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Call on everyone of Najib’s outgoing Cabinet Ministers to declare whether they or their family members own off-shore companies

Following the exclusive report by Malaysiakini yesterday that top Malaysian politicians, their family members and well-heeled associates are among those owning secretive offshore companies in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands, I call on every member of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s outgoing Cabinet Ministers to declare whether they or their family members own off-shore companies.

From files obtained by the Washington-based International Confederation of Investigative Journalist (ICIJ) and examined by Malaysiakini, more than 1,500 Malaysians own offshore companies in Singapore as well as the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Politicians and political operatives who own offshore companies include former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s son Mirzan, Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin and Michael Chia, the alleged ‘bagman’ for Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

In an “exclusive” yesterday, Malaysiakini reported:

“The ICIJ list comprises a curious mix of Forbes-listed tycoons, parliamentarians, retired politicians, civil servants and their spouses, members of royal families, famous and infamous businesspeople, underworld kingpins and even former beauty queens.
Continue reading “Call on everyone of Najib’s outgoing Cabinet Ministers to declare whether they or their family members own off-shore companies”

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TV3 and other TV station should cancel live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless similar facililities are also extended to Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will unveil the Barisan Nasional (BN) election manifesto in a speech at 8.30 pm tonight, which is to be broadcast live by TV3 and other TV stations.

This is a gross abuse of power and the latest in the long list of violations of the Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M)’s Election Integrity Pledge to conduct free, fair and clean elections which Najib signed with such fanfare some 45 days ago.

If the Barisan Nasional election manifesto is to be given live coverage over TV3 and other TV stations, similar facilities should also be extended to the Pakatan Rakyat’s election manifesto.

TV3 and other TV stations should cancel the live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless they are prepared to offer similar facilities to the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto. Continue reading “TV3 and other TV station should cancel live coverage of Najib’s presentation of BN Manifesto tonight unless similar facililities are also extended to Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto”

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A Smiling Bully

By Thomas Fann
www.newmalaysia.org

Walking towards a Pakatan rally at Kampung Melayu Dato Sulaiman Menteri in Johor Bahru, I could hear loud music coming from the open area where the ceramah was suppose to be. Initially I thought it was the pre-rally entertainment to amuse those who came earlier but as I got closer I could see UMNO and BN flags waving from where the mega sound system was, just 40 metres from the Pakatan truck which acted as the mobile stage.

Around 30 of these flag waving UMNO supporters were hurling verbal abuses and taunting the crowd of several thousands that night who came to hear what Anwar, Kit Siang, Guan Eng and other Pakatan leaders have to say.

Scores of police personnel had to act as human barricades to separate this small group of hostile supporters from the larger crowd who to their credit was peaceful and not provoked. Rock music and UMNO songs blasted non-stop for more than 4 hours for the whole duration of the ceramah.
Continue reading “A Smiling Bully”

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In Dr M, BN has a de facto campaigner-in-chief

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
April 05, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Ten years after leaving office, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and some of his old Cabinet colleagues have emerged in recent weeks as the face of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) campaign to return to power in Election 2013.

The 87-year-old Dr Mahathir has become a de facto campaigner-in-chief, going on the stump with the vigour of a much younger man as BN faces what is seen as its stiffest challenge ever from the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

As Election 2013 moves into overdrive, Dr Mahathir has been the most visible face of the ruling coalition – apart from Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – criss-crossing the country expounding on BN’s power-sharing formula to drum up support for Team Najib.

The former prime minister who served for 22 years has been hitting the campaign trail hard in the past few weeks to bat for Najib, the son of his former political patron Tun Razak Hussein, in a way he never had for Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who succeeded him in October 2003, as he urged Malaysians to vote in the BN if they wanted continued stability and prosperity. Continue reading “In Dr M, BN has a de facto campaigner-in-chief”

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Taib has delivered a coup de grace to Najib’s pretensions of elevating “fighting corruption” as top agenda of his transformation programme when Taib is not only mightier than MACC but also the Prime Minister

The photograph of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak flamboyantly signing the Transparency International-Malaysia (TIM) “Election Integrity Pledge” on February 20 flanked by UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, with the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, the bete’ noire of international anti-corruption campaigns, glaring malevolently from the back and the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek in a somnabulant pose, will go down as one of the most unforgettable pics of the 13th General Elections.

This is because nobody, including the TIM President Paul Low, seated importantly on Najib’s left and who could not suppress a cynical sneer, really believed Najib and his Umno/BN Ministers and colleagues have even an ounce of sincerity in wanting to eradicate grand corruption and gross abuses of power in the country.

It was just a meaningless public relations exercise scripted by Najib’s political consultants and image-builders to score political points in the 13GE, destroying in the process all credibility and legitimacy of TIM’s Election Integrity Pledge.

