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PM AAB is PM for his family only

Letter
by Loh Meng Kow

PM AAB is reported to have said to the UMNO GA yesterday that since the list of richest individuals in the country was not led by Malays, NEP targets had still not been achieved. On record, the NEP objectives did not have the objective of making Malays the richest persons in the country. The PM’s statement shows that UMNO leaders can add to the list of NEP targets as it wishes, and hence NEP should read never ending policies.

Clearly the PM did not utter those words without having thought about the issues. NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest Malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the PM, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual Malay in the country. Continue reading “PM AAB is PM for his family only”

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RM27 million cop charged – call for end to “headless administration” and multi-millionaire cops

The charging of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Ramli Yusuff in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday with two counts of failing to make a full disclosure of his assets and another for involvement in business which entail a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted has raised the curtain for public view of something very rotten both in the police force as well as the government.

It warrants an urgent call for an end to the “headless administration” presently prevalent in the country in the past four years, as it is most disheartening to the Malaysian public that despite the Royal Police Commission Report and its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and respect human rights, the rot both in the police and government have got worse rather than improve for the better.

The prosecution of the “RM27 million cop” reminds Malaysians of two serious allegations about corruption in the police force –

  • The allegation by former top cop who was the country’s longest-serving Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar in August that 40% of senior police officers could be arrested for corruption without further investigations strictly on the basis of their lifestyles;
  • The Royal Police Commission Report in May 2005 which found that “corruption is still widespread among police personnel” (p 9), recounting the case from a complainant of a senior police officer who made an asset declaration amounting to RM34 million but no action had been taken.

    The Ramli prosecution has refocused public attention on the problem of police corruption and millionaire and multi-millionaire plice officers — and the failure to implement the recommendations of Royal Police Commission for zero tolerance for corruption in the police force. Continue reading “RM27 million cop charged – call for end to “headless administration” and multi-millionaire cops”

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    50-50 whether next general election this year or next year

    With Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi celebrating his fourth anniversary as the fifth Prime Minister in two days’ time, which also marks more than 3 years and 7 months after his unprecedented landslide victory in the 2004 general election, the question everyone is asking is the date for the next general election.

    There are three possibilities for the 12th general election in Malaysia:

    1. This year, with November 25 as the “hottest” date, with Abdullah in this scenario announcing dissolution of Parliament at the end of the Umno General Assembly on Nov. 9;

    2. Before end of next April with the “hottest date” in mid-March, 2008 before Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil liberties to stand for elective office; and

    3. After April next year as there appears to be growing support in Umno for the school of thought that the next general election should “exorcise” the Anwar factor and not allow it to haunt Umno after the next general election on the ground that the election outcome would have been very different if Anwar had been allowed to contest — and based on the confidence that Umno is enjoying a very favourable political climate in the Malay heartland and the Umno constituencies.

    Continue reading “50-50 whether next general election this year or next year”

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    Apology from PM Abdullah to 106 Ops Lalang ISA detainees

    At this hour on this day 20 years ago, Lim Guan Eng, who had been elected Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka for just a year, had already been detained as the first of 106 detainees representing a wide spectrum of dissent, including MPs, civil rights leaders, Chinese educationists and social activists in the Operation Lalang mass arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

    By this hour 20 years ago, Karpal Singh and I had also been detained, when together with other DAP MPs we went to the High Street Kuala Lumpur Police Station over Guan Eng’s detention.

    The 1987 Ops Lalang mass ISA detentions was not only a black day for human rights in Malaysia, it also marked the most relentless assault on democracy in Malaysia and we are still paying the consequences of that assault — which stemmed from the fight for political survival of the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who was faced with the greatest challenge to his power position from within Umno.

    One upshot of Mahathir’s battle for his political life 20 years ago was the Operation Lalang and 106 ISA detainees and another was the subversion of the doctrine of the separation of powers, with Parliament and the judiciary subordinated as subservient organs of the Prime Minister.

    The seeds for the 1988 judiciary crisis over the arbitrary and unconstitutional sacking of Tun Saleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges were sown at this period.

    Even before the Operation Lalang, there were moves by Mahathir to subjugate the judiciary and I had publicly spoken up against a proposal to move a substantive motion in Parliament to censure the then High Court judge, the late Justice Harun Hashim, as a lesson to all judges to toe the Executive line.

