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Me, ‘the great white shark’?

I am intrigued by the following article by Azmi Anshar in NST Online and thought that I would share it with you all:

DEWAN DISPATCHES: Parliament’s great white shark

For as long as the political savvy can remember, Lim Kit Siang has been an authoritative presence in the Dewan Rakyat, an orator of sublime presentation on compelling issues of the day he wishes to hound on political rivals, or a predatory great white shark smelling blood dripping from a “wounded” Minister or MP desperately trying to cover shenanigans only the Ipoh Timur MP can sniff out.

The 67-year-old seasoned Parliamentary player of seven terms can appear to be humbled by a lucid riposte by a cool Minister or MP and smile bewitchingly (menacingly if you suddenly realise that you are the target of his sniping), or he can suddenly snarl like an attack dog, pouncing ferociously on the lapses the MP may have unwittingly exposed. Except for a brief four-year period (1999-2004) when he was “exiled” out of Parliament after losing in the 1999 general election in Tanjung, Kit, as he is fondly called by colleagues and friends, has been a paradoxical character who had injected impact and colour into the debates of august hall.

Kit’s parliamentary performances, many seasons as Opposition leader, but now deferring to PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had been in his vintage style – articulate and authoritative when raising and stressing points but insistent, cynical, outlandish and brazen when deflecting broadsides from Barisan backbenchers, a slew of them with many axes to grind.

If there ever was a Top 10 list of best Dewan Rakyat debates, you can be sure that Kit has a couple of greatest hits in there somewhere, such is his searing influence in the business of formulating national laws and polices in the Dewan Rakyat. Continue reading “Me, ‘the great white shark’?”

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The Empire Strikes Back 2

When the witness becomes the accused
Citizen Nades – By R. Nadeswaran
The Sun
7th May 2008

EVER WONDERED why the police force is unable to close files and solve crimes? Do you know why witnesses to crimes do not want to come forward? Why do witnesses suddenly have memory lapses and declare: “I did not see anything.” I got the answers yesterday. Two police officers from the Commercial Crime Division of Bukit Aman gave an insight into how investigations are carried out and I can tell you with a clear conscience that it was an exercise in futility because their line of questioning would have insulted the intelligence of any right-thinking person.

Assistant Superintendents Wan Zainal Wan Mat and Albany Hamzah turned up at the office and said that they needed to record my statement in relation to police investigations into the transfer of funds from Balkis. To say that they came ill-prepared would be an understatement. To say that they never read any of the reports in theSun or any other newspaper would be the bitter truth. They are supposed to be investigating the transfer of RM9.9 million, and yet had no clue as to how to go about doing the job. This is because they came with pre-conceived notions and pre-prepared questions, perhaps drafted by their superiors, in the hope that this writer would shoot himself in the foot by implicating himself.

After the caution was administered under the Criminal Procedure Code and the usual questions on my qualifications and my career, it was crystal clear they wanted me to reveal my sources and wanted documents in my possession. Not that I had run foul of the Official Secrets Act because none of the documents cited were classified, but they came on a fishing expedition to get me to expose my hand and to find out what is going to be published in the future. They expected me to sing like a canary!
Continue reading “The Empire Strikes Back 2”

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Anti-Corruption & Media Reform

The reform proposals announced by the Prime Minister in the fight against corruption are also most unsatisfactory, viz:

· The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to become an “independent” Malaysian Commission Against Corruption (MCAC) by year end, to be answerable to Parliament.

· Increase of the MCAC’s workforce to 5,000 officers over a period of five years, whistle-blowers protection legislation and improvement in the public procurement system.

An anti-corruption agency does not become “independent” just because the government describes it as “independent” – particularly when it continues to come under the Prime Minister’s Deparment instead fo operating as a completely autonomous organization, bereft of prosecution powers for corruption as this will remain the discretion of the Attorney-General.

Whether Malaysia can break the back of the problem of worsening corruption is not just through organizational or institutional changes but on whether there is the political will by the highest level of government to support an all-out war against corruption, vesting all the necessary powers to the anti-corruption institutions.

After his unprecedented landslide victory, Abdullah launched the National Integrity Plan which set the five-year target to improve Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to at least No. 30 by 2008. Continue reading “Anti-Corruption & Media Reform”

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On judicial reform

The Prime Minister recently announced reform proposals for the judiciary and in the fight against corruption.

Many were disappointed by the Prime Minister’s speech on “Delivering Justice, Renewing Trust” at a special dinner hosted by the Bar Council on April 17, 2008, as more, much more, than what was announced to restore public and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary had been expected, viz:

• Ex-gratia payment for “the pain and loss” suffered by the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader and Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and their families, Tun Salleh Abas, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh and Datuk George Seah in the 1988 Judicial Crisis;

• A Judicial Appointments Commission;

• Review of the judiciary’s terms of service and remuneration to ensure that the Bench can attract and retain the very best of the nation’s talent.

