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Why did Annuar make the U-turn in 48 hours from National Economic Council chaired by Najib approving the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by Mara Inc to Najib opposing the Melbourne purchase?

MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa should explain why he made the U-turn in 48 hours from saying at his media conference on Wednesday that the National Economic Council chaired by the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had approved the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by MARA Inc. to his statement today that Najib had actually opposed the Melbourne purchase?

Annuar should know that this is the 21st century and Information Age and he cannot just behave like monarchs of olden days when information could be controlled and manipulated for him to wilfully and arbitrarily insist that he had never said what he had actually uttered, or that he had been misunderstood or his statements had been twisted when what he said was crystal-clear.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Annuar could complain that the latter’s statement had been “twisted” by news portals like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider to mean that Najib had personally approved the purchase, when the decision to buy Dudley House in Melbourne was made by the National Economic Council by consensus.

Or in the subsequent words of Annuar in his Facebook: ‘There is no question of approval by any individual, including the prime minister. As I said, it was approved by the National Economic Council and done according to procedure. I hope this is clear.”

Najib and Annuar were only trying to quibble that it is wrong to say that Najib had given approval for the Dudley House purchase when it was decided by the National Economic Council by consensus although chaired by Najib. Continue reading “Why did Annuar make the U-turn in 48 hours from National Economic Council chaired by Najib approving the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by Mara Inc to Najib opposing the Melbourne purchase?”

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Call for brave new thinking under Impian Malaysia – case for greater fiscal decentralisation to restructure new Federal-State relations

Impian Kelantan, as part of Impian Malaysia, is dedicated to the fulfilment of an inclusive vision where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, are bonded together under an united Malaysian identity and consciousness where they have more in common as citizens of this country than the differences that divide them whether over race, religion or region.

Over the decades, more and more Malaysians should feel that they are increasingly Malaysian-minded finding more common ground with other Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, although their racial characteristics, religious identities and regional stakes will continue to be an integral part of their lives.

Otherwise, Malaysian nation-building would be on a trajectory of failure since Merdeka in 1957 and Malaysia Agreement in 1963.
Continue reading “Call for brave new thinking under Impian Malaysia – case for greater fiscal decentralisation to restructure new Federal-State relations”

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Annuar must convene emergency MARA Council meeting to demand that MARA Inc Chairman Mohd Lan Allani and CEO Halim Rahman cough out the A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) bribe MARA paid for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne

MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa is not presenting himself as a model public servant when he refuses to convene an emergency meeting of the MARA Council following the Tuesday expose in Australian daily, The Age, on the MARA Inc. property scams, particularly over the Dudley International House apartment block in Melbourne, which was acquired with A$22.5 million (RM65.4 million) MARA funds, but involving a bribe of A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million), as well as investigations into MARA Inc’s other Australian properties.

Following The Age report, the Australian Federal Police have launched Operation Carambola with raids in Melbourne as part of an international bribery and money-laundering investigation involving high-ranking Malaysian officials, businessmen and the purchase of Melbourne property, seizing computers and files from a home in Vermont South with several other properties targeted across Melbourne.

But it is business as usual in MARA back in Malaysia, although Malaysia has been thrust into the global stage with an international corruption scandal involving a key government statutory body and public servants.

What is most shocking is the rather indifferent reactions of the government authorities, in particular the MARA Chairman who said in a media conference yesterday that MARA will not deny the claims and allegations in the Australian newspaper report and was treating the media expose as “information” to facilitate investigations.

It would appear that Annuar was not surprised at all by the expose in The Age, which completely undermines his claim that he was not aware that the value of Dudley House property had been inflated until he read the reports.

Was Annuar telling the truth and could he be so ignorant about the MARA Inc property scams in Australia? Continue reading “Annuar must convene emergency MARA Council meeting to demand that MARA Inc Chairman Mohd Lan Allani and CEO Halim Rahman cough out the A$4.75 million (RM13.8 million) bribe MARA paid for the Dudley House apartment block in Melbourne”

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Unappreciated in my own country

Dina Zaman
The Malaysian Insider
26 June 2015

I never thought I would say this but when I arrived home from Singapore, and had a long drawn out battle with baggage delays at KLIA, and then touts at KL Sentral, I looked up to the dark evening sky and thought how Malaysia had become a third world country.

As I stood there with my bags, observing fellow Malaysians shouting at the touts, while the security guards looked away, and then seeing a poor, hapless foreign porter being heckled by a lazy plonker of a Malaysian, I said to myself, there has to be a better way of living and to live.

While I wrestled with anger and contempt at the touts, the Malay in me, the Muslim in me felt dismayed to see much older Malay men wearing the kopiahs (skullcaps) touting cab rides and swearing at those who declined their offers.

Apa dah jadi dengan orang Melayu kita ni (What’s happening to the Malays), I said to myself. Continue reading “Unappreciated in my own country”

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Fear-mongering in Malaysia

Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
26 June 2015

Most recently, a group of angry… very angry men stormed Penang government’s administrative building and proceeded to express their dissatisfaction over an issue involving an illegal signage in the heart of George Town.

After awhile, the group split up into two; one group went to the third floor to deliver a memorandum and the other group stayed on the ground floor where the latter, in a fit of rage mixed with adrenalin, brazenly decided to desecrate a few flags.

Unfortunately for us, these acts of intimidation are becoming a permanent fixture in our local society. Continue reading “Fear-mongering in Malaysia”

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The Jihadist Trap of Here and Now

By Scott Stewart
Security Weekly
Stratfor Global Intelligence

JUNE 25, 2015

In recent weeks, I have found myself spending a lot of time thinking about the jihadist strategy of al Qaeda and how it compares to that of the Islamic State. Earlier this month, I wrote about the possibility that the al Qaeda brand of jihadism could outlast that of the Islamic State. Last week, I wrote about how ideologies are harder to kill than individuals, focusing on the effect that the death of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Nasir al-Wahayshi will have on the group and the wider global jihadist movement.

But beyond the impact of leaders like al-Wahayshi, there are other facets of strategy that will influence the war for the soul of jihadism. Specifically, I am talking about time and place. Both al Qaeda and the Islamic State seek to establish a global caliphate, but both differ quite starkly in how to accomplish this task and how soon it can be achieved. Continue reading “The Jihadist Trap of Here and Now”