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1MDB fire sale reeks of desperation

by Khairie Hisyam
Kinibiz
November 24 2015

The open secret that 1MDB is selling off its power assets to foreign hands is now out, and now all eyes are on its attempts to divest a majority stake in its Bandar Malaysia project. The entire exercise reeks of the desperation that is driving the company.

On Nov 23, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) finally made an unsurprising announcement: China General Nuclear (CGN) has won the bidding for its power assets, offering nearly 25% higher than local power player Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

The sale is understandable – 1MDB is desperate for cash. It has RM42 billion in borrowings that it is finding very hard to service. However, the sale of its only cash cow reeks of desperation and raises questions on just how deep is the hole 1MDB is in right now.

According to 1MDB, CGN is paying RM9.83 billion for its power assets held under Edra Global Energy. Payment is cash, which is music to the ears of those tracking 1MDB’s long trail of questionable deals over the years where it got into convoluted deals that often involve payments that are not cash.

As an aside, the sale brings full circle what was a contentious and questionable generosity – recall that 1MDB overpaid by several billion ringgit for the power assets which cost a total of RM12 billion, excluding the upcoming Track 4B 2,000MW power plant in Malacca. Continue reading “1MDB fire sale reeks of desperation”

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Enough is enough, stop playing politics to make a mountain out of a molehill over Nurul’s unplanned meeting in the Philippines as if the country does not have weighty matters on hand

Enough is enough, stop playing politics to make a mountain out of a molehill over PRK Vice President and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s recent visit to the Philippines and unplanned meeting with Jacel Kiram, as if the country does not have weighty problems on hand.

If Nurul has traitorous intent, she would have ensured that there would be no photographic evidence of her meeting with Jacel, let alone allowing the photograph to be to be uploaded on FaceBook for the whole world to know.

This bolstered Nurul’s statement of innocence, her expression of regret over her photograph with Sulu “princess” Jacel Kiram and reiteration of her sympathies and support for the fallen heroes from the army, military and the public who perished as a result of the Lahad Datuk intrusion in 2013. Continue reading “Enough is enough, stop playing politics to make a mountain out of a molehill over Nurul’s unplanned meeting in the Philippines as if the country does not have weighty matters on hand”

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MPs and Malaysians are entitled to know whether Najib is going to stand up in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting of his role in the twin mega scandals or he will continue “pass the buck” to his Ministers and minions?

I commend the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin for realizing his folly in unilaterally and arbitrarily announcing a ban on all PAC media conferences, in retaliation to honest media reporting of his faux pax last Wednesday that the reason PAC would not summon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to PAC investigations into the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal was because he needed to “cari makan”.

Hasan did a U-turn yesterday when he belatedly realized that the PAC is not a “kingdom of its own” but responsible to Parliament and answerable to the public, and it is just outrageous and completely unacceptable for Malaysia to have a PAC Chairman who has a phobia of the media.

But Hasan has not completely undone the damage he has committed to undermine public confidence in the institution of Parliament, which includes the PAC. Continue reading “MPs and Malaysians are entitled to know whether Najib is going to stand up in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting of his role in the twin mega scandals or he will continue “pass the buck” to his Ministers and minions?”

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France’s anti-Isis coalition: where the key countries stand

Simon Tisdall
Guardian
Monday 23 November 2015

France is pulling out all the stops as François Hollande scrambles to fulfil his ambitious pledge to build a global military coalition to defeat Islamic State following the Paris attacks.

The French president has won public approval and international backing for his handling of the crisis so far. His poll ratings are up by eight points to 33%. Foreign leaders have lined up to express solidarity.

In a flurry of hastily arranged mini-summits this week, Hollande will seek to turn expressions of support into concerted, sharp-end action before the rare moment of unity passes.

His prospects for success are mixed. The leaders of the US, Russia, Germany and Britain – whom Hollande will meet separately over four days – agree unreservedly about the necessity of eradicating Isis. All want a peace deal to end the Syrian civil war. But there is less agreement on how to do this. Continue reading “France’s anti-Isis coalition: where the key countries stand”

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Paris Attacks Suspect Killed in Shootout Had Plotted Terror for 11 Months

By ANDREW HIGGINS and KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA
New York Times
NOV. 19, 2015

VERVIERS, Belgium — Black smudges and faded traces of gunfire on a red brick rowhouse here in eastern Belgium mark the death foretold of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. It is the spot where, 11 months before the announcement on Thursday that he had been killed outside Paris, he began plotting an elaborate campaign of terror across Europe.