The thunderous and prolonged applause at the Bar Council dinner which greeted Abdullah’s recognition of the “contributions of these six judges to the nation, their commitment towards upholding justice” and acknowledgement of “the pain and loss they have endured” in the 1988 judicial crisis cannot hide the general disappointment that the Prime Minister had fallen far short of expectations to ensure a fair and just closure to the Mother of Judicial Crisis in 1988. Continue reading “On judicial reform”

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Belated genuine reforms or just sloganeering?

It is almost two months since the March 8 political tsunami of the 2008 general election which saw the end of Barisan Nasional’s unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and the loss of state government in five states – Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan.

More than two weeks after the March 8 political tsunami, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that the result of the elections was a strong message that he “had not moved fast enough in pushing through with the reforms that he had promised to undertake’ when he was given an unprecedented mandate in the 2004 general election winning 91% of the parliamentary seats.

Abdullah said: “I thank the Malaysian people for the message. Point made and point taken.”

It was a sign of the Prime Minister grappling with the serious problem of denial but it was not assuring enough as he had missed the whole point of the March 8 electoral verdict – not that he “had not moved fast enough” in reforms he had pledged more than four years ago, but that he had hardly moved at all apart from reform sloganeering and periodically paying lip service to them.

Have Abdullah and his Cabinet now got the full message of Malaysians in the March 8 political tsunami? Continue reading “Belated genuine reforms or just sloganeering?”

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The Empire Strikes Back…

This morning, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the editor of the news portal Malaysia Today, was summoned to the Kuala Lumpur magistrate’s court to be charged with sedition in connection with his recent posting on Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case , “Let’s send the Altantunya murderers to hell”.

Last Friday, the Police Cybercrimes Division sent a squad to his house in Sungai Buloh and confiscated his laptop and CPU in connection with police investigations under the Sedition Act 1948 for incitement and also because he “commented on a case before the court made its decision”.

Any offence in the latter category would fall under “contempt of court” to be dealt with by the presiding judge for the Altantunya murder case. When and why did it become an offence under the Sedition Act?

The police and prosecution action, coming immediately after the denial by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak through his press secretary of having anything to do with the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu, smacks of an orchestrated response to Raja Petra’s blog – and must be deplored in the strongest possible terms. Continue reading “The Empire Strikes Back…”

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Al-Fatihah and a letter to the Home Minister and all Parliamentarians

by Dr. Azly Rahman

Sad sad day.

Today is an extremely sad day for me. It concerns my beloved former English teacher, Puan Rahmah Sahamid. I had just read a Malaysia-Today entry on the passing of her beloved sister Habnah.

Let me reproduce a letter she wrote to Malaysia-Today and I am asking this issue which concerns perhaps millions of Malaysians as well to be brought to Parliament. I am asking both elected representatives from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to deal with this in a bi-partisan manner.

Below is Puan Rahmah’s story and her urgent appeal, reproduced in full: Continue reading “Al-Fatihah and a letter to the Home Minister and all Parliamentarians”

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2007 Malaysian Population = 27.17 million

Estimated Population in Malaysia for2007 – 27.17 million (93% citizens; 7% non-citizens)

Malaysian citizens comprise

Bumiputera – 66.4%
Chinese – 24.9%
Indians – 7.5%
Others – 1.3%

“All states register the same trend, i.e. bumiputera being the biggest group except for Penang with bumiputera and Chinese almost at par i.e. 44.2 per cent and 44.8 respectively .

Selangor registers the highest population, i.e. 4.96 million (18.3%) followed by Johore 3.24 million (11.9%) and Sabah 3.06 million (11.3%). States with less than one million population are Negri Sembilan (0.98 million), Malacca (0.74 million), Perlis (0.23 million) and Federal Territory Labuan (0.09 million).

(From Parliament Q & A)

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Doctors Prescribe, Pharmacists Dispense, Patients Suffer

by Product Of The System

Real Life Scenario

Madam Ong is a 52-year-old lady with a twelve-year-history of hypertension and diabetes. She complained of generalised lethargy, lower limb weakness, swelling and pain. She brought along her cocktail of medications for my scrutiny. Her regular medications included the oral antidiabetics metformin and glicazide and the antihypertensives amlodipine and irbesatan. Madam Ong also had a few episodes of joint pains three months ago for which she had seen two other different doctors. The first doctor suspected rheumatoid arthritis and started her on a short course of the potent steroid prednisolone. Thereafter, she developed increasing lower limb swelling for which a third doctor prescribed the powerful diuretic frusemide.

