Month: January 2016

By Martin Jalleh

Chris Brummitt and Rieka Rahadiana
Bloomberg
January 15, 2016

A deadly gun-and-suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State in central Jakarta shows the growing reach of the jihadi network from outside its base in the Middle East.

The assault on a Starbucks cafe and a police post in the Indonesian capital, while unsophisticated, was the first in Southeast Asia to be directed or inspired by IS, and follows months of warnings by security officials that its members posed a threat to the region.

“Paris in November, Istanbul this week and Jakarta today,” Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said on Thursday. “This latest attack can be seen as further evidence of Islamic State’s increasing ability to inspire deadly attacks in cities around the globe.”

For Indonesia, which has more Muslims than any other nation, it was a grim reminder of the resilience of a radical fringe that has existed since independence. In the 2000s, militants linked up with al-Qaeda to carry out a string of attacks, the last in Jakarta in 2009 on luxury hotels, but have been under pressure from a concerted crackdown by security forces. Continue reading “Indonesia Attack Brings Islamic State to Southeast Asia’s Door”

Anthony Dipaola and Hashem Kalantari
Bloomberg
January 17, 2016

Iran is beginning efforts to boost oil production and exports amid a global supply glut after the removal of sanctions that shackled its economy and capped crude sales.

The Persian Gulf country is targeting an immediate increase in shipments of 500,000 barrels a day, Amir Hossein Zamaninia, deputy oil minister for commerce and international affairs, said Sunday in an interview in Tehran. Iran plans to add another half million barrels within months. The additional crude will push prices lower when it enters markets that are already oversupplied, said Robin Mills of Dubai-based oil consultant Qamar Energy.

“The oil ministry, by ordering companies to boost production and oil terminals to be ready, kicked off today the plan to increase Iran’s crude exports by 500,000 barrels,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Zamaninia said the plan is “still valid” and will be done in a “managed way to minimize the negative impact” on prices.

Buyers of Iranian crude are free to import as much of its oil as they want after the International Atomic Energy Agency determined that the country had curbed its ability to develop a nuclear weapon. As holder of the world’s fourth-largest reserves of crude and biggest deposits of natural gas, Iran gains immediate access to about $50 billion in frozen accounts overseas, funds the government says it will use to rebuild industries. The end of sanctions also opens the door to foreign investors such as Total SA and Eni SpA.

Benchmark Brent crude has dropped 22 percent this year, closing last week at less than $29 a barrel amid oversupply and the looming surge in Iranian output. Gordon Kwan, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., said by e-mail that prices may drop as low as $25 a barrel on Monday. Continue reading “Iran Kicks Off Plan to Boost Oil Exports as Sanctions Lifted”

The pathetic statement by the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak that fielding more Malay candidates in the next general elections does not make DAP a multiracial party is the latest proof of the narrow-minded and petty mentality of the present UMNO leadership, which is completely bogged down by the politics of race and the failure of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Policy.

Malaysia is a plural society and the racial, religious, linguistic and cultural diversity of the country is a national asset and not a liability.

Malaysians will continue to be Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks, Kadazan-Dusun-Muruts, Orang Asli or Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Taoists, Sikhs but the success of Malaysian nation-building will be measured by our ability to create an overarching common national identity where we are Malaysians first and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second – in othe words, where despite our racial, religious, linguisticm, cultural and socio-economic differences, we accept each other as Malaysians first above all else.

In this context, UMNO Ministers and leaders like Salleh Said Keruak should welcome DAP reaching out to get more Malay, Dayak, Kadazan-Dusun-Murut and Orang Asli support and emulate the DAP example to graduate from Malay to become Malaysian leaders instead of decrying such a development.

Is UMNO prepared to emulate the DAP’s example and reach out to all non-Malays and non-Muslims by welcoming them into UMNO ranks? Continue reading “Are UMNO Ministers and leaders prepared, 66 years after Datuk Onn suggested it, consider opening UMNO doors to non-Malays to become an inclusive Malaysian political party?”

