Posted on

MALAYSIA: AS THE ECONOMY WEAKENS, AUTHORITARIANISM CREEPS IN

by Nithin Coca
Equal Times
2 June 2015

First, it was the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Then, senior journalists and editors at the country’s top independent media website.

Bloggers followed, even a political cartoonist.

Over several months, Malaysia’s leaders have, piece-by-piece, used colonial-era laws to turn the country, long considered one of the shining lights of south-east Asia, firmly towards authoritarianism.

“Over the past year, the government has harassed, targeted and even imprisoned a wide range of individuals considered possible ‘threats’ – including opposition politicians, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists,” said Josef Benedict, Asia-Pacific Campaigner for Amnesty International, based in Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

Behind this unprecedented crackdown are signs of a ruling party losing grip on power, as its rule, built on an economy dependent on natural resource exports and a fragile racial and religious balance, threatens to unravel. Continue reading “MALAYSIA: AS THE ECONOMY WEAKENS, AUTHORITARIANISM CREEPS IN”

Posted on

Now that the government has finally admitted that the PM is the final approving authority for 1MDB transactions, are Cabinet meetings in March and May on 1MDB chaired by Najib valid, proper and legal because of conflict of interest?

For the first time in six years, the government, through the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah in his TV1 interview on “1MDB: Di mana wangnya?” last night, has finally admitted that Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for 1MDB deals, investments and transactions.

Husni said the Prime Minister represents the Government, which is why his written approval is needed for any financial deal undertaken by the 1Malaysian Development Bhd (1MDB).

This is a very lame and poor excuse, for by this reasoning, there must be umpteenth government companies which have the same provision as 1MBD which provides under Clause 117 of its Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) that the Prime Minister must give his written approval for any 1MHD deals, including the firm’s investments or any bid for restructuring.

If the Prime Minister has to give his “written approval” for the deals of umpteenth government companies, he would have little time to be Prime Minister proper.

As far as I know, 1MDP is the first case where the Prime Minister’s “written authority” is needed for any financial deal undertaken by a government company. I understand there is a second such case of a government company with such a provision which also happened under Najib’s tenure as Prime Minister.

I am prepared to stand corrected, but can Husni, who seems to be relishing his role in a new bout of transparency of the Najib government, clarify this matter and if I am right, explain this phenomenon as well as identify the second company which has this 1MDB Clause 117 provision requiring the Prime Minister’s “written consent” before any deal or restructuring before the country is landed with another major financial scandal. Continue reading “Now that the government has finally admitted that the PM is the final approving authority for 1MDB transactions, are Cabinet meetings in March and May on 1MDB chaired by Najib valid, proper and legal because of conflict of interest?”

Posted on

10 Questions on 1MDB for dummies for Cabinet Ministers at their meeting today

Bravado is no answer to the mountain of queries by Malaysians as to why Cabinet Ministers had not raised questions about the propriety, accountability and transparency of the various deals in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal at the last Cabinet meeting on Friday.

“Do you think Nazri can be threatened?” is sheer bravado and does not answer the question why Ministers, according the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz himself, were satisfied and happy with the second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah’s explanation on the 1MDB Roadmap and that no minister, including the Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, voiced any objection at last Friday’s Cabinet meeting – when it is obvious that any ordinary person cannot be happy with Husni’s explanation of the 1MDB Roadmap.

Either the Ministers were living in a different planet and did not know the almost daily queries about the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal or they just buried their heads in the sand like ostriches to shut out the mountain of 1MDB queries for the past few years.

The Ministers will be guilty of the height of irresponsibility and negligence if they had given approval to the 1MDB Roadmap without understanding the issues of propriety, accountability and transparency of the numerous deals in the 1MDB imbroglio, out of fear of stepping on the toes of Datuk Seri Najib Razak Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister.

The Ministers must make amends for their gross sins of irresponsibility and negligence on the 1MDB Roadmap at the Cabinet meeting this morning, and the following ten questions on the 1MDB for dummies should be among the questions which Ministers should pose on the 1MDB Roadmap at today’s Cabinet: Continue reading “10 Questions on 1MDB for dummies for Cabinet Ministers at their meeting today”

Posted on

Ministers should redeem themselves at their meeting tomorrow to prove that Cabinet is not a magic show for a David Copperfield to perform the hat-trick of producing a rabbit from an empty hat

The Malaysian Cabinet is being held in even lower esteem among Malaysians after last Friday’s Cabinet meeting for two reasons:

Firstly, for giving approval to a 1MDB Roadmap when it is clear that no Minister has any clue how 1MDB and the Malaysian Government is going to be saved from 1MDB’s RM42 billion loans scandal; and

Secondly, no resignation by any Minister although the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Ministers can resign if they do not support him on the 1MDB issue.