Mr. Abaaoud’s inaugural terror mission here ended in disaster for his cause and cost the lives of two of his jihadist friends — both from his old Brussels neighborhood, Molenbeek — when Belgian security forces stormed their hide-out on Jan. 15.

But Mr. Abaaoud was not there. A telephone call he made shortly before the raid in Verviers to pass on instructions to those in the hide-out, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official said, was the last trace anybody had of him until the French police found on Wednesday what turned out to be his mutilated body after an early-morning shootout just north of Paris. Continue reading “Paris Attacks Suspect Killed in Shootout Had Plotted Terror for 11 Months”

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The Latest: Belt Found Where Fugitive’s Phone Was Located

New York Times/Associated Press
NOV. 23, 2015, 2:46 P.M. E.S.T.

PARIS — The latest on the deadly attacks in Paris and the heightened security in Europe (All times local):

8:40 p.m.

French police say that an explosive belt without a detonator that was found in Paris was in the same place that fugitive Saleh Abdeslam’s cell phone was localized on the day of the attacks that killed 130 people.

The belt was found Monday by a street cleaner in a pile of rubble in the southern suburb of Montrouge.

The three police officials who gave information about the belt could not be named because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

— By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny and Lori Hinnant. Continue reading “The Latest: Belt Found Where Fugitive’s Phone Was Located”

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300 cawangan Umno diupah bagi desak Najib undur, kata Ku Nan

The Malaysian Insider
Monday November 23, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Nov — Wujud gerakan dari dalam Umno sendiri untuk mendesak Presidennya Datuk Seri Najib Razak meletakkan jawatan, dedah setiausaha agung parti.

Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor berkata gerakan “orang dalam” parti itu sedang mengumpulkan 300 cawangan bagi tujuan tersebut, lapor Utusan Malaysia hari ini.

“Kita tahu ada dalang yang berlegar dalam Umno yang ingin melihat ada percanggahan dan kekeruhan berlaku dalam parti kerana sehingga kini mereka tahu bahawa Umno adalah sebuah parti yang kukuh.

“Dalang ini merupakan orang yang kecewa dengan parti. Kita tiada masalah, Umno mempunyai 25,000 cawangan seluruh negara, walaupun 300 cawa­ngan dibayar untuk membuat ke­n­yataan sedemikian, ia langsung tidak akan menjejaskan parti.

“Tindakan cawangan parti yang telah mengeluarkan kenyataan juga tidak mengikut saluran yang betul,” Tengku Adnan, juga dipanggil Ku Nan, dipetik berkata.

Beliau bagaimanapun tidak menjelaskan siapa di belakang gerakan tersusun itu. Continue reading “300 cawangan Umno diupah bagi desak Najib undur, kata Ku Nan”

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ASEAN summit tarnished by Malaysian corruption scandal involving PM

Thomas Maresca
Special for USA TODAY
November 22, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — As the summit of Southeast Asian nations ended here Sunday, much of the focus was not on the leaders’ discussions with President Obama but on a corruption scandal dogging the summit’s host and his government’s crackdown on civil liberties.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who told Obama that he is “committed to reforms,” stands accused of shifting nearly $700 million from a government-owned development fund into private bank accounts.

The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), is under investigation in Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Switzerland. Opposition leaders in parliament filed a formal no-confidence vote against him in October. Continue reading “ASEAN summit tarnished by Malaysian corruption scandal involving PM”

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Birth of AMANAH and formation of Pakatan Harapan re-ignited the lost hopes of Malaysians for political change in 14GE which had been dampened or destroyed in the past two years by a mutinous PAS in Pakatan Rakyat

The birth of Parti Amanah Negara and the formation of Pakatan Harapan in the past three months have re-ignited the lost hopes of Malaysians for political change in the 14th General Election which had been dampened or destroyed in the past two years by a mutinous PAS in Pakatan Rakyat.

Despite the treasury of the then secret RM2.6 billion “donation” in Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts for the general election campaign (breaking all election laws in the country on money politics), the 13th General Election in May 2013 was held with highest-ever public hopes for political change in Putrajaya in the nation’s 13 general elections since Merdeka in 1957.

