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On RM2.6b, Najib’s answers beg more questions

Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
11th December 2-15

COMMENT There’s something not right about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s revelation on national television on Dec 8 that he did receive RM2.6 billion from donors.

In fact, it was even laughable to hear him say that the donors wanted the money to be deposited in his personal account.

“Yes, that was the donor’s wish,” he said. “The donation was made to me personally, that is why the account is under my name.”Is Najib that naïve? He allowed the donors to dictate that despite the risk of the money being easily traced to him?

If you recall, when The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) came out with its report about the RM2.6 billion last July, even Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan responded that no prime minister would be that stupid to have such a huge amount deposited into his personal account.

And that’s Ahmad Maslan, mind you. Continue reading “On RM2.6b, Najib’s answers beg more questions”

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Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation – from one donor or more than one, from one foreign country or more than one?

A question which should have been answered some six months ago if the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak really believes in accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance is now creating havoc all over the country, latest additions to the teeming questions swirling around the scandal of RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts just before the 13th General Election in May 2013.

The question is one of two queries central to the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal – where the RM2.6 billion came from and where this RM2.6 billion had gone to.

Najib had refused to give a full and satisfactory accounting of the RM2.6 billion scandal, despite leading all Members of Parliament up the garden path for six weeks during the recent 25-day budget parliamentary meeting that the Prime Minister will bravely, fully and satisfactorily address all questions relating to this issue, only for Najib to play truant from Parliament on the last day on 3rd December, leaving to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to go through the parliamentary charade of a three-minute answer-nothing Ministerial statement.

Najib’s subsequent attempts to “save the day” on the RM2.6 billion donation scandal, with tame and orchestrated interviews with UMNO media and closed-door UMNO briefings, were to no avail, as Najib has again proved that his repeated promise to come clean on the RM2.6 billion “donation” just could not be believed or trusted!
So much for accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance in the Najib premiership.

But the half-hearted and haphazard attempts at explaining away the RM2.6 billion donation scandal had spawned more questions, including whether it was one donor or more than one donor involved in Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and whether only one foreign country, or more than one foreign country had been involved. Continue reading “Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation – from one donor or more than one, from one foreign country or more than one?”

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The presentation of National Security Council (NSC) Bill to Senate should be deferred until all the 13 State Governments have been consulted and agreement given for the creation of a parallel NSC government vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 state governments

Today is Human Rights Day 2015 and we should be joining with peoples all over the world to celebrate another milestone in the promotion and protection of human rights in Malaysia – but the reverse is taking place.

On the Human Rights Day this year, Malaysians are facing with the greatest threat to democratic and human rights for over a decade since the retirement of Tun Mahathir as Prime Minister with the human rights horrors committed during his 22-year premiership, like the Operation Lalang mass arrests and closure of newspapers in 1987 and the assault on the independence of the judiciary beginning in 1988.

This is what has brought us to this forum “National Security Act: To Protect or to Oppress” tonight.

I had called the National Security Council (NSC) monstrous and pernicious because it was nothing less than a quadruple power grab, usurping the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet on the proclamation of Emergency as well as the autonomy rights of the Sarawak and Sabah State governments, and it was rushed through the Dewan Rakyat “like a thief in the night” with a vote of 107 vs 74, in a late-night session on the last day of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land.

On closer look, the NSC Bill is even more monstrous and pernicious for it would create a parallel government with an infrastructure of bureaucracy of its own, vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 State Governments without the consent or even consultation with the State Governments concerned. Continue reading “The presentation of National Security Council (NSC) Bill to Senate should be deferred until all the 13 State Governments have been consulted and agreement given for the creation of a parallel NSC government vesting the Prime Minister with executive powers to interfere with the running of the 13 state governments”

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Why is UMNO afraid of DAP? Not because the Chinese will control the Malays but because UMNO-putras will not be able to exploit the Malays

The UMNO Wanita leader, Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the typical example of UMNO leaders who have to resort to the politics of fear, hate and lies to try to perpetuate their political careers and political position in the party.