At the Special 40th anniversary commemorative seminar on the death of the second Prime Minister, Tun Razak, on Thursday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak vowed to live up to the legacy of his father.

There are at least five things Najib must do if he is to uphold Tun Razak’s legacy, as there is no doubt that the second Prime Minister would have done completely differently from what the sixth Prime Minister had done on these issues.

These five things are:

Firstly, stop prevaricating and procrastinating as he had done for the past six months since the Wall Street Journal expose of the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts, and to give a full and satisfactory accounting for his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega-scandals at the Special Parliament on Jan. 26 and 27 convened for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

As Nazir, the younger brother of the Prime Minister, said at the special commemorative seminar, their father was selfless in his dedication to nation-building and feared the corruption of absolute power, and would be disappointed that our version of parliamentary democracy has evolved into one where power is too concentrated and the system of checks and balances have broken down.

One example is the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal. It would have horrified Tun Razak that the whole system of checks and balances have become so decrepit that Najib is the only person in the government and the country who knows the ins and outs of the 1MDB scandal in the past seven years – which qualifies as the “most heinous crime without criminals” – as Najib, as Prime Minister, must approve all the major transactions, deals and decisions of 1MDB. Continue reading “Five things Najib must do if he is to uphold Tun Razak’s legacy”

The Malaysian Insider
15 January 2016

The US should encourage Malaysia to pursue a “genuinely” moderate Islamic agenda if it wants to thwart militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), according to a report titled “Indonesian and Malaysian Support for The Islamic State”.

The report, produced by the United States Agency for International Development, said Malaysia’s counter-terrorism efforts had achieved some success but was curtailed by government support for conservative Islamic interests.

It said Putrajaya’s right-wing bent, borne out of the need to arrest Umno’s declining support, alienated an important Muslim population that could have helped in combating the militants’ influence.

“At the broadest level, the US government should encourage and support genuinely moderate domestic Islamic agendas in both Indonesia and Malaysia,” read the report, published on January 6 and available online.

“In the Malaysian case, the moderate Islamic image it projects internationally is not reflected in domestic policy that is increasingly sectarian and hostile, not only to minority religious rights but also to progressive Muslim views.” Continue reading “To fight Isis, US should encourage moderate Islamic agenda in Malaysia, says report”

The Higher Education Minister, Datuk Idris Jusoh should stop being elitist, patronizing or even “Marie Antoinettish”, as he stop arguing over whether there are hungry university students but get down to resolve the problem of students cutting down on meals because of economic exigencies.

His statement two days ago that he went hungry too when he was a student, but lack of money was not always the issue, was not on the level of the infamous Marie Antoinette statement of “Let them eat cake!” when the French queen learned that the peasants had no bread, but was sufficiently unsympathetic to the students’ problems as to approximate Marie Antoinette in callousness and indifference to social sufferings among the people.

Instead of spearheading a campaign to end such a serious problem, Idris could only think of browbeating the media by ordering them not to highlight such issues; while one Minister after another had followed Idris to express skepticism about the existence of the problem of hungry University students.

This is most shocking for the problem of students cutting down on meals or even going hungry because of the economic strains on the students and their families, is not synthetic problem but a very real issue, as I had met university students in such straits in the past few weeks. Continue reading “Idris Jusoh should stop being elitist, patronising or even “Marie Antoinettish”, as he should stop arguing whether there are hungry university students but get down to resolve the problem of students cutting down on meals because of economic exigencies”

After the launching of Perkasa in March 2010, where Ibrahim Ali made his usual inflammatory speech, the press contacted me for my reactions and this was my response im my media statement dated 27th March 2010:

“As the press have contacted me for my reactions to the Perkasa launch and its inflammatory speeches, this is my preliminary response until I have full access to the speeches concerned.