It is simply incredible that the Malaysian Cabinet has degenerated into a magic show for a David Copperfield to perform the hat-trick of producing a rabbit from an empty hat, with no Minister daring to expose the illusion of the whole exercise!

The reason why the UMNO Vice President and Minister for Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal had objected to the application of the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility on the 1MDB scandal was that although Ministers had asked questions about the strategic investment firm during Cabinet meetings, Ministers are just unclear as the public over the firm’s opaque deals.

Shafie had said that Ministers wanted answers to the 1MDB scandal as they wanted to know, not for their own benefit, but to explain to the people at large. Continue reading “Ministers should redeem themselves at their meeting tomorrow to prove that Cabinet is not a magic show for a David Copperfield to perform the hat-trick of producing a rabbit from an empty hat”

Posted on

Have all Ministers accepted collective responsibility for the 1MDB scandal to “sink or swim” with Najib on the issue?

Have all Ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal accepted collective responsibility for the 1MDB scandal to “sink or swim” with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, on the issue?

This question becomes pertinent when two UMNO-owned newspapers, Utusan Malaysia and New Straits Times reported in prominence the online portal Malaysia Today article last night that the Prime Minister had told his Cabinet members at Friday’s meeting to resign if they do not support him on the 1MDB issue.

The Malaysia Today article headlined “NAJIB ASKS HIS CABINET MEMBERS NOT WITH HIM TO RESIGN” reported:

Anyway, after Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah presented the Ministry of Finance’s plan for 1MDB to the Cabinet on Friday, Najib looked at all the Cabinet members and asked them who were not with him. Those not with him can tender their resignation and walk out the door. Continue reading “Have all Ministers accepted collective responsibility for the 1MDB scandal to “sink or swim” with Najib on the issue?”

Posted on

Why things like 1MDB happen

By P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
May 28, 2015

QUESTION TIME Malaysia had no major financial scandals – as in billion-ringgit ones – until the infamous case of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance or BMF emerged in the early eighties and captured the imagination of the press and the public.

Before we are a bit quick to point the finger at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for that, let’s point out that Mahathir became prime minister only in 1981, after BMF, Bank Bumiputra’s wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary, started loaning money to George Tan’s Carrian group, eventually amounting to RM2.5 billion in all.

The loans were made between 1979 and 1983, which means that loans continued to be made to Carrian even after Mahathir became PM, implying that Mahathir cannot be totally absolved.

Carrian was a rising star in the Hong Kong property market then but subsequently went bust, making it the biggest bankruptcy in Hong Kong at the time. The scale of the scandal was simply enormous and record-breaking, putting Malaysia on the top of the list in terms of banking failure at that time.

The question is what was a unit of Bank Bumiputra, a bank set up to provide bumiputeras access to funding as part of the effort to increase their participation in business, doing lending money to a Hong Kong property group?

This was at that time, the largest banking scandal in the world and the interest in it spiked further when a Bank Bumiputra senior officer sent to Hong Kong to investigate was murdered and his body dumped in a banana plantation. Continue reading “Why things like 1MDB happen”

Posted on

Will Mahathir knuckle under the threat of RM1 million reward for information about his wrongdoings as Prime Minister for 22 years causing RM100 billion losses to Malaysia from his various financial scandals and fade from the political scene?

I read today of a new NGO which has offered a reward of up to RM1 million for information about the wrongdoings of Tun Dr. Mahathir during his 22 years as Prime Minister causing RM100 billion losses to the country from his various financial scandals.

As one of the few who had stood up in and out of Parliament to consistently and persistently criticise and oppose the series of financial scandals and abuses of power during Mahathir’s premiership from 1981 – 2013 – and paying a heavy price of being detained for a second time for 18 months under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang where Guan Eng and I were the first to be detained but the last to be released – I find the report of a RM1 million bounty for information about Mahathir’s wrongdoings both amusing and interesting.