This was borne out by the 13GE results, as for the first time in the nation’s electoral history, the Opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat secured the majority of total votes cast while the UMNO-led governing coalition since Merdeka secured only 47% of the popular votes.

However, because of the undemocratic and unfair delineation of parliamentary constituencies, which translated UMNO/BN’s 47% of the national votes into 60% of the 222 seats in Parliament, Datuk Seri Najib Razak continued as the country’s first minority Prime Minister who failed to command the support of the majority of the voters in the country.

Public disappointment and disillusionment with the cohesion, unity and sense of purpose of Pakatan Rakyat set in swiftly after the 13th General Election when one of the three component parties, PAS, decided to play rogue and refused to abide by the PR consensus principle as well as the PR common policy framework, resulting in the final disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat in the middle of this year. Continue reading “Birth of AMANAH and formation of Pakatan Harapan re-ignited the lost hopes of Malaysians for political change in 14GE which had been dampened or destroyed in the past two years by a mutinous PAS in Pakatan Rakyat”

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Apart from saying “yes” or “no” as to whether he is being investigated as a “kleptocrat” by FBI, there is still a third answer by Najib

Last night, at the DAP Nibong Tebal “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah, I asked for the umpteenth time when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will stand up in Parliament and inform the nation whether for the first time in the 58-year history of the nation, the country’s Prime Minister is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States as to whether he is a “kleptocrat” in connection with his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals?

Since the publication of the New York Times “scoop” on Sept. 11 of FBI and US Department of Justice investigation of Najib under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010, Najib had been avoiding the subject like the plague.

However, Najib cannot continue to keep mum and run away from this subject especially after his meeting with United States President Barack Obama, who subsequently said he had raised the importance of transparency, accountability and rooting out corruption with Najib, though he would not comment on investigations against Najib as he would not touch on ongoing probes even on the US soil.

It is most demeaning and degrading for the Malaysian Prime Minister to be “lectured” by the US President on the importance of transparency, accountability and rooting out corruption – something Obama would never dream of doing in his meetings with the Prime Ministers of Japan or Singapore for instance. Continue reading “Apart from saying “yes” or “no” as to whether he is being investigated as a “kleptocrat” by FBI, there is still a third answer by Najib”

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Zaid Ibrahim’s Pristine Jihad and Purest Dakwah

M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
23rd November 2015

[Foreword to Zaid Ibrahim’s latest book, Assalamualaikum. Observations on the Islamization of Malaysia, published by ZI Publications and launched on November 20, 2015 by former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir.]

Muslims believe the Koran to be a guide from God; “for all mankind, at all times, and till the end of time.” That is a matter of faith.

The essence of the Koran is Al-amr bi ‘l-ma’ruf wa ‘n-nahy ani ‘l-munkar. That message is repeated many times in our Holy Book. The approximate translation is, “Command good and forbid evil;” or in my Malay, “Biasakan yang baik, jauhi yang jahat.” Succinct and elegant in both languages as it is in the original classical Arabic!

This central message is often missed in the thick tomes of religious scholars, erudite sermons of bedecked ulamas, and frenzied jingoisms of zealous jihadists. Meanwhile in Malaysia, Islam is reduced to a government bureaucracy manned by control-freaks intent on dictating our lives. Yes, they are all men.

Their mission has little to do with that golden rule. Theirs is an exercise of raw unbridled power, all in the name of Allah of course. Not-too-bright and self-serving politicians are only too willing to ride this Islamic tiger. Once ridden however, it is mighty difficult to dismount, as the Afghanis and Pakistanis are finding out. Continue reading “Zaid Ibrahim’s Pristine Jihad and Purest Dakwah”

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One Lim Kit Siang can be suspended from Parliament for six months, but let tens and hundreds of thousands and even millions of Malaysians stand up and declare “I am also Lim Kit Siang” to ask the same question: “Najib, Mana RM2.6 billion?”

I thank the DAP in Nibong Tebal for this “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah and the large crowd tonight despite intermittent rain which shows the nation-wide concern transcending race, religion, region or even politics about government accountability, transparency and good governance – especially over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

The message central to the nation-wide “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign is to let the Prime Minister know that one Lim Kit Siang can be suspended from Parliament for six months, but tens and hundreds of thousands and even millions of Malaysians will rise up and declare “I am also Lim Kit Siang” to ask the same question: “Najib, Mana RM2.6 billion?”