“From the incendiary speech of the Perkasa President, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, it is clear that Perkasa is built on stilts of lies.

“It is a lie that DAP and the Malaysian Malaysia slogan were among the main factors that caused the May 13 riots.

“Has Ibrahim Ali taken 41 years after the 1969 tragedy to make this ‘discovery’.

“If DAP and Malaysian Malaysia were the causes of May 13 in 1969, DAP would have been banned long ago and DAP leaders would have languished in jail and unable to participate in Malaysian electoral politics in the past nine general elections.

“Or is Ibrahim suggesting that the Special Branch and the past five Prime Ministers had been remiss in their national duties in failing to take action against DAP, which he alleged as a threat to national security and perpetrator of May 13 riots?

“It is a lie that the DAP is against the Malays, Islam and wants to do away with the Malay Rulers.

“In the seventies, Ibrahim frantically sought my help as Parliamentary Opposition Leader when he was trying to escape detention under the Internal Security Act for his activities as a student leader.

“Why sought my help if DAP leaders were so anti-national and disloyal as he now wants to depict?”

I mentioned my statement of March 27, 2010, to illustrate that I have not suddenly invented the story of Ibrahim Ali “frantically” seeking my help in the 1970s to escape detention under the ISA. Continue reading “Ibrahim Ali must wrestle with his conscience, when he finds it, whether he had frantically phoned me in the seventies seeking my help when he was afraid of being detained under ISA”

The first fortnight of the new year, 2016, provided fodder for the prophets of doom and gloom for Malaysia, as Malaysia is very sick, afflicted with a multitude of political, economic, good governance and nation-building ailments.

One indication of the seriousness of the Malaysian malady is my six-month suspension from Parliament, not because I had committed any heinous crime or guilty of grave misdemeanour causing Malaysia to be placed in the third ranking of world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015”, but because of my persistence in the pursuit of the question to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak: “Mana RM2.6 billion?”

This is further proof that those who want answers to the “Mana RM2.6 billion?” are punished while those responsible for these scandals continue to enjoy immunity and impunity under our system of democratic governance!

It is sad is that Parliament has again proven its utter irrelevance and impotence when the Najib government could blatantly break its promise to “answer all” about Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB – on the last day of the 25-day Dewan Rakyat budget meeting on Dec. 3 and there was nothing anyone could do to demand full and satisfactory accountability from Najib and the Ministers for the twin mega scandals.

This is why I am using my six-month suspension from Parliament to tour the country – I have so far visited 66 of the 222 parliamentary constituencies – to feel the pulse of the people about Najib’s twin mega scandals.

What I had found and learnt is that Najib cannot be more wrong when he claimed that his twin mega scandals are “dead and buried” and no more burning issues of the country, for all over the country, in every nook and corner, Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, age or gender, are demanding answers to the teeming questions about Najib’s twin mega scandals. Continue reading “Malaysia is seriously sick and the only way for the country to be healthy, vibrant and vigorous again and stop being the “Sick Man of ASEAN” is the cure of a change of government in the 14GE”

The people of Perak have been denied twice to have a state government of the choice of the majority of voters – the first time in February 2009, when under the conspiracy of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the then Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin was toppled by illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional means for enable UMNO/Barisan Nasional to recapture the Perak State Govenrment.

The second time was in the 2013 General Election, when Pakatan Rakyat won 55% of the electoral vote in Perak but was denied return to the Perak State Government because of an unfair and undemocratic electoral system, which allowed the Perak UMNO/BN to continue as a minority with 45% of the popular vote, but winning 31 of the state assembly seats as compared to 28 seats for Pakatan Rakyat.

UMNO/BN candidates won four seats with less than 500-vote majority, namely Lubok Mebau (53 votes), Manjoi (132), Manong (231) and Pasir Panjang (304) and another four seats with less than 1,000-vote majority.