How can Najib for instance convince Malaysians that he is now a “convert” in the fight against corruption and abuses of power when Malaysia in the past four years is most corrupt in the nation’s 56-year history when compared to the previous five Prime Ministers, whether Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir or Tun Abdullah – as testified by the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) since 1995 well as by the perceptions of all Malaysians down the 56 years of the nation’s history.

In fact, Najib proceeded to violate one item after another of the TI-M Election Integrity Pledge (EIP) before the ink of his signature was dry, chalking quite a catalogue of violations in the 44 days since his signature of the TI-M Election Integrity Pledge which made a total mockery of the four principles of the TI-M EIP, viz: Continue reading “Taib has delivered a coup de grace to Najib’s pretensions of elevating “fighting corruption” as top agenda of his transformation programme when Taib is not only mightier than MACC but also the Prime Minister”

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‘President’ Najib has failed

By Gobind Rudra
April 4, 2013

COMMENT

As grotesque as it was, Najib sought desperately to adopt the Obama image of a change agent.

Najib Tun Razak has kept to his chosen self-image of a presidential prime minister by calling for a general election only after completing a full four years in office.

In fairnesss, he might even be allowed a measure of self-congratulation, for having stayed the course and completing his “term”, even if it is only in his imagination that his four years as PM can be compared to the fixed four-year term of the US president, and only in his own imagination could he be compared to Barack Obama.

With his image handlers, he has worked hard at projecting himself in the Obama mould — even down to the solecisms of his swearing-in and the King’s proclamation of dissolution and his frenetic adoption of new media savviness and online cool.

His projection of himself in the image as Obama, as absurd as it may seem, could be seen as early as June 2009 when the US president made the semi-obligatory phone call, engineered by the State Department, to the newly-appointed prime minister. Najib recorded it thus in his blog:

“It was our first conversation with each other as Heads of State and we exchanged congratulatory wishes on our respective appointments.” Continue reading “‘President’ Najib has failed”

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Might as well dissolve MACC after Taib snub

– The Malaysian Insider
April 04, 2013

APRIL 4 – Naughty seems to be the byword in Sarawak.

The long-serving state chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud used that word today to describe the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) for its investigations into alleged graft in timber land awards.

“They don’t deserve my cooperation because they have been naughty… and they have not been honest,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading “Might as well dissolve MACC after Taib snub”

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GE13 Set to Be a Titanic Clash

By Kee Thuan Chye
MalaysianDigest.com

Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the much-awaited 13th general election.

Finally, Prime Minister Najib Razak made the call on April 3, which marked the fourth anniversary of his premiership, after much hesitation that had provoked much speculation that he was afraid of the election outcome.

Indeed, a week prior to the dissolution, he embarked on his famous “I help you, you help me” routine of giving cash bonuses or salary increments to a spectrum of people, including the civil service (which is 1.4 million-strong), the army, the police, and the staff of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Telekom Malaysia, Petronas and seven statutory bodies.

This incensed level-headed Malaysians who saw it as a blatant form of vote-buying, but it appears that Najib must be desperate to resort to such a desperate measure. Continue reading “GE13 Set to Be a Titanic Clash”

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Najib’s pledge to respect people’s decision on transition of power, whether federal or state, commendable but it must be backed with deeds and not just empty slogans

The pledge by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of a peaceful transition of power in the 13th General Elections, whether at the federal or state level, is most commendable.

I had many times in the past four years , both inside and ouside Parliament, asked Najib to make the public commitment that if Umno/Barisan Nasional loses the mandate to form the federal government in Putrajaya, he and UMNO/BN would accept the verdict of the electorate and would assume responsibility to ensure peaceful transition of power from the BN to Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya.

Until today, however, Najib had evaded the subject.

Although Najib’s public commitment is very late in the making, it is better late than never and this is why I commend him for his pledge “to respect democracy” and “to respect the voice of the rakyat”.

Pakatan Rakyat on our part makes a similar commitment to respect the voice of the people in the 13th General Elections and peaceful transition of power, whether at federal or state level.

However, such commitments must be sincere and serious and must be backed up with deeds and not just be empty slogans, and this is why all political parties and leaders must act in conformity with their public commitments and pledges. Continue reading “Najib’s pledge to respect people’s decision on transition of power, whether federal or state, commendable but it must be backed with deeds and not just empty slogans”

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Malaysia at (yet another) crossroads

— Gerhard Hoffstaedter and Greg Lopez
The Malaysian Insider
April 01, 2013

APRIL 1 — The Malaysian government and its multiple state governments have become caretaker governments and elections will have to be called before June 28 if the country wants to maintain the semblance of an electoral democracy.