Why wasn’t such a RM1 million bounty offered during Mahathir’s 22-year tenure as Prime Minister from 1981-2003? Was it because such an offeror would find himself in incarceration even before the ink of such an offer could dry?

Why was such a RM1 million bounty offered only 12 years after Mahathir had stepped down as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia? Were they sleeping for the past 12 years and could not pluck up the courage for such a public-spirited offer?

Has the RM1 million bounty any connection with Mahathir’s stepping up of his attacks on Datuk Seri Najib Razak as Prime Minister of Malaysia, whether on the RM42 billion 1MDF financial scandal or the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, which will bring it within the zone of a proxy war in the escalation of the Najib-Mahathir titanic battle? Continue reading “Will Mahathir knuckle under the threat of RM1 million reward for information about his wrongdoings as Prime Minister for 22 years causing RM100 billion losses to Malaysia from his various financial scandals and fade from the political scene?”

Posted on

As Save 1MDB Roadmap is in fact Save Najib Roadmap, did Najib excuse and absent himself from yesterday’s Cabinet decision on the 1MDB Roadmap because of personal conflicts of interest?

On Thursday, the second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah said he would table a roadmap for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to the Cabinet on Friday to strengthen and solve the problems plaguing 1MDB and that the roadmap would be made public after it is tabled in the Cabinet.

The Save 1MDB Roadmap has not been made public after the Cabinet meeting as promised, only the announcement by Husni that 1MDB will receive US$1 billion (RM3.67 billion) from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to repay a US$975 million loan maturing in August but which a consortium of German lenders is seeking an early settlement due to a breach of covenant in the loan agreement by 1MDB.
But the Malaysian public have not been told what 1MDB’s USD$1 billion Abu Dhabi lifelife would cost Malaysia as everybody should know of the truism that there is no free lunch in the world.

Malaysians have also not been informed of the other details of the agreement with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its Aabar Investments unit, which are said to include “further measures to comprehensively address the various financial asset and liability transactions between the parties” or aspects of the rationalisation plan of 1MDB.

Have these details of the Save 1MDB Roadmap been presented to the Cabinet yesterday or were the Cabinet Ministers as usual asked to give a blank cheque approval for the Save 1MDB Roadmap without any details to allow the Ministers to discuss and decide on the viability and sustainability of the of the Roadmap and whether to approve the conditions to save 1MDB – even though the Ministers will have to be collectively responsible for the Save 1MDB Roadmap?

Are the Ministers in the same position as members of the Malaysian public, or to use the words of UMNO Vice President and Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal on Wednesday, that the Ministers were just as unclear as the public over the 1MDB’s opaque deals? Continue reading “As Save 1MDB Roadmap is in fact Save Najib Roadmap, did Najib excuse and absent himself from yesterday’s Cabinet decision on the 1MDB Roadmap because of personal conflicts of interest?”

Posted on

Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is fighting for his political life, with the former longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir leading the charge in the campaign for Najib to step down as Prime Minister to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) from defeat in the next general elections.

Lines are being drawn in Najib’s titanic life-and-death battle as the sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President, but there is no reason for Pakatan Rakyat to take sides whether to throw Najib a life-line or to support Mahathir’s campaign to save UMNO/BN as Pakatan Rakyat’s objective must surely, firmly and unswervingly remain on the larger objective to save Malaysia and Malaysians and not to save any one political party or even one person!

This is UMNO/BN’s weakest moment in the federal government coalition’s history. In fact, the UMNO/BN had already lost majority support of the Malaysian voters in the recent 13th general elections as it is Pakatan Rakyat and not Barisan Nasional which had secured the majority support of the electorate in the national polls two years ago and the Malaysian Prime Minister of the day should have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Unfortunately, Pakatan Rakyat is itself at its weakest in its 7-year history, and it is unable to take advantage, let alone full advantage, of the turmoils in UMNO/BN. Continue reading “Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs”

Posted on

Cabinet should be given adequate time for Ministers to understand and study the Save 1MDB roadmap before a Cabinet decision is taken while Najib should “tell all” about his 1MDB dealings in the past six years

The Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced yesterday that the Finance Ministry will present a roadmap for 1MDB to the Cabinet today to solve the problems plaguing the 1MDP and to counter negative perceptions on the strategic investment fund company.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the second Finance Minister Husni should be fair to their ministerial colleagues in the 35-strong Cabinet, who should be given adequate time to understand and study the Save 1MDB Plan before a Cabinet decision is taken as all the Ministers have to bear collective responsibility for the success or failure of the Save 1MDB Plan once it is approved by the Cabinet.