Malaysiakini reported that at the winding-up speech of the UMNO Wanita General Assembly, Shahrizat urged former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apbdal to return to the fold as she does not want Malays to be “controlled” by DAP because of Umno leaders opposing UMNO president Najib Abdul Razak.

She urged Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Shafie to be with UMNO, “right or wrong”.
She said: “There is no other party. Do you want to surrender the Malays and bumiputera to DAP? I am not prepared (to do so).”

She lost control of herself when she continued in a most irresponsible and seditious manner, declaring: “Let blood flow, we won’t allow DAP to take over. Umno is weak, god forbid, our country is taken over by DAP.”

If any DAP or Pakatan Harapan leader had made a similar “blood-curdling” speech, the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted a directive to his subordinates to commence immediate police investigations and action.

Let us see whether there will be any action from the Inspector-General of Police against Shahrizat or she belongs to a special breed of Malaysians who enjoy immunity and impunity under the law! Continue reading “Why is UMNO afraid of DAP? Not because the Chinese will control the Malays but because UMNO-putras will not be able to exploit the Malays”

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Difficult questions on Umno’s future trajectory

Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
9 Dec 2015

COMMENT Today the Umno general assembly begins – an event that has been stage-managed to deliver another show of support for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. These sorts of activities have become commonplace since the July revelation of the RM2.6 million ‘donation’ that continues to be inadequately explained and embarrasses Malaysia.

The meeting provides an opportunity to take stock – not only of the PM but of the state of the party that has governed Malaysia since independence. By whatever measure, Malaysia’s leadership is facing serious challenges ahead. Continue reading “Difficult questions on Umno’s future trajectory”

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DAP will mark the universal 2015 Human Rights Day by challenging the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill every step of the way – from Dewan Rakyat to Dewan Negara, Royal Assent, the courts and the bar of public opinion

Tomorrow, Dec. 10, is the universal Human Rights Day observed every year the commemorate the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This year’s Human Rights Day is devoted to the launch of a year-long campaign for the 50th anniversary of the two International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16th December 1966.

The two Covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights, setting out the civil, political, cultural, economic, and social rights that are the birth right of all human beings.

The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day – “Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always.” – aims to promote and raise awareness of the two Covenants on their 50th anniversary.
The year-long campaign revolves around the theme of rights and freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear — which underpin the International Bill of Human Rights and are as relevant today as they were when the Covenants were adopted 50 years ago.
Thirty-eight years ago, in October 1977, I moved a motion in Parliament for Malaysia’s ratification of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights 1966.

I asked in Parliament during the two-day debate on my motion why the Malaysian Government was prepared to vote for its adoption in the UN General Assembly but not prepared after eleven years, to ratify the Covenant after it was opened for signature since Dec. 19, 1966. Continue reading “DAP will mark the universal 2015 Human Rights Day by challenging the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill every step of the way – from Dewan Rakyat to Dewan Negara, Royal Assent, the courts and the bar of public opinion”

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Will Muhyiddin be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be expelled by UMNO?

All eyes will be focused on the UMNO Supreme Council special meeting today, as to whether Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be sacked from UMNO, whether today or later shortly.

The Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech tomorrow will establish a record of sorts as attracting the least national anticipation, as nobody expects the UMNO President, apart from excelling himself in the past in breathing fire and brimstone on racial and religious rhetoric, to really address the important issues not only to the three million UMNO members but also to the 30 million Malaysians – Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals and his policy disasters like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the midst of of the people’s economic woes of rising inflation and falling incomes.

UMNO Baru has indeed come a long way since the formation of original UMNO in 1946.

In 1950, the founder UMNO President, Datuk Onn Jaafar was too ahead of his time when he tried to open up UMNO to “non-Malays” to create a united nation and left UMNO in disgust.