Leaders of over 20 Asian-Pacific leaders are in South-east Asia for the Asian Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Summit in the Philippines and the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur to exchange views about the future of the region and the world, but there is one thing that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib has outclassed all the world leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, whether President Xi Jingping of China, President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia or President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

No other leader in APEC, ASEAN or in the Asia-Pacific region would have RM2.6 billion in his personal banking account, and what is worse, refusing to explain where the RM2.6 billion came from and to whom the RM2.6 billion went to, although Najib claims full commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance. Continue reading “One Lim Kit Siang can be suspended from Parliament for six months, but let tens and hundreds of thousands and even millions of Malaysians stand up and declare “I am also Lim Kit Siang” to ask the same question: “Najib, Mana RM2.6 billion?””

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Five ways for Members of Parliament to send a clear and unmistakable message to the world that they do not want to a “cari makan” PAC or a “cari makan” PAC Chairman and to redeem the esteem, integrity, honour and good name of Malaysian Parliament

There are five ways for Members of Parliament from both sides of the House to send a clear and unmistakable message to the world that they do not want a “cari makan” Public Accounts Committee or a “cari makan” PAC Chairman and to redeem the esteem, integrity, honour and good name of Malaysian Parliament.

Without these five measures, Members of Parliament from Malaysia will be the butt of jokes at international conferences as “cari makan” MPs – whether at Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conferences, International Parliamentary Union (IPU) gatherings or other international meetings, whether directly in their face or from their backs.

These five measures are:

1. Sack Datuk Hasan Arifin as PAC Chairman if Hasan does not have the humility and good sense to realise that he had committed an inexcusable and unpardonable parliamentary sin when he said that he had to “cari makan” as the reason why the PAC will not summon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to its 1MDB investigations, and compounding his egregrious mistake by blaming the media for it instead of apologizing and owning up to his faux pax. This is a classic example of a public office holder mistaking his personal idiosyncrasy as a public imperative, the start on the road of corruption of public responsibilities for personal or private gain. Continue reading “Five ways for Members of Parliament to send a clear and unmistakable message to the world that they do not want to a “cari makan” PAC or a “cari makan” PAC Chairman and to redeem the esteem, integrity, honour and good name of Malaysian Parliament”

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Hotel Attack in Mali Is a Setback in Fight Against Extremism

By DIONNE SEARCEY, ADAM NOSSITER, CARLOTTA GALL and SOMINI SENGUPTA
New York Times
NOV. 21, 2015

BAMAKO, Mali — The terrorists chose carefully: There are nearly always French, Russian and even a few American visitors to be found in the hotel restaurant, around the pool, in the health club or on the thin black-leather sofas of the glass-fronted lobby, now shattered by gunfire.

With its marble floors, open atrium and lipstick-red lounge, the Radisson Blu Hotel served as a lifeline to the world, a gathering place where diplomats, contractors and others doing business in Mali, one of the poorest countries on earth, could all be found.

Now, bullet holes pockmark the walls and blood is pooled on stairs. The hotel, once a symbol of the international presence in a country trying to emerge from years of upheaval, is the site of a massacre in which terrorists killed 19 people, storming in at breakfast on Friday as terrified diners sprinted into an elevator whose doors did not close in time to save them. Continue reading “Hotel Attack in Mali Is a Setback in Fight Against Extremism”

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Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It

by Kamel Daoud
New York Times
NOV. 20, 2015

Black Daesh, white Daesh.

The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims.

The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things.

The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia.

In its struggle against terrorism, the West wages war on one, but shakes hands with the other.

This is a mechanism of denial, and denial has a price: preserving the famous strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia at the risk of forgetting that the kingdom also relies on an alliance with a religious clergy that produces, legitimizes, spreads, preaches and defends Wahhabism, the ultra-puritanical form of Islam that Daesh feeds on. Continue reading “Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It”

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18 Would-Be Suicide Bombers Are at Large in Malaysia, Police Believe

Time
Nov. 20, 2015

A leaked memo sounds warning on the eve of a major summit to be attended by President Obama

Ten prospective suicide bombers are at large in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital and largest city, according to a leaked police memo cited by the Guardian. Another eight thought are in the western part of the country. Continue reading “18 Would-Be Suicide Bombers Are at Large in Malaysia, Police Believe”

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Brussels is put on high alert as officials warn of ‘imminent threat’

By Anthony Faiola, William Booth and Emily Badger
Washington Post
November 21 2015

PARIS — The government abruptly shut down the metro system in Brussels, canceled sporting events and warned shoppers to stay away from malls as Belgium placed the capital on maximum alert early Saturday, citing a “serious and imminent” threat of attack.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Saturday morning that officials had identified shopping centers, public transportation and major events as targets of a possible attack, involving multiple assailants, similar to the deadly assault that struck Paris last Friday.

