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As Save 1MDB Roadmap is in fact Save Najib Roadmap, did Najib excuse and absent himself from yesterday’s Cabinet decision on the 1MDB Roadmap because of personal conflicts of interest?

On Thursday, the second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah said he would table a roadmap for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to the Cabinet on Friday to strengthen and solve the problems plaguing 1MDB and that the roadmap would be made public after it is tabled in the Cabinet.

The Save 1MDB Roadmap has not been made public after the Cabinet meeting as promised, only the announcement by Husni that 1MDB will receive US$1 billion (RM3.67 billion) from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to repay a US$975 million loan maturing in August but which a consortium of German lenders is seeking an early settlement due to a breach of covenant in the loan agreement by 1MDB.
But the Malaysian public have not been told what 1MDB’s USD$1 billion Abu Dhabi lifelife would cost Malaysia as everybody should know of the truism that there is no free lunch in the world.

Malaysians have also not been informed of the other details of the agreement with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its Aabar Investments unit, which are said to include “further measures to comprehensively address the various financial asset and liability transactions between the parties” or aspects of the rationalisation plan of 1MDB.

Have these details of the Save 1MDB Roadmap been presented to the Cabinet yesterday or were the Cabinet Ministers as usual asked to give a blank cheque approval for the Save 1MDB Roadmap without any details to allow the Ministers to discuss and decide on the viability and sustainability of the of the Roadmap and whether to approve the conditions to save 1MDB – even though the Ministers will have to be collectively responsible for the Save 1MDB Roadmap?

Are the Ministers in the same position as members of the Malaysian public, or to use the words of UMNO Vice President and Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal on Wednesday, that the Ministers were just as unclear as the public over the 1MDB’s opaque deals? Continue reading “As Save 1MDB Roadmap is in fact Save Najib Roadmap, did Najib excuse and absent himself from yesterday’s Cabinet decision on the 1MDB Roadmap because of personal conflicts of interest?”

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Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is fighting for his political life, with the former longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir leading the charge in the campaign for Najib to step down as Prime Minister to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) from defeat in the next general elections.

Lines are being drawn in Najib’s titanic life-and-death battle as the sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President, but there is no reason for Pakatan Rakyat to take sides whether to throw Najib a life-line or to support Mahathir’s campaign to save UMNO/BN as Pakatan Rakyat’s objective must surely, firmly and unswervingly remain on the larger objective to save Malaysia and Malaysians and not to save any one political party or even one person!

This is UMNO/BN’s weakest moment in the federal government coalition’s history. In fact, the UMNO/BN had already lost majority support of the Malaysian voters in the recent 13th general elections as it is Pakatan Rakyat and not Barisan Nasional which had secured the majority support of the electorate in the national polls two years ago and the Malaysian Prime Minister of the day should have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Unfortunately, Pakatan Rakyat is itself at its weakest in its 7-year history, and it is unable to take advantage, let alone full advantage, of the turmoils in UMNO/BN. Continue reading “Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs”

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Google I/O is latest round in escalating high-tech arms race

Jon Swartz, Jessica Guynn and Marco della Cava
USA TODAY
May 28, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO — Google fired the latest salvos Thursday in an escalating arms race among tech’s Big 4 for the hearts, minds and coding of developers.

At the eighth annual I/O conference here, Google laid out a futuristic road map to throngs of 5,000 software developers, its infantry in the war against Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.

The tech titans are locked in a worldwide skirmish to make devices of all kinds smarter — whether smartphones and tablets, wearable devices, Internet-connected televisions, cars or virtual reality.

With most people on the planet within an arm’s length of an electronic device, the quartet is vying to become the primary vendor supplying technology underpinning five key battlefields — the Internet of Things, autos, virtual reality, mobile payments and wearable devices – worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Continue reading “Google I/O is latest round in escalating high-tech arms race”

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Cabinet should be given adequate time for Ministers to understand and study the Save 1MDB roadmap before a Cabinet decision is taken while Najib should “tell all” about his 1MDB dealings in the past six years

The Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced yesterday that the Finance Ministry will present a roadmap for 1MDB to the Cabinet today to solve the problems plaguing the 1MDP and to counter negative perceptions on the strategic investment fund company.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the second Finance Minister Husni should be fair to their ministerial colleagues in the 35-strong Cabinet, who should be given adequate time to understand and study the Save 1MDB Plan before a Cabinet decision is taken as all the Ministers have to bear collective responsibility for the success or failure of the Save 1MDB Plan once it is approved by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet should not repeat the farce of its March 4 meeting when the Ministers went through the motions of being briefed by 1MDB and its auditors Deloitte, with few Ministers understanding what was going on, but the Cabinet still prematurely and foolishly cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing and issued 1MDB with a clean bill of health and integrity.