Today, 65 years later, the present UMNO has become very regressive and exclusivist while at the same time become more corrupt and repressive, and one proof was the barring of non-Muslim journalists from covering the Puteri Umno launch of its programme “Daulatkan Islam Agama Negara” (DIAN) by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday.

From a “national” party, the present UMNO is not even a party for the Malays or of the three million UMNO members but has been reduced to a party of Najib’s cronies and UMNO chieftains who dominated the UMNO Supreme Council and the various UMNO divisional leadership positions. Continue reading “Will Muhyiddin be the second Deputy Prime Minister to be expelled by UMNO?”

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Can Najib explain why he dared to explain the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?

Last night, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak broke his silence on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal which had been dogging him and his government for the past five months in an exclusive interview with UMNO media, conducted by Media Prima Bhd group managing editor of news and current affairs Mohd Ashraf Abdullah, the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd group managing editor Abdul Jalil Hamid and Utusan Group editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak.

Najib said that the donation of RM2.6 billion deposited into his account is neither from a public fund nor the government’s strategic investment company, 1MDB, that it was the donor’s wish that the funds were deposited into his account and that the donation was made in a personal capacity.

Najib’s explanation on the twin mega scandals leaves open a thousand-and-one other questions, but the most important issue is why Najib dared to explain about the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?

Why did Najib run away from Parliament on the last day of the budget Parliamentary meeting last Thursday, after fobbing off some 90 questions from Pakatan Harapan MPs in the 25-day parliamentary session with the promise right from the very first day of Parliament on Oct. 19 that all the questions about the twin mega scandals would be answered in “one go” on the last day of the Parliamentary meeting? Continue reading “Can Najib explain why he dared to explain the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals in a tame and orchestrated interview with UMNO media and at closed-door UMNO meetings but not in Parliament in the presence of Pakatan Harapan MPs and critics?”

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Retraining Ustazs into Global Communicators

Professor Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
UCSI University
8th December 2015

In my previous article, I had suggested that most Muslims have a disturbing attitude that the only civilization that they are concerned with is only the 1500 years of Islam in the Muslim world. Muslims seem to look down and even reject the sum total of human civilization as ‘jahili’ or ignorant.

I think this is the wrong attitude to take and my reading of the Qur’an and hadiths does not conclude such a stand. The problem with most Muslims is simply that they let their thoughts and ideas be formed by the religious scholars trained in the limited mindset of the Madrasa.

Muslims are either too lazy to read and understand the Qur’an and hadith on their own or they are being frightened by the clerics that studying these sources without the ‘proper’ guide of ustazs will make them go astray and incur the wrath of Allah The Most High.

I have therefore called many times in my writings to reeducate the ustazs or religious teachers by exposing them to the greater awareness of the rich thoughts and ideas of humanity. Muslims, in brief, must be brought back into the fold of humanity.

It does not mean that Islam is being ‘compromised’ but I have enough experience as an academic that the interpretation of an event or an idea is more meaningful and richer when a larger context is used rather than a small one.

If ustazs were trained in the USA or Britain or Europe, they might have different views and interpretation of the sources of Islam then those trained in the so called Muslim countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia or India or Iran.
Continue reading “Retraining Ustazs into Global Communicators”

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Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill

In his pre-UMNO General Assembly interview with Media Prima and Utusan groups, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended the newly-passed National Security Council (NSC) bill, suggesting that it was enacted to keep the country safe from terrorist attacks.

If the NSC Bill was in fact intended to deal with terrorist attacks and armed insurrection ala-Islamic State or the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datuk two years ago, then the drafters of the NSC Bill should be sacked for their gross incompetence and inefficiency in drafting such an atrocious Bill and the 107 Barisan Nasional Ministers and Members of Parliament deplored for voting for such a Bill, which went far beyond the intention to empower the state with the resources and capability to deal with modern terrorist threats.