Everything is at stake at these elections. Malaysia has been ruled as a country by one coalition since independence in 1957 and its hold on political power has been tenacious. The economy and society remain formidable.

Opposition coalitions have tried at every election to make inroads in a system clearly stacked against them. In 2008, there was a real breakthrough, with the opposition capturing five out of the 13 states of the federation and breaking the ruling coalition’s psychologically important two-thirds majority it had become accustomed to.

It is not easy to categorise the two opposing coalitions and its members, as they are disparate, complex, and, with multiple agendas, often fractured. The ruling coalition is run by Umno, with other constituent parties largely serving the Chinese and Indian populations as well as some indigenous communities of Sabah and Sarawak. Continue reading “Malaysia at (yet another) crossroads”

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All hail Dr M?

— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
April 01, 2013

APRIL 1 — I am thankful to The Malaysian Insider for giving publicity to whatever Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is saying these days.

Because it allows more Malaysians to appreciate what a fraud he is and understand that a vote for BN is a vote for Dr Mahathir.

These are my reasons for calling Dr Mahathir a fake, a Petaling Street knock-off, a politician who will say anything or do anything to perpetuate the system of excesses which he put in place. Continue reading “All hail Dr M?”

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Bishop: What sort of justice is this?

RK Anand| April 1, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

Bishop Paul Tan is incensed over the video which shows MP Zulkifli Noordin belittling the Hindu faith and demands action from the ‘1Malaysia’ government.

KUALA LUMPUR: The video recording of a member of Parliament belittling the Hindu faith has prompted a Catholic priest to question the government’s double standard in dealing with such matters.

Bishop Paul Tan pointed out that the present ruling government had not hauled up any Muslim who uttered seditious words and made seditious gestures against those of other religions while it acted against those who stated unpleasant things about Islam.

The head of the Malacca-Johor diocese was responding to the video of Kulim Bandar Bahru MP Zulkifili Noordin who mocked how statues of Hindu deities could not prevent a flood in Masjid India here.

The video, which was uploaded on YouTube, had since gone viral.

Zulkifli is also the vice-president of Perkasa, whose president Ibrahim Ali had also earned the wrath of Tan when he called for the torching of Malay bibles that used the term Allah.

The bishop recounted how he had in the past called on the government to take action against both Ibrahim and Perkasa patron and former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad over this issue.

“What sort of justice is this? It is no justice but bigotry which the Almighty God himself would be ashamed of,” he said.

“God sees, hears and knows everything. In spite of the fact that final justice is rendered by the Almighty God, we humans are not exempt from taking the right means to right what is wrong. Continue reading “Bishop: What sort of justice is this?”

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Call on Najib to make public all the mega defence and other contracts entered into by the Federal Government in the past three weeks since March 8 when his premiership has “expired” its credibility, authority and legitimacy

The RM4.2 billion arms deal worth RM4.2 billion entered into by the Defence Ministry at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2013), on top of the earlier argument that Parliament could not yet be dissolved as a caretaker government cannot enter into mega-ringgit defence deals at LIMA, has brought to the centrestage the important questions of good governance and public integrity and the issue of corruption in Malaysia – especially what is the proper and ethical conduct of a government which is reaching close to or gone past its “expiry” period.

There can be no contention that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is already the country’s longest unelected Prime Minister without a mandate of his own after taking over the reins of premiership from Tun Abdullah Badawi is already an “expired” Prime Minister leading an “expired” Cabinet and Government in the past three weeks since March 8, when it lost all public credibility, authority and legitimacy as the government of Malaysia.

Why can’t the RM4.2 billion arms deal in LIMA wait until after the 13GE for whichever government, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, to make the final decision? Continue reading “Call on Najib to make public all the mega defence and other contracts entered into by the Federal Government in the past three weeks since March 8 when his premiership has “expired” its credibility, authority and legitimacy”

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Najib’s Afraid of Losing His Job

By Kee Thuan Chye

I stand corrected for predicting that Prime Minister Najib Razak would dissolve Parliament on March 26 to allow for the 13th general election to be held in mid-April. I had thought he would be man enough to do it.

It is unclear now when he will make the much-awaited move to face the people’s decision as to whether they want to retain his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as the government or consign it to the Opposition benches. He could also wait for Parliament to automatically dissolve on April 28.

In fact, the Negeri Sembilan State Assembly has already been automatically dissolved – as its five-year term ended on March 27. The next state assembly to follow suit is the Pahang one on April 7.