Without comprehensive Cabinet papers for the Ministers to understand the 1MDB scandal, without access to the thousands of 1MDB transactions and email which London’s Sunday Times and Sarawak Report said they had obtained access to, despite attempts by 1MDB at the end of last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of such transactions and emails, how could the Cabinet clear the 1MDB of any wrongdoing?

This has led to the shocking spectacle of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, declaring after more than two months after the Cabinet meeting which cleared 1MDB of wrongdoing that the 1MDB Board should be sacked and the police called in to investigate 1MDB. Continue reading “Cabinet should be given adequate time for Ministers to understand and study the Save 1MDB roadmap before a Cabinet decision is taken while Najib should “tell all” about his 1MDB dealings in the past six years”

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Is Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others?

The statement by UMNO Vice President and Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal raised eyebrows all round.

It is not just his repudiating the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility, but even more significant, his striking a posture which is tantamount to Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others.

This is the only interpretation of Shafie’s protest against claims that the entire Cabinet should be held responsible for the 1MDB scandal, saying that it would be unfair to do so when he and his colleagues were just as unclear as the public over the firm’s controversial and opaque deals.

It is shock enough that a senior three-term Cabinet Minister does not understand the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility but it boggles the minds of Malaysians that Shafie could assert both ignorance and innocence about the enormity of the 1MDB scandal, claiming that he was in the position of the ordinary aggrieved Malaysian on the ground that he was as unclear as the public about the 1MDB scandal.

How could this be when the Cabinet at its meeting on 4th March this year cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing, making all the 35 Ministers individually and collectively for the 1MDB scandal! Continue reading “Is Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others?”

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Speaker should intervene and rule whether PM had abused the Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia

The Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should intervene and rule whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had abused the Parliamentary Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia.

Najib yesterday dodged the question by the DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua whether the 1MDB management had only met with PetroSaudi International Limited for the first time on September 23, 2009, five days before both parties inked a deal in London; and whether the agreement was approved by the 1MDB Board of directors at the time.

Najib cited Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders 23(1)(i) to avoid answering the question.

Parliamentary Standing Orders 23(1)(i) states that “a question shall not be asked as to whether statements in the press or of private individuals or financial bodies are accurate”.

Najib said that the issue raised by Pua “is based on news report by a news portal that cannot verify the authenticity of the source of the report”.

This is a blatant abuse of the parliamentary process designed to ensure government accountability and good governance. Continue reading “Speaker should intervene and rule whether PM had abused the Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia”

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Jho says it ain’t so: Malaysian tycoon denies role in 1MDB ‘heist of the century’

by Eric Ellis
Euromoney

The saga of scandalized Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB has drawn in many high-profile figures from the country’s establishment. None more so than a flamboyant, Hong Kong-based tycoon. But the self-styled Jho Low denies all involvement in 1MDB. Now he’s ready to publicly defend himself – and point the finger of blame at others.

Low Taek Jho’s high-rise lair in Hong Kong is the stuff of thrillers, appropriately enough for a young Penang-born tycoon cast by his countrymen as a mysterious villain whose shadowy dealings have exposed the secrets of Malaysia Inc.

The intrigues are felt the moment one steps inside the stylish foyer of Jynwel Capital, his family’s private equity investment house based in downtown Central. A receptionist purrs that “Mr Low is expecting you” as a wall magically slides aside to reveal a minimalist ante-room framed by a panorama of the city’s harbour and the promise of China beyond.
Continue reading “Jho says it ain’t so: Malaysian tycoon denies role in 1MDB ‘heist of the century’”

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Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Najib should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal as it is now established that the PM is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals

Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Datuk Seri Najib Razak should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the 1MDB scandal, as it is now established that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals?

Will the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin, whose speech at an UMNO function on 16th May wanting the 1MDB Board to be sacked and the police called in to investigate – whose recording had been visited more than half a million on times on You Tube – “bell the cat”?

In fact, does Muhyiddin know that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals – as provided by the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) agreement which made it very clear that the Prime Minister has the final say over any “financial commitment” of the company?

Do the Cabinet Ministers know that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB’s financial deals?

If not, how can the Cabinet Ministers allow the Prime Minister to mislead them in such a colossal manner; and if yes, why have they given the Prime Minister such a “blank cheque” without any check and balance as to plunge the country into a RM42 billion scandal – despite numerous warnings and queries by DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli in the past four years, and with increasing intensity in the past two years since the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013?