Pakatan Harapan must immediately plan to win back the Perak State Government and to ensure that the people of Perak are not denied a third time to have a government of the choice of the majority of voters. Continue reading “Pakatan Harapan must immediately plan to win back the Perak State Government and to ensure that the people of Perak are not denied a third time to have a government of the choice of the majority of voters”

By Koon Yew Yin

Recent scandals have shown to Malaysians that there are no ten commandments for those holding authority and manning government and officialdom in the country. No five or three commandments either. Only one commandment and that commandment is “Cash is King”

Unfortunately when that commandment is given first priority and prominence to guide the behavior and actions of our politicians and the civil servants, what we have as the outcome is massive corruption – big, medium and small.

We all know of the big ones such as the 1MDB case. There is also the personal donation of RM2.6 billion to Prime Minister Najib Razak which is potentially the mother of all corruption cases and which I cannot comment too much about as it may involve me in a potential court case.

Now we are starting to see the ripple or copy cat effect that big scandals which involve the most prominent leaders and government ministries and state companies have on the rest of society.
Continue reading “No Ten Commandments; Just One Commandment”

The speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the monthly assembly of the Prime Minister’s Department on Monday is probably the best proof that the country has a Prime Minister who is living in a world of his own make-belief, completely divorced from reality.

Otherwise, how could Najib repeat what he said in his 2016 New Year Message that his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals are no more issues in the country as they had been fully resolved, as he had promised in June last year?

The first ten days of the year should prove to Najib that he could not be more wrong when he said in his 2016 New Year message on 31st December 2015 that his twin mega scandals are no more issues in the new year, as they are still very much “alive and kicking”, not only catapulting Malaysia to the third placing among the world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015”, but continue to haunt and hound Malaysians in the public domain every day with new angles, developments, perspectives and revelations.

Lenggong is the 62nd parliamentary constituency I am visiting after my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22 for basically demanding an answer from the Prime Minister to the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”

Wherever I went in these 62 parliamentary constituencies, whether the MP is from UMNO/Barisan Nasional or the Opposition, the people regardless of race and religion are totally dissatisfied with Najib’s failure to come clean on his twin mega scandals. Continue reading “If the MACC investigation papers propose the prosecution of the Prime Minister on corruption charges or other offences under the law, will AG Apandi have the gumption and guts to approve such prosecutions?”

It is amusing and comical that Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali claims that he suffered sleepless nights after the DAP declared that it is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

He claimed to be shocked by the statement and said he could not sleep for 50 hours.

Clearly, Ibrahim Ali was still talking when sleep-walking.

Can Ibrahim explain why he did not find me objectionable as being allegedly anti-Malay and anti-Islam when he frantically sought my help as Parliamentary Opposition Leader when he was trying to escape detention under the Internal Security Act for his activities as a student leader in the seventies?

I had raised this issue once publicly some five years ago, and Ibrahim Ali did not dare to challenge the veracity of my statement.

This show the quality of leadership of the Perkasa chief. Continue reading “Why Ibrahim Ali did not find me objectionable as anti-Malay and anti-Islam when he sought my help in the seventies to escape detention under ISA as a student leader?”

A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
12 January 2016

Perjanjian Pakatan Harapan (PH) yang dimeterai pimpinan PKR, DAP dan Amanah Sabtu lalu mempunyai makna yang sangat besar dalam usaha gabungan baru pembangkang menghadapi PRU akan datang.

Perjanjian 7 perkara ini nampaknya memperkukuh dan benar-benar mengikat ketiga-tiga parti dalam Pakatan baru itu kepada suatu etika yang wajib dipatuhi untuk kelangsungan hayat gabungan pembangkang yang baru itu.

Meneliti 7 perkara yang termaktub dalam perjanjian tersebut, terserlah kesungguhan 3 parti itu untuk tidak lagi mengulangi kesilapan dan kelemahan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) diakhir hayatnya, walaupun mencapai kejayaaan gemilang dalam 2 PRU yang lalu.