Madam Ong was not on regular follow-up for hypertension and diabetes. Additionally, she has been re-filling her supply of steroids and diuretics at a pharmacy nearby with the purpose of saving up on the consultation charges.

I took a more complete medical history and performed a thorough physical examination. I concluded that this lady’s health was in a complete mess.

She was under sound management by the family physician until the day she defaulted follow up and was started on prednisolone by a doctor who was unaware she was diabetic. The steroid probably helped in relieving her arthritic pains though the suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis was never proven serologically.
However, it also worsened her sugar and blood pressure control and weakened her immune system.

Her legs swelled up because of the fluid retentive properties of the steroids. In addition, early signs of cellulitis were showing up around her legs due to a weakened immune function. The diuretic prescribed by the third doctor helped a little with the swollen limbs but she became weak from the side effects of diuretics.

Madam Ong’s problems escalated when she decided to forgo her doctors’ opinion altogether and decided to self-medicate simply by collecting all her medications from the pharmacist who supplied them indiscriminately. Unknowingly, the pharmacist had added to the lady’s problems in spite of the wealth of knowledge the pharmacist must have possessed.

The above scenario is a fairly common scene in the Malaysian healthcare. We see here an anthology of errors initiated by doctors, propagated by the patient’s health seeking behavior and perpetuated by a pharmacist. Continue reading “Doctors Prescribe, Pharmacists Dispense, Patients Suffer”

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Time for press freedom reform – although 8 years late

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, should embrace press freedom reform to ensure that the reform measures he has announced on the judiciary and anti-corruption are meaningful and sustainable.

Without a fair and independent media, no reform measures whether to restore public confidence in the independence, impartiality and quality of the judiciary or an all-out battle against corruption can succeed.

When Abdullah first became Home Minister eight years ago, he was presented with a memorandum by Malaysian journalists calling for press freedom reform. He had at that time promised to study the memorandum but nothing has come out of it so far.

The March 8 political tsunami should be a salutary lesson to the Prime Minister that it is time that he embrace press freedom reform although it is eight years late.

The latest press ranking for Malaysia being placed at 141 in the Freedom House survey report on Global Media is another adverse international verdict on the state of the media in Malaysia. Abdullah should use the World Press Freedom Day this year to announce bold measures on press freedom reform especially an end to the annual newspaper licensing requirement as well as the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

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Lee Hwa Beng to investigate RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal?

Letters
by Albert Lim

I refer to YB blog posting dated April 11 regarding abovementioned.

I strongly believe and fear that YB predictions may come true with the appointment of former Subang Jaya state assemblyman, Lee Hwa Beng as Port Klang Chairman, reported today by China Press.

With Lee’s appointment, the transport minister gives an immediate instruction for him to appoint independent auditor to look into PKFZ scandal. Obviously, the transport minister’s instruction is a step in the wrong direction, a step towards a 3rd minister to be marred and tarred.

Again, BN minister has underrated the intelligence of all Malaysians, a lesson not learnt in the aftermath of March 8 political tsunami.

I hope YB Lim will look into the issue again, raise it in Parliament. A very simple action to show Ong Tee Keat’s sincerity in exposing this scandal is by appointing credible persons in the investigation,not Lee Hwa Beng known as ally to former transport minister Ling Liong Sik.

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Liow Tiong Lai, the PHFSA …and warrior mosquitoes

Letters
by Suka Jaga Tepi Kain

Thus far the new health minister, Liow Tiong Lai has made two statements regarding the notorious PHFSA (Private Healthcare, Facilities and Services Act). One is that doctors should not own too many clinics as they will not be able to focus on seeing patients (that is if they are still seeing patients) and the other is that of private hospitals overcharging. In today’s Star, the DG, Ismail Merican wrote a letter about how the Ministry used its enforcement resources to track down a “bogus Burmese doctor” who worked with a private hospital following a complaint. Hopefully this complaint was genuine and not borne out of professional jealousy.

This doctor was apparently employed previously by the DG’s own alma mater, University Malaya but became “bogus” when he left their employment. Presumably he or she had MMC registration previously. Could this not have been solved by a simple phone call to the hospital asking them to make certain the doctor renews his registration? Or was this created by the MMC themselves by dilly dallying his registration or worse still being obstructive in not renewing his registration? Or perhaps, what is deemed proper by the University Malaya, is not being deemed proper by the MMC or the MOH?