The Cabinet should not repeat the farce of its March 4 meeting when the Ministers went through the motions of being briefed by 1MDB and its auditors Deloitte, with few Ministers understanding what was going on, but the Cabinet still prematurely and foolishly cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing and issued 1MDB with a clean bill of health and integrity.

Without comprehensive Cabinet papers for the Ministers to understand the 1MDB scandal, without access to the thousands of 1MDB transactions and email which London’s Sunday Times and Sarawak Report said they had obtained access to, despite attempts by 1MDB at the end of last year to call in all of its computers, employee laptops and servers to wipe them clean of such transactions and emails, how could the Cabinet clear the 1MDB of any wrongdoing?

This has led to the shocking spectacle of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, declaring after more than two months after the Cabinet meeting which cleared 1MDB of wrongdoing that the 1MDB Board should be sacked and the police called in to investigate 1MDB. Continue reading “Cabinet should be given adequate time for Ministers to understand and study the Save 1MDB roadmap before a Cabinet decision is taken while Najib should “tell all” about his 1MDB dealings in the past six years”

Posted on

Is Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others?

The statement by UMNO Vice President and Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal raised eyebrows all round.

It is not just his repudiating the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility, but even more significant, his striking a posture which is tantamount to Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others.

This is the only interpretation of Shafie’s protest against claims that the entire Cabinet should be held responsible for the 1MDB scandal, saying that it would be unfair to do so when he and his colleagues were just as unclear as the public over the firm’s controversial and opaque deals.

It is shock enough that a senior three-term Cabinet Minister does not understand the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility but it boggles the minds of Malaysians that Shafie could assert both ignorance and innocence about the enormity of the 1MDB scandal, claiming that he was in the position of the ordinary aggrieved Malaysian on the ground that he was as unclear as the public about the 1MDB scandal.

How could this be when the Cabinet at its meeting on 4th March this year cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing, making all the 35 Ministers individually and collectively for the 1MDB scandal! Continue reading “Is Shafie breaking ranks with the Prime Minister and declaring that he is not prepared to “swim or sink” with Najib on the 1MDB scandal and that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down others?”

Posted on

Speaker should intervene and rule whether PM had abused the Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia

The Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should intervene and rule whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had abused the Parliamentary Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia.

Najib yesterday dodged the question by the DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua whether the 1MDB management had only met with PetroSaudi International Limited for the first time on September 23, 2009, five days before both parties inked a deal in London; and whether the agreement was approved by the 1MDB Board of directors at the time.

Najib cited Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders 23(1)(i) to avoid answering the question.

Parliamentary Standing Orders 23(1)(i) states that “a question shall not be asked as to whether statements in the press or of private individuals or financial bodies are accurate”.

Najib said that the issue raised by Pua “is based on news report by a news portal that cannot verify the authenticity of the source of the report”.

This is a blatant abuse of the parliamentary process designed to ensure government accountability and good governance. Continue reading “Speaker should intervene and rule whether PM had abused the Standing Orders to avoid answering pertinent questions about the 1MDB scandal – which is the first step towards parliamentary reform in Malaysia”

Posted on

Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Najib should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal as it is now established that the PM is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals

Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Datuk Seri Najib Razak should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the 1MDB scandal, as it is now established that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals?

Will the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin, whose speech at an UMNO function on 16th May wanting the 1MDB Board to be sacked and the police called in to investigate – whose recording had been visited more than half a million on times on You Tube – “bell the cat”?

In fact, does Muhyiddin know that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals – as provided by the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) agreement which made it very clear that the Prime Minister has the final say over any “financial commitment” of the company?

Do the Cabinet Ministers know that the Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB’s financial deals?

If not, how can the Cabinet Ministers allow the Prime Minister to mislead them in such a colossal manner; and if yes, why have they given the Prime Minister such a “blank cheque” without any check and balance as to plunge the country into a RM42 billion scandal – despite numerous warnings and queries by DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli in the past four years, and with increasing intensity in the past two years since the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013?

Would the Cabinet tomorrow demand Najib to “tell all” about his decisions as the final approving authority of 1MDB, before requiring Najib to “tell all” to Parliament and the nation.