In actual fact, there was not a single reference to the threat of terrorism or terrorist attacks in the monstrous NSC Bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat which defined “national security” in so wide and catch-all a fashion that it could be interpreted to cover all situations, even those which would not normally be associated with national security issues arising from political, economic and nation-building factors and circumstances. Continue reading “Amend the National Security Council (NSC) Bill to alter it to National Anti-Terrorism Council (NATC) Bill and remove the four usurpations of power and draconian provisions, DAP is prepared to support such a NATC Bill”

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Full support for Muhyiddin’s proposal to Najib to “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe

Just as over a thousand people are gathered here in Batu Uban in Penang tonight to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”, over a thousand people are gathered at the Kelab Sultan Suleiman in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur to support Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had been sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and may be sacked as UMNO Deputy President for basically asking the same question to Najib – “Mana RM2.6 billion?”

In his speech at Kelab Sultan Suleiman, which had just been completed, Muhyiddin proposed that Najib should take leave as Prime Minister pending investigations into 1MDB, as there should be no perception that the Prime Minister is meddling in the investigations.

Muhyiddin said that if Najib is not involved, he can come back to serve as Prime Minister again.

I fully support Muhyiddin’s proposal that Najib “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe.

Will Najib announce in his UMNO Presidential Address on Thursday that he would take leave as Prime Minister until the completion of investigations into 1MDB? Continue reading “Full support for Muhyiddin’s proposal to Najib to “take a break” as Prime Minister to allow unimpeded 1MDB investigations and to return as PM after he is cleared of any involvement by the probe”

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Most-watched political event in Malaysia

Straits Times
DEC 7, 2015

Umno’s general assembly is the most closely watched political event in Malaysia annually, except when there is a general election.

In the past, the issues raised at the five-day congress, attended by party members from all over the country, have resulted in new or tweaked government policies. Key speeches are broadcast live on radio and TV, with Umno the only political body to be given this privilege.

Love or loathe it, the reason for Umno’s power is its outsized position in Malaysian politics. Continue reading “Most-watched political event in Malaysia”

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A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Abdul Rahman as Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill

A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as a Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill.

Responding to tweets criticizing the NSC bill, which was passed “like a thief at night” at the late-night session last Thursday on Dec 3, the final day of the 25-day budget parliamentary meeting, and which conferred on the Prime Minister such absolute executive powers as to usurp the constitutional prerogative of the Yang di Pertuan Agong to declare an emergency under Article 150 of the Malaysian Constitution, as well as to oust the powers of the Cabinet and to undermine the autonomy powers of Sarawak and Sabah, Rahman had tweeted:

“If a bomb exploded in KL then perhaps you guys would have a different view. But sadly that would be too late.”

Rahman’s tweet is not only frighteningly insensitive but also outrageously illogical. Continue reading “A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Abdul Rahman as Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill”

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Let Najib clarify in his UMNO Presidential Address at the UMNO General Assembly whether he is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the FBI as to whether he is a ‘kleptocrat’

Should Pakatan Harapan MPs from DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara who have been in the forefront demanding full and satisfactory accountability from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his twin mega scandals on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB go on their bended knees and thank their lucky stars that the Prime Minister was so merciful and spared them the agony and shame of an expose on the last day of the 25-day parliamentary meeting last Thursday (Dec. 3)?

This is because Najib said last night that the opposition spews nothing but “lies” on 1MDB (auta bukan fakta), declaring: “It they (the opposition) attack us using logic, rational thinking and facts, they will lose. It’s now the battle of the minds.”

If Najib is right, and the Prime Minister had appeared in Parliament on the last day of the budget parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 to lay down the facts of the two scandals, all the Pakatan Harapan MPs who had been harping them would have been mercilessly exposed not only as opportunists, charlatans and even ignoramus.