    Today, Malaysia is still paying a heavy price for the fateful decisions taken 20 years ago to undermine the democratic fundamentals in the country as represented by the doctrine of the separation of powers — with the country reeling from one judiciary crisis to another in the past two decades, the latest over the failure of judicial leadership of the Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, the Lingam Tape scandal, Ahmad Fairuz preposterous application for a six-month extension as Chief Justice from Nov. 1 and whether Malaysia will have an UMNO Chief Justice for the first time in 50 years. Continue reading “Apology from PM Abdullah to 106 Ops Lalang ISA detainees”

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    Sudden flurry of ACA activities – just intensified pre-election PR as 4 yrs ago?

    There has been a sudden flurry of Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) activities — with the ACA Director-General Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan courageously declaring: “We do not discriminate. Small fry or big fish, we will go after them if they are corrupt”.

    This was on the same day that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited the ACA and after a “brief meeting” with its top management and state directors, publicly praised the ACA for a job well done, with the following summing-up by Ahmad: “He (the Prime Minister) said he thought we were doing a good job, he is happy, and wants us to continue doing our best.”

    There has been a sudden flurry of ACA activities in the past few days — but is this evidence of new ACA independence to root out corruption or just intensified PR (Public Relations) and replay of the high-profile pre-election anti-corruption action four years ago which fizzled into nothing?

    In a week’s time, Abdullah will be completing his fourth year as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

    The high hopes which Abdullah had raised among Malaysians to initiate government reforms and wipe out corruption are still fresh in the minds of the people.

    When Abdullah became Prime Minister, the country was told that 18 high-profile personalities — the ikan yu (sharks) – would be arrested and prosecuted but four years later, not a single high-profile personality had been brought to justice, while most of the 18 “ikan yu” have escaped and are swimming merrily in the South China Sea.

    If it is true that Abdullah had given the ACA “a pat on the back for a job well done”, then what was it that Abdullah was happy about the track record of the ACA in the past four years to wipe out corruption? Continue reading “Sudden flurry of ACA activities – just intensified pre-election PR as 4 yrs ago?”

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    Who lied? Zam or Pak Lah?

    Who lied? Was it the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself?

    On Friday, 6th October 2007, speaking at the Gerakan National Delegates Conference, Abdullah called on “leaders, especially those in Barisan Nasional” to tell him the truth and to stop “be in a state of denial”.

    He exhorted:

    “Tell the truth, even if it is painful.

    “The prime minister must have the courage and readiness to listen even to the worst stories, whether it is related to the country or himself. Never allow yourself to sink in a hole of denial and feel that everything is alright.”

    Four days later, on Wednesday 10th October 2007, Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin summoned top media editors to a special briefing and in the name of the Prime Minister, laid down the law that

    • Abdullah’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media as it was restricted to Barisan Nasional leaders and government officials; and
    • the Prime Minister’s repeated pledges to “listen to the truth” did not mean that the media have the green light to “practice unrestrained reporting”.

    It is a reflection of the deplorable state of press freedom in Malaysia that no mainstream media had protested or written about Zainuddin’s violation of a free press, especially under a Prime Minister who had pledged greater openness, accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance!

    In fact, Zainuddin’s summoning of the top media editors to direct them what to print and what not to print would be completely unthinkable in the past 50 years of the nation’s development, as no Information Minister would have such temerity to regard himself as the Comptroller-General of the Press. Continue reading “Who lied? Zam or Pak Lah?”

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    Zam the “Minister for Truth” ala-Orwell’s 1984 in Abdullah administration?

    It is five days since last Wednesday’s extraordinary briefing to the country’s top editors by the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media as it was restricted to Barisan Nasional leaders and government officials — and three days since the public revelation of such a “directive” by Malaysiakini in an exclusive report on Friday.

    As there had been no clarification or correction by the Prime Minister to such a briefing by Zainuddin, who specifically told the editors that he was acting under Abdullah’s instructions to convey to the media that the Prime Minister’s repeated pledges to “listen to the truth” did not mean that the media have the green light to “practice unrestrained reporting”, I feel compelled to pose in Parliament when it reconvenes next week the following question:

    Does Abdullah want Zainuddin to be his “Minister for Truth” ala-Orwell’s 1984, exemplar of “doublespeak and doublethink” in his administration?