Would the Cabinet tomorrow demand Najib to “tell all” about his decisions as the final approving authority of 1MDB, before requiring Najib to “tell all” to Parliament and the nation.

Or is there nobody in the Cabinet who will “bell the cat” tomorrow? Continue reading “Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Najib should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal as it is now established that the PM is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals”

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Islamist fighters drawn from half the world’s countries, says UN

Jason Burke
Guardian
26 May 2015

Report says there are more than 25,000 ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ from 100 countries in jihadi conflicts, who pose an ‘immediate and long-term threat’

More than half the countries in the world are currently generating Islamist extremist fighters for groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State, the UN has said.

A report by the UN security council says there are more than 25,000 “foreign terrorist fighters” currently involved in jihadi conflicts and they are “travelling from more than 100 member states”.

The number of fighters may have increased by more than 70% worldwide in the past nine months or so, the report says, adding that they “pose an “immediate and long-term [terrorist] threat”.

The sudden rise, though possibly explained by better data, will raise concern about the apparently growing appeal of extremism. The geographic spread of states touched by the phenomenon has expanded, too. Continue reading “Islamist fighters drawn from half the world’s countries, says UN”

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The 21 years of mismanagement that brought MAS to its knees

by Ram Anand
The Malaysian Insider
27 May 2015

Beginning September, Malaysia Airline System Bhd, the company Malaysians know as the national carrier since 1972, will cease to exist.

It would instead be replaced by a new company, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, to be fully owned by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional before a planned re-listing in Bursa Malaysia by 2019.

This, however, is not the first time MAS has been subjected to a turnaround plan or a bid to save the airline. It has happened several times over the course of 22 years, beginning in 1994.

This is the most comprehensive restructuring plan that MAS has been subjected to though. One that will involve a rigorous cutting down of its air travel routes and its workforce, likely to reduce it to a regional airline.

But this will only work if the government and those helming this restructuring plan heed the lessons of the past. Continue reading “The 21 years of mismanagement that brought MAS to its knees”

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Call for immediate halt to the parliamentary debate on the 11Malaysia Plan for Najib to make a ministerial statement on his role in the 1MDB scandal followed by a two-day debate tantamount to whether Najib still enjoy confidence of Parliament

1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy was supposed to be overseas on an assignment making it impossible for him to attend the scheduled Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on the 1MDB scandal yesterday.

However, in the last two days, Arul had been unusually productive and accessible, making three media responses raising the question whether he is really overseas.

The first was 1MDB media statement on Monday in immediate response to the media conference by the PAC Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed that in place of the testimony by Arul and the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi, the PAC would move on to question the three firms that audited 1MDB.

In the statement, Arul reiterated that 1MDB will “extend its full co-operation” to the PAC and that both he and Shahrol “look forward to appearing before the committee and having the opportunity to clarify 1MDB’s position”.

The second was Arul’s statement yesterday refuting reports that 1MDB had only informed the PAC of the 1MDB duo’s no-show at the eleventh hour despite the notice to attend the hearing two weeks ago.

Arul said it was only on May 21 that 1MDB received a letter from the Ministry of Finance, appending the invitation sent by the PAC, raising the question why and who in the Finance Ministry who sat on the PAC requisition on May 6 summoning the 1MDB duo to the PAC hearing yesterday – and whether the Finance Ministry official concerned would be disciplined.

But it was Arul’s third media statement last evening which “cooked the goose” so to say. Continue reading “Call for immediate halt to the parliamentary debate on the 11Malaysia Plan for Najib to make a ministerial statement on his role in the 1MDB scandal followed by a two-day debate tantamount to whether Najib still enjoy confidence of Parliament”

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Is Najib prepared to reveal and censure the Finance Ministry official allowing Arul and Shahrol to play truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal?

It is an indication of the public weariness, skepticism and even disgust with the endless “smoke and mirrors” spectacles in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal in the past four years that the assurance given by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in Japan that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi will testify before the Public Accounts Committee has failed to mollify the public outrage at the 1MDB duo’s impertinence and contempt of Parliament in playing truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB scandal.

Najib’s statement that “1MDB officials will appear before PAC, will not run away” is utterly meaningless and weightless, when the 1MDB duo could dodge the scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB today with a cock-and-bull story about important assignments overseas – when none of them nor the Finance Ministry could reveal which country Arul and Shahrol are today and what are these prior commitments which are more important than the PAC hearing!

Did the Finance Ministry lie to the PAC that Arul and Shahrol had more important overseas assignments which made it impossible for them to attend the PAC hearing today in the same way the Najib had lied in his parliamentary answer about the US$1 billion deposit from Cayman Islands in a Singapore bank?

