Posted on

HOW WILL NAJIB’S GOLFING BUDDY TRUMP TREAT MALAYSIA’S 1MDB PROBE?

BY AMY CHEW
South China Morning Post
9 NOV 2016

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is apparently US president-elect Donald Trump’s golfing buddy and “favourite Prime Minister”. Given the ties between the two men, some observers expect the relationship between…

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is apparently US president-elect Donald Trump’s golfing buddy and “favourite Prime Minister”.

Given the ties between the two men, some observers expect the relationship between Muslim-majority Malaysia and the US to remain good despite Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric during his bitterly fought campaign.

“Next to the prime minister’s chair in his office is a photo of him and Trump. It is signed by Trump with the words “To my favourite Prime Minister”, a Malaysian government source told This Week in Asia. “They are golfing buddies,” he said, adding the picture was taken “not too long ago”.

The government-owned New Straits Times quoted Najib as saying he “personally knows Trump and the president-elect is no stranger to him.” Continue reading “HOW WILL NAJIB’S GOLFING BUDDY TRUMP TREAT MALAYSIA’S 1MDB PROBE?”

Posted on

Instead of being referred to the Committee of Privileges, MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad should volunteer to appear before Committee of Privileges to explain his offence of parliamentary contempt in his 100-day “Open Warkah”

Instead of being referred to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, the MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad should volunteer to appear before the Committee of Privileges explain his offence of parliamentary contempt in his 100-day “Open Warkah” yesterday
.
To mark his 100th day in office yesterday, Dzulkifli issued an Open Warkah (Open Letter) which, among other things, referred to Members of Parliament when he told YBs to “stop fooling the people”

In his “Open Warkah”, he urged YBs not to betray the people and not to fool the people with fairy tales while at the same time engaging in corruption.

Dzulkifli told MPs:

“Don’t be swayed by the desire to be praised and raised on thrones, to the extent of neglecting judgement and (public) interests.

“Stop lulling the people with fables and fairy tales which hide the truth, when at the same time you greedily grab the spoils of corruption
Without mentioning names, Dzulkifli also warned those who are mired in corruption to turn themselves in to the authorities before it is too late.

“To those still drunk and drowning in graft, heed this warning. For the last time, stop this betrayal of corruption and abuse of power.

“Surrender. Stop foolishly beating your chest, lest you risk your life and limbs and fall into tragedy.”

Continue reading “Instead of being referred to the Committee of Privileges, MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad should volunteer to appear before Committee of Privileges to explain his offence of parliamentary contempt in his 100-day “Open Warkah””

Posted on

Had Pandikar committed the crime under section 124(B) of Penal Code of activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy when he egged on police investigations of three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament?

During the final winding-up of the 2017 Budget debate yesterday, I asked the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani whether and how the three former Cabinet Ministers, MP for Pagoh and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, MP for Semporna and former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the MP for Tambun and former Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Husni Hanadzlah had violated Cabinet secrecy when they took part in the debate in Parliament on the budget.

Johari was unable to give a cogent and intelligible answer.

I in fact asked Johari why he dared not repeat inside Parliament what he had earlier said outside the Parliament chamber, that it was not wrong for MPs and former Cabinet Ministers like Husni to ask questions about 1MDB in Parliament.

There was no answer from Johari.

Although the Second Finance Minister, the Minister tasked with the final reply on the 2017 Budget speech, does not know that the three former Cabinet Ministers had violated Cabinet secrecy, the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia seemed to know more about Cabinet secrets about the 1MDB than Johari with his media conference statement on Thursday, 27th October that the three former Cabinet Ministers might have broken their oaths of secrecy when debating the 2017 Budget.

This has shocked many lawyers and law professors, as well as the former longest-serving Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who was AG for 13 years from 1980-1993, who expressed surprise and questioned how the Dewan Rakyat Speaker knew that three former ministers had revealed government secrets when they raised the 1MDB issue during budget debate.