    George Orwell’s novel 1984 painted a totalitarian country paralleling Stalinist Russia and Hitlerian Nazi Germany, where there is incessant brainwashing and re-education in a society saturated by doublethink and doublespeak.

    There is a Ministry of Peace which concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and Ministry of Plenty with starvation.

    Is Malaysia on the occasion of Abdullah’s fourth anniversary as Prime Minister heading in the direction of the “doublethink and doublespeak” of Orwell’s 1984, starting with the directive to the editors that the Prime Minister’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the press or the public at large? Continue reading “Zam the “Minister for Truth” ala-Orwell’s 1984 in Abdullah administration?”

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    Abdullah the new patron saint for “the truth that is not the truth”?

    The Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin was among the Umno Ministers joining Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya Open House at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.

    When I shook hands with him, wishing him “Selamat Hari Raya”, I remarked that he has become the spokesman for “the truth that is not the truth”.

    Zam knew I was referring to Friday’s Malaysiakini report “Zam to media: No need to tell PM the truth”:

    Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has told editors not to play up negative news because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media.

    Zainuddin said this during a one-hour meeting on Wednesday at the RTM headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the country’s top editors.

    The country’s information czar is one of two top government officials to hold meetings with the media top brass this week.

    Yesterday, chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan in another meeting urged media organisations to avoid emphasising on news deemed negative against the government, such as the 2006 Auditor-General’s report.

    According to sources, Zainuddin began the meeting by declaring that he would frequently meet editors to advise them about national issues.

    However, he stressed that he would only “advise and not give warnings”.

    The information minister claimed that he assumed the new role under the instructions of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

    Zainuddin then explained that Abdullah’s often repeated pledges of “listening to the truth” were only restricted to government officials and Barisan Nasional leaders so as to assist the cabinet in making decisions. Continue reading “Abdullah the new patron saint for “the truth that is not the truth”?”

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    Lingam Tape – Abdullah should chair next Cabinet meeting to disband 3-man panel and set up RCI

    The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must reconsider and set up urgently a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape scandal as the three-man panel chaired by Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, tainted by his role in the 1988 judicial crisis, is just untenable and unacceptable.

    Haidar has still to satisfactorily account for his role in the infamous episode in the 1988 judicial crisis where as Supreme Court Chief Registrar, he locked the doors of the Supreme Court and concealed the Supreme Court seal to frustrate the course of justice and prevent the Supreme Court from issuing an injunction to stop the Judicial Tribunal from continuing with its proceedings to discipline the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas — which also led to the subsequent expulsion of Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges.

    This unsavoury episode can be found both in Salleh Abas’ “May Day for Justice” as well as “Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia” by the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim, who was formerly Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and justice.

    However, an even more important consideration as to why there must be a Royal Commission of Inquiry is that the issue which has shattered public confidence and caused the “March for Justice” of some 2,000 lawyers last Wednesday was not just the Lingam Tape, but the even more important issue of the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and the rot in the system of justice since 1988.

    University of Malaya law lecturer Azmi Sharom put it very well when he wrote in his Star column today “Judiciary must be protected”: Continue reading “Lingam Tape – Abdullah should chair next Cabinet meeting to disband 3-man panel and set up RCI”

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    Deal with the Rot, Not the Tape

    by M. Bakri Musa

    If Chief Justice Ahmad Feiruz has any sense of personal honor and professional integrity left, he should resign immediately. If Prime Minister Abdullah has even the slightest responsibility for leadership and moral duty to the citizens, he should not extend the Chief Justice’s contract, due to expire this October. If the Malaysian Bar Council has any credible principle of societal obligation and self-policing ethics of a profession, it would disbar the lawyer making that phone call shown in the infamous video clip exposed by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

    Alas, judging from past performances, expect none of these. That is the unfortunate reality of Malaysia today. What remains then would be for the King to withhold consent for extending Feiruz’s contract, thereby precipitating an unnecessary and distracting constitutional crisis the nation could ill bear.