Najib’s delay does not look good for him as it shows a lack of confidence. Already, many are calling him “coward” on social media. In contrast to the Opposition’s push forward by first unveiling its manifesto way ahead and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s daring declaration of standing in the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency in Johor, the bastion of BN, followed by DAP MP Liew Chin Tong being moved from Penang to a yet-unnamed seat also in Johor, Najib’s inaction is a sign of weakness.
Continue reading “Najib’s Afraid of Losing His Job”

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12-Day Countdown to 13GE: Third Objective of Battle of Gelang Patah – BN’s fixed deposit states of Johore, Sabah and Sarawak “Going, Going, Gone!” by targeting to win 33 out of the 83 Parliamentary seats in the three states

In the last two days, I had discussed the first two objectives of the Battle of Gelang Patah:

Objective One: to target the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in south Johore to pave the way for Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections. The six Parliamentary seats are Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Gelang Patah, Kulai and Pulai. The 13 State Assembly seats are: Stulang, Tanjong Puteri, Johore Jaya, Permas, Puteri Wangsa, Tiram, Skudai, Nusajaya, Pengkalan Rinting, Kempas, Senai, Bukit Batu and Bukit Permai.

Objective Two: to target a total of 19 Parliamentary seats and 30 State Assembly seats in the state of Johor, including the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in South Johore which I had already mentioned. The additional 13 Parliamentary seats in the rest of Johore are Tanjong Piai, Kluang, Batu Pahat, Bakri, Labis, Segamat, Sekijang, Ledang, Muar, Ayer Hitam, Sri Gading, Simpang Rengam and Sembrong. The additional 17 State Assemby seats are Pekan Nenas, Mengkibol, Penggaram, Bentayam, Sungai Abong, Bekok, Jementah, Tangkak, Paloh, Yong Peng, Mahkota, Layang-Layang, Parit Yaani, Maharani, Gambir, Tenang and Pemanis.

I am not claiming that Pakatan Rakyat can score a bullseye and win all the 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore mentioned. In fact, if Pakatan Rakyat can achieve 50 per cent of this target, it is already a “phenomenal political revolution” in Johor, bearing in mind the arrogant boasts of Barisan Nasional leaders just five years ago before the 2008 general elections that they would ensure that Johore would become a “zero Opposition” state!

I am of course expecting hitting a more than 50% success for the PR target of 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore the 13GE. Continue reading “12-Day Countdown to 13GE: Third Objective of Battle of Gelang Patah – BN’s fixed deposit states of Johore, Sabah and Sarawak “Going, Going, Gone!” by targeting to win 33 out of the 83 Parliamentary seats in the three states”

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BN, no need for the politics of fear

JD Lovrenciear
Malaysiakini
Mar 27, 2013

As we gear towards an imminent dissolution of Parliament, the leaders and political party vanguards are really getting completely violently vile in thought, speech and deeds.

Are we the rakyat and nation-loving people to be left in the lurch and to stomach all this bullying then?

Why on earth is the prime minister of the nation – a leader for all Malaysians, himself also holding a gun to our heads?

BN leaders and party wigs are making all kinds of statements; are smilingly witnessing all kinds of abuse; and allowing all kinds of rubbish to be pumped out through all the mainstream media.

Are these not akin to holding a gun to the citizens’ heads? Continue reading “BN, no need for the politics of fear”

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13-Day Countdown to 13GE – In forcing the Negri Sembilan to be dissolved “automatically” on Wednesday midnight, Najib has unconstitutionally hijacked the powers of the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar and even the Yang di Pertuan Besar on dissolution of State Assembly

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has chalked up another dubious record in his political career – as for the second time, he has shown utter contempt for important, delicate and sensitive Federal-State relationships by trampling on the sanctity of State Constitutions in his utter disregard for the state’s autonomy, rights, powers and prerogatives entrenched in the State Constitutions.

The first time Najib violated the sanctity of a state constitution was in February 2009 when he orchestrated an undemocratic, illegal, unethical and unconstitutional grab for power in Perak and ousted the Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin and the democratically-elected Pakatan Rakyat Perak executive council and government from office.

As a result, Najib’s recent signature of Transparency International-Malaysia’s Election Integrity Pledge is regarded as a political farce totally lacking in meaning and commitment, even in destroying in the process the credibility, authority and legitimacy of TI-M’s Election Integrity Pledge altogether.

The second time Najib had violated the sanctity of State Constitutions happened on Wednesday midnight when he forced the Negri Sembilan State Assembly to run out of time and which had to be dissolved automatically with the Negri Sembilan Yang di Pertuan Besar, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, the Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and the Speaker, Datuk Razak Mansor completely in the dark on the issue. Continue reading “13-Day Countdown to 13GE – In forcing the Negri Sembilan to be dissolved “automatically” on Wednesday midnight, Najib has unconstitutionally hijacked the powers of the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar and even the Yang di Pertuan Besar on dissolution of State Assembly”