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22-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib deserves an “F” in his National Transformation Program (NTP) report card for failing to acknowledge, much less tackle the issues of Corruption, Crime and Education

Najib released his National Transformation Program (NTP) Report Card yesterday evening in his ‘State of the Union’ address that was broadcast live on mainstream media and also online. To no one’s surprise, he gave himself top marks in both the Government Transformation Program (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Program (ETP).

Nearly all of the KPIs set were met, if not surpassed, in each of the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) and the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs).

But to borrow a phrase from a popular author, there are ‘lies, damned lies, and KPIs’.

If we compare the stellar achievements of Najib’s report card in just three areas – Corruption, Crime and Education – to reality and also other more credible evidence, we are left with no choice but to give Najib an “F” for his NTP Report Card. Continue reading “22-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib deserves an “F” in his National Transformation Program (NTP) report card for failing to acknowledge, much less tackle the issues of Corruption, Crime and Education”

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Lim Kit Siang the ‘giant slayer’

Malaysiakini
9:48AM Mar 20, 2013

YOURSAY ‘Kit Siang could have stayed in Ipoh and nobody would fault him. But a general never sits still when the war is raging.‘

Confirmed! Kit Siang will do battle in Gelang Patah

MrM: Uncle Lim Kit Siang is getting on in his years. Last time, he mentioned that 2008 will probably be his last election.

It is understandable that he will choose to stand again to give Pakatan Rakyat a fighting chance in Johor. So people of Gelang Patah, it is up to you.

Give Uncle Lim a resounding victory so that it may be the finest hour in his career and he can retire in peace.

Observer_2013: Kit Siang in Gelang Patah? The reason is because Pakatan doesn’t have any strong candidate in Johor.

Where is PKR state chief Chua Jui Meng? Trouble in PKR camp? In reality, BN will retain Johor easily. Continue reading “Lim Kit Siang the ‘giant slayer’”

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Johor tidak lagi simpanan tetap

oleh Subky Abdul Latif
The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2013

20 MAC ― Bunyinya Datuk Ghani Othman tidak lagi dikekalkan sebagai Menteri Besar jika Barisan Nasional hendak mengekalkan Johor di bawah perintahnya.

Nama Datuk Khalid Nordin, Menteri Pelajaran Tinggi yang hampir menggantikan Ghani tahun 2008 dikatakan akan menggantinya kali ini.

Pemerhati yang dekat dengan Umno masih percaya Johor akan kekal di bawah BN tetapi kedudukannya tidak lagi seperti sepanjang separuh abad lalu. Nama Ghani mulai mewarisi dua Menteri Besar yang awal dulu iaitu Datuk Hassan Yunus dan Tan Sri Othman Saad sebelum mereka digantikan dengan Menteri lain.

Maka bagi memastikan Johor kekal dengan Barisan Nasional walaupun tidak segagah dulu, MB-nya mesti ditukarkan. Itu ikhtiar politik BN.

Pakatan Rakyat sangat yakin, Johor bukan lagi simpanan tetap Umno/BN. Inilah peluangnya yang terbaik untuk merampas negeri Datuk Onn, Musa Hitam dan Muhyiddin Yasin itu. Continue reading “Johor tidak lagi simpanan tetap”

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What Kit Siang hasn’t done

by Jimmy Chia
The Malaysian Insider
March 19, 2013

MARCH 19 – Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today rattled off what Lim Kit Siang has not done – which is not serving his constituents as the DAP leader keeps switching parliamentary seats.

Soi Lek has a point there.

I’d like to help the MCA president by listing off what else Kit Siang has not done in his long career as a politician. After all, MCA needs all the help it can get these days when even Datuk Lee Hwa Beng is wondering how well this towkay party can do in GE13.

So, what else hasn’t Kit Siang done? Continue reading “What Kit Siang hasn’t done”

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23-Day Countdown to 13GE – Will Najib make a mockery of his signing of the Transparency International’s Integrity Pledge by not taking any action against Taib Mahmud and his family on the explosive video evidence produced by Global Witness?