    The Bar Council had an Emergency Meeting, but instead of initiating the necessary disciplinary proceedings on the involved lawyer (which would definitely be within its power) it decided instead to march at Putrajaya and hand a petition to the Prime Minister demanding for a Royal Commission. Next those lawyers would be demonstrating on the streets. So Third World, a la Pakistan! I would have thought those smart lawyers would have concocted some novel legal theory on which to sue the government into action.

    Meanwhile Abdullah Badawi was “disappointed,” not at the explosive contents of the video but the fact that it was released. Wake up, Mr. Prime Minister! The rot is the Malaysian judiciary, not the taping. If Abdullah does perk up from his slumber, he would probably order the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim!

    Chief Justice Feiruz, taking a leaf from the Prime Minister’s notorious “elegant silence,” issued a terse, “No comment!” It was neither elegant nor silent; instead it was ugly and spoke volumes. Continue reading “Deal with the Rot, Not the Tape”

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    Lingam Tape – MCA Ministers can undergo lobotomy or behave like traditional three monkeys, do not mean public must follow

    Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow in Kuantan yesterday asked all parties to refrain from speculating on the video clip of a lawyer allegedly brokering the appointment of judges, saying it was unwise to make assumptions or draw conclusions without solid evidence.

    He repeated the nonsensical line: “The video clip merely shows a telephone conversation between the lawyer and another person. We don’t know exactly what they are talking about.

    “Therefore, we should not arrive at a conclusion before police conclude their investigations.”

    In the first place, it is very clear as to the matters that were talked about in the Lingam Tape.

    Secondly, matters adverted to in the Lingam Tape is not just about brokering the appointment of judges but the wholesale perversion of the course of justice, polluting and contaminating not only the present administration of justice but the whole system of governance.

    Thirdly, if MCA Ministers want to undergo a lobotomy or behave like the traditional three monkeys of having eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not, there is no reason why Malaysian citizens should emulate them.

    Only yesterday, the Bar Council emergency meeting called for the immediate establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the Lingam Tape and the rot in the judiciary since 1988. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – MCA Ministers can undergo lobotomy or behave like traditional three monkeys, do not mean public must follow”

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    Nurin’s brutal death – let Cabinet observe minute-silence and renew forgotten commitment to keep crime low

    The country joins the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in shock, anger and grief at the brutal rape-murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, whose naked body in a foetal position was stuffed in a sports bag in Petaling Utama.

    No stone must be left unturned to track down and to bring the murderer to justice.

    The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan said on Thursday that the Police was closing in on the killer. All Malaysians pray and hope that the police would be successful in the hunt for the murderer.

    In contrast, the statement yesterday by Musa that Nurin’s parents are being investigated for possible negligence have stirred very mixed feelings from Malaysians, regardless of race or religion.

    If there is evidence that Nurin’s parents had been negligent contributing to her brutal murder, and the parents are prosecuted, it is a totally different matter from putting pressure on the grieving parents at this time of their bereavement when the police has as yet to get any evidence to establish any parental negligence.

    Is it right and proper for Musa to add to the grief and sorrow of Nurin’s parents in such circumstances?

    Nurin’s brutal rape-murder must be regarded as both a family tragedy for taxi driver Jazimin Abdul Jalil and a national shame.

    There is something very sick and rotten in our society that Nurin could meet with such a brutal end. But it also bespeaks of the breakdown of the institutions in the state responsible for upholding law and order.

    Let the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday begin by observing a minute of silence for Nurin’s brutal death followed by a renewal of its forgotten commitment to make the country a safer place for our citizens, tourists and investors.

    This renewal of commitment by the Cabinet is imperative for we must not allow Malaysia to become a crime-infested society which claim victims regardless of race or religion. Continue reading “Nurin’s brutal death – let Cabinet observe minute-silence and renew forgotten commitment to keep crime low”

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    Lingam Tape – why PM’s one-sided threat if not authentic but nothing about action to be taken if true?

    The initial one-sided response of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the Lingam Tape, which has plunged the country into a new crisis of confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity, accountability and professionalism of the Malaysian judiciary — both national and international — is a great disappointment compromising the neutrality and impartiality of his high office.

