyelashes and whimpered,” Boss, if the police can lose 44 guns and their boss is not even cross with them, why are you so harsh with me?” I did not know how to respond to that as she stormed out, lips pouting. Continue reading “I work hard so my government can afford RM4,000 clocks”

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Najib should present White Paper to Dewan Rakyat when it reconvenes in a fortnight on the initial decisions and actions taken by Special Committee on Auditor-General’s 2012 Report

The Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should present a White Paper to the Dewan Rakyat when it reconvenes in a fortnight’s time on Oct. 21 on the initial actions and decisions taken by the Special Committee set up to scrutinize the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report.

The Special Committee was announced yesterday by the Chief Secretary Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa, who will chair the special committee which will comprise the director-general of the Public Service, the Attorney-General as well as representatives from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Finance Ministry and Royal Malaysian Police.

There is widespread skepticism that the Special Committee will be able to make any difference to end the annual tale of horrors in the Auditor-General’s Reports about rampant corruption, wastage of public funds and abuses of power in the public service.

If the government is serious about wanting to stamp out corruption, waste, extravagance and abuses of power running into billions of ringgit of public funds every year, such a high-level government committee should have been formed immediately after the Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang submitted the 2012 Report to the government in July, and not now – only after the spate of adverse publicity in the past week following the tabling of the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report in Parliament on Oct. 1. Continue reading “Najib should present White Paper to Dewan Rakyat when it reconvenes in a fortnight on the initial decisions and actions taken by Special Committee on Auditor-General’s 2012 Report”

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Will Najib lead BN into GE14?

P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Oct 4, 2013

QUESTION TIME In the wee hours of yesterday as most of Malaysia slept, the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act were pushed through. This brought back the dreaded provision of detention without trial that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had rolled back when he dismantled the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance.

With that, out through the window went Najib’s self-proclaimed programme to promote civil society and get rid of legislation which curtailed human rights in order to restore the same to all Malaysians.

Najib had made this loosening up of tight legislation a part of his election campaign to try and capture some of the more liberal minded, non-bumiputera, and urban voters by at least giving the impression that the nation was moving towards greater freedom.

Along with this Najib sought to become a prime minister for all Malaysians with his 1Malaysia programmes and efforts to get the non-Malay votes by targeting them specifically in ad campaigns and through the English mainstream media.

But post the elections, the tone of changes has taken a completely different complexion. The moves have been to help bumiputeras almost exclusively and to reverse the changes towards greater liberalisation. Continue reading “Will Najib lead BN into GE14?”

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Lost guns: IGP’s and Zahid’s cocky “explanation”

– Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider
October 05, 2013

One told Malaysians that the guns might have fallen into the sea and the other confirmed it. This type of ‘explanation’ is what is termed in the Malay language as an attempt to “memperbodohkan” the public, to make fools of the public.

Even a bullet lost by a member of the police force is supposed to be reported, what more when weapons are lost. Thus there must be a report by each of the persons who lost their weapons and ammunition. Or has this practice been long discarded?

Losing weapons is a very serious matter. But to the Inspector General of Police and to Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, it is child’s play, as if the guns lost were mere toy guns. They are arrogantly telling the public “to mind your own business” and that asking the police about the lost weapons is none of their business.

This cockiness stems from the fact that they are the ones in power and whatever they do or say must be meekly accepted as the truth which is final and binding. In other words, do not question those in authority. This is the culture of “ketuanan”, the master must not be questioned. But isn’t the public the master as the public elects the politicians into office and civil servants are the servants of civil society? So by the theory of “ketuanan”, the public are the tuans of the politicians and the civil servants. So why can’t the public question the politicians and public servants? Continue reading “Lost guns: IGP’s and Zahid’s cocky “explanation””