Abu Talib wondered how Pandikar, as head of the legislature, knew that the Cabinet had discussed the 1MDB issue. Also, how did he know what was discussed was classified information.

Abu Talib asked whether somebody had told the Speaker about it, and if so, Speaker should have lodged a police report against that very person who told him.

However, this most important question is whether Pandikar had committed a crime under section 124(B) of Penal Code of an activity “detrimental to parliamentary democracy” when he egged on police investigations of three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament – especially as the police seemed to be using Section 124(B) against all and sundry, including university students and peaceful critics of the government-of-the-day! Continue reading “Had Pandikar committed the crime under section 124(B) of Penal Code of activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy when he egged on police investigations of three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament?”

Posted on

China is catching “tigers” and Indonesia “crocodiles”, why is Malaysia not catching “sharks” in the war against grand corruption?

The 2016 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) will be made public in a month’s time.

Will Malaysia’s ranking improve or deteriorate?

In the TI CPI 2015 report, Brazil was specifically mentioned as follows:

“Dealing with many entrenched corruption issues, Brazil has been rocked by the Petrobras scandal, in which politicians are reported to have taken kickbacks in exchange for awarding public contracts. As the economy crunches, tens of thousands of ordinary Brazilians have lost their jobs already. They didn’t make the decisions that led to the scandal. But they’re the ones living with the consequences. “

Brazil was ranked No. 76 out of 168 countries, with a CPI score of 38 out of 100 and was one of the five countries named whose CPI had deteriorated compared to previous years.

Will Malaysia be dishonourably named in the TI CPI 2016 Report, especially with Malaysia recently regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” after a spate of disastrous developments in province of kleptocracy, in particular the US Department of Justice (DOJ) forfeiture suit of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland arising from US$3 billion international embezzlement and money-laundering and the the regulatory and criminal actions taken by over half a dozen countries connected with 1MDB kleptocracy, including the Switzerland, United Kingdom, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Australia? Continue reading “China is catching “tigers” and Indonesia “crocodiles”, why is Malaysia not catching “sharks” in the war against grand corruption?”

Posted on

In defence of Malaysiakini

Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
4 Nov 2016

In all its years functioning as a responsible media organisation, Malaysiakini has been doing the right thing. As a former journalist, I have watched its progress through the years and can vouch for its steadfastness in adhering to the ethics and principles of journalism.

But it is now being investigated for carrying out activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

This is totally absurd.

That it should be singled out to be persecuted by the Malaysian authorities is a testament of how deep into the mud of absurdity our country’s leaders are pushing Malaysia into.

Our leaders are going mad. Continue reading “In defence of Malaysiakini”

Posted on

Najib should learn from the anti-corruption campaign in China where some one million officials, from Ministers and other “tigers” downwards, were punished in the last three years to ensure that Malaysia is famed as one of the top countries for anti-corruption

The video on 50 years of DAP we saw at the beginning of the Convention reminds us of the DAP leaders and activists who had slogged and sacrificed for the party, not for any personal gain or benefit, but for the DAP ideals and principle which inspired and motivated them.

As a DAP member and leader for 50 years, I can speak with knowledge and authority that this is the great difference between DAP leaders and members from those who joined the parties in the ruling coalition – that unlike their counterparts in the ruling parties, members and leaders in the DAP joined and are in politics not because of money, business opportunities, position or titles, or even to be Members of Parliament or State Assembly representatives, but because of their patriotism, ideals and commitment to the DAP cause of justice, freedom, equality and a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

We are reminded by the video of the past DAP leaders who have contributed through their sacrifices and struggles which formed the basis for the DAP’s present success in Penang, but who have now left us, in particular Karpal Singh, P. Patto, Chian Heng Kai, Peter Dason, Tan Loo Jit and N. Shanmugam.