    Abdullah said yesterday that he had directed the police to immediately start investigations into the Lingam Tape as it was important to act quickly because the content of the clip could tarnish the image of the country’s judiciary.

    He said: “We cannot treat this lightly. We will act fast to determine the truth.”

    He said that if investigations revealed that the claims were false, action would be taken against those who were trying to undermine the judiciary as the video recording would invoke public anger and hatred towards the judiciary.

    He said at this juncture, the question of setting up a Commission of Inquiry did not arise as the allegations in the video clip had yet to be proven as authentic.

    All right-thinking Malaysians are mystified and upset by the Prime Minister’s response and have one question — why is Abdullah threatening dire consequences if the Lingam Tape is not authentic but said nothing about action to be taken if it is proven true?

    Abdullah’s initial considered response 48 hours after the public surfacing of the Lingam Tape does not inspire public confidence that the Prime Minister would rise above the fray and be absolutely neutral and impartial in handling the latest scandal of the Malaysian judiciary.

    He is right when he said that the Lingam Tape has yet to be proven as authentic, but on the other hand, 48 hours and now 72 hours have passed since its public disclosure had elapsed and its authenticity has not been challenged — neither by Lingam nor Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, purportedly the other party in the telephone conversation recorded in the Lingam Tape.

    The Prime Minister’s reaction is only valid and justifiable if he had received intimation from Fairuz denying the authenticity of the Lingam Tape as without such a denial from either Lingam or Ahmad Fairuz, Abdullah risks compromising his high office in staking a position which gave full status quo backing to the Chief Justice. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – why PM’s one-sided threat if not authentic but nothing about action to be taken if true?”

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    AG’s Report – why the thunderous post-Cabinet silence?

    Why the thunderous post-Cabinet silence over the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report — and does it signify the end of the three-day wonder of thunder-and-lightning in the media over abuses and mismanagement of public funds until next year’s Auditor-General’s Report?

    Two Tuesdays ago, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that he had directed all Ministers at the Cabinet meeting on Sept. 5 to go through the Auditor-General’s Report in detail and to fully explain mismanaging funds and other irregularities in their respective ministries.

    Last Thursday, Abdullah said the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should step in and investigate any suspicion of corruption in ministries and government agencies implicated in the Auditor-General’s Report 2006.

    When was the Cabinet meeting for the Ministers to explain in detail the strictures of the Auditor-General against their respective ministries?

    I had expected some announcement after this Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting on the outcome of the Prime Minister’s directive to all Ministers, but there is only thunderous silence.

    Have all the Ministers been given a reprieve from having to personally account to the Cabinet for all the public fund mismanagement and irregularities in their ministries as revealed by the Auditor-General’s Report; and if not, why is there no public accounting from the Prime Minister as to any outcome?

    For instance, what is the explanation from the UMNO Youth leader and Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on the mismanagement of public funds of over RM285 million in the Ministry of Youth and Sports when he was the Minister from 1999 to 2004?

    It is no use Hishammuddin making brave statements in public that “I’ve nothing to hide” and calling for thorough investigations into the misuse of funds by the Youth and Sports Ministry when up to now he has failed to give any satisfactory explanation for such colossal waste of public funds as the Minister in charge. Continue reading “AG’s Report – why the thunderous post-Cabinet silence?”

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    Lingam tape – letter to PM to suspend Ahmad Fairuz as Chief Justice and to establish judicial tribunal

    I have written to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asking him to invoke Article 125 of the Constitution to suspend Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim as Chief Justice and to establish a judicial tribunal to investigate the serious allegations of judicial misconduct against him as highlighted by the Lingam tape made public by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.

    In my letter, I quoted Article 125(3) which reads:

    “125 (3). If the Prime Minister, or the Chief Justice after consulting the Prime Minister, represents to the Yang di Pertuan Agong that a judge of the Federal Court ought to be removed on the ground of any breach of any provision of the code of ethics prescribed under Clause (3A) or on the ground of inability, from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause, properly to discharge the functions of his office, the Yang di Pertuan Agong shall appoint a tribunal in accordance with Clause (4) and refer the representation to it; and may on the recommendation of the tribunal remove the judge from office.”

    The Lingam tape has sparked the latest crisis of confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary stemming from grave judicial misconduct.