Kelemahan Pakatan Rakyat dulu itu kerana ada parti gabungan yang bertindak sendiri menjelang PRU, dengan melanggar keputusan yang sudah dipersetujui di kalangan parti dalam PRU itu dan pelbagai krisis lagi. Semua ini sudah diketahui umum.

Jadi, pelbagai pihak berharap dengan termeterai perjanjian Pakatan Harapan ini, maka segala kelemahan dan kesilapan pembangkang dulu itu tidak akan berulang lagi. Continue reading “Isu perkauman – cabaran Pakatan Harapan”

All eyes are on the Cabinet meeting today – will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his 36 Ministers in the jumbo Cabinet end one of the greatest injustices of the seven-year Najib premiership – the Indira Gandhi injustice where a mother had been forcibly separated from her 11-month old baby daughter not for one or two years but for seven long years!

For seven long years, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, Parliament and the Judiciary have all failed Indira Gandhi and her daughter, and the Constitution, the laws, the courts and the system of governance have been manipulated to deny Indira and her daughter their fundamental rights as a mother and a child to be to see, hold and touch each other!

There is no need for the Cabinet today to invent the wheel. Just have the political will to do what is right and just to implement the Cabinet decision of April 22, 2009 that there should be no unilateral conversion of children and that the children of parents where one parent chooses to convert to Islam must continue to be raised in the common religion at the time of the marriage. Or resign as Ministers!

Furthermore, the Minister should demonstrate that it is not only a Cabinet of compassion and humanity, but of justice and competence by directing the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and all relevant agencies to ensure that within 48 hours, Indira Gandhi should be able to re-unite with her daughter whom she had not seen for seven long years. Continue reading “Don’t have to invent the wheel, just have the political will to do what is right and just to implement the Cabinet decision of April 22, 2009 or resign as Ministers”

Malaysia suffered two Islamic State (IS) or ISIS “shocks” in 24 hours.

The first shock was when the Prime Minister said on his FaceBook yesterday that he is “shocked and appalled to hear that two Malaysians were reported to have been involved in suicide bombings by the Islamic State (Isis) militant group in Iraq and Syria, resulting in the loss of more than 30 innocent lives”.

Najib added: “Their actions and ideology have no place in Malaysia or Islam, and the Government is absolutely committed to fighting terrorism in all its forms and guises, both at home and overseas.

“We will spare no effort to find out how and why these young men were able to commit these atrocious acts, and will take all measures necessary to prevent others from doing so in the future.”

New Straits times (NST), in an “exclusive” report yesterday entitled “Malaysian suicide bombers kill 33” and sub-titled “’Martyred’: One blew himself up on Dec. 29, and the other on Jan 3” also revealed that a brother of one of the two suicide bombers died in a suicide mission on Sept. 18 last year in Bayji, in northern Iraq, during a skirmish with Iraq forces.

NST reported that the latest two suicide bombers brings the total number of Malaysians with IS (Islamic State) links killed to 17 – six who had served as suicide bombers while the rest died during battles.

What is shocking is that the Prime Minister seemed to be informed of these two suicide bombings by Malaysians for the first time from the NST report, although they occurred respectively on Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 – from one to two weeks ago. Continue reading “Two Islamic State (IS) shocks for Malaysia in 24 hours”

Tomorrow is the Cabinet’s weekly Wednesday meeting.

One of the issues the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the 36 Ministers in the Cabinet must wrestle with is what they could to end one of the greatest injustices in the Najib premiership of six year nine months – where a mother had been forcibly separated from her 11-month old baby daughter not for one or two years but for seven years!

The Prime Minister, the Cabinet, Parliament and the Judiciary have all failed Indira Gandhi and the Constitution, the laws, the courts and the system of governance have been manipulated to deny Indira her fundamental rights as a mother to see, hold and touch her daughter!