It is no secret that a great many of the Ministry’s own doctors are treating patients without registration. But the DG has seen it fit to apply Section 31(1) (c) of Act 586 of the PHFSA fastidiously in going after a single doctor who apparently is a bona fide one but is now technically not because his registration was not renewed or perhaps pending renewal. Mercifully no one was prosecuted. Apparently three cases have been prosecuted. Two are awaiting trial and one pleaded guilty. And we all know what happened to that one doctor who pleaded guilty don’t we? Liow should ask this DG, who obviously is still obsessed with this Act, as to what happened to all the promised amendments that he and Chua Soi Lek agreed to? Another broken promise? Tak Tau? Not within his powers? Ask the AG? You see. This is why you lose elections. The MCA just cannot keep its promises simply because it has no control over the pathetic civil service that attempts to run this Ministry. You want to know more. Just ask Chua Jui Meng. Continue reading “Liow Tiong Lai, the PHFSA …and warrior mosquitoes”

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Police after RPK again

Police going after Raja Petra Kamarudin again.

His computer was confiscated during a police search of his house in Sungai Buloh this morning connected to his recent posting on the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case in his blog, “Let’s send the Altantunya murderers to hell”.

Malaysiakini has reported DSP Victor Sanjos of the cybercrimes division as saying that the police are investigating Raja Petra under the Sedition Act 1948 for incitement and also because he “commented on a case before the court made its decision”.

Any offence in the latter category would fall under “contempt of court” to be dealt with by the presiding judge for the Altantunya case. When did it become an offence under the Sedition Act?

The police action, coming immediately after the denial by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak through his press secretary of having anything to do with the murder of Altantunya Shaariibuu, smacks of an orchestrated response to Raja Petra’s blog – and must be deplored in the strongest possible terms.

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Abdullah could only think of seven priority reform measures…

Yesterday, my parliamentary question (No. 5 on the Order Paper) asking the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi “to outline the top ten priority reform measures which his government will implement in the next 12 months to demonstrate that he has heard the voices of the people in the March 8, 2008 ‘political tsunami'” was not answered as only three got replied.

From the answer Abdullah would have given (reproduced below), the Prime Minister could only think of seven priority reform measures (many of which are quite unsatisfactory) although he had promised Malaysians wide-ranging reforms since he took over from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mahathir more than four years ago.

May be you can outline more reform measures which deserve Abdullah’s top priority in the next 12 months.

Abdullah’s answer: Continue reading “Abdullah could only think of seven priority reform measures…”

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Bad start for 12th Parliament

Its a bad start for the 12th Parliament, with Parliament setting the bad example of breaking and bending laws and rules to fit the whims and fancies of the Barisan Nasional government, whether during question time or in the first debate on the Royal Address.

Those who have seen the live telecast may want to give their views for the benefit of MPs.

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After the apology over the keris

by Azly Rahman

We must resolve the keris controversy generated by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein, who has brandished the keris at the party’s annual assembly twice now.

At last year’s meeting, Umno Perlis delegate Hashim Suboh said at the end of the debate on economy and education issues: “Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris, kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham, when is he going to use it? […] Force must be used against those who refused to abide by the social contract.”

This was in relation to Hishammuddin’s alleged weakness in dealing with demands from Chinese schools.

We live in a world in which signs and symbols of violence colonise our consciousness. From cave walls inscribed with images of Neanderthals clobbering a baby dinosaur, to production of images disseminated worldwide via the electronic media and Internet, we are confronted with violence.

We are creatures of signs and symbols manipulated by those who own the means of producing static and moving images. Objects of violence – of deaths and mega-deaths, of decimation and of demolition, and of the demonstration of defiance and destruction – all these, throughout history, have become symbols of choice for those in power. Continue reading “After the apology over the keris”

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Urgent Parliament motion on Wednesday for release of Hindraf 5 and 60 other ISA detainees

I have given notice to Parliament to have an urgent debate on Wednesday for the release of the Hindraf Five – M Manoharan, DAP Selangor Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan dan T. Vasantha Kumar – and over 60 other detainees currently held in Kamunting Detention Centre under the Internal Security Act (ISA), including some who had been incarcerated for over six years.

In calling on Parliament to urge the Abdullah administration to respect and comply with the wishes of the people as demonstrated in the March 8 “political tsunami” for a more democratic, accountable and progressive Malaysia, the government is reminded that the ISA detainees should not be denied their fundamental rights to an open trial if they are deemed to be threats to national security.

The refusal of the government to release the Hindraf 5 and the scores of other ISA detainees is proof that the Abdullah administration is not prepared to heed the people’s aspirations clearly articulated in the March 8 “political tsunami” to end its arrogant governance and to revoke its high-handed and undemocratic policies and laws.