This appears to be the case, as the reason given by Najib in Japan for the absence of the 1MDB duo from the PAC hearing is not overseas assignments, but that the “1MDB officials have something to sort out first”.

“Have something to sort out first” is clearly very different from the duo having overseas assignments making it physically impossible for them to appear before the PAC. Continue reading “Is Najib prepared to reveal and censure the Finance Ministry official allowing Arul and Shahrol to play truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal?”

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Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal today? Did Najib, if not who, approve their “ponteng” today?

Questions galore in people’s mind in the past 24 hours since news spread that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi are playing truant from the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) hearing scheduled today.

Chief among these questions are:

1. Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB scandal today, when the duo had been given more than two weeks’ notice of the hearing?

2. If the PAC hearing scheduled today clashes with their important overseas appointments, why wasn’t the PAC informed immediately after they received the PAC requisition on May 6? PAC was only informed via a letter from the Finance Ministry on May 22 that the duo could not attend.

3. Where are Arul and Shahrol now overseas, and what are these important appointments they are attending, couldn’t these overseas appointments be rescheduled to give priority to their appearance before the PAC?
Continue reading “Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal today? Did Najib, if not who, approve their “ponteng” today?”

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Arul Kanda and Shahrol Halmi skipping PAC hearing – the last straw that breaks the camel’s back on 1MDB scandal and Cabinet must sack the whole board or sack itself

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Arul Kanda dan Shahrol Halmi tidak hadir perbicaraan PAC – beban terakhir skandal 1MDB; Kabinet mesti memecat seluruh Lembaga Pengarah 1MDB pada hari Rabu nanti, atau sebaliknya seluruh Kabinet mesti letak jawatan

Tindakan kedua-dua presiden merangkap pengarah eksekutif kumpulan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Arul Kanda Kandasamy dan bekas CEO 1MDB Shahrol Halmi untuk tidak hadir perbicaraan Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang Awam esok adalah apa yang disebut pepatah Inggeris sebagai “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” dalam skandal RM42 bilion 1MDB.

Ia wajar menyedarkan rakyat Malaysia yang masih terlena dan merasakan seolah-olah tiada sebarang masalah dengan skandal 1MDB.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin telah memberitahu dalam sebuah rakaman ucapannya kepada empat Bahagian Umno minggu lalu bahawa skandal 1MDB adalah “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” dan akan menyebabkan kejatuhan kerajaan Umno/BN. Inilah sebabnya kenapa beliau mahu seluruh Lembaga Pengarah 1MDB dipecat, serta disiasat oleh pihak polis.

Rakaman ucapan Muhyiddin itu telah dimuatnaik ke YouTube menggunakan beberapa akaun dan telah ditonton hampir setengah juta kali dalam tempoh empat hari lalu. Continue reading “Arul Kanda and Shahrol Halmi skipping PAC hearing – the last straw that breaks the camel’s back on 1MDB scandal and Cabinet must sack the whole board or sack itself”

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Excerpt #3: Imagining A Different Future

M. Bakri Musa
24 May 2015

Much is at stake for Malays. Only those lulled by Hang Tuah’s blustery Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia (Malays will never be lost from this world) would pretend otherwise. History is replete with examples of once great civilizations now reduced to mere footnotes. At best they are but objects of tourists’ curiosities, as with the Mayans.

It is unlikely for Malay civilization to disappear; there are nearly a quarter billion of us in the greater Nusantara world of Southeast Asia. There is however, a fate far worse, and that is for Malaysia to be developed but with Malays shunted aside, reduced to performing exotic songs and dances for tourists.

There are about 17 million Malays in Malaysia, comparable to the population of the Netherlands. Their colonial record excluded, the Dutch should be our inspiration of what a population of 17 million could achieve. Continue reading “Excerpt #3: Imagining A Different Future”

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View from the Umno grassroots

– Muhammad Azaham Wahab
The Malaysian Insider
24 May 2015

I am a member of Umno who had served the party for a good 40 years and was a Branch Chairman for 23 years.

I also served for a few years at the division level and consider myself a grassroots leader of Umno and am qualified to say that I embody the sentiments of members at the grassroots level.

As a branch leader for more than 20 years, we have always obeyed the higher ups in Umno and slogged at every election to ensure the success of Umno-Barisan.

I was proud of Umno and my MCA and MIC friends because for whatever weakness Barisan had we were brothers in arms to develop the country.

I trusted the leaders and they did not betray my trust because the country was peaceful and development in all sectors was satisfactory although it could be much better.