On 20th February, 2013, almost a month ago, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak signed the Transparency International Malaysia’s Election Integrity Pledge with much aplomb in the presence of many BN leaders including the Chief Minister of Sarawak and leader of PBB, Taib Mahmud.

Today, international NGO, Global Witness released a shocking video involving a nexus of prominent figures all of whom connected to Taib Mahmud. These individuals included Norlia and Fatima Abdul Rahman, daughters of former Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Rahman Ya’akub and cousins of Taib Mahmud. Fatima was caught on camera admitting that she could ‘speak to the CM very easily’ in order to obtain the necessary approvals for a land sale to a Global Witness representative, land which Fatima said was given to them by Taib. This land sale would involve a company, Ample Agro Sdn Bhd, whose first six shareholders are all daughters of former Sarawak CM, Rahman Ya’akub which includes not only Norlia and Fatima but also Tanjong Manis MP Nora Abdul Rahman as well as Najib’s sister in law Khadijah Abdul Rahman.

Norlia is also caught on tape asking the potential ‘buyer’ from Global Witness to undergo an illegal transaction whereby only 10% of the sale price of the land would be booked in Malaysia while the rest would be booked in Singapore in order to avoid Reals Property Gains Tax (RPGT). Norlia also said that these sorts of deals ‘have been done before’ in order to assurance the buyer that this is a standard operating procedure. The lawyer for Ample Agro, Alvin Chong, also confirmed the nature of this transaction in the Global Witness video who also proposed ways for the potential buyer to evade the 49% foreign shareholding limitation by appointing nominees based in Singapore. Alvin was caught on video saying that “I’ve put this to use many a time”. Continue reading “23-Day Countdown to 13GE – Will Najib make a mockery of his signing of the Transparency International’s Integrity Pledge by not taking any action against Taib Mahmud and his family on the explosive video evidence produced by Global Witness?”

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Kit Siang: Unleash political storm in the south

by Lee Way Loon
Malaysiakini
11:12AM Mar 19, 2013

Leaders holding hands saluting Johor crowd

Some predict a handsome win for Pakatan Rakyat in the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat when the general election is held, but its candidate does not expect the battle to be easy.

Anwar and Lim Kit Siang Nevertheless, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is willing to take the risk, in order to “set off a political storm” in south Malaysia and in Sabah and Sarawak as well.

Lim coined the term “political tsunami” to describe Pakatan’s gains in the last election in March 2008.

“This is a historic chance to decide whether there will be a regime change. We need to set off a political storm in Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan,” he told a press conference in Skudai, Johor, last night after he was named as the Pakatan candidate for Gelang Patah by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysiakini infographic on Gelang Patah constituency “And then the storm must cross the South China Sea and reach Sabah and Sarawak. With this, the people can complete a movement for political awareness and democracy.”

Lim, the Ipoh Timor MP, said this would be his fifth move into a new state to contest the election in his political career spanning 47 years.

“This is not an easy battle… but it is worth (fighting for) as it is for our goal, as well as for the nation and people,” he said.

He reiterated that Pakatan was targeting to win at least 18 parliamentary seats from BN in these three southern states: 15 in Johor, two in Negri Sembilan and one in Malacca.

DAP to contest seven seats Continue reading “Kit Siang: Unleash political storm in the south”

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Confirmed! Kit Siang will do battle in Gelang Patah

by Lee Way Loon
Malaysiakini
9:47PM Mar 18, 2013

After weeks of speculation, Pakatan Rakyat officially announced tonight that DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang will be contesting the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat in Johor.

The announcement was made by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at DAP’s 47th anniversary celebration and ceramah in Skudai.

“It’s true that Gelang Patah was a PKR seat. But we can discuss.

“I hold the opinion that it is still a PKR seat. But if Kit Siang comes and assists us, leads us and becomes the Gelang Patah candidate, I give him my full support,” Anwar told a cheering 20,000-strong crowd.