    As the allegations of judicial misconduct are of very grave character affecting the perversion of justice, I also asked the Prime Minister to invoke Article 125(5) which reads:

    “125(5), Pending any reference and report under Clause (3) the Yang di Pertuan Agong may on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and, in the case of any other judge after consulting the Chief Justice, suspend a judge of the Federal Court from the exercise of his functions.”

    Continue reading “Lingam tape – letter to PM to suspend Ahmad Fairuz as Chief Justice and to establish judicial tribunal”

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    Uphold integrity/fight corruption – Abdullah risks being compared unfavourably with Mahathir

    When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Prime Minister in October 2003, he promised many things to the people of Malaysia, asking the people to “work with him and not work for him” — towards the objective of a clean, incorruptible, efficient, trustworthy, democratic, just, people-oriented administration which is prepared to hear the truth from the citizenry.

    In less than four years, Abdullah’s report card on his many pledges is quite a blank. Even more serious, it runs danger of being compared unfavourably with the 22-year Mahathir administration even on the key planks of upholding integrity and fighting corruption.

    I will give three examples.

    (1) For the past ten days, the country has been revolted by the exposes of the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report about the pervasive corruption, criminal breach of trust and mismanagement of public funds running into tens of millions, hundreds of millions and even billions of ringgit.

    I remember that in the early years of the Mahathir premiership, there was a similar public revulsion when the Report of the then Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin exposed the notorious “Instant Mee” scandal, where the Defence Ministry paid RM4.90 per packet when the average market price was only 14 sen a packet.

    A quarter of a century later, nothing seemed to have changed — things have in fact got worse. The “Instant Mee” scandal was a rip-off of taxpayers’ monies with the government paying some 350 per cent of the market price, but what we have in the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report is a rip-off by over 5,000 per cent in the case of the Youth and Culture Ministry paying RM5,700 for a car jack worth RM50! Continue reading “Uphold integrity/fight corruption – Abdullah risks being compared unfavourably with Mahathir”

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    Letter to PM – urgent response to issues raised in budget debate in Parliament like RM4.6b PKFZ bailout, RM8.1b dev. est. discrepancy , e-Kesihatan rip-off

    I have written to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, asking him to respond to urgent issues raised in the first three days of the 2008 Budget in Parliament which cannot wait for Ministerial replies some two months later scheduled for early November when the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes on Oct. 22 after the 39-day break for the fasting month and Hari Raya holidays.

    I listed four urgent issues which had been raised in Parliament in the first three days of budget debate earlier this week and which are crying out for immediate government response and action, viz:

    1. The RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal

    Accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance principles demand instant end of the government’s denial syndrome both in and outside Parliament about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal — particularly at a time when the Prime Minister is trying to assure Malaysians that the government means business and would not brook any hanky-panky following the shocking exposes of the pervasive culture of impunity, corruption, waste and mismanagement of public funds in the 2006 Auditor-General’s Reports.

    When compared to the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal, the corruption and mismanagement of millions or tens of millions of ringgit of funds exposed by the 2006 Auditor-General’s Reports were mere “chicken-feed”.

    However, if the Cabinet can be so irresponsible as to continue to deny that there is a RM4.6 billion bailout of the Port Klang Free Zone scandal, while the culture of impunity persists in providing immunity from legal and accountability consequences for those responsible for the RM4.6 billion bailout when the government had right from the start been given a very categorical assurance that the PKFZ project was feasible, self-financing and would not require a single ringgit of public funding, a wrong message is being sent out – that all the public hullabaloo over the Auditor-General’s Reports 2006 are mere “sandiwara” and not meant to be taken seriously, as absolutely nothing would ensue. Continue reading “Letter to PM – urgent response to issues raised in budget debate in Parliament like RM4.6b PKFZ bailout, RM8.1b dev. est. discrepancy , e-Kesihatan rip-off”

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    Why the RM8.1 billion difference between Abdullah’s 2008 Budget speech and Treasury 2007/2008 Economic Report?

    In his 2008 Budget speech in Parliament last Friday, Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced an appropriation of RM176.9 billion comprising RM128.8 billion for Operating Expenditure and RM48.1 billion for Development Expenditure.