However things have changed and corruption and misuse of power had reared its ugly head. The Barisan leadership condoned corruption and used their power to cover up their corrupt practises on the economic and business sector. Corruption is now so embedded in society we seem to accept it as a normal practice. Continue reading “View from the Umno grassroots”

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An Eight-Year “Save PR” Roadmap by reaffirming PR Common Policy Framework which had won support of 52% of the electorate

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Pelan tindakan lapan tahun ‘Selamatkan Pakatan Rakyat’ dengan memperkukuh Dasar Bersama yang telah berjaya mendapat sokongan 52% daripada jumlah pengundi

Pakatan Rakyat sudah tidak ada masa. Dalam masa dua minggu lagi, Pakatan Rakyat mungkin sahaja tidak wujud lagi.

Ini suatu perkembangan politik yang sangat lucu.

Umno dan Barisan Nasional (BN) sedang berada pada tahap paling lemah dalam sejarah, berpaut kepada kuasa sebagai kerajaan minoriti pertama dalam sejarah Malaysia.

Perdana Menteri yang juga Presiden Umno, Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah terpaksa menjelajah ke seluruh negara untuk meraih sokongan orang ramai lantaran skandal kewangan dan pecah belah di dalam Umno yang semakin menjadi-jadi, serta demi melengahkan kempen dahagi yang sedang dikepalai oleh mantan Perdana Menteri dan Presiden Umno yang paling lama, untuk mendesak Perdana Menteri meletakkan jawatan. Sementara itu Ahli-ahli Parlimen BN dari Sabah dan Sarawak serta parti-parti komponen mereka (yang bertanggungjawab meletakkan Najib di kerusi Perdana Menteri) sedang memantau dengan sangat teliti sama ada Najib akan mengkhianati kontrak sosial dan Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 hanya demi memastikan survival politiknya sendiri. Continue reading “An Eight-Year “Save PR” Roadmap by reaffirming PR Common Policy Framework which had won support of 52% of the electorate”

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SOS: The 11th Malaysia Plan

Koon Yew Yin
23 May 2015

In a recent Barisan controlled newspaper, the following headline screamed out for attention: “There is continuity in all Malaysia Plans, says Najib”. The Prime Minister further argued that claims that policies in each Malaysia Plan is disconnected from the other are not true, said the Prime Minister.

Yes, we agree – there is continuity. There is continuity in the unwillingness to put a full stop to the NEP policy. There is continuity in the massive corruption that accompanies every Malaysian Plan. This has happened especially since the 1980’s when the practice of giving out large contracts and concessions without competitive open tenders became institutionalized under Dr. Mahathir’s version of “crony capitalism”. There is continuity in the refusal to practice the system of meritocracy – the only sure way to ensure that we can join the league of modern and developed nations of the world. Continue reading “SOS: The 11th Malaysia Plan”

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Mengapa boleh kerjasama hudud tapi tidak untuk mangsa banjir

oleh Zulkifli Sulong
The Malaysian Insider
23 May 2015

Mangsa banjir di Kelantan mempertikaikan mengapa kerajaan pusat dan kerajaan negeri Kelantan gagal bekerjasama dengan baik membantu mereka, sedangkan kedua-duanya dilihat boleh bekerjasama ke arah melaksanakan hukum hudud di negeri itu.

Mereka merasa tertipu selepas kedua-dua kerajaan negeri dan pusat berjanji membina semula rumah mereka yang musnah akibat banjir besar hujung tahun lepas, tetapi sehingga kini, janji tinggal janji.

Kebanyakan mereka yang ditemui di pusat pemindahan di Bandar Utama, Gua Musang itu menyalahkan kedua-dua kerajaan yang tidak bekerjasama dengan baik sehingga rumah yang sepatutnya mereka duduki masih belum disiapkan. Continue reading “Mengapa boleh kerjasama hudud tapi tidak untuk mangsa banjir”

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Has Najib forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved independence in 1957 and that we have been overtaken by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea which became high-income countries 20 – 28 years ago?

When the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak boasted in the Eleven Malaysia Plan that Malaysia had risen from the ranks of a low-income economy in the 1970s to a high middle-income economy with a national per capita income more than 25-fold from US$402 (1970) to US$10,796 (2014), and is well on the track to surpass the US$15,000 threshhold of a high-income economy by 2020, Malaysians are entitled to ask him whether he has forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved Independence in 1957?

What were the reasons why other countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore which were poorer than us when we achieved Independence had not only caught up with us, but gone ahead, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea becoming high-income countries some 20 – 28 years ago, a target we are seeking to achieve by the end of the 11th Malaysia Plan and Vision 2020? Continue reading “Has Najib forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved independence in 1957 and that we have been overtaken by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea which became high-income countries 20 – 28 years ago?”