The same week that Najib became the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia in April 2009, Indira found that her three children had without her knowledge or consent been unilaterally converted to Islam by her ex husband, who had converted to Islam a month earlier.

That started Indira’s long and still unending legal battle for control and custody of her three children. Continue reading “Can Prime Minister and Cabinet end the greatest injustice in the Najib premiership – ensure Indira Gandhi’s re-union with her daughter within 48 hours after the Prime Minister, Cabinet, Parliament and Judiciary have failed her for seven years?”

by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
11th January 2016

Just because a Malay talks and writes about the injustice meted out to non-Muslims, it does not mean that the Malay is bashing his own race, nor is he denigrating Islam. Malays, in particular, refuse to acknowledge that most critiques are not about the religion, but are in fact criticisms of the Malays who have misinterpreted a particular phrase, or religious edict.

If PAS, Umno Baru and the respective religious institutions are critical in stopping alleged conversions of Malays to Christianity, why were there no mass conversions of Malays during the colonial era, when none of these political parties nor institutions existed?

Many Malays appear to see the conversion issue as a numbers game. Many Malays are also religious hypocrites. Continue reading “The truth hurts”

by Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
January 11, 2016

Moody’s Investors Service lowered its credit-rating outlook for Malaysia, citing an external environment that has crimped government revenue despite Prime Minister Najib Razak’s efforts to improve the country’s finances.

The ratings company cut the outlook on the A3 sovereign rating to stable from positive, it said on Monday in a statement. The move brings its outlook into line with that of Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, with all three companies ranking Malaysia at their fourth-lowest investment grades.

Since Moody’s assigned a positive outlook in November 2013 the government has sought to improve its finances, rationalizing fuel subsidies and putting in place a goods and services tax, the ratings company said. But the impact on the government’s balance sheet has been limited and will remain so, in part due to changes in the external environment, it said.

“Those environmental changes have also undermined Malaysia’s external position, with large capital outflows, a falling current account surplus, sharp exchange rate depreciation and falling reserves,” Moody’s said.

The ringgit, which was already weaker prior to the Moody’s announcement amid general risk aversion related to China, was 0.6 percent lower at 4.4120 a dollar as of 2:05 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur. The yield on the 10-year government bond was up three basis points to 4.25 percent. Continue reading “Moody’s Cuts Malaysia Credit-Rating Outlook on Weaker Finances”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO propagandists are giving the Malays the supreme insult doubting their intelligence and capability when they spread the canard that the Malays will lose political power to the DAP and Chinese if Najib and UMNO lose in the next general election.

There is no doubt that Najib and UMNO are facing the greatest crisis of survival in their lives, for a recent poll has shown that the popularity rating of the Najib UMNO-led government is at an all-time low – below the 50 per cent mark for the first time, down to some 30 per cent.

Even UMNO leaders accept the real prospect that Najib can lose not only the popular vote (which UMNO/Barisan lost in the 2013 general election securing only 47% of the total votes cast) but also the majority of the parliamentary seats (which through an undemocratic electoral system, enabled Najib to secure 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats in the 13GE although with 43% of the votes, and therefore entering Malaysian history as the first minority Prime Minister in the country).

If the 2013 General Election had been fair and democratic, where the principle of “one man, one vote, one value” is the abiding feature of the electoral system, the Prime Minister after the general election in May 2013 would have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Najib Razak, and Anwar would not be in Sungai Buloh prison today.

It is a national tragedy that instead of redeeming his position as the first minority Prime Minister of the country, by heading a government which really cares for the people and nation, which is clean, incorruptible, consultative, democratic, fully guided by the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, Najib had done the reverse, which is why there are Najib’s RM2.6 billion and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals giving Malaysia a bad name not only locally but in the international arena as well. Continue reading “Najib and UMNO propagandists are giving the Malays the supreme insult doubting their intelligence and capability when they spread the canard that the Malays will lose political power to the DAP and Chinese if Najib and UMNO lose in next general election”