The PKR de facto leader then invited Lim and all the DAP leaders to come on stage to endorse his decision. Continue reading “Confirmed! Kit Siang will do battle in Gelang Patah”

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24-Day Countdown to 13GE – Malaysians deserve a Cabinet and a Government which is not a laughing stock of the world because of the frequency of stupid statements and foolish acts by Ministers

I believe we are entering the final week when the 12th Parliament will at last be dissolved to pave the way for the holding of the long-awaited and much-postponed 13th General Elections next month.

This explains why UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders are getting more and more panicky, with some even making hysterical statements, under the intense pressure of the impending 13GE, which cannot be postponed much further after the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had put the country on an election campaign footing for close to four long years and breaching the five-year natural life of Parliament – and now just a week ahead of the automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Assembly on March 26!

Najib has said he wants Malaysia to become the world’s best democracy. Then Najib and Umno/BN leaders must first learn to accept Lesson One of the most basic prerequisites of a functioning normal democracy, i.e. to accept that their power in government is not a divine right but a trust granted by the people once every four or five years to be withdrawn or renewed in every general elections.

Up to now Najib and all the Umno/BN leaders have been conspicuously silent on what would be very routine and matter-of-fact in developed democracies all over the world – that they will submit to the verdict of the electorate in the impending general elections and if they lose the mandate to continue as the Federal government for the first time in 56 years, they would peacefully and democratically ensure a peaceful transition of power from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat and they would all serve the role of a loyal Opposition in Parliament as the DAP had done in the past 47 years since the formation of DAP in 1966. Continue reading “24-Day Countdown to 13GE – Malaysians deserve a Cabinet and a Government which is not a laughing stock of the world because of the frequency of stupid statements and foolish acts by Ministers”

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Who Knows What the Truth is These Days?

By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo Newsroom
Mon, Mar 11, 2013

How do you decide what is truth and what is falsehood as the build-up to Malaysia’s 13th general election hots up? So many bizarre twists and turns have emerged in recent days that Malaysians must be in a state of shock and awe.

First, businessman Deepak Jaikishan openly alleged that Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved in forcing private investigator P. Balasubramaniam to make a second statutory declaration to contradict his first, which had implicated Najib in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Then Bala returned from exile earlier this year to affirm that he stood by his first statutory declaration, reinforcing the revelations made by Deepak about how the second declaration came about.

The latest twist is Azlan Mohd Lazim’s announcement that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is innocent of the charge of having sodomised Azlan’s son, Saiful, and that Anwar is the victim of a political conspiracy. Taking everyone by surprise, including apparently Saiful as well, the father attests that his son was “used by several unscrupulous individuals”, including a special officer of Najib’s, to tarnish Anwar’s image. Continue reading “Who Knows What the Truth is These Days?”

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26-Day Countdown to 13GE – Federal Government Deficits and Debts

Unlike many developing countries, Malaysia had until the last 15 years, avoided deficit funding and the accumulation of high levels of external and internal debt that culminated in debt crises of the type that afflicted Argentina, Mexico and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Federal Government followed prudent policies and followed fiscal policies that were viewed favorably. Both Foreign Direct Investment flows and the domestic private sector contributed to growth.

Thus, through the early 1970s and the decade of the 1980s small deficits were recorded, indeed in the early 1990s small surpluses were recorded. The size of the public debt was largely stable and did not exceed RM 100 billion.

However, the 1997 East Asia crisis, triggered by contagion effects of the crisis in Thailand, led to a radical change in fiscal policy. The Federal Government embarked on a pump priming effort to revive the economy.

Many large scale projects were mounted; many heavily indebted crony corporations were bailed out. The public sector surplus of RM 6.6 billion recorded in 1997 evaporated and became a deficit of RM 5 billion in 1998.

Since 1998, despite the recovery, the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government has continued to run deficits ever increasing deficits which peaked under the Prime Ministership of Datuk Seri Najib to RM 47 billion. Continue reading “26-Day Countdown to 13GE – Federal Government Deficits and Debts”

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Kit Siang set to announce candidature in Johor

By Lee Way Loon | 4:13PM Mar 15, 2013
Malaysiakini

In an attempt to win federal power, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, who has been visiting Johor frequently of late, is expected to contest a parliamentary seat in the state in the coming general election.

It is learnt that the Ipoh Timor MP will be making an official announcement on his shift to the southern BN stronghold at DAP’s 47th anniversary celebration and ceramah in Skudai, near Johor Bharu, on Monday.

Several party insiders told Malaysiakini that the possibility of Lim contesting a Johor parliamentary seat in GE13 was “very real”.

However, it could not be confirmed that whether Lim would also name the seat he intended to contest, tough speculation has been that it could be Gelang Patah.

Lim,when contacted on this matter, refused to comment.

On Tuesday, DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke (left) said a “major announcement” would be made at the party’s anniversary celebration in Skudai.
Continue reading “Kit Siang set to announce candidature in Johor”

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The most probable date for long-awaited Parliament dissolution is Monday, March 25 although it could be later or even earlier

The most probable date for the long-awaited dissolution of the 12th Parliament is Monday, March 25 although it could be earlier in the next ten days or even later.

The automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Assembly on midnight on 26th March 2013 should under ordinary circumstances be the last cut-off date for the dissolution of Parliament, but these are not ordinary times, and Parliament can be dissolved earlier in the next 10 days or even later, exhausting another 32 days to lead up to the unprecedented automatic dissolution of Parliament on midnight April 27, 2013.

It is precisely because these are not ordinary times that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has put the country for nearly four long years on an election mode ever since he became the sixth Prime Minister on April 3, 2009, spending more time campaigning to get an elected mandate of his own instead of uniting and inspiring Malaysians with an overarching vision and governing the country efficiently and professionally, with integrity and full commitment to democracy, human rights and the environment.

If we are in ordinary times, the 13th general elections would have been held already and Malaysians would have known whether Najib has finally his own mandate to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia or whether Malaysia has got a new Pakatan Rakyat federal government in Putrajaya with a new Prime Minister in the person of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Continue reading “The most probable date for long-awaited Parliament dissolution is Monday, March 25 although it could be later or even earlier”

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‘Najib’s economic figures are fictional’

By Ong Kian Ming | 4:56PM Mar 14, 2013
Malaysiakini

COMMENT Yesterday, March 13, 2013, national news agency Bernama quoted Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as saying:

“We have been able to buck the external global economic trend. In the last quarter, we achieved 6.4 percent growth, which indicates the resilience of the national economy.

“When we talk about benefits to the people from 2009 to 2011, our gross national income (GNI) per capita has grown from US$6,670 to US$9,970, roughly about 49 percent. There is no country in the world that has achieved this kind of result.”

Najib said this in the ‘Conversation with the PM’ programme aired by Media Prima group’s TV3 on Tuesday night (March 12).

Where did our prime minister-cum-finance minister get these figures from? I suspect that it’s from none other than Idris Jala (left), the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), which comes under the PM’s Department.
Continue reading “‘Najib’s economic figures are fictional’”

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27-Day Countdown to 13GE – IMF Report Card warns of an austerity scenario for Malaysian economy not too dissimilar to that of several EuroZone countries

The nation is just weeks away from choosing a Government to steer the ship of state.

The upcoming General Election will be momentous and will demand a choice between Barisan Nasional, a coalition that has ruled the nation for almost five and a half decades, and Pakatan Rakyat, an alternate group that offers change and a new direction.

Meaningful choices should ideally be based on full information about the current state of affairs and the alternative visions offered by the two coalitions.
The information on the state of the economy is less than transparent and that which is available is skewed in favour of the incumbent regime. The opposing coalition lacks full access to information.

Under these circumstances, it is necessary to look to alternative independent sources to arrive at objective assessments.

Such an objective and comprehensive assessment is indeed available. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted its Annual Article IV Consultations in Nov –Dec 2012. A report based on the consultations was considered by the IMF’s Board of Executive Directors in late February 2013. The Fund has released the report and posted it on its website. Continue reading “27-Day Countdown to 13GE – IMF Report Card warns of an austerity scenario for Malaysian economy not too dissimilar to that of several EuroZone countries”

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Mahathir kata bankrap, Musa kata tidak

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
March 14, 2013

14 MAC — Kenyataan Musa Hitam semalam memberikan pencerahan yang sangat baik untuk politik rakyat dan negara. Beliau tidak bersetuju apa yang didakyahkan oleh pimpinan Umno khususnya Dr Mahathir Mohamad yang negara akan bankrap jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah selepas pilihanraya yang akan datang ini.

Musa berkata Pakatan Rakyat akan bekerja keras untuk memastikan yang negara akan terus mencapai kemajuan dan tidak akan melalaikan tanggungjawab yang buat pertama kali diberikan oleh rakyat terhadap pihak pembangkang.

Musa juga tidak bersetuju dengan politik rasis yang menebal sekarang dan pihak yang memainkan sentimen perkauman itu merupakan permainan poltik bankrap yang sudah tidak relevan lagi buat masa dan zaman ini. Kenyataan Musa ini tentunya bertentangan dengan pandangan Dr Mahathir, seorang pemimpin yang boleh berjalan di atas air itu.

Dr Mahathir yang akhir-akhir ini seperti orang yang dalam ketakutan yang amat sangat itu telah membuat kenyataan-kenyataan yang menghangatkan dengan bermatlamat untuk membina dan meningkatkan sentimen perkauman di negara ini.

Beliau (Mahathir) telah meminta Felda untuk memainkan filem Tanda Putera bagi menaikkan perasaan kebencian orang Melayu terhadap kaum Cina dan ianya tentulah untuk menghalang DAP yang menjadi sasaran cemuhan Mahathir akhir-akhir ini.

Seperti yang saya sebutkan selalu Umno hanya akan kekal berkuasa jika ada perbalahan dan perpecahan. Umno tidak kekal jika rakyat dan negara dalam keadaan aman dan damai. Maka itulah sebabnya Umno sentiasa berusaha untuk meningkatkan perasaan benci-membenci di antara kaum agar parti itu terus menjadi parti pemerintah yang berkemampuan untuk melakukan rasuah secara sistematik. Continue reading “Mahathir kata bankrap, Musa kata tidak”

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It’s not the economy, stupid

by ONG KIAN MING
MARCH 13, 2013
KiniBiz

A foreign fund manager asked me this question last month – “What exactly are Malaysians unhappy with?” After all, the country grew by 5.6% in 2012 compared to a lethargic 1.2% for Singapore for the same year. Investment, measured by gross fixed capital formation grew by an astounding 25% in 2012 compared to a lacklustre 10.2% in 2011.

As a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP – sum of goods and services produced in a year), investment was approximately 26% in 2012 compared to only 18% in 2009. Foreign direct investment in 2012 reached RM34.8 billion, a significant improvement on the abysmal RM5.0 billion in 2009.

The government seems to have a clear plan of action in putting the country back on track via the Economic and Government Transformation Plans (ETP and GTP). The shopping malls and hotels are bustling in Kuala Lumpur. New buildings and hotels are sprouting up all around the Klang Valley area.

The LRT and MRT projects will address the congestion problems in the Greater KL area and increase property values and development opportunities around their vicinity. Malaysia also had the 2nd and 3rd largest public listing in the world after Facebook via Felda Global Ventures Holding (FGVH) and IHH Healthcare.

Things seem to be looking pretty good for the country. But why is there still talk of the Barisan Nasional losing power in the upcoming general election? Continue reading “It’s not the economy, stupid”

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Supporting Wong Tack as the Green Candidate in Bentong

by CPI Asia

We, the undersigned individuals, support Himpunan Hijau’s proposal for its chairperson Wong Tack to stand as the green candidate under Pakatan Rakyat in Bentong, Pahang taking on Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai in the coming general elections.