Or is there nobody in the Cabinet who will “bell the cat” tomorrow? Continue reading “Who will “bell the cat” at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow, insisting that Najib should “tell all” to the Ministers and immediately testify at the PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal as it is now established that the PM is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals”

Posted on

Call for immediate halt to the parliamentary debate on the 11Malaysia Plan for Najib to make a ministerial statement on his role in the 1MDB scandal followed by a two-day debate tantamount to whether Najib still enjoy confidence of Parliament

1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy was supposed to be overseas on an assignment making it impossible for him to attend the scheduled Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on the 1MDB scandal yesterday.

However, in the last two days, Arul had been unusually productive and accessible, making three media responses raising the question whether he is really overseas.

The first was 1MDB media statement on Monday in immediate response to the media conference by the PAC Chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed that in place of the testimony by Arul and the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi, the PAC would move on to question the three firms that audited 1MDB.

In the statement, Arul reiterated that 1MDB will “extend its full co-operation” to the PAC and that both he and Shahrol “look forward to appearing before the committee and having the opportunity to clarify 1MDB’s position”.

The second was Arul’s statement yesterday refuting reports that 1MDB had only informed the PAC of the 1MDB duo’s no-show at the eleventh hour despite the notice to attend the hearing two weeks ago.

Arul said it was only on May 21 that 1MDB received a letter from the Ministry of Finance, appending the invitation sent by the PAC, raising the question why and who in the Finance Ministry who sat on the PAC requisition on May 6 summoning the 1MDB duo to the PAC hearing yesterday – and whether the Finance Ministry official concerned would be disciplined.

But it was Arul’s third media statement last evening which “cooked the goose” so to say. Continue reading “Call for immediate halt to the parliamentary debate on the 11Malaysia Plan for Najib to make a ministerial statement on his role in the 1MDB scandal followed by a two-day debate tantamount to whether Najib still enjoy confidence of Parliament”

Posted on

Is Najib prepared to reveal and censure the Finance Ministry official allowing Arul and Shahrol to play truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal?

It is an indication of the public weariness, skepticism and even disgust with the endless “smoke and mirrors” spectacles in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal in the past four years that the assurance given by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in Japan that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi will testify before the Public Accounts Committee has failed to mollify the public outrage at the 1MDB duo’s impertinence and contempt of Parliament in playing truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB scandal.

Najib’s statement that “1MDB officials will appear before PAC, will not run away” is utterly meaningless and weightless, when the 1MDB duo could dodge the scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB today with a cock-and-bull story about important assignments overseas – when none of them nor the Finance Ministry could reveal which country Arul and Shahrol are today and what are these prior commitments which are more important than the PAC hearing!

Did the Finance Ministry lie to the PAC that Arul and Shahrol had more important overseas assignments which made it impossible for them to attend the PAC hearing today in the same way the Najib had lied in his parliamentary answer about the US$1 billion deposit from Cayman Islands in a Singapore bank?

This appears to be the case, as the reason given by Najib in Japan for the absence of the 1MDB duo from the PAC hearing is not overseas assignments, but that the “1MDB officials have something to sort out first”.

“Have something to sort out first” is clearly very different from the duo having overseas assignments making it physically impossible for them to appear before the PAC. Continue reading “Is Najib prepared to reveal and censure the Finance Ministry official allowing Arul and Shahrol to play truant from today’s scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal?”

Posted on

Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal today? Did Najib, if not who, approve their “ponteng” today?

Questions galore in people’s mind in the past 24 hours since news spread that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)’s president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi are playing truant from the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) hearing scheduled today.

Chief among these questions are:

1. Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB scandal today, when the duo had been given more than two weeks’ notice of the hearing?

2. If the PAC hearing scheduled today clashes with their important overseas appointments, why wasn’t the PAC informed immediately after they received the PAC requisition on May 6? PAC was only informed via a letter from the Finance Ministry on May 22 that the duo could not attend.

3. Where are Arul and Shahrol now overseas, and what are these important appointments they are attending, couldn’t these overseas appointments be rescheduled to give priority to their appearance before the PAC?
Continue reading “Have Arul and Shahrol good reasons for playing truant from the scheduled PAC hearing on 1MDB scandal today? Did Najib, if not who, approve their “ponteng” today?”