DAP thanks the Penang State Government for naming roads after Karpal, Patto and Heng Kai in appreciation and commemoration of their patriotism, service and sacrifices to the welfare of the people, state and nation. I understand that a road has been earmarked to be named after Peter Dason, and I urge the Penang State Government to also commemorate the patriotism, services and sacrifices of Loo Jit and Shanmugam so that they could all be role models for the new generation of Malaysians in Penang. Continue reading “Najib should learn from the anti-corruption campaign in China where some one million officials, from Ministers and other “tigers” downwards, were punished in the last three years to ensure that Malaysia is famed as one of the top countries for anti-corruption”

Posted on

Why China Is Cannibalizing Its Own Economy To Combat Corruption

Wade Shepard
Forbes
Oct. 24, 2016

China is a country that rose to the top on the back of vibrant markets with weak institutions, and the lack of enforced regulations led to a very dynamic business climate where deals were not hamstrung by red tape and money feverishly cycled between both the white and black spheres of the economy.

“The first step of development is always to build markets with weak institutions,” said Yuen Yuen Ang, the author of How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, a book which flipped the conventional wisdom about emerging markets on its head. “Meaning, it may look corrupt, it may look like you have the wrong types of practices and the wrong types of property rights, but it’s all about people making use of the existing institutions they have to stimulate market activities.”

Ang related how in the early 80s, when China was searching for ways to initially spark its economic renaissance, virtual armies of bureaucrats were directed to use their personal relationships to find investors for development-related projects.

“They make use of expenses that would strike us as kind of a corrupt system, because these bureaucrats are unleashed to go out to do development, look for investors, and they are given very powerful monetary incentives. . . There are explicit rules, sometimes even written down in documents, where as a bureaucrat you can collect five percent of the value of investments that you bring in, for example.” Continue reading “Why China Is Cannibalizing Its Own Economy To Combat Corruption”

Posted on

Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations ― Where lies the government’s duty?

― Lim Wei Jiet
Malay Mail Online
November 5, 2016

NOVEMBER 5 ― Of late, there have been statements by ministers and authorities which seem to have blamed Bersih for the threatening menace of the Red Shirts come November 19.

Khairy Jamaluddin, in his infinite wisdom, said: “…if Bersih does not do anything, the reds would certainly not do anything, so the burden lies on Bersih. The best way is to not allow the Bersih 5 rally to happen”. The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi similarly opined: “You see, if there is no yellow, there will be no red. If there is no Maria Chin, there will surely be no Jamal Yunos”.

With respect, such line of thinking is simply erroneous. Imagine this scenario ― a group of students are enjoying a game of football during P.E. lesson. The school bully appears from nowhere, pushes several students to the ground and snatches the ball away like the jerk he is. A brouhaha ensues. The teacher comes along and not only does omit to discipline the bully, but proceeds to scold the students for causing him problems and orders the students back to class.

How’s that for logic?

One can’t put it more simply than O’Brien J in R v. Londonderry Justices (1891) 28 LR Fr. 440: “If danger arises from the exercise of lawful rights resulting in a breach of the peace, the remedy is the presence of sufficient force to prevent the result, not the legal condemnation of those who exercise those rights”

In other words, stop the bully, not reprimand the peaceful demonstrators! Continue reading “Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations ― Where lies the government’s duty?”

Posted on

Sanusi confirms he will attend with Tun Mahathir the meeting in Parliament on Tuesday of MPs (including former MPs and Ministers) to discuss how to defend Parliament and MPs’ parliamentary privileges and immunities against insidious police encroachments

Former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid has confirmed that he will attend with former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad the meeting in Parliament on Tuesday of Members of Parliament (including former MPs and Ministers) to discuss the country’s latest constitutional crisis on the doctrine of separation of powers and how to defend Parliament and MPs’ parliamentary privileges and immunities against insidious police encroachments.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that “3 ex-ministers under probe over 1MDB statements” (New Straits Times 5/11/06 headline p. 10) and this is most shocking for two reasons:

Firstly, when did the police have free roving liberty to investigate speeches by MPs (whether former Minister or not) made in Parliament, as if MPs’s traditional and constitutionally-entrenched parliamentary privileges spelt out in Article 63 (2) of the Malaysian Constitution and the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 do not exist in the eyes of the IGP.