    This was backed up by the Ministry of Finance Statement of the 2008 Federal Expenditure Estimates tabled in the House during the budget presentation (Command Paper 12 of 2007).

    However, in another Ministry of Finance document, the Economic Report 2007/2008, (Command paper 2 of 2007),which was also tabled in Parliament at the same time, a completely different set of figures was provided.

    Chapter 4 of the Economic Report 2007/2008 on “Public Sector Finance”, in its section on “Outlook for 2008”, states: “This Budget will allocate a total of RM168,799 million, an increase of 2.5% over 2007. Of this, RM128,799 million is for operating expenditure and the balance of RM40,000 million for development expenditure”. (p 96)

    These different set of figures were backed up the Table 4.1 on “Federal Government Financial Position 2006-2008” (p 77).

    How could there be such a huge difference of RM8.1 billion for the 2008 Development Estimates between Abdullah’s budget presentation and Finance Ministry Statement on the one hand and the Finance Ministry’s Economic Report 2007/2008, all presented to Parliament on the same day last Friday? Continue reading “Why the RM8.1 billion difference between Abdullah’s 2008 Budget speech and Treasury 2007/2008 Economic Report?”

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    Economic Prospects — Dangerous Times ahead

    The budget offers the rosy view that the Malaysian economy will continue to be resilient, with a projected growth of between six and 6.5 percent in 2008.

    The economic prospects need to be placed in perspective. First and foremost, the external economic environment has sharply deteriorated and the international agencies and governments of the developed countries have turned bearish on global economic growth prospects in the wake of the US sub-prime crisis. Some analysts have even gone so far as predicting a recession.

    Malaysia, as an open economy, is not immune from these adverse developments. History indicates that a global slowdown impacts on Malaysia in a magnified manner — lower exports linked to weak demand and lower commodity prices; lowered inflows of capital and through multiplier effects contributing to lower domestic economic activity, lower domestic investment, and lower government revenues which in turn force the government to increase borrowing with the inevitable growth in the deficit.

    Thus, the over-optimistic assumptions and forecasts lack credibility. The prognosis for 2008 must thus be viewed at best as one of increased uncertainty and heightened risk.

    A more realistic assessment would be that Malaysia may face an economic crisis and will need to change course to withstand the looming economic storm. It cannot continue on the present path. It is deeply troubling that the Government does not appear to have recognized the perilous circumstances that are now unfolding. Continue reading “Economic Prospects — Dangerous Times ahead”

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    Just imagine that…

    August 31, 2007
    Malaysian PM Very Constructive Force For Region, Says Bush


    By Salmy Hashim

    WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Bernama) — President George W. Bush has described Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s leadership as a very constructive force for Southeast Asia.

    He said Malaysia was an interesting example of how a free society could deal with movements that could conceivably change and alter the nature of the free society.

    “I respect the way the prime minister has used freedom and the openness of society to deal with frustration. I mean, all societies have frustrated people. The question is will the outlet of that frustration lead to violence or peace,” Bush said in a rare roundtable Thursday with five journalists from Asia Pacific, including Bernama.

    “Malaysia is an example of a country where frustrations have been channelled in a positive way.

    “I respect Prime Minister Badawi, admire his leadership,” Bush, who met Abdullah at the White House in 2004, said when commenting on Abdullah’s leadership in handling extremism and terrorism in the country.

    Abdullah is a proponent for moderation, advocating Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam) in Malaysia and everywhere he goes.

    The camaraderie between the two leaders could be seen when the president said: “When his wife (the late Datin Seri Endon Mahmood) died, I tried to call him early just to let him know I cared about him.”

    When told that Abdullah had remarried, Bush appeared surprised and said: “Has he? Good. I’ll congratulate him. Thanks for giving me that heads-up. I’m going to congratulate him. That’s neat.

    When told by his aide that he did congratulate the prime minister, Bush laughed at his memory lapse and said: “Exactly. I’m going to congratulate him again. I’ll double the congratulations.”

    He later admitted that he forgot and asked his aide whether he had called or written a note to the prime minister. He was told that he had written a note.

    “That’s right, yes. (I also) sent him a couple of flowers,” Bush said. Continue reading “Just imagine that…”