Posted on

Arul Kanda and Shahrol Halmi skipping PAC hearing – the last straw that breaks the camel’s back on 1MDB scandal and Cabinet must sack the whole board or sack itself

(Scroll down for English text)

Arul Kanda dan Shahrol Halmi tidak hadir perbicaraan PAC – beban terakhir skandal 1MDB; Kabinet mesti memecat seluruh Lembaga Pengarah 1MDB pada hari Rabu nanti, atau sebaliknya seluruh Kabinet mesti letak jawatan

Tindakan kedua-dua presiden merangkap pengarah eksekutif kumpulan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Arul Kanda Kandasamy dan bekas CEO 1MDB Shahrol Halmi untuk tidak hadir perbicaraan Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang Awam esok adalah apa yang disebut pepatah Inggeris sebagai “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” dalam skandal RM42 bilion 1MDB.

Ia wajar menyedarkan rakyat Malaysia yang masih terlena dan merasakan seolah-olah tiada sebarang masalah dengan skandal 1MDB.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin telah memberitahu dalam sebuah rakaman ucapannya kepada empat Bahagian Umno minggu lalu bahawa skandal 1MDB adalah “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” dan akan menyebabkan kejatuhan kerajaan Umno/BN. Inilah sebabnya kenapa beliau mahu seluruh Lembaga Pengarah 1MDB dipecat, serta disiasat oleh pihak polis.

Rakaman ucapan Muhyiddin itu telah dimuatnaik ke YouTube menggunakan beberapa akaun dan telah ditonton hampir setengah juta kali dalam tempoh empat hari lalu. Continue reading “Arul Kanda and Shahrol Halmi skipping PAC hearing – the last straw that breaks the camel’s back on 1MDB scandal and Cabinet must sack the whole board or sack itself”

Posted on

SOS: The 11th Malaysia Plan

Koon Yew Yin
23 May 2015

In a recent Barisan controlled newspaper, the following headline screamed out for attention: “There is continuity in all Malaysia Plans, says Najib”. The Prime Minister further argued that claims that policies in each Malaysia Plan is disconnected from the other are not true, said the Prime Minister.

Yes, we agree – there is continuity. There is continuity in the unwillingness to put a full stop to the NEP policy. There is continuity in the massive corruption that accompanies every Malaysian Plan. This has happened especially since the 1980’s when the practice of giving out large contracts and concessions without competitive open tenders became institutionalized under Dr. Mahathir’s version of “crony capitalism”. There is continuity in the refusal to practice the system of meritocracy – the only sure way to ensure that we can join the league of modern and developed nations of the world. Continue reading “SOS: The 11th Malaysia Plan”

Posted on

Has Najib forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved independence in 1957 and that we have been overtaken by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea which became high-income countries 20 – 28 years ago?

When the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak boasted in the Eleven Malaysia Plan that Malaysia had risen from the ranks of a low-income economy in the 1970s to a high middle-income economy with a national per capita income more than 25-fold from US$402 (1970) to US$10,796 (2014), and is well on the track to surpass the US$15,000 threshhold of a high-income economy by 2020, Malaysians are entitled to ask him whether he has forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved Independence in 1957?

What were the reasons why other countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore which were poorer than us when we achieved Independence had not only caught up with us, but gone ahead, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea becoming high-income countries some 20 – 28 years ago, a target we are seeking to achieve by the end of the 11th Malaysia Plan and Vision 2020? Continue reading “Has Najib forgotten that Malaysia was second in Asia after Japan in prosperity and income when we achieved independence in 1957 and that we have been overtaken by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and even South Korea which became high-income countries 20 – 28 years ago?”

Posted on

The 11MP is resting on flawed foundations

— Lee Hwok Aun
The Malay Mail Online
May 23, 2015

MAY 22 — The just released Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11MP) strives to inspire, cajole and rally us toward 2020. I have no problem in general with slogans, catchphrases, cheerleading, even a dash of hyperbole. The document has to contain some of that.

But the mandate to tug at our hearts does not give license to toy with the facts.

This Plan handles some data in a bizarre, anomalous manner. The most prominent of the 11MP’s six multidimensional goals rests on flawed foundations.

And it is difficult to believe that errors and confusions – of a most rudimentary nature – are committed innocently.

I have confidence enough in the capability of our civil service to correctly and carefully present statistical analyses and projections. I suffer a confidence deficit with regard to the independence of this process from political influence. Continue reading “The 11MP is resting on flawed foundations”