Should MPs submit their speeches to the police for approval before they are delivered in Parliament. Is this what Malaysia has become, in the eighth year of premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak?

Secondly, is the IGP through his arbitrary and unconstitutional action sending out a message that 1MDB issue is a “banned” subject in Parliament, as MPs who raised the issue of 1MDB in Parliament could be next in line of police’s interrogation when the three ex-Cabinet Ministers could be targeted by the police for speaking in Parliament on 1MDB?

Khalid’s statement yesterday has laid bare the frightening and even Kafkaesque nature of the constitutional crisis on the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary which has been suddenly sprung on the nation when he said that the police had enough reasons to investigate former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah as there was no immunity from seditious statements in Parliament. Continue reading “Sanusi confirms he will attend with Tun Mahathir the meeting in Parliament on Tuesday of MPs (including former MPs and Ministers) to discuss how to defend Parliament and MPs’ parliamentary privileges and immunities against insidious police encroachments”

Posted on

Is Speaker Pandikar capable of leading MPs to fend off Executive and police threats to parliamentary privileges and immunities by arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal assumption of non-existing powers against Parliament?

Overnight, Malaysia is faced with a major constitutional crisis with the gravest threat in the nation’s history on the proper place and power of Parliament in our system of governance and the traditional as well as constitutionally-entrenched parliamentary privileges and immunities of Members of Parliament, regardless whether from the government or the opposition.

Central to this constitutional crisis facing Malaysia is whether the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, is capable of leading MPs to fend off the Executive and Police threats to parliamentary privileges and immunities by arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal assumption of non-existing powers against Parliament?

The latest incident in the insidious subversion of Parliament’s proper role and place in the Malaysian system of governance, based on the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, is the shocking announcement by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police are now investigating former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah for sedition over his speech in Parliament about 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), aside for alleged violations of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972.

The Inspector-General of Police made the nonsensical statement that Husni’s case is also classified under the Sedition Act because the investigation into the state investment firm was still underway and that talking about it might jeopardise the process.

He said: “Even in Parliament, it doesn’t give an MP the immunity against the Sedition Act to speak about such matter(s).” Continue reading “Is Speaker Pandikar capable of leading MPs to fend off Executive and police threats to parliamentary privileges and immunities by arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal assumption of non-existing powers against Parliament?”

Posted on

Call on Najib to come to Parliament on Monday to give assurance that his government would uphold and respect traditional parliamentary privileges and he would not countenance any police or criminal action against MPs for speaking up in Parliament on the 1MDB scandal

Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, who had been the eighth Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, should have known of the famous parliamentary episode in the United Kingdom some four hundreds years ago on 4th January 1642 when King Charles I entered the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament for high treason.

When the King asked the Speaker at the time, William Lenthall, if he knew of the location of these members, the Speaker famously replied:” “May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here; and humbly beg your Majesty’s pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what your Majesty is pleased to demand of me.”

I am not suggesting that Pandikar should emulate William Lenthall and be prepared to sacrifice his political career let alone his life to protect Parliamentary honours, privileges and immunity, but I stand corrected if he is not the only Speaker in the world to openly suggest – or to use the words of Tun Mahathir’s lawyer, Haniff Khaliri, “incite” – police reports or police action against Members of Parliament when he called a media conference last Thursday to suggest that the three former Cabinet Ministers, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the former Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Husni Hanadzlan might have broken their oaths of secrecy as Cabinet Ministers when debating the Budget 2017 in Parliament – which was as good as a public reprimand of the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General for dereliction of duty and instigation for them to act against Muhyhiddin, Shafie and Husni.