Wong Tack’s candidacy signifies the frustrating scene of the green movement. Despite the unprecedented electoral setback in the March 8 political tsunami five years ago, the Government has demonstrated an arrogant and irresponsible attitude towards environmental protection. From the Lynas rare earth processing plant in Kuantan, cyanide gold mining in Raub, the proposed petrochemical plant in Pengerang, aluminum plant in Mukah, to the dams in Inland Sarawak and Cameron Highlands, environmentally harmful projects have been introduced or allowed operation in complete disregard of the well-being and health of the local residents and ecology.

Wong Tack’s candidacy is a milestone in green politics in Malaysia, which has so far been staying away from direct participation in electoral politics. Rallies and petitions in the past three years over the issues of Lynas, cyanide gold mining, Pengerang and other polluting projects have failed to bring any real policy changes. The angry roaring of communities and citizens has fallen on deaf ears of politicians and bureaucrats, who care more about the interests of foreign capital.

It is therefore time to have more green-minded lawmakers in our Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies to scrunitise our laws and policies to keep environmental disasters at bay. Wong Tack, whose team has effectively put Lynas in the minds of the Malaysian public, is certainly one of the most relevant and representative faces. In this regard, taking on Liow Tiong Lai will also be apt since the Health Minister has repeatedly neglected public interests and misinformed the public with regards to the Lynas plant, cyanide gold mining and the firing of tear gas and water cannons at Tung Shin Hospital in July 2011. Continue reading “Supporting Wong Tack as the Green Candidate in Bentong”

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29-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib doth claim too much, that Malaysia is world’s fastest country in GNI per capita growth which is as believable as his boast to make Malaysia “world’s best democracy”

I do not envy in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s shoes at present as he must continue to put up an external front of supreme confidence that he will not be the last Umno/Barisan Nasional Prime Minister and would even survive a coup d’etat in Umno ala-Abdullah Badawi after the 13GE while internally he must be quaking with gnawing doubts whether he could survive the final countdown for the “life-and-death” test for his political life.

As a result, he doth protest and claim too much.

Yesterday, the TV3 programme “Conversation with the PM” provided another example that the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia “doth claim too much” when he said:

“And when you talk in terms of benefit for the people, within three years, from 2009 to the end of 2011, our GNI (gross national income) per capita, it grew from US$6,670 to US$9,970. That’s roughly a 49 per cent (increase). There is no country in the world that has achieved that kind of result”.

Najib’s claim to be the fastest country in the world for GNI per capita growth in the three years from 2009 to 2011 is as believable as his other claim to transform Malaysia to be the world’s best democracy, when he could not even stand up to national and international scrutiny for the conduct of a free, fair and clean general elections despite his recent signature of the Transparency International-Malaysia’s Election Integrity Pledge. Instead, Najib is branded internationally as a “false democrat”.

Najib made two false claims in one short assertion last night – for Malaysia’s per capita GNI did not increase by 49 per cent in the three years from 2009 to 2011, and Malaysia is definitely not the world’s fastest country in per capita GNI growth in those three years.

The World Bank website shows the true numbers for Malaysia’s GNI per capita for the relevant period, viz: Continue reading “29-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib doth claim too much, that Malaysia is world’s fastest country in GNI per capita growth which is as believable as his boast to make Malaysia “world’s best democracy””

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Najib: More time needed to show results before polls

Malaysiakini-Bernama
11:38PM Mar 12, 2013

Before calling for the next general election, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he first wanted to show to the people what had actually been achieved through the various initiatives in the country’s transformation agenda.

He said this in the ‘Conversation with the PM’ programme aired over TV3 tonight.

Noting that real changes were taking place since he took office in 2009, he said the government would need more time to ensure that the people felt the positive outcome of the transformation agenda.

“Because, when we plan things, it does take time (to show results), but I’m pleased that the outcome is positive,” he said. Continue reading “Najib: More time needed to show results before polls”