However, before deciding whether the Pakatan Harapan MPs should be thankful for such little mercies from Najib, they must ask why the Prime Minister was so kind to them, if it was true that it would be so easy for him to squash the Opposition MPs who had been raising a storm particularly since March about the 1MDB scandal? Continue reading “Let Najib clarify in his UMNO Presidential Address at the UMNO General Assembly whether he is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the FBI as to whether he is a ‘kleptocrat’”

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Tun Razak – A Leader With A Free Mind

M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
7th December 2015

Notwithstanding their common aristocratic background, obvious brilliance, and genuine nationalism, plus their overlapping leadership in UMNO, Tun Razak had little in common with Datuk Onn Jaafar. To start with, there was their obvious age and thus generational difference, Onn being about 30 years older. The critical differentiating feature separating the two however was their personalities.

Like Onn, there is as yet no authoritative biography of Tun Razak. There is William Shaw’s, published in 1976, sympathetic bordering on the hagiographical. Razak had many contemporaries, some very erudite, but none had sought to pen an account of this great man. Likewise his sons (he had no daughters) who are all well educated, including one who is a Cambridge graduate, yet none has seen fit to write an account of their great father, apart from the anecdotal recollections in responses to interviews.

The contrasting personalities between Onn and Razak could not be more obvious then when they were campaigning or otherwise engaging the common people. To be sure, both were atypical politicians; neither exhibited the usual politician’s backslapping or feigned familiarity and affability. They both seemed aloof and uncomfortable with crowds. While Onn had the imperious look of an aristocrat who is forced to be with the peasants, Razak had that of a policy wonk embarrassed at being unable to articulate more simply his complex ideas. Both however, had great intellect and more importantly, were remarkably free-minded although expressed in very different ways. Continue reading “Tun Razak – A Leader With A Free Mind”

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Why was the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?

Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid owe Parliament and the nation a full and satisfactory explanation as to why the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill was passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?

Najib’s kitchen Cabinet of trusted Ministers and top government officers and advisers must be congratulated for pulling off one of the most remarkable feats in Malaysian government history, keeping the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill completely under wraps without any one knowing about it, and even the snooping journalists with the most trained noses to sniff out the goings-on in the corridors of powers, have been completely bamboozled this time.

But this adds to the mystery – why was the NSC Bill kept under such tight lock-and-key that when it was first tabled in Parliament for first reading on Tuesday, 1st December 2015, it did not attract widespread attention and alert that it was such a monstrous and pernicious bill which not only usurped the powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the powers of autonomy of the Sarawak and Sabah state, but would set the country off on the long dark road to a dictatorship? Continue reading “Why was the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?”

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So you think sexist jokes are funny?

Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
4 December 2015

Jokes are meant to make us laugh. Plain and simple, right?

By definition, a joke is made up of words within a particular and “well-defined narrative structure” designed to make people crack a smile and express some level of amusement.

Jokes can be simple or even complex. It can be a story, a one-liner, a pun, slapstick or utter nonsense. However, there are jokes that have the opposite effect; some jokes are tasteless, crude, offensive and lewd. These are the type of jokes that joke tellers ought to think twice before articulating. Continue reading “So you think sexist jokes are funny?”

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3 reasons you should be worried about the National Security Council Bill

Julia Yeow
The Malaysian Insider
6 December 2015

Just before the stroke of midnight last Thursday, December 3, Parliament passed the National Security Council Bill that nobody, not even the hawk-eyed opposition or the wide network of civil society groups, had any premonition of before it was tabled a mere two days earlier.

All peace-loving Malaysians regardless of your political affiliations, or even if you really couldn’t give two teh tariks for politics, have good reason to be concerned when this security law comes into force.

The manner in which it was bulldozed in Parliament, the ease with which it was passed and the ramifications of the vast executive powers it confers to members of the National Security Council (NSC) have left little to the imagination as to the sinister undertones of this Bill. Continue reading “3 reasons you should be worried about the National Security Council Bill”