I have re-read the speeches of Muhyiddin, Shafie and Husni in the Parliament Hansard, which confirm that neither one of them had said anything during their speeches in the 2017 Budget debate to reveal any Cabinet secret which Malaysians and the world have not known before about the 1MDB financial scandal. Continue reading “Call on Najib to come to Parliament on Monday to give assurance that his government would uphold and respect traditional parliamentary privileges and he would not countenance any police or criminal action against MPs for speaking up in Parliament on the 1MDB scandal”

Posted on

Pandikar should retract his media conference statement last Thursday which led to police reports and police probe into three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament and reiterate parliamentary principle that police should not challenge MPs’ parliamentary privilege and immunity except in clear-cut cases provided by the Constitution

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should retract his media conference statement last Thursday that the three former Cabinet Ministers, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Mujhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah might have broken their oaths of secrecy as Cabinet Ministers when debating the Budget 2017 in Parliament, as it was such ill-advised and unfortunate statement by the Speaker which triggered off a chain of deplorable events – like the baseless police reports lodged by busybody-NGOs, the Malaysian Malay Network Organisation (JMN) and Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory N87 Club, and police action to investigate the three former Cabinet Ministers.

If the Speaker had not made the ill-advised and improper statement at last Thursday’s media conference, it would not have triggered off this chain of unfortunate and deplorable incidents.

Pandikar should accompany the retraction with a bold and clear-cut statement reaffirming the traditional parliamentary principle that MPs enjoy parliamentary privileges and immunity and the police should not challenge the parliamentary privileges of Members of Parliament except in clear-cut cases provided by the Constitution. Continue reading “Pandikar should retract his media conference statement last Thursday which led to police reports and police probe into three former Cabinet Ministers for their speeches on 1MDB in Parliament and reiterate parliamentary principle that police should not challenge MPs’ parliamentary privilege and immunity except in clear-cut cases provided by the Constitution”

Posted on

Are there enough patriotic BN MPs to come forward to join hands with patriotic Opposition MPs to save Malaysia from the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”?

As the longest-serving Member of Parliament in the present House, having served as a MP for more than 43 years covering 10 of 13 terms from 1969 to the present – except for the ninth Parliament from November 1999 to February 2004 – it gives me no pleasure but great pain and anguish to declare that in my 43 years as a MP of Malaysian Parliament, I have never felt so ashamed and outraged that the country which is the sole object of my love and patriotism, and for which I am prepared to sacrifice my liberties and even my life, have fallen so low that Ministers and MPs are not perturbed at all that the world regards Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

What has happened to Malaysia? Have the Ministers and MPs in Parliament and the leaders in the country totally lost the moral compass, although MPs start with the following prayer before each parliamentary sitting:

“Almighty God, who in Thy Wisdom and Goodness hast appointed the Office of Rulers and Parliaments for the welfare of society and the just government of men: We beseech Thee to behold with Thy abundant favour us Thy servants whom Thou hast been pleased to call to the performance of important trusts in these lands: Let Thy blessing descend upon us here assembled, and grant that we may treat and consider all matters that shall come under our deliberation in so just and faithful a manner as to promote Thy Honour and Glory and to advance the place, prosperity and welfare of Malaysia and its inhabitants: Amen. “

Has this Prayer lost all meaning?

Have we all become hypocrites that we have totally forgotten our prayer at the start of every Parliament sitting that we can be unmoved, not to be ashamed and/or outraged for the nation to be regarded world-wide as “a global kleptocracy” – a country ruled by PPP, Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.

What is a kleptocracy? It has been defined as a rule by a thief or thieves.

Is this what we have become, what the Fathers of Independence and Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tun Razak, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun V. Sambanthan, Tun Fuad, Tun Mustapha, OKK G.S. Sundang, Temenggong Jugah, Datuk Haji Openg, Ong Kee Hui, Ling Beng Siew and James Wong envisaged and dreamt when Malayan Independence was achieved in 1957 and the Malaysian Federation formed in 1963?

Should we be proud that Malaysia is now known world-wide not only as a kleptocracy, but a global kleptocracy, a country ruled by PPP – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun? Continue reading “Are there enough patriotic BN MPs to come forward to join hands with patriotic Opposition MPs to save Malaysia from the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”?”

Posted on

Three tasks for the 47 BN Sabah and Sarawak MPs to be kingmakers, uphold the secular basis of the nation, defend the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and save Malaysia from a “global kleptocracy”

For over four decades, the Members of Parliament in Sabah and Sarawak had been taken for granted by the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Federal Government, regarded as useful “cannon fodder” to make up the numbers to ensure UMNO’s increasing hegemony in the Federal Government but not critically important, as the ruling coalition had always won with two-thirds majority in Parliament.

The political landscape and electoral equation began to change in the 12th General Election in 2008, when the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Federal coalition government lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time in Malaysian history.

But the 57 Parliamentary seats from Sabah and Sarawak became critically important only in the 13th General Election in 2013, when the 47 Barisan Nasional MPs saved the UMNO/BN coalition from going to the opposition ranks.

This was because the UMNO/BN coalition only won 86 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, which was not enough on its own to constitute the simple majority out of a Parliament of 222 seats to form the Federal Government in Putrajaya.

It was only with the 47 Parliamentary seats won by the UMNO/BN coalition in Sabah and Sarawak that Datuk Seri Najib Razak could continue as Prime Minister with 133 parliamentary seats, though as the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia as UMNO/BN coalition only won minority popular support of 47% of the national voter turnout.

The 47 Barisan Nasional MPs from Sabah and Sarawak were therefore the kingmakers of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Federal Government after the 13th General Election in 2013, but unfortunately, they have so far failed to exercise their proper influence, role and input on national policy direction and developments.

Without the support of the 47 Barisan Nasional MPs from Sabah and Sarawak, Najib’s Federal Government in Putrajaya will fail and fall. Continue reading “Three tasks for the 47 BN Sabah and Sarawak MPs to be kingmakers, uphold the secular basis of the nation, defend the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and save Malaysia from a “global kleptocracy””

Posted on

Call on IGP Khalid to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law

The excessive and unreasonable action by the police in Kota Marudu to arrest the Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah for distributing Bersih flyers in Langkon, Sabah to promote the Bersih 5 rally slated on Nov. 19 to call for free, fair and clean elections must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Even worse is the police intimidation of members of the public for taking the Bersih flyers, as the police taking down the identity card numbers of those who take the Bersih flyers and police threats to arrest the members of the public concerned is nothing short of illegal police harassment and abuse of powers.

It is no crime under the law for anyone to take or receive the Bersih flyers, and the police are doing themselves and public respect for their independence and credibility no service by acting completely outside the province of the law in harassing or intimidating members of the public for taking or receiving the Bersih flyers.

All responsible political parties and members of the public want to be friends of the police, for the police are performing an important national service and function to uphold the law to maintain order, peace and harmony.

But the police will forfeit public respect for the police, who will cease to be friends of the people, if the police themselves break the law by indiscriminately and illegally abusing police powers as in case of the Bersih 5 publicity event in Langkon, Kota Marudu yesterday.

I call on the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law.

I hope the IGP will be as “quick on the draw” with the police abuses of powers in the arrest of Maria Chin and the police threats to members of the public for taking Bersih flyers, as he has shown with regard to complaints by members of the establishment against critics of the government. Continue reading “Call on IGP Khalid to reprimand and penalise police personnel who abused their powers in arresting Maria Chin and worse, harassing and intimidating Malaysians for taking Bersih flyers as it constitutes no crime under the law”

Posted on

Sabah’s RM3.3 billion Water Department corruption scandal latest shocking example explaining why in half a century, Sabah has become one of the poorest states in Malaysia despite its vast rich resources

Sabah’s RM3.3 billion Water Department corruption scandal, where 60 per cent of the RM3.3 billion earmarked in the Tenth Malaysia Plan to improve the supply of clean and treated water in the state, was siphoned off into private pockets of a corrupt few, is the latest mind-boggling example explaining why in half a century, Sabah has become one of the poorest states in Malaysia despite its vast rich resources.

In half a century, Sabah has been reduced into a land of sharp and shocking contrasts – the poorest state, with socio-economic conditions of the poor even worse than Kelantan but yet the most kleptocratic state with among the wealthiest politicians in the country!

I am reminded of my speech in Kota Kinabalu at the 37th DAP anniversary dinner on 4th July 2003 where I said that the 40th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia by Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore was an appropriate time for an assessment of the successes and failures of nationhood and political development in the previosu four decades in Sabah.

I had quoted the following comment by a national leader which I said could serve as a verdict of 40 years of nationhood and development in Sabah:

“The management of Sabah’s resources, civil service and political situation are among the factors contributing to the state’s lackluster economic performance. Sabah was once a wealthy state but it has reached a point of no return and is now in the same economic league as Kelantan.”

Continue reading “Sabah’s RM3.3 billion Water Department corruption scandal latest shocking example explaining why in half a century, Sabah has become one of the poorest states in Malaysia despite its vast rich resources”

Posted on

Corruption in Sabah Water Department sextupled the “Mr. 10%” epithet six times to “Mr. 60%” – a shocking reflection of increasing gravity of kleptocracy in Malaysia

The country was recently convulsed by reports of the rampant corruption in the Sabah Water Department, especially the revelation that 60 per cent of the RM3.3 billion earmarked by the federal government to improve water supply to residents, including those in remote areas, in the Sabah State, had been “siphoned off” by corruption.

As a result, corruption in the Sabah Water Department sextupled the “Mr. 10%” epithet for the corrupt, increasing six times to “Mr. 60” – a shocking reflection of the gravity of the kleptocracy in Malaysia!

In the past three months, Malaysia made an undesirable descent to a “global kleptocracy”, especially after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) action under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (KARI) on July 20 to forfeit US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland arising from over US$3 billion international embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB finds and actions by investigative and regulatory authorities in over half-a-dozen countries, including closure of banks and criminal prosecutions.

Sabah’s Water-Gate Corruption Scandal in October, which started with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) seizure of more than RM114 million in cash and accounts, 19.3 kg of gold jewellery worth about RM3.64 million, some 97 designer ladies handbags worth RM500,000, nine luxury vehicles and some 127 land titles from the Director and Deputy Director of Sabah Water Department, have certified and confirmed the “arrival” of Malaysia as “a land of kleptocracy” in the minds of both the Malaysian and international community.

The “earth-breaking” ceremony for the Impian Sabah Keningau Water Project earlier this evening in Bunga Raya district only 20 km from Keningau (fifth largest township in Sabah) set me thinking as to what could have been achieved for rural Sabah in the past half a century, if the state had good governance instead of “locusts” for the past five decades. Continue reading “Corruption in Sabah Water Department sextupled the “Mr. 10%” epithet six times to “Mr. 60%” – a shocking reflection of increasing gravity of kleptocracy in Malaysia”

Posted on

Malaysia’s Najib Erases Predecessor’s Economic Vision

Asia Sentinel
October 27, 2016

Annual budget focuses too little on money, too much on politics

On Oct. 21, Malaysia’s scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak tabled a RM260.8 billion budget that is not only short on money and long on politics but seeks to obliterate the philosophy behind the economic blueprint of his arch-enemy, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib, also the finance minister, dubbed his 30-year development program “Transformasi Nasional 2050 (National Transformation 2050),” an alternative to Mahathir’s Vision 2020, launched in a landmark Najib’s plan, however, was short on details but long on rhetoric.

“The New Economic Policy under the late Tun Razak was planned to create a successful New Generation within 30 years. So is TN50, which will span three decades, to form a first-caliber nation state as well as with excellent mindset,” Najib said at the end of his budget 2017 speech, recalling his father Abdul Razak Hussein’s affirmative action plan, which was actually a 20-year policy.

One third of the 106-minute speech was devoted to politics and for the first time included a Powerpoint presentation as well as an introduction to leaders of various communities and social workers at the public gallery in parliament.

“Let TN50 bear witness; (let it) be recorded in history that we are responsible citizens and forefathers, to leave behind the best and he greatest legacy to be inherited by future generations.

“From now on, TN50 is our lucky charm. Let the old legacy pass. The future of Malaysia, we will recreate,” he said, in a dig at Mahathir’s Vision 2020 plan.

In an immediate reaction, veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang – who has struck a loose alliance with Mahathir – called out Najib’s volte-face of Mahathir’s policies, saying: “It is most shocking that Najib could so cavalierly and unceremoniously repudiated Vision 2020 when only in the last budget presentation last year, he reiterated his commitment to achieve Vision 2020 and the goal of a developed nation status. Has he abandoned both Vision 2020 and its final lap?”

The answer isn’t clear but what is clear about the budget speech was its focus on several demographics that could help Najib keep power in the next general elections, due 2018 but which many believe will be called earlier. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Najib Erases Predecessor’s Economic Vision”

Posted on

In one of the darkest Deepavali in modern Malaysian history, all Malaysians of good sense and goodwill regardless of race, religion or politics should come together to be the beacon of light to save Malaysia from the darkness of kleptocracy, injustice and politics of lies

Deepavali is the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and hope over despair.

This year, Malaysians observe one of the darkest Deepavali in modern Malaysian history and all Malaysians of good sense of good will, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, should be the beacon of light to save Malaysia from the darkness of kleptocracy, injustice and the politics of lies.

It is sad that in this year’s Deepavali, the week started with the tragic fire at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) in Johor Baru, which claimed the lives of six Malaysians seeking a new lease of life at the ICU ward.

The tragic incident at HSA where six patients who sought a new lease of life at the ICU met death instead because of systemic, infrastructure and human failure and negligence should never have been allowed to happen, and it is even more shocking for Malaysians to learn that HSA does not have a fire safety certificate, that the hospital had not conducted a fire drill for its staff for at least two years since 2014, that some 10 days before Tuesday’s blaze that killed six and injured 11 others, that there was a small fire at the ICU and worst of all, that there had been more than seven fires at the hospital in the past four years. Continue reading “In one of the darkest Deepavali in modern Malaysian history, all Malaysians of good sense and goodwill regardless of race, religion or politics should come together to be the beacon of light to save Malaysia from the darkness of kleptocracy, injustice and politics of lies”

Posted on

Pandikar undermined public perception and image of Speaker’s integrity and independence from the Executive when he suggested that the three former Cabinet Ministers had broken their Cabinet secrecy in their speeches in Parliament

I was utterly shocked when I read of the comments from the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia yesterday that former cabinet ministers may have broken their oath of Cabinet secrecy when debating the 2017 Budget in Parliament, referring in particular to former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the former Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Husni Hadzlah.

Pandikar told a press conference in Parliament yesterday that when he “heard the other day….that the Cabinet’s decision had not been carried out”, it was “(secret) Cabinet information”.

Pandikar said in his experience of being a former minister himself, cabinet members had to take an oath of secrecy.

He said: “We can’t tell (secrets) to anyone. You can’t whisper it to your wife at night.”

He said he knew a lot of secrets himself, but would not divulge them as those who break their oaths cast doubt on their own integrity and conduct.

I do not know what to make of Pandikar’s comments because they undermined public perception and image of the Speaker’s integrity and independence from the Executive when he publicly suggested that the three former Cabinet Ministers had broken their oath of Cabinet secrecy in their speeches in Parliament.

Is Pandikar subtly suggesting to the Executive and in particular the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police to initiate actions against Muhyiddin, Shafie and Husni under the Official Secrets Act or other laws of the land for their alleged breach of their oath of Cabinet secrecy in their speeches during the debate on the 2017 Budget?

Is Pandikar not aware of the important doctrine of the separation of powers of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, and his special responsibility as the Speaker of Parliament to jealously safeguard the independence and integrity of Parliament from any usurpation or encroachment by the Executive? Continue reading “Pandikar undermined public perception and image of Speaker’s integrity and independence from the Executive when he suggested that the three former Cabinet Ministers had broken their Cabinet secrecy in their speeches in Parliament”