In Brussels, armed troops stood guard in front of hotels and at major intersections. There was a scattering of shop closures. At least four of the Islamic State militants who attacked Paris came from the same immigrant neighborhood of Molenbeek in the Belgium capital.

Police continue to hunt for one of the Parisian attackers, Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national who lived in Brussels and may have returned after the attacks.

The new threat alert in Brussels comes after European countries agreed Friday to new steps aimed at securing Europe’s frontiers, as further evidence emerged that extremists in the terrorist attacks in Paris were using the region’s porous borders to slip between the continent and the battlefields of the Middle East. Continue reading “Brussels is put on high alert as officials warn of ‘imminent threat’”

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Parliament must take a stand on Monday whether it wants to have a “cari makan” Chairman of PAC, especially as it is poised to continue its “derailed” investigations into Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals

The Malaysian Parliament must take a stand on Monday whether it wants to have a “cari makan” Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), especially as it is poised to continue its “derailed” investigations into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin has compounded his faux pax with a ban on all PAC press conferences on the ground that he is victim of a diabolic plot by the media to present him in the worst possible light.

Why should the media have such an animus towards him and not others, as no other UMNO/BN leader, whether Minister or other parliamentary personality, had ever lodged such a serious complaint of collective bias against the parliamentary media.

Does the fault lie in the media or in Hasan himself? Continue reading “Parliament must take a stand on Monday whether it wants to have a “cari makan” Chairman of PAC, especially as it is poised to continue its “derailed” investigations into Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals”

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Justice, Truth and Reconciliation for the Tamils in Sri Lanka

The latest development in the decades-old tragedy of the Tamils in Sri Lanka was the one-day hartal last Sunday in the whole of the entire northern province of Sri Lanka, an area mainly inhabited by Tamils, which was brought to a standstill in support of about 300 Tamil prisoners in Sri Lanka who had renewed their hunger strike for the immediate release of all prisoners of war and political prisoners involved in the Tamil war of independence.

All private and public activities, except for medical services, came to a standstill. Students did not attend schools. Roads remained deserted except for the army and police.

The 300 Tamil political prisoners had suspended their hunger strike launched on Oct. 13 demanding freedom for all prisoners at the request of Tamil National Alliance members of parliament, who had urged them to give the government more time to respond to their demand for freedom.

The “War of independence” refers to the armed campaign by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island of Sri Lanka. The LTTE was defeated in 2009, but alleged LTTE members are still being held in prison, many of them detained without trial. Some have been detained for up to 20 years. Continue reading “Justice, Truth and Reconciliation for the Tamils in Sri Lanka”

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Malaysian Parliament should not make world Parliament history by producing the first PAC Chairman with a Press Conference-phobia when his KPI should be to uphold government financial accountability and integrity starting with the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals

The Malaysian Parliament should not make world Parliamentary history by producing the first Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman in the world with a press conference-phobia, when his KPI should be to uphold government financial accountability and integrity starting with the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

In his first month as PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin (who was elected Member of Parliament only in May in the Rompin by-election) has also already carved out a place for himself in the Malaysian Parliamentary pantheon of well-known personalities, though not in any laudatory sense.

How can Hasan discharge his principal role as PAC Chairman to uphold government financial accountability and integrity when he is afraid of the press, to the extent that he has declared a total ban on press conferences.

Hasan has already given a rather knavish connotation to his position as PAC Chairman when he disarmingly admitted that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would not be called as a witness to the PAC as he himself has to “cari makan”, but which he subsequently aggravated trying to deny he had made such remarks although it was captured on videotape by several journalists. Continue reading “Malaysian Parliament should not make world Parliament history by producing the first PAC Chairman with a Press Conference-phobia when his KPI should be to uphold government financial accountability and integrity starting with the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals”